Ravens of Eternity

366 Assassination & Sabotage, Pt Sy’larthii V, Sy’larthii System, Imperial Domain of the Boundless Drogar

The sprawling Drogar military facility was abuzz with activity and energy. Not just inside the large buildings lined around the campus, but the test sites and outdoor ranges and obstacle courses scattered everywhere in between.

And although these buildings were crystal-shaped, they weren’t arranged in organic-looking clusters. These were instead laid down along their lengths in orderly clusters here and there.

Numerous personnel were working frenziedly inside and outside the buildings. Those outside were focused solely on testing the various experimental weapons and armor the entire facility produced. At one of the ranges, they were firing a variety of munitions through multiple rifles. And at another, they tested chitinous armor plating with various weapon types.

In both instances, the technicians and designers watched every shot, and noted every result no matter how miniscule.

Not that only weapons developers were out – there were a few groups who simply kept watch over everything. Small teams of security personnel outfitted with the best equipment in the Empire did their rounds and patrolled the entire campus. They wielded powerful weapons, wore robust armor, and were accompanied by complex drones.

But it was clear from the way they walked that they had never seen any kind of combat. Not the real kind, anyway. Their steps were flat, their paths were imprecise, their cadence was lacking, and their attention was deficit.

Although regardless if they were skilled, or even competent, they still would never have seen the two Oni cores and dozens of hawk drones high above, flying straight down towards them.

Though the Oni cores still had the same five ring defensive system, their loadouts were completely simplified for this sortie. They both only had two plasma lances each, along with four long, nondescript cylinders hovering alongside. Each of the drones also had those same cylinders hovering in their antigrav fields as well.

.....

As they approached, their sensor clusters scanned the numerous crystal buildings far below. The improvements the Republic had made to their algorithms, combined with the intelligence they had been collecting made it easy for their analysts to pinpoint exactly which building performed what function.

Freya and Lucifer’s screens were lit up with numerous targets, in varying degrees of operational importance. And between the two of them, targeted the facility’s hangar bays, communications tower, energy battery field, and surface command hub.

The drones targeted the rest of the buildings around the campus, from the barracks and living quarters, to the emergency response center, to the drone operations transmitter. A few even targeted some of the weapons testing fields scattered around the facility itself.

“Targets acquired,” Freya said over comms. “Just say when.”

Orbiting Sy’larthii V were all of the ships in the Corvus Republic. In the very center of all of them was the yet-to-be named flagship cruiser, which was overseeing the entire operation.

Deep inside, Aurora, Raijin, and Azrael stood inside the Tactical Command Center, Lucifer’s domain. In the center of the entire room was one large TacMap, which displayed the entire facility itself on it.

All around them sat dozens of the TCC’s expert analysts and tacticians, who also had commanding views of the TacMap itself. And they made absolutely sure that every decision made during combat held the highest advantage for them.

Or at least, they did the best they could with whatever they had.

“Targets double verified and greenlit,” Aurora replied. “Kill team is in position, so Raze team, you’re clear to attack.”

Freya, Lucifer, and the hawk drones all immediately activated their cylinders. Every single one began to shift and morph and adjust themselves. Slim panels on their front ends folded open and formed drill-like points.

At the same time, the panels slid into place down the cylinders’ lengths and formed long stabilizing fins.

While the front shifted, so too did the very rear. Tail control fins extended outwards at the same time that each of the guided missiles were released. Dozens and dozens of them fanned out slightly as they spiraled down towards their targets.

The facility’s security didn’t even realize what was happening until it was all far too late.

As the missiles got closer and their trajectories were assured, their rear thrusters lit up and flared out. They all shot forward with incredible speed and slammed squarely on their marks. They easily punched through any armor, through any floor, and embedded themselves into the very ground level.

Then, a fraction of a moment later, they erupted in near unison with a massive and lengthy and utterly deafening BOOM. The ground surrounding the facility shook violently for dozens of kilometers. The combined impact was certainly felt for hundreds of kilometers out.

Those who were struck directly? They were annihilated from the blast.

Drogar and equipment and drones closest to the points of impact were torn to pieces by the raw kinetic energy that struck them. Others further out were thrown into the walls or large machines or into each other with such force that their bones were shattered on impact.

A few around the fringes certainly survived, but were still knocked off their feet and thrown around by the blast. Though they didn’t count themselves lucky to have lived through it.

The buildings all around them had been blown open violently. Entire sheets of armoring and sections of walls and floors had been flung in every direction inside and outside.

