War Core 4, Chapter 28.

Chapter 28.

“Sir, what do you think is going on?” Captain Tran asked. They were all a little dumbfounded over what had just happened. His recon team had found the serpent’s base and was starting their observation when Vilkrex, backed up by Hssim’s forces, attacked. The border on the other side of the serpents must have been one of those two cores. That meant that just past the D’kahn was the zone Dalven had been sent to unless he was one of the casualties that had been announced earlier.

The attack had gone well for his allies despite Vilkrex’s army getting torn up pretty badly. Hugh was given the option to link up with his allies since he had finally spotted them, but something held him back. He didn’t want them to know too much about him yet, at least until he found out what happened to Dalven. Vilkrex and Hssim seemed cut of the same cloth and he didn’t trust either of them. For all he knew, they were going to team up against the rest of them.

His concern over the two teaming up didn’t last long as the Ssath forces stopped trying to hit Vilkrex’s units as the battle progressed. The enemy core had been destroyed and then the mantis-like troops of Vilkrex charged on the Ssath who cut them down with ease. After that, the Ssath forces moved deeper into the conquered serpent territory. One of Hugh’s scouts followed them at a distance. If the Ssath force turned toward his territory, Hugh wanted to know. There weren’t enough troops there to threaten his core, but the Ssath could be massing an army elsewhere.

“Tran, get some scouts over the border to the unexplored zone, I think that’s where we’ll find either Hssim or Vilkrex. Don’t let them spot you, we need to know more before we become best buddies again,” Hugh ordered.

“Sir, something weird is going on over here,” another scouting team reported. It was the team heading to find out if the serpents had anything like Hugh’s millipede hive. At approximately the same area, there was a cave. The place was abandoned and when one of his troops walked to the cave entrance to get a peek, Hugh received a system prompt.

You have discovered the remains of a critical area. If a core is defeated, all critical areas under their control are destroyed and any resources are removed. Should you wish to obtain the rewards these areas offer, capture them from your foe before defeating their core.

“They were right about limited resources in this battle. This throws a whole new wrench in the works when it comes to taking out an enemy. I’m glad we got he forward base here before our allies wiped them out,” Cartwright said.

“Do you think both Vilkrex and the Ssath didn’t know about this little caveat to taking out a core?” Tran asked.

“No, I have a feeling they knew, given that there have already been two cores eliminated from the fight earlier. For some reason, they’re moving quickly to quash threats, and the Ssath must have decided that Vilkrex was the next threat that needed to be dealt with. We might find ourselves next on the menu, be ready,” Hugh said.

Prepare yourselves cores, wave 6 will begin in two hours.

The time between waves was increasing. Hugh had sort of figured they would get less time to keep up the pressure. Perhaps the difficulty was about to take a big leap and the GCA needed to give the cores a fighting chance by allowing them more time to prepare. Hugh needed to fortify his gains and get ready to defend against the next wave and his former allies. Dalven was still out there and Hugh considered him a friend, but could the allure of becoming the sole surviving member of the GCA have corrupted him as well?

Hugh’s scouts followed the Ssath attack force, they reached the remains of the critical area and turned toward the forward base. This is where things could get interesting. Hugh had a sizeable force defending the forward base, but it was only about equal to the Ssath numbers. If they decided to attack, it was about 50/50 as to whether or not they could hold. Reinforcements were sent from his command post, but it would take some time to reach the forward base. He sent another twenty infantry, two light mechs, and two medium mechs, all he was willing to strip from his command post defenses.

Units were still being pumped out and Hugh’s resource gathering was more than keeping pace. He thought about pushing the guard post for the serpent forward base to the top of the queue, but it would be a waste if it fell. He had a few more options to help defend the place if the Ssath turned hostile.

“Zacharias, send all the air mechs from the command post to reinforce the forward base, make sure each of them is carrying a millipede egg,” Hugh ordered.

“On my way, oh, and you might want to think about a direct path for your other reinforcements, we don’t have to worry about the serpents anymore,” Zacharias said.

