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[S9ectre86]

Jor’Am Forest, Hellfire
Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone
Periphery

“BANG!”

Chunks of composite spalled off the abused ferro-fibrous armoured skin of the obsidian black Mauler as it twisted its massive torso and fired its large lasers back through the shadowy thickets of the surrounding forest. The thumping of intense autocannon and shrieking laser fire echoed throughout the area as a company of battered ‘mechs battled for survival at the edges of a large clearing. Trees burned as strobing pulses of laser fire scorched off their bark and set their leaves aflame. Indiscriminate missile blasts blew clouds of rock, soil and debris over the embattled ‘mech company locked in desperate battle against their savage pursuers.

A clan Hankyu crashed into the ground, its broken hulk bursting into flames as an AC/20 round punched through its savaged chest armor, shredding the gyro housing beneath. The Mauler rocked back on its clawed feet as it fired another burst from its arm mounted large laser.

“Hold the line!” the Mauler pilot ordered through the company’s com frequencies. As if in response, he heard Chev call crackle out over the unit’s general frequency, "My torso's barely holding guys! I’ve gotta pull back!"

Searching the burning forest through his bullet-scarred canopy, he saw Chev’s Spider covered with flames from what seemed to be a hit from an inferno round, the burning light ‘mech leaking coolant from the multiple breaches in its left and centre torso. Molten metal barely shielded the internal structure of its centre torso, the Spider’s right arm hanging limp as Chev continued to blaze away with his torso mounted medium lasers at an unknown foe in the distance.

The Mauler’s sensor display buzzed and flickered, drawing the pilot’s attention back to his readouts as enemy ECM started interfering with his sensors. Cursing, he ignored the displays and focused and tried to make out the what was coming for them through the dense thicket downrange.

“There they are…” cursed the pilot to himself as Clan ‘mechs painted dull grey and black, bearing the fierce mark of a pouncing jaguar advanced inexorably towards them in an orderly fashion, stepping through the swirling smoke banks, churning up the scorched earth with every forward step.

A dull throaty roar sounded out behind him as his Mauler was buffeted by the launch exhausts of a rolling barrage of LRMs in a last ditch attempt to suppress the Clanner’s advance. Firing at almost minimum effective range, the LRM barrage reached apogee almost immediately, before arcing down and slamming into the front ranks of the advancing Clanners. The resulting explosions threw up great clouds of dirt and debris, wreathing the surrounding forest with smoke as close to forty LRMs from Ekeziel’s Orion delivered their deadly payload. For a moment, as the dense smoke obscured his forward view, the Mauler pilot dared hope that the awesome bombardment might have broken the Clanner’s advance.

Without warning, a barrage of SRMs blew through the smoke bank to his left, slamming into the scarecrow figure of DX’s Ryoken. Striding forth purposefully from the smoke cloud, a Jaguar Vulture, armor hanging in tatters, swivelled its torso to track the mortally wounded Ryoken, which had sagged to its knees in the dark sod of the forest. One by one, damaged Clan Omnimechs emerged from the roiling smoke thrown up by Ekeziel’s LRM barrage. It seemed to the Mauler pilot that nothing would stop these enraged Jaguars from tearing their prey limb from limb.

Twisting his Mauler’s torso to get a look at the Ryoken which lay smoking in the dirt, the pilot called out into his helmet mike "DX is down! Did anyone see a chute?" Wiping sweat from his eyes, he slapped the override as his systems blared heat warnings repeatedly in the cramped cockpit, indicating that at least 60% of his heat sinks were offline.

"No Captain. I didn’t see a chute…" Kelembai, the company’s executive officer reported as his Atlas fired a salvo of SRMs at the approaching Mad Dog, four out of the six missile salvo impacting and shredding the Mad Dog’s stump of a left arm. In return, Kelembai felt the Atlas rock back on its feet as the Mad Dog’s medium pulse lasers lanced into his right torso, shredding his SRM launchers. In the middle of its reload cycle, SRM ammunition cooked off in their launchers and detonated, struggling with his controls, Kelembai rode the bucking of his Atlas as his torso CASE panels blew off, venting the explosions away from the engine and saving the Atlas from a critical engine breach. Staggering in an attempt to maintain balance of his wounded ‘mech, Kelembai watched as the Clanner level its remaining pulse lasers at his cockpit.

“I’ll see you in hell you Clanner *******…” swore Kelembai as he struggled in vain to bring his AC/20 into line with the Clanner’s torso. Without warning, the Mad Dog staggered and collapsed to the ground as its cockpit canopy imploded in a flash of sparks.

“You’re clear Kel, I’ve got your back.” came an unfamiliar voice through his headset. Twisting to his left, he saw Spectre in his clan made Cauldron Born Omni perched atop a small rise punching gauss rounds into the advancing Jaguars.

