>>5347117

Able to make small gravitic waves, it is not capable of dealing any damage, but as it is pointed to the systems star, it can generate miniscule waves able to interfere with any shifts out of system. Any admiral wishing to not suffer losses simply trying to leave the system, and perhaps even lose their most precious assets, would have to disable the generator drawing its power form the planets natural geothermal energy.

To take the base, a ground assault would be necessary, as the generator is capable of distorting the space around the base, knocking off course any missiles, railgun of M.A.G. rounds directed at it from orbit and the skies. One could take the risk to swing an asteroid at it, if they are willing to gamble and see which ones have been booby-trapped, and which were not.

And upon this dark, dreary, deadly world, you had been assigned to one of the many minor bases dotting the world’s surface, just 100 km away from Nomia, one of the major population centres, housing the civilian populace needed to maintain the logistics and infrastructure of the military, it also houses the families of many of the soldiers stationed on Noct I.

Base Amber had been you home for the past six months now, you and a lot of armed personnel had been transferred to Hell’s end as of late, causing an atmosphere of unease to settle upon anyone who has a clue about what’s going on.

And so, you find yourself sitting next to a table, a collection of cards in your, and your fellow officers hands, the hazy smoke rising from the cigarettes in each and every one of your mouths. You are naturally not gambling for money, that would be against regulations and none of you would like to be chewed out by your COs, instead you gamble on whom will be sent on patrol duty in the evening.

“Baron-Lieutenant-General Quinn Rupke.” Says one of the officers around the table, Vinn Kosmowski, and everyone else raises their eyes from their cards to look up at him. “Don’t like him.” He finally finishes with a huff.

A somewhat amusing sight seeing as how the man is close to two meters tall and seems to spend more time in the gym than outside of it, his rather pale Caucasian complexion had only been made worse by the lack of sunlight, still that had made his blue eyes and blonde hair stand out even more, he’s lacking any facial hair, something that he constantly said was his saddest loss since he joined the army, since regulation mandates short cut hair and no facial hair. An overall handsome man, but with a prickly personality like his, you’d sooner see him marry a dumbbell than a person.

“Vinn, you dislike most people.” Rebukes another person seated at the table, Amato Kamaunu.

>>5347119

The usual, unwavering response you’ve come to expect from him. Around 180 centimetres tall, with a complexion similarly pale, but of an Asiatic nature, he lacks the sheer muscle mass of Vinn, but an unyielding attitude means that the had never truly lost in his spars with Vinn, making up his lack of strength with technique. His short cut black hair, so well formed that it always seems like he’s been grooming all day, as well as his beautiful face tells everyone of his extensive genetical modification, and his noble descent. Whilst Vinn’s looks are natural, as such there are a few blemishes here and there, namely a crooked nose, Amato looks can only be described as unnaturally perfect.

“So ? Can’t I dislike some blueblood appointed because his daddy licked the right feet.” Kosmowski spits out.

“Said blueblood is our commanding officer, so you will show the discipline and respect deserved by such a position.” Irritated, Kamaunu responds.

“Oh, please excuse me, my lord, I did not mean to offend your augustness.”

“You keep talking like that, and they will hang you for disrespecting nobility.” A third voice cuts in. “And Amato, don’t rise to his bait, he’s just grumbling, everyone’s been on edge as of late.”

Rosanna Westre, of similar height with Amato, she, unlike him, is of gentry stock. With an athletic build and rather plain looks, she like most scions of megacorps has a rather queer look of beauty, short wiring and skin colour cybernetics cover large parts of her body, not on the level that would be seen on a cyborg, but you would risk a punch less you’d break your own hand on a hidden piece of machinery. With short cut auburn hair, green eyes and a tinted Mediterranean complexion, she is more machine than anyone else in this room, as befitting of one descended from a family with a major interest producing warships for the empire, she’s not closely related enough to the CEO for a cushy posting away from danger, but close enough to reap many benefits her second cousin’s position brings.

“Come on, Rosanna, even you have to admit that most of the high command had never seen war, recently promoted and appointed the lot of them, should Talon smash into us, you think they’ll pull a miracle out of their asses ?”

“They don’t need a miracle, this one of the most heavily fortified worlds in the dukedom, it will take months, years, for entire armies to secure the planet. There are millions of soldiers on this world, even a minor camp like ours houses over eighty thousand personnel. We’ll be fine.” Rosanna says.

“And how many of those millions will be lost.” Vinn continues to grumble. “What do you think ?” He addresses the question to you.

…

>>5347120

Can only pick one.

>”Nobles are meant to command, that is both our duty, and our honour.” NOBLE CLASS BACKGROUND – Because of your noble birth, your safety your father had sent guards to ensure your safety. Part of your unit will be elite household guard, loyal unto death and possessing superior equipment and training. Noble officers will view you as their equal.

>”Maybe command is right, or maybe it is not, ain’t for me to decide, but, I can tell you that I won’t be marching to my death. My connections should be at least worth that much.” MIDDLE CLASS BACKGROUND – despite being a minor contractor for the military only able to purchase a moon instead of a planet, your family had given what they could to ensure your survival whilst you serve and make contacts for the family. Cheaper purchases due to your familial connections, more starting influence. Noble officers will treat you with respect befitting gentry, but not their true equal.

>”The only man I trust is one that earned his rank. So I’m with you on that one.” LOWER CLASS BACKGROUND – You are just one of the countless faces whom signed up for adventure, or just a better life and a sweet pension plan. You rose through the ranks by your own efforts. The rank-and-file views you as one of their own, as such they have higher morale and are willing to fight on longer. Your direct soldiery is also more loyal than average. Noble officers will view you as beneath them.

>>5347121

…

A moment after you give your answer, the comms of everyone around the table begin to buzz and interrupt your rest. Grabbing your own, you exchange glances with your compatriots. Vinn seems annoyed as usual, Amato appears indifferent, whilst Rosanna seems resigned. Another pointless meeting had been called by the new base commander – Baron-Lieutenant-General Rupke, the man had been appointed a month ago, and for some reason he had decided that the best way to ingratiate himself with his new subordinates is to continuously call for endless meetings.

And so, with nowhere to run, and no alcohol to drown away your sorrows, unlike some naval officers you are ware of, you drag your feet to the command bunker of base Amber, named so after the lava lake close by the base. One which many an officer now dreams of taking a bath in.

Making your way to the main conference room, you move down the reinforced and hardened tunnels connecting the various buildings. The acid rain tends to eat through pretty much everything given enough time and a lack of maintenance, which is why most structures are at the very least partially built into the ground if not entirely underground.

Entering the large conference room, you see that most of the base’s officers had already arrived and prepared themselves for the conference, including both your peers, immediate subordinates, and immediate superiors, all of whom seem to be equally on the edge as had been common for the past few months.

If this continues, Talon won’t even have to invade, if most of the officers die from imagination induced stress. You drearily muse.

Shaking your head, you pass by a window facing the lava lake, a pointless vanity as the material required to make it up to standard meant that more resources than necessary had been expended, not to mention that the bunker itself is above ground, for a reason, but four stories high above ground is just asking for aerial assets to bomb it.

You pause for a moment, enjoying the bright colour in this rather dull world of greys and blacks, and as the acid rain impacts the window’s surface, you look upon your own reflection and see…

>>5347123

Can only pick one.

>Salvatore Nitcher – A man that appears to be in his early to mid-thirties. Short cut curling brown hair, a sharp looking face accenting your dark brown eyes, and a bit of a stubble growing out around your chin that you will have to shave off soon, but you try keep it for as long as you can. Your complexion appears Mediterranean and your body, like most soldiers, appears to be of an athletic build. Over all, your height reaches 182 cm.

>Yazid Niven – A man that appears to be in his late twenties, with a middle eastern look, with short cut curling black hair and a clean shaven face, your look is similar to one most people have when they imagine the stoic face of a soldier, your overall body build appears to most people as rather buff, above what would be expected for most soldiers to meet their standard. You stand 178 centimetres tall.

>Iezekiel Altenburg – A man that appears to be in his early thirties. Short cut strawberry blond hair adorns your scalp and a cleanly shaven face around a rather robust looking jaw perhaps slightly draws away from your own blue eyes. Your own body seems athletic, but leaning more towards the physique of a swimmer or a runner rather than a brawler which is the most common. Your height reaches 188 cm.

>(Write in)

…

>>5347124

Turning away from your momentary distraction, you make your way towards your seat, which is placed somewhere in the middle of the room, as a colonel of a regiment, you are not high ranking enough to be seated at the front with the four major-generals of the four divisions making up the 14th corps, which you are a part of. Still, you are luckier than most, take those at the front, even though they are far above you, there are more high ranking officers out there with nothing to show but their rank, at least you actually have troops under your command unlike some noble officers who needed an appropriate rank, but there were nowhere near enough soldiers for them to order around.

Thinking of which, it was a damned tough journey for you to reach your current position. You had to go through many ups and downs to reach your current rank. Throughout your years of experience, eventually your personality had settled down and you had…

Can only pick one.

>Maintained your enthusiasm of years past when you were just a fresh-faced recruit. You are still the same old optimistic and cheerful man, though your naiveté had long since been stripped away.

>Become jaded through the years of war, you had fought in the succession war for whom will sit upon the Lion’s throne, you had seen friends die, and you had personally killed a few as well as the civil war escalated.

>Always been a bit of a ruffian, and that had now only increased as more blood you had shed. You smile at when crimson is shed and laugh as flames of war burn around you.

>(Write in)

…Yes, you had changed, perhaps a little, perhaps a lot, it is hard to tell now, but your time inside of your own thoughts comes to an end when a man comes over to the pedestal.

Baron-Lieutenant-General Quinn Rupke stands tall, his looks as perfect as always as befitting of nobility, but were it not for his genehancements, his well-built muscular body would be fat and plump, his flowing silver hair would probably be, well not silvery that’s for sure, and most likely covered in grease. The fine moustache adorning his face is just another showcase of his special privileges as a high-ranking officer. Shame he doesn’t really care much for the duties attached to said privileges. Once another meeting of him talking non-stop about issues that don’t matter comes to an end, he will most likely once again indulge in a massive feast with the other generals attended by pretty maids, whores really.

Clearing his throat, the highest-ranking officer on the base does not begin with his usual gusto and self-aggrandisement. He, in fact, seems to be quite put off by something. This oddity quickly makes the silent room even quitter, as nervousness becomes clear in the agitated body language of those around you.

>>5347125

“Gentlemen, ladies.” He says with his melodic voice. “I had just received word from Count-General Boals. A runner ship had entered the system a week prior, carrying pertinent information from Duke-Admiral Roy himself. Suspicious movement had been reported across the border with both House Talon and House Scorpius. Intelligence officers loyal to the duke believe that action against our house by both houses may be imminent.” He says, clearly looking perturbed by the news.

“What sort of action ?” One of the major-generals asks.

“Anywhere from a light incursion with limited goals of only a few star systems to…” he goes silent for a moment. “…total war.”

That’s a wide margin and a half. You think to yourself, and your thoughts are shared across the room as whispered conversation breaks out.

“For now, the Count-General’s orders are to increase patrols on the ground. We must make sure that no scouts or forward elements manage to slip by the space station and its accompanying naval elements to gather intelligence upon our military strength, dispositions, and preparedness.”

Seems our game for whom will do the evening patrol was pointless then. You think with some disappointment, you had been winning after all.
.
.
.
You stretch as you go outside, your protection suit blaring a warning as acidic rain lands upon it. The suit had been treated to last for a week in the weather, but the fact that a painful death is mere centimetres away still disturbs you ever so slightly.

The area around you would be entirely pitch black were it not for the lava lake and headlights dotted across the base, once you get out of here it will be pitch dark as usual, since Hell’s end is thought to become an ice world once the planet cools off, its distance being far, far away from the system’s star. But that will not happen for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years in the future, as piles of ash begin to form upon your shoulders landing like snow.

Brushing it away, you head over to the regimental command post, your command. The soldiers outside quickly recognize you, be it from the rank upon our suit, or just the heads-up display informing them of your identity.

With a quick salute, the two guards step away allowing you access to the door, where upon you…

>>5347126

Can only pick one.

>Simply place your hand upon the scanner. Your unique genetic structure, due to your genehancements, is one of a kind, unless someone forces you, they have no way to unlock the door as the nano needles bite into your hand only accept your code when you are conscious and alive. GENEHANCEMENT BONUS – Overall an average increase in all fields such as – appearance, reflexes, strength, agility. Unique genetic structure makes medical care harder requiring trained professionals it also has an increased vulnerability to weaponry specifically created to target those with genetic modifications, but genehancements have the fastest rate of healing. Nobility prefer those with genehancements, they usually occupy senior officer positions.

>Insert your finger as it opens up inside of the console and a stream of information floods your brain as you confirm your identity thanks to your cybernetics. If someone wants to fake your identity, they’d not only need to get your cybernetics, but to also mimic your brain functions. CYBERNETICS BONUS – Largest bonus to toughness and minor bonuses to everything else. Requires mechanics and doctors whenever large damage is sustained, hardest and slowest healing on field. Middle classes prefer those with cybernetics, they usually occupy junior officer and NCO positions.

>Spend the next few minutes entering a massive line of code upon the keypad, as you lack any other easier means of doing so, being baseline human and all. BASELINE BONUS – That also means that whilst you are inferior to those with either genehancements or cybernetics, being baseline has its advantages as those with even the smallest amount of medical training could stitch you up thanks to the advances in medical technology. The lack of any bodily advantages also mean that personal feats of grandeur are more impressive. Lower classes prefer those that are baseline, they make up most of the enlisted positions.

So ummmm... kinda twisted my ankle, bored, can't work, so I am making this.

Actions here will impact the main campaign which will return as planned, the same with Renovatio Imperii.

So, please enjoy.

Useful links:

Military/Noble rankings https://pastebin.com/gLcTWzXE

Archive Links https://pastebin.com/uWJ38wnz

Timeline of the setting https://pastebin.com/bzhWWDkj

Ships https://pastebin.com/8LxdVHfm

Dramatis Personae https://pastebin.com/epJfFJd7

This is for the main setting.

What a surprise, QM.

>”Nobles are meant to command, that is both our duty, and our honour.” NOBLE CLASS BACKGROUND – Because of your noble birth, your safety your father had sent guards to ensure your safety. Part of your unit will be elite household guard, loyal unto death and possessing superior equipment and training. Noble officers will view you as their equal.

>Salvatore Nitcher – A man that appears to be in his early to mid-thirties. Short cut curling brown hair, a sharp looking face accenting your dark brown eyes, and a bit of a stubble growing out around your chin that you will have to shave off soon, but you try keep it for as long as you can. Your complexion appears Mediterranean and your body, like most soldiers, appears to be of an athletic build. Over all, your height reaches 182 cm.

>Maintained your enthusiasm of years past when you were just a fresh-faced recruit. You are still the same old optimistic and cheerful man, though your naiveté had long since been stripped away.

>Simply place your hand upon the scanner. Your unique genetic structure, due to your genehancements, is one of a kind, unless someone forces you, they have no way to unlock the door as the nano needles bite into your hand only accept your code when you are conscious and alive. GENEHANCEMENT BONUS – Overall an average increase in all fields such as – appearance, reflexes, strength, agility. Unique genetic structure makes medical care harder requiring trained professionals it also has an increased vulnerability to weaponry specifically created to target those with genetic modifications, but genehancements have the fastest rate of healing. Nobility prefer those with genehancements, they usually occupy senior officer positions.

We already play an everyman on the main Broken Empire quest, let's do the opposite here.

I have a question, QM. What would be the point of attacking this planet? It seems that it is a massive drain of resources for whoever controls it. Can't the enemy just bypass it and attack more habitable planets instead? Also, can't the enemy just besiege it outside the range of the surface-to-space cannons to stop all resources and supplies from getting in instead of assaulting it?

>>5347171

>I have a question, QM. What would be the point of attacking this planet? It seems that it is a massive drain of resources for whoever controls it. Can't the enemy just bypass it and attack more habitable planets instead? Also, can't the enemy just besiege it outside the range of the surface-to-space cannons to stop all resources and supplies from getting in instead of assaulting it?

The system is in a strategic chokepoint on how FTL travel works in this setting. The gravitic wave generator causes small waves to be generated around the larger waves made by the star once the dimensional shift is made, meaning that the chances of being thrown of course or just being ripped a part by the waves increases massively. So any admiral worth his salt won't risk his expensive carriers and battleships to chance.

And since the generator fucks with gravity ever so slightly, it is enough to throw of course any orbital bombardment attempts directed at it, and for those that manage to pass through ? That's the reason the base had been built into a mountain.

And as mention in the previous posts, most of the asteroids in system have been more or less turned into giant explosives, meaning that if you try to use one for bombardment, it is very likely to just explode and shotgun any ships nearby. Again, a massive potential risk.

As for supplies, as a main lynchpin for Roy's defence, it is stocked to the brim with necessary supplies to last as long as needed, that is the beauty of planetary defence, plenty of room to store supplies safely.

>>5347121
>”Maybe command is right, or maybe it is not, ain’t for me to decide, but, I can tell you that I won’t be marching to my death. My connections should be at least worth that much.” MIDDLE CLASS BACKGROUND – despite being a minor contractor for the military only able to purchase a moon instead of a planet, your family had given what they could to ensure your survival whilst you serve and make contacts for the family. Cheaper purchases due to your familial connections, more starting influence. Noble officers will treat you with respect befitting gentry, but not their true equal.

>Iezekiel Altenburg – A man that appears to be in his early thirties. Short cut strawberry blond hair adorns your scalp and a cleanly shaven face around a rather robust looking jaw perhaps slightly draws away from your own blue eyes. Your own body seems athletic, but leaning more towards the physique of a swimmer or a runner rather than a brawler which is the most common. Your height reaches 188 cm.

>Become jaded through the years of war, you had fought in the succession war for whom will sit upon the Lion’s throne, you had seen friends die, and you had personally killed a few as well as the civil war escalated.

>Insert your finger as it opens up inside of the console and a stream of information floods your brain as you confirm your identity thanks to your cybernetics. If someone wants to fake your identity, they’d not only need to get your cybernetics, but to also mimic your brain functions. CYBERNETICS BONUS – Largest bonus to toughness and minor bonuses to everything else. Requires mechanics and doctors whenever large damage is sustained, hardest and slowest healing on field. Middle classes prefer those with cybernetics, they usually occupy junior officer and NCO positions.


How are you doing Newb? How bad did you twist that ankle?

>>5347171
Probably because of the high amount of resources that can be used to create starships. It's like a fortress in medieval times.

>>5347184
>The system is in a strategic chokepoint on how FTL travel works in this setting. The gravitic wave generator causes small waves to be generated around the larger waves made by the star once the dimensional shift is made, meaning that the chances of being thrown of course or just being ripped a part by the waves increases massively. So any admiral worth his salt won't risk his expensive carriers and battleships to chance.

So it's impossible to make a dimensional shift directly to the core Roy systems without first passing through this system?

>>5347188

>How are you doing Newb? How bad did you twist that ankle?

Not that bad on both, haven't seen a doctor yet, but it hurts to walk on one of my feet and it's swollen, hopefully nothing broken just some strained muscles.

>>5347189

>So it's impossible to make a dimensional shift directly to the core Roy systems without first passing through this system?

From the perspective of House Talon, yes. They'd have to go through either Scorpio territory or risk uncharted space. Either option stretches their supply lines and carries its own risks.

>>5347193
>From the perspective of House Talon, yes. They'd have to go through either Scorpio territory or risk uncharted space. Either option stretches their supply lines and carries its own risks.

Does Roy have another planet like this one on its border with Scorpio?

>>5347222

More or less, yes. The same goes for the other two rivalling dukedoms, all three sides had seen the way the wind was blowing and prepared. Whether or not these preparations will be enough remains to be seen.

>>5347121
>”Nobles are meant to command, that is both our duty, and our honour.” NOBLE CLASS BACKGROUND – Because of your noble birth, your safety your father had sent guards to ensure your safety. Part of your unit will be elite household guard, loyal unto death and possessing superior equipment and training. Noble officers will view you as their equal.

>(Write in)
>Aurelius Constance – A man that appears to be in his early twenties, with a Northern European look, with long straight black hair and a goatee, your look is similar to one most people have when they imagine the fanciful face of a foreign warrior, your overall body build appears to most people as extremely buff, way above what would be expected for most soldiers to meet their standard. You stand 189 centimeters tall.

>(Write in)
>turned strict. There was no time to indulge in one's own thoughts, feelings, and superstitions when lives were on the line. Some may call it harsh, but to you, order was the only thing that meant the difference between life and death.

>Spend the next few minutes entering a massive line of code upon the keypad, as you lack any other easier means of doing so, being baseline human and all. BASELINE BONUS – That also means that whilst you are inferior to those with either genehancements or cybernetics, being baseline has its advantages as those with even the smallest amount of medical training could stitch you up thanks to the advances in medical technology. The lack of any bodily advantages also mean that personal feats of grandeur are more impressive. Lower classes prefer those that are baseline, they make up most of the enlisted positions.

>>5347121
>”Nobles are meant to command, that is both our duty, and our honour.”

>Iezekiel Altenburg – A man that appears to be in his early thirties. Short cut strawberry blond hair adorns your scalp and a cleanly shaven face around a rather robust looking jaw perhaps slightly draws away from your own blue eyes. Your own body seems athletic, but leaning more towards the physique of a swimmer or a runner rather than a brawler which is the most common. Your height reaches 188 cm.


>Become jaded through the years of war, you had fought in the succession war for whom will sit upon the Lion’s throne, you had seen friends die, and you had personally killed a few as well as the civil war escalated.

>Simply place your hand upon the scanner. Your unique genetic structure, due to your genehancements, is one of a kind, unless someone forces you, they have no way to unlock the door as the nano needles bite into your hand only accept your code when you are conscious and alive. GENEHANCEMENT BONUS – Overall an average increase in all fields such as – appearance, reflexes, strength, agility. Unique genetic structure makes medical care harder requiring trained professionals it also has an increased vulnerability to weaponry specifically created to target those with genetic modifications, but genehancements have the fastest rate of healing. Nobility prefer those with genehancements, they usually occupy senior officer positions.

Good to know you still live in QM, any idea when the Byzantine dating simulator will come back?

>>5347121
>”Nobles are meant to command, that is both our duty, and our honour.

>>5347123
>Aurelius Constance – A man that appears to be in his early twenties, with a Northern European look, with long straight black hair and a goatee, your look is similar to one most people have when they imagine the fanciful face of a foreign warrior, your overall body build appears to most people as extremely buff, way above what would be expected for most soldiers to meet their standard. You stand 189 centimeters tall.

>>5347125
>Become jaded through the years of war, you had fought in the succession war for whom will sit upon the Lion’s throne, you had seen friends die, and you had personally killed a few as well as the civil war escalated.


>>5347127
>Simply place your hand upon the scanner. Your unique genetic structure, due to your genehancements, is one of a kind, unless someone forces you, they have no way to unlock the door as the nano needles bite into your hand only accept your code when you are conscious and alive. GENEHANCEMENT BONUS – Overall an average increase in all fields such as – appearance, reflexes, strength, agility. Unique genetic structure makes medical care harder requiring trained professionals it also has an increased vulnerability to weaponry specifically created to target those with genetic modifications, but genehancements have the fastest rate of healing. Nobility prefer those with genehancements, they usually occupy senior officer positions

>>5347171
I'm going to change my vote for the second question to Aurelius Constance, my votes for the other three questions remain the same.

>>5347121
>”Nobles are meant to command, that is both our duty, and our honour.”

>Salvatore Nitcher – A man that appears to be in his early to mid-thirties. Short cut curling brown hair, a sharp looking face accenting your dark brown eyes, and a bit of a stubble growing out around your chin that you will have to shave off soon, but you try keep it for as long as you can. Your complexion appears Mediterranean and your body, like most soldiers, appears to be of an athletic build. Over all, your height reaches 182 cm.

