by P W Hillard
“Ready?” Xander said, tucking his weapon tight against the shoulder of his suit.
“Are you ever really ready for a fight? Something unexpected always happens,” Meg said. Despite her statement, she was readying her mech, getting into a position where she could leap over the ridge.
“Well, this time hopefully the unexpected is us. We go on three.”
Beyond the ridge, the defenders of the base were getting into position. They had detected a ship incoming, heading right for them and were angling themselves to try and intercept the craft. Laser turrets on the walls swivelled upwards, whilst mechsuits crouched in place, their guns angled to the sky. They waited, bracing themselves for the assault they knew was going to come.
It wasn’t what they expected. There was a brilliant flash of light as the great metal doorway set into the ice superheated. It exploded, the doors shattering into thousands of searing fragments as the expanding metal lost its fight against the ancient glacier. This was a particular problem for the group of mechs who had raced into position behind the door ready to support their comrades outside and were waiting right next to the door for it to open. The wall of hot metal punched through their suits, shredding them instantly.
“OK, three I guess!” Xander said, leaping over the edge of the ridge. His feet met the ice on the other side and his mech began to slide down the slope towards the base, his cannon firing as he moved. The effect had been much more impressive than he had expected, and he took advantage of the confusion amongst the enemy QTs, immediately taking one out with his first salvo.
It was hard not to be impressed with the shot. High above, sitting in a stationary orbit within the blind spot, the Sunchaser had aimed its single laser cannon. The powerful weapon was designed to engage other starships, its use on ground targets restricted by the articles of war, the draconian system of fines enforced by the core worlds. Strictly speaking, Cyclops was an unclaimed world, and as a terrorist organisation, Black Rose had no protections under the articles.
The destruction before Xander was a testament as to why laser bombardments were so heavily restricted. All that was left of the doorway was rapidly cooling slag, thick gouts of steam wafting into the air from the melting ice around it. Despite the distorting effect of the atmosphere, the invisible beam had still been enough to punch through the meters thick door like it was tissue paper. Xander found himself very glad that the same rules that allowed mercenaries to operate prevented the widespread use of such tactics. The entirety of known space would have been melted to glass by now.
Xander was halfway down the slope now, his mech still sliding down the ice, a thin layer of white dust flying out from behind him. He kept firing, his shots taking out two of the laser turrets atop the wall easily. Meg soared past him on his right, using her jump jets to launch herself from the slope and over the wall of the compound.
Whilst in the air Meg could see a cluster of men in cold weather gear sprinting across the courtyard from inside one of the warehouses. The structure of the warehouse nearest the door had shielded the others from the blast, protecting the people inside. They were running towards the tanks, no doubt intending to switch the machines on and join the fight.
Meg's suit landed with a crash, the heavy metal cracking the concrete beneath it. She went to work quickly, spraying rounds at the crews racing towards their tanks. This is what Meg was specialised for, dealing with enemy infantry. Her weapon spat death at a terrifying rate, spraying shots that reduced the crewmen to a fine red mist on impact. It was brutal but effective.
“Xander, we've got a warehouse on fire here,” Meg said. The building that had screened the others was ablaze, the hot metal setting it alight.
“We were going to lose something!” Xander had reached the wall, bracing his suit up against it as he took shots around the corner. There were two enemy mechs there, pinning him down. He had lost sight of the last remaining mechsuit, and he was expecting it to flank him at any moment.
“Heads up, darlings,” Candice said over the radio. “Cavalry’s here!”
***
Candice had to admit it was a bold plan. It was certainly a story she would share across the pilot bars for years to come. Racing through the atmosphere with armoured war machines in the belly of her ship was the norm for Candice. Flying so close to the deadly laser beam fired from the Sunchaser above definitely wasn’t. The orbital strike was timed to hit just before the dropship would arrive, the intention to throw the defenders in disarray.
