Empyrdom × Federations/Sapience Uprising/3rd Flag - Purification of Basterven Act 2

## Storyline

"..They have artillery positions somewhere in the region." Adex said.

The Archetypal Frames on top of said platform glided off it in a hurry, transferring to the other platform at the other side.

"Whew, that was close..." one of the pilots spoke.

"What was that, anyway?" another inquired.

"According to Lord Adex, it was an artillery barrage," Reius notified. "Boys, have your Astral Vigilance alert. We mustn't risk his man to lose another starship."

"Yes sir," the pilots answered. The Longinus Frames were the most vigilant out of the other Frames due to their wider AV radius. The two Frames leaned on each other's backs while preparing their diatryphic cannons.

Since his BFT-HUD was down to his eyes already, Adex began to search the region with it from a bird's eye view, trying to find out where the artillery barrage had came from... he would soon find a pair of mobile artillery vehicles located in one area.

"I spotted a couple of their mobile artillery, though I'm sure that's not all of them.. they could be spread out." Adex said.

The Longinus Frames detected the pair of artillery with Astral Vigilance. They aimed their diatryphic cannons at the pair of mobile artillery and fired. The other Frames of the Denamion Cluster searched on their own as well using their Astral Vigilance system.

The vehicles would be struck by the cannons, and due to their light armor, they were destroyed with little effort. Their Astral Vigilance would be able to detect a total of twenty-eight [not including the ones that got destroyed] within the region, as they were all spread out from one another, as a clever attempt to remain undetected. They were preparing to fire again however.

"By Shielpheus, we are surrounded by artillery," Reius notified Adex. "They are situated in the surrounding forest. We should take them out immediately."

"Very well then. I will have some of my drones take them out.. we'll have to do this quick though, I suspect they're preparing to fire again." Adex said to Reius, as about twenty Attack Drones were given their orders to search and destroy.

"To all Armatura Frames, engage artillery with cluster missiles," Reius relayed. "Longinus Frames, snipe artillery. Proxima Frames, open-fire."
The Armatura Frames launched their barrage of Hexadon cluster missiles while the Longinus Frames attacked with their diatryphic cannons. The Proxima Frames spun around, open-firing at the artillery with their Temporalus arms.

The drones spotted a few pairs of artillery vehicles upon their search, firing their missiles and miniguns at them, while most of the others were destroyed from the cluster missiles and diatryphic cannons... a couple of vehicles however managed to reload and fire another shot before their destruction.. the question now is which platform is it going to hit, if it does.

The Denamion launched a small barrage of Hexadon cluster missiles in an attempt to intercept the shells.

One of the shells would be successfully intercepted, while the other managed to strike one of Adex's drone platforms.. again, it wasn't the one that Adex was on, and this time the platform would remain functional, but damaged.

"That must be all of them." Adex said.

The missiles that did not hit automatically exploded as they already lost their intended targets.

"M'man, airbase is almost clear!" Reius notified.

"Good," Aelianos affirmed. "Keep going."

"That's good to hear. Keep up the pressure." Adex said.

The Denamion Cluster resumed their work, engaging the Keterian aircraft with their available armaments. The attack drones also continued one with their work, engaging any hostile that was still fighting. Several minutes would pass before the Airbase would be cleared of anyone willing to fight...

All was left is wreckage of Keterian aerospace units and severely damaged structures caused by a catastrophic storm surge, a battalion of Adex-01 attack drones and the seven-cell Denamion Cluster.

"The airbase seems to be clear of hostiles. Scratch off one property." Adex said.

"M'man, may we salvage anything noteworthy?" Reius asked.

"Agreed," Aelianos said. "We need to study their capabilities further using pieces of technology they have left."

"I will send in some personnel to help assist with the scavenging, as well as to claim the Airbase." Adex said.

"Very well," Aelianos said. "I am now sending in a team of engineers and astralsmiths in an eidos disc from the Alola stronghold. While they are en route to your location, have your utility Materia downloaders clean up the debris."

"Yes, m'man," Reius affirmed. "Let's go, boys!"

The Denamion Cluster began gliding towards the airbase and deployed their utility Materia downloaders upon landing. The downloaders began deconstructing any structure debris they could find.

The drones that were idly hovering began to return to the platforms, as Adex contacted his forces at the joint property to send in a TA-650 with some personnel to claim the airbase, as well as help with scavenging.

"Hexasteel wall strike platoon, regroup," Aelianos relayed, as the strider platoon went towards the wrecked airbase. Soon, an eidos disc came in and dropped teams of engineers and astralsmiths near the airbase, as well as a squad of aether secutors. The downloaders kept deconstructing debris.

After a certain amount of time has elapsed, a rupture appears overhead, as a TA-650 emerges from it. A couple of Genesis Transports are deployed from it, as they touched down on the ground, deploying Mobian Baxter/Militant Combat Engineers, as well as other types of infantry as they began to sweep any damaged, but still standing structure for any potential hostile that was hiding out.

Imperial personnel began inspecting interesting Keterian technology in the form of gadgets and machinery. There were aether secutors in patrol of the area to keep the personnel safe. The Materia downloaders was almost done with clearing the debris.

A squad of Jkirkian infantry proceeded to enter a damaged structure that resembled a barracks while the Combat Engineers assisted in the scavenging. The squad was faced with sudden fire, as one took a shotgun blast to the face as the others took over outside.

