Feeling the unease shared by their officers, the repair crews worked as fast as they could to get everything in order at the camp. Every repair bay was in use, and for the mecha that could be fixed without the dedicated bay, they set up a spot in the center of the camp for them to be worked on.

Even troopers with no mechanical knowledge were pressed into service, bringing parts, holding armor plates, and making sure energy storage magazines were full.

Only once every piece of equipment was in good working order did they begin to relax.

The battle within the city was going better than expected. The Narsians did push out once they saw the main force, but their numbers weren't enough to challenge the Kepler force, even with the advantage of being the defenders within a city environment.

The weapons capable of targeting Landers, as well as all locations that might have housed more of them, were already destroyed, and the battle was now for the Kepler forces to leave the city.

[More Narsian light infantry from 27 degrees]

[Additional Narsian units at 315 degrees]

One after another, the calls came of additional Narsian forces, and Max realized why it was so easy to get into the city. The giants had made it impossible to leave. Over twenty additional Companies of Narsians had been hidden outside the city, or so deeply within the perimeter that they didn't notice or attract the notice of Max's scouting squads.

The radar was acting up again, showing obviously false readings, so Max was certain that they had some sort of jamming device with them. The only question was where, and could he get permission to go looking for it?

[Stalwart to Central Command. Radar interference device in use at grid TA27. Permission to send scouts to locate the source?] Max called, giving the customary notification.

[Negative, hold tight, Stalwart. Landers are incoming now. ETA 14 minutes.] It wasn't often that a request to scout was denied, but they were holding a camp full of spare parts and munitions, as well as a large group of support troops. With more mecha coming, Max understood why they weren't sent out.

Just as the first streaks of fire from the orbital entries began in the sky, signaling the next wave had begun, the camp scouts reported enemy movement near the edge of their sensor range. A scout unit of Narsians had finally discovered their base.

The scouts retreated as fast as they could, waiting for more forces to arrive, but Max was having none of that today.

[Squads Alpha and Bravo, send all Corvettes to eliminate those scouts. I want them dead before reinforcements arrive.] Max ordered and the remaining nineteen Comor Pattern units belonging to the Special Tactics unit went running out to intercept the scouts.

Max was tracking their progress with his own sensors, and the moment he had a lock on the scouts Stalwart's Battle Cannon began sending indirect fire towards the fleeing giants, cutting off their retreat and leaving them vulnerable to the mecha coming up on their backs. The battle was short and brutal, with the numbers of Kepler Mecha being enough to take out the scouts in a single volley.

[Cease retreat and hold.] Came the orders from within the city. The assault force had been drug to a halt and was now moving to a defensive position, waiting out the battle.

Either they would manage to eliminate the Narsians right where they were, or they would be wiped out to the very last. In a battle like that, there really wasn't any other choice, except the possibility that one of the Landers would drop in the city and give them some fire support.

Nine minutes left to the arrival of the next wave, the Narsians decided to get sneaky, sending three of their critically injured soldiers sneaking toward the camp as suicide bombers. They would die within an hour anyhow, as the Narsians lacked the medical technology to treat such severe wounds, but two of the three managed to get close enough that they heavily damaged Crusaders on the patrol line with their final acts.

[Move back, reserves, take their places. The Narsians won't let us get our reinforcements that easily.] Max declared, hoping to inspire some fighting spirit in the shocked troops of the defensive lines.

These forces only arrived with the last drop, they hadn't had time to see the atrocities that the Narsians were capable of or the level of bloodshed that was normal in a full-scale battle. Simulations could only teach you so much, no matter how realistic.

But in the end, Max was wrong. The Narsians did indeed let them get their reinforcements that easily. Two landers full of Heavy Mecha Companies landed within the city, and all signs of Narsian activity vanished as they made a desperate push to eliminate the assault force and the new arrivals.

All Max could do was wait and listen to the sounds of distant battle while the fate of the city, and the Kepler forces around it, was decided. One after another, Narsian forces were found and eliminated, with two hundred freshly arrived Crusader Class Mecha scouring the city for any signs of them.

Unfortunately, no signs of human life were found until the third hour, when a bunker that had a building collapsed over its entry was located, full of civilian survivors. A few hundred out of the hundred thousand who used to live here, but it was a few hundred better than Max had been expecting after seeing the signs of Nerve Gas usage. The bunker they were in was sealed and intact, so they never suffered the fate that the others did, nor did they make it out of their bunker to join the resistance after the initial attacks. They had been stuck in there since the very first day of the invasion, nearly two weeks ago.

[Stalwart Special Tactics Unit? I am Lieutenant Beckett and my wing has been sent to reinforce you.] a youthful female voice greeted Max as a wing of ten Comor Pattern Corvettes approached from one of the nearby Landers.

[We brought a replacement Mecha for Captain Paul as well. The same pattern as his previous unit Ferrus, with a Heavy Laser Cannon, and an Ion Destroyer. But this one has a top-mounted Plasma Shotgun of a modified design based on the Cygnus weapons mounted on Stalwart.] A second voice adds, not identifying itself.

That news is enough to bring a huge smile to the Pilot's face. His own unit was too heavily damaged for repairs, so he had been relegated to Mobile Suit usage for a while now. The new mecha hadn't earned a name yet, being fresh off the production line, but if it survived this engagement, it would receive one, most likely involving the word Ferrus, in honor of the fallen predecessor.

Of course, Ferrus might still be revived, if they could find the parts and determined that enough of the structure was intact to make it worth the time, but from now on, it would no longer be assigned to Captain Paul.

That brings the unit to only one Corvette and one Crusader less than when they started, so their mecha power was almost back to full, and they had only lost a few infantry so far. This mission could be said to be a very productive one for the Special Tactics Unit.

[Stalwart Special Tactics Unit, new orders are incoming.] Comes the message from Central Command.

Ninety Kilometers east of them, into the foothills of the mountain range that rings that side of the swamp, there is a training facility. They have finished their emergency piloting course, and they need a scout team to identify targets in the mountains for their new Pilots to hunt.

They were all second-year basic cadets, and the facility was known as a dumping ground for future Line Mecha pilots that couldn't make the cut for anything better due to poor effort or low System Compatibility, but they have decided that this lot is now ready for battle. All the older students were sent out to fight during the early stages of the invasion and the freshmen aren't ready yet.

Max relays the orders to the rest of the unit, getting groans and sighs of frustration and disappointment all around. Some because of the mission, some because Central Command has determined that things are so bad on the planet that sending cadets out who had only begun practical Mecha use a few months ago is necessary.

That's not Max's major concern though. He has faith that his unit can guide them through the essentials of an introductory battle. His real concern is why they would ask a Special Tactics Unit to take up the duty, when Max can see with his own two eyes that they have sent entire Landers full of Scout class Sentinel Mecha to the region. Something doesn't add up, and it doesn't look good for the survival chances of the trainees.