Fredrick watched on a holoscreen as a droid commander brought a unit of Crab droids along with various other infantry to bear against one of the city's flanks, as the vanguard to a thrust towards a site of major power generation. The city itself was immense, resembling one of the nearby mountains in its sheer size and scale.
Several flights of Vulture droids and Hyena Bombers had been assigned to to this offensive. The OOM droid was mounted on a STAP and he was currently observing the enemy defenses. Mortar droids were moving into position to provide suppressive fire down onto the lighter defenses that had been emplaced here. With the primary assault still engaging the frontal defenses they were to face less resistance than normal.
They approached the outskirts of the Hive's defenses, small defense turrets and Earthshaker barbettes dotted the wall. They had been entrusted with a pair of the only ten Annihilator droids in the entire fleet. They were moving in amongst a group of the smaller crab droids while three of the larger crab droids followed up behind.
Advanced Dwarf Spider droids were taking up firing positions and waited for the command.
"Move in, swarm over their walls and assault the generator stations, a flight of vulture droids and HMPs are enroute to provide assistance."
The crab and spider droids moved surged forward while the Annihilator droids opened fire with small groups of dwarf spider droids following suit. Heavy bolter fire exploded off the heavy shielding of the Annihilator Droids.
The advancing Crab and Dwarf Spider droids started clambering up the walls while the mortar fire from the Battle droids kept any Imperial personnel in cover. A heavy bolter turret took a heavy blaster cannon shot and went silent. One of the Earthshaker guns fired a shot into a clump of battle droids, sending metal parts flying in the explosion.
The Annihilator droids turned their cannons on the barbettes and opened fire, destroying several. Several crab droids had clambered over the walls and were overrunning the sparsely defended section of the wall. The battle components of the assault teams had begun to rappel or climb up the walls in the case of the Super Battle Droids. At this point the full body of the strike force had begun to arrive, a few thousand battle droids and droid walkers emerging from the mountain range to within striking distance. With them came Droid fighter craft and gunships.
Rockets and laser cannon fire scoured the remaining defenders from the area and the Gunships dropped off an entire Super Battle Droid company into the Hive.
A Tactical droid had been given command of the operation and was now organizing the next assault upon the power generators.
"Sir we've received vox that a droid raid has penetrated our defenses near one of our plasma generatorium!"
"Respond immediately with additional forces and have the Militia units mobilized to supplement our troops."
Another officer monitoring the situation was mobilizing a nearby reserve armored unit to respond and giving orders to a junior officer to begin an emergency mobilizing of several hab blocks near the incursion point.
Floods of refugees had poured into the hive following the rapid droid advance across the continent and many of them were now being pressed into service, given rudimentary training with autoguns or when available, as even the PDF troopers were higher priority, las guns.
A troop of chimeras rumbled by the improvised command post, carrying battle hardened veterans of the conflict with the invaders. Flak guns were busy all over the city attempting to dissuade the massive numbers of droid fighter craft from running rampant over the city space. A handful of the remaining fighter craft were engaged with shooting down as many as they could.
"Captain we have reports of light armor overrunning our secondary perimeter, along with significant numbers of their infantry droids. We are currently engaging them with PDF forces and Militia troops. We've received reports that the Magos has ordered his Skitarii cadre to defend the plasma generatorium."
"Excellent, continue our operations, we need to keep those Defense Lasers online."
One of the Advanced Dwarf Spider droids shattered a hastily emplaced heavy stubber nest with its blaster cannon. Autogun fire pinged off its hull as the massive droid advanced, lesser battle droids using it as cover. PDF troopers fired a missile launcher from one of the upper story buildings hitting the leg of the Spider droid, crippling it.
The Spider Droid returned fire, using its missile pods to saturate the building where the missile had been fired from. It continued it advance, targeting strong points with its cannon while the Super Battle droids around it cut into the militia.
