Some sections will contain aggressive contents and will be hidden as spoilers.
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Orbit - 06:37 ---------------------------
“This is the Fitzgerald to Mavera Control we’ve taken a direct hit from a dark spot meteor and are preparing for an emergency landing. Prepare to receive LZ coordinates.”
“Affirmative Fitzgerald, we’ve got lock on your position and are tracking your entry… If possible adjust your course by two point eight one degrees latitude to avoid landing in the swamplands.”
“Confirmed, firing engines one, two, and three. Be advised engine four is inop and two is at twelve percent operating capacity.”
The Fitzgerald a union class dropship descended towards the primarily snow covered planet’s temperate equator billowing dark smoke from its battered engine as small particles of pulverized rock scattered down into the planet’s atmosphere. Captain Devein Ordel stared at the primary screen that displayed the Fitgerald’s course with a red line which was slowly bending away from beneath dropship as it altered its course. Ordel hefted the retro style com microphone in his hand as he waited for the course correction to be confirmed and once it did he keyed the com “Fitzgerald to Mavera Control, course correction confirmed. Touchdown projected near grid zone forty eight.”
The union dropship’s intercom crackled with static as the vessel began skimming into Mavera Iv’s upper atmosphere “Affirmative Fitzgerald, including variation from atmospheric activity we predict you’ll land in the north easternmost part of grid zone forty seven sub zone ninety eight. We’ll have a R.W.R. unit deployed to assist you in recovery and repair ops.”
Ordel scowled and keyed the communications device harshly, he didn’t like the idea of having those he considered foreigners snooping around his ship “I personally demand an S.L.D.F. unit deployed instead control!”
Whoever he was talking to took their time answering him and sounded rather stumped about the Captain’s ‘demands’ though the static made it hard for Ordel just how confused the controller actually was “Umm, Fitzgerald is there any reason you’re making a demand in an emergency situation?”
The Captain didn’t waste a second as the secondary drop klaxons started sounding though his answer wasn’t exactly truthful “Sensitive S.L.D.F. material that’s why! If you have a problem with that then you bring it up with Kerensky!”
For all intensive purposes the material on the Fitzgerald wasn’t simply classified materials belonging to the S.L.D.F. but rather specifically to the S.L.D.F. forces on Mavera IV making up the final shipment of equipment for a mech factory that had been under construction since the construction of the main Castle Brian on the planet had been started. While the Castle Brian was well known of the mech factory had been largely forgotten about since the project had been largely abandoned until the planetary S.L.D.F. commander had brought his attention to the forgotten complex. With the help of the research division he had acquired access to the necessary materials to complete the facility and construct the newest line of 100 ton assault mechs for Kerensky and the SLDF forces fighting in the Periphery when they returned. This came at the cost of requiring the bulk of his engineers to alter equipment to produce the new mechs once the facility became active.
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 06:50 ---------------------------
The sudden emission of brightness from the barrack’s lights was blinding compared to the darkness that had existed moments before forcing Captain Karan Ferera awake. Taking hold of the support bar for the bunk above her she turned herself to the culprit that had chosen to disturb her from her sleep and looked at him with squinted eyes “What is it corporal?”
The corporal gave a salute as he jumped to attention “Mam, a drop ship’s been forced to make an emergency landing and requires a detachment to move parts and a repair crew to the site and bring back no essential personnel. Standard procedure requires an officer led escort and you’re the only one not in the general’s meeting.”
Ferera blinked once and half glared at the corporal as she sighed “An hour after pulling an all night watch just so I didn’t have to go to that blasted thing and this is what I end up with… Ugh alright, how long until the repair crew’s ready?”
Keeping his position the enlisted mechwarrior answered swiftly, obviously he had been given quite a bit more detail than just the summary he had stated which meant he was likely already selected as one of her lance mates “Fifteen minutes mam!”
Narrowing her eyes slightly Ferera flared her nostrils “Corporal… you can stop saluting you know, I’m… was off duty.”
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 07:02 ---------------------------
The mech hanger was abuzz with R.W.R. engineers and the handful of S.L.D.F. personnel who were on duty readying two lances for the escort tasking to the Fitzgerald. Captain Ferera glanced over the mechs that were going through their final fittings. Three Shadow Hawks still painted for patrol in the vast tundra regions to the north stood beside her black Orion while across the bay two Spiders accompanied by another prairie schemed Shadow Hawk along with a Talon colored for urban guard duty. Ferera turned her attention to the pilots of these mechs who were standing at the base of each of their mechs going over their load outs with the engineers. Keeping her mouth silenced she started approaching the pilots and their mechs until one of the pilots caught her from the corner of his eye “Group attention!”
Sergeant Xan Odmere threw up his hand and saluted as the pilots and the engineers on the floor swept to attention putting their heels together with their arms at their sides. Picking up her pace slightly Ferera gave a rather informal return salute “Carry on. .. What’s the layout sergeant?”
Odmere dropped his salute yet remained at attention as he answered the Captain “Mam, Storm Lance has been assembled alongside your Orion and accompanying Triton Lance is being prepped right across the way from us. Sergeant Madmeir will take Triton Lead in his Shadow Hawk while you take lead of Storm Lance mam.”
Ferera glanced at the other pilots until she spotted Sergeant Jole Madmeir and nodded a little until she looked back to Odmere. Stopping she looked at Odmere as if he was doing something odd and unusual “Sergeant…”
“Mam?”
“Your still standing at attention.”
“Yes mam.”
“Relax I said carry on. This isn’t a ceremony, it’s a mech hangar for crying out loud.”
“Yes mam.” letting himself relax Odmere proceeded to point towards the arctic schemed Shadow Hawks “We’ve kept the load out pretty simple for them, each of Storm Lance’s Shadow Hawks mount two medium pulse lasers backed by an AC ten and three tons of punch so we could keep the standard two fifties in them…” Turning his attention towards Madmeir’s Shadow Hawk he continued “Triton Lead’s been outfitted for long range support with an LRM twenty and two fives backed by two medium lasers if anything gets close, also need to keep in mind it’s the only mech with AMS in the detachment though really if we need to use any of this there’s a real problem. Madmeir’s also running with a two fifty but it’s an XL.”
Ferera listened until the sergeant turned back around, she gave a slight nod to motion back to the other mechs “What about the others?”
Odmere glanced back at the spiders “Both the Spiders are stock fitted five Ks and the Talon’s a stock five W.”
“Alright Storm Lance’ll take the front, Triton will spread out and take the sides along with the back. I want a spider on each side of the convoy and Triton lead taking rearguard with the Talon. Have we received the nav data from Mavera Control?” Karan and the other mechwarriors looked at Odmere, apparently none of them had heard anything about their travel route. Odmere looked around at all the eyes fixed on him and started scratching lightly at the back of his neck as he turned back to his superior “Mavera Control hasn’t given us a waypoint yet. We’re supposed to receive the nav route once we get moving mam.”
Odmere found that his answer received a raised eyebrow of dissatisfaction which was reinforced by folded arms “Who’s on station at Control right now?”
“Third shift mam! And it’s in the process of being relieved by the first RWR shift.” Madmeir barked out as he looked opened up the roster on a tablet computer that one of their engineers had been kind enough to share with the leader of Triton Lance.
“Great why don’t we just hand the whole begotten planet to those apes… Tell third shift to get us those coordinates, now.”
Giving the tablet back to its owner Madmeir nodded to the Captain “Yes mam!”
Ferera shook her head as she started walking to the Orion’s gantry “Madmeir forget it I’ll do it! Everyone get to your battlemechs, we’ve got to get rolling before the tech boys try leavin without us! Maintenance crew’s clear the hanger!”
The hanger echoed with footsteps as pilots rushed to their mechs and engineers either darted to the exits or went and grabbed the control lights to guide the mechs through the hanger and to the tunnel way leading out of the Castle. Waiting until the cockpit had sealed Ferera began powering up her Orion and watched the engineer in front of her battlemech as he started backing away motioning with the guide torches for her to start moving forwards. The floor vibrated as three hundred and ninety tons of metal was set into motion moving out of their gantries and towards the exit tunnel. Ferea’s receiver crackled as her Orion passed through the tunnel blast doors and her guide ran off to the side “Storm Lead, this is Hog One we’re ready for departure and are waiting at Hole Three.”
Ferera tapped the throttle pushing her Orion ahead as the other mechs followed in behind her “Affirmative, we’re in route now… Any idea of where we’re supposed to be footing it to?”
The tunnel curved like a slithering snake as the two lances waltzed forth towards the exit, the massive lights at the top casting shadows of the mechs as well as momentary lines of darkness within the cockpits as the battlemechs passed under one light only to walk into the illumination of another. The Orion’s radio fizzed a little from the muffled signal caused by the thickness of the Castle’s structure “Somewhere in grid zone forty seven sub zone ninety eight close to the tundra wastes just before the mountains and swamplands.”
Muttering to herself Ferera rolled her eyes as the tunnel exit opened up letting the dim light of the morning sun pour in “More than what I was told.”
“Attention!!!” Ferera glanced at the Orion’s com panel to see who had blared across the radio, it registered as Mavera Control “Hog’s One, Two, and three along with Storm and Triton Lance your waypoint is being uploaded now. The Fitzgerald landed roughly one hundred and seventy four kilometers from the Haldergrove Colony grid four nine two nine dash seven eight three three.”
Ferera accessed the Orion’s tactical map and watched as the waypoint popped up as a star, seeing the position she closed the map and muttered to herself “Could you land any closer to the canyons?”
The two lances emerged from the Castle tunnel coming out through the entrance that had been built into the side of a sloped road that led up to a small bridge that crossed over Haldergrove’s maglev rails. Stopping and twisting the Orion’s torso Ferara watched as the doors of the tunnel slid back into place making it appear as if the concrete mound was just the supporting structure for the road and the bridge. As the convoy maneuvered the city streets that ran between structures ranging from midsized skyscrapers to large factories that manufactured goods ranging from clothing to processed foods a lance of Minutemen passed by them. The Captain shook her head slightly with a grin, the militia was made up primarily of family members who had moved here to be with their members that were stationed at the Castle Brian. While not exactly a formidable force they did most efficiently at operating as a police force to deal with minor unrest and General Anaro had decided to authorize them to modify some of the civilian work mechs to operate as light patrol battlemechs. While not particularly well armored or armed the Minutemen made up with it in numbers, there were at least ninety six of the mechs on the planet and almost two dozen of them had been refitted for the militia. While not sounding like a large number of mechs to patrol an entire colony, Mavera IV really only had one main city and that was Haldergrove which was surrounded with seven suburbs where the farmers and miners lived.
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 10:30 ---------------------------
General Tavian Anaro stood on the marble stage of the Castle’s auditorium centered at the heart of the facilities mid sub levels making it one of the most heavily shielded areas of the Castle. All of the SLDF officers had assembled at the request of their accompanying RWR commanders who wanted to rework the facilities operations after three quarters of the SLDF garrison had been replaced by RWR personnel. The change out had occurred a while ago and none of the commanding officers had felt comfortable dividing the Castle by unit so instead shift had been divided however as of late this had been causing conflicts because of the different ways each force operated. Anaro had taken the past two hours to go over the general manning strength and maintenance status of each section of the Castle Brian with his own officers before the RWR commanders showed up. General Tavian Anaro looked up to the main entrance as his counterpart entered with the majority of his subordinates behind him “Ahh good now we may continue.”