"We have hostiles in here!" One of the soldiers said, as another proceeded to toss a plasma grenade into the building, an explosion being heard within it. "You mean there used to be hostiles in there, right?" Another said. Several aether secutors accompanied them. "We have to be careful when searching these buildings. Might be more of them." A soldier said as he entered the barracks carefully.. it seemed whoever was in there is dead now.

"The corporal didn't make it." One of the soldiers said as he checked the now dead soldier's body.. obviously no normal individual could survive a shotgun blast to the face.

"By Zephyr..." one of the aether secutors interjected. "Stay vigilant." They brandished their aether blades.

"Clear!" The soldier who was checking the barracks called out.

"Alert, we have hostile infantry in the ruins of their command center. Requesting immediate assistance." A Jkirkian squad leader reported via a transmission, as fighting could be heard in that area.

"..Hm. Apparently we have some that don't want us to take the airbase that easily." Adex said upon hearing the transmission.

Several aether secutors jumped into the scene, charging at the hostile infantry at full speed, letting their strong shielding tank Keterian solid projectiles.

The Keterian infantry within the command center fired at the charging secutors with their weapons, as well as any visible Jkirkian soldier that was in cover.

"Check their vehicle depot, they might have some land vehicles being prepped up." Adex relayed.

The solid projectiles were not able to damage the secutor's strong astral shielding as evident with the Cimmerian gryphon's shielding being able to tank multiple MAC rounds. When the secutors got close, they began thrusting toward them with their aether blades.

The infantry that were forced into close quarters attempted to fight them off using their weapons while others that were not yet forced into such fighting tried to support them, but ultimately their attempt would fail.

The secutors seemed to dominate the Keterian infantry in close range due to their astral shielding. Soon the Imperial personnel would unearth an interesting lead to Keterian aerospace technology... Albeit they do not have so much knowledge about it.

A couple of infantry made their way over to the vehicle depot as to check if anyone was inside. They were accompanied by two aether secutors. As they would enter however, they would suddenly be faced by an explosion, as said explosion blew a hole into the wall of the depot Shortly after, a land vehicle resembling that of a tank emerges from the depot, making it's presence known throughout the Airbase as its machine gun began to open fire.

The two aether secutors were flung backwards for few centimeters as their strong astral shielding managed to take the explosive damage. "Our comrades are...!"

"..They have a tank?!" A soldier said in shock as he saw the tank.

Another tank seemed to emerge from the depot, as it positioned itself next to the other one, firing its main cannon at the allied forces, as well as its machine gun. The first tank was still in the process of reloading another shell, but its machine gun continued to fire.

"They really don't want us to take this airbase, do they?" Adex said as he was observing the situation.

The aether secutors began regrouping with the personnel. "Milord, requesting assistance," he notified the Archon Emperor.

"Behind thee," Aelianos told him, as the hexasteel wall formation started their retaliation. The Scelirian mounts used their astral reflecta to defend while verdict striders released a continuous electromagnetic beam from its stormlift lance atop its head in a sweeping motion at the two tanks.

The attacking verdict striders would be faced with machine gun fire, as well as another shot from one of the tank's main cannons as they approached. A jeep suddenly emerged from the depot, as someone was manning its wheel and heavy machine gun, as it charged towards the striders, possibly an attempt to ram into them, while the gunner opened fire.
The squad that was about to get rammed into looked over from their astral reflecta. Most of them equipped their Gradiach javelins, flinging them at the jeep as the middle ones equipped their Areiades jousting lances, pointing them at the jeep should it successfully get into close proximity. Regardless, one of the star lances of their verdict striders are charging up, about to attack the jeep in a failsafe plan.

The two tank's frontal armor was hit from the EM beams. While they sustained damage, they were still intact thanks to their frontal armor being heavily protected. It seems regardless of the electromagnetics though, the machine guns would keep on firing, as well as the main cannons.. it seems they were manually operated. The Jeep began to swerve in its attempt to dodge the javelins. The gunner would get hit in the head as he fell off, with the frontal window of the jeep being shattered by another, but luckily it didn't strike the driver, as he continued to press forward.

Four Scelirian mounts gallantly charged at the jeep, brandishing their Areiades jousting lances and thrusting towards the front of said jeep while having their astral reflecta in front of them. The verdict striders stopped firing with their stormlift lances and opted for their Hephestian star lances instead, releasing continuous beams of superheated magical plasma at the tanks. Regardless, they are taking damage head-on, albeit minuscule due to the projectiles being solid. Same goes for the aether secutors which were on the defensive.

The jeep manages to ram straight into the astral reflecta.. with the end result being it's front bumper being damaged significantly. It didn't help that the jousting lances damaged it further, and got the driver. As for the tanks, they would manage to survive a few shots to it's already damaged front armor before the shots pierce through, hitting one tank's ammo rack which caused it to explode from inside, with the other tank losing most, if not all of its crew members, rendering it immobilized.. but intact.

The verdict striders stopped firing the beams for a set period of time while the Scelirian mounts that jousted the jeep pulled out their lances and stepped back with their mechanical steeds.

The jeep was immobilized due it's drive being struck at his head, as well as extensive damage to its front. Suddenly, explosions engulfed the vehicle depot, as it seemed missiles were fired at it. Three Adex-01 Attack Drones zoomed by overhead the now destroyed depot.

"That shouldn't be a problem anymore." Adex relayed.

The Scelirian mounts which flung their Gradiach javelins got them back through a Nil-Graviton module attached on the rear end of each spear.