>Maintained your enthusiasm of years past when you were just a fresh-faced recruit. You are still the same old optimistic and cheerful man, though your naiveté had long since been stripped away.

>Simply place your hand upon the scanner. Your unique genetic structure, due to your genehancements, is one of a kind, unless someone forces you, they have no way to unlock the door as the nano needles bite into your hand only accept your code when you are conscious and alive. GENEHANCEMENT BONUS – Overall an average increase in all fields such as – appearance, reflexes, strength, agility. Unique genetic structure makes medical care harder requiring trained professionals it also has an increased vulnerability to weaponry specifically created to target those with genetic modifications, but genehancements have the fastest rate of healing. Nobility prefer those with genehancements, they usually occupy senior officer positions.

Giving it a try. What quests have you made ?

>>5347121
>”Nobles are meant to command, that is both our duty, and our honour.” NOBLE CLASS BACKGROUND – Because of your noble birth, your safety your father had sent guards to ensure your safety. Part of your unit will be elite household guard, loyal unto death and possessing superior equipment and training. Noble officers will view you as their equal.

>Iezekiel Altenburg – A man that appears to be in his early thirties. Short cut strawberry blond hair adorns your scalp and a cleanly shaven face around a rather robust looking jaw perhaps slightly draws away from your own blue eyes. Your own body seems athletic, but leaning more towards the physique of a swimmer or a runner rather than a brawler which is the most common. Your height reaches 188 cm.

>Spend the next few minutes entering a massive line of code upon the keypad, as you lack any other easier means of doing so, being baseline human and all. BASELINE BONUS – That also means that whilst you are inferior to those with either genehancements or cybernetics, being baseline has its advantages as those with even the smallest amount of medical training could stitch you up thanks to the advances in medical technology. The lack of any bodily advantages also mean that personal feats of grandeur are more impressive. Lower classes prefer those that are baseline, they make up most of the enlisted positions.

This seems like my kind of OC sci fi. Can't be a manlet, have to be human right down to the fucking marrow of my bones, not like any faggot ass cyborgs.

>>5347121
>”Nobles are meant to command, that is both our duty, and our honour.” NOBLE CLASS BACKGROUND – Because of your noble birth, your safety your father had sent guards to ensure your safety. Part of your unit will be elite household guard, loyal unto death and possessing superior equipment and training. Noble officers will view you as their equal.
>Salvatore Nitcher – A man that appears to be in his early to mid-thirties. Short cut curling brown hair, a sharp looking face accenting your dark brown eyes, and a bit of a stubble growing out around your chin that you will have to shave off soon, but you try keep it for as long as you can. Your complexion appears Mediterranean and your body, like most soldiers, appears to be of an athletic build. Over all, your height reaches 182 cm.

>Become jaded through the years of war, you had fought in the succession war for whom will sit upon the Lion’s throne, you had seen friends die, and you had personally killed a few as well as the civil war escalated.

>Simply place your hand upon the scanner. Your unique genetic structure, due to your genehancements, is one of a kind, unless someone forces you, they have no way to unlock the door as the nano needles bite into your hand only accept your code when you are conscious and alive. GENEHANCEMENT BONUS – Overall an average increase in all fields such as – appearance, reflexes, strength, agility. Unique genetic structure makes medical care harder requiring trained professionals it also has an increased vulnerability to weaponry specifically created to target those with genetic modifications, but genehancements have the fastest rate of healing. Nobility prefer those with genehancements, they usually occupy senior officer positions.

BACKGROUND:

Noble 7

Gentry 1

APPEARANCE:

Aurelius 3

Iezekiel 3

Salvatore 2

PERSONALITY:

Enthusiastic 2

Jaded 4

Strict 1

MODIFICATIONS:

Genehanced 5

Cybernetics 1

Baseline 2

Need a tie breaker for appearance, but it does not block further progress so I am writing.

But overall, you come from a noble background as fitting you were genetically enhanced and the horrors of war had made you jaded.

>>5347351

>Good to know you still live in QM, any idea when the Byzantine dating simulator will come back?

September, as was originally planned.

>>5347533

>Giving it a try. What quests have you made ?

Archive Links https://pastebin.com/uWJ38wnz The main broken empire quest concentrating on space combat, with my shitty drawings as a general idea on what the fuck is going on.

https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Renovatio%20Imperii My other quest, roman/byzantine based autism.

Also made a quest for WH fantasy Border Princes, but that was my first quest so it's not that good and I was floundering there for a while to figure out how tf was I suppose to run it.

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1.23 MB JPG

MY BOY, MY SWEET SUMMER CHILD!

good to see you back lad! sad that i didn't come back from vacation in time to reply in character creation, but thats irrelevant. im just happy to see ya back again and still kicking

>>5347861

Still need a tie breaker for appearance and the creation still has two more steps.

But yea, the update will be coming in a while I am off to the doctor which is why I am taking a bit.

>>5347885
i'll vote for aurelius then

>>5347773
Aurelius

>>5347127

The door finally rises before you and you step through to the secondary security station, which you pass with ease as well, before reaching a large open room, where overall maintenance for the regiment’s equipment is being carried out.

“My Lord, how was the meeting ?” Asks a man as he approaches, your second-in-command Linton Linegar.

Around 190 centimetres tall, the man towers over most people around him, barely contained muscles are clearly visible and everyone from the regular soldiers, to officers, to simple menials rush away to make path for him, for good reasons too. For Linton is your attack dog. Since the most extensive of genetic engineering is only possible whilst the subject is still in their fetal state only nobility such as yourself can afford it, but special exceptions are made for men like him. The man’s parents are faithful servants of your house and he was made destined to be the perfect bodyguard before even being conceived. Little regard was given for his looks, which is why some may describe him as ever so slightly ugly looking, but with the gifts bestowed upon him you, and most others, do not care, since he can get the job done.

You lock your eyes with his, whom are bright red, a method of distinguishing the elite guard of a noble house, too many assassinations made by men specifically engineered like had led to a general agreement to change the irises colour to stand out, so that noblemen wouldn’t send their elites on endless attempts at assassination and revenge killings. Surprisingly enough, the amount of successful assassinations had dropped once these measures were put into law, unsurprisingly, the number of attempts had exploded massively as well.

“For once, something happened.” You reply coolly, making your way further in.

“Are the defences here getting put to use for once ?” He asks, his genetically increased aggression already flaring up.

“Maybe, get the regiment into shape, command wants increased patrols and that’s what we will give them. Gather the household guard as well, I will be heading out too.” You say marching to your quarters.

“As you command, my lord.” With a bow, the man responds and goes on to carry out your orders.

Being left alone once more, you reach your humble quarters, for a noble that is. The finest of silks, velvets, bejewelled vases with fresh flowers. You find it to be quite pointless really, but you have to keep up appearance befitting of your rank, lest your inferiors think themselves equal to you. You’ve heard that fringe nobles tend to be quite close to the lower classes, it a strange thought, here, corewards to humanity’s heart, nobility need not fear being hanged by their own subjects.

Taking a step on the dressing platform, dozens of various tools extend quickly removing your protection suit that you have to wear without stop due to the harsh conditions of the world and quickly afterwards proceed to dress you up in…

>>5347936

Can only pick one.

>Power armour, as plate after plate of armour is attached to your body, the exoskeleton formed around you quickly closes off as more and more dark grey plates are attached. Whilst most of the regiment is equipped with protection suits, the officer core and specialized formations within the regiment are equipped similarly to you. INFANTRY REGIMENT – The 1414st Infantry regiment “The Stalwarts”. Excelling at urban combat, over all the infantry unit is mobile and able formation, with support APCs and IFVs able to quickly relocate where needed. Overall infantry formations are the best when it comes to holding the line.

>An enhanced protection suit, equipped with improved sensors and communications device as well as overall thicker plating and superior life support system. The armour of a tank commander. ARMOURED REGIMENT – The 1433rd Armoured regiment “Count’s honoured”. Speedy mailed fist that is concerned with breakthroughs over anything else. The tanks are supported by a limited number of infantry in APCs to ensure operational security but overall the unit is inferior when it comes to defence or fighting in urban environments.

>A specialized mechanical suit that interfaces with your own brainwaves, an expensive and delicate piece of equipment necessary to operate a mech. Whilst tanks are preferred over mechs it cannot be denied that mechs are capable of moving through rougher terrain than tanks, but they also attract all the heavy weaponry in the vicinity due to their large stature. MECH REGIMENT – The 1441st Mech regiment “Alexander’s Lance”. Heavily armoured and armed, mechs deliver an awesome amount of firepower in a limited size compared to heavy tanks. Despite the greater armour and armament of these units, they come at a cost of being the smallest sized regiment even compared to aircraft and having largest vertical profile of any land based mobile unit. Usually employed in siege assaults mechs make up the tip of the spear of any forward assaults.

>>5347938
>A specialized mechanical suit that interfaces with your own brainwaves, an expensive and delicate piece of equipment necessary to operate a mech. Whilst tanks are preferred over mechs it cannot be denied that mechs are capable of moving through rougher terrain than tanks, but they also attract all the heavy weaponry in the vicinity due to their large stature. MECH REGIMENT – The 1441st Mech regiment “Alexander’s Lance”. Heavily armoured and armed, mechs deliver an awesome amount of firepower in a limited size compared to heavy tanks. Despite the greater armour and armament of these units, they come at a cost of being the smallest sized regiment even compared to aircraft and having largest vertical profile of any land based mobile unit. Usually employed in siege assaults mechs make up the tip of the spear of any forward assaults.

>A specialized mechanical suit that interfaces with your own brainwaves, an expensive and delicate piece of equipment necessary to operate a mech. Whilst tanks are preferred over mechs it cannot be denied that mechs are capable of moving through rougher terrain than tanks, but they also attract all the heavy weaponry in the vicinity due to their large stature.

>>5347938
>>Power armour, as plate after plate of armour is attached to your body, the exoskeleton formed around you quickly closes off as more and more dark grey plates are attached. Whilst most of the regiment is equipped with protection suits, the officer core and specialized formations within the regiment are equipped similarly to you. INFANTRY REGIMENT – The 1414st Infantry regiment “The Stalwarts”. Excelling at urban combat, over all the infantry unit is mobile and able formation, with support APCs and IFVs able to quickly relocate where needed. Overall infantry formations are the best when it comes to holding the line.

We're on the defensive, so this makes the most sense.

>>5347938
>An enhanced protection suit, equipped with improved sensors and communications device as well as overall thicker plating and superior life support system. The armour of a tank commander. ARMOURED REGIMENT – The 1433rd Armoured regiment “Count’s honoured”. Speedy mailed fist that is concerned with breakthroughs over anything else. The tanks are supported by a limited number of infantry in APCs to ensure operational security but overall the unit is inferior when it comes to defence or fighting in urban environments.
TANKS.

>>5347773
I also remember that border princes quest. Was it the one where she had a mercenary company?

>>5347938
>Power armour, as plate after plate of armour is attached to your body, the exoskeleton formed around you quickly closes off as more and more dark grey plates are attached. Whilst most of the regiment is equipped with protection suits, the officer core and specialized formations within the regiment are equipped similarly to you.

>>5347938

>A specialized mechanical suit that interfaces with your own brainwaves, an expensive and delicate piece of equipment necessary to operate a mech. Whilst tanks are preferred over mechs it cannot be denied that mechs are capable of moving through rougher terrain than tanks, but they also attract all the heavy weaponry in the vicinity due to their large stature.

>>5347773

Sorry, I forgot the scheduled date.
By the way considering your love for decaying empires, could we one day have a Quest as an Elector Count of the Empire? Unfortunately there isn't much love for pike and shot these days.

>>5347938
>An enhanced protection suit, equipped with improved sensors and communications device as well as overall thicker plating and superior life support system. The armour of a tank commander. ARMOURED REGIMENT – The 1433rd Armoured regiment “Count’s honoured”. Speedy mailed fist that is concerned with breakthroughs over anything else. The tanks are supported by a limited number of infantry in APCs to ensure operational security but overall the unit is inferior when it comes to defence or fighting in urban environments.

>>5347938
>An enhanced protection suit, equipped with improved sensors and communications device as well as overall thicker plating and superior life support system. The armour of a tank commander. ARMOURED REGIMENT – The 1433rd Armoured regiment “Count’s honoured”. Speedy mailed fist that is concerned with breakthroughs over anything else. The tanks are supported by a limited number of infantry in APCs to ensure operational security but overall the unit is inferior when it comes to defence or fighting in urban environments.

Mech 3

Infantry 2

Tank 3

Gonna need a tie breaker here.

>>5348234

>I also remember that border princes quest. Was it the one where she had a mercenary company?

https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Border+Princes It is this one.

>>5348556

>By the way considering your love for decaying empires, could we one day have a Quest as an Elector Count of the Empire? Unfortunately there isn't much love for pike and shot these days.

Maybe. I have a lot of ideas I want to run before that, but I won't start anything new until Broken Empire and Renovatio Imperii is finished.

>>5347938
>An enhanced protection suit, equipped with improved sensors and communications device as well as overall thicker plating and superior life support system. The armour of a tank commander. ARMOURED REGIMENT – The 1433rd Armoured regiment “Count’s honoured”. Speedy mailed fist that is concerned with breakthroughs over anything else. The tanks are supported by a limited number of infantry in APCs to ensure operational security but overall the unit is inferior when it comes to defence or fighting in urban environments.

>>5348971
>https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Border+Princes It is this one.
Yes it is!
I'm sad that is died. it had a lot of potential, but indead it needed some fixing because almost all first quests do.

>>5348971
Mech

>>5347938
>An enhanced protection suit, equipped with improved sensors and communications device as well as overall thicker plating and superior life support system. The armour of a tank commander. ARMOURED REGIMENT – The 1433rd Armoured regiment “Count’s honoured”. Speedy mailed fist that is concerned with breakthroughs over anything else. The tanks are supported by a limited number of infantry in APCs to ensure operational security but overall the unit is inferior when it comes to defence or fighting in urban environments.

The enhanced protection suit comfortably fits around your form. Slightly bulkier than those worn by infantry men, but these have increased overall environmental resistances and a larger backpack filled with advanced communications equipment as well as a set of engineering tools necessary for repairs on field

Stepping away from the platform that had quickly dressed you, you grab a string and tie up your long straight black hair as it will get into the way when you will be putting on your helmet. With a quick scratch of your goatee, you sigh before grabbing the helmet and putting it on. Even though your hair is against regulations, the fact that you are a noble allows you to skirt orders that would see commoners beaten for insubordination, just another sign for your lessers to know whom is their superior

With the sound of hissing pneumatics, the door to your quarters rises away allowing you to once more step out to the rest of the facility. Soldiers stand at attention whenever you pass by. Reaching the conference room, you see that Linton had already gathered your officers and all of them are seated around the large table. Fine porcelain and crystals had already been set upon the table, the silver candlesticks already have the wax candles set into them blazing, you had to pay a premium to import those, but appearances have to be upkept lest your peers start to look down on you

“Gentlemen, ladies, no need to rise.” You say marching down and taking a seat at the head of the table. Looking over the dozens of officers that had gathered, but only three of them are your direct subordinates, with Linton being one of them, that you have to actually concern yourself with. Not that you particularly care for them either, Linton manages them well enough

“I realize that me coming here in my equipment may unnerve some of you, and I must apologize that dinner today will be cut short.” You look over the gathered officers, a mixture of all three classes, occupying their traditional positions, some look relieved, others slightly annoyed, but most seem entirely indifferent

“May I ask why, Lord-Colonel?” Asks one of your direct subordinates, a man named Earnan Savin

Reaching around 183 cm, the man’s dark brown skin blends in well with the dark uniforms worn by the fighting men and women of the world, further accenting the gold trim on the uniform as well. His head is cleanly shaven, but despite that he maintains a shortly trimmed beard. His body type, as fittingly for most born with great pedigree, is athletically built. Being the fourth born son of a Viscount, he had received the education needed for him to reach a rank similar to yours, but from the rumors you had inadvertently heard it seems that he had a falling out with his family. Still, you appreciate the man for his aggressive commanding style, even though it can be quite annoying to deal with his style of improvisation and independent thought, requiring you to reel him in from time to time

>>5349132

“Command believes that Talon is likely to strike, if they are to move their heavier warships and transports, they will have to pass by Nact and because of that, we shall be carrying out extra patrols.” You calmly say, your voice slightly distorted by the helmet.

“The entire regiment, sir ?” The last of your direct subordinate asks, named Carolus Sambor.

Around 185 cm, the man had been extensively genetically modified, whilst his white skin tone seems as usual, his pupils are coloured purple and his shoulder length straight hair is entirely snow white his clean-shaven face has rather soft corners making him have quite an attractive face, to your eternal headache. The man’s a womanizer, his entire person built around the ideal male body, and the endless scandals should have seen him executed, if not at least dishonourably discharged. Yet, even with all of the flak that comes your way due to his promiscuity, he is the third born of a margrave, his ranks mean that even if you want to, you cannot get rid of him easily. Besides his personal affairs, on the field of battle Carolus keeps a cool head and obeys orders, if you command him to take a position, he will take it, usually by creative means. Were it not for his personality and being the black sheep of his family, no doubt he’d be a higher ranked officer than you, but for now, he obeys your commands.

“Yes, the entire regiment. I want everyone to prepare for departure, our regiment will be the first of our division to go out to patrol. We will have to cover a massive area against any potential infiltrators. It is estimated that the storms will pick up in the coming week, even further reducing visibility, meaning we will have no air or orbital support.” You calmly begin explaining the detail of the upcoming assignment.

“Wouldn’t we risk being picked up by the exceptionally strong winds ?” Asks Earnan.

That is true, with the world still in its forming stages, the changing pressure of cooling acidic rain and blistering ground can cause winds strong enough to kick up ash and other particles so strongly that it can actually rip apart an unarmoured man.

“The areas assigned for patrol to us make up hilly terrain and ravines, we do not need to worry for the winds, those areas had been assigned to the mech division, their thick armour able to withstand the wind.” You answer.

Looking around the table, silence sets in. “Anymore questions ?” You ask. Shakes of the head and a few nos are all that you receive. “Very well, get in gear, we are departing in ten.” Rising you give the final order.

Leaving first with Linton following you like the loyal dog that he is, you walk over to your command tank in the engineering bay.

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>>5349133

Gideon mk. IV The most common type of tank in the imperial arsenal. A single M.A.G. cannon 140mm calibre capable of firing tank round propelled by an explosive charge and then further accelerated the formed magnetic field. Each and every corner has a mounted rotary railgun, able to rip apart anyone within power armour and without as well as a single double laser turret mounted to the top of the tank for anti-air and anti-missile duty. A crew of six men, three in the turret, one driver one man for the laser turret and one for the turrets. The tanks is also capable of reaching off-road speeds of over 160 km/h and close to 300 on-road. The Tank’s design had been in service for over two hundred years, nowadays there are tanks that hover, there are tanks with even more weapons mounted upon them, there are tanks with more armour, more speed, more everything, but Gideon stands above them all. Being reiterated to the point where the design can hardly get any better, every engineer knows how to work on that tank, its spare parts are always plentiful and it had been designed with the idea of ease of repair in mind. Its reliability makes this tank the favoured of any commander for any situation, whilst other tanks are superior in niche conditions, the Gideon is good enough for most tasks, most of the time.

Waiting a few more minutes until the last of the checks are finished and the tanks crew is gathered, you yourself clamber into the machine. Quickly, your head-up display shows that the entire squadron of 28 tanks, double strength being the first squadron of the regiment, alongside 56 APCs carrying soldiers in protection suits, two APC’s carrying 30 men each covering one tanks as it moves. A grand total of 1908 men under your direct command, quickly begin to depart your regimental headquarters to cover a massive wasteland of nothing but ash and endless acidic rain.
.
.
.
It’s already the third week of increased patrols, and the men are suffering from the increased patrols. The lack of anything causing far more damage than being in actual combat. It annoys you to, the waiting, the endless waiting never knowing when you will be struck, in active combat you know where your foe is and where you will be struck from, but not when you have to wait. Taking a bite from the colourless mush of a nutrition bar, you force yourself to swallow the flavourless, textureless piece of what some would call food. Apparently, you heard that they used to have a nice crunch and delicious flavour, being so convenient soldiery had begun eating them when not in active combat or away from base, but being about ten times more expensive than regular rations that drove logistics officers into a rage, whom soon requested that the ration bars be made as unappealing as possible.

If those ancient rumours are true, I would personally hand every single one of those logistics officers. You think in annoyance.

>>5349135

An alarm rings, informing you that someone wishes to enter your temporary abode. The camp you set up is made up of prefabed thin metal buildings with insulation and specially treated against the terrain of Noct I. It is nothing more than an entry way and a sleeping room after that. Clicking the button, you open up the first door, allowing the person inside whom you already observed looking through the camera installed in front of the door. A moment later, the other door also rises.

“My lord. Should we head back to base Amber ?” Linton asks, drops of acid flowing off his suit.

“The last ravine was investigated then ?” You ask.

“Yes, my lord, nothing was found.”

“Very well, we will rest here for a few hours before beginning to make our way back.” Saying so, you rise from your cot, reaching for your helmet and putting it on.

Linton steps away allowing you to leave your tent, exposing you to the elements, the weather had continued to get worse and worse, with the downpour making it seem like someone was actually pouring it down directly from a bucket. The ground below you almost entirely turned into molten mush as toxic steam rises upwards, your helmet blaring warnings on the toxicity of said steam and how dangerous it is for your lungs.

“How far are we from base Amber ?”

“About twenty kilometres now, my lord.” Pointing out, your servant says.

You raise your head to regard the rapidly moving clouds above you, raindrops impacting your visor.

And then you are blinded by the sudden light wiping away the world’s darkness. Your visor struggles to compensate as your night vision now works entirely against you, dimming your surroundings, the ground shakes and by the time you can look back up. You see a massive, flaming mushroom cloud rising from direction of base Amber. But before you can utter anything, another flash interrupts you, and then another, and another. Turning away, you start looking towards Nomia, the closest civilian centre to the base, and even from here, you can discern flashes and rising mushroom clouds.

“Get me long range comms, now !” You order as your entire camp falls into pandemonium, men grabbing their weapons, starting up their vehicles.

By the time you reach the camp’s impromptu communications centre, you find it jam packed by your officers, all of whom are as equally as confused by what just happened.

“Soldier, what’s out status ?” You ask the woman next to the various pieces of equipment.

“I cannot raise base Amber, sir, nor the city of Nomia.”

“Orbit ?”

“Also silent, sir.”

“The solarnet ?”

“Down, sir.”

“Radio ?”

“Still functioning, but I am receiving a large amount of interference.” The woman responds.

“Lord-Colonel, you want to see this !” You hear Earnan call out.

>>5349136

Turning about and leaving the room, you watch as pieces of flaming debris fall from orbit. Your visor, acting as binoculars zoom in, allowing you to see the pieces of falling metal. Metal whose parts are coloured gold here and there, and as the paint burns up you a golden lion consumed by the blazing fall.

The station’s gone. You realize, perhaps some may be afraid, or excited. You are simply resigned, war had come, and you were caught unprepared. No signal, no forewarning, that can mean only one thing.

“Spies.” You say.

“Sir ?” Carolus, whom been standing next to you asks.

You regard with your gaze, before deciding to keep your theory to yourself. “Nothing, organize them, we have to be prepared to move at a moment’s notice.” Luckily the entire regiment is here, not only my squadron. 70 tanks and 140 APCs, a total of 4,900 men. Your mind begins calculating your forces immediately, as well as your potential chances at survival, much less victory.

Then, to perhaps smite your hopes, engine exhaust becomes visible as drop pods begin hammering both the positions of base Amber and the city of Nomia. The first wave of an invading force.

“Sir, those are drop pods.” Carolus almost whispers.

