War Core Wednesday, War Core 3, Chapter 21.

Chapter 21.

Hugh covered the opening to the other building as his men made a mad dash to his location. They were quick, but the rippling sand told Hugh that whatever was lurking below was now close by, waiting for anyone to step off the concrete pad the storage building sat on. He wasn’t sure how to deal with that threat just yet, they sure didn’t lack enemies to fight right now.

“I’ll strap into this thing, Hillman, check the ammo feeds, and make sure it’s ready to go,” Griggs called out as he wedged himself into the Taskmaster mech’s cockpit. Once inside, the mech activated, standing tall and cycling the first rounds into its weapons even as the armored shell was still closing over him. The sound and commotion finally proved too much for the spiders and they started to pour from the opening that Hugh had cut through their building.

“Keep them back, give Griggs time to get in the fight,” Hugh called out, activating his beam weapon again. With its now-familiar low hum, the green beam of energy locked onto the first target while his men opened up with their weapons. With a limited opening to work with, the Doberman-sized spider mechs kept getting in each other’s way as they poured out of the warehouse. Hugh’s beam melted easily through the lightly armored spiders, and along with the plasma rounds his troops were pouring into the other building, they were keeping the spiders bottled up.

“I got this, stand back,” Griggs said marching past Hugh and the others. The taskmaster tore through part of the wall, giving Hugh a better view of the other building. What he saw wasn’t good, the thin metallic structure was being torn apart from the inside as the spiders looked for other ways to get at their foes. With acidic venom and legs that function like chisels, it wasn’t taking them long to open multiple, spider-sized holes in the structure. Heavy machinegun fire began to chug out from the taskmaster mech, Griggs expertly walking the rounds across the entrance and, along with the lighter caliber secondary weapon, he was keeping the main mass of the enemy at bay.

“They’re leaking out, Griggs, bottle up the spider’s doorway, everyone else, hit the leakers,” Hugh ordered, reactivating his beam weapon and sweeping it over the growing number of spider mechs chewing and slashing their way out. His team was stacking up the enemy, but there seemed to be an unlimited number of them stuffed inside the other structure. Given the numbers, Hugh figured there must have been some kind of basement or underground storage inside since there was no way this many mechs could be packed that tightly inside just a single floor.

Spiders skittered across the small sandy patch of ground between the two buildings, their sharp legs making it a slow process. Great for scuttling around the ceiling, they tended to dig themselves into the sand and required a lot of thrashing and commotion to make any progress. That was fine with Hugh, the longer they took to close in, the more he could destroy before they got into melee range. The spiders’ frantic activity was drawing the attention of more than Hugh’s troops. He watched the sand ripple and flow around the building they were in as whatever lurked beneath made its move.

The sand erupted in a cloud, throwing off Hugh’s aim and rendering his weapon ineffective as the beam dissipated in the cloud of sand. Claw-tipped tentacles reached up from below, snagging the struggling spiders as they tried to cross. Hugh had expected another mech, but this appeared to be a flesh and blood creature. It wasn’t unheard of for the GCA to create AI-controlled units that were living organisms, but the size of the monster was a shock. The GCA must have been proud of their creation, and as more of it made its way to the surface, a prompt appeared.

Barku Sand Demon is the name given to these creatures by their world’s inhabitants. While their homeworld has long since been destroyed and wiped of all life through war, examples of these were taken to preserve the species. Voracious and attracted to movement, the sand demons claim vast stretches of the desert for their hunting grounds. They lie dormant for the most part, awakening to feast every six months or so when the need arises. Once sated, the sand demons return to their watchful slumber. When a Barku Sand Demon is hungry, anything that moves is attacked and consumed, the beasts have evolved a complex digestive system that can extract nutrients from just about anything. Unable to move on solid ground, the Barku Sand Demons will not pursue prey past the sand no matter how tasty they might be.

