100 replies to this topic

[G is for Gamma]

I know what your thinking. A young fit pilot, body toned in that way that only active military service can provide, a face somewhere between brooding and handsome, a name like Voodoo? Real main character stuff right there, grade A hero material (Shame he's getting played by Eyrn Rodriquez in the move though, heh, spoilers). You can just stop right there, Dear Reader, cause I'm going to set some ground rules before we move on. One, This is my story. If any ******* is going to be the hero its going to me yours truly. Two, Heroes do heroic things, then they die of an abundance of bravery and exit wounds. No, Dear Reader, this is a story about survivors and surviors don't do brave things they run and they keep running and hope the wolves never catch up to them.

Oh yes, hitchhiking on a military vehicle. To be honest I've never liked helicopters, they're spinning death machines that have managed to continue to fall out of the sky for at over a thousand years by now. Its no surprise really when you considered that they're made by the military contractor who put in the cheapest bid and then proceeded to buy the cheapest materials available, then hired the cheapest labor they could find to bolt it all together with a mixture of tried and true engineering and happy thoughts and then expect it to fly. But, and its a huge but, the ride could have been worse. Voodoo and his crew where professionals and they handled their machine well. I was also pleased to make the acquaintance of the only female member of the crew. Don't look at me that way Dear Reader, I'm only mortal and she was attractive in that “I only had brothers growing up, lets play rugby” way and before everything was said and done she'd end up saving my life. To bad I never bothered to get her name.

Running from the Wolves; Chpt 1, pg 1-2. Written by Guy Marlowe

Edited by Gammadin, 06 June 2013 - 11:53 AM.

[Thom Frankfurt]

Lake Isabella
Roughly 67 miles SSW of Logan's pass
150+ miles from Saddleport, Severn
Nov 19, 3051 21:25hrs

"SURAT-MILKING-FREEBIRTHS!!" Roared out Star Commander Ernesto on the star's comline as his Ice Ferret continued to thrash about in vain. Despite her own omnimech being damaged with her cockpit canopy spider webbed with cracks, MechWarrior Reina had to giggle at the Sibkin's newly formed curse. Personally the Warden felt that Clan profanity was somewhat limited, especially when compared to the filth that the Inner Sphere bondsmen and lower castes seemed to use. She shuttered at the thought of !ncest, self m0lestation and best!ality.

"MechWarrior Reina, spread out and find the cowards that did this." The Star Commander ordered his frustration coming over the frequency accompanied with what sounded like the Crusader banging his fist against his console.

"Understood, Star Commander." With that she throttled her Viper forward with bricks showering off the Omni's boxy shoulders and forearm weapon pods. Chancing a grim glance at her wireframe damage schematic she had to admit it as much as she didn't want to but the booby-trapped gas station was effective.

Infantry did this?

Outnumbered and outmatched it seemed that the barbaric enemy was learning, overcoming their shortcomings, and adapting to make things interesting for the Children of Kerensky. If what she'd heard in the rumor mill was true, the three other Clans invading the Inner Sphere were having some problems conquering and governing their new holdings.

But not the Wolf clan... Well, not yet.

Reina smiled grimly noting that her active probe was damaged in the attack and slowed her advance down to the escorting elemental's speed while cautiously making sure that she wasn't walking into an ambush.
***************************************************************
San Joaquin Hospital, Lake Isabella
19th November, 3051, 21:30 Hours

“Rab.. *psst*, this hiss...ng Flight. It *Pop* is King...ight. *Psst* ase come in, over.”

Coop quickly snatched up the antique stlye transmission receiver in a white knuckled grip upon hearing the garbled message come in. With a smile slowly spreading as the message became clearer as King Flight came closer, still he paused till he was positive as to what the message was before transmitting.

“Rabbit, this is King Flight. Rabbit this is King Flight. Please come in, over.”

Cooper mashed down the transmit button and spoke with a calm he didn't feel.

"King Flight, this is Rabbit. God, it's great to hear your voice. Hey if you're not too busy we'd appreciate it if you could give us a ride..."

Cooper wasn't sure what else to say, he suddenly wished he paid more attention to the electrical communication portions of Basic. He added on remembering some of his courses.

"King Flight, be advised there are Wolf forces in the area..."
**********************************************************************
Ryan hunkered down even lower onto the helipad as the Wolf Omni took another few steps forward. From the way it stopped at every alleyway and intersection to search he was able to surmise that his surprise for the Clanner's had them on their tippy toes.

This MechWarrior is being cautious. Good.

Suddenly the double doors on the far side of the helipad whooshed open, and Coop ran over bending down and slowing as he reached the edge of the pad where Barbeque lay eyeballing the Clan forces advance. Suddenly the Thorinite looked at Cooper expectantly.

"I hope you got some good news..." Ryan seemed to sink even lower if that possible as an elemental took flight on it's jumpjets to gain the rooftop of a two story shop.

"We got a ride on the way!"

Edited by Thom Frankfurt, 09 June 2013 - 10:42 AM.

[Sparks Murphey]

University of Saddleport,
Saddleport, Sevren,
19th November, 3051, 15:17

Adrianna stared at the tactical display, hoping for an insight that might be better than the plan she had. It didn’t look like one was coming.

“Punch, advance through the carpark. Crush or bulldoze any vehicles that look like they’ll clog it, I want to be able to pull our friendlies back through there. Do not draw sight on the enemy, though. Razor platoon,” Adrianna said, addressing the infantry as the Vedette rumbled away, “find some high ground and set up there for covering fire, targeting elementals and combat vees only.”

“Roger, Dove, we’ll deploy on the fourth floor of the hospital over there, should be able...”

“Negative, Razor, stay out of the hospital, I don’t want our wounded drawing fire.”

“But, ma’am, that’ll offer us a commanding view over the university, and an excellent...”

“I said no, Razor.” Adrianna rubbed at her temples under the neurohelmet.

“Wilco,” came the reply after a second.

Adrianna took a deep breath. Either this would work, or she was about to get a lot of people killed. She fired her jump jets, landing precariously on the university’s bell tower. For a moment, it seemed like gravity would reassert itself before she punched an arm through the brickwork and anchored her Phoenix Hawk better. As Adrianna began firing at the OmniMechs below, she toggled her ‘Mech’s external speakers.

“PDF units, evac corridor is to the west through the car park, avoid avenues to the north and south to allow the reinforcement battalion access to the site!”

As the PDF units began to mobilise, she hoped the Wolves bought her story about reinforcements.

Edited by Sparks Murphey, 13 June 2013 - 02:16 PM.

[Sparks Murphey]

University of Saddleport,
Saddleport, Sevren,
19th November, 3051, 15:18

Klaudia ached. Technically, she was on the side of the Spheroids now, having been claimed as a bondsman now for the second time in her life. From what she could tell, though, the MechWarrior who had actually captured her was only affiliated with the rest of the forces at the University, and since none of them had actually given her an order, her honour was content to sit back and watch for the moment. Especially since the majority of the force attacking the university were wearing suits of tan Elemental armour just like the one she was wearing.

Idly, she poked the empty spot at the back of her gums with her tongue, wondering whether the missing tooth had gone down her throat or was now rattling loose in the battle armour’s ventilation systems.

With a little disappointment, Klaudia noticed the Mist Lynx her bondholder had thrown through a wall earlier getting to it’s feet. Considering the Inner Sphere’s apparent fighting techniques, it was a wonder there were still standing buildings left. Still, time to get to work. This was an undeniable threat and needed dealing with.

The jump jet function light was still flashing red after her earlier...misadventure. This would have to be the hard way, then. As the Mist Lynx came past, Klaudia grabbed for a handhold on the lower leg, gritting her teeth as the tendons in her left arm protested. With some difficulty she made her way up the fast-moving machine, stopping just below the narrow vision slit.

“Permission to punch the Mist Lynx’s MechWarrior?” Klaudia asked over the external speakers, turning to face the BattleMech her bondholder was in.

“Wait, what?” came the startled reply. Great. The occupant of the Mist Lynx must have figured out what was going on, though, because the OmniMech began to twist it’s torso around violently. Klaudia’s claw had a secure hold on the handholds built, ironically, to allow the OmniMech to transport Elementals into battle.

“You in the crimson BattleMech. You took me as your bondsman, quiaff? Do you want me to knock out the...oof...pilot of this light OmniMech or not?”

“As soon as possible, yes please.”

Right. Klaudia struggled for a moment, trying to remember where the weak points on the Mist Lynx’s canopy were, before giving up and going with the traditional fallback of “the glass”. It had already fractured from the OmniMech’s earlier collision with the building, and a few blows were all it needed to cave it in. Klaudia reached in, snipped through the restraints on the wide-eyed MechWarrior inside, and grabbed her by the harness. The woman’s head collided with the edge of the viewport once, twice, then the Mist Lynx signalled her unconsciousness by losing it’s balance.

Klaudia landed hard, her earlier bruises protesting at the rough treatment. As she stood, she could see the other two Clan Wolf OmniMechs jumping away from the battlefield, presumably to engage the reinforcements. The other Elementals were taking up the fortified positions the Spheroids had abandoned, and some had obviously noticed her attack on the Mist Lynx as they now turned their fire on her. She dashed for the relative safety of a nearby APC.

