While the rest of the evening passed without another mecha attack, they did occasionally hear vehicles in the distance headed towards the front lines. Max reported all movement they detected to command, but for the most part the night was eerily calm.
Around two in the morning Nico's voice broke the silence of Stalwart's radio.
[Get some sleep. I'll bet you two spicy cheese tubes we've got an attack coming before noon, so you'll need to be in peak shape. I'll keep watch for the night bombing raids.]
[You can't have my cheese. Wake me at the first sign of trouble.]
The banter made the soldiers of the Bravo Company smile. Some forms of currency were truly universal. Both pilot and infantry rations contained the highly regarded condiment.
[Low Altitude aerial attack incoming from the South. All flak guns prepare to engage] Nico called out just as the sun came up, bringing the camp to full alert.
Max briefly wonders why they didn't go for a more effective high altitude run, then he sees the flashes in the slowly brightening sky. The air battle has pushed much further forward than it was yesterday and is now almost directly overhead. If that's the case, then the Mecha battle will likely be pushed back to their location by the end of the day.
That's good news for the Battle of Belmont, but not great news for their unit, which is about to be caught between the retreating forces and the relative safety of the capital region. From what Max can tell, no unit that dropped near the capital managed to hold their position, so the area is still fully controlled by the Rebels.
There are so many communications that it is almost impossible to keep track of the battle as the advancing forces come into short range radio distance.
[Closest Signals are the force approaching from the North. It sounds like they are pushing the enemy into us.] Nico informs Max on the command channel.
[All units prepare for incoming from the North. Call the grids when they get in range. We want to stall them until the Kepler advance catches up.]
Max does this best to restrict Battle Cannon usage for the time being, starting the defense with guided anti armor rockets from his pod. He's only got twenty five, with no extras available, so he fires them individually at the group of incoming Crusaders.
The damage they usually do against a heavy mecha is minimal, but if one finds a munitions storage cartridge or a vulnerable joint it can be enough to effectively cripple even the mighty Crusaders.
As more and more contacts are called, Max realizes that this is not going to be viable, the force is too large for him to delay with indirect fire from the relative safety of their entrenched location.
[Tarith, move forward. Stop those mecha from making it to the city for a long as you can.]
[Affirmative. Moving out.] Nico replied before climbing out of her hole and stalking through the city in a crouch that puts her heaviest top armor forward, but would leave the pilot hanging in their harness facing the ground.
It's not slowing Tarith's Rage, though she does move her sword to a mount on the side of her Mecha and stop to pick up the battle shield she was supposed to use for the landing before deciding the door was a better tool.
By the time Tarith's Rage makes the edge of the city there are ten Crusaders within 500 meters of the first buildings.
[Enemy Mecha will be stopped in E6 though E8. Charging in 5 seconds, fire for effect.] Nico calls and Max wonders what she's planning to do to stop the Crusaders.
But she's right, the scouts are reporting that they are stopping, so Max drops the last of his anti armor missiles on the indicated locations and begins cycling his battle Cannon at full rate.
Seven seconds later an update call comes from the scouts. [Friendly Mecha in E6. Adjust fire.]
Max ignores the firing solutions in E6 that his System is providing and continues to fire ten more rounds until the cease fire call comes.
Nico's voice crackles over the radio, heavily distorted, possibly by damage. [42nd Armored, this is Tarith's Rage. Area is under friendly control. Follow Main road to the secured position.]
[Copy that Tarith's Rage. Majestic plus six incoming with two more wings to follow. Is your lander repair bay still active?]
[Affirmative. Bring these fallen mecha for materials, we didn't drop with any.]
All eight Mecha enter the city pulling a disabled Crusader, and the men of Bravo Company pull the emergency hatch releases and check the cockpits for survivors. Infantry gets a reward for capturing living enemy officers, payable on retirement or as a death benefit, so Max doesn't begrudge them any survivors they might find.
The scouts have already informed the next incoming Mecha wings to bring any Crusader chassis they can find to resupply from, and Majestic is organizing his accompanying light mecha units by damage.
That's when Max finally notices Tarith's Rage, standing near the back of the line, a bit scorched and pitted, but mostly functional. Nico has hung her battle shield from the hooks mounted on her carapace armor, obscuring the entire front of her Mecha.
Ii is a very effective method of protecting yourself from frontal assault, but Max wonders how she can see anything. The shield is mangled, but it's still blocking almost all of her sensors.
It doesn't take long for the second and third wings of mecha to arrive and begin to fortify the location. They were sent ahead of the main advance to assist and help prepare this spot to become a forward repair and rearming post. It looks line they'll be using mostly ammunition pilfered from the enemy today, but with a little luck they might get a supply run tonight.
The air battle high above them is steadily getting even more intense though. The battles have moved from sporadic to constant, and by mid afternoon the sounds of Big Guns in the distance can be heard, as the advancing Kepler Heavy Mecha are pushing the Rebels back.
[Majestic, Vidalia, this is Command. Move East towards the front, eliminating all resistance. That road needs to be cleared for a forward command asset to move in.]
