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18
Chauncy Plateau
Tairngoth, Glengarry
4 November 3134
Alexia Wolf tensed over the controls of her Uziel, unable to shake the jangling nerves that often plagued her in combat. The examiner in charge of screening freeborn applicants for Clan Wolf had promised her it was nothing. The trembling of a hunter scenting blood. Alexia knew only that the prickling sensation crawling over her scalp had been at its worst just before she failed her Trial of Position, when her testing partner turned on her, and had never once heralded good news.
“Here they come.” McKi
It was all the warning she received from McKi
The plateau was a backdoor route into Dunkeld. It was also the site of an old battlefield, where some now-forgotten mercenary command had fought against occupying forces. Rusted hulks littered the landscape for a dozen kilometers in every direction, creating a background magnetic-resonance disturbance where a company of Stormhammer machines could hide itself. Their angle of attack wasn’t the best, and in short order the Falcons might overwhelm their position, but at the moment the advantage belonged to the Skye forces.
Alexia caught an electric blue flash out of a stand of scaly firs, recognizing the capacitor discharge of a Gauss rifle. A silver blur smashed into the Shrike’s left shoulder, shoving it around. Stabbing lances of red energy followed as McKi
“Striker Team One.” Alexia opened up communications, switching her sensors from passive over to active. “Advance and fire.”
A light Pack Hunter broke cover from a nearby quarry, leading out a Ki
A lesser MechWarrior would have fallen under the Paladin’s savage ambush. The Shrike’s pilot was apparently made of sterner stuff. Staggering to one side, the ninety-five-ton machine quickly got a solid stance back beneath it. Turning, it levered forward both of its ultra-class autoca
McKi
Landing, it again chewed through nearly a half ton of ammunition, spraying out high-velocity streams of death. The razored metal sliced away tons of armor from the Atlas’ front, raining it down around its feet in shards and impotent splinters.
Alexia powered into a run, trying to clear McKi
Which left Alexia head-to-head with a machine that outclassed her by forty-five tons!
Her nerves rang loudly as the Shrike turned its full attention to the Uziel. Not only that, but the Nacon scout vehicles were throwing themselves into the fight, buying time for the Falcon MechWarrior. One Nacon peeled away as a brace of particle ca
Alarms screamed for Alexia’s attention as missiles spiraled in on her position, blasting holes into her armor protection. An offhand stream of autoca
“That warrior has skills,” Sire McKi
She had no time for wariness. But a little good fortune was always appreciated. Twin blasts of argent lightning slashed out from her PPC barrels, coursing across the field, snaking into a tight braid until one stream of energy could hardly be distinguished from the other. Both carved into the Shrike’s left arm, burning deep through the damage already caused by the Atlas’ Gauss rifle.
The arm hung limp and silent at the Shrike’s side.
It bought Alexia Wolf a reprieve from the same debilitating fire that had scoured McKi
One of the VTOLs buzzed her backup line, worrying the Ki
The second VTOL chipped at McKi
The Jade Falcon column had gained the plateau, and the enemy MechWarrior throttled into a reverse walk to close ranks. The Shrike’s ultra-class autoca
Alexia toggled for an all-hands broadcast, but McKi
A Tribune command vehicle lumbered up from the back of the Falcon column, bringing a Kelswa assault tank and a handful of hoverbikes with it. They looked to be the last of the enemy forces. It was hard to tell, with the magres interference and her HUD a jumble of overlapping signals. The interference working in favor of the Stormhammers now also worked in favor of the Falcons.
“But we were here first,” Alexia Wolf whispered to herself.
She gave herself a soft count of ten, just to be sure. Then, engaging her voice-activated mic, she ordered, “Striker Team Two, slam the door!”
From a shallow valley leading off of the plateau, a second lance of vehicles stormed up and into the right rear flank of the advancing Falcons. Two JES missile carriers, spreading warheads about them right and left, led the charge. A pair of Condors followed, adding in their own missile packs and challenging the Destroyers with medium-class autoca