Chapter 4: "A Sound of Thunder"

March 21st, 3066

Pierce Point Mountain Range

Fanardir, Magistracy of Canopus

Alanza carefully placed her foot on the loose gravel of the ridge she was moving down, the lights of the town glowing a blazing shine in the NVGs she had pulled down to see. Calling what lay ahead of her and her team a town was being generous, as it was more a quickly put together set of prefabricated buildings and tents. The occupants clearly thought they had been too clever setting up in this inhospitable area, the mountains giving them a decent amount of cover and concealment. It was a misconception Alanza was more than eager to show was woefully overly exaggerated.

Alanza stopped as the ground leveled out under her and crouched, raising a hand to get the rest of her team to stop. A quick glance to her left showed the other team of operators doing the same as they regrouped. Alanza's team was still a member down, with Hayley still recovering from the attack in Spirit Trees and the weeks since hadn't been quiet. The pirates, or whoever they were as the MAF had quickly realized this was not an ordinary pirate raiding party. Who was directing these attacks still remained elusive, but the theories ranged from House spy networks to mercenary agitators.

The blinking of an infrared strobe caught her eye as a member of the other team moved a distance forward and tossed the small device into the camp, landing somewhere near one of the groups of tents. Alanza held up two fingers and shifted her body, coiling like a spring as the dull whump sound of rotor blades echoed off the mountain walls, growing louder like a gathering storm.

The silence of the night was broken wide open as a pair of Warrior VTOLs swooped in, risking the unpredictable winds of the mountain valley as they unleashed a blistering payload of SRMs into the camp, the explosions blowing the tents into burning tatters of fabric and killing the lights as the operators broke into a jog, moving into the camp with a swiftness like a deadly wind.

Alanza had swapped her DMR for this operation, bringing what she called her "raid kit", and held the assault rifle canted, using the mounted IR laser in conjunction with her NVGs for target acquisition. The camp was in chaos as the MAF teams entered, people stumbling around trying to get their bearings or recover from the shellshock the SRMs left them with. The suppressed weapons the MAF operators held where whispers amidst the shouts of the living and screams of the dying. Alanza stepped over some rubble as she snapped her weapon up, placed the laser center mass of a woman holding a rifle in one hand as she rubbed at her eyes with the other and fired twice. The woman fell back as if she had been punched, dropping the rifle as she did and Alanza moved past.

From above, in the cockpit of the Warrior's, it looked like a swarm of angry ants, the IR strobes fitted to the teams' helmets blinking to identify friends from foes, as Alanza led her team towards the center, largest prefabbed "building". The muzzle flashes of the suppressed weapons where nothing more than quick bursts of smoke as the gas vented into the baffles and holes of the suppressors, the two small teams of soldiers seemingly unstoppable amidst the burning chaos left in the aftermath of the VTOLs barrage.

Alanza flicked her eye to the watch on her left wrist, even though the HUD of her armor displayed the time. It was a redundancy amidst hundreds of redundancies Alanza had made habit, always wanting something to make up for any mechanical failure that may occur. The teams had planned on this being a lightning fast snatch and grab, learning from a previously "recovered" enemy that someone amidst this groups leadership would be here tonight. Alanza knew that this meant she had roughly two minutes before the plan would start unraveling.

Alanza and her team took position at a door on the prefab, waiting until they received a red blink of light on the HUDs they shared. This was the signal that the other team was in position at the opposite door. Alanza nodded at Raina, who placed a small explosive charge on the door, stepped back and blew the door open as Alanza tossed a stun grenade inside, through the smoke cloud. She and Raina stormed the building first with Momiji a second behind them.

The smoke in the small building would've been smothering if it wasn't for the masks they all wore, the other team having made entry on the opposite side at the same time. Alanza HUD flashed as she aimed at a man in the prefab, making an almost instantaneous identification of their target based on the description they had been given. She signaled and Raina bull rushed the man, driving her shoulder into his gut as Alanza and Momiji fired and killed two others and the other team cleared their side. Alanza flashed a thumbs-up with her off hand, receiving one in response from the other team leader and motioned for Momiji to clear the second level of the building, the stun grenade going up a moment before they did.

Raina had zip cuffed the target's hands tightly and slipped a black hood over their head, dragging them back to their feet as Alanza and the members of the other team that hadn't moved up stairs provided security in a wide fan, weapons aimed outwards. The quick, staccato of whispered gunshots from suppressed rifles and the heavy thud of bodies hitting the floor came from upstairs before Momiji emerged from the top of the stairwell and flashed a thumbs-up. Alanza returned the gesture, motioned with hand signals for them to regroup and moved out of the building, heading towards the wilderness outside the burning remains of the camp.

…..

0730

March 22nd, 3066

Alanza had gotten about an hour of sleep on the flight back to base from the raid and, after offloading their friend with the intel staff, she had gotten a few more hours in. Now she was riding back out of the base in the back of an APC along with a small contingent of armor and two of the battlemechs, a Wolfhound and a Blackjack, most likely the same from the engagement with the Firestarter, as they headed back into the field. The siren on the base was blaring as they moved, the civilian population of a local town had called in a report of suspicious group moving around the outskirts and the sound of artificial thunder coming from the hills around them.

