War Core, Chapter 20.

This is the last chapter of War Core that I have written. I'll likely keep working on it, but will only be able to do a chapter or so per week while I focus on finishing up Derelict 3. The next chapter of Derelict 3 will be up later today.

Let me know how you're liking the War Core story. Is it something you'd like to see continue?



Chapter 20.

Hugh had ten minutes left to build up his defense. Hitting level three on the command post had unlocked new build options for him, but what should he choose? Taking a step back, Hugh reviewed the current battle status. A few cursory questions to Tran and Cartwright about the airfield and port went unanswered, the information likely restricted. The decision on what to do next was his alone.

Current Battle Information.

Resources: 386.

Structures:

Command post, level 3. Unit points (450/550). The upgrade to level 4 requires 1000 resources.

Barracks with Armory upgrade, level 2. The upgrade to level 3 requires 300 resources.

Light mech factory with Machine Shop upgrade, level 2. The upgrade to level 3 requires 400 resources.

Signal tower (3/4). Additional signal towers require 50 resources each.

Units:

Construction drones: 25.

Infantry Mechs: 49.

Machinegun Teams: 4.

Light Mechs: 4.

Defensive units:

None.

Available structures.

Airfield. The airfield requires 500 resources to construct.

Port Facilities. A port facility requires 500 resources to construct.

He had a couple of paths to take. The most obvious would be to continue what he was doing, upgrading the barracks and mech factories while maxing out his unit cap by producing the most powerful land units he could. Another option would be to venture into either air or sea units. He didn’t know how powerful or impactful the units would be, but those paths hinted at the ability to finally have a way to get eyes on the enemy forces. Taking a risk, Hugh decided on going for the airfield.

The aircraft the GCA would allow were unknowns, he hadn’t seen any in the previous battles he had witnessed so this would be new ground for him. He was hopeful that the Krixnas War Core had limited experience with aircraft. His opponent had completed an entire training program, but did that include naval and air units? He would find out soon enough. His resources were climbing well over 400 and should hit the 500 necessary to begin construction shortly.

While he waited, Hugh made sure that his construction drones were on the proper tasks. Four squads were tasked with gathering salvage and the fifth squad was working on the fortification upgrades. The level two fortifications had been completed for the second and third lines of defense and the drones were just starting to upgrade the first line when he hit 500 resources. Pulling a squad off of resource gathering, Hugh assigned them to begin on the airfield.

Just past his command post, an open area for the airfield was staked out, the total space was larger than either the mech factory or the barracks. Thankfully, the top of his little island fortress had more than enough room to fit the airfield and still have space for further expansion. A short but wide runway was laid out, the drones producing a concrete-like mixture that hardened instantly into a solid surface, complete with painted symbols that likely meant something to someone in the Air Force, but not to an Army soldier like himself. Three concrete hangars were constructed with what he assumed was room to house multiple aircraft in each. By the time the drones were done and back on gathering duty, Hugh was down to four minutes until the next wave.

Airfield, Level 3. The airfield allows for the construction of a variety of air mechs to use for combat, reconnaissance, or transport. The level of the airfield will determine the types of aircraft available for construction. Upgrade your command post to further upgrade the airfield. Note, this is the first time you have unlocked an air unit. Be aware of the following advantages/restrictions of this type of unit.

1. Air units cannot venture outside a friendly airfield’s zone of control or they will immediately lose power and their connection to the combat pod system. The maximum range is determined by the aircraft type and the airfield level. Upgrades to the airfield and construction of the control tower upgrade will extend this range.

2. Aircraft do not use unit points and the maximum number and type you can deploy are based on a new command resource called air points. Air points are determined by the airfield level and control tower upgrades.

New Unit Unlock. You have unlocked the F2A Buffalo air mech. This basic air unit is primarily designed for air-to-air combat but can function as a reconnaissance unit in a pinch. With limited ground attack capacity, it is recommended this unit stay airborne in battle. A single .30 caliber weapon is in the nose of the aircraft and can be used against both air and ground targets. Upgrade your airfield to unlock additional upgrades for this unit. The F2A Buffalo requires 50 salvage and 25 air points.

A quick check of the airfield showed that he had only 50 air points to work with. Hugh queued up a pair of the Buffalo fighters which would max out his air points. While the fighters were being constructed, he took a quick look through his various production structures to see if any new unlocks had occurred. The only thing showing was the control tower the system had mentioned in the description of the airfield.

