Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Ambush in the Valley

Might make right. This was what Captain Matthew of the 4th Infantry Regiment was taught ever since he was a child. Whenever his father, a retired army corporal, beat him and his mother, this was how he justified it. 

Might make right. His father was the big one in the house, so in his family, his word was the law. He was weak and helpless, so his plight meant nothing. His tears and the things he said to his father in a futile attempt to make him stop…meant nothing. 

As soon as he was old enough, he volunteered for service in the Imperial Army to get away from his abusive father, but even as he traveled across the stars, those three words stuck with him. Might make right. All he saw throughout the years as an enforcer of the brutal regime only affirmed this belief. 

Did the Imperial Houses deserve to rule over the trillions of people in the Imperium? Captain Matthew’s answer was yes. They deserved to rule, not because they were elected or because they were good people, but because anyone within the Imperium who said no was dead. The strong could torture and rape and kill as they wished. Whether he liked it or not, this was how this galaxy worked. 

Only a fool would challenge the strong and get themselves and their families killed. Smart people, like himself, would offer their service to the strong in exchange for wealth and protection. 

Years went by, and his rank went from private to corporal to sergeant to captain. The naive boy who could only shed tears when he was beaten was gone, replaced by a veteran soldier whose only goal was to climb as high as possible in the Imperial Army. A man who was willing to cross any line and commit any atrocity to get what he wanted. 

As the 4th Infantry Regiment was deployed to reinforce Starport Cinder, Captain Matthew and the seven other surviving captains in the regiment, along with two newly promoted captains, were the highest-ranking officers staying with the unit. Once again, like many high-ranking commanders, Colonel Kai wouldn’t risk his own life by hopping in an armored transport and going to the frontline. No…a wise man like him was leading the unit remotely from the Eagle-class command ship in the safety of Prosperity. Even if his entire unit was wiped out, he would be perfectly safe. 

“Yes sir, we are heading into Valley Charlie now. Everything is all clear. We should reach Starport Cinder in at most 8 more minutes. What? Already? I see…I understand, sir. It will be done.” Inside one of the many Wildcat-class APCs in the armored column, Captain Matthew said into the comms built into his Indominated-class power armor. 

“Is everything alright, sir?” Corporal Boris frowned, keenly sensing the surprise in his captain’s voice. 

“The Division Command has lost contact with Starport Cinder.” Captain Matthew explained quietly. The corporal was one of his closest confidants in the unit. The man might be young, but he was smart compared to all the grunts in the company.

“I thought the attacking force only has one to two hundred infantry troops with no air or artillery support?” The corporal immediately realized why the captain was worried. “How did they break two companies so quickly?”

“It shouldn’t matter.” The corporal simply shook his head and crushed his doubts. “We are marching with an entire regiment. 2,500 men strong with drones and armored vehicle support. It would take a lot more than a few hundred infantry to put us at risk. If they are still at the starport when we arrive, we will crush them like we crushed all the enemies of the Imperium.”

“Yes sir.”

Suddenly, the hull of the Wildcat-class APC shook violently as the sound of countless explosions could be heard through the armored plating. There were so many of them, and they sounded like they were coming from every single direction. Almost immediately, the armored vehicle the captain was in came to a sharp halt. 

“Driver, report!” Even as his body jerked forward from the inertia, Captain Matthew was barking at the driver in the front. “What the fuck was that?”

“We are under fire!” The main driver replied, shouting to get over the noise of the engine. “The Bobcat in front of us is toast! Shit…where did the hit come from!”

“Sir, explosions are coming from the front and the rear!” The gunner added, his position allowing him to get a view of the outside world. “The company is under fire!”

“Fuck!” Captain Matthew snapped before turning to the other men in the vehicle. “Get the door open now!” 

A fresh recruit might freeze and try to seek shelter behind the armored hulls of the Wildcat, but Captain Matthew knew better. Yes, the Wildcat class APC was closer to an Infantry Fighting Vehicle than the Bobcat class APC, but neither of them was a tank. Both types of Armored Personnel Carriers were designed to protect troops against infantry mines and small arms fire. They were quite vulnerable to explosives and anti-tank weapons, which the enemies apparently had. Even the mobility offered by the vehicles was no more given they were stuck in this valley. 

