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Posts: 828
Oct 14 12 2:34 PM
Super Power For the Empire! Mechanical Pimp
The sky turns crimson, it knows what to wait for
as the bows of ships glimmer in the docking stations.
They rest like animals, wounded and exhausted
So wakes up the besieged city, ready to meet its final day.
-Mythologia, Book VI, Prophecies
The attack directed at the heart of the Imperium came as a surprise for everyone. The High Command had expected the enemy to consolidate their power in the captured territories first, before resuming the offensive. Now it seemed like the enemy wasn’t going to give the Imperium too much time to react.
The battle fought on the orbit of the planet was fierce. The understrenght Home Fleet was pitted against the invading Federal forces. While the Federals had the advantage in numbers, as per usual, the Home Fleet sported vastly more advanced ships, capable of outgunning Federal vessels of the same class. Home fleet also sported a few dreadnoughts, against which the Federals would be in serious trouble. Nevertheless, the battle continued, hindering either side from providing much orbital fire support.
Given the speed of the Federal ships many of them were able to deploy their troops before joining the battle, much to the dismay of the Imperials, and afterwards cover further deployment by other Federal ships. The tactics used by the Imperials were nothing fancy due to the fact that many of the commanders of the Home Fleet have gained their positions due to pedigree, not competence. A few individual ship captains, probably acting on their own, were able to innovate enough to send drop pods filled with naval legionaries to the landing zones used by the Federation, in hopes of deterring the enemy advance.
The orbital defences around Aresia were numerous. Numerous, yet not quite up to date with latest Imperial military hardware. Tanis base was currently on the other side of the planet, which gave the communists some breathing room.
The planet itself was a nightmare for any invaders. Planetary defences constantly sent up missile barrages and they themselves were hiding under a multitude of shield domes the planet was covered with. Urban landscape would channel especially the movement of enemy armor into streets where they would have to face Imperial mechs head on. All in all, the multiple layers of the city, the arcologies and levels, its very fabric, made the movement of armor a very difficult task. The troops on the planet were numerous, despite the fact that multiple legions had already been dispatched to strengthen the frontier. Aresia might be an ant hive, large, cumbersome, slow to wake up. But now it had woken up and soon the ants would be converging on the position of the invaders.
Midas Luxury Residential Area, residence of Marcus Cornelius Sulla
“Emperor’s cock! The bloody serfs are already here!” he cursed.
Prancing around the atrium seemingly mad, Sulla did nothing to calm down his family and their servants.
“Dominus, that is what I heard from the neighbours.” one of the slaves said.
“Of course, you can’t hardly miss a drop pod landing nearby!” he said.
Renius Pansa, his oldest slave, had also something to say.
“They will be here soon, dominus. I am not sure whether they’ll start searching buildings, but your and your family’s safety is of the utmost importance.”
“What, you know what these people do! You’ve heard the reports, from Claustrum and beyond, these bloody communist rape, burn and plunder whenever they see something more fancy than they have back home, which is, frankly, all the time. Talk about inferiority complex.” He said and continued.
“But you are right. Make the necessary preparations and start loading the shuttle. Family heirlooms and then ourselves.”
“Yes dominus.”
“Pansa, you are my longest serving slave. Whatever happens, you are still my property until I grant you your freedom.”
“Yes dominus, I wont fail you.”
“Good. Now go.”
Then Sulla turned to his guards. Hardened mercenaries they were, he ordered them to hold out within the house if possible.
As one might expect, most of the legions on the planet had a specialization in urban combat, given that it was the dominant environment there. That meant that those legions were also equipped accordingly, with plasma shotguns and other weapons suited for shorter range engagements. The planet didn't have auxiliary troops, instead, the legions were supported by the Custodes, a force of military police, equipped similarly to the auxiliaries.
Troops from one such cohort of custodes were approaching a residential area, where reports of enemy infantry had come from. On the ground troops moved forward, with the vanguard consisting of men equipped with forcefield shields and wrist mounted laser weapons. Behind them, men equipped with plasma shotguns would follow and last, supporting firepower was provided by custodes with shortened versions of the standard issue rifle. On the rooftops, snipers kept the pace by jetpacking from roof to roof and covering the advance of the troops on the ground.
“Point men, move out, the Federals can be behind any corner!” said the Custodes Decurion who was leading the squad.
By lucky chance they had happened to be nearby, since as soon as the Federal ships had been spotted, the alarm was sounded. No one knew where the enemy was targeting so the initial idea was to have the troops spread out around possible targets of interest. They had been ferried to this upper class neighbourhood by a gunship, when reports of enemies there were heard. The gunship was on its way somewhere else by now. Probably to assist legionaries in their higher priority operations.
Indeed, there they were, a group of Federal soldiers and a few mercs fighting. By the looks of it, the enemy had slaughtered a few dozen hastily armed slaves and most of the mercenaries by now.
“Point men forward! Give them fire support! Close in and engage!” yelled the Decurion. The men of his squad entered the fray, taking cover behind the decorative architecture of the park area.
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