War Core Wednesday, War Core 3, Chapter 8.

Chapter 8.

“Can we confirmation that George is okay?” Hugh asked as they disconnected from the battle observation mode, and the command staff regrouped inside the conference room.

“I should have something shortly, we’re not the only team asking,” Admiral Nix said.

“Dude, since when do the Ssath have giant tunnel lizard mechs?” Maddison asked, voicing the same question that Hugh had.

“The Ssath has been our focus since the battle for the Krixnas homeworld, but we’ve not been able to gather much intel other than what we already knew from your fights with their core Hssim,” Marcum admitted. The intel advisor seemed genuinely sorry that he couldn’t be of more assistance.

“It’s not your fault or anyone’s fault at this point. We haven’t many chances to battle against them and everyone, myself included, kind of just figured that we had seen the extent of their arsenal. I thought that they might have a few variant models, or perhaps some kind of specialized units based on the core’s upgrade preferences, but I had no idea a burrowing mech was even possible. The real question is, how do we deal with the threat of an enemy that can burrow up anywhere on the battlefield, including directly in front of your command post?” Hugh asked.

“We’ll have to check with the Canadians once they’re done with their debrief and see if they have any fresh insights, and yes, I did just get confirmation that George Lucin survived the battle,” Nix told the group.

“That’s good news, but we can’t just wait around. I doubt the Ssath are going to give us much time to prepare and one of my sectors is next in line for their assault,” Hugh said.

“Well, I have to expect there is some kind of indication or clue during the fight that a giant metal lizard is digging under your base. If there isn’t, we’ll have to count on holding back extra troops to support the defensive garrison units,” Maddison offered.

“That will put us at a disadvantage on the battlefield if a good chunk of our forces has to be held back for defending the command post. The Ssath commander is smart enough to take advantage of that situation. A giant tunneling mech will likely require some sort of specialized building, would sacrificing some scouts to get a look at their base be worth the cost?” Hugh asked.

In many of the game simulations they played, it was common to send a construction drone or a single infantry unit out to scout what the enemy was building. An early look at their structures could give you a good idea of the type of force you’d be up against and what tactics they were likely to use. Once you know what they’re building, you can adjust your own force composition to counter their efforts. Of course, in those gaming simulations, there were always counters to scouts, including building proxy base structures in areas of the battlefield that were unexpected.

“More scouts is about all we can do for the time being. It’ll cost us resources to build scouts and I’m sure the Ssath commander isn’t going to let them go on a free tour of his base, so there will be high casualties on those units,” Maddison said.

“We should have a quick intel update from the Canadian core in a minute, they’re writing it up as they go through the debriefing process. In the meantime, what other things can we glean from this fight? The tunneling mechs were a shock, but that could just be a hail mary trick that worked for them this one time,” Admiral Nix said.

“The slow pace of the battle worked in the Ssath’s favor. He had time to gather the resource at his leisure and build a strong force in addition to the tunneling mechs. I’d be willing to bet that the Ssath was vulnerable early in the fight as he allocated resources into the tunnel mech program,” Tran said. Hugh wasn’t willing just yet to jump into a full early rush option against the Ssath core, but it might be the best way to go if it was lagging in the unit count to get specialized things like the tunnel mechs online early.

“Why don’t we break for a bit and once we have the recap from George Lucin, we can meet again,” Hugh offered. They were spinning their wheels at this point and he did sort of want some time to himself to process what he had seen of this new Ssath core that he was likely going to fight.

While the GCA generally had cores assigned to specific sectors of space, with a race that had been fighting as long as the Ssath, and given the vast area of space they possessed, it was thought that several cores may have overlapping areas of responsibility. If that was true, the core he was about to face in the battle might not even be the same one that the Canadian just fought. After a while Maddison joined him, plopping down in one of the chairs near his core. He enjoyed picking her brain about gaming tactics that might translate into real-world victories. She had a way of looking at things that were very different than the military advisors had.

“So, Hugh, what do think about the fight coming up? I know it can be stressful with everyone watching you,” Maddison asked.

“Well, thanks for bringing that up, I hadn’t thought about everyone watching me until now. I suppose I’ll be nervous since all the human cores can watch my every move. Sure, the GCA is likely broadcasting these battles all over the universe, but it does feel kind of different when it’s your peers watching your work,” Hugh replied. He normally wasn’t one to be self-conscious about such things, but he did feel a little tinge of it now.

“Oh, you’ll be fine. This new Ssath guy has some tricks, but he’s not ready for us,” Maddison said with confidence.

“What’s your take, do you think the burrowing mechs are going to show up again?” Hugh asked.

“Personally, I don’t think so, at least not right away. The Ssath knows we were all watching, and I think he’ll just use the knowledge of their existence to draw forces away from the main battle. At least, that’s what I’d do,” Maddison said. Before they could continue their conversation, Admiral Nix sent out the battle debrief from the Canadian core. Hugh took some time to read it before joining the others in the conference room.

After Action Report, George Lucin summary.

1. The new Ssath core showed greater flexibility than previously expected, the consensus is that this is an experienced core with a much different upgrade path than the previous core, Hssim, that humanity fought.

2. Their tunneling mech was a surprise, but there were clues that something unusual was happening. Many of the combat pod operators remembered feeling ground vibrations but wrote it off as movement of the mechs around them. For any future battles, it is recommended that any potential disturbance be reported immediately. The tunneling mechs weren’t very effective in combat, save for being heavily armored. Their emergence leaves them with only a narrow chokepoint to exit the tunnels from and that chokepoint can be effectively defended with limited numbers of mechs.

