Chapter 9
April 20, 3025
Channel 5, Round Table Roundup at 5
Mach 'Beh, Capitol City
Suk II
"So, what you're saying is, the reason these mercs are on our planet is because Alvarez lost the election?" The head of the table, Wes Johnson, with the perfectly-straightened hair, commanding voice, natural smile that brought many women to their knees, and easy-to-remember name, was between two people, a man and a woman, both giving their opinions on current events related to the election last January. And, out of the camera frame down below, giving hand signals to warn the two not to slap each other on the show if they want to actually be on the show.
On his left was a member of Parliament, Douglass Ivarrson II, confidant to Alvarez, despite his appearance that would suggest otherwise. Short, balding, slightly overweight, and looking rather sick of all the questions. He leaned back in a come at me kind of pose, pointing a finger at the woman across the way. "What I'm saying, if she's not trying to twist my words around, is that it's a hell of a coincidence, but still a coincidence, and there's no other evidence to support it. This has happened several times in the last few years. They come to loot whatever mining resources are in play and they leave. Whatever timeframe you attach it to is irrelevant, because these are interstellar rivals. They could care less about our planet as a whole. If they really cared, they would have just invaded it instead of the occasional loot n' run. They can't take the RoughRiders. It's not worth it to them."
On his right, Aide to the current Prime Minister, Sophia Chapel, looking very smug and proper, and quite attractive in her own right., never broke his gaze. "They invaded shortly after the Senate election two years ago. Pretty convenient if you ask me."
"Raided, not invaded! How can I even have a discussion with someone who can't even get their facts straight?" He looked at Wes. "You know what? That's it. This is a waste of my time." After some brief fumbling with the microphone attached to his vest, he stormed out.
Wes simply smiled at the camera. "That's about all the time our esteemed MP has for us. Ms. Chapel, thank you for joining us. When we come back, the coaches of Temporal Tech and Alshayra University South come together to go over the more recent Can-Do epidemic amongst our college-level sports teams."
PuriClear, Langley Treatment Plant
Continent of Gimli
Suk II
"I think we should have stuck with plan A, Dirk," came Ifrit's sarcastic and slightly nervous voice over the company comms.
"Can it Ifrit, or I'll shoot you myself! Just jump the damn river and form a line on the other side." Emily thought that came out a little harsher than It needed to be, but she didn't need people challenging her in a firefight. They had arrived a little behind schedule, and they weren't certain when the next shipment was leaving the plant, so they had snuck into positions on the other side of the river about two kilometers away, still in the cover of the jungle. Chrome had suggested two of the bigger 'mechs go around one side of the plant to set up a screen in case any trucks left in a hurry.
That was plan B.
Emily took everyone else and waited for the signal to go, but apparently someone stepped on a figurative twig at some point, because the RoughRiders had sent out some infantry patrols with portable SRM's, one of which just flew by Emily's Shadow Hawk's head. The cover blown for her main force, she ordered the charge before any 'mech pilots got to their 'mechs. She shook her head at the thought. No way we're gonna stop them from getting powered up. Let's just show some leg and get back if we have to.
Nymph's Urbanmech had just begun the jump across the narrowest part of the river, only about twenty-five meters or so. Even if she was stuck in the mud before the jump she'd still likely make it. Directly across from her, the three Fire Javelin brothers had crossed, and one turned back, sticking his 'mech's hand out as if to offer it to help the Urbie cross. Emily barked at them through her mic. "Romeo, turn your damn 'mech around towards the plant and worry about chivalry later!" You moron! She added silently through her teeth.
The last two days spent slogging through dirt and maneuvering around tree after endless tree, worrying about every step you took was really wearing on her nerves. Several of her lights, including Ifrit's Valk and Romeo's Javelin had taken a few unnecessary dents getting tangled up and falling over on the way here.
Being one of the last to cross, she lit her jump jets briefly to sail across the river. The mid-day sun beating down at a cozy thirty-nine degrees also illuminated several patches of neon green in the water, illuminating some of the harmful algae. As she landed, several small explosions and pieces of bark bounced off her left side as her forces were clearing out the last of the remaining patrols on the south side of the plant. Over two platoons of RoughRiders were gunned down, helplessly overtaken by the advancing jumpers. They blew off half the left arm from Vi's Spider and added several pockmarks to most of the Coyotes, but that was about it. Surprise worked in their favor, but that was gone now.
A general airhorn was audible up ahead through the remaining forest between them and the plant, a few hundred meters ahead. Any remaining infantry and 'mech pilots were scrambling. And no doubt calling for some backup. Hopefully it was still far, far away.
"All clear of the river, Dirk," said Tarzan, one of the three Fire Jav brothers.
