Alternate Realty Ch 16:
"Back from Furlough"
October 17th 2556
Harvest, Outside of the new Capitol: Forge
05:07 GMT Specter Lance Command
The observation room was almost completely dark, the only source of light was from the glowing computer screens, two of them, that sat in the dim on top of a dark oak desk. The room was small, cramped, and occupied only by Bullseye, who reclined in a leather chair in front of the computer with his feet resting on the keyboard as he lazily chewed on a piece of an orange.
On the right-hand screen was a tactical map of their base and it's surrounding topography as from a bird's eye view. Bullseye glanced at it easily and nodded his head along to some beat from his headset, and he pulled off some detritus left on a piece of his orange-the stringy fibers that make eating an orange difficult even after peeling-and he dropped it into an ashtray that held no ash but rather orange peels; it was plain white ceramic.
The left-hand screen showed a view of space from a satellite camera, and a menu of dials and readings being displayed in real time on the right-hand side of the screen, scrolling, and scrolling down as it continually took readings and scans.
"Hey," Beowulf placed his hand on the back of the leather recliner and pulled back to get the occupant's attention. "pretty busy this morning aren't you?" He pulled a Marlboro from his mouth and dropped his ashes in the pile of orange peels.
"What?" Bullseye swung his legs off the desk and keyboard, and swiveled around about thirty degrees to see him. "Oh, yeah, you know, the usual." He glanced disapprovingly at the ash that had been placed on the second half of his orange where he had placed it in the ashtray. " You know I can't eat that anymore right?"
"Just brush it off or rinse it off if it bothers you that much." He examined the satellite feed for a moment, squinting his eyes as if that would make reading the fast flowing numbers easier to read. "I just got up, you want some coffee or something?"
"Yeah, my shift's just about over anyway. What's everyone else up to?" Bullseye asked as he dusted off the rest of his orange in annoyance, he had his headset pulled off his ears, and a drum beat could be heard dimly from where it hung around his neck. "The commander up yet?"
Beowulf sighed and leaned against the bulkhead wall that came in close and made the observation room so small. The room was really a small space that they had built out of the way underneath the stairs to the Commander's quarters, office, and conference area.
"He's already up and in his office, busy with his monthly report to Section Three." Beowulf answered casually. "Hard to believe that in only a few years we've done so much, come so far that now we actually work here full-time."
"I just figured that the Commander would find a way back, but now I'm finally realizing that maybe there really is no going back; we could be here the rest of our lives." Bullseye shrugged and popped an orange into his mouth. "What really matters is where we are now, no sense in worrying too much about getting back, we have enough to do today. Why are you smoking that in here? you know I just quit."
Beowulf took a last drag and blew a large smoke ring into Bullseye's face with a smile. "I'm done anyway." He killed the cigarette in the ashtray and nodded in satisfaction. "I'll go get that coffee." He pushed off the bulkhead with his back and stepped out of the small room into the hall outside, the automatic door closed down with a quiet hiss.
"Ahh," Bullseye sighed "This is an easy job."
Outside Beowulf walked down the hall about five feet and then turned the corner to headed down the stairs towards the cafeteria. The best part of all this, their work on Harvest, was that they were able to get their own base again just like when they were hired by House Davion-only this time they had a smaller base and half the armory they used to on Outreach.
He went down one flight of stairs and exited onto a floor that was occupied by only one room, well really it was one space that had several different rooms without walls between them, there was the kitchen area to the north, the tables and mess area to the east, a lounge area to the west, and to the south was the entrance where he came from and restrooms on either side of it.
He walked straight ahead toward the kitchen area and stopped by the island to pick up two paper cups from a tower of them beside the coffee machine and placed them each under the dispensers and pressed the small fill button for each. For some reason one of his favorite moments was in the morning, getting coffee, listening to the sound as it spilled steaming hot into the cups, and smelling the rich aroma of fresh cheap coffee.
It only took about a minute, but the two cups were filled and hot, so he put on a lid for each and was once again relieved-as he always was-that the dispenser added sugar and cream while it filled the coffee at the same time. As he headed back towards the stairs, he glanced out the window, the landscape was almost alive; that is of course only around their base at the top of a bluff overlooking the ocean where it was green and lush from the grass they had seeded.
