War Core, Chapter 32.

Chapter 32.

“Sir, I’ve found an approach path that should be good. The ambush point only has a small hill for cover, but if you get a good first volley in, that should turn things in your favor. The only problem is that these guys are moving kind of erratic, and I can’t guarantee they’ll pass through the ambush point,” Tremaine advised.

“Major Hugh Logan, I believe my forces can be of assistance. I have more infantry under construction so I can grant each of your cores a squad to act as bait for the enemy. These Ssath are predators and if they see prey fleeing, they will undoubtedly pursue. My infantry will let themselves be seen, then flee past your ambush point,” David offered.

“That’s a good idea, I’ll link your squad with Tremaine’s air mechs so he can guide them into position,” Hugh replied. His ambush team was just now leaving the city and following the navigation path that the air mechs were highlighting, the path constantly shifting every time the Ssath changed direction.

It was a bit touch and go on their approach, if the Ssath spotted them early, their advantage would be gone and a bloody slugfest that would drain his forces would ensue. As they neared the low hill designated as their ambush point, Hugh spread out his forces, the infantry backed up by the light and medium mechs. The infantry would take on their counterparts, while his M3’s and M4’s would work on the enemy light mechs before joining in the slaughter of the infantry. Hugh chose the new mystery mech as his target. It was large enough to hold heavy armor or perhaps even a shield unit, and his high velocity 76mm gun was the best option to crack it open.

A quick check to see that Jiro was also getting into position was all the attention that Hugh could spare. For this fight, he would need to be on his toes and there was finally no need to get distracted by the big picture. Linking into the air mech’s feed, Hugh could see David’s infantry scuttle past the ambush point, making their way toward the Ssath forces that were closing in. He was in position, and it was up to his ally to come through as the bait. Knowing a fight is about to kick-off and having to wait for it was never an easy thing.

“They have spotted my units, it is almost time, Major Hugh Logan,” David advised. The Krixnas infantry played their part well, firing a few inaccurate face tentacle beams at the Ssath before turning to run as the enemy force came into view. As they predicted, the Ssath gave chase, abandoning their erratic path to home in on the retreating prey in front of them.

Tense seconds passed as the Krixnas force headed back toward the ambush point. Fire from the heavier weapons on the Ssath light mechs chased them, scoring a hit on first one, then a second Krixnas unit. Claiming a kill seemed to drive the Ssath into more of a frenzy, their combat pod operators somehow boosting the speed of their mechs, giving Hugh concerns that the Krixnas would be overtaken before they could reach Hugh’s ambush. His allies began to fall as the lead Ssath infantry closed the distance and their ranged weapons became more accurate.

“Ten seconds, get ready,” Hugh called out as the surviving Krixnas raced past the hill his units were hidden behind. Only four of David’s infantry were still functional, the others were destroyed save for one badly damaged unit that was only able to move at a crawl, drawing the Ssath infantry like flies to honey. The enemy was entering the kill zone, but the extra boost of speed from the infantry and pushed them ahead of the heavier Ssath mechs. If he sprung the ambush now, he could bag the infantry, but that would give the heavier mechs enough warning to avoid the ambush.

David solved that problem for him as the surviving Krixnas turned and charged directly at the Ssath. The enemy infantry paused, shocked that their prey would turn and fight instead of fleeing in terror. Their slight hesitation allowed the rest of the enemy force to close in. The Krixnas weren’t going to last long, it was now or never. The mystery mech was lagging behind the others, but the rest were in the bag.

“Advance and engage,” Hugh ordered as he walked his avatar over the crest of the hill. The main gun was manually targeted at the distant mystery mech, which was out of the kill pocket, but still within range of the powerful gun. His fifty-caliber weapon was targeted at the nearest enemy light mech, while the hull-mounted thirty caliber was set to automatically engage the nearest enemy infantry units within effective range.

Plasma weapons cracked and sizzled as the first volleys reached down from the crest of the hill and into the massed Ssath forces. The cannons on his medium and light mechs slammed in, taking down three of the enemy light mechs with their first shots, and damaging the final one. Rifle fire from his infantry, along with secondary machineguns from the other mechs tore into the Ssath infantry, dropping mech after mech. The Ssath commander must have been shocked to find that instead of some easy prey, his forces were instead sitting in the kill pocket of an ambush.

The smart thing to do would be to assault your way out of the kill zone, and that’s what the enemy did. Unfortunately for the Ssath, Hugh’s forces held the high ground, and before the enemy could even begin to close the distance, his forces had been cut down to the point they no longer had the firepower necessary to break through Hugh’s units. The main ambush was well in hand, but that mystery mech looked like it was going to be a problem.

Like Hugh had feared, the first round of his avatar’s main gun slammed into a shield on the mystery mech. The round collapsed the shield, but it did sap enough of the round’s force to prevent it from penetrating the heavily armored hull of the Ssath mech. The box on the back of the enemy mech opened, and Hugh saw several small tubes mounted inside. Plasma flame belched from the tubes as they began to fire one after the other, hurling small missiles toward Hugh’s ambush team.

The second round from his 76mm gun slammed into the enemy, this time, without a shield to slow it down. A loud clang was heard as the round penetrated the exterior armor before detonating the plasma explosive inside. The enemy mech staggered, but before it could right itself, the unfired missiles began to detonate, tearing the mechanical sauropod to shreds. Of the twenty or so tubes the mech had carried, most had fired, and the missiles were even now arcing toward Hugh’s troops.

“Incoming, disperse!” Hugh shouted over comms, taking his own advice and pushing his avatar over hill and toward the remaining enemy units. Enemy fire began to ping off his shield as the sight of his avatar drew most the attention of any Ssath in sight of him. Explosions erupted around his forces as the missiles slammed home. The warheads weren’t especially powerful, but they did throw plasma fire out in all directions to damage anything they touched.

