Again the Mecha’s sensors had detected Narsian attackers coming closer to the column, but this time, they didn’t seem intent on mindlessly attacking.

The energy signatures had spiked, and they weren’t moving.

[Enemy is setting up Heavy Weapons positions.] Max called over the radio and the mecha with Battle Cannons moved so that they could get a better line of sight towards the spots showing active energy weapons.

The technology was one unique to the Crusader Class and heavier Kepler Mecha, not used by any other nation, so it was possible that the Narsian forces didn’t fully understand how it worked. If they did, they would have set up and waited for the attack signal to be given before powering up their heavy weapons.

[Sir, thermal sensors are detecting something strange near the energy signatures. The area is suspiciously even in temperature.] One of the scout Corvettes reports.

It is a standard signature of heat masking technology, usually an energy barrier that disperses the signal over an area, but it can’t account for the way that the trees and water inside should be slightly different, so everything comes out as uniform. On the open plains, or in city ruins that might work, but not here in the swamp.

[Battle Cannons, area bombardment. Do not start with the positions of the heavy weapons, they haven’t realized that we can see them yet.] Max orders.

The barrels of the Battle Cannons subtly shift, and Max gives the order.

[Fire! 5 shot barrage and hold.]

The roar of the big guns shakes the trees around them, and the blasts light up the mist over the water. Then the secondary explosions start, indicating that someone’s target was their munitions supply and that they had wiped out the enemy emplacement, or very nearly did anyhow.

[Next targets are at 8 o’clock, at a distance of 5600 meters. Commence area bombardment.] Max orders, clearing the next obstacle to their course well in advance.

It will still take a while before those enemies are close enough to be a threat, but while they are stopped, it is best to draw out any hidden Narsian forces that their sensors haven’t detected yet.

The same five-shot volley is sent out, and then they wait with their sensors at maximum sensitivity, trying to find any signs of enemy survivors or additional hidden forces.

Nothing is moving, and the only heat signatures are some lingering fires from the high explosive shells, so the column begins moving again, doing their best to make progress toward the camp at the mines.

The camp has reported a few light attacks, but the Narsians pulled back when they realized that it was a larger camp of Kepler Mecha.

That didn’t mean they were safe though, if the Narsians were close enough to attack, they were close enough to detect the signature of the Uranium mine, even if it was sealed and buried with tones of aggregate material.

So, they would be back, and in force, once they had the numbers. In fact, that might have been the reason for the Special Forces unit that Alpha Squad came across. If the Narsians already knew of the mine, it would also explain the higher-than-usual technology that the patrol had encountered on their way back. The giants might be going all out in their attempt to eliminate a large portion of the mine’s defenders.

That’s not a reassuring thought at all, but at least Max knows that the attacks on them aren’t a fluke or bad luck. Instead, the attacks are because the Mecha are moving through the zone where the Narsians are staging before an attack.

Max checks the route in front of them, knowing that this last stretch was almost entirely void of enemy activity on the way out to assist Alpha Squad. It doesn’t provide much cover for an attack, as they picked the easiest route to travel with the giant mecha, so he has hopes that it will still be the same way, or at least close to it.

[Increase travel speed. We’re never going to be stealthy in the swamp, so it is better to just get back to camp and reinforce the defenders there.] Max orders, picking up his pace to near the top of what would be comfortable in a Line Mecha over this terrain.

The Narsians have surely heard them by now, even if they didn’t know they were coming back to base, so Max sends the signal for the Infantry to be mobilized to the bunkers for an imminent attack and keeps his pilots moving.

[Contact at 3 o’clock] One of the Pilots reports, stopping to take a shot.

[Don’t stop. Fire on the move. We will keep moving until we reach the base.] Max orders, sending a volley of Pulse Laser fire in the direction of the heat signatures.

Destroying whatever mediocre cloaking technology they were using reveals dozens more Narsian infantry in the area, who are quickly suppressed by the Crusaders as the column moves past, now a mere five kilometers from the mine and closing quickly.

