LAST STAND
The Colonel stands in front of a holo-mesh field displaying an overview of military and administrative status of the Federation. Points hovering in the air above the mesh glow red, pulsating seemingly with hatred. The Command Bunker at Parade Ground is the last one remaining. Ironholm, Sparta Command, Bunker 118, all seized by the undisciplined masses of sheep following Fuhrerin Deidre, regardless if they flew Believing, Peacekeeping, Hive or even Morgan banners.
"Is it ready?" The Colonel asked, in a tone implying worry.
"Ready as it will ever be." Captain Jirou Himura answered. *Overdrive* Himura was by now the highest ranking member of the engineering corps alive. Even Major Strauss was dead, having fallen in the locust raid of Sparta Command a year earlier. Most of the Men, Women and Children of Sparta gave their lives in a hopeless struggle, knowing all to well that all they can do is delay the inevitable. But being forced into adhering to the queer Gaian way of life was a fate worse than death.
Himura's project consumed all the remaining resources of the free people of Sparta. It took the form of a crimson long shape, the Lance of Sparta as it was called. Atop it was a colony, pod unlike those that made Planetfall over 170 years earlier. Much more sophisticated though, the legacy of the Engineering Corps ensured as much. Also a lot smaller, carrying a mere 50 citizens, along with the genetic material of most living and dead Spartans. Enough to revive the Spartan people elsewhere, but no longer for the Colonel to lead them, as the Colonel's place was here, on Planet, in the last Spartan outpost, regardless of what her fate might be.
The Lance came to life with a thunderous roar, streams of superheated plasma frantically filled the silo. It made its way towards the heavens on wings powered by a heart of a star itself. Locust, helicopters and other hostile aircraft tried to intercept it, but the few remaining Zeus II interceptors and Pegasus SAM Gunships held them at bay. It pierced the clouds like a divine javelin, thrown by the greatest of mythic heroes of Ancient Greece.
Minutes later an artificial voice cried, "escape velocity reached". The Lance was now well beyond the low orbits of Gaian satellites, safe and beyond the reach of all weapons known on planet. But the mood remained somber in the Bunker, Case Green protocol called for one last action.
"Captain Himura, execute order Omega-8."
The Captain used his neural link to send the command while also releasing the analogue manual safety. A loud hissing noise filled the room as it did in every home, children creche, network node, shooting range, holo theatre, recycling tank, pressure dome, command center and every street in every base that ever flew the Spartan banner. The invisible clouds of Medusa-6 were everywhere, corroding standard military-issue breathing masks, making their way towards mucous membranes and denaturating living tissue. If Medusa wasn't enough the other part of the lethal combination, the silent kiss of death known as Orion-3, would finish the job.
Mindworms and "peace warriors" alike, former Hive Guard and Morgan CorpSec as well as the few who still fought against the Gaian menace in the streets, all fell victim to Case Green.
The Colonel's lifeless body lied on the floor on top of a plasma steel plaque reading:
CELEBRATE YOUR VICTORY CONQUERORS, BEFORE YOU REALIZE THAT WHAT YOU BROUGHT WAS NOT VICTORY BUT DEFEAT FOR ALL OF HUMANITY.
