SG: Aurora #45 - Above and Beyond (Part One of Nine)

[Frobozz]

***********************
The Ninety Second Recap
***********************

     Aurora -- a Canadian organization dedicated to protecting the public
against supernormal threats as well as interfacing with existing
superguys and providing essential services to them -- has just recently
investigated the Changeling Society, which is a fellowship of survivors
of the Days of Hell(tm) on Earth. Though initially suspected of having a
sinister agenda, the Society's spiritual leader was found to simply want
to make a grand statement to the world at the end of a march on Aurora's
headquarters: a surface-to-orbit Beanstalk which is located in southern
Ontario.
     Tensions ran high on both sides, as confrontations normally do, but
the march seemed to be a peaceful one until an unknown third party
assassinated the Reverend from afar. This was a spark struck in an
oxygen-rich environment, which caused both Aurora's troops and the
Changelings participating in the march to take up arms against one
another.
     Meanwhile, inside the Beanstalk, Arthur Doyle -- Computer
Personality and current head of Aurora -- was locked down from his own
computer systems. He was then captured and tortured by an unnamed
assailant and his own lady-love, Colleen.
     Outside the Beanstalk, Al Peterson has assumed control of Aurora's
power-armoured troopers, splitting them up into two squadrons, both of
which will attempt the Beanstalk's highest levels separately in the
hopes that their change of tactics will confuse these far-too-prepared
invaders. The troopers use a transponder system to allow themselves
through the otherwise-impenetrable shield which blankets the Beanstalk,
but destroy said transponder once inside so that no one can use the
system to get back out again. Cut off from the outside world, the
troopers make their initial foray, which is to raid the day care level
of the Beanstalk and remove the children still there back to the first
level, where a few of the troopers stay behind, guarding the children in
a reasonably secure location. Meanwhile, the two squads have split up
and begun their individual climbs. Peterson's squad has been making good
time up the 'stalk, but not as good as he'd like. During a sleep-break
from the climb, he lost three companions to unknown forces and had to
resume the climb without them.
     Arthur Doyle remains in his captors' custody, subjected to torture
in the hopes that he will turn his coat and join with the enemy. His
silent partner, Xenophon (and also a Computer Person), has managed to
slip Doyle's bonds on several occasions and render help. Peterson and
company engaged in their first fire-fight with the enemy, who had
managed to ambush them via the elevators. Outside, Rae has been able to
communicate within the supposedly impenetrable shield, informing those
within of their enemy's identity.
    Meanwhile, inside the Beanstalk the as yet unidentified enemy is
tentatively identified as hailing from the Superguy altiverse
001SUPERGUY, with which Aurora had brief dealings some time ago. Worse,
it is revealed that the first head of Aurora - one Nicholas Treis - was
left in the care of 001's Aurora counterpart, Strike Force Borealis, to
recover from an assassination attempt. Peterson calls a halt to their
ascension in order to give his troops a fast party, in the hopes that it
will keep their spirits raised for the trek ahead. Sentries report that
Borealis is moving towards their position. Aurorean troops set up a
defensive line and successfully hold off the opposing forces, but due to
a quisling in their ranks, Peterson takes a disabling wound. Following
protocol, DeVrai is put in charge of the troops and continues upwards,
while Peterson and Chambers (who has herself sustained significant
armour damage) stay behind.
    Nicholas Treis wakes up in his prison in 001 and realises that he's
been a bird kept in a gilded cage for too long. Despite being an old
man, he overcomes his physical limitations and makes an escape attempt.
    Meanwhile, in 000, Peterson and Chambers hear someone headed for
their position. They draw weapons and prepare to make a final stand...
only to discover that they've been found by Clark, leading the other
half of Aurora's troops. They exchange supplies, but Clark is forced to
move on while Peterson and Chambers remain behind, as Peterson's wounds
and lack of fully functional powered armour would just slow down the
squadron.
