"Governor, we have lost this world, we are surrounded and our resources are depleted. We've nearly spent the remaining Guardsmen and our PDF has been devastated. Three of the lesser warships of Fredrick's fleet and in the air space over the Hive, providing direct support to his troops."
Governor Zhukov, was standing at a war room embedded his Citadel, and watched as the PDF generals, and Imperial Guard colonels directed the remaining defenses of the Hive city. Movements had been difficult in the large scale due to complete Droid air supremacy, fighter and bomber droids attacking the major shifts in troop positions and incurring major losses on units separated from anti aircraft units.
The Sororitas were among those elements most responsible for their continued resistance, the uplifting effect upon the nearby troopers invigorating even the most despairing troopers in their army. However they were running low on stores of Bolt shells, and fuel for the Sister's flamers and melta guns. By pulling back to the Citadel, they could restock directly from its vast stores of ammunition. Its food stores could allow it to holdout for a few years based off the size of the garrison that had been reinforced by the withdrawal of troops from most of the Hive City. They had been fighting for months in the ruins of their homes and those who still stood were hardened veterans. Yet the droids kept coming, emerging from forges in the West and being sent directly into the meat grinder of urban combat. Each week that passed, they seemed to swell in numbers and grow in strength even as his troops were ground down.
"Governor, they are massing in the nearby areas, we've had reports of heavy armor, their dreadnoughts and huge numbers of infantry."
"How long can we expect our defenses to hold out?"
"We don't know lord, it depends entirely upon the weapons they bring to bear, I would estimate that under normal circumstances we have a siege of several months before we are overwhelmed but those void ships could rapidly shift forward Fredrick's timetable."
A new voice came from among the huddled officers. Raspy but feminine, the Canoness Commander had survived when the droids had attacked the bridge of the Lunar Class cruiser she had been aboard. She hadn't escaped without injuries, burn scars covered a portion of her face and carried on down the woman's neck. Others had been much less fortunate and had been simply incinerated by the proton bombs and torpedoes.
Her armor had been scarred from numerous skirmishes with the droid invaders, and her weapons showed the wear that intense combat would bring. Her inferno pistol and power sword showed marks from an encounter with a group of the dangerous purple eyed droids that escorted the enemy's commander.
"If we can rip the heart out of their army, we can put them into disarray and that will give us the time to await a breakthrough from void borne reinforcements."
"Can we afford to make a strike on Fredrick's position, he is embedded in the center of a large group of their tanks and swarms of his infantry, even if the the remainder of your Sisters were deployed, they would be annihilated at his leisure."
Governor Zhukov considered the situation, his subordinate officers had been cowed by the sheer destruction that Fredrick had brought to the planet and their forces. The Canoness wanted revenge for the Sisters who had fallen to the Droids. The mechanicus was cut off from the other defenders, the bulk of their troops held up in the last Defense Laser's bastion.
"We will have to hold them off at the outer walls. Canoness, if you gain the opportunity I will not deny you your vengeance against Fredrick," which went without saying as he knew that while his authority over the PDF and militia was absolute, the Guard forces and Soroitias were both only offering aid, but not beholden to him. "But I ask that you don't abandon the citadel yet, as the souls of our soldiers are strengthened by the aid your sisters are providing."
The Sister laughed, "Governor, I doubt that any of us will ever leave this fortress bar intervention from the one most holy."
Fredrick gazed at the immense fortress where the governor had made his residence, occasional harassment fire was being exchanged from both sides, and every so often one of the Earthshaker barbettes would fire.
His macrobinoculars swept over the troops who were gathered in various annexes and holdfasts which sheltered them from the shell fire.
"Are our J-1s in place to begin preparatory bombardment?"
"Yes commander Fredrick, in addition they have been issued sufficient ammunition stocks to enable them to continuously fire on the enemy defenses for the estimated duration of our assault. HAGs have also been deployed to open breaches in the enemy's fortifications for our infantry to pour through."
