With the awakened dealt with, the only thing left to do was to wait for the remainder of the Army to be mopped up by the troops above ground.
Besides dealing with the remaining soldiers of the Army, there was also the need to remove the troublesome elements left within the underworld; namely, the private armies of the previous heads.
The members of the private armies were simply regular humans, though they couldn't do much damage by themselves, they could still cause major disruptions for the following plans ahead and thus must be eliminated.
The plans to eliminate them have already been set in motion and are already being carried out by Inanna and Avalon's forces.
Before the battle even began, the members of the private armies had already been tagged by the Failnaught systems, and they were being constantly tracked throughout the entire battle.
Inanna was controlling the flow of the battle and slowly but surely guiding the movements of the private armies further and further away, isolating them from any witnesses. When they have been completely isolated away from anyone else, they would then be eliminated by either the Combat Droids or Specter Gunships.
Isolated elements of the private armies will be eliminated from the skies by the snipers stationed within the patrolling dropships.
"Ria, the remaining soldiers of the army have either been captured or eliminated. The operation is over. The private forces of the Underworld have also been eliminated. All objectives have been completed. As planned, the Combat Droids and Cobra Medium Tanks will be left behind. The dropships and Specter Gunships are RTB," Inanna reported over the comms.
"Understood, return back to base and prepare for the activation of the Void Pylon with Selene. I will discuss with Irene about the defense of the spillway before leaving."
"Alright, see you later."
After the communication with Inanna cut off, Irene walked up towards Ria. "Now that the Haven is firmly in our control, I assume you have something else planned out? I believe you were about to brief us about it during the meeting before it was cut short."
"Yeah, as you know the Capital is coming to wipe out the Haven. If that is the case, the Haven will be sandwiched between the Revenants behind and the Capital forces in front."
"That is true... but couldn't you do something about it? The battleship you have could likely bombard the Capital's army into submission." Irene wondered aloud, clearly seeing the capital forces as a non-issue.
"That is possible, but more firepower never hurt, and we will definitely need more firepower in the future if we want to reclaim terra. So, I have decided to activate the Void Pylon to try to contact the Avalon."
"I heard you mention that before, but wouldn't that draw all the revenants in the area to you guys?" Irene responded, remembering the conversation she had with Ria that day. However, a gnawing feeling tugged at the back of her mind, warning her of impending trouble.
"Yes, I will take the current opportunity to eliminate the remaining revenants behind us and allow us reinforcements and support from the Avalon."
"Well, good luck with it, I suppose?" Irene encouraged, frankly denying the thought that she would have anything to do with it, ignoring her feelings.
"No, it is not simply my problem..." Ria quickly corrected. "There is a reason why I wanted to take control of the Haven before activating the Void Pylon." Ria turned around and looked past Irene, back towards the open spillway.
Following her gaze, Irene turned around and saw the spillway, a look of understanding appearing on her face. "You don't mean that the revenants might try to go through the spillway to get to your Void Pylon?" Her previous intuition coming true.
"That was what I am worried about. It will draw all the revenants in a large area towards the Void Pylon. So, I am pretty sure those Revenants underground might come through the spillway to get there. The exterior will be safe as the revenants on the surface will ignore the Haven and make a beeline towards my FOB. But I am pretty sure the spillway will need to be defended."
"Sigh... more problems after problems... I guess there is no choice... but when do you even plan to do this?" Another trouble that she was saddled with, it has always been this way; having to keep up with all these things that crop up out of nowhere constantly.
"Today."
"What?! That is impossible, the Guards will be exhausted after the battle for the Haven. They won't be able to effectively defend the spillway! If we manage to fail here, the revenants will leak into the city and--" Irene exclaimed, flatly rejecting the idea altogether, before Ria interjected. "The Capital forces will be here in 3 days most likely. The first day, which is today, was used to secure the Haven and later to activate the Void Pylon. The second day will be to clear out the Revenant bases within the fallen 7th to 10th Haven, and the third day will be when we have to fight the Capital. As you can see, we have absolutely no time to spare."
"Damn it! How the hell do you expect me to defend the spillway with just the exhausted guards, especially when there is supposed to be a constant onslaught of Revenants! We could barely hold for an hour in that case, much less the multiple hours I expect this to take!" Irene angrily stomped towards Ria and grabbed her by the collar, slightly lifting her off the ground. She knew that the timeline offered no leeway with the activation schedule, but still, she needed to take out her frustrations.
"You won't be on your own. I have left around 8 squads of Combat Droids, which equate to 120 units, and 10 Cobra Medium tanks for your use in the defense. If you need Guards, just rotate those defending the exterior to defend the spillway. As I said earlier, there will be no need to defend the exterior walls during the Void Pylon activation." Ria assured, not minding Irene's actions at all.
Cobra Medium tanks were decently armored vehicles with a personal shield battery. These tanks were specialized for defensive and siege engagements. Their Phasebreaker Cannons, which were their main guns, were very powerful and had a large impact radius, but this caused them to be required to be anchored to the ground in order to fire them due to the high recoil. "The Cobra tanks and Combat Droids will allow you to hold the spillway easily, due to the enclosed and funneled environment. You can also ask Maya for help if you need to."
Irene sighed, releasing Ria from her grasp. "Fine, it isn't like I have any choice in the matter... you would activate it anyways, wouldn't you." With the guarantee of some support from Ria's forces, she finally agreed to the matter; their technology will make defending the spillway much simpler and easier on the Guards.
