CHAPTER 2: IN THE ASS END OF NO-WHERE

"Sundance would have been a great planet to live on if Skyne had done some market research, unfortunately they didn't and look where it got them"-A tourist's opinion on the planet Sundance

14-4-3070

SUNDANCE

Burningham

Vassily realized just what deep shit meant as the judge handed him his sentence. For unauthorized use of force resulting in injury and death he was given five years service on the remote, war-torn desert planet Sundance. Sundance was a hole, it was going to be a summer resort for the rich but when the investors, Skyne Luxury realized that no one wanted to spend their holiday on a desert planet they pulled the funding. Since then Sundance's history had been made by whoever had staged the last successful coup. The planet was in a constant state of war, so it was really no different from the rest of the Inner Sphere, or the known galaxy at large for that matter. That was what Kane had gathered from reading the file on Sundance. He surveyed the capital city from the spaceport pad, standing fifty metres from the Talon Dropship that sat on the dusty pad, disgorging its contents through the massive doors on its flanks. The city was fairly unimpressive, a sprawl of low prefab buildings, the highest of which was three stories tall. In the distance Kasparov could see the distinctive shape of a Mech hanger. He turned back to the Dropship where his 'Mech was being piloted towards a boarding gantry by remote. He turned away from the city and climbed up the boarding gantry. His 'Mech had been repainted, gone was its Home Guard markings, replaced with an Ace of Spades on the shoulders, weapon mounts and shin armour. A curved plate of armour had been added over each shoulder and under the cockpit a chin gun holding two Clan Machine Guns had also been added, his 'Mech looked noticeably, but not significantly different and it was common practice for various units to give their 'Mechs slight body modifications to make them stand out. Kane had to admit that his 'Mech did look a bit cooler with the extra armour and guns, at least they hadn't altered his weapons, the three Medium Lasers, one Heavy Laser, two Streak SRM 6 packs and Single Tube LRM Launcher were all still there, plus the twin MGs in the Clan Mad Dog style chin gun. Reflecting on that, Kasparov was planning to move up to a Mad Dog once he got off his Shadowcat, which he was rather attached to. Kasparov strapped into the Shadowcat's seat and slipped in his Neurohelmet, the Neurohelmet was a mechwarrior's interface for micromanagement of his 'Mech, pumping information about the 'Mech's status directly into the pilot's brain and allowing the pilot to interface with the 'Mech with a single thought. Kasparov glanced around the cockpit, a small rectangular bath with screens on the walls and banks of switches in between the screens. Davion was slowly moving towards touch screen interfaces but until then the good old switches would fill the gap. Kasparov flicked all the switches on the bank labeled 'Power' and the 'Mech shuddered to life, Kasparov kicked a lever with his foot and pressed down on the accelerator pads. The 'Mech started walking backwards out of the gantry and turned to face the dusty street that led to the Mech Hangar…

21-4-3070

SUNDANCE

Burningham Firing Range

Kasparov was calibrating the mechanical sights on his 'Mech when the attack came. He lined up the small wafers on the target and fired, the mechanical sights were a pair of small rectangular wafers of steelglass with crosshairs painted on them. The mechanical sights were a backup used when a pilot's targeting system was out and he was unable to eyeball the target. Vassily's attention was diverted from his task by a warning beep from the radar. Vassily looked down at the display, about a dozen red dots had appeared on the radar as it zoomed out. The hostiles had actually shown up on the other side of the city to Vassily.

"Kasparov we've got hostiles moving in! Perimeter beacons show them as members of Dominic Lagone's criminal organization" Someone at Command filled Kasparov in.

"What! Lagone's boys! I told them bastards never to come back here again!" General Douglas McGuire, the Sundance Militia's Commander-in-Chief snapped in an indignant Cowboy accent.

"Well sir let's show 'em what happens when you mess with the Sundowners!" Commander Angus McGuire said enthusiastically. Commander McGuire was the leader of the 'Sundowners', which was what Sundance's 'Mech unit, had named themselves.

"This is Lieutenant Kasparov moving to engage, can anyone ID the targets?" Vassily asked over the comm.

"Second Infantry Platoon here, looks like we've got about eight vehicles consisting of four Vedettes, two SRM Carriers and two Bulldogs. Uh, 'Mech wise there's an Urbanmech, two Ravens and a…oh my God they've got a Cougar" The leader of some Infantry group reported.