“Guess I owe the new guy a beer…” muttered Kelembai to himself as he stabilised his Atlas. Twisting the Atlas to shield his now shredded right torso, he keyed his radio, “Captain! We can’t hold! We’re all walking wounded here!”

“I don’t see that we have another choice Kelembai! The support those f**kers promised us weren’t at the rendezvous point. We’ve got to hold till the DropShip gets here.” Levelling his remaining Imperator Ultra AC/5 at a charging Uller, he triggered the rapid fire autocannon, but instead of the staccato thump of armour piercing rounds a hollow clunk sounded throughout his cockpit, a red light on his main display began to blink, indicating a weapon jam. Cursing, he slammed down on the controls to activate the clearing sequence but knew it wouldn’t be in time and braced for the collision.

The charging Uller suddenly was engulfed by blue flame as it collapsed and skidded to a halt a few metres before his Mauler. Looking to the sky, he felt the rumble of massive fusion engines as flights of LRMs, PPC and Autocannon fire rained down onto the approaching Clanners like the blows of a vengeful God.

"Dropship's here boys!" Demaul sent out over the tactical net. The fighting seemed to ease slightly as the approaching Union class dropship bearing the skull and crossbones of the 5^th brutally suppressed the encroaching enemy.

"Alright, fall back towards the DropShip lance by lance, those who get there first, grab what salvage you can and get your asses aboard. Alpha lance will cover you so get your asses in gear! Neath, Kelembai, the three of us will hold the line, am I understood?” ordered Demaul over the com net.

“What’s new boss?” came Neath’s laconic reply, “Just make sure that DropShip’s still there when we’re done here.”

Switching his secondary display to the feed from the UAV circling the drop zone, Demaul watched the battered, barely functional survivors of his reinforced company climb aboard the DropShip, dragging fallen ‘mechs and salvage as they went. The heavy ‘mechs of Bravo lance pivoted their ‘mechs around and stalked backwards towards the Union’s loading ramps, all the while firing off salvos of missiles and autocannon volleys at the Jaguars as they advanced towards the rear.

The display suddenly fizzed and faded to static, "UAV's down! Looks like the kitties are making one last push!" reported recon sergeant “Raven” Valentine of Charlie Lance.

"Captain Demaul! You need to get the company on board now! I’m winchester on AC rounds and down to two PPC turrets and we’re starting to take hits to the hull. I’m also reading Jag Omnifighters approaching from the east and we have no…no joy on air support" Delas, the dropship pilot hollered. "We gotta go now or we’re all stuck on this rock!"

Lieutenant Thomas Yee’s voice broke out over the tactical net, “Bravo Lance is aboard! Move Alpha! Move!”

Unleashing their remaining missile salvos and autocannon cassettes, Alpha lance fell back one by one towards the Union, Neath’s Daishi alternating between PPC blasts and sustained salvos of his large pulse lasers as incoming LRMs and autocannon rounds tore at the slowly retreating assault ‘mech.

“Alright boys, we’re almost home!” Spotting an enemy Loki lining up for a side angle shot at Neath’s Daishi, Demaul lined up his now unjammed ultra-autocannon with the Clan ‘mech’s bulbous cockpit and the moment he heard the tone of a solid lock, triggered a stream of depleted uranium slugs into the enemy ‘mech, tearing apart it’s cockpit and dropping the Loki like a stone.

“Thanks Bos…Cap to your right!” Before he could register the warning, Demaul felt his cockpit shudder as a gauss round tore into his mech. His cockpit panel lit up like a Christmas tree on fire as his damage readouts struggled to catalogue the damage his abused ‘mech had suffered. He felt a loss of balance as he fought against his controls, feedback from his neurohelmet shooting sharp spikes of pain through his brain. The scrolling damage readout on his auxiliary monitor told him all he needed to know. "Damn! I've been legged!".

He watched his radar screen and saw Kelembai slow in his advance towards the DropShip. "Can you make it to the DropShip? We'll cover for you!"

Demaul barked. "No! Go! Kelembai, you get the unit off this blasted rock or I’m gonna come back there and kick all of you off it myself." Checking the damage readouts from his lance, he made his decision. Alpha lance couldn’t take any more hits and the Jaguars were beginning to start pushing forward again now that the Union could no longer effectively suppress their approach. Glancing at his rear display, he saw Neath and Kelembai’s ‘mechs seemingly frozen in indecision.

"Just do it soldiers!" shouted Demaul into his helmet mike.

After a short pause, he heard Kelembai’s voice over the net, "Godspeed Captain…“ as the two assault ‘mechs fired what was left of their weapons and resumed their slow retreat towards the waiting DropShip.