"Roger, stay lined up with me in the center while we move up. Don't get hung up on anything, and try to remember the path you took to get here. Captain JJ and Chrome's lance on the right, and Clothesline's on the left. Dirk's lance stay near the center." Speaking of which…she keyed over to command comms. "Dirk here, you get anything good along the road yet?
"Not yet," came Chrome's voice from his Enforcer, along with Clothesline's Wolverine on the opposite side of the plant. "Wait. Got something big on seismic. Might be a tank or a loaded trailer. Will advise."
"Affirm. We're about two hundred meters out but it's still trees for years. ETA one mike." Up ahead, she could start to make out a little bit of the buildings of the plant.
"Power ups on sensors!" Clothesline. "Can see them from here now. Warhammer, Rifleman, Hunchback with a twenty. Fourth unknown. Engaging SRM infantry. Footies."
"Engaging footies." came Chrome's voice as well. "We're screwed if the 'mechs come north, Dirk."
"Affirm. Pushing hard. You heard them, Coyotes. Priority target is that Hunchback, break formation and advance." A chorus of "ayes" plus one horribly reenacted Tarzan yell sounded in her ears. Large laser fire peeked through the trees ahead and to her left, where the Enforcer and Wolvie were firing at them. The buildings were almost right on top of them, but the trees continued nonetheless, through the plant and beyond. "The plant has trees for cover. Try not to jump too high. fall back if you're the one taking fire and come back in later."
The Hunchback came into view on one of the narrow roads inside the plant, twisting his torso left and right rapidly, trying to get a bead on any of the Jav brothers. They seemed to be using their own channel for the three of them, dancing back and forth behind cover, because the RoughRider never fired his giant cannon on his right shoulder. Not even once. Meanwhile, it kept taking periodic laser fire from the trio. Emily turned her 'mech towards it, set to take advantage of the distraction.
"Heavies coming north! I'm between you and them now. Fourth 'mech is a QUICKdraw. They haven't landed a shot on us yet." Chrome grunted the 'mech's name as he made his way back into the jungle as fast as a fifty-tonner could manage." Emily confirmed and put her attention back towards the Hunch. Several twisting trees were starting to sprout fires along their trunks as fire was exchanged between both sides. Two trees, twisted together like lovers, had become completely consumed, causing her heat to spike slightly as she passed them.
Taking a left along the first wall she saw in front of her, she saw Chrome's Enforcer jump onto a nearby building, and her eyes widened at the gamble. It barely held for the initial landing but was showing immediate signs of crumbling. "Chrome, that building's going to go any second, don't stay—"
Too late, the building already caved beneath him as he fell a few meters down into the rubble. She ignored it for now and put her eyes back on the Hunch around the corner as she whirled right. She fired everything that didn't say LRM and scored hits all along his right side. The air around her protested and became a few centigrade hotter. All around her the Fire Javelins, being fifteen tons lighter, took to the rooftops and landed above and behind her, pouring laser fire into the trapped RoughRider.
Seconds later, Vi's Spider joined in, and the Hunch pilot proceeded to drip armor from all sides as over a dozen medium lasers combined to melt the fifty-tonner. The ferrocrete underneath him began to gather pools of liquified, glowing metal in small piles. The nearby infantry, from the floor of a building to Emily's left, fired a small barrage of SRM's at the Spider, completing the arm amputation their comrades began earlier, and almost knocking her clear off the building. She caught herself and lit her jets back to the other side, to temporary safety.
"Chrome, get the hell up and get south! Go go go go!" Emily almost screamed as the Quickdraw rounded the corner of the building Chrome fell into and put a handful of green-tinted lasers and SRM's into Chrome's chest. The armor held, and if Chrome was knocked out from the fall, that probably woke him back up. The battered Enforcer started to roll over the debris onto its belly while most of the Coyote 'mechs still on the roof turned to fire a volley of their own to cover him. "Coyotes, don't stay on the rooftops that long. Get on, shoot, get off!" Two of the Fire Javs turned to make a jumping exit in response. Tarzan decided to get one more volley on the Hunch.
Somehow that Hunch survived that initial onslaught, but its right arm was hanging by a thread or two of myomer, it's limp fingers dragging along the rooftop of a nearby office building. It wanted to leave as fast as it could, breaking into a run as it cleared the buildings, but it's left side suddenly exploded, causing it to slip on the pavement, arm flailing in a huge cartwheel into the road, finally snapping off. "Oh. Hey guys. Finally got here," said Nymph, her breath huffing without her normal thick Russian accent when she was stressed. "Hey, wait a second, my gun's cam's went dark."
