Chapter IV
City of Ayodya,
Carver V, Chaos March,
December 13, 3059
It was dawn in the city of Ayodya, and Allison pushed the pedal on her Fire Hawk to stay in the formation with 3 other mechs. The 30-ton jump-capable Lyran had a unique design, carrying 2 medium pulse lasers on each side of torso and 1 SRM6 and running 96 kph. Coventry Metal Works designed this unit to replace the aging Commando, but field test on Eaton turned FUBAR. Six Fire Hawk prototypes were destroyed in a pirate-busting mission. The project was scraped, and the remaining prototypes were sold to civilians and mercenary use.
Running on the front was Allison's lance commander, Matt Mamias in his Panther. The humanoid battlemech, though weighed only 35 tons, carried enough firepower to slug it out with some medium mechs like Sentinel, Clint, or Whitworth. Allison covered Matt' left flank, while Chris Fulton took the right wing in his Javelin. Psycho the mysterious mercenary closed the diamond formation in his Jenner.
"Scout Lance, this is Central," Sebastian called. "FedCom's radar picked up a movement 7 clicks south of Ayodya. Why don't you check it out."
"Roger that Central," Matt spoke through the comlink. "We are on our last leg of this patrol run, and we can swing by the designated vicinity. Alright people, set a new course to Nav Point Epsilon, 7 kilometers south of Ayodya. We are going to investigate some unknown activities."
Allison maintained his position beside Matt' Panther as the lance made a hard turn to the left, and after running 20 minutes, they arrived at Nav Point Epsilon. They found no tracks of large force presence near the vicinity, which was a sort of relief. Suddenly Allison detected something on his radar. Numerous vehicle signatures zipped through the savanna and dashed toward their position. She saw multiple Bulldogs and Vedettes with some LRM launchers as backup. She called Matt, "Scout Leader, I detected a lance of unidentified vehicles... no, two... blast it, a company of tanks coming inbound!"
"What?" Chris croaked in panic. "Why didn't we see them before?"
"They must've been shut down in a cave or something," Matt replied. "Hold your fire! We can't win against them! I'll try to communicate with them." Matt switched to general frequency, "Unidentified armor company, this is Matt Mamias, Knell's Cavaliers. Please identify yourself!"
"This is Sang-Wei Wu Kan, commander of Zhanzheng deGuang 1st Armor Company," a hoarse voice came in the comlink. "This is not your fight, mercenaries. Whatever the Davions pay you, we'll pay you double. If you're smart, you'll lay down your weapons and give us the Davion's position. If you reject, then prepare to die! You have 1 minute to decide!"
Sweat beaded on Allison's face, not because of the heat (since he hadn't fired her guns), but because of fear and nervousness. Her breath went ragged, and her hands trembled as she gripped her joysticks. But she hardened her heart, and readied himself to face the terrorists.
"I don't need a minute," Matt growled. "You can go to hell with your offer! Scout Lance, send mess…"
Before Matt could finish his sentence, quadruple red beams stabbed him at the back of his Panther. The 35-ton mech jerked forward, then staggered hard to cope with the loss of balance. Four missiles slammed into its back. The rear armor, thin and weakened by the laser blast a second ago, gave in to the immense power of the missiles. The ammunition loader was torched, and the Panther exploded in brilliant flash.
Allison would never see that one coming. Even if she did not know anything about the Psycho, she had accepted him as her family. But to her dismay, the Jenner marched forward and took the space where the Panther was seconds before it went off.
"My name is Psycho, I assume command of Scout Lance. Sang-Wei Wu Kan, we are going with you."
"How could you, Psycho?" Allison protested. "How could you kill Matt?"
"Do you want to die, Allison?" Psycho yelled. "They have 3-to-1 advantage in numbers, and they have better money than the FedCom!"
"But we can't throw in ourselves to them, Psycho!" Allison blurted. "They are terrorists! We can send a distress signal to Ayodya, and they will send us a reinforcement to obliterate the terrorists!"
"Even if Sebastian and the FedCom sent reinforcement to help us, by the time reinforcements arrive, we're dead already! I'm doing the best for us, Allison! Lay down your weapon! That's an order!"
