War Core Wednesday! War Core 3, Chapter 12.

Chapter 12.

“They’re gathering for an attack, but it does look like the Yaelar are back online,” Hugh told Captain Tran. Tran was busy optimizing his forces in the trench line guarding the control point. Half the automated defenders had been produced and with their addition to the bunker defense, Tran had pulled out all but a section of infantry to man the trenches. With only twenty-two mechs defending the trench, he would have a hard time holding it for long, but he would do what he could. The automated defenders continued to scuttle about the command post dragging the last of the debris inside to be reprocessed and a pair of them ventured out into the trenches to scavenge for the last of the debris that remained outside.

The Yaelar command post and barracks were completed, and Hugh could see motion inside each as units began to be produced. The red area around the command post remained and would do so for another ten minutes. Hugh had been able to build up his forces until he reached the unit cap, giving himself ten defensive garrison units and ten regular infantry mechs to work with. The Ssath had gathered a force of twenty infantry and just coming into view were a pair of their light mechs. Both were armed with a mortar-type weapon that Hugh had seen before, and rounds were already arcing into his base.

His troops spread out to minimize the damage, but hits were inevitable. Over the next five minutes, four of his defensive garrison were destroyed, and several others damaged. The regular infantry fared better, their operators having the reflexes to try and dodge some of the incoming fire and he only lost two of them, but several others were damaged to some extent. The drones tried to gather the fallen mechs to process them into salvage, but the resources drained away before he could make much progress on building any replacements.

Fire shifted and the mortars began to pound the command post. Damage flashed and Hugh could feel the sting of each hit, the pain increasing with every strike. He had nothing else he could do and ordered the units still under human control to attack the Ssath light mechs. Gun’s blazing, his troops bravely charged forward, only to be cut off and run down by the agile Ssath infantry. Maybe it was the type of battle they were in, or he had built up some resistance to it, but the pain of the attack on his command post didn’t seem as bad this time. It wasn’t a good feeling by any means, but it wasn’t the crippling pain he had felt before.

The entire Ssath force charged forward, and the defensive garrison did what it could, landing a few hits, but no kills before they were torn to shreds by the Ssath teeth and claws. Drones moved forward, unable to do much in the way of combat, and lacking resources for repairs, they hurled themselves between the attackers and the command post, sacrificing themselves to buy Hugh a few more seconds.

Your command post has been destroyed. Since you hold the control point, the respawn timer for the command post and your other structures is on hold. Should you lose the control point, the respawn timer will activate. Once activated, the rebuilding of your command post, barracks, and signal towers will take 5 minutes. Once respawned, your base will be surrounded by a protective zone for 10-minutes. Any hostile forces entering the designated protected zone will shut down and their operators will face a severe survivability penalty. Any subsequent destruction of your command post will result in an increased delay for reconstruction as well as a shortened protection duration.

“Command post is down, you’re on your own for now, Captain Tran,” Hugh said, pushing the system notification over to his infantry commander.

“Looks like we can’t count on your rebuilding until the control point falls. We’ll hold it for as long as possible,” Tran said.

“Yeah, I get the feeling that the control point might change hands several times, but it’ll be good to gather as many points now as we can. That will at least shorten the overall time we’ll have to hold the next time,” Hugh confirmed.

Surprisingly, the Ssath didn’t make a play for the control point right away, instead, their forces headed toward the Yaelar command post. They kept well outside the protected zone but were positioned to engage the Yaelar forces once the protection zone had expired. The drone that Hugh had left hunkered nearby to watch over the Yaelar was sighted by the Ssath and destroyed, cutting off any chance to see what was happening there. It looked like the Yaelar were building up a sizeable force, but the Ssath were also constantly reinforcing the mechs blockading the Yaelar. Hugh was tempted to have Tran send an infantry mech out on recon, but it would be taken out long before it could get a good look at what was happening, and they would likely need every gun they had to defend the control point. The longer this took the better, he was gaining a victory point almost every second.