“I know.” You coolly respond.

“What do we do now, sir ?”

>”We return to base Amber. If they are dropping drop pods, that means someone must’ve survived the nuclear blasts.”

>”Nomia, the population centre is crucial for maintaining our infrastructure. The largest spaceports are also located there, if the enemy wants to bring down heavy vehicles, they will have to take the city.”

>”We are retreating to the closest friendly base to us, maybe they were not hit as hard.”

>”We wait for orders, as good soldiers do, Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel.”

>(Write in)

Well then, anons, the fun has begun.

>>5349137
>”Nomia, the population centre is crucial for maintaining our infrastructure. The largest spaceports are also located there, if the enemy wants to bring down heavy vehicles, they will have to take the city.”
Use the apc's for in the city and the tanks for around the city.

>>5349137

I have a question, QM. What are the "rules" in this setting regarding killing civilians? Does House Talon consider it dishonourable?

>>5349145

I mean, my guy, I did describe them nuking the city to soften it up. The only problem you could run into is killing surrendering nobility, but that's about it.

>>5349137
>”We wait for orders, as good soldiers do, Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel.”

For the love of God don't take our tank division into urban combat

>>5349137
>”We wait for orders, as good soldiers do, Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel.”

Attempt to contact our immediate superior via radio and ask for orders. If we fail to reach him, then:

>”We return to base Amber. If they are dropping drop pods, that means someone must’ve survived the nuclear blasts.”

It's only twenty kilometres away and our tanks go 160 km/h, which means it will take us only 8 minutes to get there.

>>5349137
>”We wait for orders, as good soldiers do, Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel.”

>>5349145
>>5349164

All of the options are mutually exclusive, anon. The sit and wait for orders will see you do just that. Every other option will see you actively engage in combat, since the invasion just begun every delay or decision will swing battle in favour of one thing or another. Granted, waiting is also not a bad choice for you do not know if you will be contacted and you will be needed desperately elsewhere.

>>5349265
In that case...
>>5349137
>>”We wait for orders, as good soldiers do, Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel.”

Waiting for orders wins.

Writing.

“We wait for orders, as good soldiers do, Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel. Carry out your orders and keep the men in a state of preparation.” You calmly respond. Chain of command exists for a reason. If it still exists that is.

“Sir, I must protest.” As you had expected, Earnan’s voice rises in protest the moment you finish speaking.

The man simply cannot sit for a moment and observe the situation. Nuclear strikes precisely struck your camp, parts of the space station rained from the skies. The enemy had clearly achieved orbital superiority, if a tank regiment like yours rolls up into active combat on locations whose coordinates they had clearly pre-sighted, the regiment would be washed in nuclear fire without a doubt.

“Your protestations are noted, Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel, organize your men.” You do not have the time to deal with his hissy fit.

Ignoring further protests, you calmly walk back to your quarters with Linton following behind you.

“Notify me immediately if we re-establish communications, have my squadron organized and have my guards guarding the camp, make sure that we have no deserters or desperates.”

“What’s to be done with them, my lord ?“

“Execution via firing squad, as usual.”

“As you command, my lord.” With a bow, Linton responds. One of the few benefits of higher command is that you can delegate so many tasks like these to your subordinates.

Coming back into your room and getting wiped down from the rain, you step into your room and create a hologram of Noct I. A detailed map for someone of your rank, meaning that there probably are hidden installations here and there, nor do you have any deployment details other than those of your surrounding territory.

The cities will be hit the hardest. The spaceports are invaluable. Camps similar to ours would be preferably bombed to the stone age. Largest camps, especially the main fortress of Hapakhered have enough defences in place to make orbital bombardments moot. They can produce enough energy without expanding the reactors too much thanks to geothermal energy. Quickly falling back on your experience, you begin running calculations. Whilst you do not know exact numbers of troops deployed, a reasonable ten million deployed personnel eventually leaves you with a dark conclusion. Presuming the enemy launched simultaneous attacks across the planet not giving anyone chance to prepare against orbital bombardment, the number of surviving soldiery should number between four to six million men. And presuming it is full invasion by Talon in a total war scenario. They may deploy as many as forty million, to as little as twenty million men.

>>5349512

Getting a hold of a general idea of what is happening, you realize that the only way to win is either to grind Talon down against the largest fortifications and cities, or inflict so terrible a loss, so quickly that they would call off the attack for reorganization. Now it’s a matter of time. Without the regular check in via runner ship, house Roy will learn soon enough that something has gone wrong.

Three months. Presuming my calculations are correct, in three months’ time, a relief force should arrive. Hopefully, a force large enough for at the very least to achieve orbital parity.

Your comms goes off and snap you away from your plans and thoughts. Taking it, you answer.

“My lord, the comms has received a broken message, playing it for you now.” Linton says respectfully as ever.

”G̷̨̼̩̼͕̟̎̑ě̶̦͚̺̺̩͖̊̃n̷̨̡͔͔͎̙̮̓͗͑́͋̔̚͜……presumed Talo….…att..ev..……ᶜᵒnᵈiᵗiᵒn ᶻᵉʳᵒ……r̸͍̘̓ͅe̸̫͍̰̟̞̰͇̓͑p̵̨̭̻͓̘̠̒̐̏͊͂̌̋͠…̸͖̮̙͚̮̐̀͑̈́c̴̡̡̢̤͖̮̝̜͒͐o̵̤̼͔̖̤̹͓͓͛͋̉̈́͒n̶̘͖̫̯̈́̄̒̆̓̔̌͛͜…” Static voice comes over clearly using radio signal over anything else, which means more advanced means of communication had been cut off.

“Condition zero ? Have I heard that correctly ?” You ask.

“Yes, my lord.”

You sigh. Condition zero – order for a fighting retreat to main places of resistance. A plan that was made as a contingency if everything else fails. A simple best of luck, you’ll need it. Seems that lines of communication and the chain of command had utterly collapsed.

“Are the officers still gathered around the communications centre ?”

“They are, my lord.”

“I am coming over, make sure that everyone is there.” Without another word, you cut the connection and once again put on your helmet, the rather claustrophobic environment around and the feel of cushionings rubbing against your face gives you a sense of safety, protection, perhaps a false one, but one you got used.

As you walk outside once more, you look to the skies where larger transports are currently screaming in the atmosphere. The shocktroopers must’ve secured an opening large enough to allow larger transports to go down. Soon after, behemoths will touch down, an entire division deployed by a single ship and logistically maintained.

As you once again return to the station, you see that there is a general buzz about.

“Lord-Colonel, we received contact from nearby regiments.” Earnan quickly calls out.

“Report.” You stop, it seems like you were not the only regiment that got lucky.

>>5349514

“Colonel Kosmowski report that his regiment had been assaulted by shock troop formation whilst unprepared around halfway to Nomia. It appears that his position is being further attacked by gathering light vehicles and enemy air support. He broadcasts on all friendly frequencies asking for immediate assistance.”

Vinn, you wouldn’t call him a friend, but at least you know him, and that infantry regiment could bolster your forces rather massively when it comes to sheer numbers.

“Lord-Colonel Kamaunu is also requesting assistance. His mech regiment got nuked on the open fields and his position is being currently shelled by light artillery. He has currently hunkered down and is requesting assistance before more forces converge on his position and overwhelm him with sheer numbers. His current location is reported to be around the ash plains.”

Amato, he will follow orders as needed, you could possibly get him to listen to you. The Mechs would provide a fine addition to your firepower, but the mechs themselves would slow down your movement speed.

“Finally, Colonel Westre is currently engaged with enemy air elements, but she is strongly outnumbered and needs any support she can get, unfortunately she is too deeply engaged to be able to shake off her competition and needs help immediately. Her current position is around the volcano range.”

Rosanna, her aerial assets could prove quite useful for scouting and support, but they will need the most amount of maintenance and supplies to keep running.

“How were they able to get through to us ?”

“It seems that the colonels sent the message to our general location, sir. Had we moved, I doubt that all the messages, if any would have reached us.” Sheepishly Earnan says.

“Is that all ?”

“Yes, sir. Whom shall we assist ?”

The regiment can be split up in squadrons to carryout multiple tasks.

1st squadron – Commanded by Aurelius Constance. SPECIAL: Double strength. Total forces:
28 tanks
56 APCs
1,680 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits

2nd squadron – Commanded by Linton Linegar. SPECIAL: Household elite. Total forces:
14 tanks
28 APCs
840 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits

3rd squadron – Commanded by Earnan Savin. SPECIAL: Nothing. Total forces:
14 tanks
28 APCs
840 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits

4th squadron – Commanded by Carolus Sambor. SPECIAL: Nothing. Total forces:
14 tanks
28 APCs
840 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits

>Send forces to assist Colonel Kosmowski (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)

>Send forces to assist Lord-Colonel Kamaunu (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)

>Send forces to assist Colonel Westre (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)

>Stand your ground, your allies are acting as a distraction allowing you to freely break off and begin an orderly retreat to the closest fortress.

>>5349515
>Send forces to assist Colonel Kosmowski
4th squadron
>Send forces to assist Lord-Colonel Kamaunu
1st squadron
>Send forces to assist Colonel Westre (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)
3rd squadron

Let 2 squadron be in reserves and be prepared to help out when one position is having problems.

>>5349515

>Send forces to assist Colonel Kosmowski:
1st squadron – Commanded by Aurelius Constance.
4th squadron – Commanded by Carolus Sambor.

>Send forces to assist Colonel Westre:
2nd squadron – Commanded by Linton Linegar.
3rd squadron – Commanded by Earnan Savin.

>Sending armor to a flat area with no cover being hit by nuclear and artillery attacks is suicide. Also, staying in this position when the enemy has air superiority is stupid, we'll focus on the most useful and easy-to-rescue units, we'll regroup from there.

>>5349515
>>Send forces to assist Colonel Kosmowski (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)

The entire regiment. We are outnumbered and therefore don't have the luxury of being able to split our forces. Furthermore, Infantry and tanks tend to go well together.

>>5349553
>>5349576

We are overwhelmingly outnumbered, the correct strategy in this situation is to hold hold our regiment together and defeat the enemy in detail.

>>5349638
Far enough supporting your suggestion then.

>>5349657
It means changing
>>5349553
to
>>5349636
This

>>5349576
>+1

>>5349638
Yes but you have to consider two things, the first and what kind of troops are attacking each regiment, the second is what kind of support we could gain if we win the fight. The combination of infantry and tanks is by far the most synergistic, but the chance of having serious recon plus having the ability to avoid direct bomber aircraft is too big to waste.
I think the gain in a possible victory in both fights would be more important than a victory in just one fight.

>>5349694
Read this QM's post carefully

> that infantry regiment could bolster your forces rather massively when it comes to sheer numbers.
> The Mechs would provide a fine addition to your firepower, but the mechs themselves would slow down your movement speed.
> her aerial assets could prove quite useful for scouting and support, but they will need the most amount of maintenance and supplies to keep running.

The infantry is the only one of the three that does not have a "but". The mechs would negate the great speed of our tanks and the aircraft would be very difficult to maintain in the situation that we're in and we can't assume that we have the logistics required to keep them operational.

>>5349703
We just need to keep them for a while, not for the rest of the Quest, if we can't afford to keep them, we'll just deactivate them until our logistical situation improves.
Seriously, this Quest was not made to last forever depending on how long we have left to live, the maintenance price may not even arrive

>>5349755
>this Quest was not made to last forever

That's out of universe knowledge. Besides, The QM said that "Actions here will impact the main campaign".

>>5349576 2

>>5349636 2

Need a tie breaker here.

>>5349636
+1
Can’t begin splitting our forces when we are this thinned out army wide. After having helped out the infantry i think we should help the mech’s though since there they are more just having problems with Remote artillery. Which should be easy to destroy as soon as we got re-enforced with infantry.

Alright >>5349636 wins

Please give me 3d100 best of 3

>>5347117
AH HE RETURNS

BEST QM RETURNS

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>5350165

Rolled 99 (1d100)

>>5350165

File: A toast dear comrade.jpg (59 KB, 1200x628)

59 KB JPG

>>5350226
Very nice anon, very nice.

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>5350165
1

Alright, I see there is some misunderstanding. I would like for you anons to roll 3d100 best of 3, so that I could get the whole scene going meaning that I do more writing and I can give you bigger updates.

Example for this fight had anons rolled:
15 64 47
45 12 98
78 21 78

Would mean that the start of the engagement would be 78
The battle itself proper would be a 64
And the last stages of the fight would be a 98

The crit range is 1-5 for crit fail, 95-100 for crit success.

On this occasion I will treat the entire engagement as the rolled 99.

>>5350308
alright, thanks OP

“Get your squadrons prepared, we are departing immediately towards Colonel Kosmowski.”

“And the others ?“ Carolus Chimes up.

You simply turn to face him. Nothing but the cold visage of your wet helmet and ash patches of ash answers his question, until a few seconds you ordain to answer him. “They knew the risks signing up, they will live, or die, by their own merit. Any more questions ?”

“No, sir.” Sufficiently cowed, Carolus responds.

From the corner of your eye you can already see Earnan rising in protest, only for Linton to step in front of him and silence the words that are yet to leave his mouth.

If you could, you’d naturally come to assist everyone that requested your help, if for no other reason that the more assets you secure the greater are the chances of your success and survival, but you are in no position to do so, your own safety and the safety of your men are paramount here. To simply throw away your lives in a misguided effort to help everyone will see you and everyone you had tried to save dead. That is a lesson you had learnt the hard way, the painful way.

With the regiment being on high alert, you set out to move in only a few minutes, but in modern war, seconds count, which is why the moment you are comfortably seated in the commander’s chair within your tank, you order the driver to go full throttle. You visibly slam into your chair as the tank rapidly accelerates. The outside cameras showing you the full force of a tank regiment moving as if they were on fire.

If there is one advantage to the endless muck of ash and acid, is that you are not kicking up a massive ash cloud wherever you’re moving, instead, kilograms, and soon tons of deadly mud are slammed backwards by the threads of over seventy tanks. If anyone could look up from the sky, it’d be damn easy to figure out where you went. Hopefully the storm will hold. For once you think positively of the endless fickle tempests that rule this world.

Rapidly closing the distance of Vinn’s reported position, you end up activating your own comms device, now connected to the tanks own powerful communication system specially fitted in squadron leader’s tank.

“Colonel Kosmowski, this is Lord-Colonel Constance, what is your current situation ?”

“Aurelius ?” With shock clear in his voice, Vinn says. “Am I damn glad to hear you. We were in the process of patrolling the main railway network, we were out in the open when everything went to shit. Though we weren’t hit by any direct nuclear strikes, we were close enough for the shockwave to slam against us. Then drop pods hammered right atop of us. We’re currently holding out at the radiated remains of the supply depot. We’re surrounded on all sides.”

“What is your current strength ? The strength of the opposition ?”

File: Drop trooper.jpg (31 KB, 455x600)

31 KB JPG

>>5350561

“I’m down to three battalions, and I’ll be down more soon, I can see light transport already dropping off light vehicles. I’m also down most vehicles, the bastards targeted them first.”

“Understood, hold tight, we’re four mikes out.”

You unceremoniously cut the connection. Now, all you can do it wait and see. Even from this distance, your sensors are picking up the noise of combat and soon enough, you get a visual.

A supply depot had been set up here for the antigrav railway, a critical junction for large scale swift transfer. No wonder it got nuked. The remainder of the structures had been almost entirely wiped out. Collapsed and quite literally blown apart structures dot the landscape, torn to shreds and blown to bit pieces of AA and AM turrets have been turned to molten slag. Still, the underground structures themselves should still survive, well, what is left of them. You think to yourself as the noise of screaming shells fired by light self-propelled artillery pieces keep bombarding the positions. Destroyed wrecks, still smouldering and burning inform you of the ferocious struggle that had went on before you arrived.

Vinn’s men are putting up quite the ferocious fight and the endless storm masks your approach, giving you a few precious moments.

Activating your comms again, you begin relaying orders. “Linegar, take your squadron and hit those exposed artillery pieces, then proceed onwards to the encirclement and hit them from the South. Carolus, take your squadron East and hit them where it hurts. Savin, you have the west, I want no one escaping this pincer and letting the enemy know out numbers.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Roger that, sir.”

One after another positive responses come through. With your double strength squadron, you yourself will move on full throttle and simply smash yourself against the enemy, throwing them into a panic and allowing the other squadrons to carry out their assignments.

“Lord-Colonel, we’re in range.” Your gunner calls out.

You use one of the outside cameras to zoom in, seeing the freshly deployed APCs marked with the silver eagle of house Talon’s slowly moving forward, opening a literal torrent of railgun fire smashing against the hunkering infantry. Whilst the elite drop troopers making their way onwards. Their reinforced power armour is far more advanced and powerful than one commonly used with the army or the navy, specially designed to ensure that the man inside isn’t turned to mush from the impact of the drop and that he has everything he needs to go through hell safely, but even then, these men especially picked for aggression and initiative still suffer casualty rates as high as 60% on an average drop.

>>5350565

And now these elites shall learn just how treacherous this world is. More men pointlessly wasted. You think to yourself before opening your mouth to speak. “Gunner, target those APCs, range 8,000 metres.” You had to get uncomfortably close, but you’re basically firing point blank now. “Bearing, ten degrees west.”

“Target locked !” The gunner calls out.

You wait for a second as the tanks digs out from a small slump in the terrain. “FIRE !”

The tanks rocks from the sheer strength of the shot. Anyone nearby outside without a helmet on would have their eardrums burst as your unleashed round flies true. The fired and then super-accelerated round quite literally tears the APC from the ground itself, before detonating inside of it, tossing pieces of burning shrapnel against the drop troopers caught too close. Some are killed instantly, being far too close when the round struck, most are thrown around unprepared, and then are cut down by disciplined fire of the infantry regiment.

Ground shaking, ear piercing, and air ripping rounds are unleashed by the entirety of your squadron, targeting enemy vehicles. Whilst your own APCs charge forwards, one half sticking around the tanks to provide emergency support, whilst the other to strike whilst the enemy is still shell shocked. You had drilled and trained your men to perfection, as is required of one of your pedigree.

A map forms in front of your eyes, which you quickly scan over whilst keeping track of the combat giving firing orders. Do so is not much for one genetically enhanced like you.

Following your command, both Earnan and Carolus had also struck from the flanks delivering further hell upon the unsuspecting foe, whilst Linton is still moving around the battlefield preparing to deal with the artillery which now is no doubt rapidly turning to face you and is trying to get the range correctly. A task of seconds, perhaps a minute due to the poor weather, but that is still too long.

The specially modified tanks, freshly rolled out from your Count father’s personal retinue are far superior to the standard issue of the ducal army. And with the number of pieces being reported destroyed on the map, Talon forces had not expected being surrounded so quickly.

Your comm cracks to life and with a quick click you accept the call.

“Lord-Colonel, have your tanks half fire upon the enemy closest to the ruins, we’re beginning to sally out, let’s tear these bastards apart !” You can hear the grin on Vinn’s face as he talks.

That attitude of his will get him killed sooner than later. That’s the only thought you can think for his request. The fight is now won, he’s only increasing the speed of it, and the casualties.

But, it’s not like you can refuse him, your ranks are the same and you do need his infantry support.

>>5350567

“Understood.” You quickly reply before changing the comm. “All forces, halt fire against hostiles closest to the ruins, friendlies are sallying. Concentrate fire on those that are closest to us.”

Once more, affirmatives come through as the tank barrels lower to deliver their righteous fury upon these invaders.

Soon, with the support of your tanks, your APCs close their distance, dodging incoming rifle and missile fire and beginning their own engagement, further braking apart and stretching the enemy. And then the sound of a thousand voices further raises the heat of the battle as Vinn’s regiment charges the now completely desperate and disoriented drop troops. Jumping cover to cover, they continue to fire without stop.

Hemmed in from all sides, with infantry in their midst and your tanks destroying what little hope and safety they could receive from their vehicles, it only takes another ten minutes, until the final bit of resistance is broken.

“Driver, get us closer, I wish to personally converse with Colonel Kosmowski.” You calmly say.

“Understood, sir.” The man quickly responds.

And so, you begin to comfortably roll forwards, opening the hatch, you stick out your upper body and expose it to the elements. Now taking in the carnage around with your own eyes. Steam rises from the corpses and acid makes its way into the exposed wounds rapidly burning away the now exposed flesh. Blood is quickly dissolving in the scarred terrain all around you. Burnt out wrecks, some with burning bodies still within, though logically speaking it should be impossible, you can smell the wretched stench of burning human flesh, as you had previously on other battlefields. The occasional shot still rings across the now silent battlefield, the quiet mournings of the living interrupted by yet more dead, as you see the source of at least one of the gunshots.

An infantryman, one of your own, had with some effort rolled over one of the drop troopers. The legless man still struggles as his stumps of legs are being eaten away by the unspeakable sting. The armour is covered by gunshot pits, showcasing just how many times he had managed to avoid death, until now. As your infantryman raises his rifle, places it point-blank onto the visor, and pulls the trigger. The drop troopers’ arms, which were raised at that point in a futile attempt to beg for mercy, or perhaps a driven undertaken to fight back and resist, drop down to the ask covered ground, a mixture of blood and rain covering your soldier, before he slowly pulls his rifle back, and like so many others begin to hunt for anymore survivors.

Some may consider the happenings here cruel, but you know that men need to be allowed their revenge, besides, it’s not like Talon would extend them any mercy either.

“Lord-Colonel, good to see you.” Kosmowski’s voice cuts through the endless torrent.

>>5350569

His power armour is missing pieces of plating, scorch marks covering the entire body clearly show that the man was inside of something when the attack happened, just the sheer damage shows that he probably had to dig himself out a flaming wreck. You know the man to be tenacious, so it isn’t all that surprising. Finally, fresh bullet impacts cover the armour’s upper body, a slight crack of the visor further shows just how close of a cut it had been.

“Colonel.” You respond with a nod. “You and your men still in a fighting shape ?”

“As best as we are able. With a lot of our vehicles gone and being hit unprepared as we were, we’re low on supplies and if we’re going to go anywhere on a reasonable time table, unfortunately I’ll have to request for transport.”

“You’re going to be riding outside then, I hope none of your men are afraid of going too fast.”

“They’re all veterans, some maglocks and we’ll be fine.”

“Seeing as how you were closer to Nomia than us, do you have any idea what’s going on there ?”

“Probably the same what happened to us. Saw nukes, then drop pods, then light transports.”

“And now heavy transports.” You say looking to the sky as shapes covered in flames breach the atmosphere, moving down by half a dozen. Presuming they carry tanks similar to yours, each can hold four of them at a time.

“Ah, hell. Looks like they managed to get the spaceport.” Kosmowski curses.

“That they did, colonel. Do you have any plans ?”

“Without the means of rapid mobility by myself, ‘fraid not.”

“Then I suggest you to follow me.”

Vinn laughs at your words, before saying. “Not like I have much of a choice, now do I ?”

“No, you really don’t.” You dryly respond.

Can pick more than one. ”The Stalwarts” will follow Colonel Constance’s squadron.

>”Gather your force, we’re moving to Nomia. There still should be defenders actively resisting.”

>”I am aware of the location of Lord-Colonel Kamaunu, his mechs need our assistance.”

>”I am aware of the location of Colonel Westre, her VTOLs could use our help.”

>”Perhaps we now have enough forces to risk moving back to base Amber. The rest of our divisions should be there.”

>”We’re leaving the AO for the closest fortress. Pack and be prepared to move.”

>(Write in)

>>5350570
>”I am aware of the location of Lord-Colonel Kamaunu, his mechs need our assistance.”
Mechs next. How could our tanks and infantry even be able to help in an air battle?

>>5350570
>”I am aware of the location of Colonel Westre, her VTOLs could use our help.”

>>5350612

>Mechs next. How could our tanks and infantry even be able to help in an air battle?

The infantry have AA missiles and your tanks have AA laser turrets.

