5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by oldwrench » March 16th, 2012, 6:49 am

Getting close to the final battle. Less than 24 hours till it begins. There must be some way they can fight all those mechs, I hope, or the battle might go very badly for our pilots.


Chapter 92

Chad tried to keep alert, watching the area of the enemy base. He reported the placement of the four lancers and waited. Nothing else seemed to be happening. He was thankful for the food Rachel sent, and the bottles of beer. If this was the healthy food that captain McFarlaine wanted him to eat, he was all for it. The landscape was something very new to him. The forested mountainsides were so beautiful but so alien to someone raised below the big city dome of Detroit. It reminded him of one of the movies he’d seen, one with beautiful blue skinned aliens, who could ride flying dragon like beasts. That’s what he needed, some friendly aliens who could turn the whole planet against these mechs. Chad sighed, there were no aliens. In all man’s wandering across space, there had been no aliens.
As the day wore on, Chad became more worried about all those mechs. Roy seemed sure they could destroy them with the cannons, but Chad had his doubts. Even if Roy’s plan worked, things would be bad for the Krikav’s pilots. Chances are they would be overwhelmed and destroyed by the Red Faction mechs. There were just too many. Maybe they didn’t have pilots for all the mechs. But Chad just didn’t want to risk his life on that fact. If only he could sneak into that base. He could disable the mechs. Even if he could just get into the mechs and shut down the ecm’s, when the battle started, it would take a while for them to reboot. There were way too many people around that base for him to be able to slip in, and there would probably be people in the cavern. If they would open those big doors, maybe he could rush in with ghost and start blasting those mechs. But, with just one cannon and his beam saber, could he do enough damage? He really needed some way to shut down those mechs from here. Chad smiled, maybe……… he could.

Rose saw colonel Kerlov in front of Aiden’s Thunderbird, Barock. She was wearing a pilot suit and checking out a helmet. Rose wondered what the colonel was doing. She wouldn’t be thinking of taking the mech out, would she? Curiosity overrode her bad mood and she walked over to Aiden’s mech. “Are you planning on taking Barock out, colonel?” She asked. “I could suit up and come along as wing man if you like.”

Johanna looked up, “No, I’m not actually going out. I’m just trying to familiarize myself with Aiden’s mech. I’m going to be taking it out when we get into the atmosphere, extra cover for the ship. It’s been a while since I took a mech out so I’d better get in some check out time.”

“Ah, well, it’ll be good to have you out there with us.” Rose told her. “It’ll help to have someone with some battle experience. We have too many rookies for action like this.”

“They’ve done pretty well so far,” Johanna assured her. “If all goes according to plan, we won’t have too much of a battle. With the cannons and tanks out of it, it shouldn’t be hard to pick off the mechs they stole from the Ticonderoga as they come out.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Rose admitted, “if we surprise them.” Rose started to turn away, but there was something else that she wondered about. “Colonel……… your name, Kerlov, are you from the Russian state?”

“I was born on the Russian space colony KR23,” Johanna told her. “I’ve traced my family back to earth, actually they came from the Ukrain area, a town called Rovno. There’s still Kerlov family there. I went there once and checked out the family history. Are you from the Russian state, lieutenant?”

“No,” Rose answered, “I’m from the American colony AG-6. I traced my family back too, and they came from the Ukrain area like yours did. There was an Alexi Kerlav that immigrated to the Americas from Ternople, but I couldn’t find any records of any family there.”

Johanna smiled, “And you won’t, Rose. I’ll tell you a bit of family history. There were twin brothers, Andros and Alexi Kerlov, sons of a land owner in Rovno. Andros went off to study at a university while Alexi stayed to tend the land. Their father died young and Andros returned to claim the land since he was the first born son. There was a fight for the land, but Andros, with his education and legal knowledge took the land. Alexi took what he could and left for the Americas. Alexi changed his name, to Kerlav, and changed his place of origin out of anger with the family.”

Rose stared at Johanna for a few moments, “you’re sure of that? Then……. You and I are from the same family.”

Johanna laughed, “If you can trace your family back to Alexi Kerlav, then we are. Tell you what, when we get done with this mess, we’ll have to go out and have a few drinks…… cousin.”

