Chapter 2: Cipra’s Last Stand (Prelude)

“Godspeed, Sarge,” Lance said. “Wish I was with you to the end.”

“Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself ... I’m sorry.” He tapped the back of Lance’s armor, knowing the grief that he was having to go through while maintaining the momentum of moving forward in defending the others. Yuchen simply couldn’t think about it too much as he slapped the button to close the hatch. With the last of the marines departed, Yuchen turned his attention toward the front section of the cabin. The front compartment held a separate small compartment slot for drivers that were wearing their power armor. He hoisted the machine gun towards his hip to give him a free hand. The console that linked to the main turret cannon doubled as a makeshift control station. He tapped the control panel and set it to manual vehicle control. He then used his free hand to operate the joystick controls. This consisted of several buttons that would allow him to drive the M30. The display network connected to his visor so that he could see everything that the vehicle was seeing.

With a shift and button press, the vehicle backed up before he started to speed away from the Lantau passage. It was a difficult process but not overly challenging. There was some room for him to drive off-road, but he could still see a steady nonstop passage of civilian vehicles that were going to this location. There was a slight break in the traffic that Yuchen had to seize. Thankfully, even with the pandemonium, the crowds of escaping people could see the huge military vehicle come barreling through to take a left-hand turn. The M30 was perfectly responsive as it made a hard 90-degree turn. The flex tires barely squeaked as the entire frame perfectly made the turn. Inside, Yuchen’s boots kept a magnetic hold onto the deck to keep him from tumbling over.

With the center of the city straight-ahead, Yuchen’s finger grip on the controls relaxed a little bit while the IFV sped forward at a faster and faster rate. One side of the traffic was almost at a dead stop, but the other side was almost completely clear of obstruction. Ahead, Yuchen’s heart was beginning to pound. He briefly could see the overhead camera display that showed what was going on in orbit. The last UHN battleship was nearing the wormhole. In less than a few seconds, it went straight through it. Yuchen looked away as he could see the city’s damage. It was everywhere. The carnage by the bombardment had reduced most of the tall structures into fragmented remains. In reality, much of the traffic had a hard time driving forward because of the debris that was strewn about. A block ahead was almost unpassable on the right side of the road. Yet, there was a strong calm of the moment. The bombardment had almost completely ceased. The flak field was gone, and the enemy was coming...

“Come on, come on!” Yuchen said to himself as he had to jolt the joystick controls. The IFV lurched to the left to avoid a boulder-sized piece of building. He would hit the pavement and dirt portion of the road while maintaining his forward momentum. A series of IFVs and other military vehicles were coming forward along with the line of cars.

“This is Detachment 5, hailing the lone IFV,” a female voice came through the intercom. “Please respond.”

Yuchen tapped the button as the speakers activated, causing an audio-only communication line to be established. “Detachment squad 5, this is the detachment squad unit 3. I see you on the scopes. Proceed to the passageway before the Itreans bomb the tunnel. I’m en route to the central computer station facility. Don’t worry about me. Go and provide escort to the civilians that are trying to escape.”

“Understood. Good luck,” the driver responded back.

It didn’t take long before Yuchen drove past the squad of military vehicles. The moment that he drove past them, they disengaged from the crowded-up lanes and took up the other one. They were easily able to pound through the divider line barricades and speed up ahead in the direction of the tunnel. The computer’s display was showing the approximate location of his vehicle. The countless buildings were becoming a blur. While large portions of the city were still standing, the damaged sections proved to be difficult to get around. One of the large pagoda-like towers had been leveled to the ground. It was in the direction of the computer core facility.

There was a bright light that erupted from one of the displays. Yuchen could see where it was coming from. The direction was from orbit. The gate array had suddenly exploded in bright light. It was most likely set to overload itself to ensure that the Itreans couldn’t utilize it against humanity, but it was the final death stroke. Cipra was trapped. There was nowhere to go, and the method of intergalactic travel was mostly shut out. For any person that would see this, it was the most demoralizing event ever to occur. Those that weren’t running for their lives had noticed the stop in the bombardment. They simply stared up to see the flash and shatter of the array station. Yuchen had been focused on the driving, but even he could feel it burning his soul. The loss of his wife and son ... a part of it, was simply too much.

