The Roar of the Lions
May 7th 2270, 17:34
Obsidian Squad Headquarters,
Noc-Lab Sector
In the course of the following weeks, the OS ran a number of operations to cripple Project Omega before the troops actually landed; most of them supply raids. A few of the missions were successful, allowing the OS to gain some much needed intelligence, ammunition, and food.
"Our intelligence reports that there is currently an attack column of artillery and battle tanks moving in the Pavonis Mons sector, which, as most of you know, is one of the main space ports for Project Omega. Search and destroy."
"Great, yet another routine mission set up by Captain Blood." Kari said sarcastically under her breath.
"Do I sense a bit of disdain in your voice, Kari?" Ray questioned. The comment made Kari blush, realizing she had mocked Ray a little too loud. She answered the question by looking back, smiling, and whipping her hair around as she walked out the door.
What would I do without my charm? Kari thought as she shook her head and laughed.
May 29th 2270, 10:13
Spartan Flatlands,
7km East of Pavonis Mons
"One kilometer and closing." Ray informed.
The group had made their way to Pavonis Mons, one of the greatest volcanoes on Mars, and one of the biggest space ports also. But those were far up the volcano. They were only at the base, where they would find the attack column.
Everyone began to power up their targeting systems and weapons.
"Activate your EEB, the artillery tanks are going to be firing at us soon, and if you get hit by one of those shells, there isn't going to be anything left of you, and if you're anywhere near one of them when they impact the ground, your suit will be thrown 20 meters into the air at least." Vladmir informed
"Here they come!" Erich shouted.
The shells began to impact the ground. Huge chunks of Martian soil and sand were being thrown everywhere.
"300m until we're close enough so the Artillery can't fire!" Ray said as he hit the EEB button in enough time to dodge an incoming shell.
"Shit, that was close, Ray!"
"100m!" He repeated.
"We made it!" Vladmir shouted "Anyone damaged?"
"Just mentally." Erich responded, his joke made the group laugh, all but Ray.
"We need to get ready to destroy those Artillery Tanks, and ready the ambush."
The valley the column would enter was coming into view. Ray activated his jump jets and flew off the edge when it came near. Ray switched his auto cannon to armor piercing and opened fired on the two artillery. The others followed his example. By the time they landed on the ground, there was nothing but a large smoldering ruin where the two tanks used to be.
The OS began to prepare the ambush. Kari was digging the foxholes to hide in, Ray and Vladmir were setting up a perimeter of mines, and Erich was in charge of setting the detonating mechanisms.
"Ok everyone, get into the foxholes and power down all of your systems except radar. The column should be approaching in a couple hours. Until then, take a nap." Ray ordered.
Time passed before the column came. Ray awoke to a surprising alarm as the column of tanks and one suit passed over the ridge.
"Power up your suits. Wait for the mines to detonate before attacking." Ray commanded.
The battalion began to cross the mines, but nothing was happening, no explosions.
"Shit Erich, you screwed up the mines!" Ray screamed.
"I'm sorry, I'll go fix them!"
"No, are you retarded? Those tanks will eat you alive!"
"And they'll eat you too if I don't stop them!" Erich finished as he jumped out of his foxhole. The next second a tank targeted Erich and hurled a shell at him. Erich activated his EEB, but it was not enough to prevent his suit from being hit. The explosion completely disabled his left leg and left him open for the finishing shot.
"Shit, Shit, Shit!" Ray screamed as he began firing his heavy auto cannon at the ground by the tanks. Suddenly, a few hammering shots from the heavens created a shockwave, followed by a large explosion that engulfed the entire area. The OS's thick armor kept them from everything except losing their paint jobs to flying sand and rocks.
"What was that?" Kari asked.
"The mines went off late!" Vladmir said.
"Better late than never, right?"
"Hey, can you guys help me, my leg hydraulics aren't working!" Erich whined.
"Why?" Kari questioned, "You're useless anyway!"
"C'mon, that's not fair!"
"Exactly, all you do is eat and get damaged before the battle begins!" Vladmir said with a laugh.
"What's the deal Erich, are you trying to kill us, first you screw up my engine, now the mines too? For god's sake, will somebody just help him up, and make sure that the Terrie command suit doesn't move!" Ray ordered.
"The suit is crippled!" Kari responded, "But it wasn't us who did it!"
"I know; there is a sniper on the ridge behind me!"
Before long, Erich let out another scream as he fell once again to a bullet.
May 29th 2270, 12:41
Spartan Flatlands,
6.5km East of Pavonis Mons
"Sir, there are tanks ahead."
