defenders together. Both sides had been so wore down that the
number of troops on the planet was a small fraction of what it had been in the
beginning, and a windfall of new reinforcements from either side would easily
tip the scales.
The Skarrons hadn’t gotten a large one, but it was
enough that they thought they now had the advantage, and it was all rooted in
the Type-1 walker they’d received and was now covering for the rest of the 26
walkers and infantry in the attack column moving across the rocky terrain
towards one of three remaining Dvapp cities. The rest were either evacuated or
destroyed, with the planet essentially having been turned into a debris field
with more dead than you could count, especially with the Dvapp corpses melting
away and not sticking around long enough to be noted.
Most of Star Force’s losses had been in the way of
machinery rather than troops, with them having more people available than mechs
and fighters, but they’d still lost a lot, and without those valuable machines
the excess personnel wasn’t much of a help, especially when they didn’t have
enough places on planet to house them. Most of his dispossessed troops were now
back up onboard the jumpships, including those commandos and Knights who he
didn’t have replacement armor for. He wasn’t sending them into combat without
it, so he’d had to evacuate them.
That left a small core of Star Force troops to head
off the Skarrons while the Dvapp tried to rouse what limited resistance they
could. Nearly all of their combat troops had been killed, with only militia
remaining. For some reason the Skarrons were targeting the Dvapp harder than
others, not just in the number of systems under assault but in killing all those
they came across. They’d actively pushed the residential areas rather than
gunning for the Star Force troops, atypical of their normal methodology which
had them going at the strongest enemies and most highly valued targets straight
off.
But that didn’t matter now. This last assault was
going to make or break the invasion of this world, and if Star Force couldn’t
turn it back the Skarrons were going to run the table and eliminate the
remaining settlements, and there was going to be nothing he could do about it
short of bringing down his limited warships for fire support…and that was
practically suicide with the Type-1 in place, not to mention the other walkers
with their anti-air capabilities.
If he’d had more drones he could have taken it out
regardless, but he couldn’t waste what he had and still hold onto orbit. There
were Skarron ships up there, and if he weakened his fleet enough they’d pounce,
but for the moment Star Force and the Dvapp were the stronger and keeping the
enemy back from low orbit, aside from the occasional resupply run that they
pretty much had a 50/50 chance of intercepting. Paul just wished they’d gotten
the transport bringing in the Type-1, for that beast of a machine alone was
going to decimate what mechs he had left.
In this late game scenario it looked like the limited
reinforcements were going to win the Skarrons the planet and that no matter how
much Paul tweaked their defenses it just wasn’t going to be enough. He was
going to have to bring the warships down and try to take out the Type-1, but
then there would be nothing preventing the Skarrons from bringing their own
ships down into the atmosphere after they finished off his fleet in orbit and
pounding the crap out of his surviving ground troops.
Either way the Skarrons had already won, or so his
Dvapp colleagues had pointed out, wanting to start evacuating the few people
they could in the hours they had before the Skarron assault column got to them.
Paul wasn’t going for that and had his mechs and handful of fighters standing
behind in ambush positions within the varied terrain, given they were able to
move around much easier with jump jets than the Skarrons could walking overland
on their spindly legs.
They
number of troops on the planet was a small fraction of what it had been in the
beginning, and a windfall of new reinforcements from either side would easily
tip the scales.
The Skarrons hadn’t gotten a large one, but it was
enough that they thought they now had the advantage, and it was all rooted in
the Type-1 walker they’d received and was now covering for the rest of the 26
walkers and infantry in the attack column moving across the rocky terrain
towards one of three remaining Dvapp cities. The rest were either evacuated or
destroyed, with the planet essentially having been turned into a debris field
with more dead than you could count, especially with the Dvapp corpses melting
away and not sticking around long enough to be noted.
Most of Star Force’s losses had been in the way of
machinery rather than troops, with them having more people available than mechs
and fighters, but they’d still lost a lot, and without those valuable machines
the excess personnel wasn’t much of a help, especially when they didn’t have
enough places on planet to house them. Most of his dispossessed troops were now
back up onboard the jumpships, including those commandos and Knights who he
didn’t have replacement armor for. He wasn’t sending them into combat without
it, so he’d had to evacuate them.
That left a small core of Star Force troops to head
off the Skarrons while the Dvapp tried to rouse what limited resistance they
could. Nearly all of their combat troops had been killed, with only militia
remaining. For some reason the Skarrons were targeting the Dvapp harder than
others, not just in the number of systems under assault but in killing all those
they came across. They’d actively pushed the residential areas rather than
gunning for the Star Force troops, atypical of their normal methodology which
had them going at the strongest enemies and most highly valued targets straight
off.
But that didn’t matter now. This last assault was
going to make or break the invasion of this world, and if Star Force couldn’t
turn it back the Skarrons were going to run the table and eliminate the
remaining settlements, and there was going to be nothing he could do about it
short of bringing down his limited warships for fire support…and that was
practically suicide with the Type-1 in place, not to mention the other walkers
with their anti-air capabilities.
If he’d had more drones he could have taken it out
regardless, but he couldn’t waste what he had and still hold onto orbit. There
were Skarron ships up there, and if he weakened his fleet enough they’d pounce,
but for the moment Star Force and the Dvapp were the stronger and keeping the
enemy back from low orbit, aside from the occasional resupply run that they
pretty much had a 50/50 chance of intercepting. Paul just wished they’d gotten
the transport bringing in the Type-1, for that beast of a machine alone was
going to decimate what mechs he had left.
In this late game scenario it looked like the limited
reinforcements were going to win the Skarrons the planet and that no matter how
much Paul tweaked their defenses it just wasn’t going to be enough. He was
going to have to bring the warships down and try to take out the Type-1, but
then there would be nothing preventing the Skarrons from bringing their own
ships down into the atmosphere after they finished off his fleet in orbit and
pounding the crap out of his surviving ground troops.
Either way the Skarrons had already won, or so his
Dvapp colleagues had pointed out, wanting to start evacuating the few people
they could in the hours they had before the Skarron assault column got to them.
Paul wasn’t going for that and had his mechs and handful of fighters standing
behind in ambush positions within the varied terrain, given they were able to
move around much easier with jump jets than the Skarrons could walking overland
on their spindly legs.
They
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