Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Battle for the Armory

One by one, the three-meter-tall queens forced their way into the tight corridor. The 40 zerglings were right behind them. As long as the queens could escort the zerglings to the other end of the corridor, the zerglings could teach the human defenders a harsh lesson with their teeth and claws. The previous skirmishes in the base have proven that infantry soldiers in Guardian-class armors didn't stand a chance against zerglings once the zerglings closed the distance. 

On the other side, Captain Hanson was taken back a little by the sight of the queens. Where did this new type of xenomorph come from? Were they the commanders of the smaller xenomorphs? If it was a scientist of the IRA here, they would want to capture a living sample at all costs, but Captain Hanson wasn’t a researcher. He was a soldier who really wanted to live, and his response to this new type of xenomorph was the same as his response to the original type.

“Open fire! Blast these monsters!”

The two rebels behind the Eradicator acted without hesitation. They have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. One of the rebel soldiers pulled the trigger, sending a storm of bullets at the queens in the hallway. Beside him, the chain of ammo from the ammo box quickly started disappearing.

As soon as the roar of the Eradicator broke out, the first queen in the corridor screeched in pain as hundreds of bullets punched through her carapace and left countless giant holes in her body. These bullets had so much penetration power that many of them, after going through the first queen, proceeded to bury themselves in the second queen. 

Within two seconds, the first queen was killed, her body torn into pieces by the intense firepower. Athena didn't even have the time to return the queen into the game, nor did the other queens have the time to transfuse the first queen. 

“Eradicators.” Athena frowned, recognizing the weapon. She knew her company had at least one Eradicator reserved for special situations where extreme firepower was needed. This was one such case. 

As durable as queens were against automatic rifles, they weren’t really combat units. If she had a squad of roaches or terran marines and marauders here, things would fare a lot better and she wouldn’t need to use a support unit as a tank. As of now, she had to make do with the queens. 

As she was going through her thoughts, the battle was still going on. After the first queen was killed, her body was still in the hallway. It would stay there for a while before disappearing as the bodies of all Starcraft units do. The second queen continued advancing by pushing the body of the first queen forward as a meat shield. The machine gunners kept firing, but after going through the meat shield, their bullets had trouble doing significant damage to the second queen. 

Behind the second queen, the third queen paused before suddenly expelling a thick substance onto the injuries of the first queen. Covered by this substance, the damaged flesh and carapace of the second queen quickly started regenerating. 

“What the…” Adrianna, who had been clenching her flamethrower and watching the battle, felt her hands shaking. This new type of much larger xenomorph was terrifying enough, but the fact that they didn't seem to be at all intimidated by casualties and the machine gun…how could they ever beat an enemy like this?

Beside her, Captain Hanson snapped to the four troopers beside him carrying RPGs. 

“Get in there! We can’t allow them to close the distance!”

The four troopers obeyed. First, two of them made their way beside the machine gunners, aimed their RPG at the approaching queen corpse, and pulled the trigger. As soon as two rockets left the weapons, they were replaced by the other two troopers, who did the same thing. 

The four consecutive explosions hit the first queen. These rockets, designed for anti-tank purposes, blew what was left of the queen’s massive body into small pieces and injured the second queen. Without the cover, the second queen, already hit by the blasts, was quickly ravaged by machine gun bullets.

Before the rebels could celebrate the kill, they were horrified to see that the queens were still advancing. In fact, they have almost gone halfway through the corridor. Captain Hanson couldn’t see the zerglings behind the queens, but he didn't need to be a genius tactician to know that they were there, ready to charge through any gap in the defenses and decimate the defenders.

There was a scream, and one of the machine gunners collapsed. A one-meter-long spine went right through his chest. It quickly became clear he was beyond saving.

Using the second queen as cover, the third queen found an opportunity while advancing to reach out from behind the meat shield and fire an acidic spine at the rebels. 

The xenomorphs had ranged units? The thought flashed through Captain Hanson’s head for a second before he quickly barked an order. 

“Maintain suppressive fire! Don’t give them an opening. RPGs! Where are the damn RPGs?”

“We are still reloading! Shit! Who the hell designed these things?” One of the rebels replied, sweat dripping down his forehead as he tried to reload his shoulder-mounted RPG with the help of several other rebels. These rebel soldiers knew how to reload RPGs, but they have never done so under so much pressure. Even a second of delay could get all of them mauled to death by the monsters outside. But the more they hurried, the more mistakes they made. 

