บท 178: Prologue before the traitor of Mars
In a distant tundra planet near the arachnid quarantine zone is a simple supply base, one of many that funnel supplies and weapons into the warfront... A man station in a outpost near the supply base holding a cup of Recaff staring at the blizzard that rampage outside the supply base... It was one such wonders of nature that was not affected by war... Just a few more weeks he would return to a more civilized planet and enjoy some anemities to relax...
He would have enjoyed his thoughts further until he saw a glaring red light in the blizzard...
'That's weird... I don't recall there was a Mech training in this sector...' he thought as several lights similar to the first glared in the blizzard, he felt something was wrong. He about to inquire what is happening to the supply base.
Until the outpost was hit by a series of explosion which shook the man off his feet. He found himself covered in injuries and metal shrapnel pierce his armor...
"Enemy Attack-" he screamed as he rushed to pressed the alarm button moment before the outpost was destroyed... The warning never came.
(??? pov)
"M.A.Rs outpost have been destroyed. And the alarm is not been sent out. Your orders?" A Pilot spoke calmly as if waiting for new orders...
"Blizzard one, your orders is to destroy the supply base defenses and assist your comrades to get the shipment that the intelligence have confirmed. This is a Extermination and grab mission, no survivors, and we have a limited amount of time until Alexander forces would begin to search the missing base. Do whatever it takes to cause enough chaos to keep the enemy off our scent, what we accomplished here would prove beneficial to our cause for the purity of the Federation, this attack will mark the revival of our Democracy... Eagle Nest out."
The pilot smirked as the person grab the controls and immediately flew alongside dozens of Mechas... Their orange thrusters and verniers lighted up in the dense snow.
Some of them armed with missile based weaponry immediately opened fire as the first attack, hundreds of them rushed into the base. Several dozens of unmarked Armoured personal carriers rushed along side with the attackers and invaded the supply base that was unaware of the attack.
The progress was moving smoothly until...
"Mastodon! Along with Mammoth Tanks Mark II! They are the heavy hitters!" One of the invaders yelled as they see a group four legged walker opened fire with their railguns and missiles.
Several that managed to hit some of the Mechs as the bullet tore them apart.
Many took evasive action and attack the sides of the behemoths... One was lucky enough to pierced the head of the walker with a plasma sword. Now that the danger is over... They proceeded to mop up the remaining defenders. Many of the soldiers that was in the APCs began to gather remaining materials that survived the firefight...
"Look at what we found!" One of them looked at a cargo with glee... After killing the logistics crew station in one of the depot attempting to carry out a self destruction sequence they found one of their objectives...
It was marked with letters in bold "M.A.Rs Anti-Matter Bomb 50 tons" it was one of things they needed for the operation...
A message rang out in their comms.
"All units are to proceed to enter the command center to get the Codes used by M.A.Rs, it is a primary objective of the day...we have a time table.."
_______________
(Base POV)
The supply base was guarded by weapons from the Kwalasha conflict, they were not mothballed but put to use, despite it is the age of Power suits and Mechas. Infantry and mechanized warfare still had a role to play...
The commander of the supply base was frowning, the base communication is unable to connect to the outside world, and the base was attacked under his watch making his record look bad. Cursing the Outposts in the periphery that was supposed to defend the base went silent, The klaxon horn rang out as several missiles and rockets descended upon the base, some of them was destroyed by bolter turrets that intercepted some of them in transit, however many landed on the promethium fuel tanks and ammo depot's causing deafening eruption, Soldiers began their defense, their Lascannons and Anti tank Weaponry prove to be detrimental to the Mechs that is flooding into the base, vehicle crew began to drive what remains of the vehicles that survived the onslaught. However the Mechs they are dealing with is difficult to dispatch and the defenders is slowly dwindling..
"++Base commander, what are your orders?++" Said a Techpriest as it calmly waited for the decision.
The commander stare grimly at the rising casualties.
"Gather all the techpriests and delete the codes, that is what they are after, get to the teleporter and inform Director about this danger... We will delay the enemies to prevent the enemies from chasing after you."
"++Compliance agreed. Preparations are underway.++"
The Command room began to sound alarms as they been breached by several teams of soldiers and the defenders that still remains in this base fight back. As the techpriests began purging data from the databanks of all the codes that was used by Alexander they were attack by a Hacker and it was a tug of war in the datascape, it was a costly fight as some of the Datasmiths was overloaded as they managed to destroy most of the data any more would be of waste...
The fighting in the lobby began to be immense.
"I hope those cogboys managed to purge it!?" A Guardsman yelled as a tracer round swept past his head and his helmet deflected the round.
They continue to suppress the invaders until they saw the robed men came down from the stairs blasting the invaders with plasma bolts and Volkite weaponry..
The Red hooded Techpriests gather what remains of their colleagues and entered in the lower levels of the command center, they moved along past several bulkheads that prevented the distinction of defenses and there is a teleporter that is guarded by automated defenses and a Cohort of Combat Servitors ready to defend against the assailants....
One of the techpriests readied the machine and it began thrumming with power, the golden Portal open leading to the main headquarters of M.A.Rs, Several of them managed to enter the portal with them bringing the information of the attack, the evacuation continues until the bulkhead leading to the teleporter was destroyed and several Power suits immediately opened fire upon the evacuees..
Several of the combat Servitors began opening their Assault bolters attached to them and slew the first wave of the invaders...
They continue until the last of the priest of mars evacuated. And the command center was blown to pieces killing whatever was inside as it was no longer necessary...
__________________
(Blizzard One Pov)
"Shit, we almost had it!" The pilot snarled as he punch the screen of his mech, making a cracked screen.
