FourtyTwo

Lunar Colony Role Play

Ah well, I know the feels- I went through four drafts, just want to fix this one. I feel your pain though, don't worry.

Year 2058 (Near-Future Military Scifi RP, maybe with mechs)

Okay, I'll edit out any huge references to CSTO forces en masse, but the VDV are getting a mention- if that is okay.

NOTE- that has been done, I've got it done in such a way that the GM can go on to make what they want of the situation. So while CSTO is on the ground, it's limited as hell. A Crimea sort of situation- the CSTO forces are paradoxically, there and yet not there. There are unknown soldiers wearing Russian camoflage and AK-12s but no definitive proof that is CSTO. There are Polish vehicles seized on the move with Rebel markings manned by these Green Men, and it so happens that a VDV squad finds it wasn't able to quietly sneak it's way into being a part of that Green Man force, and that CSTO is potentially coming .

Year 2058 (Near-Future Military Scifi RP, maybe with mechs)

I think he was unattached- and even so, he has no Mech, so he could join Blyskawica temporarily before regrouping with them. He has a specialized role after all.

Year 2058 (Near-Future Military Scifi RP, maybe with mechs)

It might be the case that when you wanted a sit-rep, the recon team came up against this. It is literally the first wave of forces- this offensive by the rebels/Green Men has gone on for the last few days in particular, but when you said that everything was kinda collapsing, I assumed that this was the vanguard of an Invasion force. So the VDV you saw and the Mech was literally the first pieces of equipment on the ground- with Jan's intel perhaps being the first that NATO HQ might actually hear that CSTO are involved, being thus far just a massive advance by Green Men/defected forces. I did think you implied it, but none the less, the invasion isn't fully underway- it's mostly how Jan percieves it, and if anything, is the preliminary phase. Paras being dropped in among apparently rebel forces, the smoke stacks of armor and the slow push of CSTO into the area, with this being maybe the absolute first that they'll hear. Apologies if it was a bit too avantgarde- it was just when you mentioned that basically, things had gone to shit, I stepped in and basically went a bit further (sorry). If it's anything, you can make it the first report even received of Russian forces (with the Poles all pretty unanimous about the Green Men and militias being either CSTO-backed and the whole being very fucking shady), and perhaps triggering Alec's deployment as a recon unit, before the main force are deployed en masse to help protect Warsaw. Apologies in advance- but it did raise the stakes, by kinda throwing the idea that Squad One was pretty fucked in Lublin. Then on cue, you can go from there- no more deployment of VDV, the consistent deployment of VDV/Airborne Mechs only, or the full-scale invasion of Poland by CSTO.

Lunar Colony Role Play

Oh, hey McHaggis- you writing something for UCAS? I'm in the same line of work, I've just done mine actually, glad to see someone else in my boat on the guild. Off to Bristol if all goes good :D

Year 2058 (Near-Future Military Scifi RP, maybe with mechs)

It's what I do. But yep, I'd like to see Alec on the ground, it should be interesting to see the first of NATO forces reacting, and I really do enjoy painting the picture that Jan and his men are really losing a lot here, they're fighting valiantly but it isn't going to get them any victories. I really don't want to paint Blyskawica as a special forces unit, but I'd say they are headed in the direction of being one, and in the circumstances that they're flung into, they'll evolve more and more as a deep recon team. Wait till they get dropped Wilk 1A3s with newly-developed optical cloaking and enhanced energy cells from Central Command, and then they'll have fun pissing off Russian Forces :D.

I like the idea that at this sort of time, Poland will have gained ground technologically- right now, many gaming companies and tech firms are setting seeds in Poland, so imagine what it'll be like in fifty years- I can imagine it's pride being actually quite tech related, to that sort of avail. While maybe they aren't a powerhouse, their army has caught up with the West, and the Radom MSBS is a real life rifle that will come into service with the Polish Armed Forces- with the A2 variant that the team uses firing a 6.5mm intermediate cartridge, offering more stopping power than a M4 with more velocity than an M14. They're fielding Exoskeletons that are probably among the best in the world (this is their absolute focus I'd like to think), but very weak in Mechs and general Armored vehicles, as well as Air Support (they'll be flying F16s or even a few outdated F35s against well...very superior CSTO air). It's the beginning of the end for the Poles, and while Jan knows that they'll lose a lot, he has everything to be thankful to the NATO forces.

