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He pulled his targeting cross-hairs in-between a friendly Jager and an Atlas, and triggered a single PPC blast into the center mass of the Hawk, not daring to let loose a second, as the Shadow Hawk placed the Atlas between them. That didn't stop him from trying to maneuver the beat up Cat so he might have one more shot, though by the time he cleared the Atlas enough to fire, the Hawk, too, was slumped over.
There was still the Atlas on the upper deck, and Kay was closest to the ramp, but he had to get around the administration building to begin his journey to the top. Pulling the yoke around, again, he pushed his throttle forward and turned back from the direction he'd come only a half-minute ago. Another Lance, including one of his own Lancemates, were pushing the Atlas up top, he thought, and there had been an Awesome up there, as well, but he'd heard a squawk, just as the PPC from the Shadow Hawk he killed a second later destroyed the shielding around his radio and all went to static. He couldn't contact anyone, and he wasn't certain whether or not his IFF was working, just now; it didn't matter, he needed to get up there to help his Company.
Despite being beaten up, the Cat was responding well, and he was up to speed and turned around in no time. He even swung out wide, off the road and into the red water so he could make the first turn around the admin building quickly and, just as he was whipping the torso around and coming back up on the road, again, he came face-on with another Atlas, likely the one from the upper deck. His brain **** itself and he loudly proclaimed,
"Sweet Jesus," though he knew no one could hear him. He reversed throttle as quickly as the feedback would allow, but you don't just stop sixty-five tons of war machine on a dime, so he was cockpit to chest glacis with this brute before he started to reverse effectively. This carried him backwards enough to reveal the Catapult immediately behind the Atlas, and this is when Kay's breathing became more rapid, his heart beat harder, and his mouth went utterly dry. Backing up was the right thing to do and, as he reached the ninety-meter mark, he triggered off one PPC, followed a count of 'one-one-thousand' later by the second. The first impacted with the Atlas' chest, just below what might have been its jaw, and the other, something more like wild firing, blew the Atlas' arm off. Unfortunately, he managed to do critical damage to Kay's left pod just as it happened; however, since he was now only left with one functional Large Laser, this might just be a fight Kay could win.
Immediate confusion was instantly replaced by elation as he managed a spare moment and completed his maneuver, putting the building as much between himself and the enemy Catapult as possible, to examine the fact the Atlas had been through hell, already, and was falling apart. As it advanced from the end of the building, the monster continued straight down and into the water, perpendicular to his line of fire, exposing his side and back, no doubt desiring to trap Kay between him and the bad Cat. Kay knew it for what it was, though, and immediately began fighting the cross-hairs, firing a third PPC shot into the Atlas' chest, with the fourth PPC flying off into mid-air, as he maneuvered his legs to turn counter-clockwise so he could keep his fully turned torso on the Atlas without also automatically putting himself directly in the Catapult's sights. The maneuver was successful and he was able to fire both of his PPCs and his Large Lasers, this time, into the Atlas, opening larger rents in the armor and internal structure, and putting the wounded beast almost entirely off-kilter. However, between charge times for all of his weapons, and counting on a cool-down, a PPC shot came from over the left weapon pod of Kay's Catapult, dropping the Atlas unceremoniously into the water.
Recovering from the sudden death, Kay turned his attention immediately to the opposing Catapult, which had decided to back off from the building to begin lobbing missiles on the Atlas spotting. Now, however, with the Atlas down, it had nowhere to go, and Kay was feeling cocky, so he got the fool notion into his head to move out and try taking down the enemy Cat.
No sooner had he begun to move forward, however, that the JagerMech he'd let go, earlier, caught a spot for the Catapult, who immediately began arcing missiles over the top of the administration building and onto Kay, and the Jager's Autocannons began pouring fire into his back. He had no where to go, none of his Lancemates were there to help him, anymore, at least not close enough, and he couldn't call for help, anyway, and he caught sight of the enemy Catapult's right torso just as his warning bells fired off, and then he found himself seeking a quick exit from the Cat as the cockpit submersed into the water. He saw the reactor safeties had kicked in and shut down the 'Mech, but he also knew how well this could have been a kill shot. He attempted to pull the ejection lever between his legs, but red lights blared everywhere as the ejection failure warning lights came to life. Then, just as he was thinking he would have to attempt to blow the bolts, they blew on their own, revealing his way out. Water filled the cockpit in a sudden rush, holding him in place for a moment, just long enough for him to use some of the buoyancy created by the water to lift off his neural-helmet and push it away, and then he was free of his five-point harness and swimming to the surface.
He turned in time to see the Jager and the Catapult stroll away together and, after he climbed onto the right weapon pod of his own Catapult, he wished he had popcorn, as he watched not only those two, but another Atlas, get hammered into nothing by the remaining eight members of his Company.
(NOTE: This fight really happened, at 9:58pm MST, on Crimson Strait, on November 19th, 3050, and it is one of the most memorable fights I've been in to-date.)
Edited by Kay Wolf, 19 November 2013 - 10:39 PM.
