War Core Wednesday! War Core 2, Chapter 3 and the illustration of an old foe, the Krixnas infantry mech.

Chapter 3.

Hugh’s light mechs moved into range of the Ximkas construction drones. By the time the T-7’s were ready to fire, the last of the defending mechs were down, and eight construction drones survived to try and claim the resource gathering station. Heavy rounds hit the nearest pair of drones, taking them out of the fight, but also revealing that they were more heavily armored than Hugh’s drones. It would likely take the rifle-equipped infantry mechs more than one shot to burn through.

The enemy seemed confused, unsure whether to engage or pull back. Their hesitation allowed Hugh’s forces to take down another pair before the Ximkas decided to pull back. The construction drones scurried back to their side of the map, but they were much slower than the human light mechs, giving Cartwright an easy chase. One by one the enemy fell; the last pair trying to turn and engage. Cartwright and the other human piloting the light mechs had no trouble keeping out of range of the small laser weapon mounted atop the drone.

“Sir, it looks like they skipped their resource gathering station to hit ours first. Do you want us to clear the defenders and take it over?” Cartwright asked. Hugh looked over the situation. Just like on his side of the map, neutral defenders protected the site. Instead of five infantry mechs, a half dozen Ximkas drones were protecting the place. It made him a bit concerned that it wasn’t one of their light mechs, which meant the system believed that even five infantry mechs didn’t come close to matching one of the Ximkas light mechs.

“Take out the defenders, capture the point, and press on, I want to see what our opponent is doing. Tran’s infantry can secure the area once you’re gone,” Hugh ordered. He believed that he had the initiative and didn’t want to give the enemy a chance to regroup and react to his early push.

The light mechs would have no trouble with the defenders at the resource station and while they moved to engage, Hugh checked in on his other forces. Tran had taken control of the resource station closest to Hugh’s command post and was on his way to the one near the border. A squad of construction drones was assigned to the station and resources were being slowly gathered for them to haul back to the command post. His drones were also bringing back the remains of the defenders to be reprocessed into salvage.

Several of the resource crates Hugh had spotted during his initial battlefield recon were tagged and his drones were already hauling them back to the command post. His barracks were just about completed, and Hugh queued up the armory addon before starting the light mech factory. To help counter the power of the Ximkas light mechs, Hugh wanted as many upgrades on his units as possible but would hold off on spending too many resources on them until the light mech factory was done. The light armor units would be the key to Hugh’s victory in this fight, a stand-up battle would favor the enemy, so he intended to keep things mobile.

The barracks completed at about the same time that Cartwright’s forces took the resource gathering station near the Ximkas border. Tran and his infantry were still making their way to the station on Hugh’s side of the border. With all his forces near the center or just over the enemy’s side of the battlefield, Hugh began to get a bit nervous about where the enemy combat forces were hiding. With the tall plants that the scattered farms were growing, there would be plenty of concealment out there to hide a group of attackers.

Thinking things through, there was no way the enemy was anywhere close to his command post. Their light mechs were much slower than his own, just barely faster than Hugh’s infantry. They would also be forced to use whatever the system allocated for them, and given the forces he had received, there likely wouldn’t be more than four or five enemy light mechs. Hugh continued with his plan, the last of the easily found resource crates gave him enough to build the armory and have a bit leftover. It was a long way for them to travel, but Hugh also sent a squad of drones to harvest resources at the gathering station on the Ximkas side of the battlefield. No doubt the enemy could recapture it, but when that happened, Hugh wanted it to be stripped of resources.

“Contact, we’re taking fire,” Captain Tran called out. Hugh moved his view over to the advancing infantry who were passing through the last bit of farmland on their way to capture Hugh’s second resource station. The infantry was marching on a pathway between two farms when bright red beams flared from the bamboo-like fields, landing a disturbing number of hits on the infantry mechs. Tran’s soldiers knew what to do, one squad going prone and returning fire, while the second tried to assault their way through the ambush.

