Chapter 294 (1/2)
SURRENDER OR BE DESTROYED
It rang out across the solar system, picked up by every communications device, buzzing from every speaker even if the speaker was unpowered, even vibrating off of any flat surface.
The Lanaktallan that made up the remnants of the Military and Executor Fleet all heard the words, they heard the stress on the second word the most.
The Military Fleet was down to less than 4%. The Corporate Fleet was gone. The Executor Fleet was at 18% and falling.
There were two schools of thought regarding the offer.
One was simply: ”The Great Herd cannot be denied!” followed by suicidal attacks where they screamed slogans and rhetoric to the Great Herd and threw themselves on the Terran guns.
The Second was: ”Victory cannot be attained. To continue to attack wastes the lives of those that depend upon your decisions.”
It started in random places. Ships stopping their fire, cutting their drives and reversing relative to the star until they came to a stop. Once they stopped being targeted, which only took seconds that lasted ever so long, they dropped their shields except for their debris shields.
Twenty-two percent sounds like very little. A little over 1/5th, slightly less than 1/4th.
When it involved tens of millions, hundreds of millions of ships, it was still millions.
It took time for the combat to peter out.
The War Stallions, the ones who had been forced to change, surrendered their commands to save the lives of their crews, many of whom were no longer able to appreciate their reprieve.
On the show-bridge of his flagship Legion stared at the attacking fleet. Two thirds of it still continued to attack, but the third that had stopped attacking he launching boarding crews where he nervously waited to dock with the ships hoping that it wasn't a trick.
The whole time it was a Case Omaha. Everything was being recalled.
He knew it was going to happen again. It had happened hours? Days? ago, but Legion knew it would happen again.
When it did he flinched.
The enraged roar echoed throughout the TerraSol System.
I JUST WANT LEFT ALONE!
”Locate him. Scan for his entry point,” Legion ordered.
”Yes, sir,” Legion answered, turning to his instruments.
”A Lanaktallan ship is fleeing Io. There's an energy surge on the planetoid's surface,” Legion stated.
”Identification?” Legion asked.
”An Immortal,” Legion said, looking up from his scanning instruments.
”Guanya,” Legion breathed. ”Not good.”
”Deadspace transfer detected from the surface of Io,” Legion said, staring at his instruments.
”Hellspace breach detected on Mars. Looks like Daxin,” Legion told himself.
”Hellspace breach on Mercury, Legion of the Damned transponders,” Legion said.
Legion nodded. ”Concentrate on the ships. The more we disable the less the ground troops have to deal with.”
He nodded to himself at his own orders and set to work.
The fight raged on.
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”GLORY TO THE FIRST MAN TO DIE!” Colonel John Hoswitch shouted, pointing with his chainsword as his troops came flooding out of the mat-trans gates behind him.
Part of him despaired, knowing there was no Glory to be found.
Sometimes he thought that there would never be Glory.
He surged forward, the flashing of Lanaktallan plasma packets whipping by him, cracking against the rocky surface of Betrayed Mercury. The atmospheric membrane was still up, gravity was still nominal, the massive Wrath Forges were still online.
The Lanaktallan had made planetfall in force, nearly eight million Lanaktallan troops galloping from their massive troopships onto the surface of Mercury, their armor the only thing protecting them from the hellish heat of the tiny planet that was one of the primary manufacturing facilities of the Sol System. They had rushed forward, trying to get past the Terran military forces to assault the factories and hab-complexes.
The Legion of the Damned had gated in, pulled from the battlefield on far away Hesstla. Their weapons were still loaded, their nano-forges running hot, their armor cratered and blistered.
The Legion of the Damned looked around, looked up at the blazing sun, looked at the blasted, cratered, pitted surface of Betrayed Mercury where Lossglass still covered miles of terrain.