Notes version-c: I wasn't happy with the previous version, both in plot and size, I knew that I could do better and that was one of the reasons that kept me from writing more of chapter 2. So I wrote and sent the improved version to my prereaders. Tekkaman Blade (a very good author) offered me help in smoothing the chapter out. Because he added a sizable amount of text, I have also listed him as assisting author.
Author: AWPrime
Assisting author: Tekkaman Blade
Prereaders: Cigamnogard, Tekkaman Blade and Lightguard.
Legal: Golddigger belongs to Fred Perry and Classic Battletech belongs to Wizkids.
LOSTech Sisters: Chapter 1
-Unknown location
Unknown date-
In a quiet, green, pine forest, a glowing sphere made out of a kaleidoscope of colors appeared in a clearing, floating five feet above the ground. A sound came from the sphere and started to grow louder as the light from sphere started to dim. The sphere faded away, allowing its cargo to fall down to the ground below. "Aaaaaaaaaa!" Brianna and Gina fell to the ground accompanied by some fragments of Gina's lab. Brianna landed rather roughly on her feet while Gina, unfortunately, landed on her back, hitting her head against the ground. The light and pain subside, allowing the sisters to clear their sight and minds.
"Ugh. Gina, are you okay?" Brianna asked as Gina slowly got up.
"I'm ok, how about you?" Gina stood got up and tried to rub the pain out of her head.
"I'm fine Gina, any idea where we landed?" Brianna looked around, and found herself and her sister in a clearing with debris that looked like it came from Gina's lab.
"Not a clue Bri', I need to check my controller." Gina said, as she began to shift through her pockets.
"Can you contact Ace to pick us up while you're at it?" Brianna asked, scratching her head and wondered where they were.
Gina found her controller and took it out of her pocket, but noticed that smoke was coming out of it. She accessed the systems, and did a test of the systems. After studying the read outs for a minute and rechecking them, Gina's face went pale.
"Bri', my controller is completely shot, it seems only able to display illogical hyperspace coordinates that mark our location. This means that I can't access my hyperspace storage or contact Ace!" Gina said in a panicked voice, but Brianna walked up to her.
"Gina take a break, you're spookin' me out, are you sure it isn't just the loose chip?" Brianna asked, and took the controller to look at herself. "Let me have a look" Brianna opened it up and inspected it from top to bottom. After a minute, she sighed as well. "You're right, it is completely fried." She said, and then gave the controller back to Gina.
Brianna looked over the horizon for anything of use and then she noticed something strange. "Gina! Look in that direction! Smoke!" Brianna points to a direction some kilometers away. "Let's just hope that it's a campground of some kind with a radio." Brianna said, and motioned Gina to follow her.
Brianna started to move in the direction of the smoke, but stopped as Gina yelled at her. "Brianna! Before we leave let's look for any parts among the lab fragments. There might be something useful." Gina said, while Brianna immediately started to look for something useful in the lab fragments. After few minutes she noticed a large sphere-like object. "Gina, I found the damned Beta-generator! You can carry it." Brianna said, not really interested in picking it up.
Hope returned in Gina's eyes, as she ran over to inspect the Beta-generator. She tried to lift it, making her realize that she isn't strong enough to move it, much less pick it up. She turned on her innocent puppy face and turned to look at Brianna "I think that the anti-grav attachments are damaged. Could you please carry it Bri'?". Gina asked, as she could see Brianna giving into the puppy face routine.
Brianna reluctantly picked up the Beta-generator, and both the sisters began walking towards the source of the smoke. "Let's go sis!" Gina said, as Brianna mumbled about carrying the extra weight.
-
Gina and Brianna had no idea where they were, or where they were heading. They walked across rugged terrain filled with pine-like trees. It had started to rain shortly after they headed out to the source of the smoke, and after an hour the rain had turned into a little storm. They were forced to slow down to avoid tripping or slipping on unseen obstacles and muddy soil. The situation was turning their moods quite sour. In the end, it took the sisters about two hours to get to the spot. What they found shattered any hope that they were still on Earth.
"Bri'... what are giant robots...doing here...?" Gina asked her sister, as she looked at the wrecks of four strange machines in a field of artillery craters. As they looked further around they could see that the surrounding forest was hit by some other type of weapons fire.
Unknown to them, these machines were Battlemechs. BattleMechs are huge manned war machines that walk over the battlefield. The one that seemed in the best shape was a Mech with a rectangular torso without arms, two severely damaged and looked humanoid; of the last one only the smoking torso remained.
"Gina, I don't think that we are 'in Kansas' anymore. So, are we in the future, another planet or in another universe?" Brianna asked Gina, while giving her a look that demanded answers.
Gina remembered the hyperspace coordinates from her controller, and an idea hit her. "Bri', I think that all of the above, might be the correct answer. You see, I arrange hyperspace coordinates in 12 separate dimensions, until today the controller only had to use six different dimensions, the controller used all twelve dimensions which could explain our location." Gina said, and could almost swear that smoke was shooting out of Brianna's ears.
Brianna dropped the Beta-generator out of anger, and pointed at her sister with an angry finger. "Pandora! I'm giving you a minute to explain yourself, why you didn't tell me this alot sooner! Did you just hit your head too hard or something! Why the hell didn't I run out of the house when I saw you tinkering with the Beta-generator?" Brianna ranted, and Gina put an innocent smile on her face, even though sweat drops rolled down the side of head.
"What?" Gina asked, looking surprised by Brianna's more than noticeable increasing anger. "Come on Bri', I just thought it was not so important. I can get us home, you've gotta believe me! I am sorry I got you in this situation, we need to work together!" Gina said, then noticed Brianna's mood begin to change.
Brianna's rage cooled down, allowing the hopelessness of the situation to sink in. "Ok, but from now on, you aren't keeping any secrets from me!" Brianna said, and Gina nodded in agreement. "So what are we going to do?" Brianna asked, and Gina thought for a moment.
