Mech Battle 3 - Payback - Part 2

Five Days Ago

Duty on this rock was boring, but what could be expected. This was not a glory assignment. Perhaps they had gone just a little too far with the raid on Ramsau. But, hey these wars had been going on for generation’s maybe it was time to shake things up a bit.

Keeping the men occupied was the main concern of DarkWizard, when pilots get bored they seem to find trouble. Looking out the window was a perfect example. A shiny new Proton cannon sat in the front of the building. One morning it was just there. No one knew anything about it and there was no idea where it came from. And the entire unit was shocked that DW had questioned their honesty, and they could not explain why there was an area on it with sanded off paint that appeared to be in the shape and size of the Comstar logo. Maybe they just left it for us was the general consensus. It was very nice of Comstar to do that. DW believed that he was in charge of a bunch of Pirates after all.

The subspace link had just finished transferring the days paper work when ProPhet burst into the room about out of breath. "Boss better come quick, we have in coming."

DW followed him to the tower. Rasp was hunched over the radar unit, the sounds of the blip could be heard through his headphones.

"Blip 2000 kilometers out and closing fast, it is refusing hails sir. Must be considered a hostile." He said to whoever was listening.

"Hit the button PP, and see if they can get that cannon powered up." Ordered DW.

ProPhet hit the general quarters alarm, the loud claxon reverberated through the base. Men dropped everything to take up battlestations. Cuzn’it and Winger headed for the proton cannon and had it swinging into position before ProPhet could relay the order. DW grinned as he watched the action. This gave him an idea who was responsible for the cannon anyway. The large focusing element on the end of the cannon started to glow bright red as it came to fullpower.

"Rasp, what you got boy?" asked DW.

"Still closing Sir. Refusing to answer hails, on a direct course with this base Sir. Men report all weapons hot and locked Sir. Standing by."

"Have that Proton Cannon put one across their bow, that will surprise them by God." Ordered DW.

Rasp spoke quietly into the mouthpiece of his comlink. A loud sizzle of power loud enough to hurt your ears came out of the cannon’s muzzle. The Flash of bright blue left the muzzle and headed into space. Rasp watched the screen then laughed out loud.

"Across their bow Sir, missed them by less than 10 feet. "Good shooting cannon" Rasp said to DW and the cannon crew at the same time. "They changed course in a big hurry Sir, and seem to be having a little trouble with control" he continued with a large smile on his face. Almost at once his face got serious. "They are hailing us Sir......Turn on your transponder damn it......Yes ma'am.......No Ma'am.....No Ma'am.....Sorry Ma'am......No Ma'am.. I am a fool Ma'am.........At once Ma'am."

Rasp was pale as he handed his head set to DarkWizard. "It is Ambassador Tamer Sir and boy is she pissed. She wants to talk to you AT ONCE."

DW. Took the headset from Rasp and muttered "Perfect." He listened for a long time saying nothing. He handed the headset back to Rasp. "Clear her ship for landing and have the men stand down, and for gods sake send a truck to pick her up, she is pissed enough already without having to walk in from the landing pad. "Boy that woman can let you have it when she wants to. "WOW!" he muttered to no one in particular, and he headed for his so called office.

To say Tamer was upset a gross understatement. She was all but foaming at the mouth. It was with great relief that DarkWizard found out that he was not the point of her rage. She had been acting as a go between for Reddragon and a Comstar Galaxy Commander about the raid on Ramsau when the Comstar officer lost all reason and resorted to a personal attack on Tamer personally. This was more than she could stand and came to them to help her with payback. DW. Listened patiently as she explained the affront to her character, and how something must be done to erase this black mark to her honor and the honor of the clan was at stake with her being their Ambassador.

DW. Ordered a general assembly and escorted Tamer to the dining area to meet the troops. Tamer talked to Rasp in private and he gave a salute and let to follow orders.

All ten were present when Tamer arrived. All stood to salute, even though she had no official rank it was a sign of respect from the men to the representative of the Khan. She returned the salute. DW explained the problem and that they were going to the Comstar's Galaxy Commanders head quarters to make things right and this was a volunteer mission and to volunteer would they please stand. The men rose in mass. Tamer stood to thank them with a shaking voice, bowed to each man individually as she moved around the room.

She reached a large canvas in the middle of the room and turned to face the group.

"A woman must take care of the men in her life. This is for all my men."

She uncovered the goodies she had brought. These highly train and disciplined men descended on the Twinkie’s like ducks on a June bug and the party was on. Beer flowed and steaks sizzled. A hot time on this rock for a change.

At the crack of dawn all were present at the briefing. Tamer laid out her plan for a quick attack on Hainfield, going in elementals under the radar, hitting the main compound and taking the Galaxy Commander. The supplies were in the drop ship she had brought extra ammunition, food and other supplies, Even the best robot doctor available, which hopefully would not be needed here. After the pep talk the maps were laid out and the men gathered around to give the ideas on how to improve the idea. Dragon raised his hand and waited until DW. nodded at him.

