War Core 4, Chapter 33.

Chapter 33.

“What happens now? We’re all supposed to be on the same side, does that mean we win?” Maddison asked.

“I have no idea, so we’ll keep plowing along like the battle’s still on. The Ssath and Dalven’s Yaelar are probably still under assault from the last wave, which is why we haven’t heard anything about the next wave,” Hugh offered.

The damage to his forward base was being repaired and construction on the D’kahn forward base was proceeding as well. Tier six for the main battle mech factory was completed shortly after the announcement and Hugh had now unlocked the M26 Pershing main battle mech. The mech had a substantial increase in firepower and armor protection. Even without upgrades, the mech was well equipped with a powerful 90mm main gun, a .50 caliber machinegun, and two .30 caliber weapons.

With his better main battle mechs being unlocked, Hugh was much more confident in their ability to handle something like the D’kahn mechs. Gamers adjusted construction drone routing to get his existing mechs upgraded from the M4 to the M26, but it was a more substantial upgrade and would take a bit. Next on the upgrade list was the airfield, and it should happen quickly once the replacements for his losses and the new forces to defend the D’kahn forward base were built.

“Sir, we’ve got eyes on some Yaelar mechs, should I initiate contact?” One of the scout teams reported in. Hugh shifted his view and could see that the scouts were approaching the Yaelar forward base. It was mostly destroyed, but a few construction drones were milling about. No combat units were in sight, which made Hugh a bit concerned.

“Nope, those aren’t Yaelar, those are AI-controlled units. The attack wave must have pushed past the forward base and is attacking the command post already,” Maddison called out She was right, the reconstruction was just like what had happened with the D’kahn forward base, a partially repaired headquarters, and only six construction drones. When the repairs finished, hostile garrison troops would begin to be produced, as well as other defensive structures.

“There are only six drones, can you take them out?” Hugh asked the soldier leading the scout team.

“I’m good, sir, but my mech is still tier four and there are at least six of those armed construction drones out there and they’re at least a couple tiers over my mech. Their lasers are weak, and their targeting is garbage, but I’d only give myself a 50/50 chance against them,” the soldier replied.

“Hold off, it’s not worth the risk. Try to make it to the Yaelar command post so we can get a better idea of what’s going on. That’s more important than taking out a few construction drones at this point,” Hugh replied. Even if the lone scout could sweep aside the drones, he couldn’t capture the base since it belonged to his ally.

Hugh’s scout would take some time to reach the Yaelar command post. The automated force that attacked this zone didn’t appear to have come in one wave like the D’kahn attack but in several. Hugh’s scout was forced to keep well back from the final wave of attackers, moving slowly to avoid detection. While he waited, Hugh finished building new units and pushed all his resources over to upgrading the final two production buildings.

“Hugh, do you want us to hold here, return to our command post, or move into the Yaelar territory?” Cartwright asked. The force that had defeated the D’kahn was battered from the combat, but still a potent one. He had 155 infantry, 4 light mechs, 5 main battle mechs, and 11 surviving air mechs.

“Push toward the Yaelar. Dalven is a proven ally and if he needs help, I’d like to have something on hand other than a single infantry scout to support him with,” Hugh ordered.

“Roger that, we owe him for what he did with the Queen Mary. Without him, I don’t know if we would have stopped the Ssath invasion,” Tran said. Hugh was counting on that force to return home to the command post and join the defenders there, but he didn’t want to lose Dalven because he was being overly cautious about the Ssath when there was a small chance were still allies.

While units moved around the battlefield, Hugh was able to reinforce the forward bases and build some of the replacements for the command post force. His income exceeded expenditures and Hugh was able to upgrade the airfield to tier five and then six. At this tier, his air mechs changed from the Buffalo to the F4F Wildcat at tier five, and then the F4F-4 upgraded wildcat at tier six. The wildcat had better armor, better speed, both in the air and on the ground, as well as impressive maneuverability. The icing on the cake was the fighter mechs armament. His buffalos had sported a single .50 caliber and a single .30 caliber weapon, but the F4F-4 fielded six .50 caliber machineguns, more than tripling the firepower of the previous mech.