Confidence returned to Gina, and she took control of the situation. "I will get us home. For now let's make camp and inspect...whatever those things are. This seems to be a dangerous world, and I have a feeling that we might need them." Gina said, and was eager to start. Gina climbed up and looks into the cockpit of the machine that seems to be in the best condition. She quickly turned away and started to vomit, regretting looking inside the cockpit.
"What is it, Gina, something wrong?" Brianna asked, concerned about what happend, and ran up to Gina.
"Bri'...could you please clean this up? It's just too much for me too handle. I will set up a shelter." Gina said, and walked away from the mech, her face as green as the surrounding pine forest.
Brianna inspected the cockpit of the machine, and found out why Gina got sick Eeewww Brianna thought, and she perfectly understood Gina's reaction. It was not everyday that you find a body of some Asian person, wearing some weird bulky helmet, with a giant hole burned into his torso. Well at least he is human Brianna thought, and looked towards her sister "Gina, you own me one big time! Double even!" Brianna yelled, as she felt sick, but it had to be done. She removed the remains from all the wrecks one by one, and buried them as respectfully as possible.
-
Gina had finished building a shelter out of branches when she heard a weird noise coming from deeper in the forest. She grabbed a medium sized branch that could be swung like a club, and slowly as possible, moved to the source. Please let it be dinner Gina thought, as she realized she hadn't eaten in some time. She was now only a few meters away from the sound, approaching it from the cover of a boulder. Her heart was pounding in her chest, as she slowly prepared to take a look. She peeked around the corner and her mood went from slightly scared to nauseous and very worried. She was in a small cleared out area which was filled with body parts. The only survivor seemed to be a badly injured soldier. He was severely hurt; missing his right arm and right leg, and was lying on the ground at an unnatural angle. Gina felt horrified and sorry for the man, and let her medical training take over as she ran to him to see if the injuries could be treated. The damage consisted of laser burns and broken bones, luckily nothing was too life-threatening, as the wounds to the right arm and leg were burnt and cauterized, preventing bleeding. But he would still need treatment, as she didn't know if the wounds were infected, or worse. His uniform was ripped and burned, but his name tag was still intact, and read "Briggs". An insignia with a stylized tank set against an inverted triangle seemed to be his unit symbol. Confident that Briggs wasn't going to die soon on her, she quickly made her way back to Brianna to get her help.
-
"Brianna, I found a survivor! I could use your help moving him to the shelter." Gina yelled, and Brianna was eager to help as she followed Gina back to Briggs.
"How did you find him and does he have a name?" Brianna asked, as she easily caught up with Gina.
"Well I heard a noise within in the woods and..." Gina started, but Brianna interrupted her.
"Gina, next time ask me to go with you before you go off on your own. We can't afford to lose each other." Brianna said, trying to get the point out without being discouraging.
Gina acknowledged Brianna, and tried to run faster. "You're right Bri', I'll warn you next time before I go out on my own. As I was about to say, his last name is apparently Briggs. He is quite injured; we need to get him to a hospital." Gina said, as both sisters quickly made their way to Briggs. They put him on a stretcher that was made of supplies Brianna had taken along, and moved him to the shelter.
Once they arrived to the shelter Gina decided to bring up a thought that she had to Brianna. "Brianna, could you check for other survivors in the surrounding area while I take care of Briggs here? I don't know if he's the only one left alive, and I want to be sure." Gina said, and Brianna nodded.
"Sure" Brianna said, and broke in a light run (at least for her, for others it would be like running at Olympic speeds), checking the area around the clearing, whether it was a group of hills, or lower clearings. She decided to divide the areas into different sites, a way of keeping a record in her mind. The first site was gruesome; infantry were scattered dead all over the ground, and there was no intact body anywhere. With a sick fascination, Brianna could see that the infantry were killed by missiles. The infantry's flesh had been pulverized and their bones shattered. The most intact body part that Bri' could find was the top part of someone's head. The open blank eyes really unnerved her, even animated skeletons would look better in her opinion.
Brianna quickly moved to the next site. The thicker forest cover slowed her down, but she arrived none the less to her next location. Again she arrived at a place of perfect silence, the silence of death... This site was a bit better off, as there were no craters and everything wasn't burned. The bodies were a bit more intact, bit that was a doubtful improvement. One body caught her attention; it was slumped over some kind of support weapon. She gently moved the body off the weapon. Poor sucker, he got his head vaporized. She took a similar position behind the support weapon and tried to get an impression what it is. No barrel or magazine and the power cells seem too weak, so it can't be an active weapon system. Wait a minute; it has a signal button and a sophisticated visor system. This can only mean that is some kind of designation equipment. Brianna folded down the weapon and put it in a bag that she found on the ground nearby. She then continued on, from site to site, finding only death.
-
Gina saw Brianna return in a slow, nearly depressing walk. She was carrying a full bag with her, which Gina didn't know where she got it from. "Brianna, are those weapons in a bag? Or is it…um…remains?" Gina asked, but Brianna shook her head.
Brianna broke the bad news. "Gina, there are no other survivors, only dead soldiers and then mostly left overs and body parts. shudder. What they had with them kind of answered what exactly happened here." Brianna said, and opened the bag she had and took out a large gun-like device. "This seems to be some kind of target designation device; it is quite obvious that they directed artillery that hit those machines. And the machines used their weapons on the infantry, at least that's how I picture it in my mind." Brianna said, and Gina couldn't think of anything else to say.
"I will go back later to recover as much of their bodies as possible. I just need to create a mass grave first." Brianna said as she emptied the items she found into the shelter and started to walk off.
"Are you planning to bury them together?" Gina asked quickly, trying to ask Brianna before she left.
"Yes, the dead shouldn't mind…I hope." Brianna replied, as she went off to recover the final remains.
-
Brianna looked at the graves of the dead pilots and soldiers, as they had been buried properly in her opinion. "Gina, do you know what to say? I don't know what to say really, I…we never knew them." Brianna said, and Gina thought for a moment.
