ARTRU
Planet's Surface - near Castle Nautilus
The snow swirled as the Leopard backed away into the sky leaving four BattleMechs; Kamea’s Kintaro, Vamp’s Centurion, Hysteria’s Jagermech, and the Quickdraw piloted by Big Sly. As the DropShip arced away into the sky Sumire’s voice came across the Op channel: “Good luck down there, all. I’ll be cruising in the upper atmosphere and monitoring your progress, just in case.”
“Roger that, Ms. Meyer,” Kamea replied, “Dr. Murad, have you had any luck connecting with Castle Nautilus’ computer?”
“Already on top of it, Lady Arano,” Farah responded from her place in engineering aboard the Argo, “The handshake is already established and I have command-line access. Door control is being a little finicky though.”
“Work fast, Doc,” Yang spoke from his position behind Kamea, “Riding in this rumble seat is like sitting on a jackhammer… in a sauna… on the sun. And Lady Arano’s piloting is… aggressive.”
“Would you prefer I cracked a window?” Kamea asked him sarcastically.
“Not really,” Yang answered, “I’m pretty sure all my sweat would immediately freeze and I’d be sitting on a buttsicle, but would it hurt to turn down the heat just a little bit?”
“Poor you,” Dr. Murad interrupted, unable to hear their in-cockpit conversation, “not to worry though, I think I’ve found a workaround for the problem. Get walking toward the main door and I’ll have them open by the time you get there.”
“Understood, doctor,” Kamea ignored Yang’s request, “do whatever you have to do. Lady Arano out.”
“You know, you might wanna use a code name or something for the radio traffic,” the MechTech offered, “you never know who might be listening.”
“Sound advice,” Lady Arano admitted advancing her Kintaro through the driving cold, “but other than our uninvited guests on approach who is out there to hear?”
“Does it matter?” Yang asked, “Ideally we’re in and out of this thing before anybody even thinks we might be here. Leaving a calling card would be outright foolish.” He absentmindedly looked around the cockpit, touching various knobs and controls within reach. “When we’re deployed Riana always uses codes based on roles; like CC for ‘Close Combat’ or Foxtrot Sierra for ‘Fire Support,’ we try never to use our names or what kind of Mech we’re driving.”
“Seems silly,” Kamea said dismissively, “your MechWarriors all use callsigns anyway. What’s the purpose of further obfuscation?”
“Let’s take Anvelt for example,” he explained, “if Lady Espinoza had heard ‘Hysteria’ over the comms don’t you think they would have directed all fire towards her?”
“Anvelt was tactical brilliance,” Kamea admitted, “but all that went over an open channel. Our Op channel is secured and encoded; a direct tight-beam signal between us,” she turned slightly to look over her shoulder at the MechTech, “even if our inbound intruders pick up our signal it would take days and quite a bit of luck to decode it.”
“Thing about people,” Yang stared out the small port window to his left, “we’re creatures of habit. Especially in stressful situations, if you can learn to do it the safe way, the right way then you don’t have to worry about slip-ups when it really counts.”
“Okay Chief,” Kamea chuckled, “you win. You’re absolutely right,” she keyed her mic, “All Lance switch to code designations for the remainder of mission.” She turned and looked back over her shoulder as the rest of the team acknowledged and grinned at Yang. “Is that better?”
“Yes, my lady,” Yang fidgeted in his seat, “that’s at least one less thing to worry about.”
“Okay,” Dr. Murad’s voice cut in, “the standard approach isn’t working; I’m inputting a valid ID but, for some reason, the door won’t budge.”
“That’s disconcerting,” Kamea replied, “what are we going to do?”
“I think I’ve found a work-around though,” Farah answered, “It’ll just be another moment…”
“Hey, uh, Lady Arano?” Yang began, wiping the back of his sweaty neck with a rag he kept in his pocket, “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”
“Is this really the time, Chief?” Kamea asked.
“Forgive me,” he mumbled, “I just don’t usually have time alone with you,” his eyes widened and he straightened in the rumble seat, “That came out wrong! That isn’t what this is about!”
Kamea giggled, “Relax, Chief Virtanen. Ask your question then.”
“Have you,” he began, pausing for a moment and searching for a better approach, “These past two weeks… they’ve been pretty tense, huh?”
Kamea sighed. “That they have been, Chief.”
