Chapter 11.1
Seras
Well-known member
Chapter 11.1 Phantom of the SLDF
3022
Phecda
In Orbit.
“No, I don't care what your commanding officer says. We are landing!” I growled into the radio. Phecda. Fucking Phecda. I forgot!
It was an easy thing to forget. I mean the chance to copy a Colossus and ‘pretend’ it was in perfect condition was too much for me. But Phecda has a certain fact that I forgot.
52 days from jump point to planet.
If that long ass trip wasn’t bad enough. Phecda was no longer a normal planet, due to the lack of supplies and other issues, it’s population was almost gone, only it’s use as a military position kept it relevant. It also meant to land, I was going up the chain of people who are supposed to deny any landing due to the constant threat of League raids.
But I did not travel 52 days out of my way to turn around.
“Yes I will hold!” I roared into the receiver.
“Commander, perhaps a moment to relax?”
“I am two minutes away from calling the Archon. I can do that now. I have the power.” I hissed into the bridge. My kids were smiling at my threat, but the Captain and the non Orphan crew looked rather pale at the very idea.
They knew it wasn’t an idle threat. I did just spend more than a week hanging out on the Triad. A few had even seen the Archon see me off before we lifted off.
She didn’t hug me! She didn’t! Anyone who says otherwise is a filthy traitor breaking a vow of silence!
Of course my kids knew I was just blowing off steam and not threatening people with the Archons attention.
A crackle came over the radio. “This is Hauptmann General Paul Aleman. Of the 5th Donegal Guards. We are not accepting civilian landings at this time.”
“Good thing I’m not a civilian then Hauptmann General. I am Victoria Eisen-Blume, Iron Blooded Orphans Mercenary Company. I am landing for a job. It doesn’t have anything to do with your factory. But I am going to need to land.”
There was a moment of silence before I got a response. “Please understand Commander. We are securing this site because we believe another League raid is incoming. We can’t risk having an unknown dropship land.”
“For- Hauptmann General, I am going to land. That is what is going to happen. If you need to ensure I don’t have a League raid hidden in my holds please. Tell me to land somewhere you have fully secured. I'll allow an inspection. I only have a Demi-Lance of mechs on board, my own and another. That’s it. We are both on the same side. If a raid happens while I am down there, you can be assured my guns will be aimed at the same enemy. But I didn’t come all this way to be turned away.”
“Commander, I am securing a factory site that has been raided seven times in the last two years. You are not landing on my-” The call cut off.
“What happened?” I demanded to our radio operator who blinked at me owlishly. “I don’t know Commander. Call ended. Let me try to get them back.” He muttered, pushing a few buttons.
But not only did the call not go through there wasn’t even a connection being established.
“Commander. I’ve seen this before.” The radio operator who wasn’t one of my kids, although there was Sandy sitting beside him learning. “This is ECM interference. I’ve just tried cycling through every connection point on the surface, nothing is responding because it’s being blocked.
“So we just walked into the middle of a raid.”
“... Possibly.”
“Captain. I heard the Hauptmann General request assistance before the call was cut, didn’t you? Better get us down there. I’ll be readying my mech for battle.”
“Understood Commander. Battle Stations! We are beginning re-entry!”
—-
I hate re-entry. By the time the Dropship landed in probably the roughest landing I have ever experienced from a drop I was quite ready to just surrender and call this whole battle off.
But I couldn’t. Giving up just wasn’t in my makeup.
My radio crackled. “Commander, you should let me come with!” Eris demanded from inside her Thunderbolt, but I nixed that.
“No, I want you to stay around the dropship just in case.”
“Commander! Going out by yourself is suicide! Let me at least watch your back.”
“Lieutenant. Have some faith in your Commander. You never got a chance to really see what I can do, have you?”
“I’ve seen the recordings of you on Tharkad Commander, you are better than I expected, but you aren’t an elite.”
“Ah see, there is where you are wrong. You are comparing me on a VR run to an actual battle. Relax. If you feel you need to, follow me out, but stay around the Dropship. I need to get some practice in with my new ride.”
“Dammit. Understood!” The radio ending with a crackle as close to slamming a receiver we could do. But I shrugged. Eris didn’t know about the sensor yet, she didn’t have one in her Thunderbolt, so she couldn’t come, she would just get in the way of my plan.
The opening of the Hangar door caused a massive blast of snow and wind to rush in, immediately my cockpit frosted over, and it was only through my sensors that I managed to see anything. Not that it mattered. I had already finished plugging in my good sensor in the cockpit so when I stomped out of the dropship. Into the frozen tundra. I was already tracking my first target.
Two thunderous shots disappeared into the snow. The two circular paths blown through the snow were the only sign of the shot to a normal eye.
The Spider mech that had been scouting went down, its reactor disengaging.
“Captain. If you feel the dropship is in danger you are to get out of here, and enter orbit until I give you word. Understood?” I radioed back to the ship as I stomped into the snow, although I slipped slightly on the snow before taking a few more steps slowly getting a feel for the difference in terrain.
“Understand Commander. God Speed.”
“I don’t need speed, Captain.”
I flipped a switch, and the mech went into passive sensor mode. Everything but my special sensor turned off. It would make me very difficult to spot, especially in this weather. While I could see them just fine. I took a moment to look over the battle. It was definitely a raid. And I could see that unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the battle to be able to protect the factory.
But I could do something else.
With an especially feral grin I turned a bit more to the right. Straight towards the Union that was definitely a FWL dropship. Stomping through the ice and snow I stalked my prey.
As I moved. I kept my eye on the battle itself. Despite being outnumbered the defenders were doing their best but they were too cut off. Many of the defenses were split up to protect the factory. I had to move quickly. Which wasn’t something that a 95 ton assault mech was great at. But finally I reached my target. At the max distance of my weapons, well outside any danger of return fire I opened up. First with my ERPPC to zero in my shots. And then adding my two Gauss into the rotation.
Not long after my first round I started noticing radio transmissions being sent out by the Union. But my Sensor told me all the story I needed. They were trying to buy time. Their engines were heating up as they were planning on trying to get away.
I continued firing until finally my weapons fire hit something serious. The entire Union shut down. And only when I was sure of my target being inactive did I turn, heading towards the battle that was disrupted now that the raiders were getting messages of their dropship being under fire.
I stalked through the blizzard, where everyone else was fighting blind I was omniscient. And the enemy paid for that. Once I was in range. The enemy were already in danger despite the complete lack of sight, as the snow blurred everything into fuzzy white.
