-=\1/=-
Firebase Babylon
Kentares IV
April 30, 3063
0023 Hours
The world shook each time Davis's battlemech stomped on the ground. His massive Nova cat strode out of the 'mech bay and onto a chaotic battlefield. Behind him, Captain Fenton Charles's Catapult stepped deftly to his side. "We're under attack by Heavy 'mechs with artillery and heavy vehicular support," he yelled.
Then, Davis saw a missile carrier, already aiming for the hangar. "Get clear! It's gonna be bad!"
A salvo of missiles flew past him, blowing the 'mech bay to flaming cinders.
"Get a lock on that thing!"
"I'm a-workin' on it, butthead, just hang on!"
"Move it!"
"Lock!"
"Fire!"
Davis winced as a monstrous cloud of long-range missiles spewed out of the Catapult's Missile Launchers, blanketing the enemy missile trucks in tremendous fireballs and blasting them into oblivion.
"Command, this is Iota lead, requesting orders and targeting data." Said Charles.
"Our defenses are down and we are pulling out! Move to quadrant three and assist in the evacuation! Save as many as you can!"
"Yo! Captain!" Davis said. "Get a load of this…" The two of them surveyed the area ahead of them and saw half a dozen enemy battlemechs tearing the evacuees to smithereens. The evac ship had barely managed to lift off, and as he watched, a salvo of laser fire incinerated the main engines, causing the gigantic spacecraft to explode in a spectacular fireball. The flaming mass crashed into the ground and exploded so violently that the enemy 'mechs were momentarily stunned.
"I guess evacuation is no longer a problem." Said Charles, focusing his fifty missile racks at an enemy mech.
"I guess not." Davis said.
They opened fire.
A massive salvo of fifty long range missiles surged from the Captain's 'mech just as Davis opened up with a constant stream of pulse laser fire. Two of the enemy 'mechs tottered and collapsed from the withering stream of firepower, while another exploded outright, immolating itself in an inferno sixty meters tall. Using all ten of his 'mech's pulse lasers, Davis mauled the two fallen 'mechs until they too, succumbed to his withering firepower.
"Nice shooting, Dave."
"Hey, where are the other 'mechs?"
Almost as if in response, forty missiles sped out of the night and smashed into his Nova Cat.
Davis reeled from the impact, bruising his face against the transparisteel viewport. The impact flayed armor from the left side of his Nova Cat, blasting away the internal structure to reveal the myomers that powered the 'mech's arm. Struggling to maintain control and cursing under his breath, he turned his damaged Nova Cat to face the threat. What he saw froze him in his tracks and caused a cold sweat to break out all over his body. Behind the three 'mechs that had escaped their barrage loomed the monstrous, skull-like visage of an Atlas heavy battlemech.
Vaguely, almost as if in a dream, Davis watched as the Atlas raised its enormous mechanical arms and aimed at his 'mech. Charles's shouted warning snapped him out of his trance, and he dodged to the side just as a barrage of particle beams, missiles, lasers, and Gauss slugs vaporized the spot where he had just been.
In response, Charles ran right up to the Atlas and pumped fifty missiles into the huge 'mech's torso section, blasting away armor and internal components in a horrendous cloud of razor-sharp shrapnel. "Destroy those other 'mechs and keep them from supporting the Atlas," he yelled. "I'll stop it from moving!"
As the battle raged on between Charles's Catapult and the Atlas, Davis picked out his first target, an Osiris scout 'mech. A blast from his pulse lasers tore both arms and one of the legs from the enemy 'mech, toppling it to the ground. Davis stomped on the wreckage, destroying what was left of the smaller machine. He was already aiming for his next target, a 45-ton Shadow Cat, but the smaller 'mech had used the distraction to let loose all of its formidable weaponry. Great globs of melted armor plate streamed down the Nova Cat's right leg, while the Shadow Cat's missiles vaporized most of the armor on his 'mech's torso. Enraged, he let loose with a murderous barrage of concentrated pulse laser fire. Hundreds of lethal green energy darts penetrated the Shadow Cat's torso armor and detonated the extra missiles contained within. The missiles cooked off in two dozen hideous explosions that engulfed the Shadow Cat in smoke and fire. As the 'mech started to crumble, the pilot's ejector seat rocketed him out of the flame-filled cockpit just as his 'mech exploded and died. Two down, two to go Thought Davis as he wearily turned to face his third enemy, an Uziel.
