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Chapter 4
Alpha Beta Delta Zeta… Colossus…?

August 21 Zeta Canis 22:00
The battle of Zeta Canis had been raging all across the planet with fleets of ships and air units clashing over the seas weathering the hurricane and rough seas while colossal armies clashed over the dunes as sand storms picked up from the strong winds burying units in the sands.

The situation of the Aeon had been an uphill battle as they had been in constant battle for survival with ground constantly been changed as battle line after battle lines were moved an broken from both sides, Xin and Valor had been able to take out one of the Cybran commanders on the heartland of the main continent (pretty much a super continent.) while the lone isolated commander on one of the islands near Xin was still busy as always send fleet after fleet of ships to attack Xin.

“Valor I am sending some reinforcements to your forward position they should help hold the Cybrans for a while until I can get more forces to you as soon as I can.” Xin stated with signs of fatigue forming on him as through the assault he had a few close calls with a couple of Monkeylords striking from the sea hiding from the navy and infiltrating into his main base taken out a good chunk of his production and economy as well as taken shots on his acu. If it were not for the shield upgrade he had on his acu was the saving grace for him.

“Most appreciated some reinforcements from off world would be more appreciated though…” Valor spoke with sign of worry as this planet would be his tomb…our at least it would be one hell of story to tell…if he lived… if not it would be a rather honorable way to die in the name of the princess.
This hell of planet had thrown all it could at the Knights everything but an earthquake had happened to them, the cybran’s had been relentless with their attacks focusing on getting to the cities to extract the other symbionts that had not made it to the stronghold most of the population hadn’t arrived due to the armies clashing and the cities getting quarantined by the Aeon for pacification for when the planet was cleared of enemy signatures. Around ¾ of the main cities had been behind Aeon lines since the evacuation began and were still unable to extract due to firebases staying in the effective area of the cities.

With more and more forces coming online to wage war against each defensive line more and more attention was drawn towards the land masses instead of the sea, with this Valor sneaked a strike group around the main conflict and started to set up an artillery position and firebases to defend them as he set up 3 Emissary T3 heavy artillery positions as well as some Miasma T2 artillery for close fire support.

“I am beginning bombardment procedures on the Cybran defensive lines and will turn attention towards the main cybran Stronghold as soon as I am able to break through.” Valor stated as the base came online and started to upgrade.

“Very well I am focusing on the main Cybran naval force currently we are in a stalemate while I am getting more ships online.” Xin motioned on his tactical display as he began forming the fleet…again for another strike.

The lone Cybran on the island had been losing more ships then he could produce due to his economy and his position unable to support many structures due to the island being relatively small, Xin had been using this to his advantage but was still taken strikes from the cybran who had gotten quite few extra ships from his comrades to the North-West those battleships, carriers and destroyers were keeping him from getting over run. He was getting sloppy though with his forces as he was beginning to panic as the Aeon fleet got closer and closer to his naval yards.

As the final Omen came online Xin set his fleet for the cybran forces his fleet of 5 Omens, 3 Keefers (filled with Coronas, Shockers and Specters) 15 Exodus and 12 Infinities and a hand full of subs, the Cybran’s had 3 Galaxies, 2 Command, 12 Salem’s and 10 Sirens the numbers were in Xin’s favour as he would be able to field more air support than the Cybrans and he had more firepower with his destroyers and battleships.

“I am engaging the Cybrans navy again I will divert more forces towards your current position as soon as I am able, how are the front lines holding?” Xin asked as he tasked some transports with some T3 engineers to head towards Valor’s current forward line.

“Very well, may the Way guide the Cybrans to the bottom of the sea!” Valor stated as he returned his focus to the current push from the Cybrans to break his defensive line yet again, the battle in the heart of the desert had been a tough one as wreaks could be seen from a far as the winds and sand moved and buried the wreaks hiding what had occurred their as if it was never there. As the fleets clashed carriers came online releasing swarms of ASF, strategic bombers and gunships the ASF’s lead the charge and collided with the opposing force in a hail of missiles and flak guns as bombers and gunships went around the clash for air superiority they began to engage the fleet as the bombers attacked the designated targets prioritizing the Sirens and Commands as the gunships began to chew into the Salem’s and Galaxies, the Cybran bombers were currently been chased by a small group of ASF’s while the Infinities fired upon the passing bombers with their Zealot AA missiles tracking the targets and taken a few of them out.

As a few of the bomber passed over the fleet releasing their proton strategic bombs on the forward battleship and destroyer escorts they meet increased AA from the cruisers as 3 of the destroyers were taken out from the bombs and the splash from the proton bombs, while gunships swarmed the Salem's taken a few out as their numbers began to fall to the concentrated flak from the Salem’s, Sirens and the few Galaxies while the Commands stayed back building more air forces to gain an advantage in the skies to ensure that the fleet could continue to attack the Aeon. As wreckage after wreckage of aircraft came crashing down into the water some colliding on the enemy ships dealing some hull damage and a few knocking out some guns and turrets others jamming some of the turret platforms denying them movement for targeting. The aircraft began to dwindle at increase rates as the came closer to the center of the fleets and more and more ships went to the bottom as they closed in almost at knife fighting distance unleashing devastating firepower from each other’s their main guns tearing holes through the armour, disabling the guns and destroying them outright with concentrated fire, the fleets raged on but the Aeon were coming out on top of the fight thanks to the extra carrier support and air superiority they were getting from them.

This battle on the seas would continue for almost 2 hours with each side sending more and more forces to the skirmish but in the end the Cybrans weren’t able to get their forces to the area fast enough while the Aeon could reinforce quickly enough to stay alive and with the fact that valor was doing raids on any Cybran vessel made it even more difficult for them to win the battle, with naval superiority acquired Xin began to bombard the cybran on the eastern island with fire support from his Omen battleships while bombers did carpet bombing runs on the island and Specter gunships targeted any remaining structures and units the Cybran Acu had been blasted to scrap from the Omens and Specters firing away at its armour as it was destroyed going off in a blaze of Nuclear proportions destroying most of the Specters on the island and having a few had lost power from the EMP effect of the blast causing them to go offline and crash into the water and a few into the island itself.

As Xin watched the Acu cook off from his Strategic display he began to motion his forces north wards to assist Valor with his offence against the main Cybran stronghold send the remnants of his fleet the carriers themselves were still intact and able to produce more ASF’s, bombers and gunships for the battles ahead.

August 22 Zeta Canis 02:00

The night had been long fought with ships and aircraft of both sides littering the seas and the shores but the Aeon had proven victorious here but now the rest of planet was still in Cybran control as they needed to focus on acquire more territories so that the Cybrans weren’t able to encircle them and keep them at bay, while Xin held the oceans Valor was haven more difficulties with the Cybrans in the dessert with the night keeping most of the visibility low but the units sensors were adequate enough to get the job done until the sandstorm rolled in turning the night time battlefield into a flurry of sand striping units armour and it was interfering with the sensors of a lot of the units effectively rendering the controls of the forces useless as the commanders would have to wait for the storm to clear and see what units had survived.

As the night battles raged on Valor received a transmission from Xin on his current situation in the South Western Continent and islands, Valor hadn’t heard any word from Xin since he wished him luck in his assault with the lone Cybran commander hoping he was able to help Xin enough with the raids on the channels near the coast heading towards Xin’s position.

“Valor I have claimed the southern Hemisphere and am mustering some more forces to head towards your defensive line. I will need a LZ for my Acu to set up a base in the meantime my fleet had moved towards the Cybrans outer perimeter and are in range of some of the fortifications and am beginning to bombard them as they are heading up to the remaining Cybran naval yard.” Xin stated as he prepared for his transports for the mass movement of engineers and units.

“The Way be praised I am designating a LZ to the west of my current position near some of my defensive lines any other support you can bring to bear to the fight would be appreciated.” Valor stated from his current fortified position behind the main defensive line near his factories, he had been setting up entire factory distracts for the offensives he had planned but so far had most of his forces on the defensive.

“Understood moving my transports to the designated area with some of my escorts ETA around 1 hour you will just need to keep the area clear of enemies for me to land safely and set up a forward operations base.” Xin stated as the transports lifted off for the long flight as he had enough transports to make the entire run with his ground forces in 2 runs hopefully they would be able to get there without any complications.
As he left on his transport he sent a secondary transport of engineers to head to the last known location of one of Valor’s Artillery bases to see if he could rebuild them and give some support while the growing tide of Aeon forces comes online.

August 21 Zeta Canis 02:30

Halfway to the LZ things were going fine for Xin and his transports but things in the ground seemed to be going from bad to worse, in the time it took Xin and his forces to get halfway to the LZ the Cybrans had pushed the defensive lines of Valor back 2 Km his LZ was still secure though but was beginning to get too hot to land safely. Valor had begun to form a counter assault to this mass offensive when the sound of something horrible going off that couldn’t be happening at a worse time.

