Chapter 6, by Kat Wylder

IBMU Complex,
Irian, Free Worlds League,
April 11, 3068

"Nannen, Ramesh, sitrep!"

"We took some hits, Colonel, but we've got enough armor," reported Captain Ramesh.

"Still kickin' butt, sugar," Nannen said with a chuckle. "Although I think Davids might need to sit out the next round. That explosion blew the arm off his 'Mech."

"Copy," said Col. Aari, as he looked down at his radar. "Send him back for repairs. Blick, escort the Swiftwind back to base. Hyper, you're with me."

"Roger."

"Sure thing, boss."

The Marauder's comm crackled and a deep-voiced man announced, "That assault lance is moving out. Should we purse, Colonel?"

Aari chewed his lip for a moment, then pushed his beaten Marauder towards the complex. "Okay, Jameson, but break off if there's more than a lance out there."

"Yes, sir."

"Nannen, you and the rest of your lance can fill in for Jameson."

"Roger that."

"Sir?" broke in Whit. "What about that Phoenix Hawk? It fled through the pass at full-tilt. It's outside our sensor range, but we have a Nagareboshi ready to go."

"Okay, send out the hover, but don't get too close and don't have them stay long. The assault 'Mechs are our first priority right now," he said, as he started looking for targets. "Nannen take Jameson's place. Ramesh, run a perimeter check."

"Contact!" bellowed Jameson. "Visual on an Awesome, Victor, Thanatos, and Black Knight. The BK and Thanatos aren't showing up on scope. Watch yourselves."

"Thanks for the heads-up," replied Aari, as he weaved through the complex buildings.

Hyper loped along close behind, though she was undoubtedly eager to pull ahead and open fire. Rambunctious as she was, she always maintained good self-control on the field.

"Twenty… twenty-one… twenty-two…" Aari murmured, as he came in sight of the battle. By this time, Jameson's hard-hitting lance had softened up the enemy 'Mechs enough for him and Hyper to join the fray. "Hyper, you think you can help out with that Thanatos?"

She chuckled and darted ahead. "Just as soon as I can find it, boss."

Not a moment later, the said foe grazed the already damaged left torso of her Loki. Hyper turned swiftly to face it and bashed in its shoulder with a round of LBX fire. She was rocked back when the opposing machine drilled her with its pulse lasers, inducing a steady, thump, thump on the less damaged side of her 'Mech.

Col. Aari grinned as went to passive sensors and strafed around behind the Thanatos. As machine developed to sweep through opposing forces by crushing everything ahead of them, BattleMechs were not well armored in the rear.

"Hyper, sidestep," he ordered, as he fingered the trigger.

She complied, but kept up her fire in order to keep the enemy's attention. As soon as the heavy 'Mech's back was square to Aari, he pulled back on the trigger, unleashing an alpha strike that shoved the 75-ton beast forward. One of its dog-like legs bent in a strange manner, suffering from the effects of a larger laser shot to the back of the knee and the disruption of its circuitry due to the PPCs.

"Beautiful!" Hyper said cheerily, as she shot out the knee actuator. The LBX round punched a visible hole in the joint and sent the Thanatos to the ground. As it fell, an ejection pod rocketed out of the small cockpit. The angle of the pod's flight carried it little more than horizontal to the ground for about 500 meters, before it lost altitude and started to dip towards the ground.

"Looks like we won't have to worry about picking that one up," muttered Aari, as he trotted off to match PPCs with the Black Knight.

"They're falling back," said Jameson, as he hammered away on the Awesome.

"Keep on them! I don't want these guys coming back for another round later!" Aari barked. "Hyper, push the Awesome back towards Jameson's guns."

She gave a brief but enthusiastic affirmative, then pushed her throttle up to maximum and strafed the assault 'Mech, as ordered.

The Victor was being punished by the autocannon of the Mauler in Jameson's lance and its comrade Zeus. The Black Knight was engaged with a Hellcat.

"Need some help, kid?" Aari asked the Hellcat pilot. The young man was one of the three new recruits, and he had a peculiar surname that kept slipping Aari's mind.

"Wojciechowski, sir," said the pilot with a good-natured chuckle. "And yeah, I'll take that offer. My rotary AC keeps jamming."

Battered as it was, Aari's Marauder still boasted impressive firepower, bearing two PPCs compared to the Black Knight's one. He caught the enemy's attention with a blast from one PPC. As he lowered his targeting reticule over the 'Mech to fire the other, he was surprised to see a burst of flame spew out of the Hellcat's torso and engulf the enemy is a torrent of flame. The Black Knight's heat sinks were already near their saturation point when the flamer hit, so the vented plasma promptly forced a shutdown.

"Nice job," said Aari approvingly. He decided to forgo trying to pronounce the MechWarrior's name.

"Thanks, I--"

"Colonel," broke in Capt. Ramesh. "We just spotted a group of scout 'Mechs trying to make off through the pass. Should we engage?"

Aari twisted his Marauder's torso hard to the right and began gobbling up the armor of the nearby Victor with his large laser, before it decided to make a meal of him. "Affirmative, but don't go into the pass. It may be a setup. Nannen, give them some fire support."

The two commanders gave a quick reply as they began raining down fire on the fleeing scouts. Aari chuckled to himself, as he and the other pilots continued dancing around the now crippled Victor. As the humanoid assault 'Mech went down and the pilot ejected, he opened a wide-band channel.

"I don't know who you guys are," he said, "but you better get one thing straight. You're gonna have to get up a lot earlier in the morning to outsmart the Scimitars. So, I suggest you either pack up or sign up with us, 'cause you're not gonna win this."