Week of 2022/12/5 - SSFF - Chapter 29 - 30

Chapter 29: Unleashing the Terran

As the only starport on the planet of Diego Nine, Starport Cinder was an important part of the Republic’s defenses on the planet. The starport itself, located over 40 miles away from Prosperity, was designed to house, maintain, and deploy over eight squadrons of aircraft.

During the initial assault over the planet, the starport launched almost all of its S60 starfighters to defend the space over the main Republic garrison forces while they rushed into Prosperity. Almost at the same time as these starfighters were shot down by the starfighters attached to the Imperial Navy and the 329th Infantry Division, an Imperial infantry regiment wiped out the token force defending the starport and placed it under Imperial control.

After the Imperial victory, the 329th kept its attached air wing, consisting of 3 squadrons of Cobra-class atmospheric fighters and 2 squadrons of Anaconda-class atmospherics bombers, in Starport Cinder, using the captured infrastructure, fuel storage, and equipment for their own use. The Imperial Navy starfighters, on the other hand, were stationed aboard the Imperial ships in the planet’s orbit.

Most of the 329th Infantry Division remained inside the city of Prosperity to maintain order over the numerous disgruntled civilians in the city. At the same time, a force of two infantry companies was deployed to Starport Cinder as a garrison force.

These two companies were there more due to standard protocols than real concern for assaults on the base. After all, the Republic forces on the planet were eradicated, and there was no real way for the civilians to form any armed resistance.

Even if Republic attack groups arrived at the planet for a counterattack, they would be quickly spotted by the Imperial Navy ships. Simply put, there were no threats for the defenders of Starport Cinder to be worried about. If anything, being stationed in the starport was better than having to face the angry Republic miners on the streets of Prosperity.

Some of the various captains in the 329th even competed for a chance to be stationed in Starport Cinder. In the end, a company from the 3rd Regiment and another from the 7th were given the task. Both companies, from the captains at the top to the troopers at the bottom, considered themselves lucky to get this role.

It wouldn’t take long before they were proven completely wrong, for soon the Imperium wouldn’t be the only force on the planet.

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A single Blackbuck-class MSV sped down the road connecting the city of Prosperity to Starport Cinder. Athena sat quietly in the back seat. She was surrounded by three of the men in her company. Lee was driving. A man named Leonard was in the passenger’s seat. Sitting beside Athena was Johnson, and he was reading something on his PEI. All four of them were armored.

The vehicle suddenly jumped a little, and Lee let out a quiet curse as he held onto the wheel.

“Sorry sir,” He quickly apologized. “The roads here aren’t the best.”

“No worries. Blackbucks are not really designed for comfort. I get it.” Athena replied casually as she scanned the surroundings. This was the first time she had taken a trip down this path, but she had read the files enough times to know exactly how the local terrain was.

The world of Diego-Nine was covered by mountains, hills, and valleys. It had no water bodies. The terraforming procedure the planet underwent was cheap and crude to the extreme. It did give the planet a breathable atmosphere that made colonization and mining easier, but the procedure didn't change the fact that the world had no rivers, lakes, or oceans. Any water the inhabitants of this world needed had to be imported, making them extremely expensive. For many people on the planet, showering was a luxury.

The 40 miles of road between Prosperity and Starport Cinder navigated around a handful of mountains near the city. Right now, the Blackbuck Athena was in was driving through a valley promptly named by the locals as Valley C. It was one of three valleys on this path and the closest to Starport Cinder. This one was the largest and the most difficult, with steep cliffs on both sides of the road almost impossible to scale on foot. The valley was large enough to fit two regiments of troops at the same time.

“You know…the Republic have had this world for years. You’d think they would build a road leading from their main settlement to their most important military asset.” Johnson scoffed and said without looking up from his PEI.

“The Republic may be corrupt, but they’re not idiots,” Leonard replied from the front seat. “Building a road will be an expensive investment with limited returns. Sure, it will make traveling slightly quicker and maybe a little more comfortable, but it’s just not worth the cost.”

There was silence for a while before Leonard addressed Athena.

