CHAPTER 11
Author's Note: The Markham's Marauders are now featured in Ulquiorra9000's story Whenever The Universe Take Me. Check it out, it is a cool story spanning from the 40's up to FedCom Civil War.
With his mechwarriors making cameos in this story, the two stories are now linked. It's really fun to make 'extended universe' a'la Disney ;P I hope to see more of his characters.
Review Corner
Ulquiorra9000: Kayoko is not a bright mechwarrior but she is a damn loyal soldier, as is shown in this chapter.
Mesartim, Valexa PDZ,
Capellan March, Federated Suns,
March 13, 3074
The tremor inside the dropship was familiar to Noloty. She had been there before. But the size of the Overlord made atmospheric entry so much smoother. The shaking and thudding and bumping into console were reduced to soft pulsing. She was afraid that the cramped cockpit of the Quasit would break her bones if she had to make planetfall the way she did at Ashio. Lucky for her it didn't happen that way.
But she was naïve when she thought everything would go smoothly. The dropship started to move erratically, and loud thundering cracks felt like she was trapped inside a cold dark room and somebody was banging the door from the outside.
"All units, this is Dropship Command. We are under heavy fire," the dropship captain spoke through the PA system. "We'll have to hot drop Strike Lance."
"You heard the man, Striker Lance!" Kayoko's voice exploded in the comlink. "As soon as the door is open, go out and fire at anything that moves! I don't care who they are! If they are not Ryuken-go, smoke them!" As soon as her voice fizzled, Noloty's private channel blinked. "Noloty, if things go hairy, stay behind me," Kayoko whispered as if the rest of the Striker Lance could hear her.
"I can take care of myself," Noloty snapped. Just because she rode an industrialmech didn't mean she needed babysitting.
"Musashi carries enough armor for both of us," Kayoko replied. "Stay behind me. I mean it."
"Ten seconds to drop!" the dropship captain cut their chatter off.
The massive dropship shook violently, then the bay door blasted open in a rush. The mech harnesses popped up automatically, releasing the Striker Lance from their moorings. Kayoko immediately led the charge, but she barely cleared the door when an SRM salvo smashed her right torso. The 60-ton Argus careened hard, coping with the savage impact the short-ranged missiles transferred.
"Get out of here now!" Kayoko screamed. The Uziel and Phoenix Hawk -7S jetted out of the dropship. Noloty maxed out her throttle to bring her Quasit into a sprint. The dropship door started to close when she slid out of the bay, right into the thicket of battle. No less than 2 lances of Redfield Renegades mechs swarmed the dropship, throwing missiles and lasers from point blank range. Javelins dominated the composition, with a few Commandos and Hornet in the mix.
"Striker Lance, this is dropship command! We are lifting off!" the dropship captain announced.
"Ryokai, dropship command, we got your six!" Kayoko stirred her mech clear of the mammoth dropship's exhausts. "Strike Lance, clean up this mess!"
"Welcome to Capellan March, Kuritan scums!" somebody with a thick Cornish accent broke through the Ryuken-go's channels. "No Dracons have gotten out of here alive!"
"We'll see who gets the last laugh, Redfield bitches!" Kayoko returned fire. "Strike Lance! Send them all to hell!"
As Kayoko dove into the midst of an enemy lance, Noloty swung toward her blind spot, covering the Argus from behind. A Javelin and a Commando sneaked behind Kayoko for some cheap shots. Dumbfire missiles leapt from the tubes, racing toward the Argus' weak spot, but Noloty cut them off. Her teeth rattled as the skinny 45-ton Quasit writhed and wracked under pressure. Her helmet slammed against the panels. Why everything still worked after the assault was beyond her grasp.
But Noloty had trained herself how to drive the industrialmech. She spread its legs wide and bent its knees, lowering its center of gravity. She raised her Plasma Rifle and got a good hard lock on the Javelin's center mass. Superheated plasma gored the Javelin's chest, cooking the missiles being loaded into the launchers. The Javelin's left torso burst, and the 30-ton missile boat staggered, dropping to one knee.
As the Javelin strained to get up, Noloty lunged at it and shoved it by its throat. Not expecting a brawl, the Javelin tumbled backward with the Quasit rolling on top of it. Noloty pinned the Javelin's body to the ground, then let her machine gun roar, spitting armor-piercing bullets at the Javelin's face. The Javelin clawed the Quasit in a desperate attempt to get free, but Noloty kept firing, riddling the Javelin's cockpit with bullets from point blank. The armor finally caved in, and a geyser of plexiglass and blood gushed from the Javelin's mangled cockpit.
The Commando swung left and buried a laser volley at the Quasit's right torso. Half a ton of armor bubbled and drooped, exposing the delicate structure underneath. The Commando followed up with its missiles, but Noloty jerked her joystick up, catapulting the Quasit forward. The missiles ravaged the lifeless body of the Javelin.
