War Core Friday! War Core 4, Chapter 3.

I'm back in the land of the living, and I hope to catch up on some writing this weekend. I'll post anything I finish.


Chapter 3.

Hugh led Hssim toward a kiosk near the restaurant. It was in a public area, so he shouldn’t have any issues with the Ssath trying to pull something shady. He logged into the terminal, waving Hssim back so the dino wasn’t looking over his shoulder. It was unsettling enough to have the Ssath standing behind him, and he didn’t also need Hssim breathing down his neck. First, before looking for what Hssim claimed he had found, Hugh collected his reward from the last campaign.

Congratulations on your victorious campaign. You have acquired the following items. Please note that the use of some items may be restricted by the type of campaign and battle you find yourself in.

1. Construction Drone Drop (2). Activating this item will immediately drop five construction drones to assist you in base construction or repairs. These drones do not count against your unit point total and have a very limited power supply. After 60 seconds, the drones will have used their available power and will deactivate, and they may be processed as salvage.

2. Minefield (2). Activating this item will deploy a minefield with a moderate density across a 100x25-yard area. The mines are a mix of anti-personnel and anti-armor with a chance of some advanced mines being part of the mix.

3. You have received a 24-hour pass to Harmony Station.

4. Undying Mech Upgrade (Main Battle Mech) x1. This upgrade is usable for 1 battle. The ability will upgrade all the main battle mechs currently deployed as well as any that are built during the current battle. When an undying mech is destroyed, the combat pod operator is disconnected and the remains of the mech reassemble themselves into a combat unit that is AI-controlled. These mechs are considerably weaker than a normal mech, but they cost no resources and do not use up any of your unit points.

5. Turret Swarm (1). Activating this item drops between 4-20 turrets in the area you designate. The turrets will be a mix of types and will be at the current tier of your command post. Please be advised that is some variance in the dispersal radius, which will be displayed in your interface. There is a slight chance for a more powerful advanced turret deploying among the regular turrets.

It was quite a nice haul, and everything would be useful in his next battle. Given that he was just in a massive defensive campaign, most of the upgrades seemed to be rewards that lent themselves to defense rather than offensive power. Hugh didn’t mind, even if he was in a hard-charging offensive campaign next, there were always points that needed to be defended and these items would help out greatly.

Hugh now dug into the kiosk, following Hssim’s instructions on where to find this battle pits contest. It was deep in a sub-menu that offered optional challenges, most of which were similar to the space battle challenge he had entered on his first visit. Various prizes were offered for the different challenges, and many of them seemed mediocre at best. A few had much better prizes, including chances for a nice chunk of reward points and a selection of upgrades for future battles. The one constant was that the greater the risk for each challenge, the greater the reward. Many of the higher rewards were tied to challenges that threatened to destroy the core and even punish their species if the participant did poorly. With Hssim’s guidance, he eventually found what he was looking for.

Blood Pits, Team Challenge.

Gather up to 6 cores to voluntarily enter the Blood Pits as a team. The challenges you face will be much more difficult than the individual contest, but you will also receive the highest tier of reward offerings. A team leader must be designated, along with a chain of command in case your leader falls. At least 2 members must survive the challenge and if only 1 challenger remains, they will be terminated. This challenge is a one-time offering, and once conquered, it will not be offered again.

“Okay, I see what you’re talking about, but the rewards aren’t there for me to confirm,” Hugh said.

“As I mentioned, the reward we seek is hidden deep in another menu, and its position is constantly changing. It took many resources and a huge team of Ssath to uncover it. Nobody has taken the challenge in ages, but we need to act quickly. If someone discovers this before we do, they will likely not know about the reward and will just select a different upgrade, dooming us all as the GCA slowly rots away to chaos,” Hssim said.

“It does say that it is a one-time deal, but you’re asking me to trust you with my life, a life you’ve shown no reluctance to take,” Hugh argued.

“I can do or say nothing to convince you at this point, it is time for you to take a risk and see this through to the end, or let your people languish. Is your life so valuable that you cannot afford to risk it for your people? If you win and I’m lying, you’ll still receive a reward of the highest tier from the GCA. The worst that can happen is that Earth loses a single core, and at best, you save your people. Will you take the risk, or must I find another?” Hssim asked.

It was time to decide, but Hugh was still torn. He didn’t want to die, and it sounded like there was a really good chance that could happen with this contest. On the other hand, if what Hssim said was true, even if victory didn’t result in the destruction of the GCA, he could still win something valuable for Earth. He’d taken risk after risk since he had been transformed into a war core, and this was just one more he would need to face. It couldn’t be any worse than facing the Ssath invasion of Earth, could it?

“I’ll join you, what do we have to do?” Hugh asked.

“Move aside and let me access the kiosk. The others on our team have been notified and are ready to go. Do you have any other business on the station before we go?” Hssim asked. Hugh thought about it, and no, he was done here. Sadly, there was no way to send a message home about what was happening. He’d just have to debrief everyone when he got back.

“I’m good, any idea what we can expect from this challenge?” Hugh asked.

“There’s no way to know for sure, but in the previous blood pits, we fought in our natural bodies, though there were means to improve them. It should be mentioned that the improvements I gained in the blood pits transferred to the body they constructed for me when I returned home. Expect a long, difficult fight, but one that we should be able to handle,” Hssim said.

Hssim tapped his claws on the kiosk, and Hugh was kind of impressed that the device didn’t crack given how hard Hssim was hitting it. The GCA must have overengineered everything on the station to stand up to all the crazy species that used it. Every time he visited; Hugh was astonished at the variety of life in the universe. It would be better if they weren’t all trying to kill each other, but that seemed to be the way of things not just on Earth, but also across the galaxy.

You have received an invitation to join the Blood Pits, team challenge. Your invitation is from the Ssath known as Hssim. Please be advised that this is an extremely dangerous challenge that comes with the opportunity for you to earn some excellent rewards.

Do you wish to accept this invitation?

Hugh reluctantly accepted the invitation, causing more prompts to appear.

You are now on the team commanded by the Ssath, Hssim. The chain of leadership is as follows.

1. Hssim.

2. Blayloch.

3. Vilkrex.

4. Pasharn.

5. Hugh.

6. Dalven.

You must return to the compartment you arrived in and enter the core for the transfer to begin. You have 10 minutes to report to your core for processing. Failure to arrive will result in significant penalties.

“Who are these other people and what species are they?” Hugh asked, kicking himself that he hadn’t inquired about it earlier. Someone named Dalven was on the team, could it be the Yaelar that he knew?

“No time to explain, we’ll meet inside the challenge. Hurry to your core, we don’t want to lose anybody before we’ve started,” Hssim said before stalking off to wherever the Ssath spawned onto the station at.

With nothing else to do, Hugh moved quickly back to the human section of the station. He still hadn’t run into any of the other human cores that were supposed to be visiting the station, but with the timer counting down for the blood pits, he couldn’t afford to waste any time seeking them out. It would have been nice to run into at least one person to have them inform his team about where he was going, but that didn’t look like it was going to happen. Who knew how long this whole ordeal was going to take?

Back in the dingy hospital room, Hugh lay on the metal slab attached to the core. It was as cold as ever, cold as the grave he figured was an accurate assessment, based on where the slab was taking him. Retracting back into the machine, Hugh was left in darkness, dreading what was coming next. Maybe, if they could beat this challenge, Hugh and the other cores wouldn’t have to do this any longer. With a hum, the machine started, along with intense pain as his current body was destroyed and Hugh returned to being a war core.

You are being transported to the Blood Pits, prepare for battle.