STRATEGIC LAUNCH DETECTED STRATEGIC LAUNCH DETECTED STRATEGIC LAUNCH DETECTED

The Cybrans had launched Nuclear warheads on the defensive line were none of Valor’s strategic defense systems were online, as the strategic display showed the missiles going up into the lower atmosphere heading towards the Aeon forces all Xin could do was watch in horror as the missiles landed destroying most of the center defences and annihilating most of the defending forces causing a breach in which the Cybrans took full effect of flooding hundreds of tanks, AA guns and Siege assault bots into the soft under belly that was the Aeon fire bases. The concentrated effect of the nukes glassed the sands forming giant pools of reflective glass making some units slip and fall others purely crushing the glass under their weight while others tread carved into it allowing them to traverse normally.

“Valor my forces are almost at the landing zone what is your current status!” Xin stated in panic as the Cybrans had constructed a strategic missile launcher this would be a problem if not taken care of soon as the plan Xin had would soon come crashing down if those nukes kept firing off.

“I am currently engaging the Cybrans on every front that I can they are tearing through most of my defenses and I am unable to mount an effective counter attack as of right now any support you can give me would be most appreciated.” Valor stated as he began to focus more on the approaching death that the Cybrans were unleashing onto his infrastructure and production lines.

“I am securing your old artillery base now and am rebuilding the Emissaries they will be up effective 5 minutes from now and I shall arrive 20 minutes from now you just need to hold the lines I will provide more support as it becomes available.” Xin stated as he began to manage his forces for an attack on the cybran threat at the LZ and on Valor’s defensive line.

Xin looked over the strategic data he was getting showing that most of the AA was in the front of the group thus Xin took advantage of this an issued his Carriers to launch all units to help Valor out as the fleet had been a lot closer than his transports they were providing fire support from their current locations but it didn’t seem to be enough splash damage to deal with the mass of units. As all the ASF’s, strategic bombers and gunships went flying towards the ever more chaotic battlefield they began to meet more and more resistance from the air as Gemini’s began to attack the bombers and gunships, the Coronas began dog fighting against the other ASF’s while receiving AA support from the ground as Valor had his base surrounded with enough AA to keep most strikes from the skies at bay.
As the ASF’s were preoccupied with each other this allowed the bombers and gunships to head further inland to assist in the defense which seemed to crumble little by little as the Cybrans fought to gain control of the territory.

“Valor I am transferring control of the Shockers and Specters to you may they help you in this dire time of need.” Xin stated as he those units should be able to buy him enough time for his forces to get there but 1st he needed to make sure the secondary force was ready.

“Most appreciated here Xin with these forces I shall sweep across these fools and cleanse them in the fires of their own wreckage.” Valor stated with a side of rage in his tone as he was getting sick and tired of these Cybran pests.

“May they fall at our combined might and the Way guide us through this dire time.” Xin stated as his LZ was coming into optical view of his ACU and transports.

The area around the LZ was littered with the wreckage of the Cybran counterassault and quite a few of the defences Valor had in place for the defence of the LZ it was still secure even with the Cybrans pushing more and more into the Aeon lines. The dust began to whirl up as the transports unloaded their cargo and began to move back to the base for the next group, with that Xin ordered his groups of engineers to start production on some more defences and moving his task force he shipped with him to start patrolling the immediate perimeter in case any stragglers showed up, as well as any units retreating from the push from Valor towards the Cybran front lines.

The set up went well as the engineers readied their factories for the mass scale production that was required for them to continue this assault from the desert region, as ferrying the forces from the islands would take too long to be an effective immediate response to Cybran counter attacks. Within minutes the factories pumped out unit after unit at a high rate with all the engineers assisting them, Xin looked around to the sight of Valor’s forces advancing towards his position with most of them heavily damaged meaning the battle had been long and bloody as most forces were on their last legs/treads as they came into the perimeter of the new fortifications looking for some repairs as the engineers construed some air staging facilities and went to work repairing the group army.

“Xin welcome to the party hope your landing wasn’t too crowded the Cybrans have been defeated here we need to prepare to assault the main fortifications to the West alert me when you are ready for the push, I shall be rebuilding my forces and my infrastructure.” Valor stated with a grin on his face to have some company on the desert plains.

“Very well Valor I shall begin fortifications around my known perimeter immediately and shall be ready within the hour my transports shall be bringing more reinforcements soon from my main base.” Xin commented as he set off to build more point defenses and AA flak guns, while his engineers worked on more factory production.

The calmness of the desert sands seemed unnatural with how still the battle seemed to have slowed with neither side launching any form of an assault as they massed their armies for a massive confrontation for the dunes of the giant desert where the coming battles will reign, the wreckages that hadn’t been reclaimed seemed to be sinking into the sands as the winds began to pick up and the pools of glass seemed to have been merged into a large lake with the heat of all the weapons fire around the area it showed the reflection of the peaceful looking sky.

As Xin surveyed the desert sands the thoughts of what these Cybrans where doing here…the presence was more than expected for a small world of little resource value yet 6 ACU’s were here fighting against our forces yet there shouldn’t be this many…I need to find more data on the fact to be sure. As he was stuck in thought he didn’t realize the transports from his main base had returned with his secondary force, and then the reports came in of enemy movement detected near the outer perimeter from Xin’s firebase near his artillery positions.

“Valor we have scouts inbound probably getting visual for another nuclear strike!” Xin stated as his fire base guns started to unleash the plasma from the Oblivion cannons and the Miasma artillery was devastating the area where they units were traveling.

“If you can buy me enough time I can get a few more missiles up for defence but I need those scouts dead before they spot what were up too.” Valor stated as he was pouring his economy into some missiles for his two Patron strategic missile defences.

“Understood I have some gunships in route now to deal with these scouts they should be able to take them out before they get too close to get any optical data on the site.” Xin answered from his forward command post that was still busy with factories building with engineers assisting them, the units streaming out to formations behind the main defensive lines and Air staging Facilities.

As the wings of specter gunships dusted off from their refuel and repairs at the Air Staging Facilities, they headed towards the radar contacts near the outer borders of the eastern defense grid of a few point defences and some patrolling tanks and AA guns it was still under repairs from the Cybrans push through Valor’s bases, the engineers had been busy with building more factories and economic structures thus leaving a relatively small opening in the outer defensive line. The Gunships arrived at the outer point defences as they were being destroyed from the mass fire of the Cybran forces that were clearing through the patrol units as the Specters started assaulting the ground forces targeting the AA guns first there wasn’t many surprisingly so the Specters were able to deal with this ground assault as Xin transferred some engineers and started a mas rebuild of the point defences and some more AA guns as well as a few Shields of Light to allow for more effective defensive strength and offensive ability to return fire.

“Xin I have 2 missiles ready for now more are building as we speak but I need to start reviving my economy so you’re going to need to keep up the defenses for a while and your own base should be able to supply enough forces and resources to you to continue this, but radar had detected some more contacts to the north and east of the defensive line.” Valor stated as he started managing his engineers to reconstruct more economic structures.

“Understood Valor I have more forces arriving via transport through the straight we secured off the southern shore hopefully they will arrive sooner than later. As I’m sending out scout planes for some more Intel on the enemy movements we have been on the defensive for the last few hours and that needs to change soon or they will just wear us down and kill us off.” Xin stated as he was going over the Intel of the Cybran forces the Radar was showing but something seemed off they had a gap in there formations so Xin sent some scout planes to get a better clue, as well as the status report on his forces back as base and his little presents for the Cybran Stronghold they seemed to be around 75% finished and the others where about 2 hours away from joining the party so he would have to hold and keep them focused on his current positioning.

As Xin was busy with his forces one of the scout planes transmitted some interesting visuals of the incoming Cybran attack it was a massive wave of several Monkeylords at the tip of the formation and around a hundred Loyalists forming the mass of the army with Bangers in the center for AA duty, Xin looked at the visual data as the plane was shot down by the Monkeylords Heavy Electron Bolters. The rate at which the Cybran force was approaching gave a small window of effective formation to occur they would need to pool a lot more forces and defences to get through this alive…again.

Xin started a mass assist on his factories to produce some Harbingers mark III to help the defense of the Aeon lines and maybe if they survived this form an effective counter-attack to the enemy, Xin checked the status of the Artillery bases he had setup earlier they were about operational just waiting for the last 2 Emissaries to finish they were 96% finished they would be extremely helpful in the defense but it would reveal them and the enemy would send mass bomber runs on them and they would be lost, they would be available support but Xin would have to choose when to use them in the meantime his, main base reinforcements had arrived and the transports where landing and refuelling from the trip before they headed back to the main base for another pick up. The estimated time of arrival of the Cybran forces which seemed to be heading for the center of the Aeon lines was around 1 hour and if Xin could slow them down he would so he formed his Specters for a little hit and run as they would hit the outer units of the formation away from the enemies AA units and keep picking them off one by one while running away before they could get targets on them Xin would send a few wings of Coronas and some Shockers to assist on a few of the hits.

