A few kilometers away on a ridge overlooking the city, a handful of Hussar officers watched as the horrifying battle unfolded before them. Though most of them wore faces of defeat and despair, one was stoic throughout.
It seemed as though her face was carved out of stone - her expression was unblinking and unyielding despite the devastation her troops suffered. And although her eyes were lit by flame, her stare was cold and hard.
"Report," she said, her voice frigid.
One of her officers immediately came up beside her. His datapad was filled with all manner of battle reports, with one half scrolling blindly as new and updated intel scrolled by on the other.
"Colonel," he began, "the 201st Hussar Regiment's casualty report is still being compiled. Thus far however, sen
Word count: 1942. Weird flex, I know. But I’m gonna do it anyway.
Deep inside the bunker, only the sound of groans and buckling metal filled the darkened rooms and hallways. After a moment, emergency orange lights switched on as the secondary generators spun up and delivered much-needed power to the nearly-dead base. The thick heavily reinforced bunker walls had cracked and crumbled everywhere, with some areas having collapsed entirely. Large chunks of the ceilings and walls had fragmented and caved in, which allowed piles of dirt from the hill above to come pouring in as well. The unfortunate few ended up crushed to death under those mounds of rubble, though the impact had killed most of them instantly, thankfully enough. Those who were truly unlucky died slow, agonizing deaths as the dirt and debris asphyxiated and compressed their fragile human bodies. Getting buried a
The colonel and two hundred of her Hussars dashed over to the bunker with maximum thrust. They were the first of four waves assaulting the Federation bunker, which was on its very last legs. All they needed to do was deliver the killing blow and convert the entire thing into a tomb. “What’s their status? I want a report of their energy readings.” asked the colonel. One of the unit’s recon officers came on her comms display. His face was filled with concern. “Main power appears to have been knocked out, but our sensors detect low-level energy currents throughout. It’s probable that their backup generators kicked in. Readings are too low to see what they’re up to, however.” “Is power going to their turrets?”
The captain paced back and forth inside the command center. Her face was creased with worry, though it had lessened thanks to the chainguns’ valiant defense. Everyone in the bunker had heard them roar, even through the thick walls. They also felt the vibrations that each of them had made. They were subtle, but could easily be felt under their feet. Much like the beginnings of an earthquake. When they were all going at full blast, the whole base shook with a constant tremor. Many nervously looked on as the cracks on the walls spread slowly, and some soil came trickling in. Thankfully, the ceilings held. “Captain!” yelled a comms tech. “Pillbox comms just got patched in. The perimeter commander’s now online.” The captain’s
The captain’s fist slammed down on his controls out of sheer frustration. The Hussars brought their heaviest weapons to the battlefield. Their intent to collapse the bunker was one hundred percent clear. And to top it all off, they were more than double their numbers. “All mecha squadrons,” he ordered, “enemy Hussars inbound, eight hundred strong. Stay sharp!” A shiver ran through his command as he displayed their loadouts over comms. Some had seen those hammers in action, and never wanted to see that again. But now, they had no choice. “I want all RR units to head back to the bunker asap,” he continued. “One wing from each squadron will escort all of you back to base. The rest… we stay here and provide support to
The dust had barely enough time to settle before the colonel and her units blasted back down towards the ground. They slung their hammers back, and slammed down on the hill right when they reached it. THOOM! The combined force of nearly four hundred Resonance Hammers pounded the soil, and the sound of their impact reverberated throughout the bunker. Everyone inside felt it deep in their bones. The Hussars had set their microvibrations to a specific frequency - the kind that caused reinforced structures to fall apart on a molecular level. Waves of energy shook the ceiling and walls as they traveled through the bunker. Though the impact was nowhere near as powerful as the artillery strike or the rockets, the vibrations were enough to cause the whole bunker to shake and shudder. Everyw
While the colonel was distracted, the captain immediately retreated from the fighting. With the pillboxes mostly useless, there was no point in them continuing to defend their positions. All they were doing was be more fodder for the slaughter. “Fall back!” he ordered. “Point alpha-sixer, acknowledge!” “Hooah!” His remaining squadron officers confirmed and pulled their troops away as quickly as they could. They were battered and in pieces, but jetted over to the captain’s designated rendezvous point. The mecha set up a small perimeter less than a hundred meters south of the bunker’s entrance. This allowed them to cover the airlock and the two remaining pillboxes, and vice-versa. While their most damaged sat in the center
The Hussars under the colonel’s command didn’t even hesitate to fire, despite their mark being right on top of her. They all understood how far the colonel was willing to go for the Hegemony. There wasn’t a shred of doubt in their hearts and minds, even as they pulled their triggers. Five hundred of the Hussar rearguard then fired missiles out of each of their shoulder-mounted missile pods. They shot out by the dozen, which left white streaks as they darted over and towards their targets. “Scatter!” ordered the colonel. She and her siege Hussars immediately fled the hill at full blast in every direction even as the missiles soared overhead. Since the Phalanx was far too slow to evade the strike, they instead raised their shields to absorb the blow. Scans of the
“So that’s Godeater, huh?” said Eva. “Some crazy energy that eats battlefields? Is that what it is?” The Admiral shook her head solemnly. “We’ve no idea, to be perfectly honest. It swallowed up the entirety of Dendrus. Whole thing up and vanished off the map.” She made poofing gestures with her hand, and had a tone of incredulity in her voice. “Worse,” she continued, “anything that touches it vanishes, as though it simply stops existing. We sent in multiple probes to perform planetary scans, but… they were consumed by the planet. We can’t sense or scan the planet in any way with what we have. The only way we even know it’s there is through its gravitational field.” As a person of science, what had happened to