Area of Traitor’s Fall
Post battle
Adept Morse stopped her Executioner next to the downed Rampage of the enemy commander. Getting out of her harness, she made sure both her machine pistol and a dagger were handy as well as her hacking kit then popped her cockpit hatch. She was going to investigate Dyckman’s machine and verify the fucker was dead. If the hatch was closed, her hacking kit would get her inside….
This battle had been bloody as hell, but its outcome was never going to be in doubt. No one was letting the Word of Blake leader get away. No one, not after the news of thirty-five minutes ago with the nuclear attacks on the world. Reinforcements for Haymaker were on the way in the form of Honey Badger Foxtrot, having been freed to respond directly.
It had been a brilliant play on the Phoenix Lancer commander down there to get the mercenary force opposing them to stand down and she appreciated that. She idly wondered what he did or said but she’d find out later. Right now, Morse had bigger problems…. And that was getting that cockpit open to verify a slimy son of a bitch’s death or make one happen, if he wasn’t.
Getting to the ground, she readied her firearm and advanced on the downed battlemech. She could hear the sounds of the rest of the battlegroup approaching and, in her earbud, the updated status of everyone reporting in. With a grim smile, she rounded the way to the cockpit of the Rampage and paused. It was open…
“Badger Three to Haymaker….” She said as she sprinted to the head assembly and looked in, gun first. “We have a problem.”
The first to answer was Precentor McCormick. [Badger Three, Badger One. What do you mean, problem?]
“One… there is no body.” She said. “Cockpit is open, there is evidence of injuries as I have a few bloody handprints… but no body.” Morse readied herself for the potential scream. She knew the Lancer leader had a temper. Rarely shown, of course… but if there was something that was going to trigger it, it would be this.
And his response actually scared her when he didn’t yell.
[Badger Three, Lancer One,] Came Tinney’s voice. [I’m on my way… Two minutes.]
Morse looked around the area as she heard the heavy trod of his Highlander. Within thirty seconds, the assault machine came into proper view and roughly a minute and a half later, he was down from its cockpit and next to her. Evidence of his injuries was clear on his face and uniform, the dried blood from them quite visible. “Sir…”
Tinney held up a hand. “You aren’t in trouble, Morse… no one is,” he began, his voice calm. “If anyone is to blame for him getting away, it’s me. I should have detailed someone to make SURE he was dead despite needing to get rid of his forces…” He knelt down and looked inside, producing a flashlight to see better into the mech’s cockpit. “Damnit…” he cursed. “Of course he lived and got away.”
Morse looked at the Lancer leader. “Colonel Tinney, with some of the infantry in the other groups, he can be hunted down.”
“True but that might take too long,” He replied. “And I want him found now. Or as close to now as we can…” Tinney looked around at the churned up ground and closed his eyes. “And I have a solution to that, I think.”
Lifting his portable comm, he spoke. “Badger One, Lancer One.”
[Badger one]
“Nothing is happening in Zathras right now, right?”
[wait one….] He replied and after a handful of seconds, the Precentor updated. [Not according to the theater monitor other than the battles around here…]
“Ok; I wanted to be sure before I called them….”
**
Zathras Staging Area
1101 hours local
Bonita Jaguar Dusal picked at the fingers of her doffed gauntlet with a tool. The armored glove had been a bit stiff in use and she was checking to see if there wasn’t something caught in there. It wasn’t like she didn’t think there was time, as her Mate was off talking with someone.
They had been pulled back into the camp in the middle of hunting the last of the Blakist troops in the Zathras area, their mission given more import with the bombings elsewhere. Even they, as harsh as Clan life was, were shocked by the barbarity of the use of nuclear weapons on civilians. Granted, her original clan had razed Edo on Turtle Bay during the Invasion of the Inner Sphere with warships…. that had been a response to the escape of Hohiro Kurita, which in hindsight was a stupid punishment to mete out.
The message to get back here had been urgent and when they got here, Krog had been pulled away to talk to the commander here- some Merc officer named Hannings. So, while they waited, she figured she would work on her gauntlet. After all, officers liked to have meetings. Even in the Clans…
As she pried off an index finger armor piece, her mate’s voice came over the helmet comm units.
[Everyone to the landing pad,] he called out. [We are heading out quickly!]
“Frak.” She commented. “I had just pulled this off…” She groused as she replaced the armor piece.
Boris Bear Dusal belly laughed. “Of course… that is always case when we have to move right away. It is why I did not fix my knee armor.” He spoke. “I knew the moment I did, we would have to leave.”
Maeve Falcon Dusal cocked her head slightly, as a message came directly to her. “Aff, my Khan; three minutes…” She said into her suit’s comm unit and moved towards the building that served as their billets.
