Black Knight Outer Defensive Line, Tokyo
20:37 MST
August 16th, 2020 a.t.b.
The sun had just set behind the Tokyo skyline and all hell was about to break loose.
"Commander Nagisa," A rookie Knightmare pilot said over the comm system, "There are five large objects moving toward Outpost 3. The leading object matches the silhouette of one of the frames that have been attacking the outer defense line. They are at 700 meters and closing. Permission to engage?"
"Request denied," Chiba replied as she brought a tactical map up inside her Akatsuki Jikisanshiyo command unit as it hovered above the inner defense line. "Have Raikou 3 move into the middle of the street." 'One shot from Raikou's cannon should cripple those frames enough for our units to move in and finish them off,' Chiba thought as she watched the dated Knightmare maneuver itself into the middle of the street on her tactical map.
"Division commander," another pilot called over the comm system. "Four mercenaries are approaching from the South at four hundred meters. Raikou Five is prepared to fire."
"This is Raikou Four. I have four frames approaching my position. We are charging the Shrapnel Cannon now."
"Understood," Chiba replied. "Good luck Raikou Four." She turned off the comm system and let out a sigh. The civilians had been evacuated from the western side of Tokyo. Prime Minister Ohgi had informed her that Kallen and the rebuilt Guren would be joining the front line momentarily. 'Lot of good it will do,' Chiba thought, 'Low-flying Knightmares are just going to cause more senseless destruction.'
"Amazon speaking," Belinda said as she killed the throttle on her Uziel. The Battlemech stopped 600 meters away from the Black Knights' Outpost 3. The lance of Medium Battlemechs behind her followed suit, slowing to a halt at 605 meters. "Lance leaders sound off."
"This is Echo Lead," replied the pilot of the Shadow Cat behind Belinda's Uziel. "Delta Lance is ready to engage."
"This is Alpha Lead," the pilot of a 9.5 meter tall, 45 ton Hellspawn which was leading the quartet of Battlemech's from the north. "We are in position."
"This is Hotel Lead," called the pilot of the 9 meter tall, 55 ton Bushwhacker that was leading the other lance of medium 'Mechs from the south, "Hotel Lance is awaiting your signal."
Belinda smirked as she confirmed the status of the three lances. "Status confirmed," She said as she activated her Uziel's zoom window on her head's-up display. "Echo Lead, I have visual on a large Knightmare cannon-type unit. Looks like that Raikou the JLF made. Can you confirm?"
"Copy that Amazon," the Shadow Cat's pilot replied, "I confirm the presence of one Raikou Knightmare unit. There probably some Akatsuki units nearby. What's on your sensors Echo 4?"
"I'm picking up multiple signatures," Echo 4 replied from inside his 9 meter tall, 55 ton, and bird-like Men Shen, "…Maybe a four unit fire team of Knightmares. Or there could be a whole squadron of them hiding in ambush. The sensor's on the fritz again."
"Copy that Echo 4," Amazon replied as she returned to her HUD's normal view. "All units prepare to engage.
Zero stood at the edge of a balcony inside the hangar, watching as the Black Knights finished preparing Kallen's Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. "Well Rakshata, it's certainly a good thing you completely rebuilt the Guren." He said as he turned to the Indian woman who was stretched out on a red couch that was built into the balcony.
"Of course it is," The Black Knight's Chief of Science said in amusement, "I always take good care of my children." She sat up as she walked over to the railing and looked down at the mechanics that were scrambling all over the hangar. "In case you're wondering your Knightmare will be ready for battle in about ten minutes." The two of them stood in silence for a few minutes.
"Tell me Rakshata," Lelouch said suddenly, "Can the Guren beat the machines our enemy is using?" It didn't take a genius to put two and two together and realize that the vehicles the Black Knights were up against were not Knightmares.
"…It's hard to say," Rakshata replied as she fiddled with her tobacco pipe as she stared at the Guren, "But I do recognize the movement concept. It belongs to a man named Melor Kazimir. His idea was that the landspinners used by Knightmares limited their use in terrain situations and that something that simply used the feet of the Knightmare instead would increase their mobility. He called these machines "Battlemechs". But then he mysteriously vanished from the face of the earth about five years before the invasion of Japan, so the Battlemech was never realized." She turned to Zero and gave a smug smile, "But with the Guren's modifications by me and the Earl of Pudding it should be able to destroy those machines in single combat."
"Zero!" Ohgi shouted as he ran out onto the balcony, "We just received a report from Commander Nagisa!" He paused as he tried to catch his breath, looking like he'd run a marathon to get to the two of them. "Thirteen enemy Knightmares have engaged the outer defensive line." He held up a data pad which displayed the three groups of Battlemechs approaching from the south, north, and west. The western group was on a straight shot to Black Knight's HQ.