“Try to hit the spider mechs, that sand demon thing will leave us along as long as we’re up here,” Hugh ordered. With the monster snatching up spider mech after spider mech, Hugh’s team had an easy job of it, able to pick off the few spiders that somehow avoided the hungry beast beneath them.

“Sir, I’m down to my last fifty rounds for the main gun, do you want me to continue?” Griggs asked, briefly pausing his fire. A swarm of spiders emerged once the fire let up, the activity causing the sand demon to redouble its feeding efforts. Hugh couldn’t see the thing's mouth, only the claw-tipped tentacles that drug its prey below the sand.

“Hold fire, just hit the ones making it past the sand demon,” Hugh called out. Things got much quieter once all their weapons were silent, and Hugh was shocked to see that his weapon was down to 18% power. “Check your ammo,” Hugh said. It looked they were all down to the dregs, the spiders had been easy targets, but with their numbers, his team would have been out of ammo and overrun if the sand demon had started doing its thing. A few carefully placed shots were needed to dissuade the spiders that managed to make their way through the writhing mass of claws.

“The flow of spiders is slowing down,” Private Burnette said. He was right, the flow had reduced greatly, and even the sand demon seemed to be slowing down, which hopefully signaled that its feeding frenzy was coming to a close.

Grabbing a few final snacks for the road, the Barku Sand Demon sank back beneath the sand, having eaten its fill of mechs. About a dozen or so spiders remained, but they were no match for the firepower his forces now wielded. With the last visible spider fallen, and their ammo further depleted, Hugh waited, unsure if it was a bigger risk to walk on the sand or explore the building the spiders had inhabited. He had no doubt there were still mechs in there, waiting to ambush them.

“What do we do now, sir?” Sergeant Marthman asked. If the other building did have more hardware for them, Hugh couldn’t just leave it behind because spiders creeped him out. Both buildings were in bad shape, the barrage of fire that Hugh’s team had put down, made each one look like Swiss cheese. The building the spiders had been hiding in was even worse, with dozens of extra holes where the spiders had forced their way out. It was a miracle it hadn’t collapsed by now.

“We need to see if there’s anything in there that might be useful,” Hugh replied, gesturing toward the spider building.

“I shall go first to see if the sand demon remains active,” Dalven offered. The Yaelar didn’t wait for Hugh’s approval, stepping onto the sand without hesitation. They all waited for a swarm of claws to tear Dalven apart and drag him below, but the surface was undisturbed, other than bits of still sparking and twitching spider mech parts strewn about.

“It seems safe, keep your eyes peeled,” Hugh said, leading the others across, Griggs and his Taskmaster mech leading the way with its armored bulk. Each building had oversized warehouse doors, so entering wasn’t going to be a problem for the big mech. As Hugh suspected, the inside of the dark warehouse was a shambles.

Heavy plasma rounds and his beam weapon were designed to destroy combat mechs, and they were devastating to the thin walls of the structure and anything inside. The metallic webbing was already starting to decay, revealing an empty warehouse. In one corner, another of the giant black widow mechs was curled up and dead. It must have been webbed up near the ceiling, and enough of the stray rounds of incoming fire had put it down before it could join the fight. Hugh wasn’t going to complain, glad to have killed the formidable mech before they had even laid eyes on it.

As he suspected, there was an opening in the floor, and from the webs dissolving around it, the spider mechs must have made a home down there as well. A small panel on the floor gave a red glow, drawing Hugh’s attention. It looked like the hole in the floor was the shaft of a lift of some sort, and the panel was the switch to control it. Brushing away more of the debris and web residue, Hugh could see the red light was a warning that the lift was obstructed. Whatever prize this building might offer was likely down below. Before he could ask for suggestions on how to make it down the shaft, the red light turned to green. The webbing clinging to the walls of the shaft had finally dissipated enough to allow the mechanism to work.

Hugh hit the button to recall the lift, worried that it would fail to make it given the screeching and grinding noises the lift generated. When it finally neared the top, he could make out the battered and abused form of another assault mech suit. Whether it was functional or not remained to be seen.