Back at Hugh’s command post, a stream of twenty Ssath drones closed in, gathering up the salvage strewn about and hauling it to the nearby resource gathering station. It looked like the station’s link to the command post didn’t work if it was captured by another faction. Hugh hoped that when he retook it, the link would be reestablished, having the resources pump in automatically really cut down on the total number of construction drones that he needed to keep on hand.

He could move his point of view from the ruins of his command post over to the troops stationed at the control point, which at least gave him something to watch while he waited for the Ssath to attack. At the control point, all ten defenders had been built and once they had gathered up all the salvage laying around, they began to make repairs to the bunker, replacing the armored doors and patching over any plasma burns in the overall structure. They worked slower than his construction drones, which was understandable since they were doing double duty.

Once they had finished the repairs, three of the drones exited the bunker and climbed to the top of the structure where they began to build something. Hugh knew they would improve the defenses over time and was glad to have them doing anything that might help Tran hold for a bit longer than he would have on his own. The structure took shape as a level one turret that mounted a light machinegun. Given its low level of the weapon, it likely had a slow rate of fire. It may fire slowly and only be a rifle-caliber weapon, but he was glad to have anything the control point defenders wanted to build for free to help them.

The Yaelar command post has been destroyed. In 7 minutes, the command post and other structures will be respawned and the Yaelar will be given a protected area to recover in for 9 minutes. Any hostile forces entering the designated protected area will shut down and their operators will face a severe survivability penalty. The continued destruction of this command post will result in an increased delay for reconstruction as well as a shortened protection duration.

The Ssath had gathered enough to overwhelm whatever forces the Yaelar had been able to build up before the protection zone disappeared. Was this their plan, locking down the Yaelar, while Hugh was unable to rebuild? It was a devious strategy, and one likely to result in their victory here. Every minute that passed gave the Ssath time to expand and upgrade their base. Already, they had light mechs that neither Hugh nor the Yaelar could build. They would both be stuck at level one as the Ssath soon outclassed them beyond the point they could recover from. They had over an hour before Hugh would reach the 5000 control points needed to win the game, more than enough time to build up a force to take the control point and leave behind a strong army to contain both cores.

A core ability has been activated. The Yaelar core, War Master Harkona, has requested a parley, do you accept? While engaged in parley, neither side will be able to target or engage in any hostile act against any core participating in the parley. Please note that any agreements made during parley will not be enforced by the GCA and are solely based on the good faith of each core. Do you wish to enter parley with the Yaelar core? Y/N.

With them having a common enemy, it made sense to coordinate. Hugh didn’t know how the Yaelar was able to parley and figured that the other core must have taken a leveling perk or unlocked an upgrade he hadn’t seen before. The two had a common enemy and he was a little surprised they weren’t operating as allies from the start, but the negotiations that were supposed to be happening between the two worlds must not have been completed before the Ssath struck. Hugh hit yes, and a new comm channel opened. He could end the parley at any time, as could the Yaelar.

“Human core, we both face destruction if we do not act soon, so, despite your treachery, I am willing to work together this one time,” the Yaelar said.

“We should work together, but there is no treachery here. Both our peoples are attacked by the Ssath, we should be allies, and I believe our governments are already negotiating all the details,” Hugh replied.

“Negotiating? Allies? Nothing of the kind has happened. All we know is that you forced the Ssath through our territory, bringing us into your conflict. It is the act of a coward to hide behind someone stronger and force them to fight in your stead,” the Yaelar growled. The GCA translated it into a human voice for Hugh, but he could hear the feral growl of hate coming from the other core. Could it be true that the organization guiding earth’s defense had neglected to inform the Yaelar of their plan? That’s not what he had been led to believe in the briefing.

“Look, one of us is misinformed, but that doesn’t change the fact we will both lose if we don’t stop the Yaelar. I’m sure our governments can sort out all the details later, but if we can work together now and hold off the Ssath, I should have the victory before too much longer,” Hugh offered.