A smoke trail and the thundering of large guns told them that some other group of suits had engaged this smaller patrol from the main group heading to the bottom of Devil's Ridge.
"Looks like someone else is interested in not letting these tanks out alive"
"Sir," Johnson asked, "are we going to help?"
"Yes."
They cleared a small rise in a prone position and saw below them some tanks caught between two low rises, on either side of the tanks were suits, dug in, only about a fourth of their bodies were uncovered. Tae could see one smoking ruin of a tank; near it were three other tanks and a large Dredge suit, most likely a fire support vehicle. There were four suits surrounding the tanks and a fifth was on the ground, its leg had considerable damage and Tae figured it was out of commission for this battle. The other suits were medium size front line. Even though they had obviously had the element of surprise it looked as if they were losing.
The closest one had a rather large auto cannon, that was the commander or the most skilled pilot. It was almost beautiful the way the pilot used his suit. He seemed not to be aiming for the enemy tanks but was trying to hit the ground as much as possible. Tae increased the sight enhancement until he saw what the pilot was aiming for. He fired one of his high explosive slugs. Four or five milliseconds passed while the slug was traveling from the end of the barrel to right on top of the mine.
A small explosion sent a small shockwave across the low slope, and then four then five explosions sent dust and shrapnel across the small plain. The tanks were thrown into the air and the suit was almost torn in half but its dense armor protected the suit from everything but it's paint being skinned off by the sand. Tae moved the gun up and fired two armor piercing rounds into the center of the suit right were the engine and the hydraulics was. No doubt they would want the pilot alive.
Colonial Jakk Luquae felt the shudder as the two bullets pierced his suit's heavy polycarbon/titanium armor and hit his hydrogen engine. The sniper had skill not to hit the fuel tank, or him for that matter. He knew that right now it was his obligation as a commander to kill himself with the small dose of cyanide that he had in his vest pocket. He was a self-preservationist; even he realized that without shame. He knew that if he was a loyal informant and talked a lot. The Martian forces would treat him well. The few tanks that were with him were computer controlled so he didn't mind losing them, if they were real men he would have never given up this willingly. He may have been concerned for his own life, but he certainly wouldn't let soldiers die for him to just talk.
"Ok you can take me," he said calmly into the common band, "I don't care; the damn war is pointless anyway."
He never did really side with the Terran forces on this war, who cares if Mars gets its freedom, let them have it. He liked the Martian's way of thinking anyway, "Don't bother us and we won't bother you." It was like most things in the universe.
"So a Terrie actually doesn't want Mars for himself." One of his captors said, though he wouldn't call them captors, more like…liberators.
"So how do you plan on getting me back to your base?" Jakk asked as if he was anxious to go.
"Our base is just fifteen kilometers away," the leader said, "there is a rover that will take you back to our base automatically."
"Ok, you can come out now, we know you're talented." Ray asked blankly to the sky.
An unidentified suit, most likely Martian made, stood up from its prone position and dashed down the side of its hiding spot in a nearby mountain. As the suit inspected the ruins of the tanks, he revealed his name.
"You are Sergeant Ray Monterro, are you not?" He asked.
"Yes," Ray responded, "and you are?"
"Tae Namosi, Second Sniper Division, 34th Angels wish…" Tae began but was cut off by Ray.
"Under the command of G. Longfleck? I assume you received the same orders I did, to follow that attack column two Kilometers up Pavonis and make sure they…"
"Don't finish that, my babysitting, err… "partner" is on a need to know basis, he thinks that we are making sure there aren't any Terran troops stationed in hiding." Tae interrupted.
"Hmm…" Ray grunted, "My men aren't on that kind of basis, so talk freely around them."
Tae then turned around and walked a few meters away, making a private transmission, probably to his commander. He came back to Ray for a few moments.
"You the commander?"
"Just recently, you heard about the Xythos, right?"
"Yeah, I heard they had the shit beaten out of them by the OS, was that you that led them to victory?" Tae inquired.
"Indeed."
"Ray, I have interrogated the TSF, his name is Jakk Luquae and he has given us everything we wanted." Vladmir informed.
"What do you want? To give him a fruit basket?" Ray joked, "Let him go."
"Wait!" Tae yelled, "Send my partner with him!"
Ray and Vladmir knew what Tae wanted right then, to get rid of his babysitting job.
May 29th 2270, 21:31
Spartan Flatlands,
7km East of Pavonis Mons
The group set up camp in the newly made ruins, sleeping in the previously dug foxholes. Most of the night passed without much commotion. Occasionally there was some movement on the radar, but mostly just biological life forms, like rabbits and deer. The movements were a blessing of sort, allowing Ray to do something while on patrol duty. He hated patrol duty. It was like a lose-lose situation. If nothing happened, then you waste a good night's sleep. If something happens, you are up the rest of the night wasting its good sleep.