>>5350570
>>”Perhaps we now have enough forces to risk moving back to base Amber. The rest of our divisions should be there.”

We're just one regiment in an all-out battle that is probably taking place throughout the entire planet, we shouldn't go about on our own doing our own thing, instead we should regroup with the rest of our division and hopefully get proper orders from our general.

>>5350570
>”Gather your force, we’re moving to Nomia. There still should be defenders actively resisting.”

Look at me. I am the Chain of Command now.

>>5350570
>”Gather your force, we’re moving to Nomia. There still should be defenders actively resisting

>>5350570
>”I am aware of the location of Colonel Westre, her VTOLs could use our help.”

>>5350570
>”I am aware of the location of Colonel Westre, her VTOLs could use our help.”

>>5350570
>”I am aware of the location of Colonel Westre, her VTOLs could use our help.”
A half strength regiment will be of no use to anybody. Plus we'll just be abandoning our men. Anyway, it'll be 3 months before reinforcements arrive, we need to preserve as much of our forces as we can, holding territory is not the priority.

Mech 1

VTOLs 4

Amber 1

Nomia 2

Alright, trying to see if Colonel Westre and her VTOLs survived so far and if they did offering them some help.

Please give me 3d100 best of 3

Also, a quick side note. If you have any in character questions, always feel free to write them down, that will give me more content to work with and result in bigger updates, and if the question is not answered, worry not, I'll have it written down and explored when appropirate.

Rolled 85, 56, 16 = 157 (3d100)

>>5351314
Let's go. 4chan seems to be stable now

>>5351341

>Let's go. 4chan seems to be stable now

Glad to know I was not the only one having issues.

Rolled 92, 92, 17 = 201 (3d100)

>>5351314

Rolled 3, 36, 55 = 94 (3d100)

>>5351314

>>5351368
You just had to do it. Oh well, at least mid battle seems to be okay.

>>5351314
What's the general organisational structure of a planetary army, or even a garrison one like ours? What kinda stuff do we get that others don't, other than tanks, mecha, and vtols? What's our air support like?

>>5351314
Are we still using the crit fails cancel out the next highest roll system, or is it a crit override one?

Rolls are:

>>5351341
>>5351357
>>5351368

3 92 55

Right, 4chan is fucked right now, I will try to upload, but if that is not possible I will try to post the update in the morning.

>>5351432

>Are we still using the crit fails cancel out the next highest roll system, or is it a crit override one?

The old system, crits counteract each other, other wise they take precedence.

>>5351314
What's our supply situation? How are our stocks of food, water, fuel, ammo? How long can our machines last before needing proper maintenance and how much does being in active combat worsen our situation? And what maintenance is required for each type? Is it something that we can do while camped on the field? If it's something more specialized, can we grab some technicians from the nearest supply base and run, or will we need to stay for some time?

>>5351489
That's a pretty big chance for crits.

”I am aware of the last location of Colonel Westre, she, like other formations had come under attack and is in need of reinforcements.” You say before Vinn could get a word in against your dry remark.

“I’ll have my men get their missile launchers equipped with AA missiles.” He seriously responds, knowing that it is not the time for any biting remarks before walking away.

“Linton, I want a status report on the regiment.” After hitting the comm you ask your guard.

“Already prepared, my lord. Since we managed to catch Talon forces off guard, we suffered no losses amongst our tanks and APCs, with a few casualties amongst the mechanized infantry.” Your ever-faithful servant responds.

“How long can we stay combat able ?”

“We have enough food, water, and oxygen for two weeks. Four if we enforce half-rations, but the decrease in the combat capabilities of our men will be apparent. As for ammunition, we have enough for maybe five to seven engagements like this, or a couple of protracted fights.” He ably responds.

“Understood, get the regiment moving. Tell them to conserve ammo best as able. Inform me when we reach the last presumed location of Colonel Westre.”

“As you command, my lord.”

Cutting off the comms, you once again climb back down into the tanks proper and wait for Vinn to get the remnants of his regiment back in order. You will have to find out his true remaining strength, since just three battalions of infantry, missing most APCs and IFVs does not fill you with confidence.

Not wanting to waste a moment in this rather precarious situation, you grab your datapad, accessible only because of your genetics. Quickly beginning to browse through the data, you try to figure out with your own limited access what sort of assets were on planet, especially those closest to you, that you might have to fight alongside with.

Naturally, there are other tank formations, the Gideons being the overwhelming majority of them, at least you presume so as actual numbers are unknown to you, but common sense would dictate Gideons being the most plentiful, since they are exceptionally easy to maintain as long as they do not suffer heavy damage. You also have plenty of spare parts and the combat engineers are more than able to carry out the regular maintenance tasks on them and with the reliability of these machines, whilst regulation would require daily maintenance, you could cut it down as low as a week without having to worry over much for mechanical failure.

>>5352823

Then there there’s the Strider hover tank. 120 mm M.A.G. cannon and a turret mounted railgun for anti-infantry purposes. With only a crew of four, it is considered a light tank, the anti-grav hovering technology is also both expensive and difficult to maintain, unlike the Gideon that can be repaired and easily maintained on the field, Striders need extensive specialized engineers who know how to work the antigravs and extensive advanced facilities. On the plus side, the Strider can move over even the roughest of terrain with ease at a maximum speed of 700 km/h. With advanced electronic warfare equipment, the tank is difficult to spot depending solely on machinery, requiring a living eye to actually ever spot it. With a suite of scanning equipment, this makes the Strider perhaps the best scouting vehicle available, it also makes it an incredible fast-response unit when aerial assets are unavailable.

Because of their price and their limited role, these light tanks are pretty scarce on Noct, but getting your hand on even a couple could allow you to get a lot of operational information.

Shiva, the heavy tank. Similar to your own Gideon, the Shiva is a threaded vehicle, only reaching an off-road speed of 80 km/h and 150 km/h, it is an exceptionally slow tank for the size of its engine, with an even slower turn speed. But it makes for it for the sheer amount of armour and weaponry mounted on it. 200 mm main M.A.G. cannon operated by four men, two anti-infantry railguns mounted into the turret. On the tanks sides there are four separate 80 mm M.A.G. turrets with an anti-infantry railgun mounted into each and every one, with there being 3 men in each and every turret, it raises the total crew count to 16 men. Six mounted laser turrets meant to pick off aircraft and missiles provide the necessary protection against air strikes for a vehicle this large. To top it all off are two missile pods housing 20 missiles each, every missile carries a nuclear payload, but it should be noted that a full volley of missiles like these are not enough to put down this behemoth of a tank. It may injure it, melt parts of its armour, maybe even damage some of the turrets, but it will keep going. These tanks come at a great expense as you could build, equip, train and maintain an entire squadron of Gideons for one such tank.

Slower, but stronger than mechs, these tanks are usually only used on the defensive or siege warfare, despite its extensive AA weaponry and ability to strike back against enemy artillery, it is still slow, ponderous, and a massive target to any aerial assets and long-range capable ground weapons. Still, even having one would allow you to hold a position near indefinitely.

Both of these tanks you had seen deployed in Nomia due to its importance, but only in low numbers. And no doubt they had become priority targets the moment Talon learnt of them.

>>5352824

As for other elements ? You have no clue, there certainly are more infantry and artillery divisions around. Perhaps another full-on tank division and maybe a couple of VTOL divisions to provide air support to the surrounding elements.

Still, your current force overall is not that bad, with a large variety of weaponry. The 14th core was considered relatively important and given high-quality equipment, whilst most had mainly consisted of infantry and artillery divisions, you can only spend so much on defence for a single world after all, no matter how important when it cannot even provide for itself.

Most bases like yours house a single corps, which is usually made up of four divisions for around 80,000 men and those are subdivided into even smaller. Places like Nomia can house as many as ten corps to make up a field army commanded by a senior Lieutenant-General given authority over other Lieutenant-Generals in command of their corps by Count-General Augustine Boals who’s the highest ranked army officer on Noct I. Similar scheme is about for the world’s fortresses, you have no clue how many most house, but you know that base Hapakhered houses 25 corps, making up around 2,000,000 men for its defence.

And to top everything off, you were supposed to have orbital support for any engagement, but there’s not much hope for that any longer. You wish that for once the clouds would break as they rarely do, just to know what the hell is happening up there.

Your musings and readings are interrupted by your comm going off. With just the movement of your eyes, your helmet interprets it as you accepting the call.

“My lord, we’ve reached the location.” Linton’s voice quickly informs you.

“Halt the regiment and spread out the formation, make sure everyone keeps in sight of everyone. I want to minimize the possible damage caused by air strikes.”

“Very well, my lord.”

Once more cutting the comms, you lean in your chair, the outside cameras directly connected to your visor allow you to observe the environment. And what an environment it is. One of the few places on the world that are still exceptionally active. An entire volcano range spewing out tons upon tons of ash alongside entire flowing rivers of lava.

Said lava then eventually cools down and hardens, which forces the new ever flowing lava to flow over that. This naturally forms an exceptionally rough, dangerous, and difficult terrain. Especially when it concerns land vehicles, the only exceptions being mechs, who are designed to move through such roughness, and anti-grav vehicles who can move through any terrain.

“Keep an eye on the sky, have all those missiles primed and ready !” Vinn calls out through the comms to his men, whom are all busy currently dismounting from what few vehicles they have left and jumping off your own to whom they had glued themselves.

>>5352825

And so, you sit in silence. The only sound being the nervous shuffling of your crew. The cold fusion reactor means that there is no noise that one would expect from primitive engines. But noise, any noise, is better in such a situation than the bubbling of lava and the howling of lonely wind.

You fight off the urge to open up the hatch and observe everything with your own eyes. To leave your tank in active combat like this would be suicidal, no matter how claustrophobic one would feel.

“Colonel Kosmowski, I will try to raise Colonel Westre, be prepared.” You eventually say.

“Roger that.” Vinn quickly replies.

Chances are, comms won’t work, the enemy will intercept you and deliver the first strike, or Rosanna and her group are all already dead and you just walked into an ambush. Of course, she could have won easily by her self and now is laying low, or she could still be fighting tooth and nail. You won’t know which is which until you take the plunge.

“Colonel Westre, this is Lord-Colonel Constance, I’ve arrived alongside Colonel Kosmowski to render aid. Do you copy, over ?” After saying so, you sit, radio static crackling in your ears.

A strong gust of wind goes by, carrying heated sparks from the orange glow of the flowing lava, illuminating the entire formation, your tanks standing in silence, the laser turrets slowly turning, observing the sky, whilst the infantrymen anxiously fidget about, the most nervous of those would definitely be those with their missile launchers, the weight of delivering a successful strike in order to protect your comrades. You know that weight well, you’ve seen that weight break men you had considered even greater than you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCdWp6bjSDA

The camera feed is blinded by a sudden flash and nothing but a flaming hull remains out of a tank nearest to you.

“Move, stay mobile, located the target and bring it down !” You order over the comm as you feel the tank lurch forwards.

The darkened sky is light up by the glow of powerful lasers cutting through the all-encompassing shadows.

And then you see it, as another tank is directly hit despite the efforts of its driver, two silhouettes barely visible through the black clouds and the endless rain, you only noticed them when they turned, exposing their rear thrusters.

Quickly patching into the tank’s system, you take control of the laser turret.

The on-board computer does it best to calculate the fire, now aided with your own superiority, you begin quickly adjusting the errors presented, as the aircraft clearly has in built lock-on counter measures. But they are not enough.

Without a delay, you send the command and the laser turret fires off. The powerful concentrated beam fires off without pause and instantaneously impacts jet. No matter what defences it has, no matter how fast, it still cannot beat something that is quite literally traveling the speed of light.

>>5352827

You, from your zoomed in view, as the aircraft losses one of its wings, the brittle armour unable to resist the structural damaged paired with the speed of movement. With such a loss the jet quickly swirls to the side as the pilot losses control and begins to spin out of control.

Then, just as quickly as it struck, so quickly does it impact the ground and vividly explodes. You had not seen the pilot eject, the swiftness of everything happening not allowing him to react.

Still, you do not celebrate your victory, for more air strikes impact the ground. Luckily, this time your men are prepared, even though you still suffer casualties, they are nothing compared to that first attack.

A missile from an infantryman successfully impact one jet, forcing the pilot to eject, only for ground fire from your forces to quickly cut him down.

Just as you are aiming for another kill, the fighter explodes before your eyes. As about twenty or so VTOLs emerge from the skies, each and every one of them bearing signs of combat.

“Mayday, mayday, this is Colonel Westre of house Roy armed forces, we’re engaged against four dozen plus bogeys requesting immediate assistance.” Rosanna’s voice cuts into the comm as she and her group, now numbering less than half its original size, dives to the safety of your forces AA assets.

“Colonel Westre, this is Lord-Colonel Constance, we’ve arrived to assist, use your VTOL’s to aid us in our targeting solutions.” You call back.

“Roger that, damn am I glad to see you.” Clear smile on her face can be heard from her way of talking. Judging by the damage received, it seems like she was close to being overwhelmed before you arrived.

The arrival of your own air force had helped, but it had also made your assistance harder. Now you have to deal with the possibility of friendly fire.

An APC is blown to bits by another missile, but the aircraft that had achieved so is cut apart by the tank laser turrets. One aircraft aligns itself to launch missiles against you, but is instead blown apart by one of Westre’s VTOLs, whom in turn is then ripped apart by an enemy fighter whom flies off, to only be hit by a missile fired by one of your soldiers.

Eventually however, to your relief the enemy jets break off, and Rossana seems to not be in a mood to chase them.

“Lord-Colonel, I suggest to get out of here, the only reason that they retreated was to get more reinforcements.” Westre says moments after contacting you.

“Already on the way.” You already had a running battle for over twenty minutes, and you are not going to stop moving. “Do you have any idea what’s going on up there, Colonel ?”

>>5352828

“Hell.” She pauses for a moment. “We rose over the clouds to check the situation out. The station’s gone, but it went down before the fleet did. I had seen the few remnants desperately holding on, but they were overwhelmed. I was able to identify at least five battleships and three carriers with dozens, hundreds of various escorts. This is no raid, or a probing strike. This is a full-blown invasion. I don’t think Talon is going to be satisfied with just a few systems with the force that they’ve sent.”

“Were you able to establish contact with Lord-Colonel Kamaunu, or base Amber ?”

“Negative on both. I’ve stumbled on you by chance as well. Most long-range comms appear to be entirely down.”

“Are you in a condition to fight ?”

“Not for long, my group is low on ammo and our VTOLs need emergency maintenance, however if need be, we can still provide support, but not for long.”

“The enemy has aerial superiority then. Could you send jets to look over Amber and Nomia ?”

“I could, but as you said, the enemy has won the air war, at least for now, I make no guarantee that those jets will come back, and I’m also hesitant to send my men into such danger.”

“Well then, looks like we’re SOLAJWF.” Vinn cuts into your conversation.

“What’s that ?” Innocently Rosanna asks.

“Shit out of luck and jolly well fucked.” He responds with laughter.

Sighing, you once more bring up the local map.

Can pick more than one by splitting forces. ”Thunder’s howl” will follow Colonel Constance’s squadron.

>If base Amber is not overwhelmed by now, they soon will be. It will be a risk, but reuniting with those you had trained and drilled to fight alongside with will be a huge boon. Presuming something still remains.

>Nomia, with the spaceport taken had more likely than not devolved into a brutal back and forth, the terrain and defences favour the defender there, but they are undoubtedly heavily outnumbered.

>Lord-Colonel Kamaunu is still out there. It had been a long time now, and if your last to comrades were used as a measuring stick, it is entirely possible that what is left out of his regiment is just some burnt out husks. But, he could also still be resisting. And you sure as hell could use some heavier firepower.

>The Count-General’s orders were clear, you’ve delayed long enough, head to the nearest fortress. Which undoubtedly by this point is under heavy siege. Talon wouldn’t let such strongholds of resistance last.

>You will head to the uncolonized parts of the world. Far from the main fight. There won’t be any resources or support there, but you will be able to set camp and regroup, as well as carry out rudimentary repairs.

File: Strider Light Tank.jpg (92 KB, 959x478)

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Pictures of the light tank.

File: Shiva heavy tank.jpg (107 KB, 960x640)

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Shiva Heavy tank. Couldn't really find an image that fit, so I picked some thing that is closest, just imagine this to be much bigger and have side cannon turrets.

File: Mech.png (256 KB, 416x517)

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Heracles Mech

>>5352836

Thought I'd post it since I have it.

>>5352830
>The Count-General’s orders were clear, you’ve delayed long enough, head to the nearest fortress. Which undoubtedly by this point is under heavy siege. Talon wouldn’t let such strongholds of resistance last.
we've got infantry for ground support and jets for airsupport, time to follow some orders
the feeling when you check in right as a update hits is quite a high

>>5352830
>The Count-General’s orders were clear, you’ve delayed long enough, head to the nearest fortress. Which undoubtedly by this point is under heavy siege. Talon wouldn’t let such strongholds of resistance last.

>>5352830
>>The Count-General’s orders were clear, you’ve delayed long enough, head to the nearest fortress. Which undoubtedly by this point is under heavy siege. Talon wouldn’t let such strongholds of resistance last.

Orders are orders.

>>5352830
>The Count-General’s orders were clear, you’ve delayed long enough, head to the nearest fortress. Which undoubtedly by this point is under heavy siege. Talon wouldn’t let such strongholds of resistance last.
We managed to save 2 of our own, time to retreat

>>5352830
>Lord-Colonel Kamaunu is still out there. It had been a long time now, and if your last to comrades were used as a measuring stick, it is entirely possible that what is left out of his regiment is just some burnt out husks. But, he could also still be resisting. And you sure as hell could use some heavier firepower.
He was only being shelled by light artillery, probably not a high priority for the enemy. We might get there in time.

>>5352830
>The Count-General’s orders were clear, you’ve delayed long enough, head to the nearest fortress. Which undoubtedly by this point is under heavy siege. Talon wouldn’t let such strongholds of resistance last.
We need to focus on preserving our forces and dealing as much damage to theirs, since we can't get reinforcements other than what's already planetside. Kamaunu will only slow us down, and all infrastructure like the spaceport is unimportant as Talon is going to take them whatever the cost. The only thing we need to worry about is them taking out that grav generator, as that's the only thing keeping us safe from orbital bombardment.

>>5352830
>Lord-Colonel Kamaunu is still out there. It had been a long time now, and if your last to comrades were used as a measuring stick, it is entirely possible that what is left out of his regiment is just some burnt out husks. But, he could also still be resisting. And you sure as hell could use some heavier firepower.

Fortress 5

Kamaunu 2

Writing.

>>5353547

Realized I need some rolls.

3d100 best of 3 please.

Rolled 93, 10, 6 = 109 (3d100)

>>5353560

Rolled 27, 86, 33 = 146 (3d100)

>>5353560

>>5353561
>6
Too close anon, too close.

Rolled 53, 89, 20 = 162 (3d100)

>>5353560

“Cut the chatter you two.” You say before Rossana has a chance to rebuke Vinn. “Base Amber has most likely fallen, Nomia will most likely be soon overwhelmed as Talon sends more and more heavy transports.”

“What are you suggesting ?” Kosmowski asks.

“Base Roland has a low output gravitic wave generator, enough to make orbital bombardment attempts incredibly difficult.”

“Which means that they couldn’t have been hit by the first strike.” Rosanna catches your point quickly.

“And it being the fortress it’s our best shot at effective resistance.” Vinn finishes.

“Exactly, to pointlessly risk our lives anywhere may be considered honourable, but it will only see us dead. And we’re just three, not even full strength, regiments. If we are to be of any use, base Roland is our best bet.”

“Man, if Amato was here, he’d try to convince all of us to head back to Amber.” Vinn reminiscences.

“But he is not here.” You interrupt.

“Yea, he’s not.” A sigh comes through the comm. “Fine, the rest of the division will have to make do best they can without us, I agree to the plan.”

“No issues on my end as long as we can find an airfield.” Westre says also consenting to your plan.

“Good.” You switch the comm so that everyone in your formation can hear you. “All personnel, we’re changing heading to North-East and making our way to base Roland. It is believed that the base is under attack, be prepared to engage in combat as soon as we arrive.

Cutting the connection, you once more settle down in your chair and bring up your datapad.

Quickly beginning to look through it, you access what information is available to you about base Roland. It being closest fortress to base Amber means that you had a decent amount of knowledge about it. The fortress is 350 km away from base Amber, with you moving off road, it will take you about two or so hours to reach it.

Commanded by Viscountess-Lieutenant-General Kastalia Drawy, she is in command over 6 corps, close to half a million men. As for competence, you cannot say. She, like a large number of higher-ups, had been appointed for their loyalty, rather than competence, post the civil war. Said civil war had been devastating to house Roy, especially when it came to the nobility, no doubt most of your higher-ups would have been replaced in a few years, but just like you thought, and so many other actually worth their stripes, that Talon, nor Scorpio would allow Roy to rebuild their strength.

Hopefully, the Viscountess is open-minded enough to listen to her subordinates and their advice, of whom she has a lot. The 26th corps is her own, similar to the disposition you had in base Amber, made up of a tank division, an infantry division, a mech division and an air division of VTOLs.

>>5353971

Then there’s the 30th, 31st, 32nd, and 33rd corps, all of whom are made up of three infantry divisions and one artillery division. The most usual corps found on the planet, and the best formations when it comes to simply holding ground. The infantry division have plenty of light, easy to move artillery that they can use to support themselves on both offence and defence, but the dedicated artillery divisions carry enough missiles, field guns, and howitzers to level most fortifications.

The 40th corps is a bit unique, made up of two dragoon divisions, with most advanced APCs and IFVs specially dedicated for speed and hitting hard they make for an excellent rapid response force with enough firepower to crush whatever stands in their way. The other tow divisions are made up of a light air cavalry division and a heavy air cavalry division. Gunships, air transports and the like, combined with the dragoons make the 40th corps the first response force to any bases, depots, cities under attack. But the sheer overwhelming force that Talon had brought down would easily see this elite force overwhelmed, so hopefully they are still stationed there for defensive purposes, and hopefully they are not wasted on it as well.

As for the fortress itself ? It is set on a relatively flat terrain, that means that winds strong enough to lift men from their feet are quite common. The area around the fortress is crisscrossed by deep, wide ravines, either filled with lava or acid. Tunnelling attempts through either would be both time consuming and dangerous, not to mention that with sophisticated custom built defences in place, any attempts to undermine the fortress are easily detected, that of course does not mean that the enemy won’t try, but it means that any attempts to do so will be painful and frustrated.

The main base itself is actually multiple bases spread out over a relatively small area connected by both a road system, built specifically to last against the strong wind, as well as long underground tunnels. Said tunnels also lead to the primary lines of defence. Four layers of trenches, with built bunkers, artillery positions, supply depots, repair garages, anti-air installations and land-to-space cannon strongpoints. With the ravines acting as natural funnelling points, breaking base Roland would be a herculean task with an estimated attacker ratio of 1:5, any assault would be ruinous. Yet to reach those numbers needed is not that difficult, especially when it concerns house Talon.

Being stuck up elitists that they are, being in control of some of the most fertile worlds within the Unbroken Empire mean that the noble-officer core of the army cares not for the casualty rate, and they have the population needed to sustain such a rate of attrition. To throw away 2.5 million men, perhaps even 3 million just to take a fortress would be entirely acceptable.

>>5353972

As such, an idea quickly begins to form in your mind. With the casual disregard for the common man, rigid indoctrination, brainwashing, propaganda, and just plain old threats, Talon’s armed forces tend to suffer from inflexible strategists content to simply throw bodies at the problem until it goes away. But if said strategists would be removed, the fighting men would quickly collapse into a panic, unable to easily adapt to their circumstances.

Of course, that is just speculations on your part. Perhaps you might run into an army not commanded like that, in which case any ideas for a grand offensive would be moot, but it always helps to know your enemy.