“Get on board, we’ll get you out of here,” the driver called to her.

“Neg,” Klaudia replied, taking a few shots back at the Wolf Elementals, “The battlefield is not yet lost. I will wait here for your reinforcements.”

“There aren’t any reinforcements. It was a bluff, you d**b vatbrat! We’re pulling back!”

Cowards. “Very well, I will resign myself to protecting you,” she said, stepping onto the APC’s running board as the last of the university’s defenders fell back.

[RogueSpear]

University of Saddleport,
Saddleport, Sevren,
19^th November, 3051, 15:18,

Dirk backpedalled into cover as another barrage of missiles tore gaping chunks out of a student dorm. Each step set off more car alarms, blaring surreally over the riotous sound of slaughter all around. Turning left to conserve momentum he hit Messer’s jump jets, feathering them to fly long and low over the open field. Briefly an incoming missile alert sounded, the red warning flashing on his screen before the flight of SRMs impacted high on his right torso and unbalanced the flying mech. The right foot hit the ground first, spinning the Helepolis onto it’s back, crushing a water feature and rolling and sliding through another rack of cars.
Wrestling the big mech to it’s feet, he was rewarded with another volley of SRMs from the second Koshi; the one that had been chasing him and now entering the center of the area of student housing. The first was already in with him, probably waiting for him after jetting in to flank. The missiles peppered across his left arm as he curled it into a block to protect the nearly nonexistent armour on his left torso. I can’t fight here, I’ll kill anyone left in here if I do. Stupid as anyone left in the dorms would be, it was too high a risk. Dirk continued running. Tearing fake-wood panelling off two dorms as he darted between them he pushed Messer back up to full speed. Trying to work his way back to the university proper was proving difficult, the two clanners herding him away from Delfino and her reinforcements. Their speed and manoeuvrability was simply allowing them to lead him into ambush after ambush.
The Helepolis’ feet tore car sized divots across a sports field while turning it’s torso left saved the last scraps of it’s rear armour. Both Koshi’s had unleashed their LRM10s blindly so as to remove warning of their approach, removing Dirk’s chance to dodge. He grimaced as misses streaked past the cockpit, it’s protective mesh cage having been blown off long ago. He was done dodging too.
“Lieutenant Delfino, this is Bradbury. I’m crossing the sports fields to cut across your position, can you cross to pick these pups off me?” His hoarse voice gave the lie to his bravado and he knew it. His rear armour was more false hope than plate, and even his cockpit armour was in the deep orange on the board. A muttered word replaced his battlemap with a holo of Sierra and Amelia.
“Roger Bradbury, I’ll swing in behind them to give them something else to think about.”
Jetting through the air once more, Dirk wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of a hand. LRMs curved violently up from under him, fanning across his vision into the sky. He exhaled deeply, glad for the small mercy of having jumped just in time. “Much appreciated Lieutenant, I’m armoured in duds and sweat.” He flicked a glance at Sierra. “Soon’s better than later.”
*******************************************************************************************************************************************
Vickers grunted loudly, slamming down the crate of HMG ammo heavily on top of a pile of other gear in the truck.
“Careful!” The complaint came out in a terrified squeak from the man behind him, struggling with four large cases of his own. “That’s a-“
“Zegers I don’t give a rat’s *ss.” He grabbed one of the cases and tossed it onto the flatbed. “Shut the f*ck up and get on.”
The boyish man-child fumbled, dropping his cases. One burst wide open, strewing paper notes across the grass. “But, but there’s one of those, those-“
“Elementals, yeah.” Vickers grabbed the two closed cases and threw them on board too. “Bradbury’s new pet. You want out of here or don’t you?” Turning away from Zegers, the TBQ tech looked over the courtyard to the exit. He was met by a view of sheer devastation, flaming wrecks and fire teams blocking the way.
Before the scientists could answer, the pitted and rent form of Messer landed hard in the courtyard. Backpedalling to a full 360, Dirk turned and loosed a beam from his ERLL and jumped away again.
“F*ck he’s torn up.” Vickers’ quiet voice was lost in the sounds of fighting.
“What? I didn’t cat-“ A Koshi landed amidst a spattering of small arms fire. Pausing, it turned and pulped each offending trooper in turn with it’s machine guns before lifting off again in pursuit of the Helepolis.
Emerging from behind the truck, Vickers lifted Zegers from the dirt. “At least that thing didn’t look too healthy ei-“
A third resounding thump echoed round the courtyard when a third mech landed, running across the courtyard and jumping off again.
Vickers slammed a hand down on Zegers’ shoulder, gripping hard. “Before I get excited, do the clans use Phoenix Hawks?”
Abruptly the whole truck shook as “Dirk’s pet” stood and stomped off. The TBQ tech let out a trembling breath. “I give up.” He groaned, collapsing onto the back of the truck.

Edited by RogueSpear, 25 June 2013 - 08:54 PM.

[Spokes]

University of Saddleport
Saddleport, Sevren
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
19th November, 3051 -- 15:19 Hrs

Haggard, bloodshot eyes tried in vain to blink themselves clear as the gold triangle they were fixed on suddenly refused to stay centered under the heading hash mark on the HUD. A trembling hand pulled the control stick in the direction of the drift, but that only seemed to make it worse. The eyes locked into a blank stare as the horizon began to rotate out of alignment. . .

There was a loud "GONG" as the Assassin lurched into and then through a light pole, followed by a horrible scrapping noise as the 'Mech's left arm peeled off the façade of a nearby building. Geneviève jerked awake and pulled at the controls, righting the 40 ton machine before it could plow through the wall. A whimper of frustration escaped as she stagger stepped the Assassin back onto its original heading.

"Je ne peux pas, je ne peux pas. . ."

Three days. Three days since the Wolves had set upon and wiped out her comrades. Three days since their bravado had turned to screaming, and then to silence. Three days of chasing the rapidly receding AFFS comm signals, signals garbled by cryptography her 'Mech's computer could not break. But although she could not understand the words, Geneviève knew she was headed towards friendly radio traffic-- even encrypted, despondence and terror came through well enough.

Three days in the Assassin's phone booth sized cockpit. No sleep, no respite, no. . .relief. Part of her mind knew she was finished, that the stimulant patches on her arms were doing nothing but making her shake. But she was so close, the sounds of battle ahead actually welcoming. . .so close. . .she recognized the defensive barricade ahead from the PDF manuals. . .so. . .

Geneviève snapped awake again as her 'Mech rammed its foot through an abandoned hovercar, setting off the anti-theft alarms of three similar vehicles parked nearby. A cluster of suited figures manning the makeshift barricade at the end of the street turned at the noise.

Her strangled cry was jarringly loud in the tiny cockpit as she recognized the silhouettes from the training briefs.

She pulled the Assassin's arm up with the right control stick and jerked the index finger trigger. The soft keen of the laser was barely audible in the cockpit-- her computer registered a hit, but the nearly invisible beam seemed to have little effect on the battlesuit and for a moment she wasn't sure if the weapon had actually fired.

The Clanners were sure though. The elementals came boiling out of the fortification, jump jets alight as they swarmed towards her. . .

[Listless Nomad]

4,000 meters above the University of Saddleport
Saddleport, Sevren
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
19th November, 3051 -- 15:10 Hrs

Viper Actual, this is Lighthouse. We are picking up a lone Bandit in your sector at Angels one-five bearing 295. Vector to intercept. “

“Roger Lighthouse. Moving to intercept.”

Leutnant Max “Banshee” Hauptgartner glanced down at his radar overlay and managed to identify the lone enemy ASF icon amidst the clutter of the battle going on beneath him. After the disaster earlier with the dropship being shot down, command had seen fit to scramble a CAP overwatch of the evacuation efforts. Until now however, it had been a relatively quiet patrol. Now Max smiled a feral grin behind his Oxygen mask. A lone fighter would be no match for his flight of four Lucifer medium fighters. Armed to the teeth, they were some of the best the Inner Sphere could offer and they were due a little payback.

“Viper Flight, this is Viper Actual. We’ve got a bandit at eleven o clock low, Angels one-five. Standard two by two and follow me in.” Switching to his wingman’s channel, he gave a quick thumbs up and could feel the grin behind his wingman’s mask. “Let’s go get him Cougar.”

With practiced ease, Max stood the Lucifer on its wing before bringing the fighter into a shallow dive towards the Clan ASF which still seemed blissfully unaware of the four heavier fighters bearing down on it. As he looked to his right, Max was pleased to see the other three fighters in his wing aligned perfectly, all spaced evenly for an opening LRM barrage that hopefully would end this engagement before it got hairy. As the airspeed steadily increased from their dive, the Clan fighter remained steady, maintaining a straight course away from them, almost comically unaware. Just as Max’s LRMs locked onto the doomed fighter, he noticed a slight twitch in its wing, and his eyes grew wide. “Viper Flight! Break! Break! Break!”
Yelling into the all wing frequency, Max knew they’d been suckered into a trap.