"One problem boss, every ship in and out of here is monitored, and their flight path sent to Comstar headquarters. How do we get past that?"

DW looked around for ideas, the blank faces were not encouraging, until he looked at the smiling face of Rasp.

'Give it up rasp. What's your idea?" He asked open to anything.

"Nothing sir" was the reply. Rasp pulled a small black box from his jumpsuit pocket. He pulled up the antenna and a red button started to flash in the middle of the box right beneath his thumb. He made a production of pushing it. A loud click was heard by all. "There Sirs, no more problem" (It should be noted that this is the exact point in time that the dogs started to bark jingle bells). Tamer and DarkWizard just looked at him for a second then at the rest of the men.

"Guess that’s it then hit the ship we lift in ten." DW ordered. The men snapped a salute and turned as one and headed for the dropship "Valkirie".

The men arrived and started to check their Equipment. From somewhere in the crowd of pilots came the comment, 'Look boys baby mechs" when they saw the Elementals.

" Hey Cuz think they will grow up to be Hammers?" The laughs and jokes died down as they started to select their machines. Black Phoenix wondered around the line of little mechanical killers like he was lost. Tamer went over and took him by the arm and led him to the aft cargo hold and opened the door and to let him in. He literally jumped into the hold and Tamer hit the switch to close the door, no one even noticed he was gone.

Extra machinegun ammo was hooked to every place possible, Extra air filters were installed for the longer time required to stay in the mechs and a thicker lubricating oil was installed for the special conditions of Hainfield. This being a covert mission the Pendragon Emblems on the breast were painted over and the prefix of (PEN) was removed from the name of each warrior’s mech. Each Man preformed the little rituals that he thought would bring him luck in battle. Special hats were worn under their helmets. This man inspected his mech a certain way. Some said little prayers. Even DW. Filled a chest with beer, and set the CD player to a special war song. In his mind as he looked around he noted the readiness of each man and planned his mission so that each mans strengths gave him an advantage. Certain men were the ones who ranged, others were better at advanced scouting, and some worked best in up close combat. This is when he noticed that Back Phoenix was not present. He carefully looked around the room, no BP. He clicked his throat mike into position and called.

"BP report."

"BP here SIR." Was the answer.

"Here where?" DW. Questioned

"Aft cargo hold SIR" again was the instant reply

"Well get your butt out here we drop in ten" ordered DarkWizard.

"Sir yes Sir. I'll be there in 2 sir."

What the heck was he up to? Always, something with these guys.

The little mechs moved into position to be locked in for landing, DW reached for the mike to kick BP into action as the door to the aft cargo hold opened and a bright yellow elemental stepped into the room. It was met with whistlers and cheers. It walked up to DW and saluted.

"Nova Captain Black Phoenix reporting Sir"

DW just pointed to the lock down as the noise was dying down. DW remembered that he’d forgotten to talk to BP about the paint job. Hey wait a minute where did he get the yellow paint this time. DW looked over to BP who was locked beside Tamer, after the clamps glowed green for lock. BP in the elemental gave a thumbs up to Tamer who returned it. That was enough to explain the paint.

On the way into Hainfield, the little dropship grabbed two large meteorites about the size of small cars these were locked to the hull using the docking clamps. This would give the little ship a different shape and show more mass than they would without them to enemy radar. As the small ship entered the atmosphere they dropped one then the other of the hot rocks. This made it seem to the radar operators that they were a large rock breaking up as they hit the thick atmosphere. Hopefully they would not even sent out a patrol. Hainfield was the target of large meteors constantly.

Hainfield was a useless rock. A thick covering of ion particles obscured vision and limited it to 100 meters. The surface was a soft barren dirt. Nothing would grow at all and there were no minerals of worth on the whole planet. The dirt got into everything. That is why very heavy oil was needed. Hainfield consisted of 2 bases. One for the garrison and other the headquarters compound. They landed close to headquarters but not close enough to raise concern. The landing was hard but they made it with no damage to worry about. The ship settled into the soft ground. Quickly preparations were made for fast lift off. The Men deployed around the ship until it was ready to go. The proton cannon was brought out of the hold and set up by the ramp. This would be the only defense for the ship during the mission. Cuz and Winger would remain at the ship for a last line of defense. The others split into 2 groups. Peanut, Gully, Maverick, and Dragon with ProPhet in command would assault the garrison compound to cause a diversion. When it started Black Phoenix, Rasp, and DarkWizard would escort Tamer into the command center. Then they would find the Galaxy Commander with the big mouth.

The men move out to there respective positions. The proton cannon was powered up and the two remaining felt a little uneasy not being in the assault.

BP, DW, and Ambassador Tamer took positions behind the hills to the east end of the Command compound and waited. They were 240 klicks from the base and in view of the front gate. The minutes seemed like days. Tamer touched helmets with the other 2 so they could talk with out the intercom.