Having spent your journey here studying on both the fortress and the preferred strategies of house Talon, you raise your eyes off the datapad and cut into the forward camera. Seeing as some of Vinn’s men, now that you’ve entered the kilometres wide swathes of lands that have quite literally nothing, rise up from the vehicles they had attached themselves to. Their magnetized boots and hands are holding them down, but they tend to rise up, and then nastily fall down. You can only imagine how annoying it would be for those inside to bear the constant smashing of the armour, and how worried those on the outside must feel, all it takes is for their magnetization to fail, or a particularly nasty gust of winds, and they will fly off. Still, the area base Roland is built around is not the worst on this hell hole when it comes to the powerful winds, there are at least some geographic features here and there that slow it down somewhat.

“Yes ?” You say hitting your comm that had once more gone off.

“Some of my men are reporting that they can hear the noise of gunfire. Based on the map I think we’re nearly there.” Vinn says.

“Westre, what can you see from up there ?” Patching to the command network, you say.

“Hold one.” She says, and you see that her jets burn fast above you as they rise further from the ground. “Can confirm, I am seeing hostile aircraft. Want bad news or good news first ?” She asks a moment later.

“Well, I am an optimistic man, so give to me.” Vinn says, sarcasm oozing from his speech.

“Good news, base Roland is still holding, and I just saw another aircraft shot down by ground emplacements.”

“And the bad news ?” You ask.

“I see a large swathe of forces flying the silver eagle. So far, I am only seeing primarily infantry and light vehicles. I don’t think Talon was able to land their heavier gear yet, but the force gathered looks already massive.”

“How massive ?” You say keeping your voice neutral.

“My computer’s calculating a force somewhere between ten or twenty divisions. Probably more since there’s a lot of burnt out light transports out there.”

>>5353975

We have the speed and the firepower, but it is still a massive force, if we’re to break through, we have to move continuously, if we slow down even for a second, we die. Thinking to yourself, you come to grim conclusion.

Raising your hand to your comm device, you try to reach out towards the base. You repeat your rank, but you do not reveal your forces or your plan, just in case hostiles are listening. A few failed attempts later, you come to the unfortunate conclusion that you will have to do this alo-

“Holy shit !” Westre shouts over the comm.

“What ? We’re under attack ?” Vinn calls back.

“Please excuse me, but Talon just got bombed to hell. It seems like at least a couple of artillery divisions just opened up on them all at once !” She says excitedly.

An opportunity ! “All elements, prepare to punch through, we are cutting the enemy formation in half and retreating to friendly lines, raise the golden lion high so that the defenders can see us. Stop and slow down for no one, if you stop, you die.” You say on the general channel. “Vinn, tell your men to hold on like their life depends on it, since it does.” Switching back you call out.

“Will do. We’ll pop a few rounds into those bastards whilst we’re driving-by !”

“Rosanna, get your group above us, dive down and blow us a path if you see a formation slowing down. Once you run out of ammo. Fly back to friendly lines.”

“Roger that.” Westre responds to you.

“Driver, give it all you can.”

“Understood, Lord-Colonel.” The man quickly responds and you feel yourself fall into your seat as the tank lurches forward.

Luckily, or unluckily, you hadn’t decided yet, the endless rainstorm had finally died down. It means that you will be easy to spot, but that also means that the defenders will be able to spot you and Rosanna will be able to provide even more effective air support.

Finally getting a clear look you see that your assault had arrived at a good moment. With Talon forces entirely focused on the offensive, the rearguards, whom are currently caught in a panic, won’t be able to stop your force, at the very least not initially.

All around you, as your tank zooms forwards, you see burnt out husks of APCs and IFVs, the largest still burning and flaming, even occasionally exploding debris would be the light transports and shattered pieces of drop pods, many of whom are painted red from the inside as anti-air missiles or lasers had cut them down. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of corpses litter the ground around, in fact your threads drive over and crush a few.

>>5353977

It seems Talon had dropped almost entirely over base Roland, and then they paid the price for it. Some would consider this a bold strategy, but to you, and any sane commander, it would seem a tremendous risk and expenditure of resources for potentially little gain. Sure, the first trench line may be overwhelmed by shock and awe of the attack, but that means that the second line would be that much more fortified and prepared.

“FIRE !” You command and quickly see an IFV blown to bits, the now exploded vehicle is unceremoniously pushed aside by your tank’s superior mass. All four of your turreted railguns open fire and begin cutting down swathes of infantry panicking around you. Illuminated by gunfire and the raging flames, flowers of blood bloom from those unfortunate enough to be caught near your attack.

The perfectly white background upon which is set the golden lion of Roy is quickly stained red. Incoming small arms fire quickly punches holes through it and makes the once beautiful symbol of pride and glory look like a rag one would use to stem the bleeding of a wound.

“Right !” You shout to the driver over the noise of battle.

Reflexively following your command, the man turns the tank as the position you were about to occupy is blown apart by an artillery strike. Quickly switching to the various cameras around, you can see as a brand-new type of rain begins to fall down on both your and the enemy’s positions.

“Base Roland, this is Lord-Colonel Constance of the 1433rd Roy armed forces armoured regiment, we are currently punching through the enemy formation, cease artillery fire, I repeat, cease artillery fire !” You try to contact the base before a so called friendly shell lands right a top of you, but nothing except static greets you.

Still, a quick overview shows you that over all you had not suffered all too badly, the base’s emplacements having the targeting solutions on relatively slow-moving infantry mean that your fast-moving vehicles can move just fine.

Despite it, you can see a few unlucky ones from Vinn’s infantry regiment slip off, falling down to the endless mush beneath, some are killed instantly, other are driven over by their comrades, and the most unlucky of all survive, only to be picked off by Talon forces whom had started to reorganize. No matter how you’d like to disparage them, Talon enforces strict discipline, what they lack in initiative they make up in sheer force of will shown by their forces.

>>5353978

Finally, over the mass of bodies, you can see it, the endless trenchlines and bunkers, from whom heavy machine gun fire spews without halt, cutting down dozens, quite literally tearing their bodies apart, leaving massive fist sized holes in the now mutilated bodies. A barrage of missiles rises from the base flying directly above the encampment, quickly switching the camera to follow them, you watch as another half a dozen light transports are knocked out of the sky. You also catch glimpses of Westre’s group diving from the skies, delivering pinpoint accurate fire, clearing, as you had asked, a way for your men.

Suddenly, one of your tanks directly behind you exploded in a shower of flaming metal. Being part of your squadron, you can hear the panicked last screams of those dying, their only consolation being that their deaths had been relatively quick.

You do not have the time to mourn every death you witness, you wouldn’t have the time to do anything if you’d do that, instead, you quickly begin scanning what just had hit you. And it becomes quickly clear, you are not facing Talon guns, all of whom had been lowered to face you. Looking high above, Westre had completely disengaged, and seeing as how the base’s AA is not opening fire, she must have contacted them. This unfortunately means that enemy aircraft are beginning to open fire upon you.

Once more hitting the comm, you contact, you are not leaving anything to chance. “Base Roland, this is Lord-Colonel Constance of the 1433rd Roy armed forces armoured regiment, we are approaching the first trenchline, heading direct North, do not open fire upon the approaching tanks and APCs, I repeat do not open fire upon the approaching tanks and APCs !”

Blessingly, your comm cracks with life. “Lord-Colonel Constance, this is base Roland, we read you loud and clear, we’re providing covering artillery fire, over.” A man’s voice responds.

The ground shakes and an ear-splitting noise can be heard even within the tank. Looking through the camera, you see as a massive land-to-space cannon had just fired a shot. And the sky lights up as a massive explosion and the following shockwave nearly tips you over.

Huge pieces of debris start falling from the sky, raining downwards and particularly large pieces cause the ground to shake as they impact.

Did those crazy bastards actually send down a ship ? You think before a particularly monolithic thruster falls from the ground into a ravine, causing a miniature earthquake and splashing the surrounding area with old acidic water. And that thruster informs you just what was shot down. A Behemoth class transport, capable of supporting and transporting an entire division as well as their attached personnel. Usually, they are only ever landed far from the battlefield, when their landing zones are entirely secured. What moron ordered that thing sent down so close ot the front ? You cannot help but question.

>>5353980

Eventually, through gritted teeth your formations zoom past the trenches, the final push had costed you, but nowhere near as badly as you had feared. You can see the faceless helmets of the soldiers currently hunkering down in the trenches look up as your tanks roll over their defences, before they quickly rise back up and set down their rifles and begin opening fire at the now reorganized foes whom had restarted their assault.

For the first time, in a long time, you’ve reached tentative safety. With even more transports setting down, now a further distance away, Talon forces will soon engulf the fortress in a mass of bodies and a long siege will begin.

Your comm goes, just as you had expected, questions would be asked, and you better have some answers. “Lord-Colonel Constance, report to command centre alpha for debriefing.” The same voice that had talked to you previously says.

“Understood, making my way there.” You say as a map with directions is downloaded to your helmet.

You lean back in your chair, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Now that the adrenaline is dying down you will feel a pretty massive low, so you are pre-emptively calming your mind as your tank, now calmly, is rolling forwards.

Eventually you reach a rather large on story structure, reinforced walls, gun emplacements, hundreds of vehicles and thousands of men moving around. The tank comes closer, and closer until you see a wide downhill slope manmade leading into the depths of the facility, bright white light spilling out into the darkness around you.

Eventually as your regiment rolls in, dozens of turret installations track your formations, hundreds of armed men stand behind cover, their rifles raised and prepared to shoot you the moment they deem you a spy. Launchers gleam under the light as you can see missile clearly placed in them.

“Park at the designated locations and shut down your engines. Do not leave the designated lots until you are cleared to do so.” One of the men, clad in power armour, announces with his suit’s helmet’s speaker on full blast.

“Do as he says.” You order the tank crew.

A couple of minutes after, the local guards start to disarm your and Vinn’s soldiers. You do not specifically, that once they disarm a group, they take them deeper into the facility, and they specifically avoid you, Vinn, and the highest ranked officers. The way they move is practiced and methodical, starting from the lowest ranked men, to ever higher. The entire process is exhausting as only about ten groups are done at a time, with an hour in between the departure and return of the base’s guards.

To you the waiting is not that bad, both because your nerves had been hardened, and because you do not feel any exhaustion having to wait for so long thanks to your genehancements. You do however notice Vinn restlessly move back and forth. You had also not heard from Westre since she moved behind friendly lines.

>>5353985

Eventually, what feels like an entire day later, a group of men in power armour finally approach your tank. After rousing your crew that had fallen asleep in the meantime, you open up the hatch and leave the tank. You had raised the cannon and all the railguns upwards, as you were ordered, so that the automated defences would cut you down the moment you tried to lower.

Hopping down, you approach the men. “Lord-Colonel, if you would follow me, please.” Politely says the man.

“Lead the way.” You say with a nod as the entire group falls in around you. Through the corner of your eye you spot your tank crew also broken up and escorted separately.
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So that’s why it took an hour. You think with your eyes closed on a rather uncomfortable metal chair as the lamp above you continues to buzz with annoyance. You had been waiting here for half an hour now. A basic interrogation strategy, they are trying to make you feel nervous just in case you are a spy. Afterall, the same idea came to your mind as a possible explanation why you were hit so hard unprepared, it is only natural that others also thought up something similar.

With a rattling, clanging noise, the metal door in front of you opens up. Its hinges creak in a high-pitched annoying way. Again, it seems purposeful, otherwise such a lack of basic maintenance might see someone flogged.

“Lord-Colonel, I apologize for making you wait for so long.” A rather beautiful looking woman says as she steps in. Her platinum shoulder length hair, blue eyes, a soft and attractive face and a full bosom tells you everything you need to know. First, she’s a noble like you. Second, they still do not trust and are trying to honeypot you. The only reason that they are being so polite is because of your noble blood no doubt.

“No need, I perfectly understand that our situation is quite precarious and all safety measures must be taken.” You say as neutrally as you can.

“I thank you for your understanding.” She says with a smile before sitting down. “You must be quite exhausted from today’s happenings, which is why I hope you will cooperate and answer my questions so that we both can go and rest.”

“Naturally.”

“Good. Let us begin then. When the attacks happened, where we’re you ?”

“Out in patrol in force, my entire regiment had been sent out because we received orders of potential forward scouts and infiltrators sent by Talon may be trying to scout out the terrain for an invasion.”

She simply nods. “And then ?”

“Then we saw the blinding flashes of nuclear strikes and saw the mushroom clouds.”

“What was the first thing that you did afterwards ?”

“Await orders.”

“You did not move ?”

“Moving a large formation like mine would simply expose it.”

“And I assume you received them ?”

“Yes, broken up, but clear enough. Count-General had enacted Condition zero.”

“And afterwards ?”

>>5353988

“I used my regiment to assist Colonel Kosmowski and then Colonel Westre who were besieged by the enemy before making our way here.”

“You did not try to return to your base ?”

“No.”

“Why ?”

”Because the situation there was hopeless. It had suffered nuclear strikes, had drop pods land around it and then light transports. I decided that what fighting force we had managed to save would be more useful here.”

Once more, she nods.
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The interview lasted for exactly 25 minutes; your internal clock had allowed you to keep a track of it. Most questions had been rather pointless, but undoubtedly necessary for them to figure out your psych profile and see if it matched with what was on the record. Then the woman had requested a blood sample, which you had given. With both your genetics and way of thinking confirmed, you should be in the clear, hopefully. The way that woman talked, you hadn’t encountered them often, but she gave off the feeling of an intelligence officer, though you had never seen what they do to people, you’ve seen plenty of them just disappear when spooks get involved.

Five minutes after that, the door once again opens, and a soldier in a protection suit salutes you.

“Sir, Lord-Colonel, sir. I’ve been tasked to escort you to your designated quarters.”

A young man. You judge by the voice. “Lead the way.” Rising from your seat you reply.

Walking down the long, sterile tunnel you observe very little in terms of details, but you are certain that hidden somewhere are automated defences and cameras. Every single door that you do pass by however has a guard standing rather vigilantly at them. This part of the base does not seem to be in much use, judging from the lack of people actually walking down the hallways. Meaning, you are probably in the deepest parts of the base, where most means of communication are entirely worthless. Seems like the Viscountess’ trust is hard to earn. Whether that is a good or a bad thing, you do not know.

“Sir, this is your room, sir.” The man says trying to muster as serious a voice as possible.

He feels more like a boy playing soldier than an actual one. “Thank you, soldier, you are dismissed.” Keeping your voice even you say.

Saluting the man departs. Not bothering to look at him for any longer, you step forward and you see as a sensor set atop of the door scans you before opening.

>>5353989

The revealed room seems to be rather plain, but it has a proper bed, a fuzzy looking carpet of gold and white, a desk, a couple of chairs and a fridge alongside a cabinet with some drawers whom upon inspection have the necessary clothing to maintain hygiene, they appear to be of a good quality. You somehow doubt that either Vinn or Rossana are received such fine treatment. Moving towards the only other door besides the one leading outside, reveals a bathroom, nothing special other than a shower, a sink, a small cabinet with a mirror, and a toilet. Opening the cabinet, you once again find things necessary for hygiene, such as soap, a toothbrush and paste.

Since it seems like you will not be going anywhere anytime soon, you use the luxuries given to groom yourself, taking special care to maintain your black goatee and washing out all of the sweat from your long straight black hair.

Checking the fridge afterwards you are immensely disappointed as there’s nothing there but some MREs. You were hoping they’d at least stock it up with some beer as means of intoxication for the purposes of interrogation.

Disappointed, you hit the sack and quickly pass out.
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(POV shift: You are Viscountess-Lieutenant-General Kastalia Drawy, and everything went to shit.)

You were never all that interested in playing soldier unlike your brothers, but when the appointment came you had to take it. Nothing more than an exotic vacation where you could relax and increase your family’s political standing, and then a year later return back home to luxury. Or so you planned, and then those Talon sons of whores decided to invade. Your holiday plans, utterly ruined !

Sighing, you take another stack of documents. Just because you do not enjoy this doesn’t mean that you are not diligent in your work. Your education and genehancements make such things trivial matters, but still time consuming.

You suddenly hear a knock on the door for your office.

“Come in.” You say not raising your head.

“My lady.” You hear a woman’s voice.

“Aricela.” You say with a smile to the platinum blonde beauty. She had come with you here, as sworn vassals the Percey family had been loyal to your family for generations and you had grown up alongside her, though her fascination with spy flicks had sent her down a path her family disapproves of, said fascination had come in handy in the current situation. “What have you found ?”

“They appear to be telling the truth, for now placing our trust into them does not seem like a bad idea.”

“Good, after the last incident I want everything to be double screened if necessary.” With some trepidation you say. Had it not been for one of the guards arriving at his post too early by mistake, you’d never would have caught the saboteur trying to wreck your gravitic wave generator. Had that not happened, the entire fortress would by now be nothing but a smoking crater. “What do you think of them ?”

>>5353991

“Colonel Kosmowski is too impulsive, but he seems stubborn enough to hold any location given, though his lack of etiquette is quite frustrating. Whilst Colonel Westre is too carefree, and a bit naïve for my tastes.” She says disapprovingly.

“And of Lord-Colonel Constance ?”

“He seemed.” She pauses for a moment. “Collected, calm. He responded to my questions as expected without making a fuss, but I could see him trying to peer into me. He most likely figured out that I am an intelligence officer.”

“So, he can be of use.”

“With a personality like that, I think we could safely entrust tasks that require, the following of orders to him, without involving the other generals.”

Ah, those Old coots ! You think with annoyance. They had side-lined you since you took this post, and you had been fine with it. You are a political appointment, you know that. But now they started butting heads over tactics and strategy, and with no one technically having authority over the other, it now fell on your poor head to keep them inline. Each and every one of them are professionals, but behind closed doors you feel like you are herding cats.

You look down onto the paper work you are sorting. An armoured regiment not loyal to any of them would be a boon to you right now, especially if you want to prove that you can lead. But in order to do that you have to provide results. And you finally have the spare manpower to undertake these tasks.

The situation is ever shifting and old opportunities may pass, and new ones may appear, but which one would be the best at the moment ?

Can only pick one.

>With long-range comms down, you are entirely reliant on messengers that deliver news by hand. Your elite 40th corps was away from the base on an extended training mission. They have to be found and brought back before Talon finished engulfing the fortress. Even if their rapid movement capabilities may not be that useful, they are still more men that will man the lines.

>Highlands of Etrius. The closest place of solid ground near base Roland. Heavy transports and Behemoths would have to land there unless they want to fight against the endless muck. The highlands were designed to be one giant landing pad once their usefulness was discovered, but now they need to be destroyed. Delaying Talon from deploying their heavy weaponry by even a few days could be the difference between life and death.

>It is information known only by those in the highest echelons of command, but duke Roy’s second born son is on planet. Saving him is paramount, lest in his anger and grief the duke blames you and by proximity those around you for his death. That and his elite bodyguard would be of some use.

>>5353994
>>With long-range comms down, you are entirely reliant on messengers that deliver news by hand. Your elite 40th corps was away from the base on an extended training mission. They have to be found and brought back before Talon finished engulfing the fortress. Even if their rapid movement capabilities may not be that useful, they are still more men that will man the lines.

>>5353994
>Highlands of Etrius. The closest place of solid ground near base Roland. Heavy transports and Behemoths would have to land there unless they want to fight against the endless muck. The highlands were designed to be one giant landing pad once their usefulness was discovered, but now they need to be destroyed. Delaying Talon from deploying their heavy weaponry by even a few days could be the difference between life and death.
Fuck the Duke's son, he's of no use to us. We need to buy ourselves time to gather as many forces around us as possible and keep everyone alive. The Elite corps would be nice, but ultimately won't change our situation dramatically.

>>5353994
>Highlands of Etrius. The closest place of solid ground near base Roland. Heavy transports and Behemoths would have to land there unless they want to fight against the endless muck. The highlands were designed to be one giant landing pad once their usefulness was discovered, but now they need to be destroyed. Delaying Talon from deploying their heavy weaponry by even a few days could be the difference between life and death.
Why the hell would his 2nd son be in a strategic planet ? I wonder if he was sent here by his brothers to "shorten" the line.

>>5353994
>Highlands of Etrius. The closest place of solid ground near base Roland. Heavy transports and Behemoths would have to land there unless they want to fight against the endless muck. The highlands were designed to be one giant landing pad once their usefulness was discovered, but now they need to be destroyed. Delaying Talon from deploying their heavy weaponry by even a few days could be the difference between life and death.

>>5353994
>Highlands of Etrius. The closest place of solid ground near base Roland. Heavy transports and Behemoths would have to land there unless they want to fight against the endless muck. The highlands were designed to be one giant landing pad once their usefulness was discovered, but now they need to be destroyed. Delaying Talon from deploying their heavy weaponry by even a few days could be the difference between life and death.

>>5353994
>It is information known only by those in the highest echelons of command, but duke Roy’s second born son is on planet. Saving him is paramount, lest in his anger and grief the duke blames you and by proximity those around you for his death. That and his elite bodyguard would be of some use.

>>5353994
>>5354106
Changing to
> >It is information known only by those in the highest echelons of command, but duke Roy’s second born son is on planet. Saving him is paramount, lest in his anger and grief the duke blames you and by proximity those around you for his death. That and his elite bodyguard would be of some use.

>>5353994
>>Highlands of Etrius. The closest place of solid ground near base Roland. Heavy transports and Behemoths would have to land there unless they want to fight against the endless muck. The highlands were designed to be one giant landing pad once their usefulness was discovered, but now they need to be destroyed. Delaying Talon from deploying their heavy weaponry by even a few days could be the difference between life and death.

You set down the paperwork, the numerous data slates rustle as plastic impacts plastic, in clutters up space around you with quite some annoyance, but even so, to store everything on a single server is far riskier than having in spread out like this, inconvenient, but necessary.

The Duke’s rage would only matter if I live long enough to face it. The 40th are made up from the best fighting men available, so even if they cannot return, they should be able to survive. No, what matters now is survival, holding this base comes first and foremost. You eventually make up your mind taking one of the larger datapads where the data about Highlands of Etrius is stored.

“Once Lord-Colonel Constance is awake, have him come to my office for a briefing.”

“Will do, now if you’ll excuse me my lady.” Aricela says with a smile before departing the room.

Sighing, you lean back into your comfortable leather chair. Using your feet, you lightly kick floor and turn the chair around to gaze through the window.

You watch as an artillery battery opens up. Dug in and protected, you only see the flashes of the guns. The noise is muffled and barely audible, but the flashes of light appearing here and there disturbs the rather calm atmosphere you’ve gotten used to. Sure, the acid rain is dangerous, and the winds capable of lifting people off their feet, but from within your office everything seems to be calm, peaceful. Perhaps it is the privilege of your high-rank to think so of a world most dub “Hell’s end”, but you’ve gotten used to it.

“So much for a peaceful deployment.” You say before closing your eyes.
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(End of POV shift.)

ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred. You let lose the breath you’ve been holding and set down your other arm on the floor before pushing yourself upwards. You had just finished your last set of one-handed push-ups. Your genehancements naturally allow you to have a chiselled physique, but the bulging muscles that you posses still require effort to maintain.

A quick shower later, you step out of your room looking the best you can be. Your goatee perfectly trimmed, your long straight black hair now loose and hanging freely. The uniform meticulously maintained, a quartet of medals, each signifying a hard-fought campaign, gleaming as the bright light of the hallway shines upon them. Turning side to side you notice that your room had been guarded the entire time, as two men in protection suits stand at attention on either side so of the door.

“Guide me to the mess hall.” You order.

“Yes, sir.” The man you’re facing salutes before beginning to walk away.

>>5356001

Naturally you could of course feast on the wondrous MREs in the fridge, but you’d rather figure out the situation of the base and the well-being of your comrades and subordinates. Unfortunately, whether or not you run into someone of the people you are looking for is up to chance, since when you tried your comm you quickly realized that it had absolutely no connection.