"HK-217, are our naval assets ready to make their contribution?"
"Targets have been selected and the turbolasers have been primed, we are awaiting the order to fire."
Fredrick was ready, his and B7782 and HK-217 both advocated for an immediate assault upon the Governor's citadel in order to bring the last holdout against him under the Confederate Flag.
"B7782 order all batteries to commence firing upon my signal, and have our forward assault units prepared to engage the enemy."
Fredrick turned to an OOM droid and gave the droid a nod. The click of the audio alerted him that he had been connect to a massive speaker network and that his voice would carry all the way to the Imperial lines.
"Governor, this is Commander Fredrick, the new sovereign of this planet, your army has been shattered, the fleets that were sent against mine lie scattered and burning in the void, nothing remains of those who have stood against my forces. You are surrounded, surrender and I will spare your lives, resist and I will give no quarter."
Fredrick raised one of his hands and clenched his fist, and the audio linked was disabled. He kept it raised and several of the OOM droids assigned to signals watched it, waiting for the signal for the assault to begin.
He had a clear line of sight to the citadel and watched as the various defensive weapons that could be brought to bare level themselves at his army. From a bare turret near the center of the formation, an immense missile launched.
"It seems we have our response…" Fredrick clenched his gauntlet and brought down his fist in the separatist signal to commence fire.
Mass drivers and turbo laser fire streaked towards the fortress, and Vulture droids and Hyena bombers roared towards it. Torpedoes streaked towards the main guns of the fortress, massive artillery guns that were firing towards Fredrick's army. Several Vulture droids banked upwards towards the sky to intercept the missile, firing off a salvo of missiles at it. HMPs thundered past, delivering their payloads directly into the defenses.
Heavy weapons fire arced into the army, las cannons, heavy bolters, auto cannons, various artillery pieces. The imperials fired everything they had into the onrushing droid army but it wasn't enough. Countless droids were charging the fortress. Blaster fire suppressing the enemy troops while assault teams moved en masse to engage the Imperial soldiers.
Fredrick was coordinating support assets and issuing out orders to his tactical droid subordinates. Artillery shells came crashing down onto the battle droids as they charged the enemy redoubts, heavy bolters and autocannons spat death at them. Any sane human wouldn't have gone running forward into that storm outside the hull of a battle tank Fredrick thought, as his droids rushed forward.
Crab droids could be seen clambering up the ramparts, several of them carrying a flamethrower in place of the usual repeating blaster. Several could be seen tearing into various gaps in the immense ferrocrete walls where weapons poked out. Turbo laser fire slammed into fortified gatehouse and las and battle cannon fire began to concentrate onto the massive droid tanks, while the lesser AATs and snail tanks gave support to the infantry droids as they found small gaps in defenses.
An explosion erupted as a heavy turbo laser shot from one of the frigates slammed into the wall, striking an ammunition dump for several of the of the ordinance pieces mounted onto the citadel. A cloud of debris erupted from the impact zone, shrouding the battlefield in darkness. Hundreds of battle droids littered the ground and slowed the second wave as the assault kicked up once again.
"Commander, we have opened a path into the fortress, HMPs have delivered B2 reinforcements onto one of the cleared zones, and we are experiencing extreme resistance, numerous passageways are too small to accommodate armor, we are restricted to infantry models and Dwarf Spider droids."
"Acknowledged, send in the destroyer droids, wipe them out!"
Fires and smoke littered the battleground, and while much the fight still raged, Fredrick ordered his command tank forward, he intended to watch the inner sanctum itself, fall. Wrecks of battle tanks congested the entrance in the fortress. It was immense and from its center rose a tower that marked the center of the Hive city, richly decorated with gothic flair.
Fredrick did not advance alone, his cadre of Magna Guards surrounded his tank and the shadow of one the frigates loomed over him as they advanced. Once they had passed inside the walls, the sounds of ferocious combat could be heard. Screams and the bursts of blaster fire, alongside the booming noises of Imperial weaponry.