Rose smiled, “ya, I think I’d like that.”
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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by oldwrench » April 30th, 2012, 5:32 am

Alright, I haven't died...... or given up on the story. I have a little left to go. The opposing forces are lining up. Soon they will clash in the battle for the future of the planet........ and perhaps also the future of the empire. Will Edward be able to draw the colonies into a battle against the home planet and the forces of the empire? Will Roy be able to save his planet and his friends? Can colonel Hellwind thwart the Red Faction's plans? Will Dominic escape? Will the pilots of the colonel Hellwind's command be able to prevail against the numbers of mechs the Red Faction has left. Will Rydia go with Dominic and turn to the EDF? Does Chad actually have a plan?

To many questions and one battle to answer them all.

Read on friends.



Chapter 93

Roy looked over his attack plans. The extra mechs that Chad had reported put a wrench in the works. Or did they? All he needed Hellwind’s mechs for was to create a diversion to focus Edward’s attention outside while his men moved in from behind. If the Red Faction had pilots for those mechs, things would be bad for Hellwind’s men. They had to get control of those remote canons, then they could take out the Red faction mechs. The few tanks weren’t a problem, they had troops ready to take them out. Everything hinged on timing, and Roy was sure he had that covered.

Georgianna sat at the table in the small cabin they had commandeered. She looked over the area maps, noting the positions of the four Lancers that Chad had reported. “We’ll move down the valley, under the tree cover, till we get to the sensor line that Chad’s marked out.” She told John. “Then thrust in at full power. We’ll hit them before they have time to wake up. They want a diversion? We’ll have them mopped up before Hellwind gets here.”

“Hmm, why are there four Lancers?” John wondered. “Maybe they have more than just the mechs from the Ticonderoga.”

“Na, Chad just screwed up his report,” Georgianna assured him. “One of them is probably a T-bird. With Roy’s men controlling those canons, they won’t have a chance.”

John just hoped Roy was on time.

Surveillance weighs on a man’s psyche. Hours sitting, waiting and thinking. All that time without sleep, trying to keep alert, it could drive a man “cockpit crazy”. They trained for this, and Chad hadn’t done very well, That’s why he was assigned to the Krikav and not a long range recon group on one of the big ships.

The longer he thought about those mechs behind those tall doors, the more convinced he was that his group of mechs had no chance, that they were being sent in on a suicide mission. He didn’t want to think that Roy would use them as cannon fodder, but, the longer he thought about it, the more convinced he became. He didn’t want to see that happen. He didn’t want to lose any of his friends, especially one young lady.

Chad had gone through several different plans, none of them good. He couldn’t do enough damage even if he could sneak in during the short times they had the doors open. His single cannon and short beam saber weren’t enough. The safeguards wouldn’t let you overload and blow the power unit or he might consider making himself a bomb. He had to do something. He knew they couldn’t win against these odds.

But now, Chad had a plan, if he could just get the codes he needed.

The communication officer at EDF base transferred Chad’s call to the maintenance base at Edwards EDFB. He also sent a copy of the communication to General Parker as he had been ordered.

Master technician Darrell Earnhardt swore under his breath as he checked the readouts. He looked down at the young tech on the scaffold below. “Pull the damn thing out and recalibrate it. And this time, do it right.” He climbed out of the cockpit and started down the steps. If you can’t take the time to do it right, you’ll take the time to do it over, till it is right.” Where do they get these idiots? He wondered for the thousandth time. Why is it so hard to find a decent tech recruit? They either had no aptitude for this, or they were lazy and apathetic.

One of the young techs leaned out of the office door and yelled out, “sir, there’s a call for you from central, they said it’s urgent.”

Darrell frowned, now what? I suppose some general needs the batteries changed in his car. His frown turned to a smile as he read the message, it was Lieutenant Ross. The message was text, so he must be on a narrow band subspace. Darrell sat down and typed a reply. “So Ross, did you finally come to your senses and decide to come back?”

Chad was a bit apprehensive to ask his old mentor for help. Master Tech Earnhardt had been really angry when Chad accepted his commission to the academy. The reply he received didn’t ease his mind at all. “I can’t right now, sir, I’m on a mission and in a kind of bad situation.” Chad sent back. “I need the service boot codes for the mechs that were on the Ticonderoga.”

Earnhardt sat back and scratched his head. What was that boy up to? Those service codes were used to shut down and reboot the computers on the mechs when you needed to update them or when the file system was corrupted. What would a pilot want with them? He sent back, “well, those codes are only for use by techs, and since you’re a pilot I shouldn’t be letting you have them. Alright Ross, what’s going on and why do you want those codes?” He knew he could trust Chad, but he wanted to know what was going on before he sent those codes.