Bonita looked at her. “Where are you going?”
Maeve answered. “To get one of the spare LSSU. Krog said to bring one.” And she left to get it.
The remaining Elementals of the Command Point made their way to the landing pad where one of the other points joined them. As the two units of Elementals milled around, a Special Operation Karnov swooped in for a hot landing, its engines slowing down but not shutting down.
Krog arrived and motioned for the units to board. At the questioning look from Mongo Raven Dusal, he shouted. “I will explain on the way!” Once they were all aboard, Maeve arrived and right after she stepped up the ramp, the VTOL lifted off in a northern direction.
As the craft reached top speed, Krog turned to his people. “We are hunting.” He had an odd smile on his face as he said this. “And it is a most special quarry.”
Mongo looked at the others then at Krog. “Who are we hunting and what is the LSSU for?”
Krog looked at his friend and grinned evilly. “We are hunting the Enemy Commander; he was shot out of his machine and managed to elude being killed.” At the shocked faces among his people, he continued. “We are being tasked with finding him and bringing back a body… because we are able to do it fast.”
Krog continued after a moment. “He would hunt him himself if not for the attacks.”
Bonita looked at her mate. “Us? Why not the Spectre leader and his mate? They live up here…” She asked. “And are we to bring him in alive?”
Krog looked back at her. “He and his men are too far out; Tinney wants it done fast and the less time that the surat bastard has to find a hide, the less chance he has of truly escaping in the chaos his orders caused. As for alive…” Krog’s face darkened some. “Neg. Tinney did not ask and I did not offer; I believe his life is forfeited. As for the unit, I have a purpose for the spare though only if it is practical.”
The other point commander, Silas Viper Dusal, asked. “Do we gun him down when we find the criminal?”
Krog was silent for a few seconds, as if deciding on something important. “Neg. Leave him alive for me to verify. I believe there are a few other loose pilots out there but not many,” he replied. “Between the three fronts, the Lancers have gained much glory in defeating the Blakist troops…”
“So, we are saving Tinney’s honor here?” Silas narrowed his eyes at Krog. “I find that odd…”
Bonita answered the question before her mate could. “Neg. There is no honor to save… for one such as this Dyckman are sneakier than a Sea Fox Merchant… and twice as skilled at saving their own necks. I read this Dyckman’s history where the Lancers are concerned… and who he has killed via treachery. His use of nuclear weapons on civilians is proof of how low he would go. He is honorless…”
She stared at Silas. “There are a few things my old clan would not do, Silas; While it was guilty of some questionable acts, nuclear weapons on civilians is Amaris-level tactics. That road has zero honor or glory for anyone. Including the Dark Caste.” She paused. “I know the leader of the Lancers…. and if he could hunt this man down himself without the effort harming the response to save lives of his people, he would do so. He is a Leader and his place is leading. no matter how much desire for personal vengeance he may have.”
Silas considered her words and nodded. “Your reasoning is good and sound, Bonita, and a Leader Leads. I am certain he is capable… but I admit sometimes vengeance has to wait or be delivered via surrogate.” A pause before looking at the Ovkhan of the Dusal. “Krog, there will be no argument or disagreement from my point. We find him, we bring him down alive.” A smile. “Actually, I think that will be a wonderful challenge…”
A smile from the leader of the Dusal. “Good… because I have a plan on luring him out. I need to discuss with Tinney first… but be prepared to lay in wait as a cat does a mouse.” Krog turned and went up towards the cockpit of their transport to contact the Phoenix Lancer leader. He had an idea that he was sure Tinney would go for…
**
Traitors Fall
1307hrs
Dyckman grimaced as he worked his way back towards the downed mechs from the battle. While he could hear some fighting way off in the distance, there was none here where his battle had been. Indeed, there were no Lancer forces on the ground looking for him or the handful of others who had ejected from their machines.
A handful of infantry VTOLs had arrived not long after the fighting ended here and collected the handful of pilots who had not been able to run. Not long after that, all of the mechs of his enemy had headed south towards the ruins of the Blakist landing zones and the river.
That they had not done a full search was odd to him as was the leaving of the downed machines. It was against type for Tinney but then, he was dealing with the disasters that had erupted elsewhere, which was likely the reason they had left. And in all fairness, it was the smarter play.
His last act before punching out was to have whatever bombs that had made it to position detonate. With that, Dyckman hoped he had caused enough carnage to ruin both the Lancers and perhaps destroy them as a force. The planned locations was the main city, their manufacturing bases and perhaps the escapees from Atreus, the Knights.
So many enemies of the Word were here and he had been heartened that they were stationed at the southern base the Mercs maintained for training. It would be a small coup to eliminate the last of the cursed Knights, who should have all died on their precious Marik capital. Finishing that job… would show he was better than the Master of the Dominei at eliminating a target. Or at the very least, finishing a job.
