War Core, Chapter 33.

Chapter 33.

It took some time for the scouts to do their work. At least as a war core, Hugh could easily monitor their progress. To the south, just as he suspected, they found a rock giant mech. This must have been the one they had encountered earlier given the shattered infantry mech stuffed in the tunnel with it. Hugh ordered a squad supported by a light mech to take it out, no reason to leave a threat behind when they could likely get the drop on it and destroy the mech with minimal risk.

To the east, the tunnel ran into what looked like a supply shop. Inside were replacement parts for the rock giant mechs, and a trio of technicians doing what looked like inventory. His scouts took out the techs with no problem and returned to the main cavern. The scout team heading north halted when the tunnel branched to the west. Hugh sent them west while ordering another team to continue north.

The western branch of the tunnel led to another opening and another rock giant mech waiting for someone to pass by in the canyon. The squad to the south was able to take out their target, despite it hearing them approach. It only made it a few steps before a pair of grenades did to it that they had done to the first mech. Hugh ordered the squad to rejoin the main force. This was taking a lot of time, and he needed to get them moving toward the objective before too much longer.

“Let’s get everyone moving down the northern passage, worse case scenario, we can come back here and jump back into the canyon from one of the ambush points,” Hugh ordered. The western squad had also taken out their target, albeit with one infantry mech lost. Hearing the approaching squad, the rock giant mech had enough time to get moving, charging its attackers.

With the scouts out to the north kept going, the main body held back enough so the noise of their movement wouldn’t give them away. Hugh kept his viewpoint tied to the scouts, seeing what their mechs were seeing. While the inside of a cavern can be a confusing place, Hugh had no trouble keeping track of their location. His war core came with an internal mapping overlay that made things easy. They were moving north and slightly east as the tunnel continued. It was when they were almost halfway across the zone when the scouts spotted some activity.

“Hold up, scouts are onto something,” Hugh advised. Everyone stopped and he watched the pair of infantry creep forward. Their movements were smoother than some of the other infantry, and despite it not being the intended use, the soldiers piloting these mechs were able to close in at a crouch, going to ground and doing a low crawl when they got close. Hugh was beginning to see the difference that highly trained soldiers made when piloting mechs.

“It looks like we’ve got another cavern full of rock giant’s, sir,” one of the scouts reported. Hugh looked into the cavern which was even larger than the one they had already cleared. Getting some easy shots off on the pilots wouldn’t be an option this time, the seven-rock giant mechs inside were already powering up and taking their first steps forward. A quick inspection revealed that this particular cavern had two of the large rectangular power supplies mounted in the center of the cavern, with a total of twenty power couplings, that meant a lot more than seven mechs could be close by, a tough fight in the close confines of the tunnels.

Hugh could only hope these rock giant mechs were destined for another location. These must have been assigned to defend the rest of the canyon, but there was always a chance some comm check had gone unanswered and he would have to fight off at least some of the rock giants going to investigate. In preparation, he moved up the rest of the army, keeping three squads with their attached light mechs and the machinegun team in the lead with the final squad and light mech covering the rear. Like before, his construction drone team was kept safely between the two groups.

“Do you hear that sir?” One of the scouts asked. Hugh’s point of view focused on the scout, and he could see all seven of the rock giant mechs turn toward the northern tunnel and march forward. In the background, Hugh could hear clanging of stone on metal, as well as the high-pitched whine of a weapon firing. The rock giants didn’t mount any ranged weapons, could it be the Krixnas were also tangling with whoever these new aliens were?

“That’s a Krixnas face beam firing, you can’t mistake that for any other weapon,” Captain Tran added, confirming Hugh’s thoughts. The real question was what to do about it? If his enemies were fighting each other, it was usually better to let them go at it. Each one that was killed was one less opponent he had to worry about.

“Let’s hold up until things calm down. If these rock giants are fighting someone else, let them have at it, and we’ll clean up the leftovers,” Hugh ordered. The rest of the force arrived, but still stayed about fifty yards back from the scouts, he didn’t want to spook the techs inside the cavern and have them send for reinforcements.

The sound of the battle began to dissipate, as the fight moved further away from the large cavern. It was time to get moving, Hugh wanted to let the enemy destroy each other, but couldn’t sit around forever in the tunnel. If he attacked into the cavern, at least he would have more room for his forces to maneuver, rather than being forced to engage with only a squad at a time inside the narrow tunnels.