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Tundra Wastes - 10:57 ---------------------------
The network of snow cover canyons would’ve made a pilot’s head spin if they didn’t have a tactical map and even then it could still drive your sense of direction into confusion. It had taken the convoy group a little longer than they had planned but finally they emerged from the maze and strolled out into the hilly tundra where the Fitzgerald sat. Ferera glanced at the tiny specks around the drop ship, apparently some of the crew had disembarked to inspect the damage. Keying the Orion’s radio Ferera inspected the relatively flat topped hill the drop ship had landed on Triton take up position on the far side of the Fitzgerald, we’ll keep watch canyon side.”
“Affirmative.” was Madmeir’s response as he pulled ahead in his Shadow Hawk with his lance trailing behind them. Ferera spun her Orion around about four hundred meters from the Fitzgerald and slouched back into the pilot’s seat, now for the waiting game.
“Fitzgerald to Storm Lead, Fitzgerald to Storm Lead!”
Jumping slightly and almost smacking her head against the top of the cockpit Ferera switched open her microphone “Storm Lead, what is it Fitzgerald?”
Rubbing her forehead with a hand Ferea listened to Captain Ordel’s voice as it crackled over the radio “It’s going to take some work to get this bird airborne again, estimate about eight hours with the damage we’ve sustained. After that we’ll be able to make an in atmosphere flight over to the spaceport for more thorough repairs.”
Ferera twisted the Orion’s torso to look at the drop ship “You can fly that thing in atmosphere? It’s not exactly designed for it.”
Ordel’s grin was almost audible in his answer “It’s not exactly designed to fly with only two good engines either but it did.”
Ferera switched off her microphone as she turned the Orion back around “That wasn’t flying, that was falling with style.”
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Mavera Control - 11:10 ---------------------------
Corporal Winnard Lang sat at GASWSD (Global And System Wide Sensor Display) console that monitored every single one of the twenty sensor drones in the Mavera System, as the only SLDF person on duty for the shift after he had been picked to replace his ill counterpart. He wasn’t sure why but he felt uncomfortable being around people outside of his unit, not regular ‘these are people I don’t know uncomfortable’ but something more, something worse. Glancing over at his shift mates he saw that they appeared equally uncomfortable almost as if they were worried by his presence.
“PING… PING PING PING PING PING…”
Lang’s head whirled around as the console kept chirping until a grand total of fourteen RWR ships had dropped into the system’s primary jump point. Lang spun around and looked at his present commanding officer “Sir, fourteen contacts just dropped into the system. We weren’t expecting any fleet movements through the system were we?”
His Lieutenant shook his head and walked over to inspect the sensor readout “Miss jump perhaps? Open up a channel and try to contact them.”
The Lieutenant stood behind Lang’s chair shifting about as the Corporal activated the star port's transmitter “This is Mavera Control to Rim Worlds Republic ships, request that you identify and state the purpose of your unexpected arrival in system.”
The intercom crackled to life as the Lieutenant moved his right hand behind the chair “This is Lendrix flagship of the eighth Rim Worlds Republic task force to Mavera Control. I do believe our arrival was expected, please recheck your data.”
The Lieutenant’s laser pistol interrupted Lang as he moved his hand to check the schedules. He pulled the corpse out of its chair and reactivated the transmitter “Lendrix, this is Lieutenant Rolten, we have been expecting you. Please proceed as planned while we inchoate operations down here and activate the O.D.S. to assist you in your cause.”
The reply was swift and simple “Affirmative.”
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 11:20 ---------------------------
“So you want to distribute permanent duty of sections A through D to your men while we operate E through H?” General Anaro raised an eyebrow towards his counterpart General Neromi shocked by the blunt proposal to split the facility in half. Neromi gave a single nod and showed the display on his tablet to Anaro “Yes, it would give both sides’ equal responsibility and control over the operations of the facility just as was intended.”
Neromi suddenly shifted and held the tablet in his right arm while his left reached for the pager device on his belt. He looked at the numbers and flared his nostrils “Ahh, can you give us a moment General there is something I have to discuss with my men.”
“I don’t see any reason not to; take as long as you need General.” Anaro said as he swept his vision across everyone in the auditorium.”
“Thank you…” Neromi turned to face the seats and occupants of the auditorium “Rim Worlds Republic officers, with me.”
Major Lennath Sverard turned himself and watched as their counterparts exited the auditorium “Want us to split the place for you pigs and can’t even talk about your business in front of us… Bah.”
“That’s enough Major!” Sverard looked to General Anaro and stood to attention “Yes sir!”
Another five minutes passed and Sverard shifted slightly in his seat then looked at the Captain beside him “I’ll be back in three, might as well hit the latrine while the sharks are quarreling with each other.”
Sverard stepped out into the center isle and walked to and through the main doors of the auditorium. He closed the doors behind him and looked over at the RWR personnel, what he saw made him freeze on the spot. All of the officers were grabbing weapons off of carted weapon racks and a full platoon of armed RWR soldiers were now with them. Sverard glanced at the red alarm button that was across the hall from the doors of the auditorium and jumped towards it. Neromi looked up and pointed his laser rifle at the Major “And so it begins.”
The others noticed Sevrard and followed suit, the Major was dead before his elbow even smacked the alarm and the volume of fire so great that all that remained of his body were his limbs and a charred scar on the floor of the hallway. Red emergency lights began flashing and klaxons roared all across Resolute. General Anaro jumped at the sound of the alarms and began looking around frantically “What in the name of Terra is going on!”
The doors of the auditorium burst open and a wave of grenades flew through the air until they landed on the floor or in chairs and began rolling their way downwards. Several officers shouted grenade and dove away before the devices detonated killing many people in the confusion. A few of the remaining officers reached for their side-arms and realized they had none before twenty soldiers and some forty RWR officers poured into the auditorium and began opening fire on them indiscriminately. The attack was not isolated however as SLDF engineers found themselves being engaged by mechs and RWR troops as well as even RWR engineers who fought them hand to hand. SLDF pilots ran to their mechs only to have many of them disabled by explosive charges set on their foot and knee actuators, the chaos of the Amaris Coup had arrived.
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Tundra Wastes - 11:28 ---------------------------
Ferera jumped when the red L.E.D. on her com panel lit up and the speakers screeched like a high pitched siren “What!” the Captain scrambled to switch the Orion’s radio frequency and flipped on the transmitter “Resolute, this is Storm Lead, my general alarm just went off what’s going on?”
Ferera waited but the only reply she got was static and she switched frequency’s again “Triton Lead did your general alarm go off?”
A tad of relief swept over her as Madmeir’s voice crackled over the Orion’s com “Yes mam, but I can’t raise Resolute or Mavera Control I only get static.”
Ferera began piloting her Orion towards the snowy canyons “Same here... Storm Lance form up with me, Triton Lance stay here with the Fitzgerald… Actually scratch that get them out of here and to somewhere safe.”
Ferera found herself being interrupted by Captain Ordel as he butted in over the drop ships com “We have supplies that needs taken to Tesla. We can take the crew and supplies there, it should be safe.”
Scowling Ferera growled lightly as her lance fell into formation “Alright then, are the supplies loaded up?”
“Yes, we loaded them onto the supply trucks that brought the repair materials.”
“Fine then, get moving and don’t stop for anything until you’re there.”
“Should I transfer a waypoint to your mech?”
Stopping her Orion Ferera turned her mech around to face the Fitzgerald “Negative, do not transmit the waypoint over coms to ANYONE until we know what’s going on. Lead Triton Lance to Tesla, transmit the coordinates to my mech via laser pulse transmission.”
The Captain watched the primary display of her cockpit as Ordel’s vehicle transmitted the coordinates to her receiver though to any normal pilot the series of dashes and dots would’ve been nonsense. The display went idle once the coordinates were transmitted in their encoded format leaving Ordel’s voice to crackle back over her com again “You understand that?”
Ferera turned around once again to bring her Orion to face the snow covered canyons “I’d be a fool if I didn’t. Ordel, don’t trust anyone right now be doubtful of even the people at Tesla until we get some intel.”
“I know Lieutenant Colonel Aldarus personally Captain, you don’t tell me who I trust and don’t trust.”
Ferera’s voice reflected her mood and expression, cold and venomous “For your sake I hope that doesn’t bite you in the behind.”
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Orbit - 11:45 ---------------------------
“Someone tell me what the heck is going on!”
“Not exactly sure sir, we’re picking up large volumes of weapons fire on the surface though but we’re unable to establish contact with anyone.”
“What about the RWR ships inbound?”
“We haven’t received any response from them either sir!”
Captain Callahan gritted his teeth on the bridge of the Duke of Wellington a McKenna class vessel that was stationed around Mavera IV and was part of a special refit project by the scientists from the planet below. All of the Duke of Wellington’s primary armament had been replaced with NAC/40s mounting eighteen on each side of the vessel for a total of thirty six all in total backed by forty two LB-10X ACs placed throughout the ship. Callahan put his hands together and tapped at his chin with his index fingers as her thought. Standing up he walked over to his communications officer “What’s the status of the SDS?”
“Unknown sir, we’re unable to establish control or even contact the SDS.”
Furrowing his eyebrows Callahan sat back into his chair “Send an alert to the RWR ships ordering them to hold position and informing them of the engagements of unknown status on the planet.”
The Duke of Wellington’s communications officer nearly jumped out of his seat causing Callahan to look over at him. Before the Captain could utter a word the wide eyed com officer blared out at the top of his voice to his commanding officer “Laser pulse transmission from Militia HQ, RWR are hostile!”
Callahan pointed towards the main view screen as he shouted to the DOW’s bridge officers “Bring us a broadside, ready all cannons! BATTLESTATIONS!”
“Sir SDS is coming active… We’re being targeted!”
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, we’re already outnumbered and now our own defensive system is being turned on us, “Get ahold of Militia HQ and tell them to retake the SDS control systems at Mavera Control! Deploy all aerospace fighters… on the double!”
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Haldergrove Colony / Militia HQ - 11:48 --------------------
Liam Pellard, Commander of the Mavera IV Militia peered through the blinds of the Mavera IV Militia’s HQ and looked down at the streets below as RWR light mechs strafed the streets spraying their flamers indiscriminately setting both civilians and ground troops ablaze as the heavier mechs engaged each other on the outskirts of the city and around the access points to Resolute. The lower floors of the HQ had already been torched killing several of his staff and a portion of his militia had been caught off guard but now the patrols that roamed the suburbs were on their way. While they didn’t carry much in the way of firepower they would be more than a simple annoyance to the RWR forces that weren’t preoccupied with the SLDF.
“Sir?”
Liam turned to the lieutenant that stood at the HCom communications station that linked the HQ with the spaceport’s laser pulse ad receiver array “What is it Ferera?”
Elias Ferera reread the text that had appeared on the screen “The SDS is under Republic control and a fleet of RWR ships is inbound. The Duke of Wellington is requesting that we retake control as soon as possible sir. If the Duke of Wellington and her fleet is destroyed sir, there’s no way we’re going to be able to win.”
Pellard slapped a hand against is forehead and let it drag down along his face until it fell to his side “We don’t have the firepower to engage the RWR head on, but we don’t have a choice either do we? Have all personnel down to the armory and prepare for immediate deployment. And lieutenant I mean everyone, we’re going all in for this.”
The building trembled as a Shadow Hawk was annihilated further down the block as Pellard headed for the stairwell. Ferera flipped on the HQ’s intercom “Attention, all militia personnel are to immediately proceed to the mech armory on sub level three for deployment. I say again all personnel proceed to the mech armory immediately.”
