Mecha X
The sun peaked above the horizon. The darkness of space gave way to the blue oceans below. The dropship floated above the atmosphere with its back toward the Earth. The jet black arrowhead slipped silently with its partners through the defense satellite network. The klaxon blared once they entered the atmosphere. Bolts of blue and white streaked across their bows as the low orbit cannons fired upon them.
Inside their bellies were dozens of hulking metal soldiers. Rider Three contained a pair Black Mamba field artillery Gears, two Zephyrs wanzers and a platoon of six Calamity Dogs. Their digital camouflage was uniformly chaotic under the rotating golden caution lights. The dormant machines soon whirred to life with the sound of gears and motors spinning up.
The dropships burned through the clouds like fiery comets. The air rushed past the wings with friction causing particulates to burst into flames , leaving a trail of embers behind it. The cargo bay opened its scorched doors and a rush of air pulled fiercely on the warmachines. They began to roll down towards the may , one by one. The locking clamps burst open in explosions. Rockets on the back of the first Calamity Dog ignited, sending it hurtling out of the bay. Once out ,the rockets disconnected and the Calamity Dog entered freefall. The rest soon followed.
The hell jumpers were soon joined by their compatriots from the other two drop ships. They formed an armored shadow against the blue and gray sky. Rider Three company quickly reached terminal velocity where upon tiny thrusters stored into curved modules lining their bodies began to fire off. They drifted into an X formation as the sun broke through the clouds and cast its light over them.
The jungle quickly approached the hell jumpers. Pods on the machines opened up to reveal several parachutes. The descent was forceful as the momentum of a hundred tons of reinforced armor suddenly slowed. Few of the pilots vomited into their flight decks eve though they were prepared with plenty of motion sickness pills.
Each of them crashed through the jungle canopy. Trees shattered and the ground became craters under their weight. The rhythmic thud of steel boots against wet underbrush rustled through the trees. The C-Dogs spread out into the jungle to sweep for traps and to scout for enemies. The Zephyrs followed while the Bambas , as they were oft called, stood back with their gun sights ready.
Ryuki sat at the edge of his seat . He was the leading point of the arrow moving far deeper into the jungle than the other C-Dogs. The humidity penetrated through the pilots deck and air conditioning system. Small beds of sweat formed on his furrowed brow while his mind paid sharp attention to each sensor readout on his dashboard. His ears were tuned to the sound of the infrared lock klaxon and his body conditioned to slam his C-Dog into the ground.
The sound outside his armored compartment only came through as a light wind but in truth the jungle was reverberating from the thundering steps his machine took. Felled trees crunched under him and squawking birds flew out from their hidden perches. He soon focused his attention to his occular scope and saw far into the distance the tell tale signs of military industry.
Smoke stacks jutted the horizon and billowy clouds of soot and ash seeped out. The low slopped roofs hid deep underground facilities that stretched as far down as the mountains were tall. There, deep below the surface of the Earth , was their true objective, a prototype for the most advanced weapon known to the Federation.
The laser point to point comm clicked followed by a heavily digitized voice. It was his commander, Captain Shiryu, with his distinctive gruff low voice that you would think only would show up in movies. "Ryuki, take your C-Dog team around the perimeter and enter through the dock yard. The Bambas are gonna shell the forward posts and my Zephyrs will lay down covering fire on the other side of the base, at the retaining walls".
The group broke apart into teams. The short and stocky C-Dogs kicked up mud and dirt with their rubberized tracks hidden in their feet. They dodged low trunks and heavy underbrush as they raced through the jungle. The cracking pop of artillary prompted Ryuki to speed up. The ground rocked as the heavy mechs tore through the jungle. The rattling boom of auto-cannons marked the return fire from the base. Their gaze had shifted as expected . On cue, Shiryu's Zephyrs opened fire from the opposite side of the base with cluster rockets and PAC rifles. Stacatto of explosions erupted and a fireball peaked above the low roofs.
A rush of air swept inward towards the base as concussion bombs went off. The trees rippled and leaves tore from the branches. The leaves rushed upward into the air then suddenly stopped. The concussion bombs were only used to set the stage for fuel-air rockets. The high velocity gusts and the liquid accelerants mixed into a giant whirwind of bright red and orange flames. It spread over the buildings and set alight the base. One building collapsed complete but revealed a giant tunnel leading down to the main base.
Ryuki's team was now at the docks behind the battle line. His team retracted their tracks to hide their tracks. They formed into two staggered columns on either side with each column led by shield carrying unit and the other two peaking from the sides a good distance behind it. They moved methodically through the burning structures ,to check for stragglers or guards.