With the continued bombardment of the aerial supremacy that Xin’s forces used to sheer the approaching Cybran force started to take its toll on the experimentals and the Cybran commander’s patience as the continued hit and run was damaging the force quite extensively and their ASF’s were unable to take most of the force out as they were being reinforced from a carrier in the southern shores.
August 21 Zeta Canis 03:30

The constant raids on the cybran assault had lessened the threat but not wipe it out as the monkey lords where still operational with only a ¼ damage taken as they had regenerated most of it but the force had been reduced to 20 bangers, 45 Loyalists and the 7 Monkeylords there was still a huge threat but with the time given from the distance and raids Xin had reinforced the center line the Cybrans force was heading for with mass amount of point defences, artillery pieces and some TML’s supported by some shield generators. As the final generator went up Xin readied his force behind the defensive line with the amount of siege assault bots, heavy tanks, MML’s supporting the defense they should be able to deal effectively with the ground army and valor had covered the air force with ASF’s , Strat Bombers and gunships.

“Valor the Cybran forces are a few minutes out what is your status with the defenses on your side of the grounds?” Xin asked as they had been silent for the past hour focusing on preparations for the upcoming defence.

“Things are well the Patrons are fully loaded the outer defenses are set and my air force is prepared, let these abominations come they shall meet their fate as all Cybrans must.” Valor stated with zeal in his voice.
As the forces readied for their confrontation Xin launched another spy plane towards the Cybran outer defences looking for landing zones and any weaknesses that could be exploited. As the Spy plane started rimming the Cybran base he could see much of the production was closer in land then to the shore as there was a beach head that could be used for an amphibious assault…this data gave Xin exactly what he needed for the counter attack…well if they survived this at least so he rerouted his little surprises northwest wards to that beach heading as the Cybrans had no sonar installations near their main base as it was too far inland for shore bombardment.

The surprise the Cybrans would be receiving would come in time just as the Assault on the forward lines would be engaged and most likely bypassed and the armies engaged, thus the countdown began for the confrontation to commence as each commander readied with the sweat running down their faces readying for the battle to commence…the minutes went by as if they were meant to savor the calm before the storm…a bliss of silence as they approached over the dunes of sand and they readied their ordnances to unleash hell on their oppositions.

The Aeon opened fire first `commencing the fight with the TML’s opening fire on the monkey lords who were in the front of the formations away from the loyalists who should have been at the front to deal with the TML’s sending them back at the Aeon, with that the combined fire of the TM’s crippled one of the Monkeylords by blowing out 5 of its legs and taken the HML offline leaving it a slow husk of a spider bot with only its heavy Electron Bolter online the TML’s started targeting everything they could as the Miasma artillery unleashed its payload onto the approaching horde of enemy forces.

The Oblivion point defence guns started unleashing their ionized plasma rounds onto the nearest Cybran units in this case they were focus firing on the Monkeylords attempting to destroy the experimental spiderbots that’s HML's where currently starting up readying to start popping the shields and start sweeping the defensive line decimating the point defences with ease, but more and more fire start concentrating on them with TML’s, Miasma shells and Oblivion plasma rounds along with some Serenity artillery rounds dealing more damage all around as more and more units entered the chaos of the battle.

The now clustered field made TML’s redundant as the Loyalists where making them into weapons against the Aeon with warheads returning on other units taken a few out and crippling a few too near wreaks and with that they used this advantage and had the Vipers target the TML’s as well as anything they could with Rhino’s, Monkeylords, and Loyalists unleashing a furry of fire onto the Harbinger III, and Obsidians taken them out left and right as the Rhino’s and Loyalists fell in droves as well. The biggest problems where still the Monkeylords with their HML’s sweeping across the field taken units out left and right as well as entrenched positions the Aeon had tried to take it out with air strikes but the Cybrans had mass so many Gemini’s they were taken out the Bombers and escorts out of the skies before they could reach the target and the AA on the ground was unable to lend assistance with the battle raging on the ground they had little ability to target the fast moving ASF’s as they were being annihilated.

“Valor the front line forces are in need of more reinforcements how are the factories on your side doing!” Xin bellowed over the Com Channel as he saw over the strategic display of mass amounts of the Aeon defenders being steam rolled by the Monkeylords as they were advancing forward crushing a few units under their weight.

“I am building as fast as my factories can but the ASF’s are too many right now so air support is negligible until we regain ground support, my GC’s are currently moving forward to meet the Cybran force they should be able to deal with the damage Spiderbots with ease as I see some of them are being disabled with concentrated fire.” Valor stated as he moved more of his forces into the battle.

As Valor stated some more of the Spiderbots where being disabled with blown out legs and a few with damaged HML’s causing them to overheat and start melting the lasers cannon resulting in a greatly weakened experimental, the tide of battle was still in the Cybrans favor as they had transported some Trebuchets Mobile Artillery and were deploying them to start battering the defences farther from the current battle with their Proton rounds landing into mixes of units destroying some outright and rendering others disabled briefly with their EMP effect of the shells detonation on the target.

The continued barrage of the Cybran artillery and advancing forces was still decimating the Aeon forces, having most of the shields go down and the units left and right were being annihilated from the ordnances being launched at them from all around the battlefield. The front lines seem to be mostly breached down the center with the continues movement and barrage of ordnances taken the farther shields down with concentrated fire making it easier for the other Cybran forces to advance and destroy the point defenses.

As the forces of the Cybran assault kept their march inwards to the Aeon base of operations the surprises that Xin had ordered had reached the targets…3 GC’s right in the rear of the Cybran stronghold where their defences where at best minor and the GC’s just blew through them with ease as they started to enter the strongholds choke they say what waited for them a Monkeylord and some Loyalists only about 15 not a big threat but enough to stall a little, the GC’s opened fire targeting the Monkeylord first while the Tractor claws bringing Loyalists and launching them back at the groups of them destroying a few each time but the GC’s where being EMP’d during the Loyalists destruction in its claws allowing the Cybrans to deal more damage to the GC’s. As the last of the Loyalists had fallen the GC’s were only down by 10% as they were slowly regenerating structural integrity as they advanced forward into firing range of the Cybran Factories and with that slowly sealed the deal on the Cybran production and with the factories starting to go down with concentrated fire they spotted a stray ACU trying to build up some shield gens but as soon as the Acu was spotted it got focused fired with utmost certainty.
The GC’s started to move forward as they readied their Phason Lasers on the ACU when the Aeon tapped into a semi-opened channel for the Cybrans.

“Commander the Aeon forces are steamrolling through my production and will be moving forward soon onto our positions! I need a recall!!!! DAMN IT RECALL!!!” The Cybran commander stated as his acu started melting under the concentrated fire of the GC’s and soon the ACU went nuclear and engulfed the surrounding area taken out units, power gens and a few mass extractors and soon after the Cybrans base went up in smoke as shrapnel from all the structures went flying imbedding in the surrounding sand dunes and few rocks.

“All Cybran commanders regroup at my position begin fortifications around the outer perimeter and prepare for siege of these Cleansing monsters...” The voice of the Cybran bellowed with what sounded like it was distorted.
As the communication were going silent the Cybrans began a mass movement for concentrated forces into the valley entrance of their stronghold setting up mass amounts of defences preparing for everything that could be thrown at them, the sudden withdrawal of the Cybran armies lead to a massive land control for the Aeon allowing for a great amount of time for them to move up, regroup and prepare for a siege of the Cybran stronghold.

“The Cybran’s are rebuilding up their defensive line around the Gate Complex it would seem, this will allow us to move up and besiege their encampment.” Valor stated as he watched from the strategic display of enemy radar contacts pull back in mass to the Cybran Stronghold.

*3 days later*

August 24 3842 Zeta Canis

The siege of the Cybran stronghold had been a grueling endeavour with both sides constantly having skirmishes on the borders of the valley entrances littering the cliff sides with shrapnel and debris, the constant combat left little time for the reclaim of the wreckage causing a barricade and wall of destroyed units a few meters high creating an obstacle for most of the ordnances fired from the Aeon forces.

The Cybrans used the cliffs of the valleys entrance as gun in placements with parts of the cliff carved into with Cerberus point defences, TMl-4’s, Burst Master’s, and some Gunther artillery pieces all supported by shield generators and Zapper tmd’s. This entrenchment had proven its effectiveness over the last 3 days of the Aeon siege with constant repairs from the waves upon waves of units assaulting and bombarding the valley cliffs and entrance trying to cause the cliff sides to become unstable and start a rock slide but the Cybrans had reinforces the cliffs interior with tunnels and a few factories for some combat units and engineers for repairs and maintenance of the tunnels and the defences.
As the units came off the factory lines the Cybran ACU’s moved near the heart of the Stronghold the CGC for an update from their commander on the gates statuses as the commander was currently running the diagnostics at the CGC tower.

“What is the status of the gates?” one of the Cybran pilots asked over their comm. Channels.

“The commander hasn’t released anymore information since the quantum storm rolled in 6 days ago.” Another of the Cybran commanders commented as they all arrived outside the main CGC tower

“Hopefully the techs have gotten the gate connection working on the other side so we can evacuate the remainder of these civilians…at least we got most of the population evacuated that where here.” The first Cybran commander stated as the others took the words in thought of how many of the civilians had been stuck behind enemy lines with those zealous monsters.

As the commanders continued their conversation on the matter the Cybran CO of the group entered the Squads Comm. Channel, all the commanders stopped their talking and looked as they waited for their commander to speak.

