War Core, Chapter 26.

Chapter 26.

The new sector of space that Hugh found himself in wasn’t quite as empty as the previous one. His preset course would lead the fleet through a small asteroid belt that was brimming with mining activity and was an obvious location for an ambush. Further along the path, not too far from the jump point, a small cluster of asteroids that were marked as hostile territory. A new tab flashed in his interface, indicating he could look at system intel to see what the flashing red marker was.

Hostile faction detected. A series of bases belonging to pirate faction, The Humar Clanners, are in this asteroid field. The ability to hide from powerful forces and its placement near the jump point makes this the ideal location to launch raids against vulnerable convoy’s. Enemy strength is currently unknown, but the pirates are said to have captured a light cruiser to supplement the armed merchantmen and small assault craft they usually employ. While the cruiser is a serious threat, the admiralty has doubts as to its effectiveness given the lack of spare parts and damage taken in previous battles.

That wasn’t good news, his destroyers and frigate were fine against the relatively weak armed transports he had faced in the initial system, but he wasn’t too confident they could handle a cruiser. Even one with some systems that weren’t operating at peak capacity could be challenge, especially if it were supported by other vessels. Hugh spent some time rerouting their course, both to avoid the main asteroid field and approach the jump point as far from the known pirate base as possible. The time required to reach the jump point ballooned to over an hour from the thirty minutes previously estimated. Taking the additional time was worth the risk in his mind, given there was no apparent penalty or bonus for completing this trial quickly.

There was no change to his formation, and Hugh kept the transports in line, flanked by the destroyers and with the frigate out front. Time ticked by as his ships progressed on their route, Hugh watching nervously for any sign of hostile forces approaching. The armed transports in the other system had appeared unexpectedly and he wasn’t quite sure how the scanners really worked. Of course, this was all a simulation and may not be entirely the same as the real thing. As they neared the closest point their course would take them to the asteroid field. A series of contacts appeared, charging toward his flotilla.

It looked like the cruiser wasn’t hanging out at home and was in fact here in the asteroid field. To make matters worse, it had four armed transports and a pair of smaller vessels accompanying it. A quick check of his interface revealed that he had little chance of outrunning the enemy. The armed transports had souped up engines that give them more thrust than slow ships he was escorting.

Hugh moved his warships, placing all three between his transports and the attackers. The range closed and his missiles acquired a lock on the enemy. With no reason to hold back, and every reason to try and thin out the enemy force, Hugh ordered all his ships to fire. Eight missiles launched in the first volley, the autoloading mechanism already beginning the process of moving reloads into the launch tube. A pair of missiles launched from the cruiser in reply, not the full four that the ships were supposed to be equipped with. Given he had opted for improved point defense on all his ships, Hugh was fairly confident he could take them down.

A second volley launched from his ships, and this time, the enemy fleet’s return fire showed fourteen missiles inbound. Several had launched from the smaller craft and from the armed transports. The third volley launched, and at the enemy fire was back down to two missiles. His sensors were noting the large second volley was due to some external mounts bolted onto the attacking ships, they were one shot options and couldn’t be reloaded outside of port facilities.

The first missiles were entering point defense range and his ships erupted in a hail of plasma bolts. Both incoming missiles were swatted down, but Hugh was nervous as the larger volley of fourteen entered the point defense envelope. His ships did well, killing ten of the incoming, but four got through, two slamming into one of his destroyers and the others obliterating the frigate. The damaged destroyer was a wreck, engine at half capacity and the only weapons still working were three of the point defense guns. Hugh pulled the damaged ship back, placing it next to the transports to provide some cover with its remaining guns.

His undamaged destroyer fired off the last of its missiles and began to target the incoming ships with its main guns. The missile volleys had done some work, the cruiser was slowing, falling behind the rest after absorbing three missile strikes. Two of the armed transports were gone and the others didn’t seem too worried about charging into the superior firepower of a destroyer. Round after round slammed home, taking out the two transports before they could get a hit in with their more limited main gun. The two small patrol boats had only point defense weapons remaining, having expended all their missiles on the big volley.

By the time the last patrol boat was turned into debris, the light cruiser entered gun range. It fired three volleys from its larger main guns before the destroyer could respond, none of which hit, but they were getting closer. Only one main battery was still functional on the cruiser, but it was a twin mounted gun and when it finally did hit, the larger caliber shells did horrible damage. The two bow mounted guns on the destroyer was smashed to pieces and Hugh could see warning indicators that there was damage to the maneuver system. Thrust was still there, but evasive maneuvers were done for. His destroyer managed to land another hit, but the cruiser’s main gun was still in the fight. The next volley took out his destroyer, leaving Hugh with only one crippled destroyer to protect the transports.

The cruiser would have trouble catching them though, its speed was cut by the damage it had taken, the last rounds from his destroyer slowing it down to the point it was falling behind. Thinking he was home free; Hugh’s hopes sank as new hostile targets appeared. It wasn’t much, only a pair of patrol boats backed up by an armed transport, but it was more firepower than his remaining ships could handle. The point defense couldn’t stop all the missiles from the patrol boats, and they finished off his destroyer. The pirates then began to pick off the transports one by one. When the last one was taken out, his game was finished.

