Comes the Reaper

During their initial approach to the planet, the Flaming Devil Monkeys were called into action. Their mission was to target a small outlying base of the Pygmallion fort that overlooked the Paradise Inland Sea with a combat drop assault. This base was believed to contain key intel on the Star League era forts.

Because it was at full capacity, Second Company was chosen to lead the assault under the leadership of Major Mbeki, with air support provided by Tamarin Air Lance. Commander Jose Duran aggressively inserted his Union-class dropship directly over a small airfield and the Monkeys began dropping

After-Action Report

Commander Jose Duran aggressivel inserted his Union-class dropship directly over a small airfield near the base and the Monkeys began dropping in earnest. Tamarin air lance tried to draw the fire from nearby gun emplacements and keep the ground defenders off balance while the Monkeys landed.

Several of the Monkeys did take moderate damage during the drop but all landed without incident on the tarmac. From there, they formed a perimeter around the airfield so that the Union dropship could land. They quickly brought down the gun emplacements, and held off the approaching Blakists forces who tried to flank them in a two-pronged attack. Both Gaijin’s Uziel and Ronin’s Marauder were disabled in the initial assault, but the Monkeys brought down triple that number of units among the Blakist forces.

Once the dropship was landed and able to cover the airfield with its guns, the Monkeys advanced on the bunker. Although they had to be wary of the fixed gun emplacements, they quickly rolled up the remaining ground units.

Meanwhile Tamarin Lance had its hands full with a Blakist duo of fighters that had managed to take off prior to the Monkeys taking control of the airfield. Those fighters took one sweep of the dropping Monkeys but tried to avoid getting to close the Monkeys’ fighters who seriously outclassed them. After trading shots over the airfield, the fighters decided to bug out, leaving the battlefield fully in control of the Monkeys.

Probe

As the remaining Monkeys used the airfield to make planetfall and disembark, the three functional mechs of Spider Monkey Lance (Axe’s Nightsky still being short a leg), were sent out to establish a perimeter. Their orders were to recon-in-force and briefly engage any enemy forces before withdrawing.

After-Action Report

The Spider Monkeys identified incoming hostiles in an area with large mesa-like rock outcroppings among sandy dunes. Using these mesas as cover, the Monkeys were able to get in close as the enemy forces advanced. It turned out to be a level II recon unit comprised of four light mechs and two light vehicles. The enemies came in hot, but none of them possessed jump jets. The Spider Monkeys used this to their advantage to outmaneuver their opponents and bring them down one by one. Only one Bloodhound mech and a light vehicle survived to flee the battlefield, while the Spider Monkeys took minimal damage.

Strike

The intel recovered from the bunker did indeed proved useful. With the Blakists holed up in Pygmalian fortress, Alliance forces were looking for a way to crack the proverbial nut. The plans revealed a subterranean egress point from the fortress, carefully designed to avoid detection. A natural cavern led to a large elevator capable of transporting a Level II at a time.

The Alliance planned to strike quickly to claim this underground tunnel so that they could fill it with explosives and blow the fortress from within. In order to do that, the Monkeys were assigned to take out any defending units and disable the elevator.

After-Action Report

The Monkeys deployed in two main groups. Lieutenant Braga led most of the Monkeys through the large tunnels to draw enemy attention, while Taharqa led his lance through the much narrower maze of tunnels in the natural cavern, hoping to quickly disable the elevator with a surprise strike.

Things were bogged down when Braga’s group encountered a kill zone of heavy gauss turrets set up at an intersection. They lost Genovese’s PXH when her leg was torn off and while escaping, Malek’s Wraith stumbled into a hole too deep to jump out of. However, the remaining members of the task force regrouped and quickly met enemy mechs. Operating as a group, they pushed their way forward and a lucky head cap of the Blakist commanding officer put the enemy force in dissarray. When Bane’s group finally emerged from the tunnels behind the enemy, they were quickly enveloped and crushed.

The elevator was disabled, allowing sappers to plant explosive charges all throughout the cavern. The ensuing explosion ripped through the middle of Pygmalion Fortress, leaving a massive breach through which allied forces streamed.

Run Them Down

With Pygmalion breached and its Word defenders being hunted down, the Blake forces at Paphos knew they would soon be next. Breaking past the Skye Jaegers siege, they made a desperate run for the interior of Lubbock. Still sprinkled with Star League era training grounds, the desert had a lot of places to hide things. The Coalition knew the Word had DropShips somewhere out there. The question was, could they stop the Eleventh from getting to them?

The Monkeys were tasked with tracking down a ragtag band of Blakist armor, mechs, and infantry who are attempting to flee.

After-Action Report

It was never really a contest. The heavier Blakist mechs turned to hold off the Monkeys forces and allow the fleeter hovercraft and transports to get away. These units were annhiliated by the combined fire of the Cyborg Monkeys. A few hovercraft and two badly damaged Ghurka mechs did manage to flee, but most of the Blakists were destroyed or captured.

When they returned to base, the Monkeys learned that resistance on Galatea had collapsed. The planet belonged to the Alliance.