Chapter 1
They Walk
Jansen's Hold
1st March, 3022
The Hysteria wasn't a large dropship, and the lack of gravity except while under thrust was itself the hardest thing to get used to. Though my body seemed inured to the more troublesome aspects like the need to throw up some experienced, it had been some months since the aborted coronation of Lady Kamea that brought us here to the Taurian Concordat. A company on the surface had gotten word that rivals were going to try and engage in a little friendly espionage. And the leader of our group Markham, decided that the job was worth the C-Bills.
And yet, before we even made landfall I was worming my way into the hearts and minds of the crew. Even if I was being regarded as a curiosity as much as anything, I worked the tools I had available, screwing one of the console panels back on as Yang watched, and listened, to me mumbling prayers to the machine god. A necessity to even make it functional.
"So what is this mech?" He asked, and it caught me by surprise, not so much that he'd asked, but that nobody had yet.
"We just called it a Knight." I said incanting the final placation of the machine spirit. Silently begging thanks to the being that had implanted such knowledge. "Only one of it's kind."
"Yeah, I can believe that." Yang said looking at the chair I would occupy and the many subdermal plugs there. "I don't even understand what most of this technology is, or why you seem to pray to it." He probed.
"Sorry Yang, I can't give away valuable secrets like that, as for the prayers, think of it as a superstition. The warriors from my home have been a superstitious lot as long as can be remembered, and why not pray for the spirit of a machine to keep you safe from harm?" I leaned back on the console i'd just been maintaining, "Look at any one of those mechs out there, they've all got spirits don't they, Medusa's Locust is a jittery thing that flinches from combat, Behemoth's 2H has always had that quirky actuator, Glitch's Vindicator always seems to start up faster than normal, eager to get into a scrap..."
Yang held up his hands, chuckling. "Yeah I get it."
"So word is Markham wants me on the drop?" I said as I slid out the small data mechadendrite into a connection and began running the diagnostics.
"Yeah, and Dekker isn't happy about being sidelined with Medusa." Yang said as he attempted to read one of the display panels, though it displayed in low gothic. "But Markham wants you down there with him. So it'll be you in your Knight, Markham in his Marauder, Glitch in her Vindicator and Behemoth with her Shadow Hawk. As a defensive job he feels you'll make a bigger impact than bringing a scout mech."
"Sound reasoning. But I hope you have the heavy cranes ready. Because I need to change out her armaments. And i'm going to need your help doing it." I said, the Rapid Fire Battle Cannon wasn't what I really wanted to use, the ammunition was going to be too difficult to replace. "I'm going to mount the Thermal Cannon and Thunderstrike Gauntlet, take off the carapace mount, basically I don't want anything using ammunition at the moment."
Yang nodded. "I can understand that, I saw a box of shells for that cannon, I've seen AC20s using smaller shells."
"Well. Let's get to work."
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The pull of gravity was reasserting itself as we dropped onto Hansen's Hold, the Leopard descending on the facility fast as I climbed into the cockpit and sat down. The others had been surprised when I didn't have a neurohelmet, almost as surprised by the cramped cockpit being in the Carapace. The spinal plugs sought out their receiving units as I took a seat and I felt the dataspikes punch into my spine as I brought her heart up to full power.
"This is Markham, everyone, roll call." He said, and I looked out through the senses of the Knight. I hadn't shared the name of the machine with my comrades. The Unchained Predator. Across from me, waiting for landing, Markham's Marauder stood.
At seventy five tons it was only just over half the Predator's weight without it's carapace weapons. To my right Behemoth's Shadow Hawk stood across from her was Glitch in her Vindicator. "Glitch here." She said followed by Behemoth "Ready to go."
I engaged the vox, matching the radio frequencies they were using. "Warden. The Unchained Predator is awake." There was a gentle chuckle. "Hopefully we won't need that Warden."
Darius' voice came over the PA. "Drop in thirty seconds."
The Mech Bays rotated our machines to face the external doors and for a second I questioned whether I would be even capable of fitting through, though a Knight was not too much taller than a Mech, it's shoulders were a fair bit wider than most. However a quick play of the ranging lasers confirmed i'd be able to move.
The ground lurched up towards my stomach as the descent was arrested and the doors opened.
Sunlight.
"Let's go Marauders!" Markham said and set off at a stride down the ramp to the ground below.
The spirit of the Unchained Predator rose and adrenaline began to pump. The thrum of the plasma reactor beat in time with my own heart as power flowed through me like a river whose banks were broken. I restrained my first instincts, to put the machine entirely through its paces, instead electing to march stately down the ramp, slow and lumbering like they might have expected.
As the Hysteria broke for orbit. I looked around at the facility we had been contracted to protect. A moderate facility out from most civilization, accessible by air or train line. There was a deal of forestry around us and I silently questioned my choice of weapons. "Warden, is there a problem with your mech?"
"What do you mean boss?" I asked mentally running diagnostics.
"Your gauntlet appears to have some major electrical arcing." He said, a note of concern.
"Negative problem," I cancelled the diagnostics, "the arcing normal. Strategy?"