Making the plan work relied on Candice. The firing of the beam was pre-arranged for a set moment in time. If she was too fast on her descent the angle of the shot would mean that the Summer Breeze would be in the path of the laser. Too slow and the team on the ground risked being overwhelmed. Despite its reflective armour coating, the dropship wouldn’t survive a strike from a shipborne weapon.
When she had been asked if she could do it, Candice had said yes. She didn’t want to disappoint the people who had given her a chance, but privately she wasn’t sure. Candice had learnt that the Paladins were comprised of a mixture of former freelancer mercenaries, pirates and corporate workers, a unique blend of different cultures coming together. If Candice was being polite then the Paladins and their plans would be unorthodox. If she was being honest then she would describe them as insane. Candice liked insane.
“Heads up, darlings,” Candice said, wiping sweat from her brow. She had managed it, the heat from the beam cutting through the air and warming the cockpit. “Cavalry’s here!”
The engines of the dropship swivelled on their mounts, pointing downwards as belly jets fired in unison. Alarms blared as the remaining laser turrets snapped off shots at the new target, their crews scrambling to fire. It didn’t matter, the yield on the weapons wasn’t enough to penetrate the armour of the aircraft. There was a loud rumble as the side doors opened, ready to disgorge the contents of the Summer Breeze.
“Let's go, honeys. Time's a wasting.” The dropship needed to be in and out as fast as possible. Without it, the deployed mercenaries were stuck on a hostile planet.
“Moving out,” Anya said, her mechsuit detaching from its moorings and jumping down to the ground below. The clang was audible even over the roar of the dropship’s engines. A moment later and Alexi followed. The Summer Breeze shifted slightly, gaining height as its weight dropped by several tons. “We’re clear,” Anya said. “You’re free to move out.”
“Gotcha, darling. Summer Breeze pulling out.” Candice glanced at the battle unfolding before her. One of the warehouses had caught fire, searing shards of metal slicing into it. The great door set into the ice was now a gaping wound in the planet, metal steaming as it rapidly cooled. She turned the controls in her hands, spinning the aircraft to face away from the mountain. As she did, she could make out Xander’s mech taking cover around the corner of the base’s wall, whilst to the left of him, moving to flank, was an enemy mech.
Candice smiled and flicked a switch on the dashboard before her. There was a clunk as something below her feet slid into place, unfurling from beneath the nose of the Summer Breeze. It was a modification, the original intention of the feature was to mount a camera system so the Chariot model could fly recon for the large squad of mechs it was designed to drop. Candice had fitted something considerably more explosive in its place. The rocket pod was a boxy thing, its payload slotted alongside each other in neat rows.
“My Paw-Paw always said if you want to get in anywhere, you should just knock. Six away.”
Candice squeezed the trigger on her control stick, tapping it repeatedly to launch the missiles in a rippling wave. She fired a full salvo, emptying the contents of the pod, the rockets shrieking through the air and crashing into the concrete wall.
The first rocket weakened the wall, whilst the second caused a section to shatter, the concrete exploding outwards. This came as a shock to the Black Rose mech creeping along beside it in their attempt to sneak up behind Xander. The shards of concrete crashe
d into the mechsuit, followed swiftly by the rest of the rocket barrage. The blasted suit twitched beneath its makeshift cairn, the final death spasms of its rider snaking their way through the wetware and into mechanical joints.
“Thanks for the support, Summer Breeze,” Xander said, firing another shot around the corner. “Now get the hell out of here.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice, Summer Breeze leaving the AO. Good luck, y’all.” The engines of the dropship fired, the aircraft accelerating quickly and vanishing behind the nearby ridge. Whilst the powerful engines of the ship were capable of launching it directly upwards, breaking the bonds of gravity and escaping to orbit, Candice didn't. Instead, she flew directly away from the base on a course towards the blind spot. The enemy would have a good idea where the Sunchaser was, after all, there weren't many places a starship could hide, but Candice had no intentions of giving away its exact position.