“I want a status report on the outer defences.” A synthesised sounding voice stated over the Comm. Channel.

“The outer defences are holding well against the constant bombardment and waves of forces the Aeon have sent, we have only lost a few meters of ground since we started this hold out here with the Aeon continues assaults.” A commander stated.
“What is the estimated time until they start to breach the outer defenses and we are needed to fall back to the inner lines?” The synthesized voice stated to the others.

“It is estimated they will breach our perimeter in 2 hours.” As one of the commanders on perimeter defences added in.

“Understood, prepare all defenses on the inner lines we need to hold the Aeon for at least another 3 hours. The Technicians have been working on the gate and with the Quantum hurricane moving through the area now leaving the system we will be able to evacuate the civilian populace we have secured and leave this planet.” The commander’s synthesized voice stated through the helmet he wore.

All commanders chimed together “Understood” and went to their duties to hold their lines and prepare for all the hells the Aeon would throw at them, with the last of the commanders leaving the channel the techs from the gate opened a channel to the commander.

“Force commander Radec!” A technician stated with some sounds of fear in his voice.

“What is it...?” Radec stated with little to no tone in his voice.

“We are receiving data from the other side of the Quantum Gate. It’s from Procyon transmitting the data packet to your hard suit computer now.” The tech stated as the data was transmitting to the commander’s suit. As the data stream began the data was been decoded into audio, as the data continued Radec began playing the audio playback.

“The gate has begun recalibrating for your arrival on Procyon. ETA is at 4:30. The forces on planet will gate in to assist in the retreat of your forces. You are to hold the gate until we can extract your forces and the civilians.” The synthetic voice of QAI spoke as the remainder of the data was transmitted. As the data finished downloading Radec started reading though the data and the main part of the data was a new weapon a T3 Gunship the Wailer Heavy gunship armed with Disintegrator Pule Laser for ground based/naval threats, a Nanite Missile Launcher for Aerial threats, equipped with a radar-jamming suit.

As Radec was reading over its stats he thought to himself these gunships seem to have some decent damage dealing power to main target is quite impressive…mixed with some of the Renegades we will be able to deal with most land based threats. As he continued his reading enemy signatures appeared on Omni radar massing on the southern perimeter of their valley entrance, Radec looked at the number of signatures and then proceeded to his Acu preparing for the last stand on Zeta Canis.

August 24 Zeta Canis 03:30 Gate Evacuation 60 minutes

As Radec began moving more of his forces around the perimeter he looked up into the night sky of Zeta Canis, seen the beauty of the dark night sky the stars still shining through the night only interrupted by the patrols of Gemini’s sleek black edges and red lines flying by Radec’s optic sights from his Acu cockpit.

As Radec returned to looking at the battlefield he started an upload to all the remaining commanders for the Wailer hopefully this will give some air support on the ground as well as help take some hits as a tank. Radec began checking the gates readouts of the gate as it began configuring for the trip off of Zeta Canis with more and more Aeon units besieging the Valley entrances the outer defences had begun to falter, they had lasted longer than estimated since the Wailers came into play with dealing with more of the ground forces trying to breach the valley defences.

The battle raged on from the outer ranges of the Valley defences as more Cybran forces had used some of the tunnel systems to get around the Aeon units and began targeting the main threats such as the Serenity mobile artilleries and the Harbinger siege assault bots and any other unit they could with their assortment of missiles, disintegrator lasers, particle cannons, and heavy electron bolters all doing as much damage as possible to buy more time for other cybran forces to come online and defend the gate.

The main encampment of the Aeon forces had been moved up and had been pumping out units as fast as they could send hordes of siege assault bots and every other combat unit to assault the Cybrans positions but unfortunately over the past 3 days all their attempts had failed miserably with Heavy Artillery fire been sniped by strategic bombers, nukes been taken out by SMD’s, and the ground assault been bogged down by all the enemy forces and defences. So the plan was to continue the siege with more and more units and so far it had only started to work when those new gunships came online causing more of the ground forces been destroyed and slowing the force even more, the dam gunships could also take quite a few hits before the AA guns could take them out and the ASF’s would get targeted by the Cybran ASF’s and Sam installation’s.

“Valor the Storm seems to be clearing this system, we should be getting some communications back up with the techs back on Veyaria within the hour, we must hasten our assault and finish this op or the Avatar will have our heads for such a delay on the planets conquest.” Xin commented as he pictured the thought of the Avatar of War with his hands holding their skulls with his cold steel of a voice chuckling as he moved the skulls on a shelf with others of possible Knights.

Xin and Valor both had chills sent down their spines as the thought with looks of terror and panic on their faces seen over their shared comm. Channel.

“Understood…I will begin moving my reserve forces forward to engage the Cybran defenders the Eta will be around 58 minutes, until then I shall continue the movement of my forces against the Defences.” Valor stated as he had regain himself from the abstract fear of the image he had imagined.

“Very well I shall send my defence force to accompany your reserves into battle, hopefully we will be rid of these Cybrans and the planet shall belong to the Aeon Illuminate.” Xin stated dryly as the efforts of battle take their toll even now with the combat stims and nutrient pastes supplementing for the lack of time for eating and proper rest.

August 24 Zeta Canis 04:29 Gate Evacuation 1 minute
“Com…..mand….er Ra….dec!” A Cybran pilot yelled over the channel opened between them showing blood running down the side of her face with a gash across her face and forehead, the cause looking to be a few of the interfaces of the cockpit been blown off and sparks flying from the sides where they once resided.

“Report!” He exclaimed as he was busing trying to move the last few civilian transports for the gate to Procyon, but the Aeon forces had started overwhelming them with a mass of experimental assault bots and mass amounts of ground forces breaching the forward lines like they were but dust in the breeze they had focused their forces on the defence force patrolling the entrance and on the cliff sides taken the bigger threats of Loyalist and Bangers and Vipers leaving the Cerberus PDs unable to deal with the oncoming threat.

The final stand of Zeta Canis for the Cybran Planetary Defence force was a combined force of 7 Monkeylords, 25 Loyalist, 35 Vipers and 20 Bangers with a defence line of shields and PDs they would buy the Civilians time to get off planet no matter their fate as 3 of the commanders stood on the lines with them each ready for their fate.

“Aeon…Forc…es ar…e b…reaching our west…ern flan….k and are headi…ng towards the gate we are unable to interc…ept as more are assa….ult my current posi…tion as well as on the eastern flank.” She responded through the static and with strain in her voice as he could only see her shoulders and up unknowing of the chunk of shrapnel that had imbedded itself into her shoulder to her chest, the medical programs weren’t functional from the last few rounds to her Acu as she moved back behind a line of Loyalists with shield coverage trying to repair and raise the others to start the withdrawal to the gate.

As Radec caught sight of the squad of 5 Harbingers he readied his Molecular Ripper and Microwave Laser Generator to dispatch them from damaging the gate or the transports, the first 2 were dispatched via overcharge shot the next 3 were melted down to scrap from the MLG and as the last one fell the gate activated and the transports started evacuating off of Zeta Canis.

“General Order to all Cybran Forces Evacuation commencing! All commanders fall back to the gate for evac!” Radec bellowed as he guarded the gate waiting for the last of his commanders to arrive from the front but his waiting was answered by a nuclear explosion of an Acu cooking off from concentrated Phason laser fore from 2 Galactic Colossi, followed by another one from the eastern position. The other three commanders that held the interior had already gated out and Radec was waiting for the last Acu to get to the gate when he caught sight of it limping towards his position left leg armour melted down to the core mechanics as well as flames and internal explosions dotting the frame work but what followed her was the more shocking 10 Galactic Colossus given chase with 2 Aeon Acu’s leading with shields glowing with the green and white of their alloy.

The GC’s came into firing range but didn’t open fire instead moved and encircled the Acu caging the Commander waiting for the Aeon commanders to approach Radec watched as he felt powerless against such a force even now his remnant of forces 2 Monkeylords and a handful of bangers were barley holding off the advancing forces of Aeon.

The Aeon Commanders stood next to the Cybran Acu and slowly blow off the arms of the acu leaving it still intact as it collapsed onto it’s back from the force of their main guns they shot the legs next leaving a torso peppered with holes and fires and head half blown off showing the cockpit reveling the pilot barley concise bleeding heavily the glaze on her eyes showing death taken her but she would not go with a whimper, her last move the self-destruct button on her Acu she took her fist and slammed down on it as a countdown timer appeared.

“10 seconds till detonation” The Acu computer responded as the pilot lost conciseness, and with that the Acu’s core detonated engulfing the Acu’s and the GC’s in flames given the last bit of time she could by for her commander.

As the Acu went off he moved his acu through the gate leaving this hell of a planet, many a time Radec had seen the cruelty of the Aeon but this was new out of the total population less than half made it to the gate and out of the 7 commanders on Zeta Canis 3 of the had survived but they had survived a week of continues combat hopefully they would be able to get some rest now save from the reaches of the Aeon and UEF here on one of the Cybrans Core worlds…but that would always be short lived…as they would always be needed to be at the front defending the lives of the Nation…and as for the Helghast they would persevere for to win is to endure and the Helghast have most certainly endured.