Year 2058 (Near-Future Military Scifi RP, maybe with mechs)

Also, I should mention- I don't like the idea of Poles on Poles. Those "Little Green Men" that you heard about in Crimea is kinda my interpretation for what Jan and his team are up against, as well as some defectors that are referenced in the radio (ie. the Lieutenant Colonel, and perhaps a minority of forces)- but Polish identity is strong, we've never really let the Soviet culture/Russian language in like parts of Ukraine have, so it's less plausible to me that there would be lots and lots of Polish rebels (and this isn't just bias speaking- us Poles have a genuine hatred of Russia that I think eclipses much of the West, even in Communist times (in a way). I assume this is more of a minority thing, and rather, CSTO is using that to plug in their own "militants" of Russian type, who aren't maybe even Polish, and as you saw, the VDV and various formations that are steamrollering the first line of defense of Polish forces in the east.

Year 2058 (Near-Future Military Scifi RP, maybe with mechs)

BTW, if you want, you could have Alec being dropped quite literally on Squad One, Blyskawica, on his own. Tagging up with Jan's team- to sort of confirm the situation, and help our Recon-wise in scouting out the enemy (though as you see, Lublin just went to shit and Squad One got out of there with their tail on fire). And since they're sort of all quite similar, it works quite well in their operational mandate.

Can I maintain him in charge of his own team? I understand he is a Warrant Officer to Alec's Second Lieutenant, but being a ground asset that knows his team well, as well as generally being a bit more in control of the situation, can he remain at the head of that for the moment? It's your call really.

Year 2058 (Near-Future Military Scifi RP, maybe with mechs)

(Polish pronunciations- leave them to me lol. It makes for funny things to occur, and if I see something out of the ordinary, let me know. I might have a GROM character, a real Spec Ops character come into play at some point, with a custom CS (being a black ops operator, but I feel that this would be suitable as I'd understand the Polish kit and terrain and so forth).
(Also, since Blyskawica is an already attached to Aegis- no other Polish unit would be able to report, since they haven't been brought up onto the orbital platform yet.)
(Green Men= think what Russia did in the Crimea. Unmarked soldiers, militia that you can't call either Polish...or Russian. I should remind at this point, Russia and Poland are very, very different, so it would be more of the former than militia.)
(Podhale- a region/area in Poland)

0400 Hours
Somewhere North-West of Lublin, Poland

Blyskawica was an Aegis asset after all, but they hadn't been sitting in space, waiting for the order to drop. They would have been launched about a month before the start of the events, in full operational capability, but the situation had changed, and they hadn't left because of what had happened. Rather, they'd been holding at Lublin for the last six hours, and the events that had overtaken them in scale and ferocity. Since the Invasion began, had brought about a massive wave of enemy forces, things were very different. Polish Rebels? Every member of this unit knew full well...this was no Polish act of defiance. This was an Invasion, nothing less than that. Like the Russian Federation before it in Crimea, the CSTO was using green unmarked men from far away places to carry out the Kremlin's will. Perhaps NATO didn't see it this way. Perhaps they saw it as a group of CSTO funded rebels killing Polish Forces. It wasn't that. He knew it wasn't, whatever communication breakdown there was, he thought to himself, this was not that, it was a full-blown invasion for making this NATO member state a part of CSTO, and a client no less. Either way, Jan knew to himself that where he was right now, could at least tell the story to those above to intervene. God or Aegis, either would be great.