Charles's Catapult bucked violently as the 'mech took a vicious pounding from the Atlas' Gauss rifle. He countered by triggering his 'mech's jump jets, soaring above the laser fire that followed, then firing yet another fifty-missile salvo at the huge enemy 'mech's head. The Atlas managed to take out some of the projectiles with its Anti-Missile System, but it took several hits. It staggered back, exploding and sparking erratically, stunned by the hits. Charles then steered his 'mech as much as he could toward the teetering Atlas and - all right! - actually landed on the lumbering hulk. Death from above, Charles thought contentedly as he watched the hundred-ton 'mech lose its balance and hit the ground with a thunderous crash that collapsed the remaining structures in the quad.
And then it got up again.
Yikes! The grizzled captain limped his 'mech slowly backwards and lit off all his weapons as the enormous damaged Atlas limped towards him, almost like a zombie.
Davis slammed the Uziel with his pulse lasers repeatedly. The lighter 'mech was rapidly losing armor and parts.
WARNING… HEAT EXCEEDING RECOMMENDED LEVEL.
The computer's warning sounded off in Davis's neurohelmet speakers. At this point, the pilot of the Uziel triggered both of his Particle Projectile Cannons. The superheated plasma bolts tore through Davis's Nova Cat. The hits created even more heat on the 'mech's already steaming armor.
WARNING… SHUTDOWN IMMINENT.
No! Davis couldn't afford to have his 'mech shut down from the extreme heat. He reached for the button that activated the coolant flush. There was only so much of the stuff, but Davis considered this a good time to use it. Green plumes of vaporized coolant hissed out of vents in the Nova Cat's back. The heat levels on the meter dropped. He took advantage of this by blasting the living daylights out of the Uziel. The enemy 'mech's legs melted off simultaneously, and the torso and head dropped and slammed into the ground. Davis savored the moment as he crushed it with his 'mech's massive foot. The resulting explosions melted the remaining armor off the Nova Cat's leg, but he didn't care. He was having some serious fun!
An horrified scream snapped Davis's attention to the Catapult vs. Atlas battle. He watched in horror as Charles, who had lost both his missile racks, valiantly (and stupidly) tried to stop the Atlas using the only weapon he had left - a single pulse laser. Undeterred by the piddling effects of the small weapon, the huge 'mech jackhammered its enormous metal fist into the ruinously damaged Catapult. As the 'mech exploded around him, Charles had no choice but to bail out of his rapidly disintegrating Catapult, leaving Davis, alone, in a seriously damaged battlemech, to fight a really pissed off Atlas now sporting a bad attitude and a splitting headache.
Low Orbit
Kentares IV
Irvine Maxton swore furiously at the comm unit. It had been giving them trouble ever since the jumpship had deposited them at the system's Nadir jump point, and now that the Archangel had entered orbit, the sophisticated and fabulously expensive comm array had failed completely. "Calm down," said Natalya Phamston, his 'mech technician, "it's not worth getting into a tizzle over." Exasperated, Irvine retorted, "Yeah, but now we can't contact the Dresari royal family to finalize our protection contract! No moolah, no munchies! The rest of the crew is demanding their pay vouchers, and I can't keep stalling forever. This contract is our one chance to get our merc business back on track. I won't be cheated out of it by a stupid comm malfunction."
"Let me take another look at that." Natalya said. "Hmm... antenna stabilized, capacitors at 89 percent charge, and the frequency scramblers are perfectly functional." Natalya stared at the errant console. There was nothing wrong with the equipment, and the two of them had been using it properly. There was nothing that could stop the signal- Unless they were being jammed. She didn't even have time to gasp in horror before a massive salvo of missiles slammed into the Archangel.