As you walk onwards, the number of people filling the corridor continues to increase, the atmosphere is rather solemn, but calm. The attack had come out of nowhere, but the base held. The natural desire to panic in the face of overwhelming odds chained and controlled by strict discipline.

You do note that most of the people gathered here appear to be wearing still stained and ill-kept work suits of mechanics and engineers, most look rather tired and on occasions you can see some of them popping stimulant pills to stay awake. It seems that everyone is being hard pressed to ensure that the situation is stable before everyone can settle down.

Taking a step into a massive mess hall, the soldier who guided you salutes before turning around on his heel and marching back to his post. Turning to regard the hall itself, it appears to be bog standard prefab, at least on the inside, no doubt the walls had been reinforced against the acid and the heat. Large, long tables capable of seating thirty men each, enough for an entire platoon to sit and eat together, to form bonds of comradery. On the far end of the room, you can see cooks taking out prepared, warm food. Approaching it, you see that the food presented is of a lower palate than you’re accustomed to, mash potatoes, more water than potato, a couple of sausages whose meat content you are suspicious of, a side serving of radishes to go along with it and a single cup of some fruity, on the thicker end, drink.

Still, food is food, you suppose, it wouldn’t be the first time you had to eat something on the field you would rather have not in better circumstances. Grabbing your fair share, you once more look around the room and luckily spot your subordinates. Linton already had spotted you and is already walking over. Earnan, just like you, appears to be suspicious of the food of the lower classes and is curiously poking it with his fork, whilst Carolus is standing further away from the table and your gathered officers chatting up some women in clean uniforms, judging from the indents in their sort cut hair, they appear to be communications officers.

“My Lord, it is good to see you again.” Linton says taking your tray from you, freeing your hands whilst you slowly walk forwards.

“There was no need to worry.” You respond, whilst with some amusement watching as everyone at the table finally notices you and scrambles to look presentable. No one wants to be put on disciplinary just because you are in a bad mood.

“Naturally, my lord.”

“Are you aware of the regiment’s strength ?”

>>5356002

“Yes, my lord, I had prepared it already.”

“Good.” Sitting down you say as Linton places the tray before you and stands silently besides you. “At ease.” You say to the men and women sitting at the table.

Taking a fork, you scoop up some of the mashed potatoes, and a moment later you frown. Watery, but better than rations, I suppose.

Placing the fork back down, you address your immediate subordinates.

“Gentlemen, your evaluation of the situation ?”

“From what I heard, all long-range comms are down, we have no idea how the rest of the planet is doing. But the fortifications here seem formidable.” Earnan quickly analyses.

“Through my…” Carolus clears his throat. “evaluations of the local personnel. Overall morale seems high amongst the defender. The initial battle had shaken them, but with the first line stubbornly holding, everyone seems determined to hold out now.”

“The officers appear competent enough. Being designated as one of the lynchpin bases upon Noct I, the best division were assigned here, we have no need to worry for incompetent leadership.” Linton finishes.

“Good, have you begun to settle in ?”

“Yes, my lord. The entrance we moved into yesterday had been designated as our staging point, the local mechanics and engineers had begun looking over our equipment and vehicles.” As dutiful as ever, Linton responds.

“Have they released more tanks to our care to replenish our losses ?”

“No, my Lord.” Your bodyguard awkwardly responds. “Even though from what I could tell Roland’s armouries appear to be full.”

“Why ?”

“They are prioritizing the local defenders.”

“So I will have to use my influence then ?”

“Please forgive my incompetence, my Lord.”

“On this occasion, it is not your fault, I will have to look into it myself later.”

“Lord-Colonel.” A woman’s voice calls out. “Lord-Colonel Constance.”

You turn around to regard the source of the voice and spot the same blonde beauty that had interrogated you yesterday.

“Baroness-Brigadier Aricela Percey, I do not believe I introduced myself yesterday.” She says with that usual smile of hers you had seen numerous times now.

Rising from your seat, you salute her as she apparently has a higher rank than you. “Sir, good to meet you.”

“Viscountess-Lieutenant-General Drawy wishes to meet you for a mission briefing in her office, right now, Lord-Colonel.” The intonation in her voice makes it clear that she will not take no for an answer.

“Understood, sir, please lead the way.” You evenly respond.

With a smile, she turns around and begins walking away and you quickly fall in behind her.

Moving down the labyrinth of tunnels and corridors, you start wondering just how exactly larger is this installation. It has enough storage facilities for active combat attrition for an entire year. That is non-stop high intensity combat.

>>5356003

“Lord-Colonel, how long have you been serving ?” Aricela says.

“You must’ve seen my record.” You dryly respond.

“I have, but I’m trying to hold some conversation, the walk is a long one, I know from experience.”

“About thirty years.” Even though you look to be in your early twenties, genehancements slow the aging process, take Aricela for example, she looks to be in her mid-twenties, but it is entirely possible that she’s a couple of decades older than you. Age these days, especially concerning nobility, isn’t that easy to correctly predict.

“You must be making your house proud.”

“As proud as they can be.”

“You’re no fun.” She says with a pout.

“I know better than to expose my weaknesses to an intelligence officer.” Locking your eyes with hers, whilst keeping a neutral expression, you say. To that, she simply gives you a smile. You’re not about to be blackmailed or disappeared because some paranoid officer deemed you a possible threat.

Eventually, you manage to reach the office after another twenty minutes of walking in utter silence. A squad of men in power armour, having both the symbols of house Roy, and undoubtedly the symbol of two white mountains set into a blue background being the symbol of Viscountess Drawy.

As the door swings open, after a quick rudimentary check, you step into the office alongside Baroness Percey, where you find the commanding officer of the entire base sitting in her chair enjoying a cup of tea.

She appears to be around 180 cm tall, perhaps a bit more for it is difficult to get her accurate height whilst she’s sitting. Long light slightly curling brown hair flow past her shoulders, her green eyes are set in a breath-taking looking face, her overall body structure appears to be athletic, similar to that of a swimmer more than anything else, a decently full bosom finishes off her look of a forest fairy.

“Lord-Colonel Constance reporting as order, sir.” You say standing at attention and saluting.

“Please have a seat Lord-Colonel.” She says with a melodious voice.

Taking up on her offer, you take a seat on a well-made leather bound chair, comfortably sinking into it.

“Tea ?” She says questioning.

“Please.” You respond. It had been a while since you had something cultured in this hell.

With a snap of a finger she summons a servant from a side door who quickly proceeds to place down a porcelain cup before you upon a silver platter, with a porcelain platter placed next to it with natural sugar cubes as well as some creamer for you to add at your leisure. Once he finishes, without a word he departs just as he had arrived.

>>5356004

“Now then, Lord-Colonel. The reason why I called you here is because I have an assignment to you. So far, you had been the only formation to reach base Roland and as such I have no other assets but yours to dedicate to outside use. I am barely holding the line with what I have, so I have nothing to spare to other important tasks.”

“And what would that task be ?” You ask taking a sip of the natural tea, the slight bitterness of it biting into your tongue.

“Highlands of Etrius had been for the longest time used as one of the main supply hubs in the area. The even, solid terrain allowing for easy building of landing pads, resupply facilities and the like. Talon will try to take control of it as it is the closest piece of solid ground to base Roland, about 150 kilometres away. I want that place levelled.” She says determination clear on her face. “I will order an artillery bombardment on the location exactly 50 minutes after you depart the base, so that it would coincide with your arrival. You will be provided with nuclear payloads to ensure that nothing remains. With a lack of long-range communications and even aerial parity, I cannot ascertain the damage caused, which is why I am sending you there to ensure nothing remains.”

“And if there are friendly elements still resisting ?”

“Rescue them if you can, but they are secondary to your objective.”

“Civilians ?” Places like the highlands would be prime estate for civilian construction and land reclamation.

“Expendable.” A moment of thought later she says, trying her best to keep her expression neutral.

“Understood, when am I to depart ?”

“Tomorrow morning, it seems like the clouds will clear, allowing all batteries to open fire. We’ll be able to shoot down any landers from a fair distance away.”

“Will I be given any other assets as assistance ?”

“That, would be difficult.” She says with an awkward face.

It seems that her position isn’t all that stable.

“I will try to do what I can, but all assets are already assigned and distributed, which is why I am talking to you in the first place. Naturally, with my authority I put you in charge of this task group, meaning that both Colonel Kosmowski and Colonel Westre will be accompanying you along as your subordinates.”

You nod. “Am I allowed to depart ?”

“You are.” She says.

Downing the last of your tea, you rise, give a salute and depart.

First things first – the armouries.

As you are walking, your comm goes off, taking it you see that you’ve been granted clearance for the usage of your comms device.

“Linton.” You say into the comm.

“Yes, my Lord ?”

“Gather my regiment as well as those of Colonel Westre and Colonel Kosmowski, I want all of them present in eight hours at our new regimental headquarters.” You order before cutting off the connection.

>>5356005

Having a map makes navigation a lot easier and you quickly find the quartermaster’s office next to the main armoury of the base. The area around is abuzz with activity as menials grab and transport crates, grab tools and refuel vehicles and drive them off, and in the middle of all this chaos you spot a man in his forties, with a balding headline, simple brown eyes, a slightly uneven face and a body moving past its prime, he seems like a commoner career officer, being a quartermaster to boot, you don’t doubt that the man is hardass.

“Sir.” He salutes you as you approach.

“Officer, I’ve come to inquire about available supplies.”

“There are none.” He bluntly says.

“We both know that is not the truth.”

“If you want more supplies other than refuels and rearmament you will have to deal with those whose names are already on the list, sir.”

“And I assume there’s a way for me to move up on that list ?”

“Well, I would have to sort though a lot of paperwork to do that, sir, it would take a long time.”

Looking around, you realize that during your conversation the menials all around you had almost entirely disappeared, with only a few remaining looking busy rather than doing anything productive, and with your genehanced vision, you can see that all of them have small arms hidden on their person.

“Just give me your prices.” You say drawing up a datapad showing the strength of the three regiments under you. With your fellow Colonels both lacking noble blood, you doubt that any of them will be able to do any large scale resupplying, so you will have to do it for them. There’s probably a promotion in all of this, so it’s not a bad investment.

>>5356007

The 1433rd Armoured regiment “Count’s honoured” Commanded by Lord-Colonel Aurelius Constance.
Maximum: 70 tanks
Current: 65 tanks

Maximum: 140 APCs
Current: 124 APCs

Maximum: 4,200 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits
Current: 3,986 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits

The 1414st Infantry regiment “The Stalwarts” Commanded by Colonel Vinn Kosmowski.
Maximum: 200 APCs
Current: 78 APCs

Maximum: 50 IFVs
Current: 0 IFVs

Maximum: 6,250 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits and power armour
Current: 2,744 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits and power armour

The 1422nd light VTOL group “Thunder’s howl” Commanded by Colonel Rosanna Westre.
Maximum: 48 VTOLs
Current: 18 VTOLs

Current influence 500

>Refill Tank regiment 20 influence

>Refill infantry regiment 130 influence

>Refill VTOL regiment 320 influence

Naturally, because of your noble birth you can convince other commanders to lend you some forces.

Regiments:

>Infantry regiment 200 influence

>Artillery regiment 250 influence

>Mech regiment 350 influence

>Tank regiment 400 influence

>VTOL regiment 600 influence

Specialists:

>Light hover tank squadron (12 tanks) 200 influence

>Heavy tank squadron (6 tanks) 400 influence

Other areas have different deployed formations, allowing for different units to be borrowed for an undetermined prolonged period.

>>5356013
>Refill Tank regiment 20 influence.
>Refill infantry regiment 130 influence.
>Refill VTOL regiment 320 influence.

The range and abilities of our forces are diverse enough to handle anything that survives the bombardment. We should focus on restoring our strength while we still have that chance.

>>5356013
>>Refill Tank regiment 20 influence
>>Refill infantry regiment 130 influence
>>Refill VTOL regiment 320 influence

Just refill all our regiments, we don't need anything fancy.

>>5356013
>Refill Tank regiment 20 influence
>Refill infantry regiment 130 influence
>Artillery regiment 250 influence

We could diversify our force a tad. Although this would stretch our VTOLS thin, the artillery could sort of fill in for the while being

>>5356059
>Refill Tank regiment 20 influence.
>Refill infantry regiment 130 influence.
>Refill VTOL regiment 320 influence.
I'd like to grab that hover squad, it'd work well as a scout and it's not like they'll be of much use on a defensive line anyway, but our regiment as is now is well equipped to deal with most things, we just need to get it back to full strength.

>>5356013
>Refill Tank regiment 20 influence
>Refill infantry regiment 130 influence
>Refill VTOL regiment 320 influence
Basic refil it is. Vinn and Westre really need it, though.

“I’ll make sure that you are moved up the list for reserve reinforcements and access to the stored vehicles. Can’t have a loyal servant of Duke Roy and the Emperor fight without proper arms.” The quartermaster nods to himself looking over the list of equipment and manpower you had requested.

Pulling back your hand, which you used to confirm your identity, you had almost entirely expended your officer’s salary that you had accumulated to that point. You also had to promise some favours once you get off the rock to some of the noblemen when the quartermaster called them, but with this your entire formation will be back to full strength.

“I need all of these prepared by tomorrow morning.” You say.

“All right.” He nods. “Everything will be transferred to the regimental headquarters of your designated regiments. Glory to the Empire.” The quartermaster says almost dismissively at the end.

“Glory to the empire.” You respond half-heartedly before walking away.

Making your way back to the entrance that you had used previously to arrive at the base yesterday, you quickly find your regiment all gathered and prepared awaiting your orders. You also notice that both Vinn and Rosanna have arrived with their men. For now, their regiments appear depressingly understrength, but you don’t doubt that they’ll start glowing the moment you tell you sorted it all out.

“Greetings, sir.” Everyone present salutes you, including both Vinn and Rosanna, both whom appear to be perfectly accepting your command, you are of noble blood after all, not like they could aim for a higher position themselves.

“Colonel Kosmowski, Colonel Westre, I had put in request for reinforcement for all of our regiments, by tomorrow morning you will be back to full strength.”

“Tomorrow ?” Vinn asks. “The amount of reorganization that we have to do would take at least a week if not more.”

“Then I recommend you start now, Colonel. Since we have a mission to carry out.”

“What sort of task would require us to move so fast ?” Rossana asks.

“A destruction mission.” You say before handing over a datapad upon which you’ve written down the details of your assignment. Quickly downloading the data, every gathered officer begins to read through it.

“What the hell do you mean civilians are expendable !” Just as you had expected. “Indiscriminate artillery bombardment and then a nuclear strike ?!” Being a slum child himself, Vinn has an unfortunate attachment to those in need rather than carrying out what needs to be done.

“Sir, if I may speak.” You’ll speak regardless. “I have to agree with Colonel Kosmowski, these men and women, children even, are all loyal subjects of duke Roy, that is one of the reasons why they were even allowed to settle here.” Thought so. Embolden by the noble blooded Earnan’s protests, a few other commoner officers speak up.

>>5358247

“You are correct, Lieutenant-Colonel, they are loyal subjects of Duke Roy, chosen to settle here specifically because of so. As such, they all knew the risks of settling a fortress world like this. I am sure that all of them will be more than willing to give their life for the dukedom.”

“But, sir-“

“I have tolerated your outbursts long enough. Another word and I will have all of you executed for treason.” You calmly state as Linton steps behind you, giving you your high-frequency blade. Any noble officer such as yourself possess an expensive and powerful sword like this, capable of tearing power armour with ease. You usually do not carry it around, being a tank officer means that if you do have to use it, things had gone horribly wrong, so you simply store it within your tank, but for occasions like these, it is a symbol of authority and superiority.

With the protests silenced and you blade sheathed, you once more speak up. “Now, I want tactical input.”

“Most of the flattest areas of the highlands had been turned into landing pads and warehouses, the areas there are nice and flat, excellent for our vehicles and it would be the best place for me to provide air support.” Westre says. “The same just before we reach them, the area is relatively flat if covered in muck, once you enter the town, or probably the ruins of it, there will most likely be hidden AA installations or personnel, getting you accurate fire there will be difficult.”

“In that case, I and mine should go in first. We’re trained for urban warfare, specifically how to defend it.” Vinn says now having somewhat calmed himself down. “We’d be far more manoeuvrable out there than your tanks. Just come in to support us when we run into heavy resistance.”

“Leaving the tanks outside of the city would expose us to enemy aerial attacks and orbital bombardment.” Carolus protests.

“And going inside would allow enemy infantry to target us with their anti-tank missiles and then fade away.” Earnan rebuts.

“That is why we have our mechanized elements.” Linton says.

“Presuming they can kill the enemy before they fire off their shoot.”

“Then what do you suggest ?” You ask.

“As it is shown here, we’re in the highlands, meaning there are actual caves in the areas, or other areas of coverage that could disguise us from any air assets.”

“Hey, hey, if you run off to hide like that, my men if they get stuck would get butchered by the time you arrive to provide support, and I can’t just always rely on Colonel Westre’s help in situation where the enemy has at least aerial parity if not superiority.” Vinn says with annoyance.

“That’s another issue, with my group fully reinforced, I should at least serve as a distraction to enemy jets preventing them from easily providing support, but whether or not I could disentangle myself from them with any real numbers remains to be seen.” She agrees.

>>5358249

“And if we run into friendly forces still resisting within the city ? I know they are secondary to our primary objective, but still.” Earnan asks.

“It entirely depends on the situation upon the ground. Help them if you can, prioritize our primary objective otherwise.” You respond.

You look around the gathered officers. “Everything clear ?” Nods and a few affirmations respond.

“Very well then. Now I shall lay down our schedule. At 0600 hours, our entire taskforce will be gathered here and preparing to move. At 0700 hours, the defenders of base Roland will launch an armoured spearhead at Talon’s still incomplete sieging line, we will follow right behind them as means of both disguise and protection, you are not to draw enemy attention or expend overly much ammunition. At exactly 0750 hours, all heavy batteries of base Roland will open fire upon the Highlands of Etrius, said bombardment will last for exactly 10 minutes. That means at 0800 hours we will begin to move into the highlands proper. With long-range comms inoperational, we are entirely by ourselves out there, conserve your resources, do not needlessly antagonize the enemy, just achieve your objective and then withdraw. In case of utter communications blackout due to jamming or other reasons, all forces are to gather at regroup point Alpha at 1100 hours. Should that area be impossible to retreat to, move onto Beta, here.” You say pointing at the map on the datapad, the information of which is transferred to everyone gathered. “And if that point is compromised as well, fall back to formation command and retreat towards base Roland. Any questions ?”

You once more look over your soldiers after laying out the basics of your plan, anything more detailed than that would be pointless, with the area being an active combat zone and the shelling further adding to destruction, many roadways will be ruined, structures damaged or areas turned into enemy strongholds

A few more nods later, you turn about and begin marching back to your room. Linton will sort out the few tasks needed to get your regiment back to full, whilst both Vinn and Rossana have a long night ahead, Vinn especially since Rossana only needs to get thirty or so unruly pilots in order, whilst Vinn will need to sort out thousands
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.
Stretching your body after a restful night upon your comfortable beddings and a hot shower you feel refreshed and ready for the day ahead. A day full of warfare, stress, rapid decisions and death. Such is a life of a soldier in these tumultuous times, and you had never shrugged off your responsibility for so

Arriving at your new headquarters, you quickly spot an exhausted looking Vinn downing some pills, clearly stimulants to keep him running at full during the day, he’ll have one hell of a hangover afterwards, but you suppose that is worth it, not that you’d know it since your genehancements allow you to retrain full combat readiness for a prolonged period of time

>>5358251

“Colonel Kosmowski, I presume your regiment is ready.” You say, a hint of a smile on your face.

The man turns to regard you with annoyance, crunching a pill in between his teeth. “Yea.” He says tiredly. “Everyone’s ready, luckily the reserves here are all well trained, it didn’t take long for me to bring them up to speed.”

“Good, Rossana’s already up ?”

“She is, got her new pilots to fly a few laps in formation before departing, trying to integrate them as best she can.”

“Alright, get your regiment moving, the assault will commence within the hour.”

“Yes, sir.” He says half-heartedly.

Turning, you make your way to your own regiment, where your Lieutenant-Colonels await you.

“Gentlemen, is everything prepared ?”

“My lord, everything is in order and we can go at any moment.”

“Excellent. Regiment !” You bellow. “Mount up !”

A collective shout of Yes, Sir ! is heard throughout the chamber as you make your way to the command tank, jumping in it, you take a comfortable seat before hitting the comm. “Honoured let’s show those Talon cowards what it means to wage war. Forwards !” You find that small pep talk like this does wonders for morale.

Switching the comm, you address the officers as well. “Gentlemen, ladies, I apologize that we are unable to hold a banquet before our deployment, but as you all can see, the situation is a pressing one, as such the banquet will be held after we sort everything out. So, I suggest for you to gather the smuggled alcohol that I am aware that you all are hiding for the celebration.” Whether or not you will confiscate it remains to be seen, but helpfully this will push down the concerns of your officers of having to face nigh impossible odds.

All of these are lies, some would say, giving false hope, but you found that false hope is better than none. To fall to defeatism is the same as actually being defeated. At the end of the day, it will be the might of arms that will see how a conflict is truly carried out.

Moving back onto the planet’s surface, it seems that the Viscountess had been correct, other than a few black clouds, for once Noct shines upon Hell’s end. The small red dot upon the red sky is barely visible, if at all, but it provides sunshine enough that you do not have to see the world around you through night vision, thermal or simply headlamps illuminating the surroundings. You can take in all of the natural…blacks, grays, the occasional orange that promises a prolonged painful death. Charming, truly.

>>5358253

All around you the sound of artillery and AA rings as hostile fighters still try to make probing attacks and friendly artillery exchanges counter battery fire. All around you also notice burnt out and hollowed out wrecks of drop pods, seems last night a concentrated assault was attempted, but was repulsed easily enough if you could have a proper sleep. On the horizon, the trenchlines are light up by small arm fire as another battle is in full swing. Overhead, looking through the camera, you can spot friendly IFFs of Rosanna and her group falling in formation with your own, keeping relatively low to the ground, she begins to follow you.

Further away, the Eastern trenchline is especially heavily contested, every cannon that can fire is. The reason for that is simple, it is your exit point, and an entire armoured division, similar to the one you had been a part of had gathered. Nearly 300 Gideons, and 24 Shiva heavy tanks acting as the tip of the spear. Supporting the flanks are around a 100 Heracles mechs. More or less the entirety of active heavy machinery of the base had been employed for this spearhead.

Meanwhile, the Talon’s line appears to be awfully thin. The ground, whilst easy to dig through, also quickly fills up, making construction work temporary at best without extensive effort, whilst heavier buildings take a long time to set up. Talon simply hasn’t had enough time to set up an extensive and heavily fortified enough trenchline to stop the assault. And based on the scattered movement and rapid relocation of their forces, it seems they know it as well. With a lack of their heavy vehicles to counter your own, the breakthrough should be utter and absolute. Depending on the success of this assault you do not doubt that it may be repeated on other fronts. Either way, Talon will pay the price of their invasion in blood, a lot of blood.

With final checks undergoing, everyone seems to be preparing for the upcoming fight. You yourself close your eyes and simply wait in silence. It is nothing to be feared, concerned or excited for. No, it’s just another battle for you. You will succeed like you had always had. Or you will die. Simple as that.

“Lord-Colonel, the artillery ceased their bombardment.” Your gunner says.

Opening your eyes, you lean forwards. “Be prepared to move.”

Then, for a minute more you await, then the might of an industrial military is once more unleashed. Hundreds of tanks roar to life with rapid movement. Their main cannons unleashing the wrath of magnetically accelerated tungsten rounds loaded to the top with explosives. Looking at your clock, you wait.