Given the long distance that the ground forces had to cover from the D’kahn command post to the Yaelar zone. Zacharias’ air mechs were able to return to the command post and receive upgrades to the new wildcat versions and still have time to rejoin the assault force before they reached their destination. Just like with his other factories, Hugh held off on specific upgrades until he could get the last production building improved to tier six.

“You’re up next Admiral, and it shouldn’t take too long for the shipyard,” Hugh said.

“Yes, but don’t forget that you can’t just upgrade my patrol boats into larger vessels,” Nix reminded him. Hugh hadn’t fought an actual battle where he had used upgraded ship mechs, but they had simulated it a bit and had feedback from cores that had engaged in naval warfare. Unlike a regular mech, the ship mechs were behemoths and cost too much for the GCA to just allow simple upgrades when the shipyard tier increased. Instead, Hugh would have to pay the price to build new units from scratch to join his existing fleet. Sadly, naval units were the most expensive to produce, so he would only be able to afford a limited naval presence.

When the shipyard was upgraded to tier five, it unlocked frigates. The frigate was much more powerful than the patrol boat, even without upgrades. It was about double the length and width of the patrol boat and featured three 3-inch cannons and a pair of machineguns. It was still lightly armored and despite the benefit that its firepower might provide, moving one on land made it a huge target that a piloted mech couldn’t miss. To top things off, it would cost him 300 resources to build one. For that price, he could build six main battle mechs.

“Hugh, hold off on building any frigates, we’ll have destroyers soon and while they’re even more expensive, they’re quite a bit better than the frigate and serve the same role,” Nix said.

“I agree, we’ll wait a bit before we jump into expanding our fleet,” Hugh decided.

With the ability of his ships to walk on dry land, it opened a lot more options for Hugh. They had talked about the effectiveness of using them as a mobile fire support platform, but the cost factor was always limiting their usefulness. Why have a single frigate as a mobile artillery battery when for the same resources, Hugh could build six main battle mechs in an artillery configuration? That was something Hugh needed to delve into once he got around to upgrades, he needed to unlock the variant models for his mechs. Self-propelled artillery mechs and air defense versions might become key to help balance out his forces.

“Sir, we’ve got eyes on the Yaelar, and it looks like they’re in trouble,” the scout reported. Hugh shifted his vision and watched as the Yaelar command post was assaulted by the final wave of invaders. There was already damage to the main structure and the light mech factory was destroyed. A few defensive turrets were firing and only a handful of defenders remained.

“Move into view and let’s open dialogue with Dalven. Zacharias, take your air mechs had hit the invaders now, don’t wait for the rest of our force,” Hugh ordered. The scout walked his mech into the open and before he had gone twenty yards, a system message was received.

The Yaelar core Dalven wishes to open communications with you. As a designated ally, you may interact directly with this core or state your hostile intentions. Which do you wish to do?

1. Initiate hostilities.

2. Initiate contact.

Hugh selected option two and Dalven established a direct comm link.

“Glad to see you’re still in the fight, Hugh, I don’t suppose you can give me a hand with these invaders?”

“Not a problem, but I don’t have much in the area, only a single infantry mech and eleven air mechs that should be overhead any second now.”

“Any help is appreciated. I didn’t want to do this yet, but I’m going to have to activate my avatar.”

With their cores linked, the fog of war over the area that Dalven’s forces occupied was removed. Just like Hugh’s zone, the Yaelar held something similar to his millipede nest. The strange creatures inside looked like a four-legged mech version of a spider to Hugh. They were about half the size of an infantry mech and had nasty-looking fangs. The forward base was gone, and neither of them had any direct view over it at this time.

Hugh counted a score of Yaelar infantry mechs, backed up by a pair of what must have been their medium mechs. The medium mechs, oddly enough, resembled large felines with a pair of light cannons mounted on their backs, not werewolves like the Yaelar infantry. He could see three defensive turrets were active, and were similar in function to his own. They were machinegun caliber weapons and were already spitting out rounds toward the wave of attackers. The medium mechs also fired and Hugh could see there were about fifty attackers, all infantry mechs.

