War Core, Chapter 9.

Chapter 9.

Hugh watched the pair of drones struggle a bit to get the oversized resource container into the command post. It was the third they had brought back, and it should give him enough to begin the construction of more buildings. He had ordered up enough mechs to bring the total up to twenty. Tran had his force spread out on Hugh’s side of the ruins. Following the infantry commander’s suggestion, Hugh had detailed off a pair of mechs to cover the forest on either side of the ruined city, just in case the enemy tried to push on the flanks. The other scout had also met an unfortunate end before making it within sight of the enemy base. Hugh’s infantry had found another two resource crates, but those were last to be had on his side of the map. He knew the enemy was likely gobbling up a similar number on their side of the map, so he wasn’t confident enough to push forward into enemy territory just yet.

Current Battle Information.

Resources: 425.

Structures:

Command post, Level 1. Unit points (110/200). Upgrade to level 2 requires 500 resources.

Units:

Construction drones (10/10).

Combat Units:

Infantry Mechs, level 1 (20).

Other Structures:

Barracks, level 1. Armory add-on may be constructed for 100 resources.

Available Structures.

Light mech factory, Level 1. This building requires 250 resources to construct.

Signal tower (0/2). A signal tower requires 50 resources to construct.

With two more resource crates on their way, Hugh felt confident in ordering both the light mech factory and the armory upgrade, curious to see what they unlocked for him. All his drones, save for a pair recovering the last of the crates, began constructing the mech factory first. The building was double the size of the barracks, but still a bit smaller than the level one command post.

“Sir, I’ve got movement, tracking a single tango peeking out the window of a building across the street from us,” one of the soldiers stationed in the city announced. Tran had broken his men up into fireteams of two and spaced them at intervals across the city to prevent any enemy recon from getting through to their side, which it appeared they were now trying to do.

“Weapons free soldier, we don’t want any lookie-loo’s slipping through our lines,” Tran ordered. Hugh moved his view over to the fireteam that had spotted the enemy. He couldn’t find the alien the sharp-eyed soldier had spotted. The city was destroyed but many of the structures were still at least partially standing. Unusual hexagonal window openings were placed here and there on undamaged sections of buildings. A pair of blasts from his infantry mech’s rifles lashed into one of the openings, and in the brief flash of weapons fire, Hugh made out the swirling mass of tentacles that served as a head for the enemy mechs.

“Tango down, displacing,” the soldier advised. The fireteam moved back from line of sight, shifting over to another section of the building, and then laying prone in their new position, continuing to observe through a chunk of missing wall. By not staying in the same place, the teams made it harder for the enemy to lock down their position. Hugh wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to check out an enemy mech more closely, so he pulled one of his drones from construction duty to gather the wrecked Krixnas infantry mech. Every point of salvage was critical.

Twice more the enemy probed their defenses in the city before giving up on the effort. Each time they only used a single mech. The right side of the forest was also probed, the close-range fight in the woods cost both sides an infantry mech. Tran had given up on probing the enemy through the forest after their first surprise encounter and had convinced Hugh to stay on the defensive for now. Hugh queued up replacements for his losses, it wouldn’t dip too far into his resources yet, given the minimal casualties so far. His attention was drawn back from the skirmishing when his light mech factory was completed. He pulled up the information to see what he could build.

Light Mech Factory, level 1.

Construction options.

T-7 light reconnaissance mech. A simple, lightly armored mech, the T-7 features a heavy infantry weapon of .50 caliber. The weapon can penetrate light armor and does well against all soft targets. Reasonably fast, the T-7 can outpace other infantry of its tier, letting it exploit gaps in defensive lines and run amok in rear areas. Unable to stand excessive punishment, the T-7 is best kept away from heavier enemy mechs. The T-7 requires 25 resources to construct and uses 25 of your unit points.

With the infantry and drones, Hugh was using 110 of his available 200 points. He also only had 81 resources remaining until the next crate was delivered. Playing it safe, Hugh ordered up two of the light mechs, giving him a small reserve of unit points and conserving resources in case the infantry upgrades from the armory required them. As far as the armory building itself, the drones were already taking down one wall of the barracks and extending the foundation for the armory. It should go up a bit faster than the light mech factory had.

Pushing his view into the factory, Hugh was hypnotized by the process of building a mech. Blocks of resources made their way down the line, passing through the robotic arms with their various tools. The shape of a hull came into being, with an empty turret ring on top along with attachment points on either side for the legs. At the mid-point of the assembly line, the turret and weapon were crafted and installed. Hugh could see the .50 caliber heavy machinegun that was installed resembled the venerable M2 Browning weapon. He almost laughed at the sight. Ma Deuce was being reborn in a space-age mech. At the end of the assembly line, the mech was raised on a platform as the pair of armored, bird-like legs were attached.

