War Core 2, Chapter 28.

Chapter 28.

“Good news Hugh, I received some reinforcements and I suspect you will too once you go through your upgrades. They weren’t generous with the number, but I’ll take anything at this point,” Jiro announced as the last of his forces walked from the factory.

“That would definitely help, I’m just worried about whether I’ll have enough time to finish up before we’re dropped into the fight again,” Hugh answered. Jiro’s forces replaced Hugh’s on the perimeter, starting with his infantry which now queued up to begin the upgrade process. Like before, the light mechs were next, including Hugh’s avatar. The air mechs would finish up last.

The factory had two efficient assembly lines going and while the infantry proved to be the fastest to complete their upgrades, they were also the most numerous. When the last infantry mech walked into the factory and started moving down the assembly line, Hugh received another system prompt. It looked like he was going to get some replacements.

You have been awarded the following number of replacement mechs. Perform well in your battles to improve your chances of receiving additional replacements. The following replacement forces are now being constructed.

1. Infantry mechs, 10.

2. Light mechs, 2.

3. Medium mechs, 2.

4. Air mechs, 1.

The new units started to build on the assembly line, it looked like they had to be finished before the rest of his forces could complete their upgrades. Once the replacements were finished, the light mechs started their upgrades. Half of his light mechs were upgraded into medium mechs, which took a bit longer. Hugh was holding his breath as the last of his units, the air mechs, completed their upgrades. A quick check revealed his new total forces. There had been too many losses since the campaign began, but despite their reduced numbers, the upgraded units were much more capable than when he had started the fight.

Current Battle Information:

1. Infantry mechs (151).

2. Light mechs (10).

3. Medium mechs (10).

3. Air mechs (7).

Hugh’s avatar had grown quite a bit, and he estimated it was about 25% larger than the other M4 mechs his soldiers were operating. Instead of the shorter barrel 75mm gun, his mech had the high velocity 76mm weapon. While it wasn’t all that much larger of a round, it had better armor penetration ratings than the standard weapon. Like with his light mech, Hugh had a full array of secondary weapons. A fifty-caliber weapon was mounted on top of his turret, and a thirty-caliber machinegun was fixed into the hull. To round things out, a second thirty caliber weapon was mounted coaxially to the main gun.

It was an impressive amount of firepower and the armor on his mech was also enhanced, he could feel the alloy around him was denser than that of the standard M4. A small box on the back of the mech’s hull housed the new shield generator. Hugh could see a faint blue shine focused just in front of his mech. A new status bar in his interface showed him the current shield charge. The new shield had just activated so it was only sitting at 1% power. Watching the total, Hugh could see it was climbing a percentage every ten seconds or so. A notification warned him that if the shield was fully discharged, it would go into a reset mode and would not reactivate until it had built up at least a 10% charge. Not long after the last mech was finished, Hugh and Jiro received their orders.

Ssath forces continue to drive into the heartland of the Krixnas homeworld, so far, the combined forces of Krixnas and human war cores have been unable to stop them. Shattered and broken units are streaming from the front as the various war cores try to protect the civilians and rebuild their defensive lines. The city your forces are currently near is the target of a powerful Ssath push. Hold off the enemy to buy time for your allies to regroup. Stopping the Ssath here will open new opportunities for counterattacks as well as give the various cores time to gather precious resources and organize replacements.

“Well, Hugh, it looks like we don’t have to march very far this time, how do you want to go about securing the city?” Jiro asked. The place was a bit larger than the first city Hugh had tried to defend, and with their depleted armies, it was going to be difficult to form an effective defense.

“Let me think,” Hugh replied. The first Krixnas city had been an orderly affair, and the same held true for this one. A central district, containing the largest buildings, formed the core of the city and the Krixnas had built out from there, the clusters of buildings forming several rings around the central hub. Four distinct rings with clear parkland and natural areas between them formed the city. The open layout left them few chokepoints to defend from. His Krixnas allies hadn’t built their cities with invasion in mind, leading Hugh to think that warfare might not have been a huge part of the Krixnas history, unlike that of humanity.

