Surface report by Sally Fields – 21/04/2523
This surface mission was one of immense successes and devastating failures that will haunt me until the end of my career. While we have taken great leaps forward in defeating the Hive we have also failed to save lives and I wish to openly and wholeheartedly apologise for that.
First our successes.
On the first day of our surface mission the Council and the wider FEF met with the Bunker Fortitude council to establish joint missions and exchange information. Fortitude personnel will be attempting to deal with the Hive sector in their bunker and have invited people who can make the journey to participate. I will be attending and will report to the Ascendancy what occurs
The councils also concluded our negotiations for technology sharing and we have confirmed that we will be exchanging C7 generator technology and Rail Gun technology for power armour technology. Further discussion about anti gamma rad suits in exchange for drones that can penetrate rad zones are also ongoing. I would like to thank Vasili for his forbearance on the topic of the rail guns. I have offered to pay to get a CHAPS device built for Raze so that the tribes will benefit from advances to technology as well. I also believe he wants a C7 generator.
We had a visitor in the form of a pilgrim to the shine of the white lady/witch (more on this later) and a visit from Raze’s new Soul. The Chorus are also referred to in some documents as the Choir
A mission to uncover information from a Hive comms relay lead to the terrifying discovery that some Hive now possess bullets that will convert anyone taken down by them immediately to Hive. Everyone should be aware that you have around 30 seconds to get to the afflicted person and to Cleanse them before they convert to Hive. Having your friends and colleagues return from the mission as Hive was harrowing but our defence of Dahl was swift and resolute. Sicknote’s battle to return with the information so we could defend our position should be noted and commended. A great deal of time was spent that evening searching for the comms relay, searching for our missing FEF members and returning them to themselves.
The first missions of the second day were a great success. First Contact was made with a new Tribe – The Pact. A peaceful tribe that lives far to the East of our current location. They were in search of food and herbs and so had wandered into the Hive controlled sector and some had been taken over, some had been captured and some FEF members met with and received invites to visit their village. Of note here is they use crystallised C7 as a token of invite.
On another very significant mission we ascertained that a band of unknown recognisance specialists around 50 in number had met up. The Fortitude Council had advised us that something was afoot and asked us to investigate. The night before Dahl had intercepted a coded message and Tris and Jacob Brenner and Michael Shannon spent a great deal of time and effort hacking into the email to decode its message. The message senders said they were enacting Operation Phoenix and that they were working for the good of Fortitude. The message gave us a time and location K20. Unfortunately they had gotten into the Fortitude comms systems and enacted a set of games designed to stop the FEF getting to the meeting in time and then turned off all comms. We ran into several groups of Fortitude soldiers and the first group refused to let us through and was asking for a return to the code phrase they had been given. After several attempts to negotiate we took the force down and then stabilised and healed them as needed and asked Dahl to report their location to Fortitude once comms were back up and running. They had on them a device that Jacob managed to hack that gave us access to the pass phrase. When asked Make Peace we should reply Next Tuesday.
Between us and the next group of Fortitude soldiers there was a huge minefield that Jacob cleared a path through while Nero covered him. The next group of Fortitude Soldiers were fine with the passphrase and allowed us to pass. AICE identified a large building where the meeting was being held and I had just stepped forward to see if I could negotiate or if not, get some useful intel when we were fired upon from all sides. The team responded brilliantly and covering fire was laid down so we could get to cover and then the attackers were systematically dealt with. Unfortunately this gave time for the meeting to break up and them to deploy a specialised set of power armour which had amazing stopping power. It was taken down and unfortunately exploded but the odd weapons it carried have been taken for research and redeployment. I am very concerned about this specialist group and will be working on ways we can track them and work out what their aims are.
On another mission that day we secured a sample of a tree that seems to utilise radiation in its growth and removes it from the surrounding locations. Vasili collected samples from Michael Shannon who was very excited by it and had promised further research. We also explored a c7 well that was heavily guarded by what would later on turn out to be members of the Chorus of the Enlightened. We came under sustained and heavy fire from them while Vasili tried to analyse the well. It would later turn of that they were securing the well for the Chorus who were drinking it to try to achieve Enlightenment but instead were committing suicide by C7.
Late into the evening a mission was led to recover information from a Hive communications system. This mission was fraught and filled with peril as we were crawling around tunnels that had been built 50 or so years earlier by surface people’s and the Hive were creating a new Vulcan birthing chamber there as well. Tempers were frayed and it was a hard fight but due to the efforts of many people information of significance to the fight against the Hive was recovered. Some of the data is still being looked at by Tris Brenner and assistance on the odd code she found would be appreciated.
Other data removed from the tunnels shows that a Hive doctor had weaponised small pox and the Hive virus into a new deadly disease which converts people to Hive over a number of weeks. Medical personnel are working on a cure to this as I type up this report.
