Orbital Command

By the time Adrianna and the Terran reapers and marauders reached the command center on the top floor of the control tower, they were a little surprised to see several dozen Decima personnel with their side arms on the ground.

"Here's my question…why the hell did you put up so much of a fight if you were gonna yield just like this?" Adrianna wondered as the Terran troops searched the prisoners for possible hidden weapons. The Decima soldiers put up a good fight on the way up. She had expected some type of last stand here, not an immediate surrender.

"Our colonel was a fool, ma'am. He tried to resist the liberation of our world by the Imperium." Major Stanz, as the new self-declared leader of this group, stepped forward and did his best to appeal to his new Imperial overlord. After seeing how the Terrans acted after entering, the major believed Adrianna was their leader. Adrianna's Guardian class was mistaken as an officer's Indominated class.

"So you executed him." Adrianna glanced at the colonel's body on the ground. There was a mocking tone in her voice. "You're a major, right?"

"Yes…yes ma'am...sir."

"And did your kingdom reward you well for your service?"

"I…yes sir."

"And in your kingdom's hour of need, you shot your commanding officer in the head and surrendered."

Adrianna didn't really care about the Kingdom of Decima. She had no issues with the Decima soldiers who surrendered. It was just that most officers, in the Venya Imperium and the Kingdom of Decima, actively chose this as their career for life and were often well-compensated for it. How many times had they sent their conscripts to die in the name of their country? The least they could do was sacrifice themselves when the time came.

Whether the colonel was a competent officer or not, at least he had the decency to go down fighting. This major, on the other hand…

"I…" Major Stanz wasn't sure what to say for a second. He had expected his surrender to be welcomed by the Imperials, but it wasn't like he had any other options left. All he could do in response to Adrianna's mocking words was try his best to remain submissive. "That is correct. It is a shameful thing to do, but I would gladly be called a sinner if it means working toward the noble goal of freeing my people."

Adrianna snickered again. The man obviously thought she was the head of some Imperial strike team and was doing his best to kiss her ass. There was just one problem. She was no longer Imperial, and if anything she despised the Imperium. What might make a loyal Imperial officer quite happy only brought her annoyance. She turned her attention to the objects the Terran marines confiscated from the Decima officers.

Suddenly, behind her, one of the Terran marines in blue armor took a step forward and approached Major Stanz.

"Major," Athena said with the voice of the marine. The deep voice that carried her words made her flinch a little, but she did her best to act natural. "I believe your superior had made an attempt to request reinforcements. What is their status now?"

Like Adrianna, she wasn't a fan of the major, but the man still had use for now. By executing his own colonel, the major had ensured that he had no choice but to work with the Imperials, and for now, he clearly thought they were Imperial. Most likely he would provide rather credible intelligence.

Major Stanz glanced at Adrianna and turned to Athena, unhappy by the slight of the Imperial officer and the fact that he had to deal with someone who was likely a common Imperial soldier. Still, he was not really in a position to do much.

Even from just steps away, he didn't recognize the type or the color scheme of Athena's suit, but he knew better than to ask about it. Instead, he nodded and gave his best reply.

"Indeed, sir. Two battalions were recalled to this airfield. The nearest platoons should arrive in three minutes. The furthest ones are less than five minutes away. Not long ago, High Command also replied to us and promised us reinforcements in the form of a fresh armored brigade."

Athena nodded, not that Major Stanz could see it through the helmet of the CMC armor. Two battalions likely composed of several hundred to a thousand men with ample air support. The armored bridge would also be quite a problem. If she hoped to fight, she would need to use her Terran assets well. If she chose to fight, she could use the widow mines and set up an ambush inside the airfield…

"Sir, with your permission, I may be able to help with…handling the 4th Regiment."

"What?"

"I may be able to help the Imperium handle the 4th Regiment, sir." Major Stanz repeated. "The last message sent out from here was a few minutes ago. I was able to intercept the normal protocols that would go down when a commanding authority had been compromised. The units of this regiment are still unaware that this command center had been breached. They will still obey orders that come from here."

"So what? You want to tell them to lay down their weapons?" Adrianna, who was keeping an ear on the conversation, scoffed from the side. She had emptied a number of wallets from the Decima officers and poured the Decima credits into a small pile on a desk.

"Of course not, sir. An order like that will never be carried out." Major Stanz wasn't a fool, and nor were the officers and soldiers in the regiment. "However, if I order all battalions to gather at a single exposed location to repel an enemy attack that will never come…your forces can take them by surprise, sir. A few missile or artillery strikes will be enough to neutralize most of the regiment."

Major Stanz simply stood there, unmoving as he tried to toss his troops under the bus. He had already betrayed the Kingdom of Decima to save his own skin when he shot Colonel Decker. He might as well go down that path even further and go all in with the Imperium. If the Imperium was able to destroy the 4th Regiment with ease, they had the opportunity to capitalize on this opening and deploy even more reinforcements behind the main Decima forces. It could likely spell victory for them.

Knowing the Imperium, they would heavily reward the bringer of this victory and make an example out of him. Yes, countless within the kingdom would call him a traitor, but by the time this war was over it would be he who had the power, and it was those who criticized him who would be hung or burned alive. The truth was what the victors declared.

Athena stood there for a second, not too sure what to say. She already knew the major wasn't the most moral individual out there when she saw the colonel's body on the ground, but this? Handing his own troops to the enemies on a silver platter to be slaughtered? This was a new level of selfishness.