Stay in the vehicles, and they would be sitting ducks. A veteran would know to get off the vehicle and return fire as soon as possible. 

The men complied immediately, equally aware of the dangerous situation they were in. As the rear door of the APC opened, the captain was the third to dismount. As the captain’s feet touched the ground, he froze for a brief moment as he observed the carnage that had befallen the armored transports of his regiment. 

One of the Bobcat-class APCs was set ablaze. It seemed like something hit the armored vehicle from below, causing an explosion that punched through the lightly armored undercarriage and likely setting off the fuel tank. Judging from the fact that there was no movement from the burning wreckage, it was likely the entire squad inside was done for.

Not far away, a Blackbuck had smashed into the cliff to the captain’s left. Captain Matthew could see several shrapnels on the body of the dead driver and passengers of the vehicle, most likely killing them before the collision even happened. 

A few more steps away, a trooper was on the ground, screaming. Something sharp had hit him in the stomach, cutting through his power armor and burying itself in his flesh. It seemed like he had crawled out of a Wildcat APC not far away. 

All around him, countless Imperial troops dismounted and took up any cover they could find. Vehicles. Wreckages. Rocks. A few fresh recruits that tried to linger in the vehicles were quickly convinced otherwise by the profanity-filled commands from their officers and NCOs. Captain Matthew did the same as his men, using the vehicle that took him here as cover before switching the comms to the channel used by Colonel Kai and all the companies. 

“Colonel Kai, we are under attack!” Another captain was already making the report. “I don’t know what the hell it was, but I’ve got more than a handful of vehicles burning here! Maybe some type of remotely triggered explosive?” 

“One of my men said he saw a missile coming from underground!” Another captain chimed in. 

“A what?” Colonel Kai’s mind froze for a second. He had heard of all kinds of landmines, but who the hell would put a missile underground? 

“A missile, sir!” 

Warfare is getting stranger and stranger every year…Captain Matthew thought to himself. Using small missiles as mines didn't sound like such an outlandish idea. As far as he knew, it was just a matter of changing how the payload was delivered, but who would even think of that? He quickly shifted his focus to more important tasks. If someone knew to place mines in this valley, then they must have been expecting Imperial reinforcements to head for Starport Cinder with this exact route.

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It wasn’t surprising that the enemies knew they would go through Valley C. It was the quickest path.  

On the comms, Colonel Kai came to the same conclusion after a brief pause. “This is a delay tactic. They must be trying to buy time to complete whatever task they want to carry out at Starport Cinder. Count your casualties and continue your mission.”

“That may be a little difficult, sir.” Said a captain whose company was the vanguard of the regiment. “Those bastards must have been remotely controlling these mines. They blew just as the armored column reached the exit. I’ve got at least two dozen vehicles burning in front of me. Most of the exit is blocked. If we want to get out of this valley we will need some time to deal with the wreckage. I…what the fuck is that?”

Captain Matthew frowned. What was going on with that captain? The next second, the captain started talking again, but this time his voice was no longer as calm and confident. 

“Shit. Shit! Incoming! We need reinforcements in the vanguard now…”

Whatever he was about to say after that was replaced by a shrieking scream. Captain Matthew’s face turned pale as the screams reached him through the built-in comms. It was a sound that reminded him of the prisoners and traitors who were burned alive by the Imperials in public, except this time, it was a fellow servant of the Imperium who was screaming. 

“Captain Dawson! What is happening?” Colonel Kai’s voice called out from the comms, but Captain Matthew was no longer listening. He quickly switched the comms to the company channel. “Sergeant Diaz, where are our damn drones?”

“They have yet to be deployed, sir! We were instructed not to…”

“Well get them in the air now!” The captain barked, and the drone squad sergeant complied immediately. 

As the drone operators in the company got to work, Captain Matthew turned to the direction of the front of the armored column. He couldn’t see what was going on there, but he could see distinct smoke from that direction. It didn't take long before the sound of screaming, firearms firing, and explosions reached his ears. 

