Operation Report – Combat Patrol Athira
Objective: Sweep the town of Athira, Locate and destroy a fuel truck, locate and destroy ammo truck, extract.
Friendly Forces: NATO Recon Combat Patrol (Alpha)
Enemy Forces: CSAT
Alpha deployed just south of Athira under the cover of sparse hedgerows and low walls. The fireteam composition was tight:
CannonFodder – Team Leader
JJw01 – Engineer
Nucle – Drone Operator (AR-2 Darter support)
Toasty – Marksman
Jelly – Automatic Rifleman
The first act was quiet professionalism. Nucle set the AR-2 circling high above, its camera relaying the tell-tale signatures of enemy patrols scattered through the town’s side streets. The drone’s eye marked contacts, and Alpha hugged cover, slipping north toward the crossroad west of town. The objective was clear: move undetected, gather intel, and prepare to press into Athira proper.
The silence didn’t last.
Crossing into the outskirts, Alpha occupied a sturdy house overlooking the MSR into Athira. From there, the team’s patience was rewarded — a CSAT patrol stepped into view, unaware of the hunters waiting for them. Alpha’s opening volley cut the patrol down in seconds, but their shots echoed through the town.
Athira came alive. Side streets stirred with enemy movement. Distant calls and boot falls carried through alleyways. Alpha knew they had seconds before CSAT boxed them in. With little choice, the order came quick and sharp: push east.
Moving from cover to cover, they advanced cautiously but with urgency, eyes darting to every alley. The streets grew hostile, danger pressing closer with every step, but Alpha held formation. The patrol was dead, but the city was awake — and the mission had truly begun.
As Alpha pushed further east, the streets began to constrict. The AR-2 overhead painted a grim picture: CSAT fireteams converging, cutting off side routes and hemming Alpha into the heart of Athira. Contact was sharp and sudden — gunfire cracked from windows, and shadows shifted behind ruined walls.
Alpha broke into a courtyard, immediately exchanging fire on all sides. Outnumbered and at risk of being overrun, JJw01 pulled smoke grenades and blanketed their flanks, the white haze swallowing up the hostile advance. The squad moved with precision, dragging themselves into the cover of a two-story house. Inside, rifles were reloaded, wounds were patched, and the walls trembled under the pounding fire outside.
For the moment, the team had air to breathe, but it was clear — Athira had become a cage.
The shelter turned into a fortress. CSAT riflemen tried to push up side alleys, probing for weaknesses, while the drone circling above relayed every move to Alpha. Through the haze and debris, Alpha held firm, trading bursts of fire through windows and doorways.
But even in defence, the strain showed. Jelly, the Automatic Rifleman, collapsed in the midst of the exchange — wounds too deep to ignore. The team dragged him inside, the medkits and steady hands working desperately until his eyes opened again. Every second spent in the house drew more attention.
Above, the unmistakable buzz of CSAT drones confirmed what Alpha already knew: they were being watched, scouted, and tracked. Staying put meant death.
Alpha rallied, pushing out west toward the church. Gunfire still bit at their heels, and the open streets seemed to whisper with unseen enemies. But the choice was clear — either move and fight, or be buried in the rubble.
Reaching the church, Alpha found no sanctuary — only another battlefield. As they pushed into the courtyard, CSAT fire rained down from hidden positions. The AR-2 overhead caught glimpses of muzzle flashes buried in the alleys, but the enemy blended into the wreckage too well.
Inside the church, Alpha hunkered down. CannonFodder and JJw01 launched 40mm grenades into suspected firing lines, the concussive blasts silencing ambushes before they could spring. Smoke rounds were fired just as liberally, blinding enemy advances and buying precious seconds.
The pews became cover. The altar, a barricade. Each corner held death if Alpha faltered. Yet still, they held.
But the church was no place to linger. With CSAT drones circling above and rifle fire echoing closer, the team knew their sanctuary had turned into a trap.
Alpha broke from the church, slipping through the northeast alleys. Every shadow carried danger, every window another barrel waiting to cut them down. As they advanced, the first objective came into view — the Typhoon Fuel Truck, its black bulk tucked in plain sight.
CSAT infantry tried to lock down the approach, but this time Alpha struck first. Nucle, steady behind his scope, cut down a fireteam caught in the open. CannonFodder followed with suppressive bursts, pinning survivors long enough for JJw01 to close the distance.
Explosives weren’t needed — precision charges and light ordnance were enough. The truck ignited, flames leaping skyward as shrapnel scattered into the street. The first task was done, and the message was clear: Alpha had teeth, and Athira would burn with them inside.
