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Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:Aoki_Aku
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[Ten minutes to departure.] Comes the faintly robotic programed announcement from the lander and everyone gets strapped in for the descent.
"Oi, who is the second Mecha pilot? Do they not come out at all?" One of the convicts piloting a Line Mecha asks.
[Tarith's Rage needs no Mortal Pilot] Nico jokes over the intercom, using the Mecha's computer to make her voice a deep growl.
A good portion of the infantry makes the symbol to ward off bad luck, while those who served beside her before try not to laugh. They all saw the pilot of Tarith's Rage only an hour ago, but the chances of anyone associating Nico with her Mecha are pretty low.
"You know how it is, you bring the learning systems to combat one too many times and they start liking it. You just need to offer it a virgin sacrifice now and then. By the way, how IS your luck with the ladies?" Captain Catan teases the soldier.
"Not that bad, I swear it." The man says, waving away the attention, while everyone around him laughs.
[You've had your fun. Game faces on everyone, we have confirmation that our landing zone has been taken by the Rebels. Their presence is currently light, with only one infantry special forces team on location.
There is a road running north to south that crosses the bridge that is our objective. Landing Zone is on the East side of the road. Charlie Company, ensure that bridge survives and secure the houses on the East with Light Mecha Squad 3.
Bravo Company with Squads 1 and 2 will clear the remainder of the village along with Tarith's Rage. Expect ambushes that are hidden from thermal scans. Reports say you will outnumber them ten to one, but they are a special forces team.] Max interrupts the joking to get everyone ready.
[Launching]
"Hey, Seriously it has been one minute since the ten minute announcement." A soldier calls, struggling into his harness.
"We have been prioritized. You get used to it." Captain Catan sighs, wondering if the Abraham Kepler will ever fix the announcement timers. At least they still warn you before every stage.
In truth, the problem is that the launch crew doesn't bother to update the timer for every lander, they just set it somewhere in the middle and everyone gets it at the same time. The arrival notices bring wrong is deliberate though, their travel estimates given extra time in case of spies on board.
Reports of heavy defensive fire fill Max's radio as the lander enters the atmosphere, but as the minutes pass, no heavy shaking or sounds of explosions nearby reach through the thin armor of their vessel. It is only in the last few seconds before landing that they start getting fire.
[Enemy anti aircraft and heavy weapons located. Altering search pattern.] Nico announces through the speakers on Tarith's Rage, continuing the ghost Mecha gag from earlier.
They touch down with a gentle thud, and the pattering of light arms fire against the lander.
[No signs of Heavy weapons in the area yet. Breaching in 3, 2, 1] Nico announces, bracing her shield and charging out the door.
The lander had created a huge cloud of dust, limiting visibility, but only seconds later the heavy weapons start hitting the shield, while Tarith's Rage keeps running with Squads 1 and 2 of the Light Mecha behind her.
[Light Mecha, spread out when you reach the city, but follow Tarith's Rage. Do not get caught in an ambush.] Max calls, unleashing his Pulse Laser Battery into the rebel infantry units near the bridge.
The heavy Lasers tear through the infantry and lightly Armored vehicles, clearing the zone in seconds.
[Charlie Company to Stalwart. Suspected munitions bunker at our location. Targeters locked on the entry shack.] Captain Tarsus announces, and Max lobs a Battle Cannon shell at the marked target.
The two Mecha Squads that went west with Tarith's Rage are in a heavy firefight now with Ion Cannon emplacements, so Max sends a volley of artillery their way, getting instant calls of gratitude over the intercom.
Nico herself has found the Special Forces team's vehicles, and torn them apart, but the actual members fled at the sight of the rampaging Crusader. Her Ion Destroyer sizzles and crackles with energy as she levels any building that has a heat signature not marked as friendly, unconcerned for the state of the village.
After all, they will be stationed here, which means more incoming attacks, and a very low chance that any of the buildings would survive anyhow.
Max is learning that his conscripted infantrymen are actually much better than expected at their job, taking minimal casualties, despite the attempts at ambushes. Even the light mecha fared well, though they lost one pilot to Ion Cannon fire, and four more mecha are damaged.
[Eastern Sector secure, moving to verify bridge integrity.] Tarsus of Charlie Company calls, followed a few seconds later by the reports of the Mecha Squads.
[City Secure, Commander, no signs of life. We will continue to monitor and search through the night.] Captain Catan announces to finish off the report.
[Lander, hop back to the East 150 meters, in the clearing next to the munitions bunker.] Max instructs, getting their evacuation vehicle moved to a safer spot, since it is still intact and suitable for repair and resupply.
[Get the damaged Mecha to the repair bay and let's get that trench dug. Cog wheel pattern between the village and the river, continue it down the west and south sides back to the road. Once that is dug, do the same on the East. Leave the road wide open for troop movement, we want enemy troop movements to enter the shooting gallery.]
Nico brings Tarith's Rage over towards him, looking for a good spot to settle in. Thirty meters from the road, where a collection of grain bins hide her from advancing troops looks like a good spot, and there is a destroyed concrete warehouse there as well, providing some cover from enemies across the river, should they spot her.
Captain Tarsus calls out over the radio that his unit has a great surprise for her. A shovel for Crusader Class industrial Mecha. That allows her to dig first her own hiding spot, then a nice deep bunker for Stalwart.
Crouched down with a tarp and some rubble on top of him, you would never know there was a Crusader Class mecha hidden right by the bridge. Even the majority of his heat signature is blocked by the dirt around him.
But Captain Catan has an even better idea. A burnt out car is placed on top of the carapace of Stalwart and secured with ropes, through holes cut in the tarp.
"Now would you look at that, a Crusader Sized Ghillie suit for urban combat. The car is a nice touch, really adds to the disguise, and explains any strange thermal readings." Colmar chuckles, double checking the securement.
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Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:Aoki_Aku
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It doesn't take long for all the light mecha to be restocked, but the last of the repairs aren't finished until the next morning. The trenching machine worked all night, and now they have a deep gun line dug between the river and the village, with most of the debris from the trench piled five meters back to form a secondary firing line.
The Trench only covers the riverside and the far western border but the machine is still working until the scouts positioned two Kilometers out report an incoming convoy of Rebels. 6 vehicles with trailers, 2 Armored Personnel carriers and a large wheeled loader.
Infantry and vehicles, with supply trailers. Exactly what they were hoping to find to bolster their own provisions.
[Snipers, take positions with line of sight to the road. I want those vehicles operational if at all possible. Everyone else, try not to hit the trailers. Captains, you know what to do, so get them deployed. We've got a thousand mouths to feed, and this convoy might have something better than ration packs.] Max instructs his men.
A portion of Charlie Company is currently scouring the village for supplies, since the bunker they took had very little in the way of food. There are hundreds of tons of grain and flour, so they are well stocked to make biscuits and oatmeal, but it looks like the village was otherwise looted dry.
When the convoy gets to one kilometer out, they hail on the radio for the bridge defense unit they believe to still be in charge here.
[Bridge Control, Bridge Control, this is Convoy Hotel Juliet seven. What's the good word, is the bridge intact?]
Before anyone can think up an answer, Nico's voice comes over the Rebel channel. [It's been a bit Obscene Convoy. Proceed to cross at idle.]
[Clearance confirmed. It's good to hear from you Bridge Control, we feared we had lost you when you didn't check in.] The convoy answers her coded response.
[If only we were all still here Convoy. Long Range comms have been damaged. Can you spare us a mobile unit?]
Her quick thinking and hacking Innate Talent worked together perfectly. The whole convoy stopped as the driver of the lead truck got out to grab them a radio from among the supplies the convoy was carrying.
Two seconds later a hail of fire brings the convoy to an untimely demise. Every driver of the supply trucks is killed simultaneously by Snipers and the Armored Personnel carriers are destroyed by the Ion Cannons of the Light Mecha.
[Excellent work gentlemen. Keep your eyes open for survivors. Light Mecha Squad 3, you go in first and clear the area, then Bravo Company can send in drivers to move the supply vehicles. Take them to the sports field on the west side where the Anti Aircraft vehicles are set up.]
That area is mostly intact, so the infantry have scattered all through the buildings there for shelter. The school is a Central Government pattern academy structure, though a small one. But that still means that the school structures are built of reinforced Synthetic Rock Crete, and intended to be able to survive a direct bombing run.
Charlie Company has made that their barracks, while Bravo Company spread out through the handful of government buildings sturdy enough to feel safe.
Scattered fire sounds from the Line Mecha, double tapping any Rebels who might possibly have survived, before they give the all clear to move the supply trucks and begin to carry the destroyed Armored Personnel Carriers back into the woods.
One of the men takes control of the loader and drags the bucket down the gray gravel of the road, hiding the signs of recent battle before driving the heavy equipment over by the lander in case it is needed later to help with repairs and disabled mecha recovery.
[Get me a rough estimate on those convoy contents Bravo Company. I want to know what we have to work with, preferably before the sun is fully up and more troops attempt to cross the bridge.] Max instructs.