Vassily pushed the accelerator pads down to maximum and turned the 'Mech back towards the city. He began arming his weapons as the Shadowcat sprinted through Burningham…

It took Vassily three minutes to arrive and the battle was already well underway. The infantry had long since retreated and only the Cougar, one of the Ravens, a single Bulldog and the SRM Carriers were still fighting. On the Sundowner's side were about thirty 'Mechs of various descriptions. Most were of a kind rarely seen outside of Sundance, when Sundance was first colonized one of the first investors was a 'Mech company named Lagone LTD. They set up shop on Sundance and began producing an odd-looking Heavy 'Mech called a Sunslayer. When the money left Sundance so did the company, except for Lagone who was convinced that Sundance's government had conspired against him. Lagone's Sunslayer was a combination of several 'Mechs; its Centre Torso was that of a Vulture with a tapering, rectangular cockpit Vulture body's 'beak'. The LRM 15 missile pods from the Vulture also remained and mounted on their flanks were two stubby arms. One either arm were two tube shaped weapon pods each holding a tight cluster of three long barrels belonging two a single RAC5. Under the 'Mech's chin was a turret holding a single Medium Laser.

"Glad to see you joined us Kasparov" General McGuire said, he was piloting a Steiner 'Mech called a Thundeneer. Somewhat like a Hellbringer in appearance but with a Timber Wolf's arm on side holding a two Heavy Lasers and a stubby horizontal arm on the other side holding a trio of Medium Lasers. The Thundeneer also had a small cylindrical missile pod on its right shoulder above a cluster of Small Lasers. The Thundeneer caught sight of its target, the last Raven and fired of its two Heavy Lasers, slicing off the Raven's missile pod. The Raven returned fire with a barrage of Medium Lasers, most simply melted patches of the Thundeneer's armour but one got lucky and hit the shoulder joint of the Thundeneer. Something inside the shoulder went up in a roaring explosion doing far more damage than a Medium Laser should have. When the smoke cleared the Thundeneer's right shoulder had been completely blown away leaving a smoking crater. "Good thing I didn't pack many missiles" General McGuire finally said sounding thoroughly relieved.

"Dad…I mean sir! Are you alright?" Angus McGuire asked in a panicky voice.

"I'm fine son" General McGuire reassured his son.

Kasparov turned his attention back to the Raven; it was trying to pull the same trick again. He lined it up with all four Medium Lasers and fired them at the Raven's guns. The shots connected and blew the Raven's guns to shreds. Without pausing Kasparov fired his Heavy Laser at the Raven's leg, the thin Light's armour proved no match for Kasparov's Clan laser. It sliced clean through the shin and the Raven toppled over only to be finished off by a barrage of RAC fire from Commander McGuire's Sunslayer. The Raven exploded in a ball of fire that threw shrapnel far and wide.

"Incoming" Kasparov's computer informed him.

Vassily looked in the direction of the last enemy, the Cougar. It was facing him and had fired all its LRMs at his Shadowcat's cockpit, "Oh shit" Vassily said to himself. He punched in a code on one of the screens. The slot below it shot out a Battlerom containing everything in the mech's memory files. The computer then wiped the memory files blank. It was time to leave, Kasparov pulled the lever and explosive bolts blasted off the canopy. One second later his chair rocketed into the sky.

Two seconds.

The 'Mech ran its final program; small explosives placed around the computer core detonated destroying the memory chips and preventing any enemy from learning anything about the mech. Three seconds, the Cougar fired its two Clan Heavy Lasers enveloping the cockpit in a bright explosion.

Four seconds.

The swarm of LRMs impacted on the cockpit, the missiles detonated and the 'Mech was blown to pieces; all that remained was a foot and a shower of metal fragments. The rockets on Vassily's chair fired again, slowing its descent. The chair hit the ground with bone jarring force; Vassily quickly undid the straps and stood up. A small piece of metal from his mech landed in front of him. It was a diamond shaped shard that could have come from any part of the mech. Kasparov picked it up and slid it into his pocket, he turned back to the chair. A small box had opened up containing a backpack and a laser rifle. Vassily picked both up and sprinted up the nearest hill to see the rest of the battle play out.