Down in the mech bay Pellard climbed up into his Hunchback 4G where he waited for his staff as they trickled down into the armory. Pellard tapped into the armory’s intercom as he began powering up his mech “Get to your mech’s we’re going in. The RWR thugs have taken the spaceport and the SDS, we’ve got to take it back and I’ll be cursed if we don’t throw everything we’ve got at them…” With a flick of the frequency setting Laim switched his transmitter over to contact the inbound militia patrols “This is Commander Liam to all militia forces, redirect to Haldergrove spaceport and retake Mavera Control… This order cannot be countermanded until Mavera Control is operated by SLDF or militia forces.”
Pilots and staff workers piled into their minuteman and Hermes battlemechs as Pellard’s Hunchback stepped away from its gantry. Ferera leapt into the seat of his Blackjack 1DB and checked the status of the armory doors “Sir, the blast doors aren’t responding we’ll have to detonate the explosive bolts.”
Pellard stopped at the large doors of the armory as he scowled “Then do it, or I’ll shoot our way out.”
The Jackrabbit and Phoenix stood over the burnt hulk of the SLDF Shadow Hawk as they returned fire into a building from which militia infantry had been spraying small arms and SRMs at them. “This is Fulman, we have some infantry in grid one dash eight who are proving to be most irritating, request a flamer squad to assist.”
Fulman forced his mech to jerk and take a step backwards what had appeared to be the dock doors of the factory beside them blew from the building and squashed his lancemate’s Jackrabbit. “What the? I’ve lost Rider Two, the building beside us…”
A stream of AC20 rounds burst from the dust and smoke to cut him off as it tore off his already crippled right torso. Pellard’s Hunchback waltz through the debris and into Fulman’s view triggering an instinctive reaction that made him fire his PPC though at this range it had no effect on the urban combat mech. Three SRMs darted from the building he had been shooting at earlier and they were followed by another salvo from Liam’s AC20 finishing off Fulman and his mech which crashed to the ground away from the fallen Shadow Hawk. Pellard took a brief scan of the heavily marred building a company of his militia infantry was in before flipping on his com “Infantry units move from building to building and provide support on our assault against the spaceport.”
The company of mechs rushed through the streets behind Pellard as the ground vibrated from explosions and smoke billowed into the sky. Elias flipped on his radio as they closed in on the spaceport’s perimeter “Sir civilians are getting slaughtered in this… our families.”
Letting a scowl creep across his face Liam wanted to spit, Elias was right, it was undeniable that civilians would be getting massacred in all the fighting “Infantry and police units report in.”
“This is C Company reporting seventy percent strength; we’ve still got your back sir as ordered.”
“B Company, we’re pinned down inside the west side library… a friggin atlas just fell on fourth platoon’s building across the street.”
“D Company here, reporting fifty percent operational status, A Company has eighty percent casualties and the rest are KIA. We’re all pinned down at the Haldergrove Medical Center. Civilians trying to get in are being… cooked sir.”
“This is E Company we need reinforcements! We’re pinned down just outside Northside school grounds… They’re hitting the preschool with AC twenties! There’s nothing we can do sir we’re at five percent strength! F and G companies are gone!”
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Haldergrove Northside - 12:21 --------------------
“This is E Company we need reinforcements! We’re pinned down just outside north side school grounds… They’re hitting the preschool with AC twenties! There’s nothing we can do sir we’re at five percent strength! F and G companies are gone!”
Gripping onto the control stick the his Griffin 1S Master Sergeant Tannin Rho flicked on his transmitter as he listened to the militia status reports “This is Viper Lead to Militia Infantry Company Echo, I am on my way to assist.”
Turning in the direction of the education centers the Griffin stepped over the wreckage of two Shadow Hawks and the overly charred wrecks of what were once three RWR mechs leaving a severely mauled Thunderbolt to trail behind him though Rho’s Griffin wasn’t much better off. Glancing at his status display screen Rho inspected the condition of his mech as he listened to Pellard giving orders “All remaining companies other than C Company begin immediately escorting civilians into Resolute, do not engage unless absolutely necessary.”
Rho sighed grimly as he noted his mech was now missing its LRM launcher and half its overall torso armor, hopefully there wasn’t anything to heavy in the way but then again they had mentioned AC 20s. Suddenly the Thunderbolt’s pilot burst in over the radio “Sir, incoming orbital bombardment!”
Riveting his eyes to the sky Rho made out a cluster of fire balls darting across the sky, something didn’t seem quite right to him as he muttered to his lance mate over the radio “Too slow to be AC rounds…” his face turned to stone as he tested his mechs ability to increase speed “That’s debris, someone’s fleet’s raining down from the skies. I hope it isn’t ours or the mess we’re in right now’s going to look like a flea on a bear compared to what’s coming.”
The two battered mechs blundered out of the clustered high rises and into a park that surrounded all of the Northside’s educational facilities. Even with their radios not transmitting Rho thought he could hear his lance mate curing as they stared straight at the backside of a Pillager 1N and a pair of Jackrabbits. Tapping his transmitter Rho also pushed his mech to full acceleration “Corporal, keep back and cover me… when they turn around.”
Watching the range counter on his display he waited until it read fifty meters before he flicked at his console and fired all his lasers at once though one of the buttons wasn’t for firing a weapon’s group. “Override Engaged.”
The Pillager stirred like a sleeping grizzly that had been kicked in the back, whirring around and bringing both its auto cannon twenties to bear on Rho’s Griffin at point blank range. Rho fired one more time before activating the mech’s ejection system sending him flying into the air just before the Pillager fired straight into the Griffin’s already battered center torso. With the override engaged nothing stopped the Griffin’s reactor as the AC 20 rounds ripped through it triggering an overload. Rho closed his eyes as his shoot deployed and hoped as his mech detonated vaporizing the two Jackrabbits and peeling off the Pillager’s frontal armor. Down below Corporal Valdez threw everything his Thunderbolt had through the light and cloud of debris kicked up by the Griffin. The dust started to settle and Valdez found himself staring down the barrels of two AC 20s with a very angry Pillager behind them. His machine guns hadn’t stopped firing and it was fortunate for Valdez as a few of the round cracked into the Pillager’s ammo magazines turning what was left of the one hundred ton mech into a smoking wreck as it tumbled to the ground in a heap. Blowing a sigh of relief before activating the Thunderbolt’s radio Valdez turned his eyes to the sky “Viper Lead, are you alright sir?”
Grabbing onto the hand radio strapped to his uniform Rho keyed the device as he continued floating towards the ground “I’m fine for now, get into cover somebody was sure to have heard the commotion…” changing the frequency over the militia channel Rho continued “E Company this is Viper Lead, get everyone out of there as fast as you can. If anything bigger than a flea comes this way we aren’t going to be able to stop it. Viper Lance is at one quarter strength.”
“Already on it Viper Lead, we started moving the moment that explosion kicked up all the debris. Thanks for the cover.”
Sighing Rho dropped his hands to his sides and closed his eyes as he waited to hit the ground until he was distracted by the roar of rockets as several craft launched from the Haldergrove spaceport. The master sergeant watched as the vessels bolted up into the sky leaving him muttering to himself while the ground drew closer to his feet “Need to take control back of the SDS.”
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Orbit - 12:25 ---------------------------
“The Enduring Presence has been destroyed sir and the Rhinehammer is venting atmosphere, both M Five drones are moving to engage us sir!”
Callahan sneered as he watched the escorting cruiser Enduring Presence as it broke apart in high orbit “All ahead full! What about the RWR ships?”
“They’ve slowed speed sir, I think they’re waiting for the SDS to cripple us.”
“Then we’ll just have to throw a wrench into their plans. Put them between us and the SDS vessels, make it a dang crossfire.” Callahan said as he pointed to the Duke of Wellington’s navigation officer. The vessel began to change direction bringing it to point straight at the inbound fleet of RWR ships “Aye sir.”
“Sir, we’re picking up multiple M Threes and Mark Thirty Nines inbound from Haldergrove. They’ll catch us before we reach the RWR fleet sir.”
Callahan slammed his fist against the arm of his chair and cursed out loud only to be cut off by a frantic voice that burst in over the intercom “Mayday, mayday, mayday this is the SLS Rhinehammer to any receiving vessels, we have lost life support and engine power. Orbit is decaying and half our life pods have been destroyed. Requesting immediate assistance! I re… t…. is…”
Callahan cringed as the static grew unbearable and shot a glare to his communications officer “Cut that static, now!”
His communications officer shut off the intercom and sat there silent for a moment just staring at his screen until finally his lips moved “Sir, the planet side SDS craft just destroyed the Rhinehammer completely… No signals from any escape pods or life boats… nobody got off the ship.”
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Haldergrove Colony - 12:30 --------------------
“Already on it Viper Lead, we started moving the moment that explosion kicked up all the debris. Thanks for the cover.”
Liam gave a small nod of approval as his Hunchback turned the corner and came in view of the spaceport’s perimeter. Two lances of Minuteman battlemechs already stood outside the entrance standing over a pair of fallen Rampage’s and a lance of destroyed Minutemen. As Pellard and his group moved to link up with the two remaining patrols that had returned from their rural patrols the main culprit of the two destroyed Rampages stomped into view from behind one of the blown out structures at the corner of the intersection. A Marauder 3D stood with the other Minutemen, its right arm missing and its left torso armor cratered and full of holes “This is Stingray Lead reporting to assist, the rest of my lance’s mechs were sabotaged in Resolute’s mech bays. Only reason I’m up is because of a firing exercise with India Lance, they’re covering our west flank Commander.”
Bringing his Hunchback to a halt Pellard inspected the condition of his patrols as he replied to the Marauder’s pilot “Glad you’re with us, what’s the status on the spaceport’s defenses?”
The Marauder turned itself to face into the spaceport through the destroyed gates that permitted the multilane highway entrance “Perimeter turrets are offline, I think the Sharks encountered a bit of a problem with the targeting parameters once the alarm was raised. If the schedule is anything to go by there’ll be two lances of mediums inside the spaceport. If we could get access to the turret controls it would make it a lot easier to take and hold the spaceport.”
Accelerating towards the wall’s archway entrance into the spaceport Pellard called to the infantry following him with a key of his transmitter “C Company fall in behind us, once we’re inside head straight for the control and don’t stop. Get in there and take the facility no matter what, this is all or nothing…” Broadening his focus to his mechs the militia commander continued “All units fall in on me, and prioritize any targets I call.”
Liam respired as he accelerated his Hunchback through the archway into the spaceport’s open parking lot across which the main terminal and cargo bay were. The parking area was largely deserted with only a few vehicles of the employs sitting empty however out across the vast area of landing pads and drop ship gantries Pellard could see one of the medium lances turning and charging straight for them. He flipped open his com channel as he rushed towards the terminal for cover “Lance of Phoenix mechs inbound! Take cover, those things have PPCs that’ll punch a hole in your cockpit. Wait until they’re in close then rush them, keep moving to avoid their SRMs… C Company move through the terminal and neutralize any threats, hopefully by then we’ll have taken care of the RWR mechs.”
His mech’s intercom crackled as the infantrymen ran by his Hunchback “Understood, but as you ordered sir we won’t wait.”
Pellard furrowed his eyebrows as the Phoenix mechs rounded the corner of the terminal “Good.”