Before finally, time had come. “All elements of taskforce Constance. Onwards !”

And so, your own formation roars to life, moving behind the carnage, but never far enough to not experience it first-hand.

>>5358256

Tanks, cut down dozens a second each, their railguns firing without stop, expending hundreds of rounds in seconds whilst driving over those unfortunate enough to be in their way, bodies are crushed and buried underneath the ash.

The heavy tanks utterly obliterate whatever vehicles desperately try to hold them, leaving nothing but husks as symbols of crushed hope.

Moving swiftly and without rest, the mechs move into the middle of formations as missile fire smashes against them, scorching nothing but the paint upon their thick armour plating. Quadruple railguns quickly finish off these last remaining desperate formations.

The skies above had also devolved to hell, missiles fly all around, what had once been a coordinated engagement between jet formations had dissolved into brutal dogfights as the heavily outnumbered friendly VTOLs try their best to provide cover to the land elements, and said elements fire everything they have. Laser turrets scorching the skies, missile turrets unleashing their payloads without regard of conserving their ammo.

With utter anarchy reigning around you, your formation remains intact and organized, quickly breaking off from the engagement and moving without rest.

Soon, you will reach the highlands, but before that you need to sort the starting order of battle.

>>5358258

Infantry regiment

>Have Vinn move through the town as fast as possible, safety and thoroughness be damned, you’ll get in and get out as quickly as you can. Sure, he will run into heavy resistance and the terrain will be unfamiliar and rough, but hopefully the enemy will still be shellshocked.

>Slow and steady wins the race. Have the infantry regiment move slowly and methodically, clearing building after building, room after room, ensure that you have a safe corridor to your objective and back.

>The 1414st are better served as a reserve, unlike your tanks they can easily spread out and blend in with the surroundings, they can sit just outside the city.

>(Write in)

Tank regiment

>They will move into the town, risks be damned, their superior firepower will simply bludgeon through everything that tries to stop them.

>You’ll risk orbital and airstrikes rather than fighting something you cannot actually see. In this place you’ll be able to react to the ever-changing situation easily and swiftly.

>No matter what, tanks are a limited resource, no matter how deep the armouries are, so you will split them up and move into caves, ravines, or other areas that will provide natural defence against air and orbital assets.

>(Write in)

Light VTOL regiment

>Westre should just focus on air, let her wings fly against Talon’s jets, hopefully keeping them off your back for as long as possible.

>A balanced approach is needed. She’ll have to provide aerial support when able whilst fighting off the enemy. That means a few aircraft will be able to support, but it is still better than nothing.

>Casualties be damned, a few planes are a worthy price compared to hundreds of piloting men. Westre will provide support when called for, no matter the situation or risks involved.

>(Write in)

>>5358259
(Tank AND infantry write in)
Have the tanks enter the city But make them work in tandem with the infantry, letting the infantry work as scouting troops for the tanks, and letting the tanks work as heavy support if requested. Letting the infantry work as deterrence while the tanks work as heavy support and as a fallback Line.

This is meant to be a cautious approach, it’s essentially a mix of letting the tanks into the city and letting the infantry work breaching the city slowly.

As for the VTOL’s? Kind of approach number two working together with the idea above.

>A balanced approach is needed. She’ll have to provide aerial support when able whilst fighting off the enemy. That means a few aircraft will be able to support, but it is still better than nothing.

The idea being that she will generally be set to work in a “try to kill jets when possible But only at minimum losses” mentality, staying near the tanks since they are the thing most likely to be attacked by the jets, while also letting the multiple tanks targeting systems help in both shooting down enemy Fighters and also relaying data for location of enemy jets.

That is at least my idea

>>5358259
>+1:
>>5358338

I liked the idea, especially the coordination between infantry and armored tanks. But I'd like to add that trying to find friendly survivors as a secondary objective, every ally alive increases our chance of surviving in the long run.

>>5358259
>>Slow and steady wins the race. Have the infantry regiment move slowly and methodically, clearing building after building, room after room, ensure that you have a safe corridor to your objective and back.

>They will move into the town, risks be damned, their superior firepower will simply bludgeon through everything that tries to stop them.

>Westre should just focus on air, let her wings fly against Talon’s jets, hopefully keeping them off your back for as long as possible.

>>5358338
Support. Combined arms is the way to go, short of the enemy having overwhelming force, which they shouldn't since they haven't landed yet.

>>5358434
>I'd like to add that trying to find friendly survivors as a secondary objective, every ally alive increases our chance of surviving in the long run.

anon, our superiors just launched an artillery bombardment against a friendly base in a scorched earth attack, our job is to make sure that nothing remains. If there are friendly survivors there, they would be demoralised by the deliberate friendly fire, especially considering the civilian casualties..

>>5358639
How the fuck do they know where the bombing came from? As far as I know long-distance communications are silenced.

All these possible allies know is that, the enemy has just launched a devastating barrage of fire. If no one tells them who shot them until we get back to base, it will be fine.

>>5358675
>How the fuck do they know where the bombing came from?
If they were paying attention then they would have seen what direction it came from.

>>5358434
I mean, i kind of thought that was something of a given since it was said that allied forces are a secondary objective. But otherwise yeah it Would of course happen.

>>5358896 kind of yesn’t, since while that is a very real technique and is even used in the modern day, it kind of needs specialized equipment to calculate such stuff, which while that might be in every tank in this futuristic setting(if possible) they just, you know, might not have any more heavy equipment with the required computational power and precision target following algorythm.

Im staying on the fence otherwise since it just kind of seems like a unimportant detail since if they knew they are getting shelled or not by friendly forces is irrelevant, since anything foing said shelling Would likely from their perspective have more cohesive orders in terms of command structure than they have, and therefor it’s something needing to be done where they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, they signed up with that possibility in mind, and even if they didn’t think about it, it was part of the contract that you forfeit your life in exchange for whatever command deems necessary.

>>5358259
>Inf. Reg.
>Have Vinn move through the town as fast as possible, safety and thoroughness be damned, you’ll get in and get out as quickly as you can. Sure, he will run into heavy resistance and the terrain will be unfamiliar and rough, but hopefully the enemy will still be shellshocked.

>Tanks
>You’ll risk orbital and airstrikes rather than fighting something you cannot actually see. In this place you’ll be able to react to the ever-changing situation easily and swiftly.

>VTOL
>A balanced approach is needed. She’ll have to provide aerial support when able whilst fighting off the enemy. That means a few aircraft will be able to support, but it is still better than nothing.

>>5358338
+1

>>5358975
If it exists now, it is highly likely to exist in this setting.

>>5359104
> Gives a +1 to his own vote
What did he mean by this?

fucks sake. ok so sometimes i just loose lucidity because of meds and i fucking forgot that i had posted that message, i can of course see it has the same IP, so it must have been me. i must have forgotten to write in my alias at that point which is why i wasn't able to recognize that it was my message to begin with. until >>5359173
mentioned the IP (which thanks by the way since this kind of shit happens from time to time and i just need to go back and clear up the confusion when it becomes apparent i did a fucky wucky)

sorry, just take >>5359104 and shove it where the sun doesn't shine

>>5358338 wind, which is basically sending your tanks in and infantry doing a careful approach.

I'd like a 3d100 best of 3

Rolled 40, 17, 7 = 64 (3d100)

>>5359908

Rolled 84, 20, 88 = 192 (3d100)

>>5359908

Rolled 93, 32, 17 = 142 (3d100)

>>5359908

With feet hard on throttles, the entire formation moved with the swiftest speed possible, to the point where you were continuously rocking back and forth on your chair, whilst this general area had been designated as endless plains, there still are lumps and dips across the terrain. With suspension not being a top priority, everything possible went to ensure the stability of the main turret and the railgun nests, the ride is a bit rough at the top speed.

Hitting your comm, you quickly contact both Rossana and Vinn as well as your direct subordinates. “Colonel Kosmowski, once we reach the city, both of our regiments will move together into the town, with your regiment taking point.”

“Roger that, well clear the way best we can, just support us when I call for it.” Vinn responds.

“Colonel Westre, keep your eyes on the sky, but dispatch VTOLs to provide air support when able.”

“Understood, we’ll make sure enemy air keeps off your backs.” She says.

Once you finish giving out the orders, you return to the usual routine of studying your upcoming battlefield. As was said, better a thousand drops of sweat in training than a drop of blood in battle.

The supply base there was originally a mining colony set up by private interests before Duke Roy, some odd century or so back claimed the system for himself. An easy task because the colony did not yield the ore hoped for and was easily sold off. And the highlands received their name from the town of Etrius, named after the largest investor for the endeavour. Due to these origins, unlike most settlements upon the world that were build with defence in mind, the township retained more of a mining town’s infrastructure rather than a fortress masquerading as a settlement.

Still, the town has large, thick slopped walls, meant to redirect the powerful winds, allowing for higher buildings, thus overall saving space and allowing for a larger population. High rise buildings and narrow streets paired with an artillery bombardment, if anything remains of the town, it will be plentiful rubble blocking our path. As for the walls themselves ? They are thick, but a concentrated bombardment could easily blow it over, however, Talon no doubt had desires to take the township as intact as possible, as such, no orbital bombardments would have been authorised, nor any large-scale air strikes or artillery barrages. So, the township itself should have remained relatively intact.

Checking the inbuilt watch, you notice that soon the bombardment will commence. Switching to the camera, you can already see the township rising above the endless muck upon a foundation of solid stone, volcanic in origin.

With the entire formation coming to a halt, you open up the hatch and look upon the surroundings with your own eyes.

>>5361186

Even from such a distance you can hear the sound of battle, the noise of barely audible, distant rifle fire, the much louder, roaring and powerful firing of artillery, as you do not see any heavy landers moving up and down, you presume that the noise is made by lighter guns.

It seems that the town is still offering resistance, but you can see numerous cracks upon the tall walls, ugly, brutal things. Made of a mixture of heavy ultra-concrete, alongside the skeleton of hardened steel. A similar mixture used for most bunkers, but much, much thicker, and yet still it had been broken.

Rising smoke shows that fires of war still rage across the town, you doubt that the fighting had stopped ever since it had begun yesterday.

With the information provided by the Viscountess, you are aware that two corps were dedicated to the town’s defence, entirely made up of 6 infantry and 2 artillery divisions. Unfortunately, one of those corps were out on a training mission, or so the information provided for you claims. Large scale exercises are common enough, the sheer amount of training needed to maintain a professional, disciplined and motivated army requires such exercises periodically.

Still, it seems that those formations sent out to training coincide to a lot of the locations Talon is in need to control. You cannot help to think, as unease, paranoia perhaps, continues to rise at the back of your mind.

Looking at the watch, you see that the time for the bombardment had arrived, all around you most tank commanders also take the opportunity to get some fresh air, so to say. Once the fighting starts, unless their tank is made inoperable or they have absolutely no other choice, these men and women will not be able to open up the hatches for a long, long time.

Then, one of the taller buildings, which you can see thanks to the hole in the wall, explodes in a myriad of colours, and then another, and the next.

So it begins.

The heavy artillery bombardment once more showcases the awesome power wielding by mankind, as parts of the highlands themselves are blown open, sides collapse and crumble, bringing the already levelled walls above them down with them. Entire districts disappear in a coordinated strike, leaving nothing but smoking craters in their place. No doubt these shells themselves carry nuclear payloads, similar to your own, just much weaker, as they have to survive being fired out of dozens of centimetres wide cannon barrels. The ones given to you are far more powerful, luckily their safe keeping methods are rather robust, otherwise even you would feel rather uneasy carrying enough bombs to quite literally simply delete your entire formation, if one of them goes off.

And so, the pounding lasts for the ten whole minutes, and it lasts in utter silence, even Vinn and Earnan stay silent throughout. Simply looking on the sheer destructiveness before them.

>>5361187

It is difficult that something still remains alive in the now levelled ruins, with only dozens out of hundreds of buildings still standing and even then, most are teetering on the edge of collapse. But you’ve witnessed bombardments like these. You remember the self-assured, confident voices of your superior officers when they led you over lifeless ruins. And the brutal ambushes that followed that had annihilated entire units whom, due to their confidence, wondered too far without support. The confused shouts, screams of despair, the begging. It all is still fresh in your mind.

“-onel, Colonel.” Carolus’ voice snaps you back from your memories.

“Yes ?” You reply with a low growl unintentionally.

“Your orders, sir ?” He asks meekly, sensing the edge upon your voice.

“All units, close the distance and enter the city as fast as you can, afterwards proceed slowly and carefully to the main objectives provided on the map, there are five primary objectives, each needs one of the ten payloads that we have. Colonel Vinn, your regiment is taking point.”

Giving the last, safe orders, you go down into your tank as the hatch closes with a metallic clang.

Opening the forward-facing camera, you watch as the infantry regiment moves ahead of your tanks and the VTOL regiment screams overhead as you watch as swarms of fighters like carrion birds gather around the now ruined town. Rossana will have her work cut out for her.

Slamming back into the chair, you are greeted by the sight of said vultures easily noticing your large formation and breaking off units of their own to intercept you, but Westre’s group quickly intercepts them, preventing any air strikes from reaching your ground units. Your tanks also open fire with their own lasers, quickly washing the now flaming surroundings by yet another shade of red.

As the air war rages over you, explosions rock path, as you had expected, some artillery guns had survived. Luckily, the fire is haphazard and uncoordinated. The pilots must have informed the groundcrews of your presence, the high-flying golden lions being a dead giveaway of your identity, but you manage to get through unscathed, the few shots fired are easily predicted by the onboard computers, lacking the sheer number of shells needed to make the predictions moot, Talon’s first counterattack had been easily beaten.

Reaching the town first, Vinn begins to quickly unload his infantry, and in tandem with their APCs, their begin clearing ruins and making way so that your tanks could enter. Even though the town was devastated, there is still plenty of rubble and low standing tougher, usually post ducal acquisition, building still stand, some are missing walls, some are missing their roofs, but a few miraculously stand as if nothing had happened, besides a brand-new layer of dust covering them.

>>5361190

“This Colonel Kosmowski, proceeding deeper into the town.” He informs you over the comm.

“Roger that, we’re moving right beside you.” You reply.

Urban environments, I hate urban environments. You think to yourself as your mind tries to process the camera feed as you try to look through all of them. Places like these are the hunting grounds of the humble infantryman, anything else here is nothing but their prey. A tank should fear someone with a mere rifle in terrain like this, since you never know if a crazy bastard would jump onto the tank, rip the hatch off and throw in a grenade. You had seen that happen too; cyborgs are quite terrifying when you cannot blow them away from dozens of kilometres.

Rifle fire suddenly rings out.

“5-1-1 engaging hostiles !” You hear one of Vinn’s officers report, you had patched into their network so that you’d get a better idea of what’s going on.

“This is 4-2-1 we-“ Another begins to report as an explosion rings. You can see the rising column of smoke coming from a faraway APC.

The enemy seems far more organized than I expected.

Another minute passes. “This is 1-“ Another cut signal

Five or so minutes after that “This is 2-2-2, we’re bogged down, enemy heavy weapons have us pinned down, requesting assistance !” With a ping, you assign one of your tanks to the location reported.

After fourteen minutes. “They’ve broken through ! We need to-“ A tank explodes next to you as an infantry squad gets ambushed and moved down.

You had entered the city just fine, but as you had feared, the moment you hit the town proper, all hell broke loose.

The railgun turrets upon your tank open up, cutting down the infantrymen that had launched the bold, suicidal really, assault that had costed you a tank. Talon troops should have still been disorganized, their command structure is slow and cumbersome. These guys are showing too much initiative.

With your eyes burning, you watch the cameras, looking for anything that could clue you in why your foe is acting out of your expectations, and soon you do, be it luck, or just your fine sight, perhaps a combination of both. A drop troop ?! You watch as a single individual, after observing the squad getting cut down begins to scurry away.

Cutting the bastard down with one of your railgun turrets you quickly took control over, a general picture begins to form in your mind. Drop troopers are probably the only part of Talon’s military with a modicum of initiative, kicking troublemakers and aristocrats out of favour there, and it seems like they’ve pulled a coup after the bombardment.

Working on your idea, you quickly begin to look through the various radio signals, Solarnet transfers, or simple laser information transfers.

>>5361192

Found you. You think to yourself as you notice a repeating specific signal coming from a general area of resistance giving trouble to even your tanks alongside the infantry, forcing you to move at a crawl. Good thing you didn’t rush in, you shudder at the though of what could have happened otherwise.

“Colonel Westre, I marking coordinates, I want a precise strike, blow through the rubble and anything intact.”

“Understood, sir. Dispatching a jet as soon as able.” She responds as an explosive rings around her, she cuts the comm with a curse, but otherwise seems fine.

You wait before a single jet, a dozen or so seconds later, delivers what you asked for. A blinding explosion rocks the ground, flames rise and dust is kicked up. And the signal disappears.

Then, two or so minutes later, another officer of Vinn’s says through the comm. “This is 5-3-1, we’ve broken through, the enemy is in disarray !”

Instead of cheering, or smiling, you instead quickly start looking through the signals, and sure enough, though faint, you pick them. No doubt that the enemy will soon realize what you are doing and will most likely switch to physical messengers, but for the moment, you hold the upper hand.

“All units, this is Lord-Colonel Constance, looking for communications through these signals, enemy drop troops are acting as commanding officers for enemy infantry, use these signals to locate them. Killing them should throw enemy formations into disarray, hit them hard and hit them fast before they have a chance to recover.”

Finally, for a moment, you had turned the tide of battle. Your tanks, in support of Vinn’s and your own infantry, blow apart any locations transmitting the signals, or elite spearheads, those actually in power armour, few and far between in Vinn’s regiment, act as kill teams, beheading the snake and watching the body die. Occasionally, whenever able Rosanna’s jets roar as they annihilate those locations too far and too exposed for your ground elements to reach safely.

The going is still slow, but you’re winning. For now.

Unfortunately, the signals you’ve been searching for begin to disappear as the enemy wizens up to your tactic. Even so, they now have to rely on physical messengers, and they can be shot, and they can fail to deliver orders precisely, and most importantly, this method of communication is not instantaneous.

But before you can begin looking for more enemy signals, you are surprised by a friendly one, one that you recognize.

“This is…” A weak man’s voice speaks. “Lord-Colonel Kamaunu. I have 3 mechs left, alongside 4 infantry platoons. We are holding…” A fit of coughs, sounding wet interrupts. “In the west of the town. Requesting assistance from any friendly forces.”

“Lord-Colonel Kamaunu, this is Lord-Colonel Constance, do you copy ?” You ask.

“I repeat, this is…” Amato says once more.

>>5361193

Either his comms are fried, he doesn’t have enough range. Or it is a trap. You grimly conclude.

Looking through other networks, unsurprisingly you quickly pick up a few more signals of scattered friendly forces across the town, besieged and beleaguered, panic is clear in their voices, and you quickly notice, comms only works one way, you can hear them, but they can’t hear you.

A few other signals catch your attention:

“To any units reading, this is the 9232nd infantry regiment, there are only a tenth of us left. We are holding North-East of the city at the Saint John town hospital. We’ve got a lot of civilians here, we need immediate assistance !” A desperate woman’s voice keeps playing on repeat.

Another one however, intrigues you the most:

“Mayday, mayday, this is Lord-Colonel Quince of the 9145th infantry regiment. Main command headquarters are under attack, all friendly units are to rally to its defence if able. Enemy drop troopers and cyborg elite are besieging us. Their infantry outnumbers us massively. I repeat…” From the sounds of things, the last actually functioning formations of the local defenders had rallied there, only to then be instantly besieged. You cannot help but think that Talon allowed them all to gather in one place so that it’d be easier to finish them off.

If you are going to assist anyone, it will have to be squadrons from your regiment, as Vinn’s force is entirely occupied with maintaining a frontline, meanwhile Rossana is far too busy in the skies, to a point where she brings her formation as close to yours as she safely can so that you could provide assistance. Still it’d be best to leave at least a single squadron here to continue the push, otherwise you doubt with Vinn’s regiment alone you will be able to push too far.

The regiment can be split up in squadrons to carryout multiple tasks.

1st squadron – Commanded by Aurelius Constance. SPECIAL: Double strength. Total forces:
24 tanks
49 APCs
1,412 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits

2nd squadron – Commanded by Linton Linegar. SPECIAL: Household elite. Total forces:
13 tanks
26 APCs
779 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits

3rd squadron – Commanded by Earnan Savin. SPECIAL: Nothing. Total forces:
11 tanks
23 APCs
690 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits

4th squadron – Commanded by Carolus Sambor. SPECIAL: Nothing. Total forces:
10 tanks
20 APCs
600 Mechanized infantrymen in protection suits

>>5361195

>Send forces to assist Lord-Colonel Kamaunu (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)

>Send forces to assist the besieged hospital (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)

>Send forces to assist the defender’s headquarters (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)

>Ignore the pleas for help, the scattered defenders act as a distraction, the enemy clearly still has forces enough to overwhelm you if you stay for too long. Simply concentrate on finishing your objective and retreat as soon as possible.

So, uhhhh... sorry for the late update. Played a game King Arthur Knight's tale, that I liked, so I kinda got lazy.

>>5361195
>Send forces to assist the defender’s headquarters (1st squadron and 2nd squadron)
We need quality and quantity to defeat cyborgs. We also can't lose the intelligence that command can provide.
>Send forces to assist the besieged hospital (3rd squadron)
>Send forces to assist Lord-Colonel Kamaunu (4th squadron)
Civilians for morale and also more troops for the meatgrinder.
The other

>>5361195
>+1:
>>5361246

>>5361196
>>Send forces to assist Lord-Colonel Kamaunu (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)
1st and 3rd squadron
>Send forces to assist the defender’s headquarters (Entire regiment/specific squadrons)
2nd and 4th squadron

It is against our orders to help civilians.

>>5361246
>>5361448
Remember, we need to leave at least one squadron here to continue fighting otherwise it'll get bogged down.

>>5361196
We can only effectively answer two I would say, so I'll vote for:
>Send forces to assist Lord-Colonel Kamaunu 1st Squadron
>Send forces to assist the defender’s headquarters 2nd and 4th Squadron
While 3rd Squadron will stay behind to hold the line and continue the push.
The civvies are useless and will only bog us down; they are also outside our orders. Their regiment is at one tenth strength, so they can't even provide a good benefit to helping them. It's a hard decision, but we need to act smart about it, we can't save everyone.

>>5361196
>>5361448
>>5361532
Changing to support this.

>>5361532
>+1

>>5361532
>supporting

>>5361532

Wins.

Alrighty then.

3d100 for Kamaunu

3d100 for the headquarters

3d100 for the main frontline

I'd like for anons to roll one of each, so a 9d100, since I doubt we have enough people to make every single individual roll.

Rolled 55, 41, 58, 12, 27, 90, 72, 15, 37 = 407 (9d100)

>>5363021
so many rolls

Rolled 98, 7, 42, 95, 32, 32, 67, 40, 75 = 488 (9d100)

>>5363021

Rolled 52, 36, 98, 5, 50, 100, 16, 45, 51 = 453 (9d100)

>>5363021
Here we go...

Update tomorrow. It was my grandma's birthday today so I wasn't able to get into it overly much. The update seems to be around 6k to 7k words. Hopefully you anons will enjoy.

>>5364182
That's fine. Hope you had fun with your grandma!

Activating your comm, you begin relaying a new set of orders. “Linton, take your squadron alongside Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel Sambor to relieve the local headquarters, I am sending over the coordinates now. I want those headquarters to hold and any information they have that could be of use secured.”

“Understood, my lord, I shall not fail you.” Linton responds.

“Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel Savin, you are to assist Colonel Kosmowski in his attempts to reach our main objectives. I do not care what it costs, the line must hold and we must push, am I clear ?”

“Roger that, Lord-Colonel.” Earnan acknowledges.

