Chapter 173 - Assault on Haui's Moon (2)

“That fucker’s running away, stop him!” Warden Fresia ordered as Ceres ran back towards the turrets, planning to avoid combat with the heavy exosuit.

The heavy exosuit could not fit through the narrow corridors that led to the turrets, so Ceres planned to fight there. “Should have never pushed towards the administrative wing in the first place.”

The guards were hesitant, but still chased him down the corridor. The moment they turned the corner however, Ceres dropped onto them from above, impaling one of the guards through the nape of his neck and swinging his body around, crushing the guards nearby.

A barrage of energy beams hit Ceres directly, causing him to stagger and retreat further. His black armour was beginning to break apart, the particle radiation melting it. More and more energy was drawn from Ceres’s body, but he was fuelled by the deaths and hostility of the guards as well.

He did not need to fight alone much longer – the rebellion starships were already approaching fast.

[Commander Huron, you’re clear to proceed. All turrets eliminated.] Amelia reported to the commander of the rebellion starships.

“Roger that, assault barge moving into main hangar bay now.” Commander Huron nodded. He was a commander provided by the Sliver Ring to assist in coordination of the starships. With only a single corvette, eight modified cargo haulers and one assault barge with five hundred soldiers, a single downed starship would jeopardize the mission entirely.

With the turrets now disabled, the starships could move freely into the hangar bay. The assault barge was a simple cargo barge that was modified into a hulking armoured beast, able to withstand multiple shots if needed. The barge’s reverse thrusters and RCS controls roared with blue as it navigated into the prison’s hangar bay.

“Ma’am, the rebels are inside the hangar bay now!” The supervisor reported from his comfy office, he being the only who did not dare to leave the room.

Warden Fresia cursed. “Why haven’t we locked down the hangar bay and all other connecting rooms?”

“Somebody has locked us out of the system – our hackers are trying to gain back control right now.”

The hangar bay of the prison asteroid was opened by Tyson, with Pris and Shai’li already fending off the guards there before the assault barge even made it in. The assault barge landed with a loud thud near the entrance of the hangar and opening both its backdoor and side passenger doors.

Hundreds of rebel soldiers poured out in their Victorious Revolt loadouts, supporting Pris and Shai’li as they fought against the guards and tried to spread across the prison. The prison guards were spread thin as they tried to stem the flow of rebels going in but concentrated the bulk of their forces in the hangar bay.

“Screw it, I’ll stop them myself! One squad with me!” Fresia moved towards the hangar bay.

The hangar bay was a veritable warzone now, with the prison guards taking cover behind makeshift barricades of containers and repair equipment, firing back at the rebels who were moving up slowly from the entrance of the hangar bay, trying to clear the area. Beams, bullets and smog blanketed the area, with the squads of guards spreading out over the width of the hangar bay.

The prison guards took cover behind everything they could – deployable barriers that glistened with a yellow hue, makeshift barricades in the form of empty toolboxes and equipment containers that became riddled with holes, and toppled over floater platforms.

On the rebel side, the Victorious Revolts came prepared, each squad organized to have a dedicated heavy gunner and defenders in the form of a heavy variant. The defenders of each squad rushed forward with hefty thick tower shields, their motors grinding as they withstood the force of the incoming barrage.

As the defender moved forward, they deployed their thick tower shields on the ground, inner layers expanded outwards to form a waist high cover wall. The remaining squad members rushed forward to attach add-on energy shield modules, bolstering the barrier while the heavy gunner mounted his machine gun on the cover wall, blasting away with impunity.

Shai’li and Pris were fighting hard as well, albeit in different roles. With Shai’li’s offensive tank exosuit, she lead the tanks to charge forward, inching the cover wall closer and closer while using her own shield to defend or to bounce back grenades being thrown.

Pris on the other hand, was working on the backlines. With her battlefield repair kit and mobile 3D printer, she tried to fix as much as she could, just like a riot repairman would. She worked in tandem with a medic to deliver combat stimulant, seal holes and replace minor components where she could.

Damaged and injured soldiers were limping or dragged by medics behind. Pris was not the only exosuit repairman, as there was a dozen others spread out with their own paired medic or medical team.

