Resurgence - The Week of Hell Day 7
The Week of Hell Day 7
“Full assault, we are under full assault, where is Champion Actual?!”
“Front lines are failing, we have to fall back!”
“Is that an Omega?!”
“Spectral series fighters are in the air, watch for ‘em!”
“This is Charlie lance lead….” screeeeeech “… I’m down, I’m down, they are using retractable blades!”
“The Shadow Divisions are supposed to be dead!!!”
***
Radio chatter this morning exploded after the Shadow Division arrived at the city and spaceport. Getting to take the main highway gave the Blakists a great speed advantage, racing to cut off the Prince’s Champion. As Erik’s convoy reaches the outskirts of the city that has sprung up around the spaceport, plumes of smoke already fill the skyline. Behind and among the smoke is the devastating air battle that is raging. Giving Erik a feel of hope, Snow Raven fighters are among his own.
Weapons fire rages in the city. On approach, missile barrages are seen arcing up over buildings. Lasers are flying into the air, some trying to bring down a fighter, others just stray. Morning arrived and while not much, the sunlight was able to start piercing the clouds to show night was over.
Earlier in the morning, Lightning lance caught up with the formation. Each of the mechs have mild to moderate damage but, still functional. Lightning 1 reassured Erik that his purpose is to make sure the Prince’s Champion gets to the designated dropship. Soon, his willpower to complete the objective will be put to the test. In fact, the only way to the dropships are directly through the Blakist lines.
“Convoy, listen up.” Erik says as his mech stands at the front of his people. “We are all exhausted and they are waiting for us. Make it fast. Our objective is to get to Nav Point Epsilon as Lightning 1 designated. We will punch through this closest flank where the Blakists are thinnest and get to the dropship.”
Confirmations pinged on his HUD from his lance, the supporting lance, Lightning lance, and the HQ vic with Klavinsh. Stepping forward, he brings his Templar III up to a full run at 60 KPH. All of the vehicles are packed to the gills, violating all safe travel standards for the passengers. A number of troops, including Battle Armor volunteered to go on foot to give room the civilians. They know that it is possible they will not be able to embark. Following the Prince’s Champion they move in to the city…
***
“Is he there yet?” asked Dominic McKenna firmly to the Colonel in command at the spaceport over comms.
“Negative sir, the storm is coming down hard, we have low visibility, the Blakists are tearing through us!”
“Start loading your personnel up, keep skeleton crews on defense, and prepare for launch, my fighters have joined the fray, McKenna out.” He kills the line as he catches a glimpse of the Captain moving in his direction.
“Galaxy Commander!” called the Captain as he runs toward the war room door.
“What is going on?”
“One of ours just spotted the Prince’s Champion, he has a convoy and they are moving into the city surrounding the spaceport from the East!” says Lankenau, spitting out the words as fast as he can.
“Excellent, relay that to the Suns’ Colonel. Is the fleet prepared to leave the planet?”
“Yes, sir, firing solutions and formations are prepared if the Blakists attempt to intercept or pursue.”
“Well done, Captain.”
“Aff, sir.” Returning quickly, the Captain relayed the word that the Prince’s Champion is nearby.
***
Leap frogging from intersection-to-intersection Erik’s Command lance fired on any Blakist troops heading their way. As the main attack is on the North end of the facility and wrapped slightly around the East and West sides, Erik is pushing through the East flank. Alpha 3’s Battleaxe turns a corner ahead of Erik and unleashes a full fifteen MML SRMs. The series of explosions echo through the streets.
Lightning lance is attempting to clear the streets ahead where Erik cannot see with their jump jet capabilities. Churning up the ferrocrete, the vehicles continue to move to the spaceport, crushing vehicles and knocking them out of the way. Erik takes his next turn bounding up with his lancemate’s Victor and Battleaxe while the Jagermech leads the column. As Erik turns the corner with his Templar he gasps.