Jan looked over, the team looking out from the bushes, the darkness entailing the area with a certain shadow in the pine trees. There was six of them. Himself, Staff Sergeant Magda "Malinka" Malinowska, Sergeant Piotr Wojczechski, Corporal Jaroslaw Bogdanowicz, Private First Class Anna Majakowska, and Private Rafal Duda. The columns of scrap tanks were visible, as well as Polish Mechs, though those were far fewer in number. Rather, the sight of distant kit moving across the landscape, towards Warsaw could be seen.
"Major, this is Warrant Officer Adamowicz. We are in position in recce point Zulu Bravo, on the observation point. We see scrap metal below us...burning PT-91 Twardys' and Leopard 2A7 tanks. it's a fucking mess." Jan simply said, looking through his tactical visor, the exoskeleton's HUD picking it up easily, as the reconaissance team kept their head low, the observation point overlooking a wide plain from this particular bulge on the landscape.
"Copy that, I am putting you through to a higher command structure. Aegis needs our reconnaissance, we're the first respondents- and they want to know what the situation is. Company HQ is on the move- we're relocating to Radom, but we're about to become entrapped. Gentlemen, we may not be a Special Forces unit, but we're going to be under pressure much harder than them. Remember your training. This time, for the Ojczyzna (Fatherland). We give no quarter for these scum...and I know that for our great, great grandfathers, we have a debt to fill on the Russian killing business." Major Leszek replied, as Jan nodded, looking to the others, as the comm channel changed. He checked the MSBSA2, pulling out the partly empty magazine, and filling it with a few loose 6.5mm rounds, the rifle perhaps not the most modern, but an effective weapon that the Polish Armed Forces had at this time, with the cartridge hard hitting against anything that wasn't significantly armored. He switched his fairly strong English, though he carried a Slavic accent that you could easily tell existed.
"Hello, Aegis Station? This is Warrant Officer Jan Adamowicz, 1st Squad, Blyskawica Reconaissance Company, TF Aegis. We are six men strong, and have set up an observation post on the Lublin-Warsaw road. We're armed with Wilks and have laser designation equipment, alongside light handheld AMWs. We've got significant mechanized as well as armored forces rolling in, we spy various irregular forces of CSTO and seemingly local type, though it's likely to be Spetsnaz and CSTO "Green Men". Airborne Mechanized Suits have been spotted, this is an Invasion alright. More tanks, IFVs, mechs and soldiers of unknown type, either defected Polish kit or CSTO than I can count are to be pushing into Lublin as we speak, all friendly assets are destroyed, I repeat, all friendly Polish forces are getting hammered, we have a new defensive line at the Wisla (Vistula River). Scorched Earth until then- and we'll be trapped behind enemy lines. Command, we simply will not last. My team can continue reconnaissance of the main road through Lublin to Warsaw for the next six hours, then we are relocating. We will provide regular and consistent updates of troop movements and other intel. How copy?" Jan asked over the radio, waiting for a response from the General, as he turned, looking to the others, before then seeing the crate that Duda had placed down. It was containing a set of RPG-72 AMWs salvaged from the barracks, they had resupplied and were fully kitted from the last engagement. Things were at least calm now. They hadn't been a few hours ago.

---

Earlier that Morning...

0020 Hours
Lublin, Poland

"KURWA!" The noise of shelling outside the barracks was frantic. Moving out, the team sprung towards the armory, exoskeletons being donned as men clipped in, and Jan's second in command, Magda, a fairly beautiful redhead at about 5"11, found hers, taking her MSBS LMG, a bullpup drum-fed magazine in the back of the weapon, as the team rallied back outside.
"Situation is critical- Malinka, take Bogdanowicz, Duda and Majakowska, I'll take the other team as a fireteam. We have to hold ground here! Ura!" Jan yelled to the others, as they responded with a loud Ura, the Poles aware that things had hit the fan. The sight of parachutes, drop pods and the distant noise of jets and rockets was all the scarier. The barrack was right in the middle of town, and they needed to get moving. They'd never hold the town forever, but they had to at least get the civilians on the move, towards Warsaw. Moving out of the barracks, Jan moved with a certain pace and agility, like the others could with the Wilk 1A2.
"Got it, Warrant Officer! You three, with me, now!" Malinka yelled, as she held her weapon high, scanning her corners as they advanced.