“Listen, it probably isn’t my place to say and feel free to tell me to mind my own business,” he began, “but don’t take Riana’s attitude to hard. She’s been going through a lot and there’s probably a lot of stuff that you don’t know…”
‘There’s probably a lot of stuff that you don’t know,’ Kamea thought to herself.
“… but she’s actually completely dedicated to your Restoration.” Yang continued, “And I mean that. Sure she may have a bit of a checkered past but she’s completely devoted to you… to your cause… the Restoration, I mean.” Yang blushed unintentionally.
“I’ve never doubted her a moment,” Kamea interjected, “and I admire your loyalty to her. You care for her a great deal, don’t you Chief?”
“Hell yeah I do,” Yang answered immediately, “she brought this company back from the brink of ruin after we lost Commander Markham when the Capital District got bombed. I’ve watched her grow from this morose, near-suicidal pilot to a capable mercenary commander.” Yang’s tone was honest, if not a bit indignant, “We’re a family, my lady, no doubt. She’d put her life on the line for any one of us and we’d do the same. She’d do it for you too,” he paused a moment and then added, “and not just because you pay her.”
Kamea smiled. “I believe that, Chief Virtanen, I do. Sir Raju spoke very highly of her character when he suggested I take her into my guard and she hasn’t disappointed me.” Her smile faded as her thoughts drifted back to her coronation day. “She could have turned on me, after all she was a pirate at one point, but she stood with me and Sir Raju against impossible odds… never wavering.”
“I understand why you didn’t let her have her revenge,” Yang said softly, “just… be gentle with her. She’s got a lot of emotional baggage to unpack. She needs to avenge Sir Raju. If Lady Espinoza doesn’t face justice or gets off light then she’ll never be able to accept it or grow past this trauma.”
“I suppose she earned the callsign ‘Hysteria’ for a reason,” Kamea quipped.
“Heh,” Yang chuckled, “the Hysteria is the name of the Leopard that Sumire pilots.”
“Are you kidding me?” Kamea exclaimed, turning to look back at him.
“Serious as can be,” he laughed, “we haven’t had the heart to tell her.”
“She doesn’t know?” Kamea smiled, her mouth open wide.
“Nope, not yet,” Yang said, “one day the bank may call in the note on Hysteria and she’s gonna be so confused.”
“Aaaaaand I’ve got it,” Dr. Murad’s voice came over the channel again, “Okay, hang on a second. I’m going to try something.”
Suddenly a squelch of static burst across the comms. “Dr. Murad, what did you do?!” Darius’ voice was full of static, “The lights are flickering… my screen is dead…” His voice was suddenly cut off as the entire com went to white noise.
“Dr. Murad?” Kamea inquired, pressing the com, “Mr. Oliveira? Can anybody hear me?”
“We’ve got you,” Sly replied for the team.
“I can’t go direct with Actual,” Hysteria spoke for the first time, “Envoy, can you read us?”
“I can hear you,” Su’s voice lent them a measure of reassurance, “but the whole Argo’s gone dark! I’m not picking up a drive signature either… whatever Farah just did it must’ve knocked out her engines!”
“This is bad, bad,” Yang shifted nervously in the rumble seat, “if her engines sputtered before she died they could be in a decaying orbit!”
“We may need to abort,” Kamea admitted, “our priority has to be the Argo. We may need to get you back up to her…”
“Worry about it later!” Yang exclaimed, pointing past her head, “Those vents, in the rock! They’re spilling out drones!” He grabbed his headset and keyed his mic, “Be careful of those things; they’re armed to the teeth and coming in fast! And there are probably more where they came from!”
“Shit just got real, people,” Hysteria’s voice was cool and calculating as she assumed command, “Whatever Dr. Murad did it’s on her to fix it. Our priority is to get to those doors and protect Phoenix… at all costs. Understood?”
“Are those SLDF drones??” Sly exclaimed, “They still work??”
“Don’t really want to stick around and find out,” Hysteria moved her Jager out in front, “now MOVE!” As the Lance moved to obey radar signatures began to appear, tallying no less than half a dozen drones. “Striker can you get a sensor lock and get a feel for what we’re up against?” No sooner had she spoken than two PPC blasts came streaking in, narrowly missing Vamp’s Cent in the lead, but pelting it with long range missiles all the same.