“After this ... I’ll see you two soon,” Yuchen simply said as he guided the joystick.

Yuchen had jumped out of the M30 with a hard thud on the pavement. It was parked at its destination point. The computer core facility wasn’t that far from him. Its location was placed not that far from the ruined remains of one of the most significant administration buildings of Cipra. The large-scale evacuation alarms were still present. People and vehicles had mostly vacated this location, with a few emergency responders trying to help the wounded. The tower’s destruction had created a level of carnage that Yuchen tried to block out of his head. People were crushed under the rubble, with the few responders using special equipment to find and pull out any potential survivors. There was a small amount of praise that Yuchen had for these brave individuals. Despite the fact that an alien invasion was going to happen at any minute, these rescuers were still there, no matter the consequences.

The sergeant only had a few seconds to reminisce about the scene as he turned his attention briefly to the sky. He could hear something or some things that were coming. As he looked up, he could see the brief outlines of several approaching ships. There was a series of glowing dots in orbit. The Itreans had surrounded the planet. They were in a perfect orbital pattern if they wanted to continue their bombardment with a better position.

“Damn...,” Yuchen said to himself as he tapped the sentry drone turret that was on his side. He made sure to grab several essential items with him while he began his move towards the building. He tapped a few buttons to access control of the M30 vehicle. It was now set to drone controls so that he could operate manually from a distance if need be. He readjusted his M18 machine gun and continued his approach.

The computer core facility looked pretty much like many of the buildings consisting of a curved rectangular structure. It was about three stories tall and had numerous windows on each floor. It had blue and gray colors with the words “Genisen Cipran Networks,” written in both English and Chinese. Yuchen noted that this building was one of the surviving taller structures of the city. It might prove as an advantageous point assuming that the Itreans didn’t blow it up with him in it. Of course, at this time, it simply didn’t matter to him.

When he reached the cracked transparent glass doors, they refused to open up. Finally, a lone woman saw the armored marine and tapped the button to open it up. Yuchen marched into the door and into the reception area. The former Chinese-looking woman seemed nervous but steady when she approached Yuchen.

“Hello?” she asked him.

“I’m Sergeant Yuchen of UHN marine Detachment 3,” he told her. “I’m here to speak to whoever is here in scuttling the computer core.”

“Of course, this way!” she replied.

She led him to an elevator that wasn’t that far from the reception location. Yuchen noted that the woman was the only person that was present.

“How many of you stayed?” he asked her.

“Just me and the supervisor,” she calmly replied.

“That was brave of you. I’m assuming that everyone else has safely evacuated?”

“I don’t know. I heard some are heading north, some south, ... others ... I...”

“It’s alright,” he said as the elevator door opened up. They stepped inside, but the elevator was barely able to hold the immense weight and size of the armored marine. These were designed to handle small amounts of civilian traffic. The woman’s fingers gripped her dress uniform somewhat hard, showing the tension that she had.

“Are ... are you going to stop them?” she asked him.

He almost debated about telling her the truth. Finally, after a brief pause, he relented. “I don’t think so. Their forces are too strong, but ... I think that people like you are going to make a difference.”

It was the only way that he could at least comfort her. The elevator ride conversation was brief, but she seemed to acknowledge everything that was happening. Then, as the elevator door opened up, the woman finally said something.

“My name is Qingge...,” she said. “Just ... in case you outlive me.”

“Xièxiè, Qingge,” he replied.

Below the ground level of the building was a massive matrix system covered in a heavy-duty transparent armored pane of plastic or glass. It consisted of most of the bottom section of the entire building and had numerous maintenance offices and conduits that went into it. There was a single male individual that was present. He seemed remorseful but ready for the inevitable. His white office lab coat and sturdy brown hair reflected the pale face that he had. He had a small pistol in his hand as if he was ready to defend the place against the horde of aliens that may come.

“Secretary Qingge. Who is this individual?” the man asked. His accent hinted at the fact that he might have come from a different UWA planet.

