Over the next weeks, Wendy and I settled into a steady routine at Vanguard Enterprises. Printing stuff, delivering stuff, buying raw materials from various scrap yards. But we both had enough time left for side activities.
Wendy was taking piloting lessons to get a license for flying the Variocopter, which was uselessly sitting at Styx Base right now.
My side project was the spider-mech I had mentioned to Crystal AKA Mantis in late November. It would cost some more points though, as I realized I had underestimated the heavy railgun’s energy hunger.
“Elya, I think I need a stronger power plant to recharge the railgun in reasonable time. Options?”
There is a suitable five megawatt fusion reactor in Class I Nuclear Reactors. There are more powerful models available, but those might be difficult to stuff into your mech design.
Prices are 100 points for the class and 1500 points for the reactor blueprint.
I had a closer look at the specs. It was only marginally larger than the one in Herbie, but had more than three times the power. One of these could power a train or a modestly-sized ship. For my new mech it was just right. So I said “Elya, yes please!”
Unlocked: Class I Fusion Reactors
Price… 100 points
Purchased: Sunfire Mk III deuterium-deuterium fusion reactor, 5 MW model (blueprint)
Price… 1500 points
Remaining balance… 454 points
With that settled, the spider mech gradually took shape in the yard of Vanguard Enterprises. Technically it was not a spider though, as it did not have the body plan of a spider. Instead of a thorax and an abdomen, it just had a big “thorax”.
At a first glance from afar, it looked like a larger version of Herbie but with a cannon on top. Close up, it became obvious that the armor was thicker. Left and right of the big gun two dual railgun turrets were mounted, using the same caliber as the Shiv.
The mech also retained the same manufacturing capabilities as Herbie. While it could have been more compact without that, I remembered how dire our situation would have been on the expedition to Mount Olympus without Herbie as a mobile workshop.
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2048
For the first time, I took my new mech on a stroll around town. There was surprisingly little panic among the bystanders, but someone still called the MGs. My old friends from Team Battle Bug promptly showed up. As I opened the cockpit and greeted them, Longhorn gave me the evil eye. “Must you always frighten people with your metal bugs? I understand this is not a Type Three, but that guy over there is literally crapping his pants!”
The young gentleman she was pointing towards had indeed brown streaks running down his legs.
“Waitamoment!” Pink Orchid interjected. Loudly. “That is the same guy who called us cowards after the last emergence, because we did not clear out the Macks fast enough for his taste!”
The mood among the onlookers immediately turned against Mr. Brown Pants. MGs were celebrities and insulting them did not sit well with the people. Among taunts and jeers by other bystanders, he retreated, dripping brown matter.
Longhorn turned back to me. “What exactly is this thing?”
“Sort of a big brother to Herbie, with a design more inclined towards combat.”
As Crystal AKA Mantis had prophesied when we last met, Ladybug insisted on naming my new mech. “We have named Herbie, his big brother also needs a name!”
To my surprise, it was Longhorn who got involved at this point. “Normally I don’t gush about mecha bugs, but in this case I vote for naming him George.”
“Why?” Mantis and Ladybug demanded.
“I have discovered an old web novel lately that I really like, and the main character has a huge spider pet named George.”
“Oh, what’s the title?” I asked.
“Duelling Dungeons. But I know the writer only by their pen name, TheWackyWombat.”
“OK, George it is,” I agreed.
Next in line was Mantis. “Let me drive George for a bit, pretty please!” The puppy dog eyes she made looked a bit out of place in a young woman, but they were scarily effective.
Well, she already had a bit of experience driving Herbie, so it should not be too dangerous and I acceded. Crystal climbed into the cockpit and strapped herself in, while I took my place in the other seat. She asked “Anything I need to know about steering?"
“The controls are manual just like in Herbie, so you can use your augs otherwise. I would give you the gunnery package for the augs too, if there was any chance that you become a mech gunner for real.”
We continued on the route I had planned for myself, with the rest of Team Battle Bug escorting us. Halfway back to Vanguard Enterprises we were rudely interrupted by an emergence warning. Elya gave me a short summary.
Mack units have landed at Coles Bay in the west and North Saanich in the east. Their objectives are not obvious yet, but there is a real danger that the airport area will be cut off from the city center. There are landings elsewhere but those seem to be distractions. I can see at least two fake Twenty-Ones that appear to be cheap decoys.
I turned to Crystal, but before I could say anything, she had stopped George and started undoing her safety harness. “Sorry but I have to leave you here, my team needs me. I’d say get to shelter and don’t do something stupid, but we both know that won’t happen.”