The truly only takes a few minutes. [We've got 500 liters of fuel for the Light Mecha, fifty Anti Mecha rockets, at least a hundred cases of Rifle Ammo, and four full trailers of field kitchen canned supplies.
[Best news I've heard all morning. Get those supplies somewhere safe, but leave the transports out in the open as decoys. Seeing their own markings might convince the bombers to avoid us.]
Captain Catan and Captain Tarsus wholeheartedly agree with that optimism. Getting bombed daily on Belmont wasn't exactly their idea of a good time.
The supplies are moved to the air raid bunker at the school, hidden deep underground where they will be safe, and a kitchen is set up under a tent in the field. Two meals a day of "fresh" goods, with a ration pack in the middle if necessary will stretch out their supplies as long as possible.
These off world Rebels were very well supplied though, none of this would have been brought with them, it must have been looted from one of the nearby cities to be distributed to their troops.
With that being the case, they can expect more convoys to come from that direction. Not just supplies, but large units of troops as well as mecha.
Fortunately, the Trench line is making good progress with their mechanical assistant in the lead, and it is fully completed on the south side before the scouts report the next movement of Rebels coming their way from the same direction as the first convoy.
This is no lightly armed supply convoy though, it is a scout mecha unit. Uncommon among the Kepler Army's main combat fleets, these are more commonly used as local police or sent to worlds that haven't been settled, where exploration is the objective and mobility is more important than combat capability.
They are led by a Lightfoot Pattern Crusader, a slender and elegant humanoid mecha with powerful legs and high speed hydraulics for rapid mobility, as well as improved thrusters for jumping canyons and other obstacles.
Behind it, twenty Sentinel Pattern Light Mecha follow, looking like an Armored truck cab on stilt like long legs. They don't even have any sort of arm or grappling capability, just a Laser Cannon mounted on a top swivel.
As a design, they are awkward and gangly, but their firepower shouldn't be underestimated.
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Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:Aoki_Aku
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As they approached the village the squad of scout mecha slowed and then stopped.
[What are they doing?] One of the convict Line Mecha pilots asked over the secure channels.
[Did you think that they were dumb enough not to notice a brand new trench complex all around a village that's only supposed to have a single special forces squad in it? They're deciding what to do.] Captain Tarsus laughs at him.
They all wait anxiously to see what course of action the Mecha are going to choose.
[Show yourself and report.] The Lightfoot Pattern Crusader demands.
[Squad 32 stand up.] Nico instructs, rising up out of the dust and rubble.
Convict recruits wear prison uniforms until they are pardoned, so squad 32 is still wearing prison coveralls under their body armor.
[Hotel Juliet Six and Tarith's Rage have reinforced Bridge Control. What is he Good Word Patrol?] Nico's artificial growl comes through on the Rebel channel.
The squad remains in place for a moment while they confer. The patrol squad number checks out and the name matches the name on the Mecha which isn't painted in any regulation color scheme.
[Prepare to activate the Radio Jamming from the lander in 5.] Nico says softly over the intercom as the scouts confer.
[Dispatch…] The Lightfoot gets out before the jamming signal activates and Nico unleashes the full firepower of Tarith's Rage on the lightly Armored Rebels.
A single overcharged blast of the Ion Destroyer takes a leg off the Lightfoot while rail gun rounds eviscerate a Sentinel, punching through both armor and engine before exiting the back of the unit.
A split second later, Mecha fire in both directions fills the air. About half the Lasers successfully connected with Tarith's Rage, making the shielding flash and flicker.
Max remains hidden on the off chance one of them got off a signal to the rebel command. The lower the Rebels think their capabilities are for now the better.
The return fire from Lieutenant Becki and Mecha Squad 1 who are in the South Trenches combines with the Infantry's Ion Cannon emplacements to tear apart the remaining Sentinels, their lightly Armored Chassis incapable of surviving such firepower.
The design isn't used in direct combat for a reason, the front has large windows which are easily broken by other Mecha. None survive the first volley.
[Collect the scrap and see if any of those Sentinels are salvageable.] Max calls as Nico puts a another volley into the Lightfoot, causing it to explode.
[Better safe than sorry.] She responds to Max's unspoken question.
[With a bit of luck we should be able to make at least six functional Sentinels out of this mess. But if we want more functional Light Mecha, Tarith's Rage needs to go easy on the Rail Guns. Seriously, they went in one side and out the other, I've never seen anything like it, the entire Mecha is scrap.] Sergeant Enns from Bravo Company complains.
[For now it is more important that they don't stand back up when we go to check them. Six Sentinels is still a lot more firepower for the Trenches. See what you can get working and set them up on the north side overlooking the river. The Laser Cannons have great range.] Max sends out his instructions and the crews get to work.
The only real benefit to a civil war is that you will know how to use the enemy equipment, because your team is using it as well. Finding six more bodies who can at least work the targeting systems on the Sentinels shouldn't be too hard. Plus, they won't even need to move the Mecha, just use it as a heavy weapons bunker in the trench.
The cogwheel trench is designed for mecha defense, with evenly spaced wider areas where they can remain crouched and still allow other defenders to move behind them, but there is enough offset between emplacements that an Explosive blast won't travel down the length on the trench.
No soldier in their right mind really wants to be assigned to a trench, but given the option, it isn't the worst place to be during a Mecha assault. For that reason, when they are off duty, the soldiers return to the barracks, or to hiding spots in the village instead of remaining in the trench, but when battle starts they will get into the holes to avoid being in the direct line of fire.
[Gentleman, we have a surprise trophy from the enemy Sentinels. A pilfered supply of Kepler's finest synthmint cigarettes. I have split the spoils with Captain Tarsus, and he has agreed that at the end of tomorrow, one lucky soldier will get an entire pack.]
Many of the soldiers smoke to relieve stress, but these cigarettes go for a full week's commissary rations a pack. They are the sort of high quality luxury only senior officers and politicians get, a real treat, especially for the Convicts, who didn't have any commissary credits to begin with.
The dinner ration packs contain a small pack of cheap smokeable stimulant sticks, but that is hardly comparable to the cool and smooth flavor of synthmint.
The crew in charge of the kitchen brings the units on duty a hot meal, using the insulated serving containers from the convoy's supplies and everyone settles in for the afternoon wait.
Nico has hacked the Rebel communications codes, so they can be ready and properly greet anyone who might be coming, but so far, nobody has been, and it makes Max wonder if the scouts got off a warning signal.
Fearing the worst, he has the few anti Mecha mines they brought placed randomly about a kilometer from the river and the village, and the mortar tubes set up throughout the ruins.
They don't have enough for a sustained bombardment but they do have enough that they can make an infantry column wish they had never tried to take this location.
While the day drags on, most of the scouts return, having placed a camera net around their location. Now they can watch for threats from relative safety, while they hide in basements and crumbled houses.
The infantry managed to get a bunch of playing cards and a 3D chess set to the surface with them for entertainment but Max is hoping that one of the convoys they intercept will have more. Entertainment is an essential to troop morale on a long mission, especially one where they expect to be constantly attacked like this.
For now, everyone is in decent spirits, with hot food and reliable shelter, and Max intends to keep them that way. Alive and only mildly annoyed.
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Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:Aoki_Aku
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The following day slowly dawned, though it seemed that the sky had a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the idea. The light cloud cover of the previous days had darkened and was now turning to an inky black with ominous purple lightning.
Even two hours after the sun should have come up, you couldn't navigate without might vision or a System Ability.
Then the rain began to fall, a faintly oily torrential downpour that stubbornly clung to everything while the infantry rushed to get everthing that they had set up dismantled and moved inside. Max had already ordered the infantry to take cover, seeing on his sensors that a wall of water was approaching across the fields north of the river, but it approached too quickly for them to finish the job in time.
The only remaining sound was the constant boom of lightning and an ominous background roar that reminded Max of the hissing shriek the Feral cats of the slums made when they were injured, only deeper pitched, as if from a much larger animal.
All communication with the outside world was cut off due to interference from the storm, and as far as they could tell, nothing was moving.
It wasn't until the blue flashes of Ion Cannon fire joined the lightning that Max realized what they were looking at. A damaged Cygnus Mother ship had left orbit. The storm was the burning air from the atmospheric entry, and the oily film was spilled fuel from their lander supply tank.
Despite a planetary landfall that it was never designed to make, the fifty-kilometer wide ship was still fighting against the Kepler navy as it fell.
The two Kingdoms had been at war for generations, and now it made sense where the Rebels got the bravery to dare to turn traitor; they were expecting outside assistance.
[Anti Air Weapons, get ready to engage. That Mothership will fire all its drop pods before it crashes.] Max calls his troops over the radio and intercom, hoping they can hear him.
Cygnus is a lifelong fan of the "Bigger is Better" theory, and their mecha are enormous. Where Kepler makes their Crusaders smaller and more heavily armed than most Kingdom's average, the Reaver, their Cygnus counterpart, is over sixteen meters tall to their ten.
Due to a technology gap, the two are on par in offensive capability; you just had to avoid being grabbed and torn apart.
The ship is still higher in the sky, and Max's analysis of the weather and the time they would have been in the atmosphere didn't add up. The rain began too early. That can't be the only ship that the Navy has shot down.
