Technological Terror
Objective III: The Factories
Tags: Open
Helix's photoreceptor-nests flickered over the display readout as he took a sip of his beverage.
His participation in the Sith's invasion of Abregado-Rae had been fairly last-minute, and part of an ongoing bargain between himself and their ruler. He didn't have any particular investment in it beyond selfish interest, but for him, that was enough.
The warlord was perched in a comfortable command chair on the spacious command bridge of the supercrawler, which lumbered slowly but unstoppably into position.
The vehicle in question had almost single-handedly blunted an entire Imperial front during the first defense of Brosi, and Helix had little doubt that it would prove just as deadly on the offensive. It had taken a while to get it up and running, as expected, but better late than never.
Today's mission was, on its face, a simple enough one. His new friend wanted the area's manufacturing capacity demolished, and he was more than happy to oblige. A simple, straightforward task like this was a pleasant hiatus from the usual politicking and double-dealing he'd had to deal with lately.
Helix looked up from his display screen, and took in the command deck. An all-droid crew. He'd been informed that a biological agent would be deployed ahead of their arrival, and if the crimson mist that filled the outside air was any indication, that information had been accurate.
Carpets of undulating fungal matter were already spreading across the landscape here and there. Part of him wondered if the planet would be salvageable when all was said and done, or if it would become another jungle hellscape like Brosi.
The crawler was sealed against outside contamination, but even so, Helix was never one to be satisfied with only one contingency. Not one living thing drew breath inside the massive vehicle's confines.
His attention returned to his readouts. He'd already chosen an ideal spot for the crawler to lock down, one that would give the maximum artillery coverage of the maximum area of the battlefield. He would provide support where it could be managed, but his true objectives were the factories. As it was, he could only reach a limited few of them.
"Estimated time of arrival to gridpoint six-seven-eight-six-oh-four, ten minutes." He announced. "Primary artillery implements charged and ready. Support fire available, but try to keep it within reason, over."
"Initial bombardments commencing in..." he was interrupted by the chatter of one of the massive flak batteries perched atop the vehicle. A rapid buzzing roar that spoke of hundreds of bolts being fired in the space of a few moments. Even senses such as his own could barely distinguish the sounds of individual launches.
"T-minus two minutes." He switched off the comms and spoke directly to the crew, filling their minds with rapid binary chatter.
"And try not to destroy the... growths, please. I'll never hear the end of it if the wretched things are burned."