***Imperial Offensive, Boros***
The Imperial column of Spartan class mecha trudged through the rain towards the staging point of the capitol city siege. It had been raining for days, halting progress in some areas, as the roads flooded and the footing became increasingly perilous in the mud and ruts. Boros was an agricultural world but the roads should have been sufficient to take the imperials to the war front, however, the weather was almost unnatural. Mass flooding and washed out roads everywhere.
The Spartan class mecha was the Imperium's work horse. It was a versatile class of mecha that could be outfitted with almost anything you could attach to its 40 foot frame. It was smaller in size, it's short stature making it good for close combat, but it was sturdy enough to equip with almost any armament. These particular mecha were equipped with a small energy shield and what could be called a short sword that was attached to the pilots dominate side leg with hangers. Each mecha also had a standard energy rifle that drew power from the mechas power core giving it an inexhaustible source of ammunition if the pilot was conservative. The twin anti aircraft batteries usually found in the shoulder pauldrons had been swapped out for anti infantry batteries because of the lack of air support from the enemy. The last part of these mechas armament came in the form of a small mini energy gatling gun that could be deployed when the shield was not in use.
Some Imperial troops saw the brutal weather as a bad omen, but command knew better. Command had labeled this enemy "The Dominion", and they had somehow changed the weather to their advantage. They knew the Imperials were coming to take the capitol and they had somehow used the weather to demoralize the incoming army. Needless to say, it was working.
The Imperials weren't used to wars of attrition, and they had been fighting on this planet for weeks. Not such a long time, but for the soldiers it felt like a lifetime. The dominion employed tactics and maneuvers that the Imperials had never seen and were completely unprepared for. Their technology was superior in every way. Small arms fire was completely ineffective, requiring the Imperials to slow down and move under the protection of heavy weapons and their force of mecha.
Major Collins, the head of the Spartan class mecha column, called everyone to a halt. They had been marching through the mud and water for 10 hours and were still a couple of days away from the staging point. The drop pods they had landed in had been rerouted to avoid anti air fire and had dropped them days away from their intended landing site. They had been lucky thus far, not encountering any signs of the enemy. The capitol was the objective, but the surrounding lands still had pockets of Dominion forces giving the imperials issues.
"Central command to Major Collins" blared the radio, snapping Collins out of his thoughts.
'Central command, go ahead" replied Collins, wandering if there was some sort of news.
"Please be advised, multiple Dominion forces en route to your position from the west" said central command. "ETA is 2 hours."
"Do we have any more details? Numbers, composition, anything?" asked Collins worriedly. This was his first battle, the unit of Spartan class mecha was newly christened and had never seen action. Training and experience were two different things and his unit had zero experience.
"Negative, Major" replied Command. "Satellite feed is unreliable and the Dominion forces have technology to evade thermal scans, we are giving you the only thing we have. Your orders are to hold position and neutralize the threat. If the dominion get past you they will cause significant issues for our infantry columns coming in."
"Copy that Command, Major Collins out" replied Collins thinking fast on how to devise a quick defense.
"Spartans, we have multiple Dominion forces incoming from the west. We need to dig in here and have less than 2 hours until contact" said Collins to the company of Spartan mecha. "Alpha team spread out and identify undamaged sections of road. Bravo team, once the sections are identified I want them cut into 20 foot sections. Charlie team, spread out and get me 10 foot sections of local trees we can use as support. Delta team, use the supports to tilt the road sections up we can use as barriers. I want barriers set up in an inverted V so we can funnel the dominion in to our formation. Echo team, while the makeshift barriers are being constructed I want you to pound 10 foot sections into the ground angled towards the west to slow their progress down. We need to be done and ready to go in one hour and 30 minutes from now. Move out!"
The roads were a composite mixed with duranium which was the strongest metal in the Imperium. Collins was relatively sure they would be able to pry up the road in small sections and would at least give them some cover before the road started breaking apart under fire. He was hoping it would buy them enough time to wipe them out before their mecha were exposed and without cover.
They made good time throwing up the cut sections of road and fortifying their position. The pilots worked fast and efficient, not wasting a single second knowing that their lives depended on how fast they could get this done. One hour into the fortifications, their link to command, and all sensor data coming from satellite feeds was cut. They were effectively in the dark, only having their short range sensors to rely on.
The Spartan company got into position, waiting for the inevitable. Their fortifications were done and they had been able to ram over 100 stakes into the ground to break up any formations marching their way.
Two hours and twenty minutes since the message from command, the Dominion had finally arrived.