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Post by Captain Benjamin Maxwell on Jul 3, 2005 12:39:55 GMT -5
Hamal House Davion A half-frozen, sandstone-colored desert world, orbited by a trio of moons, rotated slowly on its axis, as it made its way along an elliptic path that encircled an unremarkable star. Nearly forgotten by House Davion, this wasteland of a planet, which once flew the flag of the ancient Tikonov Union, was now inhabited by a nomadic people so technologically backward that orbital paths, gravitational physics, and interstellar politics were all but meaningless to them. Eeking out a nomadic, tribal existence, and follwing the growth of the world's meager vegetation as the seasons changed, one would struggle to comprehend that these rugged, near-primitive humans were descended from settlers from the highlands of Terra’s South American continent, who first populated the planet nearly a century ago.
The isolated tribes of this backwater planet could scarcely comprehend that their barren world was but a small part of a massive galaxy of systems, and that it was largely regarded as a last-resort pit stop for vessels en route to more prosperous, advanced destinations. The automated, crewless, recharging station, which originally sat at a respectable five-day distance from Hamal, had been towed into a high orbit around the world, in a half-hearted attempt by the Davion custodians of the system to make 'wasteland duty' slightly more bearable, by eliminating the week-long journey that unfortunate assignees to the wretched world had to endure just to make planetfall.
This decision, on the part of the planet's keepers, inadvertantly worked to the advantage of several parties.
As the JumpShip Alliance tore into normal space, I gripped the arms of the command chair - out of instinct, and out of trepidation over what we might find once we reached our destination. We still had several minutes to get our bearings before we were forced to disengage from our docking cradle, while the mothership which had ferried us here maneuvered into a docking vector with the automated outpost which would refuel it.[/color] "Yeoman Hobson - report." Hobson's fingers flew across his console as he ran a battery of sensor sweeps, cross-referencing untold amounts of data with celestial charts and archived data regarding the star system."The boards show green, sir. We have arrived in orbit of Hamal.""Any sign of the Phoenix?" There was a pause, while Hobson ran more scans."No sign of the freighter, sir, but there is a significant debris field in low orbit over the equatorial region of the planet. Base components match the specifications given to us for the Phoenix."No!I bolted from the command chair, leaving it wobbling on its axis as I rushed to Hobson's station."Evidence of a break-up?" "Actually, no, sir - it looks more like a controlled descent. Though, why anyone would want to try to land a Leviathan-class freighter on a planet's surface is beyond me."The motives for landing the freighter on the planet's surface were beside the point. That there was a chance the ship might still be intact had become my overriding concern."Can you project where the freighter might have ended up, based upon the angle of entry?" "I can give it my best shot, sir."I nodded, and Hobson began his calculations. Moments later, an approach vector appeared on the main screen, with a detail overview which showed the most likely landing site of the vessel."Once the Phoenix entered the atmosphere, it would have begun descending very quickly. Therefore, its crash site - "Hobson recanted his last sentence."...its landing site...would basically have been in line with its orbital path. The best that the pilot of the ship would have been able to do was perform a controlled descent to the ship's ultimate destination. If they were trying to get to any one specfic region, they would have had to choose it, and line up with it, ahead of time.""Based on your analysis, where do you think they were headed?" Hobson pulled a topographical map up on the main screen."Well, sir, the Davions don't exactly keep painstaking records of the tribal villages on Hamal...so the best I can offer is that the ship would have likely gone down about 650 kilometers northeast of Califa Hamal, the one major city here. I know that's not very specific, but its the best I can do based on available data. The maps don't show the tribal villages that are most likely in the area."There was only one logical course of action. We had to go after the vessel. The political atmosphere on Hamal was literally nonexistent, and I was certain there'd be no objection to our presence there whatsoever."Very well, Yeoman. Plot our descent - I want us to land within three kilometers of the freighter, if at all possible." Hobson hesitated."Sir, I'm afraid that's not going to be easy.""Explain." A meterological map replaced the topographical map on the main view. Even from our current altitude, I could clearly see that a massive dust storm, kilometers in size was already billowing across the equatorial region where we hoped to make our landing. It blotted out the surface of the planet, obscuring the land masses with dark, angry, swirling vortices of sand and debris.
