War Core Wednesday, book 2, chapter 5.

Chapter 5.

Hugh was transported back home, the trip through space would always amaze him, no matter how many times it happened. He approached the earth, racing toward the false oil rig off the California coast where the base was situated. His vision darkened briefly while he reconnected to the base systems. When his sight returned, Hugh found Admiral Nix and Agent Smith standing next to his core. The techs had placed a row of indicator lights on the side of the core itself, showing those around where Hugh was at any given time.

“Welcome back Major Logan, well done out there. You took on a new opponent and brought home an early win,” Nix said.

“Thank you, Admiral,” Hugh quickly replied. His attention was drawn to the rows of combat pods on the main floor. His fights had, so far, only used the pods on the main level, but Hugh knew there were over a thousand on other levels of the facility and countless more waiting in similar facilities around the world that he could connect to if the need arose.

Tran, Cartwright, and Tremaine were down on the floor, welcoming the victorious soldiers back. One of the soldiers returned the officer’s salute and instead of making his way to the after-action brief that the officers conducted, the man walked over to Hugh’s core and stood at attention, rendering Hugh a crisp salute. Hugh was taken aback, sure he was an officer, but he had kind of felt that the soldiers much saw him as a machine, not a real person. Not having any way to return the salute, Hugh flashed all the lights on his core once.

“Well fought soldier, it was an honor to lead you,” Hugh said. The soldier realized the flashing lights were an attempt at returning his salute, lowered his arm, and left the combat floor as they were starting to call the area with the pods and war core.

The last of the soldiers left the floor, but the officers stayed, watching as the techs opened the thirteen pods that had remained closed after the battle. These unlucky thirteen were the price paid for Hugh’s victory. It had been a grind of a battle and even with the victory bonuses, the price had been strangely high this time. He had only fielded a limited number of units in the fight, but some had been rebuilt and destroyed multiple times. When a soldier’s mech was destroyed, he would be locked in the pod until the battle finished and that horrible life and death calculation could begin. Sometimes they would be reconnected with a newly built replacement unit, but many times the GCA system that controlled this strange war would connect a new soldier to the replacement mech.

The officers all saluted as the last of the casualties were removed by the medics. Agent Smith wasn’t a soldier but understood the solemnity of the moment and respectfully bowing his head in silence while the fallen were taken away. With the interstellar war finally revealed to the world, the fallen could have their remains returned to their families for a proper burial. Not only that, but they would also have their service honored without any lies needing to be told. Thirteen families would have their lives ruined today and Hugh vowed to do better, to reduce the chance that any of his soldiers were lost. Anger flared again, knowing there was no real reason for these losses other than the whim of the GCA. They weren’t some benevolent organization, protecting the galaxy from destruction, they were his enemy.

“Let’s adjourn to the briefing room, I understand that we have our new intel liaison, Mr. Markum, on the line with us today,” Admiral Nix said. They had been promised an assigned intel rep, and this must be the guy.

The intel units answered to a new international organization that was founded to handle how earth would use the influence points it received. When a core won a fight, that earth government was awarded influence points. The points were now pooled together and would be used to gather intel and give the various militaries of the world every advantage they could eke out in this war. Some points were set aside for purchasing tech and other advances that were available. Hugh had enough trouble with his own reward points and was glad he wasn’t involved in the political negotiations that must be going on with deciding how the influence points were spent.

“We’re all here, good, let’s get started. Hugh, what’s your take on these Ximkas?” Admiral Nix asked as Hugh joined them in the briefing room.

“They’re a tougher prospect than the Krixnas. Heavy armor and longer-ranged weapons are a dangerous combination,” Hugh offered.

“You handled them well enough,” Smith said.

“Yes, we won, but the fight was much more difficult than we had planned. The enemy core took a gamble with sending his construction drones forward early in the fight. While that gamble didn’t payout for them, it does let us know they’re willing to think outside the box. Controlling the resources on the battlefield won the fight, but the kill ratio was horrible for us. It was like we had to unleash human wave attacks and smother the enemy in bodies. That’s not the type of war we want to fight if it can be avoided,” Hugh told the room.

“We’ll work on that, from what I understand, the enemy advantage becomes less apparent at higher levels when we unlock our heavier mechs,” Cartwright said.

“Not to mention they have little in the way of an air element. Of course, the long-range and accuracy of their weapons is going to be murder on our air mechs,” Tremaine added. Hugh hadn’t used air mechs much in his battles, given that most of the battles had been limited to lower-level fights and he needed to be at least level three to construct an airfield.

