War Core 2, Chapter 30.

Chapter 30.

The drop pod slammed into the ground just outside of David’s command post. This time, it didn’t crush any enemies, but its appearance did seem to startle the attacking Ssath, drawing their attention for a crucial moment that the Krixnas took advantage of. When the panels blew out of the side of the drop pod, a swarm of Krixnas infantry mechs emerged. Hugh had hoped for better units, but the Drop Beacon of the Vanquished only had a small chance for upgraded troops and it didn’t look like had rolled a crit with this one.

With just over twenty AI-controlled infantry mechs inside, the drop pod gave David some breathing room, the Krixnas core threw the AI units at the attacking Ssath, buying his other units time to reorganize a defensive line around his command post. Both the attached unit M4’s were still in the fight, their main guns picking off Ssath as the drop pod forces held them back. The battle at the command post paused for a moment, the Ssath were attacking in waves as the small groups they had gathered picked their way through the center of the city, the terrain and their scattered landing sites preventing them from appearing in a single overwhelming attack force.

“Heads up, sir!” One of the light mech operators screening Hugh’s avatar called out. The warning came too late and his mech lurched backward as two Ssath leaped from the top of a nearby building to land on him. His fifty caliber mounted at the top of the turret was torn free by one of the Ssath, while the other attacker bounced off the forward-facing shield to drop at Hugh’s feet.

The shield had already been dinged a few times by incoming fire and impact from the Ssath hitting it caused the shield to finally overload and fizzle out. Weak though it may have been, it at least prevented one of the Ssath from tearing into his mech. A burst from the hull-mounted machinegun took care of the Ssath on the ground, but the one attached to his turret was tearing through his armor at a terrifying rate. Small arms fire pinged into the Ssath, damaging it, but the rate of fire was slow as his men were worried about catching Hugh in the crossfire.

“Shoot it off of me, don’t hold back!” Hugh shouted over comms. The fire increased some stray shots hitting him, but the pain from them was negligible compared to the damage the Ssath was inflicting, his chainsaw teeth were finally tearing through the turret armor and digging deep into Hugh’s avatar. Two of Jiro’s infantry leaped aboard his avatar to help, one was shot down by the shoulder-mounted Ssath rifle, but the other was clear to swing his sword. The plasma-enhanced blade dug deep into the Ssath, causing it to cease its grinding bite and deal with its attacker. Before it could take a bite out of Jiro’s infantry mech, the incoming fire finally hit something critical and the Ssath fell from Hugh’s avatar.

“Are you okay, sir?” Hugh heard Brubaker call out, but the pain was overwhelming him, preventing Hugh from focusing on anything.

“I think Hugh’s out of the fight for a while. Keep pushing toward the command post, but leave a strong guard on his avatar,” Jiro ordered, seeing Hugh’s situation, and taking control of their forces. Hugh knew there was an automated self-repair function on his avatar, but the pain continued as it began its slow repair process.

Damage assessment:

Fifty caliber machinegun mount destroyed.

The shield is discharged and projector damage is preventing it from recharging.

Automated targeting is offline.

The pain response feature is disrupting core efficency.

Avatar functionality, 44%.

The percentage ticked up slowly and Hugh watched as the components inside the turret began to regrow. In the back of his mind, Hugh was curious to see what was happening to repair the damage, was it some form of nanobot repair, or some other GCA wizardry at work, but his mind was too disrupted by the pain. The sounds of combat were heard around his core and once, incoming rounds slammed into the hull of his avatar, failing to burn through its tough armor, but deducting another percentage point from his functionality.

His mind cleared a bit as each component inside of his avatar was repaired. This improvement was reflected in the pain response feature percentage. Each time it ticked down; a fragment of the agony receded. The pain was still overwhelming but getting better by the minute. Something that was damaged inside the turret must have been critical, and when the repairs on it were completed, his mind cleared, the pain was still there, but he found he could focus and function once more.

Damage assessment:

Fifty caliber machinegun mount destroyed.

The shield is discharged and projector damage is preventing it from recharging.

Avatar functionality, 56%.

“How long was I out?” Hugh asked as he looked around. His avatar was collapsed against the side of a building, a pair of light mechs standing guard over him while at least two squads of infantry formed a perimeter. Damaged and destroyed mechs, both his and Ssath units, were scattered around the roadway, testament to the brutal battle that had gone on around him while he was out. With a groan from the battered and abused frame, his avatar stood, weapons hunting for any hostiles now that his targeting systems were back online.

“You’ve been out for about ten minutes sir, you gave us a scare,” Brubaker told him.

“Let me get a look at the battlefield,” Hugh replied, trusting his soldiers and the automated weapons systems in his avatar to keep any immediate threats at bay.

Jiro’s forces had made it to the command post, and with their numbers added to David’s they were holding the enemy back. While most of his forces were defending the command post, Jiro was still back in the area between the third and fourth ring, groups of Ssath battling the small escort force he had gathered to defend his avatar. Just like with Hugh, the Ssath were trying their best to take Jiro out of the fight. One arm appeared to hang limp off Jiro’s side, but the avatar had no trouble wielding its naginata in one hand. The cannon over one shoulder was out of commission, the barrel bent at a ninety-degree angle, but the machinegun was still ripping out bursts of fire at the approaching Ssath.

With a dozen infantry and a medium mech to assist him, Jiro had a good chance at defeating the small groups of Ssath that were trickling in to attack him. Hugh’s troops hadn’t made it to the command post yet, most of the Ssath had dropped in their sector of the battlefield and they had a tougher time fighting their way through. His numbers were down drastically, Hugh taking a moment to review them before deciding on his next moves.

