Further east, Vargev cast his eye over the tall warehouse buildings, where tanks and equipment would be stored awaiting pickup. It was always busy around those buildings as military vehicles drove to and fro from the loading area.
As he returned his attention northwards once again, he could make out the snaking course of the river Tariseia, where the Aquarius canal got its water. It ran through Gamma colony, about a few kilometres further up the road. The colony itself was a small self contained city, built for the workers at echo base.
Vargev knew he should feel comfortable in the formidable protection that Echo base offered, but he didn’t. There would be an attack soon, he could feel it, but hadn’t a clue where the attack would come from, the tension was rising amongst the men, as it always did on the eve of battle.
As he looked over the base in front of him, he could just make out a lone soldier, playing on an old antique harmonica to others around him, the Russian smiled.
The E.D. F naval vessels that were posted to this area were pushed almost to breaking point trying to hold back the Krenaran attackers. However, sooner or later a Krenaran force will break through, capture the shipyard and then launch an all out attack upon the surface. Every instinct within him was telling him this, and he trusted those instincts, they had kept him alive.
Vargev had barely a hundred E.D. F commandoes under his command, the most highly trained and deadly troops in the E.D.F. Used in the fiercest of the fighting, each man was already a veteran of a dozen engagements during this war, every one a perfectly honed killing machine.
He had posted them to strategic locations where he knew the fighting would be thickest. The spaceport, and dug in within the colony itself. The spaceport would be a high priority for the Krenarans as they would no doubt use it as a staging post to spread out and attack the rest of the base, two twelve man squads lay in wait there to prevent that happening, with their lives if necessary.
The rest; apart from another two squads which were held back to defend the command building itself were ordered to fan out amongst the buildings of the colony, and to prevent the Krenarans from capturing it in the hopes of laying siege to the base itself.
General Steel however, had far more resources at his disposal. He had bolstered the commandoes position at the spaceport with four Apollo main battle tanks, and two dominator assault walkers.
Most of his heavy armour was placed amongst the warehouse buildings and within gamma colony, whereas the faster moving elements of the company he had set up in the Valcasian mountains, as a large pass ran straight through them.
Vargev had approved of the generals decision of sending the 14 or so dominators to gamma colony, as their rugged survivability, thick armour and firepower made them excellent units to use in a built up area, where their comparative slowness wasn’t an issue. Together with 6 more Apollo tanks dug in within the colony, it was pretty well defended.
However, he had staunchly disagreed with Steel’s decision of sending the large force of raider A.T. V’s and rapier light tanks up into the mountains, as Vargev thought the attack was unlikely to come from there, enemy units would have to cover large areas of open ground once clear of the mountains, leaving them vulnerable. However the general had overruled him to his chagrin.
The hot Gamma sun had settled below the horizon, bringing nightfall to the colony. The stars glittered in the inky blackness overhead, and the faint clicks of men checking their weapons could be heard through the quiet night air.
Vargev could pick up the faint, barely audible conversations of the lesser trained infantry sharing soldier stories, he silently harrumphed at their lack of discipline, at giving their positions away so easily. His commandoes however were all perfectly silent. Quietly watching, and waiting. Vargev smiled to himself in pride, before allowing himself to rest briefly before the fireworks began.
Lieutenant Shaw was stood on guard at the main gate when he heard a faint dull whine passing overhead. Glancing around his immediate area, he could see nothing.
Two other soldiers, Corporal Jackson and Sergeant Forrest were busily playing poker. Trying to pass the time until their guard shift ended.
The whining grew steadily louder; Shaw, now troubled by the noise shone his torch over the dark surroundings, but still could not perceive anything of significance. Readying his pulse rifle just in case, he gave out a blind call of “Halt, who goes there. Identify yourself.”
No reply came.
At this call, the two other soldiers put down their cards, and headed over to Shaw’s position. “What’s up Lieutenant, you seem kinda jumpy tonight, your shadow scaring you again?” Forrest asked jokily.
“ Just thought I heard something, a faint whine passing near; probably nothing.”
“ Could be the munitions factories,” Jackson offered.
“ Could be,” Shaw nodded in agreement. “Keep your eyes open anyway.”
A much louder whine appeared to shoot past them, followed by such a powerful blast of air that it nearly blew the three of them off their feet.
“ What the hell!” Forrest shouted.
They shone their torches skywards and could just about make out the matt-black and silver metallic hulls that marked the underside of the dreaded Krenaran stealth ships; barely visible in the dark night sky.
“ Shit it’s the Krenarans!” Jackson yelled.
“ Get command on the line; now!” Shaw ordered, as he barely finished his sentence the guard tower across the road burst into flames as a torpedo smashed into it and blew it apart, showering the three of them in concrete dust and debris. The flames lit up the main gate in a bright orange glow, and smoke billowed out into the night sky.
The commotion forced Vargev awake with a start, and he ran to one of the forward windows in the upper floors of the command building. He could see the orange glow of the flames and the thick black smoke of the destroyed guard tower billowing out high into the night sky.
“ I fucking knew it; the Krenarans must have captured the shipyard.” He said to himself as he grabbed his trusty Armschlager. 44 caliber heavy machine gun, and sprinted down to meet up with Steel and the rest of the command team on the 8th floor of the building.
A flare was launched from near the main gate, high into the sky. It light illuminated the dark silhouettes of the stealth ships passing by overhead, as well as those that had already landed unseen, disgorging hundreds of Krenaran warriors between them. Those which had already landed their payload of troops began to lift off ready for the attack on the base itself.
Two more Krenaran ships swooped in low, firing their powerful bright green particle beams at the perimeter fence in a deafening roar, blasting away huge chunks of scorched concrete.
Vargev rushed into the makeshift command centre, just as another officer shouted, “they are attacking the fence!”
Another Krenaran ship swooped in, unleashing a torpedo straight at the fourth floor, the missile smashed through a conference window and detonated, blasting apart the entire floor in the fury of the explosion. Glass shattered and flames burst from the damaged floor as smoke billowed out, the entire building shook from the force of the explosion.
Vargev and the rest of the command team were thrown to the ground, gradually they got back to their feet, brushing themselves down.
Cannons in the guard towers began returning fire with a deafening chattering roar, as their tracer fire streaked across the night sky, however the Krenaran ships were too fast and too agile and few shots actually hit.
The few Hellfire anti-air units they possessed also opened fire. Their rapid firing heavy laser turrets lit up the night sky in intense flashes of blue energy. The stealth abilities of the Krenaran ships however confused their targeting systems and most of the shots went astray, one however was caught and hit repeatedly, the craft slammed into the ground on the far side of the colony, smoke and flames billowing out from the twisted wreckage.