The buildings around them swayed dangerously from the concussive waves of exploding ordinance. It was very apparent that the weak buildings were merely built to hide what was under them. The base itself was fashioned to look like an industrial sea port. The shipping container hoists lined the coast and the docks stretched towards the sea. Recon teams watched the base for weeks to record movement and defenses. For most of the time ships docked and disgorged containers. Most looked to be filled with fruits and vegetables. The event that triggered this mission,though, happened only weeks prior. A ship had docked , like always, to unload cargo. The difference now was the container it had left was bigger than any that had come through before. It was nearly 40 meters per side, a giant cube of reinforced steel. Microwave scans revealed nothing and x-rays couldn't penetrate through the polished stone gray surface.
Though they couldn't peer into its contents , they did know something was inside it. Something energetic enough to blast out waves of highly charged ions. Something inside it was generating a very strong electro-magnetic field, strong enough to ionize the local atmosphere. The leaders chomped at the bit to get this in their hands and so Ryuki's company, the Skull Company , was dispatched to recover it.
Another fuel air explosion erupted above them. The rushing air nearly lifted the off the ground before the thunderous crack of the explosion pushed the down into the ground. The team was now meters away from the shaft. They rushed towards it , knocking down buildings and weapons sheds on their path. The Shield Dogs smashed wall after wall to carve a path for the others.
They reached the gaping maw of the shaft amid rapid succession of explosions. Each C-Dog was equipped with a claw-grapple. The rocket propelled claws exploded from their arms. Each clamped tight onto exposed steel girders. Once the rigging was made firm, they dropped down into the inky abyss.
The nanotube mono-filament cables lay loose as they plummeted towards the bottom. Their high-intensity lights revealed little of their fast changing surroundings until something glinted in the light. They're laser rangefinders showed that they were rapidly approaching a stopped freight elevator with no room to maneuver around it. One of them fired off a heavy grenade from its backpack mounted launcher. The elevator disintegrated but left a burning carcass still hanging. Ryuki opened fire with both his auto-rifle and shoulder-mounted rockets.
The carcass collapsed and their burning remains fell with the hurtling team. The rangefinders rang once more but with the elevator now hurtling down in pieces. It meant the end of the fall. The motors on their grapples ground against the mono-filament cables which brought them to a rapid stop. Above ground, the claws detached to drop down back to their masters. The motors whirred again , applying a rapidly increasing acceleration. The claws violently reunited with the arms in a shower of sparks and crash of plasteel.
The power was intermittent after the vicious bombardment. Lights flickered on, off or just overload. They maintained radio silence as best as possible with the collimated focused beam optical comms. The laser-links could only be opened to one person at a time so we decided to switch to physical communications. Each C-Dog had a tertiary arm, skeletal and thin. It had a magnet ring that would clamp onto the C-Dog chassis. Their voices were transmitted through vibrations and channeled up towards the pilot's nest. The arms locked the disks to the hulls to create a daisy chain that transmitted sound to each armored trooper. The high pitched tinny sound was the most annoying thing I ever heard aside from the sucking sound of a concussion bomb. They tried their best to pay attention to the shrill sound but their ears would soon hear a permanent ring if they spoke too often.
Ryuki took the point and lead the rest of the team towards the location of the immense magnetic field. They cleared rooms and hallways as they normally would but found absolutely no evidence of anyone or any armored walkers had ever been there. Garages were empty and the barracks were unfurnished.
"This is a trap" he said. The others shared his suspicion with morbid expectation. Their AT's rumbled through the vast complex onward towards an expected ambush. Tension built in each of them as time went on. The waiting was fraying their nerves. Ryuki was conflicted, with no resistance it meant that there was no worries of protracted combat. But there was absolutely nothing down there. His shoulders drooped with the burden of burgeoning paranoia.
The floor , though vast, was simple to clear. The floor layout was uniform which helped to speed up their investigation. The final passage way was all that was left to check and Ryuki was sure it led to the magnetized container.
The passage was larger than the others. The walls were of bolted plates and their movement sounded hallow against the floor. A recessed track ran the length of the corridor into the brightness at the end. Their multitude of computers and scanners detected nothing out of the ordinary but a cloud of doubt hung over them.
Craig, the heavy gunner , spoke through the infrared comms to Ryuki with a simple phrase, "a trap". They readied their weapons, an array of mini-howitzers ,guided rockets and shoulder cannons. The toes and heels of the C-Dogs retracted to reveal a series of heavy rubberized tracks. They tore through the corridor with their squealing treads reverberating through the thin walls.
Sounds of thunder permeated through their armored pilot nests. It ebbed until it became a steady crash. Ryuki counted each and noted how regular and arbitrary it sounded. He turned his IR transmitter to Ross, his executive officer. "Something huge is walking around in their. Get everyone to spread out the moment we go through that doorway", he ordered. The message began to pass from Ross to each trooper ,arduously slow.