“My name is Sergeant Yuchen. I have come to help you scuttle the computer system.”

The man’s eyes showed a sense of relief. “Good. My name is Doctor Laurie. I’m the head supervisor of the facility here at Genisen Computer Networks.” He turned his attention towards the massive device in the center of the room. “This is the main computer hub that powers New Hong Kong. I’ll show you what needs to be done to destroy it.”

“It was said that the conduit or something was damaged?”

“Yes, the main admin building next to us was destroyed. I tried to activate the self-destruct unit, but the power conduits were fused. The building is running on emergency batteries as it is, but this can be solved rather quickly. Inside this is the central processing unit. Because of the attack, the emergency protocols are active, preventing me from getting in, but that wall that is protecting it is made of a quarter-meter bulletproof transparent polymer. My pistol can’t punch through, but ... it wasn’t rated for something more powerful than that.” He eyed the marine’s M18 light assault machine gun.

“Alright, then,” Yuchen said. He waved his hand towards the two. “Step back and cover your ears.”

“Fire a circular pattern around a section of the wall. It doesn’t need to be big. Keep in mind that the bullets won’t destroy the network, but it can be a start.”

Yuchen took a deep breath as he gripped the underslung weapon. He could see where the gun was pointed at as he fired. Set in semi-automatic, he was using the gun as a cutting tool. Despite the quieter sounds of the gunfire of the 24^th century, both the civilians had their ears covered. The 50 caliber rounds were more than a match for the wall. The bullet holes could be clearly seen as it was fracturing a small portion of it. Yuchen continued firing for less than ten seconds until a small basketball-sized hole broke apart. Laurie looked at the damage and nodded his head.

“Good,” the supervisor said. “I noticed that you have grenades ... are they grenades?”

“Yes,” Yuchen replied.

“Alright, does the grenade have the ability to emit an EMP discharge?”

“Yes, although, it needs to be usually connected to the target device to have a full effect.”

The supervisor pointed his hand and walked towards the hole. “Arm it and throw it on the conduit section that leads to the central box structure.”

Yuchen used his free hand to disconnect one of the two magnetized disk grenades from his hip. He tapped a few buttons and walked towards the hole that he had made. It was just large enough for him to throw the small device if need be.

“Stand back,” he told him as he held his arm back and flung the grenade through the opening. It didn’t travel far before it clamped on the area that the supervisor pointed at. Within a second of its landing, the disk grenade began to emit a powerful charge that radiated outward. The energy output was immense as the central black box started to fluctuate wildly for a few seconds.

“There...,” the supervisor said. “That will fry everything. All the top classified files of the military ... everything that Cipra has established is gone. It will be hard for them to recover anything from that. Thank you for your help, marine.”

“Then I will have to ask for you two to vacate this city immediately,” Yuchen said as he proceeded to walk back to the elevator. He gripped his machine tightly as the two civilians followed him towards it.

“We don’t know where to go,” Qingge replied.

“Try to head towards the Lantau passageway. If the Itreans blow it up, then ... I don’t know.”

“I think that it might be best to surrender to them,” Laurie commented. They stepped into the elevator as he pressed the first-floor button. There was a slow lurch as the elevator moved upward.

“I don’t think the Itreans are taking our surrender,” Yuchen told them. “We don’t know what happened to the people of Eutera when they were taken. They might be doing the same thing here but at a larger scale ... now that they know that they can beat us. Escape, survive, fight. That’s all I can suggest to you two.”

The elevator door opened up as both Laurie and Qingge stepped out. Yuchen, however, refused to get out.

“Aren’t you coming?” Qingge asked.

“No. Don’t worry about me,” Yuchen said. “Save yourselves. I’m heading to the roof.”

The two weren’t going to argue as Laurie nodded his head towards him. “Good luck ... thank you.”

With that, Yuchen tapped the button on the elevator and pressed the button for the roof access. The doors closed, and the elevator began to rise. The marine’s thoughts went to himself. He had done his part and was sure that not much else could be done. Nothing else really mattered at this point for him as he thought back to his family and everyone else. His hands gripped onto the underslung machine gun hard as he almost shook in place. For an elevator ride that was only seconds, it felt like minutes.

