I wrote this for my old Unit just prior to the Wave I release. It's not necessarily canonical, so please enjoy without getting too hung up on the finer details.
The sun dawned red with brightest light
As it swept o’er the mountain height
Revealing vales and meadows lush
With fauna and flora flush
Then down the slopes to the sparkling pools
Where it flashed sapphire like the brightest of jewels
A scene so picturesque and still
Rarely evidenced is such idyll
When the morning stillness was broken by
The sound of metal crashing through
The trees and meadows as man came nigh
To battle and bleed and despoil such view
The mists were just rising from the waters
As from the trees they emerged,
And formed a ragged battle line
To repel invading Rotters
Twelve Men strong they stood down by the water’s edge
And faced the offending bank
Ready to fight, loth to withdraw
Willing each to die in his walking tank
The silence resettled, its loudness profound
As no sign of the enemy could be seen
When suddenly resumed the crashing sound,
And the villains appeared upon the sward so green
Each side regarded the other
As they waited for the order to fight
As the silence resumed the defenders remembered
The events which led to this sight
The Clans were in orbit, ready to invade
While down below defense preparations were made
But Honor demanded tradition be followed
Never could it be ignored when it was so hallowed
And so, they contacted the defenders
And offered an exchange of information
To best balance the opposing forces
And limit the damage done in the contention
The Defenders called for volunteers to fight,
But none stepped forward to combat an enemy so fierce
Until Chief Thunder cried,
“We will, my Warriors and I!”
“Eleven Men are at my back
To repel the Clanners and make them pack!
Send us to fight; we are unafraid,
And will stand to the last crimson blade!”
“So be it!” replied the Commander,
“You fight at dawn
O’er on the eastward slope
Is where the battle lines will be drawn”
The Chief then called for volunteers
To fill the Company he would steer
“Who here stands with me?” He called aloud
“To do our people Proud?”
“Say I!” called the one named Ogre
“Never have I turned from battle!”
“I too!” shouted Rumble,
“My Hunchback shall make them tremble!”
“And I!” proclaimed Nightmare,
“They stand not a chance,
To fight Jin-Roh is to court death
We shall spit them like a lance!”
“Count me in!”
Called out Ayridynn
“I too shall stand” said BerserX,
“And turn back the thundering herd!”
Others volunteered, one by one
Until at last Chief’s Brigade was done
“To your Mechs!” he cried
“And let us turn back the Clanner Tide!”
Through the pre-dawn dark, they marched
Until the eastward slope was attained
Then along the brook they stretched,
Straining their eyes through the dark, the enemy to glimpse
Startled from their reverie
They listened as they heard Chief speak,
“Greetings foe! Pardon if no welcome I offer you,
For we will make you this ground rue!”
“Come at thee!” Cried the Khan,
“Spare not one!”
The Clanners charged, sunlight gleaming
From their BattleMechs as they waded through the water streaming
“Have at them!” Called out the Chief
As he too goaded his machine into the flood
The two lines met in a flowing mass
As leaking fluids turned the waters red like blood
Down descended Thor and Loki,
Gods of Thunder and Mischief
As their mechanical namesakes
Wreaked havoc along Jin-Roh’s lines
Forth strode the Dire Wolf,
As through the Wolf Brigade
It sowed destruction
Its fury refusing to fade
Others too battered the Wolves
As they rallied in the mountain brook
Around their Chief like soldiers by their flag
To stand their ground to the very last
Lightning flashed from arms of steel
As through the air shrieked metal shrill
The Gauss slug flew as missiles pealed
And through armor lasers drilled
Smoke poured from wounds running deep
As coolant splashed into the water
Like tears from giants that weep
And cannot be comforted
The battle raged as Mechs did fall,
Plunging through the water’s funeral pall
Fires raged along the banks and through the trees
Where once was felt naught but the merest breeze
The sun was blotted out by the rising haze
As both groups fought on in a battle-daze
Champions arose on both sides
Only to fall again into the flowing tides
To the right stood Ogre, in his Banshee frightening
