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

[oldwrench]

OOOOoooo, this battle goes from one scary situation to the next. Who is going to survive? Even with Ghost's help, how do you fight an enemy that can disappear, then reappear somewhere else? Will Georgianna's damaged suit be good enough to fight three mechs, or is this her last stand? Who will survive this desperate battle? The specter of Tarsonis hangs over them all.


Chapter 35

Georgianna was almost to busy to hear the warning call from Chad. She turned and saw
the black mech to her right, just as it’s beam rifle exploded in a shower of sparks. She heard a
loud “YeeHaa!” on her com, and turned to the left to see John’s burgundy Epyon slam shield first
into the mech to her left.

John fired two missiles when he saw the mech to Georgianna’s right. The mech blocked
one with it’s shield, but he was satisfied to see the other destroy the beam rifle. John yelled as he
drew his saber and crashed into one of the other mechs. John saw the mech in the middle back off
a ways as he slashed at the one in front of him. He spun around and fired another missile at the
mech on the right. It used it’s shield to block again, but backed off some.

“Hey Georgi, old Johnny boy’s here to save the day,.” John called to her. “Bet you were
just hoping I’d come to your rescue.”

Georgianna used the confusion of the mech on her right to launch her attack. She knocked
out it’s shoulder cannons before it could defend itself. The black mech retreated to where the
middle mech was waiting. “Crichton, take that life pod back to the ship,” She ordered, “I’ll hold
these guys off.”

“No can do, sweetheart.” John called back as he blocked a beam saber slash and
countered with his own. “Your mech is damaged, you wouldn’t stand a chance. Besides, you
were the one with orders to return that pod.”

“Damn it Crichton, just follow orders!” Georgianna snapped.

“Not a chance.” He returned.

Colonel Hellwind heard captain McFarlaine’s orders, but he could see the damage report
on his tactical screen. “Red one, return with that pod,” He ordered her, “green four, hold them off
till she gets away, then make a break for the ship.”

Georgianna almost called to tell the colonel to go to hell. As good as John was, his Firefly
against three of these larger mechs was very bad odds, but she had to obey the colonel’s orders.
Suddenly, the mech that was in the middle folded and exploded backwards, like someone had hit
it with..........

“Told ya I could get them if they just sat still a second.” Chad could almost hear a grin in
Ben’s voice. “That evens the odds for them.”

Chad returned to calling out enemy positions, trying to watch everyone at once. It was
hard to keep up, then he noticed it. “Green two, behind you.” Chad snapped a target designator
on it. “Ben.....Green two!.”

Ben saw the marker, behind green two, he swung the big rail gun as fast as he could, but
there wasn’t enough time to get a lock on target.

Megumi, in green two, was fighting hard. She had taken out one opponent, but this one
was much better. She spun and dodged, Megumi blocked a beam saber strike with her saber and
spun around. She was to preoccupied to hear Chad calling a warning. As she stopped her spin,
she was caught off guard. She saw the black mech behind her swing it’s beam saber, and she had
left herself wide open, defenseless.

[Hiki]

I'd read the next chapter even if there wasn't a cliff hanger :3

[oldwrench]

Oh, Is Megumi going to make it? Someone is going to get it in this battle. The enemy has superior numbers, and the fact that only one of the mechs can see them. At least Georgianna is on her way back with the life pod, wonder if John can handle two of those black mechs himself? The suspense is killing me.


Chapter 36


Ben cursed as her tried to stop the spin of the big mech. There had been no time to stop
the mech and get a lock on the target.

For Megumi, time seemed to slow to a crawl. She could see the cyan arc of the beam
saber as it slashed toward her mech. Try as she might, the mech just wouldn’t respond fast
enough. She couldn’t block the blow. She watched as the chest armor of the black mech bent to
her right then exploded away in a million bright shards. Megumi watched the deadly blade as it
spun out of the hand of the ruined mech and off into space. As she turned back to her opponent,
time regained it’s normal flow. As Megumi stepped forward into her next attack, she smiled, that
was a rail gun bolt.

Ben got the mech stopped and started to turn to see what the outcome had been. He heard
Chad’s voice in his helmet com.

“Damn,” Chad said, “no wonder they call you Bullseye.”

“Did I get him?” Ben asked. “Is she alright?” Ben had fired on instinct alone, with not
much chance of hitting a target that small at this distance.

“Hit it dead center,” Chad told him, “Green two is back at the one she was fighting.”

