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Although the bodies burned hot and smoked heavily, they didn’t burn for long, and a half hour later, black smoke darkened the calm skies above the battlefield, but very little new smoke rose from the smouldering remains of the Klem force.

[Group of three Shredders at 52 degrees] Nico narrated over the intercom, spotting targets for the technicians in the X137 units while the main Pilots rested in preparation for the next battle.

The technicians had it easy in First Battalion. The mecha had barely moved, hadn’t had their shields breached yet, and none of the battles had dragged out long enough that they had to take over in the middle of an engagement.

The most they had to do was use the advantage of their height to target long-range opponents that the Crusader Class units couldn’t see yet.

They were almost enjoying themselves, searching for movement and eliminating targets the drones found in their sector. They weren’t holding back to the short-range perimeter anymore and had switched to eliminating anything they saw before the Klem could organize another attack.

[First Battalion, this is Fifth Battalion Command. Our spearhead will be approaching your sensor range within the hour and then will hold position to prevent the Klem forces from circling within the containment zone.] The Colonel in charge of the last Battalion in the Regiment reported. Nico recalled he was a white-haired older man with ashen gray skin that had wrinkled to the texture of an old leather boot and seemed friendly, but she couldn’t recall his name.

[First Battalion has drones in the sky. I will send you the encryption codes now.] Nico responded, sending the codes over so that the Colonel could see the situation in their area.

He would be stopping on their northern flank fifty kilometres away, but with artillery, that position was still in range if they needed to reinforce each other. The companies of the Fifth Battalion would be stretched thin with him moving this far inside the enforcement, though and would have to work hard to avoid being encircled.

But his assessment was correct. If the Klem were allowed to move freely, they could gather a force strong enough to overrun a Battalion and break out, infesting even more of the planet and making them nearly impossible to eliminate.

[You made an incredible mess of the area. How are your munitions holding out?] Fifth Battalion’s logistics officer asked?

[We got a drop pod earlier, so we’re still above the original values. How are your supplies?]

[Not great. Repair materials are at sixty percent, and munitions are at thirty percent of original.] The officer responded, and Nico could hear repair work in the background.

Being more spread out to maintain the line meant that they couldn’t turn the full force of four Super Heavy Mecha against dense clusters of Klem, so they were inevitably forced into close combat, where the piercing and crushing limbs of the Klem were able to show why the species was a Class 1 Threat. By contrast, First Battalion had used under five percent of their repair materials.

[Let us know if you need anything. We have an entire maintenance staff if your spearhead is too far from your facilities.] Nico added.

Satellite data showed that the Kepler forces had cleared the outer third of the zone and were moving steadily inward, pushing the Klem in front of them. But the smoke seemed to have had the opposite effect to what everyone had expected.

Instead of rallying to attack First Battalion, they were desperately trying to rush past them and escape the containment. That wasn’t like them, and high above the planet, the Generals were searching for a sign that there might be a behemoth active to guide their strategy.

Once the largest and most innovative of their force had matured, which could take weeks or even months depending on local conditions, fighting against these insects became a very different problem than just numbers and claws.

[Lines breached in grid F7. The Klem took advantage of a tunnel system to get behind its without alerting the sensors.] Someone, presumably a Company Commander, reported over the Secure Channel, waking Max up to begin his watch.

“Great, that’s just what we needed. The ground under us is solid, though. I checked.” Nico told Max before pulling up a map on one of the side screens and moving out of the main Pilot’s chair.

F7 led into a mountain range outside the far western edge of the containment area, and if a large number of Klem had made it that far even a Mecha force wouldn’t be able to find and eliminate them all before they multiplied.

[We have more movement in the East, coming in fast.] Major Petrova reported as the sound of her artillery filled the air.

[On it. They must be heading to join the group that escaped out the western edge. Don’t let anything by us.] Max ordered, adding his Mass Drivers to the barrage.

The aliens weren’t even stopping for our trying to dodge the artillery, simply charging in a direct line to whatever they were going, which happened to be straight through First Battalion’s camp.