Another ERPPC shot rang out and a moment later two hypersonic slugs. The Snow melted as the ERPPC burned a hole through the flurry. The Wolverine that had been duking it out with a Lyran Zeus and winning, after the Zeus had face tanked an entire Lances fire, never even saw the shots that smashed into its side. The sudden explosion ended it’s fight as it’s SRM ammo went up with the shot.
From there the Zeus, searching for the ally that helped it, was ignored. I moved to the next target. Still stomping forward. I only stopped in a stutter step. The same one Hanna had taught me to align my weapons before firing another triple shot.
The Marauder which was probably the command mech of the raiders was luckier. It was a 3M so it had some hefty armor. But it wasn’t enough. Instead the Marauder found it’s left side ripped apart in a salvo that sent the pilot who had been focused on one of the defenders' Hunchback smashing into the snow. The Slugs had knocked the mech entirely onto its side.
It was scrambling back to its feet a moment later, even as the Hunchback was trying to capitalize on the sudden distraction. Unfortunately the Hunchback was in more dire straits than he had realized, or the Marauder pilot was simply that much better, because despite having lost half it’s mech managed to scramble upwards and unleash a large laser and AC/5 shot that went internal and the Hunchback curled over itself as it’s fusion engine shut down.
My second burst of ERPPC lightning only just missed as the Marauder shifted, one of the Gauss rounds still hit, ripping a tunnel through the remaining right arm. I could tell the Large laser was down by the way the Marauder suddenly began retreating desperately trying to find cover.
Unfortunately for him the tundra we were in was mostly flat. I shot again, this time missing entirely, as the Marauder was doing everything he could to juke my fire, but seeing where it came from as the ERPPC burned a hole through the snow, he fired back. His AC/5 shots landed nowhere close but that was fine. I ignored him for a moment. Angling my nose past him.
The Griffin that was currently shooting PPC fire into the factory suddenly got a shock as a Gauss round shattered across it’s PPC the pilot not expecting his PPC to simply disappear as he was shooting it nearly fell over but instantly burned his Jump jets to reposition hoping to escape.
I aimed for where he was landing and fired my ERPPC. The Griffin took the shot straight on as it landed and I didn’t bother to focus on him anymore. Instead I continued stomping forward. Sure, staying at a distance would be the best way to handle this. Slowly picking off the enemy at range. But there was more at stake here than that.
It was a full company that dropped on this factory, and two other lances were still actively firing on the buildings, when they weren’t fighting off the reinforced lance of the defenders.
They needed a distraction. So I took the risk. I continued stomping forward in passive mode. Until I was nearly on top of the Marauder, Switching out of passives just as I came into visual range I got to see the mech do a little jump as it realized what had just come out of the snow. My ERPPC and dual Medium Pulse lasers shattered whatever remained of it’s armor. The mech fell to the ground Fusion engine powering down.
The Marauder was a good mech, but the Nightstar was literally it’s big brother. I could see in real time as the enemy Lances noticed my existence. The battlelines shifted, in favor of the defenders, but I was facing an entire Lance of angry League raiders.
Feeling cheeky I decided I might as well put on a show. I flipped my radio on. Broadcasting loudly into the snow. “I am the Phantom of the StarLeague. Come.” Then a triple shot through the snow smashed into a second Griffin that was in the lead for charging toward me. The shot thundered, tearing armor, smashing components. In the end, The Griffin, a mech that had only taken light damage before, simply fell to the snow. I had cored it.
My Gauss continued to bark as the enemy charged. The Lance unfortunately dodged my next few shots. They must have realized by now that while they couldn’t see me, I could see them. So they were dodging, hard. I didn’t have enough practice hitting actively dodging mechs. But that was fine. I was distracting an entire Lance of mechs from their objective. I could already see the defenders falling onto the last Lance and starting to clean up.
They may have been a little angry.
But I soon had to ignore them, focusing fully on my battle.
Four mechs remaining. The first Griffin that only had an LRM left. A Vulcan. A phoenix Hawk, and a Centurion. Although this was the base Centurion-A model that had an autocannon. Which I learned when an AC/10 round shattered against my mechs shoulder.
I wiggled the limb realizing it hadn’t gone internal, and returned fire. This time, I didn’t miss but I wasn’t quite as on point. The Three shots hit three different spots, although that didn’t mean he didn’t feel it. I didn’t take the time to focus on him though.
They had gotten into visual range. The Phoenix hawks Large laser flashed out, in return I sent an ERPPC blast against him which he dodged, meaning his laser only barely burned against my armor before the mech was dodging away.
But I switched targets. Just before the Vulcan got into visual range. I moved towards him. Firing round after round into the snow.
I grunted as the Griffin was now able to lock me. LRMs exploding against my armor. I ignored it. Focusing on one target at a time.
The poor pilot didn’t even have time to realize that I had turned my focus towards him before the Gauss rounds hit, shattering chunks of his armor and instantly putting his mech into the danger zone. The fact I kept charging even as he faltered meant that by the time he saw me, I was already nearly on top of him.
Now I can’t normally catch a Vulcan, but twin Medium Pulse Lasers were more than capable of cutting his leg off at the knee as I continued to charge in. Falling into the snow, I didn’t hesitate, and I got to hear The Pilot literally screaming on the radio as I let my Nightstar stomp onto his other leg. Lowering one arm until my Gauss was pointing down.
The Incredibly loud thunder of a Gauss rifle at point blank range caused the snow around us to ripple outward. The Vulcan was done. I turned to the Phoenix Hawk who had been going off on my Nightstar while I was distracted. He was trying to keep out of range of my Medium Pulse lasers, but that simply made it easy for my nose to catch up with him. The ERPPC flash burned just skimming past him but one of the Gauss rounds punched in sending the bouncing Phoenix Hawk into the snow.
I grunted another LRM 10 shattering armor, Then another, and then Mediums and an AC/5. Apparently the Centurion was still willing to brawl.
My armor was nearly stripped at some points. Those LRMs had been chewing through me and I had a few points that were basically already internal just waiting for a hit.
I double Gaussed the Centurion. Both slugs on point. I don’t know what I hit, but the way the Centurion fell to pieces he wasn’t worth any more attention. I switched my focus on the biggest threat, the Phoenix Hawk.
It became a game of cat and mouse. I could keep the Phoenix Hawk in my sights even when he tried to disappear into the snow. But the mech was fast, and he was good. He kept his visual on me, waiting to see where I was aiming. He was dodging every shot. Even if it meant his own Large laser only did minimal damage.
