CHAPTER 8
Author's Note:
Per DCMS Field Report, the Ryuken-go was destroyed in 3068 and reinstated in 3099. I'm taking a lot of liberty on the word *reinstated*. I like to get my hands dirty on units that nobody pays attention to.
Review Corner
Ulquiorra9000: No no no, she is not horny all the time. She is only horny around a certain guy *wink*wink*
The Colonel: I'd like it to happen but not now. Let's see what the future bring.
mobmal: Thank you for your continuing support. I'll try not to disappoint.
Halstead City,
Halstead Station, Ashio Prefecture,
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine,
January 22, 3074
"Noloty!" Kayoko threw herself at the dark-skinned woman and wrapped her arms around her like a vise. Noloty returned the favor just as forcefully. They fell into each other's embrace and let their floodgate of emotion open. Tears fell on each other's shoulders like rain, compensating for lost time and celebrating each other's life, and the amazing odd that they ended up in the same unit.
"How the hell did you end up here?" Kayoko pried Noloty's head from her shoulder. "Last time I saw you, you were going to Lyran space!"
"I did! It was a bust! I was lucky to be alive!" Noloty buried her fingers in Kayoko's hair. "It was a massacre! The entire team was decimated! Did you not get my messages?"
"No! I was sent to Port Moseby not long after you left! Then I joined the Ryuken-go shortly!"
"You should've told me, you bastard!" Noloty's sobbing laughter echoed through the plain. "You have no idea how many nights I cried for meeting you again!"
"I thought you were already a Kuritan hotshot by now!" Kayoko replied with tears streaming down her face. "Enrique?"
Noloty shook her head.
"What a shame," Kayoko took a deep breath. "I'm gonna miss him."
"What about you? What was that 'Treasure Hunt' you told me?"
"That was Port Moseby. Fun mission looting Lyran's war stash. I met 'the love of my life' back then!"
"Oh? I am so happy for you!" Noloty pulled Kayoko for another bear hug.
"Come! I'll introduce you to the rest of the team!" Kayoko broke the embrace and led Noloty to the jeep. "Hop on! We're in for a wild ride!"
They filled in each other as they drove through traffic full of battlemechs, tanks, trucks, aerospace fighters, and even battlearmors from various units. Noloty's stories centered around the botched mission at Lyran Alliance and the short but explosive humanitarian mission with the 13th Legion of Vega. Kayoko kept recycling her looting story and how she settled in with 'the love of her life', but Noloty never got bored listening to it.
Before long they arrived at Ryuken-go base camp. It was a vast plain littered with weapon platforms, from the vaguely-humanoid battlemechs down to the mechanized soldiers. Although the battlemechs only made up about a third of the war machines, they dominated the scenery. Armored vehicles of all sizes occupied the majority of the field. The remaining spots were for tents and humans.
"Welcome to Ryuken-go menagerie!" Kayoko parked the jeep and jumped off. "Here we keep our beasts healthy, happy, and hungry for blood. The Ryuken-go is a mixed battalion," she explained as she led Noloty through the smorgasbord of infantrymen. "Not common among Kuritan units, but as you may have known, the Ryuken units were trained by the Wolf Dragoons, so the composition hearkened back to the revered mercenary unit rather than traditional Draconis Combine arrangement. One company of battlemechs, one company of armored fighting vehicles, and one company of infantry. These mixed units covered each other's weaknesses. You would think any mech battalion would eat the Ryuken-go for breakfast, but we've slaughtered a battlemech battalion before. We don't have what they did: blind spots."
Noloty observed the armored vehicles as Kayoko led her through a maze between tanks and trucks. "This is Ryuken-go armor company," explained Kayoko, "the heart of which is a lance of Glory MBT, right over there. Eighty-five tons of battlemech killer, with RAC5 and 2 Artemis-equipped LRM15, guaranteed to reduce light-to-heavy mechs to scrap beyond 600 meters. Two medium lasers will cut you down to bubbling smelter, if you're still walking after the shit storm it gives you."
They walked past the four Glory tanks and stopped by a lance of Thumper combat vehicles. "This is Thumper SPA, our main artillery support. The cannon can reach 10 clicks, much farther than any mech could detect. We can use regular HEAP, but scattershot incendiary round is where they're best at!"
"I know. I fought them at Ashio," Noloty said.
"Then you know how dangerous these babies are on the battlefield," Kayoko added. "History records that artillery units played important roles in decisive battles. You don't wanna have these on the other side of the field."
