Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 491: Battle of the Circa Cathedral
Jace slipped quietly by another vampire. They were focused on the wave of light in the distance and the massive warship that had landed on their planet. After a few minutes the shock had worn off and now they had begun their counter attack. Unfortunately for the Circle of Yuri, Jace came with preparations to take the entire planet on his own.
So the artillery weapons only got off one or two shells before either one of the Cerberus air or star craft took it out. Or an artillery barrage from Cerberus took them out. While the shells were destroyed either by a flying craft or anti-artillery tanks and weapons that each unit within Cerberus had.
He was sneaking past the vampires mostly because it would be more annoying to kill them. Besides, he had another objective in mind. Soon after they landed, Jace came to learn that the Holy Empire had several units on the ground and one of them was nearby and making progress toward the site that Solisa wanted to use as a base of operations.
Jace wanted to cut them off before they could get here. He wanted to give his people some leeway while they were establishing their own base of operation on the planet. It was not his initial plan. He originally planned to just move in and stay out of sight. Providing assistance only when necessary. But that changed when he learned two things.
The first was that there were over a hundred soldiers of the Holy Empire in this grouping that was moving to the would-be Cerberus base. Compared to the other groupings of Holy Empire soldiers it turned out to be the largest grouping. The second thing was the vampire grouping that they detected in their path. It turned out the Circle of Yuri had planned a trap for the Holy Empire grouping.
So he planned to pick off both large groups at the same time.
Maybe not the wisest plan but... he was bored.
"Colonel Jace, come in. We are picking up anomalous readings coming from the direction of the Holy Empire coming our direction. The readings are nonsensical at the moment. But command believes it is the bulk of the Holy Empire fleet. The High Priestess wants an assessment on the status of the battle before deciding on a course of action. What do you have?" Solisa asked.
She was not asking what he had in terms of the battle. She was asking what course of action he wanted to take. He was glad that Solisa understood him so well.
But what was he going to do? He had to slip to the side, hiding in the shadow of a building while a patrol passed by him. He could not just claim he could take the planet quick enough. If they were already getting anomalous readings then the enemy fleet was a few hours away at least. That is not nearly enough time to take and hold the entire planet. Nor enough time to take out the blockade the Holy Empire had set up.
"We will hold position until the last possible moment. Let Colonel Nina and her team complete as many objectives as possible. Continue with the plan to secure a forward operating base. But operate with the assumption that we will pull back completely at any moment." Jace ordered as he slipped past another patrol and quietly leaped onto a building.
He then moved forward and climbed up the side of a cathedral. Being careful to be as quiet as possible. Fortunately there were many things protruding off the side of the tall bell tower. Such as gargoyles and ledges. Most of these cathedrals were very gothic in design. Which was good for him because he would just look like another decoration as he climbed up the side of it.
"Understood. I will commence with the plan and communicate it to Colonel Nina and Colonel Dahlia." Solisa responded before the line went still.
Jace was halfway up the tower when he came across his first enemies. It was a sniper’s nest that was aiming in the direction where the two forces would meet. The snipers were a pair of vampires. Or rather a sniper and his spotter.
It looked like the area they had set up was a resting area halfway up the tower. They were solely focused on the kill area that was still empty for the moment. But Jace activated his electrical vision and could make out the different silhouettes of the scouts on both sides who had met and were retreating away.
"We should just kill them..." The spotter whispered.
"No, we follow Comrade Victor Al-Ulman’s orders to the letter." The sniper reminded his spotter. "Even if most people see him as a coward, I was there that day. I know that he was limited by his choices and was forced to retreat. The only reason I returned alive was because of him."
Victor Al-Ulman. The name rang something familiar in his mind before Jace suddenly remembered. He encountered the vampire on Vexical Prime during the start of the civil war. He had escaped at the time because Jace’s attention was divided heavily. He was an annoyingly capable combatant. He also remembered doing some research afterwards. He was one of the commanders of the Circle of Yuri who prided himself on his upright moral character. While he was praised more for his innovative and adaptive tactics during the midst of a battle.
Jace quietly slipped into the tower rest area and materialized his knife. He quietly moved up to the pair of spotter and sniper who were arguing the capabilities and political level of their commander. Apparently his views were seen as sympathetic to the enemy and recently his speaking out had cost him a promotion to a higher military rank but had earned him many supporters among the common people.
Jace went to strike the spotter first when the wood underneath him creaked. Both the spotter and sniper turned and looked at him in shock. Jace was already snaking forward. Slicing off the spotter’s head before slicing through the sniper’s throat. He quickly grabbed the spotter’s head and set it to the side before it rolled off the tower. Then he finished off the sniper and pulled back his body from the ledge.
Once that was done he moved to the outside of the tower again but stopped when a droplet landed on his visor. Then another, then a moment later the downpour began as he noticed the storm that had slowly gathered overhead for the first time.
He continued climbing up until he reached the top of the bell tower when the rain had begun to make things more difficult to climb with how much everything had become slippery. He was having to stop frequently to get a better grip constantly. While he was doing that the battle down at the intersection had quietly begun. With a few scouts and snipers taking shots at each other.
Including the sniper in the tower he was currently climbing. He reached the bell tower’s bell area and saw not one but two snipers. Both with a set of spotters who were calling out targets. Jace quietly moved forward and materialized his knife and pulled out his magnus revolver.
He sliced through one of the spotters’ necks first before firing at the other spotter. Blowing his brains out all over the side of the wall and his sniper. Who flinched and blinked only getting a chance to look at Jace before his own head disappeared into an explosion of gory blood and brains. Jace kicked the head of the spotter in front of him and it flew out of the building.
The last sniper spun around with his sniper to try and shoot Jace. But Jace slammed his foot down on his chest. His boot went clean through the man’s chest and destroyed the vampire’s heart. Killing him instantly.
After looking at the bodies he nodded his head and holstered his revolver and dematerialized his knife. But before he could draw his weapon his armor’s shielding flared and a bullet bounced off. He looked toward the direction it came from and saw a Holy Empire soldier looking surprised before another sniper took him out.
"This is Jace, I am at... Circa Cathedral. Looks like the Holy Empire and Circle of Yuri are fighting out a battle that would give them control of the large mausoleum that Solisa highlighted as a possible forward operating base." Jace reported after checking the landmark he just climbed.
It really was a massive cathedral. But the mausoleum connected out the back of it was far sturdier and the better choice for an operating center while patches of the cathedral’s walls had already fallen. He was fortunate that the bell tower protruding out the top of the cathedral was still standing and not in a structurally precarious situation.
"Understood. We are moving to take the mausoleum now. They have an infirmary so we are going to have to take our time." Ulin informed him.