"It seems that you are the only one with wisdom, Psycho," Wu Kan spoke through the comlink. "If you really want to live, kill your lance mates. They're dumb and not worthy our money! Kill them, and Zhanzheng deGuang welcomes you!"
The Jenner swung left, placing its quadruple medium laser cannons right on Allison's center torso. "Don't make me do this Allison," Psycho rapped, "I hate to kill you. You have talents, dedication, and great future. The FedCom doesn't care about us. They are busy fighting the Lyrans and the Capellans."
"You killed Matt!" Allison snarled. "I will never work for them or you!"
"Have it your way!" Psycho barked and opened fire. Maroon light gleamed from his right arm as four laser beams struck Allison's Fire Hawk right in the midst. The light mech jerked and toppled behind. A huge crater gapped on the 30-tonner's midst, spewing smoke, blue sparks, and molten armor. Allison moaned in agony. Sweat ran down her cheek, and for one second she thought she was dead already. Exactly how his Fire Hawk managed to sustain multiple point-blank laser blasts of a Jenner was beyond her comprehension.
"Take this, traitor!" Chris Fulton screamed as he launched missile streaks from his Javelin. The missiles cored the Jenner's rear, throwing it off balance. The Jenner looped and quickly latched onto Chris' rear. Chris banked hard to the left as deadly missiles strafed the empty void where he was a second ago. The Jenner twisted to the left, catching Chris from the opposite side. Psycho pumped up his lasers, raking Chris' right torso. He followed with his missiles to the gutted right torso of Chris' Javelin. Tongues of fire blossomed from the internal structure, a clear hint of engine damage. The Javelin slowed down a bit, losing 50-percent of power. Psycho grazed his alpha-strike button, and punched it as soon as his weapons got ready. The Javelin exploded in a blinding flash.
"Now its your turn, Allison!" Psycho chuckled wryly.
Knowing her lance mate was deadly serious about defecting to Zhanzheng deGuang, Allison twisted her torso and pressed the trigger. Blinding flash leapt from her medium pulse lasers, turning a ton of the Jenner's rear armor into molten metal. Psycho quickly turned around and fired his missiles, but Allison flinched, missing the warheads by the inches. Allison aligned her crosshair and unleashed her missiles at Psycho' right torso, hoping to neutralize half of Psycho' lasers. But close-quarter combat was not Allison's forte. Her missiles flew high, missing Psycho by almost a meter.
"Ha! You still think you can win, don't you Allison?" Psycho chuckled. "Well lo and behold, you can't touch me with that pathetic mech of yours! Just give it up and surrender!"
"You will not get away with this, Psycho!" Allison growled.
"Then let's do this the hard way," Psycho sneered. "Prepare to die!"
As Psycho lined up his lasers at Allison, she bolted forward and punched the Jenner on the cockpit. It would have been catastrophic if she got the cockpit. Her punch hit the Jenner's neck, right behind the cockpit. But it proved to be fatal to the 35-ton mech. Sparks and armor splinters flew to every direction as most of the control lines from the cockpit were cut off. The Jenner swayed comically, like a drunken beast, before careening to the ground, paralyzed.
"Damn you Allison!" Psycho cursed. "Damn you to hell!"
Allison tightened her grips to the trigger, but she knew that she could not win against a company of Zhanzheng deGuang tanks. Her Fire Hawk could not take another hit on the torso. So Allison slammed her foot on the pedal, opting to run. The Fire Hawk broke into a limping sprint. She paced her mech into maximum speed, before the tanks could get a lock on her.
Next on Escape from Carver V:
"There's a problem, Sir… A company of Zhanzheng deGuang armor is on my tail, more might be on the way. If I return to base, I will lead them straight to your position. Request alternate route, Sir."
"We can take on this armors. Lead them to us."
"Hold that thought. Bird-Eye just confirmed that Zhanzheng deGuang is coming to Ayodya from three different directions. Strength is still unknown."
"What do you think, Captain Garret?"
"Round up your men. We're leaving Ayodya."