War Core 3, Chapter 49.

Chapter 49.

The annihilator assaulting the museum unleashed a barrage from its secondary weapons at a defensive bunker, destroying the last obstacle in its path. Armored and shielded, the museum building represented the final victory point location left on Hugh’s battlefield. A blue glow began to appear around the mouths of the giant mech’s heads. At the last moment a loud, trumpet-like sound burst over the area as the skeletal mammoth mech moved from where it was hidden behind the museum and charged at its opponent. Shifting to face the newest threat, the pilot of the Ssath annihilator unleashed both beams at the charging mammoth.

A brief glow appeared as the shield over the mammoth tried and failed to absorb the massive amounts of energy pouring into it. With the shield knocked out, the beams continued on their path, with one lancing into the ribcage of the beast as the other sheared off one of the glowing tusks the creature boasted as its main weapon. The gap between the two behemoths closed quickly, the Ssath weren’t a race to shirk from melee combat, and both mechs seemed ready and willing to finish this claw to tusk.

Smaller secondary guns, mostly machinegun caliber, were strewn about the exterior of the mammoth, and instead of peppering the annihilator as it closed in, they were turning their fire toward the swarm of Ssath infantry that was pouring past the freshly destroyed bunker. Human mechs were responding to the breach, coming out of their bunkers to add their firepower to the defense. It would take the human mechs time to reposition, and until they got into the fight, the mammoth’s firepower was the only thing holding the Ssath back.

With a crash that shook the ground for miles around, the two goliaths of the battlefield slammed into each other. The annihilator led with both heads shooting forward to grind the chainsaw-like teeth they possessed into the neck of the mammoth. Claws on each arm dug deep into the front legs of the mammoth, burning into the mammoth with their plasma-infused strength. Already damaged from the beam hits, the mammoth appeared outclassed, but it wasn’t giving up without a fight. Its sole remaining tusk shattered the shield protecting the annihilator and burned deep into its chest while the beast of a mech tried to lever the Ssath off its feet.

Despite the damage it had taken, the Ssath redoubled its efforts, teeth on each mouth grinding deep into the neck of the mammoth. Before finally sawing through and decapitating the mammoth, the annihilator shuddered as the mammoth tried to lurch forward once more, snapping the last of the metal connecting its head to the body as it drove its tusk completely through the annihilator's chest. With a final screech of tortured metal, the head of the mammoth gave way, dropping the largest human defender into the street.

The annihilator stumbled back, off-balance since the giant mammoth head was still attached to its body by the tusk impaling it. Clawed hands tried to prise the tusk from its body, and Hugh could almost feel the Ssath pod operator’s pain as sparks and smoke poured from the wound as the tusk was slowly removed. Heavily damaged, the annihilator was still very dangerous, and given the glow beginning to form around the twin heads of the monster, it had retained its most potent weapon. Hugh’s mammoth wasn’t the only odd defender that this victory point possessed, and three of the light mech sized saber tooth tiger mechs were stalking the annihilator.

“I don’t think that the Ssath can see the cat mechs,” Tran observed. It was true, in his sensors, Hugh could plainly see the trio of cat mechs approaching the annihilator, but the Ssath was oblivious to their presence. Focussing on one of the cats, Hugh got a better understanding of its abilities.

Sabre-tooth mech. Based on an ancient Earth beast, these mechs specialize in close-quarters combat. Lacking a shield and protected by a modest armor scheme, these mechs rely on a distortion field that masks them from enemy sensors. Once they attack, the mechs will become visible as the distortion field can only remain in place when the mech is operating at a minimum output level.

Working together, all three cats leaped onto the annihilator which stumbled about, firing its secondary weapons blindly as it tried to figure out what was happening to it. Two of the cats clambered up the side of the mech, plasma-enhanced claws having little trouble burning deep into the armored hide of the annihilator to secure enough grip for their ascent. The final cat mech launched itself at massive the open wound where the mammoth’s tusk had penetrated, clawing and biting at the area with frantic effort.

Using their signature long teeth to great effect, the pair of cat mechs clambering up the side of the annihilator latched onto the mech’s heads, digging and tearing into the necks of the monster. Nearby Ssath infantry came to the rescue of the annihilator, the closest making their own leaping attacks to try and knock the cat mechs off their most powerful weapon. Other Ssath began to pepper the cat mechs with ranged fire, unworried that their low caliber weapons would also deal minor damage to the annihilator. One, of the cats, was knocked from its perch by the raptor-like Ssath infantry who made their own clawed ascent of their allied mech. When it fell to the ground, the cat mech was swarmed under a wave of enemies before it could do more than take a swipe or two at its attackers.

The other cat mech continued to dig into the neck of the annihilator but was being shot to pieces by the enemy. Lacking heavy armor, the mech only lasted a few more seconds than its counterpart, but it remained attached to the annihilator by its oversized teeth, the cat’s weight limiting the movement and targeting of that head’s beam weapon. The final cat mech took a different approach, clawing its way into the wound that the mammoth had inflicted on the Ssath monstrosity. Protected from fire, the cat went to work, clawing at biting at the vulnerable internal components of the annihilator.

As if realizing its demise was imminent, the annihilator, lined up both heads on the victory point, the process taking longer than it should have due to one head having a giant cat mech dangling from it. Once in place, the two heads fired, the beams pouring unbelievable amounts of energy into the museum. Armored walls crumbled and collapsed, and while the pair of blasts didn’t’ take out the victory point in one shot, it opened the walls so the following Ssath infantry could pour inside, brushing past the thin line of defenders that tried to form a defensive perimeter.

