War Core Wednesday, War Core 3, Chapter 25.

Chapter 25.

“Keep behind the infantry mech, let the AI units draw their fire before we jump in,” Hugh ordered as they pushed down the canyon. With the AI-controlled mech leading the way, his pod-controlled units were able to move without interference other than the occasional stray round from the inaccurate Ssath weapons. They pushed at the pace of the walking mech, which was slow, but so far, the Ssath core hadn’t reacted, and Dalven reported it was still standing guard over the ruined barracks.

Hugh’s ruined barracks looked like it was further along with repairs, showing at 80% now, which meant it had started to produce units. When he shifted his view to inside the barracks, he could see a single human infantry mech being constructed. The assembly line moved slowly but would pick up its pace a bit once the repairs were further along. After the human mech walked from the factory, a Yaelar infantry unit began construction.

“We’ve got something around the corner, looks like another barracks,” Private Hillman called out after having moved past the advancing infantry to get a peek around a sharp bend in the canyon. Through the recorded feed, Hugh could see a ruined barracks, similar to the other one he controlled. It was further evidence that the Ssath core was on his own, he didn’t have any pod-controlled units to take the structure from the automated defenders, which consisted of a score of random mech designs. The defensive units were showing as level zero still, but Hugh knew they would increase in level and numbers the longer the area was left alone.

“We take the barracks as we pass, get ready to fall back if there are any surprises,” Hugh ordered, his team moving forward to clear out Sssath units between them and the barracks. Hugh’s nearest infantry mech was passing close to the barracks, but their pathing left both the Ssath and Hugh’s units just outside of the aggro range for the barracks defenders. That might change given the prompt that Hugh received as his units closed in.

One of your unpiloted mechs is approaching a neutral structure. Do you for your units to engage any neutral structures they approach? Y/N. This setting is now unlocked and you may make adjustments to your preference at any time.

Hugh hit yes, that way his units wouldn’t bypass anything important, but they would take serious casualties against the defenders. With the slow production rate of his barracks, there were large gaps between each unit, meaning the defenders, even though they weren’t very smart, would be able to concentrate firepower on his mechs. With his team working on clearing this barracks, it wouldn’t be an issue, but if there were more, and his team was away taking care of something else, then conquering an uncontrolled barracks with his automated units would be difficult, but would eventually occur given how slowly the defenders replenished their numbers.

The enemy core had his forces set to bypass the structures, likely wanting to push toward Hugh’s command post faster, given his lack of supporting pod operators. For once, the long battle favored Hugh, he was used to being the one needing to finish off a superior foe quickly, but now, a long grind of a fight where he could exploit his greater number of pod-colled mechs was the desired scenario. First, they had to capture every production building they could.

“Let’s make this quick, Griggs, get that taskmaster working. Hillman, you and the Sergeant keep the Ssath mechs away,” Hugh ordered. The team moved out, Griggs getting another chance to put his mech into action. It pumped out rounds from the heavy machinegun on one arm as the rifle on the mech’s shoulder mount selected other targets to engage. Hugh’s beam weapon did good work, cutting through the low-tier mechs defending the barracks with ease. They were still taking hits, and Hugh’s functionality dipped to 88% before they were through.

The taskmaster mech lost only 5%, and after using the repair module that Griggs carried, it was back to full. Hugh used the two he had, bringing him to 98%, which was close enough for now. Eventually, they would need to send someone back to the command post for a resupply. If they had enough time and resources, they might even be able to establish supply caches along the canyon to save time.

The Ruined Barracks have been captured, do you wish to repair this facility or exchange it for additional resources?

For now, Hugh was more interested in getting a flow of units going, so he opted to repair the structure. Back at the command post, which had just finished upgrading, a construction drone left to make its way over to the barracks. They were pretty deep into the canyon, so it would take the slower mech some time to get there, and even more time to finish repairs. Selecting both human and Yaelar mechs, Hugh hoped this barracks would improve the chance of survivors, just like the other one had promised to.