The pods have begun to drop already, still a hundred Kilometers from their location but closing fast.
Nico and the Anti aircraft vehicles are getting ready, and Max is preparing his Pulse Laser Battery for a test against Cygnus drop pods when a streak of light brightens the sky, burning away a section of the clouds for the moment, and the falling Cygnus ship explodes into fragments.
The madmen of the Fleet just used an orbital Lance, intended to destroy cities in a single strike, to destroy the enemy ship.
One after another, explosions beyond the horizon begin to turn the artificial night to the brightest of days as interstellar drive reactors go critical.
A hail of metallic fragments rains down on Stalwart for the next few minutes before everything calms, and the skies return to a more normal-looking thunderstorm.
[Well, that's new and unpleasant. Any casualties?] Max asks.
[Negative Stalwart. All green. As long as this rain washes the fuel spill off our equipment.] Captain Catan answers.
[Expect the torrential rain to last. Someone dig a spur out from the low spots in the trench to keep them drained.]
The order seems better to Max than abandoning the Trenches until after the atmosphere stabilizes. That number of enormous vessels exploding as they left orbit will likely leave everyone fighting in the rain for weeks.
[And someone find us a bunch of fishing nets and heavy chains to string up across the river to block debris.] Nico adds.
The bridge is their reason to be here, and if whatever the inevitable flooding washes down river damages it, their mission has failed. The far bank of the river is lower ground than the village they are stationed in, so if they create an artificial blockage with whatever comes downstream, it will also flood out the road and prevent light vehicle traffic for weeks.
Good thing they have provisions.
Their fears turn out to be well founded; within the first hour, trees begin floating downstream, being captured by Tarith's Rage and driven into the river bottom vertically as pilings for their makeshift dam. Following that with some shovel work diverts the flood waters north and turns the formerly well-tended fields into a swamp.
But the rains show no signs of slowing, and the level continues to creep up.
"Mighty kind of the Fleet to give us an island vacation, isn't it?" Colmar jokes as the infantry officers gather for an evening meal.
"Could have done without the fuel bath, though. At least the flooding is slowing down the enemy advance." Captain Catan agrees.
"Maybe they just don't care about a bridge in the middle of nowhere with everything else that is going on?" A Lieutenant says hopefully, making the others laugh.
"We aren't just in the middle of nowhere, convict; this is the main highway between two major cities now that the main motorways have been destroyed. Trust me, they care." Colmar laughs, amused at the naivety of the young officer.
He had just finished officers' school when his unit got the bright idea to hack the Central Bank. As far as anyone can tell, this has been his first real taste of combat.
The loader they pilfered is doing double duty now, both bringing gravel for the bottom of the Trenches to keep them from getting washed out by the rain water flow, and digging a berm upstream to keep the rising waters away from the village.
The Line Mecha are helping as much as they can using farm equipment, and Max's math says they should be safe now unless the situation changes again.
That's better than they can say for many units, who are reporting that they are trapped in destroyed buildings or have had entire teams washed away by raging waters.
Nothing has moved for three days until Max suddenly gets a communication on the secure Command Channel.
[Stalwart, this is the Phalanx Class Carpe Noctem, traveling north with a heavy escort. We must know, does the bridge stand?]
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Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:Aoki_Aku
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[Carpe Noctem, this is Stalwart. I confirm that the bridge is intact. Recommend no light or infantry support at this time. Terrain flooded North of Bridge with increasing water levels.] Max responds.
[Understood Stalwart. Light Support has been assigned an alternate route.]
Max isn't sure where they are all going, but he hopes that alternate route involves a helicopter. Radio chatter indicates that no fewer than three of the Cygnus shops crashed into the deep oceans, boiling off over fifty meters of sea level into the atmosphere.
Forget seeing the rains end during their tour here, the results will likely be somewhere between a mass extinction event and a mythological planetary flood. Looking out over the shallow lake that was once fertile fields, Max can believe it.
But they are also in the low land, and as such might be evacuated to higher ground when the waters make their defense point of no strategic value.
Carpe Noctem appears on all its midnight black painted glory just over an hour after their message, escorted by two hundred Crusader Class Mecha, marching double file down the road.
[Stalwart, do you have an eyewitness report on the mother ship that went down in this region? Contact has been lost with units near the regional capital ever since.] The pilot of the mighty Phalanx Class Mecha asks.
[The ship was destroyed by Orbital Lance approximately one hundred drop pods in to their deployment. They faced heavy fire from the ground, but the interstellar drive explosion would have caused heavy damage to mecha and overloaded most digital circuitry with an electromagnetic pulse. Sensors recorded it here, but damage was negligible at this distance.]
Max then forwards him the combat report he made for that day, annotated with the reports of Nico and the other officers.
The thunder is still so regular that their sensors couldn't tell if there was a battle in the distance, but with the altitude of the explosion, there is hope for survivors, if not for their sensitive radio equipment.
[Expect returning units within the next 24 hours Stalwart. We are going to retake that city, and their damaged defenders will be leaving the zone via your location. Hold at all costs. There are no other bridges left across the river for five hundred Kilometers.]
[Understood Carpe Noctem, and the Emperor's own luck to the current defenders.] Max responds and the giant Mecha leads his units across the bridge.
They go single file, only one unit on the bridge at a time for safety, not knowing if there is hidden damage, and soon fade into the distance.
Max and his unit don't get to enjoy the thunder storm for long though. A squad of Rebel Crusaders is making their way east down the river banks, pulling their light support Mecha on makeshift rafts through the roughly 7 meter deep, muddy flood waters.
[Western Zone defense. Do Not let those mecha within sight of the bridge. The village is blocking direct line of sight for now, but that won't last.] Max instructs, and numerous light mecha shift positions through the Trenches to get a clear shot at the approaching enemies.
The enemy looks pretty pitiful, heavily damaged, pulling their support, but desperation only makes them a larger threat to the bridge.
Once the light mecha begin their fire, crippling two of the lead Mecha, Max uses their targeting data that is being relayed to the unit to begin indirect fire. The first shell hits a barge, dumping a wing of light mecha into the water.
On a perfect world, the Line Mecha are sealed and can function underwater or in space. But these units are all heavily damaged, and unlikely to be waterproof.
They are still upstream of the blockage in the river, so there is no real fear of them washing down into the bridge, but Max orders mecha wing 3 who is on the eastern Trenches as well as the captured Sentinels to keep an eye out for mecha signals from inside the river.
All of the Crusaders are quickly disabled, and the light mecha cut their rafts free to be washed away by the fast moving waters north towards the Carpe Noctem and its support. If they are lucky the Mecha are moving fast enough that they won't catch them, but Max suspects that will not be the case.
[Ceasefire, save your ammunition.] Max calls an end to the hostilities.
He would really like to go recover those destroyed units for his own men's use, but there simply isn't a safe way to get to them right now. Instead they will have to serve as submerged obstacles for the next unit that comes that way.
Carpe Noctem found what they were looking for later that evening, with constant radio signals of combat and the flashes of heavy weapons in the horizon. Then just before midnight another familiar voice joined the communications on the encrypted frequencies.
[Thanks for the spare parts Morning Glory. Shining Darkness is back to full capacity.] Comes the voice of General Tennant over the intercom.
[Prevailing weather patterns indicate that this region should start seeing a reduction in rainfall by morning. Proceed to point seventeen and implement plan C25.] The pilot of the Carpe Noctem instructs, getting only an affirmative beep in response.
Less rainfall during the overnight hours was a blessing, many basements in the village had flooded already and there were concerns for the safety of their supplies, but that reprieve also brought an old enemy back in to their lives.
[Incoming Bombers] Nico sighed for the third time that night, as the Rebels tried desperately to open a path for their troops to escape the two sided attack from the Phalanx Class Mecha.
It was all target practice to Max though. The Pulse Laser Battery had an incredible range, maintaining cohesion for over twenty Kilometers when fired into open air, and with his Targeting skills, it was almost as good as a flak Cannon at filling the air with deadly objects.
The major difference was, Lasers are much faster moving, unable to be dodged but don't explode. Therefore it is all on Max to be able to directly hit the bombers in the sky, Calculating the firing delay of his weapon and the movement patterns of the enemy.
The fact that his weapon serves as a tracer round was incredibly useful before Max was used to the beams firing at the target he picked a quarter second after he selected them with [Split Fire], but that also worked in the opposite direction, and the enemy began firing back at his hole in the ground with their defensive weapons.
[Excellent work Stalwart. Who knew anti infantry lasers could be so good against bombers?] Lieutenant Becki congratulates him as the sun comes up, which has signaled the end of the daily bombing attempts in the past.
[Very effective, but it is a bit like shining a spotlight on myself. Find me a new position further from the bridge that still has good sight lines for defense and indirect fire.] Max directs the Light Mecha officer, while surveying the destruction all around him.
His own hiding hole is still the deepest in the area, but not by as much as he would like. If he enemy had been less accurate at targeting him, the bridge could have been damaged.