The power source on the mech fired up—he wasn’t sure how it was powered or exactly how the weapons functioned—and the machine stomped its way out of the factory. While he wasn’t expecting the light mech to be built as quickly as the infantry mechs, and he was pleasantly surprised the entire process was only seven minutes from start to finish.

“Major Logan, this is Captain Cartwright, I have control of the mech and am awaiting orders, sir,” Cartwright said, Hugh’s armor commander was finally able to join the fight. Hugh sent him over a copy of the map and their current disposition of forces.

“Welcome to the fight Captain Cartwright, you can see we have a thin line of infantry just inside our half of the city and a couple of listening posts in the woods. Before we take the fight to the enemy, I would like to take control of the forward base I have marked on your map. What do you figure their garrison strength is Captain Tran?” Hugh asked.

“I’d say anywhere from 15-20 infantry mechs, same level and type as our units. They have good cover, but without live soldiers controlling them from combat pods, they’ll only be marginally effective,” Tran replied.

“Can we take it with a pair of T-7’s and most of the infantry?” Hugh asked.

“It’s not a sure thing, but I think we have a good chance, as long as they don’t have any heavy weapons hidden away in the bunkers that we can’t see. My only concern is that the enemy will hit us mid-battle and roll up our forces,” Cartwright advised.

“I think it’s a risk we have to take, we need that forward base to help hold back an enemy push. We’ll hit the base and then Captain Tran can send his surviving mechs back into the city to hold the line while I build replacements,” Hugh ordered, marking the objective for all the appropriate forces. He kept the pairs of mechs in the forest on watch, it would take a while for them to make their way into the city and he didn’t want to leave the flanks hanging in the wind if he could help it. Two light mechs and sixteen infantry would have to be enough.

By the time the planning was done, and infantry was in place, Cartwright’s second T-7 was built and ready to go. The light mechs held just out of range to the south of the forward base, while the infantry waited at the edge of the ruins to the north. There wasn’t a magnetic north here on the battle world, so Hugh had just arbitrarily assigned the side of the map with the enemy base as north, and his side as south. Leading off the attack would be the light mechs and once they held the defender’s attention, the infantry would strike. Defenders that were not controlled by a combat pod tended to get fixated on a target and didn’t react well to surprises.

“Sir, we’re going in, I’ll try to outrange them with the fifty cal, but in my experience, a fortified position like the forward base can increase the range of any defenders inside. Don’t ask me how it works or how that’s even possible, but it does happen,” Cartwright said. The two light mechs began to move in on the forward base, defenders patrolling the trenches reacted to the attack, several lining up to fire while others moved in to reinforce the sandbagged bunkers. He had noticed earlier movement inside the bunkers and now it appeared each was already manned by a pair of infantry mechs. It looked like the bunkers could hold around six infantry without them getting in each other’s way.

The T-7 mechs entered range and began to bang out rounds from their main gun. While categorized as a heavy machinegun, the weapon was anything but rapid-fire. Upgrades must be needed to make them full auto, for now, the single rounds were accurate and devastating to any infantry they hit. Return fire began to streak in at the mechs, the defenders did appear to have some kind of range enhancement for being inside the fortified position. The hope that his mechs could sit outside of enemy range and pick off the defenders one by one were dashed.

Hugh watched as the occasional round from the defending infantry pinged off the light mech armor, each hit left a scorch mark and burned off some of the thin armor plating the vehicles were protected with. Cartwright and his men handled the light mechs well, always moving and changing directions at random to throw off enemy targeting. They would stop only briefly to fire, the strange gait of the mechs made firing at extreme range while moving almost impossible. Damage was mounting on his mechs when the infantry emerged to join the fight. With the majority of the defenders focused on the light mechs, only the pairs of infantry mechs in the two northernmost bunkers were firing on them.

Two of Captain Tran’s infantry were down by the time his forces entered range to return fire. Volleys of rifle fire were aimed at the two corner bunkers. Each hit would rip open a sandbag, but the defenders were too well dug in to be taken out by infantry fire alone. If they only had a few antitank rockets, they could take this place with little trouble. Four more infantry mechs were out of action by the time the survivors made it to the trench line. His infantry hopped over the low wall protecting the trench and began to clear their way toward the bunkers.

Without grenades, the only option was to charge in. The first infantry mech into each bunker was blasted apart by the two defenders, allowing the following troops to clean up the defenders while they waited uselessly for their weapons to recharge. Captain Tran was down to eight effectives but, so far, the other defenders hadn’t reacted to their presence. Sending four soldiers down each side of the trench, Tran approached the distracted defenders while the light mechs continued to soak up damage.

