War Core, Chapter 12.

Chapter 12.

“Fall back and defend the command post!” Hugh shouted as he changed unit orders, sending the faster T-7 mechs as well as the majority of the infantry back to defend the command post against the horde of Krixnas. Trying not to panic, he resisted sending everything back and left a force of ten infantry mechs behind to hold the forward base. The light mechs moved out on their bird-like legs as fast as they could go, the infantry was slower, but they also began to head in the right direction.

“I don’t know if we’ll make it in time, sir. Maybe the light mechs will, but it’ll be over one way or another by the time the infantry arrives,” Captain Cartwright said, frustration evident in his voice. Hugh didn’t reply, embarrassed and angry at himself for being outmaneuvered by the foe. He had assumed that the enemy would fight a set-piece battle, capturing every strong point along the way. The Krixnas were alien and looked like some Lovecraftian insect creatures, but their strange appearance didn’t mean they were mindless. He had underestimated the enemy, but would he survive to make amends?

A half-dozen enemy infantry scuttled over to capture the resource gathering station as they passed by, adding insult to injury. His defensive infantry mechs at the command post were controlled by whatever AI GCA had running. The AI wasn’t very good, but it didn’t take a tactical genius to stand behind a wall and shoot. Thankfully, the defenders all reported to the northern wall where the enemy was approaching from. Hugh had been worried they would stay spread around the perimeter, weakening his defense.

His light mechs moved down the road at their top speed, but Hugh could see the battle would be underway before they arrived. Victory or defeat would depend on how long the defenders could hold back the tide. He waited impatiently as the enemy infantry closed in, the first volleys from his defending infantry mechs lashed out as they entered into range. A pair of the enemy tumbled to the ground, the others not stopping as the advance continued. The second volley was more accurate as the enemy continued to close the distance. A half dozen Krixnas fell, then eight, then another ten before they made it to the wall. Over thirty of the enemy made it to the wall, which proved to be only a small impediment to the six-legged monstrosities.

Up and over in a matter of seconds, his defenders had time for a final volley before the enemy met them in melee. The glowing tentacles that made up the Krixnas heads lashed out, grabbing onto, and melting the alloy that his infantry was constructed of. His forces were overwhelmed at close range, unable to bring their weapons to bear as they were dismantled by the foe. When the last defender fell, the creatures all homed in on the command post building, ignoring the barracks and light mech factory.

Remembering that his opponent had the benefit of a full tutorial, Hugh assumed that losing his command post meant that he had lost the battle. Glowing appendages from the Krixnas slammed into his command post, melting and crushing their way through the reinforced structure. In only a few seconds, breaches were made, and the monsters poured in, smashing machinery and comm gear as they went. His valiant construction drones arrived to try and repair the damage, only to be destroyed by the relentless enemy.

Pain began to be felt over Hugh’s non-existent body, each lash of a Krixnas tentacle wrecked not only the structure but a part of himself. Looking in the distance, Hugh could see the three T-7’s, still too far to intervene in his torture. The ability to focus left him as the searing pain became his whole world. He screamed, and could faintly hear his commanders shouting in response, his mind too addled to make out what they were saying. The pain reached a crescendo and Hugh stood on the brink of pain inflicted madness when it all stopped.

You have failed. The Krixnas invasion of system es1422 will enter the second phase. War Core post-battle calculations are commencing.

Reward point calculations:

Base reward, 25 points.

Victory bonus: None.

Observation bonus: None.

Total points awarded: 25.

War Core termination calculation:

Base chance for termination: .0001%.

Failure penalty: Active.

Multiple loss penalty: None.

Effectiveness rating: Poor*.

Effectiveness penalty: Inactive for the first three battles the War Core participates in.

Observer rating: Poor*.

Observer rating penalty: Inactive for the first three battles the War Core participates in.

Bonuses: None.

Combat Pod lethality penalty: Active.

Hugh watched as the calculations were made by the GCA, calculations that would determine if he lived or died. But what did it matter? Was this a life he even wanted to live? Was there any point to it all? The results were in and the GCA gave him the thumbs up, he would live…for now. For the first time since he had heard of the previous War Core’s fate, Hugh began to understand why the other core had lost his mind.