3. It is thought that the tunneling mechs can also be used to set up ambushes at critical locations, caution is advised when approaching potential ambush points/critical locations on the battlefield as the danger from below now needs to be taken into account.

4. While it is unknown which of the Ssath structures construct the tunneling mechs, it can be safely assumed that the structure is a large one, given the size of the mech it produces. Until more is known, it should be assumed that the presence of any large factories at the Ssath base indicates the potential threat of tunneling attacks.

5. Other Ssath units were similar to those fought previously. The combat pod operators for the Ssath exhibited greater control than the ones commanded by Hssim. It might be more difficult to goad this core and its units into rash actions.

6. Getting early and continuous recon of the Ssath base should be prioritized. We need to get a better understanding of what each structure they have produces in order to plan effective counters.

7. Much like in previous fights, the Ssath units were less effective at ranged combat than our mechs, giving us an edge that we should exploit whenever possible.

8. Given this was only one battle with this new opponent, our cores should remain flexible in their tactics until more information is gained through experience or from intel assets.

“Any thoughts, agreements, or disagreements with the Canadian core’s assessment?” Nix asked the assembled group.

“At least it appears there is some warning of a tunnel mech’s presence. Like the report mentioned, if we can figure out where they’re emerging from, a small force can defend the chokepoint easily enough until reinforcements can arrive,” Hugh offered.

“Good, and I think we shouldn’t overreact and keep too many forces back from the main fight. A small, highly mobile covering force should do the trick,” Captain Tran said.

“Having some air assets might make scouting their base a bit easier. Maybe prioritize some air mechs earlier in the fight. On that note, our new Air Force liaison should be here tomorrow, Captain Zacharias. He comes highly recommended and I expect you all to get him up to speed as quickly as you can. So far, he’s been getting a lot of seat time in the simulator pods and has been racking up the kills there,” Admiral Nix advised. There were a lot of long faces around the room, the replacement air mech commander brought up the still fresh loss from Hugh’s last battle.

“I know we all feel Captain Tremaine’s absence, but remember, we still have a war to fight people,” Nix said.

“My latest report indicates the Ssath are moving quickly to press their next attack. You could be called into action at any time now, Hugh,” Marcum advised.

“What kind of reports are we getting? I didn’t think we were spending any of our influence points and were saving them up in case the Ssath make it to Earth,” Hugh asked.

“We’re saving all our points, but we did work out a few deals with other species, sharing information about the Ssath we come across. These aren’t friends or allies by any stretch of the imagination, but they are motivated to help us based on their own fear of the Ssath,” Marcum said.

“Anything else today? If not, I think we’ll break for now. Everyone get some rest and think about anything we can do to help Hugh out,” Admiral Nix said, ending their meeting. Hugh joined Maddison, Cartwright, and Tran to game out a few battles in the simulator. It would take time for their tech team to program something resembling the tunneling mechs, but even without that, Hugh felt the need to get in as much practice as he could. After a few hours working with his team, the GCA announced his next battle.

The Ssath invasion of system u22285x has been initiated. This system is also claimed by the Yaelar, who have stated their hostility to all parties involved in the conflict. Pre-battle negotiations will begin shortly.

“Woah, I thought our negotiators were working with the other species, if that’s true, why are the Yaelar designating us as hostile?” Hugh asked.

“I don’t know, but I’ll find out,” Marcum said, pulling out his phone and frantically dialing. It didn’t look like they’d have time to investigate as the GCA prompts reappeared, pulling Hugh into the negotiation phase of the battle. He was going to be at a disadvantage, knowing nothing of these Yaelar.

Negotiations have begun. As a three-way conflict, the negotiation process will be altered slightly. Please select a preference from the three battle format options. Once every participant has made their selections, a decision will be rendered.

1. Standard battle. Each core will start with a command post and an allocation of starting structures and units. Various critical locations will be placed on the battlefield and the last command post standing will be the victor.

2. Allocation battle. Each core is allocated a similar mix of units and will fight a free for all battle of attrition with limited opportunity for refit, resupply, and replacements.

3. Control point battle. Each core is allocated a command post and a small starting force. The goal of the battle is to take and hold a central location for the required time while defending against both opponents.

Hugh wasn’t sure what the deal was with this fight. It was going to be a three-way battle no matter what, and while he would rather fight the Ssath core in a straight-up standard battle, going with something a bit more oddball might be the better choice. He did well enough against Hssim on the Krixnas homeworld, which was essentially a longer version of the allocation battle, and he felt he could do just as well against the new core in that type of fight. Selecting the control point fight as his second choice, Hugh let the standard battle format drop to the bottom of his list. Once he made his choice, the prompt changed to reflect that a decision was pending. It didn’t take long before the final results were in.

The fight for u22285x will be comprised of a single control point battle. A new battlefield is being prepared for this conflict. No advantages or disadvantages will be available, and all negotiations between the various parties are now complete. War core, prepare for battle.

Hugh wasn’t sure what the whole negotiations between parties' comments were about, and he had a bad feeling his two opponents might be conspiring to gang up on him early in the fight. It was obvious what would happen if he or the Ssath core won the battle, but what would happen if the Yaelar came out victorious? Would the Ssath invasion be halted or would some other option to continue the invasion present itself? He didn’t have time to think about it as his being was, once more, pushed out into space as he flew toward his newest fight.