Chapter 242

242 Semi-Finals, Pt The announcer stood on his antigrav platform and hovered into view of the crowded stands. He was in a completely different outfit from last week, but still incredibly ostentatious. This time, his entire suit glittered against the lights that hovered around him.

Such was the nature of show business.

He waved enthusiastically at everyone around him with a big, bright smile.

“Welcome, one and all,” he began, “to the 3rd round of Semi-Final Eliminations!”

Every spectator around him erupted into fierce cheers. Some even stood up from their seats and bellowed their hardest. Mecha fanatics from all over Federation space had come here to be part of the show, the spectacle.

And to watch mecha trash each other with unbridled ferocity.

“And we all know what’s different during the Semi-Finals,” the announcer continued. “Combined Arms Skirmish rules! For those tuning in, here’s how it all works...”

A large, holographic mecha materialized above and behind the announcer. It was significantly smaller than the real thing, but large enough for every crowd to see.

But it wasn’t alone. Alongside the mecha was an assortment of armed troops in formation, exactly a hundred of them. There were walker drones, hovertanks, and power armored infantry. Their formations all lined up from largest to smallest, and looked awe-inspiring as they stood at attention.

.....

“Every combatant is assigned a unit,” said the announcer. “Purely simulated by drones, holograms, and nanites, of course. We wouldn’t want any real casualties, would we? In any case, the conditions for victory are simple: whichever team has the higher force count and multiplier by the end of the match wins!”

The holographic mecha and its army faded, but was quickly replaced by a choice wheel.

“This cycle’s fight is between the Conspiracy of Ravens and The Final Bastion,” said the announcer. “I know lots of you out there are 100% Team Bastion, and I don’t blame you! They’re unbeatable! They aren’t the 5th seed for show. But... the Ravens are a real force in the tournament. Who’s to say they can’t upset the ranks?”

Deafening cheers erupted all around as the crowd rooted for their favorite team. The excitement was real – some were practically frothing at the mouth for the fighting to start.

Their anticipation only rose even higher as the announcer reached over to the holographic choice wheel, and waggled his fingers at it. It immediately began spinning, as though he had caused it.

The wheel clicked and clacked as each pie section whizzed around and around. It eventually slowed, then stopped at the silhouette of a bombed-out skyline.

“Oh, wow!” cried the announcer. “Looks like our two teams are headed to the Urban Ruins! Lots of places to fight in the streets here – it’s perfect for an army versus army showdown!”

As the announcer rambled on about the features of the city, the teams’ loadouts became available on the tournament’s datapads. Many immediately pored over what the teams brought to the field.

Some were a little curious about the Ravens’ loadouts – they hadn’t changed much from the last match they were in. The only thing they added were B-ranked tower shields. Freya had also added a single weapon to her loadout – some kind of spear. But that was it!

–

Myrmidon Technology “Gungnir” CoilSpear [A]

–

To them, it was completely baffling. Most teams switched out their loadouts depending on victory conditions.

Of course, the Ravens weren’t like most teams.

In contrast, the Final Bastion’s loadout looked positively unbreakable, and was tuned specifically for combined arms. Or at least, the protection of their charges.

–

Final Bastion

–

Pilot: Deadeye

Role: Reconnaissance

Loadout:

Universal Mechanics “Watchman” Light Scout Chassis [B]

Terra Nach Mar “OneShot” M204 LR [A]

Universal Mechanics “Cloudpiercer” Advanced Sensor Package SM [B]

–

Pilot: Broadlance

Role: Defense

Loadout:

Universal Mechanics “Bulwark” Heavy Sentry Chassis [A]

Universal Mechanics 120mm Grenade Launcher [C]

Universal Mechanics Rocket Pod SM [C]

Universal Mechanics “Templar” Heavy Modular Shield System [A]

–

Pilot: Castle

Role: Defense

Loadout:

Universal Mechanics “Bulwark” Heavy Sentry Chassis [A]

Universal Mechanics 200mm Grenade Launcher [C]

Universal Mechanics Rocket Pod SM [C]

Universal Mechanics “Templar” Heavy Modular Shield System [A]

–

Pilot: Tailspin

Role: Heavy Artillery

Loadout:

Universal Mechanics “Bigfoot” High Stability Siege Chassis [B]

Federal Shipyards MP55p Machine Pistol [C]

Universal Mechanics “Thumper” Large Bore 400mm Cannon SM [A]

–

For most of the audience, it was clear that Final Bastion was looking to engage with high defense. Their most ardent fans certainly knew that they were capable of turtling up and keeping their ranks tight. This wasn’t the first time they had used this strategy, and it was incredibly effective every time they brought it to the field.

Many of the spectators were absolutely certain the Bastion would win out through sheer defensive ability alone.

Discussions about who would win swept through the crowds. The speculation just from seeing the teams’ loadouts was incredible, and if the tournament itself allowed gambling, they would have made a killing from the fees alone.

After some time of heated discussion and debate, the announcer came back to their view.

“It sounds like both teams are finally in place and ready to toss it up,” he said enthusiastically. “And the round starts... now!”

