After days of continuous rain, nothing in the village was particularly dry. In fact, the only two that weren't soaked through and wishing for clothes that weren't damp at best were Max and Nico, who were living in their mecha.
Out of kindness to the troops, they had opted to eat rations instead of making someone trudge through mud and waters that were knee deep in places, even though their position was elevated enough to be above the water line.
At first light today another two units of Loyalist Crusaders had moved forward, and the sector to the south was now deemed mostly secured. The first of the retreating units were scheduled to reach them in under an hour, but a very ominous black cloud is on the horizon.
The satellite details still say that the rain should end as it appears though, which makes no sense to Max.
[Stalwart this is Shining Darkness. Is the bridge intact?] General Tennant asks as his mecha comes in to sight through the trees in the distance to the north.
[The bridge is holding strong. Welcome back.] Max answers, putting away the trash from his lunch.
Other than the Phalanx Class Mecha, which had only superficial damage from the battle and explosion of the Cygnus ship, this convoy looks even worse than the rebel group they eliminated the other day.
They are not arriving alone though, five whole wings of Reaver Class Cygnus mecha have come in to sight behind them just before they reach the bridge.
[Shining Darkness, who do you have that can fight?] Max asks, expecting the worst.
[Just myself. All Crusaders get across the bridge and proceed to destination at maximum traveling speed.] General Tennant replies.
That is exactly what Max was worried about.
Even worse, as they approach, Max can see that the mecha are not alone. Over a hundred gun boats are with them, racing ahead so that their shorter range weapons are able to target the wounded convoy at the same time as the heavy mecha.
[All units to the Trenches and bunkers. Incoming Cygnus attack.] Max calls and the village bursts in to action.
The Anti Aircraft vehicles are moved so they can target the boats, bunkers and ruined buildings fill with soldiers and all three wings of light mecha come online.
The Reavera are wasting no time closing the distance, since the Shining Darkness is a point defense mecha and has a mighty Ion Bombard Array on one arm.
[Stalwart, you have lead.] The general instructs, sinking his anchors in to the muddy ground to steady himself for the battle.
[Engagement range is 250 meters. Full barrage the moment anything crosses the line.] Max directs the unit, turning in his hole to get a clear shot at the leading Cygnus Heavy Mecha.
Shining Darkness also waits to fire, and it has emboldened the enemy, who believe the Phalanx Class unit's main gun has gone offline due to damage.
Once the boats cross the declared engagement point, Max unleashes all fifty of his anti infantry rockets at once. The shoulder Cannons on Shining Darkness unleash deadly anti armor shells in to the nearest Reaver, stopping it in its tracks, and the Ion Bombard Array hurls energy charges strong enough to burn holes through heavy mecha in a single shot. At such a close range, there is no hope of avoiding destruction.
The anti aircraft vehicles and the quad guns on Tarith's Rage are making short work of the boats that survived the missile barrage, but their early advantage of facing an enemy that didn't know this point was well defended won't just long.
The enemy has recovered from the shock and is battering the defenses with a storm of incoming fire. Infantry teams are vaporized by Cygnus Plasma shotguns mounted on the Reavers, makeshift bunkers are turned to scrap and even the Line Mecha hidden in the trenches aren't all spared, with massed fire blowing the ground away as nearly fifty enraged heavy mecha return fire.
The Mecha don't seem to have noticed that Stalwart is a Mecha and not a bunker, instead focusing their fire on Tarith's Rage and Shining Darkness. Nico's handheld shield is battered and warped, with multiple holes in it and her armored carapace is smoking from a rocket impact. Still, the rate of fire from the Ion Destroyer doesn't slow, shaking Reaver Class opponents with every hit.
A massive volley of Rockets heads that way and Max winces in dreadful anticipation. But the Tarith's Rage leaps hard left out of its Bunker, throwing the shield to detonate the incoming fire. Now firing on the run, Tarith's Rage has taken everyone's attention, giving the defenses a short break to reload and shift from damaged positions.
Shining Darkness is unloading rounds into the enemy as fast as it can, living up to the Kepler propaganda that says it is worth a hundred enemy Mecha on its own.
The shoulder Cannons seem to be out of ammunition now, and none of the smaller secondary weapons are working, but the Ion Bombard alone might be enough to deal with the enemy if they can be prevented from getting in to close combat.
Only 14 of the 50 Cygnus Heavy Mecha are still firing, and every gun boat has been sunk, leaving thousands of bodies floating away in the fast moving current. Their transports were destroyed before many of them could even fire back, their munitions storage burning bright under the water.
Nico has taken up a kneeling position behind the ruins of an office building, providing cover fire while Max and most of the Light Mecha finish reloading. Warnings blink all over her display and the mecha won't walk properly due to a hit to the hip joint, but the gun still works just right.
Her grandstanding has done its job though, big guns come to life all over the trenches and ruins again, laying in to the remaining Cygnus forces.
A round from Max's Battle Cannon causes the reactor on one of the downed Cygnus Mecha to go critical, taking two others out with it while Max trashes another with sustained fire of the Pulse Lasers. The last Reaver drops to Ion fire from the light mecha in the trenches and the battle ends in as brutal and sudden of a manner as it started.
"Casualty count and reload weapons." Max calls over the speaker and radio, not knowing who can hear which at this point, given battle damage. Stalwart does pretty good condition, he took a few glancing boots from the Cygnus Plasma shotguns, but for the most part he wasn't the priority today.
Nico limps the Tarith's Rage over to where she was originally stationed and looks down at the ruins of her favorite shield and her carapace mounted anti aircraft battery. Max hopes at least two of the similarly equipped vehicles survived, or the next bomber flight could be a bad time for them.
"Charlie Company reports 82 dead or injured including the First Lieutenant."
"Bravo Company reports 43 dead or injured." Captain Catan reports.
"Line squad 1 lost 4." Lieutenant Becki reports
"Second squad lost leader plus 1"
"Third squad, 2 remain."
In all, nearly half their light mecha are lost, Tarith's Rage is damaged, their anti air capability is crippled and the infantry took heavy losses, all in a battle that only lasted a few minutes.