That didn’t matter because I was being worn down. LRM 10 rounds constantly falling on me. Although I was winning this battle of attrition. The Phoenix Hawk was starting to heat up after all. But I managed to trick him. Waiting for him to be in the right spot I turned my focus from him to just to the side, firing into the snow.
The Griffin pilot thought he was safe.
The shattering of armor in the distance told another story. The Phoenix Hawk realized he was alone. Standing across from an angry assault mech.
Unfortunately. There was no escaping this. I had already taken out the dropship. These raiders knew that. Was it a mistake? Maybe. But these guys were attacking an unacceptable target.
They needed to learn that had repercussions.
The silence between the two of us staring at each other definitely benefited the Hawk more than me. He was cooling down even as our stare off continued but this had turned into a moment between two warriors. Then in a flurry that cut us both off from sight of each other we both moved.
Medium Pulse lasers flashed out, burning through where he had been, the Large laser shooting down from above gave me a sightline. My ERPPC returned fire even as he juked turning off his Jump jets for a moment to drop.
The two Gauss rounds spinning into the snow as he landed, bending forward and actually using a second burst of jets to dodge. Then it was on. A flurry of dodging and juking, Any time he got arrogant enough to fire at me, I returned it. Meaning he spent a lot more time dodging my shots than firing back.
The one time his laser did finally go internal on my right torso, a few tons of Gauss ammo melted down, leaving me without my big guns.
A few minutes of this passed. Yeah that is how skilled this pilot was at dodging. Growing frustrated. I did the only thing I could think of. I switched back to passives, and stepped backwards. Watching in amusement as the Phoenix Hawk slowed as he lost sight of me.
The pilot was skilled, it was why he realized he was in serious shit when the assault mech he was tangling with basically disappeared in front of him.
He kept moving. Trying to get sight back on me, but unfortunately for him since he was now moving towards me. Well.
I was moving towards him too.
He only had half a second to realize that I was there when I burst out of the snow. I didn’t bother firing. Didn’t need to. His Phoenix Hawks jets fired but it was too late. I was too close.
I used my secret special move. I body checked him, but this time I wasn’t in my Locust. I was in 95 tons of angry.
The echoing *Thunk* of a Phoenix Hawk splattering across the side of my mech was very satisfying. Unfortunately this pilot was a badass. Despite the body check knocking him flat he actually started to get back up. Either I hadn’t hit him hard enough or this guy laughed in the face of concussions.
His Phoenix Hawk rose up and actually punched my Nightstar rocking my cockpit to the side, but thanks to my armor and my hefty mech that’s all it did. I turned, staring into his cockpit. I could just make out the pilot inside through the armored glass.
The glass which polarized as I fired my ERPPC. The pilot probably hadn’t quite put two and two together. That my remaining weapon wasn’t a normal PPC. I didn’t have a minimum range on mine. The mech's shoulder was burned straight through with blue fire, the entire arm giving way and sending the Phoenix Hawk back into the snow. This time, the pilot took the better part of valor and shut down. Signaling his surrender.
I flipped back to active sensors appearing on radar just as the defenders reached the battlefield.
“All clear. No active enemy presence remaining.”
I inform the group over the comms.
—-
An hour later I was enjoying a warm cup of coffee in the base's mess hall after the 5th had secured the raiders metal. I had been allowed to march my mech onto the small base the 5th were using and power down. I think they just wanted to be able to keep an eye on an assault mech that had just torn through two lances of mechs.
But that was fine. This planet was fucking cold.
Finally after a rather overlong wait a man entered the mess wearing what was obviously just got out of a mech, but it’s cold as shit outside attire.
“Commander Eisen-Blume?”
“I am.”
“Hauptmann General Aleman. I don’t know whether I should thank you, or yell at you. You took out the enemy's dropship. We were already doing a good job seeing them off when that happened. You realize you turned a minor skirmish into a knock on drag out fight?”
“I normally have no issues respecting etiquette, but attacking a factory producing water refineries is a bit beyond the pale.”
“That is for me to decide. Not you.” He grumbles as he takes a seat across from me. One of the mess hall cooks brought him a cup of warm coffee as well that he started sipping on. “We lost more metal than I am comfortable with. Even with Salvage, it will be a while before we can get spare parts out here. You may have stopped this raid, but what about the next one?”
“Are you sure there will be a next one? The League just lost a company of mechs, and a Union. Are you sure they will likely send over even more metal now?”
“Either way I have to assume the worst. You did me no favors today Commander.”
I considered that before smiling. “Maybe not today, General, but tomorrow?”
He looked confused at my statement but I just finished my coffee. “I still have a job to do here on Phecda.”
“Well I can’t hold you. I Contacted the LCAF command, they were very direct, you are free to move as you like. Never heard a general sound so urgent about this sort of thing before.” He said obviously digging.
“I can’t tell you much General, but I did just come directly from the Triad on Tharkad. We all have jobs to do.”
He was silent for a while. “Indeed we do.”
I rose. Grabbing my hat and coat. “I’m sure we will talk again soon.”
I walked out into the blizzard. Despite the weather, my ride had an audience. Every tech and mechwarrior on the base was standing out in the snow looking over my Lostech ride. The fact it was scarred and damaged did nothing to lower it’s intimidation. No, my Nightstar standing tall reminded me of an image of an old Lion I had once seen. He was bloody and wounded, but undeniably the victor of whatever battle he had just faced.
That was what my Nightstar looked like.
I climbed back into the cockpit and turned it towards where my dropship was still landed. My baby would need a checkup before I completed my job here.
—-
A different perspective
Gauge Blake
Red Base
Gauge was having a fairly normal day. His head buried in past knowledge of the ancient world. Or at least that is how he liked to think of it. Relearning things no one knew anymore. It was glorious.
Unfortunately Vicky had left him in charge one too many times. If Benny was busy Gauge was left handling things. “Gauge! Trouble squad is at it again. Apparently they decided to bake a cake or something. The kitchen down on Sub-Green is trashed.”
“Ugh. Just… Make them clean it all up, if they don’t revoke all Sim privileges.”
“You got it.”
Gauge was just getting back into his current interest, an explanation of PPC functions and how the ERPPC works. It was quite fascinating when his radio went off this time. With a groan he put down his printed book and grabbed the radio.
“Gauge here. What is it?”
“Hey Gauge, you got a visitor here. Looks like a couple of ComStar guys? Says he wants to see you.”
“ComStar? What does ComStar want with me?” Gauge asked, actually surprised.