Firebase Babylon
Kentares IV
Davis stared into the eternal abyss of the Atlas' Gauss cannon muzzle, now pointed squarely at his cockpit. The enemy 'mech jockey took a moment to savor his impending victory, then mashed down on the magnetic rail gun's trigger.
However, the overconfident Atlas pilot never took into account the fact that shrapnel from Charles's missiles had damaged the Gauss Rifle's magnetic capacitors. Instead of discharging its lethal payload at the hapless Davion mechwarrior, the hip-mounted cannon exploded into a raging fireball that sprayed shrapnel and EMP shockwaves all over the gargantuan 'mech's torso. Seizing his last chance, Davis snapped off all the safeties and poured a steady stream of green fire into the Atlas' ruined torso. As with the other 'mechs before it, the monstrous assault 'mech's missiles and ammo cooked off in a raging inferno that tore through the engine and reactor of the huge machine. Defeated at last, the blackened, charred hulk that had once been an Atlas toppled to the ground, melting itself in a blue-white conflagration of nuclear fire and flaming chunks of irradiated metal. The explosions continued until all that was left of the massive assault 'mech and its pilot were charred flesh and smoldering circuitry.
Very, Very Low Orbit
"We've been hit in the 'mech bay, the weapons array, the engines, the personnel quarters, hell, we've been hit everywhere!" Irvine checked his scope, which was calmly telling him just how screwed he was. "We've got a full lance of Lyran Shilone aerotechs coming in off the port bow- TALYA, LOOK OUT!" Natalya let out a yelp as a nearby bulkhead caved in. One of the ceiling support beams broke free and swung towards her. She dove for cover and cried out as a fire extinguisher fell on her. "Is the extinguisher okay?" Asked Irvine. "Yeah, I cushioned its fall with my body." Irvine had the courtesy to roll his eyes as he grabbed the extinguisher and started spraying the flames licking at the exit. Natalya realized with a sinking feeling what he was doing. There was no hope of saving the ship, so Irvine was trying to save at least the two of them.
Ruins of Babylon Firebase
0547 Hours
They left Davis's Nova Cat where it was; the battered war machine had all but melted itself in Davis's last, desperate salvo and was so damaged that nothing short of a full 'tech crew could salvage it. As he recalled, the base's technicians were on the drop ship that had been destroyed.
They spent the next couple of hours rummaging through the ruins of what had once been one of Kentares' most powerful military firebases. There wasn't much left of the structures, but many of the fallen troopers had been carrying high-grade equipment. They loaded what weapons and survival gear they could find onto a Swift Wind that had been inside one of the surviving vehicle hangars. There was also an APC and a Humvee in there. Charles quickly appropriated the boxy personnel carrier. Davis opted for the armored, six-wheeled scout car. The Swift Wind responded well to his driving. He tried not to think of the many similar scout cars he had stomped on in his Nova Cat.
Together, they stripped the Hummer of useful components and sabotaged it. "That battle won't have gone unnoticed." Said the Captain. "Reinforcements will be here shortly. We've got to get moving. There's a major friendly stronghold to the Northwest, about a hundred kilometers from here. Hopefully they'll have some extra 'mechs for us."
With that, they rode off into the sunset, leaving the base that had been their home to languish in smoldering ruin.
-=\2/=-
They rode for hours, baked by the desert sun and whipped by the desert winds. Finally, they arrived at the rocky edge of the desert, only ten kilometers from Sanctuary, the firebase Charles had been talking about.
Davis was bored. Really bored. Hours and hours of driving through the desert were taking their toll on him. He couldn't think straight. He thought about the buddies who had died in the initial hours of the attack. He thought about his homeworld, now in deadly danger from an unknown assailant. But most of all, he thought about his girlfriend, Tana Collins, who lived in a city where this desert met the sea. He was supposed to have gone on leave to meet her before all this happened. As he drove on, her lovely visage seemed to float in front of him as he drove across the ever-shifting sands, her smile glittering above the blue scarf he had given her.
Then, the vision of Tana disappeared, to be replaced by a huge black boulder. Crap! He swerved just in time to avoid the rock, nearly toppling the overloaded Swift Wind onto its side. The suspension groaned but held, and the armored scout car lurched to a halt. Then he noticed that it wasn't a boulder he'd nearly crashed into. It was a 'mech carcass.