The giants have realized that they no longer have the element of surprise though, and heat signatures are appearing everywhere, only to be targeted by mecha from both the camp and the unit Max is leading. While they did their best to stay out of the direct line of fire, Max stationed mecha on top of the ridge when they arrived, giving them a better line of sight down into the trees.

That lets the straight-flying energy weapons target at a much longer range, and they’re using it to their advantage, marking every position that they see with a few shots so that the locations can be added to the map. If they kill some, they kill some, but knowing where all the Narsian attack squads are located is more important, as it gives them a rough estimate of enemy strength, despite the giants’ attempts to hide their numbers.

[Prepare the reload and repair bays.] Max orders as the mecha column reached visual range of the camp. He took a full third of the force with him on this expedition, not counting the infantry, so they will be desperately needed the moment that the attack begins.

Both squads at the base are already deployed and ready, and the artillery that the infantry brought back from the landers is happily thumping away. It’s a shame that they didn’t get time to clean out all the landers. Max’s reports say that they only got eleven of fifteen either ransacked or within the encirclement by the time the Narsian attacks forced them back within the safety of the camp.

In the worst-case scenario, infantry teams can be sent out on those flat-bottomed boats to launch raids of their own, but returning fully laden with supplies and parts will be much more difficult.

The rearming gantries have been greatly improved in the last day, now boasting a full twelve hangers within the lander that the Special Tactics unit arrived in. Two more Landers have been moved close to the mine entrance, set up for repairs, so Max divides his troops, reloading the crusaders using solid ammunition first, and then the lighter mecha.

The light mecha are mostly sent to the repair bays though, as they took the most damage from the Narsian melee attacks, which the Kepler Pilots were poorly trained to counter in this swamp, where the enemy could easily get close to them.

[Guns up and heads down] Captain Catan, leader of Stalwart Special Tactics Unit’s infantry company yells over the intercom before the bunkers on the far side of the camp begin firing Ion blasts into the trees.

[Nico, I need a patch into everyone’s sensors] Max asked, wishing he could do it himself.

How such a capability was never added to Command Mecha is beyond him, it is such a useful feature to be able to make a map out of everyone’s sensor data, but he can only work with what he has got.

His second in command is perfect for the task though, with her skills complementing his and making up for the deficiencies.

[You’ve got it. Thermal and energy only so far.] Nico called back, taking up a spot along the line that looked most likely to be facing a concentrated attack.

Max himself is currently waiting for his Battle Cannon to be reloaded, a five-minute process when he is nearly empty as he is now. But that doesn’t mean he is useless, and his System improved thoughts are racing to find patterns in the data.

At first, he just sends artillery to the largest clusters that he can see, as well as some suspiciously empty areas, but after a few minutes, Max does notice a pattern. Short but intense pulses of energy as the enemy brings their heavy weapons and artillery online.

[Battle Cannons, new targets. A1, A6, A18, B3, B7…] Max began calling out every location where he had noticed such a pulse, hoping to eliminate the Narsian artillery before it can cause heavy damage to the camp.

The big guns rang in unison as he called out the targets, multiple mecha on each number, firing at every target that they could target as he announced them. The infantry artillery continued their suppressive fire, hitting anything and everything that was near where their helmet displays indicated the Mecha had found a heat signature.

They weren’t fast enough though, and a deafening roar arose from the swamps as the Narsian artillery began firing unstable plasma charges, slowly arcing through the air to land within the camp and explode.

They wouldn’t be firing for long though, already Captain Catan could feel the shaking of the bog beneath his feet as thousands of giant bodies in heavy armor charged through the swamp towards the camp.

The Narsians had chosen a blitz attack, sending everyone at once to overwhelm and overrun the Kepler forces, destroying their infrastructure within the camp as the defenders were fully engaged. Even if this attack failed, the logic was that they would be out of food and munitions to survive the next one.