Dominic and Rose followed the enemy mechs, directed by Chad’s observations. Dom was
getting a bit antsy. “Ok, where are they now?” He called, but Chad was to busy with others to
answer. “Hmm, Let’s see if we can find them, Rose.” Dom switched on his cannons and raked a
line of fire across in front of them. Less than twenty meters ahead, they could see some of the
shells explode against cloaked armor. There were some blue electrical arcs behind one mech, and
the black machine was suddenly visible. “Hey, I think we found them,” he called to Rose as the
visible mech turned back toward them.

“Blue one, I have four turning back toward your position.” Chad reported

“Ok, Rose, back to back,” Dom ordered, “I don’t want one popping up behind either of
us.” Rose moved into position as two mechs suddenly materialized in front of her. Rose faked a
rush at one then spun around and chopped the beam rifle out of the other’s grasp. Dom used his
beam rifle to make the visible mech block with his shield, then quickly fired his cannons, ruining
the beam rifle and right arm of the mech.

The colonel had talked with Lieutenant Harcourt. He told him what he’d heard about
Aiden. Jeff was trying to protect his captain, hoping he would soon snap out of his lethargy. Jeff
had abandoned his rail gun. The big weapon was useless in this type of fighting. He swung his
long lance, driving his opponent back and causing it to spin away. He heard Chad’s call, “green
one, mech directly in front. Jeff spun around and drove the big mech between Aiden and the
enemy, just as the black mech appeared. He swung his arm to put his shield in front of them, but
the shield wasn’t there, the mounting straps had broken and the shield flew away. Jeff saw the
bright flash just before his screens went black, his systems wrecked. A second bolt from the
beam gun and even the mighty Lancers armor gave in. Glowing shards slammed through the
cockpit as the Lancer went dead.

Aiden had seen his men destroyed. He’d seen their mechs torn apart by the overwhelming
firepower of the hundreds of pirate ships. Someone was yelling in his com, A lancer was falling
in front of him............ no, he didn’t have any Lancers in his command......... Aiden shook his
head, the present rushed back at him as he saw Jeff’s Lancer take the second blow. Aiden yelled
as he drew his saber and drove past the Lancer. “RECOVERY!, unit down,” he yelled into his
com. Oh, god, Aiden thought, what have I done.

At Victorville EDF base, Tod watched his tech friend Jack typing into his scavenged
subspace radio set. He waited impatiently, he just had to get to question that pilot.

Greg noticed the message on the subspace set’s screen as he went past. Damn, it was time
his friend would connect. He turned back, he needed to at least let Jack know he couldn’t talk
now. He typed a quick line and hurried off, the recovery bot was bringing the broken Lancer in
the air lock.

Tod stared at the message they got back, “Under attack, can’t talk.” “No, no!” Tod said,
“it can’t be. You said it was just a repair job. I have to get the general to recall that ship. We can’t
lose that pilot.”

Dominic’s rapid attack soon overwhelmed the mech in front of him and when the other
appeared to his left, a snap shot from his cannon damaged it’s sensors. Rose had dispatched one
opponent with her double saber attack, but the other kept disappearing, just when she was about
to engage it.

Aiden attacked the black mech like a berserker. His slashing saber drove his opponent
back and knocked his shied to the side. Aiden got inside his defenses and switched to his cannon.
Several hundred rounds smashed the armor, finally penetrating and destroying the cockpit He
turned to attack the other mech, just as it disappeared.

Chad noticed something odd. “Ghost, did that asteroid change positions?”

“Yes sir,” Ghost replied, “It has turned thirty two degrees and is now rotating on it’s axis
at five point three meters per second.”

Chad thought Ben might know what was going on, “Ben, take a look at the big asteroid
off to the starboard side of the ship. It’s been moving, and there’s something like scaffolding
sticking out the side.”

Ben looked at the asteroid and turned his magnification up to maximum. Looks like
they’ve been mining that one. That would be.............. Oh sh**!!”

.

[Zeratul2k]

Wow! Lots of action on this one! Keep it up, you're doing an excellent job!

[oldwrench]

The battle continues. Now the ship is in danger, and even with the help of the Ghost's sensors, the pilots are having a very hard time just defending themselves against the cloaked mechs. If this keeps up, there could be more pilots lost. I just hope they can survive this attack.



Chapter 37


“What?” Chad called back. “What is it?”

“A rock slinger.” Ben told him.

“Huh? What’s that?”