“All right, let’s keep moving, given how much the GCA likes symmetry in its battlefields, I willing to bet whatever we find in this canyon will match what we find in the other,” Hugh said as they resumed their safe, but slow method of pushing behind the leading automated units. Taking the barracks quickly had been important, but now that it was his, Hugh didn’t want them to take unnecessary damage to their mechs, the path back to the command post and resupply was getting longer with each step.

“The enemy core isn’t moving, yet, but he’s having no trouble taking out our mechs,” Dalven said. Tapping into his feed, Hugh could see another mech, a Yaelar infantry unit, approaching the enemy core. Before it could even fire its small-caliber weapon, the Ssath blasted it with a burst from its shoulder-mounted machine guns.

“If he keeps that up, his magazines will run dry before long,” Hugh noted. Only a couple of hits from the Ssath machineguns would have destroyed Hugh’s tier zero unit, but the Ssath had instead hosed it down with both weapons on full auto, burning up twenty or thirty rounds where a few accurately placed individual shots would have done the same thing.

“If he retreats for a resupply, we’ll take that barracks from him,” Dalven said.

“Do that, but if he starts pushing in your direction, fall back and we’ll try to join you,” Hugh said. That was one worry, that the Ssath would just do a solo charge toward the command post, pushing past his separated party for a chance at a fast win. It was risky, and Hugh wasn’t sure the Ssath was willing to gamble with his life, given how much he had spent on personal upgrades at the cost of neglecting his subordinates.

“We’ve got mechs coming, there must be another barracks further up the canyon unless their command post can switch paths for the units they’re producing,” Dalven said a minute later. The barracks that the Ssath had captured had been repaired to the point it was starting production, but there were additional mechs approaching from deeper into that side of the canyon.

“There must be at least three of the ruined barracks on each side of the canyon then,” Hugh said. Given the gaps between the approaching units, the Ssath couldn’t have more than one barracks producing on that side of the canyon, so he was pretty sure three was the accurate number for each side, that meant there was one more on Hugh’s side of the canyon.

Hugh’s advance didn’t find another barracks, but instead, there was a carved-out section of the canyon wall that would be the perfect fit for one. The Ssath core must have captured this one first, and absorbed it for resources instead of repairing it and producing units. It had to do something to get all those upgrades it had mounted. Not much further in, Hugh could see the enemy base, complete with thirty automated defenders patrolling the area.

“We’re falling back, the Ssath is pushing, wait, no, it’s turning around, I think it might be heading back to the command post,” Dalven warned.

“He can probably see us approaching, and knows the automated defenders can’t keep us out. I don’t think we should stick around to welcome him home just yet,” Hugh said, ordering his team to fall back to the newly captured barracks.

“When you can confirm the Ssath core is back at the command post, we can try and push the next barracks,” Dalven offered.

“Good call, we’ll yo-yo this Ssath until he doesn’t know which way to go,” Hugh said.

Given that he was controlling a light mech chassis, the Ssath core made good time in returning to his command post. With Hugh’s team pulling back, the Ssath automated defenders started to push Hugh’s AI-controlled units back. His base was now level one, which meant his mechs were a bit more powerful, but it didn’t seem like they were doing any better against the Ssath, who must still be a tier above them in quality.

Hugh was forced to retreat as the Ssath core scouted his side of the canyon. If had gone flat out, it would have overtaken the team, but the enemy core seemed very risk-averse, which was perfectly fine with Hugh. Having died and been offered a second chance would tend to damper even the Ssath aggressiveness. Dalven came through for them, pushing with Burnette and taking the Ssath barracks that had just been repaired by the Ssath construction drone. They had to hold off the stream of troops approaching them, as well as destroy the barracks once more, which was a time-consuming process.

The Ssath reacted to Dalven’s assault on the barracks by falling back to his command post, seemingly unsure of how to proceed with the pressure on both fronts. Delays were fine with Hugh, it just gave him time to repair the captured buildings and amass more resources. With two barracks on each side of the canyon under his control, their automated defenders were pushing back the Ssath units with numerical superiority, despite being lower tier.

