War Core, Chapter 17.

Chapter 17.

“Light ‘em up! I want focus fire on the two highlighted landing craft,” Captain Tran shouted over comms and the fifteen infantry mechs I had assembled began to lay down fire on the approaching Krixnas landing craft. The captain highlighted two of the craft for our soldiers, and they split their fire between them. Hugh was a little worried that they were ignoring the other four craft but spreading the fire out over six different targets wouldn’t accomplish much with the relatively weak infantry weapons.

The worm-like landing craft were lightly armored, the first rounds hitting the craft pinged off. Thankfully, the plasma-based weapons that the mechs used burned off a patch of armor with each hit, weakening it for the following shots. Krixnas landing craft closed in on the beach as the first rounds started to burn through the bow of the lead craft. In response to his fire, the six approaching vessels had a panel open on the top. A claw-like appendage appeared, and the glow of a weapon charging was seen at the point of the claw. A ball of energy flew from the claws and landed in a line fifteen yards in front of the trenches. Blasts hurled gouts of sand in the air as the barrage missed the mark.

Captain Tran ordered his troops to spread out a bit, enough to keep their fire massed, but reducing the chance of one of the explosive energy balls taking out multiple mechs with a hit. Another infantry mech stepped from the assembly line and made its way toward the trench. Tran sent a message to have the new arrivals start to fill out the second trench line that was even now being dug by his construction drones. Hugh reassigned any incoming mechs to the new location where they could support the fifteen already engaged.

The landing craft hit the beach and the tentacles lining the sides of the craft struggled to pull the bulky vessels up onto the sand. One of the landing craft that had been targeted by the infantry floundered and smoke began to billow from several holes that had been burned through the armor. One enemy craft was down, but the others were still in the fight. With a loud clang, hatches along the sides of the landing craft popped open and a horde of Krixnas infantry swarmed out. Tran’s forces shifted fire to the infantry, even as the surviving landing craft continued their fire support.

Realizing he was wasting time as a spectator, Hugh searched about for something productive to do. Noting that the invasion was strictly centered on one side of the island, Hugh decided it was time to not only build defenses but also to gather more resources for future upgrades. Leaving two squads to continue work on the trenches, the other two were tasked with gathering salvage on the beach opposite the side being attacked. He didn’t know how much time he would have between attacks and needed every bit of scrap he could find.

Another wave of explosions rocked the beach in front of his trench line, drawing Hugh’s attention. This time, a couple of the landing craft had managed to get their rounds inside the trenches, destroying a pair of infantry mechs. The Krixnas infantry moved toward the defenders, their inaccurate lasers blazing away his troops. Even the limited protection of a trench was proving a key component to his defense as most of the incoming fire missed the mark. Tran’s soldiers, on the other hand, were deadly accurate. Round after round slammed into the swarming Krixnas, slowing their advance.

Hugh saw his estimates on the landing craft capacity had been accurate, each seemed to hold eight infantry. None had left the smoking craft that was slowly rolling around in the surf, and the other craft that had been targeted on approach had just four infantry dismount from it, the rest had probably been killed by the few rounds that had breached the front armor. With the enemy stuffed inside, any penetration was likely to result in a casualty.

The original thirty-six surviving attackers dropped to thirty, then twenty-eight as they advanced under the withering fire of Tran’s infantry. As the range closed, the mechs in the second trench line were able to add their weight of fire to the battle. Three infantry now stood in the hastily built defensive line, and more were under production. As the attackers closed to within twenty yards of the first trench, the infantry prepared and threw their first wave of grenades.

Plasma blasts erupted all along the front, melting and crushing with explosive force. A swath of Krixnas infantry went down, but the attackers continued their advance, not reacting to the mounting losses as they tried to close with his forces. A second and last volley of grenades was thrown, destroying another half-dozen attackers. Tran’s troops wasted no time, going back to their guns as the enemy closed to the trench line. The Krixnas skittered over the lip of the trench, glowing tentacles leading the way. Tran’s infantry fought hard, but they were hopelessly outclassed in melee combat. Hugh watched his infantry get torn apart and melted by the enemy.

Things didn’t go all the enemy’s way, though, and his upgrades proved effective in keeping his infantry in the fight long enough to take more of the Krixnas before the last of his defenders in the first trench line fell. A baker’s dozen of the invaders survived to continue the assault and were taken under fire from the handful of mechs manning the second trench line. The ground proved much harder to traverse for the attackers as the rocky and steep slope slowed their advance, giving his troops time to pick them off one by one. By the time they reached grenade range only five remained, all of which went down to a flurry of explosions as the five defenders that now manned the trench threw their deadly missiles.

Hugh would have breathed a sigh of relief if he still had lungs, they had held the first wave and it looked like the landing craft were even now backing their way off the sand. Thankfully, the assault craft support weapons, while powerful, were short-ranged and seemed unable to hit the troops in the second line of trenches. Once back in the water, the landing craft headed slowly out to sea.

The human War Core has defeated the first assault wave, the next attack will begin in 25 minutes.

The clock was ticking again. Hugh wasn’t sure what had happened to the Krixnas War Core. Was the announcement for him only or it was transmitted to both combatants? His question was answered a minute later when the GCA announced the Krixnas had defeated their first assault. It also looked like the timer for the next wave started whenever one of the War Cores defeated the attacking wave. Fighting off the attacking wave quicker than his foe would give him an advantage and put a bit more pressure on the opponent as they dealt with less time between waves.

“If the following waves have more indirect fire from their landing craft, we’ll need better overhead protection for our defenses,” Tran said.

