War Core 2, Chapter 37.

Chapter 37.

“Stay at extreme range, pick them off,” Hugh ordered to his troops. The Ssath infantry had been forming up to attack Stephan and wasn’t expecting a fresh army to appear at their rear. Aggression kicked in and the Ssath at the rear of the formation turned to charge at Hugh’s forces. The canyon floor wasn’t very wide, but Hugh was able to place a platoon of infantry across it, covered by the remaining main battle mech and his avatar. The two anti-air mechs were positioned further back, their twin 40mm guns swung down to the direct fire position. With most of his main battle destroyed in the previous fight, Hugh needed as much ranged firepower as he could get.

The light mechs were placed on the flanks of his force, hunkered down in stealth mode. It was only a matter of time before the Ssath tried to flank him through the tunnels and he wanted his M24’s to give the enemy a deadly surprise when they showed up. A loud shriek was heard overhead, and Hugh could see that Stephan’s three surviving air mechs were diving toward the enemy. Bombs detached and the air mechs climbed back into the sky.

“Sir, those look like World War 2 Stuka dive bombers, complete with dive sirens to terrify the enemy,” Tremaine called out.

“Well, get a load of all of Stephan’s mechs, they’re even more like old war tanks than our units are,” Cartwright added. Hugh took a closer look at the other human core’s units. It was true, the German mechs were right out of a World War 2 movie, only instead of treads, they walked on metal mech legs and fired plasma instead of steel.

“We can compare designs later, for now, keep cutting down those Ssath,” Hugh ordered. He was glad to see the men start up the banter again, but there was still a battle to fight. Things were going well for them; his avatar alone was pouring so much fire into the canyon that the Ssath counterattack was being easily swept back. Only a few made it far enough to get into rifle range and Brubaker’s marines finished the last of them off without a single loss. Of the hundred and fifty or so Ssath on this side of the canyon, most were still focused on assaulting Stephan’s forces, but Hugh had already taken out a third of their number.

“Push, we have the advantage, let’s get as many easy kills as we can,” Hugh said. Keeping their lines tight, the formation of mechs moved forward at the pace of walking infantry mech. More Ssath came into range every few steps, the main battle mech and Hugh’s avatar taking care of them long before they could react.

Stephan’s avatar joined the fight in the west, and the heavy mech his avatar was based on was a monster. The mech walked on six legs and featured an oversized rectangular turret with a massive main gun. It fired once, the plasma round engulfing multiple Ssath with the shot. A half-second later, the coaxial weapon fired, taking out more of the attacking enemy mechs. A single light machinegun chattered away at the nearest targets, its impressive accuracy dealing with any infantry trying to close in. As soon as the avatar made its appearance, the bulk of the Ssath infantry began to target it with their shoulder-mounted rifles. A shield was shrugging off the strikes, but Hugh knew that it would eventually fail.

Hugh picked up the pace of his advance, Stephan was being hard-pressed and if Hugh’s forces could breakthrough from the east, the freed-up German mechs, along with his forces, could easily overwhelm the remaining enemy. The Ssath had figured they were launching a final attack from two directions that would overwhelm the beleaguered human and Krixnas core. Instead of an easy victory, the Ssath forces were being defeated in detail.

“Contact from the tunnels, engaging,” Cartwright called out. Hugh saw small bands of enemy infantry exiting the tunnels behind his troops. There weren’t that many, but even three or four squads slamming into his army from behind would be disastrous.

Instead of surprising an enemy and attacking the unprepared rear of his forces, the Ssath instead found themselves the victims of a surprise attack. Hugh’s light mechs paused for just a moment, letting all the Ssath exit the tunnel before opening fire. A wall of fire tore into the Ssath ambushers, the enemy mechs falling in droves. The surviving Ssath operators were confused at the appearance of light mechs all around them, wasting precious seconds as they decided on which target to attack. Those few seconds were all that was needed for the light mechs to knock out most of the Ssath. While Hugh only had seven light mechs, the newly upgraded main guns, each supported by a pair of machineguns proved more than up to the task.

“Well done, Cartwright, it looks like the enemy’s starting to break. Keep the rear screened in case these jokers try that trick again,” Hugh ordered. The Ssath between him and the Germans were starting to break, something he hadn’t seen before. More and more of the infantry were fleeing into the tunnels, and given the haphazard nature of their escape, Hugh didn’t think they were going for some kind of fancy maneuver. Just in case, his light mechs would continue to screen the rear of his main force while some of the infantry were tasked with watching the flanks for any unexpected attack.

The last few enemy holdouts made one more charge toward the German lines, the beleaguered defenders, now supported by the long-range weapons from Hugh’s avatar and the main battle mech, were able to hold them off until the forces of the two human cores could meet up. Hugh’s light mechs, supported by the flak mechs and a squad of German and American infantry mechs, held the line to the east while the rest of their combined forces pushed through the mining city to reinforce Stephan.

Just over a hundred Ssath mechs were still assaulting the western German positions. Whoever the Ssath commander was, he was at least smart enough to realize this was a losing proposition, opting to pull back and flee the canyon. Fire chased the enemy all the way, cutting down another twenty or thirty before they were forced to call off the pursuit. It looked like the fight was over, but they hadn’t received a victory prompt yet. All three cores sent infantry into the mines, eventually finding a few Ssath holdouts that went down hard, causing more casualties among the allied forces before the victory prompt finally appeared.

