After getting my head a bit banged up last time out I agreed with Lt Col
Silverado to relinquish overall command to him for a couple of days while I
popped some painkillers, and demoted myself to group commander. Everything
seemed to go pretty smoothly - a dinner here, a reception there - until
almost the last day of the contract.

We were pulling routine guard patrols at the Van Moisten mansion - three
Groups of six, commanded by myself, Major Buck, and Sergeant MacDuff.
Bennie Parker was monitoring the security systems, and Lt Col Silverado was
O/C. We had one Group in the house itself; one operative on the roof, two
patrolling the balcony around the ballroom, and three shadowing Van M. Two
cars, each with three personnel from the second Group, patrolled the
perimiter. The last group were off duty in the servants' quarters, with the
Mission Liaison and Simpkins, our bomb disposal whizzkid. We had a car by
the servants' quarters and a flyer standing by on the helipad. The groups
rotated on an 8-hour shift system.
The last attack started as a group of drugged up people began gathering
around the main gate - 15 or so. One patrol car stopped to assist the two
Van Moisten security people at the gate, but Tony and I agreed that this
was an obvious distraction, and so we kept our eyes open for the next wave.
Frank Buck's group were on perimeter at the time, I was on house duty, and
MacDuff's group were off duty.
Anyway, as the druggies - with pipes and rocks and sticks and knives -
started swimming the 'moat' and heading for the gate, we started deploying
non-lethals; teargas, stun grenades etc. But then there were simultaneous
explosions on the other three sides of the perimeter, smokescreens, and
then another 30 or so of these punks rushed the mansion - a dozen from each
direction.
At that point we opened fire from the house and brought a few down. Frank
Buck and two of his guys were right next to one incursion and made short
work of them, and MacDuff and co ran for the house from the servants'
quarters and engaged with the hostiles outside the house. It turned out
some of them had guns, so there was a brief firefight, but these guys were
just streetgangs - not really up to the job against a dozen ex-Marines.

However, at that point Bennie Parker reported that there were some
intruders in the house. They were apparently pretty competent, and moving
fast. I grabbed Van M and bundled her to the ballroom, which we had
designated as a refuge, with my entire Group, apart from Thorkel, my old
sergeant from Hela regiment, who was a pilot and had gone out to warm up
the flyer, which was our agreed escape route. Unfortunately, it turned out
that it had been tampered with, so I ordered him back into the house asap
to join me in the ballroom.
MacDuff's group, having dealt with some of the punks outside, converged on
the lobby, along with Tony S, who was coming down from the roof, where he
had been observing the situation. Unfortunately, Tony and Sgt MacDuff were
both tagged and went down. The next thing I know, there are these
streetgang guys coming from one direction into the ballroom, and when we
have dealt with them, I turn around and see that Van Moisten's two personal
bodyguards (not Old Guard people) are both down. At this point Frank Buck
drives one of the armoured limos up the front steps and into the lobby, so
that we can use it to escape, and then HE gets tagged as well. There are
apparently three of the opposition - all veteran Marines, it seems; they
sneaked in through a sewer pipe into the basement. And they are moving
faster than us. MacDuff's group downs one in the lobby, but now two are in
the ballroom, and we are all blazing away. Chalky goes down, so does one of
them. Suddenly it's just me and Thorkel now, trying to act as human shields
in front of Van M, and this last guy is close enough to touch. That's when
I get shot and go down, but thankfully the rest of my guys stop this last
one, and it's over.

Fortunately Bennie had called the cops and ambulances, and so we were all
cas-evaced. We took seven down overall; me, Tony, MacDuff, Frank Buck,
Chalky and a couple of other grunts. No fatalities, I think. Myself and
Frank were just flesh wounds; a lot of blood but it looked worse than it
was. Tony was a bit more serious, but he'll pull through.

Anyway, a group of us were talking afterwards, and we decided that risking
our necks like this just for a salary for an outfit like Old Guard was
strictly for the birds. Now hear this - Van Moisten had been quite
impressed with us, and actually handed out some personal bonuses to a bunch
of us who had particularly impressed her [all of the player characters
except Komarov, who has been in hospital for most of the mission]. Most
people got 10,000 creds, but for whatever reason - maybe for running some
of the operations, but probably for walking into a bullet for her at the
end there - she gave me 50,000. Needless to say, this caused some bad
feeling among some of the men. Well, Tony S, mostly, who argued it was my
moral duty to pass it around to everyone else.
Sure, Tony, just like you'll be giving up your 10,000 to all of the other
guys who didn't get a bonus, like Komarov and Nobby and Chalky and Simpkins
the Bomb Disposal Guy.

Anyway, since a few of us have got some money now (and Komarov is aboard
since he was pretty flush already, it seems - he's just too tight to spend
anything I think), so we've decided to form our own company. Interstellar
Freelance Unlimited (Ltd). Frank has drawn up articles of association,
which we're all pretty much agreed with, and guess what - we're all
directors, and at our first board meeting we voted Gunny Smith Smithson as
Managing Director, since he's got all of this admin and legal experience.
Congrats Smithy - now we'll all know who to blame! A Wolfer guy someone
knows is helping out with admin, since none of us (apart from Smithson -
and probably Tony S) know anything about admin. We're all pitching in
10,000 creds as starting funds. I may pitch in 20,000 if Tony stops
sulking. And no, I won't ask for a double share.

Sounds great. Now all we need are some missions.

Masumi Minogue (Chu-sa, retd)
Director of IFU