Description
Chapter 4
Alpha Beta Delta Zeta… Colossus…?

August 21 Zeta Canis 22:00
The battle of Zeta Canis had been raging all across the planet with fleets of ships and air units clashing over the seas weathering the hurricane and rough seas while colossal armies clashed over the dunes as sand storms picked up from the strong winds burying units in the sands.

The situation of the Aeon had been an uphill battle as they had been in constant battle for survival with ground constantly been changed as battle line after battle lines were moved an broken from both sides, Xin and Valor had been able to take out one of the Cybran commanders on the heartland of the main continent (pretty much a super continent.) while the lone isolated commander on one of the islands near Xin was still busy as always send fleet after fleet of ships to attack Xin.

“Valor I am sending some reinforcements to your forward position they should help hold the Cybrans for a while until I can get more forces to you as soon as I can.” Xin stated with signs of fatigue forming on him as through the assault he had a few close calls with a couple of Monkeylords striking from the sea hiding from the navy and infiltrating into his main base taken out a good chunk of his production and economy as well as taken shots on his acu. If it were not for the shield upgrade he had on his acu was the saving grace for him.

“Most appreciated some reinforcements from off world would be more appreciated though…” Valor spoke with sign of worry as this planet would be his tomb…our at least it would be one hell of story to tell…if he lived… if not it would be a rather honorable way to die in the name of the princess.
This hell of planet had thrown all it could at the Knights everything but an earthquake had happened to them, the cybran’s had been relentless with their attacks focusing on getting to the cities to extract the other symbionts that had not made it to the stronghold most of the population hadn’t arrived due to the armies clashing and the cities getting quarantined by the Aeon for pacification for when the planet was cleared of enemy signatures. Around ¾ of the main cities had been behind Aeon lines since the evacuation began and were still unable to extract due to firebases staying in the effective area of the cities.

With more and more forces coming online to wage war against each defensive line more and more attention was drawn towards the land masses instead of the sea, with this Valor sneaked a strike group around the main conflict and started to set up an artillery position and firebases to defend them as he set up 3 Emissary T3 heavy artillery positions as well as some Miasma T2 artillery for close fire support.

“I am beginning bombardment procedures on the Cybran defensive lines and will turn attention towards the main cybran Stronghold as soon as I am able to break through.” Valor stated as the base came online and started to upgrade.

“Very well I am focusing on the main Cybran naval force currently we are in a stalemate while I am getting more ships online.” Xin motioned on his tactical display as he began forming the fleet…again for another strike.

The lone Cybran on the island had been losing more ships then he could produce due to his economy and his position unable to support many structures due to the island being relatively small, Xin had been using this to his advantage but was still taken strikes from the cybran who had gotten quite few extra ships from his comrades to the North-West those battleships, carriers and destroyers were keeping him from getting over run. He was getting sloppy though with his forces as he was beginning to panic as the Aeon fleet got closer and closer to his naval yards.

As the final Omen came online Xin set his fleet for the cybran forces his fleet of 5 Omens, 3 Keefers (filled with Coronas, Shockers and Specters) 15 Exodus and 12 Infinities and a hand full of subs, the Cybran’s had 3 Galaxies, 2 Command, 12 Salem’s and 10 Sirens the numbers were in Xin’s favour as he would be able to field more air support than the Cybrans and he had more firepower with his destroyers and battleships.

“I am engaging the Cybrans navy again I will divert more forces towards your current position as soon as I am able, how are the front lines holding?” Xin asked as he tasked some transports with some T3 engineers to head towards Valor’s current forward line.

“Very well, may the Way guide the Cybrans to the bottom of the sea!” Valor stated as he returned his focus to the current push from the Cybrans to break his defensive line yet again, the battle in the heart of the desert had been a tough one as wreaks could be seen from a far as the winds and sand moved and buried the wreaks hiding what had occurred their as if it was never there. As the fleets clashed carriers came online releasing swarms of ASF, strategic bombers and gunships the ASF’s lead the charge and collided with the opposing force in a hail of missiles and flak guns as bombers and gunships went around the clash for air superiority they began to engage the fleet as the bombers attacked the designated targets prioritizing the Sirens and Commands as the gunships began to chew into the Salem’s and Galaxies, the Cybran bombers were currently been chased by a small group of ASF’s while the Infinities fired upon the passing bombers with their Zealot AA missiles tracking the targets and taken a few of them out.

As a few of the bomber passed over the fleet releasing their proton strategic bombs on the forward battleship and destroyer escorts they meet increased AA from the cruisers as 3 of the destroyers were taken out from the bombs and the splash from the proton bombs, while gunships swarmed the Salem's taken a few out as their numbers began to fall to the concentrated flak from the Salem’s, Sirens and the few Galaxies while the Commands stayed back building more air forces to gain an advantage in the skies to ensure that the fleet could continue to attack the Aeon. As wreckage after wreckage of aircraft came crashing down into the water some colliding on the enemy ships dealing some hull damage and a few knocking out some guns and turrets others jamming some of the turret platforms denying them movement for targeting. The aircraft began to dwindle at increase rates as the came closer to the center of the fleets and more and more ships went to the bottom as they closed in almost at knife fighting distance unleashing devastating firepower from each other’s their main guns tearing holes through the armour, disabling the guns and destroying them outright with concentrated fire, the fleets raged on but the Aeon were coming out on top of the fight thanks to the extra carrier support and air superiority they were getting from them.

This battle on the seas would continue for almost 2 hours with each side sending more and more forces to the skirmish but in the end the Cybrans weren’t able to get their forces to the area fast enough while the Aeon could reinforce quickly enough to stay alive and with the fact that valor was doing raids on any Cybran vessel made it even more difficult for them to win the battle, with naval superiority acquired Xin began to bombard the cybran on the eastern island with fire support from his Omen battleships while bombers did carpet bombing runs on the island and Specter gunships targeted any remaining structures and units the Cybran Acu had been blasted to scrap from the Omens and Specters firing away at its armour as it was destroyed going off in a blaze of Nuclear proportions destroying most of the Specters on the island and having a few had lost power from the EMP effect of the blast causing them to go offline and crash into the water and a few into the island itself.

As Xin watched the Acu cook off from his Strategic display he began to motion his forces north wards to assist Valor with his offence against the main Cybran stronghold send the remnants of his fleet the carriers themselves were still intact and able to produce more ASF’s, bombers and gunships for the battles ahead.

August 22 Zeta Canis 02:00

The night had been long fought with ships and aircraft of both sides littering the seas and the shores but the Aeon had proven victorious here but now the rest of planet was still in Cybran control as they needed to focus on acquire more territories so that the Cybrans weren’t able to encircle them and keep them at bay, while Xin held the oceans Valor was haven more difficulties with the Cybrans in the dessert with the night keeping most of the visibility low but the units sensors were adequate enough to get the job done until the sandstorm rolled in turning the night time battlefield into a flurry of sand striping units armour and it was interfering with the sensors of a lot of the units effectively rendering the controls of the forces useless as the commanders would have to wait for the storm to clear and see what units had survived.

As the night battles raged on Valor received a transmission from Xin on his current situation in the South Western Continent and islands, Valor hadn’t heard any word from Xin since he wished him luck in his assault with the lone Cybran commander hoping he was able to help Xin enough with the raids on the channels near the coast heading towards Xin’s position.

“Valor I have claimed the southern Hemisphere and am mustering some more forces to head towards your defensive line. I will need a LZ for my Acu to set up a base in the meantime my fleet had moved towards the Cybrans outer perimeter and are in range of some of the fortifications and am beginning to bombard them as they are heading up to the remaining Cybran naval yard.” Xin stated as he prepared for his transports for the mass movement of engineers and units.

“The Way be praised I am designating a LZ to the west of my current position near some of my defensive lines any other support you can bring to bear to the fight would be appreciated.” Valor stated from his current fortified position behind the main defensive line near his factories, he had been setting up entire factory distracts for the offensives he had planned but so far had most of his forces on the defensive.

“Understood moving my transports to the designated area with some of my escorts ETA around 1 hour you will just need to keep the area clear of enemies for me to land safely and set up a forward operations base.” Xin stated as the transports lifted off for the long flight as he had enough transports to make the entire run with his ground forces in 2 runs hopefully they would be able to get there without any complications.
As he left on his transport he sent a secondary transport of engineers to head to the last known location of one of Valor’s Artillery bases to see if he could rebuild them and give some support while the growing tide of Aeon forces comes online.

August 21 Zeta Canis 02:30

Halfway to the LZ things were going fine for Xin and his transports but things in the ground seemed to be going from bad to worse, in the time it took Xin and his forces to get halfway to the LZ the Cybrans had pushed the defensive lines of Valor back 2 Km his LZ was still secure though but was beginning to get too hot to land safely. Valor had begun to form a counter assault to this mass offensive when the sound of something horrible going off that couldn’t be happening at a worse time.

