Good-Looking Weapons Can't Be Bad in a Fight

This time, the Mobile Infantry platoon that needed support had provided fairly precise coordinates and terrain details.

The Reconnaissance Drone they launched soon found the platoon.

Just as Amber had guessed, the Mobile Infantry platoon was trapped in a village amid automated farmland.

The Empire forces besieging them included dozens of Orbital Paratroopers spread along a long attack line—and those were only the ones the Reconnaissance Drone had spotted.

There were also two light Multi-legged Combat Vehicles.

In the footage captured by the Reconnaissance Drone's sensors, one light Multi-legged Combat Vehicle crouched low in a wheat field in an ambush stance.

Its turret-mounted 120 mm Electrothermal-Chemical Cannon was firing toward the village.

The other vehicle crouched farther away, below a raised field boundary.

The Empire's Orbital Paratroopers had dug it deeper to serve as a makeshift artillery position.

The vehicle hid there with its turret-mounted 120 mm Electrothermal-Chemical Cannon set to indirect-fire mode.

Together with two 120 mm mortars, it kept shelling the village's open spaces and streets, pinning the Federation soldiers inside the buildings.

Amber had seen plenty of Orbital Paratroopers by now.

His attention settled instead on the two light Multi-legged Combat Vehicles providing fire support.

The MTM-2A3 Holy Spirit light Multi-legged Combat Vehicle.

With a combat weight of fifteen tons, a length of six meters, and a height of 2.8 meters, this machine

was the smallest and most numerous model in the Star Dragon Empire's current Multi-legged Combat Vehicle family.

Thanks to its highly intelligent systems, it needed only one crew member.

Its main role was to accompany infantry and provide fire support across difficult terrain.

In extreme environments or urban combat, it could also fire electromagnetic grappling hooks to help it climb.

For road travel, it could deploy tires folded into its mechanical legs.

And with its combat weight kept down, the Holy Spirit could drop alongside Orbital Paratroopers in a Drop Pod.

Four pairs of bionic mechanical legs lined the two sides of its segmented silicon carbide composite-armored hull.

Like the Mobile Infantry, the outer sides of those legs carried additional curved Silicon Carbide Armor Plates.

When the Multi-legged Combat Vehicle entered ambush mode, it lowered its hull.

Its legs also angled outward at sixty degrees, making incoming rounds more likely to ricochet off the additional armor plates.

Defensively, it was immune to 8 mm electromagnetic rifle fire and autocannon rounds under 20 mm from any direction.

As for weapons, its rear hull turret usually mounted a 120 mm Electrothermal-Chemical Cannon capable of both direct and indirect fire.

Two 8 mm Gauss Machine Guns were mounted on Pincer Limb-like mechanical arms beneath the front hull.

Amber actually rated the Holy Spirit's combat performance quite highly.

It handled difficult terrain well, had decent protection, and carried more than enough firepower to support infantry.

His only complaint was its paint job.

Or rather, Amber had complained countless times about the paint jobs on all the Star Dragon Empire's military equipment.

As mentioned before, the Star Dragon Empire had greater national strength and industrial capacity.

It had also grown almost obsessive about making its military equipment look good.

So, apart from ACE units, which could choose their own paint schemes, all their ground combat equipment

—from vehicles and main battle tanks to Multi-legged Combat Vehicles and HCPs—

came in the same silver-white finish, complete with flashy gold trim.

Amber had to admit the Star Dragon Empire's aesthetic design really was something.

Every piece of equipment looked sharper than the last, leaving the Federation's hulking black eyesores far behind.

The downside was that every one of those machines stood out on the battlefield.

On a clear day especially, sunlight flashing off their silver-white shells practically shouted, "Here! Shoot here!"

Just as in the current situation, the Reconnaissance Drone had easily spotted their positions.

They had even given away the positions of the other two mortars.

Amber's verdict: "Absolutely ridiculous."

The Reconnaissance Drone circled the entire village. Using a combination of optical and infrared sensors, it captured most of the attacking Empire troops on camera.

Besides the Orbital Paratroopers and the two Holy Spirits attacking from the front,

squad-sized Empire units had set up ambush positions on the village's other approaches.

Their job was to kill the defenders when they could no longer hold out and tried to break through.

Surround them on three sides and leave one way out. An old tactic, but a classic.

"Well? Can you take them?"

Despite saying he did not want to interfere with the ground battle's command,

But Major Randall leaned over curiously, wanting to see how Amber planned to command the troops.

"Hmm, we've spotted fifty-two Empire light infantry, two Holy Spirit Multi-legged Combat Vehicles, and two 120 mm mortars."

As Amber spoke, he marked the targets on the Tactical Map.

He was particularly generous to the two Holy Spirits, which posed the greatest threat to the Mobile Infantry, giving each a purple marker.

In battle, a purple marker meant "highest-threat unit."

"There aren't actually that many enemies. If the friendlies in the village coordinate with us, we might be able to turn this into a counter-ambush and wipe them out."

"Wow. That's a big claim."

Amber ignored the Navy Major, who apparently had time on his hands, and turned to the communications soldier beside him.

"Can we contact the village defenders directly?"

"No, sir. We can only receive their distress signal. The attacking Empire troops must be jamming shortwave communications."

The answer did not surprise Amber.

Of course the Empire forces had brought electronic jamming to an attack.

But the Reconnaissance Drone had circled the area without finding an electronic warfare vehicle.

Amber figured the jamming was probably coming from the Empire troops' Holy Spirit on the attack line.

This light Multi-legged Combat Vehicle was a multipurpose unit, after all.

In addition to its weapons, it carried a low-power electronic warfare module—enough to support an infantry assault.

But Amber was not worried. His convoy had a dedicated Ultrashort-Wave Reconnaissance and Jamming Vehicle.

Its high-power onboard electronic warfare module could hack the Holy Spirit so thoroughly it would not recognize its own mother.

While Amber considered this, the convoy had already reached a stand of trees eight kilometers from the village.

This was a concealed position Amber had struggled to find on the terrain map. Natural cover there would keep Empire infantry reconnaissance drones from spotting them.

So once he had decided to support the village, Amber marked the location on his Tactical Map as the assembly area (AA).

He sent it to the other vehicles over the data link.

The convoy would finish its final battle preparations at this temporary assembly area before moving to an attack position (ATK) 1.5 kilometers from the village.

On more complex terrain, they could shorten the approach distance.

But the area where Amber was now was surrounded by broad stretches of farmland.

The flat ground made an infantry assault easier, but it offered little natural cover and made them easy to spot.