Battle of the Young Sprouts Fortress
At the beginning of the Second Wave, the Empire decided to strike at the very heart of the Protectorate. The Young Sprouts Fortress, one of many training bases of Protectorate advisors, was chosen as a target. The base itself was a vast fortified area, a five-meters-high wall bristling with autoturrets serving as a deterrent to the belligerent, hostile locals.
Aside from the fortress, the only full-fledged continent of the planet was home to descendants of ancient colonists who lost touch with the rest of the Human Dominion and, as a result, descended into barbarity. The many tribes led half-nomadic lives, constantly warring with each other; but with the appearance of a fortress defended by magics, the tribes found a common enemy in it. The nomads' tech level was quite low by galactic standards; while able to produce small quantities of firearms on their own, they had to buy modern laser and plasma weaponry from interstellar traders and smugglers for precious animal bone obtained through hunting.
At the very beginning of the fortress' existence, small parties of nomads were probing it for weaknesses. With none of the parties returning, they switched to much less frequent raids - but with much more numerous armies. The commanders of the Fortress treated that as a benefit, as such engagements could serve as a close-to-reality training for the young advisors. Such was the planetary situation by the beginning of the Second Wave.
The Empire was also prepared to attack the Fortress. Over the course of almost a year, Empire-backed pirates and smugglers were shipping weapons to the planetary tribes. Moreso, lord Erkhard - an Imperial Legion member and strike force commander - had arrived to the planet shortly before the war, his duty being the fortress assault itself. He killed several tribe chieftains from among the most respected and made the rest accept his leadership, promising them an opportunity to raze the hated Fortress to the ground.
Shortly after the first invasion battles of the Second Wave, the united tribal armies led by lord Erkhard attacked the Fortress. Its leading advisors, including Mark Chang, the most senior of them, were surprised by the nomads' coordination and wargear. Mobilization was announced, and every student took up arms and took their places at the defensive perimeter.
The battle against the locals went on for nearly three days. The advisors didn't initially pay attention to the fact that the nomads were especially active attacking sites near the distant early warning buildings. A portion of the radars monitoring the star system was destroyed; when the Empire fleet appeared at the planet, it was too late to do anything. Fortress spaceships were pinned to the surface by cannonades from the orbit, every vessel taking off an easy target. That's when the Empire's plan became clear. By that time, some nomads were killed, and some driven off and scattered. But the imperial troops were already landing, preparing to finish the locals job.
As the most senior among the full-fledged advisors present, Mark Chang assumed the command of the Fortress and ordered to start evacuating the personnel - the youngest students first and foremost - through the teleport gates a kilometer deep under the citadel, with squads of senior students covering the escape. Robotic infantry, held within the storehouses, was also activated; still, it was clear that the Center could not hold until the metropolitan reinforcements' arrival. Leaving only the robots at the perimeter, Chang ordered small groups of students to disperse over the territory of the Fortress and prevent the imperials from entering the lower levels.
Every entrance to the lower levels was closed, sealed, welded shut and, when possible, disguised - not to say that the doors were intended to withstand a directed nuclear detonation. Squads of students and soldiers harassed imperial engineering units, not letting them cut through the doors. >In the meantime, Chang was enacting his evacuation plan. Together with a small number of the most well-trained soldiers, he used the tunnels to reach the nomads who were gathering after being defeated. Chang's plan was to attack the imperials' rear with the locals' help.
Equipped with the standard advisor issue of state-of-the-art gear, he used a hypnofield to make the chieftains believe him to be the real lord Erkhard. He claimed that some of his troops betrayed him, bewitched by the black wizardry from within the Fortress, and spoke that only the brave warriors of this planet could help him to expel the forces of darkness from their homeland.
As the most senior among the full-fledged advisors present, Mark Chang assumed the command of the Fortress and ordered to start evacuating the personnel - the youngest students first and foremost - through the teleport gates a kilometer deep under the citadel, with squads of senior students covering the escape. Robotic infantry, held within the storehouses, was also activated; still, it was clear that the Center could not hold until the metropolitan reinforcements' arrival. Leaving only the robots at the perimeter, Chang ordered small groups of students to disperse over the territory of the Fortress and prevent the imperials from entering the lower levels.