“Combined arms and mobility will be our best chance. The enemy is limited in the variety of units they field. Most of what they have are heavier mechs, and as they level, it’s pretty much more of the same,” Tran said.

“That will be our plan, and with higher-level battles, the enemy will be forced to waste units to protect the command post and critical locations. This will limit their ability to go on the offensive and give us the momentum. We know their units and general tactics, but we don’t know what type of battle the GCA has in store for us,” Hugh said.

“Major Logan, that’s where we might be able to help. The administration has set aside a block of influence points for use to use in gathering intel on the Ximkas. Before we dig into the system and purchase this intel, I wanted to get your take on what’s needed,” Markum advised. Hugh wanted intel, but not on the Ximkas.

“We know just about everything we need from the battles with the Canadian core, what I will need is intel on the Ssath. They’re going to be the true threat to earth, and we know little to nothing about them,” Hugh said.

“They’re not your immediate concern, we need to focus on the threat in front of us before worrying about new enemies,” Markum replied. It was obvious the analyst wasn’t expecting any pushback on the plan he had already decided was best for Hugh.

“We can handle the current threat, but I don’t know about the next. That’s what I need you to find out,” Hugh replied.

“No, we’ve determined the best bang for our buck is to focus on the Ximkas, and that’s where our resources need to be spent,” Markum told Hugh. The guy was getting on his nerves, and it was time to quash any thoughts some intel geeks had about who was running this war.

“I don’t care what you’ve ‘determined’, Mr. Markum. The war core that is actually fighting the battle is telling you he doesn’t need Ximkas intel, we need intel on the Ssath. Do your job and get me the information I’m telling you that I need, not what youthink I need,” Hugh argued. He was being hard on the guy and could see the Admiral was getting uncomfortable with Hugh’s aggressive approach.

“Intel knows what we’re doing, and I can assure you that we take all factors into consideration, including ones you might not have thought about,” the analyst said.

“One’s I haven’t thought about? So, how many battles have you fought Mr. Markum? I’ll tell you what, the next fight with the Ximkas is coming up any time now, how about you jump into one of the combat pods and see what it’s like firsthand. Maybe that will give you some perspective,” Hugh said, the volume on the speaker rising as he spoke. He knew some of this anger wasn’t due to a stubborn intel analyst, it was his frustration at the entire situation, with the GCA and the deadly game they forced him to play.

“Hold up Major, Mr. Markum is not the enemy. We need to all work together to win this and despite what you think, he just might surprise you and dig something up that’s useful,” Admiral Nix ordered.

“Roger that, sir,” Hugh replied.

“Thank you, Admiral,” Markum added. Over the video feed, Hugh could see the smug look on the man’s face as Hugh was ordered to stand down.

“Don’t thank me too soon, Markum. Hugh was right in this case and you should be focusing your efforts on the Ssath. The Ximkas are a somewhat known quantity, the Canadians have been fighting them since this thing started. The Ssath are a race that we’ve only had limited contact with and know next to nothing of their units and combat style. Do what you can to help Markum,” Admiral Nix asked. Hugh could see the man hated having to ask, he was used to giving orders not requests. Sadly, the analyst was a civilian, not one of his subordinates despite having overall command of the military aspects.

“Understood, I’ll see what I can do,” Markum replied. Hugh sincerely doubted the man was about to put a whole lot of effort into the attempt, but it was better than nothing.

“Very, good, any other insights into the Ximkas?” Nix asked those around the table.

“Traverse speed on their main gun was slow. I know the higher-level models don’t have that problem, but if we’re in another low-level fight, we might be able to exploit that,” Cartwright added. If Hugh’s forces could attack from multiple angles, it would slow down the enemy rate of fire considerably.

“I think we continue as planned, exploit our mobility and higher production rates when possible. The Ximkas might beat us anywhere we stop to fight, but while they’re doing that, our forces can capture key positions,” Maddison said. She knew what she was talking about and had used a similar strategy in the last game they had played together.

“Let’s set up a call between you and the Canadian core, maybe the two of you can cook up some way to prepare for…” Admiral Nix started, his sentence cut off as another prompt appeared.

The second battle for the control of Earth system px51a2 will begin shortly. Prepare for pre-battle negotiations.

That was quicker than Hugh had expected, but he felt ready. He felt like he knew how to handle this foe, it was time to secure the victory.