Holding the line against the god of thunder and lightning
With Mischief flanking his side
He knew he could not the onslaught abide
In a desperate act, he closed the distance
Firing blasts to cover his charge
Until he reached his foes
Then he seized each one with a hand
“If I go down, so too shall you!” He declared,
As he started the Mech’s self-destruct
Too late he saw the Adder rear its ugly head
To fire at Ogre’s cockpit
Even as the PPCs flew,
The Banshee self-destructed
Ripping apart Thor and Loki
Across the ground their parts it strew
The Adder was swallowed alive in flame
The fires of Ogre’s sacrifice
The pilot baked within his Mech
Could not escape
Three down, seven to go
Raged the battle so
To the left stood Rumble
In a Hunchback jumble
He faced a Timber Wolf,
A BattleMech fierce and feared
His autocannon fired as fast as it could
But the task was like a lion to beard
When through the swirling tide
Stood Ayridynn by his side
And together they battled the foe
Until down at last all three would go
BerserX was swarmed early at the onset
His Orion forced to the ground
While lying prone he continued to struggle
Making the Clans pay dearly for his flesh’s pound
At last, few indeed were left erect
As both sides shattered each other
Both were down to their last two
And knew that there could only be one Victor
Grimly fought on Chief Thunder
With Nightmare by his side
Faced by the Dire Wolf
And a fearsome Kodiak
Battered was the Chief’s BattleMaster
As he rallied to make one last effort
When through the comms he heard Nightmare
“Et venient luporum loquere!”
And as he watched, he saw the Nightmare stride forth
His own BattleMaster wracked with ruin
To close with the enemy Kodiak and Daishi
And single-handedly slay the Bruin
As Nightmare closed with the two,
The Kodiak raised its claws to strike,
But faster was the Nightmare’s thrust
As he drove his cannon through the Great Bear’s ravaged hide
With his gun in its chest, Nightmare fired
Refusing to cease until his finger tired
When at last the great bear fell
It’s fate quite easy to tell
Last now stood the Dire Wolf
Daishi to the Inner Sphere
“Great Death” it towered
Before the weary Wolves
Chief tried to move forward but his hip was ruined
From a Stormcrow’s Autocannon
Helpless he could only watch
As the Daishi shifted aim
He triggered a shot, his last
For his ammunition had run dry
Then he speared the fearsome Mech with his Lasers
Knowing it would not be enough to stop the killing round
He closed his eyes and held his breath
Knowing it would be his last
When the tortured sound of metallic death
Rang out like a shotgun’s blast
His eyes blazed open upon a sight
For there before him was the Nightmare’s Mech
Shielding him from the Clanner’s Bite
With his own machine’s battered wreck
And slowly, so slowly, it fell into the Daishi’s chest
As its gyro ceased to function
And the Nightmare stole a page from Ogre
And set his Mech to self-destruction
When finally, the blast had silenced
And the re-echoing cries had quieted
And the fires had burned low along the banks
While the forest was quenched by summer rains
Chief Thunder finally stirred
Broken from his trance
By the sound of salvage crews arriving
To strip equipment from the dead’s remains
And later, back at base he heard
The report he feared
“All dead, no survivors,” said the Commander
“We are grateful for their sacrifices,” He added with candor
“What will you do now?” He asked intently
The Chief stared into the distance
His thoughts upon that harrowing fight
Until finally he again broke his trance
“Now?” he repeated, “Now the Inner Sphere shall know
That we shall stand strong; Jin-Roh!
To stem the tide of the Clans
And purge them from our lands”
“As Nightmare said before his death,
‘Et venient luporum loquere’
“To that I’ll add, ‘Lupis et Veniet de’”
“Then all shall know”
“They shall speak of the Wolves and they shall come!”
His voice rang out
“Upon every field shall be heard our battle shout!”
“To avenge our fallen and protect our homes”
“Now stand we in Mortal Defiance of the Clans!
“Let them come and die by our hands!
“What happened here shall not be forgotten
“As long as we endure”
“To the Clans I say,
“Molon Labe!
“And to the Inner Sphere I say
“Lupis et Veniet de”
“I say again, ‘Let them come!’”
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Mech42Ace, on 19 October 2014 - 09:42 PM, said:
