Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Siege of Starport Cinder

Wow, I actually managed to write 5 full chapters in a week. Two of them have now been published on and the other three should be up there by tomorrow. Turns out editing takes a lot of time. 

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Athena looked out onto the city of Prosperity from the window of her office.

It was early morning, and the city was quiet. The only figures on the streets were Imperial patrol units whose Guardian-class power armors shined under the dim street lamps. She turned in the direction of the blocks converted by the 329th Infantry Division into barracks and saw most of the lights were out as well.

Maybe there were a few troops and officers who, like her, couldn’t sleep, but most have went to bed. It was at times like this that armies were the most vulnerable. Granted, there were still patrols and sentries, but a lightning strike could get a lot done before most troops even knew what was going on.

Athena could sense all her terran units getting into position, their rifles and grenade launchers and gauss pistols and flamethrowers ready for war. She had looked forward to this moment. At long last, after spending so long pretending to be an Imperial loyalist and turning a blind eye to so many acts of unnecessary cruelty, she finally had the ability to fight back. The chance to grow her forces that would eventually give her the power to protect herself in this cold, uncaring galaxy.

She took in a deep breath. Once she gave the order, there would be no turning back. Wars were brutal and bullets were blind. A lot of people would die because of her command. Some of them might be sadistic torturers. Others could be nothing more than unlucky conscripts simply trying to complete their decade of service and go home. Some might truly believe the Imperium would help the galaxy. Others could be doing this because they came from a military family and wanted to make their parents proud. Some of them might deserve a painful death. Others might not. Soon, none of that would matter.

This was just how this galaxy was. Kill or be killed. If she didn't want to make a move because she didn't want collateral damage, she would confine herself to a lifetime of slavery. It was something she couldn’t allow.

She pitied those who would meet an end they didn't deserve, but pity was all one could expect from her. She was in no position to give anything more.

Today, it was the troops of the 329th Infantry Division. Tomorrow, it could be soldiers of the Republic. Ever since she had her zerglings cut down the Guard rebels back in Research Outpost Delta, Athena had come to terms with the fact that she had no choice but to get her hands dirty and take out anyone in her way if she wanted to live.

With a single sigh, Athena closed her eyes and gave the order.

Around 40 miles away, a group of terran units obeyed.

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“Captain! Captain Lawrence! Wake up! We are under attack!”

Even as he tried to open his eyes, the young captain was licking his lips. He just had a dream where he got to spend some private time with one of his girlfriends back in the academy. As the familiar figure of Corporal Dereck, one of his bodyguards, came into view, the captain was confused at first. His confusion quickly turned to shock as he processed what the corporal was saying to him.

“Under attack? What? Where?” The captain tried his best to think straight. A difficult task given the circumstances. “Who?”

“We don’t know, sir.” Corporal Dereck said. There was a look of concern on the veteran’s face. He was no stranger to war, and Captain Lawrence could only imagine what made the veteran so worried. “The intruders have breached the perimeter defenses. There are hundreds of them at least. They are approaching the hangar as we speak!”

Captain Lawrence turned pale. The perimeter defenses have been breached already? What happened to all the patrol and sentry squads? How long has it been since the shooting began? He quickly got onto his feet and rushed out of his bedroom. There was no time for him to change out of his white pajamas. Even now, he could hear the distinct sound of gunshots, and their proximity was too close for comfort.

“Contact Prosperity and inform them of what is happening here!” Captain Lawrence instructed as he walked down the hallway leading to the command room of the starport. This clearly wasn’t something the two companies here could handle.

“Already done, sir.” Corporal Dereck replied. He wasn’t stupid. Calls for help were sent by the officers on duty as soon as the attack began. “Prosperity promised the 4th Infantry Regiment is on its way here as we speak. They are expected to arrive in 30 to 60 minutes. We are ordered to hold the starport until then at all costs.”

Captain Lawrence’s private living quarter was located in the command tower which served as the core of the base, and the two of them moved quickly. As soon as Captain Lawrence entered the command room, he noticed his counterpart from the other company stationed in the starport, Captain Parker, was already in the room. Captain Parker was staring at a hologram-projected tactical map of Starport Cinder, and what the map suggested made the young officer’s heart sink.

If the map was correct, then one-third of Starport Cinder was already lost.

“How the hell did our defenses fail so quickly?” Captain Lawrence snapped, raising his voice to cover his fear. He didn't know when the enemies attacked, but Corporal Dereck likely woke him up as soon as possible after the shooting started.

The two companies garrisoning Starport Cinder were indeed weakened due to the attack on Prosperity, but they still had at least 400 men between the two units. Yes, the fortifications and defensive artillery were never restored, but the two companies had their own heavy weapons and armored vehicles set up. How could this be happening?

Captain Parker didn't answer him. He simply pointed at a large screen on the side of the room which was displaying live feed from the various security cameras throughout the base. The quality of the camera feed was top-notch, which meant Captain Lawrence got to see exactly what was tearing his men into pieces.