While a new location is chosen Max moves to the lander, getting repairs to his top carapace after taking repeated hits over the course of the evening. He decides he needs to learn from Nico's trick and get an armor plate placed above his mecha, and a new camouflage vehicle, the old one was shredded.
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Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:Aoki_Aku
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After days of continuous rain, nothing in the village was particularly dry. In fact, the only two that weren't soaked through and wishing for clothes that weren't damp at best were Max and Nico, who were living in their mecha.
Out of kindness to the troops, they had opted to eat rations instead of making someone trudge through mud and waters that were knee deep in places, even though their position was elevated enough to be above the water line.
At first light today another two units of Loyalist Crusaders had moved forward, and the sector to the south was now deemed mostly secured. The first of the retreating units were scheduled to reach them in under an hour, but a very ominous black cloud is on the horizon.
The satellite details still say that the rain should end as it appears though, which makes no sense to Max.
[Stalwart this is Shining Darkness. Is the bridge intact?] General Tennant asks as his mecha comes in to sight through the trees in the distance to the north.
[The bridge is holding strong. Welcome back.] Max answers, putting away the trash from his lunch.
Other than the Phalanx Class Mecha, which had only superficial damage from the battle and explosion of the Cygnus ship, this convoy looks even worse than the rebel group they eliminated the other day.
They are not arriving alone though, five whole wings of Reaver Class Cygnus mecha have come in to sight behind them just before they reach the bridge.
[Shining Darkness, who do you have that can fight?] Max asks, expecting the worst.
[Just myself. All Crusaders get across the bridge and proceed to destination at maximum traveling speed.] General Tennant replies.
That is exactly what Max was worried about.
Even worse, as they approach, Max can see that the mecha are not alone. Over a hundred gun boats are with them, racing ahead so that their shorter range weapons are able to target the wounded convoy at the same time as the heavy mecha.
[All units to the Trenches and bunkers. Incoming Cygnus attack.] Max calls and the village bursts in to action.
The Anti Aircraft vehicles are moved so they can target the boats, bunkers and ruined buildings fill with soldiers and all three wings of light mecha come online.
The Reavera are wasting no time closing the distance, since the Shining Darkness is a point defense mecha and has a mighty Ion Bombard Array on one arm.
[Stalwart, you have lead.] The general instructs, sinking his anchors in to the muddy ground to steady himself for the battle.
[Engagement range is 250 meters. Full barrage the moment anything crosses the line.] Max directs the unit, turning in his hole to get a clear shot at the leading Cygnus Heavy Mecha.
Shining Darkness also waits to fire, and it has emboldened the enemy, who believe the Phalanx Class unit's main gun has gone offline due to damage.
Once the boats cross the declared engagement point, Max unleashes all fifty of his anti infantry rockets at once. The shoulder Cannons on Shining Darkness unleash deadly anti armor shells in to the nearest Reaver, stopping it in its tracks, and the Ion Bombard Array hurls energy charges strong enough to burn holes through heavy mecha in a single shot. At such a close range, there is no hope of avoiding destruction.
The anti aircraft vehicles and the quad guns on Tarith's Rage are making short work of the boats that survived the missile barrage, but their early advantage of facing an enemy that didn't know this point was well defended won't just long.
The enemy has recovered from the shock and is battering the defenses with a storm of incoming fire. Infantry teams are vaporized by Cygnus Plasma shotguns mounted on the Reavers, makeshift bunkers are turned to scrap and even the Line Mecha hidden in the trenches aren't all spared, with massed fire blowing the ground away as nearly fifty enraged heavy mecha return fire.
The Mecha don't seem to have noticed that Stalwart is a Mecha and not a bunker, instead focusing their fire on Tarith's Rage and Shining Darkness. Nico's handheld shield is battered and warped, with multiple holes in it and her armored carapace is smoking from a rocket impact. Still, the rate of fire from the Ion Destroyer doesn't slow, shaking Reaver Class opponents with every hit.
A massive volley of Rockets heads that way and Max winces in dreadful anticipation. But the Tarith's Rage leaps hard left out of its Bunker, throwing the shield to detonate the incoming fire. Now firing on the run, Tarith's Rage has taken everyone's attention, giving the defenses a short break to reload and shift from damaged positions.
Shining Darkness is unloading rounds into the enemy as fast as it can, living up to the Kepler propaganda that says it is worth a hundred enemy Mecha on its own.
The shoulder Cannons seem to be out of ammunition now, and none of the smaller secondary weapons are working, but the Ion Bombard alone might be enough to deal with the enemy if they can be prevented from getting in to close combat.
Only 14 of the 50 Cygnus Heavy Mecha are still firing, and every gun boat has been sunk, leaving thousands of bodies floating away in the fast moving current. Their transports were destroyed before many of them could even fire back, their munitions storage burning bright under the water.
Nico has taken up a kneeling position behind the ruins of an office building, providing cover fire while Max and most of the Light Mecha finish reloading. Warnings blink all over her display and the mecha won't walk properly due to a hit to the hip joint, but the gun still works just right.
Her grandstanding has done its job though, big guns come to life all over the trenches and ruins again, laying in to the remaining Cygnus forces.
A round from Max's Battle Cannon causes the reactor on one of the downed Cygnus Mecha to go critical, taking two others out with it while Max trashes another with sustained fire of the Pulse Lasers. The last Reaver drops to Ion fire from the light mecha in the trenches and the battle ends in as brutal and sudden of a manner as it started.
"Casualty count and reload weapons." Max calls over the speaker and radio, not knowing who can hear which at this point, given battle damage. Stalwart does pretty good condition, he took a few glancing boots from the Cygnus Plasma shotguns, but for the most part he wasn't the priority today.
Nico limps the Tarith's Rage over to where she was originally stationed and looks down at the ruins of her favorite shield and her carapace mounted anti aircraft battery. Max hopes at least two of the similarly equipped vehicles survived, or the next bomber flight could be a bad time for them.
"Charlie Company reports 82 dead or injured including the First Lieutenant."
"Bravo Company reports 43 dead or injured." Captain Catan reports.
"Line squad 1 lost 4." Lieutenant Becki reports
"Second squad lost leader plus 1"
"Third squad, 2 remain."
In all, nearly half their light mecha are lost, Tarith's Rage is damaged, their anti air capability is crippled and the infantry took heavy losses, all in a battle that only lasted a few minutes.
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As the unit addresses their damages and tries to reduce as much as they can, the flow of water down the river suddenly drops to almost nothing and Max forms his thermal scanners towards the black cloud.
It is a Thermal shock wave from an intact mother ship collision with solid ground. It is too thin to show on satellite imagery, but that cloud is thousands of degrees and is flash boiling the flood waters. No wonder it isn't raining behind the wall, it will be a sauna.
[All troops, you have 30 seconds to get in a sealed shelter. That incoming shock wave is going to scorch anything left out in the open.]
There are a limited number of places in town that can be properly sealed, so everyone is running for the academy buildings. They are reinforced and with the link to a mecha power output, they can bring the temperature control back online. Nico is on that, kneeling the Tarith's Rage next to the building's emergency generator, which is currently offline. It uses a locally refined fuel that they don't have a supply of, so it has simply run out.
Captain Catan gets the power lines hooked up to the Crusader Class Mecha while his unit rushes inside. Most of the Line Mecha are staying in position, just taking shelter in the trenches to let the shock wave pass over them, confident their units can deal with the problem. Only those whose Pilot's compartments have been breached are joining the flight to the Academy.
The wave won't actually be here for about 3 minutes, just enough that even the slowest moving of injured that were well enough to still be on duty have time to make it to a safe shelter, and the All Clear calls start coming in.
General Tennant is more concerned about the wing of Crusaders that he sent out since a lot of them are in very bad shape. They were all functioning though, so hopefully, the emergency functions will be able to seal the cockpits of any units that need it. There is nothing to be done about it now anyhow, they are far enough forward that the wave has already passed over the top of them.
Max ducks Stalwart down even lower into his hole, glad he doesn't have any shoulder-mounted missiles left that might be damaged by the scorching heat of the shockwave. There isn't much to be done for the Shining Darkness though, he is too big to hide, so all the General can do is just stand there with his anchors set and wait.
The wave of burning air hits them hard enough that many damaged buildings collapse, and the heat blisters the paint on the civilian vehicles scattered through the village. The military uses a much more durable formulation, expecting attacks by energy weapons and flamers, so they survive mostly intact. General Tennant has to lean into the force to keep himself upright, and even then his anchors dig a deep furrow through the soft ground of the former sports field where he had made his stand during the last battle.
Behind the wave, the air temperature rises to just over fifty degrees celsius, brutally hot but not anything that the unit couldn't survive. The sensors on Stalwart show that it is safe to be outside, but for the next few hours, it won't be safe to come outside. All the doors and mecha surfaces are metallic and hold heat from the shock wave, making them too hot to touch.
[Any Casualties?] Max asks, and gets confirmation that every shelter the soldiers picked held up to the wave, though the ones that didn't have time to make it to the academy aren't too impressed with their new environment.
The riverbed is almost dry, with only a trickle of water running through it at the moment, and the ground on the north side is muddy but mostly free of flood waters in the higher areas. The roiling cloud of the shockwave collected a large part of the moisture, with the extreme winds blowing the vaporized flood waters past them to wherever that nightmare finally loses momentum.
