Naughty and Nice

Initially, the riots on Keid were very intense, but the Company was able to avoid any serious casualties to their own units or to the protesters. A show of force when necessary was usually enough to break up the most dangerous situations.

After two months, the rage of the protesters started to die out and turnout at marches and rallies steadily ticked downward. By early December, the rioting was all but over and the Company could breathe a little easier.

On the last week of the contract, Duchess Arice Hunsen, the newly installed planetary ruler, invited both Colonel Ferrer and the Comstar Precentor to her estate for a Christmas Eve dinner party. Although Colonel Ferrer was concerned that this show of support for the Comstar Precentor might re-ignite tensions, he agreed to go. He did however insist that the Duchess accept his own troops as a security detail for the party.

The dinner party was barely through appetizers when a ragtag group of guerilla fighters descended on the estate from all directions. These were no ordinary protestors. They were well-armed, although not well-trained, and clearly had violence on their mind. Colonel Ferrer gave his troops the green light to use all necessary force as he escorted the party-goers to the palace safe room in the basement.

After-Action Report

The Company infantry were outnumbered more than five to one, but they had better equipment, better training, and the fire support of four armored personnel carriers, not to mention a Zhukov tank. Splitting their forces, they met the incoming guerillas in the woods and played a cat and mouse game. Using the superior range of the heavy weapons on their mechanized squads, they were able to bleed the oncoming guerillas. When the APCs and Zhukov arrived to provide fire support, the fight quickly turned into a rout. The Company did not give pursuit, instead securing the perimeter and calling in back-up.

In the aftermath of the fight, Colonel Ferrer learned that shortly before the attack the local spaceport controller had noticed an emergence wave at a pirate point close to the planet. Several drive flares were captured burning toward the system from this pirate point. However, with the failure of the apparent assassination attempt, the drive flares reversed course and returned to the pirate point. Local aerospace forces reached the pirate point several days later, but found nothing. The identity of the attacker is unknown, but Comstar believed that it was either the Word of Blake or someone in the employ of the Word of Blake.

Clearly, things were not back to normal on Keid. However, the Company’s contract was at an end. They enjoyed a well-earned Christmas feast and boosted off the planet five days later.