Chapter IV, by Kat Wylder
IBMU complex,
Irian, Free Worlds League,
April 11, 3068
Col. Aari muttered a curse as he heard gunfire and explosions erupt outside. "Come on, baby," he muttered, trying to convince his Marauder to power up faster. Alarms sounded in the hangar and someone shouted that the turret control tower was down.
"You hear that, people?" he shouted over the noise. "We just lost our fire support. Sounds like someone out there has an AC20, too. Hyper, find their gunboat and take it out!"
"Gladly, sir!" she chimed, as she piloted her 'Mech out of the hangar. "Oh, and much love for the use of your Loki, boss."
"It's coming from the Hunchback, sir," announced Whit. "Oh, whoa… I've got intermittent contact with at least one Awesome and Victor on long range sensors. They keep moving, so I can't give you numbers."
"Our cold-start must've panicked the first lance, so let's use that. Audren, go passive and try to get behind them before they retreat into the pass, then give them a bloody nose. Blick," Col. Aari, ordered his new lancemate, "I want you to strafe around and try to pin them from the right and then try to distract them. Hyper, I want you to split them up. I'll be there as soon as I can. Nannen, you're with us. Let Jameson's lance watchdog the complex."
"Roger that," she replied.
The hangar doors slid open, and Col. Aari pushed his Marauder to its top speed and began firing his PPCs at the intruders. A cerulean blue streak hit home on the x-shaped missile rack of a Bushwhacker. The hybrid InnerSphere-Clan chassis staggered back a few steps, but started to correct itself. An instant before the pilots could regain equilibrium, Hyper closed in and slugged it in the hip with her LBX. The 55-ton beast fell back again and landed on its side, releasing a spray of autocannon fire as it hit. By sheer dumb luck, the shot ripped through the foot actuator of Audren's Catapult, and sent him crashing to the ground.
"Cover!" Audren yelped, as the enemy lance turned to pound him before he could get up.
"Hang tight," said Blick stiffly, as he maneuvered his Dragon in front of his lancemate. The Centurion brought its guns to bear on Blick's torso and opened fire, chipping away at his armor with its guns. He returned fire with his own AC10 and buried a few rounds in the arm of the Centurion and started melting away the limb with his lasers.
"I've got him, sugar," said Nannen, as she trained her Rifleman's crosshairs on the Centurion. "Bravo lance, cut off their escape path," she called to her subordinates.
Meanwhile, Audren was still unable to force his crippled 'Mech to stand. "Colonel, I'm out of action. I can't eject at this angle, either," he reported nervously, as he eyed the yellow-striped ejection lever.
"Charlie lance," Aari called to the Chimeras cover that Catapult. Nannen and I can take care of these guys."
"Col. Aari, this is Captain Ramesh," said one of the Chimera pilots, "I'm afraid, I can't--"
"You can, and you will! I've got a man down, and he can't eject. Your PPCs ought to discourage them from getting too close, so see too it that they don't! I'm not paying you to argue!"
"Very well, Colonel. Charlie lance, protect the Catapult."
A Phoenix Hawk then caught Aari's attention, as it got in close and began to chew on his Marauder's leg with its large pulse laser. Unimpressed, he lined up his crosshairs over its torso and fired a bolt of PPC. The Phoenix Hawk shuddered from the blast, but seemed rather unimpressed with him as well. Its electronics were undoubtedly thrown for a loop, but at this close range, the pilot wouldn't need them. The armor he had sizzled showed the telltale charred web pattern where the lightning of his PPC had licked it, but showed little sign of serious damage to the internal structure.
He cursed and backed away from the Phoenix, realizing he was doing little to halt it. He started lasing off its armor in an attempt to distract it, when he realized he had seen this configuration before. It was the same model he had piloted years ago in the army, and it had most of its guns in the right arm. Aari grinned and blasted both of his PPCs into the right shoulder actuator of the PXH-3S.
"Got one of the buggers!" announced Hyper, as she blasted a smoking hole in the torso of the Hunchback. "Uh-oh… MOVE!" she yelped, as the reactor began to glow.
"You heard her! Back peddle!" cried Aari, as he turned a hard right and loped away from the 'Mech that lay some 500 meters from his position. "Audren, bail and start running! I'll cover you."
"Sir?!"
"You've gotta trust me!"
The hatch of the Catapult flew open and a tiny, ant-like figure started making its way towards the complex. Col. Aari brought his 'Mech to a halt behind Audren and crouched down to act as a shield. The Bushwhacker, which had managed to stand up again during the fight, started taking pot shots at his back. Aari grit his teeth and hoped the reactor would take the aggressor and not him.
A deafening explosion echoed across the plain as a shockwave pushed his crouched BattleMech face down into the grass, sending a spray of dirt into the air. He was thrown forward with it, in spite of his seatbelt, and cracked the outer shell of his neuro-helmet against the console in front of him.
As soon as he could see past the black spots that danced teasingly in front of his eyes, he forced his battered Marauder up and looked for the spot that was Audren. After a moment of searching, he located a small humanoid shape getting up off the ground.
"Whit, get a Swiftwind down here ASAP and pick up Audren! He's out of his 'Mech, about 100 meters from my position. Bring a paramedic, he may have been hit."
"Copy that. Paramedic and Swiftwind are en route."