The Quasit twisted as far as its gyro allowed, then let loose a white plasma bolt, which grazed the Commando's right shoulder. Globules of molten armor sprayed in a wide area. As the Commando lurched, Noloty pumped her machine gun. The gun quickly devoured her half-ton magazines, and the weapon gauge blinked in red. Noloty gambled and fired her Plasma Rifle one more time. The Commando's right arm flew in the air, and the 25-ton mech careened to the ground. It clambered back up with just one arm, but a pair of blue particle bolts drilled its chest, straight through the body. The Commando disintegrated in brilliant show of fireworks.
Noloty thanked the Uziel with a Zogist salute with the Quasit's left arm, then made a quick assessment of the battlefield. The Uziel and Phoenix Hawk used their heavy weaponries to dispatch 5 mechs between them. Noloty smoked one and shared a kill with the Uziel. Kayoko was ganged up by at least 3 mechs, but held her own. Her Streak SRM6s proved to be the deciding factor since the missile guidance system made up for her lack of gunnery skill. Two Javelins lied dead as a result.
"Yeah, run like cowards, mercenary punks!" Kayoko howled as the remaining mechs chose to leave the battlefield. She made quick assessment of her mech, then turned to her lance mates. "All units, damage report."
"Phoenix Hawk is operational."
"I'm good, my Uziel lost 60-percent armor but all guns are on the green. Locked and loaded!"
"The Quasit is 70-percent combat effective with 7 shots remaining."
"Good. We're ready to smack some more Capellan mercenaries." Kayoko took a long pause, realizing that they were in the middle of a desert. She climbed up the dunes and tried to look for friendly units, but as far as her eyes could see, there was no sign of war machines in the area aside from those which was already dead.
"This is Ryuken-go, Strike Lance," she resolved to radio broadcast. "Any Fed Sun units out here?"
It was a risky move, borderline reckless, for enemy units could tap into her frequency and pinpoint her location. But for sheer dumb luck, the only unit picking up the signal was Davion's. "This is Major Fernandes, 1st Fed Sun Armored Cavalry. Rendesvouz at Nav Point Alpha. I'm sending you the coordinate."
"Ryokai. Proceeding to Nav Point Alpha. Strike Lance, form up on me, diamond formation."
Noloty eased her joystick to the left, closing the formation with the Strike Lance. The Nav Point popped up in her radar. It was a little 'island' of rock in the middle of the desert, 15 kilometers away. The visibility became worse as they got closer to the destination. The wind tossed up sand into the air, hampering radar. She put on active radar but she only got readings inside 1 kilometer radius.
As they got inside 1 kilometer range Noloty's radar started to pick up heat signatures, but they were all registered as hostiles.
"Kayoko, I'm picking up unrecognized heat signatures at Nav Point Alpha," Noloty called Kayoko through private channel.
"The sand might hamper our radar," Kayoko replied casually. "It's the 1st Fed Sun Armored Cavalry."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Noloty raised her concern. "Please confirm with Major Fernandes."
"He said rendezvous at Nav Point Alpha…"
"Kayoko, please, you asked me to come to you if I had concerns. Something doesn't feel right. For the hell of it, please confirm with him."
Kayoko slowed down her mech, merely 600 meters from Nav Alpha. She backed up slowly, putting a gap between Strike Lance and the destination, until the gap expanded to a click. She retraced her comlink with Major Fernandes. "Major, we are closing in to the designated point. You have welcoming party waiting for us?"
"Six-Six-Delta is waiting for you."
"Is? We have radar contact with multiple heat signatures at Nav Point Alpha. Are those your units?"
Fernandes' reply arrived almost a minute later, with a lot more grim in his voice. "Negative. That is not Six-Six-Delta. Abort Nav Point Alpha! Proceed to Nav Point Epsilon! I repeat, Nav Point Epsilon!"
"Holy shit!" Kayoko steered her Argus away from Nav Point Alpha. "Strike Lance! We almost walked into an ambush! Get the hell out of here, double time!"
"Do you think we can still trust Major Fernandes?" Noloty blurted on private channel.
"We're here to support the Davions, and he's all we have, so we have no choice!" Kayoko growled incredulously. "Just FYI, Fernandes is Scarlet's counterpart, inside and outside the warzone. He wouldn't betray Scarlet. Now I don't know what just happened, but that wasn't Fernandes. I can guarantee that."
"Alright, I'm with you," Noloty said. "But if I were you, I'd approach Nav Point Epsilon very carefully."
"Duly noted," Kayoko exhaled sharply. "Good work, Noloty. You saved our asses. Kayoko out."
Nav Point Epsilon was 20 kilometers away through desert. The visibility was still poor, but as they got closer, they could see plume of smoke billowing in the distance. No doubt, it was an invitation for violence, and everybody instinctively charged their weapons. Falling under 1 kilometer from Nav Epsilon, a small firebase materialized in the haze, with two lances of Cicadas, Assassins, and Sentinels throwing bombs at the wall. The base turrets were all destroyed, and the infantry shoulder-mounted missiles served little more than a distraction for the attacking force.
"This is Ryuken-go Strike Lance approaching from three-oh-niner," Kayoko kicked her MASC. "Any Davion units in here?"
