{From Geek 7/21/07: added story onto site. Story by Slayton}
Chapter 1: Rainy day on a miserable planet
The day was very inhospitable on Irian Prime. The driving wind smashed the rain hard against the Ferro-Glass screen that protected the pilot from the elements outside and any enemy fire that may come.
Aru's Valiant was a small 'Mech, only weighing about 30 tons, but he knew how to make it look like an iron giant. Be it in battle, or on parade, he could make it move almost gracefully and look almost human. The 'Mech, which he had named "Icarus" was actually slender compared to most others. The machines right arm had a shield mounted to it, and his left held a hatchet.
He stomped around 45 feet in the air, while the rest of his column moved along below him. The rest of his force was made up of what is considered a combined arms unit. Accompanying his Valiant was one other 'Mech, a Hatchetman, Though both machines carried hatchets, the similarities did not continue. The Hatchetman stood taller than the Valiant and weighed 45 tons almost dwarfing the other 'Mech in its shadow.
The remainder of the force consisted of vehicle assets and infantry. He had a small detachment of Maxim Mk. 2 hover transports, two Defiant Industries Schmitt Combat tanks, two M1 Marksman Assault tanks, a JES III Missile Carrier, and an SM1 Tank Destroyer. A hover tank with one purpose, make other tans disappear.
Soaring high overhead was a Shun Heavy Transport chopper, which, along with the Maxim transports, carried his infantry wherever they needed to be. Hanging from the sides of the chopper, were two of Ari's best infantry units, Kagemusha, and Pillar One. They were both battle armor units, Kagemusha wore the Kage Battle Armor, which had wings out each side, and were the fastest things any infantry commander could hope for. Pillar One wore the classic Raiden Battle armor. Heavy, and extremely durable, the Raiden armor that this squad wore had actually been around for two centuries, passed from one incarnation of the squad to the next.
Aru's six other Raiden armored squads huddled together inside the bowls of two of the Maxim transports, while the third hovercraft housed his squad of Hauberk Battle Armor, nicknamed Tamara's Raiders, and a squad of Elite Infantry. Two units of Infiltrator Mk.II Battle Armor stalked the path in front of the column as advanced scouts.
It had been seven hours since Aru Kogima's battalion had made planet-fall, and they had still not found their objective. Aru was hand picked by Duchess Katana Tormark herself, to lead this little raid. His mission sounded simple when they were sitting in the Grand Conference Hall of House Kurita, planning it, but when you looked at the logistics and location of the situation, it was hard to tell where simple factored into any of it. The Duchess had ordered Aru to take a battle force of his choosing to the planet of Irian Prime, deep inside the Republic controlled Prefecture 7. Once there, his was to find, and obtain control of the last functioning BattleMech factories still standing in the entire Republic of the Sphere. Again, easy in the briefing room, but not so easy on the planet.
The terrain was horrible, full of nothing but mountain ranges and valleys, and the weather was just as bad. It had rained for the three days the he was in orbit around the planet, and had continued for the seven hours that he was on planet. It wasn't the light drizzle kind of rain either, it was hard, smashing rain that came down in sheets and pounded against the outside of his 'Mechs cockpit. With this much water, his ground forces had had difficulty, mud was everywhere, and some of it had turned into sink holes. Not the kind of weather Aru wanted to wage a war in, especially since he knew that every other faction in the Republic would soon be descending on this one planet. As far as he knew, though, his force was the only one to make planet fall, and with luck, they could find and secure the 'Mech plant before anyone else showed up.
His communication lines flared with activity as his Infiltrators reported the sighting of a compound ahead of the column.
"This is Snake zero-one," the commander of the Infiltrator unit said,"we have sighted the target. I put it ten clicks east. Please Advise."
Ten clicks. That meant that his force would have to really push it to make it there before nightfall.
"Snake zero-one, this is command. What are the odds that we aren't the only ones who have found this?" he asked.
"I wouldn't want to bet on them sir," the soldier answered,"even if we are the only one's on planet."
Aru thought for a moment, then it came to him,"Pillar One, disembark the chopper and take the Raidens ahead in the Maxims. Get in, secure the place and set up shop. The rest of us will rendezvous shortly."
Without so much as an answer, he saw Pillar One descending from their protective transport on their suits jump jets. The two Maxims that carried his other Raidens fired their engines and sped toward Pillar Ones landing position. The three armored suits in Pillar One hopped onto the sides of the transports as the floated past. Within minutes, the transports and troops were over the ridge and out of sight.