The Cougar was hiding behind a small hill, but that wouldn't save it from thirty battlemechs most of which were Heavy Sunslayers. It was over in a blinding flash of lasers and missiles. Kasparov turned to begin the long trek back home.

4-5-3070

Vassily examined his reflection in the mirror as he shaved. He was like all Mechwarriors well built with short hair, Vassily's hair was brown and probably a bit longer than it should have been and he had steel coloured eyes that had given him a Targeting Average of 99.5, One Vassily had finished shaving he pulled on his jacket and walked out to the Mech Hangar where he'd been ordered to meet the mechanic who had been assigned to him.

Sarah Ordivodsky was exactly what Kasparov had expected of a mechanic, coarse, gruff and short tempered. She was definitely Russian and had long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. "I have a present for you" She said in a Californian accent that brought a cascade of memories back for Vassily. She led him to the back of the Hangar, where a gleaming Sunslayer stood in its own bay "This is it, your new 'Mech"

Vassily looked over the Sunslayer, admiring the Heavy 'Mech's appearance and deadly firepower.

"She's all ready to be taken for a spin," Sarah said. Just then battle klaxons blared out and someone was shouting over the PA.

"Alert! Alert! Hostile forces sighted moving towards the city! All personnel battle stations repeat all personnel battle stations! This is not a drill!"

"Well lets if it works" Kasparov commented as he raced to and began climbing the gantry up to the 'Mech's cockpit.

"Hey wait, it hasn't got any ammunition loaded yet!" Sarahyelled.

Vassily had already jumped into the cockpit "What?" he yelled back as he brought the 'Mech online.

"I haven't got its ammunition yet! No missiles or Laser power packs just the AC shells!"

"Shit" Vassily growled to himself, this wasn't going to be easy without LRMs. He made the 'Mech sprint out into the city, dodging the base personnel running to their various posts. Ten minutes later Vassily caught sight of the enemy force, Lagone's boys again this time with two Lances of Yellow Jackets, light four legged 'Mechs armed with Large Lasers. They were escorting their own Thundeneer and a small army of vehicles was following. Vassily immediately fired off a burst from his RACs, the barrels spinning into a gunmetal gray blur. A hail of AC shells showered Lagone's attack force, blasting off chunks of armour and punching holes in several vehicles. Vassily directed some more accurate fire from the Medium Laser on the swarm of vehicles, wasting three tanks and an LRM carrier. Then the mob returned fire as the Sunslayer sprinted for cover and found it behind a sand dune. The Sunslayer moved out from the other side of the hill and resumed its barrage demolishing another four vehicles. The Thundeneer fired off a barrage of LRMs at Vassily who dodged them easily.

"Hold on boy we'll be there in five" General McGuire's voiced filled Vassily's cockpit. Vassily ignored it and began to move back towards Burningham, hoping to survive long enough to lure the enemy force into a trap. It took him another four minutes to lure Lagone's boys back to the base when a call came over the GenNet comm. channel:

"Defenders of Burningham I am Dominic Lagone I bear you no grievances despite the fact that you side with the people who betrayed me and left me to rot here. I have several more Lances of Battlemechs following; simply send out the representatives of Lagone LTD, have a ship to take me away from this hole and you will never hear from me again" a voice with a Latino accent said.

"Ha! Never hear from you again don't bullshit me Lagone! If you want those people Lagone you're going to have to come through the Burningham military! And did you really think we'd have a Jumpship just so you can go harass the good people of some other planet?" General McGuire replied in a voice laden with amusement designed to anger Lagone.

Before Lagone could reply Vassily cut in "Mr. Lagone, anything to do with your company is long gone, they took everything when they realized what a shithole this planet is. It's not their fault you missed the last train home, sell your mechs a buy a ticket off. This planet doesn't have Jumpship, the Burningham military's Dropship is barely airworthy" Vassily waited for a reply.

"Who the hell are you Ruskie?" Lagone snapped derisively.