Hugh’s interface showed ten of his infantry go offline and a dozen other mechs were flashing damage notifications. The volley had hurt, but Hugh’s attack had stopped it from being overwhelming. It wasn’t enough to turn the tide in favor of the Ssath, and with Hugh’s main gun and coaxially mounted machinegun joining the fight, the enemy had more than they could handle. The surviving infantry that Jiro had given him charged to meet the remaining Ssath, Hugh releasing his attached Krixnas light mechs to support them in melee while the rest of them continued to pick off targets as fast as they could.

The final Ssath survivors made a charge at Hugh’s mech, seeking to take down the human leadership before they were brought down by the storm of fire directed at them. Without a building fort he enemy to leap off of, Hugh was in control of the encounter. His avatar wasn’t as fast as the enemy, but he still pushed into reverse, keeping the Ssath out of melee range for as long as he was able. The main gun fired, the blast taking out the two nearest Ssath, while the trio of machineguns saw to the rest. With a final burst from the coax, the last Ssath fell, and the battlefield became strangely quiet once more as a system prompt appeared.

Congratulations! You have defeated the initial Ssath airborne assault and have turned back a reconnaissance in force. A delay has been imposed on the main force of your opponent and you will now be granted a chance to upgrade and replenish your forces. You have received the following rewards.

1. You have successfully defended the Krixnas city from an airborne assault. Upgrade points awarded, 1.

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

Bonus objective failed: All Krixnas civilians must survive the battle.

Bonus objective failed: Destroy all Ssath air units.

2. You have destroyed a Ssath reconnaissance in force. Upgrade points awarded, 1.

3. All three cores involved in the battle have survived. Universal upgrade awarded, 1. Avatar upgrades awarded, 1.

The next stage of the battle for control of the city will begin shortly. Turn back the Ssath main assault and assist in the civilian evacuation to earn more rewards.

“I assume based on the system update I just received, that you’ve taken care of your Ssath?” Hugh asked Jiro, looking to see the Japanese core’s remaining forces were limping their way back to the city.

“Yes, though we got hammered pretty good by those missile barrage mechs. I was expecting the possibility of some kind of artillery unit, but didn’t think it would be anything like that,” Jiro admitted.

“Yeah, sorry you had to face two of those, I would have told you to take more forces if I thought it was a possibility. I see our factory is active again, do you want to run through upgrades and replacements first? I can hold the line until you’re ready, but it looks like we’re going to get at least a small reprieve,” Hugh said.

“That will work, my surviving units are pretty banged up, so they’re not going to be of much use until we get them repaired and upgraded,” Jiro replied.

“Sounds like a plan, let me know what the avatar upgrade and the universal upgrade things are once you find out,” Hugh asked, curious as he hadn’t seen those two options yet in this campaign.

“Will do, how about you, David, did you get upgrades?” Jiro asked.

“Yes, I have received an upgrade to my command post, a modest quantity of resources, a new defensive structure, and upgrades to my units. I shall build replacements for my losses then gather the battlefield salvage. Perhaps I can rebuild some of your units to further increase our numbers,” David replied.

“That would be nice, the notification said we would receive replacements when we go through the upgrade process, but anything you can add to the mix would be greatly appreciated,” Hugh said.

Hugh assigned his damaged units to defend the outer ring, leaving the ones that hadn’t participated in the ambush to patrol the other rings and protect David’s command post. David did offer to repair his damaged units, but Hugh declined. The threat would be minimal since the GCA seemed to like giving them time to rebuild between fights and he would rather the Krixnas core not waste resources on repairs when his units would be fixed for free when they went through the factory for their upgrades. The order of battle was looking pretty lean for all of them, and Hugh could only hope that their replacements would be more substantial this time.

Human war core Hugh Logan, order of battle:

1. Infantry mechs (73).

2. Light mechs (4).

3. Medium mechs (5).

4. Air mechs (4).

Human war core Jiro Masaki, order of battle:

1. Infantry mechs (67).

2. Light mechs (4).

3. Air mechs (1).

Krixnas war core designated David, order of battle.

1. Infantry mechs (50).

2. Light mechs (3).

While his units took up position, Hugh looked in on the evacuation progress, as he feared, it was still going way too slow for comfort. The only good news on that front was that the civilian casualties had been very low. Of course, one percent of the population of a modest-sized city could mean a tragically large number of deaths. The thought further reinforced that they needed to hold the enemy here, Hugh didn’t want to think about this happening to Earth.

Evacuation status.

Ring 1: 100%.

Ring 2: 58%.

Ring 3: 20%.

Ring 4: 20%.

Civilian casualties 1%.

“Hey, Hugh, it looks like the upgrades are a bit better than I expected. The universal upgrade not only bumps our units up an extra tier but also lets you pick one upgrade for each unit type you have. That avatar upgrade is one specifically for your avatar without using up a normal upgrade point. The only downside is we can’t buy another tier upgrade with our standard upgrade points, but since we got the normal upgrade for winning the fight and the bump from the universal upgrade, our units are going to be sitting pretty at tier seven,” Jiro advised.

“I won’t complain about that, how about replacements?” Hugh asked. It looked like the GCA was being generous on the upgrades, but that also kind of scared him. The GCA wasn’t generous unless there was a reason, and that reason was likely bad news for the allies.

“Replacements are better than the last batch, but it’s not going to bring you to full strength,” Jiro advised. That was about what he figured, but any extra mech he could get his hands on would be a welcome addition. Hugh had the feeling he would need every mech he could get once the enemy main force finally arrived.