Beads of sweat dripped down her face onto the visor of her helmet as she focused on replacing frayed and shredded wires in the back of a rebel exosuit before the medic grabbed her arm. “He’s too injured, move on to the next one, I’ll get him back to the ship.”

Pris nodded and moved immediately, not being shocked. There was no point fixing the exosuit of someone who was not going to fight, they needed immediate combat power right now.

There were much more rebels than there were guards, but the guards had the advantage of a few defensive emplacements and mobile guns that they moved into the hangar bay. The large energy cannons obliterated many of the temporary covers that the rebels had put up.

However, at this point the rebels had spread out too far for any coordinated energy cannon strike to take them out. Some of the rebels had already snuck into the rest of the administrative room via side entrances of the hangar bay, fighting in tight corridors against the prison guards.

Pris just barely finished her third repair when a loud sound like a bullet train speeding past echoed around her, along with the warbling sounds of dissipation on an energy shield. “Damn it, they are attacking the starship!”

The prison guards were now using the energy cannons to fire in synchronisation at the rebellion starship, preventing more rebels from sneaking into the base and forcing them to defend.

“Two squads with me! Mark cannons and launch an EMP attack!”

One of the rebel squad leaders yelled, before his squad of seven grabbed a grenade each and lobbed it towards the energy cannons.

The barrage of grenades landed on to the central cannons, dissipating a large amount of magnetic induced current in the cannons as well as the surrounding prison guards’ exosuits.

“Chance!” Shai’li grinned as she began to charge forward to the disabled cannons, her momentum building with each step as she stomped forwards.

With a resounding crash she barrelled her way into the prison guards, toppling over the disabled energy cannon with her tower shield.

The rebel squads rushed forward, managing to take out three energy cannons, but there were still a few left which managed to recover in less than a minute.

Before Shai’li could move onto the next energy cannon, the cargo lift doors at the end of the hangar bay opened to reveal Fresia and her heavy exosuit.

Fresia didn’t see the need to say anything anymore, immediately firing without hesitation. Her twin machine guns lit up the area, blasting any exposed rebel member into a disfigured heap of twisted metal and flesh.

“Finally, someone my size!” Shai’li grinned, spinning her heavy exosuit around right in front before charging directly at Fresia.

“Idiot!” Fresia smirked as she fired her mounted cannon at the rebel, but the heavy exosuit somehow managed to withstand the explosion with a tower shield, before slamming the shield into Fresia.

The heavy exosuit was knocked over, crushing the components and breaking the ammo loader of the mounted cannon. Before Fresia could recover, Shai’li recovered first before immediately jumping and landing with an elbow strike right onto Fresia’s stomach.

Freisa choked as her gut suffered the impact, but her heavy exosuit frontal armour held strong. “Get the fuck off me!” With a strained grunt, the motor on her legs and arms roared into overdrive, pushing Shai’li and flipping her off.

Taking a step back, Fresia aimed her machine guns at Shai’li, but Shai’li still had the tower shield, blocking the incoming barrage while the shield began to disintegrate.

“Shai’li, you’re too far in!” Pris warned over the communication channel as the other rebeld tried to join the fight, but the other prison guards were still pinning them down.

Shai’li began to suffer attacks from the surrounding prison guards now that she was behind enemy lines. “Don’t you know what they call me? I’m the Berzerker Princess!” She flung the remains of the tower shield at Freisa, catching her off guard before leaping forward with a punch.

Fresia instinctively blocked with her left arm, causing her machine gun to be crushed by the fist of Shai’li’s exosuit. Shai’li withstood the incoming damage from the other prison guards, focusing on pinning down Fresia and forcing her into a melee.

“You think I can’t fight back?!” Fresia immediately ditched her machine gun, fighting toe to toe with Shai’li in a deadly brawl. Bits and shreds of metal pierced the floor as the impacts between fists and arms sparked brilliantly.

The battlefield raged on, with more and more debris, rubble and charred exosuit limbs scattered across the cracked ground.

The battle lines got muddier, with continuous breakthroughs on either side.

A squad of prison guards broke through, targeting the backline medics and exosuit repairers who were sustaining the battle.

A stream of energy beams flew over Pris’s head as she ducked behind a makeshift cover, while some of the half repaired rebels tried to provide suppression fire.