One of the security cameras showed a line of gray figures advancing across an open field. These figures were indeed in power armor, but the design of their armor was unlike anything the Imperium or the Republic had. All of these troops had a giant shield mounted to their left shoulder. Rounds from Defender-class automatic rifles hit and dug into the shields, unable to harm the enemies behind.

With most of their bodies covered from incoming fire, the figures returned fire with their own rifles, gunning down any Imperial in their way. Imperial soldiers fell like flies, their Guardian-class armors torn open with ease and offering their wearers little protection.

Captain Lawrence had seen shields used in combat before. Marines attached to Imperial Navy ships were known to use giant shields when fighting in tight corridors where the enemies were usually coming down from one direction, but those shields were too heavy and cumbersome, and they were often ineffective facing heavier weapons. They were rarely seen in Imperial Army units that usually had to fight in more open grounds where speed and agility were more important.

Under the watch of the camera, a rocket, fired from a Vindicator-class RPG by one of the valiant defenders, hit the shield of one of the gray figures. The explosion consumed the intruder and four of his comrades next to him, killing all of them immediately. Captain Lawrence barely had the chance to let out a smile before he realized the hit had little effect on the other attackers. The grey figures around the explosion simply continued advancing, seemingly uncaring for the loss of their comrades.

“Who are these people?” The captain snapped to Captain Parker, hoping the older officer could give him a good answer. He was disappointed when Captain Parker simply shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter who they are. We cannot let them reach the hangars.”

Captain Lawrence immediately nodded in agreement. The older captain was right. Who cares where these attackers came from? This was something for the higher-ups to worry about. Their job was to hold Starport Cinder. All eight squadrons of fighters and bombers of the division’s air wing were in the hangars, along with three squadrons of gunships. These 96 aircrafts were some of the most expensive gadgets the division had. Lose them, and both he and Captain Parker could find their heads on the chopping block.

Under the coordination of the pair of captains, the remaining Imperial forces in Starport Cinder converged to the hangar and formed a line of defenses between the hangar and the attackers in grey. Like their captains, many of them had no idea what was going on, but their instincts and discipline kicked in. In the end, orders were orders.

They didn't have long before the terran forces reached the hangar. The Imperials refused to fall back, and the terrans didn't receive the order to stop advancing. The result was a brutal firefight on the open field in front of the starport’s massive in-door hangar.

A handful of Wildcat-class APCs was deployed into battle, the Eradicator-class heavy machine guns mounted on the armored vehicles raining down a hail of bullets on the terran marines. Pilots, woken from their sleep, scrambled toward their fighters and bombers in a desperate attempt to get them off the ground and to safety. Infantry troops did their best to buy time, employing every weapon they had at their disposal in an effort to stop the terran assault in front of the hangar.

“Say what you will about the Imperials, they are good at war.”

Still sitting inside her office, Athena thought to herself quietly as she observed the battlefield from the eyes of one of the marines. Maybe this was different for more peaceful sectors, but the people and soldiers of Sector 9A2 were no strangers to war. The initial shock didn't break and rout the Imperials. After the brief surprise, the Imperial troops quickly assumed a defensive formation. Many men who didn't have enough time to get into their armor returned fire against the Terrans with Defender-S automatic rifles.

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Athena was hardly surprised to see this. This assault of hers served many purposes, and one of them was to test her terran troops against the Imperials on the field of battle. She could look at the unit descriptions all she wanted, but only a real fight could give her a clear understanding of the ability of her units.

Athena’s vision suddenly went dark as a sniper round from an Imperial sharpshooter pierced the face shield of the terran marine and killed the unit.

A number of suicide drones lifted into the air from behind the Imperial lines. Under the control of their pilots, the suicide drones found their targets in small groups of terran units before diving toward the terran troops. The explosives strapped to the drones blew up on contact, killing or injuring all terran troops in close proximity.

Athena switched to the vision of another marauder just in time to watch a mortar shell throw a marine into the air. By the time the marine’s body hit the ground, the unit was no longer moving.

The marauder whose vision Athena was sharing advanced slowly, firing grenade after grenade at the Imperial fire line. It was quite an interesting experience for Athena to witness such an intense firefight firsthand without putting herself at risk. Athena quietly wondered all the ways she could use this aspect of the system before shifting her thoughts back to the battle.

The Imperials put up a valiant defense, but as the Republic troops on this planet have proved long ago, valor was futile against an overwhelming force.

Athena deployed 50 marauders and 150 marines for the assault on the Starport. It wasn’t the entirety of her forces, but due to their quality and armaments, it would take far more than 400 Imperial troops to hold the line, not to mention a number of the defenders were killed already or didn't have the time to suit up.

Under Athena’s orders, all the marines and marauders injected another shot of stimpack. This was the second shot. The first was taken when the assault first started and it enabled the terran infantry troops to tear right through the defenders. Its effects were starting to wear off, which meant another was necessary.

