Mira covered her nose and mouth with an air mask that was connected to the emergency air tank and to the outside, for cases such as these when the air on a planet was breathable, although it was filtered. She then closed her eyes and started issuing orders to the mech. First, her cocoon closed, and foam filled the inside, restraining her movements. It was designed to protect her from impacts and anything else that could damage her mech. Then she did a check on all her systems, and after everything came back green, she turned the mech on.
The first thing that happened was that her vision returned; fed directly into her mind, the images of the mech’s surroundings appeared. Then icons started popping up above the things in her view. She was the mech; she could see through its sensors and operate any of its weapons as if they were a part of her own body. She turned her head, and the mech’s visual sensors rotated. She looked around and saw that most of her people had gotten inside their own mechs or tanks, depending on the squad. Beyond her own platoon, the other platoons were getting ready as well.
Mira stood her mech and started walking towards the gate of the base. The 40-ton mech started walking on its two legs. The legs were set wide to provide the mech with more balance. Mira’s mech was the HAV-01 Juggernaut, the heaviest mech that the Empire produced. It could achieve speeds up to 87 km/h. It was heavily armed and armored, and its most powerful weapon was a Gauss cannon placed over its left shoulder, although when not in use it could be moved to the mech’s back.
On its chest it had six missile launch tubes, and each tube had four missiles in its magazine, for a total of 24 MAHEM MM-2 missiles. The missiles were of the same type as those used by the fleet, only smaller; they had half the explosive power and a fraction of the fuel, but then, they didn’t need to have as much fuel as the Fleet missiles when their range to the intended target was so much smaller. Attached on its right shoulder was a class 3 laser turret—in comparison, the fleet used class 5s for their ships. Its left arm had a powerful 70mm turret, and its right held a smaller-caliber rotary cannon that fired 30mm rounds.
But one of its biggest strengths was that it had the shimmering shielding technology. Inspired by the Ra’a’zani technology, it shielded the mech from energy-based weapons, and it could dissipate most explosive energy turned against it, barring a direct hit, as it wasn’t as powerful as the fields on fleet ships. It made the Juggernaut a true beast.
Mira called a battle map to the corner of her vision and saw that her platoon had followed her outside of the base. Six more mechs joined her, three LAV-01 Hawks and three LAV-02 Tigers. Then came the other three squads in her platoon with three Ravager Mk 5 artillery tanks, one from each squad, and three Fury Mk 3 light assault tanks.
Other platoons had assembled there as well. Those that were infantry were already in their TTVs (tactical transport vehicle). There were a few squads of people wearing powered armor suits who were just boarding their TTVs. She waited for everyone to send a ready signal, then turned her comms on the command channel and started giving out orders.
“Alright, all platoons move out!” she ordered, and slowly they started towards their target.
Tanks took the lead, followed by the mechs, and finally the TTVs. Collectively, they moved at the fastest pace they were able, which was the max speed of the mechs, as they were the slowest. Thankfully, the southern continent of Guxaxac was mostly rocks, and the terrain was good enough that there were no hindrances. The tanks used grav generators to hover above the ground, while the TTVs used caterpillar tracks.
Their mission was to engage and eliminate the Sowir force in their main base, and to capture it as intact as possible, as they needed information about the Sowir troop movements belowground, as well info on their other bases.
Forty-five minutes later, when they had almost reached the visual range of the area where the Sowir were, Mira started to wonder why they hadn’t yet seen any enemy presence. They’d had enough time to wake some of their soldiers at least, and there were many places where they could have attempted an ambush, although it would have done them no good; the Sowir didn’t have anything that could threaten her force, barring overwhelming numbers, which were at their underground bases. She glanced around to the many rises and rocks surrounding the downhill slope her force was on. The slope led directly to the edge of a vast canyon, and was the most direct path to the area where the Sowir base was. They hadn’t had time to send forces to the other side of the canyon to surround the base that was located on the edge and adjacent to a natural bridge across the canyon. But at least they had a good idea of the terrain, as they had detailed maps from the Guxcacul.
She turned her sights to the left to look at one of the rock formations when laser fire pierced the space between her force and the outcropping to their right. Lasers impacted the front of the formation, striking her tanks in short bursts and doing no damage to the tanks, who had their fields engaged. Immediately, the entire formation shifted; the TTVs slowed and stopped while three mechs moved back to cover them. Her mechs spread out, with two of her lighter units jumping ten meters to the cover on the left.
Mira gave the order to her people to return fire. The lead tank’s turret swiveled and targeted the outcropping; with no regard for the Sowir lasers, it fired.
The explosive shell hit the outcropping and blew it apart, debris exploding in all directions. Mira signaled two of her mechs to go and make sure that there were no enemy survivors. She doubted that there would be.
Two of her LAV-02 Tiger mechs moved quickly to the outcropping and disappeared in the dust, while the rest of her forces kept watch for the enemy. A minute later, her comm chirped.
“No survivors, CL. I count fifteen tool-soldiers with back-mounted laser turrets. No sign of Sowir,” the mech pilot reported.
“Good, get back here,” she said, and then switched to the command line. “Get back in formation and move. This was just a distraction.”
The mounted lasers were the most common weapons that the Sowir outfitted their tool-soldiers with. There was still a bit of confusion as to how exactly they controlled them remotely, but the most widely accepted theory was that it was similar to early human drones, only the Sowir used technology to gain sensory information via their tools, and then used their telepathy-boosting devices to actually give out orders. But the fact that they had sent only this small force to meet her meant that they were stalling for time.
They started moving again down the shallow slope, and soon they reached a cliff. Further away in the distance, Mira could see the beginnings of the Sowir base. It stretched along the canyon edge and outwards and was the size of a smaller city, with an area of just under one hundred square kilometers, arranged in four rings. It was surrounded by short walls, with turrets mounted on them.
Following the Force Commander’s plan, she sent out the orders for four of the tanks to set up in artillery mode while the rest of them continued towards the base. As they exited the relative cover of the cliff and its outcroppings and moved into the open, the Sowir opened fire. Defensive turrets fired energy-based weapons that did no damage to her mechs, tanks, or TTVs.
Then the artillery fire from the four tanks started raining down on the walls of the base, blowing pieces in the air. Mira ordered her force to one of the holes in the wall, while the tanks shifted their fire so as to not endanger them. Her mech was the first to enter, followed by the rest of the mechs, and then tanks. The Sowir had already placed barricades in the wide streets, and energy fire came from the tool-soldiers, but it only succeeded in revealing their positions. She targeted them with her turrets and fired.