"Snake's," Aru ordered into his com,"Pull back to our position and take up transport positions on the last Maxim."
The Infiltrator squad came over the same ridge and latched onto the third Maxims running skirts. Hunched over as they were, they looked like mobsters from the 1930's era back on Terra.
Just then the sky cracked with artificial thunder. Aru looked up to see three Aurora-Class Drop Ships enter the planets atmosphere. Using his 'Mechs image magnification system, he zoomed in on the lead Drop Ship. The crest that sat on the hulking ships side was that of the Swordsworn, devout followers of House Davion, and longtime enemies of House Kurita.
"SIR!!" came a voice through the com channel, "We have multiple incoming Drop Ships. Their serial numbers label them as Davion sir."
"Good to know." He said to himself, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. So, Duke Sandovals men have finally arrived he thought, This could turn out worse than I thought.
He spun his Valiant the the heading of he Drop Ships and watched as they veered off to land on the far side of a mountain range. From there, they should be, at most, half a days march from the plant. Turning his 'Mech back around and throttling up, he flashed his hand over his com panel. Punching the inter 'Mech frequency button, he spoke into his microphone, "Tomoko. Take a small force and do a perimeter search on the far side of this ridge."
"Yes sir." answered Tomoko Nagasawa. Aru watched as the Hatchetman slowed and then pulled away from the rest of the group. Shortly after, the Infiltrators stepped off the transport and followed Tomoko's 'Mech. Kagemusha dropped from the Shun transport and fell in behind the SM1 Tank Destroyer as it headed off after the Hatchetman.
"Tomoko," Aru said,"Watch yourselves. We don't know it those snakes have already sent down scouts or not."
"Don't worry," answered the other MechWarrior, "I don't feel much like fighting right now anyway."
Aru turned his attention back to his ever-shrinking column, which had completely halted."All right everyone. We need to double-time it toward that factory. I want everybody there, packed in and fortified before nightfall. The Davions are here, and we don't know who else is hot on their tales." Throttling his 'Mech up, he broke into a sprint, taking point in the column of Kuritan forces at 119 kph. The rest of his forces roared to life, their tracks, wheels and thrusters throwing dust and dirt into the air as the thundered off to their target.
Chapter 2: Welcome to Irian, Can I get you a..Hatchet?
With his 'Mech going as fast as it possibly could, Tomoko was feeling wave after wave of heat wash up from the fusion reactor, which lay just beneath his feet in the torso of the steel warrior. It wasn't often that he pushed "Wakizashi" to run 65 kph, but he knew that time was short, and precious.
He had already encountered a small scout force of Davion units, and they had done considerable damage to his party. He had lost one of his Infiltrator squads completely and the other one was badly injured. His SM1 Tank Destroyer had been badly chewed up by the shoulder mounted Auto cannon of the 50 ton Shockwave battlemech that was the spearhead of the scout force.
"Sir!" came the voice of his Destroyer's commander,"We're having a hard time keeping this crate together sir. I don't know if it will make it back to Commander Kogima's position." The worry was evident in the pilot's voice, but Tomoko had to keep him focused on returning to the others.
"Just keep on my heels, pilot," he said,"and we'll both make it back to the factory."
Just then, Tomoko's Hatchetman shuddered under the impact of another volley form the Shockwave's auto cannon. Warning lights flashed all over his control panel. Scanning his damage display, he saw why. The fragile joints that had held his 'Mechs left arm had been severed. The four extended-range medium lasers that he had used for long range attacks were now laying on top of the smoldering remains of his Tank Destroyer.
Darn, he said to himself, I shouldn't have told him to stay that close. Never thought that would happen. He spun his 'Mech's torso back to the forward direction, and started to push the machine as hard as he could to put as much possible distance between him and that auto cannon.
"Kagemusha, what's your current position and status?" he asked.
"Currently, sir," replied the voice of Tai-I Shiro Illyanovich,"we are engaging in the fine art of ripping laser turrets from the top of a Demon Medium tank."
Good, he thought,they are distracting that Demon so the rest of us can make some head way.
Seconds after the last thought left his head, his last Infiltrator unit blinked off his radar. In their place sat the radar signature of the worst sight a MechWarrior could see. A DI Schmitt Tank. Capable of practically disassembling a 'Mech on its own, a Schmitt was not something you wanted to see on the battlefield.