This wasn't going to be pleasent."Yeoman, I'm afraid we have no choice. If you're not comfortable performing this task..." "With all due respect, Captain - I'm the best pilot you have on your roster. If we're going through with this - I want to be the one to do it."I smiled grimly."Very well. Then plot our descent. Commander Garland - sound collision - advise all stations to prepare for atmospheric entry. This is going to be a rough one." [ - Soundtrack - ]
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MechWarrior Alex Thorn
Regular
LEGIONNAIRES
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." - Winston Churchill
Posts: 176
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Post by MechWarrior Alex Thorn on Jul 3, 2005 13:34:08 GMT -5
After noticing I was soluting to no one I quickly did a check on my Belial. It seemed to be doing fine.
I quickly backtracked to the lift and pushed the button for the bridge. Once again the humming of the lift was soothing to the ear. It reached the bridge and I exited the lift.
The bridge was busy. People were scrambling about, techs were busy punching away at keyboards. Something was up.
I walked up to the captain.
"Captain. Sir." I did a crisp solute.
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Post by Holms Net on Jul 3, 2005 14:20:09 GMT -5
We had finally arrived within view of Hamal. We had soon undocked from our JumpShip, and began our decent. The halls of the Liberty once again became alive, with the thudding of the crewmen's feet running against the ground echoing throughout the ship. Commander Garland's voice had come over the comm relaying to all crew members to prepare for a hard entry into the planet's atmosphere. The Liberty was aimed straight toward a large, swirling storm located somewhere in the upper hemisphere of the planet.
Most of the Mechwarriors moved to our 'Mechs, preparing for a hot drop like had been required of us in the last few Ops. Hopefully the 'Mechs would not be required for fighting, but it would still be good to be prepared. I powered all systems up, preparing for any launch that may be coming. I tuned comms to listen in on any commands coming from the Bridge, and checked my comms with the other 'Mechwarriors ready as I was. It seemed that the Legionnaires were ready for whatever situation, especially going into a landing zone hot.
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Post by Commander Garrett Garland on Jul 3, 2005 15:42:47 GMT -5
The Liberty disengaged from the jumpship, burning towards the planet’s surface. As we neared the planet we began to realize what we were getting into. From space, the planet looked akin to Terra’s Jupiter except considerably smaller. There was a large red dot on the planet, denoting a massive storm. This storm nearly engulfed half of the planet, its presence dominating an entire continent. This was going to be a rough landing. The Captain ordered me to issue a collision warning to the crew; everyone needed to brace themselves.
Before we even hit the atmosphere the Liberty was rocked to the side, Yeoman Hobson slowly correcting our course.
“What the hell was that Yeoman? We’re still a few hundred clicks from the atmosphere?”
As soon as I said that the proximity alarms went off—there was another ship within our sensor range.
Captain Maxwell instantly took charge of the situation, “Yeoman, prepare the ship’s defenses and get targeting locks on our attackers. All aerospace fighters… launch, we need your firepower.”
The color drained from the Yeoman’s face, “Sir, we’re going to need a lot more than just the Liberty’s and the aerospace fighters’ firepower…”
I rushed over to the Yeoman’s console, my heart beating with trepidation. My god. Seven aerospace fighters were screaming towards our dropship, firing lasers as they went. The next volley of coherent light rocked our ship, the Yeoman’s console lighting up with damage estimates. The fighters appeared to be TRN-3T Tridents, armed only with lasers but they outnumbered our own fighter asset by more than three to one. The jumpship must have launched them after they realized that it was us who were responsible for the attack on the true Cairo. They probably also noticed the massive Legionnaire crest emblazoned on the Libery’s hull.
I knew what had to be done, “All mechwarriors to the ‘mech bay now! Power up your ‘mechs, we’re going to be fighting these bastards from the ‘mech bay door.”
On my way down the bay I felt the ship slam into the atmosphere. I was thrown to the deck, picking myself up only long enough to be waylaid by an exploding console down the corridor. I finally made my way to the ‘mechbay, several of the ‘mechs already beginning their power up procedures. We had to wait for all of the mechwarriors to arrive before we opened the bay doors otherwise they would suffocate; we were still in the upper stratosphere.