The destruction of the fuel truck lit up the town — both literally and metaphorically. The plume of black smoke drew every hostile eye to Alpha’s position. With the AR-2 still tracking hostile movement, it was clear CSAT wasn’t retreating; they were closing in.
Pinned between alleys and streets choked with enemy patrols, Alpha knew standing still meant death. They surged north, weaving through abandoned buildings, rifles barking in short, punishing bursts. Each doorway was contested, each corner another ambush waiting to spring.
The church was now behind them, but Athira wasn’t letting go easily. Grenades bounced down side streets, fragments tearing walls as the fireteam pushed forward, stubborn and unbroken.
The enemy was pressing from all directions, but Alpha had learned to thrive in chaos. Step by step, room by room, they carved a path through the pressure.
Their push north brought them face to face with the second objective — the Typhoon Ammo Truck. Buried between industrial lots near the factory, it was guarded by overlapping fields of fire. Getting to it meant tearing through a hornet’s nest.
Alpha didn’t hesitate. JJw01 lobbed a grenade downrange, its detonation scattering defenders from their cover. Toasty’s marksman fire cut down those who lingered, while Nucle and Jelly poured automatic fire into the chaos.
Closing the final distance, JJw01 moved in under covering fire. His EGLM thumped once, the HE round slamming into the truck. The explosion ripped it apart, ammunition cooking off in a chain of thunderclaps that shook the factory walls.
The second truck was gone. Two objectives down. The town still seethed with hostiles, but Alpha had ripped out the heart of CSAT’s supply line in Athira.
With both the fuel and ammo trucks destroyed, Alpha’s mission was technically complete — but Athira was still alive with hostile fire. Sporadic bursts cracked down streets and alleys as CSAT scrambled to contain the chaos.
Moving out from the blast zone, Alpha cut through a cluster of occupied houses, clearing them one by one. Each breach was sharp and brutal — grenades, door-kicks, and sudden violence. By the time they regrouped on the far side, the objectives were burning behind them.
Their supply lines crippled, CSAT poured more infantry into the town. The drone overhead spotted movement, fireteams closing fast. Alpha had dealt their blow — now came the escape.
The buzz of engines overhead signalled a new threat: a Yabhon-R3 fixed-wing UAV, circling above like a predator. Its cameras swept the streets, locking Alpha’s position. Staying put was no longer an option.
The team broke east, pushing through lighter resistance. CannonFodder called smoke to screen their movement across open ground, green plumes hissing into the wind as JJw01 and Jelly bounded through the haze. CSAT fire probed the smoke blindly, but Alpha slipped through, regrouping beyond the kill zone.
Every man carried fresh scrapes and wounds, but the fireteam was still intact. Athira was burning behind them, objectives destroyed, and Alpha was already moving to the next fight.
With smoke still drifting behind them, Alpha pushed hard to the south. Sporadic fire chased them through the outskirts, but none of it was enough to slow their pace. The fireteam cleared a fuel station on their route, silencing light resistance in a quick, decisive exchange.
The south road opened up before them, a path out of Athira at last. The AR-2 tracked scattered enemy patrols trying to reposition, but Alpha stayed one step ahead, weaving between cover and using speed as their shield.
At the edge of town, CannonFodder called the exfil. One final bound, then another — and they were clear.
Alpha had completed their sweep and destroyed both supply trucks. Outnumbered, under constant drone surveillance, and fighting through Athira’s streets, the fireteam emerged battered but unbroken. No fatalities, all objectives complete.
Aftermath – Combat Patrol: Athira
Alpha’s sweep of Athira was a success, but it was earned through fire and attrition.
The fireteam pushed in undermanned, immediately marked by drones, and harassed from every side by hidden riflemen and patrols. The town responded with force, funnelling Alpha into close-quarters engagements that threatened to collapse their momentum more than once. Jelly’s collapse, the courtyard firefight, and the bloody defence of the church all served as reminders that Athira was no simple sweep.
And yet, Alpha endured. Through discipline, smoke, and the watchful eye of Nucle’s AR-2, they carved a path through the town’s heart. The fuel truck went up first, reduced to fire and twisted metal. The ammo truck followed soon after, detonated in a blast that echoed across the streets and crippled CSAT’s supply lines in the sector.
Even under the eye of the Yabhon-R3 UAV, Alpha refused to be pinned. They fought their way south, cleared a fuel station, and exfiltrated intact. No fatalities, all objectives complete — proof of a squad that knew how to fight against the odds.
Athira burned behind them, its CSAT garrison shaken and its supply arteries cut. Alpha marched out not as survivors, but as victors, their mission accomplished in full.
You can see the full play by play here