Hugh flew through space, his consciousness returning to the undersea complex where he was housed. The nurse and Mr. Smith were standing by his War Core as he arrived back. A look of relief washed over them as the status lights on the device he was housed in announced his survival.

“Take some time to gather your thoughts, Hugh. We’ll have an after-action review once Cartwright and Tran are ready,” Mr. Smith said, walking away from Hugh. While he could move his point of view around the building, he found himself content to stay there, hovering directly over his War Core. He watched the combat pods open, technicians and medics standing by to assist the soldier’s inside. It appeared the transition wasn’t an easy one for some soldiers and they needed support to hobble their way out of their pods.

Hugh spotted Tran and Cartwright walking along the rows of combat pods. It was only then that he realized not all the pods had opened. A half-dozen were still sealed as technicians and medics with stretchers arrived to remove the occupants. Men under his command had died, they were dead because he had failed. What should he do?

“You lost six Hugh,” Cartwright said, walking over to him. Six men won’t be coming home to their families. Six men whose sacrifice will never be known. Six families will be fed lies to protect our secret. Do you understand?” Cartwright asked. There was no hate in his voice and strangely, no blame. All Hugh heard was a man who was worn out, empty.

“I screwed up, those men are dead because of me,” Hugh replied.

“Are they dead because we lost? Maybe. Every time we go on a mission, we take the chance of not coming home, it’s no different than any combat zone as far as that goes. What is different is that hellish calculation we’re forced to watch. In a real battle, the bullet or explosion that gets you is a surprise. In these damn things,” Cartwright hissed out, gesturing toward the rows of combat pods in front of them. “In these damn things, you can only watch and wait as the computer tries to decide if you’re going to be a ‘casualty’ this time,” Cartwright stood beside the War Core and Hugh was loathe to disturb the silence as the dead soldiers, his soldiers, were taken away by the medics.

“You did screw up; you didn’t account for any enemy behind the lines. You should have seen the enemy was proficient in the woods and anticipated they would focus their efforts there. By placing all our combat force on the front line, you left the rear areas open to attack. Even a small covering force, say ten of our infantry mechs, would have delayed the enemy long enough to allow us to respond,” Cartwright said.

“I didn’t…” Hugh started before being interrupted.

“You failed, Hugh, but none of us will blame you for it…this time. The fault lies with the GCA who forces us to participate in this war. The fault lies with their AI that refused to let us advise you more during the battle. We tried; you know. We tried to tell you to leave a rearguard, to protect the flanks and generate depth to our defense. We tried and were blocked. No, Hugh, you’re not at fault for this, but you will be the next time if you don’t learn from it. Learn and improve so fewer of those have to be carried out of here,” Cartwright said, pointing toward the last soldier being placed in a body bag.

“You’re wrong about one thing Captain Cartwright. You’re wrong that the soldiers we lost today will be forgotten. You and all the others here will forget, your minds wiped when your tour of duty is complete. I won’t forget. I may be the only one that remembers, but I will. Help me, Captain, help me to get better at this so we can save as many as possible and stop the enemy cold,” Hugh said. Cartwright stopped and replied without looking back.

“We’ll help, all of us will. Together we’ll push back the Krixnas and any others who get in our way,” Cartwright walked off to his quarters and Hugh was left alone again. Sure, he could project himself somewhere else on the base, but he wanted time by himself to think. The captain had been right, he needed to improve and couldn’t just give in to depression. Lives were at stake, brave soldiers he could help survive.

“It’s all a big game, you know that don’t you?” Madison said to him. The consultant had snuck up on him while he was focused on himself.

“What do you mean? This is real, the results of failure speak to that,” Hugh replied.

“Yeah, it’s a bloodthirsty alien game, but a game, nonetheless. That’s my theory anyway. Think about it, this GCA is so advanced they can force the rest of the universe to fight this way. Any group that powerful can have anything they want; any desire can be fulfilled by their technology. Any ailment could be fixed, and they likely live forever. A race like that can only seek one thing from the lower life forms, they’re seeking entertainment. We’re all just fighting and dying so they can be entertained by our antics. Something to think about Hugh, but is only a theory I have,” she said. Hugh didn’t know if he believed it or not, but the kid had obviously thought about it.

“Of course, I could be wrong and we’re all just hypnotized by some government experiment. We just might never know,” Madison said and walked away.

“Gee, thanks Madison, you’re a real ray of sunshine,” Hugh whispered.