The four Phoenixes stopped and opened fire in a panic as they found themselves swarmed by tiny twenty ton mechs their PPCs merely washing over them due to their proximity. A few SRMs found their mark however many missed and the R.W.R. pilots found themselves being nibbled to death by machinegun fire. Pellard buried a volley from his Hunchback’s AC/20 into the cockpit of the lead enemy mech and it turned to fire its SRMs into the Hunchback which was a much slower target than the irritating Minutemen that circled them. The lead Phoenix stopped stiff as a pair of large lasers drilled through its battered cockpit and it stood motionless for a second before falling backwards into one of its companions. Elias’s Blackjack waltzed past Liam’s Hunchback and stabbed into the next Phoenix with its large lasers as Stingray Lead pounded into the third one with what was left of his Marauder’s weapons. Another Phoenix was flatted from a volley from Pellard’s AC/20 when his com crackled to life “SLS Duke of Wellington to any receiving, we are under fire from planet side SDS craft. Get that system offline NOW!”
Slamming his throttle to full Pellard charged past the two remaining Phoenix mechs knowing full well there was another lance of them about though he also knew that they had to take the SDS back “All units advance, advance, advance!”
A PPC hit the back of his Hunchback triggering the internal klaxon as his mechs internal components were exposed. Slamming his mech in reverse and spinning around he unleashed a volley from his AC/20 at the second lance of Phoenix mechs inbound. He saw two of his Minutemen break off and dart into the lance as they passed the fuel depot, then it happened. The shockwave knocked his mech to the ground as the Phoenix mechs tried taking out the Minutemen with their SRMs only to hit the fuel stores igniting them. All that was left of both the Minutmen and the Phoenix’s was charred metal.
“DANGER REACTOR FAILURE IMMINENT!”
Pellard got his Hunchback to its feet and pulled the ejection mechanism as he keyed his radio “Clear me, mechs goin crit!”
Pellard shot up into the air a split second before his mech burst into a bright white sphere of light, the heat washing over Elias’s Blackjack as he backed up away from his Commander’s mech. Elias keyed his radio as the white light faded “All units advance to Mavera Control!”
The remaining mechs surrounded the control tower with the Minutemen picking infantry targets of opportunity off with their machineguns as the militiamen ran into the ground floor entrances of the control tower. The windows lit up from the gunfire inside as Elias stopped his Blackjack and opened his cockpit. Scaling down his mech Elias took a moment to glance up to see Liam as he guided his shoot towards Mavera Control. Pellard keyed his hand radio as he drifted down “Bet they won’t be expecting the airborne to drop in, see you inside C Company… Elias get inside, they might need your help with the SDS.”
Elias grabbed his radio as he ran through the set of double doors going inside “Already on it sir!”
Drawing his laser pistol Elias slowed down to a walk as he proceeded along the hallways, following the path of corpses that littered the way upstairs to the control center. About halfway up the stairs his radio crackled to life again “Charlie Twelve here, building is secure but ummm… we don’t have the slightest clue how to work this stuff.”
Bolting up the stairs Elias rushed for the control center as the pained huffing of Liam began echoing up the stairs from below him. The sound of Liam’s radio being keyed reached his ears followed by his fatigued voice “We’re nearly there! Lock down the area!”
Liam and Elias burst into the control center where four of their infantrymen were crouched in positions that either pointed out into open areas of the spaceport or straight at the stairwell entrance.
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Canyon Networks - 12:30 ---------------------------
The shallow canyons were a quite a bit more than irritating to navigate especially in circumstances that merited a general alarm and the pilot didn’t even know what situation triggered the alarm. Finding a not so steep section of slop in the canyon wall Ferera throttled her Orion up it. The seventy five ton mech nearly halted at the rim but carried just enough velocity to push it over the top. “Resolute, this is Storm Lead… Resolute, this is Storm Lead please respond.” Giving a concerned sigh she glanced in the direction of Resolute and Haldergrove. Continuing on towards the colony on top of the canyon she keyed her radio to her lance “Storm Two, give me an educated assessment of what’s going on here.”
Her lance mate keyed his radio as their lance trotted only ten meters away from the edge of the shallow canyon “A lot of things could be going on Lead, pirates’ maybe?”
“What about the com blackout? I don’t think pirates would just lug around a blackout jammer everywhere they go.” Storm Three barged in since it was on the lance frequency causing a slight scowl to creep across Ferera’s features as a not so small memory pricked her in the back of her brain “You don’t know pirates then, but if you’re so sure that you’ll put it out without being asked then what do you think’s going on?”
The arms of Storm Three’s mech aimed up into the sky as he continued “I think we’re being attacked by one of the houses. Not too smart of them but they’ve never been too bright.”
“Hey, what are you saying? And why would the Federated Suns attack Mavera Four? You have so…” the rather irritated voice of Storm Four called over the radio until he was interrupted by Storm Two “Contacts! Full lance straight ahead, reading two Jackrabbits and two Phoenixes!”
Storm Three’s Shadow Hawk suddenly slowed falling behind the others “Lead, you don’t think?”
Ferera growled as she charged forwards “Don’t go there and fall in to group Storm Three. I want to know what’s going on and I’m not about to go trigger happy on a farfetched guess.”
“I don’t think it’s that far…” Storm Four found himself cut off by one of the Phoenix pilots “Venom Lead to Storm Lance, we’re unable to make communications with Resolute or any other military forces planet side or orbital do you have any clue what’s going on here?”
Ferera keyed her radio on general frequency and responded to the RWR lance leader “Negative Venom Lead we were hoping you could shed some light on what’s going on.”
Suddenly the veil of static lifted as the militia disabled the blackout jammer at Mavera Control and a stream of reports came flooding into the coms of both lances. Venom Lead inspected the significantly heavier Storm Lance “Ahhh crap, can’t expect the desk jockeys to do anything right can you… All units fi…”
The RWR lance leader was jolted as the right torso of his Phoenix was sawed off by a hail of large pulse laser fire backed by a super heavy single shot AC/20. The pilots of Venom lance found themselves temporarily stunned by the sudden lifting of the communications blackout followed by Storm Leads intense cursing that was followed up by a single word “Die!”
The Shadow Hawks leapt at the lighter mechs coming too close for the PPCs to be effective leaving Venom Lance to be torn apart in a hail of laser and cannon fire. Storm Lance stood in the middle of the carcasses of their enemy and Storm Four turned his Shadowhawk towards Ferera’s Orion “Great now what? Resolute’s going ta be crawling with sharks.”
“What about the General?” Corporal Talin Wey called in over her radio from Storm Two, her voice rather shaky from shock and worry as Resolute was their home and that home was also the home of their apparent enemy.
Ferera slammed the throttle of her Orion and waltzed towards Haldergrove “Now what, I’ll tell you now what! Now you’re goin ta watch me dissect some…” the curse words were on the tip of her lounge about to pour from between her quivering lips when she was interrupted by a familiar voice from Mavera Control as it burst over the Star League frequency “Emergency, this is Elias Ferera of the Mavera IV Militia to any receiving Star League officers. We have acquired Mavera Control but are unable to take control of the SDS.”
The radio key would’ve probably broke if Karan’s fist hadn’t missed it for the most part “Elias, what’s going on!”
Her voice must have startled him as he stuttered initially “Ka… Kar… Karan, are you alright? Ah, the Rim World troops set the SDS to attack the SLDF ships in orbit and we don’t have the access codes so we can reset the system and target the RWR ships attacking Mavera Four.”
Karan cursed to herself and would’ve spat if she hadn’t been in a mech “Switch to channel Grimwell.”
She altered the primary frequency of her radio and re keyed it “Ready to receive?”
“Affirmative.” It was a short but certain response allowing Karan to continue without much delay.”
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Orbit - 12:58 ---------------------------
The RWR flagship shook again as the SDS ships brought another salvo down on the invading fleet. Admiral Flitz gripped the arms of the Lendrix’s command chair and gritted his teeth “Open a channel to the General Neromi, NOW!!!”
The Lendrix’s communications officer turned in his seat and nodded to Flitz “Channel open sir.”
Flitz barked at the frontal monitor out of habit, having been used to seeing the person he was talking to display on video transmission rather than simply audio only “Neromi, what the world’s going on down there! You’re supposed to be targeting the SLDF not US!!!”
Neromi’s voice trampled the static that fizzled over the coms however the sound of weapons fire cut the static as well “We aren’t, we lost Mavera control and a large portion of my men are stuck inside the castle. These cursed SLDF engineers and techs are being more of a nuisance than their entire command staff!”
Flitz scowled and slammed his fist into the arm of the command chair “You incompetent fool, get the SDS back or I’ll remove it AND you!”
The Lendrix shook again before Neromi was able to answer Flitz “We can’t, SLDF forces are tangling with most of our forces and the militia overran our forces at the spaceport!”
Flitz’s weapons officer glanced back at him and shook his head “We’re taking heavy damage sir, we can’t take much more punishment and we’ve lost ten ships."
Flitz’s look of hatred would’ve shattered glass as he leaned forwards and pointed at the planet on the Lendrix’s display “Bring all thermonuclear weapons online, disarm their safeties and target EVERYTHING! If we aren’t getting the lab then neither are they!”
“You can’t do that, I have men down here!” Neromi’s voice howled over the intercom leaving Flitz look ready to spit in distaste “You failed your task, now we’re all going to suffer. Just be glad you’re not going down in the books as a traitor though an incompetent fool isn’t much better.”
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Orbit - 13:02 ---------------------------
“Radiological signatures detected emitting from the Lendrix sir!”
Callahan jumped out of his chair when his weapon’s officer shouted at him “What are their targets!”
His weapon’s officer wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead as he double checked what his console was telling him “Us, the SDS ships, and the colony sir. Readings indicate roughly… No…”
“No what! Answer me Lieutenant!”
“Possibly eighty two nuclear capable missiles sir.”
With jaw dropping audibly Callahan stood dumbfounded at the prospect of eighty two thermonuclear weapons annihilating everything from the surface clear up into orbit. Slamming the ships intercom button on his chair Callahan’s voice broke “All hands abandon ship, plot escape pod courses a minimum distance of two hundred kilometers AWAY from Haldergrove. I say again all hands abandon ship!”
Snapping his fingers at his weapon’s officer Callahan then pointed to the bulkhead that led off the bridge “Set all broadside weapons systems to maximum rate of fire and get out of here…” turning his glance to the officer at navigation he then sat in his chair “Place us between the Lendrix and the colony then I want you out of here!”
The Duke of Wellington lumbered into position as its crew rushed to the lifeboats and escape pods that fled to the planet below in a hail that made it look almost as if the battleship was firing both its broadside and portside weapons though only the vast array of LB-10Xs and NAC/40s were firing from its broadside. Callahan watched the flames of missile motors light up even as the RWR ships were torn apart in the wall of cannon fire thrown out by the Duke of Wellington. The RWR fleet had been crippled before their decision to launch and now it was certain that their bombardment would destroy them as well as the SLDF forces at Mavera IV. Leaping from his chair Callahan landed himself at the helm and turned the ship to the Lendrix as he tested the ships integrity by pushing the vessels acceleration beyond safe levels, with full hull integrity. The Duke of Wellington buckled and groaned as the rear sections of the ship tried to accelerate faster than the forward areas could overcome inertia. The first wave of missiles bolted by the battleship as the point defense turrets rotated to their maximum forward angles. LB-10X pellets found their homes in a few missiles in the second wave and Callahan was blinded by a spectacular moment of intense light as two of the warheads went off from their contact with the explosive pellets. A chain reaction started in the wave of missiles with the shock wave disintegrating the badly mauled RWR ships while the crippled Duke of Wellington flew straight into the shock wave like a cruise liner steering into a rogue wave. Callahan was thrown from the chair and slammed against the floor breaking his leg and cracking a couple of ribs but that was not the end. The forward hull plating of the Duke of Wellington tore away and structural supports melted, the other shock waves hit the ship and Callahan felt the wind of a hurricane rake at him as the air escaped through a hull breach. There was no hold for which to grab onto and so the captain was pulled from his ship into the cold of space as the shock waves dissipated.