I hurriedly climbed my ‘mechs ladder, withdrawing it as soon as I entered my cockpit. I made sure that the seal was holding as I powered up my ‘mech, checking my weapon systems. Finally we were all here and the bay doors began to open. As soon as they began to separate bits of rock and sand flew into the hanger, smashing into the ceiling and ricocheting down upon our ‘mechs. The ‘mechs with the most firepower stepped out onto the bays edge, overlooking the planet below. One of the Tridents came into view, its lasers raking across our ‘mechs. I fired my ‘mechs pulselaser, its intensity severely limited as the sand diffused much of its power. However the aerospace fighter was forced to break off after Mechwarrior Alex hit it with a gauss round. With its engines failing, the fighter was sucked into the planet’s gravity well, its descent a harbinger of what was to come. As I watched the fighter fall my radar lit up with multiple contacts. The five remaining fighters, one of our aerospace fighters had successfully neutralized one, lined up for an attack. I fired my autocannon into the incoming fighters, but the shots went too low—I failed to compensate for the planet’s gravity. As they closed within range they unleashed their attack, beams of energy stabbing into our ‘mechs and the bay around us. A particularly nasty blast caught Schuster’s mech, a Shadow Cat, at a strange angle, puncturing one of his two jumpjets. Another shot lanced into the bay beneath his ‘mech, shearing away the bay’s flooring and supports. Unable to support the 45 ton ‘mech, the bay gave way and with it came Schuster.
I toggled my comm, “Sergeant Holms, the lance is yours.”
My ‘mech slammed into the atmosphere, head first. As I picked up speed the friction of air molecules began to heat up my ‘mech, sending currents of fire streaming across my ferroglass canopy. Below me, Schuster’s ‘mech burnt in the sky, falling like a comet into the torrents of the sandstorm below. I followed his smoke trail, angling my ‘mech to limit air resistance so I could catch him. As I continued to fall my ferroglass canopy blackened, its charred surface completely opacifying around the edges.
As I neared Schuster, I could see that his ‘mech was in trouble. The friction induced heat from his descent had caused his ‘mech to warm up as if it were taking a molten bath. His heatsinks were working at their maximum, and by the liquid vapor emanating from his exhaust ports I could tell that he was using his finite stores of coolant to keep his reactor from going critical. A good twenty seconds before I reached him the inevitable happened—Schuster had shut down his reactor. His ‘mech continued to fall like a rock for that was all it was, an immobile chunk of metal containing one now very forsaken life.
I turned on the comm, hopefully Schuster’s could run off of his emergency battery power, “Schuster, can you hear me? Don’t give up, I’m coming for you!”
My comm system crackled,“Garland, is that you? There’s nothing you can do—I’m sorry that I got you killed for nothing.”
His voice was barely audible over the turbulence slamming into his cockpit, but his defeatist tone came through nonetheless. He was wrong though, we could make it!
I toggled my mic, “Hold on Schuster, this isn’t over yet.”
Just as I finished speaking with Schuster I reached his ‘mech, my own ‘mechs hands outstretched. Scorched pieces of Schuster’s armor and paint bounced off my cockpit’s ferroglass as I pulled my ‘mech to his, locking my Shadow Hawk’s arms underneath the arm-joints of his Shadow Cat. My cockpit’s canopy had completely opacified, so I viewed the entire process using my ‘mechs heat sensors. Schuster’s ‘mech seeming to be an angle cast from heaven, its feathers burning off in its descent to hell.
I clicked my radio, “Schuster, I’m going to optimize our entry angle... how are your jumpjets coming along?”
Schuster’s voice crackled over the radio, “Not well, sir. The laser volley completely destroyed my right jets, and even if I could get my ‘mechs reactor back online, if I fired them it would put us into an uncontrollable spin.
Schuster was right, but if we worked together we might just live. I began to use my jets to correct our entry angle, pointing the ‘mechs’ feet forward, reducing friction but causing us to gain speed.
“Corporal, I’m correcting our entry angle. This should reduce friction enough to diminish your ‘mech’s heat to non-critical levels. Start up your reactor and then prepare to fire your remaining jumpjet—remember, the planet has a 1/5th less gravity than we’re used to, we’re going to get through this.”
