Chapter 11
“Command, keep to your lanes for your mission parameters. Do not chase glory or combat,” Wayne ordered as he, Barbie, and three Dashi pilots in Assault class walkers moved down Main street. “We are here for the glory of the Dashi, not for your own glory. Bring glory to Dashi, the glory for yourself will naturally come after.
“Battalion leaders, report in. Sitrep.
“Dagger, Herald, I need a map update. Just because they want me to from the damn front doesn’t mean I’m going to forsake my duties.”
The missiles that’d been flung into their forces had continued during the approach. Wayne had been doing his best to keep as many Dashi alive as possible as he lashed them with his targeting data through the command channel.
They’d ceased as they reached city limits, but then anti-armor guns, infantry, tanks, and Walkers began engaging them.
It wasn’t at a level that would stop them, but it was more than a normal city should’ve had.
At least, should’ve had considering there was no one that would dare attack a Dashi city within the Dashi. Only external threats would exist and that would be something the Pureblood would be expected to handle.
This wasn’t normal and Dahl’s belief that this planet was the center seemed correct.
Walking down the city street Wayne did his best to keep his feet from crushing things.
Especially cars.
Given the city had been attacked with little warning it wasn’t likely that it was evacuated well. There would be a great number of civilians and citizens around everywhere.
A simple car could have a family in it.
Wayne didn’t like that they were attacking a population center, but war was war.
When people expected you to somehow avoid attacking infrastructure then they’d clearly forgotten what war really was. The truth of the world was without making war hell for everyone, it never ended.
Resistance would continue.
Things never finished.
Given that the Pureblood himself wanted this particular location taken there was no room for argument in attacking it.
All Wayne could do was minimize civilian casualties. Minimize it all the way down to the smallest number possible while carrying out his orders effectively and protecting the lives of his soldiers.
“Ugh, I love this Walker but it’s a pain that it’s gait is shorter than I expected,” complained Barbie. “End up walking around cars rather than over them.”
Wayne smiled as he read over the map, letting his eyes flick over all the positions being reported upward to him.
As well as all the drones reporting friendly and enemy positions at the same time.
Most of the enemy forces had fallen back to the heart of the city. Around the large and sprawling down-town with a great deal of large buildings, defensive positions, and buildings and infrastructure Wayne’s vanguard needed.
Looking to the right of the city he saw that the two batallions he’d sent to deal with the local garrison was engaged. It was listed as heavy resistance and the information that was available listed a number of Dreadnought class Walkers.
Some were even in defensive positions that gave them cover and allowed them to fire out from.
Turning to the right, Wayne continued to read over the map as he walked down the street. Angling his cannons he used the drone information, paired to his on board AIs, then extrapolated what he needed through Sidra.
In a flash he had firing positions for both cannons that would drop shells on many of the Dreadnoughts that were in static emplacements. He popped off four for each, then rotated back to the left.
Looking out to the left he saw that the left flank was pushing ahead according to the drones.
Reading through the incoming situation reports Wayne figured out what was happening there.
There was no resistance and they were attempting to speed up on their push. The projected goal was to sweep and flank and act like a swinging door.
One that would close on the left side of the downtown area.
Wayne approved that, put in new waypoints for them, and left them to it.
Then dismissed the map.
“Everything is looking fine,” he reported his personal squad channel.
“Yes, Warrior,” answered one of the Dashi who was with him. “This battle is strange, but proceeding very well.”
Strange?
Why?
“Your orders were odd to them,” Wendy answered his unspoken question. He noted she was limited to speaking to him directly when he checked the frequency she was coming in on. “You gave them a great deal of objective direction, but very little in the way of the ‘how’ other than a few basic guidelines. Everything in between is mostly up to them.
“You gave them Confed doctrine without beating it into them. They’ll fail in many ways, but there’s always a first step for everything.”
“Confed gets a lot wrong. They also get a lot right,” replied Wayne as main street curved gently. They were now approaching the heart of the city. “How they handle orders and expectations for the mission is definitely one of them. I’d like to—”
Multiple white and red boxes began appearing in the distance ahead of Wayne. Almost sea of them it felt like. So many that they were overlapping with one another, their lines and shapes blurring into more of a barcode.