"Ryuken-go, this is Second Platoon, Third Company, 1st Federated Suns Armored Cavalry. Elements of Redfield Renegades got us pinned at Firebase 312. We need immediate support."
"We got your six, Second Platoon! Strike Lance! Fire at will!" Kayoko dove right into the heat of the battle and fired her Heavy PPC at a Cicada. The medium mech bowed forward as Kayoko's particle blast cored its back. It found its footing and twisted to fire its autocannon at the Argus, but the thick front armor blunted the attack. Kayoko charged the Cicada like a mad bull and fired her twin Streak launchers at the first opportunity. All but 3 missiles smashed into the Cicada's right torso, already stripped from armor from previous engagements. Three mini fireballs cooked the ammunition bins, and the whole right torso burst, throwing the Cicada onto the ground.
The Uziel and Phoenix Hawk -7S split to engage the enemies, and Noloty lined up her crosshair with an Assassin. She mashed her trigger, but the Assassin was a second faster. The light-on-the-feet mech jumped to safety a mere millisecond away from Noloty's lethal plasma bolt. The missed superheated plasma carved a swath of black patch on the sand.
The Assassin returned fire and its highly-accurate medium pulse laser battered the Quasit from many positions. The armor turned into molten mess under the onslaught. Noloty twisted and turned to get a clear shot at the Assassin, but the speedy mech stayed on her blind spot and peppered her with its laser scalpel. Two hits on the waist pulled a gap on the Quasit's defense. The Assassin exploited it with its Artemis-guided missiles, and the Quasit keeled over, spewing black oily smoke. Noloty groaned as the harness bit into her flesh. She strained her mech to counter attack, but without jump jets, she could only maneuver the Quasit to stay upright. Any attempt to catch the Assassin with her Plasma Rifle ended up in defeat.
But the Assassin underestimated her, and she punished it for the mistake. The Assassin changed direction, sweeping across Noloty's line of fire, confident that the half-destroyed industrialmech couldn't do anything about it. Noloty quickly hoisted the arm and shot her rifle. The superheated plasma shattered the right shoulder, and the laser-laden arm flew spiraling a dozen meters in the air. The Assassin reeled left, and anchored its left arm on the ground to keep it from stumbling.
Noloty swung right to avoid return fire, but the Assassin jumped and swiveled in the air, quickly trapping the Quasit in its killing zone. Missiles leapt from its tube and the Quasit's leg armor came off flying like scales. Noloty's teeth rattled with every explosion. Severed myomer bundles whipped every which way. This was all too familiar for her; no matter where she fought, in simulation or real life, her industrialmech always got clobbered, even against lighter opponents. The Quasit dragged itself out of the way in a limping gait, with the Assassin charging straight at it, waiting for its LRM5 launcher to reload.
Noloty saw only one way out of her situation. She turned around and aimed her Plasma Rifle squarely at the Assassin. But before she could pull the trigger, a long azure bolt struck the Assassin center mass. The 40-ton mech lost control and stumbled, with tongues of static charge crackling all over its body. It strained to get up with everything it had left, but a vengeful Argus stepped on its head and ruthlessly flattened it under 60 tons of metal.
"Thank you," Noloty wheezed in her cockpit. She never felt so helpless inside a mech.
"Like I always say, Sister, I got your six," Kayoko chimed jovially as she stepped off the Assassin carcass. "What's your sitrep?"
"My mech is done for. I still have 5 shots of plasma but the myomer is shredded to bits."
"Alright then, stay down, let me and the boys finish up."
"I'm sorry, Kayoko," Noloty sighed. "I wish I could do more."
"Hey, nobody can take away what you did for us. Now let us do things for you. Stay down, I mean it."
The Uziel had quickly disposed of a Cicada and engaged a Sentinel. The Phoenix Hawk still tied up with an Assassin, although it wouldn't be long until the Assassin conceded or crumbled. Kayoko dismantled another Cicada with her razor-sharp missile salvos, and shared a kill with Noloty. The Fed Sun soldiers were invigorated, so much they came out with everything they had and joined the Ryuken-go to beat the Redfield Renegades. As another Assassin crashed and burned, the remaining mercenary mechs turned around and left.
As cheers and hoots flooded the comlink, Noloty pulled the Quasit up. It staggered on wobbly knees, and used the Plasma Rifle as a crutch when it teetered toward the base. The soldiers gave the Strike Lance a hero's welcome when they regrouped at the fire base.
"Ryuken-go, great job assisting the Second Platoon," Major Fernandes greeted them amidst hoots and battlecries. "You're going to station at Fire Base 312 until we need your support somewhere else."
"This is Sho-ko Kayoko, Ryuken-go Strike Lance. You sent us to an ambush, Sir," Kayoko snapped.
"Six-Six-Delta was ambushed. I had no idea Six-Six-Delta was lost. But fantastic job uncovering the trap."
"That is an affirmative, Sir," Kayoko replied, pomp bleeding from her voice. "I lead the best team in Draconis Combine!"
