"Akiela!"
Kiana's voice rang over the com; their target had been spotted. Bloodhound's radar scan data was flooding the holo-vid.
"Lone Wolf, get a bead on him and don't let him out of your sights!"
"Roger, Akiela. I already have visual."
"Mad Dog, Hyena, you're with me; hunt formation."
Three sets of over boosters engaged almost simultaneously, well rehearsed from the countless "hunts" the group that had come to be known as "The Pack" had participated in.
"Lone Wolf, can you get a clear shot?"
"Bloodhound is running interference; they've got no idea I'm even here."
"Then as soon as the shot presents itself, take it. Shoot to cripple, our orders are to bring the pilot back alive and the Core in as good of shape as we can manage."
Within seconds the heavy bore sniper rifle of the Lone Wolf echoed across the dunes of the red planet. The air in front of the Core was distorted and displaced by the concussion of the semi sonic 20mm depleted uranium rod and its accompanying 85mm copper sabot rocketing from the barrel. The shot connected flawlessly, severing several electrical and mechanical connections in the fleeing Core's left knee joint. The second shot ripped through the booster assembly bringing the Core to a grinding scraping halt.
"Mad Dog, Hyena, circle in. Spend as little time in his reticule as possible. Stay advised; his weapons are still live."
"Roger, Akiela."
The other two replied in unison. The three Core units circled tightly around the crippled unit, keeping their eyes and weapons trained.
"Lieutenant Julio Romero, AKA Specter, pilot of AC Wraith, you are under arrest for violation of Raven's Nest Code nine-four-eight point one-three. Comply peacefully and you will not be harmed."
"Go to Hell you lap dogs!"
Two shots from Wraith's twin sniper cannons rang out, skimming the shoulder of Mad Dog's Core unit. Mad Dog halted his circling instantly, leveling his weapons, a high heat shotgun and a heavy impact slug rifle, at the crippled unit at his feet.
"You wanna run that by me again?"
"Stand down, Mad Dog. If he had meant to hit you, he would have. We have orders to bring you, and your Core, back in one piece, Lieutenant. I advise you to comply."
"And I already told you to go to Hell. I'm not going back there; not if I have to work for those maniacs!"
A weapons lock alert rang in the cockpit of AC Mad Dog as the two plasma cannons on the Wraith's shoulders opened and began to charge.
"Jackal, welders!"
Hydraulics hissed as the twin Gatling batteries on each arm disconnected from their munitions feed. The feeds rotated 270 degrees and reengaged, arming the small bore weapons with lightweight high heat chemical charges.
"Disengage your weapons, Lieutenant, or I will not hesitate to fire! This is your last warning to stand down!"
The cannons continued to charge and were now fully capable of discharging a lethal blast of pure energy at, currently, an uncomfortably close range.
"Mad Dog, evasive maneuvers!"
The bulky and intimidating Core leapt into motion with surprising agility as the first shot from the plasma cannons went screaming by, searing several of Mad Dog's armor plates and causing a significant rise in internal temperature. It took only tenths of a second for Jackal's Gatling batteries to begin spooling up, and only a few more for them to open fire; peppering the crippled Wraith with a shower of long burning chemical rounds.
The heat inside the Wraith sky rocketed violently. The systems had already shifted into forced cooling measures and were beginning to shift into cold lock to prevent any further damage from the rampant thermal run away. Lieutenant Romero watched in horror as the armor integrity of his beloved Core plummeted uncontrollably. Just as suddenly as they had all began, the warnings stopped. Only one continued to ring out. Armor integrity: one percent, all systems operating in the yellow to red zones of their operational tolerances, and the radiator was beginning to overheat from overwork, overall system integrity: critical. The Core was still operational but to attempt anything outside of limping it into a garage would likely destroy it. The Jackal's pilot was just as swift and precise as he had been warned.
"Alright, you win...take me in. Just don't let them touch this Core."
"That's not our department, Lieutenant. Bloodhound, get the helo on the horn. We need immediate pickup for six core units, five personnel, and one prisoner."
"They're already on their way, Akiela."
"Roger that. Great work everyone. Drinks are on me tonight."
"Lieutenant Commander Kasparov, report to General Isaac immediately. I say again..."
"What the fuck, Isaac? It's 2am..."
Dmitri grumbled as he rolled out of his rack. Being attached to a Colonial expeditionary was proving to be even more of a pain in the ass than he had first thought. He had already been on the MCS Harvard for two years and he was beginning to think he'd never leave. Groggily pulling on his uniform Dmitri stumbled to the head to clean his shave up and wash the sleep from his bleary eyes. Again the ships 1MC called him to the General's office.
"Alright, alright, calm the fuck down...I'm coming."
