The first line of defense motionlessly waited for the first biotics to approach. Already the teams had withdrawn past them, resting at the third line of defense upon New Damond’s outer wall. The only sound shared aloud here, however, was the occasional beep that came from the many devices that scornfully glared out across the landscape.

Hundreds of meters away the rifts in the earth gaped, appearing empty for anyone who couldn’t hear the constant thunder and scuffle of thousands of biotics in motion within. To the first line’s defenders, this didn’t bother them, they were, after all, only machines.

Machines that were all commanded by the Determinator Legion. Hundreds of turrets and automated defenses, thousands of mines and static defenses hidden in the ground. A crisscrossing array of the most malicious barbed wire any of New Damond’s defenders had ever seen was strung between welded chunks of welded steel. The occasional snap of electricity coming from the no-man’s land betrayed the fact that less visible means of defense were likewise there.

The Determinators spoke with one another across cyberspace, each echoing a notion of anticipation for what was to come. This was, after all, what they were made to do; biotics were their natural enemies.

“We’re going to have so much fun!” One of the Determinator’s voices gleefully called out, “Do you think we’ll be able to fight in person, too?”

“It’s likely,” one of the elder Determinators answered, “There do seem to be a lot of them. This reminds me of South America.”

A chorused round of affirmatives from the veteran Determinators answered that statement. “Hopefully we can keep them out of the city. Humans are less death-resistant than we are.”

“It appears that our defenses will be sufficient, given our current data on the Centaur collected by the advance parties.” One of the Determinators with constant access to the super computer array at base answered. A brief moment of thanks passed from the collective host in honor of the human lives lost in the scouting action. Ordinarily, they’d have been the ones to fulfill such an objective, but with the sheer amount of data that they needed to process with the many disparate automated defenses, the choice may have been suboptimal. Reality rarely conformed to perfect estimations -something the Determinators had taken time to get used to - which meant they generally erred on the side of caution.

“Remember, the biotics are headed by a greater sentience.” A stark voice sounded amidst the Determinators, “Be wary of any shifts along the battle lines. Share your voices, as always.”

The voice ended then, and the Determinators felt themselves buzz with the lingering attachment of their progenitor.

“If Father says so,” one of the voices gave rise to a growing agitation borne from rising excitement, “Then, surely, this will be a fun battle.”

As one, the turrets on the line began to growl with the grinding noise of motors, priming explosives, and the guttural roar of no small number of flamethrowers pressurizing.

It was then that the Centaur horde began to charge forth from the earth. The digital communication between the Determinators was careful and methodical, seeking to plot out firing lines to the best of their ability. The template for their battle had been drawn already, and now they were putting their battle plans to the test.

Long rifles measured their shots first, the deliberation in cyberspace taking mere milliseconds in reality. The first volley shook the ground all around New Damond as anti-material rifles and cannons claimed the first kills. No two shots hit the same target, and in the wake of that first barrage the massacre was revealed.

A nearly uniform circle of bodies lay on the outer limits of the killzone. No other Centaur disgorged themselves from the earth, and the Determinators imagined that their foe was considering this latest play. Fighting from the front would almost certainly reap a heavy toll, but the artificial sentience knew well that this was one of the few ways that the enemy could advance.

Within seconds, seismic readers read out several sharp retorts. The earth had long been packed with sensitive explosives and more malicious devices, making any approach from beneath the city a time consuming and costly affair. One that, should the biotics choose, would be safer than braving the gauntlet above ground.

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“But,” one of the Determinators began, “Can you afford to spend that much time digging?”

A grim satisfaction spread through their connection as the ground began to rumble anew.

“Death now or death later,” they thought to themselves as the Centaur once more rose from the earth in force, “Truly a Reaper’s question.”

Their firing began again in force, flashing light from tracer rounds crashed into the first Centaur. Carapaces exploded in silvery-black gore as the volley shredded those in front. Now, however, not all within the first wave perished. Their numbers soared with every passing moment. The enemy was committing their force in full, and the first line tested their determination with volley after volley. Explosions rang out as masses of biotics walked over remote controlled mines, maximized for lethality by the Determinators attention.