“We need more forces on the eastern front. Flamers as well.” Max told Nico, who had been on duty and awake long enough to know who should be available.

“They’re already on it, and Fifth Battalion is to our north, strung out in a line. Second Battalion should be to our east, driving this group toward us, as planned.” Nico explained.

As she talked, she sent the gun drones to the East, giving everyone a better view of what they were up against while using the Laser Rifles to snipe the occasional target in an attempt to herd the mass of Chitinous bodies.

As they ran, the Shredders started firing barrage after barrage of spikes directly at the X137 units, trying to eliminate the artillery threat. Individually, they weren’t a massive danger to such a giant Mecha. Still, when it was hit with hundreds of spikes in a second, even the mighty layered shielding of the new Super Heavy units began to falter.

“We’ve overheated a capacitor. 5 minutes for it to cool down and regain that shield layer. I’m going to head below and swap it out; try not to move the torso too much.” Nico called, dropping out of sight through the hatch on the floor.

Max’s unit still had two of its five layers of shielding active, thanks to Nico’s relentless modifications, but the three Company Commanders had all taken minor damage.

Max turned his Ion Bombard Arrays on the closest Shredders and blasted them to pieces, reducing the hail of spikes before any of the Super Heavy units took significant damage. At the same time, the Disintegrators and Ion Destroyers of the Crusaders tore the closest warriors apart.

It was just too many targets and moving too fast to keep them at a safe distance, but at two hundred meters, the missiles and Lasers of the X137s close defence system, as well as the primary weapons of the Corvette Class Mecha, would be in an optimal range.

Nico popped up fifteen seconds after she went below, giving Max the thumbs that the job was done. That meant he could safely move, so Max repositioned closer to the Eastern Front, beside Major Petrova, closing a little more distance to fire his shorter-range weapons.

[Fifth Battalion, cluster up on your Company Commanders, we’re taking too many casualties.] Max heard the other Battalion Commander call out as the bugs reached his defensive line.

His tactical judgements were spot on; if they were allowed to run free, these Klem would have joined the mass attempting to break out. His only mistake was underestimating how many Klem there would be when the Wave finally arrived.

They took the time to Claw and Rend the Mecha as they passed by, but most units were left only half-crippled, with the Klem ignoring them once they didn’t look like a threat anymore. The only ones destroyed were the units whose weapons remained active to the bitter end.

As far as the eye could see, the skies were filled with flying dirt and debris from the barrage the Kepler Mecha sent out. However, the Fifth Battalion was still forced into tight defensive rings around their Commanders Super Heavy Mecha, using a wall of flames and Lasers to keep themselves safe as the survivors of the Klem force rushed between them.

[Central Command, Fifth Battalion now under 75 percent effective at delaying the Klem Advance.] Their Commander reported.

[First Battalion is still holding a 25-kilometre radius from the camp, but I estimate a similar breach rate near the edge of our radius in the next few minutes.] Max reported, watching the Fusion Flamers begin their job of defending the camp as the Klem nearly reached the wall.

With speed, the Klem were moving; they didn’t have the rate of fire to hit them all before they made it past unless they ran straight into the fire. The best they could do was thin the ranks.

Nico, who had the direct feed of all the drone data, was the first to notice and report the oddity in the forces the Klem had deployed.

[Be aware, the Klem have left the Flood behind, the smallest bugs will be going into hiding until they think we have left, then they will repopulate.]

Above them, aboard Abraham Kepler, all that General Yaakov could do was a curse as his carefully laid plans fell apart. If the Battalions stopped and torched every possible hiding spot to get rid of the little bugs, the Big ones would escape. If they focused on the big ones, they would pass the little ones and let them run and breed more big ones elsewhere.

One Regiment was not enough firepower for the job, even with these new Mecha. The casualty rate had been astonishingly low, though, and he was very impressed with the Mecha’s performance under pressure, as were the research teams, but the cleansing was not going well.

[Sweep as thoroughly as possible. Sensors report that many Klem have disappeared into the mountain cave systems already.] General Yaakov ordered.

They would clear this zone and then make a plan to remove the Klem from the mountains.