STRATEGIC LAUNCH DETECTED STRATEGIC LAUNCH DETECTED STRATEGIC LAUNCH DETECTED

The Cybrans had launched Nuclear warheads on the defensive line were none of Valor’s strategic defense systems were online, as the strategic display showed the missiles going up into the lower atmosphere heading towards the Aeon forces all Xin could do was watch in horror as the missiles landed destroying most of the center defences and annihilating most of the defending forces causing a breach in which the Cybrans took full effect of flooding hundreds of tanks, AA guns and Siege assault bots into the soft under belly that was the Aeon fire bases. The concentrated effect of the nukes glassed the sands forming giant pools of reflective glass making some units slip and fall others purely crushing the glass under their weight while others tread carved into it allowing them to traverse normally.

“Valor my forces are almost at the landing zone what is your current status!” Xin stated in panic as the Cybrans had constructed a strategic missile launcher this would be a problem if not taken care of soon as the plan Xin had would soon come crashing down if those nukes kept firing off.

“I am currently engaging the Cybrans on every front that I can they are tearing through most of my defenses and I am unable to mount an effective counter attack as of right now any support you can give me would be most appreciated.” Valor stated as he began to focus more on the approaching death that the Cybrans were unleashing onto his infrastructure and production lines.

“I am securing your old artillery base now and am rebuilding the Emissaries they will be up effective 5 minutes from now and I shall arrive 20 minutes from now you just need to hold the lines I will provide more support as it becomes available.” Xin stated as he began to manage his forces for an attack on the cybran threat at the LZ and on Valor’s defensive line.

Xin looked over the strategic data he was getting showing that most of the AA was in the front of the group thus Xin took advantage of this an issued his Carriers to launch all units to help Valor out as the fleet had been a lot closer than his transports they were providing fire support from their current locations but it didn’t seem to be enough splash damage to deal with the mass of units. As all the ASF’s, strategic bombers and gunships went flying towards the ever more chaotic battlefield they began to meet more and more resistance from the air as Gemini’s began to attack the bombers and gunships, the Coronas began dog fighting against the other ASF’s while receiving AA support from the ground as Valor had his base surrounded with enough AA to keep most strikes from the skies at bay.
As the ASF’s were preoccupied with each other this allowed the bombers and gunships to head further inland to assist in the defense which seemed to crumble little by little as the Cybrans fought to gain control of the territory.

“Valor I am transferring control of the Shockers and Specters to you may they help you in this dire time of need.” Xin stated as he those units should be able to buy him enough time for his forces to get there but 1st he needed to make sure the secondary force was ready.

“Most appreciated here Xin with these forces I shall sweep across these fools and cleanse them in the fires of their own wreckage.” Valor stated with a side of rage in his tone as he was getting sick and tired of these Cybran pests.

“May they fall at our combined might and the Way guide us through this dire time.” Xin stated as his LZ was coming into optical view of his ACU and transports.

The area around the LZ was littered with the wreckage of the Cybran counterassault and quite a few of the defences Valor had in place for the defence of the LZ it was still secure even with the Cybrans pushing more and more into the Aeon lines. The dust began to whirl up as the transports unloaded their cargo and began to move back to the base for the next group, with that Xin ordered his groups of engineers to start production on some more defences and moving his task force he shipped with him to start patrolling the immediate perimeter in case any stragglers showed up, as well as any units retreating from the push from Valor towards the Cybran front lines.

The set up went well as the engineers readied their factories for the mass scale production that was required for them to continue this assault from the desert region, as ferrying the forces from the islands would take too long to be an effective immediate response to Cybran counter attacks. Within minutes the factories pumped out unit after unit at a high rate with all the engineers assisting them, Xin looked around to the sight of Valor’s forces advancing towards his position with most of them heavily damaged meaning the battle had been long and bloody as most forces were on their last legs/treads as they came into the perimeter of the new fortifications looking for some repairs as the engineers construed some air staging facilities and went to work repairing the group army.

“Xin welcome to the party hope your landing wasn’t too crowded the Cybrans have been defeated here we need to prepare to assault the main fortifications to the West alert me when you are ready for the push, I shall be rebuilding my forces and my infrastructure.” Valor stated with a grin on his face to have some company on the desert plains.

“Very well Valor I shall begin fortifications around my known perimeter immediately and shall be ready within the hour my transports shall be bringing more reinforcements soon from my main base.” Xin commented as he set off to build more point defenses and AA flak guns, while his engineers worked on more factory production.

The calmness of the desert sands seemed unnatural with how still the battle seemed to have slowed with neither side launching any form of an assault as they massed their armies for a massive confrontation for the dunes of the giant desert where the coming battles will reign, the wreckages that hadn’t been reclaimed seemed to be sinking into the sands as the winds began to pick up and the pools of glass seemed to have been merged into a large lake with the heat of all the weapons fire around the area it showed the reflection of the peaceful looking sky.

As Xin surveyed the desert sands the thoughts of what these Cybrans where doing here…the presence was more than expected for a small world of little resource value yet 6 ACU’s were here fighting against our forces yet there shouldn’t be this many…I need to find more data on the fact to be sure. As he was stuck in thought he didn’t realize the transports from his main base had returned with his secondary force, and then the reports came in of enemy movement detected near the outer perimeter from Xin’s firebase near his artillery positions.

“Valor we have scouts inbound probably getting visual for another nuclear strike!” Xin stated as his fire base guns started to unleash the plasma from the Oblivion cannons and the Miasma artillery was devastating the area where they units were traveling.

“If you can buy me enough time I can get a few more missiles up for defence but I need those scouts dead before they spot what were up too.” Valor stated as he was pouring his economy into some missiles for his two Patron strategic missile defences.

“Understood I have some gunships in route now to deal with these scouts they should be able to take them out before they get too close to get any optical data on the site.” Xin answered from his forward command post that was still busy with factories building with engineers assisting them, the units streaming out to formations behind the main defensive lines and Air staging Facilities.

As the wings of specter gunships dusted off from their refuel and repairs at the Air Staging Facilities, they headed towards the radar contacts near the outer borders of the eastern defense grid of a few point defences and some patrolling tanks and AA guns it was still under repairs from the Cybrans push through Valor’s bases, the engineers had been busy with building more factories and economic structures thus leaving a relatively small opening in the outer defensive line. The Gunships arrived at the outer point defences as they were being destroyed from the mass fire of the Cybran forces that were clearing through the patrol units as the Specters started assaulting the ground forces targeting the AA guns first there wasn’t many surprisingly so the Specters were able to deal with this ground assault as Xin transferred some engineers and started a mas rebuild of the point defences and some more AA guns as well as a few Shields of Light to allow for more effective defensive strength and offensive ability to return fire.

“Xin I have 2 missiles ready for now more are building as we speak but I need to start reviving my economy so you’re going to need to keep up the defenses for a while and your own base should be able to supply enough forces and resources to you to continue this, but radar had detected some more contacts to the north and east of the defensive line.” Valor stated as he started managing his engineers to reconstruct more economic structures.

“Understood Valor I have more forces arriving via transport through the straight we secured off the southern shore hopefully they will arrive sooner than later. As I’m sending out scout planes for some more Intel on the enemy movements we have been on the defensive for the last few hours and that needs to change soon or they will just wear us down and kill us off.” Xin stated as he was going over the Intel of the Cybran forces the Radar was showing but something seemed off they had a gap in there formations so Xin sent some scout planes to get a better clue, as well as the status report on his forces back as base and his little presents for the Cybran Stronghold they seemed to be around 75% finished and the others where about 2 hours away from joining the party so he would have to hold and keep them focused on his current positioning.

As Xin was busy with his forces one of the scout planes transmitted some interesting visuals of the incoming Cybran attack it was a massive wave of several Monkeylords at the tip of the formation and around a hundred Loyalists forming the mass of the army with Bangers in the center for AA duty, Xin looked at the visual data as the plane was shot down by the Monkeylords Heavy Electron Bolters. The rate at which the Cybran force was approaching gave a small window of effective formation to occur they would need to pool a lot more forces and defences to get through this alive…again.

Xin started a mass assist on his factories to produce some Harbingers mark III to help the defense of the Aeon lines and maybe if they survived this form an effective counter-attack to the enemy, Xin checked the status of the Artillery bases he had setup earlier they were about operational just waiting for the last 2 Emissaries to finish they were 96% finished they would be extremely helpful in the defense but it would reveal them and the enemy would send mass bomber runs on them and they would be lost, they would be available support but Xin would have to choose when to use them in the meantime his, main base reinforcements had arrived and the transports where landing and refuelling from the trip before they headed back to the main base for another pick up. The estimated time of arrival of the Cybran forces which seemed to be heading for the center of the Aeon lines was around 1 hour and if Xin could slow them down he would so he formed his Specters for a little hit and run as they would hit the outer units of the formation away from the enemies AA units and keep picking them off one by one while running away before they could get targets on them Xin would send a few wings of Coronas and some Shockers to assist on a few of the hits.