--------------------------- December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Canyon Networks - 13:15 ---------------------------
“We’ve done it, the RWR ships are getting pounded, I think we’ve done it!”
Karan gave a slight nod of her head in satisfaction on what Elias was reporting. Giving a sigh that was half relief half displeased Karan flipped on her com “Good, what’s the status of RWR forces on the ground?”
His voice crackling over the radio Elias gave a uncertain squeak at first “Ummm, looks like most forces on the surface have been moped up but there’s still a lot of fighting going on in the castle from what I can tell from short range coms…” Elias stopped briefly as a klaxon began to sound in the background “What, no, no, this can’t be happening.”
Karan ran her finger of the com key once in hesitation, she wasn’t exactly sure if she wanted to know judging by the sudden quaking in his voice but in the end she keyed her com “What is it?”
“It can’t be…”
“It can’t be what?”
“Betrayal is one thing but… how could they?”
Karan slammed the side of her mech’s cockpit in frustration “What! Are they in the perimeter?”
Elias’s voice grew louder as he brought his head closer to the microphone on his end “Karan, I’m, I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing we can do… I love you.”
Feeling her blood freeze Karan panicked “Elias, what’s going on!”
“I love you.”
Wide eyed Karan stared in the direction of the colony as she answered him through her fear “I love you too.”
“Maxon’s in the castle, I hope he’ll be alright down there. If he survives tak…” Suddenly Elias was cut off by static triggering Karan to stop her Orion. In that instant a series of blazing white lights lit up on the horizon and grew to fill the cockpits of Storm Lance. Karan ducked her head beneath the console of the cockpit and spun her mech around as her free hand grasped at the com to switch it to her lance “Don’t look at the light! Turn around, turn around!”
The Shadow Hawks spun one eighty as Karna brought her head up and with a quick glance she looked down into the shallow canyon nearby “Into the canyon, MOVE!!! Forget any damage your mech takes just get down NOW!”
Almost tumbling her Orion down the steep slope Karan half slid half ran her mech down into the canyon and purposely threw it off balance throwing the mech to the ground front down “Get down and away from the cliff or you might get hit by falling debris!”
Her lance mates followed her example and practically crashed their mechs against the ground and then the shockwave came bursting over the top of the cliff. Even inside their cockpits the wind was painfully loud and was powerful enough even with their lowered altitude near the canyon wall that one of the Shadow Hawks rolled onto its side. Once the shockwave passed Ferera brought her mech to its feet but that was all she did for a long minute. The Shadow Hawks stood up and Storm Four keyed his radio “What happened? Captain?”
Storm Two blared over the radio sounding none too happy “What happened, what happened? Are you bloody serious! Haldergrove and everything within fifty clicks just got vaped that’s what just happened! How could you not figure out that that was a nuke when it literally just blew up in our faces!”
“Shut it! Captain what do we do now? Haldergrove’s ground zero, we’ve got nowhere to go! CAPTAIN!” Storm Three almost screamed over the com half in panic and half in frustration.
Ferera snapped out of her stunned daze and barked at her lance members “The castle’s built to withstand nuclear bombardment, we need to get back there and assess the situation and assist any survivors before too much radiation gets to the lower levels.”
“Great why don’t we just jump into a microwave and toast ourselves now! I’m not going back there!” Storm Four’s Shadow Hawk turned in the opposite direction of Haldergrove to vacate the area.
A blast from a large pulse laser vaporized a boulder beside Storm Four’s mech causing him to spin his mech around as Karan sat in her cockpit glaring at him “You’re going, or I’m burying you here. There will be people there and leaving them behind… We might as well have been the ones to drop the bombs on them and how do you think we’d react if we met them?”
“Hey some of those Sharks were probably in the castle too, we’ve got killing to do.” Storm Two looked back and forth between Karan and Storm Four until a bunch of cursing came over the com followed by “Got to be barbecued to do barbecuing I guess.”
Karan let her lance in front of her and followed them not wanting to receive an unwelcome slug in the back after a knife had already been placed there by the RWR “Pull out your rad badges.”
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Haldergrove Colony - 15:22 --------------------
By the time Storm Lance reached the outskirts of where the colony had been fallout had already started dropping from the sky covering the layer of ash that already sat on the ground. Chatter coming from crewmembers in their escape pods calling for extraction had been pouring through the radio for the past hour and a half missing in with intermittent shouting from marines fighting in the castle ruins. Coming over a small rolling hill Karan stopped the lance stopped to glance and search for the best route into the colony. Many of the structures had collapsed or simply been blown apart covering many of the roadways with debris many of which were far too steep for a mech to traverse. Storm Four keyed his com as he looked out across the scorched flatlands to the southwest “I don’t see a soul about. You’d think any survivors would’ve jumped in anything with an engine and try to make a break outta here. Why would they huddle up in a fallout zone?”
“Unless someone’s stopping them Corporal, the RWR boys are probably still fighting with anyone in the castle trying to save their own worthless hides… When I get my hands on them they’re going to wish they ate their own nukes.” Karan throttled her mech towards the ruins spotting a particularly small pile of rubble that their mechs could probably climb. “Wey, see if you can get over this rubble here and check what it’s like in town.”
Corporal Talin Wey sped by Karan’s Orion in Storm Two “Yes mam!”
Scrambling her Shadow Hawk up and onto the debris she stopped at the top and stared at the object that was a short way down the street with a twenty ton chunk of sky scraper crushing it “Captain…”
“What is it?” Karan was pushing her mech up the rather steep slope of ten meter high debris.
Talin’s voice reflected her frown “Street a head’s blocked…” she gulped audibly “got a school bus with a piece of tower flattening it.”
“Think anyone was in it?” Storm Four keyed his radio as he rushed to the base of the debris Wey and Karan were standing on. His mech had put one foot on the debris when he jerked his mech to a halt his eyes locking onto a burnt char that vaguely resembled a person. “Captain this is a graveyard, what are we walking into?”
Karan hobbled her mech down off of the debris and onto the street in the direction of the wreck blocking the roadway that went straight to the center of Haldergrove. It appeared that the force of the shockwave had pushed the bus down the street before the top of the skyscraper had disintegrated and fallen. Now having stopped now her eyes were catching the scorch marks that bore a resemblance to outlines of human bodies a few of which had melted hand held machine guns beside them. Keying her com Karan narrowed her eyes “Don’t think about it and don’t look around for the sake of sightseeing. Keep vigilant for mechs and armor; leave the attention to detail to me Shenk. Wey scout out the roads and find the closest route that isn’t blocked by something.”
Wey bolted down the road to Ferera’s right as Karan turned her Orion away from the roadblock “Got it Captain.”
Wey glanced at her rad badge as she snaked her way through the streets, apparently the titanium and diamond fiber was acting as an acceptable radiation shield, for the moment. Rounding a corner further into the colony Wey came upon a twisted pile of wreckage from two Shadow Hawks and a Phoenix that had melted together in the blast the heat appearing to have ignited their ammo stores as giant holes cratered a few spots of the barely discernable mechs. Her eyes bolted up as something waltzed out between her and the wreckage obscuring her sight of the debris as it walked by. Excited Wey snapped on her com “Captain, I found the General in his Atlas!” she flicked her com frequency to communicate with General Anaro’s Atlas “General, what’s the status of the castle, what are your orders sir?”
The Atlas seemed to hesitate before stopping and turning towards Wey standing still and eerily silent for a moment as unbeknownst to Wey the pilot was taking careful aim for her cockpit.
“General, what’s the status of the castle, what are your orders sir?” Karan gave an irritated sigh as she pushed her Orion to follow Corporal Wey. It wasn’t exactly how she was wanting to link back up with the CO, with a subordinate running up to him and pestering him with questions in the middle of a crisis, but at least they had made contact with the… Karan felt her head ring with pain as a loud bang burst over the com so loud the speaker screeched from the volume. She could have sworn that her ears were bleeding but what was more important at the moment was what in the world had caused the sound. Evidently it was an AC/20 to Wey’s cockpit while her com was still open as when Karna rounded the corner she found Wey’s smoking Shadow Hawk on the ground blown back a few meters from where it had been standing. Gritting her teeth Karna grasped the trigger of her controller and cursed as she aimed towards the Atlas. At this point she didn’t care who was piloting the mech even if it really was General Anaro they were dying, now. Sharpshooting the Atlas-D Karan smacked the AC/20 with an alpha strike of two large pulse lasers and an AC/20 ripping through the side torso’s armor before she backed around the corner. Storm Three and Four came hustling up behind Karan and wobbled to a halt as her Orion nearly backed into them. Corporal Shenk blared over his com as he took up a staggered position behind and to the side of Karan’s Orion “What happened that blast over the com nearly drove me deaf?”
Karan growled as she watched the stream of SRMs from the Atlas go flying by “We’re killing this X X X X!”
They were still on open coms so the Atlas pilot had most definitely heard them and not knowing how many opponents there were he was now backing down the road towards the intersection where the wreckage was. Shenk knew they were on open coms too and waved his arms before darting his Shadow Hawk down an adjacent street. The Atlas backed into the intersection and found his side torso being cut open by a pair of medium pulse lasers followed by an AC/10 volley that skimmed the front of the Atlas doing minimal damage. As he spun his torso around to slam into Shenk’s Shadow Hawk the AC/20 ammo cooked of and the Atlas’s right torso exploded ripping off a sizable amount of armor from his enter torso. Karan came charging back down the main road like an angry bull crippling the Atlas’s left arm in a single alpha destroying its medium laser. Not only did it cripple his arm but the sheer impact of the single massive AC/20 round knocked the Atlas back tripping it on the pile of wreckage behind it. Panicked the RWR pilot reached for the ejection lever preferring to face the radioactive fallout than sudden death, this wasn’t to be so however. He felt a brief instant of overwhelming heat wash over him then the bright light of two large pulse lasers vaporized the Atlas’s cockpit and disintegrated him, his scream seeming to join with the sound of the pulse lasers. Karan wanted to spit as she turned her Orion and waltzed from the General’s ruined mech “If we weren't in such a frag cluster I would’ve gotten out and strangled the X coward.”
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Haldergrove Colony - 15:48 --------------------
Other than the General’s commandeered Atlas they hadn’t seen soul topside and the reason was becoming a little more obvious as they climbed over the debris that littered the streets. Eventually the clutter turned into one giant pile as they reached the inner parts of the city where not a single structure stood higher than thirty meters and even those that did stand were rare. Karan’s Orion slipped slightly jolting around before it reached the top of the nearby rubble, she stared at the sight in front of her as her two remaining lance mates stopped beside her. His draw dropping open Shenk muttered to himself for a moment before flipping on his com “What did this, how many nukes did they drop here?”
She clenched her jaw upon Shenk’s inquiry about the forty meter deep crater that spanned nearly a mile in radius having been blasted by multiple thermonuclear missiles detonating in the same area “Enough to take the castle out of commission. We need to find a way into the lower levels, this section has been smashed. If they can get Anaro’s Atlas out then we can get in.”
Private Darwin Stockard tapped on the com of his Shadow Hawk as he turned east “Command battalion’s mech bay was on the east side of Haldergrove. There should be a tunnel way beneath station four mam.”