    Meanwhile, Langely -- a trooper who had been captured during a brief
sortie some time earlier -- is subject to mind-breaking torture, until
finally the promise that one of her command has been killed for her
intractability, which causes her to break and agree to her captors'
terms. The troops under DeVrai's command climb upwards, pausing to rest,
whereupon they discover the long-lost and somewhat changed Doug deep in
meditation, patiently waiting for his chance to hook up with the rest of
Aurora to do some damage.
    In the virtual world, Xenophon realises that something big is about
to happen in the computer networks and begins to unpack the computer
intelligence that he both created and slew, BARD, knowing that he is
going to need some help in the storm to come. And Doyle's will is
finally broken by his captors, giving them access to the Beanstalk's
computer systems.
    DeVrai and company found themselves an enemy checkpoint that did not
expect a frontal assault. Having learned to always do the unexpected and
using their knowledge of the level as an advantage, DeVrai's squadron
launched an attack and took the enemy base without sustaining
significant losses. But just as the squad had finished gathering intel
resources, they discovered that another enemy squad was inbound and they
had to bug out. Doug took a small band of irregulars to spring a trap
and then scatter, to cover the rest of the troopers' withdrawal. But
just as Doug's irregulars made their retreat, a missile explosion nearby
managed to ruin their day.
    Peterson and Chambers continued to talk in the medical bay, and some
personal stories came out, though Peterson seemed reluctant to talk
about himself.
    Treis continued his escape from the enemy Beanstalk in 001SUPERGUY,
only to discover that the Colleen of 000SUPERGUY was being held prisoner
there, and had been for many years. He managed to revive her and reverse
the effects of muscle atrophy, and the two began to make their escape.
They reached the room containing a dimensional portal which would bridge
the way between the two altiverses, but upon activating the portal the
two were set upon by Gladiator, a demonic creature who had been loaned
to the Borealleans by Hell(tm) itself.
    The opening of the portal caused Xenophon and BARD quite a bit of
trouble as they dodged hunter-seekers in their computer system. Try as
they might, they couldn't manage to keep the path between the worlds
from opening... which would allow the forces of 001 to pour through and
reinforce the already plentiful troops in 000...
    O'Rourke and Vedding explored the level where they'd been trapped
when the Beanstalk's shields had gone up, in search of food. But Vedding
recalled something that might be worth even more in this time of crisis
and made a beeline for it, leaving the priest to rush after. The
ex-soldier entered a machine in Colleen's lab, and O'Rourke was left to
wonder and fret about what it was doing to his friend.
    Langley, subject to intense and brutal brainwashing, finally sees
things her captors' way. But it turns out that a turncoat was exactly
what they needed to put the demon Gladiator on the trail of anyone from
000SUPERGUY; the demon destroyed her, sending her soul to Hell(tm) and
began to track Auroreans.
    Doug and his irregulars continued their flight, searching for safety
and lost a few members to traps scattered along the way. Stumbling into
the prison level, Doug defeated a card game-obsessed Boreallean and
discovered that Wishstar had been an early target of the invasion.
Finding her still alive, but unconcious, Doug and his men pondered the
best way to use this new asset to their advantage.
    BARD and Xenophon, realising that they couldn't hold control of the
Beanstalk's shields and dimensional portal for much longer, conspired to
destroy the Beanstalk's computer network rather than let it fall into
enemy hands. This would likely save the Earth, but safety would come at
the cost of their lives.
    Doug finally makes his wish, albeit by accident. He nearly kills
Wishstar, but manages to call together his friends. Those still alive
are whisked to Doug's side, and the most greviously wounded find that
they've got a second wind in them after all. As Wishstar's condition has
deteriorated rapidly as a result of the wish, those assembled realise
that they can't make use of her powers again. Peterson, DeVrai and Clark
put their heads togeter and formulate a plan, and split their forces to
try to make best use of this unexpected development.