The two walked past the Thumper SPA and arrived at a lance of assault tanks. The lead tank looked like a Schrek on steroid, with three monstrous cannons on the turret. While all other tanks were painted in Ryuken-go livery, this one had some ultramarine tints all along its hull. A slender woman wearing a red bandana was seen scrubbing the tank with a bucket, a frivolous stunt that only made sense to her.
"Noloty, meet Tai-I Kiyomi, Ryuken-go CO of armor assets," Kayoko spoke loud enough so the girl called Kiyomi could hear her. She jumped off the tank and approached the two girl. "Tai-I Kiyomi, this is Heishi Noloty, our newest member. Sho-sa Scarlet took her in as an intern."
"Hajimemashite," Noloty bowed.
"Youkoso," Kiyomi replied. "You come to the right place, as Kayoko may have mentioned."
"Tai-I Kiyomi was the one that found me and offered me a place at the Ryuken-go battalion."
"That's right, I found her," Kiyomi scoffed. "Stealing battlemech from the Lyrans."
Noloty painted Kayoko with teasing stare. "Naughty naughty!"
"First of all, the entire unit was out for treasure hunt!" Kayoko snarled, but her cheeks showed a tint of pink. "Second of all, have you ever seen a battlemech that just screams your name?"
Noloty couldn't hide her snicker.
"I can relate to that," Kiyomi tapped the thick side armor of the tank. "This is Kikyo, the new DI Morgan FedSun assault tank. Her primary weapons are 3 ER PPC with Targeting Computer and fourty-freakin'-five freezers for delivering constant particle beams without breaking a sweat. She is a hundred-ton beast, with only 2 machine guns as back up weapons. That's why I have those three Marksman assault tanks as cover."
"Minions," Kayoko quipped.
"Bodyguards," Kiyomi gave Kayoko a dirty look. "Anyway, Kikyo is the name of a beautiful blue flower from Terra. That's the way she is painted."
"I hope she gives you victories on the battlefields, Ma'am," Noloty said.
"Excuse us, Tai-I Kiyomi, we'll continue our tour," Kayoko snapped a quick salute. "Would you come with us?"
"No, carry on, I have stuffs to do," Kiyomi tossed a small smile. "I'll catch up with you later."
The two continued walking toward a field of tents with soldiers sitting around the camp. Half of them were bare-chested, flexing muscles as a contest of virility. Some of them played soccer, others watched anime shows about high school students having superpowers. All of them looked bored.
"Let me guess," Noloty said. "Infantry?"
"Yep," Kayoko nodded. "We have grunt soldiers, fire support, demolition, sapper team, you name it. They look hopeless against battlemechs but we have great success with them. Their main strength is their number. At 120 personnel, they can overwhelm a lance of battlemechs and get to places inaccessible to the mechs."
"Like ants," Noloty smiled.
"Like ants," Kayoko smiled back.
As they continued, a tall bare-chested man approached them. He had flattop blonde hair and a pair of shade that he wore low, allowing him to throw a glance above the rim.
"Mornin', ladies," he said with pretentious smile. "To what do I owe you this pleasure?"
"Noloty, this is Tai-I Vash, CO of the infantry company," Kayoko explained.
"Call me 'Duke', and my game is Nuke," Vash extended his arm at Noloty. "I've never seen you around."
"This is Heishi Noloty Malche, she is our newest member," Kayoko explained.
"Ah, a new girl in town," Vash said and flexed his pectoral muscles. "Perhaps I can personally show you around and the place where you're going to sleep tonight…"
"I'm giving her a tour," Kayoko quickly grabbed Noloty's hand and tugged her away from Vash. "And she'll sleep in my tent, thank you very much!"
Noloty could only stride awkwardly behind Kayoko as she dragged her away from Vash. "What is going on? Why are we running away from him?"
"Something you should know about Tai-I Vash, or 'Duke'," Kayoko slowed down. "He sleeps with everybody."
"Sleeps… as in… sex?"
"Yes."
"Everybody?"
"Yes."
"Everybody like… everybody?"
"Yes."
Noloty shot an incredulous look at her best friend. "You?"
"Yes."
"Oh God, Kayoko!" Noloty buried her face in her palms.
"I had nobody to warn me about him!" Kayoko threw her arms in the air. "I thought he was genuinely interested in me. It turned out I was just another conquest for him. That's what I'm doing now, to protect you from him. In the future if you actually do have feelings for him, you may proceed at your own risk, but not now when you know nothing about him."
"Unbelievable," Noloty sighed. "So… how did you hold up?"
"Meh, he wasn't as good as he led me to believe," Kayoko pursed her lips. "Just a one-time fling, nothing to hold on to."
"Well thank you… for looking after me," Noloty shook her head.