"Lieutenant Vassily Kasparov, the one who just fragged all your vehicles and is about to do it again" Vassily replied as he snuck the 'Mech out behind Lagone with the 'Mech's rather basic stealth systems engaged. The stealth systems being him trying to avoid making too much heat. They wouldn't hide him if Lagone was looking hard at his Heat Scanners but he was behind them so they still had to turn around either way. There was a weak point on the Thundeneer: a big service hatch that was used to remove the engine, it could be blasted open if Vassily could hit it right. He squeezed the triggers and the barrels began to spin. They would know he was here now, one Lance of Yellow Jackets turned around followed by three tanks. At the last moment Vassily switched his target and RAC shells burrowed under the cupola ring of a Yellow Jacket's turret, eating into the thin, unarmoured metal there. The Yellow Jacket's body exploded in a fireball blasting the turret clean into the air. A pair of jeeps opened fire with their ACs the rounds knocking the Sunslayer's shoulder backwards and throwing Vassily's aim off and his rounds splattered across a commercial building punching holes in its plexiglass windows. Vassily fried the jeeps with fired the Sunslayer's RACs, the sweeping fire blasted the Jeeps as well as a Vedette. By that time the Thundeneer had turned around and fired both its Heavy Lasers at Vassily's Sunslayer slicing clean through the mech's spindly left arm. The weapon mount fell to the ground with a crash and suddenly Vassily only had one RAC. He splattered gunfire over another Yellow Jacket, the rounds punched through the cupola ring and the small quadruped 'Mech crashed to the ground, its turret blown clean off and its reactor put out of action. Unfortunately the Thundeneer was realigning its sights on Vassily's cockpit. He ran for it, spinning the Sunslayer around and sprinting down a side road, the Thundeneer hit the Sunslayer's back with a barrage of SRMs as it ran, blasting away half of the right radiator fin. Vassily was thrown against his restraints by the blast; he was in serious trouble now, with the radiator fin gone the Sunslayer would heat up more, and Lagone LTD had never managed to solve the Sunslayer's heating problems before the pulled the funding and the Sunslayer ran incredibly hot at the best of times. Vassily now had four disadvantages: 1) He was outnumbered, 2) He was damaged, 3) His LRMs had no ammunition, 4) His radiator fin was wrecked which meant the 'Mech would generate plenty of heat that had nowhere to go. Serious problem, Vassily resorted to the comm., "General McGuire do you have updates on the position of re-enforcements? I am damaged and need assistance."

"Hold on Kasparov, we're nearly there" General McGuire replied.

"Great" Vassily said snidely, 'I'll have to do this myself' he thought. He checked his radar; the Lance of Yellow Jackets and five Bulldog Medium Tanks were hunting him. Then he checked his Heat Meter, it was slowly rising, he could feel the heat buildig up in his cockpit. The rest of the attack force was holding position and blasting away with active sensor pings. Fortunately the buildings would hide him especially since he wasn't generating any heat and the Sunslayer had a very low EM signature that somewhat made up for it standing out like an Overlord Dropship in the middle of a desert on infrared scans. If they put even the slightest effort into scanning for heat sig…

