War Core 4, Chapter 32.

Chapter 32.

It was nerve-wracking to wait for his attacks to get underway. The troops heading toward the D’kahn forward base would arrive before the main attack, given they had a head start. There were only eighteen infantry, two light mechs, and two main battle mechs in that group. It was a limited attack force, but so far, the only opposition they would have to face was a half dozen armed construction drones. There were also a total of twenty-eight air mechs to support the attack, and Hugh could shift them quickly toward the D’kahn command post if there were no surprises.

The tunnel network linking the Millipede Hive to your command post has been completed. New options are available for you.

Hugh was a little shocked by the announcement. A dozen of the newly upgraded millipedes had been hard at work on the tunnel, but Hugh had kind of forgotten about it in all the excitement. Maddison didn’t waste any time, though, and soon brought him up to speed.

“Oh, this is good stuff. We can now shift garrison forces back and forth through the tunnels since we’re connected. The bugs are now digging their way toward our forward base, but it will take quite a bit longer. My team has this under control,” Maddison advised.

Maddison gave him a rundown on the Millipede upgrade. Shifting garrison troops included the millipedes that had hatched to help defend the queen, and even the queen herself. If the queen was destroyed, another would hatch from one of the available eggs, but it would take some time before it grew large enough to start producing eggs of her own. He could shift the millipedes to help defend anything connected to the tunnel network as well as move his various defensive garrison troops to help defend the millipede hive. Something about the tunnel even gave the mechs inside a nice speed boost, to make redeployment a bit more efficient.

If he could get all the forward bases linked up, that would mean a sizeable force of defensive garrison troops could be shuffled quickly to respond to any threat. Maddison’s gamers would handle the task once Hugh gave the orders. They were providing a big benefit for just the cost of building the intel and admin structure. Their efforts had turned into a solid 15% resource gathering increase and by designating targets for the various groups of garrison troops, they had played a key role in preventing the forward base from falling.

While they waited for the attack forces to get into position, Maddison tested the new tunnel network. When a construction drone or garrison infantry mech walked through, their speed increased by 50%. The millipedes were even faster, with a speed that doubled their normal pace. While it wouldn’t mean instantaneous reinforcements, it should be enough to allow them to arrive in time to affect the battle.

Hugh’s attack started on the D’kahn forward base about the same time the invaders reached the D’kahn command post. The forward base attack was about as easy as they had expected. Air mechs led the attack and after a couple of strafing runs, the armed construction drones had been silenced. One of the light mechs charged forward to claim the base and Hugh received the welcome prompt telling him that the forward base was now his.

Congratulations, your forces have captured a Forward Operating Base (FOB), tier 1. At this tier, the base offers bunkers and a trench line for defending troops to utilize. This location will now start generating resources for your command post.

The drones that Hugh had sent to help repair the base were still on their way, but by claiming the location, it had shifted its look to resemble a human forward base instead of the odd D’kahn setup. He spent the resources to upgrade it to tier two which should get automated defenders generating as well as adding a resource gathering point. The debris fields had been well picked over by the swarm of drones the D’kahn like to employ, but there were still two giant mechs to harvest which would supplement the normal flow of resources the base provided.

“You want us to hold here or join you in the attack on the command post?” Captain Tran asked as the small force that captured the forward base began to take up defensive positions.

“Hold there for now, if our attack fails, you have enough forces to delay their retaking of the base. I will take the air mechs for the command post attack, except for a few mechs you can use as scouts. Reinforcements will be sent to you eventually, but for now, everything built is going to hold at the command post, just in case,” Hugh said.

His scouts watched as the trio of newly repaired invaders marched toward the D’kahn command post. There was still only one of their giant mechs guarding the place, but from the activity at the factory, another was under construction. Hugh had no idea how long it took to build one of the giants, but for his units, the larger the mech, the longer the construction took. Given their size, it would likely be a considerable time before the new mech was ready for action.

“Hugh, we’re going to beat the main attack force to the command post, do you want us to engage, or hold off and see what the invaders do to the D’kahn defenses?” Zacharias asked.

