War Core 4, Chapter 31.

Chapter 31.

Hugh noted that his garrison troops weren’t doing that bad. Sure, they were missing as many times as they hit, but whatever gamer was assisting out at the forward base was doing a good job of selecting targets. They had designated groups of mech firing on the same target to make sure they were taken down quickly instead of spreading out the hits over multiple mechs. Hugh listened in on their chatter, curious how they were handling it.

“Dude, I’m telling you, fire teams of four mechs are more than enough. Five is a waste,” one of the gamers said.

“No, we need five for inevitable casualties. You worry about your drones, I’ve got this. Look, turret two is taking damage, you should be working on repairs, not backseat driving,” the other gamer complained.

“It’s already being handled, don’t forget, I’m also on launcher duty, I’ve got it on hold for now, call out any priority targets. Woah, scratch that we’ve got incoming air. I’ll burn one rocket on the enemy air, and re-task the turrets to fire at them,” the first gamer said.

Hugh could see it now, air mechs were taking off from inside the jungle. There were at least twenty of them and the base turrets shifted fire and began to stream bursts of .50 caliber hate at the hovering mechs. The air mechs could land and walk, which these seemed to have done while closing in on the base, but they were now a bit vulnerable as they hovered just over the tree line and shifted forms to their air mode.

Cartwright also spotted the air threat and ordered the squadron assigned to the forward base into air-to-air combat. It was no contest, the rocket from the base hammered into one enemy air mech that had just climbed above the jungle canopy and threw debris into a second mech that belched fire from one engine before crashing. The airfield was still tier four, but even the buffalo mech when piloted by experienced fighter pilots was proving up to the task.

Enemy air mechs were being swept from the field, but to do so had required shifting the turrets and the air mechs away from supporting the ground forces. Hostile medium mechs stomped into the cleared area to the north of the forward base. They were M4 Shermans of the same tier as Hugh’s troops. His main battle mechs engaged their counterparts, and the heavy 75mm rounds tore into the attackers. The quartet of main battle mechs defending the forward base was facing off against a dozen similar mechs.

Inside their firing pits, Hugh’s mechs only had the turret and part of the upper hull exposed. It was still a rather large target given the size of the mech but was much better than walking out in the open like their opponents were. Hugh’s drones had scattered a few millipede eggs in the jungle around each of the forward bases, and they were starting to trigger as the enemy pushed through. Only three were activated, but the newly enhanced explosive power of the eggs was effective.

Hugh figured the egg’s blast was around the equivalent of two plasma grenades. The fully grown millipede that emerged was also greatly improved and wasted no time in charging the nearest hostile mech. Spiked legs burrowed and burned their way into any mech they could catch, but there were too many attackers for the millipedes to do more than take down a single target before succumbing to a barrage of fire.

“Sir, the D’kahn forward base looks like it might go down,” the scouts watching that area reported.

Shifting his view to the D’kahn forward base. One of the attacking mechs was a smoldering ruin just outside the base. Three more mechs were still engaged with the single defender. Hugh had only spotted three mechs when the attack had commenced, so another must have just joined the fight. Automated defenses were firing, the turrets sending out beams of energy into the giant attackers. The D’kahn construction drones were also in the fight, firing their weak lasers to little visible effect.

The sole defender looked bad, the liquid armor over its body was patchy, and partially burned through. One arm had been blasted off, leaving it only one of its most powerful weapons. The attackers were getting scuffed up as well, and two of the three had visible spots on the mechs completely devoid of liquid armor. Whoever operated the D’kahn mech took advantage of that, ordering all his secondary weapons to focus on the weak points while firing the surviving main gun at the least damaged mech.

“It looks like they know they’ve lost the fight and are trying to do as much damage as they can before the mechs make their way to the command post,” the scout added. Hugh wanted to watch the D’kahn forward base fight, but he had his own to deal with. So far, his forces were managing to hold back the attack wave, but more and more attacking mechs were entering the fight. The additional enemy numbers were starting to wrap around to the east and west, forcing him to thin his line to extend it.

“Captain Tran, see if you can slip a few infantry out of the base and hunker down nearby in case we can’t hold. When the enemy force passes by on their way to the command post, you can recapture and get it back under our control,” Hugh said.

“Not a bad idea, there’s no reason to wait until the wave is over to recapture if we don’t have to,” Maddison said. Hugh didn’t want to lose the forward base at all, but the enemy numbers might be too much for his forces to deal with. There was one more thing he could do to help.

“Zacharias, send the air mechs from the command post to support the forward base. Take the ones from the serpent core’s forward base as well,” Hugh ordered. His ground troops wouldn’t make it there until the fight was over, but his air mechs could cover the ground quickly and add thirty of their numbers to the base’s defense.

“D’kahn forward base is gone, sir,” the scouts reported.

Hugh could see the defending mech had fallen and the other defenses hadn’t been able to stand up to the firepower of giant attackers. To Hugh’s surprise, the invading mechs held their position at the forward base and didn’t continue toward the command post. The damaged building at the center of the forward base began to repair itself and a few construction drones marched out. Instead of attacking the invasion force, they moved to the trio of giant mechs and began repairing them.

“So much for hiding out a few units and retaking the base as they pass. We’ve invested too much to let this place fall. I’m going to burn one of my Drop Beacon of the Vanquished charges to help stop them,” Hugh said.

“You have two now, right? While I’d like you to save them for the stupid overgrown lizard Hssim, I agree that losing the forward base would be a bad idea. We may have to rebuild from scratch which would mean a lot of lost resources,” Maddison said.