Only having seen concept images and a couple photos from nearly one hundred years prior… there it is… an Ome… LBX pellets slammed all over his mech, hitting multiple times on the ferroglass, spidering cracks all over it, sending shattered glass all over him. Then his mech jerks to the side after multiple retched, screeching impacts, falling across and a few meters west down the street, crushing one of his convoy vehicles under the weight of the Templar. Thankfully, his assault mech lay outside the view of the one hundred fifty ton monstrocity after the fall.
Tasting blood he shakes his head side to side, Stay Awake! Stay Awake!
“Champion Actual, are you there!? Are you there!?”
The voice sounds to be kilometers away to Erik. “Here… I am…” the words barely leaving his mouth are not picked up by the microphone. Bringing his hands up he slaps his neurohelment multiple times to stay awake. His HUD shows massive damage across the Templar. The heat, what the hell?! The left arm is showing as black with the left torso showing as red. His heat gauge puts him in the orange. Engine hit, damn it!
A huge thud sounds where he was just standing as the Victor came down in the intersection, firing off a Gauss slug at the enemy superheavy before stepping back behind a building and taking cover. “Sir, respond!”
From his perspective on the 360 degree display the Victor seems to be looking down at Erik to see if he is alive. “Yeah, Alpha 2, I…I… am alive.”
“Hell yes, sir, nothing is taking you down!” Alpha 2 responds. Again, he fires shots down the street toward the Omega’s position.
“This is Alpha 4, we are just a couple blocks from the spaceport. Need a heavy push up front to break thought their main line.”
“Solid copy, this is Alpha 2, Champion Actual is recovering, Lightning lance, move up to support, same with the support lance. Myself and Alpha 3 will stay by Champion Actual.”
Reaching his controls, Erik grabbing hold. Through sheer force of will he makes the Templar roll to the left, the jagged left torso armor grinding on and through the ferrocrete. Placing the bottom of the right arm on the ground, he pushes up, the huge cannon sinking into the road a couple of centimeters. Then, bringing the knees under the mech, while balancing on the one remaining arm, something catches his eye.
Blinking firmly, to clear his vision, he can see motion through the cracked ferroglass. Someone is waving to him, his external audio picking up a voice calling out. As his vision clears, he can see a child being held by a man. “Please!” was the one word that came through multiple times.
Hanging from his harness as he had already begun trying to upright his mech, it feels as though the battlefield slowed. Cracking the canopy open, the man ran over. “Please, sir, take this boy with you, when your mech fell, over a dozen people were crushed, he is one of the only ones left!”
Looking down the mech, toward where his mech’s knees are dug into the roadway, there lay a mangled vehicle covered in deep red, wet blood and flesh, as is the left thigh of his mech. Luckily, the man had not got directly under him as Erik vomited from the gore. Wiping his mouth with his forearm, Erik tells him, “Hand up the kid.”
The man lifts the young boy up and Erik grabs him before sealing the canopy. As the canopy closes, the man runs West toward the spaceport as fast as he can. “Mister, mister, I’m scared.” The boy says trembling.
“Just stick with me and do as I say.” Says Erik in the most reassuring voice he can muster. “We are in for a hot ride.”
With the canopy closed, he sets the boy on the ferroglass and begins to upright the mech from the push up position it is in. Lifting the upper torso to be vertical, he brings one knee forward and up, the kneecap of the leg gouging the roadway. Placing the foot down he then eases up into a standing position. As the torso goes vertical, the boy slides down, on top of the consoles. Once the Templar is standing Erik grabs the boy, lifting him over to sit in the rear jumpseat. “Strap in, boy, we are in for a mess.”
“Damn, sir that’s good of you.” Said Alpha 2 over comms as Erik came fully upright.
“Let’s focus on getting out of here. Sitrep.”
“Sir, they are pushing through ahead, we need to catch up fast. So far the Anvil, both Hammers, and multiple vehicles have been destroyed. Some of our Battle Armor troopers have caught up and are engaging where they can.” Alpha 2, peeked around to challenge the Omega again, this time taking two Gauss slugs to the chest, leaving two craters where armor just was. “We need to get away from this thing, sir.”
