Chapter 539: Chapter 539 Assault on the Odium Syndicate (4)
The enemy combatants started to panic when the drones that had been fighting Olivia and Liesel’s squads, and the ones that had managed to slip past them and start harassing the Intrepid suddenly turned on them.
For a while, the battle had been in somewhat of a stalemate, with Avery’s company having the advantage but it still not being certain which side would come out on top.
Now though, the entire flow of the battle had shifted.
As per Avery’s orders, Liesel and Olivia had been focused more on stalling the over four hundred assault drones rather than destroying them.
And after Grito had revealed that he could take control of them, they had been even more careful not to reduce the numbers of a future resource.
With an army of around three hundred fifty drones that remained now on Avery’s company’s side, the fighters and medium warships that had been deployed to defend the production faciality were quickly overwhelmed.
They had already been struggling to fight off Ezra’s squad and the Dauntless, and the switching of sides of their drone reinforcements was too much for them to handle.
No longer having any enemies to deal with, Olivia and Liesel also led their squads into thick of the fight, and the tides of the battle turned almost immediately.
The fighters and few reaming warships were crushed within just a couple of minutes, and without the harassment from the enemy combatants, the Intrepid was able to fully turn its attention back towards crippling the station.
Blasts from its electromagnetic pulse cannon fired at their maximum safe rate of fire.
Each one slammed in the Odium Syndicate’s base and caused surges through the station’s electrical systems.
From outside, the view was almost mesmerizing, as bright flashes of light could be seen all over the station as its equipment went haywire.
It was not long before there was no longer any resistance against Avery’s company.
All of the enemy ships had been destroyed, and the majority of production facility had lost power.
"I was hoping to fight for a bit longer, but I suppose this already proved to be a bit more challenging than anticipated thanks to the surprise drones. Maybe they have a better showing protecting the interior of the base. Though I doubt it considering the station’s current state." Avery thought as he gazed at it through the Dauntless’ viewscreen.
Most of the sections were now dark, and the ones that were not, appeared to be on fire. It seemed that the fire suppression systems had not been able to properly activate in the wake of the electromagnetic pulse attacks.
With the enemies’ first line of defense dealt with, Avery gave the order for everyone to breach the station and begin taking it over.
Their goals now were to take a few prisoners to hand over to Cerise as sources of information and download any pertinent data to be found.
While most of the station had suffered damage to its electrical systems, the main computer was likely fine.
Once the power surges had begun, it should have isolated itself to avoid damage. At least, so long as the Odium Syndicate had not cheaped out on the construction of the base or disregarded normal safety regulations.
’Well, we’ll worry about potential lost data once we’re onboard. Grito can probably fix things up even if some of the parts got fried.’
Avery began making his way back towards the Intrepid, while giving out orders to the others.
They were going to be infiltrating the station from three different points which would allow them the most tactical advantage in commandeering the production faciality.
At point A, was going to be the Intrepid and the assault team that was already waiting and prepared.
Naturally, Avery was going to be leading this group after he returned to his carrier ship.
Ezra’s and Olivia’s squads would be handling point B, while Liesel and Burke would be in charge of Point C.
As for Jasmine, she would remain on the Intrepid and oversee everything. Sending out reinforcements if necessary and keeping track of each assault teams’ positions and progress.
It was not going to be an easy position, but Jasmine was the only one Avery could entrust the role to other than himself or Ezra.
When he finally docked in the Intrepid’s hangar, Avery immediately ran out of the ship and rushed towards where the forces he would be leading into battle were waiting.
Upon arrival, he found two hundred men and women decked out in full combat gear waiting in orderly lines.
’This will be the first time that we all march into battle like this together. But we certainly look like a proper army.’ Avery thought, his lips turning up into a grin.
Everyone here had been mercenaries before being recruited, with most of them having been working on colonies as bounty hunters or large ships as security officers.
A few of them were even former Alliance Police.
At the back of the rows of combatants were eight individuals towering over everyone else.
Each of them was wearing heavy power armor and would serve as the front line along with Avery.
Seeing the suits reminded him of when he was just getting started out and needed a way to even the playing field against Ezra.
Now though, he did not need one and was perfectly capable of combat on his own. In fact, Avery was fairly certain that he would be weaker in a suit of power armor than without one at this point.
’I’ve got my newly upgraded gauntlets that Grito made for me, along with my laser weaponry and multiple types of grenades.’
Avery was about as well equipped as he could reasonably be without negatively impacting his mobility.
There would always be one more piece of gear he could grab, but at a certain point the equipment became more cumbersome than useful.
It was not much longer before the Intrepid docked with the station and breached through the airlock they would be infiltrating through.
Once their entrance had been secured, Avery took the lead and was the first one through the entrance.
He had been ready to encounter resistance immediately, but the hallways within sight were empty. Even the scanner attached to his wrist was not picking anything up but the troops filling in behind him.
’We must have messed them up pretty badly if they can’t mount a response yet. I wonder if we’re going to meet any actual resistance.’
Avery considered the possibility of the leadership within the Odium Syndicate base already having broken down.
It was possible that panic had set in and there would be no organized response to their infiltration.
And though that might have been more preferable for ease of the mission, Avery was kind of looking forward to at least a decent fight. He was certain that some of the men and women following him were also thinking the same thing.
Luckily, it soon became apparat that the Odium Syndicate had not given up on defending their station yet.
In a larger open section a few hundred meters ahead of Avery’s team’s location, a barricade had been erected and plenty of troops had been deployed to fight them.
"Heavy armor squad, prepare to back me up. I’m going to bust open their defenses." Avery said, wearing a confident expression.
No one tried to stop him or called him crazy for planning to rush the enemy alone.
Avery had already proved to all of them that he was strong enough to accomplish what others would consider suicidal.
With a burst of speed that left indents in the metal flooring every time he took a step, Avery shot out into the open and headed straight for the barricade wall the Odium Syndicate personnel had set up.
He could tell from the enemies’ body language that they were shocked to see a lone individual charging them.
"Fire. Don’t let him get close." The enemy commander shouted.
A barrage of lasers began flying towards Avery an instant later, and there was no hope that he could avoid them all or that his personal shield generator would be able to withstand so many hits.
Yet, Avery had been ready for this already.
Before charging into the open, he had awakened his psionic abilities in full force.
The flow of energy was laid fully bear before his senses, and anything that approached him was severed.
As the lasers reached within a meter of his body, they suddenly burst apart.
Light scattered around Avery in a dazzling display, but not a single beam managed to touch him.
This was an application of his latest power that he had been working on.
It was difficult to use his ability to sever energy on light-based attacks from afar, but if he focused on only the area surrounding his body, he was capable of destroying them before they hit.
Only now that he had become proficient with the ability did he understand that this was how he had survived practically unharmed when he was hit by the blast of the laser grenade Fahad had thrown during his failed attempt at abducting Kasandra and Kaiden.
Back then Avery had instinctually used his power without even realizing it. But now he had conscious control over it and was capable of using it to great effect.
