Ivan Kal - Sanctuary

“These Sowir aren’t all that smart. Didn’t they bring any heavy weapons?” Noose asked on a private channel to Lola “NGD” Petrov.

“I don’t know… Maybe they’re planning something? They must have brought something, they couldn’t have taken the planet otherwise.” NGD answered.

“I don’t know NGD. These Nel aren’t all that better either, I bet those three hundred over there would have taken care of the militia forces easily if we weren’t here.” Noose said.

“They can’t possibly be this mindless? They are acting like a swarm not a military force.”

“They are aliens after all, more so than Nel are, who knows what they are thinking.” Noose said.

Lola kept quiet, she couldn’t understand anyone just sending their people to die with no reason. Then another shot rang out.

“Got another one.” A voice said over the comms. Lola shook her head, they just don’t learn. Then she got a comm from Platoon Leader Adin.

“Nissah’s platoon is in position. And we will be in ten minutes. Get the militia ready, we are going to attack them from all sides.”

“Yes, sir.” Lola sighed, she got up and went to convince untrained militia that their best option now was to attack advantageously positioned Sowir.

“What does it looks like?” Sahib asked.

“I have no idea, they are just standing there in the alleys not moving a muscle. Then one would peek out of cover trying to get a hit on one of our turrets, die and the others would shift places.”

Looking over his HUD map Sahib started highlighting certain areas. “We will pass through this street here, there are twelve hostiles there, we should catch them by surprise, and that street will then open a straight path at their back. Fang, you guys will take positions up on this building.” Sahib said, highlighting a building that was about a hundred meters down the street from Sowir positions. “Nissah’s platoon will hit them from the west, we will follow after. You’ll know her platoon started fighting when you hear explosions, they will start with a few RPGs, fired from this point here.” Sahib highlighted a building on the west side. “Then squads Claw and Paw will strike with the militia from the front, and we from the back. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good. Let’s go.”

His squads got into positions, and soon after three explosions rang out. Sahib immediately ordered his people to attack.

The militia along with Claw and Paw got hit the Sowir positions first. Nel energy weapons bathed the street in light, mingling with return fire from the Sowir. As Sahib’s team entered the street, they saw a swarm of Sowir, moving incredibly fast towards the forward positions to meet the militia. As soon as Sahib got into range he opened fire, his squad mates doing the same. Bullets from human weapons ripped through Sowir armor in a single shot, while militia’s energy weapons took more than one hit on the same target to burn through. The few Sowir weapons that hit the human suits, did nothing more than disrupt the suit’s systems for a moment and two. Then Nissah’s platoon joined in from the west and the street became a slaughter house. Sowir didn’t even try to run away or get to cover, they just mindlessly ran at the Nel militia, a few managing to reach their positions, killing scores as they fired their weapons point blank and used their powerful arms to break the necks of those close enough. But they couldn’t match the human weapons, and quickly there was nothing moving in the street that wasn’t human or Nel.

“Fucking slaughter.” Cheat said over the internal comms, as Nel militia started cheering, it was the first time Sahib saw a Nel show any kind of emotion.

“Why the hell were they so ill equipped for this?” Lola asked.

“I have no idea.” Noose answered.

Sahib just shook his head, and contacted Company Leader Okoro.

“It’s done, sir.”

“I know Adin, militia at your position already called back and reported to Laas Rett. Their other positions are taking a pounding, one of the Sowir landing groups punched through and found a shelter they are trying to enter even as we speak. Laas Rett finally decided to let us fight, I’m sending all platoons to help. I need you to go to these coordinates.” Okoro said, sending the coordinates to Sahib’s imp.

“Yes sir. But sir, these Sowir. I don’t think they are soldiers sir.” Sahib said.

After a moment of hesitation Okoro responded. “I know. There is something very strange going on here. We’ll talk later.” With that, he closed the comm.

“Alright platoon, gather your gear and meet at the TTV’s we got more work to do.”

Leviathan

Force Leader Nenad Krylov watched the holo as his ship took the combined fire of six Sowir heavy cruisers. The Protector was able to intercept most of their missiles, but their lasers had started to become a problem, and Krylov didn’t know how much more his ship could take. In that moment he noticed that one of the six heavy cruiser’s drives were damaged by a couple of Protector’s missiles that managed to pass through its point defense. Immediately Krylov ordered focused fire from Protector’s powerful railgun turrets, and they started raining fire on the ship that was unable to evade it. Massive metal slugs shredded the ship and after a few seconds its drives exploded, followed by the rest of the ship. Then Krylov noticed pressure on his ship lessen as task force consisting of light cruisers Sting and Swift, and heavy cruisers Freedom and Enterprise commenced firing on the Sowir ships back. Krylov ordered his ship in closer to the Sowir keeping pressure on them. The overwhelming firepower of the human ships overpowered the Sowir noteworthy defenses.

Adrian watched on his command board as the Protector and the task force destroyed another heavy cruiser, leaving only two remaining. On his side of the battle, Leviathan managed to destroy one Sowir battleship, Valor and its escorts one more, and another one fell to the Battle Song. Force Leader Altsoba Smith proved incredibly competent when she suckered the Sowir battleship into overextending and then smashed it with her railguns. Now only three battered battleships remained, and the combined fire from the human and Nel ships was overwhelming them. Leviathan’s railguns fired constantly on the battleship designated as H6, its hull was now sporting hundreds of small holes and scorch marks, its weapon fire diminishing until finally they were dead in space. Adrian immediately sent orders to leave that ship alone, and focus on the others. He had plans for that one, if they manage to take it. Retsar Isani acknowledged the communication from Adrian, and his ships focused on the two remaining ships. The last two battleships died within minutes of one another. When the last one exploded, Adrian leaned back in his chair, releasing a long breath.

“We won.” Iris said.

“We won.” Adrian agreed. Looking at his command board, he saw countless reports. Injured count was constantly rising, as was that of the dead or lost. Damages to the his ships, and lack of reports from two ships griped at Adrian’s heart. Sitting up in his chair, Adrian started giving orders for rescue operations. There were still things to be done.

March 2170 – Sanctuary

Seo-yun sat in her office at the palace. Tomas was in a meeting with Laura and Elias discussing the battle at Nuva. Seo-yun couldn’t sit there and listen to the endless death reports. She felt guilty, as if she was betraying those people that died by not listening, but she just couldn’t make herself go. It was her that sent them there, using technology that she rediscovered. She knew intellectually that their deaths weren’t her fault. But emotionally she couldn’t help but feel at least partially responsible.