Vulture droids strafed a nearby section, catching several ragged troopers in their laser fire.
Fredrick stood up and left his tank, trusting that at this stage of the combat, his droids would handle their roles. His Magna Guards closed ranks around him, protecting him from any ambushes.
They moved forward in a diamond formation, with Fredrick in the center. The central corridor was large enough to accommodate Advanced Dwarf Spider droids who had swept aside the resistance.
Gouts of fire still lingered on the ground where flamethrowers had been used to flush out pockets of resistance.
Fredrick's forces were only one room ahead of his advance, steadily pushing the desperate defenders back. He poured forward his army to clear a path to the center, to confront the man who denied him his rule.
It took several hours but they had whittled down their opposition, many of them preferring to simply surrender and have the fighting cease then to die most of them had only seen from a picture or afar.
Fredrick and his guardians watched as the final nut of resistance was about to be cracked. A set of breaching charges were set and B1 engineers moved away from engraved doors, set with gold and darkened with blaster residue. The corpses of several guards were being dragged away to ensure that nothing would impair their final assault.
With a sudden explosion the doors went flying into the room and B2s and Destroyer droids rushed in, blaster bolts spraying. Bolter fire and hell guns barked and cracked in response. A plasma bolt slagged a B2-HA that was raising its cannon to fire.
Even as they were cut down, more droids poured in, uncaring as those around them were cut down by withering fire power. Destroyer Droids provided cover, their shields making them islands inside the firestorm that poured forth.
Fredrick strode into that inferno and fired his own weapon, striking a man in carapace armor and punching through his battered plate. A hellgun shot struck his cortosis plated armor and a small spot glowed as the metal absorbed the energy and spread it throughout his suit. Radiation launchers bucked a Sister of Battle went down as her exposed head was cooked in a brief radiation storm. The governor was swinging a stylized power maul and firing a hot shot las pistol in his off hand.
He raised his inbuilt blasters to shoot him when a woman stepped in front of him, her armor while initially white, was pitted and blackened in the intense fighting. In one hand she held an inferno pistol and in the other a power sword.
"At last, the heart of the enemy." She said.
Magna Guards whirled to intercept, electro staffs spinning.
She fired her side arm and the fire droid disappeared from the waist up, its armed raised above its head to strike dropping as the body that supported them was melted. The electro staff clattering to the ground. She moved with grace and skill that astounded Fredrick. She dueled the next droid, out pacing and finally lopping its head off with a stroke from her blade.
Her advance was cut short as the droid continued to fight, ignoring the damage. An agonized cry was her reward as it landed a blow onto her, purple lightning arcing over her armor. She finished that droid with a diagonal slash that ended at its hips and continued towards Fredrick. With his other guardians occupied with keeping the rest of the battle at bay, Fredrick squared off against his opponent.
"This may be our tomb monster, but I will sear defiance of humanity into whatever passes for a soul amongst your kind."
Fredrick looked at her, his towering form casting a shadow in the fires of the battle.
He didn't respond, but simply raised his right arm and fired, blaster bolts being absorbed in an energy shield that cloaked the woman from harm.
She fired her pistol and the wash of heat washed over Fredrick, and this time it wasn't simply a small spot that glowed but rather his entire upper body and even his Cortosis plating struggled to repel that blast. The heat was so intense that it burned his flesh through his armor, and he screamed. He couldn't see, and he could feel the metal searing his flesh.
Reeling, he nearly fell over, and the only noises he could hear were his own screaming and the sounds of flesh being seared.
She watched her foe, astounded that his armor hadn't given way after she had shot him point blank with a melta pistol. She had once felled a traitor marine with this very pistol and they were a far more dangerous foe than the writhing machine before her.
She raised her power sword and struck downwards intending to pierce what would be the heart on a man.
Before her point could pierce Fredrick's armor one of his Magna Guards struck her with a electro staff, driving its crackling point into her breastplate. Its directive, to ensure that its master was unharmed had been failed and it rushed her with machine fury.
