The Fusion Flamers light up a half dozen corpses and acrid black smoke fills the air, followed by enraged shrieking from the Klem lines.
They might not understand Mecha technology, but the smell of their own kind burning is unmistakable, and the entire Klem force begins to charge toward these offensive invaders.
Once they cross the six hundred meter mark the artillery Bombardment begins, blasting the thick brown chitin apart and adding a new layer of texture to the field of smoldering craters. This time the target doesn't change, as more and more Klem continue to charge into the target area, desperate to avenge the insult to their might.
[By the Emperor, someone should warn people about those Disruptors. That is absolutely disgusting.] Major Pippin complained when the fastest of the Klem warriors reached the five hundred meter line and the radiation weapons boiled their insides, causing them to explode.
The Ion Destroyers blow holes in them, but nothing like the violent explosion that the Disruptor causes.
When they reached the four hundred meter mark it became obvious that even with this level of firepower, they weren't going to manage to eliminate all the Klem before they reached the walls. At least not when the Klem had corpses to shelter behind as they advanced, using the bodies of the fallen to keep themselves alive even a few meters further.
Using this strategy to push the dead in front of them was causing the corpses to pile up, giving shelter to the advancing tide from the direct fire Ion shots.
[Reduce Bombardment distance. Three Hundred fifty meters and roll outward to the five hundred meter mark. Clear those corpse walls.] Max instructed, sending updated firing solutions to his Mecha, targeting the spots where the piles were highest.
"Nico, send up the drones. I'm having trouble targeting beyond the interference." Max called over, and Nico's face went blank for a second before the sensor feeds off a pair of drones was added to the available sensor data.
[Appreciate the data, Pilot. It's getting hard to tell what is alive and what is dead.] Ivanov thanked her, not knowing who was operating the sensor drones.
[Shredder Class Klem detected.] Nico announced, having spotted the ten-meter-tall multi-limbed creatures joining back lines of the tide.
These were a different type of threat than the warriors. These Horrors could fire a barrage of spikes into their enemies, piercing steel and poisoning organic targets.
In close, their serrated claws were simply terrifying, and a single one was known to tear through an entire squad of Line Mecha with little difficulty.
[Keep up the clearing barrage, I will get to them in a moment.] Max decided, seeing that the firing lines were almost clear again.
"What's the status of the perimeter forces' advance? They can't be driving the Klem to us already, can they?" Max asked Nico, who could monitor all the radio chatter at once using her Innate Talent.
"No, the Klem charged them just after we attacked. They are stalled near their base camps and still seeing new arrivals. These are all from the interior." Nico clarified.
That was both good and bad news. It meant less resistance when the others began advancing, but it also meant that they wouldn't be seeing any relief in the near future.
The spikes that the larger Klem were firing like artillery, arcing them up through the sky, began to rain down on the defense just as Max finished clearing the last piles on his targeting list.
The barriers of mecha shields began to flash as the projectiles were deflected, leaving the First Battalion mostly unscathed once the scattered barrage of organic spikes ended.
The off-duty Corvette Class Pilots, whose cockpits weren't large enough to comfortably sleep in, had been sleeping in the Landers instead, but they definitely weren't sleeping now, with the spikes sounding like a hail storm inside the armored shell of the box-shaped spacecraft.
Many of them moved back to their Mecha, preferring the safety of their cockpit until the attack was over, while others began making their way to where the logistics crew had hot food ready.
The logistics crews were also getting ready to send people outside the moment the Shredders were dead. The Super Heavy Mecha would be running low on rounds for the mass drivers after an hour of sustained Bombardment and they were already halfway there. They weren't willing to risk running out in the middle of an assault wave and having to go out in even worse conditions to reload their primary defenders.
The data that was being relayed back to the ship was encouraging to the researchers though. Only a few damaged units after a volley of spikes, which would have caused heavy losses among the last generation force, and the cooling systems that they built into the Mass Drivers were functioning exactly as intended, allowing each Mecha to take the place of dozens of infantry crewed artillery pieces.
The sensors in the pilot suits had picked up some anomalies though. The air pressure changes from the ninety beat per minute artillery firing rate shaking the Mecha was causing the Pilots' heart rates to synchronize with the Mass Drivers. It wasn't a health issue at this time, but if the firing rate increased it might be.
[Send a supply pod to First Battalion. Four Standard Shipments of Mass Driver munitions and ten gun drones.] General Yaakov ordered, seeing the tremendous expenditure that was needed to sustain the furious defense of the First Battalion's position.
They had raw materials for the Materials Printers, but those were best used for repairs, and their supplies of extra munitions would be hard-pressed to last a whole day without creating more if this drop wasn't sent.
[Pod incoming. Mass Driver munitions mostly.] Nico reported when they got the data, and Major Petrova laughed over the intercom.
[That's got to be a new record. Additional munitions two hours into the first day of the first offensive push.]
[At least for a mission where the initial supply allocation was correct, I've seen some pretty messed up drops. Who knew that we would be firing artillery continually for hours at a time?] Pippin agreed.
Max noticed as he fired that the process was getting easier and easier. Not just because he was getting used to the Mecha, but his mental processing speed seemed to be improving.
The Klem Shredders quickly fell to the Ion Bombard Arrays of the four X137 Super Heavy Mecha and three minutes later the flames of an incoming supply pod lit up the sky above the First Battalion.
It was right on course to hand in the center of the base, and not a minute too early. Nico's drones had detected more large heat signatures, and the logistics staff had just moved out with their munitions buggies to reload the four X137 units which were all too busy to come to them.
The push began to falter, and the Klem retreated to a distance of ten kilometers but remained in formation for another attack.
[Let them wait. Cycle out the duty shifts, get everyone fed and ready for the next round.] Max ordered, then slumped in his seat, sore and tired from the strain of rapid targeting.
The standard Bombardment pattern could be done with a macro, but picking off specific targets was much more physically demanding.
His mind momentarily went blank and he just stared at the bowl of stew Nico handed him, brought over by the logistics crew when they arrived to reload the Mass Drivers.
"Eat up while it's hot." She said softly, pulling him from his reverie just as a System Announcement appeared in his vision.
[Perception] has advanced to Rank 2