I could see Schuster’s Shadow Cat beginning to wake up… tightening its myomer muscles to better bond with mine. Our arms were thoroughly entwined; it would be possible to fire our jets at maximum thrust without us ripping apart. As we descended, rogue elements of the sandstorm began to reach us, the howling winds ripping along our ‘mechs. As gravity’s pull and the intensity of the storm greatened, I found myself in a gigantic sandblaster, small rocks and other rubble slamming into my mech. A massive blast of rocks pelted my ‘mechs cockpit, the carbon scorched layers on my ferroglass canopy ripping off, giving me a full view of the terror transpiring outside my window.
My ‘mechs head was situated slightly higher than Schuster’s, giving me an unblocked view of the terrible forces at work beneath us. It seemed that we we’re headed into hell itself, the sand tornados like the teeth of a gigantic head, two of the tornados appearing as feral eyes. As the head’s great sand tongue lashed out at us, Schuster came back on the radio.
“Sir, I’ve managed to restore power to my left jumpjet, just give me the word.
I adjusted my ‘mechs angle to compensate for Schuster’s thruster angle, canceling our thrust vectors allowing for a fairly steady, albeit fast descent. I felt the jumpjet pedals beneath my feet, preparing for the jarring shock which was to come.
I clicked the radio for the last time, “Punch it.”
I slammed down into my seat, my feet pressing even harder on the pedals. Schuster’s left thruster poured forth everything that it had, scorching my ‘mechs legs with its mercury fueled fires. The storms intensity seemed to grow the further we fell, finally masking the noise of the jets. I checked my altimeter, still a few clicks up, but we we’re slowing, just not fast enough.
My jumpjets began to send warning signals to my ‘mech’s computer, telling it that it was time to shut them down. I overrode the shutdown command, my thrusters heating to levels far beyond the recommended maximum. As sand passed beneath our thrusters’ heat-wash, it vitrified, raining glass pellets onto the desert below. I could feel my jumpjets losing their battle with heat, their exhaust ports melting under the high temperatures. Only the frigid air kept my ‘mech from shutting down. Just as I thought that my jump-jets were going to fail I was rocked by an explosion, my ‘mech shearing away from Schuster’s. As I fell from Schuster, I looked back; his jumpjet had exploded, burning liquid reaction mass spraying from his Shadow Cat’s cratered back.
As I spun out of control I reached the eye of the storm, a moment of quiet. Through the masses of sand and rock I spotted a gigantic shadow, the downed freighter perhaps? The thought was pushed far from my mind as I tried to reengage my thrusters, but the best I could do was angle my ‘mech so that it would hit the sand dunes feet first. I was surprised by the artic desert’s beauty as I smashed into the dunes; my ‘mechs leg actuators taking much of the impact, but not enough. As my ‘mech slammed into the desert, my restraining harness tore, throwing me onto the cooling ferroglass canopy. I blacked out listening to the howling winds and the permafrost melting beneath my cooling giant.
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MechWarrior Alex Thorn
Regular
LEGIONNAIRES
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." - Winston Churchill
Posts: 176
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Post by MechWarrior Alex Thorn on Jul 3, 2005 16:02:49 GMT -5
I heard the annoucement to get to the 'Mechs quickly. I would have to speak to the captain later. I rushed to the lift and quickly went to the 'Mech Bay. The 'Mech Bay was swarming with techs and MechWarriors.
I climbed into my Belial and headed to the door of the dropship. 'Mechs were heading to the doors to deal with the fighters. This was going to be tricky.
One of the fighters came into view. I shot a round from my gauss rifles and a round punched straight through the cockpit of the fighter.
Wave after wave of fighters came. One hit Schuster and hit the bay beneth him. The floor gave way and I saw Garland go after him. This showed me just how dangerous this was. One wrong shot or move and someone could end up flying out of the bay like Schuster. I keyed the radio.
"Echo-4 to Echo-1. Captain. This is getting out of hand. I dont know how much longer the 'Mechs can take it in here."
A bolt from one of the fighters hit my Belial and it sent my 'Mech into a recoil. I recovered from it gritting my teeth. We dont have much more time.
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Post by Wedge Lourde on Jul 3, 2005 17:04:32 GMT -5
I was taking a shower, contemplating what had happened between me and Kintaru. When I was done, and putting on my uniform, a mighty rumble made me fall foreward. Wincing as the bio-foam reacted to the ground, I picked myself up.