"They want us to be gentle, and while their turrets are ok, they're concerned that their competitors hired a lance of mechs from the Federated Suns. I understand your machine isn't exactly fast but I'm hoping the sight of it will cause some rethinking of their plans." He said as his mech moved towards the buildings. "So stand and look menacing I suppose."
Well. Shit.
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Three hours. Three goddamned hours. We had been on station for three hours before the enemy made itself felt. My Auspex picked them out six kilometres out. "Boss, I've got contacts on sensors, six klicks and closing. Twenty contacts. Eight bipedals, twelve vehicles."
"Damn, you sure? Goddamnit. Seems our employers understated things again..." His Marauder moved up from the buildings, using its own powerful sensors to try and sense them. "I'm only getting ghosts at this range. Seems I did the right thing bringing you down. Ok, we're going to abort, I can't risk..."
"We can do it boss. If Behemoth and Glitch can deal with the armoured vehicles, you give me long ranged support. I'll keep them back." The comms net was silent for some time as Markham ran over the odds.
"Are you sure Warden, if you're wrong we're probably all dead you know that?"
I simply gave the Unchained Predator her head. Allowing her to move up to a killing stride.
"Marauders, on the Warden!" Marham said surprised as the Knight accelerated to seventy kph. The ground cracked underfoot as I closed on my chosen field of battle. After a minute of running contact was made, the two scout mechs ahead of the enemy advance paused as I came to a halt eight hundred metres from them.
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"This is Quin of the Rockefellas, we see there is only four of you. If you surrender now we'll let you go without further conflict." The lead mech said, a Spider.
I began to march, my feet thundering with every step as I did something that rocked both of the light mechs. The Warhorns of the Knight blared, the deafening thunder of the machine spirits wroth practically cracking the air with it's passage as the silence rushed in to fill it.
By the time I had closed two hundred metres the light mechs had recovered from their shock and opened fire, the Spider with its medium lasers and the Commando contributed it's Large laser, medium and an SRM2 salvo to the mix and I arrested my momentum bringing the ion shield around deflecting the fire as the Thermal Cannon turned to face the Commando.
I don't know what I had expected as I brought the Thermal Cannon in line with it, but I felt the rage of the machine spirit flow through me as a column of air was rendered a blinding white. At first there was no sound from the Thermal Spear but the slight hiss of discharge, the column of death building up to a terrifying roar as it reached the Commando. Trees ignited or were flashed into ash near the target. The Commando went from garishly painted mercenary colours to red and ascending through the colour to white as it's entire chest ran like molten wax.
As Markham stepped up through the treeline the Spider engaged its jumpjets and hurtled backwards to rejoin its comrades.
I engaged full stride as a pair of PPC blasts flew past me, blasting the Spider's arm clear of it's shoulder and knocking it spinning to the ground, Markham it turned out was a decent pilot after all. The Warhorns blared again as I crossed the distance to the Spider as it struggled to get up. Laser blasts emerged from the treeline revealing an Hunchback, with another blare of the Warhorns I picked up the struggling Spider and hurled it backhand at the machine staggering it as the Thermal cannon came around.
Pricks of pain stabbed into my right shoulder as LRMs fired at long range moved in around the coverage of my Ion Shield. The assault was too late to help the Hunchback pilot as the sweeping heat ray carved across it's surface armour running like liquid resin.
Surprise however was no longer in play. As the Hunchback settled to the ground, the pilot having ejected after his cockpit began to run like wax, the other enemy Lance and last surviving mech of their scout Lance moved. Unfortunately, not in the manner I would have preferred, the enemy mechs were spreading out, trying to encircle me.
Time felt like it was slowed as I embraced the manifold completely and surveyed the enemy mechs. A pair of Jenners, another Locust a Blackjack and, the command vehicle. A Catapult. The twelve armoured vehicles were already engaged by Behemoth and Glitch as Markham strode in and fired his AC/5 and PPCs at the Blackjack.
I brought around my Ion Shield as I charged for the Catapult, the pilot of it desperately backpedalling and unleashing his entire missile payload. Lasers raked and were refracted by the ion field reducing the damage to mere scoring as the missiles were detonated on contact.
The Jenners moved in on me while the Locust ran to help the Blackjack. SRMs bloomed and I felt the blossoms of fire against my rear armour, followed by the scoring beams of laser fire. But I had closed the range too quickly, and the Catapult wasn't fast enough to escape even if it had turned to run.
The Thunderstrike Gauntlet came around and I reached low, gripping one of it's legs, my Warhorns blared once more triumphantly as I turned, intending to swing the machine and release it into one of it's smaller comrades, as such my balance was compromised as when I turned the Catapult's leg came with me, but the rest of the mech did not.
The Jenners however were too slow to try and capitalise on my imbalance as their weapons flashed and the Ion Shield deflected most of their power. Balance regained the Thermal Cannon discharged prematurely detonating one of the Jenner's missile salvoes as it's legs toppled, the torso that had held them together no longer existing. I stepped back and turned aiming my Thermal Cannon at the Catapult.
The clearing went silent. Every movement stopped. The auspexes had showed a transmission going out from the downed Mech. "Hold fire Warden. Hold fire! They've given the signal to surrender and withdraw."
For a final time my Warhorns blared. Victory.
And yet now, the secret of the Knight was out