Alpha and Omega

or

Base Raiding: Take Two!

The time had come. Weapons had been polished and armor was cinched tight. Colors had been donned and strategies had been laid out. The time had come. There was battle in the air!

The next engagement had been planned and agreed upon. Alpha Team and the Debt Brigade would meet head to head in a re-match, this time the home field advantage would belong to Alpha Team. This time the Brigade would be going on the offensive.

And anyone who listens to us on Vent knows we get plenty offensive.

Ahem.

I am rather ashamed to admit that I was tardy in getting to the pre-raid meeting. Sorry Az, I will be on time next time, promise! I was delighted to see several new faces in the mix, a hearty welcome to Ebon Mauler and Rulltran for reasons that will quickly become clear in the narrative.

The clock wound to a close and the warnings were given. And then battle was had!

One of these days I'm going to remember to take some screenshots for posterity to record the glorious chaos that is a base raid. But Alpha Team can take great pride in the thought that they kept this poor little ice/mace tank far, far too busy to do anything but mash attack buttons, auto-fire a taunt and drop Energy Absorption when it was up.

And swear a little. Some. Ok, a lot but Az did it first!

Alpha Team took to the offensive right from the opening bell, pinning us down in an open hallway with withering firepower and, wait for it,

FWOOOOOP!

Our old friendly fire comrades Amia and Blackcircle, the bubblers. It was quite kind of them to give me a taste of the various walls and storage racks in the Alpha base. I would recommend some salt and lemon juice be left out as a courtesy to those of us left sucking brick so early in the game.

Barrages were volleyed back and forth and the various members of both teams leapt to and fro like frogs left on a hot plate. I started hammering out taunts early and managed to make quite a nuisance of myself. This notion was reineforced when I managed to make of the few trips past the Bubbler Barricade.

After one lucky Superjump and a swing or two to get some attention, I discovered a new game to play while I recuperate in Hibernate. It's called Count the effects icons on my screen. Alpha made it quite clear that I was offsides. I stopped counting at nineteen different icons crowding that corner of my monitor.

But then our secret weapon made quite a timely appearance by porting me out of the center of attention and into our own little circle of protection. There were more than a few cheers of having out very own bubbler and Rulltran is a well-appreciated addition to the Brigade.

I am not sure who first decided that the Alpha mediporter needed to go but Templar Fire Tank charging us from the rear of our formation may have had something to do with it with the decision. The search for anchors was temporarily sidelined as we proceeded to make junk of the offending piece of equipment.

In more than one occasion, I found myself in the middle of a taunt phalanx with Makin' Debt and the Ebon Mauler. We would wind up in the same tile, fire off one or two taunts and split like scalded rabbits, dragging all kinds of tank-generated hate our way.

I do have to say that I spent far less time hearing the dreaded FWOOOP! in this raid. I am unsure if this was due to us being more coordinated or Alpha having to deal with an offending bubbler on the receiving end.

But I know which one I would like it to be...

My personal high point in the raid came not long after we had found and demolished the third anchor. Once again, I had been shunted off into the corner like a naughty brat by Amia and I started scrolling through my power trays looking for something to try. And I found something long neglected in a dusty corner of my arsenal. Something I took off a defeated Freakshow Juicer so long ago. I sheathed my mace, blew dust off the barrel, sighted and popped Amia with a stunning beanbag.

HOLY HANNAH! IT WORKED! BUBBLER STUNNED! It was here that my roommate finally decided to see what the hell I was cackling about. I attempted to explain, she patted me on the head and I leapt back into the fray.

Many a blow was traded before the clock finally had its way with us all. In the end we had taken three anchors and were in the process of eradicating two more, but it was not to be. Once again I want to offer a note of genuine thanks to every member of Alpha Team for a being a great sport in our raiding. The sense of good fun and rousing competition makes these get-togethers a real treat and something to really look forward to.

And another three cheers for all my companions, old and new, in the Debt Brigade. It is always a blast running around with you all and I look forward to more adventure with you all in the future.

As always, your humble ice/mace chronicler bids you good hunting!

Meg