Re: Ascension – A Community Development

Commander, please find below the latest reports from the field, in plain English as advised.

5th Battalion, Regiments 1, 3 and 5 – Hong Kong Island: The advance force has captured a foothold on Hong Kong Island. Defenses have been stabilized in:
Admiralty
Wan Chai
Stanley
Victoria Peak
Wan Tsui
Repulse Bay
Chai Wan.
We have also established a foothold at three points on Lantau Island, and have secured Chek Lap Kok International Airport. Alpha Phase Tactical Unit 3A are to desecrate Lantau Island’s Buddha Monument at 1730 hours as ordered.

There remains only one fortification left to secure; unfortunately we lost a unit in Times Square, Causeway Bay. It appears one of our combat platforms, CPL Richard T. Henare – ASC M.11506.EMK, 5th Fleet Battalion, has gone rogue. Platform LCPL Scott E. J. Malcolm – ASC M.15529.DFS, also of 5th Fleet attempted to apprehend the rogue, however Henare’s feed was destroyed in the progress. His whereabouts and status are unknown. Any attempts to recover his beacon have thus far failed, however it is unlikely he would be able to shut it down himself. Units from Wan Chai are currently being diverted to investigate, and LCPL Malcolm has reported to Frigate Undaunted 17G for interrogation and debrief. Interrogation is in process, but recovered audio from CPL Henare’s feed before termination indicates that Squad Leader CPL Thomas F. Townsend ASC O.00955.HLM had been involved in a physical altercation with an unidentified female, to which CPL Henare intervened, resulting in CPL Townsend’s apparent death. A technical error has stalled the process of video retrieval from LCPL Malcolm’s EPL implant, but his testimony and the restored data content should provide further details in the coming hours.
3rd Battalion are moving to retake Causeway Bay as we speak.

Fifth Battalion, 7th Regiment – Kowloon: 7th Regiment have started their assault on Kowloon, but resistance is heavy and our casualties are growing. So far, reported engagements with MT-VS7 users appear to be lower than expected across the campaign, but, as reported previously there seem to be an unusually high concentration in Tsim Sha Tsui. 7th Regiment have sustained the loss of four full squads to two natives who appear to be father and daughter. They are currently entangled in a standoff at the Peninsula Hotel. The father seems to exhibit an alchemistic ability, as units have reported sighting strange manipulations of various materials. The daughter appears to move incredibly fast, which may imply advanced speed, teleportation or time manipulation. Walker Unit 847-L are en-route across Victoria Harbor, but if the pair here hold out against them we may need to look at more severe methods.

Status Readout
Total deployment as at Day Two, 1200hrs
1,280 total Ground Troops
16 Walker Units
7 Capital-Class Battle Cruisers
16 Frigates
A further 8 Capital-Class Cruisers are awaiting confirmation for deployment off the coast of Manila. Intended travel time upon confirmation: 3 hours. Total 1,500 additional troops.

Aside from cases mentioned, we have faced little resistance so far:
Confirmed civilian casualties: 28,667
Confirmed Military and Defense casualties: 3,433
Total Ascension Forces casualties: 47, with two unconfirmed casualties and Grade 3 or higher damages to 188 troops.

We have determined 61 instances of contact with MT-VS7 practitioners.
48 confirmed captured, (40 of which were detained in the hours prior to the invasion transferred to the Overwatch Project.)
6 confirmed kills
7 evaded captivity.
Naturally, these engagements are expected to increase.
Facilities at Overwatch are currently on lock-down due to what I am only told is an anomaly, so any remaining captives are being assessed for malleability or scheduled for execution at respective Defense Barricades.

While the engagement numbers remain low, 46 of the 47 casualties sustained have been at the hands of MT-VS7s. In one instance it is reported a young foreign female eliminated an entire squad single-handedly. Intelligence suggests sheer numbers may be the best solution until Advanced units are ready for deployment, but the humidity is continually interfering with our communications, leading to delays of up to a minute in transmissions, a window of time which presents too great an opportunity for hostiles to pick our units off before help can arrive.

On a brighter note, Beta Phase Advance Class Unit AM12 in Monaco should be ready for deployment in 13 days, totaling 11,035 fully trained and upgraded units. Reports confirm Hong Kong, Kowloon, the New Territories and the Chinese Border are on track to be secured in three days. Project Overshadow will commence immediately following, to hold a state of martial law until Beta Phase arrives, in preparation for Mainland assault. European Research Division has confirmed your request to increase dosage of FF-94 to all Beta Phase units, and to sterilize all male units to ensure dependency. Comm upgrades should allow for swifter transfer of data, which should negate the backup issues we have been facing while encountering MT-VS7s.

Always on the up,
IDT F. M. Davros, Alpha Phase Supervision Unit 327-B