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Description
Nadia waited in an alley calmly and quietly in an alley as she and her fire team waited. Porta Liberium was filled with alleys which were intersected by more alleys, all of which were on strange angles, all of which were dirty and all of them were defined by ugly brick and stone buildings clad in lumpy strata of stucco and chipped whitewash. Those in the outskirts were dirtier, lumpier with whitewash that was more grey and yellow. This meant that the landing forces sent to take the city needed to worm it's way through this labyrinth in hundreds of small groups pushing through. She had a sharpshooter's disdain for shotguns and LAWs as randomized lead spitters, but she'd been glad that her forces had been issued them for this battle, which was, simply put, a mess.

The city's outer defenses were nothing more than fences and hasty barricades and were fairly easily overcome after holes were blasted through. The inner defenses were a more solid set of walls made of volcanic stone, but they could not withstand naval bombardment from the Avatar. Explosive shells were not the only thing the fleet had been firing, however. Some of the shells were fired to break apart in the air and release a cloud of leaflets which informed the population which informed the slave population that the time of Liberation was at hand while telling them to rise up against their master. As slaves outnumbered the free Avesians several times over and as their overseers were focused elsewhere there were soon uprisings. Unarmed or brandishing tools, rocks, clubs, chains and other such improvised weapons (at least at first) and arising in dribs and drabs they were at a distinct disadvantage against the militia, mercenaries, royal guards and janissaries, but regardless their efforts diverted their attention. One thing she knew was that in this battle caution was paramount and one thing she found to be critical was a small mirror in a padded frame which let her look around corners without poking her heads out from them as had hand signals.

She'd heard the barked commands of a leader nearby, what they meant she could not make out as she'd only had to memorize a dozen basic phrases in the pidgin Avesian tongue, but she understood the sound of approaching footsteps. In the opposite direction there was a firefight. Her troops readied themselves for their passing as they came by at a blind run. When they passed she brought her pistol to bear and fired, bringing down the first soldier. Her squad followed suit with their shotguns, blowing away two more while a third had just enough time to turn to face them before he put a bullet between his eyes.

On inspecting their corpses she realized that these were local militia. Janissaries had their own rough uniform while these fellows were dressed in a hodgepodge of clothes over civilian clothes and while pirates and mercenaries would have had similar armor they would have at the least had the good sense not to charge blindly about or carry an idiot's weapon like a barbed whip into battle. Not that she gave it much thought as she and her troops used their cutlasses to complete the task and they moved on quietly and deliberately. She gave those she'd dispatched. Slavers and pirates by definition did horrible things on a daily basis and she'd seen some of the "marketplaces", "Pleasure Houses" and "workshops" of this twisted city and the adornments they decorated their plazas with. She'd been informed that this was not just an invasion, this was a Purge. Avesian culture was indefensible, fundamentally broken and the only way to bring it about was it's complete dismantlement. Any adult Avesian freeman which did not immediately surrender to Infrastructural Forces was to be put down. Nadia felt that this was all too merciful for the bastards.

Previous-Infrastructure: Part Two Hundred and Fifty Five
Next-Infrastructure: Part Two Hundred and Fifty Seven

Description
Nadia waited in an alley calmly and quietly in an alley as she and her fire team waited. Porta Liberium was filled with alleys which were intersected by more alleys, all of which were on strange angles, all of which were dirty and all of them were defined by ugly brick and stone buildings clad in lumpy strata of stucco and chipped whitewash. Those in the outskirts were dirtier, lumpier with whitewash that was more grey and yellow. This meant that the landing forces sent to take the city needed to worm it's way through this labyrinth in hundreds of small groups pushing through. She had a sharpshooter's disdain for shotguns and LAWs as randomized lead spitters, but she'd been glad that her forces had been issued them for this battle, which was, simply put, a mess.

The city's outer defenses were nothing more than fences and hasty barricades and were fairly easily overcome after holes were blasted through. The inner defenses were a more solid set of walls made of volcanic stone, but they could not withstand naval bombardment from the Avatar. Explosive shells were not the only thing the fleet had been firing, however. Some of the shells were fired to break apart in the air and release a cloud of leaflets which informed the population which informed the slave population that the time of Liberation was at hand while telling them to rise up against their master. As slaves outnumbered the free Avesians several times over and as their overseers were focused elsewhere there were soon uprisings. Unarmed or brandishing tools, rocks, clubs, chains and other such improvised weapons (at least at first) and arising in dribs and drabs they were at a distinct disadvantage against the militia, mercenaries, royal guards and janissaries, but regardless their efforts diverted their attention. One thing she knew was that in this battle caution was paramount and one thing she found to be critical was a small mirror in a padded frame which let her look around corners without poking her heads out from them as had hand signals.

She'd heard the barked commands of a leader nearby, what they meant she could not make out as she'd only had to memorize a dozen basic phrases in the pidgin Avesian tongue, but she understood the sound of approaching footsteps. In the opposite direction there was a firefight. Her troops readied themselves for their passing as they came by at a blind run. When they passed she brought her pistol to bear and fired, bringing down the first soldier. Her squad followed suit with their shotguns, blowing away two more while a third had just enough time to turn to face them before he put a bullet between his eyes.

On inspecting their corpses she realized that these were local militia. Janissaries had their own rough uniform while these fellows were dressed in a hodgepodge of clothes over civilian clothes and while pirates and mercenaries would have had similar armor they would have at the least had the good sense not to charge blindly about or carry an idiot's weapon like a barbed whip into battle. Not that she gave it much thought as she and her troops used their cutlasses to complete the task and they moved on quietly and deliberately. She gave those she'd dispatched. Slavers and pirates by definition did horrible things on a daily basis and she'd seen some of the "marketplaces", "Pleasure Houses" and "workshops" of this twisted city and the adornments they decorated their plazas with. She'd been informed that this was not just an invasion, this was a Purge. Avesian culture was indefensible, fundamentally broken and the only way to bring it about was it's complete dismantlement. Any adult Avesian freeman which did not immediately surrender to Infrastructural Forces was to be put down. Nadia felt that this was all too merciful for the bastards.

Previous-Infrastructure: Part Two Hundred and Fifty Five
Next-Infrastructure: Part Two Hundred and Fifty Seven