“I heard that Hugh. Don’t worry, you’ll see one of my theories is correct before all this is over,” she said, pulling out her phone and tapping away at the screen once more. Their little conversation was the first time he’d seen her without the phone in her hand.

“Major Logan, please report to the briefing room,” Smith said over the loudspeaker. Hugh pushed his point of view over to the briefing room. Inside were the usual suspects in their usual places.

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, Hugh just completed his first real battle,” Smith started.

“One he lost,” Madison chimed in.

“At least he didn’t go bonkers and scream through the whole thing like your little gamer friend did,” the admiral snapped back. Somehow the kid was able to get under the admiral’s skin, causing him to lose his military demeanor, something that was very unusual for an officer that had risen as high as the admiral had.

“On to more productive topics folks. What went wrong and what went right in the last battle,” Smith asked.

“We weren’t able to advise him, that’s what went wrong. Every time I tried to tell him a weakness in his plan, the system blocked me. The GCA chose a retired officer with no combat experience for our War Core and expected him to perform like General Patton reincarnated,” Cartwright added.

“I underestimated the foe and didn’t properly protect the critical rear areas. What can I do to get better?” Hugh asked, frustrated at his own lack of knowledge.

“You have the experience; you just need to remember it. I may be a dumb gamer kid,” Maddison said, looking over at Admiral Nix while making a face. “but I did read your file, Major Logan. You did war games for a living while you were in the service and assuming you’re not a moron, and I might be wrong about that, you had to have picked up something from your job,” Maddison said. She was right, he did help run the exercises but wasn’t the one fighting the battles, he was just there to make sure the rules were followed and give a review of the results…just like they were doing right now. It was time to use his mind and experience to plan for the next fight.

“You’re right, Madison, so tell me what I can do to improve. Anything you can add about my build decisions with the units and structures? What other strategies should I consider?” Hugh asked.

“There was nothing wrong with your build order, and I thought you did as well as could be expected given that the enemy is an unknown quantity. In hindsight, perhaps building a few signal towers and beefing up your numbers before going for level two of your command post. You did well by pushing out quickly to gather resources and your gamble to attack the forward base early paid off,” Madison advised.

“You now know we need to defend what we take but you’ll also have to balance keeping an offensive force,” Captain Tran added.

“Got it, what about adjusting to the enemy we face based on what we now know?” Hugh asked.

“Don’t read too much into that, the Krixnas may or may not try different tactics in the next battle. It will take more time before we begin to get a good read on them,” Smith answered.

“Speaking of unknowns, we have to be kind of a mystery to the Krixnas as well, I think we should go with something a bit riskier next time,” Madison suggested.

“What are you thinking? We really can’t afford to lose another battle,” the admiral asked.

“That’s just it, the enemy will know we can’t afford to lose again. Say, did anyone even tell Hugh about how you win a system?” Maddison asked. Sheepish looks around the table told Hugh the answer.

“You guys are impossible. So, Hugh, the aliens have to win two out of three battles to control a system. The enemy will figure we’ll be playing not to lose instead of going all out to win,” Maddison told him.

“How do we know the Krixnas even think the same way we do?” Hugh asked.

“We don’t. The only thing we know is they’re advanced enough to go to space and wage war. That tells me they know something about strategy and tactics in a conflict. You made a mistake last time in not defending the base, they will expect you to proceed even slower in the next battle, wasting too many troops to protect your resources and command post. We double down and go with an early rush. Right when things start, concentrate on building cheap infantry. Once we’ve got enough, we head straight to the enemy base. No monkeying around with capturing strongly held things like the forward base, just build all you can as quick as you can and attack,” Maddison suggested.

“That may be too aggressive Maddison. We hold an advantage with our ranged weapons, we should fortify and use their long-range accuracy to our advantage,” the admiral suggested.

“Without knowing what the next battlefield will look like, it’s hard to tell. You’re going to have to consider all your options, Hugh. Decide how you want to run the battle after you get a peek at the terrain, then do what you think is best,” Captain Tran offered.

The second battle for system es1422 will now commence. Negotiations will begin momentarily.

Hugh was pulled back into his War Core. He wanted to bat around a few ideas with the group, but it looked like the GCA wasn’t going to give him a break. It was time to fight and this time he had to win.