Capitol City, Kentares IV
Steiner Invasion
A siren blared. Claire Seredon immediately stood up and got ready. She had already been awake, waiting for the siren to blare.
It was 0500 hours and the sun had just begun to peak over the horizon, giving the sky the beautiful orange and pink glow in the West. She stepped outside her tent; all suited up and ready for her op. She stopped to admire the sunrise, as she did every morning. She was that kind of girl, the kind that loves to feel the cool air their face, the kind of girl that loves the sunrise majesties.
Kentares is the perfect place for a girl like Claire. But she wasn't here enjoy the sunrise, she was here to fight, and to kill. She turned away from the sun, and continued on to the Command Center.
One-by-one, the Mech Warriors filed in to the Briefing Room, with Claire at the podium. No man or woman said one word; they were silent, coming in, or after sitting down. They all had the same subject on their minds, today's op, and if they were going to come back alive.
Claire paused after they were all seated, looking around the room in a general-like manner. "This is it people…" she started. "We have come along way for this, this is the day we send Roland and his cronies running in fear." "We all have our personal vendettas here, now is the time to claim our revenge, and our beloved planet!" she said. The room roared with "Hell Yea's" and other various cheers.
She then started the briefing. "Reports are in that Ian Dresari and Omega lance has successfully secured a staging area for the resistance. Our first op is to sweep the perimeter of this area and ensure that no mechs or vehicles escaped, or any that are moving in to counter, this will be preformed by Scepter Lance." Several nods in the room pointed out who was going where.
Her tone then grew more serious and deadly. "We also have reports of 5 Steiner Assault Lances moving in on the base where Miss Johanna Dresari and her resistance force is stationed.
Low murmuring accompanied by looks of fear rose in the room. They had heard the rumors of the assault lance, hence the one thought in all their heads, but about Miss Dresari…That arose new thoughts. "What if she's killed? What then?" "What if we don't make it in time and die in the process, will we have died in vain?" A loud clearing of the throat silenced the room.
"I know this is a shocker to all of you, but we have to get there." She said. "Our other three lances will intercept and destroy as many enemy mechs as possible…" her voice trailed off.
"Big mistake." She thought. "Talking like were all gonna die! What the hell was I thinking?" She came to the bitter conclusion that she wasn't thinking, that she knew.
"It's going to be a tough fight," she continued, "and reinforcements from Omega lance are on the way, however they're too far out, and we're the only source of relief." The room was silent.
She begun her pep talk, "Just remember that your doing this not only for Miss. Johanna, were doing this for all the innocent people that were killed, for our friends and loved ones…" again her voice had trailed off, obviously, she was an apparent "victim" of this tragedy.
Her voice boomed, "this is for all our people! The ones who died trying, this is for our planet!" her voice lowered again, this time into a low, deadly voice, "but most of all, this is for ourselves, so that we can have our sweet vengeance, we all seek it, let us find it!"
The room rocked with encouraging shouts and applause. "Kill them all!" she shouted.
The run would take almost an entire day. Ian Dresari and his lance were busy on another op, which would delay them even longer. The odds got worse.
Claire stood before her mech, a Nova Cat ready and prepped to go. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Scepter Lance moving out, "Godspeed." She said under her breath. The turned back to her mech, code-named "Vengeance." She recalled something funny that she heard from her tactical officer. Apparently, her mech shares the same name as the Atlas that which Ian Dresari pilots.
Her smile faded, she could relate to him. Ian Dresari, Prince of Kentares IV, a hero of the Clan Wars and victim of the pain of losing his entire family, save his sister…
"Yes," she thought, "I can relate to that." She recalled that fateful day not so long ago, she remembered him. She remembered how he died fighting. She remembered watching all of it, helpless, seeing him die his horrible death.
A lone tear streamed down her cheek. However, he didn't go down in vein, he went down with honor, with pride, and 3 entire enemy lances. She was here for him. She looked back up at her Nova Cat and rubbed her watering eyes.
The giant mech before her seemed to beckon her, it wanted the same revenge as well, but the behemoth wanted it now and it wasn't going to wait. "This is for Him…" she whispered softly, then climbed the rope ladder into the cockpit.
Claire Seredon was a young cadet with much promise at the Advance Academy on Terra. She was a tall, young, and beautiful sandy haired 19 year-old girl. She had every guy falling for her left and right, and apparently was getting pretty sick of it.
She eventually got so fed up with their begging that she issued a challenge.
She said "Beat me on the Field and then I'll think about it."
And as she suspected, that extremely shortened the list. For awhile she enjoyed the solitude… until he arrived.
His name was Mike Morell; a House Davion Cadet transferred because of his advanced abilities. He was also a tall young 21 year-old man. With brown hair, and a very muscular figure, that of a trooper's.
The instant she met him she knew that he was different, she wanted to fight this guy… so she did.
Upon the battlefield, she got her ass kicked, and badly. The odds were on her side, she was in a Chimera, and he chose a Shadow Cat. Round after round, salvo after salvo, they shredded each other's armor away. Mike kept firing his pulse lasers, putting holes into her chassis like Swiss cheese.
She would take her time, making she had a clear shot before she would altogether rip apart one of his chassis's limbs.
