Excessive Losses

Story from the Legion vs FC:HAHA FWAR. Written by Murphy.

Klaxons blazed as explosions rocked the massive machine. The heat inside the cockpit of the HGN-732 was hardly bearable, the sweat sizzling as it landed on the control panels. Tigre swore under his breath. This was going to be a long hard fight he knew, and all these missiles flying about were beginning to make him a bit nervous. He backed his mech back behind the cover of a hill. Hunter tanks were not known for being terribly accurate, but if they hit, they always seemed to strike at the most vulnerable locations. He had seen more than his fair share of mech commanders have their mechs shot out from under them, but it was quite another thing seeing comrades being blown out of their mechs altogether. It was a messy fate he didn’t want to imagine for himself.

His fire-support team was doing what they could to make a hole for the lance of mechs charging ahead. All around him were the burning chunks of metal that used to be tanks, the craggy remains of towers, and smouldering corpses. Ahead, lay the target area, a SLDF repair bay, surrounded by a lance of Warhammers and at least another battalion of those pesky hunter tanks. At least that is what the scouts had been able to him before they had lost their lives. He thought to himself about how cheap life had become in the last 20 years or so, with galaxy commanders sending wave after wave of tank battalions against hard targets, rather than risk losing their precious mechs. He had become guilty of using the same tactic in this battle, but hopefully, he could make sure they hadn’t died in vain.

Through the smoke, he could see the top of the mech repair bay. His HUD indicated that SLDF must have brought in a couple dropships worth of reinforcements, or the last skirmish group had been destroyed before getting in sensor range of the repair bay. “Dee, if we go over that hill, things are gonna get messy. Call for DT to send in the battalion of beemers we’ve been sitting on.”

“Roger that, sir,” Dee replied. Dee had been recently promoted to Tigre’s second in command. He had been distinguishing himself on the battlefield recently as a great tactician. Of course, all the tactical planning in the world never held up in battle and that was the main reason that Tigre had brought him along on this assault, to see first hand if this guy was really as good under fire as the stories had said.

Dee took his CP-10-Q into a position directly to the right and slightly ahead of Tigre’s mech, using his sensors to scan through the interference so that the artillery in the rear could bring down accurate fire on the installation’s defences. Part of him wanted to charge over the hill and blast away at the mechs that were headed towards him, but he knew that doing so would expose him to a staggering amount of firepower. He watched impatiently as the screen showed the mechs moving slightly ahead of the tanks. Any moment now those Warhammers would come into range and nervous tension would be splattered with blasts of PPC fire, gauss slugs, and missiles. This was the part of battle he hated most, the waiting.

Pulling up alongside Dee was Gobi, in his WHM-6D. He liked to keep it clean, and always had the techs shine up the bare metal finish. He had once been asked by Tigre why he requested not to have it painted in the faction colours. “I like to stand out on the battlefield, so they know who it is they are fighting. And besides,” he’d ask, “how many other pilots in the galaxy have you heard of that come up with ridiculous looking flashy paint jobs to identify themselves to the enemy? Something about bare steel is much more intimidating in my opinion.” Fortunately, his eccentricity would certainly pay off in this battle with all the IFF jamming coming from the installation.

At the back of the formation was mattbuck in his MAD-3L. He was not only a good mech pilot, he was also a very good technician. He had redesigned his mech with an ER-PPC and some extra heat sinks himself. He pulled up to the ridge and waited for the word to go over firing.

Tigre addressed the troops over the comm. system, “As soon as Murphy brings in those beemers from DT, we go up the hill and engage the mechs.”

He watched the HUD for information on the approaching mechs. They were nearly there, and had pulled away from the hunter tank and most of the repair bay’s stationary defences. “Looks like we’ll have a couple of minutes to tangle with those mechs before we need to start dodging LRMs from those hunters,” Tigre added as an artillery shell exploded at his mech’s feet. “So much for them being out of ammo,” he added.

“Anyone here order some assault tanks?” A new voice popped in over the static.

“Heya, Murph, get those things up here, we are gonna arrange a little surprise for these boys,” said Tigre.

“On it boss,” Murphy replied. “Get those tanks into position boys, lets give those mechs a rude welcome!”

The BEH-IDFs lumbered slowly into position behind the mech line just as SLDF’s WHM-6D’s came up over the ridge, guns blazing. A blast from one of the PPCs cut a deep gash into one of the tanks, hitting the ammo box and setting off the tank like a bomb.

“RETURN FIRE!” shouted Tigre over the comm. system. Gobi and Tigre both fired alpha strikes at the leading Warhammer, blowing chunks of armour away from the legs and torso. Dee fired a salvo of missiles at the nearest enemy, blasting armour plating from the right arm and torso. mattbuck's ER-PPC blast hit mech number three squaring in the head, blasting a hole in the cockpit armour. The tanks started in firing a withering attack of missiles and artillery. Shells exploded all around the mechs fighting in front of them, and missiles stripped armour away from the enemy mechs. Everything was going according to plan, and then the hunters came over the hilltop.