“A mass driver............,” Ben tried to explain while bringing his rail gun onto the target.
“A BIG f***ing rail gun!....... Damn, I can’t get a shot into the port from here.” Ben called the
ship. “Colonel, that big asteroid high and to your starboard, it’s got a monster rail gun. I can’t get
a shot from here, I’ll have to move back to the ship. I don’t know if I have time.”

“Blue three, stay where you are, we can see it, so Yuki can handle it.” Dan ordered Ben,
he already had two Lancers out, he didn’t want Ben getting into a close battle and chance losing
his last Lancer. “Yuki, watch that asteroid, they could be ready to fire that thing as soon as
they’re in position.”

“Yes sir,” she replied in her emotionless voice, “I will be ready.”

Aiden was getting frustrated, he’s been able to cause some damage to the two mechs he
was fighting, but they kept disappearing and then appearing in another position. It was almost
impossible to get in a good attack.

Dominic pushed Rose away and used his shield to block a beam rifle shot. The other two
mechs had come back to attack them, Chad’s warning had come just in time. Dominic got off a
quick burst from his cannons, but the black mech vanished. Dom was running low of
ammunition. Rose lunged at the mech she’d been fighting just as it disappeared, but her saber
struck home, and the mech reappeared, electric blue arcs flashing from the body joint her saber
had penetrated. Dom switched to his beam saber.

Ben was a bit upset at the colonel’s orders. He felt like there wasn’t much he could do,
the battle was moving to fast for him to get a lock on any of the enemy mechs. Ben was surprised
to see a black mech materialize a short distance to his right. By the time he thought about
defending himself, it was to late, he couldn’t turn his shield or gun around that fast. He was
looking right down the barrel of a beam rifle.

Louis had his hands full, two of the enemy kept him more than busy. His battle
experience kept him alive, fighting the vanishing mechs more by instinct than anything else.
Finally he was able to catch one as it reappeared, his beam rifle sliced the right side off the black
mech.

Ben looked at the black mech, shocked, it’s beam rifle and right arm had mysteriously
come off and were floating away, The black mech flailed around with it’s shield till suddenly one
of the body seams started to separate, then sparks and fluid sprayed out till the mech suddenly
blew up......
Ben thought he saw, for a moment, the dark shape of a power knife blade. “Ah.......
Chad?” He called.

“Got ya covered, bullseye,” Chad told his friend.

“Damn, that’s spooky.” Ben muttered

Chad laughed, “That’s why you call me Ghost.”

Yuki used the ship’s computer, linked to her brain, to make the critical calculations. Just
before the Asteroid’s huge gun came into line with the Krikav, she ran the maneuvering thrusters
to max and moved the ship up and out of line. The ten ton projectile from the mass driver flashed
past the ship, only a meter below the hull. Yuki already had the ship’s main rail gun targeted on
the opening. It would take them several minutes to reload the mass driver, not to mention
stopping the asteroid’s rotation. Yuki fired three of the ten kilogram high energy projectiles from
her rail gun. A large tongue of flame blew out of the port on the asteroid. It was a direct hit.

Aiden yelled in frustration, “how can you fight these things when they keep
disappearing?”

Chad couldn’t keep up with all the enemy mechs. How could he keep everyone informed
as to where the enemy was attacking from? Fireflies could only link targeting to one other mech
at a time. Chad wished he could link to a lot more, like the ships could. “Damn, I wish I could
link targeting designators to more than one mech.” He shouted in frustration.

Ghost’s calm voice replied, “I am able to track two hundred and fifty objects, and link
firing data to twenty five units.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me!” Chad started to send link requests to the rest of the
mechs.

“You did not ask,” Ghost replied.

Dominic saw a link request from Chad and accepted the link. “Yes!” He cried as he
targeted the nearest enemy with his beam rifle and fired over and over. The black mech exploded
in a shower of sparks.

Aiden quickly snapped on the link and attacked the nearest target. He attacked like a
berserker, quickly overwhelming one opponent and turning to the next.

The commander of the black forces looked on in disbelief. They’d destroyed the rail gun
and his asteroid base, now it suddenly seemed that the enemy could see his cloaked mechs. They
no longer had even the advantage of superior numbers. They were being slaughtered. He called
for an immediate retreat. The whole operation had been a disaster.

Ben aimed his big gun at the fleeing enemy. “I could take out a couple more.”

“Save it for later, blue three,” the colonel called. “All units return to the ship. Let’s get
that life pod on board and get out of here.”

