War Core 4, Chapter 17.

Chapter 17.

Hugh’s gunboats spread out in front of the carrier, giving the larger ship more room to maneuver. The shoreline was approaching rapidly and he could now make out three concrete bunkers guarding the beach area. A spot further inland near the tree line was highlighted as his command post deployment zone. At the deployment zone were three more structures, but it was too far for him to get an idea of what they were.

A pair of missiles streaked out from two of the bunkers defending the beach. Immediately, the 20mm gun on the carrier started banging out rounds and the twin machineguns on the gunboats opened fire a few moments later. They were too far to engage the shore directly, but the automated systems on his ocean-going mechs seemed to function like a point-defense system.

Streams of plasma from his flotilla reached out toward the incoming missiles, one exploded soon after, but the other almost made it to the line of gunboats before hitting a 20mm round and detonating in a large ball of plasma. The enemy attack wasn’t over with just one volley, and another pair of missiles launched from the bunkers. Strangely silent, the center bunker hadn’t fired yet, leading Hugh to believe that was part of the balancing message he had received earlier where the GCA claimed to reduce the number of defenders due to him arriving late to the battle.

Hostile targets have been identified, do you wish to activate the Harpoon missile system? The Harpoon system is an indirect fire system that will engage targets designated directly by the core. Ammunition is limited and cannot be replenished at sea. Accuracy decreases the further the launcher is to the target, but the system has an extremely long range.

The prompt drew Hugh’s attention away from the incoming missiles. He thought yes and a new targeting system appeared over his vision. On the back of the carrier was a box launcher for the missiles and he had six of the weapons ready to go. Hugh selected each of the attacking bunkers, leaving the center bunker for the time being, at least until they proved hostile. Not sure how strong the missiles were, or if the enemy had any point defense of their own ready to shoot down his barrage, Hugh targeted two missiles at each bunker.

With a whoosh and a plume of fire and smoke, four of the missiles left the carrier’s launcher, arcing their way toward the beach. A third volley launched from the beach as the second was taken down by Hugh’s point defense. His volley would land first, and Hugh waited impatiently for the attack to slam home. Activating the range indicators in his interface, Hugh could see that he 20mm cannon on his carrier was also almost in range. The machineguns mounted on the gunboats would be ready to engage the beach directly soon after. For now, he’d leave them all set for point defense until the missile threat was taken care of.

As the missiles neared their targets, plasma fire began to reach out from the bunkers. It was only a machinegun in each bunker, but there were also infantry-caliber weapons firing. From deeper inland, fire from a beam of some kind also tried to knock down Hugh’s barrage. One missile exploded in the air, but the other three slammed home. A huge ball of superheated plasma engulfed each of the bunkers, with the one on the right getting hit twice.

The last pair of missiles from the bunkers now had their turn. Hugh’s point defense shot down the first one when a machinegun burst hit the engine, causing the missile to slam harmlessly into the water. The other missile wasn’t so harmless and zeroed in on the closest gunboat, obliterating it and turning the waters around the boat into a flash of steam.

Hugh waited for another volley of missiles from the bunkers, but they had fallen silent. His attack had either dealt with the launchers or they had run out of ammunition. The gun on his carrier began to fire, banging out rounds toward the beach, targeting the bunker that had only been hit by one missile. Machinegun fire soon joined the party, lashing the bunkers and area around the beach. A green indicator lit up, telling Hugh that he could order his landing craft forward at any time. He waited, wanting to get a little closer and give his guns more time to work before exposing his infantry.

A minute passed with no return fire from the enemy, and it was time to land the landing force. Hugh activate the landing craft, and they sped out form their positon behind the carrier. The gunboats could keep pace, but the larger carrier wasn’t exactly a speedy vessel. With little control over the battle, until he deployed his command post and brought his pod-controlled units online, Hugh watched four of the gunboats escort the landing craft to shore while three remained behind to defend the carrier.

On the deck of the carrier, his air mechs began to walk up from the lower deck. Once all ten were on deck, their engines started to howl and they lifted off vertically. When the entire force was airborne, their legs folded into the fuselage of the aircraft and they began to fly a protective pattern over the landing ships.