“Solid copy 2. 3, lead us out!”
The HUD blinks confirmation as the Battleaxe charges by in front of Erik and Alpha 2 turns to follow. Erik turns the Templar and begins to follow, the cockpit still keeping much warmer than normal. “It is hot in here.” Erik hears the boy say.
“What’s your name?”
“Lucas.”
“Hold tight, stay quiet, and stay put, we are not even close to being out of the woods.” Said Erik firmly, feeling somewhat recovered from the fall and cockpit impacts. Ahead of him both the Battleaxe and Victor are running, some stray shots emerging from the side streets. By now, after the Omega spotted them, Erik is sure the entire Blakist force knows where he is.
***
“Captain,” stated Dominic as he approached the Captain’s chair, “where is the Prince’s Champion?”
“Sir, ECM coverage is out of control in the area. I have seen a large number of Blakists shifting to the East flank, where he is at though.”
“They spotted him.” Dominic says through gritted teeth. “How far out are the Blakist reinforcements?”
“Less than an hour, sir. They are also speeding up, this is down to the wire.”
“Indeed, Captain Lankenau.” Dominic can see out the ferroglass shield for the bridge that multiple dropships wearing the sword and sunburst are adjusting their angle to dock with a ship in front of the Raven’s Nest. He can even hear docking collars adjusting on the Raven’s Nest itself as they are preparing to carry FedSun troops. One collar is open and ready for the Champion’s dropship.
***
Alpha 4’s Jagermech finds a swarm as Demon series Battle Armor are coming out of the woodwork. Approaching an intersection just a couple hundred meters from the spaceport, Multiple Level IIs surged out of a side street. With the Bloodhound Active Probe he is as ready as he could be.
The Large Re-Engineered Lasers melted holes through two Asura Battle Armor while the Medium Lasers continued to cycle, searing off armor on the troopers. A level II of Tengu Battle Armor marches toward the Jagermech unphased, firing off their own Medium Lasers. However, with the existing damage on the Jagermech, a leg actuator is hit, causing the leg to buckle. “This is it sir, it has been an honor.” He says, falling forward while still firing his lasers.
“No, Alpha 4!” shouted Alpha 3, who is still multiple blocks behind. Alpha 4’s fall crushed a few Battle Armor troopers and the remaining ones mounted the mech to kill the pilot. In the fray multiple vehicles continue to push forward, ignoring the troopers. Taking the Jagermech’s place Lightning 1’s Uziel moves to the lead on the column, the medium mech landing hard from a jump and moving directly into a run ahead of the vehicles.
“Burn you sumbitches!” came a raging voice over the open channel as the Scarecrow comes out of nowhere, lighting up the Level IIs of Demon Battle Armor and supporting infantry with numerous machine guns firing at the cyclic and pouring down flames. As Erik, Alpha 2, and Alpha 3 are charging up the street to catch up, they can witness the flames and machine gun arrays pouring into the cross street to the North.
Flaming human bodies are running out into their pathway, little screams coming in through the external comms. The Battleaxe kicks one of the bodies like a ragdoll, it slams into a parked car and splits in half. Two Djinn Battle Armor fly toward the Scarecrow only to get shredded by the Machine Gun fire.
“Sir, keep moving, I’ll keep this herd pinned down!” shouts the Scarecrow pilot.
“Great job, join back up with us once we are past.” Responds Erik.
As his mauled Templar crosses the intersection, the Scarecrow pilot begins to back up, only to explode under a wave of Autocannon fire. The impacts on the Medium mech got Erik to immediately check his 360 display, seeing the Scarecrow be blown apart. It fell to the ground, smoke billowing out. Through the thick smoke created by the flamers a Legacy appeared, stepping on the Center Torso and cockpit of the Scarecrow as it emerges from the smoke and fire. “I’ve been looking for you!” is said over the open channel.