“Oh that’s bad,” Sly reported, “that damn thing is eighty tons and has almost as much armor as I do!”
“Stay on mission,” Hysteria commanded, swiveling her Jager around to attack position, “I’ve got the rear.” She fired an alpha strike at the heavy drone that just took a shot at them. The AC/20 impacted first, tearing through the thing’s armor, and the AC/10 managed to get internal, destroying the drone. “Well, this might not be as bad as I thought!”
“Revenge, don’t get cocky,” Kamea reminded her, “just get to the doors and we can lay down suppressing fire until Actual gets them open!”
“I can take the hits,” Hysteria reassured her as a hail of pain streaked towards her. PPC shots, lasers, AC rounds, and a storm of missiles rained down on her, shredding armor and threatening to unbalance her.
“She needs help,” Sly turned to attack position, lighting up one of the drones but failing to destroy it.
“Zere’s only five of zem,” Vamp turned his Centurion around, “to ze Kommander!”
Kamea turned as well, all of them ignoring Hysteria’s pleas to continue to the door. The drones turned their guns on the rest of the lance, focusing especially on the two lighter Mechs; Kamea’s Kintaro and Vamp’s Cent. “We can’t stay out here in the open!” Yang protested, “If we don’t find harder cover we’re gonna get swamped! So what’s the plan?”
“Fall back and find an extraction point,” Sumire’s voice came over the Comms, “I’m getting you the hell out of there!”
“No!” Kamea protested, “We have to push forward to the doors; our only way out of this is through them. Dr. Murad willfix this; believe it!”
“But Phoenix,” Su began, “the Lance has already lost a ton of armor…”
“She’s right, Envoy,” Yang cut in, “an Outpost Castle like Nautilus could bring down a dozen Leopards; probably all at the same time. If you try to extract us it’ll blow you out of the sky. Instead try to get to Actual and find out what the hell is going on! If it really is gonna crash they will need emergency evac!”
“Damn it!” Sumire cursed, “you’re right. Stay alive down there! I’ll keep trying to get Farah on the comms. Worst case scenario I can get a lot of people out on the Leopard… I just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Do that!” Yang swiveled to get a better look out of the cockpit, “For now we’ve got to get our heads back in the game!” Within a few moments only one heavy drone remained… and it was at distance.
“Everyone, fall back!” Hysteria ordered, “I will post up here and wait until it gets into range.”
“Zat monster has two PPCs,” Vamp warned her.
“I know, CC,” Hysteria said as she lined up a shot from her AC/10, “I just need him to get in range of the Kaliyama and his ass it mine!”
“Hysteria,” Kamea’s voice was full of concern, “let him come to us. Take cover back here by the door, there’s no need to stand in the open.”
“I’ve got this, Phoenix,” she said as she lined up her shot and waited for it to approach, “I’ll take it out and be to you in a second… trust me.”
“Let her do it,” Yang counseled off the air, “this is her way of trying to make things right with you. She wants to protect you, to defend you…”
‘She wants to love you,’ both of them thought at the same time. “Alright, Chief,” Kamea said, reluctantly taking cover near the door, “everyone, get in cover, just in case.”
The moment the heavy drone pulled into range Hysteria let another dual AC/20-AC/10 strike fly. It was overkill, but effective. “Tango down,” she grinned with satisfaction, “Alright, I’m coming to you. Hold position.” But no sooner had the words escaped her lips than the vents opened once more.
“Look, over there!” Yang cried out as the pillars they were hiding behind began to shift and move, “The damned castle is activating turrets!!”
“Commander there’s a shitload of new drone activity erupting out of those vents,” Sly warned, even as he repositioned away from the turret that emerged next to him, “you’ve got to get out of there… NOW!”
“I see it,” Hysteria grimaced. Her ammo count was starting to dwindle and the armor on her entire torso and arms was almost entirely gone, yet out from the vents new enemies flooded. In moments another half dozen drones were bearing down on her, “Take out those turrets!” she commanded, spinning around, “I’m coming in full sprint!”
“Roger zat, Kommander!” Vamp backed away and leveled one turret. Across the field from him Sly struggled to take down another. “We are getting zem clear now.”
“Hurry home, Hysteria,” Kamea turned and fired at an elevated turret above the door, “it’s getting cold out.”