1. Infantry mechs (88).

2. Light mechs (7).

3. Medium mechs (6).

4. Air mechs (2).

“Anyone have an accurate count on how many Ssath are left?” Hugh asked. A large group of them were pressing the command post defenders, but several smaller pockets were fighting to either slow down Hugh’s forces, or more likely, looking for a chance to take down an avatar. If the enemy had just focused on taking out the command post, the battle would have already been lost, but their desire to take out a human avatar combined with the scattered nature of their drop gave the defenders a chance.

“I estimate they have around a hundred a fifty mechs, but like you found out, some are hiding and waiting for the chance at taking down an avatar,” Jiro replied.

“Yeah, they did a number on me, that’s for sure. I’m not sure how they climbed up on the roof of a building without collapsing the place but keep an eye out for them trying that trick again,” Hugh said.

“Sir, I think some of the Ssath airborne landed near the building they were standing on, collapsing it and creating a ramp for them to walk up. They must have timed it perfectly since that roof wasn’t going to hold their weight very long,” One of the sergeants commanding the nearest infantry squad added.

“I’ll keep pushing toward the command post, if the sight of our avatars drives them crazy, use that to draw off the pressure on David,” Hugh advised.

“Roger that, Hugh, just don’t overdo it and draw off too many Ssath,” Jiro warned.

Hugh got the forces near him moving toward the command post. His other forces had coalesced into three groups, one of which was engaged with a band of Ssath in the third ring, while the other two were clear and moving cautiously toward the command post. The Ssath seemed to like to pop out and strike from hiding, and after their first few surprises, his troops had become more cautious. If something looked out of place, they weren’t afraid to investigate by lobbing a plasma grenade in that direction.

Hugh worried about civilian losses, but according to David, since the GCA hadn’t created civilian mechs like on his hilltop battle, the only way to inflict casualties was to engage the transports directly. Unfortunately, just like with their avatars, the Ssath seemed drawn to the transports, attacking any they could find and the Krixnas had lost a pair of them during the fight. Concentrating on evacuating the outer rings first proved to be a good call, as most of those transports were safely out of reach of the Ssath who were pushing toward the center of town. Still, there had been casualties which Hugh noted as he checked on their progress.

Evacuation status.

Ring 1: 49%.

Ring 2: 17%.

Ring 3: 17%.

Ring 4: 17%.

Civilian casualties 1%.

Hugh faced one more ambush before they made it near the city center, a group of five Ssath charged his avatar, but with his troops ready for just such an attack, all five of the enemy were gunned down without any damage to his forces. As Hugh’s systems continued to repair, he felt better, and once the shield came back online, he felt prepared for another fight. The fifty caliber was going to take some time as it seemed to rank lower on the repair priority chart than replacing the lost armor. He would have preferred the system prioritize firepower but could find no way to change the repair order in his interface.

Back at the command post, David was still neck-deep in Ssath. Reinforcements from the drop pod, as well as the attached units were all gone, and his troops were dying faster than the command post could build replacements. Eventually, whatever stockpile of resources that David had gathered would run out, and it was only the arrival of the bulk of Jiro’s forces, and the piecemeal nature of the Ssath attacks, that had kept him from being overrun.

The small groups hunting Hugh and Jiro’s avatars drained the enemy manpower. Now alerted to the threat of ambush, the human cores had only limited difficulty eliminating each group of Ssath they encountered. By the time Hugh reached the command post, the Ssath assault was on its last legs, outnumbered and surrounded, they went down hard. More casualties were taken, but it wasn’t long before the last Ssath in the city was down.

“Thank you, human cores, without your efforts, I fear my city would have been lost,” David said.

“We’re glad to help, but this isn’t over yet. I get the feeling that the air assault was just the enemy’s opener, we’ve got their main army out there to deal with,” Hugh advised.

“You’re right, and our troops are on their last legs, I think half my remaining forces are damaged to some degree or another and other than our avatars, our mechs have no way to repair the damage,” Jiro added, pushing over his order of battle for Hugh and David to review. All three shared their data and once Hugh looked at the pitiful remnants of their forces, he wasn’t sure how they could win.

Human war core Hugh Logan, order of battle:

1. Infantry mechs (64).

2. Light mechs (3).

3. Medium mechs (5).

4. Air mechs (2).

Human war core Jiro Masaki, order of battle:

1. Infantry mechs (77).

2. Light mechs (4).

3. Air mechs (1).

Krixnas war core designated David, order of battle.

1. Infantry mechs (13).

“I may be of some assistance, let me check,” David said. Some of his infantry mechs approached damaged units from both Hugh and Jiro’s army, the combat pod operators flinching as the tentacles writhed near them while they scanned the damage.

“Can you repair our mechs?” Hugh asked. The GCA had eliminated the human construction drones from the fight, but David was operating with what seemed to be a normal enough command post and the Krixnas infantry mechs did double duty as soldiers as well as construction units.

“Yes, that will be possible, but I will need to upgrade my command post. I do not have the resources to do so just yet, but once I replace my infantry, they can go back to gathering salvage,” David advised. If they could get their units back in fighting shape it would help, but they barely had the numbers to cover the smallest ring of the city, here at the center, and nowhere near enough to defend anything else. Unless something changed, they would have to pull out if his suspicions were true and another Ssath force was out there.

“I suggest we set up our defenses here, around the command post, and leave teams to monitor each of the other rings,” Hugh suggested.

“Agreed, we cannot defend the out rings any longer, but at least our evacuations continued with little disruption. Perhaps we can get all my people to safety before any other enemies arrive,” David postulated. Hugh wasn’t feeling that optimistic, his gut was telling him that a big fight was coming, and it was going to come long before the last of the civilians made their escape.