War Core, Chapter 37.

This chapter wraps up book 1 for War Core. I have to switch gears to Cat Core 2 to have it ready in time for the narrator I really wanted for the series to do both books at once. War Core isn't over, though, and this weekend I'll finish up the outline for book 2 and start posting War Core chapters at least once a week. Look for War Core Wednesdays to be a thing. As an extra treat, I've attached some artist concept sketches for Hugh's infantry mechs, levels one, five, and ten.


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Chapter 37.

“Major Logan, welcome back,” Admiral Nix announced as Hugh’s focus returned.

“Thank you, sir. How many did we lose?” Hugh asked. The battle had been a long one, long enough to have the GCA grant him a small bonus in reward points for it. There was always a cost in these battles, win or lose. The only thing Hugh could do would be to try and keep the price as low as possible by continuing to win.

“Three, it could have been much worse, but we lost three, all from the 82nd. Join us in the briefing room, there is a strange development to this campaign,” Admiral Nix advised. Hugh wasn’t so sure if he liked any strange developments.

“Roger that, sir, can I take just a moment first?” Hugh asked. The admiral looked like he was about to object but then realized what Hugh was wanting to do.

“Sure, join us as soon as you can,” the admiral said.

“Thank you, sir,” Hugh said, looking out over the rows of combat pods. The surviving soldiers had formed up, waiting for their comrades that had fallen to be removed from their pods. Medical and tech staff did their best to give the fallen some dignity while hauling them out, draping each with a blanket as they placed them on a gurney as they took them from the room. The assembled soldiers held a salute as the fallen were taken away, Hugh waiting for the surviving soldiers to leave.

“Well done, brothers, well done,” Hugh whispered before moving his view to the conference room. The usual suspects were inside, but everyone looked more excited than normal.

“Hurry up and show him,” Maddison whined, looking a bit like a kid ready to open some presents at Christmas.

“Hold on, we’ll do this properly. First off, Hugh, you did well in your battle. It was a long one, but you persevered and brought us another victory. Before we move on to other business, take a look at the report on the Krixnas that we received from intel, it looks like their efforts have borne fruit. I’ll give you a moment to review it before we continue. Maddison squirmed in her chair as one of the tech team downloaded the report into Hugh’s core. A lot of it was pure speculation and didn’t look like it was based on anything other than a hunch. But two passages, in particular, were interesting, and Hugh took some time to review them.

The Krixnas social structure is hive-like, with large groups controlled by a central king or queen, it appears that gender does not play a role in their selection of leadership. Conquest points spent on intel have confirmed that a Krixnas war core is always someone from their elite leadership. The forces they command are controlled by underlings of the lower castes, who are skilled in warfare but lack individual initiative. The use of flexible tactics is recommended as the Krixnas cores are not known for flexibility of action. The total number of war cores under Krixnas control is deemed to be low based on the limited number of eligible leaders that can be converted. Unlike our society, where cores can be chosen from many different options, the Krixnas leadership caste are the only ones with the necessary ability to handle the complex decision-making involved.

Hugh could confirm that the enemy's ability to fight suffered when the war core was hurt and unable to issue commands. Instead of other officers or senior NCO’s taking over, they seemed to revert to the hive way of thinking, guarding the command post at the expense of everything else, including their own survival. Had they not acted rashly, Hugh very well may have lost that fight. The next section of intel was even more important. Whoever had spent the points on Krixnas intel had gotten lucky in the results.

Krixnas control an area of space much smaller than that of humanity. It’s unknown how the GCA divides up territory and the current theory is that the Krixnas lack a leadership core to exploit that many worlds, resulting in a lower allocation based on the GCA algorithms that control the process. Intel has confirmed that the Krixnas are being pressed hard by another species, the Ssarn, who are driving directly toward the Krixnas homeworld. Expansion into human territory seems a response to the threat, and effort to secure some other life-giving world they can move their population to, giving them a chance to survive as a species.

“That’s actually some good intel from our people, they did better than I thought they would,” Hugh said, finishing up his review.

“Indeed, it also dovetails into the next order of business. The Krixnas have reached out to humanity announcing their intent to sue for peace,” Admiral Nix said with a big grin on his face.

“What does that mean, how can they even communicate with us?” Hugh asked, a bit confused as he didn’t think diplomacy played a part in the GCA’s game.

“Other than mercenary contracts, diplomacy is rather rare, but I hear it does occur at times, and the leadership of the various races has their own means of contacting each other. The Krixnas offer is this, and the world leaders are voting right now on accepting it,” the admiral advised, pulling up the star maps showing the borders of the two races.

Hugh could see that Krixnas space had been captured almost to a world that was highlighted as their homeworld. Another two systems and the homeworld would be under direct assault by the Ssarn. Given their aggressive nature, Hugh didn’t think the Ssarn were merciful in conquest and would probably just use the Krixnas as a food source. Half of Krixnas space, including their homeworld, had been offered to Earth. The remainder turned grey, and Hugh didn’t know what to make of it.

“Peace sounds good to me, but what will we do with their homeworld? It’s not like we have any spaceships that can transport them or us anywhere. Also, what’s this grey area?” Hugh asked.

“Their world would be taken into human territory as a protectorate. We would defend them and fight to prevent any other races from capturing their home. In return, they cede all the territory that they can to us, with the only stipulation being that we allow them to keep and rule their home system without interference. As for the grey area, we’re not sure, but the big brains at intel think it’s territory the GCA will allocate to the Ssarn given their current campaign against the Krixnas,” the admiral said.

“So, we get victory over the Krixnas, but in return, we now share a border with a strong and aggressive power, I don’t see this ending well,” Hugh said, not looking forward to tangling with Ssarn in battle, or in the flesh.

