Enkhbatchi Liberation, 1st Recon, D Squad, Tor Province After-Action Report
Summary
1st Reconnaissance Battalion, D Squad, to conduct ground reconnaissance/observation in assigned areas of Unitas-occupied territory (Enkhbatchi Protectorate, Tor and Tun Provinces, Batsen (Northern Hemisphere), Sy-Hin heliosphere).
Emphasis to be placed on: (1) identifying Protectorate routes of egress and entry. (2) identifying Protectorate lines of communication. (3) identifying LZs suitable for liberation forces.
Background
The Enkhbatchi Protectorate on Batsen was, for many generations, the jewel in the crown of Pact efforts in this planetary system. Fertile and rich in mineral resources, this jungle province is the breadbasket of a world once seen as a Pact stronghold under the stewardship of the The Cortez Familia.
When mineral claim teams supported by a GuardCorps unit employed by Gorman-Wong Mining Group first appeared within the Sy-Hin heliosphere, the Cortez Familia opened diplomatic relations, and a cool-if-cordial relationship of mutual support was established. The Hegemonists kept to their mining interests in a distant asteroid belt, and the two parties engaged in mutually beneficial trade for several years.
Eventually the miners made a play for Cortez territory and succeeded in claiming Enkhbatchi for themselves. The remaining citizenry was now a 50/50 split between Unitas Consortium colonizers and Enkhbatchi natives. While Accord orthodoxy was suppressed, it remained very much alive in the surviving Enkhbatchi native population. This was leveraged to good informational effect by 1st Reconnaissance.
1st Recon, D Squad, was deployed to accumulate operational data on occupying forces in Tor and Tun provinces (Sy-Hin heliosphere) to assist in the planned liberation of Enkhbatchi by Pact forces stationed elsewhere on Batsen, and in the reinstatement of the Cortez Familia.
The reclamation of the Enkhbatchi bowl would provide much-needed resources in the effort to decisively secure Batsen as a Pact world, before the colonizing Unitas advance group could be reinforced.
Operation
Phase 1
D Squad initiated a covert infiltration by sea, making landfall 2.5 kilometers south of Vald, a protein-farming community with minimal Unitas presence. Vald lay within an hour’s zeo distance of a command post determined to be key to the three primary emphases of this mission.
Phase 2
D Squad was to rendezvous with their contact in Vald. They would then adapt to the intel provided in order to ascertain and verify enemy movement, comms, and viable drop zones for Pact liberation zeos.
That contact had been compromised. False intel had been relayed to Pact forces. D Squad was wiped out nearly to a man within minutes of boots-down in Vald—but not before inflicting significant enemy casualties.
Phase 3
Exfil via point-of-ingress was denied when the Pact landing craft was destroyed by rocket fire from Hegemony mnemonic commandos concealed in the treeline.
Corporal Mathis Till, bleeding out within the casket of his Rakke’, was alive but critical. It fell to Sergeant Ingo Lovis to fend off waves of Unitas troopers while conveying Corporal Till to their fallback: a low mesa south-southwest of Vald designated for emergency exfil via skyhook.
When Pact dropships broke atmo above Vald, Ingo’s zeo was dry on ammo. The sergeant was using his zeo’s battered frame to shield Corporal Till from the focused fire of three Unitas squads as he strapped the skyhook package to Till, timed the release with the approach of the dropships, and released the self-inflating balloon.
Rakke was snagged immediately and winched aboard. Ingo’s package did not deploy.
Aftermath
After a timely 3-hour surgery, Corporal Till survived his wounds.
Sergeant Ingo’s body, along with those of the rest of D Squad, were never recovered.
Enkhbatchi remains a Unitas stronghold. The whisper network Pact forces spent several years cultivating fell silent.
Several local journalists say their sources report that the Cortez Familia (operating from out-system exile on Whelm) are conducting cost-benefit analyses on the viability of continued liberation attempts.