“No idea, you want to come up here and ask?”
“Yeah, tell them I’m on my way.”
Confused, but a little excited, Gauge raced through the halls. He stopped just before leaving as he plugged in his cooling suit for a moment, giving the coolant pump power to start moving the cooling fluid. It caused his temperature to drop swiftly, almost shivering at how cool the suit could get before he unplugged and headed outside. Although the pump was no longer shifting, the liquid inside was still ice cold giving him plenty of protection against the Zaniah heat.
He grabbed a truck to drive out to the checkpoint. A little surprised that as he came out he noticed someone he actually knew.
“Adept Michaelson!” Gauge found himself calling out as he rushed over, the older man offering him a wide smile as he took in the changes Gauge had gone through, the fact his armor still had a ComStar style hood was one of the unique changes he had done to his standard armor.
“Gauge my boy. You are looking well!”
“You as well Sir! What? What are you doing here! It’s a long trip from Solaris!”
“Why, it wasn’t so bad. I had an opportunity to be transferred to Zaniah and I just had to take it! I knew you were still here, and I couldn’t help but be worried! But it looks like my concern was for nothing. You look healthy.”
“I am! We are, I mean. Everyone is doing well. Vicky has… Led us very well.” There was an odd expression crossing the man's face for a moment at that before his normal smile returned.
“I am glad to hear that. You had me worried when you decided to run off and become a Mercenary. I always thought it was a shame. You were meant for ComStar.” He shook his head a few beads of sweat falling reminding Gauge of where they were. “Oh Sir. Let’s head inside, it’s cooler there. The heat on Zaniah is… A bit different from Solaris.”
“Hah! That you have right my boy. Please I would love to get out of this heat, and you can tell me everything that you have been up to!”
“Sure.” Gauge waved him inside the checkpoint, leading the two of them into the underground through the checkpoint. The rooms that were normally used for bringing in new kids or for the Guard Unit to cool off were instead where Gauge led Adept Michaelson.
“Impressive! I checked the records of this base back when you first left, there was no record of any underground.” He offered softly.
“It wasn’t something most people knew about. We found it after we took over the base, we spent a lot of time remodeling everything for our use.” Gauge offered, using what Vicky had said to explain the underground if it ever got out.
“Come now my boy. I heard an interesting rumor, and… It is the duty of ComStar to try and protect such things. Is it true? You found a Castle Brian beneath this base?”
Gauge stills shocked that he had been asked about that of all things. He knew Vicky was planning on telling the Archon, but that wasn’t something that would pass around that quickly would it?
“Where… Where did you hear that?”
Adept Michaelson waves his hand “Rumors and hearsay. ComStar hears many things, many secrets are shared with us, you understand.”
But Gauge didn’t understand. But he knew how to find out. “It was empty.” He finally admitted watching out of the corner of his eye as the Adept had a strange look go over his face. “Vicky found it. She had rumors that something might be here, but it still took us a while, but it was completely empty stripped bare.”
“Oh I see. A shame. I have to admit, I was hoping to hear something more interesting than that. Although… Your friend Vicky. She did bring quite a bit of Lostech to the Archon from what I heard. She didn’t find it here?”
Gauge hesitated. “Vicky and I went Lostech hunting a while back. We found some stuff.”
“Really! My Boy! You must tell me everything! I had no idea you went on such an adventure.”
“I’m not supposed to say much, but I can tell you a bit.” Gauge offered as he fell into telling the man a story about the Helm Cache.
—--
A few hours later after I had pulled my Nightstar into the gantry on the dropship to get looked over by my techs. They didn't have time to do a full repair at the moment, not even close. But they were checking to make sure it would be fine in the weather for another run outside.
I still had a job to do.
“Are you sure about this Commander? It’s not exactly pleasant out there. And your mech isn’t in top condition anymore.” The 1st officer Natalie was one of my kids. She was learning directly from the Captain in order to eventually take over some day, but she was also a worrier. Which was a good attitude to have for a drop captain.
“I’ll be fine. I just need to go out to look around. I should be in contact the whole time, but it might be a day or so depending on how long it takes me to find everything.”
“I still think you should take it easy! Maybe we could request some vehicles from the 5th, have some people accompany y-”
“Natalie. Leave the Commander alone.” Amarie, my chief tech on the Isaribi, told her nominal superior as she shrugged at me, “Sorry Vicky. Natalie never stops. The Nightstar is as fixed up as we can do. At least we covered the holes into the internals, but it’s still stripped bare, and out of ammo.”
“That’s fine. There shouldn’t be any more fights, just some issues with the weather.”
“Yeah well. It won’t take any more damage than it already did from the weather. Just watch the right shoulder. If you don’t mess it up anymore before I can go in and fix it, it will be an easier job.”
“Understood Chief.”
“Ugh! Fine! But if anything happens you better call! And stay in contact! I expect hourly reports, Commander!” Natalie huffed as she turned on her heel and stalked off.
“I thought I was the one in Command.” I whispered into Amarie’s ear the giggles I got in return caused me to join in, and we both got glared at by the girl once she heard us.
“Don’t worry Natalie, I’ll be very careful, and I will stay in touch.
—-
I am really glad that my Nightstar had a heater. When it got really cold I could also just fire my ERPPC and lasers a few times to warm it up. The temperature on Phecda was a little too low for my liking.
But the first stop had been finding a metal node. I had to pop the hatch and crawl down my mech while trying not to fall and break my neck in the arctic winds. Start up the note puter. Crawl back into my mech to stay alive. And wait for the Metal Extractor to complete.
Once that was done I retrieved my noteputer and headed towards my real objective.
You would think lostech hunting would be hard or something. But as I stepped over the iced over Colossus which had been laughably easy to find with my sensor I was smiling at how easy it was. Once more I jumped out of my Nightstar and began forming a Centurion NFX. It was a common enough mech design no one would think twice about me finding one.
I unfortunately was rather stuck here too. I wasn’t about to walk off anywhere without my noteputer. Even if I could always use my sensors to find it.
Still I was stuck in a Nightstar cockpit for another long wait. Chewing on SLDF style rations I had set up before. And mostly just wrapping up in a blanket and watching some holovids. It was a boring bit of time.
Finally it was done. I powered down the Nightstar and switched over to the Centurion. The mech warmed up quickly enough and I soon found myself digging into the ice until I reached the Colossus buried within.
The Colossus that was utterly filled with mechs.
“Well time to get to work.” The green of my nanoforge burst into life again causing huge chunks of the Colossus to slowly disappear and slowly my Noteputer put together a blueprint.
