Fierce Battle in the Canyon

At 5 p. m., the advance force of Alpha Squadron, which was on a pursuit mission, clashed with the Revolutionary Army's Harnack and Tychus units at the bottleneck of the Barren Canyon. Compared to the wide terrain at the front of the canyon, the bottleneck was like the narrow neck of a bottle, with the distance between the two rock walls rapidly narrowing, to a minimum of only one hundred feet.

This place is like a pocket that has suddenly tightened, and Harnack Hank and Tychus Finley's forces are like the ropes that tighten this pocket.

The Revolutionary Army's position was located two-thirds of the way down from the bottleneck of the canyon, less than twenty miles from the canyon's exit, beyond which lay Augustus's command center at Martin Fortress. In other words, if Harnack and Tychus's forces could not hold this position, Augustus would face the onslaught of the Alpha Squadron.

The position was constructed using excavators and engineering vehicles with steel protective fencing, concrete, and battlecruiser armor plating, interspersed with Bunker and two command centers that served as fortresses.

"Mengsk really knows how to make people do hard labor for him. While we're suffering here, he's sitting in the command center back home, indulging in a life of pleasure with that female agent and nurse." In a Bunker surrounded by protective steel plates, Tychus sat on a stool, lighting a cigar, with a Whisperer Heavy Machine Gun next to him.

"One is red-haired, the other is blonde."

The Bunker was so small that it could only accommodate the burly Tychus and Harnack, who was wearing the Firebat armor. Since wearing Power Armor meant that standing wasn't too tiring, Tychus even moved a stool to sit down and crossed his legs, making the already cramped space even smaller.

Although they were the highest-ranking commanders here, their officers could never imagine that Tychus and Harnack had just fought over this stool, and the victor was already obvious.

These two villains always seem to click when it comes to doing bad things, but they instantly turn against each other when it comes to dividing the spoils.

"You think the boss is like you, only knowing about women's butts and thighs?" Harnack was still angry about what had just happened. "You'll pay for this sooner or later. Don't expect the boss to come to your rescue like he used to!"

"He just wants me to owe him a favor, do you understand?" Tychus pointed to his head. "Nobles like them are all about exchanging benefits; everything is a business transaction, there's no room for personal relationships."

"You don't actually believe there are brothers who would risk their lives for each other in this world, do you? If I get caught by the Confederacy or something else, will he really go to any lengths to get me out?" In any case, Tychus never trusted anyone, and he didn't believe in unbreakable bonds of friendship.

"Huh? Little brat?"

"If it were the boss, if that man's name was Augustus Mengsk, then he would definitely do it," Harnack said. "You piece of shit, if you dare betray us, I'll burn you to ashes."

"Heh--" Tychus stood up hesitantly. "I'm only working myself to the bone for money--"

"Shut up, I've heard this at least seven or eight times already," Harnack cursed, then pointed to the observation post in front of the Bunker and said, "They're here."

"Arsonists, start barbecuing!" he said on his unit's command channel.

"Light your matches."

In the darkness, flashes of light illuminated the night sky. Fully armed soldiers of the Alpha Squadron, clad in white Power Armor, charged relentlessly towards the Revolutionary Army's positions on the sandy red earth.

The white- Power Armor Alpha Squadron and the crimson- Power Armor Revolutionary Army soldiers exchanged fire, creating a dense barrage of bullets, including supersonic nail gun rounds, copper-plated steel blunt-nosed rounds, and pointed depleted uranium rounds.

There were over 20,000 soldiers in this narrow area, with several thousand firing simultaneously on the deployed lines. About two battalions of the Revolutionary Army were Harnack's Firebats, and walls of plasma flames illuminated half of the rock face.

These Firebat ' Power Armor were designed by chief engineer Rory Swann and Heaven's Devils armor technician, since the latter had participated in Hiram Fick's design and development of the Firebat' Power Armor.

The Revolutionary Army's Firebat Power Armor differs from the Confederacy's; they use a modified CMC-300 instead of the CMC-250. The Power Armor's face shield and chest armor are thickened and coated with a heat-resistant layer. To enhance the wearer's comfort, a heat-barrier layer has been added to the plasma fuel tanks on the back of the Power Armor.

It is reported that this armor technician is also participating in the "Reaper" Power Armor and twin-turbo jump pack research projects personally planned by Augustus. According to the vision, soldiers wearing this Power Armor will be able to climb cliffs hundreds of feet high like Superman and fly in the air.

Based on his experience using the Firebat armor, Harnack Hank suggested adding dual fuel tanks to these vehicles to enhance their endurance and avoid the embarrassing situation of them burning out halfway through.

In addition, Swan added granular incendiary filaments to the plasma fuel tanks of the Revolutionary Army's Firebats and other flamethrowers, enabling the flamethrowers to spew out even more powerful blue plasma flames.

In Swann's words, "It was a deep, sparkling blue."

This caused the Firebat of the Revolutionary Army to spray a bright blue light, and their commander, Harnack, became obsessed with creating an epic inferno and dedicated himself to making his Firebat the most notorious arsonists.

In several battalions under Harnack's command, the only requirement for recruiting soldiers was whether they would write on a questionnaire that they had played with fire as children.

So when several skirmisher lines of Alpha Squadron charged onto the Revolutionary Army's position under the cover of Arclite Siege Tank and Goliath Combat Robot, they were immediately covered in scorching blue plasma by the Revolutionary Army's Firebat troops.

When the self-propelled artillery and electromagnetic guns of the Alpha Squadron opened fire, the thunderous roar echoed throughout the canyon like the wrath of Thor. The kinetic energy projectiles, accelerated by electromagnetic force, landed on the Revolutionary Army's positions, creating columns of sand hundreds of feet high.

The first round of shelling inflicted heavy casualties on the Revolutionary Army on the position, and also accidentally wounded a considerable number of the Resocialized Soldier had already stormed the position.

Of course, the artillery commander of the Alpha Squadron acted as if nothing had happened.

At the same time, hundreds of Wraith and heavy bombers converted from APOD-33 transport planes immediately took off from a military airport that Augustus had built in advance near the Barren Canyon.

To the soldiers on both sides, these fighter jets looked like firebirds riding on orange flames, bombarding the Confederacy army's artillery positions relentlessly under the anti-aircraft missiles of the Alpha Squadron's Goliath Combat Robot, immediately silencing the booming artillery fire.

Two hours later, the Alpha Squadron's attacking force began to retreat, leaving behind hundreds of corpses clad in Power Armor. The Revolutionary Army fared no better; lacking sufficient Power Armor and heavy weapons, even the most elite Revolutionary Army suffered heavier casualties to repel the Alpha Squadron's re-socialized attack.

After the first round of attacks, the Alpha Squadron only paused for a dozen minutes before launching another fierce attack.

This time, the attack was launched by Edmond Duke, who arrived later and personally led the assault team. He was completely unaware that a large rebel force had blocked the entrance to the canyon and was advancing at full speed toward his rear.