“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, is there a reason we are making this trip to Starport Cinder?”

Athena raised her eyebrows a little. She knew the six bodyguards she picked a lot better than the ordinary troops and even most of her sergeants. Johnson was always the aggressive one. He would always be looking to pick a fight. Lee was the quiet one, but the fact that he chose to stay in the Imperial Army as a trooper after his first decade of service was over said enough about him. Most likely, killing was all he knew.

Leonard, as far as Athena could tell, was the most ambitious of them all. He wasn’t satisfied with being a simple trooper who did all the work and got no credit. He wasn’t even happy with being a captain’s bodyguard. Instead, the man had been trying to prove to her that he was more than just muscle. That he could be a good advisor as well.

“It’s been over two weeks since Captain Lawrence took his company to Starport Cinder.” Athena replied quietly. “He reported that all is well and he is working with Captain Park to set up the defenses, but Colonel Gavin wanted someone outside his unit to go and take a look.”

Leonard paused. His captain’s explanation was quite simple, but he knew there was more to this. Why did Colonel Gavin send Athena instead of one of his own staff? Most likely his captain brought this concern up and then volunteered for the job. But why?

“Captain Lawrence…” Leonard said quietly, carefully examining Athena in the rearview mirror. “Do you have a grudge against him, sir?”

“Of course not.” Athena denied it instantly. “I am just concerned that he may grow overconfident and neglect his duties. It can never hurt to verify.”

“Perhaps you meant well, captain, but I don’t know if Captain Lawrence will be so understanding.” Leonard hesitantly suggested. “He may see this as a sign of lack of trust from Colonel Gavin. I doubt he will be welcoming us with open arms. This may also cause him to hold a grudge against you, sir…”

“I am merely doing the duties of an Imperial officer by bringing up my justified concerns. If he has a problem with that, then I can’t help but question his loyalty.” Athena countered, playing the character that she had grown used to, and Leonard could only answer that with silence.

“You worry too much, Leonard.” Johnson chimed in from the side before waving the PEI mounted on the armor of his left forearm. “By the way, sir, are you familiar with Princess Laura?”

Princess Laura…Athena frowned a little. The name was a familiar one from the old Athena’s memories. Princess Laura. Daughter to the Leviathan and the 4th Princess of the Venya Imperium. Nicknamed the Rose of Balleran, the princess was a young woman in her twenties who often wore a suit of elegant silver armor when she led her own fleet, Battlefleet Crimson Rose, to war. She was a renowned commander and an even more famous womanizer. According to the rumors, no doubt spread by her jealous siblings, she had a harem of hundreds of girls. It was a rumor the princess simply smirked at whenever it was brought up in front of her. Many young men and women across the Imperium was her fan, including the former Athena.

Athena had seen pictures of the princess, and she had to admit the princess was indeed quite attractive. Given her look, family background, military power, and strategic talent, it was no wonder so many boys and girls dreamt of being with her.

“Of course,” Athena admitted quietly.

“Well, there are rumors that she is getting engaged with Countess Bailey of House Rain.” The veteran soldier said with a smile on his face. “What a match! The Rose of Balleran and the Spear of Dayne. The enemies of the Imperium will tremble before them!”

Athena wasn’t thinking about how funny it was for a veteran soldier to be gossiping about an engagement between two of the most powerful women in the Imperium. Marriages at that level were hardly the product of love. Affairs and one-night stands might be due to physical attraction or even love, but marriage? Her thoughts quickly leaped to the political meaning behind this before Leonard eagerly offered his opinions once again.

“House Rain controls two Imperial Sectors. They hold some of the strongest armadas in the Imperium. Add this to Battefleet Crimson Roses…” Leonard glanced at the mirror once again.

Athena knew what Leonard left out. Princess Laura was the fourth child of the Leviathan. She wasn’t the Crown Princess. While both she and all her siblings pledged to honor the chain of succession, this engagement might suggest otherwise. An engagement with this amount of publicity could only mean one thing. House Rain had placed its bets on Princess Laura, an odd move for a House as strong as the Rains. There was clearly more behind the scenes, but the message itself was simple.

