Chapter 7468 Arche Infantry Combat Doctrine
Chapter 7468 Arche Infantry Combat Doctrine
Before the 16 Apocalypse Wardens leapt out of their boarding shuttle, the arche soldiers serving on the archecruiser managed to put up a formidable defense.
The human troopers who set foot first inside the enemy vessel managed to wipe out the arche soldiers stationed close to the exterior of the hull fairly easy.
The psychic storms generated by the Minerva Mark II through the Victrix posed a different kind of threat that the arche had never thought to defend against.
Every extraordinary storm that descended on a group of arche usually caused them to suffer severe mental maladies, ranging from intermittent blindness to moderate headaches.
However, the arche managed to endure the psychic attacks quite well compared to other races. Their archeshells and the unique combat armor that complimented this organic component provided comprehensive protection that just happened to make a difference in this case.
Still, even if the arche could still retain their wits, they became so distracted that they turned into easy pickings.
Only the officers and better-equipped alien soldiers managed to endure the psychic storms without flinching too much. Their superior strength and equipment allowed them to resist the human attackers a lot better, but when the disparity in numbers became too much, they easily got isolated.
Despite the good start, the boarding troops encountered much stiffer resistance when they moved further inside.
No matter which angle they approached the center, the arche soldiers had already organized an effective defense.
They relied heavily on the layout and internal defenses of their own ship. Many lanes converged at deliberately designed funnels which served as excellent choke points.
Given that the boarding troops lacked the firepower or equipment to drill straight through dozens of layers of archemetal bulkheads, the human soldiers had little choice but to play along and assault these funnels!
Both humans and arche shouted furious warcries as their fights quickly got heated.
The arche maintained a distinct advantage by relying on their fortifications as well as ceiling turrets, extremely hidden mines and variable gravity chambers.
While the human soldiers possessed the necessary equipment and training to dismantle these fixed defenses, they could not do so without investing a considerable amount of time and effort.
"Speed up the assault! We cannot afford to remain stuck here for too long!"
Every human soldier knew that they could not settle for a methodical takeover of the archecruiser.
Time was not on their side.
Though it was not wise to press forward when faced with stiff resistance, the human soldiers chose to risk their lives and hasten their advance.
This inevitably caused them to suffer greater losses!
Even though many incoming attacks were neutralized by the Dragon Scales projected by the Victrix, the special resonance-based defensive amplification only had a limited effect on infantry-scale combat armor.
The effect still saved a bunch of lives. Many soldiers that got shot by one of the fixed turrets or the alien soldiers who weaponized their own archeshells, their combat armor managed to last long enough for them to evacuate successfully.
Unfortunately, the defenders still possessed enough of an advantage that they succeeded in picking off one or two human invaders every once in a while!
Saint Commander Casella Ingvar felt every death through her Command Field.
She did not wish for them to lose their lives, but neither did she want to coddle the infantry too much.
Each of them served a purpose. It would do the Larkinsons no good to neglect the infantry and refrain from deploying them due to one reason or another.
Besides, replenishing them was much easier than replenishing mech pilots. The Larkinson Clan could easily hire whole armies of infantry troopers if necessary!
Neither Casella nor the boarding troops felt bothered by the casualties, but they did not want to throw the lives of their fellow humans away in vain.
They needed to make a concerted push, but given that they already encountered so many hindrances, their casualties would skyrocket if that happened!
Numerous human soldiers stood or crouched behind cover and gritted their teeth.
They could barely pop their bodies into view before they received a barrage of energy beams and more esoteric attacks!
The human soldiers had already used a combination of armor-piercing missiles, high explosive grenades and portable laser cannons to knock out the defensive hardpoints.
That still left them with the arche soldiers themselves, who formed a living wall that blocked the way forward.
The attacking force threw a lot of firepower against this wall of alien soldiers, but few of their attacks made a serious dent.
It turned out that arche infantry combat doctrine was almost entirely geared around situations like these!
They just loved to occupy narrow choke points and form lines where they turned their backs against their enemies.
Their archeshells performed several functions at once.
They generated transphasic energy shields that happened to combine seamlessly with the energy shields generated by their alien comrades. The composite energy defense therefore withstood way more attacks than if the alien soldiers fought in isolation!
On top of that, the archeshells also possessed the capacity to shoot out energy beams of varying strengths and properties!
The most common variant were transphasic laser beams, though the arche soldiers with more elaborate shells could launch anything from plasma bolts to transphasic crystal shards.
If that was not enough, every arche always had a trick up their sleeve. Their archeshells incorporated so many exotic materials that they often managed to take their human opponents by surprise.