Movement caught his eye further inland where the command post deployment zone was. A quartet of strange air mechs lifted off. Unlike Hugh’s mechs which resembled WW2 fighters, these were flying discs, like a spaceship from a 1950s science fiction movie. They seemed to be about as fast as Hugh’s air mechs as they flew toward the landing craft. The ten air mechs covering the flotilla moved to meet the new threat.

Hugh’s air mechs were a scaled-down version of the F3 Buffalo that were his normal starting air mechs at tier three, which was when the air field became available to construct. Instead of the normal armament of a single fifty caliber machinegun and a single thirty caliber machinegun, these only had the single thirty caliber weapon. It wasn’t much in the way of firepower, but with ten mechs vs. the four the enemy brought to the fight, Hugh felt his odds were good.

The two air forces flew directly at each other, the enemy saucers changing course from the landing craft to intercept the new threat. As they closed into gun range, Hugh’s air mechs opened up, plasma rounds pelting the enemy craft. In return, the saucers each lashed out with a laser-like beam weapon. Once fired, the beams tracked then locked onto their targets, burning into the thin armor protecting the human air mechs.

At least the beams from the saucers didn’t appear all that powerful. They took a second or two to burn through the armor, and if the air mech would have done any evasive maneuvers, Hugh’s forces would have had very little problem. Unfortunately, the AI-Controlled air mechs just flew straight toward the target, allowing the enemy to down four of his units in the opening moments. They didn’t do so without casualties, and three of the enemy saucers soon fell after being torn up by the machineguns of Hugh’s Buffalo mechs.

Another Buffalo fell to the final saucer’s beam before the remaining air mechs brought the enemy down. Hugh was left with only five air mechs remaining for the assault on the beach. Unlike when he was transformed into a command post, these garrison units didn’t automatically replace their losses. Hugh only had what he brought to the fight, and it would just have to be enough.

The landing craft was yards from the beach when plasma fire erupted once again from the two damaged bunkers. A machinegun in the less damaged bunker survived as well as a pair of enemy mechs firing rifles at the approaching landing craft. The other bunker that had been hit with two harpoons only had a single rifle firing. Hugh couldn’t get a good look inside the bunkers to see what the mechs defending the beach looked like, but at least their ground weapons appeared conventional for a GCA battle.

Incoming fire pulverized the firing ports the enemy was using. With the surviving seven gunboats, the carrier, and the machineguns on the landing craft, Hugh’s forces easily gained fire superiority. Several enemy rounds hit the landing craft, but at the front of the craft was a large ramp that was heavily armored and stood up to the punishment for the time being. As all three craft hit the beach, the ramps dropped and the garrison mechs marched out, firing as they went. Incoming fire dropped a handful of mechs, but the others soon reached the bunkers, moving to the rear of the structures and firing on the armored entry doors. It took some time for plasma rifles to do the job, but just about any armor melted down if enough plasma was thrown at it.

Further inland, Hugh’s surviving air mechs were strafing the command post deployment zone. With the air mechs overhead, Hugh got a good look at the place. There was a trio of buildings, not unlike his barracks. Several enemy infantry mechs were engaging the aircraft, and a small sandbagged pit held a metallic sphere that fired the strange beam weapon that the saucers had used. His interface called it a Light Beam Generator, which seemed like an appropriate description of the weapon. Another of the beam generators was positioned on the roof of the largest building, this metal sphere was just floating over the building without any of the additional protections that the sandbagged pit offered.

Hugh’s air mechs strafed the infantry, ignoring the heavier beam weapons for now. About a score of infantry was in a trench surrounding the enemy outpost. They were also odd, unlike anything Hugh had dealt with so far. They walked on four legs, but instead of a torso, a small metal globe hovered over the hips and legs of the mech. A rifle-caliber weapon with a short barrel stuck out from an opening in the globe. The weapon seemed about as powerful as the ones that his infantry mechs carried.