Almost as snarky as Elya, she was. But this was not the time for bickering. I waved after the Battle Bugs and jumped into the driver's seat myself. Ignoring various traffic rules, I made my way back to Vanguard Enterprises in a hurry. I had started a print of heavy railgun ammunition earlier and hoped enough would be ready to fill the onboard magazine once. It turned out that I had eighty percent of that. That would have to do. Of the five millimeter ammo for the Shiv turrets I had plenty. Wendy was nowhere to be seen though, so I had to do my preparations on my own.
I hastily set up a few Spectracopters where I could summon them remotely for reconnaissance, and loaded what ammunition was available into George.
Then I had Elya display an overview of the nearby area. In the west, a sizable number of Twenty-Ones and smaller units were disgracing Coles Bay Regional Park, but they were not moving further inland yet.
In the east, the Macks seemed to be in a hurry. An even greater number of Macks had come ashore at Cy Hampson Park and immediately started to move in a northeast direction. That would bring them to the airport and ultimately to the premises of Vanguard Enterprises, which sat on the northern edge of the airport. On the way there they would pass through several neighborhoods, and I could only hope the people there would get to the shelters quick enough. That area would be my first priority, and I sent a Spectracopter to get better recon data.
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The response of HANAF seemed a bit sluggish, as if they could not quite figure out what particular attack they should fend off first. At least they recognized the danger posed by the landing at Coles Bay, and on the HANAF network I could hear orders given to contain that group of Macks.
The MGs were all over the map, apparently SHOCKS sent them on recon missions where HANAF had no units nearby.
All of that left North Saanich uncovered, despite the Macks there likely being the biggest threat. So I announced my intent to fight those personally over the HANAF network.
“This is Vanguard Command, Lieutenant McCallan speaking. We are moving with experimental units from the airport to intercept the Macks moving northwest from North Saanich. Be advised that our lead unit looks a lot like a Type Three with a cannon on top.”
My following units were eight Lesser Battlecats that I drew from the Vanguard Enterprises premises. We kept only a small number of combat bots there to keep the city council from freaking out. But I could take eight Battlecats without leaving the place completely undefended.
Before moving out I ordered reinforcements and more ammunition from the fabricators, then I made my way over the deserted airfield in a hurry. I wanted to get to cover behind the buildings at the southwest corner. While I was confident the smaller Macks were not too dangerous for George, better safe than sorry.
As I was almost there, I saw two Twenty-Ones appearing to my right, only a hundred meters away. I immediately turned around to point the railgun at them and ordered my Battlecats to fire on the small units.
Biting back a curse, I realized that I had not charged the railgun yet. It took six tense seconds before it was ready to fire. In the meantime, the huge metal caterpillars turned towards me and lifted their armored arms over their eyes for protection. Left and right, two dozen Fours and Mack Battlecats slipped off the big units and sprinted at me. It did not do them much good. Before they were close enough to do damage, the Shiv railguns in the tails of my units mowed them down.
Now it was my turn. I aimed at one of the Twenty-Ones where I knew its eye was behind the protective arms and pulled the trigger. I was thrown into my seatbelt as the violent recoil of the heavy railgun pushed George back. The results on target were even more spectacular. One of the shielding robot arms was ripped in two amidst a shower of sparks. Behind the arms a cloud of glittering dust erupted from the Mack’s head, and on the far side of the big Mack I glimpsed debris flying away.
“Elya, show me a close up!” It appeared on my augs. The eye seemed to have evaporated and behind it a hole went through the Mack. I could see daylight through it.
“Where is the eye?”
Gone. It was smashed into the dust cloud you saw.
Nice. But I had no time to dwell further on it, as the second Mack charged me. Fortunately, the rail gun was also recharged by now and I executed the metal monster with a well placed shot through the eye. I could get used to that.
To avoid being caught in the open by more Macks, I moved between two hangars and looked at the map again. In the west, HANAF troops were in the process of encircling the Macks at Coles Bay. In the east, I found myself alone against a horde of Macks. Elya highlighted those my Spectracopter found on the map, which showed a red rash of hundreds of opponents by now. At the beach several Twenty-Ones sat and were busy disgorging more Macks.
I figured I would have to take out those quickly, before the total number became overwhelming. With a flick of my eye, I used my C&C suite to send the battlecats ahead eastwards, then I followed with George. My destination was the Tulista Boat Launch, where I would have a free field of fire and a bit of cover behind a gravel berm.
It turned out that I had to hurry. The first Mack scout units already appeared between the houses. My Battlecats quickly dispatched them, but those losses would invariably draw more Macks to investigate.
Finally I reached my firing position and took position behind the berm. I brought up the image from the targeting scope and aimed at the nearest of the six Twenty-Ones there. “Elya, component overlay!”
Over the image of the Mack, colored contours of its innards appeared, based on the schematics I had acquired from defeated Macks. I eased the reticle over the reactor and gently pulled the trigger until George shook under the recoil again. A second later, sparks flew from the large machine, then a spurt of plasma escaped from the bullet hole.
Well done. The reactor is toast, that one will not bother you anymore.
