Chapter IX

HPG Station,
Carver V, Chaos March,
January 3, 3060

The dropship made a final descend at the HPG's landing site. The entire bulk shook, and Kangpae closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths to ease the turmoil in his stomach. He hated this sequence. He spent almost 30 years of his life fighting on Solaris arenas, so he was not used to interstellar travel. He had been getting in and out of dropships since he joined the Hanson Roughriders several years back, but still he had not accustomed to sudden change in gravity force.

He was a fine mech-athlete, far from great, but he did fight some respectable fights. His biggest break was when he substituted a seeded player due to injury five years ago. It was medium mech quarterfinal, and since nobody knew him, nobody paid attention to him. Lucky for him. He sneaked behind the fighting mechs, waiting patiently until any mech was ready to go down, then swooped in for the kill. It was a dirty tactic, but he scored an impressive 4 kills, all were aces, and went on to the semifinal. But it was as far as he could go. The next fight, all mechs focused on him, crushing his Outbound in less than half a minute. It was the fight that prompted him to leave the glamour of Solaris and pursue a new job as a mercenary.

"Finally," Kangpae groaned as the dropship door rumbled open. He pushed his prized Outbound forward, trudging the snow on top of the mountain, and ran it toward the HPG station. His Outbound was based on a Hoplite, designed exclusively as Solaris mech, clearly seen on its twin UAC-5 on each arm and an LRM-5 on its left torso. The ammunition dependent mech was never expected to battle in an extended period of time, so Kangpae was a little nervous about taking his unorthodox mech to battle.

"Area secure, Commander," Kangpae reported. "No sign of terrorist operation."

"We can start evacuation, then," Sebastian answered. "HPG Station, this is Sebastian Knell, Knell's Cavaliers. We're here to help you evacuate…"

Before Sebastian could finish his sentence, a huge explosion blasted from the gantry. Two of the dropship engines dissolved into fireballs, and the big Union churned to the side until it was supported by the gantry. The engine fuel leaked into the generator and caught fire. Several chain reactions ripped the dropship from inside, and the mighty Union exploded in a gigantic fireball, illuminating the mountain range.

The shockwave knocked Kangpae down. His Outbound tattered before slumping into the snow. Kangpae yanked his joystick to get his mech standing. Sebastian was walking down the ramp when the dropship erupted. The shockwave knocked him to the ground, and the fiery splinters peeled its armor layer by layer. Sebastian tried to stand, but his Orion was critically damaged by the explosion. Jules Hidleman and Daniel Wilks were not that lucky. They were still inside the dropship when it blasted.

"Commander!" Kangpae dashed toward the smoking Orion. "Commander, are you alright?"

"My mech's damaged," Sebastian gasped on the comlink. "The gantry was booby-trapped."

Suddenly the alarm blasted. Several dots appeared on the radar. A squadron of Yellow Jacket helicopters came inbound, firing their Gauss Rifles at Kangpae and Sebastian. Chunks of snow flew in the air as 125-kilogram nickel-ferrous balls slammed into the white plain.

Kangpae's heart drummed in his ear, a sensation he had not felt since the medium circuit semifinal when he realized that all guns in the arena were on him. The Zhanzheng deGuang must have been waiting for the Cavaliers. Once again, somebody leaked the information about this mission. Kangpae cursed, but he knew it was too late. He armed his long range missiles and fired on the nearest Yellow Jacket, but the choppers crisscrossed their paths, dancing in the air while stinging the dropship with their Gauss cannons.

"Farragut, this is Sebastian Knell, dropship is out… repeat, dropship is out! Request immediate evacuation! Farragut… do you read?"

Instead, only static filled the comlink. The choppers pressed their attack, slamming 2 Gauss slugs at Sebastian's torso. Fire burst from the wound, and the Orion fired all its guns to ward off the Yellow Jackets, taking down three. But being severely weakened by the dropship explosion it could not stand the Gauss onslaught. Two more Gauss slugs battered the heavy mech, ripping the arms off and wreaking havoc on the internal structure. Sebastian knew his mech was lost. He pulled the ejection lever, then flew in the air while his Orion started spewing bluish light, a sure sign of reactor failure.

Kangpae locked on a chopper and fired his twin UAC5. Pieces of armor flew in every direction, and an explosion ripped the Yellow Jacket from inside. Kangpae growled as he fired his 5-pack missiles at another chopper, but only 2 made contact. Pieces of armor burst from the impact, but the chopper lingered on. It turned around and unleashed cannon. The slug punched the Outbound in the left torso, creating a swath of scar. The impact rocked his cockpit, but when he tried to regain balance, two more hit put him back on the ground. His left torso was shredded to pieces, and his missile launcher flew several meters when the left torso burst into flames. Armor tracker blinked furiously, screaming critical damage.

But Kangpae wasn't about to go down easily. He put his mech back on its feet and hit the trigger. Another Yellow Jacket roared into a dazzling fireball as his autocannon rounds ripped its hull. The last chopper fired its Gauss cannon, but Kangpae ducked, and the slug flew above his head. As soon as his gun recycled, he hit the trigger. The thunderous boom from his multi-barreled cannon swallowed the sound of explosion when the Yellow Jacket spiraled down to the snow and disintegrated into millions of burning metals.

As the threat disappeared, Kangpae exited his mech and dashed toward Sebastian who was lying in the snow. He managed to eject, but he was hit by splinters when the Orion exploded. Blood covered his face and most of his limbs, but he hung on, fighting to live.

"Commander Knell!" Kangpae rushed to aid him. "Commander, are you OK?"

"Get out of here Kangpae," Sebastian coughed, and blood sprayed from his mouth. "Save yourself."

"No! We can signal the FedCom for med-evac. I'm taking you with me."

"They jammed the transmission," Sebastian tried to resist. "I'm doomed. Leave me and save yourself."

"With all due respect, Sir, I'm not leaving you alone. Just hang on."

Kangpae dragged Sebastian toward his mech and carried him into the cockpit. He put him at the small space behind his command seat, then tried to radio Farragut. Alas, just like Sebastian said, he could not establish contact with the FedCom ship. He knew that Sebastian needed immediate medical attention, but he was cut off with no means to contact the rest of the team. Without knowing exactly what to do, Kangpae drove his mech to leave the mountain range, trying to find somebody that could help him.

Next on Escape from Carver V:

"The dropship made a safe land on the HPG site by 1435 hours, then disappeared from radar. Reconnection had been tried, but so far none has been established."
"Commander Knell?"
"Don't know yet. We haven't been able to communicate with them since the blackout."
"Jammed transmission?"
"Hard to tell. The Zhanzheng deGuang has been throwing surprises after surprises, and they are always one step ahead of us. It means somebody is still leaking the information."
"We have an explosion, Sir! It's one of the civilian's trucks, Sir! The truck exploded! We have damages and fire in sector G, J, K, M, and Q!"
"The damn traitor is a civilian! All this time we are defending them…"