At the same time as Jean was ambushed, survived, and decided to march to the steps of the Supreme Court with all the fury in the world, covert warriors foreign of this world made their move.
In front of the portal at Paris was a fully fortified Warden position, equipped with enough weapons to wipe out an army. Striders of all kinds formed a formation according to their firepower and the roles they played. Mines covered the field, as well as trenches and barricades designed to delay even the best of the Roman Equites.
Obviously, the Voyagers have tried to shut down the portals. Jean didn't have any luck with her Power of Death. She could try to “kill” the gate, but the gate would be rebuilt almost as quickly as she destroyed it.
Likewise, Major has attempted something. Once, he deployed an army of constructs and attempted to destroy the portal with brute physical force, but a barrier appeared in front of the portal, powered by the same source that made interdimensional travel possible. He simply didn't have the power to overwhelm the shields.
That was why the situation evolved into a standoff. All the Voyagers could do was cover their flank with enough guns to obliterate any intruder.
But after three months, most of the Warden units have gone dormant. The brutal fact on Jean’s front was that while mechanical units didn't have to eat or sleep, they needed a power source. Otherwise, even the most powerful cannons would go silent. The exhaustion of energy needed to keep armies of Wardens fully functional was just off the roof.
If she had all her Wardens constantly fully activated, when the Romans finally make another push, they would already be useless.
That was another reason she wanted to move into the Roman territories. She couldn’t defend somewhere as large as Earth forever. Eventually, there would be a crack in the armor, and sooner or later, that crack would be discovered and abused.
But for now, Jean was forced to put nearly all her units in hibernation to conserve energy. This portal had 8,000 defenders, but only 1,000 were activated. The rest were semi-asleep. They could be brought back to life at a moment’s notice. In fact, their scanners were still on. If they sensed hostiles in the surrounding, they could immediately take action.
Jean was aware of the potential threat, but she had no better option. Just because she had the ability to remain completely objective in the matter didn't mean she could just invent a way out of nowhere. She could try to minimize the threat, but she could never terminate it.
A squad of 20 Wardens patrolled across a street near the portal. Everything and everyone local within a certain radius was cleared out. All that could be heard was the sound of metal Warden limbs moving across the rugged road.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Out of nowhere, twenty arrows suddenly pierced all the Warden Striders. One arrow in the CPU of each Strider. No more. No less. The assassins acted swiftly. Thanks to a particular patron, they have had the opportunity to study these mechanical soldiers. Such a risky action proved to be quite successful. With the help of some local traitors, they gathered all the knowledge they needed.
Not a single Warden was able to send out a warning in time.
The assassins quietly revealed themselves. All of them were men wearing cloaks and carrying specialized crossbows and daggers.
The leader glanced at his men. Knowing well that it was probable that none of them would survive this mission, he wasted no time to deliver a long, inspiring speech. Instead, he made a simple statement.
“The Emperor has entrusted the glory of Rome to us. Let us see it honored.”
“For Rome!”
Inside the Warden encampment, the Warden Command Unit quickly discovered something was wrong. This wasn’t the middle ages. You don’t infiltrate a castle by slitting the throat of the sentries and walk through the front door quietly. That Warden patrol was miles away from the encampment. As soon as it went down, the WCU noticed the absence of these units in the Warden network.
Its orders were swift.
“Activate all units. 1st and 2nd detachments to the portals. 3rd detachment, scan the area. All B-1 units ready for action.”
Immediately, the entire Warden camp was woken up. There was no idol chatters that were present in normal military camps, just the monotoned, disciplined footsteps of Warden machines. With simple efficiency, countless units across the position raised their heads, checked their weapons, and moved into their designated positions.
Four thousand Wardens readied their weapons and took aim at the portals. Two thousand Wardens fanned out across the perimeter. The observers in the air provided no useful aid, which meant the infiltrators had some sort of cloaking ability. Fair enough. The Warden foot soldiers were deployed to flush out the infiltrators with sheer numbers. If an infiltrator was forced to strike because the Wardens were literally running into them, even if it was still cloaked, the Warden bombardment could cover the entire region. Cloaked didn't mean immune to damage, and an endless barrage of bullets could make the invisible assassins wish they were never born.
Wardens were initially built to combat Jean’s enemies in the Starcraft world, and that included cloaked entities such as dark templars and ghosts. They were well aware of how to fight enemies they couldn’t see.
