[NORTHERN REGION]
[SWAMP FOREST WEST QUADRANT]
"Fire in the hole!!!"
KABOOM!!!*
Dozens of small explosions rip apart the formation of alien bugs. But a dozen more will replace its seemingly inexhaustible number. The tide of metallic-like scales breaks through the explosion and storm of bullets. They never stop, get sick or care for self-preservation until every single human in front is dead. Nor does the human easily break when facing such an impossible challenge.
With discipline of mind, brilliant strategy and help from advanced technology, Defender of colony manage to keep the alien bugs at bay. Marine and fire troopers have the biggest contribution in every engagement. Superior firepower comparable to fighting vehicles cut through the horde single-handedly, and extreme heat from plasma torches has proven again and again to be effective against soft and flesh opponents. In this case, another giant ant nest.
Due to ant biology being so inferior compared to its adversary, like a weaker carapace and less adaptability and strategies. Also, an ant's average size is comparable to a house cat's, with the exception of soldiers and queens, which could be measured as big as a wild buffalo. So only 5 troopers and 1 marine from the fire team are enough and sent to subdue them. Five typical troopers with various equipment that were slightly modified to fight in muddy environments and tight spaces and one marine for special missions.
Two fire troopers, one with a B2 high-calibre LMG and the last two with standard-issue Ferromag SMGs. The marine acts as a vanguard unit to pierce through enemy heavy resistance. They separate into two groups. The first group's tasks are to charge through, clean surface resistance, and secure the rally points. The second group is going down to the tunnel to destroy the egg chamber with an explosive device, then eliminate the queen and collect a sample if they can.
"Bravo 2 on your six. Dozen ant soldiers charging our way. Take it out now!"
He changed another magazine for his Ferromag before cocking the gun several times to check the gun's condition. It seems he is the leader of the group. An average height with a well-balanced build.
"On it, Bravo 1. Contact 12 bogeys.120 meter south"
Bravo 2 is located on higher ground for better vision. The one with the LMG points its optic sight before unleashing its devastating firepower in burst shots. While he is the shortest among the Bravo's, the weapon is clearly bigger than him. Bravo 2 has no problems; use it and shoot the soldier ant, as recoil is non-existent.
BRRRTTTT.....!!!!!!x3*
"Bogey down. New contact at 11 o'clock. Suppression fire: short burst.
With precision, each time he aimed the gun, dozens of ants, both drone and soldier, in the sky were shot down. This gives a sense of security, as the ant can't easily surround them. No surprise attack or any potential danger that could jeopardise the mission. But the fight is far from over. Another horde came out from a cave entrance nearby, seemingly trying to escape from certain annihilation.
Alas, lone flame troopers, Bravo 3 were already standing there at the very end of the entrance. With a bigger body build and mass, pointing his plasma-enhanced flamethrower nozzle in front. With one squeeze of the trigger, the nozzle unleashed its deathly substance, denying the ants the ability to step out from their nest.
Hundreds of ants incinerate into charcoal as the fire show lasts for another 2 minutes before the fire gradually gets smaller. By the time the flamethrower incapable spews the flame, most of the hostiles barely survive crawling out from the cave before succumbing to burn injury or lack of oxygen. The cave entrance, although still intact, was blocked by ant remains. Furthermore, the cave entrance is narrow, effectively sealed from being used.
"I love the smell of burning giant space bug in the morning." This is Bravo 3. The wasps horde on point D has been eliminated."
There are few stranglers who manage to escape but refuse to leave the area and choose to attack Bravo team. While it is true, ants are a lesser threat compared to Zerg and Tyranids. But the ant makes up for it with an overwhelming number to brute-force the enemy formation. Even the fearsome packs of Hydralisks and toughness of Tyrants choose not to engage head-on, especially with fully matured nests. Its numbers are so great that even the land turns into a sea of ants.
The newly formed nest is still in the early stage but already has staggering low thousands. Couple with a lack of strategy, aside from using mass wave tactics and charging head through instead of surrounding them and only killing prey too exhausted to fight back. This, however, gave Bravo Team easily dispatched the ant number with concentrated firepower at one point. Hours later, after finishing fighting, three of them gather in certain places not far from the main entrance. Waiting for something or someone.
"Is this the place, sir?" Said the troopers with LMG. Despite looking very calm and professional, his body pretty much betrays it. Clearly a shaky leg can be seen barely supporting his body. So he uses the LMG as some sort of cane.
"It should be. Unless the calculation is off the chart or some inconceivable variable happens down there." Said the leader with a stoic voice akin to schoolers.
"I have hope for them. I mean we were training in the same years as cadets and somehow got in the same battalion in the same squad. Except that one, though. Man, I hope she lives. I miss seeing he"r. Fire troopers said with a more carefree tone before being cut off by Bravo 1.
"Again with that talk. Please stop sexual harassment even if she is not here. It disgusts me, especially with that lack of respect attitude towards your superior."
"Come on, sore eyes. Stop pretending to be gentlemen when you are also often oozing her assets quietly. In fact, more than everyone else in our squad."
"Why you?"
"I dare you, four-eyed nerds."