“As you command, my lady,” Hysteria’s voice practically purred, “Revenge is yours.” Suddenly her Jagermech jolted followed by an ear-splitting report. Alarms went off all around her cockpit as the reactor beneath her exploded. All around her shrapnel erupted through the cockpit and before she could get her wits about her, her Mech sailed, face first, to the planet’s surface.
“COMMANDER!!!” Sly screamed, torn between rushing to her aid and finishing off the turrets, “Phoenix, she’s down… she’s down hard!”
“Hysteria!!” there was a desperation in her voice as Kamea roughly shifted her Mech around one hundred-eighty degrees and took off at a sprint, throwing Yang back hard into his seat, “Get those turrets down I’m going to get her!” Despite collective protests of ‘My lady’ Kamea silenced them with: “That’s an order!” as she continued to charge, headlong, into fire.
“Phoenix, I’m reading bingo life support,” Sly said grimly, finally eliminating one turret and turning on the final one, “if she’s still alive she’s gonna freeze to death is we don’t get her out of there!”
“Finish up and then move to cover me!” Kamea commanded as Yang pointed out six incoming bogeys. She switched over to her direct channel with the Jager, “Riana!! Riana, my god, are you there? Can you hear me?!”
“Here,” came a weak reply, full of static, “busted up good. It’s so cold.”
“Thank god!” Kamea exclaimed, sliding to a halt just in front of the ruined Jagermech, “Can you get out or do I need to come get you?”
“Caught a lot of shrapnel,” Riana struggled with her harness, “but the impact knocked out my ferro-glass entirely. I can crawl out.”
“Well hurry up!” Yang yelled, no longer able to contain himself, “we’re still under heavy fire!” He started to fumble with his own harness, “Open up, I’m going after her.”
Kamea guided her Kintaro into a near-squatting position, “This is going to be cold, Chief, you sure you don’t want me to get her?”
“You hold off those drones,” Yang squeezed next to the pilot’s seat, ready to move with a purpose, “she’ll never make this climb on her own and I can move faster with this cybernetic arm.”
“Go get my girl, Chief,” Kamea’s eyes were misted, catching the MechTech off-guard, “she can’t die here!”
“As you command,” he nodded resolutely, taking a deep breath as Kamea opened the front of the Kintaro. Without fear he leaped out, using his mechanical arm to slow his descent, sparks flying off as his hand slid down the structure of the BattleMech. He landed in the snow and immediately sank to his waist, charging ahead anyway. As he approached he saw Riana emerge from the Jager. She was clearly disoriented and the rivulet of blood running down her face crystallized before his eyes. She stumbled forwards and inhaled, her hands immediately going to her throat as the pain of the frozen air sent daggers of pain down her windpipe. Yang threw himself forwards, practically bulldozing through the snow as explosions and lasers flew all around them. He finally got close enough to grab her, wrapping his natural arm around her as he turned and raced back though the path he’d made. The heat from a missile impact against the Kintaro’s torso was both welcoming and worrisome until Yang realized that Kamea had resealed her cockpit after he jumped out. “Hold on tight,” he said with the last of his air, trying to slowly inhale another breath but the stinging pain of it was almost unbearable. Reaching as high as he dared he jerked both of them upwards as Kamea opened the cockpit once more. Together they leapt up to the top of the Mech’s knee and he grabbed for another handhold, pulling them up to the landing created by the open pilot’s bay.
“Riana!!” Kamea cried as Yang pulled both of them up. She began to unbuckle her harness but Yang waved her off so instead she waited, impotently, as the MechTech squeezed by her, towing Hysteria behind him so that he could cradle her in his lap. She turned and reached out to the mercenary commander but, for her part, Riana was in shock and unresponsive. Her eyes were glazed and she struggled weakly for breath.
“Close up and get us out of here!” Yang said in a hoarse voice, his face pale and covered in frost. Kamea turned and moved to close the hatch but gasped at the incoming salvo of missiles streaking towards them.
“Oh shit!” she exclaimed, grabbing the stick and swiveling to the right just as the first of the missile impacted.
“PHOENIX!!” Sly screamed as he charged towards the fray. As he watched the entire front of the Kintaro was covered in a fiery explosion and the Mech pitched backwards, crashing down to the ground on its back. “LADY ARANO!!!” he cried, “LADY ARANO!! CAN YOU HEAR ME??!!”
(To be continued)
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