Oh the grand old Duke of
York...
Ruins - Savatti Prime - Savatti System - Former Polian Alliance
~~*~~
As twilight descended upon the confused carnage of the war-torn alien world. The Amsus, seeming to have numerical air superiority, were having a difficult time landing enough troops to counter the sheer numbers of the Dakin shock-troopers.
As VonGrippen's Mech climbed the low slopes towards the ruins of the Kule colony,
"They're going to crash if they don't readjust their course heading," VonGrippen murmured, watching the Amsus transport, pursued by Dakin fighters struggling through the atmosphere. "Those ships weren't built for that kind of gravitational pull..."
VonGrippen tried to suppress a mounting feeling of panic as he watched the transport burn its way across the sky heading directly for the Kule ruins. In his mind he quickly calculated that the transports reserve thermal energy shields were probably completely exhausted. And he watched the transport desperately engage its retros.
He craned his neck to see if the retros were having any effect, his guts like a knot pressing against his diaphragm. He saw something break free from the tail section of the transport, glow, and burn out.
"Colonel...?" Jetsenbek queried over TAC.
"Get out of its path," VonGrippen ordered, knowing that the faster ITEs stood a chance of getting clear if they made a mad-dash for it. His cumbersome Δ07 was a different matter.
Above him the transport was roaring towards him in an uncontrolled plunge.
"Colonel!" Jetsenbek cried into the net.
Caught between self-sacrifice and desperation, VonGrippen could do little more than bear witness to the agonizingly slow deterioration of the transport ship. The transport was a glowing ember now, slagging off fragments of itself into the sky. The intense heat would have already boiled the blood of those inside...
The Δ07's feet hammered almost in time to his heart beat, as his eyes travelled away from the wreckage hurtling towards him. Looking upwards towards the duelling Predators, faring better than their transports were.
They fell upon the Dakin ships, rending and breaching hulls with auto-cannon fire, spreading ruin throughout the fleet. All around him were acts of bravery and futility from both sides: A shock-trooper standing upon a ridge, pouring zero-point weapons fire against the enemy that were dive bombing his position; two Dakin fighters, accelerating too fast through re-entry as they tried to defend a transport against dozens of Predators; another Raptor, ion engines blazing, in a kamikaze run on one of the Dakin support cruisers.
"Admiral!" Ben's voice cried through TAC-net, as VonGrippen turned his head, almost lazily back towards the transport that was going to spell his imminent doom.
The Transport's heavy engines flickered out, and an instant later the ship was engulfed in a roaring fireball that blew it to pieces.
Behind it, the Dakin cruiser lifted skywards again, looking for further prey to finish off.
Blackened metal and burning debris rained down upon his mech, clattering and ringing off of the armoured plates, as the Mech continued its forward sprint, pounding along the ridge, towards the Kule settlement, as if oblivious to the near catastrophe that had almost signalled the end of the resurrected Imperial Warlord.
Inside, VonGrippen's mind barely processed the fact that he was still alive. Instincts kicking in as his hands woodenly moved across the controls, pulling up to a halt, as an ITE burst forward from the ruins. Its Auto-cannons blaring as it swatted a pair of Predators that were sweeping in for an attack run. The time for running and hiding was over, as the war descended upon the Imperial Mech unit, marooned in a firestorm.
He brought himself back into focus, as he found that the accursed Kule world had yet another surprise in store for him. The sky crackled, as the dark clouds finally began to unleash their monsoon downpour.
The clouds were backlit by flashes, heard above the weapons-fire in the night sky. As the world was rapidly being plunged into night, thunder ripped through the air, lightening descending with a fury, demanding not to be outdone by the war that raged on the world below.
The windshield wipers scrubbed their way across the canopy, as he sighted in with his masers, the purple pulse slicing through a leaping shock-trooper that had the misfortune of attacking the Δ07 in the night.
"Hold the ruins," VonGrippen ordered. "Defensive fire…" His TADS lit up with data, as he sighted the bofors cannon in, the massive machinegun roaring as it unloaded lead into another shock-trooper… a recon team, trying to secure the ridge and the ruins above it to act as an observation post.
The Assault Mech responded to his touch, as he guided it back towards the twisted roots of the mushroom grove, using the ancient trunks as cover, as he sniped at the shock-troopers.