And they did, the Yellow Jackets split into two pairs and moved to flank him while the Bulldogs grouped up and rolled onward. The tanks came into sight first and remaining gun, the first tank exploded, followed by the second, the third managed to get off a pair of SRMs which blew a chunk out of the Sunslayer's left missile pod before being destroyed. The final Bulldog fired five rounds from its AC. Two missed, exploding on the wall of a warehouse, the other three made a line of craters up the Sunslayer's leg but fell just short of getting through the armour. The Sunslayer stumbled and the Bulldog was able to get of a seven round burst followed by four SRMs. This time four AC rounds crashed into the left missile pod, blasting craters through the armour, two SRMs followed the AC rounds in and ripped a section of Endo Steel internal structure apart. One SRM missed and the other one crashed into the Sunslayer's Centre Torso barely a metre above cockpit mercifully it did no damage. But it did frighten Vassily enough to dissolve the Bulldog into a molten puddle of slag with his RAC5. Vassily returned his attention to the Yellow Jackets just in time to be hit by a Medium Laser from all sides, one melted a plate of the back of the right missile pod, two melted glowing red craters in the center torso and one hit the mech's head, wrecking the non-functional Medium Laser. Vassily returned with a burst of RAC5 fire and cut a Yellow Jacket's leg off, he then fired through the cupola ring and blew it to pieces, the shock wave bowled the other Yellow Jacket over into a small warehouse and exposing its unarmoured belly to a stream of RAC fire as Vassily ran past it, turning the 'Mech into a blackened shell smothered in flames. The last two Yellow Jackets scurried back to the main force. But not before Vassily managed to cut one off and blast it to pieces, Vassily managed to loose a burst at the retreating Yellow Jacket but succeeded only in melting a few craters in its armour. Vassily checked his radar, more vehicles moving in and judging by their EM signatures it was four Partisan Heavy Tanks, each armed with four AC2s. Partisans were low, squat vehicles with a cube shaped turret that held four barrels, two on each side. Still, the only ting that was a match for a Battlemech was another Battlemech so Vassily had the ante. Or not, he checked his Heat Meter and it was right up, he performed a coolant flush and piloted the 'Mech to an open warehouse. He hid inside one of the many warehouses in this area; he was near the Spaceport so it made logical sense that there would be warehouses here. Next he did something no half sane person would ever do, unless their 'Mech was rapidly becoming a sauna. He shut down the 'Mech, rolled out the ladder and climbed down to the ground, taking a laser rifle with him Vassily went out onto the street and listened for the arrival of the Partisans. It wasn't long before the rumbling filled the otherwise relatively silent street. Vassily sprinted back to his 'Mech, climbed back up and waited for the tanks to roll past, they came by in line abreast formation. Vassily powered up his 'Mech and unleashed a volley of pulse rounds at the tanks, two were demolished but the other two floored it and disappeared from Vassily's line of sight. He slowly walked the Sunslayer out of the warehouse keeping a careful lookout on the radar for the Partisans, they were parked down the road at an intersection, facing broadside to him. As Vassily walked his 'Mech out they launched a hail of AC shells at him alternating the rapid firing cannons so fast that it looked like all four guns were firing at once. The Sunslayer was hit hard and forced to stagger backwards in order to stay standing under the barrage, Vassily was thrown about like a piece of paper in a tornado. Vassily's damage display started to show red patches where the AC shells were tearing off his armour. Huge pieces of the missile pods disappeared under bright explosions followed by half the armour on the centre torso just above the Sunslayer's head. Four rounds crashed into the Sunslayers head exploding in a ring around the cockpit and cracking a pane of plexiglass. Then suddenly the pounding stopped, Vassily looked up and saw what remained of the Partisans: two burning hulks. Towering over the wreckage was a mixed Lance of two Ravens, and two Uziels.

"Mornin' Vassily, see you got yourself in a pickle there" Captain Gregory McDowell, CO of the Sundance LDV 1st Company 2nd Lance said from his flamboyant Uziel.

"Right, where is the rest of the Battalion?" Vassily cut through McDowell's pleasantries.

"1st Company's spread out across the Warehouse sector, 2nd is harassing another of Lagone's units that attacked the city and 3rd is sweep-clearing the city of the vehicles Lances that Lagone sent out across the city. By the way Dreanor's looking for you, he's fighting the main attack force, Lagone's reinforced his team with a Lance of Panthers, a Lance of Uziels and a Lance of Bushwackers. Lets go" McDowell elaborated.

