5.6

With the surprise attack out of the way and the PCA briefly not in a position to retaliate, I had the Heavy MT pull back further into the maintenance passage. It was a simple and easy decision; the passage was absolutely tiny and anything which came through would have no space to dodge or avoid attacks, and now that the PCA knew there was a Heavy MT armed with giant fucking cannon waiting in there, they weren't very likely to use it.

It was enough firepower to fuck up even the LCs, after all.

If, somehow, they did decide to use it?

Then they would very quickly come to regret that decision, because the Heavy MT wasn't the only thing lurking around here.

As if to prove my point, the squad backed up after only a few moments, heading back into the hallway. A command was sent over the local net, and it amused me enough that I allowed it to go through. The door began to shut in front of them.

"Status report." The leader of this team commanded.

A chorus of "Green", "Yellow", and one "Orange" were his answers. The greens, effectively undamaged and unimpaired, came from the Sentries, while the yellows and orange came from his fellow Cavalry units.

High explosives. Never underestimate them.

"Sergeant. Find us a new path, preferably one that doesn't have many ambush points."

"I... Sir, this is a Grid. Everything is interconnected here by design. There are countless vertical and horizontal intersections."

"Can we get to our target without going through narrow chokepoints?"

It was entirely possible to do that, yes.

"... According to the auto-routing, yes sir. But, That's a long route, and-"

"And it's almost certainly heavily defended, I know. We don't have a choice, here. If we can't employ our mobility, then more shots like that one will reduce us to scrap metal before we can get anything done. We're out of Auxilia, it's our lives on the line, now."

Your lives on the line now, you say? No drones or meatshields or disposables for you to hide behind?

Congratulations, PCA officer. You are now beginning to understand what it's like to be everyone else.

"Our only objective is to break into the local node and get intel. Stay alert, stay mobile, don't expose yourself to danger, and we'll get this mission done. We'll show these trespassers what their defiance will earn them."

...

The fucking gall of the PCA, really. 'Trespassers'? They're literally an outside force that has been choking the life out of this planet for decades, and they claim others are trespassing?

Well, at least I now knew what to do for the rest of their little excursion.

I sent my commands, starting to shift my internal forces around a bit.

"Move out! Remember, constant scans!"

They went backwards, the Sentries briefly making way for the LCs, which, even if they had taken a good bit of damage by now, were still more durable than even the nearly pristine MT equivalents. Down two doors, and then they took a left, passing into another corridor, before taking the first right into an open room.

"Contacts!"

Where I was waiting for them.

I had only Light MTs to start with, but they were armed with a variety of guns. The front line had shields and shotguns, while the midline had double machine guns. The backline mixed it up a little, carrying missile launchers as well as laser rifles.

I wasted no time.

The fire started the moment they breached through the door, shotguns unloading simultaneously while the machine guns filled the space in front of them with bullets. The backline held off for only a moment, having to wait while the lasers charged and the missiles locked, but then they too added to the chorus.

The first two LCs, who had breached into the room, were quick enough to split apart, boosters engaging as they flung themselves to the side. The rest weren't fortunate enough to have the chance, still inside the corridor, but their shields were facing the front and the majority of incoming firepower hit them rather than the mechs carrying them,

My fire was quickly returned, the LCs firing their grenades at the MTs with shields, the explosion powerful enough to stagger the machines out of position, which was very promptly capitalized upon by the machine guns. Missiles streaked forwards, going towards the more dangerous backline. They only needed a single small volley to take out my MTs, and while the missiles of the Cavalry Units were optimised for faster targets, they had no trouble also handling the MTs.

My forces held regardless. I focused on my targets, wearing away at the enemy even as they were quick to wipe out my MTs one by one. Things got worse every second as the rest of the squad streamed in, each additional LC quickly joining their fellows in making short work of my MTs, to say nothing of the Sentries that followed in afterwards.

The fight was short and violent. Even if it had ended quickly, however, they didn't come out of it unscathed. My guns had claimed their tolls, doing a nice spread of damage. The LCs had their shields significantly worn down, with further chip damage across the rest of the frame where the shield hadn't protected. I had, by sheer volume of fire, even managed to shoot a sensor out on one of the LCs, while two of the Sentries had taken missile hits that left them significantly impaired.

The entire squad was combat capable, still. One may consider all the MTs I'd just lost to be a bad trade, but honestly, since they were trading with so many LCs, I'd still probably came out on top of it.

Could I have done better? Yes. But that wasn't what I wanted at the moment.

