Mech Battle 3 - Payback - Part 1

Written by BlackPhoenix

It Was All So Simple

It had been a long day, Reddragon settled at his desk to tackle the ever-growing mountain of paper work. He reached over and hit the button on his intercom.

"Blaster would you get me Ambassador Tamer please?"

Paper work took up more and more of his time. Life was simpler when he was a warrior.

"Sir?" interpreted the box.

"Go ahead Blaster".

Sir, Ambassador Tamer is not in her quarters, and her answering machine indicates that she has not been there in quite a while Sir."

Perfect, was the only thought available. Seems like that every time he needed someone they were unavailable.

"Blaster will you please do the standard search and find her please?"

"Yes Sir." Was the simple reply but RD. could hear the salute in his voice.

After about 3 hours the box on his desk squawked to life and RD reached out without looking up and hit the button.

"Go ahead."

Sir, sorry to disturb you, but it seems the Ambassador Tamer is not on the planet Sir."

"Not on the PLANET. How is some one not on the planet Blaster?"

"Well sir the comlink does not show her personal detector on the readout of the personnel dirt side sir."

RD. Tried to go back to work but this just bothered him. Off planet, he did not remember her saying she was leaving on a mission anywhere. When was the last time he saw her? This new question was now the problem of the minute. Slowly it came to him that the last time he saw Tamer was at the video meeting with Comstar after the raid on Ramsau. When the Galaxy commander got mouthy.

"CRAP" He said aloud and reached for the intercom.

"Blaster I don’t care how you do it, but find Ambassador Tamer, check the records of every ship that has left in the last three days, EVERY SHIP, do you understand?"

"SIR YES SIR." Was the reply and RD knew he was at attention. Hoping he was just being paranoid, Reddragon tried to concentrate on the paper work again.

…And Then It Hit The Fan…..

A knock came to the door, "Come in" RD answered.

It was Nightowl, "Sorry to disturb you Sir, but we got some weird things going on."

"You mean weirder than usual?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yes Sir, weirder than usual. The code boys just sent these intercepts down and they can’t seem to break it. It has been going out on all Comstar channels for 14 hours sir non-stop. The think it is a activation code of some sort but are unable to crack it." Reports are coming in from all points that Comstar is on alert and zooming around the quadrant in no determinable pattern." Nightowl stood there like RD would explain it all.

"Lets see the print outs." Asked RD while holding out his hand.

Reddragon looked at the printouts, "This is in binary, I can’t read this get them to give you an audio copy." And held the Z fold paper out for night owl to take. Nightowl saluted and turned for the door.

RD sat looking at the light thinking that he had accepted this job thinking that he would make a difference. Same job, new man.

After just minutes Nightowl stuck his head in he door. "I have it sir do you want it now?" RD waved him in. Owl placed a small audio transponder on the desk and hit the play button. Both leaned closer to hear clearer.

"Woof, woof, bark, woof, woof, bark….."

They just looked up at each other and stared.

RD broke the silence. "That’s dogs barking Jingle Bells, is this a joke?"

Nightowl looked embarrassed and flipped open the folder in his hands."NO! Sir, they say that this code has been going out for over 14 hours and is completely filling the Comstar transmissions. Nothing is getting in or out of Comstar space. The code department is lost sir."

RD chuckled.

" It isn’t hard to get them lost. Find out where it is coming from and see if that helps. And tell Blaster I am still waiting on that information about Tamer. I mean it this place is headed to hell in a hand basket."

A smile on his face for the first time days, the very thought of dogs blocking the air waves was a hoot, he was wondering just who would pull something like this and how he could do it. He started to laugh, then stopped in the middle. A sinking feeling was growing in the pit of his stomach.

"No they couldn’t do that. Could they?" he said to the empty office.

The intercom buzzed and RD jumped at the sound. He clicked the button.

"Yes"

"Sir I have a lead on Ambassador Tamer. Three days ago at 15:48 she checked out a loaded dropship from maintenance and said she was getting in her flight time. The crew thought nothing of it she but she has not returned."

"Not returned, why was search and rescue not informed?"

"Sir she put down no return time, the Ambassador always leaves the time open because she has no idea how long a mission will take."

"Wait! You said a loaded dropship. What was in it?" Reddragon questioned.

"I don’t know sir. Blaster replied a little embarrassed for the slip.

"Well find out and do it fast, I got a bad feeling about this."

"YES SIR!" was the reply as the intercom went dead.

RD sat there, drumming his fingers waiting. Man he hated waiting. A knock came at the door as the intercom buzzed. Nightowl stepped in. RD held up a finger and answered the intercom.

