CHAPTER 5: FOX TWO

Dropship Two Five: This is Dropship Bravo Two Five, we have the artillery sighted…weapons locked, LRMs are ready. Fox Two.

Harpy Lead: Target locked, Fox Two

Harpy Two: Confirm sighting, missiles ready, Fox Two

Harpy Three: I have the artillery, Fox Two.

Massive explosions

Dropship Two Five: Target is smoked, Romeo Company you are clear to move.

Romeo Company: Cheers Two Five, its been a pleasure working with you. Romeo Company over and out.

-Battlerom transcript during the battle of Tukkayid

SUNDANCE

OUTPOST 43

"Uhh what the hell?" Vassily groaned as he opened his eyes. He was lying on a hard concrete floor. As his vision cleared he saw he was lying in a ruin. The details came back slowly; this must be what was left of Outpost 43. "What happened?" he groaned.

"Hey, you're awake" The speaker was a lanky man with short gray hair and blue eyes. It was Captain Dreanor, commander 2nd Company 1st Lance, who Vassily had shipped out here with. "Well, I hate to put this on you when you just woke up but we got our asses kicked. As far as we can determine we're the oly LDV still around, Southspire is gone and he Northwinds have been scattered and are down to two Lances. We're all that's left of 2nd Company, again from what we can determine 3rd Company has been wiped out and 1st is down to six 'Mechs in strength, in short we're almost wiped out."

"Shit, exactly what happened?" Vassily asked as he sat up, but a wave of pain forced him to lie down again.

"Those Cannister-Moppers just appeared out of thin air and took us down fast. We lost four 'Mechs but then you took down three Vultures. That sort of got us fighting again and we took down two Mad Cats and smashed up a third. But the other two were really good, and then…then Lagone showed up.

"The jackass who attacked the city every few days?"

"The very same" a heavy Italian voice said, Dominic Lagone appeared from the shadows. He had short, curly black hair and green eyes; he was dressed in a combat suit. "I decided kicking the Cannister-Moppers back where they belong was a higher priority than getting off this god forsaken rock. I've decided to bury the hatchet in order to present a united front against the Clanners"

"We now have four Sunslayers a Thundeneer, two Uziels, two Ravens, a Trebuchet and a Cougar. Not too bad I guess" Dreanor's 2IC Pritchard spoke up.

"How's my 'Mech?" Vassily asked.

"Not good, both her arms and missile pods are gone but she can still walk and the Medium laser still works. But other than she's ruined. Sarah's gonna be pissed" Pritchard replied.

Vassily didn't bother replying but instead asked, "How did our base go?"

At this the collective military pilots hung their heads "The Clanner leveled the entire Admin, Command and Barracks complex. The entire command staff will be dead but most of our pilots were away when it happened."

"What's our plan?"

"Think of one" Lagone replied this time.

'Lets get some sleep, everything looks better in the morning" Dreanor ordered. Someone got Vassily a pillow and he immediately fell asleep.

Dreanor watched over the hodgepodge unit and prayed they would be able to fight effectively. Deciding to worry about it later he closed his eyes and let his exhaustion claim him…

…It was mid afternoon in the ruined Outpost 43 and the sun beat down on the charred wreckage. Vassily opened his eyes to the sound of a loud roar, he scrambled to his feet and looked from the ruin the group were bunking in. It turned out to be the now leveled base's HQ. The entire base was just as ruined, all the buildings were ruined and the turrets were just slag heaps. He looked up and saw the source of the roar: it was the Powell, the Burningham LDV's much abused Union­-Class Dropship. The egg-shaped death trap touched down just outside the base since the two landing pads were out of commission. Vassily guessed it was from the blast that must have occurred when the Fuel Tanks behind the base were blown up. The hatch lowered and a single, armless Bushwacker trotted out bearing the LDV badge. Vassily took off his coolig vest and waved it around until the Bushwacker noticed him and walked towards the base. The 'Mech stopped and its rope ladder fell to the ground, someone climbed down it and ran towards him, it took Vassily a moment to remember who the long black ponytail belonged to. "Sarah!" The next moment he was enveloped in a crushing bear hug that squeezed the air from his lungs. "Sarah…can't breathe" Vassily gasped.

"Ohh sorry, sorry" Sarah stepped back and looked Vassily up and down; he must have looked awful considering the reaction on her face. "I was…I was so scared, you have no idea what happened at base. They killed everyone" Sarah forced out, clearly traumatized by what happened.

"Who's that?" Lagone called.

"Tech Sergeant Sarah Ordivodsky" Sarah called back.

"Orright, call me if someone starts shooting"

"So what happened back at base?" Vassily asked.

Sarah hung her head and spoke with difficulty "They landed in an Overlord IIC and just killed everyone. For some reason they took me alive…but they did't watch me too well and I was able to escape in that Bushwacker. I found the Powell and what was left of 1st Company minus General Maguire; they faired the best of all us. How did you go?"

"My entire Lance is history, my 'Mech is crippled but Lagone saved us from being wiped out" Vassily quickly filled Sarah in o the main points.

"Lag…Dominic Lagone, the same one who kept attacking us!"

"Yep, the same one, apparently he hates the Clanners so he's put aside his differences for the time being. Its not like we have much of a choice considering he has seven 'Mechs that we need" Vassily replied. For the first time Vassily noticed how tired Sarah looked, there was blood caked on her face and a healing cut above he left eye. She wavered and collapsed against Vassily, he deftly caught her before she fell. "How long have you been awake?"

"All day yesterday and today, the best part of two days' Sarah said before yawning hugely. "I should get to work on your 'Mech, I know you've totaled it again."

