All of the Mercenary forces were in position now, and the infantry was waiting for the orbital scans intended to detect subterranean caverns were finished before they began their assault.
The scan wouldn't tell them which areas were dangerous, but even having a general idea of where to look would save them a considerable amount of time and effort tomorrow.
The data they had already gathered told them that the Klem force was limited, so they would not face a full incursion that went underground, only the portion that escaped from the Mercenary force.
With that in mind, their gear was optimized to fight smaller enemies instead of loading the infantry with large amounts of anti-armour, which was necessary to deal with the Shredders.
[Attention, all forces. The assault in the tunnel system begins in 30 minutes.]
With the announcement from Central Command, everyone sprung into action. The movement would attract the Klem, so the surface would see a rush of the ravenous creatures until the light mecha dispersed and spread the vibrations through the whole region.
The infantry walking shouldn't draw much attention, but thousands of Line Mecha in one spot were hard to miss. Once they were dispersed and moving through the tunnels, they would be harder to distinguish from Klem activity.
As predicted, an impressive host of Warriors charged up through the tunnels to meet the Mecha the moment that they began to mobilize.
The first wave met the Fusion Flamers that the X109 units had pointed in the tunnel mouths, and the disgusting smell of roast Klem filled the air. The Crusader Class X104 Pilots took advantage of the scent, using tarps as fans to blow it through the tunnels, much to the foot soldiers' dismay.
But that brought thousands more Klem to the surface, all through the mountains, which was exactly what they wanted.
The more bugs they killed up here, the fewer men they would lose below.
It took over an hour for the surface to be declared clear, thanks to the constant stream of new arrivals, and the test Regiment began to question how many Klem had made it through the breach in their lines.
Initial reports said it shouldn't be this many, but the Klem hatched reinforcements at an astounding rate.
[The surface is clear, moving downward.]
The light mecha moved out first to clear the main tunnels so the infantry could move unimpeded.
The Mecha were faster, so the infantry left right behind them, on a complex deployment, to search all the small side tunnels that the orbital scans had detected.
On the surface, there was nothing left to do but wait.
The front hatch on the Comor Pattern Corvettes swung downward, creating a ramp for the pilot when the suit was crouched, but it could also be dropped halfway, and that's what the Pilots did now, standing their Mecha in a circle and sitting on the hatch to play cards.
In an emergency, they could jump back into their seats and be active in under ten seconds, but until then, they could relax.
The second shift of Line Mecha stared at them in envy, cramped in their tiny cockpits, while the Terminus Trading Company laughed and joked around.
But with a Super Heavy Mecha at every position, they had a good reason for their confidence.
[Line Mecha report that the Klem are scattering east, headed back for the foothills. Possible Behemoth sighting.] General Tennant reported to the line of mecha defending the base camps.
That, too, was expected. If they could get to the open grassland again, the Klem would have enough food to repopulate faster than the Mecha could destroy them.
[We are on it. Care to make a small wager on whether they will make it into flamer range?] Nico responded, looking to the lower bunk where Max was sleeping.
So far, he had been awake for all the major artillery Bombardments; she hadn't gotten the chance to play with the Thunder Guns as much as she wanted.
[One case of Carib Rum says you can't stop them from reaching flame range.] General Ming answered for the command group.
Carib Rum was a slightly sweet black Rum popular with Soldiers and Mercenaries all over the quadrant. The planet that made it was an open port, a neutral nation that bordered Kepler, Cygnus and two other small countries.
[You hear that, boys? Free Rum. As soon as you see them, give them hell.] Nico laughed, and all the X137 Pilots moved into attack position, stabilizing their mecha for maximum rate of fire.
The Klem group was slightly over two hundred kilometres from the defensive line when they breached a cliff face and reached the open air.
Hundreds of Shredders and thousands of warriors surrounded a pair of Behemoths with six legs and elongated, barrel-shaped bodies.
Nico recognized these from the training data; they could fire a caustic poison hundreds of meters, melting through flesh and armour equally. The goo that was left was easily processed into nutrition to hatch new Klem.
Once the group was too far from the hole in the wall to escape, every Cannon on the eight X137 units barked at once. To the Klem's great misfortune, they had left the mountains at the top of a Ridgeline in clear sight of the distant mecha as they raced down the hill toward the abundance of food in the form of a coniferous forest.
The Klem didn't miss the incoming balls of energy and stopped, seeing that most had been fired on a trajectory that was expecting them to keep moving.
That was exactly what the artillery wanted, stationary targets. Over the next ten seconds, as the Klem panicked, over a hundred shells rained down on them, the large explosions annihilating the warriors and crippling the Shredders that accompanied the Behemoths.
"So they are Mass Drivers and not cartridge projectiles. That range is impressive." General Ming laughed, watching the Mercenaries put his payment for their services to exemplary work.
"I hope you have a case of Rum on hand because I think they've got this one handled." General Tennant pointed out, watching the video feed of sixteen Ion Bombard Arrays furiously hurling rounds at the Behemoths who were doing their best to employ an evasive running pattern.
They were too heavily Armored to truly fear the Artillery, but the Ion weapons punched holes in their chitin every time they landed a solid hit.
The Klem never even made it into a range of the Crusaders before being blasted into oblivion, and General Ming smiled.
"A small price to pay for such an impressive show."