Hugh tried to take some solace in the fact that even an experienced core like Valery hadn’t gone too far in the trials. It seemed the challenge was very difficult, and he wasn’t sure what he could have done to survive the number of ships that had come at him. The pod opened as his focus shifted from it back to his living body once more. Not sure what his reward was, Hugh walked over to the nearby kiosk to access his results.

Congratulations on completing your first War Core trial. You have earned the following rewards based on your performance.

Level 1 cleared, 50 reward points. Bonus for each surviving transport 10 reward points. Total level 1 reward is 80 points.

Level 2 was not cleared. A partial reward of 25 points is issued for defeating 89% of the opponents.

Total reward: 105 points.

Entry fee for your next run is 100 points.

Hugh declined any further runs through a trial. His last attempt would have netted him a whopping five reward points over the entry fee, and he didn’t know if he would do much better on the second attempt. From the earlier instructions, it looked like it would cost more points for each subsequent attempt and he didn’t want to risk wasting his time for a potential negative return. After all, he only had limited time in this body, and he didn’t want to spend them all playing a game that resembled his War Core existence.

It had taken several hours to run through the trial, leaving him only a few minutes to meet Valery at the restaurant. A bit confused at where to go, Hugh found his interface included a navigation function that could bring him to anyplace he and already visited. He hadn’t noticed the name of the place before, but the navigation data showed it was called The Hungry Human. It was an appropriate enough name, he figured. Once inside, he could see that Valery hadn’t arrived yet, so Hugh went to their previous booth and ordered a beer to drink while he waited. Never a big drinker, Hugh had to make sure he took it easy on any alcohol, after all, this was a new body with zero tolerance built up over the years.

“I’m sorry I’m late, my business took longer than I anticipated. Did you already order?” Valery said as he slid into the booth. The man looked a bit frazzled, much different from the confident core he had hung out with earlier.

“No, I was enjoying a drink while I waited for you. Is everything okay?” Hugh asked.

“Yes, it’s good, just a difficult negotiation for something. Now, tell me how the trial went,” Valery said.

“Not that great, I did a space mission and only made it to the second level before my fleet got shot up,” Hugh admitted.

“Ha, not bad I suppose. It’s good to get your feet wet with space missions, some of the battles you will participate in will include space actions. Don’t worry about it too much, you typically won’t see them until you hit level five at least. Please tell me you didn’t spend all your points while I was away,” Valery said.

“No, I’m kind of frugal by nature, so I didn’t go hit the blackjack tables. Do they have blackjack tables here?” Hugh asked.

“You won’t find any of that, sadly, the arena entertainment is a bit more focused on our profession,” Valery admitted.

“That arena place was kind of underwhelming if I’m honest. I was expecting something a bit more elaborate than the scuzzy arcade vibe the place gave off,” Hugh said.

“I get that, there are other events, more popular than the trials. You can participate in matches where you wager some points against other cores. I don’t recommend you try that until you have a bit more experience under your belt though. Maybe on your next visit you should give it a go, it will give you a good feel for the other fighting styles,” Valery said.

“That might actually be fun, especially if there is no risk of dying,” Hugh said.

“There’s no risk of death, only reward points. Now what will we have to eat for our dinner tonight?” Valery asked, pulling up the menu. Hugh looked through it, landing on one of his favorites. A few minutes later a bowl of rice and Szechuan chicken arrived. It was spicy and delicious, reminding him of the Chinese restaurant that was around the corner from his apartment. Valery had some traditional Russian dish that included something that looked like a crepe or pancake wrapped around savory fillings. Hugh gave it a try but wasn’t a fan. He’d stick to his favorites, after all, he never knew if he would get another chance to try them.

“Time is ticking down, any other advice you can give me?” Hugh said, painfully aware that his leave was slowly passing by.

“Flexibility is key. The battles you have fought so far have been of a straightforward type. Either kill the command post or survive longer than the enemy command post. You should have an idea of other types of battles,” Valery started before getting a glazed-over look in his eyes.

“You ok?” Hugh asked.

“Yes, I’m apparently not supposed to give you details on battle formats. Our lords and master in the GCA think it would be an unfair advantage. Bah, just understand that the types of battles are only limited by what the GCA can think up. Now, don’t expect every fight you’re in to be a crazy mash up, most will be the traditional kill the enemy command post, but I don’t want any weirdness to throw you off your game,” Valery said.

“And just what is your game? What did you focus in for your core upgrades?” Hugh asked.

“I’ve dumped most of my upgrades into heavy mechs. One of my armor commanders has been with me a long time and between the two of us, we typically dominate in any battle that is high enough tier to get to the heavies. I didn’t make myself a one trick pony, though. I also put several upgrades into the command post itself, economics are important, and managing the flow of resources in a fight typically determines who wins or loses,” Valery said.