"ALL PILOTS TO THEIR 'MECHS! CONFIRMED 5 AEROTECH FIGHTERS INBOUND. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
I ran towards the 'Mech Bay, at all speed. I saw techs scrambling to finalise their work, and Pilots boarding their mechs. When I looked out the doors, what I saw was not an Icy Planet, but a mighty sand storm.
I climbed up my 'mech's ladder, and strapped myself into my new Uziel. The cockpit closed, and I started the reactor.
-----Reactor Online------
-----Weapon Systems Online-----
-----All Functioning Systems: Nominal-----
I pulled the JoyStick back, and got comfortable
"Spectre Squad, please report in.
Spectre-1 Standing By
Spectre-2 Ready
Spectre-3 Online
Spectre-4 I'm having troble, but i'm ready.
Spectre-5 Here and Ready
5 'Mechs, all ready to go, stepped towards the Bay Doors. 5 red dots on radar appeared. Perfect.
Echo squad was already buisy firing at the edge. Also, Schuster's 'mech was there, too. 10 'Mechs all trying to fire on 5 AeroTech. Easy.
Schuster walked to close to the edge, and his mech got hit. He and his 'mech fell foreward, and began the 30,000 Ft decention towards hell.
"Holms Net, you have Spectre Squad." Said Garland.
"Sectre-1. ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!? I said, not knowing what to think.
Probably before he heard my com, his 'mech too, fell towards the earth.
I squeezed in with Captain Maxwell and Lieutenant Mamba, who were clustered in, trying to get a good shot on one of the fighters. I was hit with an LRM, and returned the favor with a double PPC launch. The beautiful blue streaks lanced forth, and hit the wings of a fighter dead on. The now damaged fighter was forced to pull back.
The DropShip now neared the top of the storm. The dust would unmistakibly play hell with all 8 of us 'Mechs, and the 4 remaining AeroTech Fighters.
Responding to a Laser blast to the foot, I fired a slash of MRM 10's at a foolish Fighter that was in Missle range. MRM range, that is. 15 of the 20 launched missiles struck the cockpit, the others smashed into the engines. The bird spun out of control, and fell towards the storm. 3 dots left. Then, all hell broke loose. A lance of LRM's struck my Left PPC, ripping it right from the socket. God Dammit...!
The fighting continued, and only 2 of my 3(now) weapons were usable. Just a single PPC (almost useless) and an MRM launcher with 150 Missiles left. My MG was almost as useful as throwing peas at an Atlas . I knew I was in trouble.
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Post by Holms Net on Jul 3, 2005 17:55:34 GMT -5
“Sergeant Holms, the lance is yours.”
Before I even had a chance to respond with a roger, the Commander's 'mech was flying down towards the planet below us. The firing line our 'mechs had made was impressive, but our light and medium 'mechs weren't made for it. With no room to maneuver to avoid any incoming weapons fire, hits were easy on us.
A well placed missle volley from Spectre 3 hit it's mark on one of the fighters coming at us. Before he had time to respond with another show of missles, he was hit hard by a lance of LRM's, tearing off a PPC. His 'mech stuttered back, but remained standing. With the wind howling outside as we approcahed the surface and the blasts of numerous weapons launching, it took yelling into the comm to get the attention of the damaged Helltag
Spectre-3, are you alright?
I'll be fine.
Alright, don't stay in here if you can't fight, I'm betting we haven't met the best of things yet, and we don't want you dead for that, do we?
I heard a mutter through the comm from Lourde, but I hadn't been able to interpret it as a LRM volley from one of the Aerospace fighters tore into my leg. My Raven's natural stealth ability had prevented a lock as the fighters were moving to fast to get an accurate target on me, but around 3 or 4 of the dumb-fired missles were still able to pierce into my feeble right leg, nearly flinging my 'Mech from the DropShip as well. It was a fortunate thing I had gotten the Jump Jets attached, as I was able to quickly use a short blast of the powerful jets to keep my 'Mech stable. My Raven had still endured quite a bit of damage to the armor in the right leg, but as long as I was standing in line here on the ship, I wouldn't need it. I would, however have to get it fixed afterwards.
By the time I was able to regain my composure in the fight at hand, one fighter had been taken down, as only two fighters were shown, both aiming now at the bottom of the Mech Bay, trying to induce an effect similar to Schuster and his Shadow Cat. I was sure everyone was thinking the same things right now, thinking about saving Garland and Schuster, but we had to take down the fighters first.