The Warden forces were divided into three groups. The WCU calculated that the enemies were likely trying to help their comrades on the other side get through. Thus, most of the forces were focused at the portal.
Suddenly, one of the Warden S-1s on pest-extermination mission paused. The next second, its body fell apart into two from the middle.
“For Rome!”
Out of nowhere, twenty figures tossed aside their cloaks. They could shoot arrows with their cloaks on, but the mean of cover also limited their movement. As soon as they get into melee, their cloaks would no longer hide their trails, and the assassins themselves knew that. From the very beginning, this has been a suicide mission.
They have never expected to return. There was only forward for true Romans. Only cowards and slaves would retreat, and the Shadows of the Emperor were anything but cowards and slaves.
The Roman assassins were fierce. Before the Wardens could react, they were already charging into the Warden ranks. With superior strength and neural reflex, they moved from strider to strider with astonishing speed. Every strider they moved past would find a hole in their CPU or energy core before crumbling onto the ground, forever put down.
Some Wardens opened fire. The Warden computing network, pairing with the quantum computers inside every Warden unit, allowed all the shots fired to connect, but at the same time, the elite Romans expertly positioned themselves so they were shielded by other Wardens, thus taking as little punishment as possible.
One assassin leaped onto a strider. Before the strider hit the ground, its head was already flying away. Five other Wardens opened fire, but the assassin was swifter. He tossed what was left of the destroyed Warden at two of the three Wardens before hopping onto another one. A dozen bullets hit him on the way, but he hardly stopped. Under the cover of his comrades, he was able to protect most of his critical parts.
The Shadows of the Emperor were the best of the Empire. The entire realm lived in fear of their presence. They might be against a foreign enemy, but that didn't mean their value would diminish.
The WCU made a quick decision as it computed what happened. Its database including info on fighting Romans. It knew exactly what to do.
“S-3s, open fire.”
In the field, one of the Roman assassins looked up into the air, not in horror, but in silent acceptance.
The next second, a wave of explosions engulfed all twenty Roman assassins, as well as every single Warden strider in the vicinity.
Finally, as the bombardment stopped, another party of Warden Striders moved up and checked the corpses.
The Warden Command Unit stood there as the smoke cleared and reports came in that all 20 assassins were exterminated. Its artificial intelligence side was extremely confused. These assassins could’ve done a lot more if they didn't just charge into a sea of Wardens by themselves with no support or cover. If they instead chose to hide in the city and ambush the Wardens, they wouldn’t die before taking down Wardens ten times their numbers. Now, they were slaughtered just like this. To their credit, they did bring down a number of Wardens with them, but...it just felt so underwhelming.
Maybe they underestimated the Wardens’ reaction time?
Or maybe…
The WCU suddenly came to a realization...It tried to issue another command, but the order never went through. In fact, its connection with the Warden network has been severed.
Within seconds, the WCU realized its connection wasn’t the only thing severed.
Originally, there were 8,000 Warden units in the camp, making it a death trap and keeping the WCU as safe as it could be. But 6,000 of them were deployed elsewhere when the first patrol squad went down. There were still 2,000 Wardens, not too many, but enough to disturb their plan, so the assassins went on a suicide mission...well, at least most of them.
The twenty assassins launched a charge at the Wardens. Just to be safe, the WCS deployed another 1,000 units to confront them. It couldn’t allow the assassins a chance to get away.
This was the opening the head assassin needed to sneak into the Warden fortress, get behind the WCU, and take it out with a single strike to the chest.
The Warden Command Unit collapsed on the ground. Its energy core and central processing unit were fully destroyed. Behind it, the head assassin wasn’t having it easy either. Twenty S-1s and S-2s standing ground immediately turned around and rained down a hail of bullets on the assassin, ripping the man apart. The assassin tried to resist. His crossbow slid out under his arm, and he unloaded three bolts into the chest of three S-1s, but that was it.
That was the furthest he made before succumbing to all the Warden firepower.
While Equities and legionnaires, with their armors and shields, could take a load of shots, assassins favored agility and the element of surprise over anything else. A few dozen bullets he could handle, but hundreds of shots per second from dozens of Striders ripped both him and the remains of the now useless WCU to pieces.
But his goal was accomplished.