All four fighters fired their LRMs at once, a terrifying spread of firepower that would have terrified any normal Inner Sphere pilot, but not the Clan pilot. With more speed than Max could have imagined, the enemy Batu fighter executed a sharp left turn and shot underneath both the cloud of missiles and the four streaking Lucifer Fighters.
“Where is he? I can-“

Viper 3’s communication was cut off as his fighter exploded in a massive fireball, the enemy Batu fighter streaking through their formation in the space the Lucifer once occupied. Viper 4 broke right hard, trying to dive away from the attacker, but the maneuver only managed to attract the clanner’s attention. As the Batu rolled to follow the hapless pilot down, Max and his wingman turned to follow, screaming in frustration as the enemy fighter easily began to slip away in the dive.

“Viper four! Jimmy break left now!” Cadet James “Mako” Wallgren complied immediately and broke left, clearing a firing line for Max and his wingman to loose another barrage of LRMs at the clan fighter. Once again, it executed an effortless bank to the left, deftly avoiding the missiles, but in turn providing an excellent profile for the two pursuing fighters. Twin cerulean beams shot out from each Lucifer, with two scoring hits on the smaller and more nimble fighter. Unfortunately both seemed to only score armor damage, with the Clan fighter allowing the two Lucifers to shoot by in their dives. Leveling off, Max could not see either Viper 4 or the Batu fighter anywhere.

“Where is he Banshee?! Where is that *******?” Max could hear the fear in his wingman’s voice. In space, they might have had an advantage, but here in atmosphere their heavier fighters were no match for the more nimble fighter.

“Gods! Look out!”

Max broke left and dove to avoid the flaming wreckage of Viper 4 falling from the cloud cover above. The Lucifer had broken into pieces and Max closed his eyes as he witnessed Cadet Wallgren banging on the canopy of his tumbling fighter in a vain attempt to escape. Unfortunately, in their avoidance of the wreckage, Max had become separated from his wingman and that was now proving to be a deadly mistake. The clan fighter was now on the tail of his wingman, but appeared to be toying with him, only firing a few lasers at a time. The clanner almost seemed to be attempting to pick him apart. Gritting his teeth, Max brought his fighter in behind the other two. It took all of his concentration to stay behind the wildly jinking fighters, all while trying to line up a shot on the clanner that had already killed two of his friends.

“Help me Max! BLAKE’S BLOOD GET HIM OFF OF ME!” Max could hear the warning Klaxons sounding in his wingman’s cockpit and knew that his friend didn’t have long.

“When I tell you Hans, I want you to break hard left.” An instant later, Max managed to settle his targeting reticule over the form of the Wolf fighter. “BREAK LEFT NOW HANS!”

His wingman tried to comply but the structural damage to his fighter was too great. His attempted maneuver resulted in nothing more than a lazy left turn. With what appeared to be indifference, the clan fighter flashed its medium pulse lasers once and cleanly amputated the right wing of Han’s fighter, sending him spinning into the city below. Hans screamed over the comms until he impacted in the center of a deserted intersection a thousand meters below. The Clanner’s hubris did have consequences this time, however.

Max felt the heat wash over him as he unloaded every weapon he had into the fighter flying steady before him. During the engagement, Max had managed to close to a distance where there was no missing. He was not disappointed.

His first large laser scored a deep gouge in the armor of the batu’s left wing, causing smoke and a small electrical fire to erupt there. His other large laser impacted the right stabilizer about half way up, weakening it considerably. The medium and four small lasers only served to create small armor gouges on the fighter. It was the LRMs that did the most damage however. Eyes narrowed, Max had watched the missiles as they corkscrewed from his launcher all they way until they impacted across the back of the enemy fighter. One impacted directly aft of the cockpit, causing a spider web of cracks to appear in the canopy glass and undoubtedly rattling the pilot. The others peppered the back of the fighter, causing large rents in the armor, with the final missile punching through the fuselage and collapsing the right-side air intake.

Max whooped with joy as he saw smoke belch from the impact and the saw the Wolf pilot’s main engine hiccup for a moment. Max’s joy was short lived however as the Batu’s rear facing ER Medium laser spat out in defiance, scoring his fuselage and finding its way along to his left wing elevators – fusing them shut. As Max struggled to follow the Batu, the craft fired again, this time striking his own engine intake and causing the Number 2 turbine to be shut down. Unable to follow the Clan fighter, Max gnashed his teeth in frustration as it disappeared, trailing smoke, into the cloud deck. Max’s radar showed the enemy fighter was still circling, waiting for him. For himself, for revenge and for his fallen comarades, Leutnant Max “Banshee” Hauptgartner climbed his own wounded fighter into the overcast skies to meet him.

Edited by Listless Nomad, 04 July 2013 - 08:40 AM.

[Spokes]

University of Saddleport
Saddleport, Sevren
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
19th November, 3051 -- 15:19 Hrs

The Assassin came down hard on the street, the shock of the landing running the length of the 'Mech's frame all the way to the cockpit. Geneviève hammered into the seat and then rebounded hard into the safety harness, but was rewarded with a loud scraping sound, followed by a sickening crunch as one of her assailants came loose and slammed into the now shattered pavement. Her foot mashed down on the right pedal, throwing the 'Mech into a full run as it came out of its crouch.

More noises, more scraping as the Assassin picked up speed. Geneviève looked in the direction of the sound, shrieking as the toad clinging to the laser cowling fired its own weapon into the armor directly above the cockpit. She worked the controls, and the left arm came up and around, armored fingers closing around the battlesuit and ripping it free. She screamed hate at the squirming figure, pouring power into the left hand actuator. But the suit held, and Geneviève watched in horror as the Clanner calmly ripped one of the Assassin's fingers off, pressed into the gap and flashed more armor off the dorsal plate.

"Allez-vous en!" The 'Mech's torso spun right and the arm shot forward, pitching the elemental through a brick wall and into a nearby building. Seconds later, the Assassin staggered as it was struck from behind. A glance at the rear display gnawed at the last remaining shreds of Geneviève's resolve-- the toad she'd dashed onto the ferrocrete was back up, running through the contrails left by its missile pack. No sooner had her mind processed that than the other toad blasted through the roof of the building she'd tossed it into, landed gracefully and then leapt across to the next building in close pursuit.

The Assassin's jump jets pinged ready. Geneviève was crying freely as she engaged the 'Mech's jump controls, sending it skyward and back in the direction of the battle. . .

[Spokes]

University of Saddleport
Saddleport, Sevren
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
19th November, 3051 -- 15:20 Hrs

The distinct sounds of laser fire and missile concussions were coming through plainly now as Geneviève closed on the battle. The two elementals had managed to stay with her, using the buildings and rubble strewn streets to keep her much faster Assassin from pulling away entirely. She pounded past what looked like a commissary, her pursuers dropping down to street level as she was forced to slow to take a turn.

The street facing windows of the commissary exploded outward, followed immediately by the "pock-pock---pock" of man-portable missile launchers and the deep stutter of a large caliber machine gun. Geneviève spun her 'Mech around in a shower of sparks and asphalt as the sudden barrage knocked both the toads off their feet. She had both control sticks in a death grip as the crosshairs converged on the first elemental to scramble back up.

Geneviève pulled the trigger on the right stick. A soft hum filled the cockpit as her 8 cm laser discharged, the beam only visible where it crossed through patches of smoke from the recently fired missiles. The weapon struck true, and the Clanner crumpled to one knee as his left arm was completely sheared away.

The elemental was still for a moment, the smoke clearing as his companion continued to take fire from the infantry dug into the commissary. And then. . .and then he got back up. . .

"Die, vous maudire!!" The left trigger tripped the Holly two-shot missile pack with a loud "tock-tock". The SRMs shot clear of the tubes, closed the distance to the wounded toad in the blink of an eye and detonated in a cloud of fire and gore. The other elemental had regained its feet, but seemed to have a sudden change of heart. It pivoted, took two running steps and jetted back the way it had come.

Geneviève stared at the blood spattered street with sunken eyes, heart pounding erratically, her whole body shaking. She slowly became aware that some of the infantry had come out of the ruined commissary. They were gesturing wildly, at her or at the large building behind her. Or both. She was too tired to tell. One of the men had a radio he was speaking into, but she couldn't hear him. The fog slipped back into her mind as the adrenaline faded away.

The gesturing continued. The sound of weapons fire seemed to be coming from the other side of that building. Yes, it would make for an excellent vantage point. She turned her Assassin, applied just a little bit of throttle and engaged the jump controls, vaulting the machine up and onto the building's roof. The University spread out to the South. A few large birds circled overhead as Geneviève surveyed the battle. The rooftop gave her a commanding view of the entire complex-- she idly wondered why no one else was up here.

The left control stick slid the torso crosshair over one of the 'Mechs maneuvering below. The identification readout bounced between "Jenner" and "Assassin" before finally settling on "SL-1G Sling". The blue box of the crosshair flashed amber as the targeting system locked on. Geneviève hit the firing stud with her left thumb, sending a flight of LRMs spiraling down into the 'Mech's back. . .