Control Tower. The control tower upgrade increases the range of your aircraft and unlocks additional research options as well as increasing the air points generated by your airfield. Once constructed, the control tower upgrades automatically with the airfield. The control tower requires 250 resources to construct.

The upgrade sounded like a solid investment given that it scaled with the airfield itself. So far, all his auxiliary research buildings for his factories had done this, a small quality of life improvement and one fewer thing to have to upgrade with each level. He hoped the trend continued as he would hate to have to individually upgrade the armory, machine shop, and control tower each time he leveled their main buildings. With the new aircraft production taking a chunk out of his resource flow, he couldn’t unlock the control tower just yet.

With the clock ticking down, Hugh went ahead and queued up more infantry for his defense. He had gained more unit points when the command post upgraded and since the air units didn’t require them, he wanted to max out his ground forces. With the production of the air units and the additional infantry, his resource intake was barely keeping pace. He looked with a bit of concern at the dwindling piles of salvage strewn about the island. It had initially looked like more than enough to last the battle, but by now his drones had scoured the beach clean and were moving slowly up the hill as they continued to gather up the precious salvage.

Looking in on the airfield, he saw the production of the first fighter was only halfway complete. The T-7 light mechs took longer to build than his infantry mechs, and the air units were going to take even longer than the light mechs. The fighters were being constructed in the center hangar where the assembly line was. The other hangars were there for housing the completed units when they weren’t in combat. Resembling a traditional aircraft in design, the fuselage had a stubby rounded shape that was designed to prevent air drag. There was even a clear canopy on top, which struck him as odd given that there was no living pilot inside. Zooming in on the canopy, Hugh could see the area was stuffed with sensors and the power collection unit that linked it to the airfield. The nose of the aircraft was hollow and mounted some kind of turbine device to provide forward thrust.

Mounted in the front cowling of the aircraft was a single machine gun, the same .30 caliber weapon his ground forces used in the machine gun teams. The barrel of the weapon stuck out slightly from the cowling covering the nose, and Hugh couldn’t help but feel that the single weapon was woefully inadequate for a fighter aircraft. The tail assembly was added next. Resembling every other fighter he had seen, the tail was equipped with vertical and horizontal stabilizers as well as the rudder.

With the tail section attached, the assembly line now got to work on the wings. The wings were shorter and wider than normal, another turbine was housed in each to generate lift and allow the craft to hover when necessary. The wings could rotate, allowing for VTOL capability. From the midpoint of the fuselage, just beneath the wings, two doors opened, and a pair of spindly mech legs extended. The completed aircraft walked its way out of the hanger, the turbines spooling as it lifted off vertically. Once airborne, the legs retracted, and the F2A Buffalo began to make slow circuits over the island as the airfield began to work on the second aircraft.

While the aircraft was under construction, the infantry barracks had been pumping out more units, bringing his total infantry up to 52 and counting. Production would continue up to the unit point cap and Hugh set all his production buildings to automatically replenish any losses, that way, he wouldn’t neglect to order replacements in the heat of battle. Priority went to light mechs, infantry, weapons teams, and then aircraft if resources were an issue. Hugh needed ground units to defend the command post, and he wasn’t sure yet of the effectiveness of the aircraft, so they were at the back of the line.

“Major Logan, this is Captain Tremaine reporting in, the Air Force has arrived,” was heard over Hugh’s comms. The first aircraft began to perform various maneuvers as Captain Tremaine put it through its paces.

“Welcome to the battle Tremaine. I have a second aircraft under construction for you, but that will likely be it for a while,” Hugh replied, glad to have another officer to assist with air ops.

“Thank you, sir, what’s our situation?” The captain asked.

“We’re in a defensive mission. We need to hold this island longer than the Krixnas holds theirs. So far, we’ve been hit with three waves of attackers and had a couple of close calls. What can you suggest for the most effective use of our air units?” Hugh asked.

“With these buffalo’s, there’s not a whole lot of options. I’ll do my best to keep any enemy air off you and can make some strafing passes if the enemy air defense isn’t too bad,” Tremaine advised. Hugh could tell the aircraft interface needed less interaction on his part. He could set the primary mission and the captain in charge of his air wing would take it from there. Hugh reviewed the current options he had.

Air Missions.

1. Air superiority. Aircraft will focus on intercepting and destroying any enemy air units within range, prioritizing the threats nearest to the command post first.