“Alright then Storm Three take point but keep in my sight. Question is now is whether or not the entry point is intact.” Karan called over the lance com as she steered her Orion around the crater which they’d have to skirt around first at a reasonable distance in order to avoid having a weak section of the ground collapse beneath them. It took nearly ten minutes to skirt the crater and snake through the roads that weren’t blocked by fallen buildings and steep piles of rubble. The third floor of the maglev station had been complete sheered away and most of the maglev system had been blasted to the ground while the rest had been simply blown away. The central column that supported the rails directly in front of the station stood six meters tall and beside that was a long slanted ramp that allowed for cargo to be loaded onto the maglev trains. The three mechs rounded the station and Stockard stopped in front of the ramp, its two meter thick concrete surface blown away by weapons fire. Bringing her Orion around Stockard’s Shadow Hawk she began descending the tunnel way into the castle “I’ll take lead, Shenk follow me, Stockard bring up the rear.”
Darkness, darkness was all Karan could see as they trudged deeper into the facility forcing them to switch on their infrared imaging so they wouldn’t bang into the walls. The upper levels had either had their power supplies destroyed or their grids knocked out by the massive EMP from the nuclear strike whatever the case it didn’t change what they found in the first mech hangar. Many of the mechs were still in their gantries but instead of standing they were collapsed on the ground their leg actuators having been sabotaged with explosives leaving them crippled the moment the coup began. That wasn’t the only thing however, the pilots of the mechs were lying cold on the floor some killed by small arms fire others obviously hit by mech-scale weapons. Karan trudged through the hangar and into the next tunnel way down towards the secondary mech hangar where emergency lighting was still operating. Coming into the hangar she walked her mech into a firefight between RWR soldiers and some SLDF engineers that had gotten their hands on some weapons ranging from welding torches to projectile pistols and SMGs. Laser pulses cut through the infantrymen like a hot knife through butter some being completely engulfed and completely vaporizing as her massive battlemech came hauling at the RWR troops as fast as it could move. The Orion finally stopped, its foot planting firmly where a crew served machine gun had been, technically it still was there just in a much more compact form along with its operators.
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 16:14 --------------------
Turning her Orion around Karan guided the mech into one of the gantries as she keyed her lance on her com “Sit tight in your mechs and keep watch, I don’t want the X to get their hands on another mech and I don’t want to get you caught up in an infantry skirmish.”
“Umm… Mam, what are you doing?” Stockard asked as Karan opened her cockpit hatch feeling rather uneasy that their lance leader was getting out of her mech. One of the engineers scrambled from his cover and ran over to the gantry controls as Ferera stared over at Stockard through his cockpit glass while keying her com “Kicking the X out of these traitorous X X for putting a knife in our backs. And I want to figure out where the General is.”
Bolting from the seat of her cockpit she climbed out onto the gantry walkway and began descending the ladder as the other engineers started checking the remains of their deceased RWR opponents. Walking over towards the engineer at the gantry controls she nodded to him as he made the gantry retract “What’s the status of high command, how are you guys holding up?”
The Sergeant clenched his jaw and let his hands drop to his sides “We’re, my company is running at a ninety percent casualty rate. The Sharks chewed most of us up before we knew what was going on, only a few of us were lucky enough to be with pilots who had weapons or close enough to a pipe or crowbar to fight the X.”
Karan closed her eyes and rubbed at her forehead “And command, Sergeant?”
“There is no command; they were the first ones to get the boot. Anybody higher than a Lieutenant is gone; I hear they got hit with high powered grenades. We haven’t been able to reach that part of the castle and the nuclear bombardment crippled the upper levels along with most of the base’s communications.”
Holding up a hand Karan motioned for him to step back with a wiggle of a finger. She stood there for a long minute with her eyes closed leaving the engineer taking another step back as she opened her eyes “Who’s in charge?”
The Sergeant glanced at her ranks insignia and nodded to her “At this point… you are.”
“X” Karan cursed as she marched out of the hangar “X terroristic X X can’t X face anyone in a battle, have to put a X knife in your back then drop X nukes on your X because they can’t aim for X.”
The Sergeant shook his head and then called to his fellow engineers “Come on troops, looks like we’re going to go spill some blood.” He muttered to himself as he turned to follow the Captain “Going to be taking orders from a butter bar before the days over the way she’s charging ahead. Pilots, think they can handle anything after they’ve scorched a mech… and we’ve got to fix the things.”
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 16:14 --------------------
The hallways smelled with the stench of burnt bodies which was added to by the explosive scorches and laser burns on the walls. She stepped over a pair of SLDF guardsmen who had been unfortunate enough to encounter a flamer equipped RWR squad before they could reach their weapons locked in the armory. Ferera pulled her laser pistol from its belt holster and put her shoulder against the wall as footsteps echoed around an intersection in the hallway. The laser pistol gripped tightly in her hands was ready to cap whoever came around the corner in the dome but once the two SLDF marines came into view Ferera lowered her weapon “Hey!”
The two marines stopped and switched direction coming down the hallway, combat pacing up to Ferera. Karan scanned the two troops over while her venomous tone interrogated them for information “Where are you two going and what other units are in the vicinity?”
Jostling the rifle in his hands the Corporal kept glancing over his shoulder half expecting someone to pop out around a corner and fire on them; of course having an officer standing right beside them didn’t help the feeling “We were headed to Armory C1 over by the high command quarters. A couple of squads have some of the shark brass pinned down in the area and the Sergeant’s thinking they’ll make a run for the armory again mam. There are a few other squads still around but they’re either pinned down or chasing runaways.”
Karan pulled the laser pistol from her belt holster, one spot on it appearing resurfaced as if an emblem or serial number had been ground off and coated over “Take point Corporal.”
“Yes mam.” He answered and turned though his accompanying Private was visibly nervous as he hesitated to turn then stopped and faced Karan again “Mam?”
Her demeanor took a complete flip right down to the look in her eyes jumping from focus on the combat to the soldier in front of her “Private?”
“What’s going to happen? I mean if we… when we defeat these guys, what are we supposed to do? The colony’s been nuked to Sol and the HPG’s been vaped with it.” He said even as the Corporal nudged him in the arm trying to get him to drop the subject. Ferera clenched her jaw in silence that seemed to last for minutes though in reality it was only a few seconds “We get out of here and start surviving until help arrives or we’re back on our feet.”
Karan looked back down the hallway as she nudged the Corporal “Right now let’s worry about the Xs sitting around waiting to put a knife in our backs. Corporal, move out.”
The two marines took off down the hall at a modest combat sprint with Karan keeping her back facing the wall while she followed them leaving the engineers from the hanger trailing behind checking rooms and grabbing weapons from the cold hands of the deceased. One of the engineers approached a door that had been left unlatched and was opened slightly allowing him to poke his head in. Karan and the two marines spun around as a loud bang rang out from behind them the byproduct of a sidearm discharging sending a lead slug flying just above the engineer’s head. Promptly jerking back from the door the engineer pointed towards the door and into the room as he backed away while holding his other hand up and extending two of his fingers to indicate that he had seen two people inside. Karan crept along the wall and stopped at the edge of the door as the marines took positions across the hall on either side of the door. She reached for the door handle when one of the rooms occupants barked at them causing her to jolt her hand back “Get outta here or you’ll be scrapping his brain off the walls with a spatula!”
Karan looked at the two marines appearing almost ready to roll her eyes “Who exactly are you going to redecorate your room with? And oh yeah, if you kill him what’s stopping us from barging in and returning the favor?”
The second occupant spoke as the RWR soldier stuffed the barrel of his pistol into the back of his skull “Master Sergeant Belrich Glovner, three three eight’s master armorer…” silenced by a whip of his captor’s pistol the hostage taker shouted again at Karan and the others standing outside the door “Try it, I’ll just use him as a human shield. Who knows maybe you’ll be the one to kill him.”
The marines could see Karan speaking to herself, her lips not uttering a word of what they were motioning though they could tell it wasn’t anything nice. Her silent cursing ended with an impolite gesture from a single extended digit on each of her hands before she walked over to the Corporal. With a hot glare she stared at him for a moment and cursed a single word loudly as she pulled a grenade off his vest and turned back to the door. Startled by her action the Corporal took a step after her “Mam, what are you do…”
“Shut it and keep out of the Xing way!” Karan growled before turning back to the door and holstering her pistol. Stopping at the door she pulled the pin then barged in holding the grenade out for the two occupants to see. The RWR regular jammed his pistol against the Master Sergeant’s skull and shouted as Karan walked in “Keep back!”
His order was met with an equally seething reply from Ferera “What, you shoot him and I toss this at you…” he pointed the pistol at her as she walked towards the two of them and kept talking “Ohh that’s Xing smart, you shoot me and the grenade goes off any Xing way. And if you think you can throw him on it, he’ll just roll off and your fat X stll gets roasted like a fat bird.”
At this point the guy was switching his aim between his hostage and Karan completely at a loss as to what to do in a way that he could survive. Karan stopped and practically snarled at him “Ohh so you’re all cool sticking a couple nukes up our Xes but if you find a Xing grenade staring you in the face you don’t know what the X to do!”
Involuntarily responding to his change in attention and to the comment he took his aim back to Ferera who leapt the next few feet towards him and slammed the bottom of the grenade into his right eye socket which shattered from the impact. At the same time the grenade was finding its mark Ferera was pushing the Master Sergeant away with her other hand sending him stumbling towards the door. Giving a shout as her fingers released pressure on the secondary safety of the grenade she started backing away from the RWR soldier “Get out, get out!”
The RWR withered to the ground as he grabbed at his shattered eye socket until he heard a metallic clank of metal hitting the floor. He looked at the grenade Ferera had dropped to the floor just as she was scrambling out of the room. Slamming the door closed Karan heard a panicked scream as she hunkered down to the side of the door before a loud boom sounded accompanied by a flash around the edges of the door. Master Sergeant Belrich Glovner stared at Ferera through wide eyes as they stood up “What the X were you thinking?”
Karan answered bluntly as she glared at Glovner “Of the hundred other ways I’d have preferred to kill his scrawny X if I didn’t have to worry about your hide…” with a blink her expression changed slightly turning to more of a counter stare rather than a glare “You still in one piece?”
Glovner glanced at his arms and legs half expecting to see a metal shard sticking from him that he didn’t feel in the shock of what had just happened “Looks like it, only thing I’m missing’s a weapon… Ahhh…” he took note of her rank “Mam.”
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 16:35 --------------------
As they approached the auditorium the smell became choking to the point some of the marines they passed were wearing masks. Karan stopped at the closed doors of the auditorium leaving the two marines to continue on as she nodded to the guard standing in front of the doors “What happened?”
The Private had a frown embedded into his expression with all sense of order completely gone, the only thing left were the duties and tasks he was given “A Xing bloodbath, anyone that goes in has a hard time not slippin and falling on their behind.”
She waved a hand at him motioning for him to get out of the way as she went to open the doors “Let me see, someone had to survive. They had to.”
“No mam, not a single brass avoided the X whoppin the sharks hit them with.” The Private said as he stepped aside letting Karan open the doors and walk into the crimson auditorium. Karan closed the doors behind her and scanned the room for a second before a flashback thundered through her head drawing a sick feeling to her stomach. Coming back out into the hallway Karan looked to the Private as she rubbed her forehead with one hand trying to get the recollection out of her head “Tell me Major Sverard wasn’t in there!”
Nodding a little he pointed at the floor as he answered the Captain “Found his tags and his head there… That’s all that’s left of him there. Everyone’s so shaken up nobody wants to touch anything.”
Looking at the burn scar on the floor Karan got on her knees and closed her eyes for a minute. Her mind spoke though her lips did not move, why did you have to be here, why’d they have to take you too?