[Listless Nomad]

1,000 meters above the University of Saddleport
Saddleport, Sevren
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
19th November, 3051 -- 15:22 Hrs

Max ripped off his oxygen mask and desperately resisted the urge to pop his canopy and get some fresh air. Sweat poured down his face, but whether it was from excess heat as a result of destroyed heatsinks, or fear he could not tell. In the space of a few minutes one fighter had killed all of his friends, dancing amongst them like a cat amongst mice. It had not been without consequence, however, and the Clan fighter had become much more cautious. For the past five minutes, Max had been engaged in a desperate duel, the two fighters sniping at one another, before retreating to the cover of the clouds. Radar let them know the other’s location, but there was something comforting about the total envelopment of the cloud.

Glancing down at the flashing red lights of his control panel, Max knew that he had gotten the worst of their exchanges since the duel had begun. A quick check of this HUD showed that the Batu was slowly turning, coming around for another pass. Max closed his eyes for a moment and keyed his radio.

“Lighthouse, this is Viper Actual.”

“Go for Lighthouse.”

“Lighthouse, Viper Flight is combat ineffective. The rest of my flight have been shot down, and I have suffered heavy damage. I am continuing to engage the hostile, request reinforcements.”

“Viper Actual this is Lighthouse. Further reinforcements are not possible at this time. God speed. Lighthouse Out.”

Max lowered his head in resignation and reclipped his oxygen mask. With a silent prayer for himself, Max pulled back on the control stick and brought the sluggish fighter into a climb, rising once more to duel with the superior craft. As he burst from the cloud cover, the resurgent light temporarily blinded Max, but it was not long before he spotted the Clanner, trailing smoke and lazily circling down towards him. His face expressionless, Max pushed the throttle to full, watching the altimeter spin as the plane’s thrusters fought against the planet’s gravity.

At the limit of his range, Max triggered his last flight of LRMs, and smirked as the impacted over the nose and right wing of the diving fighter. The wolf’s return fire savaged Max’s left wing further, punching several holes through the wing itself, leaving it pockmarked and scarred. Max paid it no mind, however, and flipped the fighter on its back before pulling back on the control stick to follow the diving clanner down. Max fired his large lasers after the fleeing clanner, striking the right rear stabiliazer, and shearing it off at the midway point, where it had been damaged by his weapons fire earlier.

The Batu shimmied slightly from the damage, but the pilot deftly managed to regain control of the craft. Cursing his luck, Max continued to pursue the rapidly retreating clan fighter. Singleminded, Max had given up thoughts of survival, safety, or retreat. He wanted to destroy this clan fighter. It had become an avatar of hate for him, and it drove him to press his fighter further than he should. Once the Clanner had distanced himself enough, he brought his craft into a hard right turn, angling back towards Max’s craft.

Max bore on, waiting to get into optimal range for all his weapons before firing. The range between the two craft spun down at a dizzying rate, and yet Max held his fire. Unfortunately, the Wolf fighter did not. Just before Max could depress his trigger, the Batu flashed all seven forward facing medium pulse lasers, to devastating effect. Three tore off what remained of his left wing, another three opened additional rents in his fuselage. The remaining pulse laser burned through the cockpit glass of Max’s fighter, striking him fully in the chest. His last act was to smile as he watched his crippled fighter roll towards the Batu, causing his burning craft to strike the left wing of the Clan fighter, shearing it off completely. When his eyes finally closed for the last time, Max was still smiling.

Now, without a pilot to guide it, the Lyran fighter plummeted through the clouds, her faithful fusion reactor still propelling her at full throttle towards the city below. After the battle, a young girl would remark that she saw a burning angel fall from the sky that day.

It took only 8.96 seconds from when Leftenant Hauptgartner died to when the Lucifer fighter impacted Saddleport University Hospital on the upper right hand corner of the roof. The fighter traveled through three floors before coming to stop and detonating.

Edited by Listless Nomad, 07 September 2013 - 06:22 AM.

[Spokes]

Geneviève watched her missiles pepper armor off the Clan 'Mech, took a ragged breath, felt nothing but a vague wash of relief.

It was over then. They could all go home. The shrill of the weapons lock alarm went unnoticed as her mind closed in on itself.

She never saw the fighter, felt the concussion only as a distant, far away thing. The roof shot upwards and then tilted, dumping the Assassin over the edge.

There was no energy left for fear, anger or even awareness. The sense of detachment was complete as the hospital came apart beneath her. The deluge of fire and concrete, the horrible wail of the gyros, the rapidly approaching ground, it was all happening to someone else. A final, hidden reserve of willpower brought her left foot down on the control pedal, and then the world faded away and Geneviève slept.

*****

The Assassin, backlit by the exploding building, drops halfway to the ground before its jump jets ignite. The machine arrests its fall just short of the pavement, angles off to one side and then blasts down a side street, coming to rest out of view of those struggling in the courtyard. . .

[Sparks Murphey]

University of Saddleport
Saddleport, Sevren
19th November, 3051, 15:22 Hrs

The Clanners weren’t buying it, Adrianna could see. A lone Phoenix Hawk wasn’t enough to convince them that they had a battalion incoming. She fired down at the Koshi’s with her large lasers, before ducking back behind the bell tower to avoid the return fire.

Then, a miracle happened. Right where she said the reinforcements would come from, an Assassin jumped into the fray. Adrianna didn’t recognise the markings on it, but it sure as h*** wasn’t a Clanner, and that was good enough for her.

“Assassin pilot, this is Leftenant Delfino of the 25th Arcturan,” she called as the Assassin fired a flight of LRMs into a Koshi, “If you read me, make ready to evac to the west on my signal.”

The Koshis were backing away, each carefully checking the surrounding streets for hostiles. A flight of missiles launched from one, heading for the Assassin, but before they could reach it, something burning brightly slammed into the roof of the hospital, throwing the Assassin clean off the building. Moments later, the hospital exploded.

“S***!” Adrianna cursed, jumping the Phoenix Hawk to the rubble, ignoring the debris thunking around her cockpit. Across the courtyard, the Koshis were retreating to the east, and the remaining battle armour warriors were following them.

The Assassin was lying on its back in an alley, and after Adrianna zoomed in the image on her visor, it was apparent the MechWarrior inside was unconscious. Or dead, but she hoped the former. Thanking whoever decided to put hands on her Phoenix Hawk, Adrianna grabbed the Assassin by one arm and dragged it across the courtyard. A few hard shoves were enough to push a construction machine off it’s carrier, though getting the Assassin on carrier was harder. A few of the remaining Lyran infantry realised what she was trying to do and started chaining the BattleMech down.

The courtyard was mostly empty now, the few remaining infantry mounting up on vehicles and exchanging fire with the lone remaining Koshi watching them. Adrianna fired a pair of large laser shots at it, forcing it to drop back behind some buildings, before following the last of the survivors out of Saddleport University and beginning the retreat in earnest.

[Listless Nomad]

Lake Isabella
Roughly 67 miles SSW of Logan's pass
150+ miles from Saddleport, Severn
Nov 19, 3051 21:35hrs

Constantin brought the chopper into a hard bank around the edge of the town, shimmying slightly from an unexpected updraft. He had been going for a hard and fast landing on the roof of the hospital – the place the tinny voice on the radio had told him to land, before being forced to break off. The voice had warned him of “Wolf Forces in the area.” What he should have warned him of was a battlemech camped out on the LZ. Aft of Constantin, the drone of the miniguns made it nearly impossible for him to think. He wanted to tell them to cease fire, but he knew they were doing all they could to keep the wolf forces from tearing them to pieces.

“Help me out Jester. See any of the toads down there?”

Constantin was desperately trying to keep the buildings of the town between him and the Wolf mech, but the sudden appearance of clan elementals complicated things. King 2 was doing much of the same, while the more nimble attack choppers tried to keep the mech itself busy.

“There’s one! 2 o’clock Lockheart!” There was a brief pause in the gunfire as Amanda Lockheart swung her gun towards the elemental that had just appeared from an alleyway, before spraying the area with bullets. The brick and mortar of the surrounding buildings exploded into a fine mist, but the elemental managed to retreat relatively unscathed. Suddenly a whipcrack of electricity shot past the hovering chopper.

“FRACK! We have to move! Now!” The Fenris battlemech was trying to push its way through the alley the elemental had vacated, and had fired a snapshot that nearly blew off the nose of the Mustang VTOL. Constantin pulled back on the yoke, nearly standing the chopper on its tail as he tried to evade the wolf aggressor.

“Greg, get on the horn and tell Rabbit this LZ is WAY too hot. We can’t extract with a mech right here.”

Jester nodded solemnly and began calling out to Rabbit, stuttering slightly as Constantin brought the chopper into another sharp bank to avoid ground fire.

“Rabbit this is King. Rabbit this is King. LZ is too hot. We can’t do anything with that mech there. Over.”

Constantin brought the chopper into a circular orbit around the town, joining up with King 2 outside of effective weapons fire from the town. His lips drew themselves into a thin line as he pondered his options. They were running out of time and out of fuel. King 3 and 4 were doing an admirable job keeping the mech occupied, but they were almost out of munitions. Constantin could only hope that the boys on the ground could conjour up some kind of a miracle before it was too late.

