Chapter 14: Star Hammer Unleashed
The factories had churned out several million droids in the months long lull in the fighting. The droids had held their positions, in no small part to the support offered by the frigate's batteries, which turned the first several large scale assaults into routs and charred ruins. Skirmishing had continued and both sides bleeding from their wounds drew upon whatever strength they could to continue their battle.
The battle in orbit had reached a stalemate with neither side having the strength to force a confrontation on their own terms. The two battered fleets licking their wounds in the void. Separated by hundreds of kilometers of space they hung like great beasts of legend, the awesome power of their weaponry contained for the moment, awaiting release.
HK-217 stood on the bridge, observing the enemy fleet through several holovids. Detailed external scans had been conducted, but due to the sheer density of their armor plating only the most basic of internal workings could be determined.
The Imperial forces had proved resistant to both conventional tactics and unconventional strategies. Their vessels were of immense size and capabilities. After the various assassination missions directed at him, he had a trio of Dwarf Spider Droids emplaced to guard the bridge alongside numerous battle droids. However the Star Hammer's armory was severely depleted by the demands of the ground war.
However the system was now rich in the hulks of destroyed starships and its asteroid belt was a promising ground for producing the material needed for replacing their losses and adding to their numbers. During the lull in the combat his forces had been reinforced by new droids from the surface.
Numerous engineer B1 droids were laboring to restore the Confederate to its original state, using pieces of the Secession's wreck to patch the rents in the Confederate's armor. The fleet was heavily damaged but in the lull they were able to begin rebuilding its strength.
HK-217 continued studying the information streams, the enemy fleet remained passive, as if waiting for the droids to make the first move.
Commander Fredrick had left standing orders that any aggressive action was to be cleared with him before it was taken.
Orbital strikes had been carried out upon various Imperial troop concentrations and industrial centers around the planet, these had been carried out with the frigates, with the battleship's standing sentinel over the now massive droid foundry.
This lull in the fighting had allowed Commander Fredrick to amass a significant pool of new droids. MTTs were being employed in a massive ferrying operation, bringing thousands of new battle droids to the front lines.
B1s and B2s were the primary production model, but some of the more valuable units were also being produced, Dwarf Spider Droids, Persuader tanks and AATs. Fredrick was amassing an army for one final push into the Hive city.
"Sir, Commander Fredrick is requesting your attention."
HK-217 turned and walked towards the holovid transceiver.
An image of Commander Fredrick and B7782 standing over a holographic representation of their troop deployments and estimated enemy deployments.
"HK, based upon the production of new droids we should be ready to move with overwhelming force in two months, we have cut off any supply shipments into the Hive, a city of that size cannot last long without food."
"I still require replacements for the fleet's losses, neither side can engage without crippling itself, if the Hive's anti-orbital guns can be captured, then our chances of defeating them increase incredibly."
B7782 spoke, "The commando droids are emplace, if we can breach the outer defenses of the Hive, then they can open the gates for us."
"This won't be easy however, Imperial armor and artillery are dug in so much that any assault would be costly. I estimate that we will lose eighty percent all of units deployed in the first wave. Our Heavy Assault Tanks and MTTs are the other vehicles with the armor required to withstand a frontal assault upon these positions."
Fredrick pointed to a large section on the hologram, mountainous terrain to the south of the Hive.
"Commence an artillery bombardment, two days before the assault begins, HAGs and IG-227s. We'll have our Crab Droids deployed into the mountains that protect the Hive's southern flank. Deploy a significant infantry presence alongside them. Make it look like that we are mounting a major offensive there."
This was an ambitious offensive, HK-217 was surprised at Fredrick's boldness. However he understood his urgency, they had no idea if enemy naval assets would arrive to bolster their fleet they'd lose the next engagement and their ground forces could be destroyed at the enemy's leisure.
"Fredrick, I would recommend the deployment of our proton cannon droids to support this offensive."
One of the OOM droid's at the sensor station looked up.
"Sir, the enemy fleet is disengaging, they are making a course towards the edge of the system."
