The Fall of Clan Jushok | Events of the Ages

 Per their longstanding agreement with the ruling council of Anvillon, the Oathbinders serve as the city's primary power for settling external disputes. Thus, when the engineering-clan of Jushok, who had been contracted to conduct a darksteel extraction operation in the southern reaches, went back on the terms and hoarded the resources for which they had been so richly paid for themselves, it was the Oathbinders who sent the punitive force to enact retribution and moreover reclaim for their patrons what was owed.

 As is the norm in the vast flats between the islands of civilization in this region, the detachment's transport airship was spotted hours in advance of its arrival at the mining site and the force would benefit from little in the way of surprise as a result. In addition, the Jushok clan had long planned for this day, and the fortification that awaited the attackers might well have been one of the mightiest in the age. In decades past, it was the Jushok who had been responsible for erecting the exterior walls of Anvillon that continued to serve to this day, and now they had turned their knowledge to the clan's own ends. Adjacent to the massive mining complex, the clan's headquarters was almost entirely covered by a near-complete ebon, plated dome, like the scaled armour of some great creature, with the only opening cut into its form at the highest point where the tip of a central tower protruded outside.
 Scans of the defences revealed two factors. First, that the Jushok clan had not simply stockpiled the withheld darksteel, but had put the nigh-impervious substance to use in the armoured panels forming the exterior wall, making it impossible to breach without a long and concentrated effort - a task which would have to be carried out in close proximity. Second, that with little need to further fortify the physical barrier, the city-scale repulsion shield emitted from the tower had been densely concentrated around it to control access in and out through the remaining gap. Much like the outer wall, breaking through would require a sustained bombardment which in turn would require total air superiority first.
 It was clear that the defenders would make neither option easy: automated turrets swiveled into position and painted the sky with patterns of intersecting laser fire to hamper the incoming transport as it landed. At the dome's peak, a multicoloured stream of fighter aircraft, a varied collection of individual pilots and groups hired by the Jushok clan, passed through the skyward gap to begin their assault. Unfazed, the enforcers' craft began its descent to the appointed landing zone.

 Strict followers of protocol, the Oathbinders began assembling their siegeworks within moments of disembarking. Behind an advancing shieldwall of enforcers bearing arm-mounted deflectors, teams of siege engineers worked to moved pre-fabricated barricades and shield generators into place. Following next were a set of heavier, self-powered constructions which moved into place on squat, piston-driven legs or were carried into place by graviton nets, which mimicked the function of the airship's gravity sails on a much smaller scale. Among these were the tank-like command post of the detachment's executor and their advisors, and a dozen units of enforcer's own robotic sentries which loosed tightly controlled bursts of fire between every step in the direction of the incoming fighters as they began their attack run.
 With much of the construction work still in progress, the first counterattack hit the besiegers hard. Individual deflectors overloaded and failed as they were outmatched by the vehicle-mounted weapon arrays and the ranks of the shieldwalls were blasted with holes, leaving the support teams they were guarding exposed and vulnerable to the successive bombardments from above. Furthermore, the pressure put on by the wall-mounted lasers was stalling the enforcers' advance and preventing the forward defenses from being put into place.
 However, the Oathbinders too were taking a toll upon the opposition. With the rear command post fully in place, the sentries were able to entrench themselves and start a sustained anti-air barrage. With little co-ordination within the ad-hoc air formation, the robots were able to pick off individual strays as they passively fought to claim air space for themselves. As this attrition began to mount, more groups began to break off - having decided that whatever profits had been promised to them were not enough for the mounting risk - until only the most vehement handful remained. But just as this one threat diminished, the next wave to take on the attacking force made their move.

 The enforcers known as the Steelclad were famed for their extensive wealth, which was concentrated foremost in the heavy, darksteel-plated armour worn by every member of their crew. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the group had provided a garrison force to serve in the defence in return for some portion of the Jushok clan's remaining stockpile. More used to the mobile combat of a transport convoy than the static defence of a fortress, this detachment had set out following the first sighting of the incoming airship and begun their march through the cover of the mining complex. Now in position, the Steelclad launched their attack on the Oathbinders' left flank while the attention of the latter was focused on the sky overhead and the fortification before them.
 Advancing steadily across the barren terrain, the warriors started to close the distance to the incomplete lines still being set out by their targets. Yet if the Steelclad as a whole had one weakness, it would be their mobility. For every bit of additional protection, there was consequential bulk and weight which slowed their movements on foot and although they had mitigated the greater portion of the distance by moving through the outskirts this still gave the opposing enforcers time to respond. A number of the more perceptive teams started to move from the front lines to reinforce the eastern side in reponse, but a signal came from their command post: they were to remain in place and continue wearing down the automated defences on the walls, others would take care of this new threat. As the groups returned to their positions, more figures descended from the airship's ramp at the rear of the encampment, held in reserve until their strength was needed. These were the executioner teams of the Oathbinders, carrying two-handed axes whose blades burned with corrosive energy, and wearing armour festooned with leathery simulacra of false deeds and broken contracts on whose behalf they had personally delivered the retributive strike. Among their collections, each member had been affixed with a new addition bearing the details of the agreement between Anvillon and the Jushok clan which had brought them to this place. Having stepped onto the battlefield, they assembled outside the command post first. The signal for them to deploy had included their orders, but by nature the executioners were frustratingly exact and would only follow instructions given in precise terms. Once dealt with by the commander, they formed up into a phalanx behind the barricade in sight of the encroaching enemies. The foes fired continuously as the moved, wide-barrelled laser spreadshots being the weapon of choice for this Steelclad detachment, but the combination of static emplacements and the gathered shields of their formation were enough to reduce the incoming damage to barely more than cosmetic at this distance. For their part, the Oathbinders' elite waited patiently. They had little interest in or aptitude for long-ranged firefights and had been deliberately commanded to let the opposing combatants do the work of closing the gap until they were almost in reach of the defence network.

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 In the hubris brought about by their own creation, the masters of the Jushok had overlooked one obvious failing: that walls too need to be defended. With the the remaining defenders pinned in place inside the dome, the Oathbinder's own engineers were able to set to work. As followed, it was not the formidable gun batteries of the besiegers but the tools of their craftsmen which brought doom to the rebellious clan.