He carefully made his way back up the flight of stairs, anxious because of the annoying swirling that happened to the contents of each cup at his every step. When he entered the observatory room Bullseye was sitting straight up in his chair typing into the console with a sense of light urgency, or rather due import. So Charles Harding-Beowulf set one of the paper cups down on the desk next to the ash tray with a sense of unease. "You seem busy, is something wrong? Is it a problem with the satellite again?"
Bullseye swiveled in his chair to face him, and then picked up the cup of coffee to take a gulp. "No, there's some strange slipspace echoes being picked up, signs that a ship is going to be dropping in."
"And why is that a problem?" A new voice asked, it held the usual tone of command that Specter always spoke with.
"They don't match any of our database's signatures, in fact they seem less like an incoming ship and more like an anomaly." He continued typing in queries foe the computer. "However, that isn't likely as we just refitted and updated the satellite network two standard weeks ago."
"Hmm, are you sure a ship is incoming?" John-Specter asked as he cut around the chair in one swift motion to get a view of the computer."Let me see..."
"It appears to be an echo of an approaching something, however, the signal is similar to a jumpship; we aren't expecting our Buzzard back for another three weeks." Bullseye narrowed his eyes as he checked the inflow of data. "Either they're coming back early, or we have a problem."
Beowulf sipped quietly on his coffee and nodded toward Specter to get his attention. "Do you think that the Word of Blake is back?"
"We have been dutifully guarding the city and the research team successfully for three years..." Bullseye nodded as Specter continued. "Parangosky said that our real mission was going to be hidden from everyone else in the UEG until she could verify who was safe to tell."
"Perhaps," Bullseye interjected, "Perhaps the Word of Blake is just investigating, assuming it is them, after all it could be another unfortunate jumpship from, well..."
"I'll contact Castle and have her order Hannibal Lance to return from patrol." As Specter reached the door he looked back over his shoulder with a glance that said more than his words.
"We'll be ready commander." Beowulf stated assuredly. "Bullseye, you know what to do."
"Aye-aye, wait here and continue to monitor." He reached into the breast pocket of his green uniform and pulled out a plastic comb, and then proceeded to brush back into order his beleaguered all-nighter hair. "Leave it to me, I'll keep you guys appraised of the situation until Castle takes over."
Specter turned out the door, with Beowulf close on his heels.
"Just keep your chatter on!" Bullseye yelled as they left. "This job just became worth it." He laughed, chuckled really, and placed his headset back on his head, and pulled the mic down into position in front of his mouth.
•
"Commander, I've just contacted Hannibal and ordered him to return and refit." Castle's voice stated into Specter's ear from his chatter's headset. "Bullseye has been relieved and set off toward the mechbay with the intention of pulling his Thor out of storage."
"Very good Castle, inform my lance I want them at the mechbay choosing their load outs two hours ago." He replied with his usual pressure. "Tell Falcon that use of her modified reactor settings and alien weapons set have been authorized."
"Do we still not know who is coming?" She asked, her voice sounding somewhat elsewhere.
"You said you relieved Bullseye, so if he didn't know, and didn't tell you, then it's up to you to find out." He sighed as he reached the stairwell from his office, from there it went down to the observation room's floor, one that was mostly unused because it was not really a floor in itself, but rather an area built between two floors. He hurried down the half flight, waving as he passed the open door to where Castle sat at work in the small room. From there he went down the rest of the flight of stairs, passed the floor which held the mess, down another flight which led to the quarters of the base's staff—his men.
Finally, the last flight led down to the Ready Room, Mechbay, armory, and storage for ammunition, armor, and weapons not in use. This was the ground level, below that there was a secret research base he had been ordered to guard, one that it's only access was through a secret elevator built in the storage area.
The stairwell was in the center, to the north was the storage area, east the armory, west the Mechbay, and lastly to the south was his Ready Room. He turned south and crossed the open space that had no walls around the stairwell and left each area open to the others. Only his Ready Room was walled off, and even then it was a small rectangular room at the far south end that had only a three hundred square foot area. The length of the room was roughly the same distance he had to cross to get to the door.
Inside his other three lance mates were waiting, Bullseye, Falcon, and Beowulf. Beowulf and Falcon were already wearing their jumpsuits, and had their neurohelmets under arm. Bullseye, though, was standing at the left end of the room rummaging in his locker as he tried to disentangle his jumpsuit from where it hung.