—-
3022
Phecda
In Orbit.
“No, I don't care what your commanding officer says. We are landing!” I growled into the radio. Phecda. Fucking Phecda. I forgot!
It was an easy thing to forget. I mean the chance to copy a Colossus and ‘pretend’ it was in perfect condition was too much for me. But Phecda has a certain fact that I forgot.
52 days from jump point to planet.
If that long ass trip wasn’t bad enough. Phecda was no longer a normal planet, due to the lack of supplies and other issues, it’s population was almost gone, only it’s use as a military position kept it relevant. It also meant to land, I was going up the chain of people who are supposed to deny any landing due to the constant threat of League raids.
But I did not travel 52 days out of my way to turn around.
“Yes I will hold!” I roared into the receiver.
“Commander, perhaps a moment to relax?”
“I am two minutes away from calling the Archon. I can do that now. I have the power.” I hissed into the bridge. My kids were smiling at my threat, but the Captain and the non Orphan crew looked rather pale at the very idea.
They knew it wasn’t an idle threat. I did just spend more than a week hanging out on the Triad. A few had even seen the Archon see me off before we lifted off.
She didn’t hug me! She didn’t! Anyone who says otherwise is a filthy traitor breaking a vow of silence!
Of course my kids knew I was just blowing off steam and not threatening people with the Archons attention.
A crackle came over the radio. “This is Hauptmann General Paul Aleman. Of the 5th Donegal Guards. We are not accepting civilian landings at this time.”
“Good thing I’m not a civilian then Hauptmann General. I am Victoria Eisen-Blume, Iron Blooded Orphans Mercenary Company. I am landing for a job. It doesn’t have anything to do with your factory. But I am going to need to land.”
There was a moment of silence before I got a response. “Please understand Commander. We are securing this site because we believe another League raid is incoming. We can’t risk having an unknown dropship land.”
“For- Hauptmann General, I am going to land. That is what is going to happen. If you need to ensure I don’t have a League raid hidden in my holds please. Tell me to land somewhere you have fully secured. I'll allow an inspection. I only have a Demi-Lance of mechs on board, my own and another. That’s it. We are both on the same side. If a raid happens while I am down there, you can be assured my guns will be aimed at the same enemy. But I didn’t come all this way to be turned away.”
“Commander, I am securing a factory site that has been raided seven times in the last two years. You are not landing on my-” The call cut off.
“What happened?” I demanded to our radio operator who blinked at me owlishly. “I don’t know Commander. Call ended. Let me try to get them back.” He muttered, pushing a few buttons.
But not only did the call not go through there wasn’t even a connection being established.
“Commander. I’ve seen this before.” The radio operator who wasn’t one of my kids, although there was Sandy sitting beside him learning. “This is ECM interference. I’ve just tried cycling through every connection point on the surface, nothing is responding because it’s being blocked.
“So we just walked into the middle of a raid.”
“... Possibly.”
“Captain. I heard the Hauptmann General request assistance before the call was cut, didn’t you? Better get us down there. I’ll be readying my mech for battle.”
“Understood Commander. Battle Stations! We are beginning re-entry!”
—-
I hate re-entry. By the time the Dropship landed in probably the roughest landing I have ever experienced from a drop I was quite ready to just surrender and call this whole battle off.
But I couldn’t. Giving up just wasn’t in my makeup.
My radio crackled. “Commander, you should let me come with!” Eris demanded from inside her Thunderbolt, but I nixed that.
“No, I want you to stay around the dropship just in case.”
“Commander! Going out by yourself is suicide! Let me at least watch your back.”
“Lieutenant. Have some faith in your Commander. You never got a chance to really see what I can do, have you?”
“I’ve seen the recordings of you on Tharkad Commander, you are better than I expected, but you aren’t an elite.”
“Ah see, there is where you are wrong. You are comparing me on a VR run to an actual battle. Relax. If you feel you need to, follow me out, but stay around the Dropship. I need to get some practice in with my new ride.”
“Dammit. Understood!” The radio ending with a crackle as close to slamming a receiver we could do. But I shrugged. Eris didn’t know about the sensor yet, she didn’t have one in her Thunderbolt, so she couldn’t come, she would just get in the way of my plan.
The opening of the Hangar door caused a massive blast of snow and wind to rush in, immediately my cockpit frosted over, and it was only through my sensors that I managed to see anything. Not that it mattered. I had already finished plugging in my good sensor in the cockpit so when I stomped out of the dropship. Into the frozen tundra. I was already tracking my first target.
Two thunderous shots disappeared into the snow. The two circular paths blown through the snow were the only sign of the shot to a normal eye.
The Spider mech that had been scouting went down, its reactor disengaging.
“Captain. If you feel the dropship is in danger you are to get out of here, and enter orbit until I give you word. Understood?” I radioed back to the ship as I stomped into the snow, although I slipped slightly on the snow before taking a few more steps slowly getting a feel for the difference in terrain.
“Understand Commander. God Speed.”
“I don’t need speed, Captain.”
I flipped a switch, and the mech went into passive sensor mode. Everything but my special sensor turned off. It would make me very difficult to spot, especially in this weather. While I could see them just fine. I took a moment to look over the battle. It was definitely a raid. And I could see that unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the battle to be able to protect the factory.
But I could do something else.
With an especially feral grin I turned a bit more to the right. Straight towards the Union that was definitely a FWL dropship. Stomping through the ice and snow I stalked my prey.
As I moved. I kept my eye on the battle itself. Despite being outnumbered the defenders were doing their best but they were too cut off. Many of the defenses were split up to protect the factory. I had to move quickly. Which wasn’t something that a 95 ton assault mech was great at. But finally I reached my target. At the max distance of my weapons, well outside any danger of return fire I opened up. First with my ERPPC to zero in my shots. And then adding my two Gauss into the rotation.
Not long after my first round I started noticing radio transmissions being sent out by the Union. But my Sensor told me all the story I needed. They were trying to buy time. Their engines were heating up as they were planning on trying to get away.
I continued firing until finally my weapons fire hit something serious. The entire Union shut down. And only when I was sure of my target being inactive did I turn, heading towards the battle that was disrupted now that the raiders were getting messages of their dropship being under fire.
I stalked through the blizzard, where everyone else was fighting blind I was omniscient. And the enemy paid for that. Once I was in range. The enemy were already in danger despite the complete lack of sight, as the snow blurred everything into fuzzy white.