"Don't worry about it," Kayoko chuckled and hooked her arm around Noloty's. "Now come, this is the best part. The battlemech company."
A quick look at the war machines told Noloty that the battlemech company was made up from heavy battlemechs, sprinkled with medium and assault classes. Most of them looked new, as if never been taken to combat. A few were haggard looking, with armor plating welded in rushing fashion. But all looked ready to battle.
"This here is we have energy-heavy light to medium mechs in a Striker Lance," Kayoko chimed as they went past a lance of medium mechs. "One Uziel-2S, one Phoenix Hawk 6D, one Phoenix Hawk 7S, and one clan-made Crimson Hawk. We salvaged the Crimson Hawk during our incursion to Alshain. Pretty neat, isn't it?"
"It is," Noloty grinned.
"It happened before my tenure with the Ryuken-go, but had I gone, I would've caught a Ghost Bear Elemental to be my bed warmer."
"I believe you would," Noloty shoved Kayoko's shoulder playfully. "You and your men!"
"Anyway, moving on to the Fire Lance. Have you met Tai-I Seether, the 2nd in Command?"
"Yesterday."
"That right there is his mech," Kayoko pointed at a Warhammer IIC standing in seclusion. "That's the oldest mech in the Ryuken-go but no mistake, it's a brutal fighting machine. Rumor has it said that Seether killed a Snow Raven star colonel and isorla-ed the mech. He had one Medium Pulse laser removed for PPC capacitors on both arms. Combined with Seether's razor-sharp marksmanship, it is the backbone of Ryuken-go offensive drive."
"Kinda make you feel good that he's in your side, doesn't it?" Noloty chirped.
"Absolutely. I feel sorry for the old bastards on the other side of the battle." Kayoko turned her attention to the rest of the Fire Lance. "So that one is a Hatchetman, a Legionnaire, and a Black Knight. The Legionnaire is somewhat new, stolen from FedSun warehouse. Again, it was before my time. The Black Knight is of the 12-KNT variant. It is a devastating laser boat with even more devastating heat. One wrong move and you'll get stuck in the middle of the battlefield with heat problem."
"You can exchange some lasers with heat sinks," Noloty mused.
"Better yet, you can pilot something else," Kayoko snorted. "It's a powerful mech that can operate months without supply, but I'm not good with heat management. Thanks, but no thanks."
They moved across the field to visit a much too familiar battlemech. "This is Titania, Sho-sa Scarlet's revered battlemech," Kayoko chimed. "It's a Xanthos, -4O variant, with compact engine and heavy-duty gyro to make it an unstoppable force. A Cauldron-Born. A force of nature. People call it 'zombie', in a good way. Four legs means slow turn rate with gigantic blind spot, but 3 jump jets make up for it. Yes, Ma'am, this thing flies."
"I know," Noloty smiled bitterly. "I fought it just an hour ago. It's a bitch to take on."
"You said it better than I possibly could," Kayoko beamed. "Do you know it's also protected by Stealth Armor? Lots of high-tech shit in this bruiser. The weapons are mainly PPCs and lasers, so heat is also a problem, but Scarlet is an expert in heat management."
"Understandably so," Noloty grinned, recounting her botched mission at Lyran. "She's the CO. Losing her in the heat of battle would be catastrophic for the team, so she needs a durable mech like this."
"Yeah, whatever, the higher you sit in the chain of command, the better mech you have."
Next to the Xanthos stood a perky Argus. It looked like a dwarf compared to the massive quad, but the macabre-looking barrel where a RAC5 normally sat drew more attention than the Xanthos' dorsal cannons.
"Noloty, meet Musashi," Kayoko smiled proudly. "An Argus -5D with Kuritan-grown Heavy PPC in place of the jammed-prone RAC5, 2 medium lasers, and 2 Streak SRM6, reinforced with Targeting Computer and MASC to top it off at 100 kph. Anybody who thinks that this is a sissy Davion mech is in for a big surprise. This, my friend, is the love of my life."
"Musashi," Noloty patted Kayoko's back. "An apt name for a superb mech."
"The greatest swashbuckler in human history," Kayoko grinned from ear to ear. "You know, I am not the best mechwarrior around. Musashi's Targeting Computer and Streak technology helps me even the odds against better mechwarriors. And if shit hits the fan, I can kick the MASC and haul ass. This is the perfect mech for me. Everything feels like tailored to fit my fighting style."
"How is the heat?" Noloty squinted, painting a picture of an alpha strike at the back of her mind.
Kayoko shrugged. "The Streak SRM6 and the lasers produce just enough heat to be countered by the freezers. The Heavy PPC is the problem, but if I can pace myself with it, I think I'll be OK."
