Aya laughed, a harsh and unfeminine sound of contempt.

"We're going to take your planet, imperialist scum!", she yelled in response to the praetorian's goading, "we'll tear your precious emperor off his throne and bring about the revolution!"

Shots fizzed past her, and she ducked behind cover. The Feds were pinned in the hall by the praetorians' superior firepower, but Aya saw a heavy weapons team setting up their equipment in the entrance. The team set up a particle auto-cannon and immediately started firing at the praetorians, the heavy gun's firepower giving the struggling Feds a welcomed boost. Aya smirked as she saw a praetorian get blasted off his feet by the auto-cannon. Federal troopers around her were emerging from cover again and shooting with their FAAMs. One of them had an underbarrel grenade launcher, which he used to send a plasma grenade flying onto the defenders. A powerful blast shook the hall, followed by three others. Fire began to eat away at a framed tapestry, and a part of the wall collapsed in a cloud of dust. Aya stood up and fired on the enemy's positions, killing an injured praetorian who was still trying to stand and fight. More grenades flew, fragmentation grenades this time, and exploded with great fracas. A marble statue that had so far escaped the carnage was smashed cleanly in two by flying shrapnel.

"Fire in the hole!"

A Federal trooper fired a rocket from a launcher he was carrying, sending the projectile roaring through the air. The missile hit a wall behind the enemy's positions and exploded into a massive cloud of roiling fire that engulfed part of the hall. A thermobaric rocket launcher. Aya didn't know they'd been given those for the assault.

In any case, the blast seemed to have dampened the enemy's attacks. Aya raised her chainsword, and charged foward, roaring insults. She leaped over the rubble and cleaved through a wounded legionaires neck, killing him with a spurt of blood and flesh. Other legionaires, their armour blackened by the blast, clashed with the charging Feds. Vangelium slammed into colossium as the armoured troops met in close combat. Aya dodged a blow from a power lance and slipped behind the praetorian who'd tried stabbing her. She brought her chainsword down on a weak part of his arm's armour and cut right through it. Blood poured onto the ground and the man's arm flopped uselessly away. As the heavily armoured soldier stumbled, Aya slammed the pommel of her chainsword into the back of helmet several times, the force of the blows shaking her bionic arm. As the praetorian fell forward, Aya saw the remaining praetorians falling to the Federal attack. The assault could continue.

"Onward, for the revolution!"

The Federal troops poured forth into the building. Aya and her cohorts thundered down the marble corridor, meeting yet more resistance at every corner and every stairway. But the ferocity of the Federal attack was so great that the enemy seemed to always be swept away, no matter how many soldiers the Feds lost. After heading up another flight of stairs and beheading another praetorian, Aya found herself facing a heavy barred door.

"What is this?", said one of her comrades, banging his fist into it. The door was so thick it didn't even resonate from the blow.

"No fucking idea", said Aya, "but this looks like it could take a shot from a cannon and not budge."


While the cyborgs stood before the mysterious heavy doors, the Federal troopers carrying the crimson banner made their way upwards, fighting through legionaires and smashing through barricades. Finally, the ragged group reached the roof of the palace. Conscious that a team of cameramen were positioned on top of a nearby building, and that drones were circling the besieged imperial palace, Antoine Zelady unfurled the banner and climbed gingerly up a nearby statue that had survived the bombardments. With a mighty effort, Antoine hoisted the banner over the top of the teetering statue and let the Federal flag flutter free in the breeze that was now blowing across the battlefield. Those that saw the flag raised a tired cheer while the camera team and the drones recorded the moment.

Within half an hour, the footage would be broadcast through the Federation and the Imperium.