"Sir Ambassador Tamer took dropship thx1138, it was loaded at her orders with 11 elementals, 22 containers of machinegun ammunition, 33 power packs for large lasers, 1 case of Glenfiddich Scotch, 3 cases of prime rib steaks, 12 cases of Twinkies, and 3 gallons of yellow paint, and Sir, 4 cases of blue duck tape."

"CRAP! Blaster try to raise Altier 6 on the emergency channel, notify the patrol in that area to proceed to Altier 6 at maximum speed, and put assault 3 on general quarters until further notice, have them locked into their dropship and ready to go." RD turned to Nightowl. "The signal came from Altier 6 correct?"

Night nodded in agreement, but was totally lost at this point in time.

Time passed slowly as RedDragon did his best to clear his desk. Looking longingly at the intercom. After what added 5 years to his life the infernal little box buzzed.

"RD here talk to me."

This is Blaster Sir, group 7 is approaching Altier 6 sir."

RD didn’t even bother to reply but ran to the receiver for information.

The speaker took forever to warm up but finally came to life.

Slowly and cautiously the patrol craft entered the orbit of the Altier 6, being aware that Comstar had rights to the farside. They stayed within the assigned approach vectors. The comlink remained silent, despite the constant hails from the craft. Rue Morgue was an experienced pilot and knew better than to just drop into an unresponsive base. He circled slowly and checked the situation. Nothing was moving on the ground that could be seen. The dropship was right where it should be, but another craft could be seen, with just the nose sticking out of the repair shed. Not good.

There was no sign of friend or foe. Rue turned on the ships transponder, no sense in being mistaken for the enemy by friendly troops if they were there, and if the enemy was in control, well his orders were to let them start the aggression, so with it on they could let their intentions be known.

The fighter/transport settled onto the landing pad with a blast of dust. The light, fast elementals were on the ground spreading out in all directions before the ship was completely set down. Slowly at first but with increasing speed the reports were starting to come in. There seemed to be no one here. The main ramp deployed and ten stormcrows sprinted down it to take up defensive positions. Rue Morgue in his heavy command Dire Wolf flanked by 2 Warhammers lumbered to the tarmac. These were the heavy assault mechs, designed for massive weapon transportation and loaded with heavy armor for protection against attack. The massive weight did reduce speed but was more than compensated for with the toughness. These were the shock troops. A Dire Wolf can instill fear in the bravest defender.

The Stormcrows with their greater speed started to spread out to longer-range support positions as the assault group headed for the main (and only) building. The large repair shed also housed the barracks, and command centers along with the maintenance facilities. The one rusty building sat on top of the automated transmission relay equipment buried deep inside Altier 6. Only a small manhole betrayed the area underneath the surface.

The Dire caressed the heavy locked door with its bulk and the heavy steel reinforced door came away from its mountings. Before the splinters had finished falling an elemental was in and searching the building. The little elemental weighed only 1 ton and was not much more than a man in powered armor, but for building searches and areas were any other mech could not get in without a lot of destruction. The elemental was made for the job. The elemental returned quickly and signaled that the building was empty. As Rue shook his head the neuro-helmet shook the massive head of the Dire.

Reports were still coming in from all over, this place was empty. What ever had happened to get him here was over, and they had missed it. Rue activated the sub-space link and filed a report with Blaster to that effect. He then went to the mech yard and parked the large mech. An elemental pushed a ladder against the side for him to climb down. The Warhammers took their respective units and set up a watch and posted guards. Two elementals followed as Rue approached the ship in the hanger. At this point the sub-space link made that annoying clicking noise.

"This is Khan Reddragon, what do you have Rue?"

"Nothing Sir, not a thing. This place is deserted. No Mechs, no people, no nothing. But it looks like someone did explode a beer storage unit. We have beer cans in piles everywhere. What went on here a galactic kegger?"

"CRAP!" was RD’s reply "I thought that is what you would find. Well look around Rue I need a clue about what was going on there, and I need it bad, There were 10 pilots there, I need to know where they went bud, understand?"

"Yes Sir. I understand. By the way Sir, We have found your launch Sir." replied rue.

"MY launch?"

"Yes Sir!' was the answer.

"What makes you think it is my launch?" inquired RD.

"Sir?"

"What makes you think it is my launch?" questioned Reddragon

"Well Sir, it is painted Pendragon colors, it is in a Pendragon repair facility, and it has CLAN PENDRAGON on the bow and KHAN REDDRAGON painted on the back in gold letters Sir."

There was a lot of silence over the speakers even with the lag for distance.

"Have a pilot bring it to command headquarters, And give them an escort for protection. I would not want to lose it." A smile transferred through the depths of space. "And try and find out what happened to those men assigned there. Reddragon out."

Rue looked at the mike in his hand as if it would explain what was going on to him. It was as if everyone but him had got the joke. At times things just didn't make sense." He grabbed the comlink and issued orders as he moved to the administration section.

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