For the first time, the captain had an odd feeling about this mission. They were supposed to be the hunters who would search the region and track down the small unit of enemy infiltrators to bring them to justice, but now, he was no longer sure about who was the hunter here. 

If anything, this whole process felt like…a trap. 

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Captain Matthew was right, although he reached this conclusion a little too late to change anything.

Athena had studied the maps of Prosperity and its surroundings to know the quickest route to Starport Cinder would lead the Imperial troops through several steep valleys with treacherous terrains almost perfect for ambushes. She also knew the reinforcements would likely be ordered to move as quickly as possible to hopefully save Starport Cinder, which meant standard scouting procedures by drones would be overridden. There was no way General Pierre could afford to wait hours for surveillance drones to clear the route before deploying his troops. 

Usually, there would still be air patrols with fighters and gunships, but the division’s air wing was kept in Starport Cinder and, well…

The Imperial Navy could still offer air support, but once again, it would take them too much time to arrive. It was unlikely the general would wait for them with so much on the line. As for the satellites…the fact that they weren’t set up yet was precisely why Athena decided to strike now. Once the satellites were up, her troop movements could be easily scouted. 

Athena knew her forces were still quite limited as of now. If she wanted to use them to do as much damage to the Imperials as possible, she had to rely on the Imperials making mistakes. 

The lack of defenses of Starport Cinder was their first mistake. The overconfidence of the Imperial commanders allowed 200 terran infantry troops to storm the base and capture or destroy the division’s entire air wing before any aircraft could get into the air.  

The predictable and careless movement of the 4th Regiment was their second mistake. General Pierre panicked and sent a single regiment out without proper support and protocols. He was under the impression that the enemies were in the low hundreds, for why wouldn’t he? This was exactly why Athena only deployed 200 terran troops to Starport Cinder when she could’ve sent more to decrease the casualties. She wanted the Imperials to underestimate her, and it worked. 

Athena pondered the idea of leaving the command tower of Starport Cinder to the Imperials for a little longer in case the reinforcements would be ordered to turn back after the tower was lost, but in the end, she gave no such order. The Imperials at the tower would realize something was off if the same terran troops that cut through hundreds of them suddenly lingered in front of a single blast door.  

Even as he realized Starport Cinder was lost, the general didn't order the 4th Regiment to retreat. Perhaps he hoped the 4th could wipe out the attackers or reach the starport before the aircrafts were moved or destroyed. Even if the aircrafts were destroyed, he hoped the 4th could hunt down the perpetrators. Another critical mistake on his part.

The first dish Athena prepared for the 4th Regiment was quite straightforward. 100 widow mines, buried underground throughout the valley and with explicit orders not to fire until the order was given.   

The moment the last of the vehicle column entered Valley C, the trap was sprung. 

The nature of the sentinel missiles meant the widow mines weren’t that discreet. The missiles had to find a way to the surface. Given some time, the Imperials would realize the strikes came from underground and take the appropriate countermeasures, but Athena wouldn’t give them this time. 

As effective as the widow mines were, they weren’t enough to wipe out the entire regiment. The mines were advanced, but in the end, they were still mines designed to be discreet, not long-range missiles or artilleries designed to maximize damage. Their main purpose wasn’t really to wipe out this army, but instead to weaken and trap it. 

When Athena deployed the mines, she focused most of them on the two openings of the valley. The result was that almost every single vehicle at the vanguard and the rearguard was destroyed or immobilized, making it infinitely more difficult for the vehicles inside the valley to retreat or advance. In other words, the rest of the regiment was trapped inside the valley for the time being.

Two units of terran forces have taken advantage of the lack of scouting by the Imperial forces and the dark environment of early morning to conceal themselves near the two ends of the valley. Almost as soon as the widow mines fired, these two units quickly moved into position at the entrance and the exit, completely cutting off any chance the Imperials had of fleeing. They each included two hundred marines, one hundred marauders, and twenty-five hellions. 

On the open field, they would suffer heavy losses against the superior number of the 4th Regiment, but here? The terrain ensured that in this battle, quality meant a lot more quality. 

Following an order from Athena, these two forces started pushing into the valley from the two ends, initiating what would soon be the end of the 4th Infantry Regiment. 

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