Great, a Schmitt. As if I didn't have enough to worry about.
The tank fired , but the shells smashed into the crest of the hill that Tomoko had just gone over. That would put enough of a break between him and the tank, for him to get away. Or so he thought. Just like a hover tank, the Schmitt came flying over the hill in at an amazing speed, and came crashing down in a spray of sod and dirt.
That tread-head good, Tomoko thought,Got to do something to slow him down.
Then the plan hit him, lick the slug from a Gauss rifle. Tomoko brought his Hatchetman to a dead stop. The leg joints whined as the halted their brisk stride. He spun his 'Mech on it's toe, simultaneously bending and digging he hatchet in the ground. Forming a huge trench that should stop anything, including a speeding tank. For a little while, anyway.
The tank commander, not realizing what had just happened, didn't bother to throw on the brakes until it was too late. The nose of the tank, barrels and all, dropped into the trench, and the whole thing came to an abrupt stop launching mud everywhere.
Tomoko looked down at the twin barrels of the tank, the were bent and forty-five degree angles back toward the turret. They wouldn't be doing much damage anytime soon. He wanted to make sure.
Righting his 'Mech, he walked toward the crippled tank. This is the end of this little terror, he thought to himself, as he raised the hatchet above his 'Mechs head. Taking one last look, he brought the hatchet down, and with one swipe, split the turret into, permanently disabling the tank.
"Kagemusha," he said into the mic,"Pull back to my position immediately. We are returning to the rest of the convoy."
"We are already here sir." said Shiro. Tomoko spun to see the Kage squad jumping over the small hill, "Are there any survivors in that thing sir?"
"I'm really not sure, nor do I want to stick around and find out," he answered,"We've already lost enough today. Let's not add to the total." He throttled his 'Mech up, and headed east to rejoin with the rest of the Kogima Battalion. Kagemusha formed up and walked along side.
"Didn't realize your 'Mech took that much damage sir." said Shiro,"That tank was a good shot."
"Not really," Tomoko laughed,"Most of this damage is...self inflicted. Though I do know not to bring a 'Mech that is at full speed to zero throttle abruptly. It hurts."
"That's why I like Battle armor. No brakes." chuckled Shiro.
It was a long limp home, but the remaining members of the group would definitely make it. They had to.
Chapter 3: Reunited and repaired.
With the last of his men making their way into the bowls of the 'Mech factory, Aru Kogima pulled his Valiant into one of the empty 'Mech bays that ran along the south wall of the factories hangar. Climbing down the access ladder that was now dangling from the machines cockpit, he was glad to be able to breath cool, clean, and yet damp air. Even damp, though, it was still a marked improvement from the superheated, recycled air that circulated through his 'Mech.
"Do we have any word from Tomoko's unit yet?" Aru asked as he walked toward the nearby Maxim transport that was now being used as a mobile command center.
The young officer at the communications panel scanned the com frequencies,"No sir. No word from them, though I did catch something on a freq that was obviously being used by the Davions."
This piqued Aru's interest. What would the Davions be doing using an unscrambled frequency? "What did they say?" he asked.
"It appears that a small scouting party of theirs had a little run in with a detachment of Kuritans, sir." The officer paused, listening to the playback he had recorded,"Some casualties for both sides...It looks like they got three kills. Both of our Infiltrator squads...and our SM1."
Aru hung his head. Those were all good people, and much needed units to this campaign. "Did we at least make a dent?"
'Yes sir," replied the officer,"They report one Demon Medium Tank salvaged, two squads of Gnome Battle Armor," the man let a smile creep across his face, and then checked himself,"and sir? They are reporting the complete destruction of one of their DI Schmitt's. Looks like it is permanently out of commission. Something about driving into a ditch...and having its turret cleaved in two."
Another officer, on the radar, spun his stool,"Sir." he shouted,"We have two incoming signals on short range radar. They are flying friendly colors."
Aru walked to the radar station,"What are their designation codes?"
The soldier looked over the radar,"HM632-72...Commander Nagasawa. And KM021, 022 and 023. That's Kagemusha."
Pushing off the control panel, Aru ran down the deployment ramp,"Open those bay doors," he shouted to the techs,"We have incoming friendlies."
