Two years after the terror attacks on Dystopia Prime, intelligence surfaced that the group responsible had been both identified and located. The group of colonial separatists, known as the Rigel Monats, had a small installation tucked away on the desert moon, Mu Arae, on the far side of the Monoceros Ring. A decision was made that the perpetrators were of high intelligence value and would be taken alive at all costs. To preserve the targets, boots would have to be put on the ground and a covert assault operation on the base would take the separatists by surprise.
Protected by the scorching heat of three suns for the better part of the day, neither man or machine could operate for long in these intense conditions, so the Dystopia Marine Mechanized division was called upon and dropped thirty-six heavily armed troops onto the surface of Mu Arae out of sensor range and just before sun up. The Marine Drone Troopers would take three days to reach the installation, spending most of that time in predetermined shaded rest points in power-down mode until the next sunset.
Under the cover of darkness, the Marines move across the rocky, red planet at the kind of pace their human counterparts could only dream of, leaving only red dust and footprints in their wake. Loaded for bear and no concept of fear, these killing machines were coming for the Rigel Monats and they would accept nothing short of success in their mission.
Before the strike, the perimeter guards thought they heard a thunderhead moving in the distance, but little did they know this storm was heading right for their front door…