Gina joined Brianna by the graves, and she even wondered what to do. "I was never interested in religion; science is good enough for me. Any trust I did have in religion was blown away when that local preacher declared Brittany the spawn of the devil." Gina said, and both sisters were silently reliving the dark memories and emotions of that time. However, with the dark things came the good memories of all their friends supporting them and helping them. Both of them felt grateful for the life that they had.
"Well Bri' there is only one thing I can think of." Gina said, then kneeled sat at the base of the graves. "We promise to bring Briggs home to those who were his friends, with honor and dignity. Even though a great many of you have fought each other, we hope you'll rest in peace beside each other as people." Gina said, then stood up and walked over to Brianna. "Let's find something to eat; we will work on those machines tomorrow." Gina said, then as if on the mark, both of their stomachs started growling.
Later that night, they were eating a pig-like creature that was caught by Brianna, it tasted like spicy chicken, considering it even somewhat looked like a chicken to boot as well.
-
Unknown location
Unknown date +1 day
Both sisters had gotten some sleep previous night in the shelter. Brianna and Gina were quite annoyed that they could only wash in a cold stream some hundred meters away, considering they were used to modern day living. Both of them missed warm showers, but they had to manage one way or another. Gina finished getting dressed, were getting ready for the planned inspections and repairs.
"Well Gina do you have a plan?" Brianna asked, after coming back from the washing she off in the stream, since she went second.
Gina ate her last bits of left over food, and thought for a moment. "I think that we need to analyze the technology before we repair them. But I hope that Briggs will wake up soon and tell us how we can repair these things, whatever they are." Gina said, and Brianna nodded.
"That makes sense. Let's divide the work this way; you will do the electronics and the movement systems. I'll work on the weapon systems and the structure, and we will take turn watching Briggs." Brianna said, and Gina nodded in agreement.
-
Unknown location
Unknown date +2 days
Yesterday's analysis had proven to be a good source of knowledge on how they could repair and use the damaged robotic machines. The sisters were now determining how they were going to use the salvage. Their task had now brought them into looking at the machine with the chicken style legs.
"Gina, this one with the chicken legs is yours. It's stuffed with electronic equipment and it has the needed space for you and Briggs anyway." Brianna said as she walked away, unimpressed by the chicken-legged machine.
"Thanks Bri'! I will build the necessary tools for us to use." Gina replied, who was already fascinated with piloting this strange machine later in the future. Gina finished building the needed tools within three hours.
Gina and Brianna started working on Gina's future mech. They had managed fix the cockpit, and then moved on to the weapon systems. The good thing was that the ammo-based weapons weren't damaged; the bad part was that there was no ammo left for the pod-launcher. They took the pod-launcher and its ammo container out, and replaced them with what they thought were lasers and some extra cooling equipment from the Mech with no limbs. It took Gina a while to figure out the wiring the machines used, but she did manage to get it partially working. She attached the heavy Beta-generator with Brianna's help to the ejection seat for safe keeping. The entire repair job took Gina and Brianna about four hours to get it roughly functional.
"Bri', which one do you want?" Gina asked, acknowledging that it was now Brianna's turn to choose one of the strange robotic machines.
"The rest of those machines aren't whole enough to create what I have in mind. I think we need to put something together with the other remains, just slap something together I guess" Brianna said, and then pointed at the remains of the largest machine. "Weapons Gina, weapons. I will take that chassis and add the largest weapons that I can find." Brianna said, and Gina didn't object, since Brianna was the weapon's nut of the two.
Putting the hybrid Mech together turned out to be far harder than fixing one. It was Brianna's job to choose, remove, and place or replace heavy components. Gina would then start reprogramming and calibrating the electronics after Brianna was done with repairing the other mech.
-
Pain…he was feeling pain. The nightmares of explosions, the screams and sound of gunfire were the only thing in his mind. As he slowly woke up, those things left his mind. The sunlight was shining in his eyes; he opened them slowly, since the light was nearly blinding him. The last thing he remembered was the laser flashes from the remaining Liao medium Mech just before it was hit with an arrow IV.
His vision cleared, he realized he was on a makeshift stretcher. The sun was shining and birds were singing Damn birds, the man thought, as he tried to move, but quickly gave up as his body wouldn't let him move. Briggs relaxed, and concentrated on his environment. He was laying somewhere between his spotting location and the clearing, in a primitive shelter made from branches. Focusing on the clearing he saw someone work on the damaged mechs.
He…no…she isn't wearing any uniforms or any normal engineering clothing for that matter, scavengers? Just my luck, at least they didn't kill me. He continued to look for clues. Wait a minute, isn't she a bit tall?. What happened next then totally amazed him. Brianna picked up an armor plate, but not just another armor plate but one that weighed at least half a ton. She lifted far more that any normal human could lift. An Elemental! He had never fought or seen Clanners and their Elementals, but he had heard many stories detailing their abilities. The elementals were described as being almost 3 meters tall and with superhuman strength.
"How are you doing?" spoke a female voice from behind. Briggs quickly tried to look around, but his body protested. "No need to worry, we aren't going to hurt you." Gina's face came into view, and she put on a smile for him. Briggs considered her quite a young pretty woman, but he had other, more pressing concerns.
"My name is Gina Diggers, my sister Brianna is now working with those damaged machines." Gina said, pointing at her sister.
"You mean the Battlemechs?" Briggs asked, as he watched Brianna slap a plate of armor in place, and worked on patching it.
"So that is what they are called. I would like to ask you some questions. First of all where are we? What is the date?" Gina asked, and Briggs lifted and eyebrow.
What a weird question, thought the Sergeant, but considering dates weren't classified information, he answered her. "Planet St. Ives, 20 September 3062." He quickly followed his answer with a question of his own. "Did you manage to find any other survivors?" Briggs asked, which was a question Gina was hoping wouldn't be brought up.
"Sadly none, what exactly happened here?" Gina asked, trying to change the subject.
