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Its left engine pod gone, the huge dropship plummeted through the atmosphere, slowly twisting through the screaming air, flame and black smoke flowing like blood from the truncated wing. Inside, the only remaining lance detachment from the CauldronBorn Mercenary Corps desperately tried to evacuate their dying ship. The pilots had been ready to drop since the ship finished its controlled dive into the atmosphere, belted into the cockpits of their Mechs, waiting for the green light. Short seconds before their assault drop altitude came and passed, a blast so loud it reverberated inside the hangar had detonated one of the main engines.
The partially crushed wreckage of a Jenner was pressed against one wall, its cockpit crushed and its pilot, their scout, dead within. While the Lance Commander desperately tried to muscle his Dragon out of its docking cradle, the other two surviving pilots worked at the hatch in the hangar's floor. The larger of the two mechs, an Atlas, burned away at one edge of the hatch with a laser, the bright green beam slowly reducing the reinforced metal to slag, all the while maintaining a steady grip on one of the loading cranes above.
Its partner, a Centurion, had its left arm wrapped around the bigger Mech's waist, the huge autocannon that dominated its right arm aimed at the glowing streak of liquid metal behind the laser's path. The gun chattered, crashing and echoing deafeningly in the enclosed hangar, and high explosive rounds dug into the soft metal and detonated, tearing a ragged strip out of the floor and blowing off one of the two doors at the Mechs' feet.
The Atlas turned its body and immobile head towards the Lance Commander's cradle, making sure that his Mech was free of its locks, but saw that the LC's Dragon was still securely, but no longer safely, locked in its cradle. Passing the information to the Centurion's pilot, The Atlas raised its free arm and began burning away at the skeleton locking his Commander in place while the Centurion slowly stumbled over to him, gripping the wall supports to avoid being thrown across the hangar.
Hooking its cannon arm in the framework of the cradle and wrapping the long skeletal fingers of its single hand around the weakest support, the Centurion began to heave. Soft molten metal stretched and flexed, slowly coming apart while the Atlas stood next to the gaping and roaring hole, only able to watch as the Centurion picked apart the docking cradle and freed their Commander.
Reaching forward with both arms, the LC's Dragon pulled itself out of the cradle, its radio crackling to life as the Centurion made its way back to the open hatch. "Rayd!" The LC's voice boomed through the static. "Why haven't you jumped? Get out now!"
Standing tall and silent, Rayd's Atlas stared across the hangar at the LC.
"Dammit Rayd, just jump!" One of the Dragon's short arms reached up and grabbed a crane for support, pulling it toward the door as it walked. "Tarkov, get out there!"
The Centurion's pilot affirmed the command and glanced at Rayd's tower of metal before dropping through the hatch, knees bent to absorb the eventual impact.
The free hand of Rayd's Atlas extended toward his Commander, and the Dragon's own free hand reached out for it, the Atlas' hand gripped the other's arm and pulled him closer to the door. Knowing Rayd's silence meant a complete unwillingness to argue, the Lance Commander sent his Mech forward, jumping after Tarkov.
Rayd looked at the hangar, empty except for the crumpled Jenner, smoke filling the air and flame licking in through the vents. He turned his Atlas toward the hatch, and pushed 100 tons of fortified armor and weapons systems into the open air, entering freefall.
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Like a meteor, the Mech came down and hit the ocean. Hunched over and on one knee from the impact, the water was deep enough to submerge the cockpit, allowing Rayd a blurred view of the sand under his feet. Cracking his neck and standing the Atlas straight, water flowed off the Mech as its elbows bent, lifting the arms into combat stance. Before he could get a good look at the displays around him in the cockpit, a supersonic crash from above drew his attention to the tumbling dropship.
The thick armor near the ship's reactor glowed white hot, veins of glowing metal branching off from it, tracing the thick powerlines that ran to the engine pods. Like a hot wire pulled through butter, the hot metal gave way and the second primary engine came off, the huge collection of ramjet turbines soaring away on the last burst of power from the reactor.
Like an unguided clusterbomb, the engines came apart and though most soared overhead and slammed into the beach behind him, one came almost directly at him, rocketing into the water beside him and detonating violently. The Atlas shook from the explosion and the readouts inside the cockpit flickered, most going out as sparks flew from a few screens. A whole plethora of sensors, internal and external, hadn't been able to withstand the wash of pressure and released energy at such close range.
