Ravens of Eternity

374 Blood on the Line, Pt The attacking Imperial fleet leveled themselves off a few kilometers above the megacity, turned their broadsides towards the streets, then circled the entire thing like they were vultures. Though their bow chitin had been shattered to pieces, almost down to their exoframes, the majority of the damage was merely superficial.

And to the Drogar, it was necessary. If they didn’t suffer it, they would never have been able to move into position above the megacity itself.

Chitin armor panels along their exposed broadside opened up and revealed the stinger-like broadside cannons to the city. Each one charged up with dark orange energy, then shot energy-encased slugs down to the Felrahn military facilities.

They punched through the titanium carbide plating with absurd ease, and tore their way deep into the gun mechanisms. Some ripped through the turret mechanisms on one of the guns, and utterly annihilated the gears that moved the entire thing.

Worse, they eradicated the gun’s main supports, which caused it to tip forward dangerously. The sheer weight pressed down further on the turret mechanisms, and warped them from the sheer force.

Large chunks of the mechanism shattered to pieces and were flung in every direction. Some smashed into the mechanics and engineers nearby, and killed them instantly, violently.

The weight of the barrel up above caused the whole thing to collapse, and the barrel itself tipped further and further out. As it did so, it wrenched up the housing all around the turret and tore it completely out of the facility itself.

It seemed as though time stood still for just a moment as the barrel fell. It came crashing down on the city below, and brought down every building it struck along the way. One apartment building was literally torn open, and everyone hiding inside was thrown down to the streets kilometers below as a result.

The barrel itself broke into pieces with every impact it suffered or inflicted, and joined the building debris on the way down to the ground far below. They tumbled further into other buildings around them, and brought them all down as well.

.....

And any Felrahn citizens along the way.

Numerous defensive cannons were torn apart all around the megacity, and were neutralized quickly, one right after another. The military facilities were bombarded relentlessly, and utterly shredded by the battleship’s cannons.

Not that they stopped firing themselves – any that were still up and running fought back as hard as they could. Now that the Drogar ships were much closer, they could hit them with maximum force.

The sabot round smashed their chitin with incredible power, and shattered them easily. Which unfortunately caused more chitin shards to rain down on the city.

What few guns remained focused their efforts on the battleships’ broadside turrets, and blasted them as much as they could. Because they were independent parts that were completely separate from the battleship itself, it meant they were subject to heavier kinetic energy.

Simply, the battleship itself couldn’t absorb the damage they took.

Not only was their chitin blasted to pieces, but their exoframes beneath warped with every hit. Their stingers themselves were bent up or torn apart or turned to slag.

A group of guns focused on one of the battleships and flung round after round into one of its turret housings. They practically blasted it to pieces until it was reduced to scrap, then continued to hollow out what they could.

They drilled deep into the battleship itself, and dug violently into its belly. There, countless Drogar crewmembers were annihilated, along with the systems and modules all around them. Everything was blasted apart with such ferocity that the battleship came extremely close to being severed in half.

But the battleship didn’t simply allow itself to get destroyed so easily.

Its topside armor chitin slid open and revealed the massive hovering beam cannons inside. They quickly turned towards the city itself, and began to cut through the Felrahn turrets attacking them. Their powerful beams came down on the rail cannon barrels, and literally sliced them in half.

More than that, they chewed into the numerous buildings underneath the weapon facilities themselves, and split them apart with ease. Their top halves slid off and fell down. They smashed into the buildings near them, and ripped them open along the way.

Massive chunks of detritus fell to the ground far below, and destroyed everything underneath. Hoppers and signs and shops all crumpled from the sheer weight of it all.

Worse, the weapon barrels came down as well. They took down even more buildings as they went.

Thousands more Felrahn citizens were flung out towards the ground, and died violently as a result.

And at the same time, the battleships activated their defensive antigravity fields. Pulses of energy swept out, but since their chitin had fallen to the ground there was nothing for them to reel in.

Not that they needed to – they simply caught the sabot round in the fields. They spun helplessly, suspended mere meters away from their targets.

To their credit, the Felrahn turrets kept on firing, even though they had been practically negated. Even until the massive Drogar beams cut them to ribbons.

But that was all just the beginning of the Imperial attack on the city. The Drogar carrier opened up all of its hangar bays and released hundreds of fighters and mecha out onto the city.

They streamed out in droves and flew down to the city itself, and fired at everything along their path.