"These MTs..." One of the Sentries approached a downed machine, still mostly intact. "They look similar, but these aren't standard BAWS E-104 models."

"My warbook isn't getting a match." Another replied. "New models?"

"Code 44." The leader spoke. It took mere seconds before the Enforcement System sent a response. It didn't surprise me, because until now, these machines had never been deployed. "Nothing? These are completely new?"

The Sentry leaned over, a hand extending as a foot braced against the chest of my MTs. The fingers caught at the edge of a seam, and the Sentry pulled back, servos and hydraulics whining for a moment before the frontal plate of my MT came off completely, a scanning pulse going off only a moment later.

"They're drones?" The Sentry's voice echoed with confusion. "The RLF isn't sophisticated enough to run autonomous MTs as capable as these."

"No... Hold on, there's Coral in these machines!"

And they're finally getting a clue.

"What?!"

"Coral Control Interfaces. No wonder we weren't detecting any active signals. They only need a few decagrams to handle information transference if that's all they're using it for."

"Who the hell is running this place? The RLF use every drop of Coral for illegal dosing of themselves and their worms."

"Code 2. Code 17. Code 18. Code 31b." The leader announced.

The next ten seconds passed in silence, as the Enforcement System deliberated the request. But, the response came, and it was exactly what I expected by now.

"Confirmed. Mission is proceeding." The leader stated. "It doesn't matter who or what this is. It can't stay here and we need the data. Rotate formations, we need to spread any potential damage out."

A chorus of agreements answered him. PCA training at its finest, producing obedient drones barely better than a machine.

The squad proceeded, taking a somewhat winding path. I allowed them to move through a pair of rooms before I attacked them again on the third.

This time was barely different from last time; the same composition of MT types, about the same tactics, except now there were just a few more than last time.

It went about the same way, too. My guns did a spread of damage, but I focused a significant amount of my efforts on destroying the LCs' shields. Another few Sentries were hit with missiles, shotgun shells, or machine gun rounds, severely damaging them.

Again, they roasted their positions, and again, three rooms later, I attacked once more, with an even larger squad.

"How many MTs are there?!" One of them finally shouted, frustrated. "They have to have local manufacturing, there's no other option here!"

"There has to be a Well nearby, too. Making so many Coral Control Interfaces would take one."

"Whatever is running this place seems to have excellent tactical ability, but not much actual strategy." You're going to regret that very soon, I hope you know. "An automated system? They could run the drones centrally with a CCI."

"Irrelevant. Let the System handle that, we just need to continue."

They entered the next room, scan pulses running out as they did.

Unfortunately for them, all the damage they'd taken by now had left their sensors not quite as effective as they should have been, and with the right kind of equipment, it is possible to hide from them if you're not too close.

The LCs entered the room, quickly followed by the Sentries. On the ceiling a few hundred meters above their entrance, a Heavy MT uncrouched from a platform that I'd put in place, pushing aside a metamaterial weave as it did.

A moment later, the MT leapt, boosting forwards for a moment before it changed its orientation and faced down.

The boosters reignited, and the PCA squad barely had even a moment's warning before the Heavy MT slammed directly into their midst.

The sheer weight of the Heavy MT was enough to outright crush a Sentry, more than two hundred tons landing on the machine and slamming it flat into the floor. The pilot was dead instantly, probably not even knowing what killed him.

The rest, however, were in the very unfortunate state of being directly next to Heavy MT equipped for close-ranged destruction.

A laser blade ignited on the Heavy MTs arm, and it swung without hesitation. Training and the sheer quality of their machines saved the LCs, but the Sentries were significantly less fortunate. The blade carved one in half, and then did the same to the next two in its path. The fourth was lucky enough to be far enough away that the blade only bit into its back rather than be sliced through completely, but that was still enough to slice across the reactor. The fifth and last victim merely lost an arm and a gun, having started a boost at almost the exact same instant the Heavy MT had landed.

If this were a BAWS standard model, the other Sentries would have been fine from there.

It was not a BAWS standard model. Where BAWS had given a laser blade to a model whose primary feature was an artillery-scale sniper cannon, I had instead elected to install a six-barreled bazooka for more widespread destruction, and unfortunately for the Sentries, all but a few of them were directly in its path after the swing.

Instinct of training had driven them to scatter, but this close, that wasn't enough.

The bazookas fired.

Most of the squad vanished in a flash of light and a roar louder than thunder. Smoke and shrapnel filled the air, but I wasted no time admiring the destruction that had been wrought.

Instead, the Heavy MT's thrusters ignited and the machine flung itself forward at the LCs.