To the Freelancers surprise the Charleston Raid was aborted early. They were, however not complaining since they were being compensated for the early termination of the contract. (The xmas bonus)
Any plans to extend their stay on the dusty planet were forgotten as word came that Omni itself was under attack. Boosting off from Charleston went off without incident, the Garrison was pleased to see the mercs go and did nothing to slow their departure.
While the mercs were busy on Charleston, the Omni Jumpships have had ample time to draw power for the trip home. As these operations go, it was remarkably quick. It was obvious that the Omni natives were eager to be away to see what the status was on Omni. The jump was made within the hour of the Freelancer's dropships docking.
The jump to Omni was equally brief, and dropships were quickly undocked to burn for planetfall. News from the planet was not good. While the Freelancers were on Charleston the Taurian Concordat have executed operations to take Omni.
Olympus, the Omni space traffic station was still functional but broadcasting warnings to turn commercial traffic away from a planet at war. The only traffic cleared for approach were Concordat dropships.
The news wasnt all bad, Omni's 101st Airwing, contested the airspace. The X-6 LAMs flew shifts to direct Omni reinforcements.
"
It's good to see you Freelancers.
I only wish that the news i could offer you was better. The Concordat evidently have been planning this invasion for some time. Minutes after Olympus fell, Concordat Mechs were making Planetfall. Commercial dropships that were suppose to be loaded with heavy equipment destined for distribution elsewhere in the Periphery were exposed to be hauling conventional support.
Honestly it's not looking good, but planetside, there are still knots of resistance."
A tight beam transmission is made to the Freelancers with information on the situation planet side.
"You can do the most good dropping straight into battle. At the moment the conflict hasnt moved beyond Eden, but it's just a matter of time.
The Eden Spaceport is firmly in Concordat hands. If we can contest it and disrupt operations there it would stall reinforcements and buy us some breathing space to organize resistance to their occupation. You wont be able to hold the spaceport but you'll certainly catch their attention if you drop there, forcing them to divert units to deal with you. (
Game Note: This is the only mission that will allow you to find a place to have a dropship land gaining you access to conventional units to deploy, and potentially use for the mission, most notably Unit Transports.)
The heavy fighting at the Space Port is over, but there's still fighting going on in the city. Pockets of resistance are stalling their advance and buying time for high profile resources to be cleared out. We have assets on the ground that could use help dealing with the Concordat. The situation is very chaotic and i couldnt say for certain what you were dropping into. (
Game Note: You've played enough mission where the objective was to destroy static buildings, in this one, your job is to protect them from Op Force looking to destroy them. Omni Conventional units are in the area to assist.)
The Eden Military Academy. We havent been able to send help there, but the training cadres, have been making an effort to stall the Concordat's advances to take the school. It's a storehouse of tech and talent that needs to be protected. They've been fighting a holding action to buy time for transports to clear out as much equipment as possible, and clear out as much staff as possible. (
Game Note: There will be several Omni Transports that are being loaded, that the Mercs will need to protect from an aggressive Concordat effort to capture or at least prevent from escaping. A few Cadets in power loaders are on the ground to assist.)