Another ERPPC shot rang out and a moment later two hypersonic slugs. The Snow melted as the ERPPC burned a hole through the flurry. The Wolverine that had been duking it out with a Lyran Zeus and winning, after the Zeus had face tanked an entire Lances fire, never even saw the shots that smashed into its side. The sudden explosion ended it’s fight as it’s SRM ammo went up with the shot.
From there the Zeus, searching for the ally that helped it, was ignored. I moved to the next target. Still stomping forward. I only stopped in a stutter step. The same one Hanna had taught me to align my weapons before firing another triple shot.
The Marauder which was probably the command mech of the raiders was luckier. It was a 3M so it had some hefty armor. But it wasn’t enough. Instead the Marauder found it’s left side ripped apart in a salvo that sent the pilot who had been focused on one of the defenders' Hunchback smashing into the snow. The Slugs had knocked the mech entirely onto its side.
It was scrambling back to its feet a moment later, even as the Hunchback was trying to capitalize on the sudden distraction. Unfortunately the Hunchback was in more dire straits than he had realized, or the Marauder pilot was simply that much better, because despite having lost half it’s mech managed to scramble upwards and unleash a large laser and AC/5 shot that went internal and the Hunchback curled over itself as it’s fusion engine shut down.
My second burst of ERPPC lightning only just missed as the Marauder shifted, one of the Gauss rounds still hit, ripping a tunnel through the remaining right arm. I could tell the Large laser was down by the way the Marauder suddenly began retreating desperately trying to find cover.
Unfortunately for him the tundra we were in was mostly flat. I shot again, this time missing entirely, as the Marauder was doing everything he could to juke my fire, but seeing where it came from as the ERPPC burned a hole through the snow, he fired back. His AC/5 shots landed nowhere close but that was fine. I ignored him for a moment. Angling my nose past him.
The Griffin that was currently shooting PPC fire into the factory suddenly got a shock as a Gauss round shattered across it’s PPC the pilot not expecting his PPC to simply disappear as he was shooting it nearly fell over but instantly burned his Jump jets to reposition hoping to escape.
I aimed for where he was landing and fired my ERPPC. The Griffin took the shot straight on as it landed and I didn’t bother to focus on him anymore. Instead I continued stomping forward. Sure, staying at a distance would be the best way to handle this. Slowly picking off the enemy at range. But there was more at stake here than that.
It was a full company that dropped on this factory, and two other lances were still actively firing on the buildings, when they weren’t fighting off the reinforced lance of the defenders.
They needed a distraction. So I took the risk. I continued stomping forward in passive mode. Until I was nearly on top of the Marauder, Switching out of passives just as I came into visual range I got to see the mech do a little jump as it realized what had just come out of the snow. My ERPPC and dual Medium Pulse lasers shattered whatever remained of it’s armor. The mech fell to the ground Fusion engine powering down.
The Marauder was a good mech, but the Nightstar was literally it’s big brother. I could see in real time as the enemy Lances noticed my existence. The battlelines shifted, in favor of the defenders, but I was facing an entire Lance of angry League raiders.
Feeling cheeky I decided I might as well put on a show. I flipped my radio on. Broadcasting loudly into the snow. “I am the Phantom of the StarLeague. Come.” Then a triple shot through the snow smashed into a second Griffin that was in the lead for charging toward me. The shot thundered, tearing armor, smashing components. In the end, The Griffin, a mech that had only taken light damage before, simply fell to the snow. I had cored it.
My Gauss continued to bark as the enemy charged. The Lance unfortunately dodged my next few shots. They must have realized by now that while they couldn’t see me, I could see them. So they were dodging, hard. I didn’t have enough practice hitting actively dodging mechs. But that was fine. I was distracting an entire Lance of mechs from their objective. I could already see the defenders falling onto the last Lance and starting to clean up.
They may have been a little angry.
But I soon had to ignore them, focusing fully on my battle.
Four mechs remaining. The first Griffin that only had an LRM left. A Vulcan. A phoenix Hawk, and a Centurion. Although this was the base Centurion-A model that had an autocannon. Which I learned when an AC/10 round shattered against my mechs shoulder.
I wiggled the limb realizing it hadn’t gone internal, and returned fire. This time, I didn’t miss but I wasn’t quite as on point. The Three shots hit three different spots, although that didn’t mean he didn’t feel it. I didn’t take the time to focus on him though.
They had gotten into visual range. The Phoenix hawks Large laser flashed out, in return I sent an ERPPC blast against him which he dodged, meaning his laser only barely burned against my armor before the mech was dodging away.
But I switched targets. Just before the Vulcan got into visual range. I moved towards him. Firing round after round into the snow.
I grunted as the Griffin was now able to lock me. LRMs exploding against my armor. I ignored it. Focusing on one target at a time.
The poor pilot didn’t even have time to realize that I had turned my focus towards him before the Gauss rounds hit, shattering chunks of his armor and instantly putting his mech into the danger zone. The fact I kept charging even as he faltered meant that by the time he saw me, I was already nearly on top of him.
Now I can’t normally catch a Vulcan, but twin Medium Pulse Lasers were more than capable of cutting his leg off at the knee as I continued to charge in. Falling into the snow, I didn’t hesitate, and I got to hear The Pilot literally screaming on the radio as I let my Nightstar stomp onto his other leg. Lowering one arm until my Gauss was pointing down.
The Incredibly loud thunder of a Gauss rifle at point blank range caused the snow around us to ripple outward. The Vulcan was done. I turned to the Phoenix Hawk who had been going off on my Nightstar while I was distracted. He was trying to keep out of range of my Medium Pulse lasers, but that simply made it easy for my nose to catch up with him. The ERPPC flash burned just skimming past him but one of the Gauss rounds punched in sending the bouncing Phoenix Hawk into the snow.
I grunted another LRM 10 shattering armor, Then another, and then Mediums and an AC/5. Apparently the Centurion was still willing to brawl.
My armor was nearly stripped at some points. Those LRMs had been chewing through me and I had a few points that were basically already internal just waiting for a hit.
I double Gaussed the Centurion. Both slugs on point. I don’t know what I hit, but the way the Centurion fell to pieces he wasn’t worth any more attention. I switched my focus on the biggest threat, the Phoenix Hawk.
It became a game of cat and mouse. I could keep the Phoenix Hawk in my sights even when he tried to disappear into the snow. But the mech was fast, and he was good. He kept his visual on me, waiting to see where I was aiming. He was dodging every shot. Even if it meant his own Large laser only did minimal damage.