Chad chewed his bottom lip, he was afraid of this, the old man wasn’t going to give him the codes. In as condensed a form as he could, he told the master tech what was happening and what he was planning.

Darrell mulled over Chad’s situation. He knew the kid was either reckless or foolhardy, he’d watched his training reports with great interest, but he just couldn’t see how this would work. “Even if you could sneak in and hook a terminal to those mechs, it would take too long to shut each one down. They would be booting back up by the time you got the last one done.”

“I plan to shut them all down at the same time, through the com unit.” Chad sent back. “That should give us enough time to secure surrender before they can reboot.”

Darrell frowned, you couldn’t shut a mech down over the com unit, Chad should know that, you had to plug into the service jack with a terminal unit. He sent off, “You know that’s not how you shut those units down, it can’t be done.”

“Yes I can,” Chad told him. “I’ve tried it. Those ecm’s are made by the same company that makes the control units for most of the expensive cars. There’s a backdoor into the ecm, They have the same flaw as the ones in the cars. I can write a script that will shut the mechs down when I transmit it.”

Chad waited for a reply from the master tech. It seemed like a long time. “Are you sure it works, boy?” The reply came. “There isn’t supposed to be any way to hack into one of those mechs.” Chad sent back, “I’m sure it will, sir, it has to. It worked when I tried it on a T bird.”

“Ok, Ross, I’ll send those codes, but I want you to tell me how you hack into those ecm’s.” Darrell ordered Chad.

“I really shouldn’t, it’s a professional secret, besides, I might need it when I get out of the EDF.” Chad laughed as he hit send.

“Don’t get smart with me boy,” Darrell sent back, “or I’ll have you on latrine duty.”

Chad smiled, he could just picture the old man in front of him, crusty as ever. “I won’t have time to send it to you right now, but when we get out of this mess, I’ll make sure to send you the full details. Sir, would it be possible to get the boot codes for the mechs that were on the two ships that were lost at Tarsonis?”

“Yes, I can get the codes, but that was two years ago, what do you want with them?” Darrell questioned.

“They have more EDF mechs than were aboard the Ticonderoga. I think those mechs might have come from the ships that were lost at Tarsonis.” Chad informed the tech.

“That would mean those guys were behind the attacks at Tarsonis,” Darrell came back. “Do you really think that’s possible?”

“There have been too many similarities between this mission and what happened at Tarsonis. It can’t just be a coincidence.” Chad told him.

“Ok, I’ll get the codes, boy. I hope you’re right or you could be in the frying pan.” Darrell replied.

“I know,” Chad came back. “It has to work, or I don’t think I’ll be sending you that hack.”
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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by oldwrench » May 13th, 2012, 8:45 am

Plans, and dreams, everyone seems to have a plan. But, will they be fulfilled? Soon it will begin, the conflict, and the answer to the questions. Or, will they be answered. Will the attack succeed, or will the Red faction win out. If Roy's plan works, will they still lose. Will Edward set off his other atomic bombs and ruin the planet? Will his commander get his way and start a new colony war? After all the plans and dreams, what will be their reality.
One more time for dreams, and then........

Chapter 94

General Parker looked over the messages sent between Chad and the Master Tech. What was Roy thinking? Why would he rush to attack when he knew the EDF fleet would be there in a couple days? The specter of Tarsonis was the only reason he could think of. If only they would wait a little longer, General Parker’s flagship and the two accompanying it would be there. He looked up at the ship’s commander, “Can we get there any sooner?”
The ship’s commander touched his screen then answered, “we could cut one hour twenty three minutes from the eta, but we would be leaving the other two ships behind.”
Parker considered this for a moment. “Do it, I’ll inform the other ships.” He would be there before the attack started.

Chad sighed, he’d finished writing the scripts and copying the service codes into them. They were all set to transmit, now he just had to wait for the battle to begin…….and wait.

Colonel Hellwind looked at the command screen. In a few minutes he would be taking the Krikav through the gap at the south pole and racing toward the Red Faction base. He would be straining the damaged power systems of the old ship, but it was their only chance to stop that huge weapon the enemy developed. Timing would be critical. His group had to reach the base when the three mechs on the ground made their attack. Mech battles were furious, but usually short, affairs. He was confident his nine mechs could handle the, possibly, twelve they had taken from the Ticonderoga. Especially since they wouldn’t have the training his pilots did. He just hoped they didn’t have more of those black mechs. Dan wished the Krikav was still in com contact with Roy. He hoped everything else was still on time.

