[X] Move to assist the counter-flanking forces
"Knight-Captain Ella Stone, I am available for the counter-flanking. I can move quickly and bring a large amount of firepower to bear," Ella stated over the network, which was now more fragmented with her having moved. In the forest you had to set up wires and LOS lasercomms to get over the interference the trees did to radio. As such it took a few minutes before confirmation that she was to be assigned to that group got through to her.
Disengage
Mantis 87 + 30 - 20 Disruption = 97
Locals 48 + 45 = 93
Ella 77 + 31 = 108
The withdrawal of elements was quite smooth, although the Mantis were aware enough of what was going on to attempt to contest the move, but that really required them to attempt an assault and they had obvious disadvantages there. Still, more men died in the ferocious storm of metal, although Ella suffered nothing worse than some scuffed paint as she walked her mech back to a point where she could sprint off to join the rally point. There she found the Indigo Hammer cavalry already prepared, having never made their planned attack. The network also indicated that the Authority elite would be joining them while the Jaeger lines reassembled to either receive the Mantis push or to assault them, depending on how the counter-flanking went. This left them somewhat sadly light on heavy assets as only one other medium mech had been assigned to the group, but the intent was more to prevent the enemy from succeeding in a flank than to kick their teeth in right away.
Taking off at full tilt, Ella felt synthetic tingles through her arms, a combination of the thrill of it all and her nervous system interpreting the ready charge stored in the EM cannons on her war machine's limbs. This would be a much harder fight, but also one where her abilities would be on much greater display. This was going to be fun.
Landing (60)
Primary Fight
Mantis 42 + 30 = 72
Locals 25 + 45 = 70
Flank
Mantis 12 + 30 - 15 Disorganized = 27
Locals 48 + 35 = 83
Ella 75 + 31 = 106
The Mantis flank force was clearly still scattered when the counter-flanking team hit them, their chutes being too easily tangled in the canopy and thus having to be ditched sooner. While they had obviously been confident in their ability to survive the fall, it also took them longer to recover from the drop. They were as such still trying to recover when they were hit by a charge of wildlife with acid firing giants riding on top and heavily armed mechs and cyborgs literally raining fire down on them from above. Abandoning all pretense of stealth, Ella activated her war horn and let loose ominous bass bellows as got in amongst the aliens. She probably stomped and kicked as much as she shot, with the cavalry having an equally good time of it, their warbeasts trampling and goring the enemy with equal abandon.
While the Indigo Hammer troopers had a great time of it all, and the image of a roachrhino horn punching through armour to impale a Mantis seemed to be what caused them break and run into the forest with total abandon, Ella also observed an obvious weakness of the Indigo Hammer weaponry. They basically had no capacity to drop the Mantis quickly because they were utterly incapable of penetrating armour on impact, and unless the acid hit a weak point like a joint, seal, or the faceplate it did minimal damage. Oh, weight of fire could eat through the toughest parts of the armour and the burning did incredible things for breaking morale, but if a Mantis kept its head it could keep fighting even when completely engulfed. Something to definitely include in the debriefing.
Opening up a communications channel, it sounded like the main fight had ground to a stalemate once again, with the Mantis pushing hard to hold in place and keep the line from moving. Undoubtedly it was because they were expecting reinforcements and wanted to make sure the flank arrived in the right place.
Ella wondered if they heard the echoes of the victorious war cries as the counter-flank group reorganized for their own flanking move. She wondered if they heard the rhythmic shake of the roots as they began to advance through the forest, picking up speed once again as the dodged the terrain hazards, moving to strike the sides of the Mantis formation, now secure that they would not need to be held in reserve to counter the moves of the aliens.
Surprise
Mantis 57 + 30 - 5 Damage = 82
Main Group 28 + 45 - 5 Damage = 68
Flank Group 75 + 35 + 10 Surprise = 120
Ella 11 + 31 = 42
The Mantis were just starting to push the defenders back under weight of fire when the cavalry arrived. Ella took a pair of rockets to her mech that staggered her and forced her to fall behind to cover the damaged section, but the cavalry charge caught the aliens completely by surprise, rampaging through their rear lines. While the trickiest part of a flank was always in avoid advancing too far and thus getting shot up by your own side by accident, the effectiveness of the move clearly caught the aliens by surprise as they tried to figure out how to respond. From the radio noise her sensors were picking up, she had a feeling that they were having trouble coordinating. Individual squads seemed competent enough, but command paralysis was definitely settling in over some parts of the group as they made muddled moves that failed to address either the main force or the flanking force adequately. Some groups seemed to have decided that they needed to fall back to reform their lines elsewhere, but other groups weren't offering support for the move and thus chaos reigned.
Mantis 10 + 30 - 25 Chaos+Damage = 15
Locals 17 + 45 - 5 Damage = 57
Ella 64 + 31 - 10 Damage = 85
The link up of the human groups could have gone more smoothly, but the Mantis were in such disarray that it was hard to account for their actions smoothly. Still, despite the damage Ella ended up moving further into their "territory" and catching sight of some large contraption that they had dropped into the area. Figuring that smashing it was a good idea, she launched a HEAT missile at it while dodging back into the forest. A second later there was a catastrophic explosion as whatever she had shot went up. Must have been a fuel and/or ammunition dump of some sort.
After that, the fight pretty much completely died from the Mantis. Some tried to maintain pockets of resistance as they were surrounded and systematically eliminated, but many just ran and more than a few seemed content to make suicidal runs against concentrations of troops with absolutely no support. The battle thus quickly wound down after that point.
Returning to Stonebridge, it quickly became obvious what the Mantis had been trying to do as the track maintenance sensors were picking up major vibrations on the rail lines. The air drop had evidently been to produce a flanking force for a thrust along the rails, the aliens clearly seeing the utility of the lines but having underestimated just how fast humans could respond in the forest in comparison to them. They had almost certainly expected their paratroops to last long enough for the main force to arrive, but it was already being speculated that someone had only pointed out to the higher ups that the towers for the rail lines couldn't actually be locked and thus they had to manually secure them after they had set out. Thus instead of arriving a few hours after the distracting paradrop began, the main force in the rail lines was doing to arrive in a day or two.
They might have even decided to let the paratroopers flap in the breeze for a few days under the expectation that they could keep them supplied from the air and that they wouldn't be obliterated within the first day.
After taking a fitful nap, Ella logged into the officer network to find out what the latest brainstorms were. While the really important meetings would be in person with the various major officers and Ella didn't really have an invite there, she could still participate in the planning churn and make her own preferences for assignment known later.
Preferred combat assignment...
[] Abandoned settlement along the way, urban combat
[] Strike the pillar guards, forest combat
[] Fire support in the tunnel, linear combat
[] Advocate for a strike into Diamond Dome while their forces are committed elsewhere
Ella also has time before operations start. Pick two groups to talk to:
[] Her own troops
[] Other Green Owl troops
[] Indigo Hammer warriors
[] Authority elites
[] Blackthorn dragonslayers
[] Andraste's Avengers
[] Belter Agent
That could backfire if not played carefully, though.
