Now climbing back up to the dropship with a small cadre of infantry, Asfrid paused for a moment to reply. "Affirmative, Sergeant. I'll get the men working on the jets, it's basically just replacing plumbing, anyone savvy can do it. The cables can only withstand ten tons of weight under water. Outside, I don't think it can manage more than two, maybe two and a half at a time. I'll start lowering rations and ammo evenly, but trying to get everything out would take weeks." She continued the rest of the way to the top, and kept going up the cable, climbing off onto a shoulder mount and into the cockpit.
She fired up the reactor and backed the Trebuchet up from the edge, carefully giving the men around her time to get to a safe distance. Now in position, it could easily be used to lower supplies. She called four of the men to find a hand-lift and start lowering supplies a few crates at a time. This taken care of, she climbed back down to start work on the jets. This took up another one of the cables not holding the arm in place, leaving two cables free. The work was done quickly, though, making three avilable for crates. Now, it was just dropping supplies until she got the order to move out.
She climbed back up to fetch cigars for herself and the men. She sat on the edge of the cockpit, feet dangling as she tossed down the favors to the men. As she did this, she looked out over the city through the small window of light. Fires were blotting the sky out with smoke, giving it the appearance of being much later than it was. She already felt tired to the bone, and she was pretty sure her arm was infected. For good measure, she pulled out a flask and tore off the dressing, dousing the ugly but deceptively small looking puncture with scotch whiskey.
She called down to the men. "Any of you boys a medic?" One of the men who was working on the crates shook his head, but promised to fetch one. He followed his next parcel down the cable, sitting on it as it descended. Running her hands through her hair, she sighed, exhausted. She slammed back a swig of potent, burning grain alcohol and coughed a little. "I have a feeling this is going to be a hell of a job." She said to nobody in particular.
As she puffed out clouds of sweet smoke, a particularly loud raucus came from outside, shaking the entire structure of the dropship. Outside, the telltale thunder of long-range missiles was undeniable. "****, incoming!" She jumped back into the cockpit and slammed her helmet down.
"Sergeant, Wolf is targeting the dropship and the structure with ordinance. I'm getting the Scotsman out now, I'll meet you at the bottom. Clear the landing!" She tested the cables for a moment, checking that each was slack and empty before setting them on the fastest recoil speed. She hit the PA. "Boys, this bucket has footings on the chest for underwater work, lock yourselves on and hold on for your life!" She waited a moment as the troops scaled her mech and clung to "safe" positions.
As she slowly throttled forward, another salvo struck the dropship, causing it to buckle wildly. Without thinking, she slammed the throttle full forward, dropping the Trenchbucket out, and slamming on the stability jets. As she descended, the wind roared past her open windshield, and she slammed the jets on full to decelerate. The fifty-ton battlemech crunched into the concrete with enough force to shatter and crunch it underfoot, but the structure held, groaning its relent. Taking another hit like that on the knee could easily snap the haphazard work.
Without bothering to check, she slammed the 'Mech back into full gear, getting her and her riders out of harm's way as quickly as possible. Behind her, the parking structure and the dropship collapsed with a thundering roar. She could only assume Wolf would be snuffing its way over to find any survivors. She wondered how many men had still been on the dropship when it was hit, and shuddered.
Back to business. Now, to find Tang.
"Sergeant, I'm heading your way. There's an Omni on the loose, it just took out the dropship with long-range missiles. A few of the men and I are going to need medical attention. Over"
Edited by TheFlyingScotsman, 20 March 2013 - 04:39 PM.