“I agree, but I’m not sure how to unlock them. They’re tied to my command post, so I suppose that increasing the command post level might trigger an upgrade for them,” Hugh replied.

“Good, if you can make up our losses, I’ll get the infantry back into the first trench line,” Tran advised. It was as good a plan as any, so Hugh queued up enough mechs to make good their losses and bring them up to a total of fifty. With the battle over, he pulled another squad of construction drones off trench digging and had them gather salvage from the latest battle. The landing craft rolling around in the surf was too tempting and he tagged that for their first target. For some reason, it was only now that he realized the command post hadn’t produced any defensive forces for him like it normally did.

“Captain Tran, do you have any idea why we didn’t get any of the free defenders we normally get for a battle?” Hugh asked, not sure if the captain knew or even if the GCA would allow him to answer.

“I’ve only had a few fights like this before and now that you mention it, I don’t recall seeing any of the defensive forces in those fights either. Normally, by the time defensive forces come into play, my mechs have all been destroyed. While they would be a help here, they’re really not that effective since my soldiers can’t control them,” Tran offered. Hugh wasn’t impressed with their performance in the previous battles, but anything would have been welcome in the current fight he was in.

Despite a constant output of infantry mechs, his resource gathering was outpacing expenditures and he now had 374 to work with. Was it better to save up for a level three command post or should he go ahead and upgrade the light mech factory to see if he could improve things? If he wanted more support for the second wave, it made sense to go with a light mech factory. The infantry could only be churned out so fast, and having a second source of production made sense to him, not to mention the main gun on the T-7’s would be better suited against heavier units like the landing craft in the first wave.

Hugh queued up a level two light mech factory, curious what the level two mechs could do. After the factory was upgraded, he should have enough resources to build the machine shop addon. Not wanting to slow down either construction of his defenses, or the gathering of resources, Hugh decided to build a fifth squad of drones to work on the building upgrades. While he waited, Slater watched the construction drones working on the trench line. They were over halfway done with the second line of defense and once it was complete, they would move to the final defensive line.

Infantry mechs walked from his barracks at a steady pace, Tran was now up to eleven and counting. They had another fifteen minutes on the clock, and he was tempted to build a second infantry barracks, but the resource cost to keep both upgraded made that a non-starter. He would supplement however many infantry he had built before the second wave with a few light mechs.

He had eight minutes left when the light mech factory upgrade was complete, the machine shop addon started and after deducting the resources for it, he had enough left over to build a pair of T-7 mechs. Ordering them up, he figured at least one would be completed before the second wave arrived.

“I’ve upgraded the light mech factory and have couple T-7’s being built, where do you think they’ll do the most good?” Hugh asked Captain Tran.

“Two options, we can place them behind the first line of defense and use their extended range to degrade enemy forces before they arrive, or we can place them in the second line to keep them better protected. In the second line, A level two light mech should be able to engage the enemy around the same time the first line infantry can. Of course, once the first unit is done, Captain Cartwright may have better advice. He is the armor expert,” Tran advised. As the first light mech stomped off the line, he received notification that the machine shop was complete. Remembering his previous attempts, Hugh took a few moments to check each production building, looking for upgrades that might have been added.

“Major Logan, I’m connected to the first T-7, what are we dealing with?” Captain Cartwright asked.

“It’s a defense mission, we’ve got to hold this island longer than the Krixnas War Core holds theirs. Forces controlled by the GCA are arriving in waves, the next of which is scheduled to be here in just over a minute. Hugh left Cartwright on his own to survey the battlefield as he looked for upgrades, starting with the command post. The defensive structures tab now showed a new upgrade was possible, unlocked by the addition of the machine shop.

Fortifications, Level 2. Level 2 fortifications include improved fighting positions consisting of reinforced trenches, grenade sumps, and modest overhead protection. Light mech fighting positions can also be constructed with this upgrade. This upgrade requires 100 resources to enable. Once active, construction drones can be tasked with upgrading existing fortifications, while any new construction will follow the upgraded pattern.

Having a total of only fifty-eight resources on hand, Hugh would have to wait a bit for the upgrade. He had been banking up extra resources when he was just building the infantry mechs but adding light mech construction left him barely breaking even. Now that the machine shop was complete, he assigned the squad of drones that had built it to work on salvage duty, adjusting his drones to have three squads on salvage, and two working on fortifications. He would also be closing in on his unit cap once everything he had queued up was built.

Prepare your defenses, the second wave is released.

“Eyeballs out people, we’ve got hostiles coming to the party any time now. Call out if you see anything,” Captain Tran advised to all the troops. Hugh now had a total of seventeen infantry mechs and the one T-7. The second light mech was being assembled and infantry was being pumped out every minute or two. Captain Cartwright kept his mech slowly walking the perimeter of the first defensive line, while Tran’s infantry was spread out evenly inside the first line of trenches.

“Contact, several landing craft to the east,” A soldier called out. Hugh pushed his view as far he could, watching as a half dozen landing craft approached. Was the second wave like the first? Perhaps they were upgraded mechs or had some way of stuffing even more onboard?

“Contact, landing craft to the west,” another soldier advised. Looking to the west, there was indeed another half dozen landing craft approaching from that direction. He was facing double the number of attackers and he didn’t have double the number of troops this time.

“Hey Major, do you think we can get a reload on grenades? I have five mechs that have already used up their loadout,” Tran asked. He was right, the five that survived the first wave had thrown their grenades. Hugh tasked a single drone that was working on fortifications to resupply his troops.

“How do you want us to meet the assault, sir?” Tran asked.

His second light mech was walking out of the factory alongside infantry mech number eighteen. How could he best use his forces to beat back this attack?