“I agree, but the politicians desperately need a victory, one they can hang their hats on when they reveal the existence of the GCA and our war cores to the world. This is a chance to lessen the shock of revealing what has been going on for years, it shows hope that we are on the path to victory,” Admiral Nix said.

“Not that my opinion has any influence, but I think it’s past time we’ve told the truth to everyone. The only problem now is that the Ssarn will be our new neighbors, and with them on our border, I’m not sure we’ll have very much in the way of peace in this sector of space,” Hugh said.

“I agree, but the alternative is to let the Ssarn continue their advance through Krixnas space. One peculiarity of the GCA system is that once the Krixnas ceded their territory to us, it’s protected for a time, just like when you successfully defend a system. The Ssarn will likely attack, but we’ll have some breathing room before that happens, and time for you to learn and grow as a core. I don’t know how long we’ll get since it seems to vary with each campaign, but intel is thinking we’ll have anywhere from six months to five years,” the admiral advised.

“That’s good, we’ll need all the time and help we can get. So, what happens now?” Hugh asked.

“Until the agreement is signed, we continue as usual, preparing for another battle with the Krixnas. Did you gain a level this time?” The admiral asked.

“Not just yet, but I did gain a perk as a victory bonus. We have twenty-four hours to select it so we should probably start on that, in case another battle begins and we lose it. I say our plan should stay the same, we’ll place the point into something resource-related this time and then go further into infantry upgrades with our next perk,” Hugh said. The others around the table nodded in agreement so Hugh pulled up his interface, sharing the display to the screen in the room.

Resource Upgrade Options.

1. Reprocessing Efficiency, Rank 2. The chance of finding old wrecks on the battlefield increases slightly. With this rank of the upgrade, you will now be able to reprocess your own fallen mechs from the battlefield remotely. This only works for your units, not any captured, allied, enemy, or neutral mechs. Mechs on the battlefield can only be reprocessed remotely after thirty minutes have passed. If your opponent or any neutral party interacts with your destroyed mech during this time, remote reprocessing of that unit will be canceled.

2. Improved Initial Allocation. This upgrade grants an additional fifty resources at the start of the battle. In scenarios where there are no starting resources or when starting resources are reduced, the upgrade will still function but may be reduced by up to fifty percent.

3. Construction Drone Prospector Upgrade. This upgrade allows you to upgrade your construction drones with the prospector feature. A prospector drone functions as a normal drone but has a chance to discover untapped resources deep underground as it moves about the battlefield. The option to build a resource extractor over these locations will be unlocked once a resource deposit is discovered.

“Those all seem pretty good to me, any suggestions?” Hugh asked.

“Hitting rank two of reprocessing efficiency would lead me to believe there are further ranks with even more powerful abilities down the line. I say you ride that option until it ends, if only to see what we might unlock. The other two options are good, but since there was no restriction placed on their selection, there’s a good chance they’ll be available next time. Who knows how many times the system will open up a new rank in an ability?” Maddison offered.

“That seems like solid reasoning to me, and I’d love the chance to gather up resources without having to wait for and risk my drones to go get them. The time and interaction restrictions may be a problem, but I can also see those decreasing or being removed at higher ranks. Does anyone have another opinion?” Hugh asked.

“I think the initial allocation one seems like the worst of the bunch, but the prospector upgrade could be very powerful. While rank two of reprocessing efficiency seems good, who knows what battlefield conditions might be, or if an enemy knows about this ability and can sabotage us by interacting with our wrecks,” Agent Smith said.

“But battlefield conditions could also interfere with prospecting for resource deposits. Since we know there are nearly always casualties in a fight, I say go with rank two of reprocessing efficiency,” Captain Tran said. The others agreed. Smith was also fine with the reprocessing option, he just wanted to explore the others before they were dismissed.

You have selected Reprocessing Efficiency, Rank 2. The upgrade will take effect during your next battle and will require the construction of a remote processing facility addon to your command post. Costs of the addon will vary based on the mission-specific parameters for the battle.

“It looks like there’s always a catch,” Hugh said, pushing the information on his selection to the main screen.

“As long as you don’t have to spend too much for the addon, it’s still the best choice,” Maddison assured him.

“With that settled, tell us about this new upgrade dropship upgrade you used in the battle. Why didn’t you tell us about it earlier?” The admiral asked, looking a bit upset over Hugh’s lack of candor after his return from leave. He was kind of embarrassed about going into debt and slowing his leveling process. Hugh tried to explain and for the first time, was glad the GCA blocked the information. This restriction stuff wasn’t all bad it seemed.

“I’ll take your silence as a sign the GCA is censoring that answer,” the admiral said. Before they could continue, Hugh received a new system prompt, he pushed the information to the room, the place going silent as they all began to read.

The Humans have taken control of all claimed Krixnas territory. Their homeworld is now a protectorate of Earth. Any remaining non-claimed Krixnas territory has been allotted to the respective interested parties.

The second part of the message was sent to Hugh and the information was blocked from the others. It looked like the GCA really wanted the lesser races to fight, given how paltry his reward for a diplomatic solution was.

Congratulations, you have successfully defended system es1423 via diplomatic efforts. This peaceful settlement entitles you to 25 reward points. All points earned have been applied toward your debt, your current reward point balance is (-245/1000). Since the conflict was settled by diplomatic means, no additional leave will be granted.

“Well, it looks like we have some room to breathe and a chance to get more training in. We’ve held the line people, and even taken some ground from our foes, but we’ve got work harder than ever because our enemies are only going to get stronger,” Admiral Nix said. Hugh agreed, the fight with the Krixnas was over, but he could feel in his core that a new fight with the Ssarn was just about to begin.