With a crash, one of the T-7’s stumbled to the ground, a leg had been damaged too much to hold its armored bulk any longer. The gun was still in play and continued to fire at the defenders, but it wouldn’t last long as all the defenders focused on the injured mech. To their credit, the light mechs had not only held the enemy’s attention this whole time, but they had also taken out a half dozen defenders, the heavy fifty caliber rounds were pretty much a guaranteed one-shot kill on infantry when they hit.

A flurry of shots for the bunkers rang out as Tran’s men charged in, engaging the defenders inside. Cartwright pushed his light mech forward and once it reached the trench line, the main gun depressed and took aim at any functioning defenders still inside the trench. The T-7 didn’t have a line of sight into the bunkers, but Tran’s forces were clearing them without too much difficulty.

You have captured a forward base. This location can now be designated as the rally point for all newly created mechs. Once a new mech is built it will automatically move to this point, joining the defenders as it waits for further orders. Units positioned inside the fortified bunkers have their primary weapon range enhanced by 25%.  The forward base provides 50 additional unit points.

They had done it, but the cost had been high. Only three of Tran’s infantry mechs survived the battle, and one of the T-7’s was a mobility casualty. Thankfully, it was showing repairable which would take fewer resources than having to build one again from scratch. The fortifications inside the forward base had also taken a beating, requiring more of his precious resources if he wanted the place to operate at its full potential.

On the plus column, the fortified position was his and along with it were two large crates of resources hidden inside the central command bunker. Hugh had another five drones built, assigning them to the forward base, they would begin repairs on the T-7’s first, then some would bring back resources, including all the casualties. Once that was done, they would begin repairs on the base itself.

Another of the large crates that had been hidden the ruins had arrived while the battle was underway, giving him something to work with. Resources continued to flow in from the command post as well as the resource gathering station, though he knew the resource station would run dry at some point. His resources sat at 137 right now, enough to begin replacing the lost infantry mechs. After setting the forward base as the rally point for his army, Hugh took a look at the newly created armory.

Armory, level 1.

Standard Infantry Mech Upgrades.

1. Basic targeting package. This upgrade permanently enhances the targeting systems of your light infantry weapons, enabling higher accuracy under all conditions. The estimated accuracy increase is 10%. This upgrade requires 50 resources to activate. Once activated, drones would be required to improve any existing infantry units, while newly created units will already have the upgrade.

2. Improved heat sink mechanism. By improving the heat dissipation ability of your light weapons, the rate of fire is increased. This upgrade requires 50 resources to activate and will increase the rate of fire by 10%. Once activated, drones would be required to improve any existing infantry units, while newly created units will already have the upgrade.

The following upgrades require an active Light Mech Factory.

3. Enhanced armor protection. Additional armor plates are attached to your infantry mechs. The upgrade improves survivability of the units by an average of 15% but the additional weight will slow your infantry movement speed by 5%. This upgrade requires 50 resources to activate. Once activated, drones would be required to improve any existing infantry units, while newly created units will already have the upgrade. Units upgraded with enhanced armor require 1 additional resource point at creation. Updating units in the field requires 1 resource point per unit.

Hugh wanted everything, of course, but he only had enough remaining resources to select one upgrade. Of the three choices, he believed that a higher rate of fire would be the most beneficial in the short run. Even with enhanced armor, he didn’t think his units would be able to go toe to tentacle with the Krixnas in melee. Targeting on his units was already acceptable, but a bonus would be nice. Yes, improved heat sinks, and their better rate of fire were the right choice.

Improved heat sink mechanism selected.

Hugh assigned one of the drones tasked with repairing the base to upgrade his existing infantry mechs. With only seven remaining functional, it shouldn’t take the drone long, except for the travel time to each unit. He looked at the new infantry mech that was just coming out of the factory and heading to the forward base. Its weapon looked the same as the others, so the differences were all internal. That was good, as any visible queues would tip off on an enemy to where he was placing his resources.

“Sir, we’ve got company. I’m detecting multiple enemy infantry mechs heading up the main road. Trying to get a count,” Captain Tran advised. Hugh moved his view over to the mech that was watching the approaching force. A half dozen of the disturbing looking infantry were scuttling forward using the road. Additional movement in the nearby rubble let him know the enemy was also filtering in more troops by using the rubble to try and cover their movement.

“Get a load of that nightmare, sir,” Tran said with disgust as something new heaved into view. Behind the main infantry, a worm-shaped mech the size of a work van was approaching. Unlike the infantry, this thing was propelled by thousands of tiny metal protrusions undulating beneath it. The mech would occasionally lurch forward with a burst of speed, but then slow down to allow the infantry to remain in front. The front of the worm mech was just like the infantry, a mass of glowing tentacle-like appendages, only these were more than double the length of the ones on its smaller kin. His troops were about to face the Krixnas version of a light mech.