Tiberius Station - Capitol Station of People's Colonies of Jaruin
Exactly a week after diplomatic talks between the Concordat and the Tremarian Union had taken place on Sanctuary, two separate Union fleets left Tremara, headed in two different directions. Each fleet was moderately sized, one a bit larger than the other, and well equipped with an array of firepower and Batallions of Union soldiers. One fleet had one battle cruiser, two destroyers and a six corvettes. This arrangement of ships was on a course for Tarin, to make good on promises of assistance to the concordat and carry out some separate Tremarian operations. The second fleet had three battlecruisers, four destroyers and a dozen corvettes. This fleet was lead by Commander As'salia, and was on it's way to Jaruin.
Jaruin was a small moon, unlucky enough to be one of the non-gardens which orbited Jalaryias. It's surface was barren apart from the orange and red sands which coated the dunes and seas of desert. Underneath the surface was a complex system of huge caverns and tunnels that are still being explored and researched. This wasteland attracted both the Aurollian Federation and large groups of settlers that overtime banded together and formed into the People's Colonies of Jaruin. Both settlements eventually grew, and now every discovered cavern entrance and every area of interest has been settled by one of the sides. The independent colonies were made up of networks of dome stations all over the surface, most with entrances to Caverns.
As'salia's target was the Capitol. Tiberius station. It's population was just over 150,000 the largest of any of the stations. Fortunately for As'salia, conflict with the Aurollians was minimal and nobody else really cared about the small nation, and so they did not have major defences capable of repelling an invasion from one of the well equipped garden worlds. She could have only imagined the fear that the Stations Militia would have been feeling as they saw huge Tremarian ships lower down into Orbit. The Commander stood upon the bridge of the 'Invictus', the leading battle crusier among the fleet, and spoke out too her officers.
"I want our guns only targeting Military and Defensive structures and Soldiers. No Civilians are to be killed unless necessary, we need to minimise the loss of life here". She said. As she was about to give more orders, a low ranking officer hastily made her way over, bowed, and waited before As'salia nodded before she spoke.
"The message has been received by the Aurollians, but we have yet to receive a reply. However our intent has been explained, they know we aren't here for them". Just as she finished speaking, the ship rocked slightly as Tiberius station was now firing back, as was every other station.
It didn't take long for the ships hovering in the sky to take out enough defences to make it safe for troops to start landing on the ground without being shot out of the sky. Five battalions with 800 Soldiers each began attempting to get boots on the ground, troop transport ships flying down to the surface. One marine in particular felt more than ready, Kenia felt excited. She had finished her intense four years of training to be allowed into the marines, and was finally wearing the armour she wanted and fighting for the world she loved. In her drop ship was a group of Rothan marines, reinforced with Klek and Draon which bolstered her squads numbers to 30. She held on with both hands to the bars at her side as the small ship shook as the station opened fire on them. The pilot sped up as the gunner shot back, but the lone drop ships weapons were no match for the rail-gun emplacement that fired and tore through one of the two main engines. A second shot tore through the side as the ship started spinning out of control, and Kenia gripped as tight as she could as she watched her comrades pulled out and thrown into the air. "Brace for impact!" Was all she heard, seconds before everything went black.
Kenia groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, the blurriness slowly fading as she reached up to wipe her eyes. She was lying in the corner of the drop ship, up against the wall. Around her were small fires, cut wires and sparks and at least eight bodies. She let out a small whimper in pain as she used the seat nearest her to pull herself up, grabbing the nearest rifle she could and loading it. Huge rail-gun shots boomed in the air, accompanied by shots of lasers and plasma which was near silent in comparison. She stumbled slowly to the exit where light was pouring in and slowly climbed out, looking around. What she saw was not what she expected would happen at all.
They had landed about 150 feet away from a pair of big glass domes. The glass on both had been shattered, and the Colonists had set up machine guns and had at-least 100 soldiers firing from inside, pinning down the now 18 Marine squad behind the wreckage that came off of the drop ship and the crashed ship itself. A few large pieces of debris from the battle had also landed here and was the only cover they had.
As soon as Kenia had stepped out from the ship, she was snapped back into reality by a few stray lasers flying past her head. Suddenly she became aware, her breathing increased and she ran to her side, diving behind the engine that had been shot off the ship. Lasers and Plasma rounds flew past her, occasionally hitting the sand just a metre away from her and sending it all up into the air. She held tightly onto her rifle with one hand, raising two fingers to her forehead with the other and pushing them down, in her head pleading to Lumera for her survival.
She turned around and started firing back at the damn colonists. They were so small, so insignificant. Why hadn't they just given up when a power such as the Tremarians had shown up? Did they think Lumera would spare them when they were fighting against her perfect creations? She scoffed at the idea as one of the rounds from her rifle pierced the skull of a Human colonist, sending his body over onto his friends. She watched as they threw his body to the side and began to fire again, and an Ishkaan simply took his place. No matter how many she could take down without exposing herself enough to be hit, they were just replaced. What was left of her squad was just too far outnumbered. They were now at twelve soldiers, still holding onto the small piece of ground they held as the machine guns pinned them down.
This lasted for another twenty minutes. During this short amount of time Kenia had managed to rack herself up 11 kills, of which 6 were head-shots. She found this was a way to keep her focused, count her kills while her fellow Tremarians fell behind her. There were only seven of them left now, herself, two more Rothans, two Klek and Two Draon. Why couldn't she have been on almost any other drop-ship, and have been dropped into any other firefight where they were winning. The small squad was running out of ammo. They couldn't go on for much longer. The cover they were using was quickly deteriorating due to the constant attacks so they were becoming more and more exposed. She had almost given up all hope.
All of a sudden, ten drop pods crashed down into the sand from orbit, each carrying a group of 12 soldiers. Two of them dropped straight into the domes, causing disarray and panic in the Colonists ranks. Tremarian fighters burst out, reinforcing the crumbling line and pushing into the domes. Kenia shouted out in her native tongue 'For Lumera!" as she raised her rifle and started charging towards the domes with her fellow marines, before a sniper round ripped through the air and went straight through her head, sending her crashing down to the ground, dead.
The two domes were taken in the next hour, as were most of the dozens of domes that made up Tiberius station. The Tremarians were winning almost everywhere, save for a few domes that were taking more time to capture. The Tremarian soldiers kept on fighting as the officers above waited for a reply from the Aurollians.
@Sigma
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