Bravo 2, upon seeing this, tries to de-escalate the situation, but her presence is even noticed by the behemoth in front of him. During the heated debates, three of them begin to notice something is wrong with the land they set foot upon around 10 metres. The land trembles, and the crack begins to form and get larger by the second. Smoke and dust emerge and whistle gets louder before finally bursting out of the explosion.
The explosion was powerful enough to knock three of them to the side. Luckily their gears protect them from debris and minor injuries. It takes a while for three of them to get back on their feet and brush off the dust from the armour. Bravo 2, who might be gifted with better vision, noticed a silhouette from the smoke. Presumably a new entrance made by an earlier explosion.
"Hey, guys, I think it's them. OVER HERE!!"
"Stop screaming and act more professional, please. Anyway, let's check on their wellbeing." Before he took a first step, he was stopped by Bravo 3.
"Wait.... I have bad feelings about this."
Bravo 3 sometimes his gut feeling was accurate. So both Bravo 1 and 2 trust him and prepare for worse. It turns out their fear was true. The second team crawls out from the hellhole. Battered armour and dry blood. One of them needs to be carried due to serious injuries on the legs. None of them seem to have carried any weapon besides the Marine.
The one who is wearing power armour that carries the injured raises his hand and gives the peace sign. The golden helmet visor hatch open reveals the face behind tattered dark blue power armour. A pale man with Russian features. White hair and grey eyes. His facial face never showed any emotion, as he was a robot.
"This is Bravo 6 of Bravo squad. 9th platoon of North Battalion. Mission accomplished. No death casualties. Only 1 critical and minor injury. Request for transportation and additional manpower to escort artefacts. Code Cherry Blossom. I repeat Code Cherry Blossom. Transmit coordinates 31-01-1-02. Over" soft and gentle yet lacking any warmth or human emotions.
Upon hearing this, Bravo 3 immediately started asking questions, but none of them were answered. Despite looking cold, he was surprisingly compassionate and professional at the same time. He put down the fallen soldier on the ground with tender care. The uninjured troopers begin to do first aid while waiting for reinforcement. It takes hours for vehicles to arrive since airlift is still down for some times. Whatever they found might be important for Jean Razak's future plan. Or so they thought.
[UNKNOWN LOCATION]
[DELERIC SHIP, MIDDLE SECTION]
It takes a while for the downloading process. Power Armour data storage is not designed to handle this type of workload YET. Luckily, terminals here are not super advanced enough for AI to handle. According to Shirogane, blueprint ship internal structure. The ship is at least 5 kilometres in length, 700 metres wide and 532 metres in height. The ship design heavily uses a gothic style with tonnes of spiral, church-like buildings on the ship deck. Not to mention the ship's stern is equipped with the heaviest armour for ramming purposes. This is included in a superweapon capable of creating a black hole, rendering any form of resistance meaningless.
The ship's location is not yet to be known, but at least we are not buried deep underground or under the sea. Since the ship size is large, probably the entire place is covered with dirt and plants and is easy to be mistaken for mountains and hills. Currently we were at our laboratory on the 47th floor out of 343. Closer to the ship's engine and generator and deep within the superstructure, since this is some sort of very important place that needs to be protected.
A lot of things we learn are blueprints for weapons, power armour, vehicles, ships, etc. But we don't have time, so we compress the data and finish analyses back at our own laboratory. To get to the ship's bridge, download as much data as it fits. Plus, we could try using this ship communication equipment to send some kind of signal back to the Gaia colony for rescue.
At the same time, setting some kind of outpost here. This ship, if still intact, we could repair or use its parts to construct a new ship to escape this planet, and boom, mission accomplished. But I need to double-check first.
[Main Quest: Dawn of Terran Federation Act I]
You and your fellow colony have crash-landed on this unknown planet. Over time your people have developed the technology base on information in the Ark Ship prototype technology onboard. She was designed for deep space exploration and colonisation. Due to lack of resources and expertise, the stagnation happened for decades, and the harsh condition of the planet hindered the human population from prospering. Thus, this makes them unable to leave the planet. Now the government is made in a military-state style for survival. Be their leader and guide them to glory. Also get out from this planet immediately, ASAP. First fix your base to fully restore the state for the continuation of your life.
[NOTE]
A CUSTOM-MADE ASSET WILL BE ADDED EITHER AS A GIFT FROM THE SYSTEM OR THE PLAYER/HOST'S OWN DESIGN OF CHOICE. (BUT NOT WITHOUT SOME ADDITIONAL COST UPON FIRST PRODUCTION COMPARED TO ALREADY ESTABLISHED ASSET. AFTER A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME, THE COST WILL BE CHEAPER THAN THE ORIGINAL PRICE.
[Current Repair Progress]
Civilian structure:
Biodome: 7/7
Colonist building: 1000/1000
Com link tower: 3/3
Academy: 3/3
Military structure:
Command Centre: 1/1
Barracks: 12/12
Factory: 4/4
Engineering Bay: 6/6
Science Facilities: 3/4
Starport: 0/1
Bunker: 30/30
Tower Sensor: 10/10
Supply depot: 382/400
Special Structure:
Hero Compound (lock)
Arc Ship Transport Carrier (derelict)
Reward:
-100,000 minerals
-80,000 vespene gas
- A new structure unit will be added.
