The VRAXIS wars (2145 - 2161)

= The war with VRAXIS =
It is unknown the first time AEGIS and VRAXIS butted heads, however, it is known that after a rather small and contained battle VRAXIS sent more and more troops towards AEGIS, resulting in bigger and bigger battles until there was no way out of denying the truth, it had escalated to an all out war. Interestingly enough it seemed like VRAXIS was at first not aware of the border and the city that it protected, however as VRAXIS advanced they suddenly focused most of their aggression towards staging an attack on the main Border. In the early days of the VRAXIS war AEGIS was clearly at a disadvantage, a rigid command structure, little combat experience, and fighting an empire possessing an unknown amount of territory and manpower. There are multiple battles throughout the war that highlight how it overall went. Simply put the war evolved in 3 stages, one where VRAXIS dominated, one where AEGIS would win but at heavy costs, and one where VRAXIS was utterly decimated by the force of a fully mobilized and prepared AEGIS. 
== The First Battle of Grand Canyon Pass ==
Overconfidence would be one of AEGIS’ biggest problems in the early phase of the war, and although the armies of VRAXIS were also incredibly overconfident they would never learn from their mistakes and that would lead to their downfall. The battle technically starts when an MDF patrol starts to fire upon a VRAXIS legion in order to lure it into a defensive line and slaughter their forces. On paper a plan which may work, however in practice the situation was much more complex. Firstly the man leading the MDF was tactically inept and it showed in the way he deployed his troops. The defensive line was set up so that the back of the troops was facing the Grand Canyon, meaning they had nowhere to retreat to. Secondly due to the size of the VRAXIS army the lines were stretched thin in order to try and hold the line, where it would’ve been much better to just fall back if they had broken the lines, in this case people were too isolated to fall back in a group or in a coordinated manner.
The one thing that may be more comical than AEGIS’ performance in this battle is the negotiations VRAXIS attempted with the MDF commanding officer. The VRAXIS warlord demanded that the MDF all lay down their arms, and in response the commanding officer comically reciprocated the demand. It was so unbelievable that the warlord again repeated his demands, and the commanding officer once again demanded that they are actually the ones who should surrender. As the attempts at a peaceful resolution failed, VRAXIS began setting up an attack. It took nearly 10 minutes and already they felt prepared. As they charged towards where the MDF had made their line they faced pathetic resistance. Fewer than 10 had died against a force of 60 MDF on an open field charging at them. The moment VRAXIS soldiers had reached the line they killed anyone who attempted to stay quickly, and those who began to run were already doomed.
As the fleeing MDF now numbered about 30 were trying to evade VRAXIS they soon found that they were trapped. As the VRAXIS soldiers closed in on them the only way to escape was down the canyon, suicide. As the MDF were forced to huddle together on the edge to avoid the crowd surrounding them another offer of surrender was given. Almost instantly the MDF commanding officer declined it, and soon after the “We’ll never surrender!” It seemed like someone was begging for their life as the MDF collectively worked to push them off the edge. Needless to say this signified that they accepted the surrender. An utter humiliating defeat for AEGIS that highlighted major flaws with its leadership. The surviving MDF became prisoners, never to be heard from again, their equipment was seized and used against AEGIS, and overall it just emboldened VRAXIS to accelerate their push towards the border.
=== Skirmish of the Beehive ===
The MDF advanced slowly, the orange tint of their night vision helping them massively as they moved through the vast underground cityscape.
“Remember, this is VRAXIS we are dealing with, they’ll concentrate their troops in clusters and only fire when they know they can overpower you.” said the commanding officer through the radio. “Also note that as usual these bastards are led by their general’s emotional impulses, this one is known for sacrificing his own men as a means to an end, expect some ballsy charges from them.” We all of course silently acknowledged this and pressed forwards, each in groups of 6 fanning through a different part of the city.
“Hate to break the mood here boss, but what the hell is this place? Last time I checked you don’t need a VTOL to bring you down a kilometer to enter any other city.” Someone asked, concerned.
“A normal city it is not, we’re in the Beehive, and the sooner we get these bastards the sooner we can get out of this god forsaken place. I hate this just as much as any of you.” The commanding officer radioed back. 