Suddenly, a metallic being showed up on Ray's screen. Ray quickly typed a text message to everyone.
That is a TSF convoy,
Jack in the Box,
In thirty seconds, these are not Mars forces,
Confirm with text message.
Movement and several replies confirmed Ray's assumption. The plan was to ready your weapons, and ready to fire in thirty. Ray knew to use non-explosive weapons, computer AI was smart, but at times slow, especially when determining whether or not you're under attack. It can take a matter of seconds to figure it out if its gunfire, but a bazooka, the computer will retaliate right away to one of those. Ray drew his favored Masamune looked over to Tae. They both nodded.
"Now!" Ray screamed over the CL.
Ray dashed full speed at one of the unexpecting suits, and performed an upper slash with his sword. The blade cut through the plasteel armor like a hot knife through butter. The suit split in half at the torso and blew up; it was Ray's favorite touch.
Suddenly, green lights began to fill the night sky.
"Shit! They have Particle Accelerators!"
Ray turned around to see Tae pick one up from a smoldering suit.
"I've always wanted to try one of these."
Ray smiled and turned around, just in time to blast the suit in front of him.
Shit that was close, you need to stay focused, Ray!
Ray switched to his heavy explosive rounds, figuring most the AI suits had figured out they were being attacked anyway, it didn't matter how loud he was. Ray looked up towards the mountains and saw several suits pouring out over them. He targeted the suits and squeezed the trigger a few times. The suits exploded in a fraction a second. Ray pretended to blow smoke from his auto cannon when he looked over at Tae, who was hacking into a heavy gatling gun at the moment, but was a sitting duck to enemy fire. Ray's eyes lit up as he saw a suit right behind Tae, targeting his newest ally. Ray quickly lowered his weapon and got off three rounds in the knick of time. Tae looked up and saw Ray's smoking barrel.
"Thanks, I owe you one."
"No, we're even."
The battle raged on for more than a half an hour. Ray and Tae stuck together, each racking up more than twenty kills. In the end, the OS and companions had eliminated over two platoons of Dredge Suits (Most Dredge platoons consist of 30-35 Suits) before the remaining suits ran form their fears.
"Fate was on our side today, if those had been anything but AI controlled Suits, the outcome would have been disastrous." Vladmir affirmed.
Most of the next day was spent doing what any victor would do after a battle; salvaging armor, ammo and weapons. They even stumbled upon a usable transport while combing the area.
"You're patrol is over 15km out, we might want to get a move on." Ray commented.
"Let's go."
"Alright, you heard the man, let's move out!"
Odds were that the suits were from the space elevator on Pavonis, and headed towards Devil's Ridge-a primary battle between the Martian Forces and Terran Supporting Forces. Most of the suits they scuttled were artillery. There were going to be fireworks, but not the kind the TSF expected.
Devils Ridge was a strategic land point, a very large city south Tharsis.
"Looks like we saved the MF some trouble." Kari commented.
"They still hate you." Tae informed graciously, "If that's what you're trying to say."
"Well fine, we don't like them either then." Kari said with a childish tone in her voice.
"Quiet…I have a contact." Vladmir smiled.
May 30th 2270, 11:24
Spartan Flatlands,
12km East of Pavonis Mons
Ray stopped the advancing group. The convoy they had been stalking stopped about three kilometers in front of them, just a few meters ahead of the TSF was a large outpost, with much activity happening.
"The radar information isn't sufficient to know numbers; there could be hidden gun emplacements all over." Tae said.
"We should send a scout." Vladmir suggested. The comment forced a smile upon Tae's face. Tae launched his friend, Bill, a mini helicopter like thing that flew at 3000m, high enough to escape radar and the human eye.
"I've heard of those, they're supposed to be pretty reliable and stealthy. How long did it take you to acquire it?"
"Not that long, actually. It was an impulse buy, from the Terran Black Market. Actually it cost more to ship the little bastard than to actually purchase him." Tae said as he stared at viewing screen.
May 30th 2270, 11:39
Spartan Flatlands,
14km East of Pavonis Mons
The base ended up not being a base; it was a large dropship with many suits and tanks protecting it. Ray decided to not go on a full-fledged suicide mission for this one.
"Shouldn't we take advantage of this opportunity to cripple another battalion?"
"Because, dropships never come from Earth to Mars unaided, there are ALWAYS freighters involved." Ray answered.