2. Ground support. Direct attacks on enemy ground forces, consisting of low-level passes using any appropriate weapons.

3. Strategic bombing. Long-range attacks against enemy resource gathering, structures, and units.

4. Escort. Assign your fighter aircraft to protect the more vulnerable heavy assault air units.

Hugh figured there would be more options later and with only a pair of fighters at his disposal, he selected air superiority. Once his mission preference was selected, a second option appeared, asking if he wanted to add a secondary mission. He selected ground support based on what Tremaine had suggested. If there were no air targets, his aircraft would make strafing runs on enemy forces.

The fifth wave has begun, see to your defenses.

“Shout out any contacts,” Hugh ordered as he began to look about for the approaching enemy.

“I’ve got air and sea contacts to the north,” Tremaine called out. Turning his focus in that direction, Hugh could see three ships heading toward his island while a flight of three aircraft kept pace overhead.

“Contacts to the south as well sir,” Tran called, and Hugh saw a similar number of vessels and aircraft approaching from that direction.

As the enemy neared, Hugh was shocked to see the units approaching were not Krixnas forces, but instead were something he hadn’t seen yet. The ships were around the same size as the Krixnas landing craft, but instead of looking like a giant worm, these had a sleek twin-hulled design that looked like a futuristic human creation, not a mechanical representation of a particular species.

The aircraft was just as strange, sporting a twin-fuselage design that seemed to be favored by whatever this race was. Using the same type of propulsion his fighters used, the larger craft sported more turbines and had the barrels of several weapons sticking out at various points of the aircraft.

“Looks like those are Madrix units, the GCA is mixing things up for us,” Captain Cartwright said.

“What’s a Madrix and what can their units do?” Hugh asked, intrigued that something new was attacking. He had assumed he would face wave after wave of Krixnas, not a mix of races. The knowledge that other types of races and their units could be added to battle, made planning ahead more difficult.

“I’ve seen them before, two-headed weirdo’s with decent tech. Individually, their units are pretty powerful, but are more costly and usually appear in smaller numbers. They prefer a type of constant fire beam weapon that will eventually melt through whatever they lock in on. Keep everyone moving to prevent a lock from happening. I’m not sure what the ships are, but the aircraft resemble transport craft I’ve seen before. I expect they will be carrying a load of ground troops,” Cartwright advised.

“So, two-headed weirdo’s with lasers, got it,” Hugh replied. The second buffalo launched as the enemy closed and Tremaine held off his attack until he had a wingman.

“Let’s get the T-7’s behind the second line of defense with a pair facing each attack. Reinforce north and south but leave some troops behind to defend the other fronts just in case of a surprise attack,” Hugh ordered.

“Sir, I’m moving to engage the northern attack,” Tremaine advised. Hugh’s infantry and light mechs were still shuffling around to meet the attack, so he watched the air battle unfold. When they sighted the approaching fighters, the enemy aircraft formed into a V shape. Tremaine gained altitude and began to dive on the enemy aircraft, engines howling at maximum thrust.

Visible laser beams began to fire from the enemy craft, the sky around them becoming a laser light show as the beams flailed about, trying to get a lock on the fighters. Tremaine and the other pilot pushed home their attack, using the strange thruster setup on their aircraft to keep from staying in the same place for too long. Hugh saw the first glow of rounds fire from the fighters’ machine guns. The slow and steady rate of fire matched that of the weapons his infantry machine gun teams used. It was sadly inadequate for what they needed, Hugh decided, as the fighters corrected their aim, landing only a handful of hits before they dove below the transports.

One of the beams latched onto a fighter as they passed, the energy easily burning through the thin skin of the aircraft. The gunner lost his lock as the fighter dove past where the gun could bear. Other guns on the bottom of the aircraft hull began to fire, but their high-speed pass had put the fighters out of range too quickly for them to do any damage. The two fighters began to climb again, preparing for another pass. They only had time for one more pass before the enemy arrived, Tremaine looked to be targeting the same aircraft for his second pass.

Something exploded in one of the transport’s wings as the pair of fighters stitched a line of fire across it. With the screeching sound of twisting metal, the wing bent and then snapped off completely from the fuselage, causing the transport to spin out of control into the sea below. One of the gunners on the other transports managed to lock onto the damaged fighter again, this time the beam melted through the cockpit area, and the aircraft lost all power, dropping like a stone.

His sole remaining fighter was trying to climb for another pass, but time had run out, the enemy forces were nearly at the beach. It would be up to the ground forces to hold out against this new foe.