“If you’re going to do it, sir, do it now, my boys are on their last legs,” Cartwright said. One of the main battle mechs had been taken out, and another had lost its main gun. One of the light mechs was destroyed, along with a dozen infantry, not to mention that over half the garrison and automated defenses were out of the fight.

Hugh looked for the best target for the drop pod. The trio of fire support mechs, M4s mounting a heavy mortar instead of a main gun, were now visible at the tree line. They were being screened by a pair of light mechs and a handful of infantry, making it the perfect target. A burning streak flew down from above, the drop pod only using its thrusters to brake at the last moment. The ground around the entire forward base shook as the drop pod slammed home.

The impact crushed the mechs that Hugh had targeted and then doors blew outward, allowing the troops inside a chance to begin their assault. A dozen Ssath infantry emerged and charged into the rear of the attacking force. The drop beacon forces were few compared to the attackers, but they were fighting hard. Part of the enemy force turned to face the threat at their rear, slowing the advance on the forward base.

The drop beacon forces had taken apart any nearby mechs, but they were losing quickly to the superior firepower of the attackers. They had bought Cartwright the time he needed, though, and the relief force of air mechs was forming up to strafe the attackers. With the losses from the drop pod attack, and under relentless air strikes, the attack lost momentum. Losses mounted among the enemy troops and once their numerical advantage started to wane, the battle swung in Hugh’s favor.

“I think we’re going to hold,” Cartwright said as the air mechs strafed the leading edge of the enemy formation, blasting apart a dozen infantry and one light mech. Two of Hugh’s air mechs were shot down during the attack, but the back of the enemy advance was broken. It was just a matter of mopping up at this point and doing so in a way that produced the lowest number of casualties.

“I’ll work on getting replacements over to you,” Hugh said as they downed the last few enemy mechs. His defenders were severely depleted heavy casualties. Replacements were pulled from the forces at the command post, and Hugh queued up more units. It wouldn’t take too long to rebuild their numbers and the fallen attackers would help to pay the tab with their salvage value.

“The D’kahn invaders are moving out,” the scout reported.

Hugh could see the trio of giant mechs begin to stomp their way toward the D’kahn command post. The forward base was still a mess, with only a half dozen construction drones slowly trying to finish the main structure now that the giant mechs no longer needed repair. This was an opportunity that Hugh couldn’t pass up.

“New orders, take everything from our forward base that can still move and secure the D’kahn forward base. I’ll reroute more replacements to both bases. I’ll also send you some construction drones to speed up repairs once we capture it,” Hugh ordered. With the giant mech protecting it, Hugh wouldn’t have been able to take the forward base without massive casualties. Now, it was just a few armed construction drones and zero in the way of other defenders or turrets.

The recon team sent to watch the D’kahn command post had to pull further back as the drones began to lay dense minefields around the area. Even from a distance, they had decent seats for the big show. Only a single giant mech defended the command post, but there was a score of defensive turrets, a minefield, and over a hundred armed construction drones to help defend it.

“Where are the other D’kahn mechs?” Maddison asked.

“How many do you think they should have?” It was my understanding that they only built a few highly upgraded units in their battles,” Hugh said.

“Yeah, but I’d put that command post at tier seven, probably recently upgraded since the mech factory is still tier six. At that tier, in this kind of battle, they should have around six mechs to work with. One defending here and one at the forward base leaves them with four unaccounted for,” Maddison said. Hugh trusted her estimates, she was a genius when it came to obscure stats that could affect gameplay and these battles did resemble a game of sorts.

“We know they aren’t heading our way; they can’t hide that many giants from our scouts. They either are pushing hard to get the Yaelar, or they’ve taken losses they can’t replace yet. Those mechs must cost a pretty penny in resources just to make one,” Hugh said.

“This could be an opportunity for us, Hugh. The D’kahn are likely to take damage from the attackers and we can move in and mop up,” Tran suggested.

“Even if that thing is battered by the attack, it would take most of what we have left at the command post to have a decent chance of success. Do we roll the dice on an attack with the Ssath still lurking about out there? I don’t want to follow in the footsteps of Vilkrex, taking out a powerful foe, only to have your command post smashed by a Ssath army you didn’t know was there,” Hugh argued.

“We’re going to have to take a risk at some point, and I don’t know if we’ll get a better chance than this,” Maddison said.

“Okay, we take the risk, move everything we have at the command post to the D’kahn core. By the time we get there, the fight with the automated attackers will be over and we can assault them before they have a chance to recover. If the Ssath try to pull a fast one, I still have a few tricks to hold them off,” Hugh decided.

With another Drop Beacon of the Vanquished charge, the turret swarm, and a pair of instant minefields, he could hold off a good-sized attack. Even if Hssim’s scouts were watching, he’d have to realize that Hugh was going after the D’kahn, organize an attack, and march them all the way to the command post. No, it was unlikely that Hssim was going to magically appear out of the jungle, but he was prepared if it did happen. Production at all factories was started up, which would put further upgrades on hold, but it would help him replenish his losses as quickly as possible.

The forces at Hugh’s command post had been depleted by the units sent to reinforce the forward base, but he still had over 200 infantry, 8 light mechs, and 8 main battle mechs to bring to the fight. His air mechs were all supporting the attack on the D’kahn forward base but could quickly shift over to support the command post assault if needed. Nix’s ships would stay behind to help defend Hugh’s command post. They were expensive and Hugh didn’t want to risk the ships if they provided no real advantage when fighting on land. Their course was set, and Hugh would either win big with this attack or open his core up to a quick defeat.