Though the Atlas' legs were undoubtedly damaged from the fall, the damage readout was dead, the screen smoking and the failsafe readout inside Rayd's helmet was malfunctioning. It showed a black and grey outline of the Atlas, insisting that it had been completely destroyed, despite the fact that it still functioned.
The few screens remaining flickered once or twice but flashed back and stayed on, leaving him with his short range coms and a compass, speedometer, weapon selection, and the targeting reticle centered in front of him, the small range counter next to it blurring through numbers as he turned toward the beach. The Mech's legs bent and flexed listlessly, the left hip grinding audibly just above the waterline.
As the Atlas came to face the beach, whatever remained of the targeting computer's operating code began sluggishly highlighting targets. Distant silhouettes, climbing over the hills and dunes at the beach's furthest edge were outlined in red. A collapsed pile of metal on the beach was tagged in gold, marking the Lance Commander's Dragon, whose weight had clearly been too much for its legs to support when it fell.
As the targeting computer pulled up a hypothetical damage readout of the LC's Mech, Rayd's vox crackled to life. "Rayd, if you can hear me, my legs are gone, and I can only move one arm, I think I'm on top of the other one. Don't know if I have any weapons still online. They're on the beach, Reinhardt . . . I'm already gone . . . burn them down Lieutenant. Right down to the bones."
Out of weapons range, Rayd was forced to watch as the enemy scout detachment found the LC's crippled BattleMech. The commander was able to bring the one working arm around and hit one of the leading Mech's with a blast from a semi-functioning laser, burning a white-hot scar across its chest before missiles, lasers, and a single crackling light autocannon opened up and tore into the Dragon's superstructure. Armor was peeled and blasted apart, pieces of metal showering down on the sand as the focused downpour of fire stripped the Dragon down to slag and smoking wreckage.
With a flash and a booming crack, the Dragon gave up the ghost and its reactor detonated, glassing the sand around it and knocking one of the smaller and more eager Mech's off its feet.
Blood pounding in his head, his eyes smoldering, Rayd pushed the accelerator as far as it would go. The colossus began to move forward, first at a slow walk, but quickly gaining momentum and accelerating into a slow heavy jog through the water. The targeting computer squealed as the closest enemy Mechs came into range and his missiles automatically locked on.
He squeezed down on the firing stud and the Atlas bucked as he launched the entire bank of rockets, a cloud of white smoke billowing around him as he rushed through it, the small cloud of missiles tearing through the air far ahead of him. On the beach, a Jenner turned to face him just in time to catch the first barrage of rockets. It exploded under the hail of devastation, the sand around it boiling with fire.
Already shifting the small cross on his armored windscreen, Rayd aimed at another Mech, a vaguely humanoid Commando, and switched to his lasers before touching the firing stud again. Four thick green beams lanced out and dragged themselves across the Mech as Rayd swept them from one side to the other, severing one arm and fusing the shoulder joint of the other, liquid metal flowing and pooling at the Commando's feet.
Still at a steady jog, almost out of the water, the Atlas closed with the scouts and slowed as it came up the beach. Close enough to fire it accurately, Rayd opened up with the heavy autocannon slung beneath his Atlas' right armpit. It boomed again and again, throwing a trio of artillery grade shells into the Commando's chest. The small Mech's torso vaporized as it was thrown backward, cracked and broken like a smashed egg, into the sand.
A Commando to his left opened up, lasers burning across the armor on the Atlas' shoulders, heating but not penetrating the Assault Mech's heavy armor. He turned to face it and triggered his arm mounted laser, holding it steady as the beam liquefied the light Mech's head and the cockpit within. The Jenner behind it sidestepped its lifeless comrade and fired, lasers hissing across Rayd's chest and unguided short range rockets soaring past him as its pilot tried frantically to burn Rayd out of the cockpit.
He pushed the Atlas forward again, closing with the headless Commando and the Jenner behind it. The heavy autocannon began to fire again, crashing rapidly as huge expended shells ejected from the breech and tumbled to the ground. Sand in front of the Jenner exploded upward once, then twice, before the last shell struck one of its legs dead center and blew it off. The Mech overbalanced and fell sideways, the remaining leg kicking uselessly.
Eyes still smoldering with visions of death and destruction, Rayd brought the Atlas' foot down on the leg and crushed it, metal buckling and screaming as it tore. He lifted his Mech's other leg and threw the weight of the entire Atlas behind it, heaving it up and bringing it crashing down on the Jenner's cab.
Edited by Reinhardt Drescher, 05 April 2012 - 12:15 PM.