However, Athena would be an idiot to follow Leonard’s words as he wished.

“Indeed. Together, they will crush the enemies of the Imperium.” Once again, Athena put up her mask and tried her best to be a fangirl.

The vehicle was silent again. Lee kept on driving until the MSV turned around another corner. Just as it was about to exit the valley altogether, Athena gave a silent command.

She had a few reasons for making this trip, and the main one was to, at long last, summon SCVs into this world and start building her terran bases.

The satellites were still being installed over the planet’s orbit, but it would only be a week before they were operational. At that point, things would be a lot more restrictive for her. She also knew she couldn’t risk summoning the SCVs inside the city. Maybe she could avoid being associated with the SCVs, but there was no way a 2-meter tall mechanical walker different from anything the Imperium or the Republic had could leave the city undetected.

Thus, she asked for this trip. 40 miles of rough terrain and the only eyes she had to watch out for were those in the same vehicle as her.

A while ago Athena had asked Nova what the maximum distance she had to be to move a unit from the Game into her world. The answer was 50 meters. She could move units in and out of the game as long as they were within 50 meters of her.

As soon as the MSV was around 40 meters away from the corner, Athena brought in half a dozen SCVs behind the foot of one of the cliffs that surrounded and formed the valley. The SCVs themselves were completely blocked by the mountain, and the sound of their mechanical bodies hitting the ground was covered by the engine of the scout vehicle. It didn't take long before the unsuspecting driver brought the MSV out of the valley and away from the terran SCVs.

As the MSV was gone, Athena silently commanded the six SCVs to make their way out of the valley. She directed them toward the east and away from Imperial-controlled territories.

By the time the MSV arrived at Starport Cinder, the six SCVs were already 30 miles away from the valley where they first spawned in. Athena instructed them to move 20 more miles before searching the surroundings for mineral reserves that could be harvested. This amount of distance would minimize their chances of accidentally being discovered by the Imperials for now while making sure her terran troops could get into position in an acceptable amount of time.

After giving the order, she turned her attention to a rather unhappy host.

“This is a waste of time for both of us, Captain Dane.” Captain Lawrence commented as he greeted Athena and her men at the gate of Starport Cinder. The young captain was followed by a dozen of his hand-picked elites, many of them equally displeased as Captain Lawrence. The captain gestured at the control towers and hangar bays behind him. “As you can clearly see here, we have turned this place into a fortress.”

“I am afraid I will have to see for myself, captain,” Athena replied quietly. “Lead the way please.”

“Is there a reason why Colonel Gavin suddenly grew concerned about the defenses of the starport?” Captain Lawrence didn't move. Instead, he raised an interesting question. “Perhaps he heard some rumors from…uncredible sources?”

“Regardless of why this order was given, it can never hurt to be too careful.” Athena countered, ignoring the captain’s suspicion. She went through all the correct procedures, and her concerns were, in all regards, nothing more than products of caution. When she brought her concerns up to Colonel Gavin, the colonel praised her willingness to go above and beyond with her job. She was here by the colonel’s commands.

The only concern was that maybe Captain Lawrence would indeed dislike her for this visit, not that it would matter. A personal grudge would soon be the least of Captain Lawrence’s worries.

Despite what Captain Lawrence thought or wanted to do in the future, there was little he could do now but do his job and guide Athena through the Starport’s defenses.

It didn't take Athena long to realize the starport’s defenses were almost pathetic. Almost all of the defensive structures the Republic built were destroyed during the initial assault on the starport. Many bunkers she came across were turned into wreckage by artillery or RPGs. Anti-air missile launchers and fixed-point artillery turrets were no better.

To his credit, Captain Lawrence still set up all the patrols and sentries, as the protocols demanded. Athena also noticed a number of sniper and machine gun nests along the way.

“We have requested resources from the combat engineers, along with the appropriate resources, to fix these fortifications.” Captain Lawrence complained as he noticed Athena’s eyes land on the wreckage. “The division command said we would have to wait. Their resources are tied up with repairing Prosperity. One of them also said there is no threat on this planet that may attack us…” He trailed off, hoping Athena could reach the same conclusion and put an end to this meaningless visit.