That didn’t matter because I was being worn down. LRM 10 rounds constantly falling on me. Although I was winning this battle of attrition. The Phoenix Hawk was starting to heat up after all. But I managed to trick him. Waiting for him to be in the right spot I turned my focus from him to just to the side, firing into the snow.
The Griffin pilot thought he was safe.
The shattering of armor in the distance told another story. The Phoenix Hawk realized he was alone. Standing across from an angry assault mech.
Unfortunately. There was no escaping this. I had already taken out the dropship. These raiders knew that. Was it a mistake? Maybe. But these guys were attacking an unacceptable target.
They needed to learn that had repercussions.
The silence between the two of us staring at each other definitely benefited the Hawk more than me. He was cooling down even as our stare off continued but this had turned into a moment between two warriors. Then in a flurry that cut us both off from sight of each other we both moved.
Medium Pulse lasers flashed out, burning through where he had been, the Large laser shooting down from above gave me a sightline. My ERPPC returned fire even as he juked turning off his Jump jets for a moment to drop.
The two Gauss rounds spinning into the snow as he landed, bending forward and actually using a second burst of jets to dodge. Then it was on. A flurry of dodging and juking, Any time he got arrogant enough to fire at me, I returned it. Meaning he spent a lot more time dodging my shots than firing back.
The one time his laser did finally go internal on my right torso, a few tons of Gauss ammo melted down, leaving me without my big guns.
A few minutes of this passed. Yeah that is how skilled this pilot was at dodging. Growing frustrated. I did the only thing I could think of. I switched back to passives, and stepped backwards. Watching in amusement as the Phoenix Hawk slowed as he lost sight of me.
The pilot was skilled, it was why he realized he was in serious shit when the assault mech he was tangling with basically disappeared in front of him.
He kept moving. Trying to get sight back on me, but unfortunately for him since he was now moving towards me. Well.
I was moving towards him too.
He only had half a second to realize that I was there when I burst out of the snow. I didn’t bother firing. Didn’t need to. His Phoenix Hawks jets fired but it was too late. I was too close.
I used my secret special move. I body checked him, but this time I wasn’t in my Locust. I was in 95 tons of angry.
The echoing *Thunk* of a Phoenix Hawk splattering across the side of my mech was very satisfying. Unfortunately this pilot was a badass. Despite the body check knocking him flat he actually started to get back up. Either I hadn’t hit him hard enough or this guy laughed in the face of concussions.
His Phoenix Hawk rose up and actually punched my Nightstar rocking my cockpit to the side, but thanks to my armor and my hefty mech that’s all it did. I turned, staring into his cockpit. I could just make out the pilot inside through the armored glass.
The glass which polarized as I fired my ERPPC. The pilot probably hadn’t quite put two and two together. That my remaining weapon wasn’t a normal PPC. I didn’t have a minimum range on mine. The mech's shoulder was burned straight through with blue fire, the entire arm giving way and sending the Phoenix Hawk back into the snow. This time, the pilot took the better part of valor and shut down. Signaling his surrender.
I flipped back to active sensors appearing on radar just as the defenders reached the battlefield.
“All clear. No active enemy presence remaining.”
I inform the group over the comms.
—-
An hour later I was enjoying a warm cup of coffee in the base's mess hall after the 5th had secured the raiders metal. I had been allowed to march my mech onto the small base the 5th were using and power down. I think they just wanted to be able to keep an eye on an assault mech that had just torn through two lances of mechs.
But that was fine. This planet was fucking cold.
Finally after a rather overlong wait a man entered the mess wearing what was obviously just got out of a mech, but it’s cold as shit outside attire.
“Commander Eisen-Blume?”
“I am.”
“Hauptmann General Aleman. I don’t know whether I should thank you, or yell at you. You took out the enemy's dropship. We were already doing a good job seeing them off when that happened. You realize you turned a minor skirmish into a knock on drag out fight?”
“I normally have no issues respecting etiquette, but attacking a factory producing water refineries is a bit beyond the pale.”
“That is for me to decide. Not you.” He grumbles as he takes a seat across from me. One of the mess hall cooks brought him a cup of warm coffee as well that he started sipping on. “We lost more metal than I am comfortable with. Even with Salvage, it will be a while before we can get spare parts out here. You may have stopped this raid, but what about the next one?”
“Are you sure there will be a next one? The League just lost a company of mechs, and a Union. Are you sure they will likely send over even more metal now?”
“Either way I have to assume the worst. You did me no favors today Commander.”
I considered that before smiling. “Maybe not today, General, but tomorrow?”
He looked confused at my statement but I just finished my coffee. “I still have a job to do here on Phecda.”
“Well I can’t hold you. I Contacted the LCAF command, they were very direct, you are free to move as you like. Never heard a general sound so urgent about this sort of thing before.” He said obviously digging.
“I can’t tell you much General, but I did just come directly from the Triad on Tharkad. We all have jobs to do.”
He was silent for a while. “Indeed we do.”
I rose. Grabbing my hat and coat. “I’m sure we will talk again soon.”
I walked out into the blizzard. Despite the weather, my ride had an audience. Every tech and mechwarrior on the base was standing out in the snow looking over my Lostech ride. The fact it was scarred and damaged did nothing to lower it’s intimidation. No, my Nightstar standing tall reminded me of an image of an old Lion I had once seen. He was bloody and wounded, but undeniably the victor of whatever battle he had just faced.
That was what my Nightstar looked like.
I climbed back into the cockpit and turned it towards where my dropship was still landed. My baby would need a checkup before I completed my job here.
—-
A different perspective
Gauge Blake
Red Base
Gauge was having a fairly normal day. His head buried in past knowledge of the ancient world. Or at least that is how he liked to think of it. Relearning things no one knew anymore. It was glorious.
Unfortunately Vicky had left him in charge one too many times. If Benny was busy Gauge was left handling things. “Gauge! Trouble squad is at it again. Apparently they decided to bake a cake or something. The kitchen down on Sub-Green is trashed.”
“Ugh. Just… Make them clean it all up, if they don’t revoke all Sim privileges.”
“You got it.”
Gauge was just getting back into his current interest, an explanation of PPC functions and how the ERPPC works. It was quite fascinating when his radio went off this time. With a groan he put down his printed book and grabbed the radio.
“Gauge here. What is it?”
“Hey Gauge, you got a visitor here. Looks like a couple of ComStar guys? Says he wants to see you.”
“ComStar? What does ComStar want with me?” Gauge asked, actually surprised.
“No idea, you want to come up here and ask?”