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In the corridor, the queens were still advancing. The Eradicator was being fired by the secondary gunner. After pulling the trigger for several seconds, the roar of the weapon suddenly came to a stop. This was when the secondary gunner, to his horror, realized none of the rebels remembered to replace his previous role and load fresh ammo into the weapon. It was a stupid mistake, but stupid mistakes like this were constantly made on the battlefield, and they could cost the troops everything. 

“Someone! Help me reload…” 

Before he could finish, the third queen used this opportunity and fired another acidic spine that pierced the secondary gunner’s skull. 

As soon as the machine gun fire stopped, the queens and the zerglings pushed forward much more quickly. Another trooper rushed to the Eradicator, only to be hit by another acidic spine. Two more moved to the weapon and tried to reload it, but they wouldn’t make it. 

On the other side, Athena could sense the queens and zerglings about to reach the other end. The rebels were laying down suppressive fire, but their Defender rifles were largely ineffective against the tougher armor of the queens. Even Purifier-class light machine guns couldn’t do enough damage to bring down the queens in time. 

It seemed like this fight was finally over. With the armory in her control, she would likely be able to unlock terran units like marines, giving her more capabilities when it came to ranged combat. 

Just as the queens and zerglings were about to reach the armory, suddenly, several high explosive grenades flew out from the armory and landed beside the queens. Almost as soon as the grenades were out, the blast door between the corridor and the armory suddenly snapped shut. 

By the time Athena realized what was happening, it was too late. The grenades exploded right next to the queens. For context, one high explosive grenade set off in the security center killed over a dozen zerglings. This time, there were four grenades. The explosion tore through the carapace of the three remaining queens, killing all of them instantly. Over half of the twenty pairs of zerglings behind the three queens were hit by the explosion as well.

The blast door shielded the rebels inside the armory from the explosions. As soon as the grenades went off, the blast door snapped open again. This time, Adrianna and two other rebels with Judicator-class flamethrowers advanced into the corridor. Flame poured out from the flamethrowers and landed on the remaining zerglings trying to storm into the armory. 

If there were still queens alive, their spines could take out the flamethrowers from range, but the melee zerglings couldn’t last long enough under the fire to get to the flamethrowers. They were burnt to crisps before even one of them could reach the flamethrowers. Their carapace melted under the extreme heat of the flame. 

The entire process was swift and decisive. Before Athena really knew what was happening, the rebels, using the various heavy weapons in the armory and the unique terrain, wiped out her entire army of queens and zerglings.

“You have gotta be kidding me.” Athena stood there for a second before opening the game interface. She needed some time to process what just happened. For the first time since she got here, her forces were defeated. And not just defeated, wiped out. 

“These things occur quite often, commander. The enemies held an advantageous defensive position. You made a decision that turned out to be the wrong one.” Nova quietly explained, unfazed by the losses Athena just took. “There is no need to feel bad, commander. These are losses you can easily recover from.”

Athena nodded. It wasn’t the casualties that troubled her. Five queens and 20 pairs of zerglings cost around 1,750 minerals. The zerg base in the jungle, with its sizable drone and zergling force, could make that back in twenty minutes. It was just that she has been having so much success against the rebels. Corporal Huo. Sergeant Madison. All the rebels in the security center and the garage. A part of her thought the rebels were nothing impressive. Despite their training and experience, her units could still slaughter them with ease. 

The massacre she just witnessed was a waking call. The rebels were far from incompetent. They only appeared to be incompetent when they were caught off guard and swarmed by zerglings without any chance to actually defend themselves. They were still experienced, highly trained soldiers of an empire infamous for its aggressions and military strength. Once they had time to prepare and access to an impressive arsenal, they were still deadly opponents to go against.

“Any suggestions?” She turned to Nova. As her advisor, when it came to the outside world, Nova mostly only offered her opinion when Athena asked. This was why Nova didn't stop Athena when she first launched the attack. Ultimately, Athena was the commander. She was the one who would make the ultimate decisions. 

“Commander, your current unit roster may not be sufficient in taking the armory by force. Perhaps you can leave the rebels here for now? I am sure there are plenty of easy opportunities in the future to unlock terran structures.”

Athena nodded. Despite this victory, the rebels in the armory still didn't pose a threat to her plan. She still had dozens of zerglings scattered across the outpost. If these rebels dared leave the cover of the armory, she could easily overwhelm them. 

Just as she was about to go look for Corporal Kendrick and escape this planet, Athena suddenly remembered one of the units she had available. One that she really didn't put too much thought into when she first tried to take the armory.

“Nova, do you think this is possible…”

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