Athena nodded and did her best not to smile. This was great news for her. Yes, maybe the Imperials’ assessment of the situation was correct given what they knew, and maybe they did the most efficient thing, but the fact was that this opened up an opportunity that she could easily abuse.

Even as she continued examining the extent of the starport’s defenses, Athena could sense one of the SCVs discovering a mineral-rich valley that SCVs could mine from. According to the SCV’s assessments, just the mineral reserve close to the surface could yield 23,000 units of minerals. If they dug deeper, the reserve could be much higher.

A second later, under Athena’s orders, the SCV placed down a command center and planted the seeds of what would soon be a network of terran bases.

Chapter 30: Terran Expansions

The next five days went by uneventfully, at least for the Imperials. Gradually, as Diego Secondary was completely conquered by the Imperium, shipments of food and fresh water started to arrive at Diego Nine. At the same time, new mining equipment was brought in as well, and the Imperials wasted no time in putting the local civilians back to work.

For the officers and troopers of the 329th Infantry Division, their days could only be described as boring. There were no enemies on the planet, and despite being greater in numbers, the local miners had neither the courage nor the ability to fight back. Of course, everyone knew boring was a good thing in the Imperial Army. Many would rather be posted on this remote mining world than be tossed into one of the most heated battlefields of this campaign.

After the visit to Starport Cinder, Athena reported what she saw back to Colonel Gavin. The colonel said he would bring this up to General Pierre and see what the general wished to do about it. Anything that followed was irrelevant to Athena.

Unknown to the Imperials, their boring days would soon be over. While they were resting inside their city, the terran base, located over 60 miles away from Prosperity, was growing at a speed so quickly it would terrify most military commanders.

The first terran command center finished its construction in 6 hours. It took longer than the zerg hatchery, but then again the zerg were known for expanding extremely quickly.

The fully constructed command center was three stories tall. It was covered with sturdy armored platings designed to protect it from attacks. Each command center could hold a dozen SCVs and protect them from threats. Command centers were also capable of lifting off and relocating to new areas if necessary, although their speed was rather disappointing.

Inside the command center was a mechanical adjutant. A terran AI advisor that could help Athena control terran structures. In addition, like zerg queens, terran adjutants could coordinate terran units and perform administrative duties. For example, if Athena wanted the terran base to expand by itself, the adjutant could allocate resources between building new SCVs, constructing command centers, and building combat units as it saw fit.

If Athena was to leave the planet, she could give the adjutant a strategic objective and have the adjutant lead the terran faction. Of course, as an AI, the adjutant could never be as creative as a human commander.

This got Athena thinking for a moment. Perhaps at one point she could recruit talented military commanders to her cause and give them command over her terran units? There were clearly risks with this, but if she could combine the talent of human commanders and the skills and technology of terran units…

As soon as the command center was finished, the 6 SCVs started harvesting minerals from the local mineral clusters and returning them to the command center.

Ever since leaving Morgo IV, this was the first time Athena received new minerals, and she welcomed it. Knowing her priority was to expand using the limited time she had, Athena immediately started spending minerals on producing new SCVs using the command center. As soon as they were produced, the new SCVs were sent to mine more minerals, continuing this cycle of compounding growth.

From time to time, a supply depot would be placed down to maintain the terran units.

Now that she had a relatively safe terran base, Athena spent some time examining the mechanics of the terran units. Namely, the SCVs. As far as she could tell, the SCVs were similar to the zerg units. They obeyed her orders perfectly and had little emotions, self-preservation, or desires of their own. They could still think and speak, but only when it was necessary. This supported what Nova told her about the source of these units. These weren’t real human beings.

Athena also tried to get the SCV pilot to get out of the vehicle. Somewhat to her surprise, it worked. The pilot drove the SCV into a command center before walking out. He was a middle-aged man with a blank expression on his face. On the surface, he seemed just like a normal human, but deep down he was anything but that.