New equipment and functions may be added.
Failure:
Die due to heart failure while posing in an embarrassing position rivalling Kazuma's own death. Additionally, your death will be posted on social media to ruin your reputation and pride.
Deadline: None
"Yeah, I forget that I neglect it in favour of the super weapon. Damnit, I should prioritise air power rather than some huge freaking cannon that might never face an enemy at all." I murmur to myself.
"Neglect what, Razak?" As she hears a fraction about my murmur.
"Nothing at all. Now let's find a way to navigate this place. Look at this, 5 kilometres in length. That's freaking huge. Not counting the maze-like ship layout."
"It is consuming a lot of time, yes. But with this blueprint, we didn't get lost. While we're at it, we might take SOME trinkets along the way."
I look at her for a few seconds before I comment on her statement. She switches from a Gauss rifle to a heavy laser rifle, bolt pistol and chainsword. She also took a pair of giant knives to strap her tights, which, for me, were the size of a small fat sword. A strap of pouch to hold a mag and a couple of grenades. Two smaller shields were tied in a knot on both Shirogane's shoulders as a substitute for the ballistic shield that was destroyed by the machine boss.
But I retract such ideas because I'm no different than her. As you see, my new acquired gear looks like certain cyborg police in capitalist metropolises. Except I'm not wearing the steel visor helmet and with ragged capes flapping each time I take a step forward. The weapon I use is the same loadout. Las gun and that red combat shotgun. Aside from that, I still keep my retractable black katana.
In short, we both overgear. Alright folks, let's move on to the next agenda. It was an hour ago since we navigated this complex passageway from the laboratory as a starting point. We skip the exploration montage scene because there is nothing worth mentioning. Only rusty, cold and repetitive scenery. Not even a trap or automatic defence turret in sight.
But we did find some rare items, like blue glowing iron swords. Since the handle is small for Shirogane to hold, naturally I am the one to keep it. Now we're heading towards the elevator located in the ship's crew quarters section. A lot of rooms with broken doors or something still in lockdown. But judging from what's inside, they could probably fit at least 10 men if they seriously tried to squeeze them.
Shirogane naturally takes the lead since she has the map. Not only that, but she is more protected in case we get ambushed in front. After we take a left turn and head straight down the corridor, we see a half-open steel door. We arrive at what we could describe as a cantina. A place where people gather, eat and do some recreational activities. As usual, there is nothing besides deep silence in this hall.
"On the left side there is a corridor that leads us straight to the elevator. This might lead us to ship starboard eventually to ship bridge. But we need to go to a place called navigator something".
"Come again?"
I tried to remember as hard as I could. There is a limit to how much information the human brain could hold, let alone try to recall it. But the word navigator already smells super important. Since it is one way with the ship bridge, why not take a quick visit and see what we find? As we decide to take that passage and head straight for the elevator. According to the map, that particular place is strangely too wide for a place for an elevator.
Everything was fine since we were out of the laboratory until Shirogane in front of me stopped moving immediately. Luckily we are not running, or my nose will crash into this steel behemoth. We continue straight on the corridor and turn left until we see the hallway door.
We stop just metres away from the door leading to the elevator section. She takes a peek behind the wall, and her posture is already in alert mode, turning into something more serious. She then gives some sort of hand signal to indicate only one hostile enemy.
I want to ask, but she hushes me with nervousness in her voice. She slowly takes a step backwards, desperately trying not to create a noise. I soon follow her footsteps as we head back to the cantina. But before we move a muscle further, the voice speaker begins to hum with a crackling static-like noise. I don't know what language it speaks, but the voice is totally not friendly.
<<[CRACKING STATIC NOISE]>>
<<[I-i-InTRU-DEr_ de-Te€tEd]>>
RUMBLE...*
CRACKLING...*
WHOOSH!!!*
BOOOOM....!!!*
"What the f-"
We both throw ourselves into the air as the wall we seek cover behind is destroyed by hot molten lava. The shock wave it produces is ear-shattering, and stray debris becomes a deathly projectile. My dumbass brain didn't even think to wear a helmet, so as a result, I got a forehead injury from the collision with a small pebble. Shirogane is fine, aside from having a minor concussion due to the loud noise from the explosion. Padding inside her armour is doing its job pretty well to negate blunt trauma.
"Sheet.... Urrgghh"
As I still groan from pain and wobble. Struggling to stand up, barely keeping my toes straight. Shirogane, on the other hand, already regained her strength and extended her hand for me to stand up and prevent me from falling.
"Razak, let's retreat first. We need to get out of here now. That thing guarding the elevator is beyond our current capability to take it head-on."
"Good question, but how?" As I point my thumb at my back. The only escape route we know is blocked by rubble of steel and lingering fire.
"Great, we're stuck. We don't have a choice now aside from fighting that thing again. Have a plan?" as she readied her weapon. Her long, eerie smile makes me feel weird.
"Hahaha....." I frowned. Knowing how this goes.