Specter went over to his locker, the one on the far right, there was a space in-between the first four and the last four; the right side was for Specter Lance, the left was for Hannibal Lance. He popped his open and pulled his jumpsuit and helmet out with ease and pulled them on over his uniform. Then, he reached in and donned a cooling vest: curtesy of Victor and Peter Davion before they abandoned him and his team in a foreign universe.
"Here," Specter sighed and tugged hard at the jumpsuit that Bullseye was trying to get out of his locker. "I glued the sleeve on last night as a joke, obviously poor timing on my part."
"If it were anyone else commander..." Bullseye left it hanging, but also grabbed his neurohelmet and his cooling vest. "Clanner, Beowulf, why aren't you wearing your vests?"
They each held theirs up at about the same time, Falcon didn't bother to smile, annoyed at what was supposed to be an insult, but instead an affirmation of what she was.
"Bullseye, get in gear and sit down." Specter pointed toward the two benches that sat on either side of a plain metal coffee table. He stopped by a small buffet built into the wall across from the door and put down a paper cup under a dispenser and filled it with a yellow liquid.
He sat down on an empty space before the coffee table and took a sip of his lemonade. "Okay people," He said at last, after a long gulp that finished the contents of his cup. "Castle," He spoke into his headset. "What's your status?"
"The echo is passed, and it seems that we do have a jumpship incoming, I expect it's arrival in about a minute sir." The sounds of keys being pressed in quick succession could be heard over the comm.
"Specter Lance, we are going to mount up and head out, we have a job to do, and this time it's for real." He crushed his empty cup excitedly and threw it into a trashcan at the far corner of the room. "We'll rendezvous with Hannibal at the east courtyard in ten minutes. Move out."
He stood and led the way out of the door, and headed straight for the western section, the Mechbay. This area was built outwards of the main building, and was about three and a half stories tall. It was lined with alcoves where his battlemechs could be held in readiness for use. There were four alcoves on each wall, opposite each other, the right side was for his lance and the left for Hannibal's. Since he was the Command, his MadCat was stored in the bay farthest from the Ready Room, but closest to the bay doors that led outside.
He stepped up to his MadCat and smiled nostalgically before waving one of their few technicians over. "Is it ready to go? What load out?"
He had to yell a little over the din of machinery as techs worked on attaching weapons, doing last minute checks, and loading ammunition where appropriate. "Sir, your MadCat has been outfitted with your Alternate B settings, as you know, we long since ran out of ammunition for the majority of our old weapons, LBX, AA, LRMs, and etcetera. So, we have been supplied with close approximations from the UNSC..."
"I know all that, I read it in the latest logistics report that came with our last supply drop." Specter replied with annoyance. "Get to the point."
"Anyway, we were able to load your MadCat with re-purposed Scorpion tank rounds for it's Autocannon, it's caliber is somewhere in-between that of the AC-10 and the AC-20, you have one on each arm in addition to the large lasers."
"AC, Lasers, what else? I know that that isn't enough to complete the weight limit."
"Your missile racks have been replaced with slightly smaller Archer missiles, comparable to an LRM-15, since there were no more hard points available for weapons or ammunition, we put in a slightly more powerful engine and a little bit more armor on your center torso." The tech glanced up at the MadCat, the shape looked almost like the old one, almost right, but it's missile racks were shorter, its arms had slightly longer barrels poking out, but beyond that it looked almost like an old Madcat.
"Oh and sir?" The tech cautioned. "The range of those cannons is shorter because we had to modify the barrels to allow for maneuverability, your range should be about eight-hundred meters."
"Thanks." Specter stepped into the small one-man lift to the right of his mech and pressed the small up button on the arm rail. It sped up the forty foot distance in about three seconds and he stepped out onto the ledge that led toward his open cockpit.
He got in, strapped in his five point harness, pulled on his neurohelmet and plugged it in before powering on his mech for checks. then he stated his passcode.
"Commander John Kurtis Anderson, passcode Stravinsky, Gamma 673594."
The computer responded calmly, "Identity confirmed, powering on." There was a moment where the power rushed on, Specter could feel the myomer muscles powering the movements of his mech like his own, and he felt as usual that his mech was an extension of his body. No, rather is wasn't an extension but instead an part he had always had.
"Reactors: online, sensors: online, weapons: online. All systems nominal." The computer recited it's brief standard system checks and then hummed with life as the reactor came fully online.
