Airspace above Tukayyid City,
Tukayyid,
Free Rasalhague Republic.
The five Sulla Prime OmniFighters of Echo-Star tore their way through the air in a tight V formation, guided by the IFF bacons of the Irregulars Mech's. In the lead fighter, Star Commander Scot, formally of Clan Wolf, was as deep in thought as he dared go: being taken bondsman by a freebirth, and a Periphery native at that, had angered him greatly at first, but over the last five years he had come to respect those who had captured him, even grown to like them, after a fashion.
He gritted his teeth: he was Star Commander Scot of the house of Leroux, a trueborn Clan Warrior, the product of 300-years of selective breeding and genetic manipulation, the pinnacle of human achievement. His OmniFighter was one of the most advanced weapons of war ever made, and he soared the skies like a vengeful god, distributing death and destruction on those below.
Travelling at twice the speed of sound, the fighters made their first pass at less than 100-meters, screaming though the air, firing volleys of Laser and Practical-beam fire as they sped over the Smoke Jaguar LZ, tearing at armour and FerroCrete as they went: several light-Mech's went down, damaged but not destroyed, and infantry scattered. The Mech's and DropShip's returned fire, but the fighters where moving to fast to track.
Star Colonel Wade Showers, the commander of the Smoke Jaguar reinforcements, ordered his own fighters to intercept and destroy Echo-Star: air superiority was vital to his battle-plan.
Ten Aerospace fighters, an assortment of Clan and Inner Sphere designs, took up pursuit of the Irregular's, chasing them into a thunderstorm that was blowing in from the east. This was a fatal mistake: a second Star of OmniFighters, this one made up of 3 Jagatai's and 2 Scytha's, had been deployed from the Natures Wrath, and where laying in wait for the renegade fighters. A deadly game of cat and mouse developed in the dark clouds above Tukayyid City.
Tukayyid City Spaceport,
Tukayyid,
Free Rasalhague Republic.
On the ground, things where not going so well for the: the scout lance had returned with the Elementals, but the Smoke Jaguars had made several attempts to advance on the Irregulars, forcing them to take shelter behind abandoned buildings, and the resulting fire-fight was taking a toll on both sides. The Irregulars had managed to down a pair of Champions, and had damaged a Shadow Hawk IIC, but had paid the price when a Bombardier had found a weak-spot in the armour of a HA1-0 Hauptmann in Jack Cameron's lance, downing the powerful OmniMech, and it had fallen against a WHM-8D Warhammer in the same Lance, disabling both Mech's in one go, putting a huge dent in the Irregulars available firepower.
Cairo kept firing, his Medium Pulse Lasers and ER-PPC worrying the armour on a Black Knight that seemed to be retrofitted with Clan-Tech. Cairo cursed under his breath: in it's current configuration, his Templar's most powerful weapon was it's LB 20-X autocannon, but the weapons relative short range prohibited him form using it. His cockpit was getting dangerously hot from the extensive use of Energy weapons, and he was forced to lower his Mech into a crouch behind a building to give it time to cool down.
The radio crackled, "Major, this is Point-Commander Rix. We have reached your wife's Mech: she has passed-out, but we should be able to extract her without any serious trouble as long as you can keep the Smoke Jaguars off our backs." Cairo gritted his teeth; "Get her out of here Rix, and leave the Jaguars to us!" He raised his Mech to its full height, "Irregulars, Stand To!" every one of the remaining Mech's positioned it's self where it had a clear field of view. "Volley fire, on my command. FIRE!"
As one, the Irregulars opened-up with everything they had.
TBC