Standing up Karan took a deep breath that was accompanied by a shiver before walking off down the hall after the marines she had been following. Now the halls seemed to echoes with the shouts and screams of the dead coming from both memory and the terror of what had just befallen the people of Mavera Four. By the time she had wormed her way through the corpse filled hallways and found the SLDF troops the RWR personnel had already surrendered. Ferera’s eyes swept over the prisoners and came to the Master Sergeant who was directing his subordinates in their efforts to secure all of them. It took a moment for the Master Sergeant to notice but once he finally did he brought his attention to the Captain “Mam?”
Eyes narrowing until they were small slits that looked almost as if her eyes had shut Ferera pointed to the RWR members while her voice snaked from her tongue like silenced shots from a sniper rifle lacking volume but carrying a large amount of loathing “What is going on here? Why are they still alive?”
“They surrendered as prisoners of war mam. Operational procedure says we are to apprehend them and detain them… Though I’m not exactly sure where we’re going to put them with the whole planet being nuked to X.” The Master Sergeant started rubbing his chin as the realization they didn't have anywhere truly secure to put their prisoners dawned on him.
Something switched in her eyes as she looked back to the warriors of the Rim Worlds Republic, a glint of twisted imagination reflected from them as they opened back up “Is there a machining shop nearby?”
The NCO nodded as he motioned back passed her with his head “Yeah, over by the mech hangers why?”
Ferera turned and started walking off as she answered him over her shoulder “Bring them there and have them secured to a table of the wall… something.”
Shrugging the Master Sergeant turned and looked at his subordinates “Well, you heard her. Move these sorry sacks of lard.”
Ferera waited for the troops to bring the prisoners over and directed them to fasten their shackles to the clamping table that was cemented to the floor in the middle of the room. When they had finished they looked at the Captain who stared at the enemy in front of her in silence for at least a minute before she let one word slip from the side of her mouth “Leave.”
“Mam?” One of the Privates shifted the rifle in his arms as he stood in confusion.
“Get out of the room and have two men posted outside. Don’t come in unless I call for you, I don’t care if you hear them calling for help…” she started walking over to a welder’s apron as her eyes narrowed and her voice developed a venomous tone “Do not enter.”
The SLDF troops shifted and hesitated before one by one they vacated the room confused as to why an officer would want to be alone with the enemy. A few theorized she was working with them and that was why she was alive in the first place while others drew a much much darker picture of what her plans were.
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 16:48 --------------------
“General Marcus Neromi, serial number three eight seven seven…” Ferera cut the General off with a harsh growl as she secured the welder’s apron around her “Shut it.”
Neromi snorted as he tapped his fingers together unable to lift his hands as the shackles holding them had been clamped to the table “As a prisoner of war the Rim World Republic only permits me to disclose my name, rank, and serial number.”
“War, what war? Last I checked there was no formal declaration of war.” Karan started walking over to the General grabbing a soldering iron from one of the benches as she walked. Switched the soldering iron on she leaned on the table beside him and fiddled with the device as it started heating up “There never was a declaration of war by you which means there’s no war for you to be prisoners in. No, you know what you are? You’re terrorists, and as such you don’t get treated like a warrior…” Putting the bottom of the handle against the table so that the tip of the soldering iron was pointing up she put a hand on Neromi’s back “Do you know what I mean?”
“We are troops of the Rim Worlds Republic, we are a legitimate military unit and as such…” Neromi started to shout a little but he was cut off by Ferera who fisted her hand and slammed in against his back nearly making him bite his own tongue “I don’t think you see where I’m going with this. Do you see where I’m going with this? Here let me show you!”
Not expecting the action Neromi didn’t have time to make a sound as Ferera used her free hand to slam his head against the table.
Spoiler
The other RWR officers and troops watched as he fell from the table, the soldering iron now having replaced one of Neromi’s eyes.
One of the lower ranking prisoners jerked back from Neromi’s corpse with a yelp earning a hard glare from Ferera “What, you had to have seen all the gore that you created out there and know about the ruin above. What makes seeing one of your own getting slaughtered so different from one of my people?”
His gaze dropped down lacking an immediate reply though one of his superiors hissed back at their captor “We don’t slaughter unarmed people like barbarians such as you. We had legitimate orders to take this planet by force, where are your orders?”
Turning to switch on one of the machines Ferera gave a coarse yowl that was a cross between a chuckle and a growl “Don’t slaughter unarmed people? Have you tried telling that to the ashes of the people you blasted into low orbit? Have you told that to bodiless blood that is all that remains of all the people you annihilated in the auditorium? You know what, I’ve heard enough venom seep from the tip of your tongue.”
Ferera grabbed the hand portable machine tool she had switched on and walked up to the Colonel who proceeded to stamp, trying to bring his boot down on her foot though he missed.
Spoiler
Slamming his skull to the table she lifted the tool, which the prisoners now saw was a metal grinding tool, and brought its rapidly spinning wheel down on the side of the Colonel’s face.
At this point the other prisoners started screaming in horror loud enough so that the two guards outside heard them clearly.
“Should we go in?” The Private asked his Sergeant.
His superior shook his head and pressed on of his elbows against the door as if to shut out any thoughts the Private had of going into the room “Cappy said to stay out here and only go in if she called. Now I don’t hear her callin do you?” pausing for a moment he motioned through the door with a few tilts of his head “You saw how nuts she looked goin in there, you want to be screamin like them?”
His subordinate brought his eyes to watch down the hall while hiding his nervousness underneath a stone face “No Sergeant.”
“Shut up!” Karan turned off the grinder and stamped it into one of the screaming onlooker’s face leaving a well-defined red circle on his cheek.
“Mam.”
Ferera brought her glare to the grunt that had been the first to start whining earlier taking particular note that he had addressed her properly with extreme nervousness “What?”
He gulped visibly and seemed to be wanting to take a step or to backwards though his clamped restraints made that impossible “I, I, I didn’t kill nobody; I’m just a technician. D, don’t kill me like that pl, please.”
“Quite you sniveling coward.” One of the other Rim Worlds Republic soldiers said which was met with a momentary glare from the Captain before she refocused on the grunt “You picked the wrong planet to be on the wrong side on but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt…”
Their attention was focused on the grinder which Ferera put on the table while with her free hand which they were watching she took her pistol from its holster. The moment the grinder clacked against the table she raised her pistol and fired into the grunt’s head before he had time to even realize what was moving in the corner of his vision. With him out of the way she put her pistol back in its holster and grabbed the grinder again “When I’m finished with you, you’ll have wished you were him.”
Switching the grinder on she walked over to the soldier that had rasped at the grunt she had just killed and held onto one of his shackles with her free hand
Spoiler
while bringing the grinder around to the tips of his fingers and slowly pushing it in towards his knuckles.
The screaming started again, this time even louder as the person being tortured was free to shout even if he wasn’t free to move.
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 17:15 --------------------
When Ferera finally open the door and stepped out into the hallway the front, arms, and gloves of the welder’s apron looked red as the background on a Kurita banner which the two guards starred at wide eyed as she raised the face shield. Turning her head Ferera brought her eyes to the Sergeant while her features were like stone “Get a squad suited up in hazmat gear and take the prisoners to the surface. Have them chained up, I don’t care to what just make sure they can’t go anywhere and that they’re stuck outside.”
Jaw dropping open the Sergeant waved his arm around pointed through the doorway then down the hall then back through the doorway “Are you nuts mam? If we lock them up top side without any gear they’ll die of radiation poisoning long before they ever starve to death.”
In one slow motion the Captain turned to entirely face the Sergeant as the glare from her eyes burrowed into him seeming to stab at his soul “I know, that’s why I’m ordering it done. They made the world above what it is; now they can die in it. If you think for one moment that I’m going to show some restraint and keep them alive… you can join them.”
“Ahh, no mam; I’ll see to it that it’s done immediately.” He shook his head and straightened his back seeing that the comment was sincere and that the Captain’s mood was like a flame licking at the bottom of a gunpowder keg. The Captain walked away leaving the two guards at which point the Private took the opportunity to peek inside. Grabbing his stomach he cringed choking as he slammed the door shut “Oh Terra, I think I’m going to be sick… No, I know I’m sick.”
His superior helped him sit down against the wall before he started to vomit off to his side leaving the Sergeant patting him on the shoulder “Hey, pull it together, we've seen far worse today.”
Cracking the door open he took a peek inside discovering Neromi and another prisoner lying on the floor
Spoiler
amongst crimson stained tools and machines his eyes focused on a Major who laid on the table with a crowbar jutting from his head.
Closing the door shut again quite quickly he looked back to his subordinate and helped him to his feet “Never mind. Do you think you’re going to be alright? I’m going to grab a few extra guards for the door while I go and get a squad suited up.”
“Yeah I’ll be fine. Did you see their hands Sergeant?” The Private put a hand to his forehead as he nodded to his superior.
“I think I’ll pass on that, but I know these guys aren’t going anywhere. Just keep standing for me will you?” Patting his soldier on the shoulder on more time the Sergeant jogged off down the hall and it was only a minute later that four more troops came hustling down the hall.
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 17:20 --------------------
“Auxiliary Command Center is operable and indicates Resolute is at thirty two percent operational capacity…” Master Sergeant Glovner spun around in the console’s chair to face Ferera “Looks like the labs were never breached. Cursed eggheads diverted two companies of marines to defend the place and now what are they going to do with all of it; blow it up? Can’t let the enemy get ahold of it and we don’t exactly have anywhere to go!”
“Can it!” Ferera loomed over one of the other consoles and put on a headset “Quit gabbin’ and give me the intercom.” Glovner switched on the castle’s intercom, what was left of it, signaled by a loud crackle over the speakers embedded into the ceiling. “All Star League personnel, this is acting castle commander Ferera, all units are to coordinate with local senior-most NCOs and officers and execute evacuation preparations. Utilize all functional mobile assets, even enemy ones… Additionally if you see a member of the Rim Worlds Republic, shoot their X.” With a wave of her hand she signaled Glovner to switch off the intercom as she took of the headset and tossed it into an empty chair. Waiting for what seemed like an eternity Glovner watched Ferera standing in silence seeming to stare off into nothingness “Mam, should we go down to the labs?”
A shiver went darting down his spine the way her eyes looked as she turned her face to him, cold almost to the point of appearing dead, depressed, it was a look he had never seen in anyone before and her voice only amplified the feeling sounding dreadful and lost “Where’s my son?”
“I, I, I don’t know mam.” Was all that Glovner could respond with, the effect of her appearance and the lack of having the answer throwing him into a flabbergasted stutter. He knew the answer was unsatisfactory but he didn’t even know she had a son let alone know his name; what could he do about it?
“Timothy A Ferera, start looking… now.”
Nervously sifting through battle reports at the console Glovner gave her a nervous nod “Yes mam, where should I begin? He wouldn’t be in the castle’s troop roster; all I have to go on are these battle repor…”
“Flip the Xing intercom on you X and request a report from any units escorting or guarding kids!” Glovner watched the water in a glass beside the console ripple as if it too had been frightened by the sudden outburst of anger that felt as if it had pierced his eardrums “Yes mam!”
He didn’t look back but he could hear her feet tramping towards the doorway “Any units that respond tell them to ask the kids if one of them is Timothy Ferera. When you find out where he is contact me on channel twelve.”
“Mam?” The word came out nearly muffled by his hesitation and he could tell that what he was going to ask wasn’t going to go over well but he had just pushed himself into it. Ferera stopped and turned on one foot making an audible grinding sound against the concrete floor “What is it Master Sergeant?”
