Introduction
He could’ve just waited. Dimov, or Jim, or whatever that fucking petty bureaucrat’s name was up on Kimball. He could’ve just waited for orders. Someone at AEX would’ve whispered to someone in the Council and the entire fleet would’ve descended on Helena “to increase frontier security”. Artifacts secure, problem solved.
But he didn’t. Maybe he was panicked his job was on the line, maybe he was worried their big secret would get out. Hell, maybe he just wanted to be the hero. So he drummed up a gaggle of CorpSec, bored vets, and weekend warriors just itchin’ for an excuse and sent them in under cover of the storm.
They tried to destroy the town. They killed women and children.
They pissed off the wrong bastards.
-The Memoirs of “Gentleman” Jack Cartwright
22 February, WY603 – Helena
Current Contract: They’re Trying To Make Slaves of Us
Tomoe quickly secures the tank of neurotoxin while the crew catches up on the battle outside. The storm is subsiding, but there is still pockets of intense fighting with many wounded. Cara uses her mag boots and sword to make loud thumping and screeching sounds and blares out a threat from her helmet speaker:
Quote
You fucking idiots. What did they promise you? A stack of company scrip for the commissary? Hazard bonus? These people are under my protection. Do you know who I am? I am Colonel Cara Fucking Burton. I just chewed up your whole goddamned invasion force in orbit. These are my marines. We overthrew the democratically-elected government of Grove, while even the Navy was retreating. So what do you think I’m going to do to you!??!?!
The crew charges into the remainder of the facility. Half the team moves to the systems managing the coolant for the town reactor and after a brief exchange dispatch men attempting to corrupt the computer system.
Cara, Julian, Angelica, and Tomoe head towards the main pumping station, where they’re thwarted by a braced door. Unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, while attempting to break down the door, Tomoe concentrates and amplifies the fear of Cara in the man bracing the door, causing him to flee for cover and allowing Cara to burst through the door.
The crew dispatches the remainder of the saboteurs, taking one prisoner in the process. Roland (and, in a pucker-inducing moment of terror, Din) disarms the explosives the men were planting on the main well pumps.
By this point, the battle outside had subsided. The crew secures the facility and immediately goes to render aid to the rest of the town. Private Walker is seriously wounded and Aiden takes her in for surgery. The death toll is severe, including many families who had been sheltering in their residences from the storm and were carelessly mowed down by the attackers.
The captured prisoner turns out to be a low-level officer from AEX corporate security from the nearby outpost of Anderson Deepwater. He confirms the attackers were a mix of professional security and company employees, ordered by Dimov to make the town uninhabitable. They were motivated mainly by preserving their personal profit sharing in the face of the catastrophic losses that the crew had inflicted on AEX’s bottom line, as well as hazard bonuses and other monetary benefits.
Calliope calls down and informs the crew that there’s a staging area approximately five kilometers away where the attackers parked their vehicles, and says the survivors appear to be mobilizing to leave. The crew briefly discusses the merits of letting them go versus dispatching them. Cara orders Calliope to prepare to fire an ortillery shot from the ship’s mass driver. Finally, Cara sends an anonymous vote to everyone’s slate. After the crew each privately casts their vote, there is a long pause.
“Calliope,” Cara says firmly, “send it.”
Everyone watches as the mass driver slug streaks down from orbit and impacts the staging area, destroying the remaining attackers.
All told, there were 37 dead attackers, not counting those in the staging area, and 103 citizens of Anderson Northwinds killed, including the sheriff, roughly half of which were non-combatants. Several freezer units are pressed into service to house the bodies until they could be properly identified and buried.
That evening, while Dirk is assembling footage and data for both the inevitable legal imbroglio and social media push, Calliope calls with a question.
“Dirk…how did you vote?”