“It’s more of their construction drones, sir, a lot of them,” Tran said as the fire from both sides picked up. He was just about to order Cartwright to come to the infantry’s assistance but held off when he realized that this must be what the Ximkas were allocated for their initial forces. Hugh had assumed it would be a few light mechs, but instead, the system had granted them the equivalent value of armed construction mechs. It was hard to get an accurate count, but they did significantly outnumber his forces, especially now that the infantry were taking losses from the accurate enemy fire.

“They were trying for an early rush, those construction drones aren’t combat pod linked and you must have gotten close enough to get them to attack,” Hugh replied.

The Krixnas infantry had done double duty as construction units just like these Ximkas did, but their primary focus was combat, which enabled that enemy to have their infantry piloted by live operators in combat pods. These Ximkas mechs were more construction drones than combat units and were all AI-controlled. Despite not being piloted, their AI systems were still deadly accurate with their fire. The enemy core could also give more detailed directions to the drones, like having these slink through the fields.

“I agree, sir, but there sure are a lot of them, permission to pull back,” Tran requested.

“Granted, I’m betting this is their main assault force, and I need you to keep them occupied while Captain Cartwright takes his mechs to assault the enemy command post,” Hugh ordered.

“Roger that,” Tran acknowledged. He was able to extricate only half a squad of infantry, the enemy had been trying to encircle them this whole time and the rest couldn’t make a run for it without giving the Ximkas free kills. It was a tough break, but the trapped soldiers gave their all, trying to take down as many enemies as they could to buy their comrades time to make it out of range. Given the numbers that were battling his infantry and the ones that Cartwright had taken out earlier, Hugh was sure that the Ximkas only had whatever counted for garrison forces remaining to protect their command post.

Tran’s infantry kept up their return fire, and some of the trapped troops began to work their way around to try and find the enemy flank. The flanking force made it a good distance without taking casualties but found the circle had been complete and they were trapped along with the rest of the infantry. At least they found themselves with plenty of targets, it turns out there were quite a few more Ximkas than Hugh’s initial assessment. His infantry fell one by one, despite using whatever cover they could find, including stacking the remains of the fallen infantry into an impromptu wall. The kill ration was in Hugh’s favor, with each infantry unit taking down an average of two enemies before being destroyed. If the enemy had true infantry mechs and real soldiers controlling them, Hugh didn’t think he would fare so well.

While the infantry fight was playing out, Cartwright moved his T-7’s at maximum speed toward the enemy command post. The faster he got there, the fewer opponents he would face, assuming the enemy would be constructing replacements for his losses, just as Hugh was doing. According to the information gathered by the Canadian core, the Ximkas didn’t have any unit that could match the speed of his light mechs. The fastest thing they had were their construction drones, and they were a bit slower than his own infantry.

Tran had only five infantry survive the ambush, Hugh decided to order them to take position along the low wall protecting the command post. The machinegun team was already there, the weapon would be in its element considering the large open area the Ximkas would have to cross to complete their attack. New infantry mechs were coming off the line even as the last of those trapped by the impromptu ambush were taken out. At least twenty of the enemy’s armed construction drones survived to press the attack, thankfully their slower speed would give Tran’s survivors time to get into place before the attack hit them.

“Ximkas command post in sight. It looks like I have fourteen targets defending it. Moving to engage at maximum range,” Cartwright called out.

Hugh had seen the Ximkas structures before in the Canadian replays, but in person, they were even more impressive. The command post was double the size of the human equivalent, and it was assumed the extra space functioned as a centralized upgrade location rather than having different ones attacked to each production building. An even larger structure was going up next to the command post, the Ximkas mech factory. Both light and medium mechs could be built in the same structure, but medium mechs wouldn’t be unlocked until the command post and mech factory were upgraded to at least level four.

It looked like the Ximkas weren’t producing more construction drones to replace their losses, most likely needing to reserve the unit points in order to build their light mechs once the factory was complete. In addition to the drones at the command post, another pair were at the nearest resource gathering station. Hugh’s opponent had taken the closest resource station before pushing on to attack Hugh. The pair of drones dropped the resource crates they had been carrying, moving as fast as they could back to the command post now that Hugh’s light mechs were attacking.