Pris grabbed her own energy rifle and focused, aiming with precision to take out the prison guards while the medic cowered on the floor.

Countless grenades and a blitz of beams continuously dominated the battlefield, only occasionally pierced by the cry of another fallen exosuit.

“We’re stalling here, we need to make a big push in!” One of the rebel squad leaders panted as he rested against the wall trying to catch his breath.

Pris was aware that they needed one big push, and she noticed a few rebel squads using the captured three energy cannons as cover. They had no operational knowledge on how to use it.

“Get one of the cannons back to me, I can use it!” Pris ordered. While Pris was not an officer of any sorts, no rebel squad leader was going to say no to extra firepower.

As the squad pushed the energy cannon back to the backline, Pris grabbed another exosuit repairer and ran up to the base of the rebellion starship, running her hands over and feeling for a port.

Soon she found what she was looking for – a power port that recharged the batteries of the starship. “You, modify the charging port to reverse. I’ll handle the energy cannon side.”

Pris gripped the head of the thick charging wire embedded in the port, dragging it out to the energy cannon.

She jury rigged the charging cable to where the battery terminals were after chucking the empty battery pack out. With copious amounts of solder, Pris could only hope the linear accelerator could hold.

“Pris, it’s done! Ready when you are.” The exosuit repairer at the starship hollered over.

“Hold on!” Pris grunted as she rapidly configured the expected distances between the alternating electrodes to handle the extra input energy.

On the other side, Shai’li was not faring well against Fresia, who had the support of the prison guards that pelted the armour of Shai’li’s exosuit.

Shai’li had swapped from an aggressive combat stance into an objective of simply stalling Fresia to prevent here from ripping up the rebels.

“Shai’li, dodge in three seconds!”

Shai’li did not respond, only reacting instinctively on Pris’s command and leaping backwards, dropping a few armour plates that smashed onto the ground to increase her mobility. Such an instinct had been drilled into her over the last few weeks of VR simulation and zero-g drills.

Fresia was taken aback by the sudden change in tactics, but grinned widely as she now had the freedom to re-wield her machine guns.

However, before she could even lift her arms, a sudden wave of energy slammed into her exosuit, the supercharged energy cannon firing right at her.

The resulting sound was deafening, with the superheated air expanding outwards in a dizzying shockwave and knocking back the nearby prison guards and containers.

Even the rebels were awed at the damage inflicted, but quickly used the momentary shock to begin a big push on all sides.

The supercharged energy cannon entire barrel and accelerator melted apart, the electric discharge and induction ripping through the cannon. It was not meant to fire such a shot, so Pris was not surprised.

Fresia was thrown more than ten meters back, slamming against a pile of containers before skidding to a halt, her exosuit a complete charred mess and not functional anymore.

Shai’li limped to the backline as the fight reached a climax, collapsing next to Pris. Her Victorious Revolt offensive tank variant was not on par with Fresia’s custom exosuit.

Right now, the frame was heavily damaged, with most of the exterior armour plates charred and broken apart. The interior structure was revealed to be even worse, with some wires even melted together. It was even a miracle the redundancy systems even worked at this stage.

“Worry about me later – fix the others!” Shai’li shooed Pris away, knowing her repair would be significantly longer than expected.

However, the prison guards began to retreat, using the same cargo lift that Fresia used. “We got them on the run, push forwards!” One of the more aggressive rebel squad leaders ordered.

“No! Stabilize the hangar bay first and regroup.” Pris countered. “We need to secure this hangar bay and ensure that it is locked down before moving to rescue the prisoners. Otherwise, none of us is getting off this rock.”

[Secure the hangar bay first and clear the area. Corvette is to hang in orbit with the Corym and protect in the event of enforcers’ counterattack.] Commander Huron agreed. [Move two of the support cargo haulers into the hangar bay for resupply.]

Amelia frowned but didn’t retort as the Corym continued to orbit high above the surface in stealth mode. She used the sensors suite to sweep the grounds, ensuring that none of the prison guards were trying anything funny.

Just as she relaxed a little, a warning beep on the sensors system showed a dozen prison guards with ground-to-air energy cannons, aiming them at the weak cargo haulers. “Shit, they were waiting for the weaker ships! Victoria!”