Charles circled back to meet him. "I've been seeing these hulks for the past few kilometers," he said grimly, "Some of them I can't identify, but the others are ours. The wreck you nearly ran into used to be a Thor that belonged to one of my buddies at Sanctuary."
Davis could only stare dumbly. Whoever had attacked them had clearly hit Sanctuary too. He just hoped there was anything left.
The two of them drove on, until there was only one rocky dune between them and the base. They crested the hill and looked down at the installation.
They had been prepared for a scene of devastation, but this had far, far exceeded their expectations.
The place was a battle plain, a vision of hell on earth. Massive cracks in the scorched earth spewed molten lava onto the still smoking terrain. The mountain in the center of the once lush plain had lost a hundred feet in height. Bomb craters the size of small villages pockmarked the landscape like bloody, oozing sores, while green clouds of nerve gas obscured the rest of the carnage. The lake that had once occupied the eastern end of the plain had been completely evaporated. A deadly, kilometer-high mushroom cloud now painted the sky in dark, brooding shades of bloody red and hellish black. All around were crashed helicopters, shattered tanks, and bodies, hundreds of bodies. Nearly a hundred smoldering battlemech hulks dotted the burning wasteland. Shimmering waves of heat caused the landscape to twist into nightmarish distortions, while angry black clouds poured acid rain onto the charred, burning stumps that had once been a large evergreen forest.
"Too late. We're not very good at saving people, are we?" said Davis.
Silence for a moment. "If we save as many as we can, even a few, it'll be worth it," said Charles.
They plunged down into the ruined valley.
-=\*/=-
Wham Wham Wham!
Charles whacked the armored door of the besieged base. "Anyone home? Hello? Open the door!"
All of a sudden, a security autogun popped out of the ground, aimed at him, sparked, and collapsed flaming into the dirt. At the same time, the gate opened. Steeling themselves, they stepped inside. Behind them, the massive blast door closed with a resounding clang!
Upper Atmosphere
This can't be happening! Natalya cried out in pain and terror as her damaged escape pod slammed through the atmosphere, in imminent danger of burning up. She couldn't believe how everything had come apart so quickly, from the debacle at New Syrtis where half their 'mechwarriors were killed, to the ambush in orbit, to Irvine shoving her into the escape pod and sealing it, knowing he had no chance to escape. He was probably dead now, fried alive within the wreckage of the Archangel. With tears in her eyes she prayed that his death, and the deaths of their company had been quick.
It was certainly better than what she would get. She screamed as intense heat leaked through the pod's damaged shielding. Mercifully, the torture lasted only a few minutes before the blackness came.
Sanctuary
Charles and Davis walked past a wrecked Vulture that looked like it had walked through hell before the nasty stuff started. Both arms had been melted off, one leg was completely shattered, and the torso missile racks looked like they'd imploded and exploded simultaneously. What was important, though, was that the cockpit was intact and the 'mech had apparently limped here under its own power. Someone had survived.
They ran into him in the mess hall. He was pacing the aisle, staring into space. Davis walked up to him and reached out to tap him on the shoulder. His hand never reached him. In under a second the man had spun around and was holding a very large gyrojet pistol an inch from Davis's nose.
Sanctuary Battle Plain
The Archangel barreled towards the ruins of the firebase, one piece of wreckage hurling itself toward another. Some miracle caused a glitch in the autopilot to change course at the last second, and the drop ship smashed into the mountain, slid a half-kilometer, flipped over twice, broke in half, and exploded.
Sanctuary Mess Hall
A tremendous explosion rocked the whole building. Seizing his chance, Davis swiped the pistol away, axe-kicked his assailant, jumped up, kicked off the wall, and body-slammed him before putting him in a joint lock.
"Wait! He's one of ours!"
Davis eased the pressure on the joint lock, but didn't let go. Charles knelt beside the man and read his name tag.
"Lieutenant Kirk Julian. Who did this?"