Two hours pass before the signal is given that it is safe to exit the building, though gloves are still recommended to touch anything. The men that are off duty all huddle in the Academy, where a fully fuelled but damaged line mecha has taken the place of Tarith's Rage to power the climate control. A few of the troopers aren't too upset about the change though. They come from a jungle world, and this level of heat and humidity reminds them of home, as uncomfortable as it is.
The lander is in good shape, and the munitions bunker where most of the units on Eastern sector duty sheltered is undamaged, so the work to reload and repair their units proceeds as fast as possible.
By the next morning, they have all the damaged but functional light mecha back online and reloaded, as well as Max's missile pod and Battle Cannon, and they even managed to repair the Anti Aircraft Battery from Tarith's Rage using the facilities in the lander. It's not optimal, but the unit is in much better shape than they were in a day ago.
The ground on the other side of the river, and in fact, on their side as well thanks to the currents, is littered with the carcasses of fallen enemy mecha, and that gives Max a great idea.
[All mecha units not currently on trench detail, head out into the fields and recover all rebel Light Mecha that you can. Our numbers are depleted, and they might have the spare parts we need to get back up to strength.] It is understood that they won't ever get to full strength again, even after the pilots that are injured have recovered, but they currently have more recovering pilots than recoverable mecha for them to pilot.
The Line Mecha move out, recovering what they can, and a few minutes later a cheer of victory comes over the intercom.
[Commander, this is unit 29. We found a full wing of Skyfire Pattern Line Mecha here on the North side. They were unmanned when their barge was tipped and appear to be in functional condition.]
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[Bring those mecha back here on the double. Skyfire Pattern Line Mecha are amazing anti-infantry mecha, and we have a fair bit of ammunition for them.] Max directs.
[We have a working flat deck transport, would you like us to send it out, Stalwart?] Captain Tarsus asks. They will have to drag it through the mud, but they can load a lot of mecha on it instead of carrying or dragging them back one at a time.
[Head north and help recover those mecha. We need all the spare parts we can get.]
Max surveys the fields to see where everyone is right now and finds Nico is examining some of the Cygnus mecha that they took out. She must have used her System Skill to detach one of the weapon arms and she is holding up a Plasma Shotgun like a trophy. He is about to admonish her since she is supposed to be collecting spare parts when he realizes she has dragged over a fallen Crusader Class Chassis and is carefully removing the carapace-mounted missile launcher, which is totally out of ammunition and heavily damaged.
[What do you think? Can we make it fit?] She asks, holding the Plasma Shotgun to the central Carapace mounting point.
It actually locks in place, thanks to a similar mounting system, but the power system is totally different. Not only the connectors but the voltage and frequency. If anyone has a hope of making such a hybrid monstrosity work it is her, but even then it won't be a short and easy task.
[If you seriously think it will work, bring it back. You can have the lander modify it after the Line Mecha repairs are finished.]
That is her cue to collect anything she can physically remove, which turns out to be everything but the actual Chassis of the Reaver Class machines. They spend all day doing the recovery, but with the evening inventory, there is good news.
They are short on Pilots at the moment, but they have recovered or repaired enough Line Mecha to make a total of sixty units, including ten with the Skyfire Pattern quad guns. Doubling their initial compliment of mecha gives them both spares and options, but in order to make full use of them, they will have to do a promotion from within the ranks, and Max isn't sure they have enough soldiers that have the qualifications, or even a high enough system compatibility to have the necessary physical skills to perform to standards.
The new ideas didn't end with Nico's intentions to add a Plasma Shotgun to someone though. The infantry has convinced the Light Mecha to help them mount Missile Pods to the top of the Personnel Carriers. The pod is hilariously oversized for the vehicles, being as wide as they are, but the Kepler software is all designed to be compatible, in case of battlefield scrounging incidents like this one, and once they are attached the targeting software that normally controls a machine gun can also launch the missiles.
It's not much, but a half dozen more missile launchers are a good start.
The missiles are guided, capable of penetrating a lander or a Light Mecha with ease, and a Crusader with great difficulty while having a maximum range of hundreds of kilometers. In theory, they could be used against almost anything, they simply lacked the speed for certain targets. The six-wheeled troop transports were made for heavy loads and soft terrain, so the extra weight wouldn't be a huge issue for them. They could also still carry twenty soldiers comfortably, or fifty packed in tight, which made moving the mixed unit around much easier.
It was a shame they didn't have more of them, but taking the others they encountered without destroying them would have been dangerous and a waste of precious ammunition.
[Captains, check among your ranks for soldiers that have checked out on the Line Mecha before washing out to infantry. We have a wealth of spare units now that just need a deep cleaning and some final repairs. I want six wings of Line Mecha staffed in the next 24 hours.] Max instructs, checking the satellite data to see if there is any new information available about enemy troop movements.
The survey and double-checking of military records take hours, but the two infantry Captains do eventually find enough men, mostly among the Convicts, who have the training and qualifications to pilot the newly acquired Line Mecha. That cuts their infantry numbers even lower, but the extra armor and firepower will more than make up for the losses.
After two more days of intensive medical treatment, most of the wounded pilots are back at full strength, and the others are healed enough for limited duties, like waiting here in the trenches for the battles in the cities to play out.
The radio channels are full of constant streams of engagement reports for Max to listen to while Shining Darkness has some of its most damaged armor panels repaired one at a time. Taking the whole unit offline and doing the repairs isn't an option, they don't have a big enough repair rack in their lander, but they have slowly brought the General back up to full strength, except for the shoulder-mounted Cannons, which they don't have ammunition for.
He has been ordered to hold here for the moment. The Cygnus reinforcements have begun a counter-offensive moving south towards them. There is a spaceport in the city to their south, and Command suspects that they are trying to capture it and make an attempt to flee off-planet. The strategy feels like desperation to Max, but he can't discount the possibility that they are actually trying to take a suitable facility for their own reinforcements to land at.
Overnight, the orbital battle becomes more active, with the flashes of energy weapons coming every few seconds. The Cygnus units are almost certainly trying to capture a city with landing facilities. Central Command feels the same and orders Shining Darkness to retreat to the city to their south, stationing himself in the Spaceport under cover of the reinforced bunkers, and wait there for the enemy to attack.
As good as it was to see him again, the extra firepower wasn't going to last forever, a Phalanx Class Point Defense Mecha is intended to defend a city not a bridge in the middle of nowhere.
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The humidity and the waiting quickly started to wear on everyone's nerves, and the water filtration system was working overtime to keep up with demand over the course of the next few days.
There was an incredible amount of new combat engagements being announced from all over the planet, even in all four cities that could be considered nearby the bridge. But nothing right where they were, only close enough to keep them on edge and fill their days with the sound of battle in the distance.
There was nothing Max could do about it though. With the speed of heavy mecha, the battle could be on them with under 30 minutes' warning, and that's assuming the attackers didn't sneak by the other Kepler Mecha, because their own scouts would be lucky to give them two minutes from the first sighting.
Darkness was returning to mark the end of the second day since General Tennant was reassigned when the radio call they had all been both anticipating and dreading came over the secure command channel.
[Bridge defense, bridge defense. This is the Wrath of Carb]
[Go for bridge defense. This is Stalwart]
[Rebel activity with Cygnus reinforcements has forced us from our position to your northwest. Retreating to your position now]
[We will be waiting for you, Wrath of Carb]
[Everyone to intense battle positions. Get those new missile wagons dug in. Whatever is coming our way drove the Phalanx Class Wrath of Carb from its post.] Max informs the unit. Nobody is happy to hear that, but they needed to know.
[First incoming should be friendly forces. Hold your fire.]
Wrath of Carb was on the run, its main weapons had both been destroyed, and the half-meter-thick armor was pitted and smoking. With him came roughly 2 companies of infantry in an assortment of civilian and other light vehicles and one full company of mixed Mecha, all looking worse for wear.
[Cross the bridge and have your escort enter the entrenched positions Wrath of Carb. We've got a crater here large enough to hide half of even a Phalanx Class mecha.]
The arriving troopers raced across the bridge and jumped into any and every spot they could find along the trenches and in the nearby buildings, abandoning their unarmored vehicles and getting themselves set up to join the other infantry.
The mecha followed after them, taking positions further back, using the ruins and battle craters to obtain as much cover as they could. Those without functional main weapons retreated to the far side of the city near the lander to make more space for those who could fight.
[Are there any others coming?] Nico asked one of the two Crusaders who dug in near her.
[No idea, communications were jammed. We couldn't hear anyone until we were almost on top of you.] The pilot responds with an audible sigh.
[Tarith's Rage to Shining Darkness and Carpe Noctem. Wrath of Carb and allied forces have been driven from their position, now entrenched with our forces. Hostile forces incoming.]
That was all the message that Nico could force through the jamming signal, sent as a text to their mecha as well as audio, and she could only hope it was actually received.
[What is coming? We didn't get much information.] Max asks the Wrath of Carb.