"Well I took down three Vultures before they got me, besides it can still walk, I want you to get some sleep" Vassily said, in reality his 'Mech needed immediate surgery but Sarah was more important than eighty tons of metal.

"But…"

"Now, sleep, that's an order sergeant" Vassily pulled rank, he knew it was the only way Sarah would listen to him. Sarah was so exhausted she could barely walk; Vassily pretty much carried her to his pillow and put her down on it. "I promise you can berate me for totaling the 'Mech when you've got some sleep"

Sarah smiled vaguely "Promise…" she drifted off to sleep almost immediately. Vassily stood and went to find his 'Mech; she was out in the desert, powered down with no arms or missile pods. Sarah was going to kill him when she woke up...

…The ragtag group stayed at the ruined base for another week, all the time picking up reports and desperate cries for help from the splintered remnants of the Sundance Militia. Their moral was somewhat boosted by the remaining members of 1st Company, Commander Angus Maguire had taken command of the LDV but was still reeling from his fathers death. With him were a Catapult pilot called Stackhouse, Gregory McDowell and his Uziel and a short Korean woman called Sun Li who piloted an old but tough Anubis. All together they had nearly a full Company, but most of the 'Mechs were damaged and in need of serious repair. The dozen technicians with the aid of the 'Mech pilots and the Second Infantry Platoon worked for four days to get their 'Mechs back in working order. Sarah worked harder than all of them, stripping Vassily's Sunslayer completely and almost rebuilding it. Fortunately it seemed that the 'Mech's arms and missile pods had been shaved off cleanly without too much damage to their mountings. It took Sarah five days to get the Sunslayer operational again. During which she also managed to add some extra armour and replace the standard Heat Sinks with scavenged Clan Double Heat Sinks. That solved the Sunslayer's heating problems and allowed Sarah to replace add a second Medium Laser to the Heavy's chin turret. On their last day before Dreanor declared it was time to leave Sarah woke Vassily from a deep sleep in a bed that had survived in the ruined barracks.

"What, what, what ! I'm awake already!" Vassily muttered, he sat up in a pair of shorts and wifebeater. "Sarah do you mind, I was sleeping"

"Vassily come on, I have to show you something!" Sarah was practically hoping with excitement.

"Aright, alright, just let me get up. Vassily clambered out of the bed and pulled his trousers and combat boots on. He fitted his webbing and grabbed the cooling vest and neurohelmet lying near the bed. It was too hot to put the jacket on so he just held it loosely in his hand.

"I never knew you had artwork" Sarah indicated Vassily's shoulders.

"What? Oh yeah" Vassily had five tattoos; two on his left shoulder were of an Ace of Spades and the Davion Sunburst. On his other shoulder was a tattoo of an eagle with an arrow in its talons. The other two were elsewhere. Vassily yawned as he followed Sarah out and filled her in on his artwork "I always had an Ace of Spades, its my lucky symbol, I figured the Davion Sunburst was appropriate since I guarded a Davion royal family and the eagle just looked cool. Now why are we going to the Dropship"

Sarah laughed at his comment but just cryptically replied, "It's a surprise" with a smile. The Powell had functioned as their Mech Hangar for the entire week and was strewn with 'Mech parts that the techs were rabidly working away to store. Vassily suddenly realized a problem: The Powell, due to its battered reactor and the fact that four of its 'Mech Bays no longer worked could only carry eight 'Mechs at a time, they had fourteen. But no, all the 'Mech Bays were full; someone must have managed to repair the Powell's reactor and bays.

"How did they managed to fix the Powell, I thought it was falling apart?" Vassily asked.

"Turned out it was nothing but a hell of a lot of dirt and grit, just needed a bit…well a lot of cleaning out. Poor maintenance really but she'll never fly at full speed again." Sarah explained. "Here she is" Sarah indicated Vassily's Sunslayer, complete with radical new additions. Painted on the left missile pod was a massive Ace of Spades card; on the other pod was an eagle with an arrow in its talons, exactly like Vassily's tattoos. The centre torso had a huge broadsword painted on its pointing downwards. Finally there were a set of snarling teeth painted on either side on the 'Mech's 'cheeks and a pair of glaring red eyes behind the canopy. Vassily looked over the flamboyant paintwork with his mouth hanging open. "What do you think?" Sarah said with a gleeful look at Vassily's reaction.

"Well other than the fact that I'll stand out like a Jagermech at a Lyran wedding its, its. Jesus its amazing Sarah, how the hell did you manage to do all this, and why? You know its just going to get ruined" Vassily worked hard to have something to say, he was still stunned by the elaborate artwork on his 'Mech.

"I was hoping this would inspire you to be a little more careful and bring my 'Mech back in one piece at least once" Sarah said with a disarming grin that made Vassily forget any objections he had to the artwork.

"I knew there was an ulterior motive, you'd never go to this much trouble merely for me" Vassily shot back with his own smile.

"Yeah well…damn you" For once Sarah had nothing to say, for he first time Vassily won a round.

"Point" Vassily muttered. Just as Sarah made to hit him a loud bellow cracked across the Hangar.

"We got incoming Clanners, ETA two hours! get this stuff packed and ready 'cause we aint waiting for them!" Dreanor bellowed. If it had been frantic activity before that in the Hangar it now dissolved into organized chaos as the techs redoubled their efforts and several off-duty soldiers pitched in. Vassily took one last glance at his 'Mech before pitching in alongside Sarah to get all the supplies stowed away. Strangely he wondered what he could call his 'Mech, one name sprung to mind and one it did it simply would leave no matter what he thought about.

Sarah.