The door opened up as the elevator reached the top floor. A notification was there that limited it to employees only. He overrode the controls and stepped out into the opening of the roof. The top section of the building only consisted of maintenance terminals and the alcove compartment for the elevator to reach. It was here that Yuchen had a firm view of the entire city. He continued to step forward in the direction of the destroyed admin tower. He then tapped the wrist computer of his armor to open up an audio-only communications link with whatever was out there.

“This is Sergeant Yuchen from Detachment 3,” Yuchen said. “I have destroyed the main computer network of Cipra as per orders from the Vice President.”

A male voice responded on his end, but it wasn’t any of the people that he knew. “This is UHN Cipran task force commander, Wellington. Acknowledged Sergeant Yuchen. We have confirmation of its destruction.”

Yuchen was looking at the scene from the rooftop. He had a better view than most locations on Cipra. He approached near the edge of the building, where there was a small fenced area to prevent any careless onlooker from falling over. Directly south was the destroyed tower of the admin building. From his height, the destruction looked even worse. Small craters dotted the landscape of the city. Fires, screams, and smoke were billowing out of random spots where the bombardment persisted. West of the city, he could barely see the tunnel where traffic was trying to go towards, but it was pointless. The tunnel had finally become a bottleneck. Both north and south near the edges of New Hong Kong, there was a series of small craters where vehicles had been targeted and destroyed. From near the buildings was a series of military vehicles that could be spotted. Yuchen knew immediately what was going to happen.

“Wellington, if you are leading the attack, I advise you to vacate immediately and spread out as much as possible,” Yuchen explained.

“While I can commemorate your efforts, Sergeant, I’m ordered by the Vice President to stay and fight.”

“Of course,” Yuchen said as he simply sighed. “No point in trying to help the defiant ones...”

“What is that supposed to?...” the communications line was cut as Yuchen knew that it was pointless. He closed out the communications link. He felt that he had done his part. It was time for the enemy to bring the rain. His eyes went towards the sky and towards the canyon. He tried to keep his mind focused, but then, he saw it.

A series of six large vessels were slowly approaching the city of New Hong Kong from the north. They were more or less flying and maintaining a low altitude. Five of these vessels had a pair of trapezoid wings to them that protruded from their rear section. The front bow was almost shaped like a vertical hammerhead, although the bottom front was more filed down. A series of weapon emplacements were on the sides and front, including a small cannon and CIWS guns. The top front carried a slight humpback that looked like some sort of landing port, including some kind of top turreted howitzer or mortar, but it was difficult to make out much more than that. A series of engine thrusters mounted on the vessels kept them from crashing towards the ground. Their hulls had a red color to them.

The other vessel followed a somewhat similar design gimmick, but it was a little bit larger. Instead of having the hammerhead look, the front bow had a series of protruding pincers. The top front bow consisted of some sort of hangar bay. The wings had a much larger profile to them and carried far more weapons. Near the pincers were protruding cannons, most likely railgun batteries. This distinct type of vessel almost had the appearance of a scorpion but lacked the large rear stinger. These red ships were casting a large shadow that flowed through the canyon.

“Red ships ... just like JJ-78 ... yet the ones that took Eutera were green,” Yuchen noted to himself. “Come ... you won’t take this city without a fight.”

Yuchen could hear the sounds of these vessels as they were closing in. They produced a quick reverberating rhythm of deep pulses, most likely from the engines that were working to keep them hovering. However, there was at least one surprise that might delay the Itrean assault. The military base located on the Lantau Canyon hadn’t been targeted from the bombardment yet. It could be barely seen from Yuchen’s location, but it was located from the northern section of New Hong Kong. The base was buried and built into the rocky wall. It was here that the UHN Cipran headquarters was located, but despite its construction, it didn’t carry any weapons. However, it did have one thing, and it waited till now to deploy them.