"Specter Lance, are you all powered up?" He waited for the clamps to pull away from his mech before he powered the throttle a little so as to step out of the alcove and swivel around to look at his lance mates. Bullseye was still powering on his humanoid Thor even though he had gone out early to get it ready, Beowulf was just pulling out of his alcove in his Novacat, and Falcon was already waiting for him perched in her eager looking Shadowcat, which oddly enough looked more like a Covenant Wraith than it did a mech. This was because she had replaced the armor with salvaged Scarab plating, and the reactor was reverse engineered based off the Covenant plasma drives. She still had a set of C-STRK 6 missiles, small short-range auto locking missiles that did a decent amount of damage. Also, she had worked in several small pulse lasers into her torso, and a fuel rod cannon in either arm.
Specter found himself feeling jealous, because she basically had a ballistic cannon with no need for ammunition as it was powered by her reactor like his lasers were.
"Okay team, this is how it's going to be, Castle, has the ship arrived yet?"
"Perfect timing Commander, I was just about to tell you that the jumpship was arrived, it looks like a small jumpship bearing two Overlord dropships with the insignia of the Word of Blake. They are inbound on your position Commander, I think they know we are here."
"Move out team, meet up with Hannibal outside and then we will take up positions around the base. Castle, contact base security and have them power on the point defense systems." He maneuvered his mech toward the bay door, and waited for the doors to part wide enough for his mech to pass through before stepping outside. Their base was situated on a bluff overlooking the city about three or four kilometers away and roughly one kilometer below their position.
"Aye commander, they are powering on, it will take a solid ten minutes after the arrival of the dropships for them to become optimally active. The WOB's ETA is about ten minutes from now sir, they've hit the upper atmosphere and are still heading toward us."
"Understood," Specter swiveled his Madcat around to get a good view of his men. "Alright this is the fight we've been waiting for! So let's go kick some-"
"Commander this is Castle, new information, it looks like the two Overlords are splitting up and a Talon dropship is speeding ahead. If you want my opinion I think they are going to perform a hot-drop to secure an LZ and keep any fire off the Overlords until they land."
"So they had to play it smart, typical." He refocused his attention on his job: fighting them off. "Hannibal lance, I want you to secure the hot-drop LZ and call me if you need backup. We are going to stay close to the base in case this is a feint to get us to leave our defenses open. Stay on passive sensors and ECM to get in close without being noticed and surprise them as soon as they jump out of the ship."
"Roger that." Hannibal responded with his usual deep voice and calm demeanor. "Moving out."
"Specter lance I want everyone here to split up and cover each side of the building from the aerial-defense platforms." Specter was referring to the platforms built into the side of the building that were raised and accessible from the ground and enabled his mechs to get a higher view and a better angle against flying or falling targets.
They split up, with Specter at the north, Falcon at the west, Beowulf at the east, and Bullseye to the south. They waited for about five minutes just watching the skies until Hannibal reported back that the Talon dropship had opened its doors and a medium demi-lance had dropped out.
(A Demi-lance is one-and-a-half lances: 6 battlemechs)
"They have two Bushwackers, a Ryoken, a Chimera, and two Uziels." Hannibal reported over the comm. "Targeting the Uziels, no problem here."
Specter smiled inside his cockpit. "Sounds like a fun fight, good choice against the Uziels those PPCs pack one helluva punch. Try not to get your sensors or equipment fried."
"You don't need to tell me that." He responded amiably-even as the sound of missile launches could be heard over his comm.
Two minutes passed, and Specter's lance was getting antsy, a third minute passed before Hannibal reported again. "We cleared them out, moving back to refit: we used a lot of ammunition to take them out quick."
"Copy that, Castle, what's the situation with those Overlords? Why don't we see them yet?" Specter asked as he scanned the skies.
"It looks like they've begun to veer off, just as the demi-lance was destroyed. From the projection it looks like they're going to land several kilometers north of our position and try to get a staging ground secure before moving in to attack. It is highly probable they wanted to test our response before committing themselves to a full-on attack."
"Sounds good." He sighed. "Specter lance we will have first watch while Hannibal and his team get refit and take a break. I want a patrol and watch set in rotation constantly. Castle get the base defense ground team in position to keep a watch for intruders and tighten the security against covert infiltration."
"Yes sir." She paused for a moment as if hesitating to ask. "Do you really think that necessary Commander? This is the Word of Blake, won't they just send as many 'mechs as they have?"