Major Crane, after the last attack they had experienced, wasn't taking any chances with any reports of "thunder" and sent out the battlemechs. It did mean the convoy wasn't moving as quickly as it could, but with a Devastator in the lead of the armor, they weren't going anywhere fast anyway. Alanza couldn't say she was upset they had the support for these defensive actions now but the loss of mobility did chafe on her a bit. Alanza was still carrying her raid kit, minus the suppressor since it wouldn't make much difference if things kicked off now. She checked her magazine and reseated it, ensuring it was ready to fire if and when needed, doing this for the third time since they loaded up.

The APC rumbled to a stop and the ramp lowered, Alanza and her team rushing out alongside the other soldiers. She ran to one corner of the building nearby and motioned for Momiji and Raina to set up next to her. Raina mounted her LMG against the wall, bracing the weapon with her arm as she leaned carefully around the corner to offer the smallest target to any enemy forces that were watching. Momiji held back against the wall behind Alanza who was peering around the corner around Raina's right. For a moment, nothing moved and everyone seemed to collectively hold their breath.

The first round whistled past, close but not dangerously as Alanza scoped in , trying to find the shooter. Raina mirrored her movement, preparing to fire as soon as they had a positive identification. The next two rounds snapped against the ground, kicking up dust and small debris as Alanza found the muzzle flash and aimed.

"Positive ID, 200 meters and closing. Small arms and AT, no sign of metal." Raina called out as Alanza ducked back, motioning for Momiji to follow her as she patted Raina on the shoulder and watched as the LMG began firing, empty casings bouncing off the road as Raina let off long bursts of sustained fire. Then the thunder began.

As the enemy infantry continued to advance, the head and torso of a heavy battlemech, a Rifleman as Alanza recognized it, the twin barrels on either arm looming dangerously as it unleashed its autocannons fired, the depleted uranium rounds racing through the sky and blowing the buildings they hit apart, the boom of the cannon reaching them a moment after the actual fire did.

"Heavy metal incoming! Battlemechs and launchers up!" Alanza shouted as she and Raina moved further back behind the building. She could see the Blackjack moving forward, its own barrels firing and sending return fire at the Rifleman as the incredible pressure wave of the cannon firing hit Alanza like a hammer. "We need to move, now!"

It was rhetorical to say anything as Alanza and her team ran back to the armor as the Devastator rolled around the corner ponderously. The twin A/C 20's it carried rotated into position and fired, the massive rounds slamming into the enemy forces. One fell low but hit amidst the infantry, sending the enemies flying away from the impact in what could've only been pure terror. The other slammed home into the Rifleman, driving into the armor that many a pilot had found wanting with tremendous power. The tank reversed and placed itself behind the cover of the building as the enemy pilot, to their credit, turned its weapons away from the Cuirassier Blackjack and to the clear dominating threat.

Alanza wasn't keen on being caught in another firefight amidst the feet of giants and hoped that the combination of the tank and Blackjack would keep the enemy away while she and the rest of the infantry cleared out the forces on the ground. The Devastator moved out of cover again, turrets adjusting and was about to fire again when a beam of lightning sliced into the tanks flank. The turret turned as the ground shook even more and the form of another battlemech appeared on the horizon, flanking the Rifleman. It was a boxy, humanoid shape with arms that ended in cannons, one glowing from heat after firing. Unlike the Rifleman, however, this was painted in a similar white and gold to the tied ribbon she had removed from the spotter in Spirit Trees.

Maybe it was the onset of a combat high, but Alanza suddenly realized that the leading battlemech must've been painted recently, the paint obviously layered over a similar scheme as the Warhammer as the damage from the Devastator left chipped and shattered plating on the Rifleman's torso. Alanza made a mental note of that fact as she ducked into a small group of soldiers, putting her head together with one of the other NCOs as they discussed options with the convoy leader as she ordered the tanks and infantry with shoulder mounted SRM launchers into position.

"We need to focus on the Warhammer. Get the Devastator and the 'mechs on that and we'll slap the Rifleman around with the lighter tanks and launchers." The other NCO said about the roar of battlemech based weaponry.

"That's the plan. Where the hell is that other 'mech jock?" the convoy leader said back and Alanza looked around suddenly realizing that she had lost track of the Wolfhound that left the base with them. It was the strangest thing as she thought about it, losing a war machine that stood taller than most of the buildings around them. "We need to support the troops with launchers. Bring up the APCs and get the guns trained downrange. We'll lay down a wall of suppression fire to keep the infantry disincentivized from shooting at our launchers."

"On it, Captain. Raina, let's go." Alanza said as she motioned for a group of troops to follow her. Raina was right on her side as Momiji kept the other troops grouped together as they kicked down the door to one of the buildings. "Raina, take a team and set up upstairs, the rest of you, secure windows and fire for suppression. I want to see them ducking."