The military base had a large rectangular door that quickly rose up. It was the final act of defense, but one that had little hope in winning. Planetary UHN F-167 hawks and the newer F-175 eagle fighter craft were flying out of the open hatch. Ten, twenty, thirty, then fifty of them came rushing out. These aircraft took up quick but separate formations before heading straight towards the incoming Itrean vessels.

The Itreans, on the other hand, responded quickly. The leader pincer-looking ship’s railgun turret took quick aim at the opening. Some of the other Itrean hammerhead-looking ships fired a series of smaller missiles. They flew out and began to home in on the military base as well. The railgun round struck first, smashing into the wall like a hammer. As the Itrean vessels kept moving forward, the railgun turret continued to fire upon the base. There was nothing that the UHN base had to protect itself as the missiles struck the sides. A series of explosions followed out as the remains of the hidden base crumbled down the long rocky walls to the ground below.

This left the UHN fighter craft that was closing in on the Itrean vessels. It seemed hopeful. Dozens upon dozens of tiny little fighters were able to intercept the incoming attack fleet. Maybe, they stood a chance, but it was all for nothing. Yuchen was indifferent as he watched a series of small aircraft being deployed from the Itrean vessels. They were launched from a series of tubes on the tops of the vessels. It was like watching a bunch of tiny flies that swarmed a giant bird. Some of the Itrean fighter craft had pincers on the front. Others carried a large protruding nose to them, almost as if it was a minigun or possible railgun. It was difficult to make anything else from it due to the extreme range that Yuchen had to see from.

“Damn...,” Yuchen said to himself. “It’s over...” Nothing more could be said as the Itrean vessels’ CIWS guns began to fire a spray of rounds towards the incoming UHN aircraft. Tracer fire can be seen. There were far more Itrean aircraft than there were UHN. At the same time, the vessels had adequate protection to them. The hawks and eagles would fire waves of missiles, but most of them were getting shot down before they even came close to the invading fleet. Some of the UHN aircraft were getting destroyed in the ensuing fight. They all scattered in multiple directions as the scene became an aerial battleground.

The Itrean invasion was closing in on the city. In reality, it appeared that the Itrean assault carriers, as Yuchen concluded, were actually somewhat small. The largest pincer vessel could have been 150 meters in length. However, size didn’t matter. Even if the humans had somehow won this fight and stopped them, there would be an enormous Itrean fleet hovering over every single person.

Yuchen looked northward towards the ground at the edge of the city. UHN vehicles from the other detachments had been using the city limits and buildings as partial cover, but the Itrean vessels continued to close in. The alien aircraft were incredibly maneuverable and fast. They were scoring hits as their machine guns and missiles were accurate and deadly towards the UHN aircraft. However, there were a couple of scored kills from the UHN as some of the Itrean fighters were getting destroyed. Even then, there were simply too many of the Itreans to counter. Three of the hammerhead assault carriers began to open fire at the ground forces that were in place. Their light railgun and small bow-mounted missile launcher would scatter towards the vehicles. One of the UHN vehicles, an M32 Sprite, tried to use its AIO turret to shoot down the incoming missiles. Its twin CIWS missile batteries sprayed munitions into the air before a railgun round struck blew into the frame. Other artillery vehicles such as the 8 x 8 hammers would desperately try to fire their larger shells into the hulls of the vessels. The 150mm shells smashed into the bow section of the hulls doing some damage but not enough before a railgun round would destroy them.

The pincer-looking assault carrier was the one that seemed to do the most damage. It was responding quickly after it had successfully destroyed the military canyon base. Its side-mounted railguns began to unleash downward toward the last stand of UHN vehicles. One of the UHN Kujangs turned its railgun turret and struck one of the engines of the lead Itrean vessel. A small amount of smoke billowed from the engine array but did nothing to slow down the incoming craft. The railgun rounds from the aliens were devastating. The guns radiated blue and purple particles as the hypervelocity rounds bashed through entire buildings. Any cover that the marine vehicles had was pointless. Instead, raining debris became an issue as they drove outward and toward the assault carriers.