Worse, they began to cave in from the sudden lack of structural stability. Although their far ends were still highly rigid, their caved-in centers folded in on themselves a little bit further.

The hangar bays filled with numerous rows and columns of experimental mecha were blasted apart. Their contents were also thrown around and torn to pieces. And it didn’t matter whether they were mecha or their pilots or their weapons or their technicians. The force of the blasts rendered most of them dead and worthless.

The outdoor targets hardly fared any better. Any who were closest to the points of impact were also blown to pieces in an instant. And many others were thrown back violently.

The energy battery field was torn apart the worst – the initial impact blew apart the batteries with unrestrained power that they themselves burst with energy. The force of the blast combined with shards from battery casings ripped open the batteries next to them.

And it caused a massive chain reaction of violent ionized arc flashes and explosions that completely eradicated the entire battery field itself.

Drogar were thrown in every direction as the missiles rained down from the sky and destroyed everything around them.

~

10 kilometers beneath the facility, the ground shook wildly from the tremors of numerous explosions occurring far above.

At the same time, Xylo and her covert assault squad dispatched the half dozen Drogar in the security station with ruthless efficiency. They fired highly controlled tungsten rounds from their suppressed heavy bullpup rifles.

But the slugs didn’t just punch through their armor and penetrate their bodies – the tungsten rounds also injected the heavily designed toxic compound inside.

Azrael’s neurotoxin quickly entered the Drogars’ bloodstreams, where they wrecked absolute havoc on their nervous systems. The Drogar guards began to choke as their lungs stopped breathing, and as their muscles stopped working, and as their organs began to fail.

While the guards expired, Kali and her squad came up behind Xylo, and helped secure the guardpost they had infiltrated.

“We’re in,” Xylo said over comms.

“And right on time, too,” added Kali.

“Good to hear Kill team,” Aurora replied. “Proceed with operation.”

Xylo and her squad went through the secure doors and entered the short hexagonal hallway in tight formation with their guns at the high ready. Kali and her squad came in behind, but instead of rifles they held thick high-tech staves.

They went through another set of heavy doors, then proceeded quickly and quietly into the larger hallways beyond. There, they could easily hear the clamor from further in the base.

Around the corner and inside a large deployment zone, dozens of Drogar were gearing up in their heavy assault power armor. All wore dire faces as their battlechief walked between them and rattled off his orders.

“Our topside development facilities are currently under attack,” he yelled out to them. “And it’s likely that our aggressors will find their way here, to the research side of things. That means we’ve gotta secure our entrances immediately. Otherwise, none of you are gonna see the sky ever again. Now get moving! This is not a drill!”

Most of them were still in the process of activating and slipping into their armor when Xylo and her assault squad burst through the doors. They fired bursts of their suppressed rifles even as they maneuvered into the room itself.

They ducked in and out of cover as they spread out, and took down each of the Drogar around them as fast as they could.

The battlechief was the first to get hit – seeing as he was the one giving the orders, Xylo was quick to target him and squeeze a burst into his armor. The slugs easily ripped through the armor and the scales and the muscle. At which point they then injected their neurotoxins straight into him.

While he fell on the floor, paralyzed and dying, the heavy response team he commanded was devastated all around. As Xylo’s squad filled them with bullets and poison, the Drogar fell one by one by one.

And because they were still getting into their suits, didn’t have the ability to fight back. Even the few who were ready snapped up their weapons quickly, but didn’t fire. They couldn’t – their weapons were still unloaded, and their magazines were still located in their deployment stations.

Even the one who was fast enough to actually load his weapon was quickly dismantled by numerous bursts from a few Republic commandos. Their slugs tore through his armor and into his body from numerous sides.

He was only able to take half a step before he fell forward on the ground, dead. His weapon clattered on the floor next to him, just barely loaded and without having taken a single shot.

Xylo and her team swept through the room with expertise, precision, and lethality. Each of them switched from one target to the next with unerring smoothness, and dismantled the entire enemy team effortlessly.

Kali and her squad entered the room roughly a dozen seconds after Xylo’s attack, only to find that the Drogar were all pretty much dead. Or at least, neutralized. Either way, there was nothing for her to attack.

“Damn, you could’ve at least left a few alive for us,” she jokingly complained.

“Hey, my squad can’t help how good they are,” Xylo replied. “How ’bout this, though: you all can have the next room. How’s that?”

“Ooh, how about we swap out, one after the other? That sounds best, right?”

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