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PHOENIX SQUAD
Locust (John "Talon" Tavish) Lookist
Shadow Hawk(Samantha "Storm" McKinsky) Hawk
Thunderbolt (Gregory "Guardian" Tavish) Thud
Battlemaster (Cpt. "Overlord" O'Brien) Master
SABER TEAM
Wolverine (Cpl. "Sabre 3" Irons) Wolvie
Griffin ( Sgt. "Sabre 4" Andres) Drifter
Chapter V "Phoenix Reborn"
It was bitterly cold in the wasteland, while quite uncomfortable for human beings, the sub-zero temperatures were more than exception for their 'mechs.
"Overlord, this is Talon, over?"
"This is Overlord."
"We got multiple contacts on the southeast ridge, two maybe three assaults, three or four heavies, and a fast medium"
"Confirmed Talon, shut down by the parking garage and wait until further orders."
"Affirmative"
Sitting back into his seat, Captain "Overlord" O'Brien flipped open a private channel to the Thunderbolt following behind him.
"Your brother has proved himself a pretty good scout, Tavish"
"Yeah" replied the pilot of the Thunderbolt "My little brother was always the sneaky one, I remember when-"
A burst of static hit both pilots as their comm channels autodialed to a priority line
"PHOENIX SQUAD, THIS IS STORM, I HAVE FOUND THEIR SUPPLY CONVOY!"
"Confirmed Storm," O'Brian winced from the sheer volume " add a note on your map and regroup, We'll have the main force hit it"
"Confirmed Overlord, Storm out."
"Listen up team" O'Brian relayed across the team's channel "we've been tasked in leading away the enemy's main force so that Saber Team can have a clean shot to the supply line."
"Can we engage?" piped up McKinsky "because I want to blast these popsicles into... into..."
"Can it, Samantha" said the Tavish Brothers simultaneously.
A low growling sound was all that was a reply to the doubled outburst.
"Talon, power up and get their attention, see if you can lead the smaller prey towards us"
"Affirmative Overlord, flagging them up"
The Locust's engines sprang to life as John Tavish put all his weight down on the throttle, quickly throwing the younger of the Tavish brothers into the padded seat. Like a river, the 20 ton 'mech weaved through the buildings and onto the rear on the enemy patrol, He quickly squeezed his triggers, slicing a medium laser across an Atlas' back and pinging a few bullets off of a Spider.
" I just got a few, Bringing them back to you!"
O'Brien quickly spouted across the comm "Alright boy, lead him to us and we'll take care of them piecemeal"
"Uh, Talon?" Samantha whispered "weren't you supposed to try to give them to us piecemeal?"
"Why, What's wrong Sam?" John said as he whipped around another building
"Nothing there, 'Talon', just the fact that you've stirred the hornet's nest and they're ALL following you."
On the Locust's screen was Eight red dots slowly converging onto his position. John swallowed hard as one dot quickly closed the distance, it was the Spider, jumping over buildings other mechs like his would have to run around. John quickly hooked a hard left and skirted around another structure, only this time it wasn't a building, but a Heavy mech... a Thunderbolt... it was his older brother!
John snapped a private channel to his older brother
"INCOMING SPIDER, GREG!"
"SHUT UP, I'M ON IT"
The enemy Spider skidded to a halt in front of the Thunderbolt, and either out of fear or shock, spewed machinegun fire into the chest of the 65 ton war machine. The Thunderbolt slowly looked downward as the depleted uranium rounds pinged off its breastplate
"They don't call me Guardian just because I'm your older brother" Gregory said, firing all weapons (save for his Missiles) into the Spider, destroying the left leg and seriously injuring the other.
The Locust doubled back and with a retaliatory flurry of bullets, mowed down the Spider's remaining leg
"And they don't call me Talon just because I can start a fight." replied John
Another burst of static hit both pilots as the frequency Autodialed to the group's main channel
"Overlord, this is Storm, tangling with two Atlai, need assist."
Captain O'Brien replied back "Storm, keep a lock on the weakest one. Talon, try to pull the other one away. Guardian, I want LRMS on Storm's lock. I'll finish up Talon's tail."
A collective "Affirmative" from all team mates was be heard in reply. The Mercenary Captain of 25 years slowly felt something pull across his face... it was a smile...
...and he always smiled when a plan had been set into action.
Chapter 6 "Phoenix Down"
Storm's Shadow Hawk weaved through both assault mechs causing them to almost unload into each other more than once. Her Mech's right arm Medium laser was gone and all 30 rounds of AC5 ammunition was spent, leaving her with only missile weapons, compounded with a paltry range of 165 meters between all three of them, the SRM2 was the only means of defense. To make matters worse, the Shadow Hawk's chest was flayed open, bursting 9 of her 12 heatsinks and exposing the engine shielding to the elements
Samantha sweated under the heat as the remaining heatsinks struggled to keep up with both movement and the fire of her SRMS, her thin undershirt clinging to her small, yet tight physique.
