Chapter 19
Pompey System — Marian Hegemony Territory
Algenib, Marius's Tears, Horatius, Ballalaba, Baccalieu, and Pompey were the first systems Clan Wolverine struck.
Across these systems, resistance had been minimal. Most were lightly defended, with limited personnel available for capture or combat. The Wolverines moved through them quickly and efficiently, seizing whatever assets they could. At least two JumpShips and several DropShips were taken intact, their crews either captured or eliminated. Those captured vessels were immediately ordered back to Wolverine territory, where they would be refitted with Clan technology.
Each system fell faster than the last.
By the time the 1st Wolverine Strike Cluster arrived in the Pompey system, their operations had become methodical.
Their true target awaited them there.
Pompey III
With a population of approximately 264,750,000, Pompey III was the largest and most significant world they had encountered so far.
The moment the Strike Cluster entered the system and confirmed orbital control, the operation began.
DropShips moved into position.
Mech drop pods were deployed.
From orbit, armored capsules tore through the atmosphere, streaking across the sky like falling stars before slamming into designated landing zones across the planet's surface. The first wave of Wolverine forces emerged immediately upon impact, their orders clear and uncompromising.
Secure territory.
Establish landing zones.
Prepare for mass deployment.
As the initial forces pushed outward, additional DropShips began their descent, reinforcing positions and expanding control. Overhead, the Archangel-class drop-warships entered the atmosphere, their massive frames cutting through cloud cover as they moved into support positions.
From their bays, mobile suits deployed, descending rapidly to join the battle below.
For the first time since the operation began—
The Wolverines met real resistance.
Forces of the I Legio of the Marian Hegemony moved to intercept.
This would not be another silent extraction.
This would be a fight.
—///—
One by one, the pods fell, their impacts crushing concrete, gravel, and anything else in their way as the latches released, revealing the machines inside. Each pod carried a single machine—MBMs, Mobile BattleMechs, machines outfitted with mobile suit technology while still remaining fundamentally BattleMechs.
The MBMs immediately began moving into formation, firing on any military personnel they encountered while rapidly crushing nearby garrison forces.
An MBM-Griffin raised its handheld weapon and fired its Gauss rifle, instantly killing a light mech. The rest of its Star quickly joined up with it:
• an MBM-Wolverine,
• an MBM-Awesome,
• an MBM-Shadow Hawk,
• and an MBM-Black Knight.
This Star, like the others that had descended in drop pods, began clearing out areas of resistance while awaiting the arrival of additional DropShips and drop-warships entering the atmosphere.
Within the next hour, they began encountering heavier resistance. However, by then, Wolverine reinforcements had already arrived and were solidifying control over their assigned zones.
Laser fire and kinetic weaponry traded back and forth between both sides, though the invading Wolverine forces packed significantly more firepower, reducing entire enemy lances into burning scrap metal. With the mobilization of mobile suits, the destruction only continued to rise.
—///—
Meanwhile, mechs from both sides continued battling across the planet.
Infantry units were getting torn apart by mysterious invaders, not only by mechs, but by soldiers wearing some form of advanced exo-suits they could not understand. Alongside Wolverine infantry marched several Stars of HRUNTING Mark Is.
—///—
Marian Hegemony Soldier Leonard POV
This can't be real.
This can't be real.
This can't be real.
I moved from pillar to pillar inside the ruined building, clutching my short-range missile launcher even though I doubted it would do any good. I had already seen what happened to the last squad that tried to fight those enemy metal suits.
They got torn apart.
Not only that, our own mechs were getting absolutely slaughtered.
I don't wanna die.
I really don't wanna die.
Fuck… fuck… fuck… fuck…
If I surrender, will they spare me? Would they take me as a slave?
Too many unknowns.
I wished my friends were still here. I wished I didn't have to be on this goddamn battlefield.