“My first upgrade was for enhanced resource flow,” Hugh said.

“Not a bad choice, one that will benefit you in almost every fight. Don’t neglect your mechs, though, keep a focus on at least one combat line, with some investment in a second. While I have mainly invested in the heavies, I also put a few upgrades into infantry, they’re almost always important, especially in the early game,” Valery advised.

“How about opponents? Which races do you fight with most often?” Hugh asked.

“It has varied over the years, and I suspect your opponents will shift as well. Borders are always changing as systems are taken and retaken. For the most part, I’m locked into an ongoing war with a race called the Bizroth. They are close enough in appearance to humans, save for having four arms and no hair. One of my advisors thinks they look like mutant vampires,” Valery said.

“How do they fight?” Hugh asked.

“They employ lots of support units, and the core I’m usually up against has a lot of infantry upgrades. Their accuracy is also strong, they usually inflict more casualties on my forces than I inflict on them, but it evens out because I think their command post and other building upgrades cost more. I don’t know for sure, but that’s my guess based on the fact I usually hit upgrades and build new structures much faster than they do, even when resources are a bit in their favor,” Valery said.

“I’ve got Krixnas, they look like ants with tentacles for faces. They’re way more powerful in melee but can’t hit the broad side of a barn at range,” Hugh said.

“Ah, yes, that’s the new race in your sector. I also get to fight the D’kahn on a regular basis. They are at the extreme end of the quality over quantity approach and their units are incredibly powerful. Thankfully, they can only field a few in each battle, and I have a good chance to smother them with cheaper units. There are others that I see now and again when the borders shift, but the D’kahn and the Bizroth are my main foes. Your territory is the United States West Coast, right?” Valery asked.

“I’m the US core, wait, you mean to say there’s more of us?” Hugh asked.

“Oh, I see you thought you were the only one, no the major nations had multiple cores, and I believe the US started with four. Two have been eliminated and not replaced. The slot you took would have made it the third lost by your country. The area of space you are responsible for was too large and the burden would have fallen on others, so my country made the effort to have a replacement granted,” Valery advised.

“How many have we lost?” Hugh asked, more than a little annoyed this hadn’t come up yet with his advisors back home. Time had been critical, but they could have at least mentioned that there was another US core out there.

“We started with one hundred and twelve cores. The total now stands at eighty-seven,” Valery answered.

“What happens when we lose a core?” Hugh asked. Given there was a chance of dying with every mission, wouldn’t they and every other race run out them eventually?

“The territory assigned to that core is redistributed, and other cores have to take up the slack. Understand that when a core dies, a replacement is usually selected by the GCA, only rarely is the loss permanent. There is also a time delay while we wait for the GCA to choose a new core. While we have eighty-seven active cores, there are seven open slots that are waiting on the GCA to name a replacement. It can take a few hours or a few decades for the GCA to select, we never know. Occasionally a chance to win a new core is given, like with you, but those opportunities are rare and costly,” Valery paused, and Hugh could see the gears turning in his mind.

“As far as the other races, I think the ones that have been around the longest have only a few active cores. Those active cores are the highest leveled and most powerful ones out there. I guess it’s also one of the reasons the more powerful cores aren’t chasing down us small fry’s. They likely have their hands full doing the work that numerous other cores would typically do,” Valery said.

“Have you met the other US core?” Hugh asked, curious who his comrade in arms was.

“Personally, no, but I understand he’s level twenty-seven and doing a good enough job. The guy started sometime in the eighties, if I remember right, so he’s been at it for a decent amount of time. While you will run into a core occasionally on leave, it is kind of rare. We can time our leaves if you ever want to, and I’m sure your team back home can make arrangements to meet your counterpart if you ever have leave together. Normally, we’re too busy with fighting off the invaders to worry about social visits,” Valery said. The fact this man had sought him out to help with his first steps on Harmony Station meant more than Hugh had initially thought. Valery would have had to spend some time getting leaves to line up for them to meet in person. Hugh hadn’t had many friends back in the real world, but he would be happy to count Valery among them.

“If you don’t have any other questions, I have to run. Sorry to cut our visit short, but my other obligations on this little vacation can’t be ignored. I’ll have to leave you to your own devices. Don’t waste all your points shopping and don’t accept any challenges from anyone aboard the station. If the other races get an idea that your new, someone will try to take advantage of you in the competitive contests. Goodbye my friend Hugh, I hope we meet again,” Valery said.

Hugh was worried about him, whatever had happened while Hugh was doing his free trial hadn’t been something good, and he could see it weighting down on Valery. He didn’t want to pry into it, and Valery didn’t seem like he wanted to discuss it.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Hugh asked.

“No, it is something I must take care of on my own,” Valery replied.

“Very well, best of luck to you Valery. I hope we get to hang out again on leave, and eventually back in the real world when we retire,” Hugh said. Valery nodded, smiling at the thought of retirement, and made his way from the restaurant, leaving Hugh feeling a bit confused as to what he was going to do next.