Max didn’t have to wait long until the Narsians responded. His thermal and energy scanners showed over a thousand enemy forces heading for the park where Tarith’s Rage was standing. Sure, she took out a small patrol that was harassing a single wing of mecha, but wasn’t that response overboard?

That was when Max realized that the scouts weren’t the only ones that had made a move. The Phalanx Class Super Heavy known as Carpe Noctem had also begun to set up for an imminent attack. It had traveled while crouched, to blend in with the Crusader Class Escort, and it was at the end of the main road behind the targets that his Mecha units had been sent to destroy.

The Narsians must have noticed them, and now they were bearing down on the Mecha at a full run.

[Everyone, take cover. Let the Narsians run past you, they should be heading for the Carpe Noctem.] Max ordered, and the Crusaders started looking for a place to hide.

As hoped, they ran right past the three infiltration units, but Nico wasn’t as lucky. There weren’t enough spots for her to hide in an open field full of corpses, and the Narsians turned to overrun her first._.

But General Mons had predicted this, and he was ready. Massive energy blasts from the Ion Bombard Array on the Carpe Noctem started hitting the Narsians, killing everything within a dozen meters of the target with every shot. His other hand had been switched to a multiple target Laser Array, akin to Max’s Pulse Laser Array on steroids, but it didn’t have the range to hit the giants from outside the city. Once it got closer though, it could target a hundred moving objects per second with fairly decent accuracy.

It was a Point Defense weapon that gave the Phalanx Class units such a renowned reputation for being able to hold an entire city on their own. Light Mecha couldn’t even approach it with that Laser Array at the ready. The Narsians might do a little better, hiding in and between buildings until they got closer and launching attacks before they were detected.

But Carpe Noctem was in the open, there was no way to sneak up on it until it entered the city. Instead, they started firing all the artillery they had at the giant Mecha.

That revealed the secondary purpose of the Lasers. They could intercept artillery shells, exploding most of them in the air before they could do any damage to the Kepler forces below.

The light show was amazing. White Ion blasts, purple lasers, exploding artillery shells, and then a sea of ground-level weapons fire as the Narsians abandoned the battle with Tarith’s Rage to deal with the real threat. They had realized the moment that Carpe Noctem started defending the Mecha that it was nothing more than bait to keep them out in the open where they could be easily killed by the Ion Bombard Array.

Max was rather impressed. All of the various scout unit Commanders had sent Central Command their plans only a few hours ago, and they had predicted things well enough to bait out so many defenders and then use an unsuspecting unit to hold them in the open while they were killed.historical

[Ten-minute warning. Get ready to leave.] Max ordered, watching his timer.

The units were all reported as ready the moment that Max called it, but someone on the far side of the city jumped the gun and blew up a number of buildings prematurely. They must have come under attack and done their best to finish the mission before escaping, but that was going to cause chaos for everyone else.

[All scout units. Finish Missions in 30 seconds.] General Mons ordered over the army-wide channel, and the Special Tactics Unit scrambled to get clear of the charges that they had set.

Plans are just that, plans. Nobody really expected them to hold up once they were actually tried in combat, but they did make it pretty close. Under ten minutes deviation from the schedule.

[Targets destroyed, but we have company.] The Lieutenant in charge of the fourth infantry squad called and Max checked his scanners.

[On it.] He called, firing a half dozen Battle Cannon rounds towards the spots his Targeting Skills thought that the Narsians would be by the time the shells landed.

Explosions lit up the buildings and roads near the collapsed building and swearing filled the airwaves.

[Just keep moving. You’re not dead, and the camp can patch you up as good as new.] The Lieutenant’s voice came over the radio again, indicating that something had gone wrong. Either the unit was slower than Max predicted, or some of the Narsians made it through.

[Major Nico, you’re our lucky charm today. I’m coming to you.] Captain Catan called out.

That was way off his retreat route, but he had run into more resistance than expected, including elite heavy infantry. Those ones could take a Corvette Class Mecha in a one-on-one fight most of the time. His unit had a lot of kit, but not enough to deal with a squad of elite heavy infantry.

They had taken out a few, but now they were at a full run, heading for the park.

Tarith’s Rage was running towards them to intercept, and Max fired rounds at the rear edge of the Narsian force, slowing them down and giving the infantry a chance to escape.

[Stalwart, Units two and three are coming past you with a tail if you please.]

Max saw them running down the main road, with the Narsians in close pursuit, so he stepped out into the road and unleashed the Pulse Laser Array on them, letting the two squads escape. All over the city, similar scenes were playing out as the defenders tried to stop the Kepler forces from setting up barricades and bunkers for their advancing troops.

[All units are behind you now Stalwart.] Captain Catan called, having just assisted Tarith’s Rage in dealing with the unit that was chasing his own squad. They had been clearing a building for an infantry Company to use as a bunker, so they had the advantage of a defended position to fight from when the giants first rushed out, but still ended up on the run.

[Stalwart Special Tactics Force, back to base.] Max sighed in relief.

That went better than anticipated.