At that moment a Rhino appeared around the corner, a heavily armored woman manning the storm bolter on its pintle mount. It halted its course long enough for ten of what had been identified as Sisters of Battle, to disembark from the transport and they engaged. One of them was carrying a meltagun and she rushed at the Spider Droid.
The droid fired at the Rhino, its blaster cannon scoring a blow against its frontal plating and rending a tear into its armor. The droids poured fire into the advancing Sisters but were themselves brought low by bolter rounds. The husks of Super Battle Droids clattered to the ground as the bolt rounds punched massive holes in their chest armor.
The sister took aim and fired a shot directly into the main body of the Spider Droid, punching through its armor and destroying the droid. Invigorating the flattering PDF and militia soldiers, they reclaimed the street.
Nearby streets were similar engaged, as thousands of battle droids fight their way into the city. Entire hab blocks had already fallen but the resistance facing the mechanical onslaught was stiff. Heavy armor was being brought to bear and heavy tanks such as Malcador Defenders were being used to plug gaps in the Imperial defenses. The carnage that Fredrick was witnessing, made even the worst battles of the Clone Wars seem like passing skirmishes.
Reports were coming in of the use of massed radiation weapons by groups of heavily armored cyborg infantry in defense of the plasma generatorium. They were rare comparative to even the elite Sisters of Battle who were proving far more formidable than initially expected. They were plugging up various thrusts by the droid commander of the assault. They also had a massive effect on the morale of the nearby soldiers, causing them to fight with renewed fervor wherever they arrived. Their armor was far more effective than anything that Fredrick had at the same weight and size.
"B7782, status update, have your sub commanders dealt with the generators that keep the defense lasers online?"
"Commander, currently for our assigned forces, we made initially great progress until they managed to raise substantial forces along with the deployment of non standard troops. In addition I have received inexplicable data in regards to our initial contact with what our intelligence assets identified as Adepta Sororitas."
"Inexplicable? You've always found an explanation."
"Commander, we've observed them performing feats that defy explanation even taking into account the abilities of a Jedi, we suspect that unless they are rapidly and thoroughly eliminated we will be unable to take the city. Their effect on the morale and unwillingness to capitulate cannot be overstated."
"Order hunter killer teams of IG-100 droids to dispatch them, give them dedicated air support from our gunships even if we have to strip them from normal operations."
"Yes commander."
A tactical droid was engaged with fierce resistance, the radiation weapons employed by the imperial cyborg infantry were impressive, but their lightning guns which spat arc of streaking electricity were disabling the critical spider droids and the few tanks at his disposal.
They had established several sniper nests, and the firepower form those weapons was tremendous. It made the approach of any droid units hazardous as they were taking out the various commander droid units. It hadn't taken long for the distinctive markings of the B1 units to be a liability.
A trio of Vulture droids streaked overhead, in a strafing run on the Imperial defenses. Behind them came a Hyena bomber, which discharged a payload of proton bombs upon the defenders, sending up huge blasts of smoke and debris.
Into this pall a pack of Crab droids scuttled, driven by the Tactical droid's command and one of the precious annihilator droids. The infantry droids followed cautiously behind, lacking the radiation detectors that could detect the Imperials even in the obscuring smoke.
Flashes of discharged blaster bolts shown through the acrid air. The tactical droid had calculated that the regular Imperial soldiers lacking the night vision or radiation detecting sensors found in droids would be blind and easy prey, however the cyborgs remained an unknown factor. They possessed an unerring accuracy and durability well beyond that of even observed carapace armored Kill teams employed throughout the conflict.
The tell tale crack of one of the lightning weapons cut through the smoke, the screams of wounded Imperials and the sounds of gunfire. A thunderous report sounded as another bombing run was conducted nearby.
"Advance! Take the facility!"
The sudden foot falls of something massive moving sounded, and the tactical droid refocused back into the communications network, a group of marauding B3 Ultra battle droids were pushing through a particularly weak area of the enemy defenses in an effort to establish a link between the two bridgeheads into the Hive City.