Taking a deep breath, I kept moving higher through the building. There used to be an entire squad with me, but now it was just me. We had tried taking down one of those armored suits earlier, but the thing tore through us even with armor support backing us up.
The damn thing literally flew through the air with miniature jump jets.
Its shoulder-mounted weaponry had practically imploded our tanks, and to make matters worse, it carried some kind of massive Gatling gun. I had watched it shred infantry apart into nothing but mist and gore.
I didn't wanna end up like that.
I didn't wanna fucking die.
So here I was, a coward running for my life.
As if things couldn't get worse, I watched one of our mechs—a Blackjack—open fire with its AC/2s. It didn't do a damn thing. Those metal suits released some kind of force field that stopped the rounds completely, and then a squad of those armored monsters ripped the pilot right out of his mech.
Everything about this felt like something from a horror film.
Like one of those "horrors beyond the Periphery" movies.
Before I could reach the next floor, a massive explosion knocked me off my feet. Through the dust, I saw one of those armored suits crash into the concrete below.
Looking through the hole it created, I saw one of our machines—an Enforcer—preparing to fire another round into the downed suit.
The problem was…
I was directly in the line of fire.
And I was pretty sure that bastard didn't care.
Before I could meet my maker, some kind of giant axe slammed directly into the cockpit of the Enforcer, instantly dropping the mech.
Then the machine lowered its head.
And I saw it.
One massive red eye.
After that—
Darkness.
—///—
Tanya POV
Dammit.
Dammit, dammit, dammit.
Why does this always happen to me?
I did everything right, and because of one screw-up I'm back on the front lines.
But that wasn't even the real issue.
I was inside this fucking metal coffin.
Instead of being assigned to a mech, all three of us ended up stuck inside these experimental battle suits as punishment, despite performing well during our Trials of Position.
Thankfully, at least the controls worked properly.
My heavy shoulder weapons were offline, but my Gatling gun was still operational.
As I slowly rose from the rubble, debris falling from my machine, I noticed a man nearby—one of the local defenders—unconscious but still alive.
I could kill him.
Or…
I could take him prisoner.
Then an idea struck me.
I could take him as my bondsman.
Yeah.
That could work.
If I successfully integrated him into our society, it would reflect positively on me and demonstrate leadership potential.
<[Azula: Tanya, if you're still alive, give an affirmative. We're moving up. Resistance near the capital is collapsing, and the rest of our Star is advancing. We need to maintain momentum. I will not be denied glory.]>
I sighed.
Why am I always surrounded by battle maniacs?
<[Tanya: Aff. I read you. I'll be there in a moment.]>
—///—
As the last mechs defending the planetary capital fell, the Wolverines began the process of moving civilians and defeated military personnel onto their DropShips.
Several Wolverine warriors claimed bondsmen of their own while the population of the capital was slowly loaded aboard the modified Behemoth-class DropShips.
Fighting still raged near the manufacturing hubs and throughout several other cities across the world. Pockets of stubborn infantry resistance could still be found here and there, and the Wolverines had paid a heavy price for their success.
A quarter of their infantry had been lost, most of them young men and women eager for glory.
They had also lost two full Stars of MBMs after an enemy ambush collapsed an entire building on top of them, along with at least fifteen HRUNTING Mark Is.
The mobile suits, however, had only suffered minor damage—nothing that couldn't be repaired.
Overall, the Wolverines had won.
But they had no intention of remaining on the planet for long.
People were dragged from their homes while slaves across the capital were freed from bondage and loaded onto the DropShips. The freed slaves were highly compliant and caused very little trouble.
Some of the defeated military personnel, however, resisted.
Those who caused too much trouble were simply shot and killed, their bodies discarded to the side.
The Wolverines did not have the time to deal with prolonged resistance.
Additional food and supplies were also loaded aboard the fleet in preparation for the return trip back to Wolverine territory.
The fighting had been fierce.
But the Wolverines had earned their first blood.
—///—