Rose checked the seals of her suit. Soon they would be on the attack. She was ready, ready to destroy them for taking Dominic away from her. Deep inside she knew it was his fault for being a fool and trying to finish this on his own, but she wouldn’t admit it. They had killed Dominic, now she would kill them…….. every one of them.

Arisa sat in her pilot’s seat and looked over Kion’s controls. She started the final systems check before buttoning up and preparing to launch. In a short time they would be heading down to the planet. Soon she would get to see Chad again. She had plans for the tall boy with the deep dark eyes. There was so much she was planning to teach him. Arisa thought about him, there in his mech, so close to the enemy, and frowned. She’d be really annoyed if he messed up her plans by doing something dumb, like dying.

Chad had a hard time keeping awake. His thoughts kept drifting, mostly to Arisa. When this was over, he had plans……… He thought of her soft golden curls, her crystal blue eyes, her soft red lips. His memories wandered to the time she climbed into her mech, wearing her casual uniform shorts. She had such beautiful legs and blue striped…….. Chad shook his head, he hoped Rachel was right…… she had to be. Soon they would be coming, he had to be ready, and his plan had to work. Chad’s eyes closed.

Roy looked aver his battle plans once more. The drilling crew was still on time, everything looked good so far. He had to have the advantage of surprise. This battle couldn’t be drawn out or they would lose too many men. Five minutes, that was what he had given his plan. Five minutes from T-minus-0, when the mechs attacked, for his men to secure the headquarters and take over those remote cannons. If they didn’t, Hellwind’s group was going to run into a buzz saw.
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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by oldwrench » May 28th, 2012, 2:55 am

The final battle begins. Is it going to go according to Roy's master plan? Will he be able to walk in and take over, or is the Red Faction better prepared than he figured. Roy was banking on a coordinated attack, but there's always Murphy's law. That, and the human factor. Mistakes are bound to be made. But, they are fighting for their planet, their homes, and more than that, colonel Hellwind and his small command are fighting to prevent a war between the Empire and the colonies. At the heart of it all, each warrior is fighting for his own life. Who will be victorious, and who will fall? Time will tell.

Chapter 95

Dominic lay on his bed in the dark room. He hadn’t been able to sleep, wondering if Rydia would be able to go through with their plans. She certainly didn’t have the nervous disposition to be in the military. He quickly rolled to a sitting position as he heard the door lock click. The door only opened a bit, then closed, suddenly the lights blinded him. He blinked as his eyes became accustomed to the light. Rydia stood by the door, wearing a pilot’s suit. Dominic noticed she looked surprisingly good in the tight fitting suit, and very frightened.

“Did you bring everything?” Dominic asked the girl.

“I…. I think so.” She told him in a quavering voice. She set the case she was carrying on the floor and opened it. She took out a security card, a wire cutter, a small prospector’s hammer, and a plastic case. She picked up the hammer and held it out to him. “These were all I could bring along. Are they going to be enough? Can you stop him?”

Dominic pocketed the card, plastic case and wire cutter. He hefted the hammer, “sure….. well, I hope so, I’ll do what I can.” He cracked the door open and looked out. “You’d better get going.”

“Are you sure we can’t stay together,” Rydia pleaded. “I don’t think I can do this alone.”

“You’ll be fine Rydia,” Dom assured her. “They know you need to test those boosters on the Atropos. I’ll be right behind you, we’ll be gone before they realize it.” He opened the door and they slipped out.

Roy’s group moved quickly through the rear tunnels. Everything was right on time. He was sure they had achieved their goal of complete surprise. When the mechs attacked, all the enemy’s focus would be in the other direction. Overconfidence was Roy’s mistake, one of the Red Faction soldiers, who had slipped into the back tunnels for a few swallows from his flask, saw the attacking group and rushed off to alert his general.

General Geraldine frowned at the sensor screens. They had tracked the Krikav as it entered at the south polar gap, but had lost track of it as it entered the mountain ranges. Edward was surprised by Hellwind’s bold move. He hadn’t imagined he would attack with his whole ship. It didn’t matter, he wouldn’t stand a chance against the Red Faction mechs and especially against Atropos, now that he had Rydia convinced to destroy the ship. His experience in the EDF gave him the knowledge of the top speed of a white magic class carrier in a planet’s atmosphere. His pilots had plenty of time to ready their mechs for the attack.