This news took HK-217 aback. It had been an incredibly unlikely possibility given the data available to him.
"Commander Fredrick, the enemy fleet is withdrawing from the system, we now have total control over the space above Kursk III."
Silence was his only response for several seconds until a stunned sounding Commander Fredrick responded.
"Engage the enemy's major troop concentrations that are unprotected by the planetary defensive guns, then devote all fighter craft to air support for our final push."
Orbital strikes light up the night sky as Fredrick watched, the turbo laser batteries of his force scouring the surface of the any relief force for the capital city. Much of the planet had surrendered at this point except for the sector covered by the Hive city's void shield and defensive batteries.
Staging areas were filling with fresh droids created at the now massive droid foundry. Just this week HK-217 had presented to him a new set of plans for a dreadnought to be the fleet's flagship. These new Lucrehulk class dreadnoughts would allow superiority over the enemy's Lunar Class and enable the fleets to engage possible larger ships. However such ambitious plans for the future would need to wait for victory over the remaining Imperial forces on the planet. It was one of HK-217's quirks, the droid in its spare time would tinker with designs made available to it and attempt to create new ones. In fact he had a design he wanted to prototype some time in the future, a droid known as the IG-200.
The drone of approaching engines interrupted his train of thought as a Heavy Assault Tank lumbered past, its quad gun ready to engage the HIve's defenses. Behind it followed the lesser droid tanks and a few captured Leman Russ tanks crewed by spare battle droid crews. The Hive had actually been a minor tank producing world for the subsector at large. The captain that had been taken from the enemy flag ship had proven to be far more valuable than the commissar taken early in the campaign. Her indoctrination into service for the God Emperor of Mankind had been incredibly thorough. In the end however, she had been broken. The chink in her armor had taken a long time to find but they had found it in the end.
Fredrick walked along the grassy field, shielded by a large hill from the forward areas. His heavy tread left deep footprints in the earth. His eyes had long grown accustomed to the artificial view provided by his power armor.
The initial surge in Imperial strength caused by the arrival of the elite female troops, known as Sisters of Battle or Adepta Sororitas had been contained. Fredrick had been impressed with them as soldiers, each worth more than even the most elite soldiers employed by the Imperial Guard units on the world. Only a small handful had ever been taken alive and that was very costly.
Fredrick stepped unto the side of his personal AAT and ordered the driver forward. He wanted to personally review enemy defenses and assess probable weak points.
Behind him were his customary Magna Guards, two armed with electro staffs with blaster rifles at their hips and another pair with Radiation launchers and Bulldog rocket launchers. The wreck of a AAT was nearby, abandoned when a PDF tank hunter team had destroyed it.
Fredrick raised his binoculars and looked out at the fortress walls that secured the Hive's entrance. Huge bulks of ferrocrete and plasteel. A pair of Quake Cannon turrets were mounted on the gate's flanks. Ahead of it were a few destroyed Leman Russ hulks that had been destroyed in a preliminary bombardment. The bulk of remaining Imperial Forces had withdrawn to within the Hive's walls. Heavy armaments would be needed to break through that gate, or blast a hole in the walls. But with the commando droids, they would be opened for his armies.
"Bring forth the tanks, we commence the assault at nightfall."
With that command Fredrick took a step back, and felt the ground tremble as millions of battle droids began their approach. HAG batteries began their bombardments and thousands of tanks began to move.
Fredrick knew that soon the skies themselves would darken as droid fighters and gunships would swarm towards the Hive city. Within the next few hours those gates would lay wide open and his droids would flood into that city and crush the last imperial fortress on the planet.
The Quake Cannon turrets rotated and began firing at their far off targets, their huge shells rending the air. Numerous other smaller weapons bristled from the walls and Fredrick watched as the Hive braced for the assault.
At nightfall the assault began, the Heavy Assault Tanks leading a wedge formation while smaller AATs and Spider Droids followed in their wake. Thousands of battle droids followed behind. The first wave was within striking distance.
Hidden in the inner workings of the great engines that controlled the Hive's gate the dormant commando droids reactivated. They had hidden themselves deep inside the access shafts that allowed the tech priests to minister to the intricate machines.