After some exploring, Athena discovered that other SCV pilots had different faces and bodies but wore the same blank expression. This was a welcomed change from within the game. If the Imperium or the Republic discovered all the terran units were identical clones, things could get quite weird.

Each SCV took a mere 2 minutes to produce, and Athena was making them nonstop. A few hours in, she also decided to produce 2 more command centers in the valley, planting them closer to selected clusters of resources to make harvesting more efficient.

Within six hours, the mineral reserve close to the surface was gone. 23,000 units of minerals were harvested by Athena’s SCVs, with many of them turned to new SCVs. Interestingly this was much quicker than the zerg collected minerals on Morgo IV. After all, minerals couldn’t fight back. The zerg on Morgo IV had to build combat units to kill their prey. The terrans here only had to build SCVs. Athena also only spent a few hours on Morgo IV. She had no idea how much the zerg base on the planet had expanded by now.

As the first mineral clusters were gone, the terran base continued expanding. Two of the command centers lifted up and relocated to new locations that still had unharvested minerals. Swarms of SCVs followed, quickly stripping the new mineral clusters down with terrifying efficiency and adding them to Athena’s mineral reserve.

Within 24 hours, Athena already had over 2,000 SCVs and 5 command centers. It was at this point that she decided to halt the SCV production and start constructing combat units.

Up until now, the terran bases were able to build and expand undetected, but Athena knew this wouldn’t last forever. In two days, maybe less, a trio of satellites would be deployed in the planet’s orbit. These satellites were advanced enough to constantly keep an eye on at least half the planet, likely more. She could try to move her command centers to the other side of the planet or try to hide them in valleys and corners, but none of that would be able to reliably conceal them from the Imperials.

Once they were discovered, war would no doubt follow.

Athena was perfectly fine with that. She needed Imperial casualties to give her vespene gas and Imperial technologies to analyze and unlock terran technologies. The only issue was how this war would go.

From everything Athena had seen, terran units were generally stronger than their Imperial counterparts. A terran marine with a combat shield and stimpack could easily beat a conscript in the Imperial Army. However, at this point, she had only unlocked terran infantry units and some light vehicles. It would be difficult for her to challenge the heavy armor and air support of the Imperial Army and the Imperial Navy.

This was what prompted her to set her eyes on Starport Cinder. Starport Cinder held squadrons of Imperial fighters and bombers, along with a number of Republic S60 starfighters. If her SCVs could dissect the aircrafts within, they stood a decent chance of unlocking the terran starport, giving her access to powerful terran fighters, transports, and gunships.

From what she saw during the visit, Starport Cinder was a relatively easy target. The defenders have grown complacent, believing there were no threats on the planet. The fortifications were yet to be repaired. A careful strike could kill two birds with one stone. Unlock the terran starport and wipe out the air wing attached to the 329th Infantry.

Of course, Athena considered waiting longer and spending more time expanding her bases before striking. After the assault on Starport Cinder, the terran bases would likely be noticed by the Imperials. After some discussion with Nova, she changed her mind.

If the terran base was discovered on accident, then Starport Cinder would no longer be the easy target it currently was, and things could get quite difficult. Sure, Athena could gamble on the idea that the base wouldn’t be noticed, but it was never a good idea to rely on luck.

She had to use the element of surprise when she still had it. In addition, it would be something of a waste to only go after Starport Cinder. With the proper plans and units, Athena could achieve a lot more than unlocking the terran starport.

Athena spent quite a while discussing her plan with Nova in the Game. After the discussion, the first thing she did was send a number of SCVs to the other corners of the planet to establish mining bases there.

Before she started producing units, Athena first examined the resources she had available.

Minerals: 8,942

Vespene Gas: 54,208

The vespene gas was 3,758 when Athena was in Fort Samsa. After so many days, days that included events such as the siege of Prosperity and the Hour of Triumph, the vespene gas count reached a peak of 54,208, suggesting that over 2,000 people died within 500 meters of Athena between then and now. Athena was also present during the public execution of all the prisoners, something that likely helped with her current resource count.

