5.5
By the time the next squad arrived, the first had been completely wiped out.
That was not a condemnation of their skills or anything, just a simple matter of logistics. I had more and better than they did, and no matter their attempts to jam themselves in something resembling a defensible position, there simply weren't any around.
The next squad to arrive was larger and much more prepared to deal with my shenanigans. Four AH12s, six transports, not landing directly in the centre of my kill zones, and this time they brought some heavier equipment with them rather than just a bunch of Light MT equivalents.
No, rather than just Subject Guard, now they were mobilizing the Enforcement Squads, which meant I was now enjoying the presence of Light Cavalry units.
Only a few, for now, but that was already a dramatic increase in the expected effectiveness of their forces.
These ones in particular where the Enforcer variant; armour and energy augmentations, giving them high durability and speed, equipped with a physical shield made of some of the toughest physical composites known the PCA, armed with an assault rifle with an underslung grenade launcher for close and mid-range work, and then given a high-mobility missile launcher on top of that for the particularly agile targets.
For the cramped confines of the Grid interior, that was a pretty damned dangerous son of a bitch. They're not invincible by any means, but they would require some more specific counters rather than just a wall of guns.
Still, their mobility was extremely restricted, at the very least. Making use of their flight in the docks environment was going to get them killed no matter how fast or agile they were, and the interior of the Grid did not exactly leave a lot of room to dance around in for a machine half again as large as an AC.
The transports landed a decent distance away from the Grid, setting down on one of the transit lines that linked to the other nearby Grids. It was a fairly wide open spot, but it was far enough from my turrets that trying to shoot them would be pointless. Energy weapons would attenuate, and kinetic weapons would lose nearly all of their effective velocity. I did have a few artillery weapons tucked around that could handle that problem, but I was saving them for later.
Still, while their landing pad may have been safe, it didn't help them much aside from that. They were also too far away to shoot me, after all, and their approach to the Grid would expose them to a considerable amount of firepower.
Eh.
Well, that'd be true no matter where or how they came in, so it wasn't like they had any actual good choices, there.
They did have a plan this time, at least.
It was the AH12s that started things off this time. All four of them suddenly took off, charging forwards at a rapid pace, shifting left and right in a manner that told me they were definitely just using a random deviation generator in order to throw off predictive systems.
It was a fairly reasonable precaution, because I rapidly realized that they weren't there for a straight battle. No, they came in hard and fast, missiles and cannons primed and ready to go.
They started firing the moment they were able, aiming at a few of the larger, more dangerous emplacements I'd set up. Missiles rained, the large cannons hanging from the undersides of the AH12 thundering as they launched their munitions, blowing up positions on the way past.
It was a bombing run, aimed at doing some quick damage, at removing at least some of the guns that would be pointed at their chosen entrance.
It was a smart choice- and effective, too, but it wasn't without its consequences.
Despite the damage their weapons did to my defences, my other guns still tore at their hulls, beams and bullets and missiles carving away at their armour and sensors and thrusters. They broke off before I could properly pin them in place and break them, dropping down towards the ground before spinning back out away from the Grid, but the damage had been dealt nonetheless.
Judging from the looks of them as they retreated, they had maybe two or three more runs in them before they would be destroyed doing that.
It wasn't enough to do widespread damage, but if they focused, then yes, they would be able to get a good enough path towards the Grid... Maybe even all the way to one of the interior sections, depending on their choices.
Hah. I could see the shape of their plan, here. They wanted access to the interior, where they would be able to get hardline access to the computer systems and determine the full extent of what was in the Grid. With that particular information, they'd be able to assign the proper resources to this operation, and get things back under control...
Unfortunately for them, they were missing two very critical pieces of information, here. The first was that the interior was not undefended, and second was that I had long since replaced the normal operating system around here.
The architecture had been a bit old after all. Hell, there were a few areas that I'd replaced entirely on account of damage or inefficiency. It's not like I hadn't had the time or industry to do it, after all.
Heh. Oh well. I'll let them in, just so that they can enjoy what I've got for them. With any luck it will cause them to send some more dudes.
Could I trick them into a siege? Potentially. Goodness, that'd be fun.
Let's see...
The AH12s grouped up again, their formation shifting so that the least damage was in front, while the two on the sides had swapped places. A simple way of trying to spread the damage out over the armour, yes, but it would help a little.
Yet, it wasn't the AH12s that started moving first. No, it was the more ground-bound force of MTs, Calvary units, and drones that started moving first.