Under thousands of watchful Warden eyes/scanners, the portal was suddenly activated. Before the dust even settled, thousands of forms started to solidify.
Within seconds, thousands of Equities were dashing across the gateway. Their lances ready for blood.
The Warden structure was a hierarchy. Jean issued her orders to the Warden Command Units, who then delivered those commands to lower Warden units. Each Warden unit had a quantum computer. While in the past the WCUs had to analyze the situation and give orders to the basic Warden striders, nowadays the striders could do that job themselves. But that wasn’t the problem. By themselves, there was no way the Wardens here could hold their ground. They needed help, and without the WCU, that part would be a little troubling.
Make no mistake. Warden Striders could still connect to other Warden Command Units as well as link in with other striders. Even the observers in the air weren’t blind. But the lack of the WCU required countless extra connections to be made for the message to be relayed, and the time it took to make these connections was all that the striders needed.
The death of that WCU sent the Warden defenders into a few moments of confusion as protocols were executed and calculations were made. In those seconds, the Equities did their job well.
Whips went down on the horses mercilessly. What followed the pain was an even faster speed. The first wave of Equities were quickly consumed by landmines strong enough to put down a beast in one blast, but before their corpses even hit the ground, the second wave were already passing them.
Hundreds fell in just moments, but their sacrifice was worth it, because when the Wardens finally recovered from the disarray, they found themselves facing rider lances that were too close for comfort…
“Voyagers! The Romans are coming through every portal on the planet! The portal in this very city has been turned on! The Warden position has been overrun! You must act to end this assault!”
Inside the luxury hotel, a man in suit and tie charged into the room where the Voyagers were in. He knew this was a bad idea. As the government official tasked with communicating with the Voyagers, he knew all too well how arrogant these people were. Yet he had no choice. That was how desperate the situation was.
Six Voyagers sat in the room. When the man first came in, Major glanced at him in annoyance, but the moment he heard what the man said, his expression changed. He quickly shoved the nude woman he was holding onto aside and psychically contacted his constructs. He might have been enjoying life a bit too much, but he was still a Voyager. He had a number of units across the city, acting as his eyes and ears.
The information they returned made him cringe.
“How could this happen! What the hell were the Wardens doing?” For a moment, Major has forgotten about what he was planning to do to Jean. All he could do was blame Jean for everything that went wrong.
“Doesn’t matter.” On the side, Scarlett quickly stood up. She was in the process of doing something hardly appropriate for children. As soon as she got the news, her Voyager armor covered her bare body. “We need to repel the attacks now and buy time to organize a counterattack. If the Romans chose to attack, they must have confidence of victory.”
Scarlett was a sadistic person. When her pride was wounded by Jean, she didn't hesitate to mutilate the squad of mercenaries just so she could feel better. But she also tended to have a well grasp of the situation. Just as she knew making a move on Jean right there in that room would be a bad idea, now she also knew she had to stop the Romans. This wasn’t about interest between the Voyagers. This was about their mission, assigned to them by the Protectors themselves. It was a mission they couldn’t afford to fail.
The government official nodded. He turned around to leave, except he didn't. His head leaned forward while the rest of his body remained right where they were.
The result? His head hit the ground, but the rest of his body didn't.
Scarlett snapped around. She knew exactly what was going on, but that was when she felt an irresistible force pushing on her and shoving her back into the sofa. The next second, every local in the room, men or women, collapsed with blood dripping out of their mouths.
Their hearts were cut open, but their skin and flesh was untouched. How? Well. That seemed impossible, but if you happen to be a Space Smith major...
All five Voyagers resisted, but it was futile as the sixth Voyager stood up quietly. He didn't seem bothered, and for the obvious reason.
“Don! What are you doing?” Major demanded as he struggled in his seat.
Don smirked. Suddenly, two of Major’s constructs came in from behind. Rushing to the aid of their master, they yearned for Voyager blood. Don didn't even move. All he did was turn his finger slightly, and the two constructs collapsed into a dozen severed parts. Neither their size nor their plating did anything to help them.
Don’s smirk remained.
“Don’t bother, comrades. I have been setting this up for weeks. Outside, I can barely take down two of you, but in here, with all my Space Traps in place, I can kill you with the snap of a finger.”
“So, please shut the fuck up and listen to my proposal.”