The small tanks fired into the mass of larger units, creating total chaos on the battlefield. Missiles were flying in all directions now, with the occasional laser blast knifing through the hail. Tigre’s HGN-732 seemed to be the focal point of their attack, and his mech was rocked by explosions, stripping away tons of armour in a single salvo.

“All tanks! Fire on those hunters, lets give those mechs some protection!” barked Captain Murphy. The front line of hunter tanks was decimated under the attack of the behemoths. Just 15 seconds into battle, and already half a battalion of hunters were destroyed. But they hadn’t died without putting up a fight. Legion had already lost 3 tanks and Tigre’s mech was stripped nearly bare.

Dee charged his mech ahead, trying to get in between the four enemy mechs and Tigre, blasting away with the medium lasers and srm4’s, doing cosmetic damage to the centre torso. The Warhammer in front of him fired an alpha strike in return, melting the left leg of Dee’s Cyclops, his mech crumbling to the ground in a pile.

mattbuck fired a second blast at the mech he had hit previously, blowing out its right torso, as he was hit by a blast from that mech as well. mattbuck’s HUD showed an alert telling him what he had already assumed from the sudden lurch back to the left, that his right arm and ER-PPC had just been blown off.

Gobi manoeuvred his shiny mech, now sporting more than a few black spots, into position for a shot on the fourth Warhammer. The tanks had really done a number on this one, as servos and what looked like melted wires hung out of the knees and left hip. This mech was about to go down for count. He blasted away with the PPCs, hitting the right arm and vaporizing the remaining internal structure of the upper left leg. The mech balanced for a split second as it limped forward on its right leg, then, as though it were a cripple that had just had a crutch kicked out from under it, it plummeted to the ground chest first with a thud.

Tigre sighted in on the mech he had hit first, and let fly with the gauss rifle and the LRMs. The gauss slug punched a hole through the centre torso of the lead mech, blowing out a large portion of the fusion reactor containment system. A single missile from the LRM20 salvo found its way inside the hole and hit the fusion reactor, blowing the Warhammer to pieces with an explosion brighter than the sun.

The tanks fired another volley toward to top of the hill. Hunter tanks exploded like popcorn kernels under the intense barrage, but not before those that were left were able to get off a final shot.

Tigre’s highlander rocked from the impact. Inside the cockpit, Tigre struggled with the controls, trying to keep the mech from falling over. A gyro had just been hit, and he had lost jump controls. He moved slowly backward, trying to put some more distance between himself and the top of the hill. Sensors indicated that the second battalion of hunters was closing in fast, and if he didn’t find some cover, his mech wouldn’t survive a second assault.

The tanks stepped up their assault as they moved forward to engage the hunter tanks, blasting artillery fire over the hill as they went. Tigre examined his sensor display and smiled as a number of the icons depicting hunter tanks stopped moving or winked out altogether. “Dee, you alright?” Tigre asked.

A dazed voice answered, “Huh? What happened? Why can’t I see anything? Tigre? Is that you?”

“Dee, focus! Can you roll that thing over and give some fire support?” Tigre asked.

There was a moment of quiet, then a slightly more composed voice answered the call, “I’m on it.” The prone mech at the base of the hill rolled over onto its side, weapons pointed to the top of the hill.

Mattbuck fired his remaining weaponry at the mech he had been duelling with, an AC5 burst tearing through the hole in the cockpit, as he was rocked by another PPC blast on the right side. “YEAH!” cheered mattbuck as a pink mist floated out of the hole in the cockpit and the mech fell lifelessly to the ground. “Two more to go!”

Standing over the mech he had just dropped, Gobi fired an alpha strike at point blank range, blowing off both arms and the other leg. The mech fell back onto its chest and lay there motionless, unable to prop itself up for another shot. He then kicked it for good measure and turned to face the last mech.

The last mech was coming in to finish off Dee, and doing so at an angle that Dee was helpless to defend from. The remaining Warhammer blasted with both PPCs, hitting Dee’s mech it the damaged leg, completely destroying it, and causing massive secondary damage in the torso.

Tigre and the others opened fire on the last mech, the lasers, particles, and gauss slugs tearing away large chunks of armour just before the slower moving missiles impacted it. The mech shook for a moment and fell unceremoniously to the ground. It seemed to try to roll over, but the gyroscopic stabilizers had apparently been destroyed, so it just lay there, impotent.

The hunter tanks rolled over the hill now, and they met the behemoths at close range. Ignoring the larger tanks, they made a suicide charge at the mechs toward the middle of the formation, blasting LRMs as they passed through the behemoths. The assault tanks made short work of the hunters, but the behemoths couldn’t prevent the remaining hunters from launching a last ditch salvo at the mechs.

As Tigre turned to face the new attackers, he saw the white trails of the missiles headed straight for him. He watched as the missiles tracked, and braced for impact as they started to hit the mech. The cockpit went dark as the missiles exploded around him, then suddenly it was bright and hot, and then there was nothing.

The assault tanks rolled over the hill and brought their massive firepower to bear on the remaining base defences. Gobi, Dee, and mattbuck were speechless as they looked on the remains of the Highlander standing there, black smoke pouring out of the cockpit. The battle was won. The war between Legion and SLDF would go on, but it would do so without Tigre.
 

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