An officer at the main console turned to general Geraldine, “sir, the Atropos just took off.”

Edward spun toward the console, “What? Who gave her permission……… Get her back here.”
“She isn’t answering her com,” the officer informed him.

The general barely had time to swear before the door to the room burst open. “They’re here, they’re attacking,” the soldier shouted as he rushed into the room. Edward spun around, the soldier was disheveled looking and carrying a flask, “who’s attacking, where?” The general demanded.

“They’re in the back tunnels, they’re civies…… miners, and they’ve got guns,” the soldier shouted.

Edward turned to an officer, “Sargent, take your security force and put them down. This drunk can lead you to them.”

The man at the console yelled out, “we’re under attack, two mechs attacking from the north.”

Edward spun around again. It couldn’t be, they couldn’t have reached the base yet, even at maximum thrust. No, wait, there were those two mechs, that had come down on the other side of the mountain, the ones they had been unable to track down. “Get the rest of our mechs launched, now!” He yelled out as he crossed the room. Edward entered a room off the main control room, it’s all Hellwind’s fault, he thought, if he’d just have followed the plan, if he’d have died like he was supposed to…… General Geraldine unlocked each of six small doors and turned the red handle on the switch under each one. “The Leader wants a war, now he’ll have his war.” Edward told the empty room.

Dominic looked around the room one more time. He’d cut off what he hoped was enough wiring to foil Edward’s plans, and give them a chance to get away. He checked the door, but had to duck back in as a group of soldiers came running by. He waited, then slipped out and hurried to the cavern that was the hangar. He planned to sneak in and take one of the Thunderbird’s they had stored there, but the hangar was a scene of chaos. There were people around every mech, pilots starting to move the unit’s out. There was the sound of a battle outside the open hangar doors. Dominic hid in the shadows and looked for a way to escape. There was a cargo shuttle sitting untended near the doors……. Beggars can’t be choosers…….. Dominic made it into the shuttle unnoticed. He was in luck, it was fueled and ready to go. Dominic lifted the shuttle and blasted out at full thrust, not caring what damage the exhaust blast might cause behind him.

Chad was shocked out of a pleasant dream, featuring one cute blond pilot, by Ghost calling his name. “Chad…. Chad! They’re moving. The large mech is moving out of the cavern.“ Chad came instantly awake as the huge mech strode out into the open. This was bad, the Krikav should be nearly there and the enemy’s weapon was getting ready to destroy them. He had to do something, there had to be a way to disable it. But, before he could decide on a course of action, he was shocked to see the massive machine lift off and rocket away. Chad knew he couldn’t contact the Krikav but he had to do something, he couldn’t let that machine destroy the ship. Arisa was with the ship. “Chad called Georgianna on his com, “It’s starting. They’re moving out, they know we’re coming.” Chad launched after the Atropos, at maximum thrust.

John looked down at the remains of his MRE. He knew why joke in the military was that MRE stood for Meals Rejected by the Enemy. He sighed, remembering the excellent meal he’d had a t Rachels farm house. They might even have had some decent food at the prospector’s cabin if the captain hadn’t insisted on moving out here as soon as it was dark. He stuffed the unfinished meal in the suit’s disposal unit. Why did he get a feeling this was the last meal of a condemned man. Suddenly, Georgianna called, “Chad says they’re moving out. Let’s hit them, now, before they get set.” John checked the time, it was too early. The two mechs hit the enemy fast and hard, before the Red Faction could get their mechs organized.

Roy frowned, his attack wasn’t going well. They still gained ground, but he was going to be late in taking the control room and the remote cannons. Those EDF pilots wouldn’t stand a chance if he couldn’t get to those cannons. All he could hope was that they were late to attack.

Rachel was disappointed to see Georgianna and John attack the base, it was five minutes too early. Unless Roy was ahead of schedule, the mechs would be sitting ducks for those remote cannons. They would have to take out those tanks quickly and try to disable some of the cannons. Rachel quickly called the other squad leaders and they all attacked together. The mech attack had alerted the Red Faction defenses, sleepy tank personnel sat up and checked their sensor screens, cannons swung into position……….. The attack was a disaster.
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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by oldwrench » June 12th, 2012, 5:26 am

Things are starting to happen fast. You will find the scene switching from place to place a lot. Like I said, battles don't usually last very long, and a lot of things are going on at the same time. Hang on to your seats, things are getting bumpy. I'll try to remember all the interesting parts of the battle, my memory isn't as good as it was you know.