For example, one arche officer was able to perform hasty improvised repairs to his archeshell by cannibalizing the archemetal of the ship!
Another arche soldier was able to dive into the deck and swim through the archemetal as if it was water before popping out to flank his human foes!
One of the most powerful displays was when an arche officer with a particularly bright and luminescent archeshell generated a powerful directional EMP pulse!
The sheer amount of power behind this disruptive attack was powerful enough to overcome multiple layers of protection and cause over a dozen suits of combat armor to malfunction or lose power outright!
By the time the beleaguered squad managed to bring their powered armor back online, they had already lost over half of their roster!
The arche truly proved their mettle with their resistance. The internal defenses of their archecruiser were way more formidable than their scout vessels.
Though Saint Commander Casella Ingvar already predicted that the arche would put up a much greater fight on a ship of greater strategic importance, she admittedly looked down on their ability to resist her troops.
However, all of the information collected so far went on to benefit the Apocalypse Wardens, whose heavier configuration caused them to advance at a slower pace than many other infantry units.
Each Apocalypse Warden was fully connected to each other by both a battle network and a virtual net.
The former allowed them to coordinate almost perfectly with each other while the latter enabled them to process data rapidly with the help of their custom cranial implants.
This meant that before they arrived at the first funnel, they already formulated a precise and detailed plan of action!
It also meant that Andraste was left out of the loop. The soldiers remained completely silent until they finally commenced their assault!
"RUINATION BEFORE DEATH!"
The Apocalypse Wardens did not choose to bypass the funnel, but advanced straight from the middle, thereby giving the prepared alien defenders plenty of chances to attack the intruding squad!
However, all of the attacks bounced off the superdimensional armor plating without causing any visible damage.
Perhaps a few armor sections grew a little bit hotter or received a number of shallow marks, but that was the extent of the initial results.
Ordinary transphasic attacks could not effectively overcome the ridiculous properties of mid-grade superdimensional alloys.
Though the arche officer quickly adjusted to this terrible sight and ordered his line of arche soldiers to concentrate their attacks on a single Apocalypse Warden, the humans already launched attacks of their own!
The guns mounted on their heavy combat armor spat out transphasic hyper laser beams, positron beams, kinetic rounds and plasma bolts with perfect accuracy and coordination.
The fixed turrets and other defensive installations got taken out first. Their construction was robust, but the firepower from the Apocalypse Wardens was even greater!
Many of the attacks not only inflicted direct damage, but also generated flames that continued to spread heat that further impaired the functioning of sensitive components.
Fire E energies wove through the attacks launched by the Apocalypse Wardens. The temperature in the alien compartment rose at a steady rate, which caused subsequent attacks to become even more effective!
The elite human troopers were creating their own favored environment!
Though the archecruiser responded by activating her fire suppression systems, the relevant devices immediately attracted a lot of firepower, causing them to get knocked offline before they could be of any use!
At this time, the Apocalypse Wardens had already managed to knock out the fixed defenses and a third of the arche soldiers without suffering any significant damage in return. At most, they got pushed back or stalled for a small amount of time.
Yet their integrated weapon systems soon reached a limit. Their gun barrels overheated while their energy or ammunition reserves became strained.
While they could still launch further attacks, doing so would waste precious time and munitions.
Fortunately, they already marched close enough to the enemy line to deploy one of their most devastating combination attacks under optimal conditions.
The Apocalypse Wardens simultaneously raised their hammers with two arms!
At the same time, their companion spirits all entered the weapons in question, causing the hammerheads to glow bright and hot!
Soon enough, fiery energies rose up from the hammers and formed into a giant hammer that brushed against the ceiling of the compartment!
"BRING DOWN THE APOCALYPSE!"
A massive explosion ensued as soon as the large flame hammer descended directly onto the archeshells of the surviving enemy soldiers!
Amplified by the accumulation of ambient fire energy, the extraordinary attack completely engulfed the alien resisters with flame and force!
By the time visibility returned, only the arche officer and a pair of arche soldiers stationed further away from the center of the impact managed to cling onto life, though only barely.
The Apocalypse Wardens easily finished off the alien grunts and attempted to capture and restrain the officer whose archeshell had been ruined by the combination attack.
The shell previously looked gorgeous. Its bright combination of blues and greens evoked the image of a lifebearing planet similar to Old Earth.
Now, the massive strike had caused the shell to become cracked and dull. Its colors had become incredibly muted under all of the ash and soot.
"#%$&*#$@."
The devastated arche officer uttered an incomprehensible sentence before choosing to end his life.