Red lines began to shoot outward from the boxes and start lining up with Wayne and his people. The approach to downtown was simply too much on main street.
“Shift right!” Wayne ordered and sped up, quickly turning toward the intersection ahead of them and moving into it. “We need a less direct approach! They’ve got it absolutely loaded with weaponry!”
Multiple indicators went off in the cockpit, lighting up, then going out. Projectiles, laser shots, and likely other munitions, were impacting with the shoulder of his Walker.
Given the weight and strength of the armor, it wasn’t much more then scratches or a few dents, thankfully. That didn’t mean he wanted to hang out and saw what happened, however.
Getting off Main street Wayne glanced at his map view and saw both his squad, and the accompanying squad, had made it out of the kill zone.
Mentally, Wayne flicked new approach orders for the vanguard. Filtering it to command so they could relay it back out. Their original end goals were shifted by him to make sure they didn’t take a long stupid approach just like the one he’d originally given himself and them.
To be fair, I thought they’d fight us in the streets. They set up at the heart and are more like a porcupine.
If we had rockets or artillery, didn’t care about the location they’re in, we could just pound it down.
Though given their locations, I don’t think there’s any chance we’ll be able to save anything that they’re hiding or taking cover in. It’s all going to be scrap and ruins.
“Command, send a report to the Pureblood,” demanded Wayne. He loaded up targeting data for everything his AI had spotted and noted into the comms. “Notify him that it’s unlikely we’ll save the government building, or most of downtown. It’s ground zero for their defenses.
“There’s a dense and well positioned defensive fortification set up there. Anti-armor, tanks, infantry, machine guns, and Walkers. It’s partially covered by what looked like anti-air or interceptors.
“No drones spotted but that doesn’t mean they’re not there.”
Shaking his head, Wayne hated the fact that he’d essentially just laid out the death of anyone and everyone around the enemy positions.
Because it was entirely possible the Pureblood might take the occasion to flatten the whole of it and call it done. Any and all casualties would just be chalked up and considered an expensive loss, but one that was willingly paid.
It was very similar when he’d told Natalie to open up on an apartment building, in fact. Orders he’d have to give in the future.
Lifting the right cannon, Wayne shifted the firing angle until it lined up with a number of anti-armor pieces that were dangerous. Especially the ones that were facing down other streets own forces might be taking.
Firing off six out of his sixty round stores was a bit of an investment risk, but he felt it was worth while. Each heavy round being ejected at a steep arc that would bring it back on an enemy gun emplacement.
“You do realize that you firing like that makes it look like to anyone else it’s random,” Barbie remarked. “People who’ve seen you in action realize that it’s you firing on positions outside of view, but not everyone knows you, My Lord.”
“He’s firing on positions?” asked someone in the personal squad channel.
“He is. The first several shots were going to the garrison,” replied Cara. She was somewhere ahead of them, moving between streets and closing in on downtown. Her sweeping efforts were giving him a good safe path to move toward the heart with. “The more recent ones were probably emplacements in downtown.”
“Anti-armor,” answered Wayne to the unasked question. “I didn’t want—”
Two red boxes were moving at a high rate of speed out of the city. They didn’t have a conventional name Wayne could identify. The speed they were moving at felt more like a low-flying fast moving aerial asset of some sort.
“Contact, two Walkers just shot past me!” Cara called out. “Sizing is about Assault class! Real fast!
“They’re strange looing. Somewhat human looking! Following!”
Human looking?
That’s different.
I don’t… even…
“Defensive perimeter,” Wayne ordered as he looked at the minimap inside of his cockpit. The two red squares were moving straight toward him by moving along a parallel street. “Set up an overlap. Open up on sight.”
Wayne moved to the left side of the street.
Then jammed one of the quadruped’s legs into a fairly large building.
Moving upward and using the leg tips akin to leverage points, Wayne scaled the building.
Getting to the top he did his best to spread his weight out across the roof while looking down to where the two square would be coming into sight.