[oldwrench]

So the battle is over and only one pilot was injured. Looks like we're done with cliffhangers for a while............ maybe. BWTM....... we haven't gotten all the mechs on board yet, and what about that life pod? I expect there will be a bit more excitement in the future.


Chapter 38


Chad looked over the mechs shown on his screen, looks like they all made it, just the one
Lancer that was hit.......... wait, there should be another Lancer. In fact, he couldn’t remember
seeing Arisa during the entire fight. A bit worried, Chad called Yuki, “Yuki, I don’t see red three
anywhere.”

“Red three was unable to launch due to technical failure,” was her immediate response.

Chad felt relieved. He told himself it was because he was concerned they had lost another
Lancer............ But that wasn’t the real reason.

The mechs crowded into their respective launch and recovery air locks. There was one big
lock for each group of four. The recovery bots had moved the life pod into the larger shuttle lock.
The colonel was headed down to the hangar bay, anxious to find who was in that pod. Maybe
he’d be lucky........ This whole mission had survived on good luck, the training mission that
found the sabotage, getting that odd recon mech, the pilots that were in his command. Then he
overheard the call from Captain McFarlaine.

Georgianna looked at her displays again, there was no doubt about it, the flashing red
indicator meant she was in serious trouble. “I have a problem, my power unit won’t shut down,
the temps are in the red.” She called in a worried voice.

Moments later Greg replied, “Thermal runaway, get that thing in here fast, we have to get
it shut down.”

Dan swore as he punched on his communicator. “Cancel that Captain, you know the
procedure, Move your mech five k away and eject. We’ll send the recovery bot for you.

“Yes sir,” she replied, “............ don’t bother with the bot, I won’t be ejecting. There’s
damage to the mechanism, the cockpit won’t open.”

Bob rushed up to Greg, “I could get in an EVA suit and ride the bot out there.”

“Forget it,” Greg said woodenly, “You’d never get suited up and out there in time.”

The mechs started to fill the hangar, As Blue Dragon group’s air lock cycled, Dominic
looked back. “Hey, where’s Chad?” he asked.

Ben laughed, “he’s right behind me....... I think, hard to tell with the Ghost....... You can
turn that thing off now, Chad.”

Georgianna sat still. She couldn’t say anything, she would never let them know just how
frightened and miserable she was. She knew the chances every time you went into battle, but
there she had some control, she never thought Reina would fail her, that she would go out like
this, just sitting and waiting to die. She laid her head on the console, there was nothing anyone
could do now. Georgianna jerked upright when she felt a hard thump from behind. Georgianna
tried to twist around to see what was behind her when she heard a sharp voice on her com.

“Hold still!” Chad ordered her. “I can’t do anything while you’re moving around.”

Georgianna tried to shake lose. “Ross!! What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m going to shut down your power unit. Now quit moving.”

“YOU IDIOT,” She screamed, “you can’t do that, you’ll just get us both killed. Get out of
here, get back to the ship.”

“NO,” Chad snapped, “I’ll fix it, just stay still.”

“Ross, what are you doing?” Greg called to them. “Captain, What’s going on out there?”

“The fool thinks he’s going to fix it.” Georgianna answered. “He’s banging around on the
back of my mech.”

“Ross, get out of there,” Greg ordered. “You don’t know what you’re doing. Those are
complex systems, you can’t just............”

Daniel cut off the master tech, “Lieutenant, do your best, and good luck...... Captain
McFarlaine, you will do whatever lieutenant Ross tells you to do.”

“What?” Georgianna cried, agitated by fear. “I’m not going to take orders from a
lieutenant.”

“You WILL do EXACTLY as you are ordered, captain.” the colonel barked sharply.

Greg looked at his friend, shocked. “Have you lost your mind? He’ll just get killed. He
can’t do anything, it takes years of training to...........”

Dan waved him off. “Chad was a tech, he was in mech repair for three years before they
sent him to the academy. If he asks for any advice, give it to him.” It was a big gamble, not
ordering Ross to come back. He could easily lose two valuable pilots, and their mechs. He just
prayed his luck hadn’t run out.

[Sakura]

Where's your word files ~nya?

[oldwrench]

Didn't you get them? I sent them via AAW e-mail, the first 31 chapters.

[Sakura]

You're at chapter 38 aren't you...

[oldwrench]

Yes, did you et the other chapters? I'll send these new ones shortly.