"Good, I will transfer command of the Cobra Tanks and Combat Droids to you. Afterwards, I will return to my FOB to prepare for the Void Pylon activation." From her pocket, Ria took out a small bracelet and tossed it to Irene, which she proceeded to catch in her hands.
"With that bracelet, you will be able to control the Cobra Tanks and Combat Droids. You can use that to communicate with me as well." With command of the Tanks and Droids transferred over to Irene for her usage, Ria left the spillway to allow Irene and possibly Maya to set up its defense.
With Ria already gone, Irene stared at the bracelet and sighed once again. "Every single time, I have to keep up with your shenanigans without informing us... just like... just like... who was it again?" A figure from a distant past overlapped with Ria, but Irene struggled to remember the person. After many futile attempts, she dismissed the thought and proceeded to prepare the spillway's defense, not knowing how much time she actually had to do so.
As Ria ran atop the rooftops of the Haven, she could see smoke and the soft glow of flames illuminating parts of the city. On the streets, the guards were assisting wounded civilians and underworld members alike.
The bodies of the fallen, regardless of which faction they belonged to, were respectfully laid on the ground with a piece of white cloth draped over their body at the city square. Despite the efforts of the Guards and Avalon, there were still a bunch of civilian casualties from the Army's rampage.
Soon, Ria left the Haven behind and returned to the FOB.
Back at the FOB, the communications beacon constructed at the top of the base had been removed and replaced with a tower with three prongs that jutted out into the sky. Between the three prongs was a softly glowing white-yellow ball that occasionally pulsed with energy: the Void Pylon.
The area surrounding the base had also been altered. The open plains that the base sat in had a total of three entrances. Now those entrances had been completely fortified with various static defenses. Physical walls had been set up in front of them to prevent intrusion, followed by an energy barrier behind it. Behind those walls, the static version of the Laser Pulse Repeater that could be found on the Specter Gunships and Concentrated Plasma Dispersers were installed, which would launch streams of highly volatile plasma at enemy targets.
A couple of medium-range field artillery pieces were also placed within the defensive emplacements. They were equipped with Twin Phase Destructor Cannons, a much stronger variant of the weapon system that the Cobra Medium Tank fielded.
Through records gleaned back at the Haven, the presence of flyer-type revenants was also discovered. Thus, anti-air turrets were also constructed: Nanite Flak Guns that fired shells that exploded into a cloud of nanites that would devour anything that flew through them, and Particle Disruptor Turrets that rapidly fired Particle Disruptor Bolts at enemy flyers.
In front of the walls, there was a light cloud of green mist that was being dispersed from devices embedded into the ground. The mist was a light corrosive gas that should prove effective at damaging the bodies of lesser and greater revenants.
Multiple shield projectors sat in the center of the defensive emplacement and generated a shield bubble that covered the walls and static defenses. Their purpose was to prevent projectiles from entering while allowing them to exit.
In the skies above the plains, swarms of drones could be seen flying about, between the bases and the multiple defensive encampments. They were logistic drones, likely supplying ammunition to the defenses.
The field between the defensive emplacements and the main base was also covered in various static defenses and shield projectors. Countless Combat Droids lined the fields, supported by various vehicles and walkers.
Ria operated her terminal and contacted Selene, "Selene, where are you? I am at the Command Center."
"I am at the Void Pylon, just come up top and you should find me."
Ria went up to the Command Center and headed towards the Void Pylon. At the Void Pylon, she could see Selene tinkering with a terminal with great concentration, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
"Selene, how is the setup of the Void Pylon going?"
"No issues so far. The void particulates in the area are pretty thin, so calibration shouldn't take much time. However, penetrating the void-infused cloud layer is another story. The entire process should take maybe around 5 hours in total. If we assume it will take an hour for the revenants to arrive, we will have to hold for 4 hours," Selene replied without looking back as she continued operating the terminal.
"That is longer than usual..." Ria muttered. "The void energy down here is so little, so we need a lot of time to gather enough of it to punch through the cloud layer where all the void energy has coalesced," Selene replied, her eyebrows frowned as she looked at the numbers being presented on the terminal.
"How long more till we can start?"
"I would say in 6 hours should be fine, so you should get some rest beforehand. Inanna is already asleep in her quarters, crashed immediately as soon as she got back. The least she could do was offer some help..." Selene might sound annoyed at the fact, but her tone suggested otherwise. Despite her usual seriousness, she deeply cared for the rest of the AIs as they were her family, and she was the first among them to be created, acting as sort of a big sister for all of them.
"How about you?" Ria asked as she approached behind Selene and peered over her shoulder to look at the screen of the terminal she was operating. On the screen, numbers and graphs fluctuated wildly, and though she understood individually what each parameter meant, she couldn't decipher it in its entirety.
"I have already started the calibration process. I would go and rest after I confirm that nothing will go wrong to delay the activation."
"I see... well, be sure to rest well. You have been working non-stop for the past half a day, after all." Ria then turned around and left, returning to her quarters.
In her personal quarters, Ria sent a message to Irene telling her that they would begin in 6 hours. The message having been sent, she immediately silenced her terminal and laid down on her bed, only setting it for emergency communication. She stared into the empty gray ceiling for a couple of minutes before slowly drifting off to sleep.
