The infantry was still scrambling to return to safety and the light mecha of the reinforcements were still powering up when the first shells landed near the mine entrance. Only a few at first, but there were more and more with every passing second.
From the radar scans, it appeared that the entire front line of the Narsian assault had stopped in their tracks and set up artillery emplacements. It was an excellent strategy, but the Kepler Heavy Mecha had sophisticated enough targeting systems to roughly estimate where the shells were coming from.
Not every mech could fire back, but those with missile pods or Battle Cannons soon began to return fire with a vengeance. The sound of explosions, both incoming and outgoing would have been deafening if not for the protection of the mecha, and the light mecha immediately bemoaned the lack of tactical shields. Many of the Crusader Class Mecha had them, and they chose to stand shoulder to shoulder with another mecha, using the shield to cover the main hull of both mecha from incoming artillery.
Max was under the protection of a Mecha Called Sturm's Fate at the moment, with both mecha firing Battle Cannons at the Narsian emplacements.
It didn't take long for the artillery barrage to die down though, as the second line of heavy infantry was about to reach the forward lines of Heavy Mecha that Max had reinforced. The sound of energy weapons crackling joined the sound of fading artillery, and then the high-pitched buzzing of Gatling Cannons set a distorted rhythm to the day's destructive melody.
[How are you enjoying the first real taste of war, ladies and gentlemen?] Max asked on the Unit's secure channel, as the first wave of attackers was repelled and the front lines finally got a moment to breathe and regroup.
[It sounds like Captain Vincente trying to beatbox.] One of the Corvette Class pilots joked, making the others chuckle in their cockpits.
[Hey, my sense of rhythm isn't that bad.] The Captain in question countered, but even he didn't sound too sure of his assessment. The man was never cut out for a life of music. Even his speech patterns were disjointed and unevenly flowing.
[Alpha Squad, move to 195 degrees and reinforce the unit at that position. The radar shows heavy incoming.] Max directed Ari's squad, who immediately began shifting positions, along with Nico, who was currently attached to them.
Max sent Battle Cannon shells towards approaching targets until his feeder ran dry, and then signaled his wingman that he was breaking off to reload.
Their lander still had a fair bit of extra ammunition, as well as a loading and repair rack, so the other units had brought some extra munitions forward to build the stockpile at the base. Most of the landers were within their encirclement, but the ones that weren't had been picked dry and sealed shut so that the enemy couldn't easily use them against the Kepler forces.
With trained staff on the loader, the process only took Max a few minutes and he was almost ready to head back out when a Narsian portal opened right outside the mine entrance.
That was the worst possible luck that the invaders could have had. Their second wave could only come through a few at a time, and the troops on the other end had no way to contact the ones on this side of the portal before they arrived. They were traveling blind and had walked into a brutal crossfire.
Max's mind went into overdrive as the mecha fire started, eliminating the Narsians before they could get a signal off. The Special Tactics Unit was granted a number of esoteric weapons for their job, along with the unusual patterns of mecha, and among the toys was a fusion bomb, intended for destroying fortified underground bases. Detonated above ground, it would destroy everything within dozens of kilometers.
The portal goes both ways while it is open, but it will only be open for an hour at the most. If Max sends a bomb through to the other side, he could well destroy the enemy facility that they are departing from. There is no way to tell what the layout is, or even what planet they are coming from, but one thing that Max knows for sure is that they will have eliminated everyone not of their species before they built the portal facilities and left to spread their territory.
It might only be a few thousand soldiers destined for this world near the entrance, but the facility itself is a valuable target, and the radiation from the bomb will kill crops well beyond the range of destruction. That's why the Kepler Handbook doesn't approve it for above-ground use on civilized planets.
[Open Crate 16a5 and load the contents as the next shell in my Battle Cannon] Max directs, sending the staff running to comply.
They manually load the shell and signal that Max is good to go. They were just in time too, the Narsians seem to have gotten a signal off, or they didn't and the command squad was expecting one because the portal was beginning to close already.
Max doesn't wait and fires the shell through to the other side as soon as he can see the open side of the portal.
[Everyone get clear of the portal] He calls, unsure how much if any blowback they will be receiving on this side from the bomb.
The portal is almost closed when the shell detonates, sending a concentrated lance of searing hot light across the camp and into the hillside, where it blasts free a chunk of stone the size of a lander.
"We can call that a victory for our side," Max announces over the intercom, and the Kepler Mecha send up a cheer, celebrating the end of the nearest source of Narsian reinforcements.
Though, the fact that they sent them at all is disturbing. They must have put a very high value on this planet to send more than one wave of attackers towards it. Normally what arrived on the first day would be the end of them, and enough to take the planet, according to their own Estimates.
They were often wrong because they had no way to account for nearby space vessels full of troops, but they were also often right, and many worlds fell to their might.
The attacking Narsian forces didn't seem to know that their portal had been breached, and they were charging in full force, ignoring the heavy shelling that they were receiving, intent on reaching line of sight of the Kepler Mecha, where they could begin doing real damage.
One after another, the Battle Cannon equipped mecha returned to the lander to reload, and Light Mecha returned to base to pick up additional munitions for their units. This was the greatest advantage of being near a staging location, they could go all out on the artillery fire and get case after case of shells to keep the enemy at bay.
Any battle where the enemy can't fight back is a good one in the minds of the Mecha Pilots.
[Close Contact] Nico informed the defense forces over the group channel, pinging the location on their radar screens.
That served both to let the others know that there was a chance of infiltrators and that they shouldn't indiscriminately shell the enemy, since they were now too close to the Mecha.
The sonic boom of the Rail Guns on Tarith's Rage was clearly audible even when fired over ten kilometers away from where Max was standing. Three times a second they went off, over and over for ten straight minutes until a tired voice came over the radio.
[The position has been secured, rotate a standby unit to my location for repair and reload purposes.] Nico called back to base and Max got right on sending a group their way.
There were three squads in that area, making 30 light mecha and 4 Crusaders and still, it clearly took them a ten-minute long intense firefight to deal with the invaders. That's a lot to ask of a projectile-based munitions supply.
Max decided that he too needed to be on the front lines for a while since most of the Mecha pilots here were still rookies, and two of his own veterans were coming off the line for a cycle, so he sent the text notification to Nico that she would be taking over dispatch duties while he filled her spot on the line.
He picked the three units from the top of the list of mecha on standby and turned stalwart to the west, moving to fill the gap in the lines before more Narsian forces arrived and took advantage of the weakened area.
He was just in time too, as over half of the mecha waiting for his arrival were out of munitions, moved to the back for their safety while Nico and the mecha of Alpha squad took point, engaging the handful of newly arrived giants in close combat to keep the line from being overrun.
[I thought you said position clear?] Max joked, blasting a pair of giants off their feet with the plasma shotguns mounted in the curved nacelles above his mecha's shoulders.
[This is as clear as it gets. But the position is secure.] Nico responded and Ari's dismay at her nonchalance was so intense that Max didn't even have to focus on her to feel her thoughts.
[Fall back, you've got two rotations of Dispatch duty. I'll be back after one, and I'll switch you out after the second.] Max instructed Nico, who gave him a sword to the chest salute as she turned to make her way back to base.