Lublin in itself was a town that was fairly unchanged, even by 2058. It was mainly composed of terraced houses in the inner city, a more medieval sort of structure as blocks and plazas lined the town center, whilst many of the apartment blocks recently built on the outskirts were all but blown apart, many just coming down on the first sight of artillery. The place looked grim, but the centuries-old Royal Castle that dominated the middle of the town still stood, and that was always a good thing to know. It didn't really matter morale wise, but at least something was left, for the moment being that they hadn't touched.
"Major! We have a direct assault on Lublin coming, they've broken through the Strzeclcy Podhalancy Brygada (Polish Podhale Shooters Brigade), the town's basically unguarded and we have plenty of Green Men holding blocks here! Orders?" Jan barked through the radio, as they moved through the street, the sight of "Green Men", armed with shitty AK-12 rifles, being something that riled the squad. They moved tactically from car to car, the fire heavy as they took the team down, Jan leaping over a articulated lorry as he took out one of the men with a clean set of shots to the head while in the air, crashing down behind a concrete pillar, moving on the ground as he took out another pair, through their soft cover.
"Hold the town until further orders, we're sending you GPS co-ordinates to sweep and clear. Clean these areas, the Reservists will get the civilians out. You're our best shot at keeping that line open!" He heard, as Jan nodded, somehow to himself.
"Understood." Jan simply replied, as he moved up, leaping up onto a building, as 1st Squad continued, moving through the town and cleaning out resistance. They moved onto another street, a whole horde eliminated by Wojczechski's dated but modernized M32A4 MIGL (Multiple Inteligent Grenade Launcher), the weapon light in his hands as they moved with a fludity that the suspected enemy couldn't. They were not organized tactically, and didn't match in equipment. They made pace southwards, street by street, as Malinka's fireateam kept the lead on the streets below, Jan keeping on the rooftops, and laying down fire from above.

Moving forwards, they advanced into the town center, the sight of smashed billboards and screens across the place. The modern tech here was smashed to pieces, leaving the medieval core with just crushed glass, holes in buildings and general hell. This place was clear. A team of Polish Reservist soldiers held the square below, an Evacuation point. Civilians were rushing, some public buses had been taken, and there was a hell of a lot of people here. They were probably among the last batches to leave. A few buses already were moving, as Jan saw the Reservists look over, and one in particular yell.
"Szturm (Storm)!" He said, as Jan chuckled, leaping off the terraced building, falling about three storeys, and then comfortably landing before walking slowly, weapon slunked over his shoulder.
"Ogien (Fire). Get these people out here. Warrant Officer Adamowicz, I'm keeping your backs dry here. We have all hell coming down on us...I suggest you run too, this was the beginning." He said sternly, putting his tactical visor up, the digital camoflaged and exoskeleton wearing soldier looking far more elite than the Reservist did, frightened and worried, just wearing a red beret and an old uniform, as well as an older Beryl 5.56 rifle.
"Understood. Jesus Christ..." The Reservist Corporal simply said, as Jan looked over, loading a new magazine.
"Continue on- we'll keep your backs clean on the south. Squad, with me." He said, looking over to the others behind him, covering the back of the street, as he then thrusted back up, onto the rooftop, as the others followed.

The noise of artillery suddenly then boomed, as the team sprang, moving through the rooftops and alleys, with each member of the team moving with a due dedication. The noise of a punch through the air suddenly ricocheted, as a crashing noise occured. This wasn't an artillery shell. This was something else. The noise of it rumbling, as the parachute crashed down alongside the Russian Mech was a sight to see, the VDV that had joined it also coming on the opposite side of the block.
"Oh...kurwa...we need to stop that Mech, the Armia Krajowa can hold the square long enough to get our civilans out, but they'll get murdered. The VDV are almost as well armed as us, but with that Mech on side...they'll tear us a new one." Jan said bitterly, looking to the others, as they swept down into a small plaza, the noise of what sounded like at least two tons of airborne Mech sweeping the streets. It had a 30mm Autocannon, as well as probably four PKZ 14.5mm guns, which would cut to shreds anything. This was a massacre.
"Okay, Malinka, go with Duda on the floor, set up by that fountain- when we trigger it, I need you to try and kill it's support party. Rest of us, we'll ambush it from the rooftops. It's CIWS won't last long, if these RPG-76 warheads do what they do best." He added, the noise coming ever closer, as he moved down the tiled roof, three within the team armed with a pair of the seemingly dated anti-mech weapons, though the RPG-76 AMW was an incredible device in itself. An Anti-Mech Warhead, using a clever set of electronic warfare trickery, meant that up close, it couldn't be easily intercepted. And even if it was, reloading and firing another was easy. It could disable one, but not kill one to say the least. Which was all it really took, and Jan knew that in a situation like this, that was their best shot. Putting his MSBS on his back, he pulled out the launcher, priming the digital interface strapped to the side, and programming it for top quarter attack.

