CHAPTER ONE : PRACTICE
outside nereidum county, mars
There were four cannons on the mountain ridge. They were all pointed directly at Cooper's LEV. Once it was hit, Second Lieutenant Radium Lavans made sure his helmet was secure―White Team would be going in on the second shot fired―and rechecked his energy readouts. He was all good to go, but he had a very strange sense going in.
"Hit! Red Team! Withdraw!" Second Lieutenant Baran shouted into his comlink.
"Okay, White Team, we're going in," Radium said into his own. He got acknowledgements from every one of his teammates. He manuvered his LEV up, hitting thrust control and landing on a pile of rocks that nearly threw his LEV off-balance. Two Mosquitos caught sight of him. He raised the machine gun and fired at both of them, just as the rocks underneath his LEV took a direct hit. He had only seconds to readjust and boost out of there. As he did, he looked around the battlefield for the rest of his team, but couldn't find them. "White Team, acknowledge," he ordered.
Will answered first. "White Two copy, behind at five 'o clock."
Next came Viola. "White One copy, behind at six."
Radium grinned. His team was still intact. "Talk to me, Will."
"What kind of cockamamie stratagy is this? No air support? Jesus!"
"I hear you."
"Hey knuckleheads!" Colonel Edgar shouted from the bunker. "Quit playing target practice and make the assault!"
Radium grunted an affirmative and went ahead. Two more Mosquitos were taken down, along with Green Team taking out one of the four cannons. The main double rail gun was still a threat, however. Radium fired his machine gun at it, but came up dry. He ejected the magazine and slapped a new one into place.
Will's LEV was right beside him, firing away at the rail gun. Several Mosquitos flew between his shots, one heading straight toward him. It fired, hitting the full upper torso of Will's LEV, knocking it down to the ground with a loud crashing noise.
"Will!" Radium shouted, just as a grouping of shots hit the ground behind him. One of them hit his LEV's right arm, knocking the machine gun out of its hands.
"Lieutenant Lavans!" Viola's crisp, clear voice came through his radio. Radium looked to his left and saw her firing away at the Mosquitos behind him. "Looks like you're getting choppy."
"Yeah, just shut up, Viola," Radium snarled, though he could practically see Viola's smiling face inside her LEV.
"You're looking sharp as wooden spoons out there! White Team, what the fuck's going on?"
"Yeah, just what the hell do you expect on a handicap of boosters at half power?"
"What did you say, Corporal Lavans?"
"Just clearing the static, sir," Radium smiled. Then he returned to being serious. A plan had been formulating in his head the whole time, now it was the right time to impliment it. "Viola, I'm gonna go for the ridge―from up there," he pointed to a higher ridge, to the left of the one the cannons were on.
"No way, uh-uh, no! It's too rash!"
"You're givin' me a rash!"
"You'll be blown to pieces!"
"I'll take my chances. Just give me cover, got that?"
"If you die, take that as an 'I told you so', Lavans."
"Wouldn't take it as anything less." With that, Radium shifted the control sticks and ran toward the base of the cliff. Once there, he hit the boosters once, and proppelled himself onto a small plataeu halfway up the mountain. A second boost and he landed on the top of the ridge―
―and into the firing path of a smaller cannon that he hadn't seen at first. Radium swore under his breath and emptied his second magazine into the thing, destroying the front half and sending a sheet of the back armor onto the ground.
A second plan formed in his mind. He grabbed the sheet of armor and held it in front of him. Then he looked down upon the main cannon, hit the boosters one last time, then went into freefall. All the way down, he emptied his third magazine into the cannon, creating micro explosions all over it.
The cannon began to react. It turned upward and began to fire at him. Still firing, Radium finished out the third magazine and then dropped the machine gun. He pulled up the sheet of armor, covering up the LEV's entire torso and most of the head.
A round from the cannon caught the left shoulder, knocking out the entire left arm. Radium lost the sheet of armor with the left arm. He hit the boosters again, trying to get out of the incoming fire, but the fuel was depleted. "Fuck!" he shouted, as another round hit the LEV's head.
Just as the cannon targeted the cockpit, it exploded, sending debris and ArkJet matter flying, hitting other cannons. The other three on the ridge shut down immediately as the first exploded.
Radium's LEV landed, harshly. The cockpit was torn up by the ground. Nothing remained of the internal circuitry. His displays went down, his comm was destroyed. A piece of metal just barely missed his head as it impaled the seat.
Great, he thought, now I can't move. Dammit.
Radium tried to relax in the cockpit. It was hard, with all the destruction in the small capsule. He didn't want to wait very long, but he knew that the clean up crews would take a while with all of the other squads destroyed.
A broken voice came over the comm. "Lieu... Lavans... wh... se... ur... en..."
"Can't understand what you're sayin'," he answered.
Suddenly, he felt his LEV moving. Then, it fell again, and the cockpit door was ripped off by another LEV. The other cockpit opened, and Viola stood up. "I said, why didn't you separate your engine when you jumped off?"
"Oh." Radium thought for a moment―separating the booster engine would have activated temporary foot-jets, which then could have been used to complete his plan without a hitch. "Guess I didn't think about it."
Viola jumped down and helped him out of the restraints. "You were lucky that was just a practice run, otherwise, the Terrans would have taken you prisoner."
"I have that kind of charm about me, Sergeant."
She mock saluted. "Let's get the hell out of here, Lieutenant."
Edgar's voice came over Viola's radio from the open cockpit. "Test over. Pilots, recover your machinery and report to me when all is secure."