"Lead the way" Vassily followed McDowell's Lance, as they trooped towards the battle up ahead, from Vassily's radar neither side was making any effort to keep their EM signatures down and Vassily's radar display was filled with red and green dots. As soon as they reached the battle Vassily saw that things had degenerated into what looked like a Clan Grand Melee. Lasers, missiles, bullets and AC shells were flying in every direction, demolishing the warehouses, McDowell immediately joined in the fray, blasting his right PPC at a damaged Panther's torso, the huge energy bolt melted what was left of the Panther's armour, McDowell followed up with a blast from his other PPC and then a barrage from his SRM 6. Vassily saw the Panther blasted backwards of its feet by the second PPC impact and blown apart as the SRMs hit its Fusion Reactor, he picked another Panther and started trading shots with it. The Panther fired off a burst from its Lasers, followed up by a Pulse Laser that cut through the Sunslayer's centre torso and melted a chunk of its Internal Structure. Vassily responded with a barrage of RAC5 shells, forcing the Panther's pilot to focus on keeping his 'Mech upright. Three PPC blasts blew a hole clean through the Panther and sent it crashing into a tall, office block, Vassily torso twisted around, McDowell and his right hand man in the Lance's other Uziel had already swung back and engaged other targets. A blast threw Vassily against his restraints, he brought the Sunslayer about, loosing a quick burst at one of Lagone's Uziels, the stream of RAC shells melted a dozen craters in the Uziel's torso, the hole was quickly exploited by an LDV Rooster which fired its right LRM 10 and blew a bigger hole in the Uziel's torso. Vassily's attention was returned to his aggressor, whom he saw from his radar was piloting a Bushwacker and was backed up by Lagone's last Panther, four Vedettes and two Harasser hover vehicles. Vassily quickly reviewed what he knew about his enemy, a Bushwacker was, like he Sunslayer based on a Clan Vulture but had an AC 10, a devastating cannon. Vedettes were light vehicles mostly used as light anti armour vehicles and Harassers were fast hover vehicles armed with SRM 6s used for, as the name suggested harassment work. The Bushwacker caught Vassily with a bolt from its Heavy Laser and the Panther fired its PPC but mercifully missed. Vassily turned his 'Mech and ran down past an old office building, but not before the Vedettes caught him in the back with five rounds from their ACs. More warning lights sprung up as Natasha's voice came over the comm. And his Heat Meter edged higher into the yellow.

"Vassily get back here now! Return to the Mech Hangar!" Sarah shouted through a sudden storm of static

"I am under fire Ordivodsky!" Vassily snapped, a barrage of SRMs, AC shells and Lasers smashed into the Sunslayer's back and drove it forwards. The left Missile Pod was finally blown clean off, leaving little more than a few jagged ends of support bars. Twelve AC rounds hit the right leg and put it out of action as the explosive shells wrecked the internal gyros. This is it, Vassily thought, he would die right here right now, as the Sunslayer limped away under a barrage of fire Vassily twisted the control columns and the 'Mech slowly, painfully torso twisted towards his soon to be killers. The arm swung out and Vassily gave them everything he had. A return hail of RAC shells flew out, insignificant against the overwhelming return fire, more and more of Vassily's damage indicators started to turn red. Vassily reached down and pulled the eject lever. The explosives on the chair blasted out and filled the cockpit with smoke, but nothing else happened "A misfire! Fuck!" Vassily yelled, with the explosives blasted out there was no way out of the cockpit. Smoke filled the cockpit as the Heat Meter edged into the red Vassily prepared to die as the Sunslayer's right leg was further blasted to shreds and his weapon pod wrecked beyond recognition, leaving Vassily unarmed. The sky overhead turned white as a stream of LRMs soared towards him like the white skies he would soon ascend to. The LRMs soared over his head, their slipstream knocking loose fragments of armour of the mech and crashing into the Bushwacker and Panther in a blinding white explosion, more LRMs kept the blast building for half a minute until the white glare cleared away. It would take Vassily half an hour to get the after image out of his eyes. Vassily turned what was left of his 'Mech towards the most welcoming sight of his life; General McGuire's Command Lance was grouped at the end of the street. General McGuire's Thundeneer, the Sunslayers of Commander McGuire and Lieutenant Commanders Brad Hicks and Owen Ford. Standing two on either side of the Command Lance was the 1st Company's Command Lance, Vassily's Lance. The Company Commander, Major Matt Anderson in his dirty old Rifleman, Lieutenant James Kell's Sunslayer and Lieutenant Toby Dwyer in his Raven. All of them had smoking missile pods.

"Kasparov get your ass back to base and get that heap of crap put back together, a pickup Bigbird is on its way" General McGuire ordered.

"Roger sir" Vassily replied, McGuire downloaded a set of co-ordinates to Vassily's map, a small park where the Bigbird had landed and was picking up several damaged 'Mechs from 2nd Company. Vassily dragged his battered 'Mech towards it, the park was just around the corner and the Bigbird had landed square in the middle. The Sikorsky Y-22 Bigbird was a massive, multi-ton helicopter designed for carrying 'Mechs, it could carry a whole Lance at once in fact, it looked like a 20th Century V-22 Osprey but several times larger and sporting not two but four props. The Sunslayer limped up onto the helicopter and was locked into place moments before the reactor's heat systems failed and the 'Mech died. The Bigbird lifted off, its massive engines and six metre wide props just able to lift it and its cargo off the ground, the huge helo turned in midair and made its slow course towards the Burningham LDV's base.