“Human war cores, I have arrived and integrated with my command post. I understand you are here to assist in the defense of this city?” A Krixnas core called out over the allied comm channel. One of the large buildings at the center of the city glowed in his interface, showing Hugh where the command post was located. As he watched, several of the Kirxnas infantry drones went to work, transforming the factory building into a proper command post.

“Yes, I’m Major Hugh Logan and the other core fighting with me is Jiro Masaki. Our forces have been beat up pretty good in the previous fights, but we’ll do what we can,” Hugh replied.

“Human core called Hugh Logan; I greet you. This is the Krixnas core you have designated David. Since I’ve just arrived, please give me a moment to review our situation. If you could, please forward your unit information so I can assist you in planning the defense,” David replied.

“I’m glad we can work together this time, instead of as opponents. This is your city, David, so let us know what you think should be defended. It looks like the evacuation was already underway, but who knows how long we have before the Ssath strike. For now, I’ll get my air mechs out to do some recon,” Hugh replied. He knew that David was a war core, but Hugh wasn’t expecting to be working with him directly. Like before, David didn’t seem to hold any animosity over his loss to Hugh, which upped his opinion of the strange alien creature.

“That is acceptable. For now, perhaps you can arrange your forces in the outer ring, concentrating on the eastern half of the city, as that is where our foe will likely arrive from,” David replied.

“We’ll get on it,” Hugh replied, receiving a secure commlink from Jiro almost immediately after finishing up with David.

“Woah, you know this guy?” Jiro asked.

“Yeah, we met on Harmony Station on my last leave just before this fight, he’s the core I was fighting against in my campaign against them,” Hugh replied.

“That’s gotta be strange, but we can worry about it later, for now, how do you think we should arrange our forces? My army has a few light mechs, but they’re geared more to mid-range and close-range fighting. Can I get some of your medium mechs to support my forces, and I’ll separate out some of my infantry in exchange? My samurai are better up close, and with our melee upgrades, we can help your marines survive long enough to put your firepower to use,” Jiro suggested.

“Good call, I’ll pull a platoon of medium mechs and light mechs to support you, send me what infantry you can spare,” Hugh replied. As their units shifted over, Hugh got his first good look at Jiro’s upgraded forces. The infantry must have taken some armor upgrades, as they sported several new plates attached to vulnerable parts of their mechs. In keeping with the design of the skin he had purchased, the armor resembled traditional Karuta.

Jiro’s avatar was only slightly taller than before but was now more heavily armed. Over one shoulder was a 20mm cannon and the other had a smaller caliber machinegun. In one hand Jiro held a naginata, the sharp edges glowing with plasma energy. One hand was free, and Hugh could make out the distinctive grenade pouch design that infantry style mechs could carry, only this one was scaled up to match Jiro’s size.

“Jiro, did you go with a light mech avatar?” Hugh asked.

“Yes, I wanted to try to blend in a bit better with my forces. I see you’ve gone for the big guns,” Jiro replied.

“You got it, I couldn’t call myself much of an American if I didn’t opt for as many guns as my mech can carry,” Hugh joked.

“We have very different styles of fighting, but I think the choices we have each made should compliment each other. How do you want to disperse our forces, there’s no way we can cover the entire outer ring?” Jiro asked.

“I think we’re best to go with an infantry screen, then use our light and medium mechs as a strike team to reinforce wherever the Ssath are concentrating. So far David, the Krixnas core, hasn’t built many mechs, but once he gets on the ball, let me see what he plans on contributing. If he doesn’t come up with something, I think we’ll have to pull back to the center ring and hold there. That’s the only place we’ll have a chance at defending given the number we have,” Hugh replied.