Chapter 96

Colonel Hellwind stood stiffly in front of the main screens. Something had to be wrong, there had been no opposition so far. The installations at the pole had been silent, abandoned. Now he had Rose and Arisa in the lead scouting as they raced through the mountain valleys. They had seen no enemy units. So far they had no trouble staying on the timeline. Could this really be this easy?

Chad groaned as the acceleration exceeded the limits of the mech’s inertial dampers. It felt like knives were stabbing where his ribs were cracked. The harness belts were loose and he tried to pull them tighter. He should have kept them tight, but he hadn’t expected to have to race off before the time set for the battle. Ghost’s thrusters strained and the lighter Firefly soon overtook the huge enemy. As Chad drew ahead of Atropos, he spun his mech around and aimed his cannons at what he hoped would be the most vulnerable target, the sensor arrays on the head. Ghost’s single cannon roared, Chad could see the tracers reach out to the giant and the armor piercing and HE shells exploding across the head of the big mech. The thing he didn’t see was damage.

Rydia raced down the valley between the mountains. She had to reach the south polar mountains. There they had hidden a ship for transporting Atropos to another planet if it became necessary. Suddenly she saw flashes, and something was hammering and exploding across her vision screens. Rydia pulled back hard and stopped the mech, hovering on her thrusters. What was happening? That looked like someone was shooting at Atropos, it had even cracked the lens on one of the vision sensors, but there was no one there.

Chad was surprised when the enemy mech pulled up and stopped. It didn’t appear that his attack had done any damage, and he was sure the other pilot couldn’t see the Ghost. The other mech seemed to be searching for its attacker. With it stopped, he had a chance to make an attack, but what could he do to disable the monster? Chad pulled out his short beam saber, cursing the fact that a recon mech had such limited weaponry. He attacked the chest armor of the enemy, if he could crack that he could get at the pilot. His beam saber glanced off the hard armor leaving only scratches on the surface. Chad had to back away as the huge mech started to twist and flail its arms around. The armor was too hard for his beam saber, but he had to stop the enemy from using its weapon to attack the Krikav, but, how? Maybe he could get in through the joints, like he had with other mechs, but his knife would be too short, he’d have to use the beam saber. The body of the machine would be too thick, he might not be able to reach anything vital inside, but, if he attacked the arm, he might be able to damage it. If he could damage the right arm, it couldn’t use its main weapon. Chad caught the mech’s right arm and tried to ram the beam blade between the armored plates that covered the joint. The blade found the gap between two plates and Chad pushed as hard as his thrusters allowed, trying to damage some component.

Rydia was confused, she’d seen the flashes and the tracer shells coming from nowhere. She looked around but there were no attackers there. Suddenly she saw a bright blade materialize, rushing toward Atropos. Her sensors registered the force of the blows, but no damage was indicated. What was attacking her? She couldn’t let them damage her beautiful machine. She twisted, swatting at the bright blade as it suddenly disappeared. Rydia didn’t know what to do. She turned back and forth, pleading with Atropos to find who was attacking them, but all she got in reply was “no enemy detected. Suddenly, red warning lights flashed, there was damage at the right elbow joint, the main hydraulic system had been damaged. Rydia twisted violently around as secondary systems kicked in, she saw the glowing blade for a moment, and then, it was gone again. She swatted and flailed at the unseen enemy that was trying to ruin her Atropos.

Chad was frustrated, the big mech still moved like he hadn’t done any damage at all. The Krikav would be here in minutes, he had to disable that weapon the huge mech carried. He saw a chance, the armored control cable from the mech to the weapon. Somehow he had to break through that armor with his beam saber. Chad pushed the thrusters to maximum, accelerating to ram the saber into that cable with the full weight of the Ghost behind it.

Rydia caught the flash of the blade out of the corner of her eye. She twisted and swatted at her tormenter. The heavy gauntlet of her mech crashed into something.