The tactical droid was interrupted from continuing to analyze the comms chatter of the various droid units as a group of Imperial soldiers armed with slug throwers emerged from a sewer hole and opened fire upon the guards to his ad hoc command center.
They cut down the B1 droids rapidly as they fired on full automatic. Several more armored humans emerged bearing las guns and in a few cases a rare weapon in the imperial arsenal, the plasma gun.
They cut down the battle droids, the plasma guns cutting down the heavier droids, punching clean through their armor and destroying the circuitry inside the droids. A pair of droidekas opened fire onto the Imperials, cutting down many of the lightly armored troops but only serving to blacken the carapace armor employed by the heavily armored Kill team.
The plasma guns were brought to bear against the Destroyer Droids and while initially their shields repelled the onslaught, they dropped under the fullisade of fire from the weapons and were in turn destroyed themselves.
The tactical droid began to summon other droids to defend him, issuing out a distress signal to all nearby droid units. A burst of auto gun fire cut down several battle droids that erupted from a nearby building attempting to bring their blasters to bear.
They didn't bother entering the command post, instead simply several frag grenades into the building. The battle droid engineers that were currently trying to repair several dozen damaged droids were the first to go as explosions ripped into the post.
Similar battles played out across the Hive city as more and more of the battle droids swarmed in. The Imperial defenders were being pressed in from multiple directions and with the skies firmly in the CIS's hands, they were slowly forced back. However they made the droids pay for it, showing an intensity and fighting spirit that surpassed any prior enemy that droids had encountered. Saturation salvos fired by Hailfire droids destroyed entire hab blocks as the droids gave up on taking particularly stubborn points.
This was the fate that befell one of the plasma generatoriums that supplied the massive Defense Lasers with their apocalyptic might. It was finally brought low as a battery of Hailfire droids and HAGs fired their salvos into the structure. Flamethrower B2s roamed the devastation in the wake of these strikes, immolating any pockets of resistance that survived the firestorm.
The droids were constantly on the off foot at the tactical level when one of the Imperial fire brigade units arrived. The power armor of the Soroitas and sheer firepower found in the surviving Kill teams were absoluting crippling to any local offensive the droids mounted.
"I see why the Republic would conduct Base Delta Zeros on our underground armies." Observed Fredrick as scenes of absolute carnage unfolded. He watched the video feed from a battle droid sniper monitoring one of the Soroitas squads as the women executed a group of civilians who were attempting to surrender to the droids. The sight of such atrocities appalled Fredrick who as removed from humanity as he was by as of his cyborg enhancements and the artificial limb he possessed, still felt a twinge of revulsion. Reports of even children being issued or picking up weapons had reached his ear.
"Order my command AAT readied, I will be present when we reach the Governor's palace, once the Defense lasers are disabled, I want the Star Hammer to take position directly above the Hive City."
"Yes Commander" HK-217 and B7782 said in unison.
A flight of bombers had been rerouted from support duties to simply using their entire ordinance capacities to destroy the various generators rather than expending resources to capture them. Hyena bombers were regarded as well suited for this role as it wasn't imperative for them to return to base.
Torrents of refugees were attempting to escape the brutal slogging combat as the armies clashed, at first with trepidation and then panic as the intensity of the combat forced countless masses of humanity to flee their homes. Fredrick tolerated this and issued orders for his droids to not interfere with any unarmed civilians fleeing the combat.
The constant flights of Vulture Droids above the city continued throughout the day and night and their sensors gave Fredrick an impeccable view of the battlefield. He had given orders for highly unconventional tactics to be used, from having crab droids scale the sheer walls and drop onto passing groups of Imperial soldiers like a metal ambush predator.
The fighting continued in the darkness of Kursk's night, droideka's hunting down groups of soldiers in pitch darkness, relying upon their infrared sensors to find them. Bodies and rubble filled the streets, remnants of what was the capital of the entire planet, now a bloody abattoir. The corpses of humans intermingled with the wrecks of droids.
