As artillery hammered the palace, Federal troops did their best to get close to the building. The many craters provided good cover, but advancing remained a perilous business. Corpses dotted the blasted ground in great numbers, their empty eyes staring up at the sky in what could be seen as surprise. Shots were fired on both sides, blasts of kinetic energy being passed back and forth, smacking into the ground or a wall or, more often than not, finding its mark.

Aya eyed the palace's main entrance through her helmet's holovisor. A lone shot smacked into the earth nearby, and a small stone ricocheted off her helm. Her sensors had given her the distance to the entrance: 50 metres. She clicked her tongue between her teeth and looked back at the soldiers that lay at the bottom of the bomb crater. There was her own unit, cyborgs clad in heavy power armour, their faces concealed behind their holovisors. Then there were the others. Men and women of the Trantoran 1000th, entrusted with the task of hoisting the crimson banner over the imperial palace. Aya could see a mixture of fear and excitement in their eyes. They knew they'd been given a glorious mission, and that if they succeeded, billions would see them. They also knew that if they failed, death at the hands of the enemy would be their fate.

"When the shelling stops, we move forward", said Aya, her voice emotionless. The ground shook and the air screamed, or was it a dying soldier? War just seemed to be a blur nowadays for her. She'd seen too much of it.

The rumbling stopped. She glanced over the edge of the crater again just as her commlink buzzed to life. Soldiers rose from craters, tanks rode forth to support them. The attack had begun.

"Up and at 'em!", she cried before hurling herself over the edge of the crater. Her unit followed, their power armour moving noiselessly. Behind them came the more lightly armed and armoured troopers. The entrance area was struck by a violent barrage of direct support fire from the tanks, forcing the defenders within to seek cover. Aya saw part of the ornate archway crumble and collapse, carved eagles falling, falling and breaking. A burst of enemy fire surged forth from the battered entrance, raking through the charging Feds. A shot glanced off Aya's shoulder armour with a vicious hiss. Men and women screamed. A ming'hala nearby stumbled and fell, a hole burnt right through his thorax. Aya did not stop, her booted feet thundering on the ground, her eyes riveted to the objective. 40 metres...30 metres...20...10. Legionaires came into view, firing from behind rubble and barricades. Another shot glanced off her chest armour and she raised her heavy particle rifle, firing a burst back at the enemy. A legionaire lost his head to her shots and fell back soundlessly.

"Grenade!", yelled one of the troopers behind her. Two plasma grenades flew over her head. One landed behind the legionaires and the other landed on the stairs leading up to them. Both exploded with blinding flashes of burning hot plasma. A legionaire fell, clutching his arm. The armour encasing it had melted into his flesh, causing untold agony. With the confusion and destruction caused by the grenades, Aya closed the rest of the distance in a few bounding leaps, a savage cry roaring out of her helmet.

"FOR FREEDOM AND THE FEDERATION!"

In her hand, her chainsword roared like a rabid beast as she brought it down on a legionaire's neck. The cruel weapon's teeth ripped into the man's neck joint and cleanly severed his head. Blood spilled onto the blackened steps. Another legionaire attempted to fire his plasma shotgun, but was got shunted into a wall by one of Aya's augmented comrades. As they finished off the first line of defenders, more shots hit them from the other end of the entrance hall. The roof there had collapsed inward, filling one part of the hall with rubble and burning furniture. The shrill hiss of particle beams quickly filled the room. Two Federal troopers fell, screaming bloody murder as their guts spilled forth. Others sought cover wherever they could. Grenades flew through the air and detonated, setting fire to various objects. The hall began to fill with black smoke.