"Two heavily damaged Dreadnought Class Super Heavy Mecha, and 200 or more Reaver Class. No infantry or light Mecha survived on their side and they should be in worse shape than we are. This company was the reserves in our bunkers, the damage is from the attempt to exit the city.
The entire area was hit by an orbital bombardment, we never even saw it coming, but you could see the fleet battle from our position." The pilot of the Wrath of Carb explains.
Max checked the numbers on the incoming Mecha, finding just over sixty light mecha and thirty Crusaders. If the enemy is damaged and low on ammunition the fight isn't hopeless.
Max got on the Battalion comms [All units, prepare for incoming. A large number of heavy Mecha, with no light escort. Arm yourselves for the expected targets. Scouts, watch the skies, these allies were hit by an Orbital bombardment. We may be facing another wave of the Cygnus landing force."
The light Mecha Company was busily rearming, while those already kitted for heavy Mecha brought ammunition cases and what replacement weapons they had to spare for the incoming forces.
"It's like you knew we were coming." One Crusader pilot among the group with no main weapons cheers when the infantry brings him a replacement Ion Destroyer and a case of missiles for his launcher on the flat deck truck.
"Our commander believes in preparing for the very worst. We've been salvaging parts from Rebel Mecha since we arrived here." The Line Mecha helping the Crusader Class Mecha reload laughs. Four of them have been assigned by the wing leaders to run munitions for the Crusaders during this fight, keeping the heavy guns firing until all ammunition is gone.
[New arrivals, status report.] Max calls five minutes later when the enemy forces start coming into sight.
[23 Crusader units armed and ready, 41 light Mecha of various armaments also report ready. Infantry has entered bunkers per orders of your Bravo Company.] The Wrath of Carb answers.
Well, that's a far sight better than where they were. And being dug into a defensive position, they've got an advantage that might even the odds.
[Wait until they get fully into range to start firing. We don't have ammunition to waste on a force this size.] Max instructs.
[Wrath of Carb, kindly do not move. If they believe you are disabled they won't target you immediately, giving our brave techs a few minutes to get your main armament back online.]
The repair attempt is either borderline Suicidal or incredibly heroic, depending on how you look at it, but if they can get even one of the two enormous main guns online it will be a blessing. But there are skilled techs among the convicts, and they believe that they can do it. The first priority will be the lightly damaged Ion Bombard Cannon, which System Scans show requires only a few quickly obtained spare parts. The Plasma Flamer on the other arm has taken more damage and will take a bit longer to repair.
[Got it Stalwart. I will be standing by. Unit Command is in your hands.] Wrath of Carb answers.
Fifty wide and 4 deep, the enemy comes at them in an organized rank. Not Reavers as expected, Mecha of an angular pattern more popular in the Cygnus Loop as heavy shock troops. The Warmonger, Max believes the pattern is called.
Nico searches her memories of studying during government server intrusions when she first saw images and details about these particular mecha. This pattern is more lightly armored than the Redemption Pattern Crusader Class Mecha that the Kepler forces are using. As such, they usually didn't need to go overboard on penetrating power to fight them.
But more importantly, Nico recalls the greatest design feature of the Warmonger Pattern. [Be warned, these Mecha can likely jump the embankment and get to this side of the river.] Nico warned the troops as the Cygnus forces rushed to close the distance, being at an advantage in close combat.
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The enemy advanced well into range without firing a shot, which confused Max at first, until he realized that the jamming system blocked both radar and targeting systems, leaving them to manual fire. It is a skill every Kepler Pilot learns during their time on the Line Mecha, but one seen as antiquated and obsolete by everyone else. Most don't even have mechanical controls anymore, instead, they were using exclusively sensor suits or neural links
"All units Manual Firing Mode. Crusaders Fire for effect, maximum rates. Light Mecha, remain hidden until my Command." This meant their missiles would simply fly straight forward without tracking once fired, and targeting was a simple cross-hair in their display, with no ballistics or predictive targeting available to help them. But they could still fire with some degree of accuracy.
They weren't shy with the missiles, letting loose as many as they could to adjust for lack of targeting. Battle Cannons thundered and Gatling Cannons roared their distinctive scream. Only a handful of Mecha were equipped with Ion Destroyers, but they invariably punched hard into their targets, as the plasma flies perfectly straight.
This was Max's time to shine, as his System Skills don't need the sensor data when he can actually see the targets, and he still had hundreds of constantly updating targeting solutions available to him. The greatest threat was the Super Heavy mecha, so Max had unleashed everything he had at one of them, the Pulse Lasers destroying sensors and hull-mounted weapons, while the Battle Cannon dug large craters into the vulnerable armor at the waist joint.
Half a second after the first volley was unleashed sensors came back online as the incoming forces dropped their jamming signal and prepared to respond. But it was already too late. The second volley was incoming, and Nico brought the jamming signal back up, seeing how it crippled the Cygnus force far more than Stalwart Battalion and her allies.
"Why is the jamming still up, get us sensors." Their microphones picked up the opposition leader shouting and many of the Kepler soldiers laughed in their cockpits.
[Wrath of Carb, main guns online.] The Kepler Super Heavy announced over the intercoms, bringing a bit of hope to the soldiers in the trenches, who were dumping ammunition into the rapidly advancing Cygnus mecha force.
[Welcome back sir. If we could get a hand with their Super Heavy Mecha, it would be appreciated.] Max responded.
Wrath of Carb was equipped with an Ion Bombardment Battery like the Shining Darkness, but also with a massive Flame weapon that purged plasma in a short-range cone. It was like nothing Max had seen in the available equipment listings, perhaps it was a signature piece created just for that single machine?
The huge charges from the Ion Bombard battery slammed into both of the Super Heavy Mecha on the other side of the river, downing one and crippling the other in an instant. But the Cygnus Force had solved something at their end and the incoming fire was increasing at an astounding volume with much better accuracy. Four of the allied units that arrived already damaged were destroyed, and Wrath of Carb was in a very bad way only a few seconds after coming back online.
It was saved from total destruction by the actions of a brave maintenance tech, that used the repair gantry crane to stand a huge composite shield, like Nico was still carrying, in front of the bulk of Wrath of Carb's crouched torso, barely surviving himself when the crane was destroyed by the intercepted attacks.
Nico dropped the no longer useful jamming signal and the Kepler forces unleashed their full fury into the enemy lines. The Battle Cannon was smoking from the repeated firing without purging exhaust gasses fully and Pulse Lasers were glowing from the rapid rate of fire.
The Cygnus Mecha were getting close to the river now, and Max gave the signal for the Light Mecha that had been hidden from the initial attacks to stand up and join the fight. There was no way they could miss at this range, and they were almost all set for heavy Mecha destruction, using every spare heavy weapon the unit had obtained since landing here at the bridge.
The Cygnus Mecha were destroyed by the dozen, the river banks became littered with Mecha corpses. The few that got into the base began to shred the defenders, their close combat abilities outclassed the Kepler Mecha by a wide margin, especially the fully ranged units, who didn't even have the option to hold a close combat weapon. Most Cygnus mecha used a single solid mounted heavy weapon, or a shoulder-mounted weapons array to leave their hands free for close combat. The Warmonger pattern was mostly in the second group, very melee focused, with lighter than average weapons on the top of the unit.
As the first Cygnus mecha to pass the trenches approached Tarith's Rage, Nico dropped her shield and grabbed her serrated-bladed giant sword from the pile of prepared equipment and moved to engage. The fire from her anti-aircraft battery was blinding its sensory systems giving her time to close before the Mecha was fully prepared for her, though it caused minimal damage to the structure of the Cygnus Mecha.
The Cygnus leader and Nico's enormous blades clashed over and over, faster than most pilots believed their Mecha could even move. Tarith's Rage was being forced back and seemed doomed, if you forgot that it had a huge Ion Destroyer on its other arm, as the Cygnus pilot did, moving to his left for a better angle, and directly into its line of fire.
The plasma breached the machine's power core, the resultant explosion causing the shielding on Tarith's Rage to flicker out for a second and destroying the buildings around them in a huge fireball.
Tarith's Rage marched out of the inferno with her alarm horn blaring in victory, bringing cheers from all across the defensive line.
Tarith's Rage is charging forward to assist the front lines, but the Cygnus back lines have broken. Both Super Heavy Mecha have gone down, and fewer than 30 of their initial 200 Crusader Class Mecha remain upright on the far side of the bridge. The entrenched troops cheered in victory, firing into the backs of the fleeing machines until they were out of range.
"Casualty reports, and let's get the crews out to recover what we can. Clear the river first, we don't need the water getting Poisoned." Max calls, slumping in his seat.
[Enemy Repelled, Casualties Light to moderate. Wrath of Carb stands] he sees Nico send a strategic text update to the other two Phalanx Class machines stationed in the nearby cities.
[Super Heavies are being removed from cities into protected areas in preparation for continued orbital bombardment. Good to hear from you Tarith.] General Tennant sends back. So the battle in space is ongoing then, and not looking particularly good for their side.