Briggs thought about it and decided that it wouldn't hurt to answer it her.
-Flashback-
"This is Sergeant Briggs to command, the road to Rome has been set."
He and his men had planted a decoy in the clearing near enemy lines. This decoy would be activated as soon as an enemy unit came close to their base. The point of the trap was to lure enemy units away and then to destroy them with homing arrow IV bombardment. To make this work, infantry were equipped with medium range TAGs, and special camouflage nets that distort any sensor readings. 'Road to Rome' was the code name for the trap.
Command to Briggs, Road to Rome is a go!
Briggs ordered the activation of the decoy. After ten minutes the ground began to shake, he looked to one of valleys that led to the clearing and saw the BattleMechs that soon would be but a memory.
The Mechs did exactly what they should do, run the heck away. But this hole of the trap has been plugged as Briggs remote armed the vibro mines. The lead Mech stepped on one set of mines and almost lost one of its legs. The enemy lance was thrown into chaos for just a moment. However, the pilots are professional soldiers, and quickly pulled themselves together, ignoring the arrow bombardment as they began to take out the spotters. They found the spotters one by one, while they too fell one by one. Briggs quickly realized that only his location was left and one of the enemy Mechs were left as well. The good news was they one homing arrow was inbound, the bad news was that his position had been discovered and the Mech was coming straight for them, Ooohhh st!.
-End Flashback-
"Now that you heard mine story, what is yours?" Briggs asked, and tried to pay attention to Gina's expressions.
Gina tried to think of anything plausible. Maybe amnesia? We don't know anything about this place so it is at least half true. Gina thought, as she was running out of options and didn't have all day.
"Actually…we hardly remember anything at all. We kind of woke up in several kilometers away from here. The funny thing is, we have a good idea of how things work and such…it's just personal memories that we're lacking." Gina said in a confused voice, trying to make it as real as possible.
The sergeant considered the answer to be the most pathetic excuse that he had ever heard. I don't have a choice, might as well work with it and play with them. Briggs thought, as he didn't believe Gina in the slightest at the moment.
"Could you give me one of the radios so that I can contact my HQ?" Briggs asked, and Gina gave him a radio, and she tells him that she had already tried it. "Command, this is Briggs, 'Road to Rome' was a success, come in, over." Briggs spoke into the radio, but all he got was ECM interference and static. Damn, no easy way out. Maybe it's for the best, I don't want any Liao units to detect us before any attempt to contact Head Quarters
-
Briggs had now been awake for a few hours, and Brianna had joined him and Gina in the shelter. During their conversation he found himself forced to revise his earlier theory that they were ex-Clanners. Brianna wasn't tall enough to be an elemental, and both of the sisters weren't using any clan words and they also didn't seem to have a clue on even the most common knowledge of the Clans or the Inner Sphere. If they were going to get those Mechs working, it would be best if he did clear the way for them.
"Before you girls try to move the mechs, you better allow me to clear the way. So in other words GET DOWN!" Briggs said, he picked up the remote control to the vibro mines from his pocket and ordered a self-destruction. Several edges of the clearing were then filled with explosions, as the remaining mines exploded. Shrapnel went in every direction as the three of them hugged the ground.
Gina noticed two things while down, one was that Bri' was clearly enjoying the explosions; two was that one of the spots was where she eat last night, was in fact mined. Zoinks! Gina thought, not wanting to think any further than that.
-
The sisters went back to work after making sure that Briggs was comfortable. The two wrecks that Brianna was working with were quite damaged. The smaller one had a big hole in the center torso, while the other one was headless. Brianna took the lasers and the cockpit from the smaller mech, reinforced them and then attached them bit-by-bit to the bigger mech. It appeared in working order after some additional repairs and modifications done by Gina. Brianna's Mech had in the end, two lasers on each arm and the original cannon in the right torso.
The repairs on the hybrid took the rest of the day. They all ate some food that Brianna had found and went to sleep, feeling dead tired. They spent the next day on fine-tuning and practicing with both Mechs under Briggs' minor guidance. Briggs himself was amazed with the extraordinary talent that the sisters had and how quickly they managed to learn Mech-piloting. The one thing on his mind would be that any trained technician would have a hissing fit if they saw the 'unconventional' repairs. They even managed to make space for him in the cockpit of the 'Raven', so that they could take him along while he guided them to the base.
-
Planet St. Ives
21 September 3062
All three were sitting in the small shelter, having pig-chicken (again) for breakfast, discussing their plans. "Gina, everything is fixed. Can we go now? I want to get back as soon as possible." Brianna asked, trying to get an answer as always.
"Sure if Briggs is up to it." Gina said, and looked at Briggs. Briggs nodded in response to signal that he was up to it, while Gina ate the last bit of meat. They both packed up the essential supplies, leaving little behind as they could, jumped into their machines and headed west in a cautious walk. The Raven's cockpit would house both Briggs and Gina while carrying many of their supplies hanging on the back or in empty spaces in the torso. In short, it looked really ridicules. Brianna was at point in her own mech, which she named 'Bri Hawk', given the data on the mech's computer had the name 'Hawk' in it.
-
They were already an hour on their way, walking according to the directions given to the sisters by Briggs, and frankly Brianna was getting severely bored. She accessed the COM system of her mech, and established a laser COM link to the Raven. "Briggs, to who do these Mech things belong to?" Brianna asked, hoping to get a conversation going, otherwise she'd be bored half to death.
Over the COM came the voices of Briggs and Gina getting in each others way, with him trying to reach the radio. These Mechs formally belonged to the Capellan Confederation. The Confederation is at war with the St. Ives Compact, and it started after several nerve gas attacks committed by Kali Liao and her Thuggees, the sister of the Confederation's ruler. However considering that my infantry took these Mechs down, my unit has most of the salvage rights. But I am sure that you are allowed to keep one if you sign on. Briggs replied over the laser COM.