Yay for superior sniping. That was the way I loved waging war. It seemed the Macks had not realized yet what was happening, as they carried on like they had before. My next shot killed a second Twenty-One the same way. Now some disquiet became visible among the Macks. Two of them moved close together, with the heads my way and hidden behind their arms. It looked like they were shielding the remaining two while they did whatever, but I could not deal with them yet.
Instead, I opened fire on the shielding units. This time it took me four shots and half a minute until I was sure the Twenty-Ones facing me were neutralized. That might have taken too long, as I saw the waves part behind them and something massive emerge from the sea. Of course, the remaining two Twenty-Ones had to summon a fucking Type 32.
My first two shots at it hit center mass, right into the shredder built into the mouth of the Thirty-Two. Nothing happened.
I recommend shooting at the eyes. That is the weakest point from this direction.
Fine, the eyes then. I carefully aimed at one of the six deeply-recessed yellow eyes, but before I could fire, the metal monster launched four shells in my direction. I ducked behind the berm as well as I could. Around me, the world exploded. Two shells from the Thirty-Two had hit the berm and exploded, showering George with stone and metal shrapnel. Fortunately, the cockpit armor held. One of the Shiv turrets was not as lucky and got jammed.
The railgun still appeared operational, so I resumed shooting at the eyes of the huge metal monster. My next shot was a hit, and one of the eyes winked out. I ducked behind the remains of the berm to my left, until I saw that my railgun was ready to fire again. I raised the hull of George just enough that my gun was peeking over the berm, then I picked the next eye to shoot at. The Thirty-Two and I fired at the same time, and I ducked back down again.
Nice shot. The second eye is out.
The Thirty-Two fired again and missed with three out of four shots, but the fourth one hit and my cover crumbled further. I needed some help there. “Elya, is the Thirty-Two from last month still operational?”
Yes. It still has three working guns and some rounds left in its magazines.
I popped up to take another shot at the Thirty-Two. The adrenaline messed up my aim though and I only blasted a crater into the armor.
“Is it in a position to fire at the big Mack?”
Yes.
“Do it!”
Another salvo from the Thirty-Two. I moved further to the left, which took me into the water. But there was more berm left there. This time, George got showered with water from a shell hitting the sea in front of us. The blast was transmitted through the water and hit George like a hammerblow.
A look at the map showed that there were only three of my Battlecats left. It also showed three projectiles from a friendly unit racing past me. I had another shot ready and popped up to take it. Just in time to see the shells from my Thirty-Two hit. All of them. One was a lucky hit on a turret that left the barrel askew. Number two and three gouged craters into the armor, but failed to penetrate.
“Elya, try to hit the turrets.” That had worked for me before.
My next shot pierced another eye. It shattered into a cloud of dust. Three down, three to go.
The Thirty-Two retaliated with a salvo of only three shells now. Better. One still hit my cover and diminished it further, throwing up a fountain of dirt and water.
Next it was the turn of my Thirty-Two. Three shells plowed into the enemy Mack and managed to knock out a second turret in a fireball.
I followed up with another railgun shot that took out eye number four, then I ducked back. Deeper into the water. The enemy Thirty-Two missed this time, and its shells ripped up some buildings behind me.
As I peeked over my berm again, I saw the enemy Mack turning around. Was it trying to bring its undamaged guns on the rear to bear?
“Elya, overlay!” I remembered from studying the design that the armor was weaker on the side. Elya promptly displayed the innards of the huge war machine, and I saw a particularly juicy target. The electronics that controlled the magnetic coils in the reactor. A difficult target, but destroying it would instantly win me the fight.
Sweating bullets, I eased the aiming reticule over the reactor controller and caressed the trigger. Once again George shook under the recoil, and a bullet shot out at hypersonic speed. It hit exactly where I wanted, the effect was anticlimactic though. The Thirty-Two just stopped moving. Only a bit of smoke escaped from the bullet hole.
“Elya, do we have shells in the Thirty-Two left?”
Yes. Enough for four salvos.
“Try to hit the remaining Twenty-Ones with those. Feel free to fly the Spectracopter closer if it helps with targeting.”
Moving back onto solid ground, I found that another one of my Battlecats had been destroyed at some point, leaving me with only two. Another salvo from my Thirty-Two raced past, and on the feed from the Spectracopter I saw the heavy shells obliterating a Twenty-One and a bunch of lesser units. The Twenty-One was ripped open like a tin can. The smaller units suffered various fates from being thrown around to outright disintegrating.
I left Elya to do the shooting for a bit, got out of the cockpit and checked on my remaining two Battlecats. Thankfully these were still operational, and I managed to salvage some Shiv ammo from the destroyed ones.
Another salvo screamed past me, shortly followed by detonations on the beach to the south.
I got the last Twenty-One for you. Two salvos left in the guns.