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Had the villagers been a regular human enemy, such an overwhelming display of destructive power would have stunned them into inaction, perhaps even surrender. But you had no such luxury here. Within seconds of the artillery strike, the villagers had already begun to rally. Patrols groups who had escaped the shock of the first blast were starting to fan out towards the edge of the forest. Meanwhile, in the largely untouched residential district, dozens of villagers begin pouring out of houses. The first wave - like the corpse you examined - seem physiologically human. Those that come after however, are afflicted with much more obvious signs of biological corruption. Chitinous blade-arms join human hands as hybrids scramble out of the town center in a crazed rush. While the majority are armed with nothing more than spears, flintlock rifles, and garish battle standards, your optical array - much to your surprise - also highlight items of much more recent manufacture. Three or four of the more human looking villagers seem to be carrying unusually boxy laser rifles. Another two men were lugging a squat cylinder with unmistakable profile of a shoulder-mounted missile launcher. But perhaps most disturbingly, you detect the distinctive cherry-red glow of a discharging fusion coil as a young woman with three arms lances a bolt of hydrogen plasma at one of the combat drones strafing the area. While she is quickly dispatched with a burst of MMG fire after her shot misses, it is the fact that she has the weapon in the first place that concerns you. Plasma weapons based on fusion-coil technology were too old and dangerous to be in active federation military inventory. Either the local industry here was much better than you had previously observed, or someone offworld was supplying the village with truly ancient federation surplus. Neither of these options were particularly reassuring to consider.
But you had more pressing tactical concerns for the moment. The damaged warehouse at the northern edge of the village collapsed outwards as a squad of retrofitted mechs thunders towards your position. Their armor is not particularly thick, and their shoddy build quality resembles Liscia's mech pre-retrofit. However, at least two of the mechs have been equipped with single-use rocket launchers. They are primitive, short-range, unguided weapons, but the sheer size of their shaped-charge warhead was nothing to scoff about - even with your level of armor.
Within a few seconds though, two mechs are illuminated by coded targeting beams emanating from Alberico's scout-spotters. The rest of the mercenaries seem to be doing equally well. You watch as they fire from their concealed positions, engaging any villagers approaching the treeline with focused laser bursts. Meanwhile, the flight of drones assigned to their section supports them by spraying MMG fire at more organized groups, fragmenting them for the mercenaries to pick-off later.