With only 2 fighters remaining, the focus would most likely be one team per ship, well enough to take either fighter down. Both teams thought the same thing, as Echo lance started to fire on the fighter closes to them. Spectre lance took the same lead, all of us firing on the other fighter. The battle would soon be over, hopefully we would have enough time to fix up our 'Mechs. Both Lourde and I needed to repair our 'Mechs if we were to do any good outside in this weather.
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Post by Wedge Lourde on Jul 3, 2005 18:27:45 GMT -5
The last AeroTech fighter went down, and the Bay doors closed. I parked my 'mech, but kept it at full power. I climbed out using the ladder, and I saw Holms do the same. 6 Mechs were still active, though. Holms came to me to talk.
"Quite a beating we took, eh?
"Definatly. I'll call Hobson and see how much time we have to Surface."
"Hobson, how much time to we have untill Groundfall?"
"Calculating... Sir, we have 20 minutes+5 because of the dust. 25 minutes untill we hit ground.
"Thank you."
"Sam, how long does it take to repair a leg, A PPC and a Single Jump Jet? With maximum power to the tools, ect... ?"
"30 minutes, Sir. If I have all the techs helping."
"I think I'll help. Holms- It'd be best if you round up some techs and begin your repairs. You've got more to do than I. We'd better get started now."
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Post by Lance Commander Marcus Taylor on Jul 3, 2005 19:14:29 GMT -5
Bah, I'm here and ready to rock.
I watched as the fighter rolled into an attack vector on my position. He knew he was outgunnned, but he had the manueverability if he knew what he was doing.
I lined up my A/C-10 on his flight path as my LRMs signaled a lock. I squeezed the trigger sending off the moderately heavy rounds from the A/C-10 and slammed into the wing of the oncoming fighter. As it began to pull up and away, I unleashed both of my LRM-5s and watched as all 10 missles screamed into the now crippled fighter and tore it in half.
This is Spectre-4, scratch one fast mover.
Aff. Spectre-4, nice shooting.
Echo Lance reported in that the last fighter was destroyed and the Cargo Bay Doors closed and sealed shut.
I reminded myself to ask a tech about the odd system glitch I was getting with my nav point computer. Somehow it was off kilter and gave me incorrect bearings. Fortunately, I was the sort that didn't have to rely on the computer for navigation. Though, I still wanted it to get checked out because that was one less thing I had to keep track of.
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Post by Captain Benjamin Maxwell on Jul 3, 2005 22:32:14 GMT -5
I charged onto the bridge, adrenaline coursing through my veins. I had been called away from the bridge during our critical descent - something I was loathe to have happen during emergency situations - and my obvious frustration at all that had just taken place was obvious."Yeoman Machia! I need a track on Corporal Schuster and Commander Garland's 'Mechs - now!" Machia flew into action, her fingers playing across her consoles like a concert pianist. The Liberty gave a lurch as it hit a thermal pocket, sending me grasping for a nearby handrail. On the main screen, a wire-frame descent path flashed past, superimposed on an external view of the whirling, raging vortex. An active sweep appeared, overlaid atop the rest of the data, as it searched for the transponders attached to the lost BattleMechs. The Liberty shuddered again, and the bridge lighting flickered as the DropShip was again rocked by a varying thermal current. Yeoman Hobson muttered an obscenity, and fought with the ship's control yoke as the vessel leveled out. Even from my current vantage point, I could see that he was white-knuckling the ship's controls, and I could only imagine the massive amount of pressure he was under.
Machia's voice interrupted my thought process."Captain - I'm not reading either of their transponders. Either the dust storm is interfering with my scans - or their 'Mechs have been incapacitated in such a way that they're not broadcasting their IFF codes any longer."I nodded grimly."However, Captain...I have located the Phoenix. We're going to be coming down practically on top of it."[ - Soundtrack - ]
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Nicholas Schuster
Regular
DECEASED
"Blakists are like a virus. And WE are the cure."
Posts: 139
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Post by Nicholas Schuster on Jul 3, 2005 22:44:31 GMT -5
My BattleMech spiraled out of control, its single jump jet serving no real purpose other than to cause the 45-ton beast to spin on its axis, rendering me even more powerless to do anything but brace for impact.
Moments later, I hit.