[Sparks Murphey]

Hector’s Spur Rail Depot
15 kilometres west of Saddleport, Sevrin
19th November, 3051, 21:30

The freight warehouse was a strange kind of safe. In her training, Arianna had learned to be cautious of places like this. The freight cars, service buildings and gantries could easily contain a dozen ambushes looking to bring a Battlemech down, but that was what made it all the more attractive now. Their Mechs, powerful as they were, were also obvious, a liability when trying to retreat. This was the infantry's home turf.

Sergeant Hauser, the NCO in charge of Razor platoon, was still at odds with her for keeping them out of the high ground of the hospital, even though that decision had probably saved their lives after the aerospace fighter crash. He was a professional, though, and was now setting up defences around the depot without complaint. Some of the engineering boffins they'd rescued from the university were improvising explosive charges from the fuel stores here, too. Arianna just hoped rescue reached them before they had to use them.

As if hearing her thoughts, the comms unit spluttered to life.

“Dove this is Lighthouse, do you copy?”

“Copy, Lighthouse, Dove receiving. Do you have an ETA on evac?”

“Negative, Dove.” There were tones of resignation in the voice, and in the background Arianna thought she could hear gunfire. “Hostilities are expected to render long range comms ineffective within 5 minutes. Be advised, Lighthouse and 25AGHQ will be unable to render assistance after that time. We recommend you fall back to Point Omega within 5 days. Repeat, Lighthouse and 25AGHQ unable to render assistance, fall back to Point Omega within 5 days. Do you copy?”

Point Omega was the code for the spaceport at New Cartris, the last defensible point on world. 5 days...they weren't just falling back, the AFFC had decided Sevrin was a lost cause.

"Copy, Lighthouse. Are there any allied units we should link up with?"

"King flight a..."

And the radio cut off. No buzz of static. No screams and explosions. Just sudden, empty silence.

Arianna cried then, in the dark privacy of her cockpit. For herself, for the people she had seen blown up at the university, for the crew of the Deliverance, for the comm officer she’d talked to who had remained calm and collected right up until his probable death. For every d***ed person fighting for this forsaken world whose sacrifice now meant nothing.

After a few minutes, she pulled herself together. Adrianna had had her tears. It was time for Leftenant Delfino to consolidate what resources she had, and get these people home.

[Listless Nomad]

Lake Isabella
Roughly 67 miles SSW of Logan's pass
150+ miles from Saddleport, Severn
Nov 19, 3051 21:40hrs

“LET’S GO!” Constantin was furious. He hated being stuck on the ground like a sitting duck, especially when the world was exploding around him. After orbiting for a few minutes, the soldiers on the ground had managed to make their way to the top of the hospital and were ready for evac. The enemy mech had pulled back, unable to risk being in the open after sustained fire from Kings 3 and 4. This had prompted Constantin to risk a hot landing, hoping to get in and out before the enemy mech had a chance to close the distance once more. Unfortunately, the Wolf elementals had noticed King 1's approach and had converged on the hospital. Currently they were climbing the walls of the hospital on their way to kill him.

Constantin’s eyes grew wide as an elemental appeared directly in front of his cockpit, hopping onto the roof with an ease that should not be possible for something so big. Voodoo let out a sharp exhalation as the offending elemental was blown off the roof by fire from the orbiting King 2. Despite the small number of people he was trying evacuate, it was taking far too long for Constantin’s liking. He stole a glance over his shoulder into the rear of the chopper and noticed how the ground had become slick with shell casings as the door gunners fired nearly non-stop to keep the elementals at bay. The sight of his unwanted passenger snapping photos of the ongoing battle forced Constantin to roll his eyes and continue focusing on making sure that the chopper was free to take off the moment the last soldier was aboard. Without warning, the crew chief poked his head into the cockpit and slapped Constantin on the helmet.

“Rabbit is aboard sir. Let’s get the hell out of here.” In acknowledgment, Constantin pushed down on the throttle, heaving the great helicopter into the air. Lt. Mcnulty turned to look at the ragged bunch of soldiers they picked up. They looked dirty, tired, and bloodied from what had likely been several days of nonstop fighting. He flashed the cargo bay a thumbs up and a smile before turning to face the front of the chopper. Voodoo and Jester bumped fists for a moment to celebrate before focusing on exfiltrating successfully. In front of them, King 2 was lazily orbiting on the edge of the town.

“King 2. So you have eyes on that mech?”

“Negative King 1. Lost him in the last pass.” At that moment, a PPC shot out from behind a building and struck King 2 on the right side, blowing a hole through it’s engine nacelle. Voodoo and Jester could only watch in stunned silence as the sounds of alarm klaxons and screaming washed over their headphones. Moments before impact, one final transmission came over the headset.

“Diane, I love you.”

Constantin watched his friends disappear in a ball of fire as the transport helicopter impacted nose first into the forest surrounding the town. Kings 3 and 4 pummeled the area where the PPC came from, eventually being rewarded with a large explosion of their own.

“King Actual, this is King three. Target Neutralized.” That was it. That was all that could be said. They were professionals and they had a job to do. As the three choppers linked up together in formation, another transmission came over the headset. Constantin prayed it was good news.

“King Flight this is Lighthouse” Constantin could barely hear the operator over the sound of heavy artillery pieces firing in the background. “Bongerville ASB is being overrun. RTB to provide immediate search and-“ The female operator's voice was drowned out by the heavy footfalls of a passing battlemech. “-ease confirm. Over” Before Constantin could key his mike to respond, he could hear the receiver being picked up and the gruff voice of his commander speaking deliberately into the receiver. “Bongerville has been overrun King Flight. Do Not Return to Base. I repeat do not RTB. Your orders are to link up with any allied forces and rally at-“ Another passing mech drowned out the last sentence of his commander. “-od speed King Flight. Lighthouse out.”

Jester tried a few times to raise the base, but was met with only dead air. Constantin and Mcnulty shared a worried glance before silently agreeing there was nothing they could do. Closing his eyes for a moment, Voodoo angled the chopper away from New Catris and into the countryside.

“Any Arcturan forces, this is King Flight. Is anyone receiving this message? I repeat this is Arcturan CSAR Flight King. Is anyone still alive down there?” They sat in silence waiting for a reply, the gentle thumping of the rotor blades providing the only evidence that the real world still existed.

Edited by Listless Nomad, 07 September 2013 - 07:10 AM.

[Spokes]

Hector’s Spur Rail Depot
15 kilometres west of Saddleport, Sevrin
19th November, 3051-- 21:40 Hrs

Geneviève clung tightly to the folding chair, didn't really remember how it had gotten there, didn't really care. She leaned hard into the cold metal, muscles cramping at the slightest provocation. Her Assassin lay nearby, still chained down to the flatbed carrier. The unintelligible wash of coded comm traffic still came in over the radio, though less frequently than it had six hours earlier. She had insisted that the Techs leave it on, the noise not carrying much farther than the chair she was coiled into. Geneviève found the sound of it reassuring-- it meant there were people out there still carrying on the fight with these so-called Wolves.

Jackals. Scélérats! Oh Hans, what they did to you and the others. . . She clenched her jaw against a sudden wave of pain, willed the saline drip to work faster, tried not to retch.

She'd been semi-lucid when they'd pulled her from the cockpit, the questions quickly turning to curses as the smells roiled out of the tiny compartment. The Assassin's designers had cut every possible corner and then some when it came to "human factors"-- one of the infantrymen had finally shooed the medics away long enough to hose her down with a nearby water line. It had helped, but the odor lingered. The medics had done their work, but aside from occasionally checking on the IV line in her arm they mostly kept their distance.

SsSzzz*pop*zzzrKkrrrraeehhhrrrsssC*squelch* went the radio. Geneviève doubled over on the chair, didn't have the strength to fight her stomach, tried not to notice the Tech looking over at her as she threw up. She clenched her fists, deep breaths, tried not to disturb the tube in her arm.

The radio spat out one final burst of encrypted gibberish, the sound of it almost plaintive. And then it went silent. Geneviève looked at the dark hatch opening and tried not to think about what that meant. . .

Edited by Spokes, 08 September 2013 - 12:27 PM.

[Thom Frankfurt]

King 1
Location Unknown, Bearing Unknown
Sevrin, Federated Commonwealth/Clan Wolf Occupation Zone?
19th November, 3051 22:02 Hrs

Numb. I feel numb. Ryan's drug addled mind thought as he leaned back against the gray padded bulkhead of the chopper.

Where am I? The Lyran grunt thought as his eyes drifted amongst the crew compartment, past the somber looking faces of the crewmen and settling over the reddening bandage on his leg. Reluctantly the gaze drifted over to the covered form of Grant.

Damn it. Ryan, focus! He chastised himself mentally, his drug addled mind drifting through the morphine's haze and the jittery after effects of the adrenaline. But try as he might, he couldn't piece together what had happened. So instead he settled his head back and fell into a deep sleep.

[Edit, fixed some things.]

Edited by Thom Frankfurt, 12 September 2013 - 09:30 PM.