“Who are you supposed to be?!” shouts Erik, him and his two lancemates accelerating to try to catch up with the convoy still.
“My mom didn’t tell you that I’d be here? Well… she can be forgetful, she is over 110 years old thanks to the cryo.” She began advancing her Legacy after Erik, behind her multiple mechs begin emerging from the street where the dead Jagermech and Scarecrow lay.
“You’re Avitue’s daughter.” Said Erik, the words coming out like venom.
“And you are the Prince’s Champion. Right now the second corridor formation is inbound to the planet, in less than an hour our fleet can crush your little Raven friends and then we will wipe out your forces as you hand us this world.” She opens fire, multiple autocannon slugs slamming into the right side and rear of the running Templar III.
“Sir, keep moving, I’ll hold her back!” interrupted the conversation.
Erik looked at his HUD in confusion, then looked up to see that the Battleaxe had stopped and is letting the Victor and Templar past. “Keep moving Alpha 3!” shouts Erik as he watches the pilot while he passes by. He can see Alpha 3 saluting him from his cockpit.
Damn these Blakists! Erik slammed his fist down causing Lucas in the jumpseat to squeak from the sudden thud. A second later both the Lineholder and Gunsmith from Lightning Lance blew by him to help Alpha 3. The weapons fire echoed down the road as they begin to fire into the pursuing Legacy. Watching on his 360 display, the Legacy began pouring fire from its legs as it leapt over the three mechs trying to slow her down. A second Legacy also jumped over the three mechs. Both of the assault mechs rose into the air with lasers, autocannon shells, and SRMs slamming into their front armor.
The remaining four mechs from the Level II engage Erik’s allies that tried to slow them down, the pursuing Legacies blocking his view. He can see waves of laser fire. One of his mechs falls down, but the pursuing mechs continue to fire at him and the Victor, forcing him to leave his people to die.
***
“Galaxy Commander, it is now or never, they can still try to box us in.”
“Captain, are the Blakist forces still collapsing on their East flank?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That means the Prince’s Champion is still alive. Prepare for a fight, our aerospace fighters can catch up.” Turning, Dominic moves to the war room where Precentor Imala of Comstar awaits. He opens the door and finds his seat across from Imala.
“Galaxy Commander, I know what you are about to ask, and yes, it will work for all of the jumpships.” States Imala, looking Dominic directly in the eyes.
***
“Where is he at?! Do we have eyes on the Prince’s Champion?!” Our men are dropping by the second!
“Sir, we are scanning all channels and radar isn’t showing us anything thanks to the ECM!” shouted back a crewman.
The Colonel in command at the spaceport has the dropship ready to lift and a force on the ground capable of holding for just seconds longer. He and two other dropships are providing fire support. With the spaceport’s walls still intact the Blakists are being funneled through multiple gaps so combined fire is having good effect so far.
“Sir, look to the East, we have fighting in a street!” shouts a crewman.
“Focus fire on the nearest gate, give them a hole!” shouts the Colonel.
“Sir, two Legacies are in pursuit!” another crewman adds.
“Solid copy…” the Captain stops dead in his tracks as an Omega enters the tarmac on the West flank with two Archangels by its side. Opening to the regimental channel on his comms, “All ground units focus fire on the Omega! Dropships, continue to cycle fire at the East gateway!”
***
“Sir, this is Lightning 1, myself, Lightning 2, and the Bushwacker are at the gate, multiple convoy vics are moving across the tarmac to the dropship, you need to hurry!”
“Roger that Lightning 1!” Erik yells back as his Templar shutters from a Heavy PPC the other Legacy fired at his left leg. Reaching the end of the street both the Victor and Templar turn to the right, facing North. They advance forward, following the wall to see the three medium mechs fighting at the intersection.
“Champion Actual, another Omega in the spaceport, watch out!” shouts Lightning 1.
“Lead the way, sir.” States the Victor pilot as he stops his mech and turns around. The second the first pursuing Legacy piloted by Avitue’s daughter came around the corner, one of his Gauss slugs slammed directly into her right shoulder, locking up an Autocannon.