By now, whoever was making that raucous noise was already ready for them. Their stealthy approach was rendered useless so Ryuki ordered an end to the radio silence. "Alright, once we go through , weapons free. Shoot anything that stands", he said. The doorway now took up his entire viewfinder with its brilliant white light. They passed through the threshold soon after.
The harsh glare of the lights overwhelmed their visual feed. The nest whistled with warnings and alerts. Passive RADAR had picked up a giant object ahead of them. The cameras adjusted to the light and the visual feed finally showed them what was waiting for them.
Inside the giant,cavernous room was a NEXT. The sleek gray White Glint stood before them , bathing them with its awesome might. "Break!" Ryuki yelled. The team shot away from the White Glint when a beam of energy scorched the walls behind them. It boosted up to the roof with its back cannons arrayed like angel wings. They flipped over its shoulders in a wide formation. The cannons fired down a rain of devastation.
The shells raced across the grand chamber , leaving behind swirling trails of super-heated air. Their proximity fuses lit off one by one just over their heads. The subsequent shower of molten shards struck the ground like thousands of spears. To their credit, the small size of the C-Dogs let them maneuver out of the way of the metal spears.
The ground then erupted in flames when the White Glint fired its particle rifle in a scything blast. The ground ahead of them was scorched with a deep cut into the steel plating. The flying Glint soon overheated its jump engines forcing it back down on the ground. Its heavy frame rumbled like thunder. Its off hand gun fired a shell at Ryuki's unit.
The shell exploded in front of him into thousands of tiny spheres. The light reflective off them like drops of water. Ryuki's perception slowed down as he watched his display in horror. His mech was much too slow to dodge the fusillade shot. The legs of his unit gave out as fear gripped him. The unit crashed on its back.
To his amazement, the blast had missed him. But with his systems malfunctioning from the impact , he was paralyzed. His team began to lay down fire. Their guided rockets burst from their pods and racks in a cloud of streaming smoke and fire. Their guns fired volleys of rapid fire shots at the Glint. The rockets arched outside of the path of the gun fire and seamlessly swooped back towards it. All the armaments met the Glint simultaneously in a giant fireball of shrapnel and super heated copper.
Ryuki finally was able to stand up and took the chance to race back towards the back of the team. He needed time to asses the damage before the next strike was to come. For a few moments it seemed that the attack was a success. There was little movement in the dimmed artificial cavern.
The infrared sensors were unable to see its swift movement. The explosion had temporarily blinded their optical sensors. The laser motion detectors were unable to penetrate the cloud of debris and the Doppler microphones were inundated with static from the reflections of the flying shrapnel.
The cloud quickly fell to the floor to reveal their target had disappeared. There was no trace of wreckage, not even a sign that it ever existed. There was a heavy pressure on their shoulders and an exhaustion that afflicted their minds. Their fear intensified and their senses sharpened. Then the walls began to rumble. The sound of steel whining and rivets breaking ricocheted through their heads.
The ground broke up under them violently. The shifting plates tossed the C-Dogs like dolls. Out of the crater flew out the White Glint. Its armor was streaked in dirt and grime from the previous assault. Its mono-eye grew red as if to show the rage brewing inside the pilot. Its angelic wings folded down again and its arms stretched out with their heavy weapons.
The C-Dogs rolled furiously around the ground. Nate , the heavy weapons carrier, unlocked the folding mini-howitzer from its back. In one quick and jarring manuever, its claw arm smashed down against the cannon barrel to force it to lock in place. Its weapon arm gripped the handle and pressed down on the double-throw trigger. The first click of the trigger armed the warhead sitting in the blasting chamber. The second click ignited the blasting charge. The warhead's blue flames erupted out of the barrel before dissipating into the form of the shell.
It's impact was swift and instantaneous. The shell contained a warhead filled with enough explosives to bring down a land crawler tank carrier. The White Glint's body ruptured with red hydraulic fluid pouring out of the cracked armor. Its right arm was torn to shreds and all that was left of its angel wings were sparking stubs of brown metal.
Its jump engines sputtered shut and the Glint crashed down on its knees. Ryuki jostled his controls to force his C-Dog back up. Several hydraulic lines burst which left his claw arm lifeless. The fluid began to leak into the pilots' nest. The machine's bleeding frame began to slow down as the fluid levels dropped. With the last bits of strength left in his machine, he lifted up his auto-rifle and took aim at the core of the Glint. The arm locked up leaving only the manipulator with any amount of motion. The auxillary electric motors in the hand whirred. The trigger finger slammed down and the rifle fired until its ammunition had run out. The core took several shots before the armor broke apart revealing its generator. Its' exposed power cells were hit and the flammable fuel ignited. The consequent explosion knocked back the paralyzed C-Dog like a domino.