[kevin roshak]

University of Saddleport
Saddleport, Sevren
19th November, 3051, 15:42 Hrs

Shortly after the small riot, James and the others began to feel the panic as well. James, Lysander, Rhys, Chan, Ryan, and Cho all piled into the Maxim APC and began to recount the supplies, and came to find out not nearly enough medical supplies and drugs were left to make much of a profit on, the looters had taken enough in that short time. The others had left, into what was now the site of an active battle. James tried to raise them on the comms, nothing but static. "Electromagnetic interference from the 'mechs," Kevin assured himself as much as the others.

"Medicines and other *ahem* chemicals are running low," Ryan began "and from the maps I've looked at the University has a hopsital, its right where the action is, so I'm not sure but it should still have most everything in tact."

"We'll need to move fast by the sounds of the battle it might not be standing much longer," James stammered, still a bit shaken by the lack of contact. They had set out in a few vans and a acquired Humvee, and had at least one military grade transmitter/receiver, which should have been more than capable to deal with some static.

The Maxim APC quickly reached its top speed of 130km/hr and the team arrived at the hospital at twenty past the hour. Ryan was riding, commander, sitting half in half out of the turret hatch and he spotted the vans the others had taken earlier. The sight of the rest of the Family members' vehicles was a relief and a ragged cheer rose from the vehicle. "Looks like they had the same idea," said Rhys smiling. "Great minds think alike, eh boss," said Lysander. James turned flush with embarrassment, no one ever called him that before, well no one said it and meant it. "Someones gotta do the thinking around here right boys," James stammered out, with a ****-eating grin on his face.

As soon as the words had come out of his mouth, James regretted them. The whole hospital was leveled by what seemed to be an aerospace fighter. The shock-wave threw the Maxim off its repulsor-lifts, knocking out its drive. Ryan was thrown hard to the ground, and pelted with shards of steel and stone. The occupants were thrown around considerably, and Lysander took a bad knock and went down hard. Explosions rang all around for what seemed forever, but only a few minutes passed before all went quite, well as quiet as an active war-zone gets.

"F**king stuck," screamed Chan, as he tried to get the vehicle in motion, in a state of panic.

We weren't supposed to be in the thick of it, just here for the money, preying on peoples' natural urge to survive. No one needed to die, maybe an arrest or two, but they would be home in a few months, once this clan thing was cleared up and someone was able to 'talk' to the local authorities. "F**k," James mumbled under his breath. That was the only word he knew to describe it. He knew no one would have survived that crash and explosion. It would be ridiculous to pretend they would.

Kevin popped out of the hatch and began to scan the area for anything in a panic. A cloud of dust came rolling down a wide boulevard, and James prepared for death. It wouldn't come however. Out of the dust came a battered Phoenix Hawk and a a few platoons of infantry, and a flat-bed carrying a twisted form of what James assumed was another 'mech. James shot back down the coupla, catching a glimpse of Ryan's mangled form before looking away in horror, disgust, and shock. We grew up together, he was all his mother had left, and she had no idea what he signed up for. Hell now I don't even know what's going on. James gave a short explanation of the view he just took in, leaving out Ryan, everyone knew his fate in the end

"This is James O'Leahy of Lyran Relief Corps, we are here with former Social-General Lysander Artino on a mission of civilian aide, requesting support. The Social-General is injured and our repulsor-lifts are offline," James screamed across open comms. Closing the comms for a moment he said aloud, "I hope those f**king papers proving this isn't just a smuggling ring went through, our contact said they did but hes a c**t."

A few agonizing moments of radio silence followed by a labored female voice, "Lt Adrianna Delfino here, we've got you covered. On behalf of the citizens caught out here I would like to thank you. We haven't got much to spare but you'll return to base with us."

What a dumb c**t, she fell for it so far Kevin smiled to himself. A audible sigh of relief went out throughout the APC. Let's just hope it stands up to snuff when she has a real look.

A few minutes later with the help from an engineer from a platoon, the repulsor-lifts were back online and James and company, with a field medic and a few troopers in tow, were headed to where-ever-the-hell it was his Lieutenant lady was headed, someplace safe hopefully.

[dal10]

50 Miles to the ESE of Saddleport, Sevren
Flanking Camp Wigi
18th November, 3051, 22:34 hours

"Hey guys, the stew's ready." said Jim Zazulenko, a blond bear of a man who was huddled around one of the forty or so campfires that made up the temporary camp of Wigi company and its attached infantry.

Wigi company had been stationed east of Saddleport to hopefully hit the wolves in the *** as they assaulted the city. it consisted primarily of medium and heavy tanks, with the commander in his prized Puma Assault tank.

wigi roster

Spoiler

wigi 1-1 Puma Assault Tank
wigi 1-2 Von Luckner
wigi 1-3 Demolisher Heavy Tank
wigi 1-4 Manticore Heavy Tank

wigi 2-1 Saracen Medium Tank
wigi 2-2 Scimitar Medium Tank
wigi 2-3 Scimitar Medium Tank
wigi 2-4 Saladin Medium Tank

wigi 3-1 Shrek PPC carrier
wigi 3-2 SturmFeur
wigi 3-3 Hunter light tank
wigi 3-4 Hunter light tank

supporting elements consisting of heavy infantry and attendant apcs, roughly 1 company in size.

"smells good," replied Smaj Barry Stoneham, a slightly portly man who was just starting to go gray, "At least it isn't vegetarian this time. A soldier needs his protein."

"As long as it isn't that weird tree squirrel thingy again. I had indigestion for a week after you made stew out of that." Chimed in Lana Ritter, a small woman of african descent.

"Only a week? i couldn't even make it through the night without puking after that one" Complained Samani Shavochkin, a rail thin blond who was paler than the light of Severin's moons. She was the newest member of the crew, and she hadn't had time to get a stomach that could make it through some of the stuff they ate.when on maneuvers. She had only been out of the academy for about six months, and was already facing the clans.

They ate their stew in relative silence after that, because considering what was heading their way the next day, it might be the last hot meal they got for a while, if ever.

After they finished off the stew, it was silent for a while. No one really knew what to say. None of them had ever faced something like what was coming at them tomorrow. Barry, Lana, and Jim had been in combat before, but never against a foe who had taken some of the best troops the Commonwealth could offer and smashed them to pieces. Samani didn't even have that to fall back on.

"Kirche," referring to Jim, "have i ever told you that you are one hell of a cook?"

"Only every time i make something Rockwell," Kirche responded," I don't know how you get any though, or how Ritz keeps herself that fit. She eats half of the pot." He added jokingly at Lana.

"Maybe I just want a rack as big as Chicken's?" Ritz responded after she had snuck up behind the taller girl and lifted her ******* for emphasis. "Mine are so small that they aren't any fun."

At this Kirche and Rockwell just snorted in laughter, while Chicken stammered out "lanaaaa.... please don't do that. Its embarrassing." in embarrassment.

Lana just responded in a teasing voice, "Can't take a compliment, can we?" before she let go.

Chicken just sat down with a sigh.

Rockwell just walked next to her and patted her on the dead. "I know you're worried kid, but don't be. Yeah, its going to be real tomorrow. Realer than you have ever dealt with. But we will get through this, alive. Neither me, Kirche, or Ritz will let anything happen to you. You are part of our crew now, and that means we stick together, even if we are a bit too physical about it. So just lighten up and have a good time while you can. Cause we have work to do in the morning."

With that he stepped away from the fire pit out next to their tank, a Manticore. His damn leg was hurting again. Fumbling in his pockets for a small white container about half full with small white pills, he opened it and took a couple.

Kirche stepped up next to him. "You really need to stop taking those Barry, they will kill you one of these days."

"Yeah i know, it is just every time i try my leg just starts hurting worse." Rockwell said while putting the container back into his pocket.

"That was also a really nice thing you did for chicken."

"She didn't sign up to fight the clans, you've read her dossier?"

"You know i don't have access to those."

"Damn i forgot. She is the daughter of one of the old social generals. Her father basically forced the draft to select her so he could climb up the ladder farther. At least then she could have expected a nice post on tharkad or another one of the core worlds. but no, she is way out here, and that is a shame."

"Yeah, a pretty little thing like her shouldn't be a soldier. Thing i hate about this never ending war, is all those kids who don't live long enough to grow up."

"I know. But we should probably get back before Ritz tries to poke a hole in all that silicone."

"You think they're fake too?"

"Have to be, no way she has a set that big naturally with her body type."

When the made it back to the fire Chicken was sitting in between Ritz's legs getting her hair combed. Lana had grown up as the oldest of five sisters back on Hesperus II, so she always helped her mother comb her sibling's hair. Despite how much they seemed to fight with each other, the crew of Wigi 1-4, the Manticore known as Taco el Grande, were as close as family. Even though Chicken was new, she was accepted kicking and screaming into the group.

Rockwell and Kirche sat back around the fire, and silenced reigned again. Not even Rockwell was willing to break it this time.