BURNINGHAM

LDV Base

Mech Hangar

"Well you really wrecked my 'Mech Vassily" Sarah said in a mock 'surly mechanic' tone, she was actually just happy to see her 'Mech safe again and in as few pieces as possible, and her Mechwarrior. "You're not going back out there in this thing, it'll take me a couple of days to fix my 'Mech up."

"Your 'Mech?" Vassily shot back.

"Just because its got your name under the canopy doesn't mean it isn't my 'Mech. 'Mechs always belong to their mechanic" Sarah explained the belief held by every mechanic since the machine had been invented.

"You keep thinking that while your fixing up my'Mech" Vassily turned and left while Sarah thought up a reply so he could claim having the last word.

"A mechanic is always closer to her 'Mech than a pilot" Sarahcalled after him.

Vassily growled to himself and walked out.

12-5-3070

Vassily's Sunslayer was finally operational again, he stood at its feet admiring the job Sarah had done on his 'Mech, the Sunslayer was in pristine condition again and its Ace of Spades paint was gleaming in the hangar's floodlights. "There, she's working again and fully loaded up this time." Sarah said proudly from her perch on the top of the missile pod.

"Yeah it always helps when your mechanic decides to put some ammunition in your 'Mech" Vassily replied.

"You know you've been to busy complaining to notice my special touch." Sarah said with an air of superiority that indicated that she thought the round was hers.

Vassily ran his eyes over the Sunslayer and spotted the addition immediately, a pair of short, thin barrels had been added just above the missile pods "What are they?" he asked.

"Grenade Launchers, fire Smoke, Flare, Beacon, ST-16 or just basic AP Grenades". He looked out over the assorted 'Mechs in the massive hangar. The tall machines were like dormant, sleeping beasts. Vassily watched for a moment and the stood up.

"I'll let you get back to your work" He indicated the open maintenance hatch, surrounded by tools. For some reason Vassily picked up some scent he hadn't noticed before: a smell of cherries, perplexed he glanced around searching for the source of the smell. He finally traced it back to Natasha she was wearing perfume today.

"…And that should give you, Vassily stop staring at me and pay attention!" Sarah snapped.

"What? Oh yeah I heard it all, I was just impressed you'd managed to fix my 'Mech so quickly, I'll let you get back to work" Vassily quickly covered. Why had he been staring at her? Vassily pushed the thought to the back of his head as he turned away.

"Wait Vassily, notice something different?" Natasha shouted and flicked her black ponytail over her shoulder.

Vassily spotted it instantly "You've changed your hair colour" he said indifferently.

"Like it?" Natasha asked.

"Its nice, want me to run diagnostics while you finish up?" Vassily answered evasively.

"Sounds good, get my 'Mech up and running and I'll put this plate back."

Vassily wasn't willing to get into another argument about who the Sunslayer belonged to, he'd already lost five times to Sarah and wasn't willing to make it umber six, but then again conceding without a word was loosing. He slid down the slope of the centre torso and dropped into the cockpit, Vassily brought the 'Mech online and began running diagnostics, triple checking every nut bolt and circuit board on his Sunslayer. It took about three hours to run diagnostics on a Heavy 'Mech but it was worth the effort. Calibrating the actuators for their perfect response ratio, tuning the engine's myriad of parts so they ran perfectly and most important of all, aligning the Sunslayer's main gun barrels so they spun perfectly while remaining aligned to the RAC mounted behind them. Eventually the entire diagnostics check was complete, Vassily sat back in the cockpit.

"What are you waiting for?" Sarah asked from the right missile pod.

An alarm tore through the hangar signaling yet another attack, there's a common joke in Burningham 'It's a quiet day when the city is only attacked twice' as such Vassily, like most Mechwarriors on Sundance was usually wearing his combat suit all the time, rather than the standard uniform. Vassily grabbed his Neurohelmet and slid it onto his head. He flipped the transparent visor down over his eyes and began powering up the 'Mech and for the second time was the first out onto the battlefield.

"Have fun" Sarah called as she leapt onto the elevator on the 'Mech's gantry.

