I like this one. Evocative setting and narrative, and the special mechanics sound fun. In particular, the Stories seem like a neat opportunity to kitbash some funky models (or finally find a purpose for that one thing you painted for no reason ages ago).
The 'growth' theme is definitely there on the narrative side, but it isn't really supported by any concrete mechanics (mind, this is only relevant in the context of the jam; it wouldn't actually make me enjoy the mission any less if I went and played it).
My only balance concern is that the objectives centered around model survival might cause some issues, since OPR unit design is balanced around the assumption that surviving isn't the end goal — for example, you can keep Ambush models safe by only deploying them on the last round, and activation count becomes much less important when listbuilding (at least for the Seekers) so you can dump a lot of points into expensive but very powerful models.