A time counter immediately appeared on their datapads, and began to count down from 2 hours. It was certainly a great deal of time to watch a single match, but truthfully most matches didn’t last much longer than a quarter of that.

The fights were often frenzied and hectic and were over relatively quickly.

But sometimes, some matches extended to 2 hours exactly, typically with both teams raining artillery shells on each other until the very end.

The Final Bastion skated out of their deployment zone with extreme caution and military precision. Deadeye went out first and hopped to the top of a building. From there, he scanned across the small ruined city in front of him and watched for the Ravens.

All he saw on his sensors were scrambled signals. And although it was fuzzy, he could still tell where they were, relatively speaking. His sensor suite was among the best in its class, and certainly could compete against Tsunami’s Skymirror.

While he kept an eye on the field, the rest of his team sped towards one corner of the city with their simulated armies in tow. Once there, they holed up their armies inside of a relatively undisturbed reinforced building, and stacked them up floor by floor all the way to the roof.

The hovertanks were stuffed into the ground floor, while the rest were placed into the floors above. Many of their walker drones ended up on the roof itself, and hardened their positions there.

And thanks to the Skirmish rules of the round, their position reinforced itself multiple times over. Their armies’ defenses skyrocketed, and made them all but immune to direct shelling.

On top of that, the two defender mecha posted up on the south and western sides of the building itself. They both adjusted their modular shields, and their bottom side extended out into a sharp edge, and reinforced itself.

They then slammed the shields point-first into the hardened titacrete and fixed them in position. Once they separated their arms from the shields themselves, the shields unfolded and extended up and out.

They practically turned into reinforced barriers that overlapped each other in the middle and protected both mecha. And everything that was behind them.

Tailspin came to a halt right behind them, and posted up between the Bulwark mecha and the building they were protecting. Tailspin adjusted his mecha’s feet and put it into a wide stance.

His front knee was bent, but his back leg was stretched straight behind him. The mecha’s feet were angled 90 degrees from each other for stability. And similar to the shields, the feet folded open and extended out.

The extensions swung out and struck the ground solidly, and kept his footing beyond stable. Then he angled his shoulder-mounted cannon up into the sky.

“Ready when you are, captain,” said Tailspin.

“Stand by,” replied Deadeye. “Calculating bombard interjection point now... Sending coordinates. Engage bombardment in 10... 9...”

At the same time that Final Bastion moved themselves into position the Conspiracy of Ravens rushed forward as fast as they could. Which wasn’t much. After all, they were accompanied by their simulated armies, and could only go as fast as their slowest units.

Although the walker drones and hovertanks were relatively fast and could travel at up to 80 meters per second, it was the power armor units that kept them from going all out. Their land speed was limited to a relatively sluggish 45 meters per second.

Though their mechanisms were robust, and they went ridiculously fast compared to naked humans, it still felt like a slog to them. The Ravens’ mecha could all exceed speeds of 180 meters per second, and to them they were practically crawling towards the front line.

.....

But that gave them time to plan out the fight on their end, even while they wove through the streets.

“The enemy is stacking their units in the far corner of the city,” declared Raijin. “The only way to reduce it is to first reduce their mecha.”

She quickly sent her readouts and live feeds to the rest of the team. Xylo groaned when she saw the huge shields as they expanded outwards, and almost completely shrouded their position.

“Well that’s just great,” said Xylo. “They’re practically invulnerable over there.”

“So you can’t pick ’em off from here?” asked Freya.

“No way. Their defense bonuses are all stacked up. It’ll be hard for me to punch through those shields and those mecha, much less into that building.”

Freya grimaced at their situation. It reminded her of when she and Kayt and those other pilots were playing their miniature mecha war game in the asteroid base.

She felt that this was pretty much what they were playing, except with actual mecha, in a real bombed-out city. Freya felt that Kayt was the best among them at stacking offensive and defensive power, and she wished for her advice at that exact moment.

“We’ve got our own options,” said Kali. “We could try to push them out – they’re so close to the edge. That would leave them open for us to chew into.”

“It is risky,” said Raijin. “Our troops will be exposed while we charge, while theirs will be safe.”

“We’ve gotta try something,” said Freya. “And if it fails, we try something else. All we’ve gotta do is not get wiped out in the first try, right?”

“Easier said than done,” countered Xylo. “But I agree – we can’t just do nothing.”

Alerts suddenly filled their screens as the Bastion’s shells landed all around them. The ground shook violently as they slammed down into the streets surrounding, and cratered the titacrete with ease. Any buildings that were struck were also demolished and crumbled to the ground.

And since their simulated armies were on the march and out in the open, were completely vulnerable.

The Ravens quickly maneuvered behind reinforced buildings, and ordered their armies to take refuge inside. But the damage was done – some were hit and torn to pieces from the blasts, even while they ran for cover.

“And it looks like the Bastion has drawn first blood,” cried the announcer.

Final Bastion’s most loyal fans cheered with extreme exuberance, and declared they were victors right then and there. At the same time, the Ravens’ most loyal fans yelled in outrage at the unfairness of it. They feared they would get blasted out of the match without getting a chance to fight back.

But such was the nature of war. Sudden death was never fair.