Every entrance to the lower levels was closed, sealed, welded shut and, when possible, disguised - not to say that the doors were intended to withstand a directed nuclear detonation. Squads of students and soldiers harassed imperial engineering units, not letting them cut through the doors. >In the meantime, Chang was enacting his evacuation plan. Together with a small number of the most well-trained soldiers, he used the tunnels to reach the nomads who were gathering after being defeated. Chang's plan was to attack the imperials' rear with the locals' help.
Equipped with the standard advisor issue of state-of-the-art gear, he used a hypnofield to make the chieftains believe him to be the real lord Erkhard. He claimed that some of his troops betrayed him, bewitched by the black wizardry from within the Fortress, and spoke that only the brave warriors of this planet could help him expel the forces of darkness from their homeland.
The chieftains almost believed the false Erkhard; unfortunately for him, the real Erkhard arrived - in his war robot, accompanied by a rather large unit of tribunators. Chang, forced to prematurely end the seance, was somewhat surprised to learn that he had played himself. He was in the middle of the enemy territory, surrounded by locals who were far from being frendly. Still, he was not dismayed.
Mark Chang challenged Erkhard to a duel, one on one, while exclaiming that he won't need anything more than a sword to defeat the huge Erkhard-ridden metal monstrosity. In a large open area outside of the encampment, surrounded by nomads who watched with interested the two skylords fight, advisor Chang clashed with the imperial legionary in an uneven battle. A battle not favoring Erkhard. Despite the might of the five-meters-tall robot, the advisor in his full attire was more than a match. Antigrav devices allowed Chang to make breathtaking jumps and leaps, while the powerful forcefield protected him from the most of the robot's attacks. The battle took long, scales shifting back and forth; but at the end, Chang prevailed over the mighty yet ponderous warbot of the legionary.
He knew of the weak point located at the cockpit - the connection of the access hatch's armor plates, and that was the point Chang's sword was directed into. The strike didn't reach Erkhard, but made the robot's control computer go haywire. Within a second, the nerve-connected control system went against the pilot; an erroneous nerve signal made Erkhard spasm so hard that his own muscles ground his bones to dust. With Erkhard losing consciousness almost instantly, the warbot collapsed to the ground, now a giant heap of useless metal; seeing their commanders' defeat, the tribunators rushed to help.
This caused outrage among the spectators. Taking intrusion into the deadly duel of the skylords as blasphemy, they joined a small retinue of students who were accompanying Chang and fought the tribunators off.
Chang took full advantage of his victory. He called the nomads to attack the forces of the Empire who were prowling across the Fortress in search of gates. The hordes led by Chang attacked the imperial army and destroyed all logistical structures, including the long-distance communication device. Robbed of comms, the imperial officers couldn't inform the outside world of the events.
Meanwhile, a small Protectorate starship squadron tasked with evacuating those still fighting approached the planet. It turned out that Chang overdid the lower levels sealing - by doing so, he prevented himself and his men from leaving the Fortress by teleport.
The nomads' attack on the Empire armies' rear couldn't have been better; the imperial officers at the orbit, busy with providing fire support to the land troops, overlooked the approach of the Protectorate mobile squadron. Consisting mostly of high-speed destroyers, light cruisers, and several fast liners for carrying troops, the squadron was still able to destroy more than half the enemy fleet, flagship included, with a rapid torpedo run.
Unable to communicate and coordinate, the Empire fleet dispersed all over the system, allowing the Protectorate to evacuate its personnel. To get the nomads to leave the vicinity of the Fortress, Chang employed a huge holoprojector; the sight of a titanic Chang rising over the citadel and reaching far with his voice instilled awe in the locals, who made haste to go away. Chang put the Fortress' reactor into overload mode. With the last student leaving the planet on a Protectorate cutter, the Fortress was evaporated in a powerful nuclear explosion.
The Young Roots Fortress was no more, but most its students had been evacuated, with many of them gaining invaluable experience. Eight days later, an imperial fleet approached the planet in order to learn the reasons for the comms being silent. They only found the scattered remnants of the land forces, the remains of the flotilla, and lord Erkhard's war robot - the pilot still alive by some dark miracle; put in suspended animation by the vehicle's life support system.
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