“Great job, Summer Breeze,” Anya said. Direct praise was rare from her, Anya was a hard woman to impress. She stomped forward, her shoulder cannon sliding onto place as she snapped off shots with it, destroying the last of the turrets. One of the crews tried to flee, emerging from their turret control room at the base of the wall, only to meet a fiery end from one of Anya’s lasers.
“High praise indeed. Xander, I’m moving to support,” Alexi said, running through the gap blasted into the wall by the dropship.
“Got it. Anya, cover that doorway. There's a good chance there are some reinforcements on the way.” Xander peered around the corner, keeping his opponents pinned. Despite his efforts, they had managed to advance towards him.
“On your left, Cain.” Alexi bolted past, the shots from the enemy QTs following him. He returned fire, strafing around to keep the attention of the enemy. It was a daring move, exposing himself totally to the enemy. Alexi was putting his trust in Xander, expecting his comrade to act as he expected.
Xander didn’t let him down. He turned around the corner and crouched, stabilising his mech as best he could as he opened fire. There was no single shot, no controlled burst, Xander didn’t have time for that, needing to drop both opposing mechsuits quickly, before they could take Alexi out of the fight. He depressed the trigger, a mental signal transmitting through his wetware, into his mech and then into the weapon itself. Xander unleashed the weapon on full auto, blasting away at the enemy.
The storm of fire raked across the ground of the nearest QT, sparks flying from the armour as rounds crashed against it. One found purchase, punching through the torso at the upper right, blowing a hole in the shoulder that severed the arm and sent the mechsuit tumbling to the ground. He switched targets, swapping to the other enemy mech. Rounds bounced off its armour until Xander saw an alarm flash in his screen. Ammunition depleted.
“Shit, I’m out. Alexi?”
“On it!”
Alexi stopped moving, planting his feet firmly against the ground. His newly install launcher fired, a missile screaming from the tube and exploding against the Black Rose mech. It hit the upper thigh, the armour-piercing projectile shredding the outer armour layer. It was superficial damage, but the force of the blast caused the enemy mech to slip on the ice, falling onto its back with a crash.
Xander was on it in moments, sliding his field knife free from the compartment inside his leg and sliding the blade into the torso of the fallen mech.
“I told you it would be fine,” Alexi said.
“Is he going on about that missile launcher I gave him?” Anya said.
“Probably, boys and their toys,” Meg added.
“He’ll need it. We’ve got more hostiles coming through these doors.” The sound of Anya’s cannons spinning up could be heard over the radio. “Get ready.”
Chapter Fourteen
The enemy was coming, sprinting down the corridor behind the melted door, metal feet slamming against the floor. Ahead of them was the tangled wreckage of the first wave of reinforcements, their suits obliterated by the suddenly superheated metal. There was four of them, each QT rushing towards the opening. They had weapons ready, the enemy had made the wrong decision to attack this base. Each Black Rose rider would die to defend it, protecting the facility with their lives. It was a desire Anya was happy to make real.
She stood in the doorway, her mech standing with a wide stance. From the backs of her heels, large spikes had thrust into the ground, planting her mechsuit in place. Her arms were raised, the rotary barrel of each cannon slung beneath her arms spinning furiously. She looked like a mythic guardian, a wall of living metal standing sentry over her domain. Anya's suit was built for this, a heavily armoured beast designed to stand before an oncoming storm and let the enemy crash against it. She watched the enemy for a moment, calculating their paths in her mind. Anya let a smile creep across her lips as she squeezed the trigger, her wetware turning thought into action.
It was always the noise that struck people first, the loud buzzing of rounds being fired at an incredible pace. They were spat from the spinning barrels with a fury that filled the air, a sound that could only mean death and anguish. The cannons launched a stream of deadly fire, a wall of metal that raced to meet the Black Rose mechs coming out of the doorway.