The mech came around, a Strelya-2AF. An Anti-Infantry, Urban Combat mecahnized unit, deployed by the CSTO's VDV Brigades, and painted in a Gorod green camoflage. This was a mech that was bipedal, standing about 11 feet, with significant armor designed for this sort of environment. A powerful CIWS system was outfitted, but against these RPG-72 AMW s, it wouldn't do.
"Now!" Jan yelled, as the Squad opened up, from two adjacent points on the rooftop, firing on the mech. The thermals and the support team weren't fast enough, as half the warheads were intercepted, as Jan realized it was turning. Two had hit, but the other one had been intercepted. And now, it was going right for one that it had seen. It turned fairly fast, and if it wasn't for Malinka and Duda opening up, he'd likely have not been breathing. He jumped as hard as he could, the Wilk replying with force as he was thrown into the air, giving him a chance to reload the RPG-72, and slot a new warhead into the front, before firing again, the unguided mechanism plowing into the top, as Jan came crashing down, the mech's electronics fried. The whole thing collapsed over, as the rest of the squad engaged, Jan still falling down. He was barely able to switch back to his MSBS, as he saw one of the Support team go down in front of him, and he crashed onto one of them, the landing hard as the Wilk barely compensated. He had hit hard enough with his landing to incapacitate the man, as he barely moved to cover, doing another short leap, the Wilk's cell at full pelt as he skidded behind a bollard, Jan realizing the rest were now gone.
"Haha! Jan, that was insane!" Duda said, as Jan chuckled, aware that he had been lucky, but this was something he shouldn't have done. He was calculating, but knew the risk he had ran. Moving to the mech, he withdrew his Glock, opening the hatch with a powerful tear of his Exo, and dragging out a wounded operator, Magda walking over and dragging out the second man, somewhat uninjured but too shocked to go for his sidearm.

"You bastards." Magda said coldly, as Jan looked to the others, the artillery and rounds going off.
"We cannot take prisoners. We'd never be able to guard you. Do not take it personally." Jan simply added, walking up to the injured man and shooting him point blank in the head, before walking up to the other soldier, who screamed out loudly in Russian, before a single cough of a 9x19mm round entered his temple. Birds fluttered, as he looked back, the sound of planes and more paras incoming bad. It was war, it was horrible, it was cold. Jan couldn't let pure emotion dictate what his brain told him. He just did what was logical, what made sense. You didn't have to be a Psychopath to survive a war. But to adopt a set of simple logic would keep you breathing longer than anyone who tried to feel that their enemy sympathized. These were evil bastards, who wanted Poland to become a client state of CSTO. And even if the men in the Mech were just paid and Conscripted, what would capture change? Besides, there was no way in hell a mech pilot would be allowed to live. They were skilled people. And letting them live would be a bad price to pay.
"Squad One, you still breathing? Squad One?"
"Affirmative. We eliminated around two squads of VDV and about two dozen "Green Men. I understand we have been fighting CSTO sponsored men..but what was that? We just fought a Strelya and two fireteams of accompanying VDV wanting to take the City Centre."
"Shit..the Reservists you met aren't responding. I recommend you fall back to the Barracks, we pulled out as many civilians as possible en route to Warsaw. We think CSTO is about to invade- that was the first paratrooper wave, and they have mechs far more advanced than what we've seen so far. I've sent a waymarker for Observation Point Zulu Bravo. We have other Blyskawica squads lining the road to Warsaw already telling us what we want to know about the advance. . You're the furthest away- and no doubt, you will see more troops than countable. Just remember what you do best, take the situation and report in once you are at Zulu Bravo. HQ is hellfire right now- last I heard, NATO forces have heard of the situation, but responding forces will take more than 24 hours. Lieutenant Colonel Aleks Valdemar has defected to CSTO forces, and he's got some serious militia and CSTO-aided troops brewing towards Bialystok and a regrouped military garrison deploying from Brest-Litovsk in Belarus in itself going straight towards Warsaw. We're actioning Plan Wisla, you know full well what this entails. We will move back to Warsaw in time- for now, let us hold the advance of this CSTO movement. Double time it, Squad." Major Leszek said, as Jan shook his head, putting his pistol away.
"Well...I don't want to say it's any worse, but if you heard that transmission, I can tell us all that things just got bad." Magda said, as the team nodded, everyone getting new magazines in.
"Of course. We're fucked! Fucking CSTO are sending VDV! I mean....the Exos they have, and that wasn't even the meanest of their mechs! We are fucked!" Pvt Duda simply said, himself being a gent of around 5"10, armed with a MSBS Carbine Rifle, oddly an older one that fired 7.62 rounds and wasn't bullpup, a strange design.
"Calm down, Rafal. We still have a part to play, is what we have. We need to leave." She said, adjusting her visor, looking at the deserted and partly destroyed Plaza, as the rest of the team knew that
"Let's go. We will get our revenge in time." Jan simply said, as he wiped some sweat from his brow with his glove, looking at his tactical visor and checking his energy levels, before leaping halfway up a building, and clambering up the rest, using the exo's sheer strength, before leading the way almost directly as the crow flew back to the barrack.

