The moment Max’s convoy stopped, the Narsian infiltrators who were hiding among the buildings realized that something was wrong. This opponent was much more cautious than the ones that had come before him.

They sent an emergency signal back to the main base and waited for a reply. A few seconds later, bright smiles passed across their faces, hidden under smooth metallic stealth helmets and they began circling around behind Max’s convoy, joined by the other scout teams in the area.

[Look alive everyone, I’ve got incoming signals in front of us, fifteen Narsian heavy infantry in a reverse V formation. It looks like they want to funnel us in for an attack.] Max informed his unit, who spread out to counter the Narsian tactic.

If they let the Narsian attack formation get around their sides they would soon be unable to maneuver and would either be surrounded or forced backward into whatever trap the Narsians had prepared. Maneuverability was one of the few advantages they had at close range, the Corvette Class Mecha, especially the Comor pattern, with its light and nimble organic shell shape, assisted by stabilizing thrusters, had a much easier time traversing rubble at high speed than the Narsian Heavy Infantry.

[Steady for the charge. Pick your targets and fire in 3, 2, NOW.] Max ordered, lighting up the approaching infantry with his Pulse Lasers and his Battle Cannon, letting the sound serve as a warning to the infantry scouts that the diversion team had found enemies in the city and to be careful.

The giants’ armor was no match for the weapons of a Crusader Class Mecha, and when combined with the fire from the light Mecha, every one of the attackers was down in seconds.

[That was suspiciously easy.] Juan, one of the light mecha pilots muttered over the team channel.

[Too easy. Hold your positions and circle Stalwart.] Max ordered seconds before dozens more infantry charged out of underground tunnels and ruined buildings.

The scouts behind them charged as well, realizing that the Ambush was going to have to proceed without the trap since this stubborn Crusader wasn’t going to even attempt to retreat.

When the sudden roar of sustained Mecha fire sounded through the city, the infantry teams began to increase their pace. It would increase their own chances of being detected and killed, but Stalwart couldn’t hold out forever against an enemy that was making them work that hard from the beginning.

In the ambush, things were not going as well as planned for the Narsians. First, the Crusader had an energy shield that they hadn’t seen before and it was making a mockery of their snipers, then there was this advanced pattern of Corvette Class Mecha that deflected even the most solid of hits with its curved shape, but the worst had to be the shotguns.

Over and over Stalwart’s twin Plasma Shotguns sent out clusters of unstable Plasma, burning holes through armor and crippling Narsian targets. The Heavy Mecha wasn’t even trying to kill them, he was firing everywhere with those Pulse Lasers of his, and crippling the back lines with the shotguns, so they could barely defend themselves when the Light Mecha pushed back.

Despite only losing a dozen or so troops, over seventy fighters had been removed from the battle. They had gravely misjudged the capabilities of this Mecha, assuming it to be geared for fighting other Mecha, the way almost all of its compatriots were. Instead, they had pulled the short straw and gotten what was possibly the only anti-infantry Mecha in the entire sector.

[Stalwart, target sighted and pinged with the laser sight. Scout teams are retreating. Vincente reported, out of breath from the final run-in to locate the target and escape the wrath of the guards.

The mobile suits weren’t heavily armed, but they could fight off a few patrol members if they needed. It was just that there were way more than a few in that former park along with the orbital defense weapons.

So, he ran, and his men ran with him like the devil himself was chasing them.

[Viable route to the target found. Sending in the main force.] The unit commander back at the camp reported when Vincente’s locator came through.

That was Max’s signal to retreat since their part of the job was done, so he slowly started backing Stalwart down the road, with the Corvettes still circled around him. The Crusader walked in a stumbling circle, which let it target both the front and back groups with its Plasma Shotguns as well as the Pulse Lasers, pushing them back and letting the Corvettes clear a path so they could keep moving.

It was a slow procession, and the damages were starting to add up. Stalwart’s shield was flickering in and out of existence every few seconds as he sustained constant fire, and the status indicators for all of the Corvettes had moved from warning yellow to severely damaged red, with a few showing disabled arms or torso joints.

They were all still moving though, and the Radar showed that the main force was almost on top of them.

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.” Max laughed over the intercom, sending a furious barrage of fire into the giants between them and the main force, which was closing at a full run and nearly had a clear line of sight to begin firing.

The giants were in a full-on rage now, realizing that the Scout unit they had ambushed was bait, drawing them out for the main force to finish, not an exploration team checking the status of the city.

There were too many incoming Mecha for them to handle with their current numbers, so the Narsian attack squad broke off, disappearing into the buildings and the ruins of the subway system before the main force could arrive.

[They will have all headed back to the defense lines around the weapons. Be ready for a fight to the finish, they won’t give up that weapon easily.] Max welcomed the Colonel that was leading the main force in.

[Good job, Stalwart. We couldn’t have asked for a better scout team. Retreat and repair, the techs are waiting for you.] The Colonel replied, leading his men past, shooting sporadic bursts into the city when they thought their sensors detected anything suspicious.

[Watch for Nerve Gas. We took an alternate route out of the city and found lingering fumes. Someone used it here in the city. There are also heavy civilian casualties in this area, both in the streets and inside buildings, which indicates the usage was Narsian.] Ari reported as her team reached the edge of the city.

The spot where she left the city was most likely the last stand of the civilians, and the Narsians simply did whatever was convenient to wipe them out as fast as possible to secure the area.

There was nothing to be done about it now though, except to inflict retribution upon the Narsians, so Ari led her unit back to the camp and began writing her report. This was her least favorite part of her job as an officer, the same as Max. Writing mission reports not only made you remember the parts that went horribly wrong, but it also was dull and boring, and there was a very high chance that nobody would ever read them. They just had to be logged into the system for the algorithm to check for inconsistencies so that you could move on to the next mission.

It was like a special form of torture designed especially for them.

The sight that greeted Ari when she got back wasn’t a relaxed and waiting camp though, it was a thousand mecha pilots and infantrymen gathered around a slow-moving procession of Mecha coming back.

That was Max’s unit, and looking at it, Ari was shocked that they were all still moving at all. Even with the Landers on site to get everyone into a repair bay in a reasonable timeframe, it would not be quick or easy to get all those Corvettes back up to maximum capacity. In fact, Ari wasn’t even sure if the other Landers had the templates to make spare parts for the weapons that they were using since they weren’t a standard pattern and had been customized by Major Nico before the mission began.

They should still have some spares though, so Ari sent a squad to go search the boats for spare Corvette Class weapons. Armor plates could be made in minutes and installed in under an hour, but more intricate things like hydraulics and electronics, as well as the advanced systems in the energy weapons, took a lot longer to fix. Something about this place put her on edge, and Ari was convinced that having the Corvettes down for even an hour longer than necessary was a recipe for disaster.

Max was feeling the same way, but for the moment he was writing it off as the fact that so much of the camp’s main force had entered the city without doing a proper sweep. Sure, they had a clear path to the target, but they had no idea what else was waiting for them inside the city limits, and it left the camp in a tight spot if that wasn’t the only force in the area.