"Hell if I know. Steiner elites. Someone on our side, high ranking, must have turned traitor and given the base access codes to the first wave of commandos. Rat bastards stormed in here and just started killing my guys! We were supposed to be ready for this, to protect the Royal Family. But there were just too many of them, and we folded totally! There's no hope for the Dresaris now. They came in so fast we couldn't even get off a warning." Davis let him up, and he collapsed onto a bench and put his head in his hands. "There were a thousand people on this base, and I'm all that's left."
The two mechwarriors stared at him in disbelief. "There's nothing left?"
"You've seen what it looks like outside. You guys have transportation?"
"Yeah, but where would we go?"
"Anywhere but here."
Davis pondered this for a while. "Wouldn't a base like this have an underground 'mech hangar?"
"Yeah," Julian replied, "but the first thing the attackers did was to sabotage the entrance. The elite lance pilots couldn't even get to their 'mechs."
"Well, maybe we can. There were some explosives in the APC we salvaged. If we can get at those 'mechs and link up with the rest of the survivors, we'd have the core of a resistance movement."
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud thud outside. "What was that noise earlier?" Davis asked. "Drop ship crash," said Charles. And that last one could have been wreckage, or an escape pod. We should check it out."
Two hours later, Davis and Julian had managed to rig up some explosives in front of the hangar door. "Do you think the captain will find any survivors?" Julian asked.
Davis pondered for a moment. "No."
Julian shrugged, and hit the detonator.
Half a mile away, Charles picked through the wreckage of the crashed drop ship. It was clear that there would be no survivors on the wreck itself. One area gave him hope, though. A battered escape pod had landed on the outskirts of the base, flattening a building in the process.
Natalya awakened to the sound of rapping on the exterior of the pod. She was alive! Ignoring the still-stifling heat inside the pod, she managed to reach the door controls. It was only when the hatch opened that it occurred to her that her rescuers might be hostile. Squinting in the sunlight, she made out the uniform of a Fed Com mechwarrior.
Charles reached out to her, but the first thing she did was to grab his canteen and drain it completely. "Are you alright?"
"My drop ship was shot down," she gasped.
"I know. It almost landed on us. Who are you?"
Natalya Phamston, second-in command of the White Wing mercenary unit."
"It looks like you're the only survivor. We were hit bad too. From what I could recover from the base's comm logs, Steiner forces landed on the planet and just started killing everyone in charge, including the royal family. We're trying to salvage some of the 'mechs that were trapped in an underground hangar when the fighting started. Do you want to join us? It's a chance for revenge."
Natalya smiled grimly. "Right now, I could use some of that."
At this point, a loud crash signaled Davis and Julian's success. They watched as a Puma and a Thor strode out onto the field, crushing the mangled remnants of the blast door.
-=\3/=-
"Alright crew, here's the plan." Charles looked up from his tactical console. His Masakari strode forward across a predictably empty desert, followed by Davis's Thor,Julian's Puma, and Natalya in the Swift Wind. "We're heading for a small firebase to the west, commanded by Commander Arthur Verge. It's one of the few remaining outposts still loyal to the royal family. The Voice of Kentares has been broadcasting that two members of the royal family survived and are heading to the capital. That means that whatever forces left here will be outnumbered and on the run. We'll move to support them. We should be coming up on them any minute now-"
Charles's briefing was interrupted by a salvo of LRMs, which streaked across the desert and plowed into his 'mech. "Bad guys! 900 meters!"
Davis was the first to open fire. The long range of his new 'mech's weapons made them ideal for desert fighting. He watched with glee as his first missile salvo smashed into an enemy guerilla 'mech. The Cougar charged forward and lit off both its large lasers. Davis fired his jump jets, soaring above the Cougar's line of fire, shooting all the way. Beside him, Julian opened up with both his particle cannons. Outgunned and outclassed, the stricken enemy scout 'mech staggered from the hits and finally keeled over as Davis finished it with a burst of explosive shells.
Davis heard Charles ruminating on the radio. "Attacking alone? He was just a scout! Meaning…"
A 'mech stepped out from behind a hill. And another. And another. An Atlas. A Daishi. A third 'mech, boxy, enormous, boasting two of the most enormous gun barrels Davis had ever seen.