Yet at the moment, all she could do was smile behind the helmet.

If the Major was talking to a real officer of the Imperial Special Forces, he might actually get the wealth and promotion he longed for. This level of ruthlessness and decisiveness was exactly what one needed to prosper in the Imperium. Unfortunately for him, he had mistaken what was happening since the very beginning, and this mistake had essentially sealed his fate.

Athena had no sympathy for the man, but she had to admit the major had a point. She wouldn't be able to call in a missile strike to blow everything up, but she could use it to set up ambushes or even just to secure her own way out.

"Human technologies detected in close proximity to units…"

"Analyzing technology…"

"Analysis complete. Technologies show resemblance to Terran engineering…"

"Terran structure Orbital Command has been unlocked…"

Athena was just about to say something to the major when a notification hit her, but her excitement was cut short when she heard the Terran structure that had been unlocked. Orbital command? She was in a Decima airfield! Why would she unlock the orbital command instead of the starport? What would she even use the orbital command for?

In Starcraft games, command centers could be upgraded to orbital commands, allowing the structure to use abilities such as calling down mules, performing scans, and calling down attachments to supply depots. Lore-wise, they often achieved this by coordinating with space assets such as battlecruisers and satellites. As of now, Athena had access to neither.

Plus, the Orbital Command was a structure, and up until now, Athena has never had a chance to try to build Starcraft structures in real life. She didn't even know if that was possible for her. Even if it was, building a Terran structure on a planet as populated as Sierra Prime would be insanely risky.

"Sir? We should act quickly." Major Stanz asked quietly, doing his best to remain calm. He was confident his offer would be accepted by any competent Imperial commander, but here he was talking to what seemed like a trooper and a low-ranking officer. It was entirely possible they would simply shoot him and get it over with. "The longer we wait…"

"Quiet!" Athena snapped. She was usually a calm person, but she really wasn't in a good mood right now and she had no intention of being nice to someone like Major Stanz.

The major lowered his head and went silent.

"Sir." Rum suddenly spoke to Athena through the intern comm in their armor. "I would suggest that you check out the orbital command center, sir. It may be helpful in this situation."

Athena frowned, but she trusted Rum enough to know he must be saying this for a good reason. As units produced by the system, these marines likely also knew more about the capability of the system structures than she did.

"Send the message to delay the reinforcements, Major. Inform them that the assault has been repelled. I need time to report to my superiors for further instructions." She said to Major Stanz to buy herself more time. Of course, she didn't forget to make some empty promises to the man. "Serve the Imperium well, Major, and I can guarantee that you will be rewarded for your service."

Major Stanz nodded before turning to one of the terminals in the command center. Adrianna and two other marines followed him to keep an eye on his actions, not that it was really necessary. If Decima reinforcements retook this location, Major Stanz would likely be shot on the spot for treason.

"Keep an eye on them for me," Athena said to Rum before quickly returning to her own body.

As soon as she was back, she entered the game, selected her main command center, and upgraded it into an orbital command center. As always, the process was quick. Within almost an instant, the top of the command center had caved in and was replaced by a giant satellite dish.

Before Athena could try to figure out what she could do with the orbital command, she heard a voice in her ear. It was a female, mechanical voice that sounded quite familiar. She took a few seconds to realize where she heard the voice from.

"Commander. Adjutant is online and at your service."

"Ok…" Athena whispered to herself, intrigued. In Starcraft lore, Adjutants were the artificial intelligence advisors to Terran commanders. They were often responsible for helping their commanders maintain control over the battlefield. Essentially they were very smart computers. "What can you do for me, adjutant?"

"My functions include coordinating Terran combat units and structures, downloading and storing data, interfacing with and hacking into computer terminals, and performing computation tasks."

"Downloading and storing data? What do you need to do that? Do I need to construct a Terran orbital command or command center in my world?" Athena asked. As of now the adjutant only existed inside the game. She wasn't too sure how it would be able to download data from real life.

"There are two ways, commander. If you enter close proximity to a computer terminal, I will be able to remotely access the terminal. Otherwise, you will need to construct Terran command centers or orbital commands in your world. However, you are unable to construct structures in your world as of now."

"Wait, what?" Athena frowned. She couldn't build structures now? Why? "Why not?"

"A specific criteria must be met to unlock this function."

"What criteria?"

"Unknown."

Athena's brows darkened. Just because she didn't have the space to build structures in the real world up until now didn't mean structures were useless. In fact, many Starcraft structures could potentially be quite effective in the real world. Bunkers. Missile turrets. Even planetary fortresses.

"Is this true for the Protoss and the Zerg as well?"

"Affirmative."

"Fine." Athena knew arguing with the adjutant would be a waste of time, so she forced herself to focus on the tasks at hand. "Do other Terran units have access to you in this form?"

"Negative, commander."

"That's perfect. At least it's better than nothing." Athena comforted herself and turned to the control tower. As a major military base, the control tower likely had access to a number of important Decima databases and archives that could contain data she might find helpful in the future. There was little she could do before unlocking the orbital command. What could she do? Memorize everything she might need? Or try to download them into the potentially compromised and traceable Imperial PEI?

Now, she could download as much information as possible and take them with her as she left. At the very least, this would help her understand this planet much more than the Imperial pre-invasion meetings did. Despite the limitations, it seemed like the adjutant had its uses.