After around an hour of just staring into the flames collecting their thoughts, the captain of the company came around reminding everyone to go to bed. It was going to be a long day ahead of them. Every soldier was issued a 2 man tent for them and their gear. Unlike mechwarriors who could, and regularly did, sleep in their cockpits, it was rare for tankers to do so. they generally kept a small set of supplies in the tank itself, in the manticore there was even a small cupboard for everything to go next to the radio station. Chicken on the other hand, forgot her tent and sleeping bag, forcing her to sleep with Ritz. Ritz used a civilian sleeping bag that was larger than the mummy bags that most of the corps used. The rest of their gear ended up in Rockwell's tent as kirche didn't have any room between his massive bulk and his gear. Rockwell, though taller, was much more compact, and could fit all the stuff in his tent.

Chicken abhorred the arrangements however, as Ritz had long ago gotten over the phobia of being rather cloth-less in the presence of other females. Chicken on the other hand, had graduated from nagelring, where every soldier had private room showers they had to share with 1-3 roommates, not communal ones for the entire dorm, or for some dorms coed communal showers, like the Blackjack School of Conflict did. She never had to deal with other people in underwear or less.

Eventually the noise faded from those two fighting over personal space, and Rockwell faded to sleep. The infantry was on guard tonight, and the clans weren't supposed to be on planet til the morning. He would need every minute of rest he could get at the moment.

50 Miles to the ESE of Saddleport, Sevren
Flanking Camp Wigi
19th November, 3051, 13:34 hours

It was a bit after one thirty in the afternoon when the first shots were fired. Wigi company was complacent, there was no reason for the clans to turn directly towards them, and according to infantry observation posts, the nearest clan mech was nearly 20 klicks away. There shouldn't have been any danger. But while mechs were always easy to spot, elementals were less so. Indeed several OPs were taken down without them even being able to get the word out. The tankers were finishing taking down the camp when they got hit by nearly a star of elementals. The only ones in their machines were the tanks on guard duty, a pair of scimitars. While those tanks and the infantry in their sandbag bunkers could hold off a group of light mechs until the rest of the group buttoned up and engaged, They were mostly helpless when it came to elementals. One of the scimitars had three of the little buggers on its back and desperately tried to buck them off. Before it could get even one of them off they had finished ripping holes in the armor and filled the insides with laser fire. It ceased bucking after that.

The second tank fared little better. While a lucky salvo of SRMs managed to swat an elemental out of the air, its buddies tore the tank to shred before blowing the ammunition. The clearing was chaos. Unlike mech cockpits, which usually can't be reached by foot soldiers, tanks were much lower to the ground. it was relatively easy to climb them, and many a tank had been hijacked in the past. That meant Tankers almost always carried some kind of firearm with them. A lot of small caliber fire pelted the elementals, but they might as well have been shooting spit wads.The elementals just waded through the mass fire like it wasn't even there and started ripping the tankers apart.

Rockwell and the rest of Wigi 1-4 were on the opposite side of the camp from the elemental assault, which had come from the opposite side of the camp compared to saddleport, where there were a lot less OPs. which is how the elementals got there in the first place. Barry just fired his smg while he watched a female tanker get knocked to the ground where an elemental proceeded to just step on her mid section. The human body is tough, but it is not designed to have any one part stepped on by over a ton of man and metal. She was basically bisected at the third rib. Infantrymen and tankers alike were being lased, stabbed, riddled with bullets and crushed by the elementals, it didn't matter who you were. After seeing this, he made a tough call. Spotting Ritz, still in her skivvies, and kirche + chicken in full fatigues behind a rock, he roadie ran over to them.

"we are bugging out."

"What" Ritz exclaimed. "We can't just abandon the company."

"Ritz, the only people left in this clearing are the dead and those about to die¹. we are going to clear out of this murder pit, and once we get to cover i am going to blow the trap."

Wigi company's commander had ordered the company and escorts to plant a large number of claymores and explosives all over the camp. The idea was if that the clans started pushing too hard they pull back behind the camp and once enough people were in the clearing they would blow the claymores and drop as much of the forest as they could on them. Then the tanks could clean up as the mechs were struggling to get out of the fallen trees.

" Rockwell, there are still people, our people, in that clearing." Chicken protested.

"I am sorry Samani, but they are dead either way. Now get a move on people." With that, the four members of Wigi company sprinted like hell out of the clearing. As the senior NCO for the company, Rockwell was one of three that could set off the charges, the other two being the captain of the infantry company and the tank company captain. Both of which were laying somewhere in that clearing, dead. his people moved like the devil himself was chasing them away from the slaughter, maybe he was. They reached a rock roughly two hundred meters outside the camp. "Take cover guys" and with that, he pushed the detonator.

Explosions rocked their entire world, as a section of the forest literally came apart at the seams. Ball bearings went flying everywhere. When Rockwell pressed the detonator, there were 14 tankers out of about 50, 31 infantry out of 120, and 22 elementals still alive in that clearing. After he pressed that button, all of them were either too trapped to get out or were too dead to care.

Everyone looked shell shocked. Rockwell felt shell shocked himself, though he dare not show it. The entire forest was in an eerie silence, as if nothing could believe what had just happened.

"May god have mercy on everyone's souls" Kirche prayed while making the sign of the cross.

Out of nowhere Rockwell was knocked off balance by a hard slap. He looked up and Chicken was there with tears welling out of her eyes. "how... HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING? Those men and women were our comrades, and you just slaughtered them all. HOW COULD YOU?" she then fell to her knees while Ritz tried to comfort her.

"Samani, Everyone in that clearing was dead anyway. If we hadn't blown that we would be dead too. You think the clans would have just let everyone walk away if they ask? What i did may just well be a sin, but it is a sin i am willing to bear to get me and as many of my men as i can out of this alive. it was either four or zero. I chose four. I am not going to do anything about you assaulting a superior officer either, but we need you to pull together. If we are going to survive this, we need everyone to be tracking. SO GET UP ON YOUR FEET CORPORAL. OR DO YOU WANT TO DIE HERE IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN LAND?"

Chicken looked ashamed of herself as she got up wobbly on her feet. "I'm sorry sir" she said in a very small voice.

"I know you are kid... but we need to check the manticore to see if we can get it out. If not, we have a lot of ground to cover on foot. weapons at the ready, but lets get moving"

The remains of Wigi company slowly approached the ambush site, weapons drawn even though they were unlikely to do much. But as luck would have it, their manticore was not only mostly intact, with some minor armor damage due to tree strikes, but under few enough trees that it could move out under its own power.

There were definitely some elementals still alive under the trees, but hopefully they would stay stuck until the tank could get going. As fast as elementals were and as slow as the manticore was, they still couldn't keep up with the tank's cruising speed, let alone its max speed.

Using kirche as a boosting platform, and then pulling him up to join them, the four members of the Taco el Grande scaled their tank. Rockwell reached under the tanks turret housing and pulled a small level to release the seal on the turret hatch, which opened with a hiss.

Chicken went in first, as the radio was to the back and left of the tank compartment, Ritz and Kirche squirreled in after her, with Kirche's.bulk barely making it through the hatch. Ritz was the farthest forward in the driver slot, with Kirche about two feet behind her and Rockwell in the back center of the tank with his torso half in the turret.

Ritz hit the power the moment she made it into her seat, as Rockwell dogged the hatch behind him. The power plant started purring, which made them all feel better. the Manticore Taco el Grande was operational.

What really surprised them is though is when they heard a thud on the glacial armor of the manticore. Their hearts collectively dropped when they saw the elemental perched on the nose of the tank. They had taken too long.

"Hey ritz... Is that an elemental?"

"It appears to be sir."

"Isn't it sitting right in front of our minigun?"

with a devilish grin, Ritz realized it was. "It appears to be sir, want me to do something about it.?"

"Remove it."

Ritz started spooling up the gun. The elemental slowly looked down to see what the noise was, before jerking back up and engaging its jets, it was too late however.

Now normally a mg doesn't have the damage to do anything to an elemental. However, six thousand rounds a minute at point blank range CAN NOT be ignored.

http://www.youtube.c...e&v=O_lnq0HYBQE

The minigun rocked the elemental like a firehose, knocking it back nearly fifteen feet where eventually came to a rest on its back.

"Gun it ritz"

The manticore roared to life, and with a resounding crack, the trees gave way as it accelerated straight towards the elemental that was struggling to get up.

The tank rocked up onto one tread as it ran over said elemental, and shooting down a logging trail, it left the now still warrior, and the rest of their company, behind.
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1:i swear, all the good lines are taken.

hopefully this isn't too horrible. I should have another one up today or tomorrow to bring me even with the rest of the plot. I just had to explain how the Wolves let a manticore, which isn't horribly fast, get away.

[dal10]

70 Miles to the SSW of Saddleport, Sevren
Manticore "Taco el Grande"
19th November, 3051, 17:01 hours

It had been a quiet four hours. Four hours since the crew members of the Taco el Grande had watched their entire company wiped out to almost the last man. No one spoke, no one knew what to say. This wasn't what had been planned, it wasn't what was expected. Right now they should have been rolling into saddleport after smashing through part of the wolves advance, leaving dead and dying clanners in their wake.