"Oh crap." Davis said.
-=\*/=-
"Attention, Federated Suns mechwarriors! You will power down immediately."
Davis switched on his own loudspeaker. "Never!"
"Lieutenant Davis."
The whole world seemed to slow down. How does he know my name?
"I know everything, Lieutenant James Davis, that is how I know your name."
Dammit.
"Your psych profile said to expect defiance, and that there was only one thing that could make you surrender. We are escorting a prisoner convoy from the capital city." It was only now that Davis noticed the three large trucks in front of the enemy 'mechs. "If you do not shut down now, we will destroy the trucks."
A pause.
"You don't believe we will do it, so a demonstration is necessary. Knight Two. Destroy the lead truck. The one with Miss Collins inside."
Everything slowed down. The hundred-ton Daishi lurched forward. The truck driver dived out of the cab and ran for dear life. Feeling the most focused he ever had in his life, Davis centered his crosshairs on the hundred-ton clan assault 'mech and let off an alpha strike.
The particle cannon went wide.
The autocannon shells exploded against the 'mech's head, weakening the structure. Enormous cracks appeared all over the canopy.
The missiles streaked forward, fifteen of them, and smashed into the enormous 'mech's cockpit, tearing through metal and shattering glass. A small chunk of something flew out of the wreck and fell toward the ground. It bounced. Once. Twice. It got up. It staggered. It fell down.
And the Daishi collapsed on top of it like a marionette with its strings cut.
Davis let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He had done the impossible. He had one-shotted a Daishi. Now he had to make sure the other 'mechs-
The boxy 'mech fired a laser at the truck. It glowed. The rear end melted into a shapeless mass.
No!
It fired again.
The truck did not explode dramatically. It did not move. It did not show any indication that it had even been hit, except that it glowed. It glowed brightly enough to hurt Davis' eyes. He had to blink. When he opened his eyes, there was a squarish mound of molten metal sitting on the sand where the truck had been. The sand around it had been turned to glass. It sparkled.
Julian's Puma soared through the air and crashed into the mystery 'mech, then fired both its particle cannons at point-blank range. The box-shaped monster didn't even flinch. There was a deafening roar, a distortion rippled through the air between the enormous gun barrels and the Puma, and the Puma went flying through the air without its arms and legs. It flew and flew and flew and then exploded before ever hitting the ground. An escape pod jetted into the air and was expertly tagged by the same lasers that had destroyed the truck.
Davis was dimly aware of Charles' Masakari alpha striking its four particle cannons into the Atlas' chest as it destroyed another truck. He did not notice Natalya abandoning her scout car and sprinting for the final truck. He only noticed that the boxy 'mech had fired all its weapons and needed time to recharge. His targeting system was offline for some reason, even though he hadn't been hit yet.
He charged roaring at the enemy 'mech, dumb-firing his missiles at it. He held down the trigger of the autocannon, disabled the safeties on the particle cannon, and fired it at point-blank range at the other 'mech's cockpit.
The enormous 'mech – it could only be a hundred-tonner – absorbed all the hits and walked forward. There was a crash as both 'mech's collided. Davis firewalled the throttle, but the Thor slowly gave way... toppled over backwards. The other machine stomped on the Thor's legs, crushing them. It took another step forward. Alarms blared in Davis' ears as an enormous metallic foot crushed his 'mech's torso. He stared dumbly as the boxy 'mech loomed over his viewport, close enough for him to see the smugly satisfied mechwarrior in the pilot's seat, close to read the name Arthur Verge on the cockpit nameplate.
Behind it, the Atlas, blackened and twisted, brought up its giant metal fist and swung it at the Masakari. The fist passed through the half-melted gun barrels of the smaller 'mech as though they did not exist and barreled toward the now-exposed cockpit. Inside the cockpit, Davis saw his best friend look at him and smile. A split second before the Atlas' fist crushed the cockpit, Charles jabbed at a button on his console.
There was light and noise, and then Davis felt nothing.