With the continued bombardment of the aerial supremacy that Xin’s forces used to sheer the approaching Cybran force started to take its toll on the experimentals and the Cybran commander’s patience as the continued hit and run was damaging the force quite extensively and their ASF’s were unable to take most of the force out as they were being reinforced from a carrier in the southern shores.
August 21 Zeta Canis 03:30

The constant raids on the cybran assault had lessened the threat but not wipe it out as the monkey lords where still operational with only a ¼ damage taken as they had regenerated most of it but the force had been reduced to 20 bangers, 45 Loyalists and the 7 Monkeylords there was still a huge threat but with the time given from the distance and raids Xin had reinforced the center line the Cybrans force was heading for with mass amount of point defences, artillery pieces and some TML’s supported by some shield generators. As the final generator went up Xin readied his force behind the defensive line with the amount of siege assault bots, heavy tanks, MML’s supporting the defense they should be able to deal effectively with the ground army and valor had covered the air force with ASF’s , Strat Bombers and gunships.

“Valor the Cybran forces are a few minutes out what is your status with the defenses on your side of the grounds?” Xin asked as they had been silent for the past hour focusing on preparations for the upcoming defence.

“Things are well the Patrons are fully loaded the outer defenses are set and my air force is prepared, let these abominations come they shall meet their fate as all Cybrans must.” Valor stated with zeal in his voice.
As the forces readied for their confrontation Xin launched another spy plane towards the Cybran outer defences looking for landing zones and any weaknesses that could be exploited. As the Spy plane started rimming the Cybran base he could see much of the production was closer in land then to the shore as there was a beach head that could be used for an amphibious assault…this data gave Xin exactly what he needed for the counter attack…well if they survived this at least so he rerouted his little surprises northwest wards to that beach heading as the Cybrans had no sonar installations near their main base as it was too far inland for shore bombardment.

The surprise the Cybrans would be receiving would come in time just as the Assault on the forward lines would be engaged and most likely bypassed and the armies engaged, thus the countdown began for the confrontation to commence as each commander readied with the sweat running down their faces readying for the battle to commence…the minutes went by as if they were meant to savor the calm before the storm…a bliss of silence as they approached over the dunes of sand and they readied their ordnances to unleash hell on their oppositions.

The Aeon opened fire first `commencing the fight with the TML’s opening fire on the monkey lords who were in the front of the formations away from the loyalists who should have been at the front to deal with the TML’s sending them back at the Aeon, with that the combined fire of the TM’s crippled one of the Monkeylords by blowing out 5 of its legs and taken the HML offline leaving it a slow husk of a spider bot with only its heavy Electron Bolter online the TML’s started targeting everything they could as the Miasma artillery unleashed its payload onto the approaching horde of enemy forces.

The Oblivion point defence guns started unleashing their ionized plasma rounds onto the nearest Cybran units in this case they were focus firing on the Monkeylords attempting to destroy the experimental spiderbots that’s HML's where currently starting up readying to start popping the shields and start sweeping the defensive line decimating the point defences with ease, but more and more fire start concentrating on them with TML’s, Miasma shells and Oblivion plasma rounds along with some Serenity artillery rounds dealing more damage all around as more and more units entered the chaos of the battle.

The now clustered field made TML’s redundant as the Loyalists where making them into weapons against the Aeon with warheads returning on other units taken a few out and crippling a few too near wreaks and with that they used this advantage and had the Vipers target the TML’s as well as anything they could with Rhino’s, Monkeylords, and Loyalists unleashing a furry of fire onto the Harbinger III, and Obsidians taken them out left and right as the Rhino’s and Loyalists fell in droves as well. The biggest problems where still the Monkeylords with their HML’s sweeping across the field taken units out left and right as well as entrenched positions the Aeon had tried to take it out with air strikes but the Cybrans had mass so many Gemini’s they were taken out the Bombers and escorts out of the skies before they could reach the target and the AA on the ground was unable to lend assistance with the battle raging on the ground they had little ability to target the fast moving ASF’s as they were being annihilated.

“Valor the front line forces are in need of more reinforcements how are the factories on your side doing!” Xin bellowed over the Com Channel as he saw over the strategic display of mass amounts of the Aeon defenders being steam rolled by the Monkeylords as they were advancing forward crushing a few units under their weight.

“I am building as fast as my factories can but the ASF’s are too many right now so air support is negligible until we regain ground support, my GC’s are currently moving forward to meet the Cybran force they should be able to deal with the damage Spiderbots with ease as I see some of them are being disabled with concentrated fire.” Valor stated as he moved more of his forces into the battle.

As Valor stated some more of the Spiderbots where being disabled with blown out legs and a few with damaged HML’s causing them to overheat and start melting the lasers cannon resulting in a greatly weakened experimental, the tide of battle was still in the Cybrans favor as they had transported some Trebuchets Mobile Artillery and were deploying them to start battering the defences farther from the current battle with their Proton rounds landing into mixes of units destroying some outright and rendering others disabled briefly with their EMP effect of the shells detonation on the target.

The continued barrage of the Cybran artillery and advancing forces was still decimating the Aeon forces, having most of the shields go down and the units left and right were being annihilated from the ordnances being launched at them from all around the battlefield. The front lines seem to be mostly breached down the center with the continues movement and barrage of ordnances taken the farther shields down with concentrated fire making it easier for the other Cybran forces to advance and destroy the point defenses.

As the forces of the Cybran assault kept their march inwards to the Aeon base of operations the surprises that Xin had ordered had reached the targets…3 GC’s right in the rear of the Cybran stronghold where their defences where at best minor and the GC’s just blew through them with ease as they started to enter the strongholds choke they say what waited for them a Monkeylord and some Loyalists only about 15 not a big threat but enough to stall a little, the GC’s opened fire targeting the Monkeylord first while the Tractor claws bringing Loyalists and launching them back at the groups of them destroying a few each time but the GC’s where being EMP’d during the Loyalists destruction in its claws allowing the Cybrans to deal more damage to the GC’s. As the last of the Loyalists had fallen the GC’s were only down by 10% as they were slowly regenerating structural integrity as they advanced forward into firing range of the Cybran Factories and with that slowly sealed the deal on the Cybran production and with the factories starting to go down with concentrated fire they spotted a stray ACU trying to build up some shield gens but as soon as the Acu was spotted it got focused fired with utmost certainty.
The GC’s started to move forward as they readied their Phason Lasers on the ACU when the Aeon tapped into a semi-opened channel for the Cybrans.

“Commander the Aeon forces are steamrolling through my production and will be moving forward soon onto our positions! I need a recall!!!! DAMN IT RECALL!!!” The Cybran commander stated as his acu started melting under the concentrated fire of the GC’s and soon the ACU went nuclear and engulfed the surrounding area taken out units, power gens and a few mass extractors and soon after the Cybrans base went up in smoke as shrapnel from all the structures went flying imbedding in the surrounding sand dunes and few rocks.

“All Cybran commanders regroup at my position begin fortifications around the outer perimeter and prepare for siege of these Cleansing monsters...” The voice of the Cybran bellowed with what sounded like it was distorted.
As the communication were going silent the Cybrans began a mass movement for concentrated forces into the valley entrance of their stronghold setting up mass amounts of defences preparing for everything that could be thrown at them, the sudden withdrawal of the Cybran armies lead to a massive land control for the Aeon allowing for a great amount of time for them to move up, regroup and prepare for a siege of the Cybran stronghold.

“The Cybran’s are rebuilding up their defensive line around the Gate Complex it would seem, this will allow us to move up and besiege their encampment.” Valor stated as he watched from the strategic display of enemy radar contacts pull back in mass to the Cybran Stronghold.

*3 days later*

August 24 3842 Zeta Canis

The siege of the Cybran stronghold had been a grueling endeavour with both sides constantly having skirmishes on the borders of the valley entrances littering the cliff sides with shrapnel and debris, the constant combat left little time for the reclaim of the wreckage causing a barricade and wall of destroyed units a few meters high creating an obstacle for most of the ordnances fired from the Aeon forces.

The Cybrans used the cliffs of the valleys entrance as gun in placements with parts of the cliff carved into with Cerberus point defences, TMl-4’s, Burst Master’s, and some Gunther artillery pieces all supported by shield generators and Zapper tmd’s. This entrenchment had proven its effectiveness over the last 3 days of the Aeon siege with constant repairs from the waves upon waves of units assaulting and bombarding the valley cliffs and entrance trying to cause the cliff sides to become unstable and start a rock slide but the Cybrans had reinforces the cliffs interior with tunnels and a few factories for some combat units and engineers for repairs and maintenance of the tunnels and the defences.
As the units came off the factory lines the Cybran ACU’s moved near the heart of the Stronghold the CGC for an update from their commander on the gates statuses as the commander was currently running the diagnostics at the CGC tower.

“What is the status of the gates?” one of the Cybran pilots asked over their comm. Channels.

“The commander hasn’t released anymore information since the quantum storm rolled in 6 days ago.” Another of the Cybran commanders commented as they all arrived outside the main CGC tower

“Hopefully the techs have gotten the gate connection working on the other side so we can evacuate the remainder of these civilians…at least we got most of the population evacuated that where here.” The first Cybran commander stated as the others took the words in thought of how many of the civilians had been stuck behind enemy lines with those zealous monsters.

As the commanders continued their conversation on the matter the Cybran CO of the group entered the Squads Comm. Channel, all the commanders stopped their talking and looked as they waited for their commander to speak.

