//------------------------------// // 2: The Battle // Story: Planetside 2: The Path We Walk // by Xzeron2000 //------------------------------// CHAPTER-2: The Battle A great man once said: “This is all we have. And I’ll be damned if we’re going to hand it over to those fascist Terrans, or those Vanu fanatics. We’ve got our freedom, and I intend to hold onto it, even if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tawrich Tech Plant was ready for the Terrans. Engineers scrambled as soon as they had received word of the Terrans’ impending arrival, and pilots had already scouted the enemy formations. It seemed that the enemy favored heavy armor; tank units made up the bulk of their columns, which included a few mechanized units. Almost all of their vehicles were the best the Terrans could offer. Most carried high-level upgrades that would allow them to stand up to the toughest of any factions’ defenses. The NC personnel knew this, and were prepared. Their best heavy assault units, coupled with engineer units to keep turrets and tanks running bolstered their defenses. They had some of the best Reaver pilots in the NC to provide close air support for the defenders, and make preemptive strikes on the enemy columns. In part, the Terrans’ choice of units assisted the NC. Tanks were slow, especially with upgraded armor. Their choice not to diversify their units gave the NC the upper hand as far as materiel distribution was concerned. The NC didn’t have to worry much about infantry, or air support, for that matter. All they had to do was focus on having anti-vehicle capabilities. Many squad leaders were prepping their men, giving speeches, or allowing their men to write letters to their families when the first Vanu Sovereignty Sunderer came over the ridge. It was covered in dust, the wheels caked with dried mud. The soldiers could see a few marks made by bullets on the composite armor plates that covered its side. This would be the first of many, and the troops immediately put down whatever they were doing, and grabbed their weapons, and prepared for the Terrans’ assault force. In the distance, at Tawrich, eight Galaxy transports could be seen, three on the landing pads offered by the facility, and the rest circling, waiting to pick up their precious Vanu cargo. A few soldiers flicked off the Vanu as they drove by, shouting “Fucking spandex assholes! You killed my brother!” or something to that affect. Much to their credit, the squad leaders of said soldiers tried to calm them down. One such case ended in a fight, and left two NC soldiers rolling around on the ground, punching each other in various places. Most just tightened their grips, and hunkered down. After the grim procession of Sunderers had ended, the troops could hear a slight growling noise that cut through the otherwise silent environment. The Terrans were close at hand. Just as the first Terran tanks rounded the top of the hill, the imposing canyon walls extending far above them, they fired blindly at the Galaxies, one of which had already left, taking its precious cargo towards the New Conglomerate warpgate. The defenders, in turn, fired less blindly. The lead tanks, after taking a lot of punishment, withdrew. Then, the rest of the column lined up in neat lines of four tanks, and popped over the ridge periodically to take a shot at the defenders. This strategy, while not too effective, did do some damage, but the NC engineers quickly compensated for it. Wave after wave, the Terrans threw themselves at the New Conglomerate defenders. When waves became sparser, a few of the scouts that had been deployed earlier along the ridges reported that the Terran tanks were breaking off to retrieve some ammo. The Reaver pilots took their chance, and descended upon damaged and ammunition-starved tanks as they went to retrieve resources. Gradually, between the defenses, and the ever present air force, the Terrans’ assault was beaten back. But, they would not go without a fight. Some scouts reported that there were several Terran galaxies heading to flank Tawrich, and possibly take out the force field generator protecting the NC tanks, along with air superiority Mosquitos, and some heavily upgraded Liberators to take out ground targets from above. The NC Reaver pilots were quickly overwhelmed, and found themselves without the proper armament to deal with the enemy aircraft. A few Mosquitos went down, but when one went down, it always seemed like there were two to take its place. The tide was turning, and the NC knew it. Even as the last NC Galaxy left Tawrich, the Terrans had left their defenses smoldering, charred and broken corpses littering the ground. The few lucky enough not to be blown up would be reconstituted by the NC’s respawn network, while the rest were permanently dead. Tawrich soon fell to the Terrans, needless to say. The destroyed tanks and planes had been reconstituted once the Terrans gained control of Tawrich. The Terrans then invaded the surrounding areas, grabbing as much resources and land as they could, all the while the NC were conducting a fighting retreat. The Terran war machine was barreling down on the Indar New Conglomerate warpgate, and most knew it was only a matter of time before the Terrans gained control of it. The Vanu, however, withdrew most all of its forces from the continent, content to let the New Conglomerate take the brunt of the Terrans’ beating. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since the meeting, the High Priestess had agreed with the New Conglomerate leadership that it was best to let the Terrans take Indar, so as to be able to bolster the defenses of the other two continents, Esamir and Amerish. Amerish was chosen as the site for construction of the New Hope; a spaceship that would be able to traverse wormhole space without being damaged by radiation, unexpected event horizon collapse, or some other unforeseen complication. The coming months were to be harrowing for both the New Conglomerate and the Vanu Sovereignty. Not only would the New Hope be complete, but the Vanu would be able to turn to the stars, and the New Conglomerate could have its freedom after being returned to Earth. Little did the New Conglomerate know, it was not going to Earth at all. The Vanu had planned to venture forth to a potentially life-bearing planet that resembled Earth, but in reality was very, very far away from it. The alien archives that the Sovereignty had recovered suggested that there had been a developing sentient species, which was very similar to Earth’s ‘miniature horse’ or, as the common people would refer to it, ‘pony’. The planet’s designation in the alien archives was “LB-043”, but the Vanu had come to call it New Eden.