-
Brianna and Gina crossed streams, and walked over hills and in valleys. Brianna was getting annoyed with her neurohelmet after six hours of piloting. "Damn it! These helmets are a pain, why can't they have just invented something lighter and smaller?" Brianna cursed, as she re-adjusted the helmet on her head again.
I know Bri', you have said this a dozen times since we left. But these machines don't work without them. Gina said, hoping to calm Brianna down.
Brianna grinned, realizing she may have hit a spot to joke at. "So that is why you almost trip every klick." Brianna said, and gave off an innocent chuckle.
Brianna! Would you stop being childish, I am a bit clumsy at this, and frankly it isn't funny! Gina said, but while she was distracted with Brianna, her Mech took a wrong step on a large boulder. Normally the Mech would have compensated and balanced itself from the computer or the pilot, but the computer wasn't in the best of condition and Gina wasn't paying attention.
Gina noticed something was wrong when her Mech, as it had already leaned to 30 degrees to the right. Censored! Gina cursed, as she saw the ground coming closer and closer while she tried to compensate. Luckily Brianna's Mech was able to catch the Raven just in the nick of time.
Thanks Bri'! Gina said, as she wiped off sweat from under her chin.
"The job of a big sister is never finished." Brianna replied in a smug voice.
Briggs quickly interrupted the Sisters We got contacts, behind US! Briggs yelled out a loud warning, but the Raven got hit by several LRMs (Long Range Missiles). Damn! Those are enemy Mechs! Brianna, turn around and cover our retreat! Briggs said, and watched as Brianna turned her Mech around to provide fire support.
Brianna covered the Ravens rear, but was getting some LRM impacts for her efforts. She targeted the biggest enemy mech, who was also the one that continued to fire long range missiles at them. She alternated between firing a large laser and an autocannon, but was hitting only sporadically.
-
In a normal situation the Ravens beagle probe should have been able to detect these mechs, but the probe was damaged, which allowed the enemy Mechs to ambush them. The enemy Mechlance was composed of a Men Shen, a Locust, and two Sha Yu's.
Briggs wasted no time, now that they had been detected; he activated the general communications system. "This is Lieutenant Briggs to command! I am in a Raven and escorted by an unknown mech-type without IFF! We're under attack by a medium sized Liao lance. I need reinforcements over!" Briggs yelled into the COM, and he instantly got a reply. Don't worry Briggs; we have you on our sensors. Reinforcements are in route. A voice came through the COM, responding to Briggs' message.
-
Meanwhile, Brianna was getting very frustrated with the situation. Shooting is her favorite hobby, but she found it frustrating that her constant fire produced only a few hits. "Damn piece of junk!" She cursed, as she wasn't hitting much and the enemy was getting closer. In an act of desperation she ran to the Men Shen, going to close range and firing her pulse lasers, one large laser and the autocannon. The pulse effect and the close range should compensate for Brianna's low experience with mech-class weaponry and the unreliable targeting systems. The gamble actually paid off, as all the firepower luckily hit a single section. That section was the left leg, causing it to break in half and the Men Shen fell down front first into the ground.
But just as she downed the Men Shen, the two Sha Yu's started to unleash their payback. In the time that Brianna engaged the Men Shen, they had practically encircled Brianna. Now the Bri Hawk was between three enemy mechs, being beaten down by their laser fire. This instability caused her return fire to scatter in nearly every direction. The enemy's shots were more accurate, hitting every section of Brianna's Mech. Brianna was starting to think that she would not make it, as warning lights flashed in the cockpit. What a way to go…But at least Gina will be able to escape... Brianna thought, as her cockpit shook more and more.
Thankfully for her, the cavalry finally arrived in the form of two Rakshasa Battlemechs. These Mechs were fast and heavy, and each had about twice the firepower of the two Sha Yus. Both of them fired missile salvos, just as they came from behind a hill. The LRMs hit the closest Sha Yu, and it almost lost its balance from the amount of missiles impacting its body.
Brianna took the chance to escape, while trying to hit the enemy Mechs as they started to scatter. Both of the Rakshasa's ran down the hill to close in for the kill. The Capellans decided to cut their losses, and decided to withdraw. The Rakshasa's tried to keep up but the enemy Mechs were faster and got away in mostly one piece, excluding the loss of a single Mech.
Brianna joined Gina in friendly territory, and was approaching her position. Brianna got an incoming message from Gina after the Capellans had finally retreated. Bri', Briggs told me that we are to wait for those guys that came to our rescue. They are going to escort us to their base. Gina said, and Bri' slowed down to a crawl and walked slowly by the side of the Raven.
Gina took the time to look at the beautiful surroundings, but her contemplations were disrupted by an incoming transmission from the Rakshasa's. Mine name is Robert Willis, I'm the pilot of one of the Mechs coming up to you. Behind me is Andrew Anderson. HQ has ordered us to escort you to the base. Thanks for getting Briggs here…we thought that he and his men were all killed. Robert said, and Gina felt somewhat happy knowing that she did a good thing, which was saving Briggs' life.
Gina introduced herself and her sister to the friendly mechwarriors. "I'm Gina Diggers, I'm the pilot of this Raven, my sister Brianna is in the other mech. Please lead the way if you will." After the mutual introduction the sisters walked between the two friendly Mechs in formation, letting one take the front, and one take the rear.
-
Brianna and Gina were stunned when they arrived at the base. The base was in a massive clearing surrounded by mountains. The base was consisted of several spheroid dropships, with surrounding tents and repair gantries. At the edge of the base, the Diggers were instructed to power down their mechs.
Briggs saw the small amount of doubt on Gina's face. He got her attention and tried to put the measure into perspective. "Liao forces are known to do all kinds of dirty tricks not limited to rigging their Mechs with nerve gas or other nasty things. The guys here just want to make sure that these Mechs aren't trapped before they are put into repair." Briggs said, and Gina could see no flaw with his logic. She put the Mech into a crouch position, and powered down the Raven. She opened the cockpit, and several soldiers helped to get her and Briggs out of the cockpit. After which, Brianna got out of her Mech next.