These defenders didn’t have the accuracy or maneuverability that would have indicated pod-controlled troops, so they were likely AI-controlled. That put the two forces on parity with each other as far as skill went. The enemy units did seem to be more accurate and durable than Hugh’s forces, but his mechs were more numerous. The beam weapons burned down his air mechs one by one. Hugh’s buffalos did manage to take out a half dozen infantry before going down, making things easier on the infantry mechs that were just now burning their way into the bunkers.

His troops cleared the bunkers with little difficulty, the more damaged structure only had a single enemy infantry mech still fighting, which was gunned down before it could do more than damage one of Hugh’s mechs. The other bunker held two infantry and a larger version that mounted the machinegun. Two more of Hugh’s mechs went down before his troops remembered to use their plasma grenades. A pair of grenade blasts finished off the last of the bunker defenders, clearing the way to the objective.

His infantry formed back up and began to march toward the enemy base. Hugh tried to help them out, targeting the two beam weapons with his remaining harpoons. The missiles streaked out, and almost immediately, the enemy tried to shoot them down. With the carrier just off the coast, the flight time to the target was minimal, and both weapons exploded in a ball of plasma, destroying the light beam generators and a large portion of the building where the one on the roof had been placed.

The initial beachfront defenses have been cleared, do you wish to activate the land walking capability of your sea mechs?

The system prompt was something new. Hugh had seen the Queen Mary help to defend Los Angeles in the attack on earth, so he knew the ships could do that, but he hadn’t really used naval forces in a battle that much. Hugh hit yes, watching as the seven gunboats grounded themselves on the beach. Panels on the hull opened to reveal four spider-like legs. Slow and with an ungainly stride, the gunboats began to head toward the defending base. With a jolt, the carrier also pulled up onto the sand. Six larger legs emerged from her hull and Hugh began to follow along behind his infantry and the gunboats.

Being higher in the air, the ships drew most of the enemy fire, but their height also gave them a good view of the enemy trench. Heavy machineguns and the carrier’s cannon began to sweep the enemy from the trenches. Though his ships were lightly armored, the enemy infantry’s weapons were not up to the task of engaging the ships in a firefight without the beam generators supporting them. It didn’t take too long for the trench line to be cleared, and then his infantry reached the fight, clearing the existing structures with no trouble. Inside each building was a similar setup to Hugh’s factories, an automated line to produce units. Whether lack of resources or some other factor, the structures were powered down, not even trying to replace the losses Hugh’s troops had inflicted on them.

With the objective area cleared of any hostile forces, Hugh’s carrier marched toward the enemy base. Once in the center of the base, the legs set the ship down and it began to transform. Armored hull plates moved and the deck boke up into wall sections for a new command post. The entire process took about five minutes, and when it was done, Hugh had his command post and the barracks building up and running. He felt his essence shift as he went from being a passenger on the carrier to full integration with the command post.

Congratulations! You have successfully secured the area and deployed your command post. An initial supply of resources has been granted to you and the current perks affecting nearby resources are being calculated.

The next stage of the battle is one of survival. Eight zones have been placed around the central volcano of the island, each of which now houses a command post. You must fend off both the automated waves of enemies as well as attacks from the other cores. As a group event, your surviving allied cores are currently neutral to each other. You may assist your fellows or choose to work on your own. If you choose to abandon your alliance and emerge victorious, your world will not only be granted the opportunity to join the GCA-aligned species, but you will also receive a series of technological boons to bring your world up to the minimum standard that membership normally requires.

Including yourself, four allied cores remain. Four other opponents are placed on the island and are hostile to all. To emerge victorious, your forces must battle their way to the central volcano area and defeat the guardian. Access to the central volcano zone is blocked until the other hostile cores are eliminated. The next attack wave of automated units will arrive in 29 minutes. Prepare your defenses and expand your power. The automated units are standardized for all cores and are hostile to all. If a core falls, the units invading that territory will split up with half going clockwise and the other half counterclockwise around the island until all cores are eliminated.

Good Luck, the GCA looks forward to adding a new member should any of you prove worthy.