“Good call, I can’t believe we missed that,” Hugh replied. He had tasked the reinforcements to head north in his zone before crossing over, but that was just a habit from when he was trying to avoid the serpents. The air mechs would be there well before the Ssath, and with their new course, the ground reinforcements would arrive soon after the Ssath reached the forward base.

To Hugh’s surprise, the Ssath slowed their approach and sent a single infantry mech to scout the forward base. Seeing Hugh’s forces, the Ssath began to head away from the zone, back into the zone where either Vilkrex or Hssim was located. With a bit of a breather, before he had to deal with Hssim and Vilkrex, Hugh sent out more scouts. He needed to see where all the cores were in this fight. The D’kahn were on one side of Hugh, it was just Hugh, Vilkrex, Hssim, and the D’kahn for sure. Dalven was likely the final surviving core, but there was a slight chance it was another unknown core and Dalven had been one of the two to fall earlier. Trying to figure it out was a waste of time, so he would rely on the eyes of his infantry to confirm.

The guard post was finishing up at each of the forward bases and that made Hugh rethink the number of defenders he would need at each location. He would go on the offensive before too long, and the bases made a good fallback point if his attack was pushed back. Timing the guard post, it appeared to produce one infantry mech every five minutes, slower than his barracks, but these mechs didn’t consume any resources and would be reasonably effective while manning the trenches and bunkers. Just like the previous system prompt had hinted at, the guard post unlocked a few upgrades for his automated troops.

Guard Post upgrade options. Please note, the upgrades purchased at this guard post only affect the units that particular guard post produces.

1. Machinegun teams. This upgrade adds light machinegun teams to randomly appear in the guard post’s build queue. Each machinegun team consists of a pair of infantry mechs and a single .30 caliber machinegun. The spawning of these units is infrequent but will improve as you upgrade the forward base. The cost for this upgrade is 75 resources.

2. Command detonated mines. This upgrade allows the garrison to occasionally place a command-detonated mine outside the trench lines and bunkers. These mines are directional and will be triggered by your garrison mechs when a threat enters range. The cost for this upgrade is 50 resources.

Both upgrades front-loaded the costs but would provide continuous value throughout the battle, at least for as long as he held the forward base. Hugh ordered the upgrades for each forward base. It was expensive to have to buy them for each base, but it did make sense given the bases could be individually captured by another core. With one more tier of upgrades, the forward bases could become rather formidable. Taking into account the constant flow of garrison defenders each forward base would have to work with, Hugh adjusted the number of troops he assigned to each.

Each forward base would now have a platoon of 50 infantry mechs, four light mechs, four main battle mechs, and a squadron of ten air mechs. Hugh was going to go with five air mechs for each base, but they were key to spotting threats early, so doubled that number to ten. A similar force, sans the air mechs, was allocated to the millipede nest. The drones harvesting there were ordered to occasionally take an egg and place it around the perimeter, slowly creating a deadly minefield to help defend the place. All the other mechs being produced would gather at the command post, at least until he decided on a target for them.

The only upgrade that remained was the millipede nest. Hugh had enough resources for it, but it would clean him out. Allocating the funds, he waited to see what would happen. His forward base was interesting, but pretty straightforward, while the millipede nest was more of a mystery. As the upgrade took effect, the queen grew to almost double her already impressive side. Inside the hive, more debris and bits of broken mechs pushed their way up from the ground as the hive expanded. Hugh wouldn’t turn down any free resources, and the bigger the hive got, the more salvage the GCA was giving him. All the eggs, no matter where they were located, also ballooned in size, growing about 50% larger than they had been.

Around the queen, nearby eggs hatched and the millipedes began to burrow a second chamber off of the main hive. They worked quickly, enhanced by the GCA to complete the upgrade. When it was done, there was a smaller chamber dug out, about half the size of the queen’s chamber. The millipedes that had done the construction work settled down in the chamber and went still. When the upgrade was complete Hugh received a system prompt.