"That's highly probable Castle." He agreed. "But it never hurts to be careful, These word of Blake split of from ComStar years back, so that means they are just as strong as those guys who beat back the clans during their first bid for Terra. I wouldn't underestimate them."
"Yes sir, you're probably right." The sound of her chair rolling across the floor sounded from the speakers and quiet voices were barely audible above the sound of Specter's mech in operation and motion.
"Castle what's going on?" He tapped his mic. "Is there a problem?"
She breathed a sigh and then answered. "Somewhat of that sir, we sent out a few drones to get details as they land and make their LZ, but I'm afraid they have more firepower than I had accounted for previously."
"Just give it to me, how bad is it?" He glanced over his shoulder to look through his window to the east and swiveled his mech so he could get a view of Beowulf's Novacat. He was also looking over, and his zoom he was able to see Beowulf giving him a grim smile. He waved and then spoke into the mic. "Just how much firepower are they putting down?"
"Well the situation is like this sir, they have dropships with a full heavy lance, a medium-heavy mixed lance, and another lance of what seems to be state-of-the-art assault-class omnimechs, I think some things have changed in our absence."
Specter grimaced. "What do you think they are? Clan omni's or new Lyran tech or whatever."
"One looks like the Fafnir, only it looks a little slimmer and lighter. I think they may be using lighter armor plating or new materials. I doubt the power of its lasers or Heavy Gauss rifles have changed much though, just expect it to be more maneuverable." She tapped her fingers on the desk, the sound was just inside Specter's range of hearing. "Defiance Industries took quite a hit during the FedCom Civil war, but they may have recovered some with Blake funding... I don't know Commander."
"What about the others Castle?"
"I'm scanning the drone footage now." She was silent for about half a minute until. "Alright, I'm looking at the footage of the assaults again, There is definitely an Atlas, a Masakari, and a Gladiator. Though I suppose that the Atlas and Fafnir aren't omnimechs after all."
"It's been a couple years, I wouldn't bet against them buying the latest fashion when it comes to heavy metal." Specter commented on the fact that the Atlas and Fafir could be new and therefore the possibility of them being updated with omni-hardpoints was possible. An omni-hardpoint is a hardpoint on a mech's chassis that is able to mount any type of the three weapon types used frequently on battlemechs: Energy weapons, Missiles, and Ballistic cannons and machine guns.
"If what you say is true, then keep an eye on that Atlas, if it has such capability we may find heavier weapons in places we didn't expect." She warned, knowing full well that an Atlas could pack any number of weapons, but if its design was simplified and streamlined it would carry a strange compliment of unbalanced weapons, such as a Heavy Gauss cannon in addition to an Arrow IV system.
"Alright, keep me posted after the next flyby and let me know as soon as they start to set up camp or send out scouts." He swiveled his MadCat's torso around so more and angled the pitch a bit so he could get a view of the ground beneath their base. So far everything was clear, there were hardly any trees and cover was minimal-which meant that the Word of Blake strike team would have to come in guns blazing since they couldn't get anywhere close undetected.
"Sir, I know we have the high ground and the point defenses, but they have a serious weight and numerical advantage on us." Beowulf stated over the comm as Castle returned to her work.
"We'll manage," He turned to the western platform. "Falcon, how's the situation look to you?"
"Neg," She replied. "Those Stravags are no match for us Commander." She sounded proud, and eager to go in for the kill.
"I understand your sentiments Falcon, but we should hold on to our advantage and find the best way to take them down."
"Understood." She answered, somewhat disappointed.
They scanned the horizon and waited, and after three hours they were relieved by Hannibal's now refitted lance. Once Specter had parked his MadCat in the hangar he dropped down the ladder and hailed the technician. "I want you to refuel and refit these as soon as possible, we don't know how much time we have before they decide to attack."
"Yes sir." The technician nodded and then ran off toward the other technicians and pointed toward the mechs and spoke in a voice that Specter couldn't hear form that distance.
October 17th 2556
18:24 GMT
"Commander I have movement." Castle's voice announced on the intercom.
He bolted upright from his cot, he had just laid down after his last stint on the platforms keeping watch, and had only slept for about half an hour. But considering the circumstances that was enough. He swung his legs off his cot and rushed to his headset-chatter that sat on his desk next to an empty mug sitting on a dry coffee-ring. He put it on his ear and pressed the on button and turned the dial so as to choose frequency presets until he got Castle.