Despite being AI-controlled, the invaders moved at a rapid pace, firing back with shoulder-mounted weapons as they tried to close into melee distance. Hugh’s scout continued to move toward the Yaelar command post, firing his arm-mounted rifle as he moved. It was too bad the scout never had a chance to get upgraded to tier six, a light machinegun would have been much better at helping to suppress the attack wave.

Several of the attackers stopped and swiveled their guns toward the sky as Zacharias’ air mechs made their appearance. With six heavy machineguns mounted in their wings, the fighters swept across the battlefield. The dozen or so mechs that had stopped to engage the fighters were blasted apart, but the main bulk of the attack wave had made it into the Yaelar trench line. A furious fight broke out inside the trenches and from the command post stepped an oversized werewolf mech, Dalven’s avatar. Moving with impossible speed for something his size, Dalven carved his way through the attackers.

“I’m going to take some losses doing it, but we need to get on the ground if we’re going to keep them from the command post,” Zacharias said. The eleven air mechs slowed to a hover over the Yaelar command post before beginning the transformation into ground combat mode. Legs unfolded from under the mech and their wings partially retracted, leaving only the barrels of the machineguns sticking out from the now stubby protrusions.

Many of the invaders pushed through the trench line and attacked the command post directly. Hugh’s air mechs met the charge, hosing down the attackers with accurate close-range fire. Some made it through the carnage and got in close contact with the air mechs. In melee, the copycat werewolf mechs were more than a match for Hugh’s air mechs. They shredded through the light armor with their claws even as the machineguns on the air mechs tore the invaders apart.

With a large number of the invaders bogged down by the grounded air mechs, Dalven had time to turn the tide of the fight. His avatar was impressive, leaping into the fray and cleaving through the enemy even as a pair of dual-mounted submachineguns mounted on his shoulders took care of anything out of reach of his claws. The attack was over before Hugh’s ground forces arrived, and by the time the last invader had been destroyed, Hugh only had a pair of damaged air mechs and the infantry scout left.

Dalven’s forces had taken an even bigger beating, now only having eight infantry mechs and one battered medium mech left in the fight. The avatar had also taken some hits, but the damage was mostly superficial. Heavy shielding and armor seemed to be standard on avatar’s making them terrors of the battlefield, but also risky to use. If Dalven’s avatar had been taken out of the fight, production would cease until he was able to respawn back in his command post.

Prepare yourselves, wave 7 will begin in 3 hours. This is the final wave and will represent a continuous flow of attackers with only small breaks between assaults. Defend your cores, but also be aware that to complete your objective, you must enter the volcano and defeat the guardians. An hour after wave 7 begins, the gates to the volcano will be opened. Three cores remain, will any of you prove your worth and ascend to full membership in the GCA?

“The only other core is our supposed ally, the Ssath. Hssim killed Vilkrex, but so far, has avoided my territory. What happened with you?” Hugh asked.

“Early on, the D’kahn were quiet, but I was pressed hard by the core on the opposite side of my zone. At about the end of wave four, they were taken out. I’m not sure if was from the wave itself, or the core on the opposite side. Before we could get a breather, the D’kahn began their assaults. It was only one or two mechs at a time, but I don’t need to tell you how much damage one of their mechs can do. I think my core might have fallen earlier if you hadn’t started working on the D'kahn. They had a pair of mechs hitting our base about the same time as the invaders. Taking out their core dropped the D’kahn mechs and gave us a chance,” Dalven said.

“What’s the plan now, do we try to contact Hssim, or do we go it alone?” Hugh asked.

“I don’t trust the Ssath, but we should at least contact him to find out his intentions. There are two of us and only him, so I think we can out-muscle him if it comes to that. It will take me some time to get things here in order. Do you mind stationing some troops at my command post until I get repairs completed and my forces replenished?”

“No problem, I have a strong force on the way, should be there in a few minutes and they can keep you covered while you rebuild,” Hugh offered. The army heading toward Dalven was still out of sight, but they were just abou there.

“Wait, something’s happening,” Dalven said with alarm.

“I can feel it too, sir, something’s shaking the ground,” Hugh’s scout reported.

“Help is on the way Dalven,” Hugh said, willing his forces to move faster. Something was coming from underground, and it wasn’t the next attack wave.