The soldiers and technicians were quite surprised about Brianna's height and appearance. Her build was considered to be near equal to a Clan Mechwarrior. Not that Brianna would understand if anyone were to compliment or insult her with this observation. The members of the Raymond Armored Infantry were unable to pinpoint the origin of their clothes, however the Inner Sphere is quite diverse and thus they ignored the surprising features, considering it still looked somewhat casual, if unusual.
Brianna and Gina were invited to an office on one of the larger dropships. There, they were questioned by a Major Dean. Their Mechs were in the meantime given a quick repair by the technicians, but the screams of horror could be heard all over the compound, as they looked at the 'nonstandard' field repairs made to the Mech that Brianna piloted.
-
Sergeant Briggs was visited by Major Dean in the recovery room of the same dropship the sisters were on. Major Dean did most of the intelligence work for the RIA. Briggs guessed that he was here to ask him about the Digger Sisters. Major Dean sat down on a chair next to the injured man, who lay in a medical bed. "Sergeant Briggs, I would like to know the details on how you met the Diggers." Dean asked, and Briggs thought for a moment.
Briggs shifted on the bed to better address his superior, at the cost of some pain. "Sir, I honestly have no idea what to think of them. I think that they have honestly never seen a Battlemech before in their lives, and yet they were able to repair them in a somewhat operational condition. So either they are very intelligent, or just want to forget about something." Briggs said, and Dean rubbed his chin as he listened.
Dean and Briggs talked for another ten minutes before Dean had to leave to report everything to the Colonel. He couldn't help but be disappointed on the amount of information he was able to get. Maybe he would be able to get more from examining the Digger sister's Mechs.
-
Dean entered the Colonel's office after being invited in. The Colonel went straight to the point after the solutes were given. "Major, where did those sisters get those Mechs from?" The Colonel asked, being as clear as possible.
The Major sat on the opposite seat, across from the desk that the Colonel had. "They said that they salvaged them from the 'Road to Rome' site. This seems to be fairly true, because Intelligence suggests that the Liao's are apparently missing a recon lance, and Briggs has confirmed the sister's story. And the weird field repairs that they did, suggests that they had no earlier experience with Mechs at all. The technicians also checked the Mechs for unwelcome surprises, and so far they've found nothing." The Major said, and the Colonel Raymond nodded.
Raymond asked the Major what the story was of the sisters. The major answered quickly. "They both claim to be suffering from amnesia, and the amnesia seems to be focused on standard knowledge. But they have demonstrated great intelligence, and they consider themselves sisters. But I find the resemblance to be superficial in my opinion." The Major said, and Raymond lifted an eyebrow.
"Do you think that they are faking it?" The Colonel asked to the Major, who shook his head.
"They seem to be truthful. However I think that they are hiding something. I believe that they are very green mechwarriors; you just can't fake such amount of low experience. Should we send them away or throw them into the brig?" The Major asked, and the Colonel began to think.
The Colonel took a minute to think of an answer. "No, we are short on mechwarriors and need everyone to win this war, even if these sisters are greens. Moreover, I don't want any Mech on this planet that isn't under our control. Now, I wish to speak to them tomorrow morning before I make my final decision, dismissed." Raymond said, and the Major stood up, and saluted him before leaving.
The Colonel gave the chief technician a call after Dean left his office, using the COM system on his desk. "Bob, can you hide some command activated mines on the Digger sister's mechs?" Raymond asked, and waited for a reply.
Sure Colonel, we have some left. Do you want to have them placed on the actuators? Also I would like to know the reason why and if my men and I need to keep an eye out for them. The chief technician replied with some surprise in his voice.
The Colonel paused, and considered having the mines placed at the actuators, and finally discarded the idea of the mines in the cockpits. "Place the explosives on the actuators, but be ready to remove the mines without them noticing anything. You shouldn't worry about them; this is just in case if a certain situation comes up."
Understood! It is just that you make it sound like there is more to it.
"In these times, one can't be too careful." The Colonel replied, before hanging up the COM system.
-
Planet St. Ives
22 September 3062
The sisters had now already spent a day at the base. They had a good night sleep and some good food to eat. They were spending their time talking about the history of the Inner Sphere with the mechwarriors who saved them from the ambush. Mechwarrior Anderson was just explaining the concept of Omnimechs to Brianna. "Yes, normal combat Mechs are called Battlemechs, modular Mechs are called Omnimechs. Omnimechs can change weapons load out in minutes..."
The conversation was brought to a halt when the intercom system came on. Mechwarriors Anderson and Willis, escort our guests to the Colonel's office please. The intercom announcement finished, and Anderson nodded to the two sisters.
"Ladies, if you will follow us." The mechwarrior got up and asked them to follow. The group reached Colonel's office within a few minutes. They entered Colonel's room, and realized the room was sparsely decorated. It only contained some basic furniture and some pictures. The Colonel was behind his desk in his seat, with two chairs at the front of his desk.
The Colonel looked at his guests, and put on as much of a friendly face as possible. "Ah, you've arrived. Would you like to take a seat?" Raymond asked, and both Gina and Brianna accepted the offer. The Colonel started the conversation immediately as soon as the sisters were seated. "Which of the two of you is Brianna?" The Colonel asked, and Brianna raised her hand. "Good work, you have potential I see. And that the Men Shen that you brought down is salvageable and is a real bonus." The Colonel finished, and then he quickly went to core of the meeting. "Well, let's get to the point. Both Dean and Briggs tell me that you're trustworthy, so I am giving this opportunity. Ladies, I would like to hire you as mercenaries for hire, you will get paid the standard fees as per Inner Sphere mercenary laws. Now I would like to know, what the two of you think, and what you want to do." The Colonel asked, and was hoping for an answer.
Gina answered the latter part of the question, "Sir, we don't know where we came from, but we do know that we want to get out of here." Gina said, and Colonel Raymond nodded.