“I am breaking off and moving to these set of coordinates to assist local defenders. Ensure the completion of your tasks.” With final orders, you cut the connection. “Driver, heading west, 98 degrees, make full speed best you can.”

“Yes, Lord-Colonel.” The man responds whilst you start making calls with your officers and coordinating the entire squadron. In terrain like this you have to spread out or risk being stuck by having the leading and rear vehicles destroyed. Spread out too much, and you will be picked off one by one as the enemy defeats you in detail. Striking a balance in the middle of an intense battlefield like this requires excessive concentration and coordination on your part.

“Colonel Westre, I require to be patched into the cameras of the nearest VTOLs to my position, I need them for coordination.”

“Patching you through…now.” Her distracted voice quickly responds before cutting off once again.

Having a bird’s eye view of your surroundings, if rather shaky, allows you to witness the scene of Talon infantrymen sneaking up to one of your tanks, whilst its escorting APCs and mechanized infantry are currently busy holding off a Talon assault.

The tank rocks back and forth as it fires off its round, wrecking and knocking off its wheels an ambitious IFV whom had tried to line up a shot with its missile rack, only to be utterly annihilated in turn. Still, perhaps this had been intentional, sacrificing a simple fighting vehicle in exchange for a tank would be an easy decision to take for any field commander.

Unfortunately for Talon forces, this scheme would soon come to an end.

“Tank one eight, hostile forces approaching from your East, hose them down.” You say into your comm.

And watching in real time, you see as the tank’s railgun turrets swivel and unload upon the rubble that the attackers had just carefully gotten over. The raised missile launchers simply drop to the floor as their wielders are riddled full with holes, their blood, illuminated by the system’s weak star, begins to glisten as they pour onto the dust covered rubble.

>>5365411

Quickly switching your focus, you watch as one of the tanks rolls over some rubble, having charged some infantry, its railgun turrets ripping apart those lucky enough to not be simply crushed by its threads, and behind it just as quickly roll in the APCs followed by the quickly dismounting infantry, clearing out any obvious positions where one can hide, and in return engaging in brutal hand-to-hand combat, usually unloading entire magazines in point-blank, no doubt deafening range. In terrain like this there’s no precision fighting kilometres away using controlled bursts.

Another engagement comes into your sight as the VTOL makes a hard turn as you see a missile sail past the camera at an uncomfortable distance.

With exceptional recklessness, drop troopers, half a dozen strong, use their jetpacks to try and land atop of the tank, whose laser turret is currently busy assisting the very jet you are using to observe the happenings. Luckily, the tank is close enough. Changing your focus back to your own railgun turrets, you decided not to bother with the laser turret as Rossana needs all the help she can get, slowly but surely you assist and change the parameters of the turrets.

Just like shooting fish in a barrel, you unload burst fire volleys of the rotary cannons, each burst being two spins of the rotary cannon, sixteen shots from each of the turrets quickly cuts down the brave, if foolish men. Their power armour buckles under the large calibre of the turrets, their bodies are knocked out of the sky as their now limp bodies, some missing limbs now, flail lifelessly to the ground. With heavy thuds, they kick up clouds of dusts, marking their failure.

And that’s when you hear one of the sounds you had been dreading to hear. Artillery fire, accurate artillery fire. The surviving light guns seem to have finally gotten their bearings and reorganized. You come to this conclusion as one of your tanks alongside it’s escort is entirely light up and turned into nothing but a smoking crater.

“Colonel Westre, we’ve come under heavy artillery fire, I want you to find those guns !” You order in the comm.

“Negative, negative. That will take a while Colonel, I am currently busy fighting off three times bogeys compared to my own force ! I will send assistance soon as able !” She almost shouts into her comm.

Looks like you will have to weather the storm yourself for a while. If there’s any consolation, enemy air is equally as busy trying to deal with your own aerial assets, so you shouldn’t have to deal with threats from above, at least for a while.

That leaves you with only one solution. To move. You will have to outmanoeuvre the guns and deal with the spotters best you’re able, this should cause the shells to miss you by kilometres, but it will still be painful, because the enemy infantry will jump at the opportunity to use their explosives.

>>5365413

“Squadron, move at full speed, smash through enemy forces. Infantry, prioritise potential spotters as enemy artillery has opened fire upon us.” As calmly as you can you state, no need to raise a panic. Now knowing that you are intercepting their comms, or at the very least tracking them, no doubt specialized units are being employed for long-range communications, whose connections you cannot track, or simply lack the necessary equipment for, still, such equipment tends to be bulky and inconvenient on a rapidly moving battlefield, so besides a few specialized soldiers having one, you doubt that the entire force is equipped with them.

The feed of the jet’s camera you had minimised cuts out at the corner of your eye, and you quickly find out why when burning pieces of it rain over an area of a few kilometres. It seems that Westre wasn’t lying when she said that’s she’s busy.

Another round lands uncomfortably close to you, the noise of the blast and the shockwave rattling the tank ever so slightly. Naturally, nothing more than a direct hit would destroy the Gideon, however, a near glancing hit could ruin your tracks. Unfortunately, the infantry next to you weren’t so lucky, as their minced corpses now litter the surrounding area, the high-explosive combined with the shrapnel ruining their protection, the lucky ones had died instantly, those close that survived are now dying from exposure to the toxic atmosphere. You can already see from some of the cameras as medics desperately rush to look for survivors. Perhaps some will manage to survive, but most will likely be crippled for life, other than simple prosthetics, the military will not bother to pay for high-quality cybernetics or regrowing of limbs due to the only legal form of cloning, that of body parts of living persons.

The enemy fire is not as accurate as it could be, but it still posses a threat. It will be a long journey.

-
(POV shift: You are Lieutenant-Colonel Linton Linegar, and your lord entrusted you with a task.)

You had always strived for perfection. You were designed to do so after all. Long even before you were born, your life had been decided, to be the ever-loyal and faithful servant of house Constance, specifically to serve and die in the name of the young master. You had noticed something strange ever since you entered the army, the commoners for reasons unknown to you always looked at you in pity. You had never felt any anger, just confusion. Were you not built to be the best soldier one could be ? Were you not made to the standards of perfection ? You had learnt alongside the young master so that you could assist him in any task imaginable. So why pity you, you who had eaten great food, lived all your life under a roof, and you had never starved, well, when you were not sent on survival training that is.

>>5365414

All you know is that you must carryout your master’s orders no matter the cost, and that is exactly what you are doing. Unfortunately, the going is slow.

“Incoming !” Screams out one of the infantry men acting as a vanguard.

You watch with cold detachment as the airstrike blows apart the APC.

The Talon bastards just delivered a killing blow to one of your forward teams, whilst also killing their own. The tactics used here are quite annoying, as no regard is given for friendly fire. Whomever is in command of this particular area is a ruthless man. The numbers are clear and simple, they have more, you have less, the brutal arithmetic of war says that if given enough time, your forces will be ground into dust by the sheer weight of the enemy’s blood and firepower.

Worse of all, this particular area had survived relatively intact from the initial bombardment. Were due to direct orders as no doubt that the officers in base Roland are aware where the military headquarters of this town are, or simple luck, but the fact of the matter is, most of it survived. It had become the most excellent of hunting grounds. The aero assets had been annoying, but the true threat had come from formations of drop troopers. Their superior mobility had allowed to easily navigate the terrain, strike, and pull back.

Just like now, as you bitterly watch as a ruined five story building suddenly lights up as the tell-tale sign of a launched missile illuminates the inside. The missile flies true and impacts one of your tanks. Luckily, the reinforced armouring, being from the elite armouries of Count Constance, is able to stop the hit, the reactive armour firing off shrapnel from the detected direction of the missile, impacting and detonating it, allowing for the blow to be easily absorbed. Another missile, you had no idea where that one came from, also impacts the tank, still, the reinforced armour holds, but there is clear damage upon it.

Still, Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel Sambor is not faring so well as you. You are supposed to protect him, a noble is a noble after all, your lord could use more political allies.

“Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel, pull back about fifty metres, we will link up and make for a concentrated push.”

Before you can hear the man’s reply, you see a shine in one of the windows on the building closest to you.

“Gunner, thirty degrees West, elevation twenty degrees !” You quickly call out as the man obeys you.

“FIRE !” The round is ejected before detonating inside of the building, blowing out what remains of that particular floor. Whatever was there should be dead, hopefully.

>>5365415

Suddenly, you vision is entirely gone as the building you hit had finally had enough, its structural integrity finally failing, the supports bending as it collapses kicking up metres tall dust clouds encompassing your surroundings. Through the dim of the smoke you see flashes of APCs mounted railguns delivering supressing fire, an endless flashing like a strobe light that is suddenly drowned out by tanks opening up with their main cannons. And in between all of that come the erratic and uncontrolled rifle fire as infantry men stumble upon each other in close quarters when brutal fighting commences.

In a situation like this, there are no clever tactics when your foe has the advantage in numbers and manoeuvrability, so you will use the only advantage that you do have. Superior firepower.

“Lieutenant-Colonel Linegar, my formation had gathered.” The snow-white haired womanizer says. You quickly notice that he had grasped the idea of what you are trying to do and he’d already positioned his force in an interesting way. Instead of entirely bunching up as you wanted, he had left specific gaps that are overlooked by at least three tanks each. Said gaps are prepared to launch a small spearhead of its own with three APCs. The formation retains the firepower whilst providing some flexibility.

You are not against using someone’s ideas if they work, and you are willing to give this one a chance.

Quickly organizing your own formation in a similar manner, you begin the bloody push forwards. This time however, you had completely concentrated your firepower in a single breakthrough position, you do run the risk of being outflanked and encircled, but you had run that risk ever since you entered the town.

Moving into place, you begin the rush onwards, this time, whenever you even think that you had spotted something in a building, you have an entire section of your tanks open fire all at once, reducing them rubble, if the terrain works against you, simply remove it. The endless screeching high above informs you that enemy jets are ever prowling, that they are ever prepared to pounce upon you in a single moment of carelessness. On this occasion the dust you kick up works in your favour as a way of disguising your presence, with the world being relatively hot, the background heat makes it difficult to make out your tanks in a place full of electronics.

Unfortunately, this tactic does come at a cost. Just as you can concentrate your firepower, so can the enemy.

“INCOMING !” You hear a shout over the comms as Talon responds with a spearhead of their own led by their IFVs launching all missiles they have at once.

“Pivot laser turrets, shoot down those missiles !” You order over the comms; your laser turrets had been going hot non-stop this entire time firing off into the skies as means of swatting away incoming jets and assisting your own aerial forces, but now you have a different use for them.

>>5365416

Streaks of concentrated red blazing light begin pulsing through the endless clouds of dusts. With light speed lasers overheating the missiles, they cause them to detonate in the air, bringing about orange fireballs to blossom in the air. Meanwhile your own main cannons open fire, utterly obliterating the force before you. Alas, their suicidal attack had bore results, a few of your tanks are either wrecked or disabled, and you simply lack the safety or the time to fully recover them. Those surviving crewmen will be forced to detonate them to deny assets to the enemy.

Threads crushing underneath roll onwards regardless. The awesome firepower unleashed had scattered enemy infantry, as volley after volley utterly annihilate their cover, and the few pieces of rubble that remain are quickly rushed over by prepared APCs, whom begin to hose down the surroundings before the infantry go in and finish the job, only to be quickly called back as the formation continues to move on. It is a rapid approach, a breakthrough really, as more and more enemy forces stream in.

At the end of the day, you start running into to actual trenchlines, primarily built using sandbags and local rubble, from the looks of things these appear to be new, but the bullet holes riddling them inform you that they are not that recent. You had undoubtedly reached the main frontline.

“Lieutenant-Colonel Linegar, we’ve reached the given coordinates.” Carolus calls out the comm.

“Roger that.” You reply as take in the view.

The terrain around you is utterly ruined by intense fighting. The area around the headquarters had been naturally cleared to prevent civilians from coming too close, but the manmade streets and roads around it had been dug out by seemingly high-explosive charges. There are husked out and ruined structures at the distance reinforced and strengthened military installations blown open by artillery strikes, but still standing. And you watch how the stubborn defenders still hold the blown-out ruins, offering stiff resistance. The entire trenchline, on both ends, stretches for kilometres, to the point where the terrain obstructs it. Thousands of men, on each side engaged in horrific fighting even after the Armageddon like barrage that had descended only hours before, yet battle here is once more in full swing.

What remaining AA installations still fire lighting up the skies, drawing enemy artillery to which friendly guns respond in kind, but the situation does not look good.

You had caught the enemy in the middle of a full-blown assault, an assault that’s going swimmingly well for them. As you zoom in onto friendly trenches, you watch as an infantryman is grabbed by his head and thrown into the air. Judging how limp his limbs are in the flight, he appears to have tide from the strength of the throw itself.

>>5365418

Speaking of the cyborgs, they appear to be wrecking utter havoc alongside detachments of men in power armour. They appear to be utterly tearing through the trenches, confined conditions like these being the perfect for soldier types like these.

And the panicking defenders are uncontrollably routing, only for them to be cut down by the endless flowing fire from IFVs onto the trenches. Occasionally a more disciplined group would fire off their missiles, both onto the cyborgs and the IFVs. Those attempts are met by concentrated fire from Talon forces, and on you can see drop troops jetpacking right atop of them, risking defensive fortifications and heavy weapons.

With friendly AA still in place, and the line still holding, barely, it seems that you had gotten here just in time. You can feel adrenaline rushing through your blood stream as your body enters a heightened state of awareness, the potent mixture of chemicals naturally produced by your body due to your genetic modifications. You were made for this.

“Lieutenant-Colonel Carolus, sweep Talon trench ! Squadron, onwards !” You command through the comms.

Falling back into your seat, you cannot help but grin as IFV after IFV is blown apart in the open, the exposed infantry is gunned down by your railgun turrets now running hot and rapidly burning through your ammo supply, but the dozens, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dead in mere moments as your force finally enters a wide open area. In places like these, infantry learn to once more fear the tank.

Quite literally driving over the trench, Carolus and his squadron begins to simply spray down it without stop, causing mass panic and routing Talon forces with ease.

Meanwhile you yourself had finally reach the main trench, firing into it you begin obliterating the powerful, but slow-moving foes in power armour and their cyborg allies. The tip of the spear having been blunted by your unexpected appearance rallies the beleaguered and flagging defenders, whom in the greatest showing of bravery you had seen simply bring forth warcries from the depths of their lungs, the golden lion upon white is raised proudly, even as it is stained by the browns, grey, and reds of war.

Hot metal impacts the top of your tank as jets, in a desperation to stop you, dive deep and launch any weapons that they have, only to be cut down by the far more powerful AA weapons. The cyborgs, run at super-human speeds, knocking aside and more likely than not killing both friend and foe alike, just to approach you, just to be gunned down by the inbuilt V.I.s. Their armoured forms are bent, buckled, broken, and eventually destroyed.

Suddenly, black flares light up in the sky, and you watch as unfortunately further elements of Talon’s invasion begin to retreat in good order, with blocking troops in place ensuring that any pursuit you mount would be a painful, you could of course chase them, but that would be only possible should your lord will you to.

>>5365419

Your comm goes and you answer it to hear an unfamiliar voice. “Friendly armoured regiment, welcome, glad to see you had made it, we thought no reinforcements was coming, but the situation is still precarious, so I require your further assistance on another flank.”

It seems that you will still be busy for a while.

-
(POV shift: You are Colonel Vinn Kosmowski, and you hate urban warfare.)

You had begun missing the muck, the mixture of ash and water-like acid. Something you’ve not considered before when you had to clean out your protection suit. Something that other, betters, of yours would scoff at, failing to realize that in infantry regiments power armour is usually given to NCOs and the COs, making it the biggest please shoot me, I am important[i/] sign one could possibly have. Sure, power armour is much tougher, but at sniper only needs to get lucky once and hit the visor.

Withdrawing your blood-stained bayonet, you inspect your rifle. The FR30, an older rifle compared to the newer FR31 that had not become standard issue. Whilst the newer rifle has a more powerful magnetic field allowing for even more penetration and firepower with the increased calibre, you still prefer the older model. Having thirty rounds instead of the never one having only twenty-five means you can fire more often, bigger calibre is great and all, but this one still does the job, and those five bullets can mean life and death. Being a new weapon the FR31 has plenty of teething troubles, and the bastard tends to jam far too much for comfort.

But hey, gotta award those government contracts to those that supported you in the war, eh duke ? Not having to care about us poor bastards who have to make do with those cheap pieces of shit.

Grumbling in your mind, you put back against the wall, the room you are currently in is full of spent casings, bullet holes, pools of bloods, and dead bodies. They had fought well, but you had the element of surprise, a few lost men for an entire command squad was a worthy exchange, no matter how much you hate to think about it in such a way.

Leaning your head over, you observe the deserted street. You doubt that the tank commanders and Westre’s skyboys would see that you do. Mutilated corpses of people in civilian clothing. The sight of child who died from having to cough her own lungs out still sticks out in your head. Worse of all, you don’t know if she died because her home was blasted open by the enemy, or was it caused by your own artillery. She had died writhing in pain, judging by her bloodstained hands.

>>5365421

You jump out of cover and quickly rush forwards to another solid looking piece. One of your men rushes past you and takes point, levelling his rifle in an overwatch whilst the rest of the group moves onwards. Raising your own rifle, the dagger still heavy at the end of it. Like most blades these days it is a high-frequency one, but made much cheaper, no cutting through power armour like butter for you, oh no, you’re just a simple commoner.

Rising, you continue to move onwards, when you halt, raise the rifle and open fire all within a few seconds. Your unaimed three round burst punches through the stomach and the collarbone, whilst the third shot misses, but the point-blank distance is enough to kill the woman, judging by her high-pitched scream of pain. Moving into the room that she tried to jump you out of, you quickly realize why she was there. The clear symbol of a medic is clear on her armband.

The injured, maimed, wounded, crippled soldiers of Talon rise in panic, at least those that can, only for fire to burst behind you as your men open fire upon everyone inside, the few healthy guards are cut down before they can fire back and those still in their beds are equally as swiftly finished off.

“Sir, you okay ?” One of your men asks, steam rising from the end of his rifle barrel.

“Yea, the area’s secured ?”

“Confirmed, we can ask for the tanks to push forwards.”

“Good, get them moving up, we’re nearly at the first objective.”

Your blood-stained gloves wrap around the magazine which you pull out. Your heads-up display indicating that it is entirely empty. Pocketing the now empty magazine, you pull out a new one and slam it back inside before loading up a bullet.

Turning about, you depart the room as you men do a final sweep, but before that you notice one of your men raising their rifle and thrusting onwards onto one of the bodies on the floor that jumps from the impact. Better save a bullet, I suppose.

Walking back outside, you take a moment to relax, something that both Aurelius and Amato would scream at you for. Ehhh…fuck ‘em both, blue bloods with sticks up their arses. And they are the only friends I have here. You sigh. How did I get into this situation …? Oh yea, the salary. Like most commoners, you got put in an infantry regiment, and like most you signed up for the pay and the chance to see the galaxy ! Yea, right.

You then jump and hit the deck as the glint you caught at the corner of your eye turned out not to be your paranoia. The position you were disappears as HMG fire follows you and begins to chew at you cover.

“Platoon, in formation, we’re under attack !” You shout into the comm.

>>5365422

“Colonel Kosmowski, my tanks are reporting that they are being engaged across the entire front.” Earnan quickly informs you. You like that guy, sort of. A blueblood that cares, but his pity to the lower classes is equally as annoying as the casual derision most nobles display.

“Roger that, deploy your tanks best you can, we have to hold the line or we risk both our regiments being encircled.”

“Colonel, confirming reports of enemy specialists !” One of your men shouts.

Peering over the cover, in between the bursts of fire. You spot what you had dreaded to see ever since you learnt of the invasion. Cyborgs, the nightmare of any infantryman, their flanks supported by squads of men in power armour. During times like these, you do think that maybe the doctrine of equipping COs with power armour is not that bad of an idea.

“Regiment, confirm sightings of enemy specialists ?”

With dread you await as bullets whizz past you, the noise of the rounds impacting concrete which you are hiding behind seems to be getting closer and closer every second, further unnerving you.

The flow of negatives and a couple of positives tells you that your entire regiment is under attack, but only select few areas are actually being hit as hard as yours. Most importantly, the areas being hit are those where your Lieutenant-Colonels are.

Shit ! They must’ve found out how Aurelius found them and now they’re using it on us.

“Bring up the heavy equipment ! We can’t let the cyborgs get close !” You order over the comm.

“Suppressive fire !” You shout before popping out with your rifle switched to full-auto.

The rest of the platoons follow your command, the heavy weapons troopers mounted in their own power armour brace their LMGs and open fire. Missiles begin sailing from your end.

You watch as the cyborgs advance onwards, being more metal than man means that they are not overly concerned about the incoming small arms fire, whilst the heavy infantry behind them hold their positions, hosing down your own troops wielding heavy weapons. And rushing through the gaps, you curse as enemy infantry begin moving in.

“IFV !” You shout before hitting the deck as it’s railgun opens fire.

Another explosion rocks your position and those closest to you disappear in a haze of smoke and dust, their charred, mangled corpses are strewn across the rocky, rubble filled surroundings. A couple had survived, judging by their pained screams, closer to those of animals being slaughtered than men.

“Lieutenant-Colonel, I need your tanks here, right now ! We’re being torn apart !” You shout before again popping out of cover, there you see a couple of smouldering cyborgs, with a forest of infantrymen cut down by the disciplined fire of your own force. Still, the enemy outnumbers you massively.

Why the fuck did Aurelius dispatch so many of his goddamned tanks !

>>5365425

Just as you begin cursing your newest CO you hear the loveliest roar you wanted to hear.

A tank breaks through one of the damaged buildings, kicking away rubble and dust it emerges like a lion stalking its prey, unexpected and deadly. With the roar of its railguns it begins mowing down the now utterly exposed heavy infantry, those in protection suits now caught between the tank and your own forces begin to panic as they are killed where they stand, but the cyborgs continue to resist, inflicting casualties upon you, firing off their own missiles onto the tank, but as the main turret finishes turning, a single fired off round either turn the cyborgs into scrap or knock them off their feet, where they are quickly finished off by your own forces missile launchers.

“Colonel, Lord-Lieutenant-Colonel Sambor sends his regards.” The tank operator says through the comm.

“Am I damn glad to see you, the size of this assault must have pushed their logistics hard, we need to move and hit them now before they reorganize.”

“Roger that, Colonel, beginning to move on.”

The tank begins to move forward over piles of rubble before heavily falling onto the main road and beginning to slowly roll down it, with your infantry rushing to support it. What APCs you had left had already been ruined in the fighting in this general area, so that tank will be your lifeline for a while yet.

-
(End of POV shift.)

“FIRE !” You command. The breaking the sound barrier, the round sails forward just as the APC you had spotted moves out of cover. You noticed it through the gap in a split-second moment and anticipated its path. Its forward end simply disappears as the round impacts it and forces it to spin in place before detonating and obliterating everyone inside of it.

Looking through your feed and sensor readouts, you continue to micromanage your formation as a whole, directing certain groups onwards or having them come to a halt when you believe that they are safe from the eyes of enemy spotters.

Your infantry had been run ragged, but you’ve gotten rid of five identified positions, silencing enemy field guns, at least for a moment. Occasionally enemy artillery makes a testing shot, trying to gauge your location, but the rapid speed of your movement had made you a difficult target.

Suddenly, you watch as a trio of VTOLs dive from the skies and the raging brutal battle above, launching their missiles in pin point accurate attacks, before making hard turns, nearly impacting the still standing buildings, no doubt raising their controls as best they can, two manage to move back into the skies, whilst the third one is impacted by a missile fired from the ground, crashing through the nearest building before skidding on the surface, further mangling the VTOL’s hull.

“Colonel, enemy guns silenced.” Almost whispering, Rossana informs you after you opened the comm.