It had probably been 20 minutes now and I heard the pop of gunshots from a distance. The radio filled with chatter as they listed their location. “WE NEED BACKUP NOW, THEY HAVE US-” The message cut off from static. “HAVE US PINNED, THEY HAVE US PINNED BEHIND SOME SHITTY COVER!” We picked up our pace and began to wind our way through alleys and streets alike, trying no to trip over the rubble that littered the streets. As we finally made it around the final corner we saw the source of the gunfire as a building seemed to be full of VRAXIS as they lit up anyone they saw. I saw three MDF huddled against the back of a barricade so I ran over to provide support for them. As I neared I saw someone else armed with nothing more than a piece of metal run at our lines, as VRAXIS fired upon our cover positions we couldn’t peek out to shoot them. I watched in shock as I heard “NO MERCY, BLOOD FOR VRAXIS!” being screamed. Before I knew it I was making a practically suicidal roll away from our cover as the explosion blinded me. I felt the heat and force of the explosion as it slammed me into the ground. I awoke to someone slapping my face.
“WAKE THE FUCK UP SOLDIER!” Screamed an MDF in front of me. As he saw my eyes open he sighed in relief and threw me my rifle. I went to reach for my helmet but it was nowhere to be found. Luckily, I didn’t need it due to the bursts of light from the firefight that illuminated the battle. I ran back into the fray and once again took cover with 2 others. Still being continuously pinned down by VRAXIS we waited. The moment the machine gun stopped over the radio we heard “They’re reloading, GET EM!” as we all charged from our cover into the building they  were firing from. We went from room to room clearing them with ease as they though suicide charges was something only they could do. It wasn’t until we hit the fifth and final floor of the building that we heard “Aren’t there supposed to be 180 of these idiots, that’s what intel said.” come in over the radio. 100 would be a good estimate for how many men were in this building, which meant… We all looked at each other and slowly looked out the windows, those with night vision looked outside the windows and told everyone to get down.
They had the right idea because as we did rapid fire lit up the building and bullets were flying everywhere. After it seemed like they had all emptied their magazines we heard some muffled commotion below us. A few seconds later 5 explosions rocked the building. We felt ourselves begin to turn and as we all grabbed onto something the building slammed downwards and began collapsing in on itself before falling sideways. Everyone who was capable of standing got up and grabbed their weapon. As I went to check the commanding officer for his pulse I knew he was alive... barely. Having been nearly crushed by the building collapse and shot multiple times his condition was bad and he was running on borrowed time. The 30 of us that were left here huddled together and this time we had no intention of hiding, this time we were out for blood. We were all battered, covered in dirt, but despite all that we were not feeling defeat, we were pissed off. We heard cheering outside as we neared a stairwell blocked by some concrete, as we pushed the piece away and it fell backwards slamming into the ground the cheering stopped as they tried to see what was not only beyond the darkness, but also the cloud of dust. As we opened fire I used the light from their gunshots to pick my targets, as I still didn’t have my helmet for night vision. When we felt the click of an empty magazine we charged, engaging in melee combat as we overran the stunned VRAXIS troops and slaughtered them with their own weapons. Soon it was just down to us and say, a few 50 crazed VRAXIS recruits, given only things like metal sticks as weapons. As they charged at us we threw down our firearms and used our fists. We made short work of them as even our rudimentary hand to hand combat training surpassed whatever they had been taught. Finally we cornered a man that was clearly their leader. Warlord scum. The warlord huddled into the corner and began begging for mercy. Me and 3 others grabbed the man and began dragging him back as the rest tended to the wounded and began to call for an evac. As we dragged the pathetic man he began to offer us money among other things, however, it was the offer to let us desert from AEGIS into VRAXIS  that broke me. I yanked him in a different direction and the other two MDF grabbing him began following me. Finally after 2 or 3 minutes we reached the edge of the platform. I kicked in the guardrail and watched as it fell. I grabbed the warlord by his neck and hung him over the edge, he looked down and saw nothing but darkness. As he kicked his legs in an attempt to escape I realized my arm was getting tired. I leaned into his ear and whispered to him as he froze in fear… 
 
“No mercy… Blood for VRAXIS...” I let go and instantly the darkness consumed him. I heard the screams as they slowly faded into obscurity. The city made an intense groaning sound as It seems like the warlord didn’t make it all the way down and hit a support cable, causing it to flex slightly from the impact. All 3 of us thought the same thing: A shame he couldn’t have gone the full way down.
After battle report: 299 VRAXIS soldiers killed, with only their leader unaccounted for, when the MDF were asked about what happened to him they just nodded. The count was changed to 300 killed. It was an astounding achievement considering the original intel had only listed 180 VRAXIS combatants. All things considered the MDF should count themselves lucky, having only 27 of their own wounded and 22 killed is astoundingly lucky. Needless to say they succeeded. Another warlord is dead, VRAXIS is faltering.