Around him, the ITEs bounded out of the grove to offer suppression fire, cantering around the grove to vanish back among the trunks again. The Kardiac Cadet's gaining their first taste of combat in the beginning of what was to be a dark night riddled with nightmares.
Ruins - Savatti Prime - Savatti System - Former Polian Alliance
~~*~~
Ben sagged against one of the Kule trunks, swallowing against the monumental effort that it had taken to bring down the Amsus transport. His head swimming as he fought to keep his footing amidst the mud and moss of the tangled roots around him.
He had one priority, protect the Admiral, and that was proving to be a great strain. He had anticipated the battle for Savatti, but he hadn't counted on the fact that VonGrippen would find himself at the heart of it. Typical VonGrippen, always in the middle of some great mess or other.
The rain ran in a stream off of the mushroom caps far above him, as he fought his way to leap from one set of roots to another, trying his best not to slip and fall as he struggled to find what he was looking for, while VonGrippen and his Mechs fought to hold the ridge from the advancing Dakin column.
Their time was rapidly diminishing, and while Ben tried his best not to think on it, the various outcomes of their mission were growing grimmer by the second. Some gambles were risky, and Ben knew that no matter how small their odds, they were still greater than what the odds were for the Empire if they failed.
He was soaked to the skin, covered in thick swampy mud, and shivering with the cold when he finally found the door. Extending his hand and allowing a small ball of light to coalesce there, lighting the area around him in a pool of light.
Dripping, he lifted his TAC to his ear, "I've found it Alex." He called; trying his best to suppress the fit of coughing that was threatening to rip through his chest.
A little longer, he scolded himself mentally.
"Good Ben," VonGrippen called back tensely, a roar as a pair of SLA missiles shot away from the Δ07, crashing into a Dakin fighter and exploding in the rain sodden night sky.
"Sure, good Ben," Ben muttered as he slipped his way through the mud, yanking his legs out of the sticky surface, cursing as it swallowed one of his boots. "Your not the one stuck out here…"
The crunching splat, spewed mud up and over the drenched medium, caking him in filth. He turned his head, to look at the Dakin shock-trooper, his blade-like weapon arm separating with a sharp snap exposing the Zero-point crystal of the cannon.
Standing a good ten-feet tall, the mottle-red monstrosity with its hound like head tilted down, targeting in on the lone human standing in the mud before it.
"You picked the wrong day," Ben stated as he turned, extending his hand as the zero-point blast erupted from the cannon, halting in midair as time seemed to slow to molasses.
The Mech barely had time to register the flickering human shape that appeared to be moving at blinding speed around his shot, ducking underneath his legs and appearing a moment later, holding onto a tree-trunk for support across the muddy clearing. The Zero-point shot crashing into the ground uselessly.
Turning the Dakin attempted a second shot, and again in a blindingly fast burst of speed, Ben was somewhere else when the shot finally struck home.
The shock-trooper took aim again, but before his third shot could blast out, a massive three-toed foot crashed down upon him from behind, driving the shock-trooper into the ground, as a single gauss-gun shot ended his existence.
The Δ07 towered over the clearing, its torso rotating as it surveyed the scene.
"You're late," Ben grumped into the TAC.
"And you are full of surprises," VonGrippen observed in answer. "I believe that makes us even for your little fireball earlier?"
"Two completely different things," Ben called back, shaking his head. "But if you are keeping score, you still owe me for the whole resurrection thing…"
An explosion of Zero-point weapons fire tore through the arm plating as the Δ07 moved off to the left, its bofors barking again as it shot at its unseen assailant moving in the grove. Leaving Ben to once again contemplate the Kule doorway.
He shook his head, running his hand over the edges of the door, stepping back as it swung open. Turning his dark eyes back to the Mechs, as he stepped inside. Emerging a few minutes later with his trophy wrapped in his tunic.
"I have it Alex," he called into the TAC. "Can we please get out of here now?"
R-Zero - Savatti Prime - Savatti System - Former Polian Alliance
~~*~~
Vichet stared in dismay at the raging dog-fight filling the sky above the Zero.
"You have to be kidding me," he stated into the TAC.
"We need EVAC," VonGrippen repeated firmly, "now if you please…"
Vichet rubbed his temple, "sure thing, no problem… not like there's a firestorm of unending death between me and you. I'll try…"
He clicked off the TAC his head falling forward a little as Nick, strapped into the gunners seat beside him looked frightened. "He's not serious," Nick stated quietly, awed by the sheer ferocity raging outside the Plexiglas window.