"Tell me what we got, I'm on my way now." He pulled on his jumpsuit and his boots in a rush and bolted out the door.
"Alright, meet me in the observation room on your way to the Mechbay." She clicked in a mad rush on her keyboard. "The mixed lance is doing a patrol around what seems to be a solid base of operations. The Assault lance has docked in a pre-fab hangar, and the heavies seem to be using ECM and are heading toward Forge's main power plant."
"Well, they are just making our job more difficult. If I understand my orders correctly it means we have to do whatever we can in defense of the colony."
"Which means we have to stop them, exactly right commander." She finished. "I'm printing off some maps and finishing a brief you can give to the rest, I'll still provide the usual informational session but with the time-constraints I'm afraid we won't be as prepared as usual."
He swung around the door frame at that moment with an outstretched hand, and the other turning off his chatter. She passed over a stack of about five pages, a map, three surveillance photos and a tactical data-sheet. "I'll take that. Round up the others if you would, but keep Hannibal Lance on standby: this could be a diversion so as to split us up."
"We'll hold the fort until you get back. The way I see it they may try to attack us or ambush you, either way we'll be ready."
He nodded and dashed out the door and down to the Mechbay, into the readyroom, and donned his cooling vest and neurohelmet. In less than a minute his three lance-mates entered and suited up as well. Once they were ready he waved them out the door.
"Okay team, this is a mystery." He yelled over the din of machines pulling away from the mechs. "They are heading for the power plant with one heavy lance, it's our job to stop them. From these pictures we know they have at least the lance consisting of a BlackKnight, Catapult, Argus, and a Loki. I expect they probably have a team of vehicles and tanks following so keep your eyes and ears open. There is a high chance they may try to ambush us or the base, so double time it and hit hard. Don't worry about conserving coolant, we need to get back ASAP, so Alpha-Strike it up."
"Yes sir." Bullseye grinned: he longed to put his Thor through it paces.
"Roger that commander." Beowulf nodded and then ran off toward his Novacat.
"Understood." Falcon grinned, evilly, bloodthirstily.
"Alright I want out of those bay doors in two minutes tops!" He hit the lift and jumped into his cockpit, strapped in, and powered on. "Emergency override, password protection cancellation: Voice command: Battle of New Avalon."
The computer skipped the usual password and just powered on with a simple. "Command received, authorization confirmed, system check canceled."
He pushed the throttle and turned toward the bay doors, his mech's feet pawed the ground subconsciously as he waited for the door to part enough for him to fit. Finally the doors were wide, and he powered through into the darkening night. The stars provided more than enough light, but he still turned on his night-amplification setting. "Keep your lights off and your sensors active, we need to find them fast-make a bee-line for the power plant. Echelon left formation now!"
They swung into the shape of an echelon, except with an extra person on the left side, toward where the uncertain terrain and the Word of Blake would most likely hide. Specter led, and they trudged at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, top speed for most heavies. As they marched Falcon suddenly spoke over the comm.
"Where did they get a Hellbringer quiaff?" She still spoke in the strange accent of a Jade Falcon-the source of her given codename.
"I wouldn't know, perhaps they got it off of any number of clanners they've most likely subjugated by now." Specter answered.
"I doubt it." She snorted. "No one has the power to beat down the Jade Falcon, not even the Wolf, or your Operation BullDog."
He raised one eyebrow at her mentioning a war fought almost thirty years preciously; a war instigated at the reformation of the Star League and that crushed the Clan Smoke Jaguar into non-existence. "You might have a point, I doubt the Inner Sphere states would have much power at the moment from what I can imagine."
They then continued in silence, the only sound that of the thumping beneath their feet as they bounded down hill toward the city and the power plant on its outskirts. It seemed like forever, but at last they saw red dots appear on their IFF-RADAR, set about 250 meters away to the north of them amidst a copse of trees.
"Contact!" Bullseye crowed, and hit his jumpjets. His mech soared above the heads of the others and he aimed down with his PPC's and Archer missiles. His salvo connected with sparks and explosions as his particle beams connected first with the arm of the Argus, and his missiles splashed over its torso.
"Okay square off everyone, pick your targets." He hardly needed to say it as he singled out the BlackKnight, it always looked fearsome with it broad torso, humanoid figure, and built-in shield on its arm. He fired his main cannons in series, one after the other and them followed them up with one laser after the other. The cannons shook his MadCat's frame as its detonation had more impulse than he expected.