SUNDANCE HPG STATION

200 kilometers west of Burningham

Terrance Corsi picked up the three Lances of Fire Ants and Urbanmechs first, followed by…she checked her scans again, double checked the EM readings and then ran the whole network's programming through diagnostics, but no its was still there.

A Star of Vultures proudly displaying their Clan insignias and making no secret of their intentions was marching on the HPG Station and would be there in just half an hour.

Corsi quickly opened up a document and began typing:

SUNDANCE HPG STATION

TERRANCE CORSI

RE: UNDER ATTACK BY CLAN MECHS

This is a priority 2 communiqué from the HPG Station, Clan Vulture class Heavy Battlemechs have been sighted heading this way. This is not a hoax, the 'Mechs detected are of Clan origin and according to preliminary sensor sweeps and camera footage belong to o known Clan. We have only a set of Medium AC turrets to defend ourselves with and request immediate assistance or we will be destroyed. Attached is a copy of all data pertaining to this matter that has been gained through our scanners.

Corsi quickly attached the data and sent it to the Burningham LDV, she then printed out another copy of the scanner readings and several stills from the border cameras and sprinted through the corridors to Commander Ian Larson's office down the other end of the building…

BURNINGHAM LDV COMMS ROOM

"Sir priority comm. from the HPG Station!" the on-duty comm. officer shouted.

"Let me see" Captain Tyler Briggs snapped in a deep British accent, he snatched the message out of the printer and read through it, then read it again just to be sure it wasn't his eyes. No it was real; it even had the nigh impossible to replicate ComStar logo on the paper. He marched back to his station, picked up the phone and said, "Put me on with General McGuire, I have something he should hear about…"

BURNINGHAM

LDV BASE

GENERAL MCGUIRE'S OFFICE

"McGuire" General Douglas McGuire picked up the phone as he combed his thinning silver hair that barely covered his smooth head.

"Sir we just got a comm. from the HPG Station, they say they've got Clanners heading their way, specifically a Star of Jade Falcon Vultures" Briggs filled McGuire in on the situation.

"Alright, sound the call' Maguire ordered. Like most in the outer regions of space, flatteringly known as being the 'ass end of no-where' he didn't stand on formality "All right, thankyou Tyler" he repeated, hung up and flicked the switch on his desk marked 'Red Alert'.

The sirens all across base blared out with their typical wailing noise. In the barracks 3rd Lieutenants Jim Harrison and Adam Taylor of the 3rd Company 3rd Lance looked up from their card-covered table at the sound. "Here we go again" Taylor said as the two hurriedly pulled on their combat suits and sprinted out to the Mech Hangar where their Ravens were waiting…

Vassily was half way out through the city before he was given the order to turn back to base. Thoroughly pissed off he swung the big 'Mech around and kicked her into full speed, bringing the relatively agile Heavy up to its maximum speed. He turned and headed for the Dropship pad at base.

BURNINGHAM LDV BASE

DROPSHIP PAD

The Drophship's landing pad was a raised block of reinforced concrete that was cracked and worn from a general lack of maintenance, the elements and the immensely heavy Dropship landing on it for years. The Burningham LDV's Dropship was a fifty year old, barely functional Union-Class that was half flying death trap, half flying latticework of steel grids. In several places the ship's armour plates had fallen off leaving the grids of steel Internal Structure exposed. Several craters from weapon impacts were also visible including a massive hole under the bridge, several PPC craters along its flanks and most worryingly a gaping hole in one of its engine tubes. The ends of the tubes were frayed and cracked as well. Surrounding the dropship were a set of gantries, two for boarding and two for loading cargo. Around the base of the gantries were clusters of crates, barrels and trucks. The whole pad was ringed with now dim beacon lights and razor wire fence. At each corner was an AC gun turret that fired through a hole cut in the fence. Vassily piloted his Sunslayer up the ramp and into a bay inside the Dropship's cavernous hold. The half of 1st Company managed to squeeze in, the group would have been larger had it not been for the fact that 1) The Dropship's heavily abused reactor would be able to provide enough power to carry any more 'Mechs, and 2) A number of the Mech Bays had stopped working over the years and had either simply seized up or collapsed leaving piles of wreckage at their bases. Vassily wasn't afraid of flying but the thought of flying in this barely working death trap was something to be scared about, and so was taking on the Clans if they made it there alive…