Arisa kept her eyes on her sensor data. She was a bit bummed, they were almost to the enemy base and nothing had happened. She had been ready, with her finger on the trigger as their group had entered the atmosphere at the South Pole, but there had been no defenders there. She was beginning to think the Red Faction had abandoned the planet. She cruised alone through the valley between the mountains, ahead of the Krikav. Rose had moved over to a parallel valley, watching for enemy movement. As Arisa came around a bend in the valley, her sensors picked up the enemy. She immediately pulled up to a hover and readied her rail gun. Arisa held her breath, the enemy mech was a giant, even bigger than she’d imagined. It hardly seemed real. She centered her aim on the target and her finger tightened on the trigger…………. But, she hesitated, the enemy pilot must be having a fit, or crazy, or………. It looked like the big machine was trying to swat at bees or something. It was almost comical, but then, its flailing hand hit something. A mech appeared, tumbling toward the ground. Arisa froze in horror, that looked like……… Ghost.

Rydia looked down, what was it that she had hit? She watched the smaller mech crash into the ground below and gasped. No, this was terrible, she’d killed someone again. Rydia started down toward the mech, maybe he was still alive. She stopped…… he’d been trying to kill her, she should get away……. No, she should help if she could……… but, she couldn’t stop, she had to get away……. She didn’t know what to do, then she saw it, the other mech with a big gun pointed at her.

Arisa’s anger flared, she was going to destroy that monster. She tried to keep the target centered, but it was moving down, then up, then down again then up. Arisa hesitated, what was that pilot up to? It looked like they couldn’t decide what to do. Suddenly the big machine stopped, facing her. She started to squeeze the trigger, but again she hesitated. The giant was backing up, waving it’s hands in front of itself. The machine turned back and forth, as if looking for a way to escape. Finally, as if an afterthought, it raised its arm shield in front of its face. Arisa let go of the trigger, that pilot was either a complete idiot or, not a military pilot at all. On top of those strange actions, all the offensive weapons, the four cannon mounts and two rocket mounts on its shoulders, were all down and parked in transit mode. The pilot definitely wasn’t thinking of fighting. How could she shoot someone who wasn’t putting up any fight at all? Arisa retracted her rail gun. She called to the Krikav, telling them where the enemy mech was, and then headed down to Chad’s smashed mech.

Dominic pushed the old cargo shuttle as hard as it would go. He needed to catch up to Rydia. The valley split ahead around a mountain ridge, he took a guess and headed toward the left branch. It wouldn’t matter if he guessed wrong, the valleys all came out in the same area.
Rose was at the point where the two valleys joined, close to the Red Faction base. Arisa should be coming out of the other side of the mountains at the same time. She caught a cargo shuttle in her sensors, coming straight up the valley, the first enemy contact. It was keeping to the other side, toward Arisa. Rose pulled up her beam rifle, she’d take it out, Arisa would be too soft to pull the trigger. Rose centered her targeting on the shuttle and started to pull the trigger.
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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by Zeratul2k » June 13th, 2012, 5:23 am

Finally some more action! Good to see you haven't forgotten this. Keep it up!
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph... because good is DUMB!

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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by Sakura » June 13th, 2012, 10:59 am

Heh we're still reading :kiss:
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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by oldwrench » June 17th, 2012, 8:45 am

Ok, things are happening fast, in fact most of this is happening at the same time, and it doesn't look good for Roy and his men, and maybe worse for colonel Hellwind's command. The timing the plan depended on just didn't come together as planned, and, the Red Faction isn't quite as amateur as they had assumed. Roy and his men are outgunned, and so is colonel Hellwind. What is the outcome going to be? Who is going to be left when the battle is over?

On with the action.

Chapter 97

Georgianna drew her beam saber just before she reached the first target. The pilot of the Lancer was surprised and she ripped through the Lancer’s armor and destroyed the mech. Georgianna quickly turned and launched toward the second Lancer, but surprise was no longer on her side. The Lancer pilot blocked her attack with his arm shield, he dropped his rail gun and brought his lance into play. Georgianna spun and feinted to one side attacking the other side, but her tricks didn’t work. She had expected these pilots to be poorly trained rookies, but this guy was good…….. Too good.

John stopped hard, right between the two Lancers that he was supposed to attack. He fired a missile at the one on the right then spun and fired one to the left. He saw the missile hit the gap between the thrusters and the body of the big mech and the unit exploded into pieces. Ross was right, John thought, the lancer did have a soft spot right there. John spun and looked to the right, the Lancer there was a smoking ruin. Smiling, he turned to go help Georgi, but he didn’t smile long, there were more mechs coming out of the big doors in the mountain side, and he was running short of missiles.