The mineral count used to be 4,942. Now, after producing so many command centers, SCVs, and supply depots, it was still at almost 9,000 thanks to the SCV mining.

From what Athena saw, the minerals a single SCV could mine a minute depended how easy the minerals could be accessed. In some rare cases where the minerals were exposed, a single SCV could mine 10 minerals a minute on average. If the minerals were underground, that number could drop to 1 mineral per minute or even lower.

The 23,000 units of minerals that were first discovered were easily harvested. Most of the minerals were underground and took a lot of effort to find and harvest. For the moment, with many exposed mineral clusters, the 2,000 SCVs were bringing in around 5,000 minerals a minute, but there was no telling how long this could last.

Plus, at this rate, soon Athena’s most limited resource would be vespene gas.

Without vespene gas, the only terran unit she could build were marines, and even ten thousand marines wouldn’t matter much when getting hit by bombers and missiles.

Athena also suspected the minerals required to build air units and even capital ships could get quite ridiculous. It was unlikely, at any point, she would be worrying about not being able to spend her resources.

“How long does it take to produce each terran unit that I currently have?”

“It takes 5 minutes to produce marines and reapers. 8 minutes to produce widow mines. 10 minutes to produce marauders and hellions.”

Athena nodded before clicking on the tech lab attached to the barracks. There were three upgrades there. stimpack. Concussive Shell. Combat Shield.

“Nova, how much will each research increase the price of the units?” Athena knew what these upgrades did, but she also remembered that unlike in the game, research and upgrades here would increase the cost of the units impacted. Even after making the research, she could specifically produce units without the improvements at the original price, but usually, the improvement was well worth the cost.

“Stimpack would increase the cost of marines by 20 minerals. Combat shields would increase the cost of marines by 30 minerals. A marine with both upgrades will cost 100 minerals. Stimpack would increase the cost of marauders 25 minerals and 15 vespene gas. Concussive shell would increase the cost of marauders by 25 minerals and 10 vespene gas. A marauder with both upgrades costs 150 minerals and 50 vespene gas.”

Athena nodded slightly before clicking on the icon for all three pieces of research. Marines with stimpack and combat shields were much more dangerous than marines without the two. This was a lesson she learned the hard way in countless SC2 games. Doubling the mineral cost was a decent price to pay. Marauders with concussive shells could also do wonders in terms of hunting down fleeing enemies and knocking them off their feet.

With the research complete, Athena placed down 10 barracks and 5 factories and started producing various units under her instructions.

The default armor color for terran units was blue, but Athena, after some messing around with the game console, realized she could change the color of her newly produced units as she wished. Already produced units could also change the color of their armor after visiting supply depots. This ability seemed a little trivial at first, but in certain scenarios it might be very helpful. For the moment she decided to change the unit color to grey.

As the hours went on, marines, reapers, and marauders in gray power armor started walking out of the barracks and forming lines in front of the terran base in the valley. These terran infantry units might be human beings lore wise, and they might be able to talk and eat and drink like normal people, but the fact was they were constructs of Athena’s game. Without an order from Athena, they simply stood there, waiting. The only movement from them was a few occasional twitches and turns built into Starcraft units to make them seem more realistic.

Next to the terran infantry units, hellions and widow mines made their way out of the factories. It didn't take long before a sizeable group was present. There were some widow mines, but most of the units that left the factories were hellions that only cost Athena minerals.

As of an hour ago, none of these units existed. With sufficient resources, all it took was a single hour for Athena to find herself with an army ready to obey any of her commands without fear or self-preservation. An army infinitely loyal to her and composed of troops who were masters at their craft.

Perhaps this was Athena’s greatest asset. An Imperial or Republic soldier required at least 17 years before they were old enough to be conscripted. They had to go through at least months of weapons drilling. Even with the most effective production lines, the rifles they carried and the power armor they wore took days, if not weeks, before they went from raw materials to combat equipment. This wasn’t even taking into consideration the resources it took to ship an army to the frontline.

As long as Athena could establish a foothold on a planet and avoid being crushed by overwhelming force, no one could beat her in a war of attrition.