Still, they pushed forward, a truly unrelenting wave that carried their fallen as shields and knew no fear.

Then, the rapid firing weapons began to spin up. Between the chaotic screeching and rageful howls of their enemies and the rhythmic bombardment of long-range weapons, the initial windup of the second set of weapons was almost lost. It was a wind that blew across the battlefield, a hollow sound void of emotion that would have made any human’s skin ripple with goosebumps.

The Hellstorm turrets earned their name in the first moment that their bullets began to howl forward. The telltale boom of a charge exploding was absent from the barrels, instead only the howl of super-sonic slugs of metal tearing through the air shrieked through the air. The gauss machine gun stare was death, any Centaur that found themselves within its gaze was hit with a hundred slugs nearly at once. Silver mist and fragmenting metal soared through the air, each cased slug shredding not only its initial target but viciously tearing into anything nearby.

The Centaur line stuttered in the face of the damage, the sheer rise in lethality giving even the puppet-like biotics pause.

In the next instant, the entire field behind that front line erupted with explosions unlike that which had been yet unleashed. Bright white fire bloomed, instantly incinerating anything and everything around the pods that had contained them. At once, black smoke filled the sky, the organ shattering shockwave pulsing outwards and utterly decimating thousands more of the Centaur line. At once, the field was cleared, and the first line stopped firing.

I watched as this happened with a grim amusement, unable to keep from chuckling at the sheer mind-boggling devastation that had just occurred. This was what had been prepared in the intervening hours of our preparations. It was just the beginning, and it was a beginning that I could almost feel The King gritting its teeth from. My Determinator Legion was more than able to delay and extract every bit of value from this defensives line. Not even counting the latter half of their defensive arrangement.

Still, the King’s forces had eaten up roughly half of the field in that time, but they had yet approached the flamethrowers nor the Raijin Lacerators. That would buy us some time.

Almost reluctantly, the Centaur emerged from the rifts once more, charging into the fray with a frenzied, single-mindedness.

Of which, most perished instantly.

Still, the horde kept coming, and I could sense the rapidly dwindling ammo supply that my First Line was working with. That much was perfectly acceptable, it was an impermanent defensive line meant only to bleed the enemy of as many numbers as we could. I suspected the biotics numbered in the low millions, if The King was willing to throw this many at us in a war of attrition.

Ultimately, I wasn’t worried about the individual quality of these biotics, not unless The King brought out something new, but their numbers were concerning. Ultimately, though, we had access to the Obelisk within New Damond. The sheer Matter Energy we’d had stockpiled and that we gained with every moment of this conflict meant that our supply of ammunition would be nigh-infinite.

I diverted another portion of my attention elsewhere, feeling the tug of my subconscious mind. New data streamed in, and for a brief moment, I couldn’t help but feel confused as I stared at what a long-distance radar was picking up. It was indistinct, like a flock of birds might be.

However, with our technology even a flock of birds would come in with stark contrast.

“Yamak, a strange reading has been brought to my attention over the ocean,” I relayed the information to him, “I need you to send someone to confirm what it is. Just in case, get some squadron’s ready to run interference.”

Yamak’s voice returned to me after a moment, “Got it. Also, figured you’d wanna know, but it looks like there are some Obelisks in the middle of nowhere that’ve been taken down.”

I frowned at that, “Any cities around them?”

“None that are really populated.” Yamak shrugged, “We don’t need em, though. Most big cities at least have an upgraded Obelisk, so we can broadcast and receive information to each other pretty much wherever.”

I nodded at that, “Something to think about replacing later, I think. Good hunting.”

We cut the feed, and idly I directed some of the long-range missile systems to support Yamak’s squadron, just in case.

I turned my attention back to the first line of defense, and couldn’t help myself from chuckling.

“Yeah, that thermite mixture is pretty nasty, isn’t it?”