“I want a status report on the outer defences.” A synthesised sounding voice stated over the Comm. Channel.

“The outer defences are holding well against the constant bombardment and waves of forces the Aeon have sent, we have only lost a few meters of ground since we started this hold out here with the Aeon continues assaults.” A commander stated.
“What is the estimated time until they start to breach the outer defenses and we are needed to fall back to the inner lines?” The synthesized voice stated to the others.

“It is estimated they will breach our perimeter in 2 hours.” As one of the commanders on perimeter defences added in.

“Understood, prepare all defenses on the inner lines we need to hold the Aeon for at least another 3 hours. The Technicians have been working on the gate and with the Quantum hurricane moving through the area now leaving the system we will be able to evacuate the civilian populace we have secured and leave this planet.” The commander’s synthesized voice stated through the helmet he wore.

All commanders chimed together “Understood” and went to their duties to hold their lines and prepare for all the hells the Aeon would throw at them, with the last of the commanders leaving the channel the techs from the gate opened a channel to the commander.

“Force commander Radec!” A technician stated with some sounds of fear in his voice.

“What is it...?” Radec stated with little to no tone in his voice.

“We are receiving data from the other side of the Quantum Gate. It’s from Procyon transmitting the data packet to your hard suit computer now.” The tech stated as the data was transmitting to the commander’s suit. As the data stream began the data was been decoded into audio, as the data continued Radec began playing the audio playback.

“The gate has begun recalibrating for your arrival on Procyon. ETA is at 4:30. The forces on planet will gate in to assist in the retreat of your forces. You are to hold the gate until we can extract your forces and the civilians.” The synthetic voice of QAI spoke as the remainder of the data was transmitted. As the data finished downloading Radec started reading though the data and the main part of the data was a new weapon a T3 Gunship the Wailer Heavy gunship armed with Disintegrator Pule Laser for ground based/naval threats, a Nanite Missile Launcher for Aerial threats, equipped with a radar-jamming suit.

As Radec was reading over its stats he thought to himself these gunships seem to have some decent damage dealing power to main target is quite impressive…mixed with some of the Renegades we will be able to deal with most land based threats. As he continued his reading enemy signatures appeared on Omni radar massing on the southern perimeter of their valley entrance, Radec looked at the number of signatures and then proceeded to his Acu preparing for the last stand on Zeta Canis.

August 24 Zeta Canis 03:30 Gate Evacuation 60 minutes

As Radec began moving more of his forces around the perimeter he looked up into the night sky of Zeta Canis, seen the beauty of the dark night sky the stars still shining through the night only interrupted by the patrols of Gemini’s sleek black edges and red lines flying by Radec’s optic sights from his Acu cockpit.

As Radec returned to looking at the battlefield he started an upload to all the remaining commanders for the Wailer hopefully this will give some air support on the ground as well as help take some hits as a tank. Radec began checking the gates readouts of the gate as it began configuring for the trip off of Zeta Canis with more and more Aeon units besieging the Valley entrances the outer defences had begun to falter, they had lasted longer than estimated since the Wailers came into play with dealing with more of the ground forces trying to breach the valley defences.

The battle raged on from the outer ranges of the Valley defences as more Cybran forces had used some of the tunnel systems to get around the Aeon units and began targeting the main threats such as the Serenity mobile artilleries and the Harbinger siege assault bots and any other unit they could with their assortment of missiles, disintegrator lasers, particle cannons, and heavy electron bolters all doing as much damage as possible to buy more time for other cybran forces to come online and defend the gate.

The main encampment of the Aeon forces had been moved up and had been pumping out units as fast as they could send hordes of siege assault bots and every other combat unit to assault the Cybrans positions but unfortunately over the past 3 days all their attempts had failed miserably with Heavy Artillery fire been sniped by strategic bombers, nukes been taken out by SMD’s, and the ground assault been bogged down by all the enemy forces and defences. So the plan was to continue the siege with more and more units and so far it had only started to work when those new gunships came online causing more of the ground forces been destroyed and slowing the force even more, the dam gunships could also take quite a few hits before the AA guns could take them out and the ASF’s would get targeted by the Cybran ASF’s and Sam installation’s.

“Valor the Storm seems to be clearing this system, we should be getting some communications back up with the techs back on Veyaria within the hour, we must hasten our assault and finish this op or the Avatar will have our heads for such a delay on the planets conquest.” Xin commented as he pictured the thought of the Avatar of War with his hands holding their skulls with his cold steel of a voice chuckling as he moved the skulls on a shelf with others of possible Knights.

Xin and Valor both had chills sent down their spines as the thought with looks of terror and panic on their faces seen over their shared comm. Channel.

“Understood…I will begin moving my reserve forces forward to engage the Cybran defenders the Eta will be around 58 minutes, until then I shall continue the movement of my forces against the Defences.” Valor stated as he had regain himself from the abstract fear of the image he had imagined.

“Very well I shall send my defence force to accompany your reserves into battle, hopefully we will be rid of these Cybrans and the planet shall belong to the Aeon Illuminate.” Xin stated dryly as the efforts of battle take their toll even now with the combat stims and nutrient pastes supplementing for the lack of time for eating and proper rest.

August 24 Zeta Canis 04:29 Gate Evacuation 1 minute
“Com…..mand….er Ra….dec!” A Cybran pilot yelled over the channel opened between them showing blood running down the side of her face with a gash across her face and forehead, the cause looking to be a few of the interfaces of the cockpit been blown off and sparks flying from the sides where they once resided.

“Report!” He exclaimed as he was busing trying to move the last few civilian transports for the gate to Procyon, but the Aeon forces had started overwhelming them with a mass of experimental assault bots and mass amounts of ground forces breaching the forward lines like they were but dust in the breeze they had focused their forces on the defence force patrolling the entrance and on the cliff sides taken the bigger threats of Loyalist and Bangers and Vipers leaving the Cerberus PDs unable to deal with the oncoming threat.

The final stand of Zeta Canis for the Cybran Planetary Defence force was a combined force of 7 Monkeylords, 25 Loyalist, 35 Vipers and 20 Bangers with a defence line of shields and PDs they would buy the Civilians time to get off planet no matter their fate as 3 of the commanders stood on the lines with them each ready for their fate.

“Aeon…Forc…es ar…e b…reaching our west…ern flan….k and are headi…ng towards the gate we are unable to interc…ept as more are assa….ult my current posi…tion as well as on the eastern flank.” She responded through the static and with strain in her voice as he could only see her shoulders and up unknowing of the chunk of shrapnel that had imbedded itself into her shoulder to her chest, the medical programs weren’t functional from the last few rounds to her Acu as she moved back behind a line of Loyalists with shield coverage trying to repair and raise the others to start the withdrawal to the gate.

As Radec caught sight of the squad of 5 Harbingers he readied his Molecular Ripper and Microwave Laser Generator to dispatch them from damaging the gate or the transports, the first 2 were dispatched via overcharge shot the next 3 were melted down to scrap from the MLG and as the last one fell the gate activated and the transports started evacuating off of Zeta Canis.

“General Order to all Cybran Forces Evacuation commencing! All commanders fall back to the gate for evac!” Radec bellowed as he guarded the gate waiting for the last of his commanders to arrive from the front but his waiting was answered by a nuclear explosion of an Acu cooking off from concentrated Phason laser fore from 2 Galactic Colossi, followed by another one from the eastern position. The other three commanders that held the interior had already gated out and Radec was waiting for the last Acu to get to the gate when he caught sight of it limping towards his position left leg armour melted down to the core mechanics as well as flames and internal explosions dotting the frame work but what followed her was the more shocking 10 Galactic Colossus given chase with 2 Aeon Acu’s leading with shields glowing with the green and white of their alloy.

The GC’s came into firing range but didn’t open fire instead moved and encircled the Acu caging the Commander waiting for the Aeon commanders to approach Radec watched as he felt powerless against such a force even now his remnant of forces 2 Monkeylords and a handful of bangers were barley holding off the advancing forces of Aeon.

The Aeon Commanders stood next to the Cybran Acu and slowly blow off the arms of the acu leaving it still intact as it collapsed onto it’s back from the force of their main guns they shot the legs next leaving a torso peppered with holes and fires and head half blown off showing the cockpit reveling the pilot barley concise bleeding heavily the glaze on her eyes showing death taken her but she would not go with a whimper, her last move the self-destruct button on her Acu she took her fist and slammed down on it as a countdown timer appeared.

“10 seconds till detonation” The Acu computer responded as the pilot lost conciseness, and with that the Acu’s core detonated engulfing the Acu’s and the GC’s in flames given the last bit of time she could by for her commander.

As the Acu went off he moved his acu through the gate leaving this hell of a planet, many a time Radec had seen the cruelty of the Aeon but this was new out of the total population less than half made it to the gate and out of the 7 commanders on Zeta Canis 3 of the had survived but they had survived a week of continues combat hopefully they would be able to get some rest now save from the reaches of the Aeon and UEF here on one of the Cybrans Core worlds…but that would always be short lived…as they would always be needed to be at the front defending the lives of the Nation…and as for the Helghast they would persevere for to win is to endure and the Helghast have most certainly endured.