The fighters in particular stayed above the skyline, and shot at every building they flew past. They didn’t even bother with the military facilities, as they were being hammered by the capital ships. Instead, they fired their beams at all of the civilian buildings below them, and cut deep into them.

They literally sliced them into pieces, and allowed the debris to fall from the sky, many kilometers down to the ground.

At the same time, the mecha entered the streets themselves and fired at everything all around. Sure, there were numerous military targets for them to eradicate. They fired the cannons across their back and utterly annihilated any drones and security stations they came across.

Emergency military patrols and their hovertanks were destroyed with utter prejudice as well. But their presence didn’t stop the Drogar from firing at civilian targets as well.

They leveled their long rifles at the various buildings around them, and fired round after round straight into them. Straight into clusters of civilians trying to hide from the devastation. Some practically emptied their weapons into them with utter glee, as though they were exterminating vermin.

Squadrons of fighters and mecha spread through the megacity itself and wrought destruction everywhere they flew.

Back at the heart of the city, Lady Felrahn, her entourage of doctors, and her military and civil advisors all fled down a long hallway. They were guided by armed soldiers as they escaped from the city center, and towards a secure evacuation zone under the city itself.

All around them were the rest of the personnel working at the capitol building, and all of them were also running for their lives.

It was clear what many of them believed about their own futures.

The group was led into a large underground MagRail facility, where they were ushered into an armored escape hopper. They settled themselves inside in secure, but luxurious seats, and were quickly transported away from the chaos.

“I don’t understand why we’re running!” said the Hegemony Counselor. “We can still defeat them if we mount a defense!”

“Are you mad?” screamed Lady Felrahn. “Didn’t you see the sheer power they brought down on my city? They’re cutting it apart as though it’s a midday roast!”

“You have thousands of fighters and mecha on call – they can easily counter the few hundred the Drogar brought.”

“And then what? Destroy the battleships? Punch through their thick armor? With what weapons?”

“They can certainly assault any open hangar bays! We aren’t without options!”

“We have no options! My city is dying!”

The Hegemony Counselor was absolutely livid at the old woman’s choices. Things looked dire, yes, but running from the fight was absolutely devastating to the city. To Felrahn. To the Hegemony.

“If you abandon your city now, you’re assuring its death!” he protested.

“But not House Felrahn,” the old woman retorted. “Felrahn will not fall. We will never fall. We will survive through this, and in the future, retake our home planet! That’s what’s important now. As long as I live, then so too does House Felrahn.”

The counselor grimaced even further on hearing that. To him, a House was its people, not its leader. And this leader literally gave up her own people all too easily.

He simply crossed his arms and looked away, unable to continue talking to her. There no longer was any point in doing so.

Lady Felrahn was equally simmering in anger. She had suffered a truly humiliating defeat on her own doorstep, and was forced to run from her ancestral home.

All of the power she held quite literally slipped through her fingers. And it all happened in the blink of an eye.

“Damage report,” she said after a minute of deafening silence.

One of the analysts across from her quickly folded open her personal datapad, which projected small amounts of data in the air. She scrolled through it all as much as she could before she responded.

“My data’s incomplete, ma’am,” she began. “Citywide defense systems have been reduced by 39%. But the majority of those still active are moderately damaged. Stationed military personnel have been reduced by only 5%, but many are still on-base and awaiting deployment.”

The analyst paused for a moment and looked at the old woman, as though she was waiting for some kind of reaction. But all she got in return was an emotionless stare, so she continued.

Albeit with some trepidation.

“City inhabitants are also reporting a 13% casualty rate,” the analyst said. “And steadily growing.”

“What about our defense fleet?” said the High Admiral. His voice was weak, and his face was pale.

His arm had also developed a slight tremor, which indicated that he was taking this military loss incredibly heavily.

And why wouldn’t he? The Felrahn Navy hadn’t lost a military engagement in hundreds of years. And now, they were on the verge of losing absolutely everything.

This time a tactician spoke up, somewhere behind the High Admiral. He even stood up so he could be heard more easily. He pulled up his transparent datapad and shifted the data on its display quickly.

“Sir,” he said, “the Vencal defensive fleet has suffered roughly 30% casualties. Both the carrier and battleship are still operational, however we lost three cruisers, four destroyers, and nine frigates. Among the skirmish vessels, we are down by 27 fighters, 17 mecha, and 68 drones.

“The enemy has suffered less than 10% casualties. They lost one cruis-”

“Nevermind,” interrupted the High Admiral. “I think that’s all we need to know about this battle... Rhylen Terra is lost.”