Another came at her from behind and jammed a small vibro blade through the arm joint in her plate. The sororita rammed her power sword through the chest of the first droid, coughing blood onto its metal face. The droid ignored the damaged and using main strength, pried her hand off the blade and stepped backwards, and drew it. She saw the monster they served rising behind them, its shell still growing red from the blast, steam rising from its surface.
It spoke, distorted by the damage it must have suffered and by pain she realized with shock but she couldn't understand what it was saying, bursts of static erupted from the thing. Almost sounding distressed.
One of the droids of what had been identified as a sort of praetorian guard was issuing orders to the surviving droids. Countless shells of the more common droids littered the ground, intermingled with the dead imperials, however several of them were clamped in the iron grip of a metal fist.
They had been overrun, they were everywhere. A pair of Fredrick's praetorians had the Governor subdued, his power maul had been knocked from his hand in an explosion.
"This is IG-105, we have secured the Imperial Governor and the various leaders of their resistance, requesting a shuttle to extract them for holding inside the Star Hammer."
The Magna Guard turned its purple photoreceptors towards the Fredrick, several of the other surviving Magnaguards were carrying their charge out of the palace, as a shuttle had already been dispatched to bring him aboard the Star Hammer for medical treatment.
The droid considered it foolish, the commander shouldn't have ventured out in such a vulnerable state. That concern was marked as secondary to seeing him repaired to operational status again.
They withdrew, and in time the city would be rebuilt if the information provided to IG-105 was accurate, but the tactical droids who had grown increasingly powerful as their numbers had expanded could sway Fredrick. He couldn't care, he could only serve and defend yet it brought up possibilities for threats to his charge should they prove to be disloyal, their independence was growing.
He walked in the direction of a opening where a Sheathipede shuttle was arriving, dispatched to transport the commander to medical care. A group of twenty vulture droids were in walker form, clinging to the sides of the building in order to prevent interception from any hidden fighters or anti aircraft batteries that still remained functional.
A pair of Destroyer Droids were standing guard, shields active as the procession of Magna Guards arrived bearing their cargo.
IG-105 left as the shuttle took off, followed by the squadron of Vulture Droids. The Droid had the highest rank of any of the Magna Guards in the battle group, and had been granted significantly more autonomy as a result.
Most of the garrison had been depleted at this point, it had been under strength compared to the estimates of what the Imperial forces would have defending their final holdout. It had been such a meat grinder in the months that they'd been engaged in this city that it was probable that Imperial reserves had been exhausted. Data had shown a massive spike in surrenders and suspected desertions as the fighting progressed onwards.
The droid watched as a group of B2 battle droids seperated the high ranking personel from the simple rank and file and sheparded them into a waiting shuttle, bound in shackles.
Several droids were employed for their ability at extracting information from organics, and they would be awaiting these prisoners, the rest were sent to simple holding cells that had been built on Kursk itself.
They had been at war for nearly a year at this point and from the data the droid had accessed their troop count had grown spectacularly, as resource dredged up from several mines that had been established to feed a growing imperial industry had been taken by the droids.
The IG-105 knew that this victory, which had required a year's worth of fighting to achieve was a harbinger for future conflicts, they had no basis of comparison if this was typical imperial defense, a major fortress or a back water that flipped much like a minor world had during the Clone War.
A voice sounded over a comm-link inside a pouch the droid had in its cloak.
"IG-105 this is HK-217, return to the Star Hammer."
"What is the situation?"
"I am charging you with the defense of Commander Fredrick's body as he undergoes emergency treatment."
IG-105 sent the affirmative signal and called for one of the new Rogue class star fighters which had only entered limited production so far. One had been assigned to him recently as his personal star fighter.
As the star fighter sped away from the burning city, its residents would look up at their new mechanical overlords, as countless numbers of battle droids spread Fredrick's grip over the planet of Kursk while he lay on an operating table under the ministrations of his own droids.