Further data indicated that there were only 2 Vulcans left. A mission was designed to take them out and an amazingly brave force of FEF members of all branches went out into the field and we destroyed the last two Vulcans. This is a significant and huge step forward against the Hive and an amazing achievement. We know they can attempt to make more so the FEF will be moving forward to deal with the pox and take out the rest so no Vulcans can develop.
So a great deal of success.
But now the failure.
As I said we had a pilgrim visit Fort Leon. They were a member of the Chorus of the Enlightened and wanted to visit the site where the ‘White Lady’ had been. FEF members who are not aware of the White Lady or as we called her the Witch should read the reports under the topic https://humanityascendant.com/the-witch-part-2-electric-boogaloo/
Although I was not a member of the FEF at the time I am aware of the amount of deaths she caused through misapplied use of her powers. I had a brief discussion with Vlad regarding the danger of the pilgrim and he suggested anyone that interacted with him was scanned to check for attempts at influence being used upon FEF personnel. This was completed by Michael who did not interact with the Pilgrim himself so we could be sure we would all be safe.
The pilgrim gave us an invitation to a sermon by the Holy Mother of Chorus and told us the white lady was a blessing and sent to help guide us. They also believe Ivan Kirov is the devil.
The next day we set out to visit the sermon and also to respond to reports of disturbances in the settlements and a medical call for help. Unfortunately brother Eli decided to invite himself on this mission all the while promoting his views that c7 and Psionics are dangerous and we should accept his offer for new technology. I believe everyone knows where I stand on the fact that he sees Psionics and the tribal peoples as lesser so I was less than happy to see him.
We arrived at the site of the medical emergency and found a dead Ascendancy person. He had drunk from a vial of C7 and it had melted his jaw and destroyed his internal organs. I was horrified. We did what we could for the poor man and notified Fort Leon of his location so he could be collected.
Further up the track we met a couple of individuals that were throwing a member of the Chorus out of their village. She had been beaten and Vlad and I got the men to leave her alone, we offered her healing and then tried to understand why she was worshipping the witch. She was absolutely convinced the witch was there to save humanity and that the guidance of beings of light and wisdom would help save the world. Vlad tried to reason with her but he scared her and she ran off.
The next group of people we met were about to drink C7 in the name of the Holy Mother. Once again Vlad and I tried to reason with them. They were not to be convinced and were going to poison themselves with the C7. The priest of the Chorus urged them on, ranting and raving about the purification by C7. I could not allow a group of misguided individuals all to die when I could stop it, so I stunned them all and requested transport to take them back to the bunker so their condition could be assessed.
The FEF force moved on and after a considerable March found another set of people being preached too. Unfortunately before we could do anything to convince them otherwise one man poured C7 all over himself and drank some. His flesh was burning as he covered himself in C7 and Michael said there was very little we could do for him and he would die shortly. The priest then started to try to get others to drink C7 and so again I could not allow others to die when I could stop it. Again I stunned everyone I could reach and requested transport unfortunately there was nothing we could do for the man who drank C7 and he died.
Further into the night we went and eventually found the Holy Mother (who the bunker knew as Florin Raston) with her two children and a group of worshippers.
The daughter healed a worshipper of blindness using her abilities before our eyes. It was an amazing sight although it was a clear indication of the immense power that the chorus wielded. It also told us that the anti Psionics patch would not work on them.
We spent a concerted effort trying to understand what they were doing and why. They said if people drank C7 and died that was okay as they were purified in death. I asked Dahl about the possibility of transport and support but was told there was no way to transport and hold the Psionics safely over that distance.
Vlad and I tried everything in our power to persuade them that what they were doing was deadly and they didn’t care. We tried to persuade their followers but they were fanatical and talking about drinking C7 they had and getting more. Vlad was of the opinion that the daughter was becoming unstable due to her high levels of power.
I asked every FEF member on the mission what they thought. Everyone believed that they were a clear and present threat to the bunker. 4 members of the council were on mission and we all agreed they were a present threat. Having been attacked by the group already and having no way of transporting and of holding them safely, we made the decision to execute Florin and her children. Their followers also got caught in the crossfire. Their bodies were disposed of safely by Brother Eli’s team, also a decision I hated but a necessary one.
To kill was not a decision we took lightly.
I know it was a failure.
I will refer myself to AICE for an evaluation of the mission. While every member of the mission and every member of the council believe this was the right thing to do with a clear and present threat, I know many people will disagree.
This is a very similar situation to the one we were in with the tribe of the ancestors last surface mission. I hated the deaths of then and I hate the deaths here. I think we need to understand why the worship of these things appeals to so many people and get to the root causes of the issues that affect them.