War Core 2, Chapter 45.

Chapter 45.

“Move! The prey is there for the taking! Feast upon their metal flesh,” Hssim ordered. Of course, they couldn’t eat the prey, but the image of a fresh kill was what Hssim wanted to impart to his war packs. They didn’t need much encouragement, the defeat inflicted upon them by the monkey-like human core still stung. He could appreciate the cunning planning that the human core had done, preparing the perfect ambush that his forces had walked right into.

Anger, rage, fury, those were the emotions that drove the Ssath. Hssim thought himself above such things now. He was no longer a being of flesh and blood, he was mind and machine, but at his core, he was still a Ssath. Rage once again filled him at the sight of his pack being slaughtered, rage that was all too easy to give into. This time he hadn’t resisted, he fell into the blood haze and ignored his thinking mind in favor of the primitive mind that his people relished. These pitiful defenders had struck his troops, the only thing to do was to strike back a thousand times harder.

It was a waste, a foolish waste, he now realized. The last of his orbital bombardments unleashed upon a weak Krixnas foe. From his study of the human foe, Hssim had found a good word to describe what had just happened, a word called overkill. This strike was overkill and his rage had robbed him of the chance to use a strike on several rings of the city, instead of just one weakly defended one. At least he had felt rage, that, and the other true emotions had been harder and harder to feel, locked inside the war core. It was a slow death, a death of his soul as a Ssath, and one that could only be staved off by earning enough reward points to rebuild his body.

That was his goal, to rebuild himself anew, and to use that new body to rule his people. The red feast of blood and flesh awaited only a few more victories. A few more campaigns and he would finally have enough reward points to become a true Ssath once more. Standing in his way were these Krixnas, lowly insects, and hive-minded wastes of flesh. The humans weren’t much better, resembling the primate fossils found in his home world. What ridiculous set of circumstances on this Earth had occurred to make such weak creatures the masters of that world?

Weak, that’s what these foes were, weak, and it was time to end them. He would crush the last of their cores and secure the victory. Give them their accomplishment at the first city ring, after all, he wanted some Krixnas to survive, otherwise, what would his people hunt when they finally conquered Earth and the new homeworld they had foolishly granted to the Krixnas. He was losing himself again, chewing flesh he had not killed yet.

“Cut through the city, and don’t stop, hit the third ring before they can react,” Hssim ordered, feeding power to his avatar, moving it forward one giant step at a time. He would join the battle, his mech alone could turn the tide, Hssim would secure the victory with his tooth and claw. The pack will know that Hssim was supreme, both here, and when he was flesh once more.

“Warmaster, aerial reconnaissance has revealed that some of the prey still live to resist our advance,” one of his underlings said, stating the obvious.

“Of course, they do, a few insects always survive, allocate the closest claws to eradicate them,” Hssim ordered. His avatar wasn’t nearly as fast as the other mechs in his army, so he fell slightly behind the main advance. An honor guard featuring a claw each of infantry and light mechs supported his avatar, each pod operator was chosen from among the best Ssath warriors.

The human core had defeated his first thrust on the city and now the outer ring was abandoned. His troops marched through unopposed and entered the open ground between the first and second ring. A few blasts of poorly aimed fire greeted the charging Ssath infantry. Return fire from his larger mechs pummeled the area the shots were coming from, silencing the beleaguered survivors of the orbital bombardment.

“Automated defenses are still online, though largely ineffective,” one of his claw commanders reported. A few of his units were being tangled up in those horribly annoying mines that the Krixnas seemed to favor. The minefield was supported by a pair of automated defense turrets, which were firing upon the units helplessly trapped by the mines. Hssim was taking casualties, but it was just a sprinkling of losses compared to the carnage the first ring’s assault had inflicted on his army.

“Stop the human monkey artillery, I’m tired of that annoyance,” Hssim ordered as a pair of shells landed near his mech. The humans had spotted him and were throwing round after round at his avatar. So far, his shields had easily handled the blasts, but he didn’t want them to go too low before he found some foes to engage.

“We have nothing to engage them yet, our long-range batteries are unable to engage anything beyond the current ring we are attacking,” one of his commanders replied. Pinging the commander’s location, Hssim saw that he was too far away to be hit by the avatar, the commander was smart enough to remain outside of range when delivering bad news, which meant he was smart and capable enough to continue to lead his assigned forces.