"Oh he's serious," Vichet replied. "How much punishment do you reckon this ship can take?"
"Farked if I know," Nick answered; he adjusted the gunnery controls and set the CIWS on automatic. "We have shields, and we're pretty fast, but I don't know… that's pretty hairy up there."
"He's… different, right?" Vichet asked, his hands running over the controls, firing up the drives and running through his pre-flight checks.
"Dunk?" Nick asked, "yeah he's different all right. Older… wiser some how."
"Right," Vichet nodded. "Like he knows stuff none of the rest of us do," he nodded up at the Amsus and Dakin warring for the sky. "About them, like he's been inside their heads…"
"And that Ben dude," Nick shivered. "Creepy kid. Otherworldly, like he's been through hell and back, dark inside…"
"Nah," Vichet disagreed, pulling a leaver to seal the loading ramp. "He's okay… just weird like the rest of us. So… what do you think, can we do this?"
Nick sucked on his teeth, "you wanna flip a coin? Heads we blast off and probably get butchered by Amsus, tails we blast off and get squashed by Dakin…"
Vichet smiled, "here goes…"
The Zero's VTOL drives roared as he shuddered up from the ground. The digital camouflage disengaging as it automatically shut down. The Raptor's wings folding down and locking into place as his shields went up, accelerating upwards towards the sky, and the battle that awaited him.
Ruins - Savatti Prime - Savatti System - Former Polian Alliance
~~*~~
The Zero was taking heavy fire as it streaked across the plains. A pair of Dakin fighters trailing it unloading their cannons into the Polian configured shields, breaking off as a Predator roared past, firing a missile at one of them, using its auto-cannons to hammer the un-identified Raptor.
The damaged Δ07 limped out of its most recent fight, Tilting back to empty the last ten of its missiles to cover the Zero's approach. The Dakin fighters spiralling away as they tried to avoid the lethal SLA missiles that tore them from the sky and sent them plunging to their doom below.
His weapons exhausted, and his reactor screaming at him from the near catastrophic heat levels, VonGrippen yanked the canopy open, wincing in agony as he slid down the leg of the Mech, crashing into the mud and muck as his leg gave out under his weight.
Swimming in pain, he felt Ben's sure hands pulling him upright, a wildly delighted look in his eyes as he smiled at VonGrippen. "You okay?" he asked.
VonGrippen tore off his helmet, nodding his head as the Zero banked, dropping down into the clearing, its rear ramp dropping open and bathing them in warm and welcoming golden light.
"Jetsenbek?" VonGrippen barked, looking towards where the Lance Captain was helping the other surviving ITE pilot towards the Raptor's ramp.
The shock-troopers were advancing quickly now, crashing through the grove of trees, trying to stop the Zero before it could escape.
The CIWS burst to life, the heavy machineguns roaring as they spun to life, carving a swathe of death through the trees around the Zero, smashing into the powered armours, and felling trees left and right.
Ben struggled to get VonGrippen up the ramp, the two old friends crashing to the deck as the Raptor shuddered to get aloft. A missile slamming into the dorsal surface, sending the Zero crashing into the ground, mud swirling up the ramp as Jetsenbek fought to his feet, hitting the switch to seal the ramp.
"Get us out of here," VonGrippen ordered, pushing Ben towards the companionway.
Ben took off at a run, as the Zero shuddered from yet more close range impacts. Lights sparked and panels blew out as the shields finally collapsed under the onslaught.
Then, in a rush, all was silent, save for the warning alarms aboard the Zero.
Fighting the pain, VonGrippen hauled himself upright, climbing through the ship towards the cockpit, holding himself upright in the hatch, staring out of the window at the volatile system around them.
"Where are we?" he asked, looking at Ben still kneeling beside the FTL-jump computer.
"We took a hit to the electrical systems," Nick said, turning in his seat as the ship floated, running on emergency power.
"And?" VonGrippen pressed, as a large asteroid floated past the cockpit window.
"And I brought us to the place we needed to go next," Ben said turning. "Welcome to Arcanis… what's left of it."
Vichet lifted his finger and pointed out of the window, "then what the hell is that doing here?"