“Move in, take the cavern,” Hugh ordered, setting the new objective for his troops. The first squad nearly made it into the cavern when the alien technicians began to run about, raising the alarm. Unlike the other techs, the ones in this cavern were up for a fight, pulling weapons from behind the workspaces and firing at his lead troops. They were armed, but obviously not trained well. In addition, most of their weapons consisted of handguns that did far less damage than the plasma rifles his infantry used.

More and more of Hugh’s forces pushed into the cavern, his highly trained troops taking down the lightly armed alien techs with little effort. Other than a few scorch marks on their armor, his forces came out unscathed. He set up defenses at each of the tunnels. The cavern had exits leading north, where the fighting was taking place, as well as one to the west, that Hugh assumed led to another ambush point in the canyon. Why there were so many mechs here and only six in the other cavern was a mystery.

“Send a squad out to see if there are any mechs to the west, the rest of us head north and engage any enemy you find,” Hugh ordered, three squads headed north, and a single squad moved to the western tunnel. His light mechs had been doled out, with a single mech going to each squad. Normally, you wanted to keep your armor together to condense their firepower, but in the somewhat narrow passages they found themselves in, the heavier guns of the mechs were better suited in the support role.

Sounds of battle grew louder as they closed in on the rock mechs. Hugh kept his view on the lead squad, occasionally taking a look at what the squad to the west was doing. Coming around a sharp bend in the tunnel, Hugh could see the largest cavern yet, one currently engulfed in a chaotic battle between the Krixnas and the rock mechs. The Krixnas were pushing in from the north and had taken half the cavern away from the defenders. Hugh counted a half dozen Krixnas light mechs and at least thirty of their infantry. They were up against an unknown number of rock mechs, both sides content to close into melee range where their units shined.

The only other exit from this cavern was a branch leading east, which is where the fighting seemed to be focused. Rock mechs clogged the eastern exit tunnel, hammering away at any Krixnas that got close. As he watched, a fresh pair of Krixnas infantry pushed in. Was his opponent operating a command post somewhere in this zone, slowly producing units, or were the Krixnas just down to the dregs of their forces? Hugh counted the casualties lying around the cavern, they totaled twenty-one rock giant mechs, along with thirty Krixnas infantry and a pair of their light mechs.

“Get into the cavern and engage from range, we’ll have the advantage,” Hugh ordered. The three squads began to pour out into the cavern, forming up behind any cover they could find, waiting for the whole force to assemble before opening fire. As soon as the first squad entered the cavern, Hugh received a system prompt.

An optional objective is nearby. Capture the Makonar supply depot to unlock a bonus reward.

So, it looked like the new alien race were called the Makonar. The system didn’t designate where this supply depot was, but given the battle’s focus on the eastern tunnel, Hugh figured it was in there somewhere. While his troops finished their deployment, Hugh checked in on the detached squad. They had uncovered another exit into the canyon, which was guarded by a single rock giant that they were engaging now.

His three squads in the cavern were in position, some fallen rocks and pieces of equipment could be used as cover, but it was mostly open. His infantry just found the best spot they could as the order to fire was given. Twenty-nine rifles and three, fifty caliber weapons opened up on the mixed bag of enemies. The hit rate was high, dishing out damage while the two forces reacted to the new threat.

The rock giant mechs between Hugh’s forces and the Krixnas took the brunt of the initial fire. A pair of the giant mechs turned and tried to make their way toward his forces, but the anything approaching his firing line was given priority and the rock giants, though sturdy and well armored, couldn’t stand up to the number of weapons firing on them.

Thankfully, both his opponents seemed unsure what to do about the human forces that had appeared at the worst possible time. The Makonar between his troops and the Krixnas were cut down, but instead of charging Hugh’s forces, the Krixnas redoubled their efforts to get inside the tunnel leading toward the special objective.

“On your feet, close with fire and movement,” Hugh ordered. The squads keeping up fire, leapfrogged each other as they closed in. The Krixnas were now between him and the Makonar giants, their mechs begin crushed between the hammer and anvil of the two armies.