The front two went down first, impacts cascading across them, armour tearing like paper as it was hit again and again with heavy blows. With every shot more of the metal sheared away, until only a smoking wreck tumbled backwards, a set of legs with their torsos torn open as if from some enormous clawed beast.
Anya didn’t relent, she couldn’t. This close to the enemy and planted in position, even her extra armour wouldn’t save her for long if she stopped firing. There was only one option now, keep shooting. It was kill or be killed, and Anya hadn’t survived as a mercenary as long as she had by letting the other guy make that choice. With every shot she could see her ammunition counters ticking downward, the numbers rapidly decreasing in the corners of her vision. After running out back on Hades, Anya had tried to be more conservative in her ammo spend. She knew it wasn’t the time for such caution, the doorway providing her with a perfect killing zone. Anya didn’t know how many enemy mechs there were, hidden within the glacier, but if she could take out this squad it had to at least hurt the enemy forces.
The remaining two Black Rose mechs tried to evade, strafing towards the walls of the tunnel. They snapped off shots as the they did, the rounds plinking off Anya's armoured hide. Their opponent stood firm, unfazed by the return fire.
Anya tracked them as they moved, an arm following each of the enemy mechsuits as they tried to dodge the storm of bullets. They were showing their inexperience, running in one direction towards the walls rather than moving in a serpentine pattern. They were pinning themselves in, getting caught between the concrete lining of the walls and the spray of deadly cannon fire following them. It was over moments later, both shredded within seconds of each other.
“Looks like you didn’t need our help after all,” Xander said. His suit had run across the courtyard, entering through the hole blown into the wall by the Summer Breeze. “Good work, Anya.”
“There could be more,” Alexi said. “Shit, I think there should be more. Look at the size of this door! How did the guild miss this when they decided to build their station?”
“We couldn’t see it from orbit. Whoever built this place picked a damn good location. This gives us a real issue though.” Xander moved his suit close to the doorway, leaning against the ice and peering around the corner. “Anya just blew away four mechs because they were enclosed in this corridor, they walked into a kill zone.”
“Just the way I like it,” Anya said. “But I get where you’re going with this. If we try and advance into this base, we’re doing the same thing.”
“Nothing unusual for us,” Meg said. She had taken up a position opposite Xander, her suit crouching down as it squeezed up against the wall. “Back on Hades, we had to push through that tunnel to get to that train. This is no different.”
“Except that time, we had another squad of mercenaries alongside us, and drones to scout ahead. We’re going in blind here.” Anya released the spikes anchoring her to the ground, her suit rocking back and forth slightly in response. “Taking that kind of risk seems like bad business.”
“We don’t have any choice,” Xander said. “We don’t find those prisoners; we don’t get paid. Besides, backing out of a contract is bad, backing out on a contract with the guild is worse. We don’t do this, and the Paladins might as well be over. No one would employ us after that, and it isn’t like we’ve got people clamouring to do it at the moment.”
“We’ve got another problem,” Alexi said. His head unit was following the outline of the tunnel, taking in its proportions through its camera lenses. “These prisoners, they got taken from the guild station being built in orbit, right?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“Well, I’m no expert-”
“Oh, we know,” Meg said.
“But,” Alexi continued, ignoring the jibe, “there’s no way dropships fit through this tunnel, right? They would be too wide?”
Xander took another look at the concrete shaft inserted into the ice. Alexi wasn’t wrong. It was wide enough for four mechsuits to walk side by side, but that still wasn’t enough space for a dropship to fly through.
“Alexi is right,” Anya said, voicing Xander’s thought. “For once.” There was a chuckle over the radio. Gentle ribbing between comrades was a mercenary tradition, the sign of a bond forged in the heat of conflict. “This means there has to be another entrance, somewhere they can launch dropships from.”
“And if they can launch dropships, there could be air support and reinforcements on us soon. We would have enemies in front and behind us in that tunnel,” Xander said. “Amazing, could this get any more of a pain?”
“Oh, it definitely can,” Meg said. She pointed upwards at something behind Xander.