Many of his brothers in arms died in the assault, despite they have the better gear, the soldiers in the supply base put up a fight.
When the hackers inform them that the base had a firewall that is difficult to breach, they only managed to get the Codes of the orbital defenses of Mars to not attack them...
"Blizzard one, it seems that we have to use another plan, you are to infiltrate Mars as a Civilian a week from now before the Martian Air Day, there is a exhibit showing armoured cores from around the Federation and my associates managed to obtain a access to one of the upgraded armor cores thanks to the courtesy of the Sky marshall, you will meet your squad members on the ground... With the Anti Matter Bombs and that artifact we found in this place would be use to smuggled into Mars and upon detonation we will-"
"And I have to ignore the death of my Comarades?!"
"They believe in the mission, carry out in their will so that we could rid Alexander Solair hands of the Federation. Purity of the Federation is near, so Raven... Don't mess it up."
The last communication ended leaving a very frustrated pilot gritting his teeth..
He followed back to one of the evac point and teleported away from this place...
_____________________
(3 hour later)
The attack on the supply base was known and several fleets managed to blockade the system to prevent any remnant of the attackers from invading...
A Thunderhawk landed in the outskirts of the ruin supply depot.
And upon opening its doors revealed a Inquisitor and a handpicked retinue, of a Jokaero, Cadian shock trooper, Grey knight and a Psyker....
The Inquisitor was sent here to ascertain something of the supernatural...
Many of the investigation went silent for a moment as the retinue pass by until they meet the head of the investigation group that is a techpriests...
"For throne sake, we got Inquisitor in this galaxy as well?" Whispered a Guardsman to his colleague...
"Just don't get in their way, knowing nothing about their business will keep us alive." another whisper as well.
The inquisition simply flashed his badge and went bluntly on it...
"Any news on the attackers?" The Inquisitor pointed to a Derelict mech.
"++Attackers are based on Armoured core units-++"
"Why didn't you inform Raven Nest about it?"
"++They were not listed in the Raven Nest Database, they are somehow unmarked. And the pilots are not listed in the Schola Progenium.++"
"Do we know what shipment that they managed to smuggled out of this throne forsaken planet?"
"++Judging from the battle... And the records that the Surviving techpriests managed to retrieve.. they were only after the Anti-Matter Bombs and the Codes that is used on Mars++"
The Psyker groaned in agony as he head was fleet as it was splitting apart, as if something was trying to present itself...
"I sense a Shard of a Warp been through here, I could sense the beasts that dwell beyond clamoring to be free..." The Psyker shuddered as he grasped his ward Staff for safety...
"What other shipments that they actually took?"
The Techpriest scanned for a moment...
"++It seems they also took a unmarked shipment that is from a excavation site from the arachnid quarantine zone...Strange...that shipment shouldn't be here until tomorrow...++"
"Then inform the high Lord that there is a danger of warp sorcery that would be in Mars." The group left and began searching for clues in the destroyed base. The Psyker was the one that managed to pierced the battle that happened....
But somehow there was a Detachment of the enemies that attack the base ignored their orders and immediately grabbed the unmarked cargo and fled away from the evacuation point and their disappear beyond the gaze of the Psyker...
The Inquisitor sighed as he pulled up a cigarette and lighted it...
"Next week is going to be a bloody... Smells like conspiracy is afoot...." He puffed a smoke ring in the air as the snow filled planet covered the dead and debris in snow...
_____________________
Alexander was frowning upon the attacks, even when he remain silent for the Federation, the radicals is getting more and more aggressive... Several reports piled up on his desk and making him have migraine.
One of the reports on the table was read..
[Losses of Equipment and materials:]
. 100 Baneblades suddenly vanished from a OEM Company.
. 18k Armored core units suddenly "disappeared"
. 5 Luna class ships
. A prototype Emperor class Battleship
. 75 Firestorm class frigates that went radio silent
. 98 Acclamators that was supposed to be undergoing refits at Mars dockyards
. Small arms weapons and ammunition that is enough to equip several divisions for a half a year long war...
. 20k worth of Infantry fighting vehicles...
. 12k thunderbolt fighters
(Mars Headquarters)
He breath a sigh of sadness... He was anticipating of the amount but not as much as this... But somehow he got a inkling that they been leeching his weapons from him long before he gain prominence and what he lost over the years is just what he could see on the surface.
The only bright side in life was that the Titan legion didn't betray him. As they were so heavily restricted that the Federation couldn't replicate it. And if there was a titan somehow disappeared, the Mechanicus would start a galactic manhunt for the missing Titan.
And there was reports of his men reported that there were individuals that want to bribe them.
How could they be bribed? Land, he already given, Family? He offer to bring them from Warhammer to a place of safety... And they were fanatical that torturing them to death would allow the night lords detect them since they were his units in a sense.
There was so much blatant corruption that many times He appeal to the Federal court to investigate it... None of them would heed his request...
And upon hearing the news of Unmarked Armored cores running rampant... He sent the inquisition to the OEM facilities that made Armored Cores... And a startling truth was revealed...
259k of unregistered mass produced Armor core was missing from the inventory... After having the Emperor peace to the management for allowing such damage to be done...
He began to subtly increase the defenses on Mars, the New Texas police department have a Leman Russ tank division in their headquarters, Every crossing is a hidden gun emplacement...
He have to juggle against the Bugs from the depths, a Actual Rebellion brewing among the ranks of the Federation and a Sky marshall who wants her re-election... Three things to juggle.
"A cup a Recaff keeps the shivers away." He groaned as he grab the already cold drink...
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