The Corym didn’t bother hiding its thermal signature anymore, the engine firing to reposition its airlock to face the surface. With a hiss the airlock opened to reveal Victoria, with her heavy sniper rifle designed by Ceres mounted against the floor.

With a steady hand, Victoria fired five bullets in rapid succession. The bullet ripped through the exosuits of the prison guards, shredding through their protective layer and exposing them to space, killing them instantly in a twist of glass and metal.

“Heavy exosuit’s defending the energy cannon!” Amelia warned, but Victoria was not flustered at all, swapping her magazine to another type of bullet of the same size, but obviously much more high-tech. Taking aim and squeezing the trigger, the Corym slightly shifted back before the RCS fired to keep the ship stable, synchronizing the conversation of momentum with every shot.

The inconspicuous bullet plunged deep into the shoulder of the heavy exosuit, before letting loose a noxious gas that flooded the internals of the exosuit. The wearer’s face immediately tensed up as his veins and arteries bulged, with the capillaries all tightening and suffocating blood to his brain.

A few more shots neutralized all the prison guards trying to shift the energy cannons, allowing the weak cargo haulers to safely enter the hangar bay. Amelia now truly relaxed, heaving a sigh of relief.

Back in the hangar bay, the rebels finally managed to clear out enough space to set up a forward operating base. Pris stayed behind to act as one of the main exosuit repairers, leading the repair team to handle any damaged exosuits.

Shai’li walked over in basic combat armour towards Fresia, who was trying desperately to get out of her melted and scarred heavy exosuit, which looked more like a lump of metal now. “Retreat into the prison and lock down the shafts! We just need to last long enough for the enforcers to send reinforcements. Remove my authorization over the prison immediately.” Fresia ordered on the multi-terminal.

“Yes ma’am!” Less than half of the original two hundred fifty prison guards remained, and they began to tactically retreat while damaging the infrastructure of the prison, heading into the prison.

Shai’li grinned as she saw the trapped Fresia. “Surprised you even managed to survive that hit. Thought you would’ve been half burnt.”

“Fuck you.” Fresia spat blood at Shai’li’s face, who’s grin only got wider. “You’re not going to get shit from me. There’s no way you’re going to enter the prison now.”

“Who says we needed anything from you?” Shai’li laughed. “We’re already one step ahead of you.”

At the main prison entrance shaft, the prison guards retreated in force, only to see four exosuits waiting for them in front. “Hey, they finally made it.” Xander chuckled as he lifted his tower shield. “Let’s do this!”

Josef, Riker and Ceres nodded, immediately shooting at the throng of prison guards. The prison guards were shocked. “Are the rebels idiots? Four of them against a hundred of us?”

Ceres had run back to where he stowed his original Swift Storm exosuit, energy rifle in hand and warhammer on his back.

“LINE UP!” Riker yelled, with Xander, Josef and Ceres queuing up behind him and rushing in. The barrage of incoming energy beams did not mean anything, with Riker grunting as his body overclocked to refract all the beams.

With this, the other three managed to close the gap, switching immediately to melee. Xander swung his tower shield around with his left arm, smacking the prison guards around as his right arm shot an energy pistol wildly.

Josef took down guard after guard in a professional form, not taking more than two seconds while utilizing the prison guards themselves as shields against getting surrounded.

“They’re in the midst of us, spread out! Don’t clump together!” One of the prison guards’ officers yelled, before a spinning warhammer smashed through his skull, toppling the body over while Ceres dodged and weaved through the stunned prison guards, shooting his energy rifle while retrieving the warhammer.

The four of them went wild, but were soon overpowered by the quantity of prison guards. They had only managed to kill two dozen of them before the prison guards finally regrouped and focused on each one. “Ignore the tank, take down the weaker ones!”

However, just as they begun their counterattack, a battlecry from behind signified the rebel soldiers finally breaking through the obstacles placed by the prison guards, flanking them.

Besieged on both sides, the prison guards faltered and surrendered quickly, not willing to fight to the death.

Ceres heaved as he ripped off his damaged armour plates, panting hard as the black goo in his body tried to replenish his energy. However, a smile was on his face. He was one step away from saving Lisa and Braton!