He fired the lasers, and then waited for his missile lock to ping. It did, and he let fly. The missiles didn't connect, as the BlackKnight fired chaff and its LAMS anti missile system destroyed any that didn't get distracted. It was barely scratched, with what looked like more than the usual amount of Reactive armor.
He shook his head as a bead of sweat from his brow dripped into his eye. When fighting an equal or larger opponent it was important to keep them off balance. Timing was all-important, he had to keep track of his reload-and-recycle times and those of his opponent. He also had to keep an eye on the fights between the other mechs and hopefully lure his enemy into friendly fire while dodging his shots and any that his allies might try to aid him with. In that kind of situation Specter knew he had to keep him rocking and throw off his aim by fire in sequence instead of all at once and not having anything to fire when recycling.
He had three seconds before his first cannon recycled, the BlackKnight hadn't fired a shot, but from his TAG equipment the weapon loadout had been scanned and specter knew he was going to fire his PPC's first. He saw it, the light crackling at the barrels on his arms, and from one on the right torso: three PPC's being prepared to fire in concert. Oddly his mind snapped back to the Solaris VII arena, something Dunkin Fisher said came back his him clear as day. "It seems to me that most pilots are All-or-no D when it comes to fighting, but the ones who always last the longest are the ones who know how to spread the damage, when to turn, how to stop, I swear it seems some of those guys can make their mech do a ballet..."
He pulled his throttle into reverse, and then stopped, and pulled his MadCat into a crouch. The PPC's flared past him, just inches from his chassis, grazing the armor as it was attracted to the metal. He jumped up, powered by his myomer muscles in his mech's legs, and pushed them to the limits of its speed and dashed to the side. Specter swiveled his torso and pulled the trigger as each weapon was rearmed. His first cannon shot followed the less mobile BlackKnight as it tried to dodge, and hit the arm, crushing the barrel of one of the PPC's. His second round reverberated through his arm and into his back, rattling his teeth as it screamed from the barrel.
I swear this is no where near an AC20, it has to be equal to or greater than!
The shell impacted the right hip-actuator and crushed the armor into the joint to hamper movement-not that he meant to aim there, that was accidental. No pilot could always get the shots they aimed for, there was always the element of the other pilot. He pulled the trigger and watched as both his lasers beamed bright green into the chest of the BlackKnight and seared their way deep through the armor for just less than a second.
It stumbled and fired a wash of MRM-20's in his general direction, despite their strength the missiles were not a favorite of Specter-always needing a NARC beacon to lock on to a target-as such they pass by harmlessly. Specter released his salvo of Archer missiles and watched with satisfaction as they got a lock and swung around the BlackKnight into the air.
He smiled, Poor guy thinks they missed, oh they did the first time, but like bad Karma they always come back around.
Indeed, the salvo of missile turned and swung back in an arc and collided into the back of the BlackKnight as it fired it's remaining two PPC's and a series of medium Lasers, burning away the armor on his MadCat's torso.
He pulled back to a stop, paused to aim, and then released the two newly loaded shells into the hole that had been opened by his previous attacks. They exploded inside the center torso of the BlackKnight, and a wave of light bloomed outward.
"The BlackKnight's going critical, stand back!" He announced on the comm. The mech collapsed as its strength and powered faded and its reactor went critical. It exploded in a wide a bright flash of light sending shrapnel in every direction.
He searched for targets. Falcon's ShadowCat expertly knocked the Loki down and pointed her barrels into the cockpit and hailed over the comm. "Yield!"
He grinned and watched as Beowulf cornered the Catapult and fired an Alpha-Strike of all five Large Lasers into its leg, severing it and causing the mech to collapse in a heap. "Mine's down too Commander."
Bullseye yawned over the comm. "I had to fight the Argus, that thing went down in seconds."
Specter paused, it was all a little too easy, their enemies seemed a little too lacking in experience and skill. "We're heading back everyone, even though we haven't heard anything I get the feeling the power plant wasn't their main target after all, and I'd hazard a guess we weren't their target either. Return to base, I think we're under attack."
A/N: Hello everyone, sorry for taking so long, I've been busy. I'll try to keep up now ok? Anyhow, I'll try my best to make this interesting as usual.
-Tremble Wolf