As he fires, the Templar breaks into a full sprint across the tarmac. Erik sees bodies and mechs everywhere from both sides, multiple dead FedSun mechs laying in a semi-circle around the Omega at the other end of the spaceport. Looking at his 360 display, Erik sees the Victor, Bushwacker, Uziel, and Nightsky begin following him.
Both the other dropships begin lighting off their engines, their hangar bays sealing shut. Any ground forces still defending immediately retreated or are as good as dead. “Champion Actual, this is the Colonel, hurry, the Blakist fleet is almost here, the Galaxy Commander is preparing to depart!”
“On my way! Make sure any of us that make it get onboa…” shrieking armor can be heard from something that tore into the Templar, Erik loses control of the mech and it falls to the ground, digging up part of the tarmac. It all goes black for Erik, the screams of hysteria from the child in the jumpseat echoing as he loses consciousness.
***
“Sir, both dropships are launching.”
“I see that, dammit, the Prince’s Champion is down! Anyone that can get to him, do it now!” the Colonel shouts over the regimental channel.
***
Seeing the Templar collapse, Alpha 2 approaches and kneels his mech, the Templar III is now missing its left leg, there is no way to salvage the mech in time under this volume of fire. Multiple mechs and vehicles are pursuing them and the dropships can only provide so much support, especially the other two as they rise on columns of flame.
Alpha 2 looks at the cockpit. The Victor has been torn to shreds, armor hanging and melted down across nearly every inch of the mech. He needs to do the fastest thing he can to save the Prince’s Champion. Taking the battle to the attackers the Nightsky leaps through the air on its jumpjets, attacking the nearest mech, a Lightray, planting its hatchet deep inside the cockpit.
At that moment the Nightsky takes fire from three other Blakist mechs, leaving the Bushwacker and Uziel to fire everything they have every time each gun cycles, their mechs radiating heat and smoke as they shield the Victor. A dark orange glows through their armor as heat continues to mount from the pilots overriding shutdown. A loud crunch and the Victor stands, “Let’s go!” as his mech begins running.
Both Medium mechs turn and run at a full sprint, all three taking waves of fire as the dropship fires at targets behind them. The Victor enters the hangar first, only for Alpha 2 to lose control of his Victor as huge impacts slam into his right arm, detonating the Gauss Rifle itself. The force of the blast sends the Victor to the left side, slamming into a docked Black Knight and collapsing onto the ground. As the Uziel and Bushwacker step on the hangar ramp it begins to lift as the engines come to life, blanketing the area in smoke and flames.
Both mechs find an open gantry and run in, initiating emergency gantry locks. Crewmen and Battle Armor swarm over the Victor to secure it face down to the decking. Tearing the cracked ferroglass canopy away a Hauberk Battle Armor trooper checked on Alpha 2, finding him alive but barely conscious. Cutting the restraints the pilot is limply hanging from the trooper lowers Alpha 2 down to medics and their gurney.
The rest of the deck crew frantically begin searching the Victor’s left hand and the mangled hunk of metal it held. Clearly, the cockpit section of the Templar III lay on its left side, grasped by the powered down Victor’s hand. Panicked screaming is heard inside. Finally, some Cavalier Battle Armor troopers rip off the cracked ferroglass. Medics swarm in to see the Prince’s Champion unconscious and slumped to his left side, held in place only by his restraints. Behind his seat is a boy hanging by his restraints in hysterics.
Erik is pulled from the cockpit and brought straight to the infirmary, along with Alpha 2 and the little boy. Both the Bushwacker and Uziel pilots dismount and run over to the commotion, being ordered by the medical crew to follow them medics to the infirmary to check for heat exhaustion. They made it onto the dropship in time…
***
“Now let’s see if we can survive this run!” shouts the Captain, now coming alive with excitement. With the ground fighting over, the Colonel steps aside and handles what he needs to with the surviving ground forces. However, the air war continues. Rising toward the clouds, fighters swarm all around the three dropships burning to escape to the fleet above.