“Watch the left flank!” Sergeant Landry shouted. Their movement had brought them closer and closer to the eastern tunnel, but now their left flank was facing the northern tunnel, the tunnel where even more Krixnas were emerging from. It was only a trio of infantry mechs, but their laser weapons had hit one of his infantry, taking it out of the fight. Another of Hugh’s infantry mechs was grappled by the glowing tentacles of a Krixnas, the strange weapons burning easily through the thin armor protecting his unit. The remainder of that squad fought off the Krixnas then moved to cover the northern entrance, hopefully preventing any further surprises.

While the move protected his flank, it also reduced the firepower slamming into the main mass of Krixnas mechs, about half of which now turned and charged toward his line, leaving only a few to continue to try and push through the Makonar guarding the eastern tunnel. Hugh’s forces responded with a wave of grenades, the string of plasma blasts tearing apart the attackers and leaving only a few to be mopped up. Not holding anything back, the troops then tossed any remaining grenades at the blobs of mech fighting over the eastern tunnel entrance.

Rock giant mechs, and Krixnas of all varieties were blasted apart, their armor melting under the incredible heat of the plasma weapons. The Krixnas were done, only a few of their infantry remained in melee with the larger Makonar mechs. Rock giants could kill a Krixnas infantry in one blow, but once a Krixnas latched onto a target, the tentacles would cause catastrophic damage. Hugh didn’t hold back, pushing toward the eastern tunnel mouth and shooting down anything in their way. In only a few minutes, the last of his foes were destroyed.

Hugh had managed to catch the enemy at the best possible time for him. If they had faced the full force of either enemy, Hugh was confident his troops would win the fight, but he would have taken significantly higher casualties and it would be doubtful he would have enough remaining to push into the next zone. As it stood, he had 34 infantry and four light mechs. One light mech and nine of the infantry had varying stages of damage, hampering their effectiveness somewhat. He was also down to only a few grenades, what was even now being redistributed so that each squad would have a few to work with.

“Do we scout further north and east?” Captain Tran asked. His question shaking Hugh from his observations.

“Send a pair of scouts north, but make sure they avoid any engagement with the Krixnas, fall back if they spot anything more dangerous than one or two infantry. Give me a squad to the east. The Makonar were keen to defend that spot, so they may have held something back as a final layer of defense,” Hugh ordered.

The scouts left and Hugh followed the squad clearing the eastern tunnel, curious to see what this other objective was. Wider than most of the other tunnels in this place, the stone floors of the eastern tunnel showed lots of traffic had passed through, lots of giant-sized traffic. Hugh’s heart almost stopped when the looked in the chamber that the tunnel opened into. At least fifty rock giant mechs stood in rows, way more than his squad could handle.

“Sir, I don’t think they’re operable. It looks like most of them are still in the wrapper and while I see lots of techs, I don’t see any of those pilot guys,” the soldier in front said. He was right, most of the mechs were covered in a protective film that resembled a giant plastic bag. A bakers dozen looked like they were in the last stages of activation, but there were no pilots for them, only a handful of techs who seemed to be slowly getting the mechs ready for the absent pilots to use.

“You’re right, it’s only a few techs, get in there and secure the chamber,” Hugh ordered. Like their counterparts, these techs had some small arms they tried to use to fight off the soldiers, but they were no match for an infantry mech. Seven techs were taken down, and as the last one fell, Hugh received another system prompt.

You have successfully completed a bonus objective and have secured the Makonar storage facility. While you lack the ability to pilot their mechs directly, a few have been installed with a limited range, remote command interface that your core and use to give them simple orders. These mechs that your race has designated “Rock giants” will function only within the confines of this zone. Once you complete your objectives here and move on, the mechs will remain behind.

He had some reinforcements now, strange rock covered ones, but reinforcements, nonetheless. Hugh felt his core connect to several of the prepped rock giants mechs, successfully linking with nine of those. He thought about having his drones try to work on the others to see if he could get them into action, but it looked like they required more specialized knowledge than his workers possessed.

The rock giants could be ordered to follow, attack, or defend, that was it. Like the AI controlled mechs he had used in his training missions, these would be of limited effectiveness, but limited or not, they would provide a good shield for his forces to follow behind as Hugh cleared out the rest of this zone. He had taken out many of the Krixnas mechs, and with his new additions in tow, it was time sweep away the rest of his foes and move on to the next checkpoint.