Max is quite worried about how the battle in space is going, and the fact there's nothing he can do about it isn't helping. As the afternoon fades towards night and the sky darkens, they can see more of what's going on up there. Flashes of light mar the sky as transports big enough to be identified as interstellar ships even from the ground continue fighting back and forth.
The infantry has been granted permission to use the trenching machine to dig an underground Bunker for their expanded forces, since it is looking like they're not going anywhere any time soon, and being out in the open seems like a bad idea right now.
The situation with Wrath of Carb is currently in limbo. After the orbital strike there is no more city for it to defend. But Command can't decide what to do, so for now, it's remaining at the bridge with its allied forces.
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[Hey Commander, we have the trenching machine adjusted for mining. Who has the final blueprints for the bunkers?] Captain Tarsus asked the next morning, as the officers tried to get the chaos back under control.
The extra units were supposed to be staying a while, so senior staff had decided to burn off some of the pilfered fuel they had obtained to dig an underground complex below the village to hide their numbers.
Buildings and collapsed parking garages weren't going to cut it anymore, though they would make a great entry and exit point for the underground complex.
A bunker more than 30 meters below the surface, or 10 meters down and reinforced with Rock Crete could survive a low-yield orbital strike and would fully mask their Mecha's signature from orbital scans.
They had been careful to only send a few units at a time to scavenge the battlefield this time, giving the impression that most of their numbers were destroyed, should anyone be watching from above. It will be a lot of work, but they had the available staff to get three chambers dug and layered with Rock Crete today.
The plant in town isn't military-grade, since it was meant for civilian building materials, but it had enough of a stockpile when the battle started for their purposes.
[Never mind, I found them.] Captain Tarsus follows up and then begins calling out to the groups assigned to use mecha to pull trailers filled with rock and dirt to the defensive berms.
There were some digging tools for the Line Mecha in the ruined village's storage sheds, so they are starting on one location while the machine starts the another, using all their numbers that are not on defense to get the job done.
"Hey Tarith, can you come to give us a hand with Wrath of Carb?" One of the Bravo Company soldiers that has been pressed into repair duty calls, pointing at a replacement barrel assembly.
"No problem. I've got some repair-related skills so how about I help you do the diagnosis?" She asks, using the speaker's robotic artificial voice.
"You are a life saver. None of us have more than the academy's basic repair classes to go by, so just following the directions is hard." The trooper jokes, indicating where the crew is having issues hanging an armor plate on a Crusader.
Brigadier General Carb, a muscular soldier in his late middle years watches them carefully, not happy to have amateurs messing with his beloved mecha, but it is better than the alternative.
Building the entire underground complex high enough for him wasn't an option, so the best he will get is a thick armored roof over his head should they come under heavy fire again. That means he needs all his armor repaired.
The steam clouds have given way to a haze of smoke as the wind shifted over the course of the day, obscuring their work from visual scans and he fully intends to make the best of it and convince the enemy that his unit moved on after the battle.
[General Carb, check your incoming files. Tarith's Rage has settings for long-range Ion stability, and I've modified them for your Ion Bombard Array. Apply that and you should get a boost to your orbital lander and Insertion Pod targeting.] Nico informs him once they had almost everything else finished.
He smiled at the young officer's initiative and had his System and his mecha check the new data. It looks like a very decent update, with no major flaws or viruses, so he begins to adapt it to fit into Wath of Carb's subroutines.
[Stalwart, you are up next. Head to the repair rack.] Nico eagerly announces. Their Phalanx Class defender was the last unit on the list, now she can do the upgrades she has been longing to make to the Stalwart.
They are entirely out of missiles now, since the Cygnus units aren't compatible. That makes Max's shoulder-mounted launches useless, and he knows his friend has been itching for an excuse to modify a Cygnus-issued Plasma Shotgun to fit a Crusader. They are a devastating short-range weapon and should complement his existing medium-range firepower very well.
There is far more than a shotgun waiting for him in the lander though. New custom shoulder armor with sheltered weapon mounts, a few large metal plates he can't see a use for and a new design of chest armor are waiting among the pile near the repair rack.
Everyone else has been banished from the lander for now, and Nico has actually left her Mecha to pilot a Line Mecha for the upgrades. His shoulder and chest plates are carefully removed and stored away before being replaced with the new design that looks even more durable, with a hinged lower joint that protects his vulnerable waist joint from frontal fire. It's not a new design, but it isn't used much anymore due to the weight.
[The shoulders are fully custom for mounting Cygnus weapons platforms, we will need to test everything when we are finished.] Nico informs him, placing a Plasma shotgun inside the nacelles on either shoulder.
[Isn't that a bit bulky?] Max asks, scanning the new additions.
[Yes, and adjustability is limited because I set them into the nacelles for protection. You have twenty degrees in any direction. But the firepower will be worth it.]
Max's system scan shows both shotguns are fully functional, just awaiting test fire, but Nico isn't done. She mounts a bracket to his Battle Cannon, then one of the flat bars above and one below.
The blades glint in the harsh lights of the lander and Max smiles.
[So if I run out of ammunition, just beat them over the head with the Battle Cannon?] He jokes.
[That's the spirit. Give me a second to double-check everything and top off your ammunition and then you will be good to go.]
[And how did you solve the power draw issues?] Max asks as his friend admires her handiwork.
[I did what I can, but you will be pretty slow-moving if you use the shotguns and the Pulse Laser at the same time.]
He will just have to adjust his tactics then. This current objective doesn't require him to move much, but his greatest advantage lies in his ability to fire everything at different targets all at once, so they will have to work on a solution once they get off this Rock. But before then, a double blast from Plasma Shotguns at point-blank range will devastate anything he comes across.
77 Chapter 77
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:Aoki_Aku
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Brigadier General Carb was extremely pleased with the upgrades to his Ion Bombard Array for use against landers and Insertion Pods, so he had it forwarded to all sixteen other Phalanx Class Mecha on the planet with similar weapons.
His update identifies Captain Tarith Nico as the software engineer that came up with the programming, a personal commendation that should help get her a promotion should the Cygnus fleet manage to get enough of an upper hand that they can launch a full wave attack.
It might seem like a small thing, but improvements to their mecha that increase the number of enemy landers destroyed in approach are a huge tactical benefit. If they can destroy five or even ten percent more than usual the Cygnus casualties will be in the tens of thousands with the possibility that their supply chain could be crippled.
Armies can survive without ammunition, thanks to energy weapons. They can wear looted civilian clothing and boots, but they can't survive without food. For an invading fleet like the Cygnus, that means scavenging the battlefield or successful supply drops.
The Rock Crete of the underground bunker system finished curing this morning, so the General has moved Wrath of Carb out of sight and into the ruins of an old office building, reconstructed as his own personal hanger and an entrance to the three interlinked bunkers where the majority of the Mecha are currently stationed.
While the Fleet battle rages above them, the battle on the ground has calmed. Nobody is moving, waiting for new orders while they repair and reload.
That gives the advantage to the defenders, the Cygnus forces don't have nearly as much of a stockpile of parts and munitions on world. One way or another, they will need a supply drop and more importantly, reinforcements.
The forces still in the cities have been working around the clock to bring shielding and orbital defense weapons online again without anyone noticing. The total radio silence on the surface is the brainchild of General Tennant, who fears their communications are being intercepted.
The unofficial ceasefire lasts for three glorious days of healing, relaxing and gaming before an update on the space battle puts everyone back on high alert.
[Fleet Control to All Ground Units. Fleet assets will be withdrawing for a strategic regroup and counter attack. Hold all positions in preparation for reinforcements.]
To say the message does not go over well is an understatement.
But the wisdom of keeping the fact their defenses had been upgraded a secret, even from the Fleet, proves to be of much greater benefit than anticipated. Intercepted and decrypted communications say that the Cygnus fleet is ignorant of the changes they have made and plans a full scale resupply mission.
They are expecting five points of high altitude fire, but with the upgraded Phalanx Class Mecha, the Kepler defenses are at over thirty points of defense against high altitude targets.
It's not that dropping on a defended planet is impossible, but to do it the Fleet usually sends a large number of empty landers and orbital launched anti missile ships along with the wave to intercept missiles and reduce actual losses.
They will know when the drop starts if the enemy expects heavy resistance. If the first launches are the interceptors then the Cygnus fleet is on to them. If they save the single use defense vessels, they expect minimal losses.
Early in the morning, local time, the call comes that a full fleet supply drop has begun. Central Command says to give them six minutes to get as much of the drop complete as possible before beginning defensive fire.
That will give them eighteen minutes to shoot down as many as possible, and it will be too late for the landers to turn back. The majority will be fully autonomous, containing only supplies, and once they get into the upper atmosphere the effects of entry will block communications for a few minutes.
Because of that, they aren't programmed to accept navigational data until after that point. Experience has taught that incomplete course adjustments cause catastrophic outcomes.
As the sensors begin to pick up the drop, it becomes clear that nothing but landers and orbital Insertion Pods are coming, letting everyone on the ground know that the Cygnus fleet doesn't have a clue what is coming their way.
The pods are designed for fast drops with minimal damage during combat, but they can't be used for infantry, the gravitational forces of their rapid deceleration before landing would kill any unprotected human. In most cases they aren't even used for mecha with pilots, though the Mecha cockpit can dampen some of the effect.