-=\4/=-
He woke up much later. He was inside the 'mech hangar in Sanctuary. He got up and looked at the survivor in the bed next to him. She was an old woman who had been injured. Her wound had been expertly bandaged with a familiar blue scarf that had his name and Tana's name on it. He got out of bed, walked a few steps, sat down and thought about nothing. Felt nothing.
Natalya came and sat with him for awhile. He mechanically ate the food she gave him. Words came out of her mouth. Julian's mad rush had bought enough time for her to commandeer a truck and escape with the surviving prisoners. She had pulled him out of the ruined Thor's cockpit after Charles had self-destructed his 'mech. The explosion had destroyed the Atlas. The other 'mech had survived. It was a Lyran prototype, something called a Fafnir. It had escaped in the direction of the firebase's automated repair bays. It would be back.
The people they had rescued had been loyalist battlemech technicians. There were a lot of them, and they were now using the last of the Sanctuary's supplies to prep one final machine for battle.
"The survivors told me that this mechwarrior led the assault on the city. What I don't get," said Natalya, "is how the pilot knew your name. "
"He was Arthur Verge. He was the traitor."
"He's on his way here. You have to kill him."
"He's unstoppable."
Natalya placed a firm hand on his head and turned him so he was facing the last 'mech in Sanctuary. "Is he?"
-=\*/=-
The world shook each time Davis's battlemech stomped on the ground. Behind its skull-like visage, Davis checked the Atlas' systems and planned his strategy. Nineteen tons of Durallex Heavy Special Composite armor could absorb only a few hits from the Fafnir's heavy Gauss rifles. He had no answer to that kind of firepower. There had been explosive warheads in the APC, but no weapons to launch them from. The only usable weapons left in Sanctuary had been humble medium lasers, but there had been a lot of them. Verge had used ECM to shut down his targeting system before, but the Atlas was armed with eleven lasers facing forward, two facing the rear, and enough heat sinks to fire them all nonstop. None of that needed a fancy targeting system.
There was no spare ammunition available anywhere for the Fafnir's experimental Gauss rifles. He had to be running low.
Davis' train of thought stopped as the Fafnir crested the hill in front of him and fired two heavy Gauss slugs into his 'mech's center torso. The Atlas was catapulted backwards and landed in a heap against a ruined factory. As he struggled to right his 'mech, Davis noted that his frontal armor was entirely gone. The Atlas' damaged internal structure groaned as he stood it back up. He turned it around and ducked behind another structure as another salvo demolished the remains of the factory.
"You worthless coward," Verge shouted over his loudspeaker. "You supported a corrupt regime. You stood by and let them murder thousands! You wielded battlemechs so no one could stop them or even protest! The deaths of your friends are natural justice! Your lover's death was caused by you!" Verge fired another salvo that punched a hole through the building Davis was hiding behind. The slugs still had enough energy to tear off the Atlas' left arm and send Davis into retreat. As he moved away, he fired his rear-mounted lasers through the gap, scoring a hit on the Fafnir's cockpit. Verge shouted with rage and fired again – and this time, only one of the heavy Gauss rifles fired.
It was almost enough. The slug punched through the Atlas' rear armor plate and crashed into the reactor. Davis struggled to keep the 'mech upright as the gyro spun nearly out of control. Heat surged through the cockpit. The Fafnir moved to point-blank range and started using its pulse laser to chew through what was left of the Atlas. Davis threw his whole weight behind the controls, but the crippled Atlas responded sluggishly. The cockpit heat spiked even higher as several bolts melted into the reactor's already-damaged shielding. Barely able to breathe, Davis could only watch as Natalya drove the APC, loaded with explosives, into the Fafnir's legs. The explosion weakened Verge's 'mech, but also stripped the last shielding from the Atlas' fusion core. In the background, the technicians ran for their lives. They would make it, thought Davis, as he triggered the coolant flush, overrode the ejection alarm, and lit into the Fafnir with everything he had. As his world turned to heat and light and noise, somewhere between memory and light and Sanctuary, Tana took his hand, and Charles smiled at him and told him that if we save as many as we can, even a few, it'll be worth it.