"When will we know it is time to go?" She asked in a whisper.

"Don’t worry Tamer, PP will let us know" DW replied.

At that very word like it was planned a LARGE explosion lit the hazy sky, and to be seen on Hainfield that was an explosion. Another quickly followed this. DW zoomed in the optics of his suit to look at the Command center. Panic is the only word to describe it. Men are running everywhere Mechs milling about in no order. A large Warhammer came from the area that must be the storage bay and fired a flare. The mess became a unit. They headed out at full speed toward the garrison. Being on the backside away from the gate. They headed for the wall as fast as the little mechs could move. BP and DW took the flanks and Rasp stayed on a straight course with Tamer. They cleared the wall with no problem and BP was burning a hole in the rear wall of the headquarters building in seconds. The large laser made short work of the stone wall and they were in. All the men were at the main gate trying to figure out what was happening. The 4 entered the headquarters with no problem. All Comstar building are laid out the same, showing a lack of imagination, but this does make it easy to find your way around. They stood in front of the commander’s door in no time. Rasps silenced machineguns chewed the door to shreds and they were in front of the commander and his large oak desk. He looked about to faint as he stared down the barrels of Rasps smoking machineguns. DW and BP entered next. They flanked the door and Tamer entered. She walked up to the commander and popped her cockpit so he could see who it was. Shock showed on his face.

"Ambassador! What are you doing here?" He whimpered.

Tamers armored fist came down on the desk sending 200-year-old splinters everywhere. She turned her head and waved an arm at Rasp. He headed for the Comlink. DW and BP just stood there as Tamer did her work. After all it was her party. In 15 minutes she motioned them out and all four went out the way they can in. They headed for the dropship and arrived at the same time as the assault group. They formed up and headed in. As they turned toward the ship a large Dire dropped from the sky with its back to them. The Large Dire was powerful but BIG. Someone pushed Tamer behind a mound of dirt and the little mechs scattered. The Dire had little luck hitting the constantly moving little targets and started to head for the dropship its self. With every step the elementals harassed the large monster. Machineguns blazing and lasers firing if it had not been life or death the light shows might have been pretty. But war is never pretty. They came with in sight of the ship when DW yelled into the intercom.

"DOWN! EVERYBODY HIT THE DIRT!"

The highly trained soldiers dropped to the dirt instantly and no one moved. The Dire moved into full view of the ship and stopped dead in its tracks. For what seemed like years the mighty battle mech stared down the barrel of the proton cannon. The muzzle glowed red and the noise pushed all the circuits of the elementals to burn out. When they gathered their wits enough to look up, the Dire was just gone. No sign but tracks to show that it had ever been there. DW and PP were the first to move they tapped the men and pointed them to the ship, all nodded and moved out. Maverick moved to where he had pushed Tamer to the ground. Her comlink was out to but that didn’t stop her from showing her displeasure. She had broken a leg actuator in the fall and had to be assisted to the ship. Her finger never stopped wiggling in Mavericks face the whole way. Once inside she managed to get her helmet off. She looked at Maverick.

"And don’t you ever do that again. I know how to fight with the best of them. Do you understand warrior?"

"YES MA’AM." Was the reply with a text book salute.

Tamer just stared at him, Then kissed him on the cheek, and in a voice just barely heard by even him said. "Thank you." She then turned and headed for the cockpit. Only minor injuries and no losses not a bad mission. But now to face the piper known as Reddragon.

Tamer returned and walked over to Rasp. Rasp held out a box much like the one he used before. Tamer took it and shook his hand. She walked to the comlink and tuned the receiver to Comstar channels. The screen went blank and the dogs barked jingle bells. She pushed the button on top. The sound stopped a picture came into focus slowly then gains contrast. She looked at the men.

"Gentlemen this is going out on all Comstar channels, I would like you to see it." With this she stepped aside.

…Mean While Back at the Ranch…

Reddragon burst into the code room as fast as he could get there. They had notified him at the first sign of change in the Comstar broadcasts. The video screen was trying to receive the signal. The image was hazy and faded in and out. Then it jumped onto the screen as clear as if it was in the same room. It was in the Galaxy Commanders office. There seemed to be a lot of damage to material objects in the room. Setting there taped with blue duck tape from head to toe with only his face showing was the Commander. While the sound was not working you could tell he was screaming as loud as possible. Above his head was a sign taped to his shoulders was a LARGE sign that said "DORK" with a large arrow pointing to the top of the commanders head. Holes were all over the walls and a black mustache had been drawn on the portrait of the Comstar Leader. The commander was naked and taking that tape off was going to leave a mark.

The room exploded into laughter catcalls and hoots drowned out all other noise. The place was pandemonium. Reddragon just looked at the floor and shook his head. "Save me from those who wish to do good." He mumbled.

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