Brief:
Clear the Temple of the Lightgiver (a former Satanist temple) now occupied by a large criminal gang.

Opposition:
Estimated platoon strength, some ground vehicles but little in the way of heavy weapons.

IFU Forces:
30 GF-equipped (including 20 marine trained, and Marine Armour in supply in case of having to enter confined spaces) plus 3 IFU directors (self, May, Smithson) as officers. 4 of the GF had HE missile fits as support.

Approach:
May and Smithson each took a squad of 11 GF troopers in a two-pronged approach. I hung back with an HQ squad consisting of myself, the 4 support troopers and an additional trooper.

One of the troopers volunteered to lead a diversionary approach along the main track, posing as local police/milita, including themselves (in GF armour) and 2 troopers in Marine Armour in a police APC. The aim would be to draw the enemy to the front of the building as we attacked the rear.

The vehicle was challenged by a 'police' roadblock (either bought local police or gangsters dressed as police), but pressed on through with an exchange of small arms, arriving at the main gate and engaging in a firefight with defenders as planned. Missile support brought a swift end to defenders here and all enemy vehicles were neutralised.
The two assault squads moved quickly towards the walls of the temple, but as one of Smithson's group stepped into a clearing for a sighting shot of the top of the temple, an anti-personnel device in the clearing was detonated, bringing him down.
Fire began coming from an autocannon in the main dome of the temple, but this was swiftly silenced. More fire came from the walls, including SCA fire from Marine armour-equipped personnel, but again sustained SLA3 fire and missile support brought these down quickly.
At this point a flyer emerged from the temple, and in spite of sustained fire by all units managed to evade away. Following this the remaining defenders in the Temple quickly surrendered.

Casualties:
Us; 1 (suit kill only)
Them; 5 pirates killed/captured, 12 militia and corrupt police downed, another several captured.
Also recovered; 4 suits Marine armour, 7 SAMs and 2 launchers, 6 SCAs, sundry assault rifles.
A considerable quantity of illegal narcotics was recovered, which were turned over to the principal.
Also found were illegal AI chips, which I supervised the destruction of.
Expenditure: 16 missiles were used.

Escaped:
Subsequent interrogation of the pirates revealed that the flyer had been an unmanned decoy, and that the gang leaders (El Grande and the Volcano Twins) had escaped via a secret tunnel along with half a dozen men (mostly pirates).

Comments;
It's a source of some minor irritation to me that we didn't know they had a flyer and so were not better prepared to deal with it. Although as it turns out it wouldn't have mattered much anyway. Missing the secret tunnel was a more major oversight on my part, although it's hard to see how we could have effectively swept the area prior to an assault without tipping off the defenders to our presence, and we did not have enough personnel to form a complete encirclement of the Temple in any event, so some could still have slipped away. On the whole I hope that the principal feels
that they received reasonable value for money.

Lt Col Masumi Minogue, IFU.

To IFU Directors
From Melanie May
Subject : Lucifer's Hammer - AAR Supplemental

Director Minogue was in charge of this operation on Z155. Alpha Corporation and local authorities
briefed IFU on the gangsters, and the previous, unsuccessful operations by local militia against the
temple. The militia had reportedly driven to the temple, along the track through the jungle, until
they were ambushed, whereupon they skedaddled.

Minogue discussed the operation with Smithson and myself. We borrowed an armoured police vehicle to use as a diversion. The main body of the IFU team landed by shuttle, out of sight in the high ground, within 2 km of the temple, and then advanced tactically. The vehicle with three volunteer crew drove toward the temple along the jungle track. They met a police roadblock which opened fire, but the vehicle pressed on to the target, at which time the main body was approaching the opposite side of the temple.

After a rapid firefight the gangsters surrendered.
The IFU had one casualty, slightly wounded, whilst ten or a dozen enemy were hit. There were five
"pirates" captured, who had deployed in marine armour with SCAs. A flyer fled the temple unscathed by the IFU fire, and the chief gangster escaped via a tunnel. A cache of illegal drugs was captured and passed to the local authorities. AI chips were also found, which we destroyed. IFU took possession of the gangsters's weapons including marine armour, SCAs and shoulder launched AA missiles.

Director Minogue will report on any follow-up action.