“Hold just outside of range. Let’s see how the attackers do against the core. Whatever’s left after the fight, we’ll mop up,” Hugh said.

With a bright flash of light, the twin arm cannons on the D’kahn mech fired, the beams searing into the lead attacker. The mech stumbled from the impact of the shot and Hugh watched as most of the liquid armor on the target was vaporized. It was a heavy blow, but the attacker was still operational. It returned fire along with the other two attackers. Six beams lanced into the D’kahn force, but the shots didn’t land on their targets. A bright flash of blue revealed a shield around the complex that absorbed the shots.

It was a powerful shield to resist six of the main gun beams from a giant mech, but it wasn’t going to hold up for long. Even as the energy dissipated, Hugh could see cracks forming on the shield. Another volley would bring it down. The defending mech fired again, giving its previous target another dose of plasma-infused destruction. The last of the liquid armor burned off the mech and the thin metal inner armor layer was breached. Staggering a few steps like it was drunk, the damaged mech fired its beams randomly and then collapsed to the ground. It was still moving, but not doing much to right itself.

The two surviving attackers fired, and this time, the shield shattered. One beam missed entirely, but another slammed into the arm of the defending mech. Liquid armor flashed into vapor, protecting the mech from this strike but weakening its protection against further strikes. The other two beams blasted apart a handful of the construction drones, the majority of which were now swarming toward the attackers. Their weaker laser weapons needed to be in close range to do any appreciable damage.

As the construction drones closed in, they came into range of the attackers’ secondary weapons. A pair of light cannons mounted on the shoulders, and six machinegun caliber beam weapons began to engage. When the swarm of construction drones started firing, pinpricks of light began to flash on the attackers’ armor as the lasers did their work. Just like their D’kahn twins, the invading mechs carried an impressive array of weapons, and now the final one in its arsenal went to work. A tube on the back of each mech began to lob mortar shells that dropped into the swarm of drones.

Short-ranged and inaccurate on AI-controlled attackers, the mortars still managed an impressive number of kills due to their blast radius. The rate of fire was low, but if the D’kahn mechs had a similar weapon, his infantry needed to be on their toes. Hugh was about to announce something but realized that Tran was already on the infantry comm channel warning his troops about the latest weapon.

“I think the attackers are toast, they don’t have my team assigning targets for them and they’re wasting all their main gun rounds on the construction drones,” Maddison said.

“How much control does your team have, can they select target priorities for individual weapons? I think you’d want the lighter weapons thinning the swarm of drones and the main guns hammering the mech,” Hugh said.

“We can set priority by weapon type, but not necessarily individual weapons if you have a lot of machineguns of the same caliber and stuff like that,” Maddison replied.

“I don’t think these attackers are going to last long,” Cartwright said. The D’kahn mech was working over one of the invaders, who ignored it in favor of the closer, and less dangerous, construction drones.

“I’d say strike now, but we’re not quite in position yet,” Tran said. The invasion force was closing in on the command post, but they still needed a few minutes before they could join in the fun.

“Zacharias, you’re weapons free on the D’kahn mech. Let’s help out the attackers a bit,” Hugh ordered. He didn’t want to fight any of the giant mechs, but he needed the invaders to last a bit longer and further wear down the D’kahn defenses.

Hugh watched as the fighters lined up their attack, choosing to circle the enemy command post to avoid flying over the fight between the invaders and the construction drones. Zacharias had to know his air mechs were going to take losses, but he didn’t want to throw away mechs just because they got careless. The invaders wouldn’t know that they were trying to help and might adjust some of their fire when they detected an air threat.

With a single .50 caliber machinegun and a single .30 caliber, the air mechs didn’t pack a whole lot of firepower, but their numbers made up for it. They dove in one after another, guns chugging out rounds that hit all over the top of their target. The machinegun rounds looked like raindrops hitting a lake as the liquid metal absorbed the impacts and flowed over the mech to repair any weak points. A pair of cannons on the shoulder and the six machinegun caliber beam weapons fired back at the attacking air mechs.