    And that's where we left them...


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

                Chris Angelini/Frobozz Magic Productions

                              -and-

                        Mademoiselle Muse Inc

                        -in association with-

            'We Didn't Mean To Colour The Sky Pink, Honest!'
                Industrial Special Effects and Magic

                               -and-

        The Overworked and Underpaid Lisa MacDougall (producer)

                             -present-

                             AURORA #45

                          "Above and Beyond"

                         'Keys to Ascension'

                              Part Ten

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Day 10
Level 444

    There wasn't much left of level 444. Years earlier when Aurora had
still been finding its wings, it had been one of the levels unlucky
enough to be demolished to make room for a massive training exercise
between Aurora and the Tornado Knights who had come to demonstrate the
powered armour that would become the organization's mainstay. This meant
that repeated attempts to use the level for some purpose that would
leverage its vast open spaces (such as storage, office parties and Bat
Mitzvahs) were met with the failure as time after time people realised
that the debris, felled girders and weird, sharpened pieces of metal on
which people could easily hurt themselves should they mistake them for
photocopiers during a drunken office revel were just -too- much work to
clean up.
    But the same features that made this level impracticle for party made
it absolutely perfect for sortie; and especially the sort that required
much cover and lots of radar-baffling sharp jagged metal objects to be
strewn about.
    Clark had led his half of the ambush forces to one end of the
wide-open, debris-strewn level, ordering them to dig in as best as they
could. He kept careful watch of the near battlefield from his hiding
point behind a twisted slag of metal that had, through luck or design,
had fallen into the rough but still disturbing image of Elvis' head. He
wasn't quite sure whether or not to take this as a good sign, but no
matter what he approved of the cover afforded him by those gigantic
sideburns.
    Rising up to peer past his cover, Clark scanned across the heavy
cover for some sign of DeVrai and his half share of the troops. Despite
his best efforts, Clark couldn't spot a one. While from a tactical
standpoint this was probably a Good Thing, Clark wished that there was
some way to signal the rest of the assault force, maybe make a few
last-minute revisions to his plans... second-guess himself, let
opening-night jitters force him to rework everything he, DeVrai and
Peterson had put their heads together on...
    All right, maybe it was a -very- good thing that he couldn't sight
DeVrai right now and not just from a tactical standpoint. He--
    Clark's musings were cut off mid-thought by the sound of weapons fire
coming from an elevator corridor. As he was trained, the noise snapped
him to attention and the rest of his company followed suit with the
smooth grace of a well-polished machine. With luck -- with lots of luck
-- the enemy had disembarked its forces by the elevators, massed them,
and then run into one of the three Judas goat patrols that Clark and
DeVrai had sent to roam the areas near -- but not too near -- the
elevators.
    With that same luck, the Borealleans wouldn't know that Doug's wish
had brought Aurora's forces together again. With the help of that
damned, fickle bitch-queen named Luck, the enemy would be confident of
having superior numbers in any encounter that they assayed. And with
Luck, that confidence suggest that following the patrol as it retreated
would be a good idea...
    Clark braced his rifle on a piece of debris, scanning his field of
fire with his armour's passives. At least some Luck was with them today:
all ten units of his Judas patrol raced into view, looking combat-ready
despite a little battle damage that had been taken in the furvor. Good,
thought Clark. He'd hate to have lost any men on the initial feint. That
would almost certainly come later.
    And Luck decided to throw Clark another bone, as the Borealleans --
dressed in powered armour that looked so damned similar to the
Auroreans' own -- came charging after. Clark felt an initial hesitation
to fire on soldiers dressed so similarly to his own, though it wasn't
doubt that stayed him from taking his first shot.
    "Come on," Clark whispered, watching units drift into view. He had to
allow enough of them reach a point of no return before ordering that
first volley. But at the same time he couldn't delay too long, or his
feinting forces would be caught and made to pay for his mistake.
     "Come on... come on..."
     Clark bit his lip and consulted his gut. Though he suspected that
not every last, juicy target had moved into the pincer,the gut told him
that it was now or never. He flicked open his unit's commo network and
relished the chance to finally broadcast an order over the air without
resorting to LOS lasers or  arcane, easy to miss hand-signals.
    "Launch," was the order he gave. And so it was.
    The salvo's opening trill was performed by a ripple-launch of half
the missiles Aurora had left, stagger-laughed to first fire on the
Borealleans at the front of the line, and then the second half of the
volley aimed towards the rear to catch those beating a quick retreat.
When the ripple had run its course  it had saturated the front and rear
of the Boreallis' forces twice. The result of this attack was panic,
confusion and a breaking of the ranks as Aurora's enemies couldn't
figure out which way to run.
    Unfortunately for the Borealleans, that was when the Symphony for
Rifle and Targetting Computer began to play. From behind whatever cover
they could secure, the Auroreans opened fire with their side-arms,
carefully choosing the most heavily damaged units and the ones still
keeping ranks as their targets.
    In a more perfect world, this would have eliminated the enemy forces
from the outset and leave Aurora with a clear victory after a very short
but brilliant performance. However this world was most decidedly
imperfect, and while many of the Borealleans were put out of the action
by Aurora's initial assault, like their enemies they were professionals.
They proved this by scrambling for cover after the initial shock of
being ambush had faded. Clark and DeVrai's units took what shots of
opportunity presented themselves during the scramble, managing to pick
off one or two more units before the ambush changed into a battle.
    "We've got them scurrying," Clark said into the commo net as he rose
from behind cover. "Now let's flush them outta the woodwork, by the
numbers. Make Plan Chicken Little go now! Let's make those suckers think
that the sky is really falling!"
    Aurorean units began to leapfrog towards the enemy, using one
another's fire for cover to advance. Now it was time to get their hands
dirty. And it was also time to pray that this battle would buy the time
needed, because the price was soon going to be very, very high...

***

CONTINUED IN PART TWO

---
-Chris
frobozz at eyrie.org
http://www.eyrie.org/~frobozz

Geek Code
GFA/IT/PA d-(+) s--:+> a- C++ UL*++ P+++ L++
E W++ N+ !o !K w++(-) O? M++ V? PS+ PE Y PGP
t+ 5++ X+ R+++ tv+ b+++ DI+ D++ G e++>+++ h- r* z?