Either they were coming for Wayne and his people, or exfiltrating. The former would get a firing squad and the latter a free pass.
“Dagger, get me drones over those,” ordered Wayne, once again mad that Squire, Longbow, and Shield weren’t here. He was finding himself more aggravated than he’d expected himself to be.
His squad was an extension of himself and they knew exactly how to operate.
Wayne threw his gaze to the drone view as it popped up.
What he saw was indeed what looked to be two very humanoid looking Walkers rushing along the road.
The coloring was a flat gray or black across the whole of each, weapons were loaded to the back of each forearm, and there were several position sin the torso that looked as if they were weapon emplacements.
There was an actual head on them as well as two spots that’d eyes on a human.
Wayne didn’t quite understand it and thought the whole build was stupid. Putting a head on a Walker was just asking for someone to assume where your sensors were or something else important.
A hard target to hit due to it’s size but not impossible.
The Walkers didn’t seem to have the mass or bulk one would need to successfully get in and out of a heavy fire-fight either.
“Two Walkers incoming. Humanoid in shape. No known designation. Weapons visible at forearm,” advised Wayne. “Either they’re lightly armored or they’re wearing a type of armor I’m not aware of yet.
“I’ll designate a target for us to start with. Focus fire on that and attempt to core it out.”
Both Walkers sprinted right past the street Wayne was on and didn’t even bother to turn or face him. Neither looked to engage in the slightest.
I don’t like that.
I’d almost prefer it if they had turned to fight.
That way we could at least get information.
“Ambush!” Cara shouted across the comm channel.
Cara had been following the two humanoid Walkers so if she was calling out an ambush, that meant that there were enemies that were very close.
Glancing at his sensors and readouts, Wayne could see there was some odd soundwaves that didn’t match what he’d seen previously. These seemed to be louder and closer at the same time.
His Handfast was being fired on.
“Bringing them in!” warned Cara. “There’s a Titan! I think those two earlier were just scouts!”
“A Titan. Alright,” Wayne murmured to himself and looked over the map again.
They were on a side-street perpindicular to Main street and First street.
First street didn’t run straight away from downtown and was partially curved, but it’d shift in a heavy way to the street they were on. It’d only be a ‘slight right’ type of turn.
Looking over the mapping, Wayne saw the point that the angle from First street would be wide open from where his people were.
Shifting his Walker forward, Wayne moved the quadruped to the end of the line of buildings and moved to the back of it. Doing his best to lower his height, Wayne spread out the legs of the quadruped across the roof-top, then bent low at the waist.
If someone had a drone, or a rather tall Walker, they’d absolutely see him regardless.
Barbie, Cara, and his squad mates, weren’t actually hefty enough to truly take on a Titan if it was built to take hits and dish out pain.
Even Wayne in this strange quadruped Walker was going to have an issue with it.
If he fought it in a straight fight that was.
Given that they’d attempted to ambush Cara, or so she claimed, Wayne wasn’t too concerned about anyone getting fussy at him ambushing the Titan in return.
Cara sprinted past at a high rate of speed. Her Walker moving fluidly down the street as she took the turn. Wayne couldn’t see it but he’d been able to track it with the drones overhead.
If this were the Confed, we’d have already been launching thousands of drones at their positions.
Hate this stupid meat-wave attack type of tactic.
Four Walkers plus the Titan came next at a light run. They weren’t pulling away or attempting to follow First street.
They fully committed to chasing Cara and took the turn to follow her.
Despite the fact that they had two strange Walkers go out to scout for them they were willing to commit to chasing Cara. As if they were hungry for a kill or something else entirely.
“Any reason they’re pissed at you Cara?” Wayne asked, waiting for the opportune moment to pop out.
“I destroyed a Heavy Combat Walker,” Cara admitted with a hissing laugh. “Carved the cockpit with my claws and shredded the pilot. I miss my power sword the Lady gave me, but the claws do well enough.”
Nodding his head, Wayne looked to the minimap and saw the enemy Walker group had completed the turn.
Standing up, Wayne lined up his missile pods, both cannons, and his laser weapons.
He targeted the top and partial rear of the Titan.