Their battle evolved into a waiting game, the Ssath core wasn’t able to push forward too far on its own, or it would risk one of Hugh’s teams taking out its command post. It did retaliate when Dalven tried to take over the third barracks on his side of the canyon. It wasn’t far from the Ssath command post and the enemy core wasn’t willing to give up all of them. Since there was a lull in the action, Hugh took a chance and returned to base, it was time to see what upgrades and other options were available now that his command post was up to level 1.

Back at his command post, Hugh was glad to see the number of defensive garrison troops had increased and the construction drones had already upgraded the existing ones. A quick check revealed he had accumulated 1133 resources to work with. It turns out that each barracks he took over did give him an immediate bump, likely from clearing the defenders, not to mention he had been killing Ssath units as fast as they came off the assembly line. Of course, his opponent was probably getting even more than Hugh, given the numbers of attackers that his barracks were now pumping out.

Personal Armory, Level 1.

Current Resources: 1133.

1. Ammunition module, tier 1, 5 resources.

2. Minor repair module, tier 1, 5 resources.

3. Minor armor module, tier 1, 5 resources.

4. Light shield generation unit, tier 1, 250 resources. This upgrade installs a shield generator on the selected mech. At this tier, the protection is minimal, but the unit does feature s self-repair function and has dedicated internal power.

5. Reinforcement drop, 250 resources. Summon a squad of AI-controlled mechs to land near your command post. Once landed, the mechs will engage the nearest enemy force, following the shortest path to its target.

6. Armor self-repair upgrade, 25 resources. Upgrade the armor of the chosen mech with a nanobot-infused alloy that can repair any damage it takes. The repair process is a slow one, but it doesn’t require any additional resources.

A quick purchase and test of the ammo module revealed that tier one generated an extra round over its tier zero counterpart. Given the cost remained the same, it was a nice upgrade. The other modules had similar minor upgrades, one he could assume would improve as his command post did. The shield generator units were a nice option, and anything to keep them alive was a priority upgrade. The real winner would be the armor self-repair upgrades. It would eliminate the need for one of the three consumables they used, and one less thing they had to send someone back to the command post for was a solid option.

The reinforcement drop was a mixed bag, a squad of ten AI-controlled infantry wasn’t very exciting, especially since each drop cost 250 resources, but in a critical situation, it could be used to delay an unexpected push by the Ssath core, giving them time for his troops to return and defend the command post. To start with, Hugh ordered the armor upgrade for all six of their mechs. Everyone’s mech was battered in some way, and while they were at or near max functionality, their armor wasn’t and Hugh hadn’t possessed the resources to keep purchasing armor modules when the repair modules were more important for their survival.

After selecting the armor upgrade, one of the construction drones approached Hugh’s mech and went to work. He received a notice telling him that the drone would make the rounds to upgrade all their mechs, starting with the closest units. Their heaviest mechs, the Taskmaster and Ripper, needed to be able to go toe to toe against the enemy core, and to stay in the fight longer Hugh splurged on the shield upgrade for them. He would eventually upgrade everyone, but those mechs were critical. The others talked him into purchasing a shield for his mech as well, given that if he fell, they all did. Hugh wanted to have enough resources on hand for an emergency drop of reinforcements, but he was close to that amount even with splurging on his shield upgrade.

Once he had enough for a drop pod of reinforcements in the bank, Hugh would upgrade the others, but it was going to take time to save up. Another problem was how long the upgrades took to install. It was only a couple of minutes for the armor upgrade, and a full five minutes for the shield generators, not to mention only one construction drone had been assigned to the task, which would spend a considerable amount of time marching its way to the various units. After the shield upgrade on his mech was done, Hugh would top up his ammo and store extra ammo modules for the others. After that was done, he needed to see how to finish this fight.