Their glowing white eyes the only bits of light in this darkness. They had only minutes to open the gates and from the vibrations of the various imperial artillery shaking the foundations of these structures, they prepared for immediate opposition.
They moved quickly their myriad weapons ready. Shotgun blaster armed droids were the vanguard. They shot a pair of servitors in their path, blasting the cyborgs apart. Rapidly ascending the stairs to the control area for the gates they moved with deadly intent.
The door to the entrance opened and a group of figures administered to the various controls for the wall. A hooded and red robed figure was standing there, a large cog toothed axe in one hand the other holding a las pistol of particularly heavy build.
A burst of static erupted from the figure's vox and it started shooting into the droids, striding to meet them with it axe. Blaster bolts impacting the figure and despite the burned holes in his robe the figure did not relent.
He let the pistol fall, a chain securing it to his armor as he swung his cog tooth axe into one of the commando droids that had avoided the fire from his hell pistol. The Enginseer cleaved a path into the droids. The blasphemous machines no match for the might of the Omnissiah, and the power armor he wore was a sure defense against the various las weapons brought against him. Several of them drew forth blades and met him in combat. The pieces of seven of their brethren impeding the progress of the remaining thirteen.
He spun the omnissian power axe and knew with the clarity that being part machine brings that he would best these opponents. The magos had entrusted him with the defense of this chamber and he wouldn't see it defiled by them. One slashed his arm and he felt the blade bit into his armor, he retaliated with a broad swing of the axe the laid low the droid and brought him into striking distance of the next.
He sent out a request for assistance over the Noosphere to any nearby combat servitors or adepts of the machine god. These machines were faster than he was, their speed and dexterity exceeding that displayed by the other patterns of droids employed by the host. However this agility did not save one hapless droid as it was caught in his servo arm and crushed. He was an instrument of the Omnissiah, defending the Cult from one of the greatest perversions of technology. The Arch heretek Fredrick was making his assault but this bastion would not be taken easily.
He chanted a canticle to machine god, invoking the power of the machine and the wrath of Tigrus his homeworld. The only three droids remained against him. They were in the rear and carrying bulky explosive devices amongst their wargear.
They appeared to be rigging them to explode while their brethren bought time against the implacable tech priest. The tech priest strode forward and enraged at the droids smashed the first one into the ferrocrete wall with his servo arm and bisected the one at the controls of the device with his axe. The final droid pulled out a device and spoke in a harsh burst of binary into the device, either attempting to summon reinforcements or report to some superior. It was the last action the droid made as he bisected with one final sweep of his power axe.
"Commander Fredrick, we have received a transmission from the commando unit dispatched with opening the gates for us. It would appear that they were all destroyed by forces deployed to ensure security of the objective."
Fredrick turned towards the OOM droid.
"Order to army forward anyway, have the HATs blast through the gates with turbo laser fire. Use every piece of ordinance we have to blast our way in."
He effectively controlled the planet but due to the presence of those orbital defense lasers emplaced within the Hive, they denied him a significant portion of the upper atmosphere and orbital area. The city had to fall and soon and Fredrick would pour in droids even if he had to drown the Imperial forces in scrap metal to do it.
Fighters and bombers were making passes over the city. The few remaining imperial atmospheric craft were putting up stubborn resistance, reports were coming in from many different sectors as the city was struck.
Crab droid units had noted low levels of resistance as they advanced through the mountain range the protected one of the Hive's flanks. They expected to open up a secondary front in the hive momentarily. The gate assault was producing more losses on the Confederate side than any other previous engagement. Losses were sustainable so long as they could keep the imperials bottled up inside the Hive.
"B7782, status update on the primary assault."
"Sir, we expect that their walls will have lost integrity shortly under sustained bombardment from our artillery assets. Currently they still maintain a massive troop concentration in the area surrounding the gate as if they expect us to break through. Flak guns and laser batteries are protecting the enemy's air space and proving effective at destroying our fighter craft."
"Very well, press our assault and deliver me my new capital."