“No, I must take the victory here. This is where the Ssath must be stopped, or my home is at risk. You must help the Yaelar to win if you have any honor in your being,” the Yaelar insisted.

“Both our homes are at risk, but it doesn’t matter which of us wins, it only matters that the Ssath are kept from winning,” Hugh argued. He had the best chance to win, and if the Yaelar could break out of the encirclement and add their forces to the defense of the control point, they had a good chance of staving off the Ssath until the timer ran down. The Ssath would either focus on the control point, giving the Yaelar core time to upgrade and expand, or they would have to keep the noose around the Yaelar base, giving the reinforced control point time to produce more defenders.

“Your home is already at risk, mine is the only one that can be saved by this victory. Did you not see the rewards for victory?” The Yaelar asked.

“I saw my own, which would stop the Ssath advance here, requiring them to take a much longer route toward earth, giving us the time that we need to strike back,” Hugh replied.

“You may be lying, but just in case you were deceived by your leaders, I’ll tell you the truth. If the Ssath win, they will continue toward your homeworld, and have free access to invade any territory we control. If you win, they are blocked at this one system, but they will still unlock the rest of our lands for invasion, letting these lizards cut through our core worlds as they seek the next shortest route to your garbage dump of a home. If I win this fight, my worlds are protected for decades, completely blocking them from our lands,” the Yaelar told him.

Hugh didn’t know what to believe. He wished he could contact the team back home, but that wasn’t an option. Was the situation this dire for the Yaelar? If it was, he needed to do what he could to help them secure the win. If this was all a scam or deception on their part, he would still come out ahead by letting the Yaelar beat the Ssath. They would still be stopped at this system and if the Ssath had to avoid Yaelar space completely, they would still need to take a much longer route to reach earth. Time was what Hugh was fighting for here and earth gained that time no matter which core, human or Yaelar, won.

“Suppose I trust your version of events; how do we secure the win for you?” Hugh asked. The Ssath still had the advantage in quality and quantity, so it was going to take some finesse to pull off a win.

“I have been a core for a long time and have abilities that can greatly help in a single fight. When my protection timer runs down, I’ll engage the Ssath with my army. In the last fight, they won, but it wasn’t an easy thing for them to do, they took many casualties and not all have been replaced yet. I will unleash all my one-time-use abilities, which should help me with the fight or at least stall them. While that is happening, you’ll assault the Ssath base. I doubt they have much there besides the garrison troops and whatever units were recently built and making their way toward my command post,” the Yaelar offered.

It might work. Hugh had twenty-seven infantry to throw at the Ssath, as well as his Drop Beacon of the Vanquished. As long as the Ssath didn’t leave behind a strong force to supplement their garrison troops, he had a shot. He may catch heat from command for this, but it felt like the right thing to do. He wanted to do whatever he could to save his home and letting the Yaelar win would do that. He would also help to prevent the Yaelar from turning into a threat in the future. If he burned them here, no doubt they would take revenge when it would hurt humanity the most.

“It’s risky, but I don’t have anything better to offer as an alternative. What happens after I take out the Ssath base, do you take the control point right then? The cooldown on rebuilding my command post doesn’t start until the control point changes hands,” Hugh said.

“No, I’ll wait and take the control point after I’ve built up my forces and placed a blocking force in front of the Ssath base. By the time they respawn their forces and push through my defenders, you’ll be back up and running enough to keep them busy,” the Yaelar said.

“Sounds like we have an agreement, let me know when your protection is about to end, and I’ll get my troops moving toward the Ssath. I’m Hugh, by the way, and if your correct about the events surrounding the invasion of this system, know that not all humans are scumbags, in fact, most of us try to do the right thing,” Hugh offered.

“Hugh, I’m Harkona, and do I believe you had no hand in the decision to push my people into this war. Your actions to stop the invasion of my home, should you carry through with them, will prove your honor and the honor of those that you speak for,” Harkona said.