VOTOMS
THE GRATTAN CAMPAIGN
PART 3- TARTARUS RAID

This page continues the chronological log of our Second Votoms Campaign.

7212.09.30 - A.T. LIGHTER "ABEL" 

Mick Wansboro, A.T. pilot and asteroid miner, has been captured by the Gilgamesh ship "Abel" and is being held prisoner under suspicion of military espionage.  Major Perdas Grane has arranged for the installation of a new technology, a special "collar" system that can shock or even kill Mick Wansboro.   If he attempts to escape, fails to follow the commands of a superior officer, or allows (or causes) a superior officer to be injured or killed, the collar will inflict retribution.  With his loyalty thus assured, Mick is assigned to a special team of A.T. Pilots.    Mick Wansboro is ordered in particular to protect Sgt. Randol, son of General Kolf Randol.  The team's mission: recover stolen Gilgamesh Gold from unknown forces occupying the Undercity of Tartarus, on planet Grattan below.

(L to R): Major Perdas Grane (ship's officer), Mick Wansboro (Flamer equipped Marshydog), Maxim Hiflen (Standing Turtle), Burt Buton (Marshydog), Sgt. Randol (Marshydog), and Lt. Odiah (operations officer).



7212.10.01 - TARTARUS UNDERCITY, PLANET GRATTAN

Following Lt. Odiah's orders, Sgt. Randol leads the team  as their shuttle sets down outside Tartarus, a massive decaying city built in layers on top of itself.  The lower levels are a flooded maze of canals and sewers.



As the team progresses deeper into the tunnels, Burt Buton finds the unsanitary conditions particularly disturbing.   Suddenly, a grubby underworld ganger runs screaming out of a side tunnel, pursued by swarms of giant ratlike creatures!


The team opens fire on the swarms of vile creatures.  Mick drives the bulk of them off with cleansing fire, and Burt beats off an aggressive swarm of them before they can chew their way into his cockpit.  The thankless ganger runs off in a panic.


The team proceed ever deeper into the murky depths of the city.  Burt tries to stay out of the grimy water as the rest of the team sloshes forward in their water resistant ATs.  But around the next corner, an ambush awaits...


Two "Brutishdog" A.T.s belonging to the "Stray Dog" gang ambush the unwelcome intruders!  One equipped with a Long Gun takes aim at the Sergeant...  Mick realizes if the Sergeant is killed, his collar will likely kill him too- and he dives at the Sergeant, knocking him out of the line of fire just in time!   The other Stray Dog A.T. fires its gatling cannon at Burt, knocking his Marshydog into the water and damaging it.  Foul water pours in through the holes...  Maxim submerges, surfacing his Standing Turtle up close in an attempt to grab the deadly Brutishdog, but it escapes, the two Stray Dog units disappearing into the darkness as quickly as they had appeared.


The squad proceeds without further incident though.  The Vault containing the stolen gold should be directly overhead...  Maxim blows out the ceiling with a burst of rocket fire, and the massive safe crashes down through the hole, narrowly missing the other squad members.  The safe bursts open on impact, sending a shower of gold into the sewer and all about the place.  The team begin scooping the gold into their AT cockpits, plus any empty containers they can find in the surrounding undercity debris.


But apparently the vault was guarded- two Zwerg light ATs drop down through the hole in the ceiling, claiming the gold is the property of Corbo Zanz, a weapons maker who has grown rich by supplying the Gilgamesh army throughout the endless war.  Could Lieutenant Odiah been wrong about the gold?   Too late to question orders, the team returns fire, blowing up one of the Zwergs and fleeing from the other with their cockpits full of gold...


But as the team flees the scene, they are set upon once again by the Stray Dogs!  Joined by a Boxing Dog AT, the stray dogs demand the team give up their gold, but the Gilgamesh soldiers answer with firepower.  Even Sgt. Randol, who had been less than useful up until now, lands some hits on the ambushing ATs, who are driven off after sustaining heavy damage.


The team follows the sewer to where it exits Tartarus Undercity.  But when they surface, they find a cruel surprise waiting for them-  a squad of Military Police ATs that hold them at gunpoint!   Leading them is none other than Lt. Odiah, who identifies the team as "renegade soldiers who acted on their own, possibly working with the infamous Stray Dog gang".    This betrayal suggests that the gold did indeed belong to Corbo Zanz...   The team is taken into custody, but the gold is never seen again.


On to Part 4!

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