“Dibs, sir,” Private Burnette said.

“There’s no dibs in the army, Private, Major Logan will decide who gets it,” Sergeant Marthman said in the stern voice that every NCO seems to possess.

“I think the operator for this one is obvious,” Hugh said as the lift reached the top. Where the Taskmaster had been a human design, this one resembled a Yaelar. One arm had a giant claw mounted to it and where the other arm would normally be was a weapons hardpoint, like the one on the Taskmaster. The cockpit was also shaped slightly different, a match for the Dalven’s mech.

“You sure you want to give this to the Yaelar? We’re not exactly on the best of terms, and these things are powerful,” Sergeant Marthman asked over private comms.

“It looks like we were the bad guys in the deal with the Yaelar, dragging them into a war they didn’t want. Dalven has held up his side of the bargain and has earned it. I also hate to leave behind a mech that may help us win our lives back, and I’m willing to bet only a Yaelar can pilot this thing,” Hugh replied. Private Burnette confirmed his suspicion shortly thereafter.

“It’s a no-go for my mech anyway, sir,” Burnette said, after fiddling with the machine.

“Hop in, Dalven, I think this was made for you,” Hugh offered. With a low growl of agreement, the Yaelar climbed into the cockpit of the machine. It had been chewed on a bit and battered pretty bad by the spider mechs, but it slowly responded to Dalven’s presence. A system prompt told Hugh what they had found.

You have also discovered a Yaelar Ripper Mech. This mech features enhanced melee ability and a single heavy weapons mount. An advanced automated repair module is mounted to the rear of the mech, greatly enhancing the work done by repair and armor kits. The Ripper is fully modular and can be upgraded substantially by purchasing or discovering new weapons, armor, and chassis enhancements. It should be noted that this mech can only sync to a single operator, and that operator must be a Yaelar.

“The damage is severe and the mech is immobile, but it is showing at 12% functionality. I’ll try a repair kit and see how much it helps,” Dalvin said. The GCA system must have given the Yaelar the same information on the mech that it had given Hugh. Using his repair kit, Dalven waited as the automated repairs were made. When the kit was finally used up, his functionality had increased to 37% and while it was limping a bit, the mech was able to move.

They hadn’t used a repair kit on the Taskmaster mech yet, but it looked like it repaired 25% on the Ripper. Until they had a chance to test one out on the Taskmaster, Hugh had no idea how much or how little a repair kit would help it. The Taskmaster had come with some goodies, including weapons, and while the Ripper had a rather formidable looking claw attached to its arm, Hugh figured there was more for it down at the bottom of the lift.

“Marthman and Griggs, wait up here to keep an eye on things, the rest of us will head down to see if there is anything useful below,” Hugh said. There was just enough space on the platform for Dalven’s Ripper, and the much smaller mechs the rest of them piloted. The way down was a bit smoother than the way up, but Hugh was a bit concerned about the lack of controls on the lift itself. Hopefully, comms would remain active so he could call Marthman when they were ready to return.

At the bottom of the shaft, they found a small storage area. Resting in one corner was another crate, like the one that had held the Taskmaster’s weapons. Dalven limped his way over to it while Hugh checked out a glowing panel of the wall. It wasn’t a logistics interface, and once Hugh neared the panel, his HUD filled with text. They had found the final reward for this optional objective. The reward came with a choice for them to make, one that was going to be tough given the GCA’s lack of details.

Congratulations, you have completed the optional objective of this stage of your trial. In addition to the Ripper mech, you may choose between the following two benefits which will become active when you reach the final stage of the trial.

1. Early Start. Get a jump on your opponents in the final stage of the trial by starting before any of the other factions. Your performance at this current stage will determine the time advantage you will receive, as well as unlock the chance for additional rewards.

2. Hive of the Widow. Unlock a unique structure for the final stage of the trial. Your performance at this stage of the trial will determine the power of this structure. An exceptional performance may unlock additional enhancements.