Emily focused on her own HUD. She wasn't getting any targeting reticles. It was like her 'mech's computer thought she had no weapons. A quick test fire of one of her lasers showed it was functioning, but she couldn't aim anything.
"Same here!" "Me too!" "What the fuck?" Everyone started responding almost the same way. Even Captain JJ's Panther shot the ground, then replied he couldn't either. Strangely enough, except for the infantry, which was dispersing on its own, both sides had stopped shooting. The Quickdraw broke into a run, presumably to get away and figure out what happened first…
…and then everything went bright for about a half second. One of the buildings down the street erupted directly in front of her. Then the shockwave hit a split-second afterwards in a hail of flying rock and metal. Her ears first went very loud, then much quieter as her external microphones were blown out and she only heard the rest of the explosion from a sealed cockpit. She staggered back, off-balance, crashing into another building behind her. Her 'mech reclined partially into the building as it began to give way, and then fell through it completely, crashing her on her back. Her head bounced off her command couch and she went completely deaf for a moment. She could only sit there slack-jawed.
A few moments passed, then a dozen voices all around her head began to swirl back into focus. One voice she made out as unfamiliar.
"-ttion Coyotes, this is Leutnant Topeni of Hansen's" …then things became fuzzy again for a moment. She blinked a few times and shook her head. Fumbled around for a public channel. Found it.
"Go ahead, RoughRider. Whatever your name was." She probably didn't sound all that authoritative, but the other officer decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"We have no idea what that explosion came from, but we saw lots of possible covert ops guys with Combine equipment leaving that building before it exploded. Half your people were caught in it, so I'm guessing you didn't know that was supposed to happen, either. I'm calling for an immediate cease-fire while we handle wounded and dead. The plant is a loss anyway. Two-hour cease fire, agreed?"
Half my people? She never closed her mouth. She just sat there a moment. On her back.
"Do you agree, Coyotes?"
She coughed and said "Coyote agrees. Two hours." She checked her 'mech's damage, saw there was a breach in the chest, but almost everything was functioning. Apparently, her comms had been partially busted. She looked below her her soot-covered viewscreen and saw a metal girder sticking out from her mech's chest, bent at the end like a flex-straw and starting to cool off. Everything on her front side had turned black.
Moments later after wiggling her Hawk out of the building and back to her feet, she realized she wasn't on company comms. Maybe I hit something during the fall by accident. She adjusted it and heard all the chatter. Someone was breathing very hard, trying not to cry.
"Dirk here. I'm OK. Someone give me a damn update?"
"Dirk, our techs are dead." Her Falcon pilot, McIntosh. "They were working on getting some vehicles going when the explosion tipped the whole building over on top of them. They're all dead. Ifrit's down. Alive but not moving. The brothers were the only ones not caught in the blast." A pause, some sniffing. "Chrome was right next to it, too. No response, Major."
Kang…she walked her 'mech around what was left of the plant, looking for confirmation. She found the Urbanmech, laying on its left side, smoldering but mostly intact. Just black all over. She gave it a gentle tap with her Hawk's foot, and it wiggled its big cannon arm in response. "Dirk here, Nymph alive but needs a medic ASAP. Probably had comms blown out."
A few dozen more paces, searching…there was a piece of his arm, the large laser still attached but mangled. His 'mech was already torn apart before the explosion…after a few more moments of wandering, she came across the head. Half of the head. Not attached to anything else. The remaining half showed the charred remains of Rhys Kang, one of her friends for half a decade, laying peacefully inside.
She went back to a public frequency. "Torrelli! This is Major Emily Wright, leader of the Iron Coyotes." Her voice was firm this time. "We have no idea how this happened, but we'll find out. Requesting the cease-fire be extended indefinitely. Dozens of people died needlessly here, and I want who's fucking responsible."
A long pause. Too long. Finally, the Warhammer on the other side of the plant turned itself towards her Hawk. "It's Topeni. It's not really my call for the long-term. And yes, something went really wrong here today. We have medevacs on the way, should be enough room for your people too. Let's get them out of here, and then we'll talk."
She confirmed, then looked around the wreckage for any more survivors. People of every rank and billet from both sides were scouring the ground for wounded. Trucks began to head north full of grilled RoughRider infantry, and likely a few of her own people. She resisted the urge to point her autocannon at the sky and fire a few rounds in anger. She did, however, let out a voiceless scream for a moment, until she was out of breath.
Her XO and one of her best friends was dead. Some new friends and comrades that barely had the chance to see combat were possibly dead. People who weren't even meant to see combat were dead. And she had to write to all their families and loved ones. She hadn't even started on Maiden's letter yet…and after realizing that, she cried. Hard. Half her comm equipment was blown out, so she didn't know if anyone could hear her. Not that she cared. She didn't give a damn.