"So you want to capture the entire freighter?" Tae said in disbelief.
"Precisely."
"Xythos…cough…Convoy!" Kari rustled up a fake cough to mock Ray's previous battle tactics. Ray didn't respond, but was obviously annoyed.
"So how do you intend on getting onboard? You know how valuable dropships are; they leave at the first sign of danger." Vladmir questioned.
"That can be used to our advantage."
"Exactly." Ray said, almost pleased with himself…almost.
"Oh, oh let me guess this one, you want to sneak onto the dropship and fake an explosion so it will take off, right?" Tae said
"Right." Ray said. The tone of his voice suggested that he had no idea Tae was mocking him.
Tae began to take out a spare power cylinder he stole from a laser cannon. He also pulled out an EM rocket and an EM mine. Surprisingly, the wiring led them far into the night, no one could have done it alone.
"So how are we going to do this?"
"We take out whatever human controlled suits we see with thermal imaging, then we set of our makeshift EM bomb to disable all the "dumb" suits.
"Let me take out the Suits, after all I am the only real sniper here." Tae said with a little spite in his voice.
"How do you know?" Ray questioned
"Are you disagreeing?"
"No."
Ray could see Tae climbing along the ridge behind the ship. The thumbs up meant he could commence with his operation. Tae was supposed to use his KO rounds, because they didn't make much light, they were quiet, and they got the job done be sending an electrical charge to the cockpit, knocking out the pilot. In a matter of 15 seconds, three suits had bee downed no problem.
"Confirmed down of HC Suits. Igniting EM bomb in 30." Tae informed.
Tae and the OS fired an entire salvo of missiles to create a blanket of smoke, concealing them. Then Tae fired his remaining rockets at the dropship. Even through the dense smoke, it was obvious the ship was taking off, its jets shined through the cloud. The OS jumped onto the ship and looked for Tae, who was in a dead sprint to get to the ship. Tae jumped on to some crates and bounced onto the ship, almost crushing a robotic vehicle.
"Fire the goddamn bomb!" Ray screamed. As the words came out of his mouth, a large blue sphere expanded its way from the bomb all the way to the dropship and past. The ship's shielding protected everyone inside from the EMP.
May 30th 2270, 09:23
Martian Forces Headquarters,
Athens, West Vallis Marinias
Johnson's suit made it to the Nickol outpost that morning, walking in through the front gate and proceeding to drop off the TSF commander who was taken to a dropship bound for New Boston. He docked his suit in an unused port and let the techies start working on repairing it. He proceeded to the communications room to report to Longfleck that Tae had continued with OS.
"So it's all in his hands then sir?"
"No, not all in his hands; there will be a squadron of shadows assisting him."
"Affirmative, I will be back to our base on the first transport over."
"Good job Lieutenant. Take leave as soon as you get back."
"Thank you, sir."
Johnson left the room and looked for something to eat.
June 1st 2270, 13:41
Terran Dropship Scarlet,
Airspace above Spartan Flatlands
The dropship had taken two days to get out of the gravity of Mars and to a safe distance where its big brother waited. Tae was at first nauseated and nervous, he hated space. But he eventually relaxed. Meanwhile the OS slept and waited in the darkness of their suits. Tae passed the first few hours by fitfully sleeping, soundly in fact the last bit of information Charlotte had transmitted to his little wrist computer was that there were only pilots and a few plants for life forms on the ship. Their suits would protect them from being detected and the pilots wouldn't come down into the suit hold because it was a vacuum once the dropship reached space. Tae rested quite well for ten hours or so. The little light in his suit came from a green lantern that fed off any magnetic field and produced enough of a glow to see things in. Not enough to read anything. But it wasn't total darkness. There was also his wrist computer, three small flashlights, his watch, power cells, and some other items.
He had a few books to read on his wrist so he decided to project them onto the wall of the cockpit. He talked to Ray once on the first day, a routine check to see if everyone had food and water. Water was not a problem; there was always a five liter tank in the suit that was drinkable, but the food was not anything more then soy bread.
He had set a timer for when they would arrive at the asteroid that was the freighter. The asteroid was potato shaped with five hangers for dropships around a central core on the end. The other side was just a small fusion drive module that propelled the asteroid very fast. The rest of the asteroid was robotic mining and huge amounts of space for anything that could fit. The asteroid was spun for gravity and was covered in levels of storage space; the inner core was designed for moving damaged ships or anything else that was too big for the floors, or hiding a ship.