With a horrendous impact, and the sound of steel being stressed far beyond its breaking point, my Shadow Cat slammed into a semi-frozen sand dune. I was jolted from my harness, which unbuckled under the sheer force, throwing me into my cockpit's canopy. The smell of voltage filled the cockpit as circuits overloaded and the fusion reactor initiated an emergency shutdown. My surroundings began to turn grainy, and the color washed from my vision, as the darkness of unconsciousness took over.
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Post by Holms Net on Jul 4, 2005 8:20:30 GMT -5
Can I get a few tech's down here, my Raven took quite a bit of beating down here.
Roger that, we are sending some over.
With my 'Mech being fixed, I had time to get up to the bridge and consult with Captain Maxwell. I knew my way straight to the bridge due to my lonely tour throughout the ship. I rode up to the bridge, and the door opened, giving way to the core of the DropShip. Captain Maxwell was standing over by a lady worker at a desk, looking at a screen she had brought up. I quickly walked over to him.
"Sir..."
I saluted as he turned to face me.
"What are we going to do? Two of the Legionnaires are out in this, and we need to find the Pheonix. What should we do?"
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MechWarrior Alex Thorn
Regular
LEGIONNAIRES
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." - Winston Churchill
Posts: 176
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Post by MechWarrior Alex Thorn on Jul 4, 2005 9:53:59 GMT -5
I sighed as the fighter went down. I walked my 'Mech back to its station. Most of the MechWarriors where getting repairs done on their 'Mechs. A tech ran up to me as I got out of my Belial.
"Would you like repairs on your 'Mech sir?"
"No. That wont be necessary."
I walked off to talk to Holms. I noticed he had headed for the bridge. As I walked off the tech looked at my 'Mech with a puzzled look. The torso had blotches of black. He shrugged and walked off.
I reached the lift and punched the button for the bridge. Slowly but surely I reached the bridge. I noticed Holms there with a stern look on his face and Captain Maxwell closly studying a screen over a tech.
I walked up to Holms and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey. What's wrong?"
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Post by Captain Benjamin Maxwell on Jul 4, 2005 10:38:39 GMT -5
"What are we going to do? Two of the Legionnaires are out in this, and we need to find the Pheonix. What should we do?"
"I believe the answer to that question is about to present itself..." I replied, taking a seat, and motioning for Holms Net to do likewise. As I gripped the arms of my chair, the ground rushed up to greet us on the main screen, as the Liberty's quad landing gear made contact with the ground. There was a crunch, followed by the light jolting that accompanied a rough landing, and a gradual whine as the DropShip's fusion drives powered down.
"Captain - we have made planetfall. I show our distance to the Phoenix as 3.05 kilometers. We're on target."
"Excellent. Feed all relevant data to the 'Mech bay - advise the techs that they will need to generate mission objectives and waypoints based on your scans. Tell them they have thirty minutes to have the 'Mechs prepped and ready for deployment."
"Aye, Captain."
"Yeoman Machia - any further progress locating our two missing MechWarriors?"
"No, sir, but I'll keep trying."
"Very well." I toggled the shipwide comm open.
"All MechWarriors - report to your 'Mechs. We deploy in thirty minutes."
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MechWarrior Alex Thorn
Regular
LEGIONNAIRES
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." - Winston Churchill
Posts: 176
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Post by MechWarrior Alex Thorn on Jul 4, 2005 10:50:10 GMT -5
The captain motioned for Holms to sit down. I prefered to stand. We hit the ground hard and I nearly feel as a result of remaining to stand. The captain told us that we would launch in thirty minutes in the 'Mechs. I walked out of the bridge and headed to my quarters.
Once at my quarters I put on my MechWarrior uniform. The uniform was almost menacing when someone was wearing one. I could see why people feared the warriors so much.
I headed to the 'Mech bay to oversee the final preperations on my Belial. When I arrived my Belial had been repainted for the mission and the black was gone from the previous battle. Someone still took the time to fix my 'Mech.
Oh well. Im not complaining.
I rounded the 'Mech, checking it from the outside. I consulted a tech and he told me what had been done to my Belial. I nodded and then entered the cockpit. I fired the 'Mech up and did a cross check with the computers. Once I was satisfied I radioed in.
"This is Echo-4. Fired up and ready to go sir."
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