Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System

With the new knowledge of how to bait the Klem, and the colonists evacuated from the surface aboard one of the Cutters, Max could focus on eliminating as many of the creatures as possible.

Using the Disruptors on higher output levels would leave large amounts of radiation in the air and soil, much like a nuclear explosion, but it decayed within hours, leaving very minimal lasting damage except on animals and the targets it hit. Max was considering doing precisely that and clearing the area down to bare soil, but the Klem wave was already thinning out in his area.

They were out of reinforcements that could be sent over, and both his sensors and the scans of the Drones showed that there wasn't another Klem to be found within fifty kilometres other than the ones that they were fighting here.

The Battalions were doing an excellent job of cleaning up the stragglers, so Max engaged his thrusters and jumped back behind the lines to regroup and check the status of the other Mecha Battalions in their vicinity.

Most of them had taken some sort of losses, but none appeared to be significant. With over ninety percent of their units remaining functional, they were in a solid position for their next deployments, which most should be ready for in the next few hours.

There were a number of units further away that needed assistance, and the Central Command Pilots that he had left behind were already preparing to send down more Battalions to fill in heavy loss areas and assist in the removal of entrenched forces.

What Max didn't see was any sign of the Queen or other particularly strange behaviour on the part of the Klem, other than the persistence that they were showing in their attacks.

That could be a biological evolution, recognizing that being routed actually cost them more forces than it saved, so Max kept it in mind but didn't let the oddity affect his judgements other than in how many Mecha it would take to eliminate a force that wouldn't retreat.

They would be clearing the continent by the hex grid, and Max's appeared to be clear already since the Klem had been so intent on coming to him. Once the Mecha Battalions in the grids around him were close to finished, he would prepare to move out and take another grid location, but for the moment, he had time to eat and see how the Hunters were enjoying their vacation.

"Ladies, how are you enjoying the battle against this particularly aggressive version of the Klem?" He asked once they joined him behind the lines.

"This is wonderful. We saw what you did with the bait as well. That will make future fights much easier. In fact, we could start a fire and simply have all the Mecha walk over it to get coated in the fumes, and they would automatically draw the game to their location. It would be like hunting Dire Bears with a juicy steak around your neck." The Huntress replied in appreciation.

"The area appears to be clear now, so we are just waiting on the reports from other units in the area so that we can move out to where we are needed and then begin clearing another grid. Will you be remaining with us?" Max asked.

"We will stay with your second in command. It is a Hunter tradition to follow the strongest female in a group when joining a hunt. I'm sure you understand." The Huntress replied.

Max smiled and shook his head, though they couldn't see his reaction. He should have expected that response from them.

"Understood. Happy Hunting, I will update you with coordinates once we know what regions need special attention from the Command units."

Nico joined them only a few minutes later, with her Mecha covered in Klem blood and pure happiness in her thoughts.

Max checked her computer logs quickly and saw that she hadn't taken enough damage to drop her shields, so the blood on her Mecha had to be a deliberate act. Curious, he searched her surface thoughts and found that the blood served as camouflage for the Mecha. It made her smell like part of the Klem force, and both the size and number of weaponized limbs were roughly right for a Ripper, so by the time the Klem realized that she was a Mecha, it was too late for them to run away from her.

Max hadn't had that problem, the Klem was more than happy to engage him in melee combat, but in her memories, Nico had to do a lot of chasing at first because the Klem thought she only had melee weapons and tried to keep a distance from her, forcing her to use her Disruptors, which only made the Klem back away even more.

The intimidating design of her Mecha worked wonderfully on human and humanoid targets, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on the Klem that any other Mecha did.

The Battalions fell in close to the former colony site as the Klem were eliminated, and Max checked his battle data one more time before updating the unit orders. Only one unit in their cluster was still in combat, but the unit beside them would help them clean up on the way past, and they would all be moving to another cluster of grid points.

This time, Max had his unit clearing a section of forest while Nico and the Hunters were moved to a river valley, where they were more likely to find something of interest.

With less pressure on his unit, Max could put more effort into targeting enhancements for the rest of the Mecha on the planet, as well as the Drones, and he could plan further in advance for the next movement.

The first round of targets was supposed to be the densest clusters of Klem, according to orbital scans, and it should be all push and clear from here out. The only concerns he really had were for a portion of the map that was marked as being primarily limestone bedrock.

Limestone was known to develop caves, and if they used the Fusion Flamers on it, it burned entirely too well and would leave a much larger region than a single mountain burned out, as it had the last time he used that tactic.