Raina nodded, selecting a team of other machine gunners and leading them upstairs. Alanza set up to peer around the door frame, firing a few times to keep a few of the braver foes, hitting one in the shoulder and spinning them to the ground before they picked themselves up and ran back to cover, clutching their injured arm as they did so.

Alanza snapped back behind cover as the dull pop of rounds and spray of dirt began marching towards her. Piece of the wall snapped across her faceplate as the dust obscured her vision for a moment. Alanza was still wondering where their other battlemech had disappeared to as she heard the monstrous footsteps off to her left as the enemy had continued to advance despite the Devestator lobbing A/C 20 towards the Rifleman. The lack of response from the Wolfhound on the radio wasn't filling Alanza with confidence and she imagined the pilot of the Blackjack was feeling the heat in a big way.

Alanza watched as she saw a squad of the shoulder mounted SRM soldiers take position on a roof down the street, aim, and fire, losing the soldiers in the thick smoke from the weapons backblast as the missiles streaked out and the dull thump of explosions on metal echoed in her ears. Alanza spun around the door frame and fired, sending rounds downrange at the incoming infantry forces. Raina and the machine gunners in the second floor had been firing in long bursts, keeping everyone's heads down as Alanza could see the rounds snapping into the dirt of the hill her targets where using as cover.

"Can we get a squad to move around them? Head out the other side of the building and cut into their flank?" One of the other team leaders asked and Alanza gave a quick thumbs up, gathering a small squad of five and moving from her position to the rear of the building.

Alanza broke a window with the butt of her rifle, using the stock to sweep the remaining glass before vaulting through it and sprinting towards a retaining wall nearby. Her team followed as she motioned for two of them to make a wider arc and the rest to follow her as they spun, keeping low and moving quickly towards where the enemy fighters had taken cover. Alanza slowed her part of the team and watched as the wide arc team moved in almost directly behind the enemy and opened fire.

The fighters spun quickly and Alanza and her team moved forward, weapons raised as they opened fire, placing the enemy in a deadly crossfire. It was over in seconds, blood and viscera splattered like wet paint on the grass as Alanza threw up a thumb towards the building they had been using as cover. Alanza gathered her team and motioned for them to move back towards the building and the city, pausing a moment as the Wolfhound finally reemerged from the near-by woods and attacked the Rifleman in the back, lasers melting armor like a knife through hot butter. Alanza said nothing and jogged back into the building, her team and the other Canopian infantry that were with her waiting and discussing their next steps.

"Kitten, I think we need to sweep the rest of the town. It seems like most of the enemy infantry was moving in from the outskirts but I'd rather be sure." One of the other team leaders said, using Alanza's long held nickname.

"I agree, but we need to wait until that heavy metal is down. Don't want to keep dodging feet." Alanza said, getting a few nods. Alanza motioned for them to go upstairs to the roof and the infantry took positions, keeping weapons ready in case they were needed as they watched the battlemechs slug it out. Alanza didn't know much at all about 'mech combat other than what she had seen, but she figured the Rifleman pilot was realizing they were out of their element in such a close range brawl. Unless it was equipped with the LB/X style of autocannon anyway, she figured the Rifleman was more equipped to stay at a distance and snipe at enemies while someone else did the heavy push.

The Wolfhound was running circles around the heavier 'mech while the Blackjack stayed at a further distance and blasted armor off with its twin autocannons. The Devastator's massive cannons thundered again and one of the Rifleman's arms exploded into a twisted, mangled piece of scrap, getting a cheer from Alanza and the infantry with her. The enemy pilot was doing their best to backpedal and shield its more damaged side from the incoming Canopian fire.

The Wolfhound spun to a stop and triggered an alpha strike, the pulsing beams of coalescent light stabbing into the Rifleman's bulbous chest, armor melting and bubbling and Alanza saw a gout of sparks fly from one of the hits, black smoke pouring from it in thick clouds. The Blackjack, seeing the opening, adjusted its targeting and fired a volley of autocannon rounds, the slugs finding purchase in the open wound and the armor surrounding. A roiling fireball erupted, sending the black smoke exploding out as the Rifleman shuddered, stumbled awkwardly, and collapsed backwards onto the ground, the remaining ammunition for its weapons cooking off as it erupted into a large explosion, damaging the façade's of the closest buildings and even shattering the windows of the building Alanza and the infantry sat atop of.

The infantry cheered again as the mechwarrior called in the kill and another unit confirmed it. Alanza and the team leaders organized their members and began to secure the town as well as gathering the dead fighters from the field outside the wall and placing them in a row. It had been a decent ambush, the set-up anyway, but the execution had left the Canopians able to counterattack and ended the day with only a few injuries. Alanza paused as she passed the Rifleman, watching as the flames leapt up and licked at the sky, feeling the heat even through her BDU before moving on to secure the town and hopefully get home before the sun was completely down.