The time came when his relaxing had to end. Tae spent the last fifteen minutes slowly starting up his suit. First he had to power up the core. Then slowly one by one he started up the various systems. His suit was powered by nuclear batteries that would outlive the suit, their power storage was amazing and they fed off any electromagnetic field, basically recharging at all times.
Tae immediately felt the effects as the dropship entered the freighter He was pressed against his seat in the familiar Martian G.
June 1st 2270, 14:29
Terran Freighter Washington,
Low Orbit over Spartan Flatlands
"Is everyone's suit armed and operational?" Ray asked.
Tae was distracted by the information and readouts of the freighter.
"Tae?"
"All systems good to go!" Tae said quickly.
"Ok, move out once the doors open, they should be taking on more suits." Ray ordered
Ray pulled out his battle-axe and gave a nod. The OS knew what it meant-Melee weapons, and stick together unless told otherwise.
Once the doors open, the group lurched out of the hanger.
This would've been a surprise to any suit, but despite the obvious laws of nature, Ray dropped to one knee and fired a large unguided mortar at the back wall. Ray and the group grabbed onto the closest secure thing they had. Ray could see Tae, slamming his two axes into the floor to avoid being sucked into space with the enemies. Then the dropship began to shake unsteadily. It slid and spun out of the freighter and began an emergency descent into the Martian atmosphere.
After all the air was sucked out into space, the OS walked into an amazingly expansive cavern where they expected to find thousands of thousands of suits, but nothing was there.
"What the…" Ray never finished.
"This isn't right!" Vladmir stated, "Where the hell are the suits!"
"It isn't exactly empty…" Tae said as he pointed his gun over to a holographic image of a suit. As he did, the image came to life.
"Ray Monterro," it paused, "Truly nice seeing you here…."
"Alive." Tae added, "I think a raise in my pay is in order this time. It took considerably longer to accomplish then killing that damn Terran cyborg spy!"
"Markinson?" Ray asked, "That bastard never dies, I owe you one."
"Right." Thos voice continued, obviously annoyed, "If you're done, I'd like to continue. Tae, we will discuss you're money later."
"Wait a minute." Kari said, "You did all this for money? You bastard!"
"Thanks." Tae said, not taking offense to the insult
"I represent the Mars Global Government and the MF," the voice informed Ray and the rest of the OS, Tae busied himself with stretching his arms and a long yawn. "I'm willing to make you all an offer. Since you are wanted for the destruction of Xythos, on both Mars and Earth, you are faced with a difficult decision. If you ally with us and do your part to defend Mars, you will be pardoned and can have a handsome pay for as long as you help."
"What if we don't want anything to do with this and just go home?" Ray asked, tempted by the deal but not wanting to show it.
"There is a squadron of Shadows waiting outside, you wont last long." The shade said coldly, Tae wiped a smudge off of his targeting screen, trying to publicize his boredom.
"Ray, I think we should take the deal." Erich whispered.
"Me too." Added Vladmir.
"Very well then." Agreed Ray.
"Good, you will be sent to Pavonis to help with the oncoming invasion, we need someone to strike the base of the elevator." He continued, "Go to Hanger Number One, to your right, and board it. From here, it will take you to Nickol outpost where you will get your orders. Good Luck."
Ray started for the hanger, reluctantly followed by the rest of the OS.
"Are you sure that we can trust them?" Vladmir asked Ray
"I don't know who I can trust outside of you Vlad, and we don't have much of a choice either way." Ray responded.
"I assume we will see you on Pavonis, Tae?" Ray asked.
"Only if you're lucky." Tae said spitefully.
"You mean if they pay you." Ray continued, "We could always use a sniper, contact me if you're interested. When you're tired of money."
Tae reached the hanger and turned inside. While boarding his dropship, he saw the familiar inside of it with the spare suits and large ammo boxes. He got the dropship from the Martian government in exchange for stealing the battle plans for them. The cargo section nearest to the bridge had been converted into a living quarters. He stayed there with his real partner Ted Reinfield, an excellent pilot of any ship and also an amateur hacker.
He jumped out of his suit into the cargo bay and continued into the living quarters. Alec greeted him there.
"Did they take it?"
"Yes."
"So where are we off to now?"
"I need a burger, which one, Markham or Hellas Ridge?" Tae asked.
"Markham has Jim's, plus we have a safe house there." Alec replied casually.
"I like Hellas Grill better, but you are right, we need to take a break anyway."
As Alec ran up to the cockpit Tae threw off the old jumpsuit and went into the bathroom to shave and visit the shower that he had long missed. As the large dropship descended into the Martian atmosphere, the fifteen fighters de-cloaked and increased their speeds to match each other. The movements of the fighters looked like a dance as they moved into formation.