“What if, what if I can’t fi, find him?” The corner of his mouth contorted in anticipation of the sonic boom that was about to occur but instead the answer he received was delivered militaristically, simple and blunt “Then take command of the survivors and pilot my Orion. I am not leaving this place until I find him even if it means cooking my X with radiation scouring the surface for him.”
With that she was gone before he could even acknowledge that he had heard what she said. Putting on a headset and reaching for the intercom button he muttered to himself “Got to find him or I’m screwed.”
The intercom light went red as his index finger depressed the switch indicating that the system was on though the crackle over the speakers was more than enough confirmation for him “All units, all units, this is Auxiliary Command, any personnel accompanying children are to report in immediately and escort all children to hanger Sierra Charlie Bravo Mike Hotel Four.”
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 17:28 --------------------
“This is Doctor Krowner to Auxiliary Command; I have an urgent situation here in infirmary two with regards to your request. I’ve got twenty children here with serious injuries, my remaining staff and the corpsmen are being overwhelmed here by their requirements alone. On top of that I’ve got injured piling up in the hallways that need attended to.”
He knew what he was about to do would make him look like a total X but he had his orders and the sooner the Captain found her own son the sooner she’d probably focus on everything. Switching on the console’s radio Glovner answered the Doctor “This is Auxiliary Command, Doctor are any of the children you’re attending to named Timothy Ferera?”
“What, I’m treating them as patients not lining them up for roll call! I’m telling you I need immediate assistance here and you’re asking me for names! I’ve got work to get too.” The heated shouting ended with an abrupt screech as the Doctor on the other end flipped off the infirmary’s wall com in frustration.
“Auxiliary Command, this is Lieutenant Mermin acting commander of Militia E Company I have Master Sergeant Tannin Rho here and about two hundred students. I don’t know where exactly we are and the power is out. I don’t even know what the rad levels are here.”
Glovner reached for the radio switch when it dawned on him, what were the radiation levels in the castle “Understood Lieutenant, is there any way you can make your way further underground?”
“Negative, we’ve got collapses all around us. Command, Rho and about ten of the students are in pretty bad shape. We need help, now.” Judging by his tone Mermin was in a state of panic of course having a bunch of nukes go off around you then being blanketed in darkness while the building around you crumbles would probably panic you pretty effectively.
The Master Sergeant put his fists up to the sides of his forehead and put his elbows on the table “I know Lieutenant but if you can’t tell me where you are we can’t help. Look I’ve been ordered to ask, is there a Timothy Ferera there?”
Glovner could hear muffled talking in the background of Mermin’s radio and after two minutes the answer came “Yes, he’s beat up pretty good Command. Do you request to speak with him?”
Almost shouting as he bit the side of his cheek from clamping his jaw shut feeling tense about the current predicament he managed to recover enough to make a pained response “Standby Lieutenant I’m going to link you to the Captain.”
Fumbling with the console he switched to channel twelve “Captain, I’ve got a report confirming your son’s alive in the castle.”
“Where is he?” The reply was blunt as if expecting bad news and Glovner had to deliver it “We don’t know mam. I’m going to patch you to Lieutenant Mermin mam.”
Ferera stopped didn’t stop walking down the hallway towards the hanger as she heard Glovner working in the command center until a brief scraping sound indicated the two signals had been tied together by the computer “Lieutenant?”
“Yes, mam?” Besides the panic it sounded as if he had been taken off-guard probably expecting another male officer and not her “Listen to me and listen to me very carefully. Figure out where you are and do it right now because I’m coming and if I get there and find that my son has passed away I’m going to hurt you.”
The radio crackled, Ferera could hear someone else grab the radio and whoever it was sounded out of breath and weak “Last… passed by… mech hanger P.C.B.N.H. four.”
Breaking into a sprint Karan rushed towards the hanger she had left her Orion in, we walked through there on our way in! Stumbling into the hanger she found a few corpsmen tending to injured personnel in the empty bays as engineers rearmed and tweaked the mechs that were there, including her Orion. She stopped and looked at Shenk and Stockard then barked out to everyone in the hanger “If you can walk and aren’t helping the injured then follow me, that includes you two Storms Two and Four.”
One of the engineers hoped off her Orion’s left foot and brushed his hands on the front of his coveralls “What’s the order mam?”
She pointed to the tunnel way leading to the surface as she started jogging towards it “There’s a large number of people trapped up by the primary hanger, we need to get them out; now!”
Several of the engineers stopped and a few even looked at each other as another one shook his head in refusal “No mam, the radiation up there’ll fry us. They’re as good as dead already and we’ve got to fit the equipment we do have so we’re at least partially shielded.”
Halting to turn around Karan’s face was twisted by the emotions that pulled at her from several different directions “One, I am ordering you. Two, there are children up there and we are NOT going to leave them to die up there. Three, one of those kids is mine! Four, I’m going the X up there and not sitting back to let you do all the work so I sure as X expect you to follow me. Five, if the radiation doesn’t kill you for refusing I will!” A few people had already started moving again by the time the first reason had left her tongue and by the time she started on reason number three only a handful were still standing hesitantly.
One of the corpsmen looked to his fellow medics and gave a nod “Handle this lot; I’m going to go up with the crew. There’s probably a lot of injured needing help up there.”
Walking passed the three engineers that still stood declining to proceed into the potentially irradiated upper levels of the castle the corpsman made sure to fix his disgusted glare on them so that saw his facial expression.
------------------ December 27, 2766 - Mavera IV Castle Brian Resolute - 17:46 --------------------
“Come on sarge hang in there.” Master Sergeant Tannin Rho felt his hand being held against the gash in the side of his forehead; a result of being in the mechbay when the bombardment started.
Lieutenant Mermin inspected the radiation band wrapped around his free wrist and groaned as he looked at one of his NCOs “I’d say we have about ten more minutes before we’ve received critical doses of radiation.”
The Sergeant started to nod when the wall of rubble behind Mermin started grinded loudly sounding almost like a rock slide causing everyone to jump in surprise. Pulling Rho back away from the rubble Mermin watched as a few small chunks of concrete rolled down from the ceiling. The grinding stopped providing a brief moment of silence before there was a loud crash as rubble streamed down for the hole in the ceiling. Giving a startled shout Mermin half expected that entire side of the room to collapse. The debris finally stopped moving and Mermin could see that while the rubble had piled up at the bottom there was an obvious dip higher up the slope. Keying his radio Mermin glanced at the rubble again “Hey, I hope that’s you guys and not the base deciding to collapse on us! We were right beside that pile of junk!”
“Well get the X back from it then! We just moved a big X chunk of rock from the top of the slope to see how stable it is.” Ferera’s voice crackles over the radio sounding none too happy over the Lieutenant’s complaint. His lip flinching Mermin didn’t feel too great about the idea of arguing with a superior officer that was part of the actual military but at the same time he didn’t like the thought of being squashed either “Let us know when you’re going to do something like that next time so we actually know to move.”
The Captain’s voice crackled over his radio again sounding rather strained “Well, get back… We’re trying to brace the ceiling but we don’t know how much rubble is up there… Alright, move them now!”
On the other side of the rubble the two Shadow Hawks yanked two of the largest chunks of concrete from the pile. The pile of rubble shifted with a loud grating noise as the pieces were moved. Suddenly the entire heap began to slide raining pieces of broken concrete from above. People on both sides of the heap started coughing as pulverized concrete began to fill the air choking them. Once the dust settled Mermin found himself looking up at a small gap where the rubble was below the ceiling. He took a step towards the gap but stopped himself and keyed his radio “Mam, I see a gap on this side. Should I see if we can start fitting people through it?”
“I see it. Shouldn’t we try to make a larger opening? It might be hard to get the injured through there.” Ferera’s voice echoed through the gap then her head appeared looking through at them. Looking at the others Mermin took a moment to judge their predicament more precisely before looking up at the Captain “The longer we wait the more radiation we’re taking in mam.”
“Get back and out of the way.” She shouted as she slid down away from the gap in the rubble. Waving her arms forwards and backwards she motioned the rest of the people on her side of the debris to back away as she looked up at Shenk and Stockard in their Shadow Hawks “Hey see that gap near the ceiling? Lase it open on my word!”
The two pilots took their time getting their aim just right on the junk on either side and directly beneath the gap. Stockard tapped his radio once he was comfortable with his aim “Ready mam!”
Flipping on her radio Ferera shouted as she held up one hand with open palm facing the two Shadow Hawks “Mermin, you and your people get your Xes down…” she looked up at Shenk and Stockard then dropped her arm “Fire!”
“Hit the floor!” Mermin shouted as he dropped down to cover Master Sergeant Rho. There was an audible thud as people threw themselves to the floor which was drowned out by the crackling of the pulse lasers from both Shadow Hawks as they vaporized rubble from around the gap. The gap opened wider and the last few pulses hit near the ceiling on the far wall scorching it before the pulse lasers finished their cycles. Standing up Mermin looked up at the now sizable hole and waved to his people “Come, pick up anyone you can and let’s get out of here before more X falls down on us! Get the kids out first!”
Mermin got down on one knee as a few of his militiamen helped the students through the hole while he picked Rho up and lifted him to carry him on his shoulders. Rho gave a weak groan as Mermin stood up “I’m feeling cold.”
Gritting his teeth Mermin trudged towards the hole in the rubble as the last few children were channeled through it “X Master Sergeant, don’t you dare go stiff on my shoulders.”
Mermin stepped through and staggered forwards towards the Corpsman as his eyes caught one of his men holding Timothy in his arms. ‘What’s going to happen, this man needs help now but that captain’s going to be prying to get him to check that kid of hers.’ “Hey I got a head injury here!” the militia officer shouted as he laid Rho back down on the ground. The corpsman came running over not seeing anyone who was in more urgent need of attention and kneeled down beside Rho. Mermin knelt down on the other side of Rho “Is he going to make it?” As he said that he saw the Captain’s shadow appear and spread over Rho making him look up as she stood over the corpsman’s shoulder. Gritting his teeth Mermin stood up ready to growl at the Captain for exploiting her rank in an emergency situation however he quickly found himself awkwardly incorrect as she starred at Rho’s pale face “Stabilize him as best as you can then get him down to a lower level infirmary stat. I’ll get a vehicle up here if you need even if it’s a Xing forklift.”
Ferera keyed her radio as she turned towards her son “Hey Glovner, contact the mech bay listed off earlier and tell one of those lazy X engineers to get their X up here with a transport. Any type of transport as long as it can move injured…” She stopped next to the militiaman and looked up at Shenk in his Shadow Hawk “Shenk head back down to the mech bay and relay the order as well. If they refuse shoot them then drag something up here.”
“Shoot them mam?” Shenk made his uncertainty as to the legitimacy of the order obvious in his voice agitating his superior officer “Yes Xing shoot them. I’m not dealing with a bunch of self-centered Xing Xers Xs Xing Xin Xers that should’ve been fried on the surface with the Rim Thugs instead of everyone else!”
Shenk thundered off in his Shadow Hawk as she brought her gaze down to Timothy “Is he unconscious?”
The militiaman shook his head “No mam he’s sleeping. I grabbed a numbing gel off a dead shark to ease the pain. He’s not critically hurt but his arm got messed up in the collapse. I think his shoulder’s dislocated and his arms cut up pretty bad. Luckily nothing hit an artery.” The look in the Captain’s eyes shifted to something twisted between multiple emotions, the militiaman couldn't tell how Ferera was feeling “I’ll take him; you can get to your fellow militia.”
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