Committing to a Launch attack, Wayne unleashed everything at the same time.
For his laser weapons and cannons Wayne just kept firing. He reserved his missile capacity for now, however. Just in case he needed a long range attack that he could fire and forget later.
Stumbling forward under the sudden onslaught, the Titan took two steps and ended up pivoting to the right to try and figure out where it was getting hit from.
Not bothering to hit in the front, Wayne instead turned his fire on the other Walkers. Which were taking withering fire Cara, Barbie, and the others.
Lining up his cannons with the tops of their Walkers Wayne unloaded heavy cannon rounds into them. Each one landing with a sheering of armor and sparks.
Two of the Walkers went down, either from Wayne or the others, he wasn’t sure. Three more were still moving forward while firing.
The Titan had eventually found Wayne and he watched as red beams intersected with him.
Not waiting around, Wayne began scurrying off to the left. Up First street and flanking around to the rear of the enemy group. As he went, Wayne pushed on Sidra and utilized her to take pot shots at the Walkers other than the Titan as he moved.
Arsenic: “His aim is piss and his mother must’ve been a log. He reacts as slow as a dead fish!”
Wayne couldn’t really argue the fact with her. The Titan really was moving extremely slowly. It’s firing plots were almost always behind Wayne by a significant margin.
It felt more like they were an elite piloting a Walker beyond them by virtue of rank or birth. In that moment Wayne decided he could risk more. Because whoever this was, they were a fool.
Pushing harder on Sidra he heard a soft whimper from her as the world sped up for him. Where everything moved faster including Wayne and his mind.
Rushing straight up to the titan Wayne zigged and zagged back and forth as he went. The four legs letting him really duck and weave through incoming fire.
Paired with this pilots clear lack of experience Wayne closed the distance in almost no time. Landing himself right in front of the Titan.
Using the four legs of his Walker, Wayne scaled the Titan outright and then perched himself atop it’s shoulders.
Grasping the front of the Titan with two legs, Wayne extended the other two out and behind himself.
Stretching the Walker out Wayne pushed himself up into a strange handstand. Creating a massive amount of forward weight on the Titan by moving his body
Tilting himself backward, he gradually increased the center of gravity.
Then whipped it the other way, attempting to push the full force of the momentum into the Titan’s shoulders. Curling the two extended legs inward Wayne slammed them into the back of the Titan and pushed.
Launching himself through the air with the move, Wayne was forced to twist himself around mid air so that he’d land feet down.
At the moment he landed, Wayne spun himself around, raised his weapons, and looked to the Titan.
Only to find it face down on the ground, it’s legs scraping at the ground.
Weak pilot.
They didn’t know what the hell they were doing, how to handle it, or in this case… even how to get up.
Walking over to the Titan, Wayne put his own Walker’s weight on the back of the Titan.
And squatted down on him while making sure his weapons were facing the other Walkers.
There was only one upright and Wayne put two cannon shells into it’s back-plate.
Which causd it to go up in an explosive response. Multiple balls of flame sprouting out of it from above and the side.
Wayne swung toward First street and looked that way as he consulted the map.
A message came through to him in Dashi and Arsenic translated it as it was spoken.
Command adjunct O’Dair: “Warrior Hesh! The city commander has surrendered. They no longer wish to resist.”
Really?
Last I saw we hadn’t even made it to the downtown area yet. We’ve only barely begun encircling them and starting to add pressure.
Hm.
“Accept the surrender but only on the condition that it’s unconditional and that they understand they will be questioned extensively,” ordered Wayne.
This was just the opening move in the whole invasion and right now they needed information.
Information and people to interrogate for Dahl’s intelligence service.
Especially those two humanoid Walkers.
That was very strange.
I want more information on that.
“Dagger,” Wayne said and started moving toward downtown, though he didn’t release his hold on Sidra. “My glorious AI handfast… how are you feeling? Frisky? If you can dig into their systems and give me every scrap of information I could ever want on this whole damn planet, I’ll spend an entire evening ‘training’ with you in whatever way you want.”
Arsenic: “I will lay bare the history of this world for you, my perfect Lord!”