Aratar System (Federation of United Planets)—Aratar I Space Station
Grand Admiral Oskiol left his office and headed for the station's control room.
This was the main logistical center for the resistance of what remained of the Federation. As a practical control room, it was a far cry from the majestic offices and gathering halls where Federation meetings had taken place back on Terra!
Oskiol approached one of the tired-looking operators, who immediately rose to his feet and saluted. "Grand Admiral! What are you doing here, Sir?"
Oskiol replied, "Put me in touch with all the commanders and admirals of the fleet immediately."
The operator, surprised by this request, answered, "Uh… Well Sir, it will take some time to contact them… I will start at once."
Oskiol didn't respond. He sat in the nearby chair intended for the commanders of station operations and waited for his request to be fulfilled. After an impressively short five minutes, hundreds of faces of admirals and commanders were displayed on the huge console in front of him.
Oskiol stood once more, since he was giving a military speech. "Dear soldiers! I know that we have just suffered a difficult defeat on Terra, but I have vital information that the enemy is severely weakened and immobilized on Terra. We must move quickly. We must take advantage of this state of affairs and—"
An admiral cut him off. "Grand Admiral! With all due respect, Sir, it's only been three days since we returned from Terra. Twenty percent of the fleet is still being inspected or repaired. I don't see how we can perform another raid on Terra!"
Oskiol answered, "Precisely. it is not about Terra... We're going to split the fleet in two, and launch an offensive on both Isirus and Akor.* The Battle of Terra showed us that we are outnumbered and outgunned by the Imperials, so we need to wage guerrilla warfare against them. We must hit them where it hurts the most, economically speaking!"
Another commander interrupted him. "Even if we take control of these two systems and plunder their resources, the Empire will not remain unmoved! They'll just send their fleet to take them back. It's not as though we can just load up entire planets' worth of resources and fly away with them!"
A heavy silence fell over the whole call.
Then another admiral spoke up, sounding desperate to please. "This is a brilliant plan, Grand Admiral! Let's hope it works. I will address my prayers to the Goddess Themis for the success of your plan!" There was another awkward silence, but then other voices began muttering their agreement, caving to the pressure of the Grand Admiral's rank.
Oskiol replied, "Be ready as soon as possible. We can't afford to have any spies on any of our staff leaking a single detail, considering how badly we're outgunned! Prepare for battle at the earliest opportunity."
***
Terra—South Industrial Zone
The coalition of players began to reorganize after their recent "strategic retreat," but the huge size of the group made for an equally large challenge.
Over a million players needed to be involved in the plan, which made it a real logistical headache! Hundreds of thousands of sub-groups had to be divided up, each with at least one officer to manage these sub-groups.
For this purpose, the guild representatives were again reunited.
Lotus said, "The final preparations are done and the groups are finally reorganized. We can now finish with this damned planet! That is, once we've overcome one of the biggest weapons hangars on the planet, a hundred kilometers to the north."
One big guild's representative said, "We trust you, Commander! After all, your plan to evacuate us through the sewers of Terra is the reason we're all safe."
Lotus answered with a gracious smile. "It's now time to counterattack and slit the throats of the enemy who wants to kill us! I know that many of you don't like being led by me. Not only am I a woman, but I'm also the leader of a guild that is far less important than many of yours. Nonetheless, we're all in the same boat! Either we triumph together… or we die together."
Most of the guild representatives had been stuck on Terra for almost two weeks. Even if their being commanded by Lotus was painful, most were more than tired of not being able to actually play the game anymore. They longed to leave this planet and be able to earn EXP and GC again.
So most of them nodded their heads in approval of her plan. After all, the basic plan was one many of them agreed with. The subject of hitting the military warehouses had always been popular, one suggested by many of the guild representatives.
There was a dual interest in capturing it: first, to handicap the opponent. This vast military warehouse was not only an ammunition depot but also a storage unit for whole sets of weapons, armor, medical material, and military infrastructure tools that allowed the infantry to function normally.
But most importantly, it was a warehouse where particularly sensitive weapons were stored, such as tactical and strategic nuclear weapons. It was even quite likely that it held secret weapons, ones never before revealed on the battlefield.
All these factors made it a privileged potential target, but before now, the idea of attacking it had always been rejected. Everything that made it a strategic priority for the Eternals meant that it was equally well-defended!
But things were now different. The huge group, made up of several million players, were united as though they were truly one gigantic guild. These players who were, a week ago, still killing each other on Cronos I, were now all brothers in arms, ready to face adversity.
Apophis and Joker both stood at the front of the procession. Joker had been at the forefront of all the events—from the explosion of Cronos I to the assumption of command of Lotus to her total assertion of command recently. Joker considered this all quite impressive… but also worrying.
For him, the Eclipse guild, despite their apparent low rank, was absolutely not to be underestimated. He had already laid out his estimations of Eclipse's potential to the executives of his SuperGuild, BlackJack. "It's dangerous to grant so much power to such dangerous people!" he said.
Whether the executives had made plans based on his advice was yet to be seen.
***
After two hours of fast, disciplined walking, the players finally arrived at the subject of all this discord: one of the great military warehouses of Terra!
The building was a square kilometer in area, surrounded by a huge wall ten meters high. Watchtowers armed with automatic machine guns were emplaced every hundred meters. Most annoyingly, there was a strong human military presence, as well as the presence of ten mechas, huge robots which protected the entrance.
The assault mechas were truly elite war machines, originally invented to counter the great empires which placed their Ascensionists on the front lines. As their power became apparent, the mechas quickly became a major weapon for planetary combat.
These machines could face any type of enemy tank or Ascensionist and were very resistant to both aerial bombardment and orbital fire. There were only two reliable ways to defeat a Federation-built mecha: either crushing it with overwhelming firepower from almost a whole army at once…
…Or by making it face another assault mecha!
Apophis inspected one of the hulking machines.
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼ Construct
║ ╰╼[Name]: Assault Mecha Vk.5
║ ╰╼[Construct Type]: Mecha
║ ╰╼[LvL]: 100
║ ╰╼[Category]: Medium
║ ╰╼[Weight]: 50 tons
║ ╰╼[Height]: 8 meters
╚══════════════╛
He inspected them one by one, finding no real difference between most of them, before a new one caught his eye.
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼ Construct
║ ╰╼[Name]: Assault Mecha Vk.6
║ ╰╼[Construct Type]: Advanced Mecha
║ ╰╼[LvL]: 120
║ ╰╼[Category]: Heavy
║ ╰╼[Weight]: 85 tons
║ ╰╼[Height]: 12 meters
╚══════════════╛
Drops of sweat dripped from Apophis's forehead. Advanced Mechas!
Apophis cursed Azerof. It could only have been he who had ordered the deployment of these monsters. Facing fifth-generation mechas was already an extremely difficult test, even with millions of Rank C Ascentionists.
But facing a sixth-generation mecha? It would be impossible even if they had 650,000,000 players!
The sixth-generation mechas were created for the sole purpose of defeating a dozen Rank A Ascensionists in one go. A horde of Rank Cs would be like a million ants trying to kill a Titan!Apophis knew he couldn't defeat the enemy… but his plan didn't necessarily involve eliminating all the opposition.
He sent a private message to Lotus. "When the fight starts, kick me out of the group. When I tell you, send a new invitation."
Lotus replied, "Are you sure of this plan?"
Apophis responded at once, "Trust me."
*Isirus is an important financial center in old Federation space where large reserves of tiberium are stored. Okor is a major spice-producing system.