The attack had caught the D’kahn pod operator by surprise, and his initial shots weren’t that accurate. Two air mechs were blotted from the sky as they made their runs, and on the second pass, the number of losses doubled. Despite their efforts, the D’kahn kept its main guns focused on the automated attackers, burning down the second of the three invaders with another pair of hits. The sole remaining invader was tearing apart the construction drones and had even disabled several of the base’s defensive turrets, but it was about two volley’s away from being taken out.

After another two passes, Zacharias was down to eleven air mechs. The last invader was almost out of the fight, its armor stripped down to almost nothing and taking damage from even the light weapons on the construction drones. His ground forces were almost there and would enter the battle before the enemy had time to recover. Two more air mechs were shot down when Hugh called them off their attack.

“Engaging with the main battle mechs. I’ll keep them in overwatch as the lighter units charge in to press the attack,” Cartwright advised. Their main battle mechs’ main guns were just in range of the D’kahn mech and they wasted no time sending 75mm death pills toward the enemy. Its armor had been depleted a bit by the air strikes, but still held up to the initial volley of main gun rounds. There were no breaches in the armor and it hadn’t shifted fire to Hugh’s mechs yet.

“Keep hitting that monster, fire on the move, we don’t have to be that accurate with a target this size,” Tran said to the lighter units as they charged into the fight. As their weapons entered range, they fired, but even pod-controlled mechs weren’t all that accurate while running and gunning at extreme range.

His infantry had all been upgraded with a light machinegun for one arm, and the soldiers were able to walk their fire onto the giant mech. Their machineguns were a lighter caliber than the air mech versions, but there were nearly two hundred of them firing and the D’kahn couldn’t avoid getting hosed down with hits. More main gun rounds slammed home, the mech operators stomping forward while the gun reloaded, then stopping to more accurately fire. They were closing the range slowly, but getting up close and dirty was the job of the infantry.

“There goes the last invader,” Hugh noted as the D’kahn fired its massive main guns once more. Devoid of any armor, the invader was blasted completely through by both hits. With the threat in that direction neutralized, the D’kahn mech swiveled its arms to face Hugh’s army. The secondary weapons on the giant mech were already tearing into his troops, but the big guns would put a hurt on the main battle mechs.

“His armor starting to fail, I think we might pull this off,” Cartwright said as the next volley of main gun rounds hit home. He was right, Hugh could see open spots on the armor. The D’kahn was shifting the liquid armor it had left to face Hugh’s forces, but that left an opening for Zacharias’ air mechs who began to make strafing passes on the unarmored back of the machine.

The D’kahn main guns fired again, and three of Hugh’s main battle mechs were caught in the blast. Among Hugh’s other troops, the D’kahn 20mm and machinegun caliber beams were wreaking havoc. All eleven of the surviving air mechs homed in on the same spot on the D’kahn mech. Machinegun fire chewed through the thin casing and slammed into the interior of the mech. Sparks and flame blew out from the breach in the armor, but the D’kahn was tough and still firing with all weapons.

More of Tran’s infantry were shifting their fire to the incoming construction drones. This was a foe they were geared to beat, and their bursts of fire dropped the drones before they got into range with their light lasers. The invaders had thinned their numbers, which made the casualties for beating them minimal. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said of the surviving turrets, which were picking off unit after unit. The invaders had disabled at least a half dozen of the turrets, but the command post area was littered with them, and Hugh estimated there were over a dozen still operational. Some had been hidden from sight and were now popping up to fire as Hugh’s forces converged on the command post.

“That did something,” one of the pilots called out as he finished another run at the giant mech. His fire had torn into the gaping hole in the back of the mech and a small explosion erupted out of the machine, causing it to hunch over and miss its next volley from the main guns.

Hugh’s light mechs got in on the action, racing past the D’kahn mech to get at the vulnerable backside of the machine. With 37mm main guns and three machineguns, they tore into the damaged mech, and their fire, combined with more strafing runs, finally toppled the foe. Having dealt with the main threat, Hugh’s forces mopped up the remaining turrets and drones before hammering the command post. After several minutes of combined fire, and a few extra construction drones emerging to make a futile last stand, the command post collapsed.

Congratulations! You have eliminated a hostile core. A reward of 500 resources has been granted to you. Only 3 cores remain.