"I'm happy for you, my friend," Noloty said. "You seem content with what you have."
"We'll find something that fits you," Kayoko moved on the the next battlemech in the row. "This one here is a Marauder, one the most iconic mechs in the Inner Sphere. This one looks old but actually Seether's Warhammer IIC is older. This is not the -3R variant from the Star League era. This is the new, Steiner-brewed -5S variant with 2 ERPPC, 2 Medium Pulse lasers, and a Gauss Rifle. This one can decapitate you from 600 meters away. I'd love for you to have it but the mech belongs to somebody, an Arkab Legion expatriate from the world of Ababwa."
"You know, I need to tell you something…" Noloty tried to explain.
"Well maybe you don't have to wait for long. Looks like Keiichi found something," Kayoko cut her off as a JI-100 mech recovery vehicle rolled onto the field, carrying a badly damaged Sagittaire on its bed. A Carbine 9M constructionmech followed suit. Kayoko's mouth dropped halfway to her chest as she tried to make out the almost-unrecognizable Sagittaire. "Holy shit… what on earth did he get?"
"Actually, that's mine," Noloty grinned sheepishly. "Kayoko, meet Hamlet, the love of my life."
"How's that your mech?" Kayoko shot an incredulous stare at Noloty. "Last time I checked, you're not the assault kind of girl."
"Everything just fell into place. Like you said, it's the mech that just screams your name." Noloty paused briefly. "I met him during the ill-advised mission in Lyran space. We got pinned by Lyran force, and I used him to hold off Lyran mechs to buy time for other Kuritans to escape. I was not supposed to survive, but I did. I was wanting to go to Luthien but the jumpship was shot down at Ashio. I had to fight my way out against the Markham's Marauders and a nasty mech killer named 'Jormungandr'."
"I've heard that name before," Kayoko muttered. "It's some kind of a myth, isn't it?"
"Oh no, Jormungandr is real, very real. But anyway, I survived, again. The mech is my lucky charm."
"Damn," Kayoko scratched her head. "What mech is it?"
"A Sagittaire 9D, but with a pair of UAC10 instead of standard LB10X. I think it has a problem with the modification. A few mechwarriors before me died from internal explosion."
"That's because Robinson techs are morons," a guy with a brown shaggy hair suddenly joined the conversation. "A 9D is not supposed to carry UAC10. The wiring is different. The mounting provision is different. The load is different. LB10X gives you a high-impact recoil while the UAC10 provides steady, continuous vibration. My guess is Robinson techs slapped everything together at the last minute without spectrum analysis, if they even know what it is."
Noloty could only give the guy a dumb stare.
"Noloty, this is Chu-I Keiichi, Ryuken-go chief tech," Kayoko giggled. "He's leads a very capable engineering team that keeps our war machine in perfect order."
"Yeah, don't mind me, I'm just the guy outside the cockpit," Keiichi blurted matter-of-factly. "That thing is yours? What did you do to that poor mech?"
Noloty replied with a shrug. "Uhm… surviving?"
"Wait until you hear who did it," Kayoko winked. "Jormungandr."
"Well then, that makes sense," Keiichi paused to throw a good look at the Sagittaire. "But don't worry, I'll get it fixed. I'll fix what Robinson techs screwed up. You'll be surprised how smooth the UAC performs with the proper provisions." He started to make his way back to the recovery vehicle, then turned around and shot a goofy smile. "Scarlet said you were new. Well, welcome to Ryuken-go. You need anything, let me know. I'm always around, mostly in my Carbine."
"I appreciate it," Noloty nodded. She waited until Keiichi returned to his team. "Nice man."
"He's a big time nerd," Kayoko said. "He named his mech Casio, as in calculator. Technically it's a construction mech, but Casio is a very capable combatant." She pointed at the Carbine parked next to the recovery vehicle. "It has battlemech armor, LRM10, and 2 machine guns. If ammo runs dry, the backhoe can act as a battering ram. It can hold its own, at least against infantry and light armored vehicles."
"This is the first time I see a technician riding a mech," Noloty mused. "Very interesting."
"He's not much of a mechwarrior, but he's a genius at battlemech engineering," Kayoko grabbed Noloty's arm. "That wraps up our tour. Now let's go downtown and catch up with each other. There are some interesting eateries at Halstead City. What do you want to eat?"
"I don't know, after months of frozen food, I'm up for anything," Noloty said. "Preferably hot."
"Then I guess I'll make executive decisions," Kayoko chimed jovially. "Let's go, Soldier! You owe this to yourself!"