=== The Final assault ===
There is absolutely no doubt VRAXIS was a vile and evil organization… but perhaps if you analyze both sides you realize that overall that is what they have in common. I’m getting ahead of myself, there is 1 last chapter in the war between VRAXIS and AEGIS, and I intend to show you that it is not an organization which is evil, but its leaders.
The torch flickered on the young soldier's face, in the incredibly dark nights it often got very cold, hence the torch. Wind would rustle the thin sheets that made up the tent, and with all of this sand would often be blown in and cover anything not properly covered. A terrible life. The young man thought about why he continued fighting for these idiots despite having to go through such terrible living conditions. Ultimately he decided wealth was the key factor. Our pay is late, he thought. Truth be told their payment was late, the pockets of the warlords running them were rather thin, anything that came in stayed with them. Bullshit, the soldier thought. The average soldier was fed up with the corruption and greed of the VRAXIS chain of command, everyone could read the writing on the wall.
Inside the tent of what remained of the VRAXIS chain of command sat 8 men, all in rather illustrious clothing or some form of armor. They were all looking over a map as they began to go over their losses.
“Here.” Pointed the standing warlord. “We’ve lost Roseweld. The garrison sent news early today, it was those god damned hunters again.”
“I can volunteer to send my troops up there and restore proper rule.” Said a warlord in a rather enthusiastic voice. 
“I am not finished.” Said the standing warlord sternly. He pointed at several locations denoting settlements of some kind “Roseweld, Bliston, Brunwich...” The list went on, all settlements that had declared themselves independent from VRAXIS’ governance. “At this point we will begin starving, we’ve razed practically everything we could and without a few key settlements we will have no reliable food source.”
“What about financials?” Another warlord asked.
“The coffers are practically empty, populated settlements like Roseweld were our lifeblood.”
“So let me get this straight, we go to secure the cities for money and we starve, we go to secure the food supply and by the time we reach their settlements we are broke?” Asked another warlord, annoyed.
“Yes.” Answered the standing warlord. A silence followed as the warlords were in deep thought on how to fix this mess. “However, I am not without a solution...” This peaked the interest of every warlord. “We have an opportunity to strike.” The warlord moved pieces meant to represent intelligence on AEGIS patrols. The warlords gawked at the path directly to the gate which was left completely open. “They’ve made a grave mistake. If we don’t succeed here I will not fret to tell you that our heads will be on a pike before dawn.” Every warlord simply nodded their heads. “The worst that can happen is that you kill your own men, it just gives us a higher chance of evading the punishment they will put on us in the event of failure.” Once again the warlords nodded. “Then it is settled, gather your legions, if we are not marching in triumph by the morning I’m sure you are well aware of the only alternative.” The warlords gathered their things and began vacating the tent. With little to no prior preparation VRAXIS was going to attempt an all out assault on the border out of sheer desperation. Despite the absurdity of the plan it wasn’t like they had no chance in succeeding. There was simply one factor unaccounted for, a young soldier we mentioned earlier who came into the tent to try and steal food for his men, but instead he came out with knowledge of the warlord's plot to have as many men die as possible if the tide turned against them.
“SOLDIERS!!! MARCH!” The remaining 8 legions of VRAXIS began marching in unison, their footsteps being heard as they pounded against the ground despite the ground being mostly sand. A cloud of sand began to pick up after them as they marched, a terrifying sight.
The next morning the marching was still going, there had been no rest, however it was all about to pay off as the imposing structure of the border could be faintly seen on the horizon. Each legion split off to their leader and where one would expect a great speech this is all one warlord had to say. 
“YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS! THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO DESTROY THEM, TO DESTROY AEGIS!” There was a brief pause as the warlord thought for a moment. “AND TO IMMORTALIZE VRAXIS AS A GREAT EMPIRE.” He dragged out his sidearm and pointed it at the border. He fired one shot and screamed “BLOOD FOR VRAXIS, NO MERCY!” And so VRAXIS launched its final attack. It was a terrifying sight for AEGIS, a distant scream getting louder as you felt the earth tremble under the force of 900 men running at full speed. Gunshots rang out and the first ranks of VRAXIS’ assault began to fall as  they reached the gate which was closed. They began to climb atop each other and try to get onto the towers overlooking the gate. Of course in traditional VRAXIS fashion the first rank was melee so once the towers were stormed you could hear the satisfying crack as metal connected slammed into the helmet of whatever poor soul was stationed there. Soon afterwards the explosives reached the gate and VRAXIS cleared the area as an ear deafening boom blew open gaping holes in the main processing gate. An alarmed blared as VRAXIS flooded into a room well prepared for their arrival, gunning down many who had initially ran in, however the moment they had to reload they were overrun, at this point 200 VRAXIS had already died and the first rank was down, now it was down to those who actually had guns to continue the fight. Outside where hundreds of VRAXIS were huddled with each other trying to squeeze through the small opening left by the explosives. An ear deafening screech was heard as 2 VTOLS used their afterburners to steady themselves. Inside the ever satisfying sound of the VTOL firing echoed through the facility as they cut down the VRAXIS reinforcements trying to get inside. The scanners of the booths were heard as VRAXIS shoved their rifles through the scanner and shot those trapped inside. More explosions were heard as well as glass shattering and as VRAXIS flooded the processing balconies it seemed like success was inevitable. Their odds were about to get a lot better. As one of the warlords swiped a card into a panel revealing a button, they slammed it not even knowing what it did. Everyone went silent as a large mechanical groan was heard.
“ALL PERSONNEL PLEASE STAND CLEAR…” Said a digital voice. They had opened the gate. Triumphant screams were heard as what little remained of those outside flooded in, however VRAXIS was not prepared for the drastic measures that followed. The VTOLS stopped firing for a moment and it seemed like they would not fire through the gate, that was until they did. Not only did they fire into the processing area killing any of their wounded, they also used explosive rounds, utterly decimating the processing area through and through, destroying any and everything. The situation had gone from good to great to absolutely terrible within a few minutes. The warlord pressed the button again to try and close the gate however the explosives had deformed the metal so badly that it was now stuck in place. The warlord remembered the plan, if it was going bad, kill as many men as possible, so he screamed charge as they opened more doors to more and more lines of heavily armed AEGIS. As the warlord was planning his escape with a few of his loyal men next to the gunfire that was cutting down his own men, cold metal was placed against the side of his head. It didn’t take a second thought for the young soldier to pull the trigger.
“DON’T YOU SEE, THEY WANT US TO KILL OURSELVES TO SAVE THEIR SORRY ASSES, WE CANNOT WIN!” The soldiers screamed, once again the VRAXIS fell silent and those who had the luxury of cover looked around in horror and disgust as they truly took in the sight around them. Blood and gore everywhere, utter mayhem and destruction, explosions, gunfire, wounded screaming for the release of death, and the worst of it all the men still valiantly charging right into the prepared defenses of AEGIS. “THE DAY IS LOST, RETREAT!” screamed the young soldier, and in an act of extreme  bravery that soldier was the first to run, almost tripping over the mangled corpses of their fellow soldiers on the way. Many more would follow as the warlord pretenders screamed for them to stop. They said something about treason, as if plotting to kill your own men was something perfectly acceptable. The VTOLS did not pursue the fleeing VRAXIS and instead began shooting into those who stubbornly remained on the processing balcony. The warlords were all dead by the time the battle was over. Their final act was to taint the world with the grotesque scene that was the aftermath. Many vomited at the smell alone. 
Unbeknownst to AEGIS, the few who made it out of that battle were not a group of soldiers that would quickly disband, it was the catalyst that would fuel the rebirth of VRAXIS under a competent leader. 80 men marched towards the depths of the wasteland under the banner of the final VRAXIS legion.
=== Conclusion of the war ===
As AEGIS forces adapted more and more to VRAXIS strategies the tide of the war was clearly beginning to turn towards AEGIS. The splintered chain of command that held VRAXIS together found itself with more and more vacant positions as consecutive losses caused the capture or death of many of their higher ups, it is also noticed that a short while after the “Final Assault” a complete breakdown of VRAXIS authority occurred, it is suggested that a coup had taken place. The once terrifying armies of reavers that patrolled and expanded the domain of VRAXIS now found themselves without the very thing that ensured their loyalty in the first place: wealth and power. Armies either disbanded or travelled out into the wasteland to make a living for themselves. In a span of a few months VRAXIS had crumbled just as quickly as it rose, that being said, VRAXIS still persists in the dark crevices of the wasteland. With the rot that made up it’s expansive armies being purged, in a way made it stronger. As far as AEGIS intelligence suggests, VRAXIS fell back deep into the wasteland, and as of today they have yet to emerge. 
One of the most interesting components of VRAXIS’ rise is that even today nobody knows where their vast pool of manpower came from…..
NO MERCY!
BLOOD FOR VRAXIS!