The Auxilia were in front, as disposable as they were. The Repairers were practically threaded right between them, some of them practically right on top of the others. Behind the entire group of unmanned drones were the Light Cavalry units, shields already raised and ready. The Sentries were right behind them, using the larger and more heavily armored machines as cover.
They couldn't have intended to be going in alone, surely. The damage the AH12s had taken during their first bombing run would have shown them very well they'd have been reduced to broken scrap and cooling pools of metal if they tried to get in on their own.
My assumption was proven right when, after they had built up a fair bit of speed and distance, the AH12s rocketed forwards again. I traced their velocities, and immediately found that they were both going to hit the edge of my envelope at the same time, something that would require me to either divert some guns to facing the smaller mechs or allow them to go in nearly uncontested until the bombing run passed completely. At their speed, that would cover... about two fifths of the journey.
Roughly.
That may not sound like much, but that was nearly half the time to shoot them gone, and most of the slower firing, more powerful weapons would only get a couple shots as it is.
Ah... For all the shit I give them, the PCA are, in fact, pretty competent.
Oh well. That just means the interior forces will be working a bit harder.
They crossed my envelope. I fired again, keeping the AH12s as my primary target. I did direct a few missiles towards the company of mechs coming my way, but it wasn't much; just giving them target coordinates alongside the expected paths of the mechs in order to get a few cheap shots in. Mostly, that did little more than clear out some of the Repairers, the comparatively tiny drones being very fragile on the battlefield.
By the time the AH12s had peeled off, they were looking more than a little fucked up. Dents, craters, heat marks, and shattered armour adorned their forms, damaged and broken thrusters and weapons reducing their speed and combat capability. One had suffered an unfortunate hit directly to its underslung cannons, and had lost the left half the weapon. PCA engineering was good enough that the right half was still operational, but the loader and fire mechanisms were linked, and it wasn't capable of not supplying both sides. Half the ammo would be ejected from the platform to fire the other half.
I was not likely to see any further bombing runs from that group, at least.
As for the mechs, they were just under halfway to their destination when my distracted guns found them again.
Bullets and lasers lashed out, and the front lines of the Auxilla were rapidly culled, machine after machine falling from the onslaught. Their only response was to shift their formation so that more of them came up to serve as bullet sponges.
A few attacks did go straight over their heads to hit the LCs behind them, but the shields and thicker armour were able to absorb the attacks without many problems.
By the time they arrived at relative safety at an entrance to the interior of the Grid, there weren't a whole lot of drones left.
Still, they had their orders, and they could hardly back out now, could they?
One of the LCs approached the entrance, quickly beginning to open a connection. Advanced PCA electronic warfare systems, refined over the course of decades, against the simple and unassuming software of a door.
The door hissed as its pneumatics activated, opening a thirty metre tall wall of metal. On the opposite side was a corridor that branched off into numerous other rooms, many of which also branched.
A Grid was labyrinthine at the best of times, and monsters hadn't even arrived yet.
"Confirm Grid 339's expected layout." The LC commanded.
"No observed major structural deviations so far. The local network node should be further in."
"Confirmed."
Ah... This is almost nostalgic. I remember the last time a group came uninvited to my Grid.
What remained of the Auxilia went first, moving in a three-wide column of MTs, spaced reasonably far apart. The LCs were directly behind them, and all three of the remaining Repairers followed between them and the Sentries.
"Forwards 120 meters, and then we should be able to ascend into an access tunnel."
Oh, a shame for them.
That was exactly where the monsters were waiting.
Down the hall they went, wasting no time. They went right after that, breaching into an open section normally used to hold cargo. The ceiling was high, however, and at the top was a maintenance passage just large enough to fit a Light Cavalry unit.
And, in turn, it was just large enough to fit Heavy MTs.
Specifically, Heavy MTs equipped with high explosive cannons.
"CONTACT-"
I fired. The cannon shell went straight into the middle of the column of Auxilia, with impeccable aim.
The drones ceased to exist, the shockwave of sheer force enough to send dozens of tons of heavy metal in every direction, and that was only made even worse by the fact that they were surrounded on all sides by the hyperalloy megastructure of the Grid.
The simple sound of it... Like ringing a bell that you were standing inside of, it was a cacophony, immense and undeniable, more than enough to kill someone just through the pressure waves.
The shockwave was enough to push the LCs back a little. That meant that my follow up gift of a pile of grenades landed directly in front of them rather than on top of them, but oh well. The effect was about the same.
Boom.
Welcome to my house, PCA.
Boom boom boom.