"The outer defenses are falling back to the inner defense line after sustaining heavy losses," Ohgi explained, "Also, the pilots who were trapped behind the three advancing groups reported a column of larger Knightmares approaching from the west. Zero, what are your orders?"
'So,' Lelouch thought as he turned to face Ohgi, 'the Grandmaster's decided to go on the offense first. Good. We still have a secret weapon.' He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Inform Kallen she was leaving in the Guren now." He turned to Rakshata, "As for my Knightmare, I want it combat-ready in two minutes." Zero exited the balcony as he headed for the hangar floor.
'What's your plan Grandmaster?' Lelouch thought as he stepped into the personnel elevator, 'Why are you attacking from three directions at once? I reviewed of the battle in Paris and your "mechs" are perfectly capable of launching and sustaining a single spearhead with just two of your machines. So why are you launching three spearheads with so many machines?'
"Hotel Lead, this is the Ghost of War Yet to come," Spook called out over the 'Mech-to-Mech comm channel from inside his 10 meter tall, 65 ton, humanoid headhunter Battlemech known as Exterminator. "I have reached the Black Knight's main hangar. Hangar door is closed and I'm going to wait for it to open before I deactivate the Null Sig." He looked out the visor-like windshield on his mech's head at the Black Knight's hangar.
His gigantic mech sat crouched in the middle of a side-street. At the moment it was invisible courtesy to the Null Signature System's camouflaging capabilities, and heat sensors couldn't detect it because he'd shut it down. Thankfully no vehicles had tried to use the road his mech was on or his cover would be blown.
"Copy that Spook," The Bushwhacker's pilot responded, "Hotel 2's Nightsky, Hotel 3's Hatchetman, and Hotel 4's Black Hawk are driving the weakling Black Knights back to the last line of defense. When you're done raising hell up there wanna come back and join us?"
"If the Grandmaster will allow it," Spook replied with a chuckle. His eyes flickered up to the hangar door as it started to open. "Well Hotel Lead, I have a little work to do. So do me a favor Gator and don't die okay?" He clicked off the comm before Gator could give him one of his eccentric replies.
"It's just one those days when you don't wanna wake up…" Spook muttered to himself as he powered up the Exterminator and brought the mech to its feet. He inched the throttle forward and eleven meter tall 'mech walked toward the center of the hangar door. Spook calmly waited until he could see the Knightmares waiting inside the hangar. and a near-Glasgow Smile appeared on his face in glee. "You don't really know why, but you wanna justify, rippin' someone's head off!" He sang as he started to deactivate his Null Sig.
Kallen sat inside the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N, running a systems check on the Knightmare, when two beams of neon green energy slammed into her left energy wing. "What the-?" She shouted as she looked up at the hangar entrance. What she saw was a enormous Knightmare-type machine with a bone white/bleached bone color scheme, standing in the center of the hangar doorway. "An enemy?" She shouted over the comm system, "Here?"
"How is that possible?" Zero said, standing just outside his Knightmare's repair bay. Then it hit him. 'Of course! The three pronged attack on the outer line was a diversion for this guy!' He ducked inside the doors of his Knightmare's repair bay as the massive machine turned its head toward his direction.
"Did I see a man wearing a cape?" Spook muttered to himself as his Exterminator turned its right arm in Zero's direction. A small mission timer on his control panel read 00:00:13. "Well, I'm not going to leave without destroying at least one Knight-THE HELL?!" He shouted in surprise as Tohdoh's Zangetsu shot out of the hangar and punched the Exterminator in the chest. Spook immediately reversed the throttle on his mech, firing his lasers erratically at Tohdoh's Knightmare. He landed a shot on Zangetsu's left arm before he pulled the Exterminator into a side street. He activated the mech's Null Sig as he turned the Exterminator around and started to retreat as he examined his mech for damage.
"Coward," Tohdoh muttered as Spook fled. "Kallen!" He shouted at the Black Knight's ace pilot. "Don't waste your time searching for that Knightmare. Just get to the defense line."
"Right!" Kallen replied and the Guren shot out of the hangar on her energy wings toward the northwestern part of the city.
Morrighan sat inside her Vulture's cockpit as she led the three lances of Heavy Mechs toward the Black Knights' inner defense line. The lance directly behind her consisted of two 10 meter tall, 70 Avatar Battlemechs, a 9.5 meter tall, 75 ton Black Knight Battlemech and a 10.5 meter tall, 70 ton Thor Battlemech. The lance behind them was a quartet of 10 meter high, 70 ton Nova Cat Battlemech. The rear lance contained two 11.5 meter high, 75 ton Marauder Battlemechs, one 11 meter tall, 75 ton Orion Battlemech, and a 10.5 meter, 70 ton Shootist.