You have upgraded the Millipede Nest to the Millipede Hive, this has unlocked new options for the location as well as a special attachment for your command post. The Millipede Hive has the following upgrades available.

1. Evolve the swarm. Selecting this upgrade will enhance the armor, attack power, and mobility of the adult millipedes and their queen. This upgrade requires 100 resources to unlock.

2. Tunnel network. Selecting this upgrade will cause a team of millipedes to begin a tunnel to your command post. Once connected, the tunnel can be used to shift forces safely and quickly between the two points. Digging the tunnel will take some time, but once completed, the builders will move to connect any additional critical points that are under your control. Should this location fall to an enemy, the tunnel network will collapse, denying its use to your foe. This upgrade requires 50 resources to activate.

It would take a few minutes for him to gather up enough resources, but Hugh wanted both upgrades. Stronger millipedes that were free units were always welcome and the tunnel could allow him to shift forces easier and perhaps ambush an unsuspecting attacker. If all else failed, the queen could retreat to the command post instead of losing her if the nest fell. It also turned out that the tunnel wasn’t the command post option the system prompt had announced. He had an additional upgrade available for the command post itself.

New upgrade unlocked; the Intelligence and Administration office. This upgrade constructs an addon structure attached to your command post. Once installed the structure will provide additional options for you to choose from. This upgrade requires 100 resources to unlock.

That wasn’t much information, and Hugh was a sucker for a mysterious upgrade. His next command post tier would just have to wait a bit, it would only take a few minutes to build up enough resources to build the new addon. Both the forward base upgrades and the millipede hive had proven good values, so Hugh had high hopes for the intel and admin office.

“Sir we’re in position, it looks like this core is Vilkrex,” the scouting party announced. The question of which core was on the other side of the serpents was answered.

Vilkrex’s command center resembled an insect hive. Instead of multiple structures, it was one enormous building. Various openings for the construction drones and military units were present, as was a ring of bunkers and automated turrets to protect the place. The jerky movement of many of the troops nearby showed that they were automated garrison units. A few small clusters of infantry mechs gathered here and there, all pod-controlled. Larger versions of the mantis-like mechs did duty as light and medium mech versions.

Curiously, Hugh didn’t spot any air mechs, was that because of losses from the previous wave, or did the species Vilkrex belonged to not have air power? Like many of the other aliens, Vilkrex appeared to use infantry mechs in a dual role, both worker and warrior. Several of the pod-controlled infantry were gathering from the debris fields outside the command post area. Units continued to be produced, both pod-controlled and automated, but to Hugh, the command post looked poorly defended.

A quick count revealed a combined total of just over a hundred infantry, about half of which were the pod-controlled unit, three medium mechs, and five light mechs. Some of the infantry were different from the others, having armor that was tinted red instead of the mottled green that most of the infantry featured. There were a total of twelve turrets scattered around the base, all of which appeared to be beam weapons given how they had focusing dishes instead of gun barrels. Four bunkers were placed protectively around the command post, but Hugh couldn’t see any activity in them.

“Sir, are these bugs the bad guys, or the Ssath, or all of them?” Captain Tran asked.

“I’m not sure, for now, we’ll keep away from any contact and see what happens. The one thing that worries me is their lack of forces, could Vilkrex have an army on the way to our territory?” Hugh asked.

“Doubtful, we’ve got good coverage from scouts and air patrols in the serpent zone now, and an even tighter net over our zone. A force large enough to challenge our bases wouldn’t go unnoticed. I’m sure the other cores have scouts that could have slipped through and are out there watching, but there isn’t an army on their way to our command post at this time,” Cartwright answered.

“There may not be one on the way to our command post, sir, but there sure is one heading toward this one,” the scout watching over Vilkrex’s command post called out. Hugh could see them now, a line of Ssath infantry moving through the jungle with the shadows of larger mechs deeper in the foliage. Hssim was making his move, and Hugh didn’t think Vilkrex could stop him.