"I can get you off-world after the war, but only if you fight for me to defend the St. Ives Compact as long as this war lasts." The Colonel said, trying to keep his voice confident.
Brianna thought about an important question while Gina thought about the offer. "Colonel I have a question to ask of you." Brianna asked, hoping she'd get an answer.
The Colonel thought for a moment, but then he saw something weird, he looked at Brianna's ears when she played with her hair. What the heck…Could it be some kind of plastic surgery alteration? The Colonel thought, as he waited for Brianna's question.
Brianna continued to play with her hair even as she asked her question. "Can you repair these Mechs that we have salvaged?" Brianna asked, hoping she'd get an answer that she would approve of.
Colonel Raymond was slightly distracted by her ears, but was still able to answer her question quickly. "Within acceptable limits, and I will provide you with some training. But I need to know if you accept my terms?" The Colonel said, going back to his part of the question.
Gina thought for a moment, and couldn't argue about the agreement. Gina nodded to the Colonel, and have gave a confident smile. "Then you have a deal. Now..."
Their conversation was interrupted by a message from the intercom. Sir, we have detected several enemy Mech companies making their way towards us from multiple sides! They will reach us within fifteen minutes! Possibly ten minutes if their speed increases! The voice on the intercom said, and the Digger sister's eyes went wide.
Damn thought Colonel Raymond. "Gina, Brianna! I want you two to join our second medium lance, get your Mechs ready and report to Captain Jarvis in two minutes!" The Colonel said, and both the sisters got up and saluted.
Gina and Brianna bolted out of the office, and ran ten meters down the hall before realizing that they didn't know where they should go. Gina turned around to ask Anderson where they needed to be. "Anderson! Can you tell us where Captain Jarvis is?" Gina asked, and Anderson nodded.
"Sure, he is in the Helios Battlemech in the hanger." Anderson said, but the sisters blank looks made Anderson quickly realize that they didn't know what a Helios looked like. "Um, it's the one with twin shoulder-mounted missile-launchers and the extra jointed legs!" Anderson said, and they got the idea before they ran off again.
-
They ran down the halls of the dropship, and got to the hanger where their Mechs were waiting. The techs gave them their neurohelmets and informed them that the armor on their Mechs was completely repaired. They also said they didn't have time to check on the actuators yet in the short time they had, so they advised them to avoid running if at all possible. The latter part was a complete lie, as the actuators were checked to be just fine. It was the fact that mines were added to them and the techs just didn't want the mines to accidentally go off.
They walked to Corporal Jarvis in their Mechs after the repair personnel cleared the area. Corporal Jarvis ordered them to go to passive radar and follow his group. After five minutes they reached a small pass covered in pine trees. Intel had suggested that a group of enemy Mechs would go through this pass to make a surprise attack on their base.
The voice of the Corporal was shouting into their ears. Now listen up people! Our scouts have confirmed several enemy groups coming from multiple directions. We are intercepting the one coming from the East of our position, through the valley. This is the best location to ambush them. Now you young lady, in the Raven, active your stealth equipment and move a half a kilometer to the West. I want your sensors to cover our backs. We are expecting a company of medium and heavy Mechs to try to breach this flank. If they break through, they have a good chance of overrunning the base. The Corporal said, and got an acknowledgment from Gina.
Gina followed the orders given to her, and moved her Mech to the assigned spot on the map. She tried to break enemy communication codes while she waited for the enemy, seeing as her Mech had the equipment to do it. Gina broke the encryption of the short-range transmissions coming from the approaching enemy just before the ambush would go off, and she listened to their transmissions.
We will strike those traitors before they know what hit them. The enemy Cataphract Battlemech pilot said, just before the ambush was activated. Both of the Raymond's lances concentrated fire on the Cataphract. The board's red all over! The Engine is going critical! Aaarrgh! That was the last transmission from the Cataphract pilot. His engine was unable to shutdown in time, and his Mech exploded. The remaining ammo made the explosion of the Cataphract even bigger, severely damaging a Vindicator that was walking next to it. The highly trained enemy mechwarriors immediately turned their weapons on their attackers and started to close the distance to them. The friendly Mechs were holding their ground for easier shots, hoping to take down as many enemies as possible.
An enemy Cicada pilot saw Bri' shakily walking as a sign of an easy green prey. The Cicada pushed up itself to running speed and ran up to Brianna's rear arc before she could react. The Cicada shot a single PPC into Brianna's rear armor, which started to melt the armor on her Mech and destroyed a jumpjet. Brianna tried to shake the Cicada off her rear, but was having little success, as it was faster. Out of desperation, she triggered her jump jets. This was the first time that she used jump jets, and with the damage to her jumpjet system, she had a very erratic flight. This caused the Cicada pilot to miscalculate her landing, as Brianna with a lot of luck, landed behind the Cicada. Without thinking about heat concerns she blasted away with all her weapons. Many pilots hated the Cicada for the light armor that it had, as it didn't protect it from heavier weapons on much larger Mechs. Brianna was in for a light show as her weapons hit the legs of the Cicada. The critical damage mangled the legs, and one of them froze and stopped working. The Cicada lost balance, and crashed headfirst in to the ground, crushing the cockpit.
An enemy Thunder Battlemech turned to fire at Brianna, intent on bringing her down to avenge the Cicada pilot. Brianna's Mech was still overheating from firing all of her weapons that took down the Cicada. Her Mech was now very slow and her ammo was reaching heat levels that could cause an ammunition explosion. This made it easier for the Thunder to hit Brianna with its autocannon/20. It fired off a volley, and destroyed chunks of armor from her right leg. Brianna was very talented and had a lot of experience with powered armor, but she only had a few hours experience at piloting a Mech. That was the reason why she had no hope of compensating for the punch of an autocannon/20 hit, and saving her Mech from a fall.