“Firing,” Cartwright called out as his mechs came into range of the foe. They kept up their fire, a round every second or so, but given the range, only about half the shots hit their target. The defending armed drones tried to counterattack, moving as fast as they could to try and get their laser weapons into play. A pair of drones stayed behind, working frantically to complete the light mech factory. Cartwright had expected a counterattack and his light mechs kept the distance open as they continued to fire. It was slow going, but they were taking the enemy down without suffering any damage in return. When only four mechs remained, the enemy tried to retreat to the command post, but none of them made it.

The final pair of construction drones moved to attack, having finished up the light mech factory during the running fight. Hugh watched with concern as the mech factory began production. If one of those finished up before the command post was destroyed, Cartwright's forces would be outmatched in firepower, range, and armor. With the last armed construction drone a smoking wreck, the pair of T-7’s began to attack the command post. Cartwright kept them at maximum range, which didn’t affect their accuracy given the size of the target. It would be a race to see if they could do enough damage before the first light mech was produced.

A second race to try and destroy Hugh’s command post was also underway, but this one he was more confident in. Tran now had seven infantry mechs supported by ten AI-controlled defenders and a machinegun team. The attacking drones had reached Hugh’s command post, but the machinegun was already hammering rounds out. Only fourteen drones made it into range to return fire, but they were in the open and Hugh’s forces were at least partially protected by the low wall. Both sides took casualties, but his troops had no trouble fighting off the enemy assault. Thankfully, most of the casualties were among the garrison forces, they didn’t seek cover from the incoming fire like his combat pod controlled units did.

“Head out with what you have left and take the resource gathering station, Captain Tran,” Hugh ordered as the last attacking drone fell. He held the nearest resource station and Ximkas one on the border, but the one on his side of the border was still unclaimed and would eventually spawn defenders again if left alone. With the infantry mech just now coming off the assembly line, Tran had five troops at his disposal. Hugh would keep the replacements flowing, bringing him eventually back up to twenty, but what he had was more than enough to secure the resource point. A squad of construction drones was assigned to each of the three resource gathering stations Hugh would control. One squad remained at the command post to continue construction efforts and one was assigned to gather wrecked mechs for Hugh to reprocess.

Hugh’s reprocessing efficiency perk would cause his own destroyed mechs to automatically be transported to his command post, but the ability didn’t activate until thirty minutes had passed and at this stage of the battle, every resource point was critical. Turning his attention back to Captain Cartwright, Hugh could see they had done significant damage to the command post, but it wasn’t going to go down before the first Ximkas light mech was completed.

“Captain Cartwright, pull back out of range and maintain a recon screen. You did well, but you just didn’t have enough time,” Hugh ordered.

“Roger that sir, at least it will take them some time to repair what damage we were able to cause,” Cartwright replied. The pair of light mechs stomped away from the enemy command post as the Ximkas unit exited the factory.

“Scorpion turtles was what the Canadian called them, wasn’t it? I think he nailed the description,” Captain Cartwright said.

The enemy mech did look the part, walking on four stout legs and having a hull structure that resembled an armored shell. At the rear of the mech, its cannon was mounted on a flexible metal protrusion, giving it the look of a scorpion. This was a level one version of the mech, but the higher tier and more upgraded versions would enhance both the armor and firepower of the Ximkas mech. Their main weapons fired a short stream of plasma at ranges exceeding what his own T-7’s could achieve. Accuracy was also reported to be good, which Hugh had already figured given how well even the AI-controlled armed drones did.

“Powerful mechs won’t matter too much since we’ve got the economic advantage. We’ll outproduce and swarm them before they can rebuild and do the same,” Hugh said. The enemy command post was already starting to manufacture replacement construction drones, but Hugh already had control of three resource gathering stations and had twenty construction drones that hadn’t stopped working the entire time the battle had taken place. Resources were already sufficient for a light mech factory of his own, which Hugh ordered the construction of along with his first signal tower. He had missed out on the chance for a quick victory, but Hugh liked his chances in the long fight. The enemy had proven himself willing to take a risk and wasn’t going to be as predictable as his old foe, the Krixnas, were.