Daniel frowned, the enemy’s super weapon was only a few seconds away. This was bad, he’d hoped for a surprise attack, to catch the giant mech before they could get it out and ready. Worse, the thing could fly, their ships wouldn’t be safe from it even behind moons. They had to disable the thing. Now he regretted dividing his force by sending Megumi and Louis down the other valley following Rose. “Yuki, get the main gun ready, I want to make sure we get the first shot.” The colonel ordered.

Rydia couldn’t believe that the mech had put away its gun. She was sure the EDF pilot would try to destroy Atropos after what she had done to their ship. She started to follow the mech down, but stopped, she’d better get away while she had the chance. If she’d killed that other pilot, even though she hadn’t intended to, they were sure to attack her. Rydia quickly continued down the valley. If she could just get to the South Pole……… but, she didn’t know how to fly the ship when she did get there. She had to trust Dominic would get there. As Rydia brought Atropos around the bend in the valley, she stopped. There, at the far end of the valley was a ship, an EDF warship, with a very large gun pointed straight at her. She had to do something, she had to stop them……….. Her cannon, she had to shoot them before they got a chance to wreck her Atropos. Rydia gave the command for Atropos to fire at the ship.

Captain Rick Owen listened at the door. They had been hearing gunfire, muffled by the door. Something was going on, he just hoped he and the rest of the prisoners would get a chance to get out. Suddenly, the wall rocked from an explosion. Rick backed away as the door was kicked open and two men with guns entered the room. “Hey Roy,” one of them yelled out the door, “looks like EDF prisoners in here. In a few seconds Roy came into the room and looked around. Rick looked over the tall grey haired man, he must be the leader. “What’s happening?” Rick asked.

“We’re taking over this base, and kicking those Red Faction boy’s asses off our planet,” Roy answered him.

“I think you’d better give my men your weapons and let us take it from here,” Rick told him. “You aren’t trained for this. Leave the fighting up to the professionals.”

“When we find the armory, we’ll get you some weapons,” Roy informed him. “Until then, stay behind our lines.

Rick stepped in front of Roy. He was a big man, as tall as Roy, and heavier. “I’m the ranking officer here,” he told Roy, “turn over your weapons, let the EDF take care of this.”

The man who had called Roy stepped up. “You should have a little more respect when you’re talking to the general, boy,” He barked at Rick.

“General?” Rick questioned.

“General Roy McClellan, EDF,” the man told him, “retired.”

Rick snapped around and looked at Roy, his eyes got big. “THE, general Roy McClellan?”

“Only one I know of, son,” Roy told him, “and a lot of my men are ex EDF, they know how to fight. And, they know these mines.”

Rick snapped a salute. Every pilot knew of general McClellan, the man who had lead the EDF to victory in the colonial wars. His book on interstellar warfare was required study. Besides, retired EDF meant “reserve” EDF, active in case of an emergency. “Sir!” Rick barked. “Sorry Sir, I didn’t realize……”

“Forget it soldier,” Roy told him. “Don’t worry, you and your men will get your chance at these guys. Now, let’s go find that armory. We have to capture the control room, and soon, or Hellwind’s group are in deep sh--.” Roy needed to get communication. He had to know how the attack from the outside was going. He had to have those remote cannons, or it might not go at all. All of that depended on capturing that control room.

Rachel dived behind another huge rock, the one she had been behind was shattered from the tank’s rail gun fire. Their groups were being torn apart. They had come equipped to take out six tanks, but there were three times that many. They had managed to take out four of the tanks, even though the attack by the mechs had cut the advantage of surprise. What had happened to Roy’s attack? Why wasn’t he using the cannons? Something must have gone wrong with his attack. If he didn’t give them support soon, there wouldn’t be anyone to support.
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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by oldwrench » June 17th, 2012, 8:43 pm

Nice to know someone is still reading this. I thought by now I had bored everyone to death. I've been trying to spend some time thinking, and writing, but there is a lot to be done around here over the summer. Well things in the story are coming to a climax, I just hope I can keep all this straight and coherent.
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Re: 5 minutes...... oldwrench tries story telling

Post by Zeratul2k » June 18th, 2012, 5:48 pm

I keep checking every time I can to see what's new, and I always make time to keep reading this. You're making a really good job, man, keep it up!
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph... because good is DUMB!

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