“Bridge, I want maximum thrust, the Galaxy Commander is already moving the fleet. Confirm fighters are escorting us out of atmo. Keep those guns firing!”
“Aye, sir!” echoed across the bridge as the crew worked together to get the Red Sword off of Point Barrow alive.
Fighters roar by every few seconds, some Blakists firing on the hull while others are just trying to use it for cover from a pursuing attacker. As the dropships rise into the clouds they depart the pillars of smoke and raging fires in the city below. Yet they are surrounded by a rising cloud of a bee swarm of aerospace fighters.
Watching out the ferroglass, the Captain sees the fighters burn by at unbelievable speeds pulling off rolls and wild maneuvers to dodge fire. He gets the first glimpse at the fleet’s last known position to find they are moving. “Have we corrected course, navigation?” shouts the Captain.
“Aye, sir, course is corrected, the Galaxy Commander knows we are inbound, they are staying outside maximum weapons range of the Blakist fleets, however, aerospace and small craft are engaging the Stormhawk Galaxy in force.”
“Keep to it, maximum thrust, trust our fighters to keep us alive!” says the Captain to encourage the crew.
Breaching the atmosphere is probably going to be the quietest part of this hell ride, thinks the Captain as nothing but the loud roar outside drowns out nearly all other sounds. Most of the fighting stops as well since both side’s fighters that can still breach the atmosphere begin burning through it.
As the atmosphere gives way all three dropships begin their acceleration at maximum thrust, forming up in a triangle formation to shield their most damaged components. It is now a race. Ahead of them lays the Stormhawk Galaxy, moving away from the planet. To the formations starboard is both Blakist fleets… complete with two Swordships in pursuit.
“Captain, we have incoming from the Galaxy Commander.” Shouts a crewman.
“Bring him up.” The Galaxy Commander appeared by hologram before the Captain.
“Captain, this is Galaxy Commander Dominic McKenna.”
“Affirmative, we appreciate that you’re waiting for us, Galaxy Commander.” The FedSun Captain responds. Aw crap, they don’t like the combined word stuff. The Captain is also still seated and strapped in given the number of G’s the dropship is pulling.
“We are leading them away; you are receiving new coordinates to escape the system. Where is the Prince’s Champion?”
Looking over to the navigation teams one of them gives a ‘thumbs up’ that they have the coordinates. “The Prince’s Champion is in the infirmary, his lancemate barely saved him before we lifted off.”
“Affirmative, Captain, just get to the coordinates and get out of the system, McKenna out.” The Galaxy Commander’s image vanishes.
Looking to the navigation team the Captain asks, “Nav, where are we heading? Behind the moon or something?”
“No, sir, it is space directly between Point Barrow and the next planet in the system. Both other ships have confirmed, maintaining current velocity. The fighter battle seems to be drifting towards the main fleet.”
“Hmmmm.” The Captain audibly sounds. He brings up a navigational hologram to see the Raven fleet and the Blakist fleet. Let’s see what we have in store for us.
***
For the next couple hours, the dropships moved fast. Entirely alone, in the far distance they can see flashes as the Stormhawk Galaxy and jumpships leave the system. There’s nothing out here… What the hell?
“Captain, coordinates reached… I don’t see anything, sir.” Stated a crewman.
“Neither do I, confirm destination.”
“Aye sir, we have checked at least seven times.”
Walking forward on the bridge toward the ferroglass, the Captain simply looks out into the stars. He notices a ripple effect and a shiver shoots up his spine.
“We have eyes on that anomaly?” he loudly asks the crew.
“Yes, sir we are reading a jumpship!”
“How the hell….” The Captain covers his eyes and the flash fills the bridge.
“Captain of the Red Sword, do you read?” a new voice echoes through the bridge.
“Yes, who is this?”
“A Snow Raven Captain that’s glad he isn’t dead from a jump that wasn’t possible two hours ago.”