Ravens of Eternity

410 Birds of Prey

An Imperial mecha squadron skated across the industrial city. Or rather, the ruins that used to be an industrial city. Everything all around them from the largest fabrication bays to the smallest machine sheds had been completely annihilated.

Their coral facades and armor plating had been cut apart and blown wide open, usually from the top down. Whatever structures inside had also suffered equal amounts of damage and had been wrenched open.

Very few walls and structures were even upright and whole – most had been shattered and broken and collapsed outright.

More critically, whatever weapons of war that were being created in each of the buildings were also blasted apart. Numerous hovertanks had been splayed open and blasted apart. Others had their frames and parts reduced to useless debris.

Raw material storage and parts manufactories were also blasted apart with equal prejudice. Every single machine and device and drone and worker had been brutally pounded by weapons fire until it was all an indecipherable mixture of blood and bone and metal and wire.

Orsethii piloted the lead mecha and kept an eye on the constant reports that scrolled down one of her screens. Every major component of the facility around them had been completely flattened and eradicated.

The drone hangar, its control bays, the comm arrays, everything.

Another report flashed on her screens. They confirmed the damage types that struck the buildings all around them. When one specific type flashed on her screen, Orsethii nodded her head.

“With me,” she said.

.....

She then adjusted their trajectory and headed to a different corner of the sweeping facility. Everything they passed showed more of the same destruction, with little left standing.

Her squadron came to a halt in front of a massive storehouse, or at least where it should have been. Most of it had been completely chewed up by Imperial Annihilator Mortars. In fact, it had been hit by so many that they ate down to its lowest levels dozens of meters below the surface.

All that was left was a wide bowl that had been carved right out of the ground. But instead of a smooth interior, the bowl had numerous jagged metal spikes everywhere. Amidst the spikes was a sea of metallic sand, the only remnants of what the storehouse and its contents used to be.

It was indicative of the mortars’ simulated nanites having run out of energy and consumed themselves at the end of their temporary lifecycle.

“What was in here?” Orsethii asked.

One of her analysts answered her over comms.

“According to Clan Belynn’s industrial records, this was used to house power armor meant for the front,” he replied. “Their loss estimates show that this storehouse was worth close to a hundred billion krohn alone.”

The other mecha pilots gasped loudly. If their own fleet suffered that much in losses, they would effectively be crippled.

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In other words, what was destroyed here made a significant dent in the Imperial war effort.

“What’s that area?” asked Orsethii.

Without waiting for an answer, she leapt up and over the massive ruin that the storehouse used to be. She cruised over a high wall, then landed in an open area on the other side.

The rest of her squadron came in right behind and landed all around her.

What surrounded them were the remains of various living spaces in the industrial city. Many were military style barracks, and were clearly inhabited by Imperial soldiers. Their corpses were littered everywhere.

There were also numerous civilian apartments and living quarters scattered throughout this sector as well. Here, the city’s engineers and mechanics and coders and operators all lived and relaxed and slept. Their corpses too were littered everywhere.

Just like the soldiers, they had been blasted apart by all caliber of gunfire, or cut apart by all manner of beams. Some had also been torn to pieces by heavier weapons fire, or had been burnt to a crisp.

Not a single person was left alive.

Scans also revealed that whoever attacked did so with absolute impunity. And also absolute precision. They cut down every living thing in the city, and tore down every building in order to ensure it. Some of the scans also revealed that even those who ran to underground shelters didn’t make it.

They were attacked by heavy piercing munitions and annihilated in their bunkers, no matter how weak or strong they were.

“I’m impressed, Ra’ventrii,” muttered Orsethii. “You’re truly an engine of destruction.”

“Can we even beat that fleet?” said one of her mecha pilots. “Just look at how much damage they were able to do.”

Orsethii merely harrumphed in response. Loudly.

“Most of this is the devastator’s work,” she said. “And we’ve killed plenty of those before. What’s another?”

“Still, we can’t just attack her fleet,” added one of her officers over comms. “We don’t even know how many of them there are.”

“Dreadmother!” interjected another pilot. “I just found something!”

Orsethii quickly skated over to the pilot who called for her attention – it appeared he was scanning a section of a partially-collapsed apartment cluster a few blocks over. By the time she arrived, the raw stream of data from his scans scrolled down one of her screens.

“Looks like some ships landed here a few hours after the attack,” said the pilot. “Same kind as before.”

“Hegemony ships, right?” Orsethii asked. “The ones that only show up once in a while?”

The pilot nodded.

“Every three or four assaults, yeah,” he replied. “And like always, they found whatever few survivors and took them away. For what reason, I can’t tell. Maybe for interrogations. I don’t know... Does this mean that someone’s chasing after Ra’ventrii, too? Besides us?”

“Or cleaning up after them,” said Orsethii. “How interesting.”