“What about our air power, the fliers need to earn their feed. The GCA may have stopped us from shelling the enemy until we’re attacking their ring directly, but based on the human air mechs attacks earlier, our air mechs should be able to fight where they wish,” Hssim ordered.

Stepping out of the first ring of the city onto the open field between the rings attracted the fire from several Krixnas still scampering in the wreckage. Their tentacle weapons were only passable in melee, but at range, they were pathetic. His interface noted the areas the fire had come from and Hssim activated his various weapons systems to engage. Cannons, machineguns, and mortar fire churned the wreckage, and given the lack of any further attack, had killed off those that had been bold enough to strike at him.

Hssim respected bravery in the face of certain death, but not when it was displayed by creatures such as these Krixnas. Any insect will die for the hive, it takes no level of bravery to do as your body was programmed to do. A Ssath or even these puny humans could feel fear, could even flee when overwhelmed by a superior foe. For a free race to stand and fight in the face of impossible odds, that was worthy of a warrior's respect. Bugs defending a hive were not.

“Sweep the ruins, find and kill the command post. We’ll need to kill off any survivors to claim this ring for our own,” Hssim ordered. His troops were already hard at work, various claws forming up to completely scour the area of its Krixnas infestation. Pockets of resistance popped up here and there, small groups that had gathered for their last stand. Once spotted, one of his heavy mechs would zero in on those pockets of resistance and eliminate them with little difficulty. Hssim found one such pocket, a dozen Krixnas cowering in the ruins of one of their structures. His infantry was getting set to storm the building, having already taken a few casualties when their first attempt had been repulsed.

“I shall deal with these, stand back,” Hssim ordered. The ground shook as he approached, the Ssath core selecting the various weapons systems his avatar supported, toying with the prey, and at the same time, finding the best shot rotation to dig out the defenders. He had a feeling there would be a lot of rooting out remnants of the enemy forces before this campaign was complete.

The main cannon housed over his shoulders fired into the rubble, sparks and shiny bits of metal revealing that at least one Krixnas mech had met its end from the blast. A final pair of defenders scurried out of the rubble and charged the avatar. Hssim waved off his honor guard, he wanted to take care of this personally. One attacker tried to latch onto Hssim’s leg, the tentacles trying desperately to melt through the shields protecting the avatar. It would take a single infantry mech all day to burn through his shield, and most of the night to melt its way through his armor.

A stomp of the other foot took care of the annoyance, and a quick bite shredded the other. Hssim roared in frustration. He had made a kill, but the red feast of victory had been denied him once again. Cursing his metal body, Hssim took out his frustration by using his saw-like teeth to grind the Krixnas into a pile of junk. Normally, he would have his workers salvage the remains of both friend and foe, but the GCA had forbidden them for his army during the campaign.

“Where is the Krixnas core!” Hssim roared.

“Warmaster, It was just sighted at the edge of the city, it looks like they were trying to hide it by blending it in with other factory buildings,” one of his advisors replied.

“Send whatever you need to take it out, a building is an unworthy challenge for my avatar,” Hssim ordered. He wanted to go toe to toe with a powerful foe, to test himself against worthy prey, but he had yet to find one during this campaign, and his chances of doing so were running out.

Destroying the command did indeed kill the core. Without a core to connect them to their combat pods, the surviving Krixnas in the second ring defaulted to their AI programming, blindly charging toward the nearest foe. Hssim had hoped this would be the case, it made mopping up the remnants so much easier. In record time, he received the victory over this foe.

Congratulations, you have conquered the second ring of the Krixnas capital. This victory was completed in under five minutes, granting you a bonus reward. Please choose one of the following.

1. Immediate unlock of the next ring.

2. Additional replacement units.

Hssim had more than enough forces to defeat these opponents, what he didn’t have was the patience to wait for the attack on the next ring to be authorized. The GCA gave the enemy a five-minute reprieve if Hssim was victorious, and a ten-minute reprieve if his attack was pushed back. This time, he would press directly into the third ring where a worthy opponent might await him among the human defenders lurking there.

Ring 3 of the Krixnas capital city may now be engaged at your leisure.

Another pair of artillery shells landed, the twin blasts bringing his outer shield dangerously close to collapse. A second pair landed immediately after, these were a bit off, but the splash damage was enough to finish the job the first pair had started. With a loud pop, the exterior shield collapsed, and a cooldown timer began, indicating that it would take some time before the shield could be used once more. Hssim could use one of his abilities to immediately recharge the shield, but it would be a waste and he might need to save his resources if he found a more difficult foe. Two additional shields were protecting his avatar, so the danger was limited.

“Why are those cannons still firing? I ordered our air mechs to hunt them down and destroy them!” Hssim roared.

“Warmaster, the enemy air mechs have met our sky killers in combat, and our pilots are having a difficult time fighting through,” a commander advised.

“Bah, these air mech operators are weak, order them to redouble their efforts. For the rest of us, let our artillery soften up the next ring, then press the attack. Keep the momentum going and let’s roll up the last of these defenders one ring after the other,” Hssim ordered.

Hssim felt the flyers of his race were barely true Ssath. They struck from above on unsuspecting victims, rarely engaging directly in honorable combat. With the numbers advantage he had in the air, no foe should be able to withstand his mechs, but again and again, during this campaign, the air force had let him down. When the campaign was over, he was going to have to request that the current command be killed and consumed by his peers, perhaps that will light a fire under their wings and push them toward more aggression.

“Bring the artillery up, use it to support our advance. Now, get everyone moving and attack the human monkeys,” Hssim ordered. His forces obeyed and pushed out from the ruins of the second ring. Fire began to lance into his troops, and losses mounted. This wasn’t an unorganized foe that had been softened up by an orbital bombardment, no, these were dug in forces and if Hssim had learned anything over the course of this campaign, it was that humans are even more trouble to dig out of their holes than the Krixnas insects were.

A ripple of explosions tore into the first buildings hiding the human defenders. The ponderous prey mechs that hauled Hssim’s artillery around had finally made it into range. It amazed Hssim, that the large creatures still existed on their homeworld. Almost hunted to extinction, the civilized tribes of early Ssath had found the large sauropods useful for more than just meat. Now, they were almost like pets, and having them pilot the various support mechs into combat had proven useful to him over decades of battle he had experienced. If he could get them to become more aggressive, that would help, but no amount of goading or pain could make the behemoths what they were not, the artillery were prey, but they were useful prey, so his people allowed them to live.

Hssim left the rubble of the second ring, his avatar’s weapons firing on automatic mode as he strode toward the growing battle. Resistance had stiffened and his troops were having a difficult time breaching the initial defensive points. The artillery had shifted and joined with some smaller mortar-sized weapons to pound any attempt at a push. His artillery responded, but the enemy was dug in deep and while he had to be inflicting casualties, they were much fewer than Hssim’s forces were suffering. This entire stage of the campaign had been costly. Many of his sub-commanders had lost the fights assigned to them, granting the enemy succor with rewards they should have never earned.

From what he could tell, the enemy cores were still greatly outnumbered by his army, but that advantage was being chipped away at with each well-placed shot. He had to give the humans credit for that, they were horrible at fighting up close like a true warrior, but they were deadly at a distance. A few light weapons sparked against his shield, some rifle fire, and an automated turret of some type opened up on his avatar as it crossed the halfway point between the second and third ring of the city. There was no cover here, but his armor and shields could withstand the damage for some time. The honor guard around him wasn’t quite as lucky, the light mechs and infantry taking several, hard to replace losses as they crossed the killing ground. These were his best troops, mechs piloted by Ssath selected from the best hatchings and trained to perfection.

“Warmaster, the human core’s avatar has been spotted nearby, I’ll link the location on your interface,” one of his scouts advised.

“Take it down, direct our forces there. Kill the avatar and we can end the resistance at this ring with little effort,” Hssim ordered.

“We are trying, but the avatar is proving…formidable,” the scout reluctantly said.

“I will handle this myself then, have our forces surround the avatar, don’t let it escape,” Hssim ordered, shifting his avatar onto a direct intercept course for the problematic human. He entered the third ring, using one of the wider roadways to travel down. His oversized avatar was more than capable of smashing its way through the flimsy Krixnas structures, but that took time, and often depleted the shields if the collapsing rubble landed the wrong way.

“Movement in the buildings! Protect the Warmaster!” One of the infantry mechs of his honor guard called out. Enemy units appeared in the windows of the buildings around them, his troops and Hssim’s automated weapons already showering them with fire. Bright flashes appeared along with the familiar pop and hiss of anti-armor missiles. Over a dozen lanced in, slamming into his shields. Hssim felt the pressure as the still not completely restored exterior shield was depleted again and the second shield dropped to 55%.

The honor guard charged into the buildings, ready to flush out and destroy the enemy ambushers. Supporting light mechs covered his infantry, their operators picking off any hostile units that showed themselves in the upper floor openings. Instead of fleeing in fear, as all prey did, these humans instead charged from the building, right into the teeth and claws of his honor guard. Blades of plasma-enhanced weapons met his troops as the melee began.

It should have been over in seconds, human infantry can’t stand against the Ssath, even when they had a numerical advantage like that the ambushers held. Instead of being cut down, or breaking and running, these humans weren’t dying and in fact, were cutting into his forces at an alarming rate. Two dozen humans attacked the claw of light mechs, swarming them to slash and thrust their glowing blades into the thin armor of their opponent's. One of the infantry mechs that had gone to flush out the humans hiding inside the building stumbled out, pursued by another dozen human infantry.

Hssim had seen enough. Powering up his main battery, he unleashed the twin cannons that were mounted over his shoulder into the swarming humans. The shells completely obliterated the human attack, most of their forces simply ceasing to exist in the face of the firepower at Hssim’s disposal. More attackers erupted from the building and Hssim’s secondary weapons went into action. Light caliber cannons and a half dozen machineguns chewed away at the foe. Only a few of the human mechs survived long enough to hack away at his shields with their melee weapons. Hssim lived for this, his only regret was that his avatar was too large and unwieldy in this type of fight.

A human mech was snatched up and crushed in a claw, while the other claw swept up two victims that he hurled into the avatar’s gaping maw. Teeth spun up, the sharp cutting edges shredding the human mechs instantly. A stomp of his feet crushed more of the attackers and a final pair of shots from the main guns finished off the last of the ambushers. Smoke rose around him as the remains of friend and foe glowed and burned with the last remnants of plasma fire. His forces had killed forty or fifty of the human mechs in this ambush force, and his shields had still not been breached.

The quiet gave him an uneasy feeling, in addition to the enemy, his entire honor guard had been destroyed by not only the enemy blades but also the friendly fire Hssim had rained down upon them. They existed to serve, and if their death was convenient, so be it. No, the unease he felt was from being alone. Ssath were predators, but they were pack hunters. Any pack hunter knows that hunting alone was foolish, and could lead to the predator becoming prey. In the confines of the narrow city streets, even further attacks by infantry could pose a problem. On his interface, Hssim pulled up the nearest units, a heavy mech supporting several claws of infantry as they assaulted an enemy strongpoint.

“Bring your units to my location,” Hssim ordered.

“Yes, Warmaster, but that will allow the human mechs we had trapped to reinforce other positions,” the commander of that attack warned.

“What do I care about a few more human mechs scurrying away in fear, we’re going to hunt their avatar, and I need you to support my attack,” Hssim responded. This commander was a successful one, a true Ssath that had commanded units in many battles for him, but if he disputed his orders one more time, Hssim was going to have him killed and his hide preserved and mounted on the side of his war core.

“We obey, and are on our way,” the commander replied. Hssim also pulled in additional infantry that was supporting another attack, along with a claw of medium mechs. Once they all arrived, he would have what he needed to punch through the defense and hunt down the avatar.

“Move quickly!” Hssim demanded. While he waited, he pulled up the channel for his air commander, a Ssath named Zibkrass.

“Yes my leader, how may I serve?” Zibkrass replied to the hail.

“You can serve by performing your duty! Your bombers are nowhere to be seen and while the army is pushing the enemy back, you have done nothing to support us,” Hssim growled.

“Warmaster, I am sweeping the human air mechs from the sky, once they are destroyed, the bombers can be unleashed on the foe,” Zibkrass replied.

“No! Your bombers will go in now, and if there are any further delays, you will answer for them with your life. The Ssath will be victorious, and you will do your part!” Hssim demanded.

“As you command, Warmaster Hssim. I will order the attack now, and we will destroy the enemy, but I fear we will no longer have an air force when the battle for this ring is done,” Zibkrass whined. Hssim cut the feed, making a note to have the troublesome commander eliminated and his flesh given to the family of the Ssath that died in this campaign.

The other units he had called in for support were still on their way, having trouble disengaging from the foe. With the second ring destroyed, he had thought that taking the third would be easy, but the delays were mounting, and his early advantage was being thrown away by timid and incompetent commanders. At least the human avatar was still under observation, killing it would do much to brighten his mood. Hssim wished he could still salivate, that was one of the best parts, watching the prey form afar, and salivating at the anticipated feast that followed the kill. The human avatar was his to take, one swift kill and he would be another step toward final victory in this campaign.