From there, over the next few hours, things didn't calm down. Less shooting, perhaps. And they'd swept through a mixture of VDV, Green Men and any hodgepodge force. They'd got any key supplies on their backs from the barrack, and using a set of Hover Quads, a newly acquired and NATO-provided piece of kit, made their way out of Lublin, tracking through the vast Conifer forests as they left the area behind, bombs and rockets leveling what was left of the medieval town. Jan couldn't help but think of his family in a way. That emotional thought stayed with him. Some NATO forces would come, and they wouldn't have to worry that when they fought, it was because they were NATO's right hand. Jan knew that right now, every bullet he fired, every command and every movement they made, would be so that his Fatherland would be free. So that Poles could live with Democracy, Free Markets, no oppression, a flourishing technological economy and at least enjoy Pierogi without getting shot at. But most of all, so that his direct family, his elderly parents wouldn't be threatened by gunmen in balaclavas with assault rifles, who intimidate, systematically torture and murder for pure anarchy and some "majestic conquest", that Poland would become if he didn't act. Right now, perhaps that was what was going on. They moved up a hill, the noise quiet as the reconaissance team pushed towards the set of markers on their visors, GPS co-ordinates that they followed to get to target. Perhaps NATO forces would come in and take the glory, and walk away tomorrow, but the real sacrifices made, would be his and his countrymen's alone, he thought to himself. Jan knew he would happily spill his own blood, of him and his own men to make sure that Poland remained free- and anyone that dared question that, Jan would happily want words with. You could call Jan critical, and he himself knew that he was greatful that they were getting NATO support, Aegis being a unit that he had after all, hoped to join. But just something inside hoped that it would come sooner, rather than later, and get these bastards out. Eventually, after around an hour of heading north-west, offroad and in the woods, they made it to their OP, unloading the equipment as the dawn slowly pulled up, the hill observing a wide area that they'd see the advance from.

(This length won't be my normal post. If you are offput, sorry- but I want to flesh out the universe that Jan and his men are in, and I assume the GM will be okay with this- if that's alright.)

Year 2058 (Near-Future Military Scifi RP, maybe with mechs)

Oh yeah, of course- they're a recon team. BTW, the entrance post for 1st Squad, Blyskawica is pretty fucking badass, when I get it up (and it's very long because I decided to take a lot of time. You'll see basically a full spectrum of what they can do- from the exos to the AMW (Anti-Mech Weapon) that they have of choice on the streets of Lublin, Poland.