The huge steel doors hissed as they opened, letting what little natural light, that there was, creep into the hangar. Soon after, he saw the shadow of the 45 ton Hatchetman fill the doorway. There was a problem though, it was limping, and missing an arm. Right behind the damaged 'Mech, was three suits of Kage Battle Armor. Their dark, scarlet red armor scratched and dented from obvious close combat. The armor units moved toward the Battle Armor staging area, while the 'Mech limped its way across the bay, dragging its left foot along the tarmac. It turned in a wide arc, and backed itself into the 'Mech bay right next to Aru's Valiant. It had seen some better days. Along with the missing arm, there was a portion of its right shoulder missing, its head was damaged, and its left foot was held on by the last remnants of hydraulic hoses.
Coming to a stop, and shutting down, it slumped to one side. With the machine settled, Tomoko appeared from the access hatch.
"Finely nice to breathe some cool air," he said, climbing down the ladder,"It was a long limp home in this busted machine. I'm just glad we made it.
"Well," said Aru, putting his hands on his hips,"It's nice to see you alive and in one piece. Can't quite say the same for your 'Mech though. I would ask you what happened back there, but we already received the Davion's battle report. It was messy."
"Definitely was sir." answered Tomoko,"They have a Shockwave stomping around out there. That monsters Auto cannon was the cause of most of the damage. Their Schmitt took care of the rest."
"I'll get your report later. Right now, get cleaned up and get some shut eye." ordered Aru.
Tomoko saluted, and walked off, toward the make-shift barracks that they had set up in an adjacent hangar. Aru made his way over to the Battle Armour Stagging area. As he got closer, he could see a group of technicians were busy cutting metal chunks off of one of the Kage suits.
"What's the problem over here?" he asked as he approached.
One of the techs began to answer, but she was cut off by Shiro,"Sir. Cpl. Sanders is badly injured. The techs believe that taking him out of his suit the normal way would endanger his life even more." Shiro looked back at the suit that was lying on its back, as the techs cut more metal off it,"They are cutting off as much as they can. It might work."
"What happened to him?" Aru asked.
Shiro turned his un-helmeted head, and looked at Aru. His face was tired and yet full of rage,"He took a shell from that darn Shockwave's AC." He bent over and picked up a piece of metal that had formed the armors "stomach" area. Instead of the outward bowl shape that it was supposed to have, it actually had a third of a giant dent that took up the majority of the armors chest.
"The shell hit him, knocked him flying, but he got back up and kept fighting. Tearing through the Gnomes, and then the Demon. It was as if nothing had happened, until we got back. Then he collapsed." Shiro looked down at the soldier. There was a blank look on his face. A small trickle of blood ran down his cheek.
"I had thought that the shell had maybe glanced off the ground, but it didn't. That Shockwave was aiming for us." Shiro clenched the powerful, armored covered claws of the Kage suit. "There is no Honor in fighting infantry units with a battlemech. NO HONOR AT ALL!!" he shouted.
Aru looked at the rage filled figure that stood a good two and a half feet taller than him."There was nothing to be done. The MechWarrior saw a target, and took the shot. Honor isn't in House Davions training manual. You know that as well as I do. As for Sanders. You didn't and couldn't know. He was running on pure adrenaline. Once that rush stopped, it all hit him at once."
"Their is a code of Honor that all MechWarriors adhere to." Shouted Shiro,"That slime decided to break that code and sprayed us with auto cannon fire."
"Calm yourself down now, soldier." said Aru in the sternest voice he could,"You know as well as anyone that wars are not fought on an Honor system. They are fought, and won by the side that has the biggest guns, and the dirtiest means of fighting. Now, cool off, and get out of that armor. Debriefing of your squad begins in one hour." Aru spun on his heal, and walked away. Any more outbursts like that from Tai-I Illyanovich, and the Davions wouldn't have to shoot him.
Shiro watched the man he called "sir" walk away. What did he know of Infantry combat? What did he know of dodging rounds that were almost the same size as you? He sat up in his 'Mech, 40 feet in the air, shooting at other 'Mechs. Though he respected the man that was in the position, he didn't trust him. He was a MechWarrior, first and foremost. They only lived to further their own name and reputation. It didn't matter who they stepped on along the way, as long as in the end, they were the ones credited with the victory. Shiro shook his head, and turned to one of the technicians,"Get me out of this crate." he snarled.