Gina began to panic. Glancing at her radar screen, she could not make out if Brianna was all right or not. After getting the order from the Corporal to join the battle, she gulped down her fear and pushed her Mech into the battle. An Eagle Mech blocked her way, as she ran to assist Brianna's fallen Mech. She attempted to run around the Eagle's right side, but the Eagle pilot managed to block her and hit her Mech with an extended range laser. "Out of the way! SOB!" Gina yelled, and fired all her weapons. The SRMs (Short Range Missiles) missed, but her ER lasers hit his right arm, and destroyed the Eagle's main weapon. The Eagle retreated, allowing Gina to continue towards Brianna.
Brianna's Mech had fallen on its back. The aftershocks had caused her head to smash into the controls several times, stunning her. A side effect of sub-standard repairs and the great shock caused the left arm of her Mech to fall off. Sh-t! Brianna thought, as she was still a bit stunned. She slowly opened her eyes to see the Thunder closing in for the kill. Brianna desperately tried to get her Mech up, but the controls weren't responding. "Come on! I'm not gonna die like this!" She yelled to herself, as the Thunder was looking down at her as her controls started to reactivate. Brianna got her Mech to sit up quickly, causing both Brianna the enemy mechwarrior to be close enough to see each other's faces through their cockpits. He had carelessly assumed that she was unconscious because her Mech hadn't moved at all after the fall. She could see the shock on his face when he found her right arm lasers aimed at his cockpit. Holy s---! Was the last thought that ran through his mind before the lasers tore off the head of his mech, vaporizing the pilot's body. The headless Mech tried to take a step back but crashed right next to Brianna's mech. Brianna stared in shock at the glowing neck of the enemy mech, very surprised to see the entire head missing.
Bri'! Are you alright! Gina's voice came yelling over the COM, which brought Brianna back to reality. She got her Mech to fully stand up with some effort. "Whoa, y-yeah I'm okay. My Mech just lost an arm." Brianna said, as she surveyed the battlefield, her Mech cooling down to normal heat levels as she targeted a new enemy Mech with her ultra autocannon.
The enemy commander in the Jinggau Mech that valiantly tried to save his force succumbed to the overwhelming firepower arrayed against him. When the enemy lost their commander, they turned tail. The enemy lost two Mechs during the retreat, and in the end, the enemy lost eight Mechs and the defenders only three on the east flank alone. The enemy unit was forced to retreat from the continent. Brianna's Mech picked up the arm that fell of after the fall. All the salvage was recovered and the Mechs headed back to base for repairs.
-
Base Camp
St. Ives
23 September 3062
The Colonel was in his office creating a new battle plan when a private soldier entered his room and delivered a message. The Colonel took piece of paper and read it, but discarded it knowing he had bad news to deliver. He activated the intercom for the entire dropship, and lifted up a microphone to speak into. "All available personnel report to the Mech bay immediately." Raymond said, and turned off the microphone.
The Colonel walked to an elevated platform to address the men. Seeing the last people enter the bay, he determined it was time to tell them the reason for the gathering. Only a few of the officers knew what he was going to say. Many of the men and women were still celebrating their victory over the Capellan Confederation from the recent battle. The Colonel cleared his throat, and everyone quieted down.
"Men, it's my sad duty to report that the duchess…has surrendered. We have won the battle, but lost the war. However! I have no intention of being absorbed into the Capellan Armed Forces, or becoming dispossessed. Therefore, those that share my view will join me as we depart for Outreach." The Colonel said, and the crowd erupted into heated discussion, and some of them were even starting fights.
"Quiet! I will not hold any resent against those that do not join me! But we need to leave within 24 hours, so anyone that wants to go to Outreach must report to me within six hours. Your commanding officers will be distributing the pay. That is all, dismissed." The Colonel said, but the chatter in the crowd did not quiet down in the slightest.
"Should we go to Outreach?" Brianna asked Gina, as both were leaning against the wall of the Mech bay. Gina thought about the possibilities, and wasn't completely sure. "I think its best if we do, from what I've heard, Outreach seems to be a good starting point for us, if we want to go home." Gina said, and Brianna nodded in agreement.
-
They moved out to find Corporal Jarvis in one of the dropship rooms, and he was with the paymaster in the mess of the crowd distributing the remaining wages. The sisters had to wait in line for half an hour to pick up their pay of C-Bills before they could talk to him.
"Here is your pay for the mission. Brianna, your salvage rights will be handled separately from your pay. You need to discuss that matter with the commander." The paymaster said, and Brianna nodded. "How much money can the salvage be worth?" Brianna asked both the paymaster and Corporal Jarvis.
Jarvis cleared his throat and replied. "Lady, salvage rights are the most important aspect of a contract for a mercenary. You can earn millions of C-bills and gain access to advanced weapons through salvage, such as Clan weaponry, or sometimes technology from the Star League Era." Jarvis said, as Gina noted that Brianna looked quite pleased with herself. To divert the subject she asked if he was going to Outreach. "No…I will remain with St. Ives Compact, the two of you take care. You may be green, but you girls have a lot of potential." Jarvis said, and did his best to give them a reassuring smile before they left.
The sisters eventually ran into mechwarriors Anderson and Willis, and asked the same question that they had asked Jarvis. The mechwarriors gave the same answer. Brianna and Gina said their goodbyes and gave them their best wishes.
-
A small part of the unit decided to become mercenaries. The future mercenaries took a Union dropship and some supplies. The Mechs were loaded into the dropship and the new mercenaries boarded it, waving goodbye to their comrades that decided to stay.
Fasten your seatbelt, prepare for liftoff in; 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Ignition! The voice on the intercom said, as the dropship lifted off the ground, and headed straight into the sky.
The spheroid dropship gained the speed needed for escape velocity. Everyone was pushed by the G-forces into their seats. The G-forces dropped enough after exiting the atmosphere, allowing the passengers to unfasten the seatbelts and look out the nearest view port.
Now leaving St. Ives gravity pull. The voice on the intercom spoke, as now the plant of St. Ives was in view.
As Gina and Brianna looked out the view port to the planet of St. Ives, they wondered how they are ever going to get home.
To be continued