As soon as he was free of the artificial gravity field of his quarters he felt the familiar weightlessness of zero gravity. Using his well trained legs he catapulted himself down the passageway toward General Isaac's office. Three more times the 1MC called out before he reached the office of the ships commanding officer. Knocking on the door he heard the faint click of the electronic lock disengaging and a muffled 'enter'. Pushing the door open Dmitri was only a few paces from the two star's desk.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Commander Kasparov, please come in and take a seat."
The general's face was grim and his voice was tight. Something had him on edge, and Dmitri was getting a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"We have had a catastrophic breach of security."
Isaac stated as Dmitri sat in the chair opposite him.
"What manner of breach, sir?"
"One of the experimental Zio Matrix units we were carrying was stolen. Shot its way out of the hangar, hijacked an entry capsule, and fired itself to the surface."
"Do we have any witnesses? Any names?"
"Only one name came up consistently when we questioned the maintenance personnel...Ares."
"The former arena champion?!"
"The very same. The reason I say this breach is catastrophic is because that experimental unit has the ability to make AC Providence look like a walking pile of scrap. I need the Pack on this hunt as soon as humanly possible. Orders from Nerves Concord are to terminate the unit with extreme prejudice. Zio doesn't want their new tech in anyone else's hands."
"I'll gather my team now, sir. If you would; please send the order down to the hangar for our units to be prepped and ready by the time we arrive."
"At once."
Dmitri nodded as he stood from the chair,
"Permission to carry on, sir?"
"Carry on, Commander. And Godspeed."
As soon as he was clear of General Isaac's office, Dmitri began rousing his team; calling the other four members of the Pack to the hangar bay.
"What's the deal, Akiela? It's 0300?"
"Ares stole one of the experimental Zio units we were transporting. He's already made for the surface and is using the experimental Core's systems to stay hidden from the station's sensors."
"So it'll be a Combat Orbital to the surface?"
Mad Dog asked, more than a little hesitant. No doubt remembering the first time they had utilized a Combat Orbital Drop. They had nearly lost Mad Dog to a cooling system malfunction in the drop pod. The systems were old and seldom used so maintenance was more than a little lacking.
"Definitely. Get your shit in order, we haven't got a lot of time."
Within an hour all five pilots were packed inside the drop pods with their core units. Mad Dog could be heard breathing more heavily than usual; the first drop had shaken him pretty badly.
"Breath easy, Garette. We need you on your game. None of us can afford any slip-ups. This guy isn't our usual prey."
Mad Dog's inward breath, deep and slightly shaky, could be heard over the com.
"Ok."
He said, exhaling slowly,
"Let's go get this fucker."
A klaxon fired off a warning blast of discordant sound, and caution lights flashed outside the pods. Within seconds small rockets had propelled the pods into empty space and sent them hurtling toward the surface of the red planet. Dmitri pulled up a video feed to each pilot to monitor their status on their hellish descent. A thirty ton core unit wrapped in a thin sheet of steel tended to make quite a big boom when it hit the surface at over five hundred miles per hour.
So far all systems were green and holding, but for how long? The last drop had been riddled with system failure after system failure. The damned things were supposed to have been decommissioned twenty years ago but with the breach of the peace that had settled between the corporations much of their old stockpile was hastily put back into service.
"Mad Dog, how you holdin' up?"
"So far so good, Akiela."
He replied with a forced gulp to calm himself.
"Alright, we're through the atmosphere, jettison heat shielding. Surface at thirty klicks and closing."
With a sharp blast from all around the pod the heavy outer skin that served as a heat shield was blown away from all five pods.
"Twenty klicks. Fifteen. Ten. Deploy chutes. NOW!"
Four colossal double canopy parachutes opened and jerked the heavy units to a slow descent. But one unit, the Jackal, was still careening toward the surface; completely uncontrolled.
"Jackal, braking flaps! Jettison chute!"
Another sharp blast sent the parachute pack flying as large metal flaps opened all over the units frame to attempt to slow its bullet train course to the surface.
"Akeila!?"
"Accelerometers are reading 300 km/h and decelerating. Touchdown in two klicks. Its gonna get a little bumpy, Jackal! Engage cockpit inertial dampers. Brace for impact!"
Seconds later the AC Jackal crashed into the red crust of Mars. Dmitri felt one or two his ribs on his left side crack. The inertial dampers did their job, but they were far from perfect.
"Be glad I've got faith in your experimental equipment, Hyena!"
"The inertial dampers worked?!"
"Well enough. I've got a couple broken ribs but I'm not a puddle of red jelly on the floor, so...yeah they work. Form up! Defensive formation! Keep your eyes open and your heads clear, this guy doesn't fuck around."