Instead they are the supply drops to be picked up later by troops coming in landers or already on the ground.
Six minutes pass as Max starts seeing the first of the landers come into sight. The Insertion Pods are halfway down now, and the call finally comes.
[All defense units, full fire rate.]
This sector is a Kepler stronghold, with three major cities plus three Phalanx Class Mecha defending and the early morning sky turns bright blue with Ion fire and Defense Lasers. Because of the reduced number of Cygnus forces in the region the defenders are focusing on the landers first, then they can steal or destroy the contents of the pods after landing.
The air over the village is crackling from the effects of Wrath of Carb's furious defense, but Max is across town from him and the effect isn't interfering with his systems too badly. When the closest Pods get to about fifty thousand meters altitude Max's System lights up in a happy Kaleidoscope of firing solutions for his Pulse Lasers.
As he begins firing, he notices he is not alone in his efforts. Every Crusader with an Ion Destroyer is taking pot shots at them. They have the range, but not the accuracy of high quality targeting related System Abilities.
Max's continual stream of laser fire is constantly hitting and destroying pods, while Nico is at about fifty percent accuracy rate for hitting her targets. The others have only got a few hits between them and Max marvels at the effects of her upgrading ability to compensate for a lack of combat related System skills.
Unlike the pods that drop straight down, the landers that are passing overhead are destined for the far side of the planet, or at least they were. Not many have made it across the far horizon intact.
Max picks up frantic shouting from outside and turns up his external volume while he shoots. Nico has hacked the Cygnus encryption again, and she is playing their command channel audio over the megaphone.
It tells everyone what is going on without cluttering up the radio channels, but more importantly, the pure panic and constant lost asset announcements are building morale among their unit.
[How do you keep doing that? Their encryption should be System Skill resistant.] Max asks her, and Nico laughs to herself before answering.
[I stole a radio from a unit the first day, so now all I need to do is brute force the password twice a day. With my Innate Talent that takes under a second.]
32 randomized characters takes her less than a second? If anyone in Command learned about that she would never leave a mission control room again.
Innate Talents can be almost anything, and a hacking skill that strong is pretty rare. It is the greatest and also the most annoying thing about Innate Talents. The pure diversity of them makes them unreliable. Most are extremely specialized, the general purpose ones like his that scans nearby brain activity and hers that will access almost any computer program are the one a hundred million level exceptions.
Not much has made it to the ground near them, and now the incoming landers are much lower when they cross the horizon, destined to land in their zone. Max almost pities the soldiers that have been sent to take this region, but not enough to slow his rate of fire.
[Hold off on those pods.] Wrath of Carb instructs as a group of them falls very near the village. They are unlikely to contain living troops, and they will land in direct line of sight of the trenches.
Cygnus might as well have sent them their own private supply drop, assuming that the location was lightly guarded and ripe for the taking. One of them even lands in the city Square before popping open as designed.
A picture perfect supply drop, but sent to the wrong side.
[Commander, it is an infantry drop. 90 days of provisions, with a water maker, company kitchen and a load of those Cygnus energy rifles.] Captain Catan announces once they search the pod.
That means the others are likely for infantry as well. Max isn't sure what went wrong, but the enemy seems to believe that Cygnus forces hold this position. No wonder nobody was attacking them for the last few days.
78 Chapter 78
Name:Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System Author:Aoki_Aku
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It doesn't take Cygnus command long to realize that things have gone horribly, unexpectedly wrong. That includes the drop they sent to Max's position. They saw the super heavy units still present as well as all the Reavers in field maintenance position laid out inside the village and assumed that they were victorious but lost communications.
They learned better when Wrath of Carb began shooting down landers. But by that time they had already sent the location a months rations and all new equipment for ten thousand infantry that were inbound with the landers.
The similarity between the two nations landers was remarkable to Max. Both were a flying brick with huge thrusters on one end and doors on the other, with small folding wings for stability and maneuvering in the atmosphere.
The Cygnus army had almost immediately sent a mecha unit in a failed attempt to recover at least one pod, since the floods and scorching hot shock wave had destroyed almost all the provisions they had in the region and very few reinforcements survived.
Max also learned from their communications that the orbital strike that destroyed the city Wrath of Carb was stationed at was a Kepler attack, with the friendly fleet believing his position to be overrun already due to the signal jamming. An entire Cygnus Heavy Mecha Regiment was lost in the attack, and an unknown number of infantry.
General Carb hadn't realized things were that bad around him before the strike, but the Cygnus report reveals that with the city destroyed, the bridge is now a front line strategic location. One that they don't intend to allow to remain in Kepler hands.
The following day starts out with an attempt to paradrop special forces in exoskeletal armor just before dawn. None made it to the ground intact. That was followed five minutes later by a double wing of Reavers attempting to capture a drop pod, only to realize that the Kepler forces had already emptied them.
When they realized that their mission had just gotten much harder they didn't hesitate to rush the trenches, going to complete a recovery. General Carb was sleeping and Max was off duty so Nico led the defense in typically Nico fashion.
She had all the light mecha in the defense line pick the same target and fire in organized volleys. Every two seconds when she called the volley, a Reaver died and a new target was chosen. Only three other Crusaders were on duty, but following the same tactic at twice the firing rate they managed to eliminate the enemy without taking any casualties.
Alone, the light mecha don't do much to a Reaver at maximum range, but twenty at a time they had no problem at all, it was just a matter of organizing them to target the same point. The Cygnus raiders didn't even get into infantry heavy weapons range.
"You'd think they'd learn." Max sighed to himself after the third patrol sized raid that day. With just the entrenched infantry and the few light Mecha that are on duty, the base could turn away 20 light Mecha and a wing of three close combat Reavers.
The enemy can see they've got Wrath of Carb plus a number of Crusaders here. What are they even trying to accomplish with these small scale raids?
Meanwhile in the Cygnus command bunker, things were not going well. Light Mecha sent on patrol are running out of fuel, the Reavers are low on ammunition everywhere along the front lines and General stores are in an even worse condition.
The resupply attempt was an absolute disaster and forces have been acting independently to attempt to claim whatever they can to survive after the flood. Everthing is chaos, but the Lord Commander of the theater refuses to listen to anything his advisors say.
Or at least, the ones that are left after he had the first group executed for telling things like they are. Treason and Cowardice he called it.
"Can't you even take a simple bridge?" The Cygnus Lord Commander shouts at his front line Generals who are doing their best not to roll their eyes at his temper tantrum.
"It's been days since the landing, and we haven't taken a single position in our advance towards the southern cities. You're trying to make me look like an idiot, aren't you?" He screams, his face turning blotchy red with the effort, as sweat rolls in beads down his portly face.
None present dared to tell him he was an idiot. They'd lost over a hundred thousand Mecha and ten times that many troops in the landing disaster he ordered. None of the supply drops for this sector had survived, and an orbital strike had destroyed all the Kepler supplies they could otherwise have used from the city ruins.
The Kepler defense strategy and the resultant floods from the destroyed mother ships has amounted to a scorched earth policy, there is nothing left behind, and the Cygnus supply lines have been shattered. Even with orbital superiority, they are likely to starve to death if the Kepler Mecha don't get to them first.
If they can't get things sorted within the week, mass desertion is likely. At that point, there is no point trying to go home, they would be exiled as traitors and pariahs for the incredible loss of life in a failed battle assisting a foreign rebellion.
The reinforcements who survived to reach the ground went on half rations the day they arrived, and they needed to take a Major City to recover enough to stabilize their hold, but that has proven impossible so far.
"My lord, if we could just get a supply drop for the target region." one General begins, causing the Lord Commander to smash his fist on the table in rage.
"We can't get one until we take either that bridge or the Capital that Carpe Noctem is holding, that evil bastard. They've got an orbital defense weapon in the city there somewhere that our supply pods are in range of, and whoever is holding that bridge does too.
The bridge defence is a handful of Crusaders and a mangled Phalanx that didn't even have main weapons working the last time we got a confirmation of its status, so it can't be much better now. They have no supply lines or spare parts. How could they even mount a proper defence this point?"
The Lord Commander is in a full on rage now, so the Generals dismiss themselves to make a plan.
"Assuming that Phalanx is active and they have ammunition, what do we need?" one asks.
"We've only got two Super Heavies in the zone. Send both. Reports say up to ten more Crusaders left, so send fifty Reavers minimum, and a hundred scout class light Mecha to breach the trenches and take out the remaining infantry positions?"
"And if the force that survived the bombarded city are all still at the bridge in hiding?" an old General asks softly.
"Then, given their numbers and assuming they have ammunition left, we'd need a minimum of 100 main Mecha to match their Crusader Class units in fortified positions, plus both Super Heavies and 200 light mecha."
"So what you're saying is we're all going?" The General who tried to get a supply drop says with a defeated laugh. Four of the Six were Pilots of the two Super Heavies, and the others led now mostly depleted Mecha regiments.
"Might as well empty the city then, send everything we have left in the zone. Death or Glory."
"Death or Glory."
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