In the end game she risked an Alpha Strike. All of her MRM's missed their mark, but she did nail him with her lasers and was successful in destroying his arms.
Then the heat came like a MACK truck, drenching her with sweat, she noticed she pushed the heat level to the yellow red zone and it would be awhile until she could fire again. She took her eyes away from her console to find that Mike had disappeared.
She looked around frantically; losing your target in the heat of battle was not a good thing. She looked up, only to see Mike's Shadow Cat coming down from its' jump and fire its' Large Laser to finish her off.
Since then, they had been together as House Davion Mech Warriors. Fighting side by side, forever rivals, forever friends, forever bound to each other by their love… until that day came.
On the third day of the Steiner invasion, he was killed. They were on a date together, watching the sunrise when it happened. The instant the alarms blared, they knew they were in serious trouble.
Forces on Kentares that were loyal to Katrina Steiner and her troops turned on their own, forcing Duke Eric's Army to protect the capitol. Immediately Claire and Mike scrambled back to their base, only to find it lying in ruins, the other warriors killed in their barracks. However, they were able to locate a group of soldiers and mechs that were on patrol and had come back to the base like they had, stunned.
Upon Mike and Claire's arrival, they were immediately welcomed and given a two assault mechs that had survived the initial attack, a Highlander, and an Awesome.
Claire powered up the Nova Cat and ordered the lances to move out. She recalled the fights in the city, all of them had been bloody and brutal; but no battle was as brutal or as vividly horrible as the fight that killed him.
"We have to split up." Mike said. "It will be easier to eliminate these guys that way."
"Roger!" Claire replied, "but don't go far ok?"
Claire and Mike were facing down 3 lances worth of Steiner mechs scattered throughout the city. Almost all of which Mike encountered and destroyed. Claire destroyed a few, when suddenly a harsh, cold, and steely voice crackled over the open frequency.
"This is Lt. Daniel Renomen," the cold voice stated, "I have come to finally swat away you annoying flies."
Claire taunted him "Well then bring it on, prick!"
Claire turned her mech around a corner when she was caught off guard and hit hard by two PPC's and a Gauss slug, violently rocking her mech. Claire, struggling to keep her mech upright, ventured a look at her attacker. She saw an Atlas barreling towards her. She fired her lasers at it melting the armor of its center torso, but the elite didn't even blink. She started backpedaling.
"Uh Mike…I need a hand here." There was a trace of panic in her voice.
The Lieutenant chuckled, "Oh but he'll be all to late! By the time he gets here you'll be a burning hole in the ground!" and at the same time firing all his weapons at her. She instinctively fired her jump jets, avoiding the gauss slug, but the PPC shots hit her legs, followed by missiles and a flurry of pulse lasers shooting off the Highlander's left leg at the knee, thus causing her to spin out and crash into a building.
The Atlas paused to cool down, an attack like that had pushed it into the red zone. Claire's mind was a blur of colors and images, when she finally came out of the fog and into reality, she saw the Atlas standing over her like the grim reaper. Her eyes were wide with fear. She was trapped, there was nothing she could do and this was the end.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" a familiar voice, yelled over the radio. Mike's Awesome came charging down the street like a freight train, chaining all his weapons relentlessly hitting the Atlas with his PPC's accompanied by a steady flow of SRM's and a barrage of pulse lasers.
Lt. Renomen struggled to keep his mech steady.
However, he still managed one of those cheesy taunts, "Ah the knight in shining armor hmm? Then I'll kill you first, no need in killing a worthless girl who's practically dead."
With the last few shots from Mike's barrage, he was able to destroy his LRM's and one PPC's, a good sign, but now the Awesome was starting to overheat leaving it vulnerable in the narrow street with no block corner to duck behind in time. The Atlas slowly turned to face Mike's vulnerable mech, and opened fire on him.
The PPC's and lasers carving away his armor like a hammer and chisel. His mech had already sustained much damage from the other lances; this was going to be it.
Mike was gasping for air, it was so hot in his cockpit, he was dimly aware of the lasers cutting through to his inner chassis.
When he came to his senses he had time for one last shot. Some of the protective covering on his core was exposed.
"Better make it an alpha strike." He thought.
At once Mike did as he would, firing off a brutal Alpha Strike, causing the Atlas to shudder violently, but to no avail, the Atlas and its pilot were sill there, laughing at his futile attempt.
The Awesome overheated, and shut down. Mike fell into unconsciousness, leaving him subject to whatever brutal punishment the vicious man could think of.
The Atlas then moved slowly in on its prey, as does a wolf that has cornered a deer. Claire couldn't do anything; her mech was buried in the rubble of a building only exposing the cockpit and shoulders so that she could watch it all play out before her eyes.
She reached her hand out to the Awesome, as if she could grab it and save Mike from his stalking predator. But she couldn't, and she felt streams of tears running down her cheeks. The Atlas stood before the lifeless mech, it had its' share of damage and had no weapons left save its one last arm.
"You pest." The lieutenant said, then slammed the Atlas's hand into the Awesome's cockpit.
More to come in Part 2.
Ok updated to a hopefully adequate format, don't talk about the evil LT guy, I know he's cheesy as hell. As for anything that complies with the BT history, I beg forgiveness, I don't know very much about it.
Shank.
Lead…tastes great, less filling.