Simultaneously across the battlefield, a needle reached out from inside the CMC power armors and jabbed into the blood vessel of the marines and marauders. Stimpacks, stimulants designed to make the users faster and more aggressive, flowed into the bodies of the terran units and immediately started having an effect.

On the other end, the Imperials watched in horror as the marines and marauders suddenly pushed forward with a speed a little too fast for armored infantrymen, firing rapidly as they moved. These men advanced with a terrifying level of discipline and coordination. Several squads of marines flanked the defenders from the side while the heavily armored marauders pushed on in the front, their 5-4 Armored Infantry Suits shrugging off almost all light arms fire. The only threats were the explosives and large-caliber firearms. The marauders were still falling, but they rushed forward nonetheless, firing grenade after grenade at the Imperial defenders.

It didn't take long before grenades and 8mm armor-piercing gauss rounds riddled the Imperial lines. Countless Imperial troops were torn to pieces along with their cover. A Wildcat-class APC was burning, its side was torn open by four marauder grenades. The gunner was long dead, having been gunned down by the precise shots from a terran marine.

A suicide drone crashed into the armored plating on the side of the command tower, having been shot down before it could kamikaze into the terran lines.

A blackbuck-class MSV that was used as a glorified sandbag had lost half its body from focused gauss rifle and grenade fire.

Within minutes, as the effects of the second stimpack were starting to wear off, the defenses of the Imperials crumbled. Almost all armored vehicles and heavy weapons were destroyed by marauders. Infantry troops who survived the onslaught turned and fled. They could only watch so many of their comrades get butchered around them in horrific manners before they decided they didn't want to die here for the Imperium after all.

The few loyalists who stayed at their positions until the end were mercilessly gunned down.

When the terran troops broke into the hangar, the pilots and ground crew there have just opened the ceiling door to the building and were still attempting to get the aircrafts into the sky. It was surprising how long it usually took to prepare an aircraft for flight, and the firefight nearby definitely didn't help in terms of efficiency.

When the ground crew noticed the terran troops, some of them raised their hands and tried to surrender, but the terran troops simply opened fire on them and gunned them down. For many different reasons, Athena couldn’t afford to take prisoners at this stage, and letting them go and pick up weapons against her in the future would be idiotic. All she could do was kill these people quickly and not take her time as the Imperials did with their prisoners.

A Cobra-class atmospheric fighter tried to flee the hangar. Like all fighters in this era, the Cobra could lift off horizontally. Unfortunately, it never made it far as a line of marauder grenades hit the aircraft, blowing it to pieces.

Marauder grenade launchers were almost useless against air units with high speed and altitude, but grounded ones were nothing more than sitting ducks for them.

As the hangar was secured, Athena directed most of the terran forces to take out the Imperial troops in the rest of the starport. A single squad of marines remained at the hangar, and the squad was quickly joined by half a dozen SCVs who were escorted by another squad of marines.

One by one, the SCVs made their way to the parked aircrafts and started working on them. Two of them began drilling into the hull of one of the many Imperial Cobra-class atmospheric fighters stored in the building. Two more moved to take apart an Imperial Anocanda-class atmospheric bomber, which was slightly less common in the building. The two last SCVs found their way to one of the few Republic S60 starfighters and performed the same dissection procedure.

Athena noticed a number of Imperial Copperhead-class gunships in the hangar. As soon as the dissection with the fighters and bombers was complete, the gunships would be next.

This was one of the reasons why Athena decided to attack Starport Cinder. For high-level terran technologies, she had to use her SCVs to closely study human technologies to make the appropriate unlock, and Starport Cinder was her best chance of achieving that.

The SCVs were still working, and Athena shifted her focus to the terran forces that have spread throughout the starport.

Sharing the vision of one of the marines in the Starport’s command towers, Athena could see that the remaining Imperial troops who stood their ground were making a last stand in the hallways and rooms. It was clear the pair of Captains had no intention of running. Unsurprising. With the starport lost, where could they go?

The Imperium was rarely lenient to those who failed their duties. A general or an admiral might get plenty of chances to redeem themselves, but a pair of infantry captains? If Captain Lawrence and Captain Parker fled the air base and somehow escaped the terran troops, they would still be caught eventually by the Imperials, and their fate was likely a public execution. Examples had to be made.

In that case, they might as well fight to the death and hope to be seen as martyrs by the Imperium. If they were lucky and reinforcements arrived in time, they might even survive and find themselves treated as heroes.

Unfortunately for the captains, they wouldn’t live long enough for help to arrive. Athena had made sure of it.

A familiar notification appeared in Athena’s head and brought her attention back to the hangar. As expected, analyzing the three types of Republic and Imperial aircrafts got her the notification she was hoping for.

“Human technologies detected in close proximity to the host…”

“Analyzing technology…”

“Analysis complete. Technologies show resemblance to Terran engineering…”

“Terran structure Starport has been unlocked…”

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