The annihilator shuddered as the cat tearing a path inside hit something vital. Smoke and fire poured from the open wound of the mech, and with a blinding flash of light, the annihilator exploded, enveloping everything nearby in a ball of plasma fire. Dozens of Ssath infantry and a few of their supporting medium mechs were caught in the blast, wiping out a good chunk of the attacking force. But the blast also destroyed the nearest pair of bunkers, allowing the Ssath unfettered access to the victory point.

You have lost control of the Los Angeles County Museum victory point. The loss of this final victory point will sever the enhanced flow of resources for the remainder of the battle. Only those resources naturally produced by your command post, and those gathered as salvage, will be available to you. The shield protecting your command post is now disabled for the duration of the fight. By taking the victory point, all damaged Ssath units in the area are automatically repaired to full operational status.

Not having a shield was going to hurt, it didn’t do much against the Ssath annihilators, but it had protected him very well from the incoming fire of the lighter Ssath mechs. Resources were also going to be a problem once the assaults on the command post started again. He was keeping pace by harvesting the nearest fallen Ssath mechs, but the construction drones wouldn’t be able to keep that up once the attack resumed. For the moment production of all mech types was proceeding, and with the remnants of the Queen Mary defenders, he had a strong defensive position.

Some defenders remained at the fallen museum victory point, and they were exacting a toll on the Ssath forces in the area, who were forced to root the human defenders out before they could join the horde of Ssath surrounding the command post. Across the battlefield, the scattered Ssath forces were converging on the command post, but it would take them some time to gather and form up for an organized assault.

Your command post has reached tier 7.

“Now, there’s some good news. I’m shifting half our construction drones to upgrade duty, the others need to stay on resource gathering and rebuilding the destroyed bunker. Sorry folks, I don’t think we’ll have resources for upgrade shopping, but all our mechs should get a good bump in power just from the tier increase,” Hugh said.

Pulling up the latest information, it looked like his infantry mechs would be getting a shield over the entire mech, and not just the small arm-mounted one. It would give them more staying power in the coming fight, something they would desperately need. His light mechs got an even bigger upgrade, and the M3s were being replaced with the M24 Chaffee. The new mech was a bit slower, which wouldn’t be too much of a detriment in this defensive fight. Its slight decrease in speed was more than offset by heavier armor and a much more powerful 75mm main gun instead of the light 37mm gun its predecessors mounted. A pair of .30 caliber machineguns rounded out the offensive armament and Hugh’s light mechs were now sporting serious firepower for their size.

His main battle mechs didn’t get too much of an upgrade, but their newly improved shield generators would help them shrug off damage. Main gun ammo options now included regular explosive shells, armor piercing, and anti-infantry rounds that turned the 90mm main gun into a giant shotgun. His command post received some additional defensive firepower, and a half-dozen, heavy machinegun turrets were now integrated into the structure. Thankfully, the turrets were automatically constructed by the GCA nanobots and didn’t require any of his precious construction drones.

The police headquarters added ten new officers and a squad car, in addition, the officer mechs now had a riot shield and helmet, giving them armor equivalent to an infantry mech a couple of tiers lower. His automated factory would now produce a total of seventy defenders and more importantly, he could now set the factory to either offensive or defensive settings. Hugh would no longer be forced to watch as his AI-controlled mechs walked toward the nearest enemy and are destroyed for little in return. Now set to defensive mode, the AI-controlled mechs began to spread themselves out into the bunkers and trenches surrounding the command post. Their firepower would be most welcome on the defensive line, but there were only a handful of active mechs and it would take the factory a while to build out its full complement of troops.

“Looks like this will be the final push, any suggestions before the enemy gets here?” Hugh asked. The Ssath had finished off the last of the defenders at the museum and were moving to join the rest of the Ssath army. Once they arrived, Hugh figured the final assault would begin. Enemy numbers were hard to nail down, most were hiding out of sight in the various structures. If he had to guess, the Ssath probably had them outnumbered four or five to one in infantry and had medium mechs about equal to the number of main battle mechs Hugh could field. The enemy had a two-to-one advantage in light mechs, but their numbers wouldn’t mean much until they got into melee range.

“I shall move my mech to wherever the fighting is thickest,” Dalven said.

“You’re our heaviest firepower, so also keep an eye out for any concentrations of medium or light mechs, You’ll be key to thinning out their numbers. As for the rest, let’s make sure our infantry are filling the bunkers, the automated units can babysit the trench line,” Hugh replied.

“Our main battle mechs took a beating in the last fight, I don’t have enough to occupy every firing point,” Cartwright said. The construction drones had dug out hull-down firing positions all around the line, specifically for the main battle mechs, but they were down to only four active mechs, with one nearing completion on the assembly line.

“Use the light mechs to fill in, with their new 75s they can do well enough in that role,” Hugh ordered. There were a dozen of the hull-down positions dug out, and while they didn’t conform to the light mech chassis, they could still use them to cover up most of their mech when firing. With the light mechs, they could cover every firing position, each had been designed to support one of the nearby bunkers surrounding the command post.

“That’s good, but I’d like to keep any new ones we produce in a rapid reaction team to plug any gaps,” Cartwright said.

“Same with the infantry, we can't fill all the bunkers to capacity just yet, but once we do, I’ll send some to join Cartwright’s reaction teams and use the rest as a reserve to replace losses the bunker teams absorb,” Captain Tran added.

“I think we’re set, once the drones are done with upgrades I’ll spare a few to improve our defenses and lay some fresh minefields, but I don’t think the Ssath are going to give us much in the way of time. Every second that passes makes us stronger, and they won’t have any reinforcements until the rest of their fleet deals with the Krixnas. Let me post the latest conquest results, you can see our fight could very well be the one that decides this whole thing,” Hugh said, pushing the latest numbers out to not just the officers, but every soldier on the battlefield. Things were close and victory or defeat hung on a razor-thin margin.

Conquest Points.

Humanity: 54/137.

Ssath: 59/137.