But even with 930 tons of Battlemechs including her own 60 ton Vulture to back her up, Morrighan felt ill at ease. 'Perhaps I should use my ability.' She thought and then immediately discarded it, 'It's too dangerous to use my power while my mech's moving.'
"Ohhh Oracle!!" Madde's teasing voice echoed through Morrighan's cockpit as her face appeared on the vid comm. "How's the Grandmaster's Q-1 doing?" Morrighan blushed horribly and glared at Madde. She hated that nickname, and Madde knew that. This is why she used it so much.
"What do you want Playmate?" She snapped irritably.
"Oh nothing…except that Belinda's already broken through the outer line along with Echo lance and they're engaging the inner defense line. You might want to hurry up before there's nothing left to shoot at. Ciao!" The vid comm clicked off.
"Ughh…" Morrighan groaned in annoyance at her subordinate's constant taunting. "Delta Lances One, Two, and Three engage full throttle. We're probably going to have to bail Amazon's ass when we reach the inner perimeter." There was a chorus of affirmative responses as she pushed her mech's throttle all the way forward and took off toward the inner defensive line at 86.4 km/h.
As the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. flew over the buildings of Tokyo Kallen listed to the battle's comm traffic when something caught her attention. "…Any more Black Knights near your location Alpha 3?"
"Mercenary bastards," Kallen muttered as the Guren dropped below the skyline and did a hairpin turn around a street corner. 'Arrogant scumbags,' She thought as she slowly decreased the throttle of her Knightmare, 'Don't even bother to communicate over secure channels.' Then a thought occurred to her. 'Unless…' She thought as the Guren shot around the corner…right into a barrage of missiles from Alpha Lance's Hellspawn, Chimera, Centurion, and Cobra Battlemechs.
"Oh shit!" Kallen shouted as she yanked her controls to the left and flew the Guren through the building on the right of the Lance of mechs. She gunned the Guren's throttle as high as it would go and burst out of the building as the missiles past and went straight for the circular missile pod that was the Chimera's right torso. Before she could blink her Knightmare had slammed through the torso of mercenaries massive Knightmare and was flying away from the other three.
"Wha-?" The pilot didn't have time to finish as the Medium Range Missiles ammunition bins inside the Chimera's torso detonated right underneath his cockpit and engulfed the entire Battlemech in a giant fireball. The other three Battlemechs backed away from their destroyed comrade as they turned to face the Guren.
"Shit! That's the Guren!" Alpha Lead shouted as his Hellspawn fired his arm and chest mounted Medium Pulse Lasers at Kallen's Knightmare and missed. The 9.5 meter tall, 50 ton Centurion raised its Autocannon 10 bearing right arm and fired a massive slug at the retreating Guren.
A small smirk formed on Kallen's face as she turned the Guren around to face the other three Battlemechs. She activated the Guren's radiant wave surger arm and thrust it in front of the Guren just as the Battlemechs started firing. The Knightmare's right hand blocked autocannon round as the microwave emitter activated. The massive slug disintegrated under the intense radiation.
"Die!" Kallen shouted and fired a radiation projectile from the Guren's surger at the Centurion's 'head'. The disk-like projectile tore through the Battlemech's cockpit and turned the 'head's "face" into a smoking wreck. The 50 ton machine toppled backward as the nuclear reactor that powered it began to go critical. There was a two second pause before the Battlemech exploded as its lancemates lurched forward toward the Guren.
Kallen didn't have a chance to savor her kill. She quickly yanked the controls to the right as the Hellspawn fired its Medium Pulse Lasers again, sending green beams of energy just past the Guren's right wing.
Kallen slammed the controls forward and the Guren became a purple blur as it flew between Hellspawn and the 45 ton, 8 meter tall Cobra. The purple blur cut through the Hellspawn's torso, right missile launcher and the right arm, sending the Hellspawn's nuclear reactor into critical before it exploded.
In a fluid motion Kallen fired the Guren's right arm straight at the back of the Cobra's cockpit. The radiant wave surger arm activated and quickly warped the entire frame of the cockpit as it fried the mech's electronics as well as the pilot inside. The 45 ton mech struggled about for a few moments before it ceased moving completely.
"Hmph," Kallen grunted as the Guren's right arm reattached itself to the main frame, "That wasn't so hard. I wonder why Cornelia and the other Black Knights had such a problem with these guys." And with that she sent the Guren flying above the rooftops, headed for the main battlefield.
Author's Note: For those of you who don't know about Battlemechs, google BattleTech Wiki.