Within less than thirty seconds, half of the detachments were destroyed. The ground vehicles were no match against the Itrean onslaught. Nevertheless, the lead pincer carrier and two others continued to advance over the city as three others halted in the air. Instead, these hammerhead carriers began to descend towards the ground at a slow rate. They were preparing to land as they continued to open fire on the UHN marine vehicles.

Yuchen watched as the lead carrier and the other two smaller carriers began flying directly over the city. The roaring engines reverberated through the entire city. The railguns continued to fire downward, destroying any opposition in its wake. Yuchen took a deep breath feeling that the incoming attack might target him. He felt no fear and only waited for the inevitable. Suddenly, a large overhead speaker erupted from the lead Itrean vessel. While the craft was just about to fly over Yuchen, the audio message radiated outward in all directions. It wasn’t like anything that he had ever heard.

“Attention, humans ... you have lost. Your defenses destroyed. Your ships flee. You are beaten. In the name of the Aksren clan, you are to surrender to us. We promise you a quick and swift death.”

The voice sounded feminine, with an accent that was almost Japanese. There were even hints of Spanish and French as the sentence carried on. The s sounds were even carried out a little bit more than the other words.

“It’s true ... Itrean clans ... these are the Aksren...” he simply stated.

The assault carrier’s side railguns targeted something in the distance. The starboard large missile box of the ship unleashed a salvo of missiles. They began to fly outward and towards the Lantau passage. Railgun rounds and missiles struck the entrance like a sledgehammer. Rock and debris radiated outward, landing on the cars that were stuck trying to get through. The remaining people that were in the city had nowhere to go. Yuchen could only hope that his team and remaining forces had managed to escape in time. He could even see that some of the Itrean aircraft, which had shot down most of the UHN opposition, were heading westward, the direction where the escaping vehicles would exit from. Nothing more could be done from Yuchen’s end. He only kept note of it as he waited for the next railgun round to smash into his body.

Yet, nothing happened. Instead, the Aksren warships simply flew overhead of him, leaving a shadow that dawned over city blocks. A large rear hatch opened up. It began to drop something from the aft section. They were hard to decipher at first. At the same time, it was happening so fast that it was difficult to comprehend. Northward, the assault carriers had fully landed. Almost all of the northern UHN vehicles were destroyed. At the same time, the carriers’ rear and side hatches began to open up. A slew of vehicles and soldiers were running outward. Their direction was straight to the city. At the same time, Yuchen focused up and could see what the pincer carrier was deploying. They were semi-large, being around the size of a vehicle. They appeared to be mech-like, but nothing like he had ever seen before. They were red-colored and carried huge armored hunched backs to them. Each of these mechs had two arms and two legs to them. Portions of the body had altitude thrusters that allowed them to descend to the ground at a fast but safe speed. One of these things was not going to be far from his location.

“Commando units,” Yuchen commented to himself. He watched and observed one of them that was going to be landing near him. It was falling down quickly, but its thrusters kept it upright. Upon further observation, he could decipher that they had large armored bodies, but most of the armor was on the top and back. They almost appeared to be dinosaur-like, similar to those of a two-legged Ankylosaurus. However, unlike the original concept of them walking on four legs, the front two arms had a series of mounted weapons to them. On top of the armored carapace was another gun turret, most likely a railgun and an assortment of other weapons. There was a head that also protruded outward from the back-frontal armor.

The carriers were continuing to deploy these mechs all over the city as it continued further southward. They then began to commence further bombardment at the southern UHN marine vehicles. Yuchen continued to keep his sights on the nearest incoming mech. It was possible that the Aksren hadn’t even spotted him or hadn’t considered him a viable threat amongst the millions of trapped civilians. However, that was soon to change. The falling mech’s thrusters were fully active. Plumes of fire could be seen from it as it slowed down its fall to the pavement not far from the destroyed administration building. The armored metal red legs struck the pavement with a hard crunch, cracking the concrete and sending a small concussive shockwave outward. Within a second, the legs stood up, and the small head began to look outward. The unlit eyes powered up and glowed a bright red. The head itself almost looked reptilian-like. It was metal like the rest of the body with a large nose and head crest. A series of small horns could also be seen from the area where the ears were poking from.