“Yeah, tell them I’m on my way.”
Confused, but a little excited, Gauge raced through the halls. He stopped just before leaving as he plugged in his cooling suit for a moment, giving the coolant pump power to start moving the cooling fluid. It caused his temperature to drop swiftly, almost shivering at how cool the suit could get before he unplugged and headed outside. Although the pump was no longer shifting, the liquid inside was still ice cold giving him plenty of protection against the Zaniah heat.
He grabbed a truck to drive out to the checkpoint. A little surprised that as he came out he noticed someone he actually knew.
“Adept Michaelson!” Gauge found himself calling out as he rushed over, the older man offering him a wide smile as he took in the changes Gauge had gone through, the fact his armor still had a ComStar style hood was one of the unique changes he had done to his standard armor.
“Gauge my boy. You are looking well!”
“You as well Sir! What? What are you doing here! It’s a long trip from Solaris!”
“Why, it wasn’t so bad. I had an opportunity to be transferred to Zaniah and I just had to take it! I knew you were still here, and I couldn’t help but be worried! But it looks like my concern was for nothing. You look healthy.”
“I am! We are, I mean. Everyone is doing well. Vicky has… Led us very well.” There was an odd expression crossing the man's face for a moment at that before his normal smile returned.
“I am glad to hear that. You had me worried when you decided to run off and become a Mercenary. I always thought it was a shame. You were meant for ComStar.” He shook his head a few beads of sweat falling reminding Gauge of where they were. “Oh Sir. Let’s head inside, it’s cooler there. The heat on Zaniah is… A bit different from Solaris.”
“Hah! That you have right my boy. Please I would love to get out of this heat, and you can tell me everything that you have been up to!”
“Sure.” Gauge waved him inside the checkpoint, leading the two of them into the underground through the checkpoint. The rooms that were normally used for bringing in new kids or for the Guard Unit to cool off were instead where Gauge led Adept Michaelson.
“Impressive! I checked the records of this base back when you first left, there was no record of any underground.” He offered softly.
“It wasn’t something most people knew about. We found it after we took over the base, we spent a lot of time remodeling everything for our use.” Gauge offered, using what Vicky had said to explain the underground if it ever got out.
“Come now my boy. I heard an interesting rumor, and… It is the duty of ComStar to try and protect such things. Is it true? You found a Castle Brian beneath this base?”
Gauge stills shocked that he had been asked about that of all things. He knew Vicky was planning on telling the Archon, but that wasn’t something that would pass around that quickly would it?
“Where… Where did you hear that?”
Adept Michaelson waves his hand “Rumors and hearsay. ComStar hears many things, many secrets are shared with us, you understand.”
But Gauge didn’t understand. But he knew how to find out. “It was empty.” He finally admitted watching out of the corner of his eye as the Adept had a strange look go over his face. “Vicky found it. She had rumors that something might be here, but it still took us a while, but it was completely empty stripped bare.”
“Oh I see. A shame. I have to admit, I was hoping to hear something more interesting than that. Although… Your friend Vicky. She did bring quite a bit of Lostech to the Archon from what I heard. She didn’t find it here?”
Gauge hesitated. “Vicky and I went Lostech hunting a while back. We found some stuff.”
“Really! My Boy! You must tell me everything! I had no idea you went on such an adventure.”
“I’m not supposed to say much, but I can tell you a bit.” Gauge offered as he fell into telling the man a story about the Helm Cache.
—--
A few hours later after I had pulled my Nightstar into the gantry on the dropship to get looked over by my techs. They didn't have time to do a full repair at the moment, not even close. But they were checking to make sure it would be fine in the weather for another run outside.
I still had a job to do.
“Are you sure about this Commander? It’s not exactly pleasant out there. And your mech isn’t in top condition anymore.” The 1st officer Natalie was one of my kids. She was learning directly from the Captain in order to eventually take over some day, but she was also a worrier. Which was a good attitude to have for a drop captain.
“I’ll be fine. I just need to go out to look around. I should be in contact the whole time, but it might be a day or so depending on how long it takes me to find everything.”
“I still think you should take it easy! Maybe we could request some vehicles from the 5th, have some people accompany y-”
“Natalie. Leave the Commander alone.” Amarie, my chief tech on the Isaribi, told her nominal superior as she shrugged at me, “Sorry Vicky. Natalie never stops. The Nightstar is as fixed up as we can do. At least we covered the holes into the internals, but it’s still stripped bare, and out of ammo.”
“That’s fine. There shouldn’t be any more fights, just some issues with the weather.”
“Yeah well. It won’t take any more damage than it already did from the weather. Just watch the right shoulder. If you don’t mess it up anymore before I can go in and fix it, it will be an easier job.”
“Understood Chief.”
“Ugh! Fine! But if anything happens you better call! And stay in contact! I expect hourly reports, Commander!” Natalie huffed as she turned on her heel and stalked off.
“I thought I was the one in Command.” I whispered into Amarie’s ear the giggles I got in return caused me to join in, and we both got glared at by the girl once she heard us.
“Don’t worry Natalie, I’ll be very careful, and I will stay in touch.
—-
I am really glad that my Nightstar had a heater. When it got really cold I could also just fire my ERPPC and lasers a few times to warm it up. The temperature on Phecda was a little too low for my liking.
But the first stop had been finding a metal node. I had to pop the hatch and crawl down my mech while trying not to fall and break my neck in the arctic winds. Start up the note puter. Crawl back into my mech to stay alive. And wait for the Metal Extractor to complete.
Once that was done I retrieved my noteputer and headed towards my real objective.
You would think lostech hunting would be hard or something. But as I stepped over the iced over Colossus which had been laughably easy to find with my sensor I was smiling at how easy it was. Once more I jumped out of my Nightstar and began forming a Centurion NFX. It was a common enough mech design no one would think twice about me finding one.
I unfortunately was rather stuck here too. I wasn’t about to walk off anywhere without my noteputer. Even if I could always use my sensors to find it.
Still I was stuck in a Nightstar cockpit for another long wait. Chewing on SLDF style rations I had set up before. And mostly just wrapping up in a blanket and watching some holovids. It was a boring bit of time.
Finally it was done. I powered down the Nightstar and switched over to the Centurion. The mech warmed up quickly enough and I soon found myself digging into the ice until I reached the Colossus buried within.
The Colossus that was utterly filled with mechs.
“Well time to get to work.” The green of my nanoforge burst into life again causing huge chunks of the Colossus to slowly disappear and slowly my Noteputer put together a blueprint.
—-
