War for the Iron Planet

Chapter 32: The Griffon

Raelik stood in the command room of his star tree, watching the battle play out on membranous screens. The Republic was making mincemeat out of their calvary and infantry, but the two massive star trees were in perfect order, and the Republic was caught, hiding in its shield like cornered vermin.

A screen switched from a feed of the battle to Prince Jylik's face.

"Raelik, your top knight is dead," he said impassively.

"Yes, I saw," said Raelik, equally unmoved. "He was an impetuous fool. It appears to have cost us the cylinder for now."

"I want to hear no more about the foolish trophy you have lost so many resources over!" shouted Jylik. "You came here to seek after some myth, and I am sick of hearing about it! We will take this world from the Republic's grasp on principle and for its natural resources, but we will not take any more unnecessary risks in an effort to chase a ghost."

Raelik's face soured for a moment, but he recovered quickly. "As you say, Crown Prince Jylik. We will snuff out the worms where they lay."

***

Vanbrook felt pretty good about his shooting. The high-powered rifles were able to take out void wasps at long distance, and he had managed to take out a few. He was reloading when he looked up to see a fresh wave of wasps rising from the star trees to advance. The bombers had done a good job so far of keeping the ground troops at bay, but the wasps just kept coming, the main body of the swarm coming closer and closer to the fort itself.

A shadow passed overhead, and Vanbrook looked up to see a massive, winged beast flying above them. Not including the tail, it was about twenty feet long. Its silver-gray body was like that of a muscular cat, its feet had talons like a raptor, and a massive feathery mane adorned its lion-like head. Its wings, which stretched out over thirty feet from tip to tip, were a bold silver-blue. Admiral Jasken was astride the beast, reveling in the glory of flight.

Vanbrook smiled as the Republic soldiers erupted into cheers. Ol' Blue, the war griffon, was on the prowl, and no enemy of the Republic was safe. With a roar, Blue slammed into a group of void wasps, grabbing one and tearing its head off with his jaws. Wasp and rider fell to the ground, a hundred feet below. He expertly fended off one stinger with his hind feet as another glanced off his fine scaly coat.

Jasken spoke into the fighter squads' comm channel.

"Alright, folks, these wasps are going to swamp the fort if we don't thin them out, but the sheer number of star trees threatens to overwhelm our shields. I want all fighters to advance, focusing on thinning out the wasps while simultaneously getting the bombers in range to destroy some of these trees."

"You heard the Admiral!" said Drixen. "Let's put the hurt on these guys!"

Jasken and Blue continued to tear wasps apart, avoiding fire from the star trees and thinning out the swarms. The fighters joined in, picking off the wasps at the edges of the fray and making sure Blue was never overwhelmed.

Cowgirl weaved between trees and swarms, firing volleys into the smaller star trees. With the fleet's lone surviving bomber focusing on the wasps and trees, the Astralbian infantry was able to advance closer and closer to the fort with minimal losses. Captain Fenrick ordered the fort's artillery cannons to focus on the star tree skiffs, but their numbers were too high.

When the skiffs got close, the Astralbian soldiers leapt out and charged the fort, firing shoulder-mounted eye cannons at the gate. The fort was well-defended, but had not been built to withstand an all-out assault. Fenrik thought about all the things he'd have liked to do for the fort with enough time and resources, but it was a moot point. The Astralbian's strategy of charging the fort directly certainly fit their modus operandi, both in terms of willingness to sacrifice troops and in its sheer boldness, but it was going to be extremely costly for the Republic. He looked mournfully at the armored troops bracing themselves at the gate, rifles and shotguns at the ready. So few of them would survive.