The Mauler limped into cover behind a large tree on its functioning leg, dragging the other leg, which had been frozen in position when the gauss round had crushed its actuator, coolant and lubricant flowing steadily from the tattered knee joint. As Clan LRMs began raining down around his position, he took stock of the sorry state of his ‘mech. The Mauler’s centre and torso armour was more imagination than protection, the outlines on his damage display indicating critical damage and structural support loss throughout the ‘mech. Demaul checked his weapons. His dual UACs were out of commission, firing mechanisms having fused and/or melted in the last barrage and his medium lasers were so much memory and smashed circuits, leaving him with a pair of barely functioning large lasers. Well, he thought to himself, these will just have to do.

Checking his tactical feed, the Jaguars had fully resumed the advance now that the torrent of fire forcing them back had dwindled to practically nothing save for desultory blasts of PPCs from the Union as the remainders of Alpha lance staggered up its ramps.

PPC blasts started to hit the dropship, silencing the remainder of its turrets. Realising that he had to buy the Union more time, Demaul shoved his throttle forward and activated his external speakers, "Bring it on you Clanner Scum!" he screamed as he swung the Mauler around the tree, barely keeping it from falling to the scorched ground around him. Firing both large lasers into an approaching Thor, he amputated its right leg at the hip, causing it to drop face first into the forest floor.

A flash of light and the roar of fusion engines flowed over Demaul in his battered Mauler as the DropShip ignited its engines for takeoff. Responding more by instinct than anything else, Demaul twisted his torso, sacrificing his arm as a barrage of autocannon rounds turned the arm into twisted wreckage. He turned back and fired his remaining weapon. It burned weakly into the front armour of a fresh Man O' War as another gauss round snapped his remaining arm off, sending it spinning into the forest floor. Unbalanced from the loss of both arms, he attempted to drop into a lurching charge at the Man O' War but a Mad Cat darted past, firing a wave of SRMs into his side, shattering the remainder of his side torso armour, and sending the Mauler crashing into the ground.


Lying on its side, he felt the downed ‘mech continue to take heavy hits from missile and autocannon shells. A wave of intense heat washed over him as a green laser pulse cored his reactor shielding. Barely registering the fatal damage, Demaul watched the DropShip take off, blasting into the atmosphere, outrunning desperate flights of LRMs launched by the surviving Jaguars. Demaul smiled as critical alarms blared at his ears as he saw the nearby Man O' War level it’s arm mounted large laser at his cockpit. His duty done, Demaul reached down to yank the yellow and black lever at the base of his seat, passing out as his cockpit exploded in a flash of light.


En route to Pirate Jump Point
Hellfire
Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone
Periphery

Ripping the neurohelmet from his head, Kelembai powered down his ‘mech and popped the seal of his cockpit. Dodging techs and crewmen who were struggling to secure the battered ‘mechs of the 5^th in their bays, Kelembai ran down the access corridors towards the bridge. As he entered the bridge, his eyes were drawn towards the rapidly receding visual of the Captain’s ‘mech, lying on its side as another ‘mech seemed poised to fire into the Mauler’s cockpit. Kelembai saw a flash of light as the view feed cut out. Looking at Delas, the man nodded and said, “Ejection confirmed”.

Kelembai closed his eyes as he ran through what the Captain could expect if he were captured by the Jaguars, best case scenario, they would make him a bondsman, worst case, he would be splattered on the underside of a ‘mech’s foot. The DropShip commander interrupted his train of thought with his question, "What do we do now?"

Setting his jaw and speaking with a confidence that he didn’t feel, he replied, "We head back to base and the rest of the unit," The veteran of a dozens of battles breathed deeply as sweat trickled down his chin. "We’re the 5^th, one way or another, if the Captain’s still alive, we’re coming back for him."

[Aranzor]

Great start for a story! Love the use of IS naming over the Clan versions! The only 2 issues:

Could not find Hellfire on the map (Sad I know but I like to look at where stuff is going on)

I question would be the clan tactics at the end. From what I've read in lore, I believe clan traditions would have made the battle between the Man O'War and the dying Mauler. The Mad Cat likely would have waited to see if the first mech fell so it could claim the kill, not jump the line. Then again, this might be a lead-in for another part of the story as to just why it did that.

Other than that, looking forward to seeing more!

[S9ectre86]

Hey there, thanks for the comments.

I think Hellfire was a placeholder name that didn't end up getting changed.

About the second part, I did wonder about whether the clan one-on-one style should have been used, however, given the story background that the 5th are mercenaries and that they would have breached Zellbrigen earlier on make it more plausible that the CSJ mechs would be angry enough to ignore and/or suspend their normal rules of engagement.

There are actually a couple of follow up stories and short write-ups about special milestones of the unit (ie. how a member got his "Deathstar" and assorted other unit events) but they're all on the list for editing for content and flow and it's a slow process (unfortunately).

Original idea and drafts were by MarksmanKNG with editing, lore checking and general spiffing up by Kelembai and myself. So thanks for your complements on their behalf as well!