Congratulations on your victory, you have completed the following objectives.

1. You have successfully defended the Krixnas mining facility from the Ssath attack. Additional resources are now available for your next battle. Upgrade points awarded, 1.

Bonus objective completed: At least 50% of your forces must survive the battle. Upgrade points awarded, 1.

Bonus objective completed: At least 75% of your forces must survive the battle. Upgrade points awarded, 1.

2. All three cores have survived the battle. Universal upgrade points awarded, 1.

Bonus objective completed: You have caused a Ssath force to break and flee from the battle. Universal upgrade points awarded, 1.

The final stage of the battle for the Krixnas homeworld will begin soon. Air transportation will arrive to ferry your surviving forces to the next rally point where you will rejoin the other human cores and your Krixnas allies.

“Hugh, thank you for coming to our aid,” Stephan said.

“You’re welcome, though, I feel it was more the work of the GCA routing me through here than any brilliant planning on my part,” Hugh replied.

“Nevertheless, your arrival was welcome and timely. It appears we’ve got a bit of a wait, have you heard from any of the other cores?” Stephan asked.

“Yes, Jiro was with me at the last battle. The Ssath core’s avatar was there, along with an army that even all three of our cores couldn’t fight. We lost the Krixnas core, the city was his home, and he chose to stay and try to defend his people,” Hugh shared.

“The Krixnas I’ve had to deal with so far have been strange and difficult to work with. That being said, I don’t wish for innocent civilians to suffer, I saw too much of that back before I was a core. Are there any insights that you’ve gleaned from your combat with these Ssath?” Stephan asked. It was a good question; they should be sharing anything that could help.

“Nothing more than you probably already are aware of, these dino’s are tough and extremely aggressive. Sometimes, you can use that aggression against them, but once you close into melee, they’re almost unbeatable. As aggressive as they are, they are also smart, using combined arms tactics, and they even did an airborne assault against us in the last battle,” Hugh said.

“They were quick to adapt here. At first, we were doing well, even without the Krixnas coordinating with us, but as the battle wore on, they started to use the tunnels against us. The Ssath commander had our new Krixnas core running in circles and my forces were hard-pressed just to keep them from overrunning the mining facility. At first, I thought the Ssath ranged weapons might be subpar, but then some of their infantry started picking off my Panzergrenadiers when the fight stalemated. We face a determined and deadly enemy, but that is something my soldiers have all dealt with before,” Stephan said.

“I see you went with the heavy mech for your avatar, how do you like it?” Hugh asked.

“It is good, we never got to use the real-world version of these back in my day, but, somehow, the GCA dredged up the design up for my avatar. I’ve fought battles with tier ten heavy mechs and have never had a monster like this to use in the fight. Take a look,” Stephan said, pushing over his avatar info for Hugh to look at. Hugh returned the favor and sent the stats on his avatar over to Stephan.

Mechakampfwagen VIII, Maus. This prototype super-heavy mech has been created to function as your avatar. A superheavy mech, the Maus’ armor and weapons systems are powerful, but their weight does have an impact on the avatar’s speed and agility. The mech is armed with a powerful 128mm main gun with a 75mm cannon mounted coaxially. A single 7.92mm light machinegun is placed in the front hull. Given its limited ability to defend at close range, the Maus should be used to engage the enemy from extreme range.  A shield generator with an optional shield overdrive capability has been equipped for this unit, further enhancing its survivability. Additional upgrades to all systems will become available at higher tiers.

“That’s impressive, and it almost makes me regret going with the main battle mech route, but I enjoy the extra flexibility and the new mechs have worked very well so far,” Hugh added.

“I see, this is the first I’ve heard of a main battle mech class, I don’t think the other American cores have it. Given the differences in my units compared to the other German cores, I shouldn’t be surprised,” Stephan said.

“You guys did very well despite being outnumbered in this fight, have you worked with your commanders and combat pod operators very long? We’ve started rotating various units through, but most of my commanders have been with me from the start,” Hugh asked, curious about how other countries and their cores handled the combat pod rotation. The few times that he had interacted with the other cores, there was usually something more pressing that would prevent them from digging too deep into who their combat pod operators and commanders were.

“Yes, I have a core group of commanders from the Bundeshwehr, but for this battle, I have a very different group operating as commanders, and combat pod operators. They are experienced warriors, but new to this type of technology. They’ve not had any problems so far,” Stephan said. Any further questions were put on hold as a flight of aircraft was spotted incoming. It was more of the strange dragonfly transports; their rides were here.

The Krixnas core they were calling Mike was quiet this whole time, and neither of the human cores felt the need to goad him into a conversation. The first transports turned out to be for the Krixnas, the core’s presence was somehow downloaded into the transport that would take him to his next fight. The surviving Krixnas infantry mechs also boarded, their numbers only requiring a pair of transports.

Stephan left next, his forces queueing up and marching onto the transports like they were conducting an exercise on the parade grounds. The avatar and heavy mechs gave the transports a difficult time, but they did fit, as long as they didn’t try to load more than one in each transport. Once the last of the German mechs were on their way, it was Hugh’s turn. His main battle mechs didn’t take up quite the room that Stephan’s heavies did, but his forces did have to shove in tight to fit in the remaining transports.

The transport with this avatar lifted off, Hugh watching as they followed the other transports. Whatever the next battle was going to be, it looked like they were all going there together.