“That sounds good I’ll focus on the northern half of the city, and you can take the southern,” Jiro suggested. Hugh agreed and had the commanders seek out the best positions for their troops. It was going to be a very thin defensive line with squads spread out to the point that they only had a single fire team every hundred yards or so. Jiro sent over three squads of infantry, which Hugh broke up into sections to reinforce areas that looked the most vulnerable. His remaining light and medium mechs formed into mixed platoons, staging themselves behind the lines at various points, ready to move and support his infantry wherever they were needed.

“Tremaine, any signs of the enemy yet?” Hugh asked.

“Negative, sir, everything is clear for now,” Tremaine replied. Jiro had been granted two air mechs with his replacements and placed them under Tremaine’s command to better coordinate the air cover. Where Hugh’s air mechs resembled World War 2 aircraft, Jiro’s looked like a generic get fighter. Looking at their weapons loadout, Hugh was surprised to find only a single heavy machinegun in their arsenal, but there was also mention of a melee weapon. Not convinced that an air mech would be effective in melee, Hugh turned his attention to coordinating with the former enemy turned ally.

“David, what are your plans? Will you be able to send any units to support my troops?” Hugh asked, confused as to why the Krixnas didn’t seem to be doing much. His units had finished transforming the building into a command post, but so far, he had only built a total of three squads of infantry and they were spending their time scavenging for resources around the city.

“Since there are no Ssath in view, I’m taking time to build my economy a bit before beginning production. Please have your units identify any resource caches that they find, it will speed up the gathering process if my mechs do not have to hunt for them on their own,” David replied.

“I’ll have the resource cache information sent over, but you do know we’re not going to be able to hold this outer ring against anything other than a scouting force. We’re too spread out and the only chance we’ll have is pulling into the fourth and final ring of the city, the perimeter there is small enough to put up a good fight,” Hugh advised, not exactly pleased that this Krixnas core seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace.

“Very good. Try to at least hold the outer ring until the civilians in that area are finished with their evacuations. With my command post complete, I do have some control over the evacuation efforts and am shifting the majority of the transports over to the outer rings first, that way, we can fall back and not lose too many civilians in the process,” David advised. Hugh didn’t look that closely before, but he could now see that each ring now had an evac percentage instead of a single overall evacuation total. Ring one was their outer ring, and it was already showing a higher evacuation percentage than the others. A steady stream of transports left the outer ring, while only a few were seen at the others.

Evacuation status.

Ring 1: 18%.

Ring 2: 16%.

Ring 3: 16%.

Ring 4: 16%.

“That’s a good call as far as the evacuation, but what combat units can I expect to join us?” Hugh said, his frustration mounting.

“I only have access to infantry for this battle, but I have been granted control over the city’s fixed defenses which I am bringing online. Once I have enough infantry gathering resources, I will begin to build new defenses and improve the ones we already have in place. Allow me to demonstrate,” David replied.

“Hey, look at that!” Jiro said, excited as several buildings around the outer ring began to transform, the walls and roof opening to reveal glowing silver globes mounted on tall posts. As one, the globes began to pulse before firing off a beam into the distance. Hugh concentrated on the globes, the interface showing the human cores what his ally was up to.

Krixnas defense sphere, Level 1 (10). These basic defenses deploy a single plasma beam emitter. At this level, the recharge rate is slow, and accuracy is poor. As the core upgrades, the defensive units will improve and evolve.

“That will help, and we’ll need to readjust the line to integrate them into our plan,” Hugh said. The buildings hiding the spheres closed over them again, concealing the weapons from casual observation. With the Ssath sensor array being denied in his last fight, Hugh thought they had a good chance of giving the attackers a surprise. Sadly, there were only ten of the spheres so far, and they were only accurate inside of small arms range. The recharge rate was also pretty bad, with each sphere taking just over a minute before it could fire again.

“Do not worry, human cores, I’m working as quickly as I can to improve them as well as gather the resources needed to install new weapons,” David assured them, but Hugh wasn’t convinced the Krixnas would have time to do everything he wanted. The Ssath weren’t going to sit around and let them build up their defenses, they were likely nearby, ready to begin their assault.