Zeta Assault

Zeta seemed so far away as an insignificant little walnut on optic camera feeds. Now, it’s an overshadowing rock of mass destruction. But even so, Zeta’s power and size pale to the sheer firepower and overwhelming size of the Imperium’s Ishtar Fortress. If Ishtar Fortress was capable of mobility, the Confederacy would’ve long lost the war decades ago.

A symphony of blanket crossfires and scatter-shot bombs kept the Chizon Duo from touching down as they pleased. The sheer maneuvers required of Victoria were more than enough to put intense strain even on her latent Neo Sapiens ability to detect imminent danger. Her matrix was overloaded.

Victoria flipped open her helmet visor. Her breathing grew harsher. The helmet padding was utterly wet from sweat. Her body shivered; the physical strain from seven sorties was taking its toll.

“There!” Friederika shouted, “there’s a beachhead there!”

Victoria’s Shinra led the way through the thick of anti-air laz fire and reached low enough to touch down near where Friederika had previously indicated. It was in a flat rocky area streaked with small hills and ridges.

Above them, Victoria saw three other Shinra teams who broke through behind them. However, Victoria felt a disturbance in her spatial matrix. Her Yellow Typhoon held its oval shield, then brandished the laz gun. She fired preemptive disc shots at the hillside positions. There was laughter from the Shinras.

“What’s wrong, lieutenant? Lost your edge already?”

“You fool, keep your shield up! Accelerate!” Victoria said, fist slammed on the cockpit armrest. She fired another shot at the hill vacancy. Dozens of Tacoma Mobile Troopers leaped up to fire on the reinforcements. Victoria’s seemingly stray shot managed to neutralize one---the ensuing explosion claimed his comrades, leaving behind a crater where the ambush unit once was.

The reinforcements were wiped out.

“I was too late,” Victoria said. Her grip on the joystick tightened.

“They didn’t listen,” Friederika said, “there wasn’t anything you could’ve done. At least you avenged them.”

“I avenged stupidity in war,” Victoria said. The two watched as a more cautious cohort of Shinras touched down nearby. Behind them, a host of Star Monitors pummeled enemy positions elsewhere.

But it wasn’t long before the Star Monitors quickly turned focus to the arrival of Imperial Dreadnoughts.

“Come on, let’s get a move on,” Victoria said to Friederika, “no chance to rest when we need to secure the beachhead over there. And I’m... sensing a big presence over there.” It tugged and pulled on her spatial matrix. She didn’t like what it entailed. If she ran, the souls of the massacred would haunt her. She needed to eliminate whatever it was.

“Presence? Your battle doll intuitions again.”

“Right, let’s go.” The Chizon Duo sped off with Victoria taking point.