~

Thanatos loomed over the vast Imperial city below. Unlike the Einherjar’s usual targets, this one seemed more refined and more polished. Like a showroom version of an industrial city. Unlike the vast diaspora of the usual coral city, or the rigid beauty of a crystal city, this one was a kind of mix between the two.

It was as though the city was populated with massive slabs of slate which jutted out of the ground in various angles. Altogether, they made the vast rocky city beautiful in its own right. It was certainly a marvel in terms of engineering and architecture.

Many drogar came here all through the year simply to marvel at the fantastic construction. And also perhaps sign a few business deals at the same time.

Clan Belynn certainly considered it the heart and soul of their entire enterprise.

A pity that it was ravished and razed from all sides.

Thanatos’ bottom side mortars fired down on the city with absolute impunity. Though the numerous turrets fired in seemingly chaotic directions, the truth was that each of them shot at every building below. They were joined by countless disintegration beams from the ships’ own broadsides.

And of course, also from the various weapons from the Einherjar all around.

The entire fleet bombarded the city below them with everything they had. Disintegration beams and plasma lances and rail spikes and charged slugs and annihilation mortars and corrosion canisters all rained down on the city.

They ripped and tore and dissolved and burnt and smashed the city down to its foundations.

Those beautiful buildings crumbled helplessly from the Einherjar’s intense onslaught. Huge plumes of dust erupted as large chunks of them struck the ground and shattered to pieces. Everything inside them was crushed into oblivion.

It didn’t matter if it was a room filled with businessmen, or a hopper filled with tourists, or a hovertank filled with soldiers. Everything collapsed on everything else. And so everyone died.

Freya stood in the very center of Thanatos’ bridge with the stoic Amarok by her side. This time however, they weren’t the only two living beings on the ship.

Kneeling in front of them, but facing out towards the massive wraparound screen were Konleth and Gravoss.

The two looked feeble and emaciated. Though they were kneeling, their upper bodies wavered in an attempt to keep themselves upright.

They also seemed somewhat out of it, as though they were delirious. Perhaps out of fright, or fear, or starvation. Perhaps all of those reasons were true.

Both of them watched the screen in horror as the city below them was completely and utterly annihilated. They watched as countless drogar were brutally and unceremoniously slaughtered. Most critically, they watched as trillions of krohn were eliminated right in front of their eyes.

It all seemed to evaporate into smoke as the seconds ticked by.

“There we go,” said Freya. “Almost done.”

She too watched what was happening on the screen, but her face was plastered with satisfaction. Of a job well done.

“You were just thinking that was your favorite project, isn’t that right, machinefather?” she continued. “I’ll bet you were so proud the cycle you finished it all, huh?”

“Please,” Gravoss croaked out. His voice was beyond hoarse. “Thirst.”

“Mm, yes, unfortunately, there isn’t a single drop of water on this ship. No food either. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Gravoss uttered a long, dry whine.

“Kill me,” he said.

“Just what do you think I’ve been doing for the past month?” Freya replied. “Or did you think this was all for show?”

She waved at the screen, then shook her head in disappointment. After a moment, she turned her head towards Konleth and appraised him.

Unlike the thin drogar, Konleth looked in better shape. Clearly, his belly allowed him to weather greater punishments. At least, he certainly survived through the first month rather admirably. Far more than Gravoss, who appeared to be right on the cusp of death.

“Now then, senator,” she said. “Seems like it’s your turn. Where should we go next, hm? I’m sure you’ve got plenty of great ideas.”

Konleth glanced back at her with abject fear in his heart. It filled him the second he found himself aboard Thanatos, in front of Freya. And it never once left him since that moment.

He had seen what she could do in the arena, and initially feared she would break his body with her strength. Now he realized that it didn’t matter what she did – he was going to suffer. Hard.

A thought crossed Konleth’s mind – one that assured him that his future was going to be one filled with unrelenting misery.

It was punctuated by a THUMP as Gravoss fell over on his side. Though the old man was still breathing – barely – he knew it wasn’t long now.

At that moment, he cursed the man for being lucky enough to die that quickly.

The stabbing pain of hunger suddenly shot through his stomach, and he doubled over in pain and groaned heavily.

“What the hell do you want from me?” he grumbled. “You want me to tell you where my home city is, huh? You wanna show up there and tear it apart with your ship? Is that it? Break my life and my clan down in front of my own eyes?”

“Yes, exactly,” Freya replied. “Well, almost exactly. That’s not all I want.”

Konleth screamed in pain as what felt like hundreds of needles pierced his skull from every direction. He felt countless slivers as they slid slowly into his brain and sunk deep inside.

At the same time, all kinds of memories flashed across his mind, beyond his control. It was as though they were being brought to the surface and scanned by Freya herself.

Whatever fear he held turned into outright dread when he realized, even through the blinding pain, that his every secret was now exposed. He realized that every sin that he kept in the cold dark could no longer remain hidden, and that hell had finally caught up to him.

.....