AN: Again, I don't own Battletech, MechWarrior, Red vs. Blue, or anything else that I use in my plot
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2G burn away from Devil's Rock
May 24th, 3058
It had been three days since the Spartans had been forced to abandon their objective on Devil's Rock. They were tired, battered, and bloodied, but the Spartans had held for as long as could be expected and they had survived. Behind them on the hill and plains on Bakersfield, they had tied up over a battalion of Marik's best pilots and battlemechs in the attempt to retake the mining town.
Their relative success had come with a price though. The Spartans had emerged with barely a lance of functioning battlemechs, and those still able to walk were almost walking skeletons. Raven's Centurion was scattered in pieces across the hillside and what had been left of Mobius' Caesar would have been fit for nothing more than scrap metal. Aside from those write-offs and the loss of the two Scimitar hovercraft, everything else could possibly be repaired with a few weeks in the mechbays. Ice had never been so grateful that Frank had been able to weasel a 2/3rd repair cost and parts clause into their contract for the assault.
It had actually turned out that the Spartans and the Souls were the last units to retreat into orbit. The various regiments of the 4th RCT had begun to withdraw mid-day on the 20th after it was clear they could not hold off the superior numbers of Marik troops. With Marik jamming long-range communications in the south and having eliminated the Shadow Lancers and Mercenary Command almost to the man, there had been no way to inform the remnants of the mercenaries. And so, without word that they were alone and should withdraw, the Spartans and Souls had fought and held off the might of the Free Worlds League army that had been assembled on planet.
Frank had stabilized after the loss of his arm. Thankfully the laser that severed it from his body just below the shoulder also cauterized the wound enough to prevent him from bleeding out in his cockpit. He was conscious now and was slated to have his arm replaced with a prosthetic that would allow him full use of the replacement limb. However, his reaction time with the construct would be down 15 from that of a real arm. It would be enough to keep him from ever piloting a mech into battle conditions again, unless it was the direst of situations.
As lucky as Frank was to have survived, most of Beast Lance, the company's armor assets, hadn't. Salvage teams had been able to recover ten bodies from the vehicles and they were currently in deep-freeze storage until the company set down in a place quiet enough to have an official ceremony for the eight bodies that had no family to be sent back to or that wanted them back.
Within the month the Spartans would arrive on Tigress, in the Federated Suns portion of the Commonwealth, for rest and refit. There, hopefully, the repair cost and part clause of their contract would be honored. With the amount of salvage that the crews were able to recover, Ice hoped that the Spartans would be able to emerge with almost a full company of mechs, but what could be fixed and what could be piloted had yet to be seen.
As he stared out at the emptiness of space, Ice couldn't help but reflect on his fortunes. He had survived the odds as had many of his comrades. The might of the Free Worlds League could not crush them. It was anyone's guess what contracts and what battles the future would hold, but Ice was sure that he would come through the trials of the future with his shield and not upon it…
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Author's Note: There you have it folks, my first full Battletech story. I know it's a bit shorter than some and not as in depth, but I got me feet wet. Expect the sequel to be more in depth and have more to it. Please send me your reviews on my work so that I know if y'all liked it and what, if anything, I should change in my future works. Thank you all.
-AP