"I can't take an more of this" she thought to herself, "three years of being a mercenary only to die by the hands of an unknown soldier. I should've applied for that accounting job."
Both Atlai converged onto her mech's exposed engine, she watched as their arms and torsos moved as one onto her chest, she shut her eyes tightly as she knew that even if she ejected, she would only delay her death... the cold would get her if it wasn't the weapons fire first.
seconds passed as Samantha and her Shadow Hawk stood in front of her destroyers, eyes shut and ready to die, listening for that final rapport... but it wasn't Autocannons, or Lasers... IT WAS MISSILES, ALLIED MISSILES AND MACHINEGUNS. She opened her eyes to find the two Atlai trying to find the source of both weapons, causing both to lose lock of her mech and split up in search of other prey. Now was the time to escape!
---
John lowered his Locust's travel speed just enough to lure the Atlas into a game of Peek-a-boo., Weaving though buildings in a sporadic pattern to both confuse and lure the pilot into thinking his 100 ton assault mech could keep up. It was a trick almost everyone knew, but still worked as most pilots would risk stepping over and shooting each other for the chance of an easy kill.
Just a few seconds more and the trap will be sprung, but something went wrong.
A large vibration went through his cockpit as his consoles flashed warnings. His rear armor was vaporized and his right leg was obliterated. He turned his mech around only to find over 100 tons of metal slowly creeping closer, ready to reap it's reward.
"OVERLORD, HELP ME!!"
"Affirmative, opening fire" replied O'Brien as the azure whip of a PPC and the swarm of a SRM6 from his Battlemaster sailed over the body of the Locust and into the chest of the Atlas, turning its attention to the 85 ton "Light" Assault mech.
O'Brien felt a slight surge of heat through his cockpit as he pulled another trigger, all six of his medium lasers dug into the Left eye of the enemy Atlas, incinerating it's pilot and stopping it dead in its tracks. With all the actuators and Myomer bundles seized up due to the lack of pilot input, the 100 ton beast (sans-pilot) looked more like a memorial statue than a weapon of war
"I think the Salvage crew isn't the only ones who are going to thank me," O'Brien throttled up his mech, "the younger of the Tavish brothers too."
"yes, uh, yessir" replied the Locust pilot, still quivering in his seat.
An explosion was heard not a far ways off and both Talon and Overlord converged on its position. It was Gregory "Guardian" Tavish in his Thunderbolt towering above the other Atlas, his own mech missing the shoulder mounted missile pod and both arms.
"Good thing you didn't book on us Sam, your LRM 5 was enough to add to his dismay" the Eldest of the Tavish brothers continued on ",but next time, WAIT FOR US, before you engage. The only good thing about medium mechs are the repair bills"
"Whatever" Samantha replied "I'm called 'Storm' because I'm good at what I do."
"Negative, ma'am" snapped O'Brien "Your called 'Storm' because you tend to add to the chaos, rather than fix it. Until then, you're lucky we named you Samantha 'Storm' McKinsky , I had a whole list of other names that start with 'S' reared up and ready to go just for you, most of them not-so-pleasant"
Only snickers and giggles were heard on the channel
Epilogue
A Wolverine and a Griffin trotted at the speed of 84 Klicks toward four blobs of varying height in the distance.
"Phoenix Squad, this is Saber Team, do you copy?"
no answer.
"Phoenix Squad, repeat, this is Saber Team, do you copy?"
the line sparked to life as a tired voice came through
"this is Captain James O'Brien of Phoenix Squad, what's the situation?"
"This is Saber 3 and 4, we're here to tell you that the convoy has been captured and we were able to take out the rest of the patrol. Your team taking out the Light and Assault mechs over there really helped the rest of the Merc Squad."
"Is that it?"
"I'm afraid not sir, we've been detached from the main group to oversee your repair and refit, our employers have another job for us. It involves running from one battlement to another sitting inside tiny red squares."
"are you serious? Not just one square?"
"I'm afraid so, sir"
"I guess you'll make a fine addition to us Saber Team, we'll refit and rendezvous with Saber 1 and 2 when we get there. Talon and Storm will scout the area and Guardian and I will defend recently captured areas. I guess you'll have to stick with us. Confirm?"
A collective "Affirmative" from all team mates including Sabre Team was be heard in reply. The Mercenary Captain of 25 years slowly felt something pull across his face... it was a smile...
...and he always smiled when a plan had been set into action.
Edited by gavilatius, 29 August 2013 - 03:06 AM.