But as is always said, no plan survives contact with the enemy¹.

They were running, plain and simple. There weren't any tactical retreats, no counter attacks, no grand plans. All there was is running. Running to escape the juggernaut that had killed so many already. Saddleport wasn't an option, the bulk of the wolf's forces on this section of the continent were there. Anyone still there was either cut off and dead fast or running towards high command in New Catris and dying slower.

"Barry, any idea where we're going?" It was Kirche who broke the silence, using Rockwell's first name to break him out of his stupor.

"As long as it is away from the wolves, i don't care." Chimed in ritz and chicken, almost in unison.

"hmm... We should head for high command in New Catris. If there are any intact Lyran forces left on the planet, they will be there."

"Then why haven't we heard anything from them? Shouldn't they be coordinating everything?" questioned Chicken nervously.

"The wolves probably took down the comsats on their way down. I think high command doesn't have the range to reach here with just radios. We should start picking up transmissions as we get closer." Rockwell explained. "but before we go anywhere, we need to pick up some supplies. Ritz is still in her underwear and we really don't have anything in the way of food or water either. all of that is sitting back in the remains of the camp."

"According to the maps i have of the area," responded Chicken "there should be a town on the other side of the swamp to our left. about 5 kilometers. small enough to hopefully not be a stopping force for any wolves around here."

"any place where we can stash the tank while we check out the town?"

"We're not taking it with us?"

"Tanks are kinda hard to sneak around with Chicken. If we are on foot and the wolves show up we can hide. kinda hard to hide a heavy tank in a small town like that. We might be able to pull it off in a city, but a town is out of the question. so any place where we can stash it?"

"there appears to be a logging trail into the swamp that leads to a lake. best i got."

"It will have to do. However if the wolves find us there, we won't be able to make it out. But it is a risk we are going to have to take."

The rest of the drive went without a hitch, they safely parked the tank next to the lake without seeing any signs of the pursuers they knew were coming.

"Ritz, stay with the tank."

"Why? i can keep up without any problems." Ritz protested.

"But a girl running around a backwoods town in nothing but her underwear is anything but inconspicuous. " Rockwell shot back "we'll make sure to bring you back some clothes.

Before they set out, Rockwell took another couple of his pain medication, then set a moderate pace through the swamp. It was hard going, sloughing through the mud and the muck, Chicken was barely keeping up, but not even she dared to complain. They had to get in and out of the area as fast as they could, and hoped the wolves weren't on the prowl.

Once they actually got out of the swamp and into the forest surrounding the town, they moved much slower. Kirche had his Federated Assault Rifle and Rockwell had his Imperator SMG. Chicken used a Mydron autopistol.

"Rememeber, stay quiet, stay low, stay fast. I want us in and out as quickly as possible." Rockwell said as they crouched just inside the treeline. "Hopefully everyone has decided to run away from the wolves, but there will probably be a few stragglers. Only fire if you have to. Kirche, i need you to get as much water as you can carry, some food too. Chicken, clothing and other things like that. I will get food and medicine if i can get into the pharmacy."

He then added, "On three Chicken, run to the wall, Kirche and I will cover you. Kirche you go next, and i hoof it last. we head for the local megamart. it should have everything we need. one last thing, we are soldiers, not bandits, if you don't need it for some reason, don't take it."

"Ready?"

'Ready" Chicken and Kirche confirmed.

"One...Two...Three go"

Chicken sprinted to the wall of the nearest building with no issues, Kirche and Rockwell didn't have any either. The town seemed to be deserted. They didn't encounter a single soul as they picked their way through the empty streets. As they hit the megamart, they did encounter one snag, the doors were locked. But that is where the Blackjack School of Conflict came in. It was notorious for producing graduates with 'Extra' skills. It took Kirche all of thirty seconds to pick the lock. But the power seemed to be off. While that meant that the alarms were down, all the frozen and refrigerated food would be no good. Which was fine anyway, they didn't have a fridge in the manticore.

"Remember the plan" With that, they split up. Chicken headed towards the clothes in the center-back of the store, Kirche went towards the bulk stuff, including water, to the right. Rockwell went to the left to pick up food and to check the pharmacy. While all the painkiller's seemed to be gone, he did pick up some prescription anti-biotics and some stims, which would help them stay awake on the trip. He then went down the canned and dry food ilses, picking up as much food as his rucksack could hold. As he angled back towards the clothes to rendevous with Chicken and Kirche, he heard Chicken stammer, "Let go of me, that hurts."

Pulling up his SMG, he walks around the corner to see Chicken in front of a man who had one hand grabbing her hair, and the other with a gun in her back.

The man says "Drop your weapon, or this pretty little lady is going to have a second bellybutton. One that goes all the way through her gut, You folks are here stealing my stuff, and yet you have the kahonas to point weapons at me?" The man was clearly old, with long graying hair and the look of being homeless for a while. Half his teeth were missing, and from the look in his eyes, he wasn't all there.

He probably had broken in after the store owners had fled. This was probably the most he had ever had in his life, and to him, that was power.

Chicken had let her guard drop and changed clothes in the store. Or at least partially changed, her new civilian shirt was unbuttoned and her new pants weren't zipped. "Sorry Rockwell... I didn't hear him come up behind me while i was changing." she practically sobbed.

With a sigh, rockwell put down the smg and said, "It isn't your fault kid. We shouldn't have sent you off on your own. but don't worry, this will all be over soon." With that he kicked the smg over to the old man. With the extra noise of the plastic on the floor, neither Chicken nor her captor noticed Kirche sneak up behind them. When Kirche's laser pistol discharged a mere foot behind his head, the old man never even knew he died. His skull just bulged as his brain flashboiled, and he was gone before he had even hit the ground.

"Forgive me lord, we couldn't let him live." Kirche muttered.

Chicken was on her knees, ashamed of herself, and more than a little bit frightened.

"Get up kiddo, we still have too much to do to lie around." Rockwell said to her while Kirche offered his arm. Chicken took the proffered arm and stood up. She repeatedly apologized while buttoning up her newfound clothes. She had picked out ones for everyone else as well.

The trip back to the tank was much more eventful than the trip there. The wolves had caught up, and were currently moving through the town. How Rockwell and the others had gotten past them without being noticed, no one could really say. More than once they were almost caught, but the wolves just went right on past them. Almost like they didn't care about the three Lyran tankers.

The wolves still hadn't bothered going through the swamp, there was nothing of any value out there. Which meant that even though it was stranded until the enemy moved out of the area, the Taco el Grande and her crew were safe for now.

Ritz was delighted to have actual clothes again. She didn't even wait for Rockwell and Kirche to turn around before she started changing, much to Chicken's embarrassment.

"H-h-how can you strip like that while these two are watching?" Chicken sort of stammered.

"Hon, I was in the coed dorms on Blackjack. Compared to some of the guys you would see in the showers, these two are not only much better gentlemen, but cuter as well." Ritz replied as she was putting her new bra on.

Chicken had no real reply to that.

"Well guys, it appears we're stuck her for the time being. As long as the wolves are on the prowl, i don't dare try and get out of this swamp. So we set camp here for the night. Kirche picked up a new tent and bag for Ritz and Chicken at the mart. we keep one person in the tank at all times manning the guns. that way we have at least some defense. Ritz, Kirche, me Chicken. that should cover us til morning. We will have to reevaluate then, we can't stay here forever."

With that, the crew settled down for the night.

Outside Hillsdale
73 miles SSW of Saddleport, Sevren
Nov 19, 3051 21:40hrs

Ritz was tired, she had been driving non-stop since the ambush when they finally parked the tank out in the middle of the swamp. She hadn't been able to sleep then either. She had tried going for a swim in the lake to wait for everyone to get back. She should have waited in the tank, though it didn't make any difference. There was only one road out and she couldn't navigate the swamp. The manticore's only defense was to stay hidden. If anyone came into this clearing it would be obvious even under the canopy, and they all would die.

The lake water was filled with some sort of leech. despite only being in the water for about fifteen minutes, she had no less than thirty of the things on her. It had taken a while to get them off too. They latched on hard. Ritz kinda wished she hadn't told the guys about them. Would have been pretty funny to watch them try and pull them off an area where the sun don't shine.

with around an hour and a half left in her shift, the radio crackled to life.

“Any Arcturan forces, this is King Flight. Is anyone receiving this message? I repeat this is Arcturan CSAR Flight King. Is anyone still alive down there?”

Ritz couldn't believe her ears. someone else was still alive and kicking around here. The message repeated again, this time tinged with more desperation.

Ritz scrambled over to the radio and prayed that the wolves couldn't triangulate her position.

"King Flight, this is Sergeant Lana Ritter of Wigi 1-4. We hear you. If you were here i could just kiss you right about now. We thought we were the only ones in this part of the world still moving."

With that, she pushed the hatch open and called Rockwell, while waiting for King Flight's response.

____________________________________________________________________________________

1: there is so much understatement here it hurts.

This should bring me up to current time. I had to hook up with nomad after my comment about how does one go with choppers, hopefully i am not the only one though.

Edited by dal10, 17 September 2013 - 06:24 AM.