Laughing at himself, he wondered how he was going to get out of this mess he was in. Options… there is always options… He thought. And there are still places to strike from. I just need to get there.
Moving towards where his Rampage was, he thought on the lack of Lancers in the area again. There had been an overflight a little while ago of a Karnov, the VTOL cruising over the area low and slow as if it was looking for movement. While he had been tempted to shoot at it, all he would had done was reveal he was still alive. And that would have been stupid….
Getting to the clearing where his machine was, he saw three others who had the same idea as him. All of them were some of the better pilots among his personal Guard. “Shogu,” he called to the one who looked at him as he left the trees. “They are all gone?”
The one he called to answered him. “None here but us, Precentor,” he replied. “It seems they have other problems to dea-“ Shogu never finished his statement as an emerald energy bolt impacted his back and vaporized his torso.
“SHIT!” Dyckman exclaimed as the remaining two pilots scattered, the small personal weapons out and looking for targets. Apparently, there was someone from the Lancers still here…
**
Krog had the Karnov pilots fly low and let his points jump from the ship, performing a classic Elemental Drop just short of the battlefield. He had told Tinney of his plan to deploy short of the area and sneak up to the downed machines. His thinking was that any survivors would return to them, collect equipment and try to make their way out.
Tinney had concurred with the plan and added he would pull his forces out adding to the façade that he’d abandoned the field for now to deal with the events south. It wasn’t an excuse- he did need to pull back but having Krog come to hunt was something both leaders thought Dyckman would not expect.
When the Dusal troops landed, all of them spread out and made their way to the battle site. Once in place, all of them lay in wait, with Krog commanding Boris to begin any shooting with his anti-mech laser of his normal Elemental armor, with the admonition to avoid shooting the Precentor if he was present.
The next ten minutes after the former Ghost Bear fired was the careful movement and targeting of the other two pilots, with the heavy machine guns of the Headhunter suits used to keep Dyckman’s head down and more or less pinned in place.
Silas was true to his word in trying to tackle the Precentor, choosing not to use any of his weapons as he slipped closer. He had felt strange ambushing the man but then, Elementals fought differently. In addition, why let his quarry know what was coming until it was time? When he got within about fifty meters, he revealed his position when he activated his jumpjets and covered the distance between himself and his quarry.
Landing next to him, he shrugged off the man’s pistol shots and back-fisted him. The impact sent the Precentor flying, his pistol tumbling from his grasp as he landed in a sprawl, stunned.
**
Shaking off the fogginess from the punch, Dyckman sat up and discovered any further movement was likely to be his last as he was now surrounded by four Headhunter Elementals. All of them had different clan markings upon them with one unifying symbol- that of the Planetary Crest of Centarus. “Well fuck…” he lamented as another Headhunter suit landed, this one with the iconography of Clan Wolf on it.
A dark laugh escaped the speakers on the just arrived suit. “Fuck is a good word, surat…though it is inadequate for the fate you are to face.” The elemental reached up and removed his helmet, revealing the face of Krog. “Because killing you outright would be less than satisfying…”
Dyckman snorted. “Why not? Its not like there isn’t a ton of people who want to right now. Though I doubt that soft hearted prick will do it,” he retorted. “He hasn’t the balls…”
More laughter. “That is where you are wrong, Joshua Dyckman…” At Dyckman’s twitch at the use of his name, Krog continued as he set his helmet on the ground and proceeded to remove more of his armor. “What you fail to understand is the desire to end you. He WANTED to be here, to beat you into a bloody pulp for all the lives you have destroyed… but being a good leader, he knew he could not exact vengeance upon you without betraying who he is… So, he sent me.”
“And who the fuck are you?” Dyckman replied, his ego still getting him into trouble via words.
More armor was removed as Krog answered. “Me? I was Krog Wolf of the Blood House Kell, former member of Clan Wolf, once bondsman of the Phoenix Lancers and now leader of the Dusal…” He stared at the Precentor before him. “I am friend of the People of this World and I am going to be the one who ends you… You will have the pleasure of fully experiencing how it is to die the Old Fashioned Way…”
He looked over to another Elemental as he removed the last vambrace of his armor. This Elemental held in its hands a LSSU. “Maeve…” He spoke. “Apply the device…”
She moved forward wordlessly as two others stepped up to hold Dyckman in place.
Dyckman attempted to resist but was unable to, his cracked ribs making fighting them off near impossible; doing so would be difficult on a good day as their grasp of him was total. “What the fuck are you doing?” He demanded as the female Elemental Medic applied the device to him.
Krog, now down to his bodysuit and boots, answered. “What she is doing is applying a device to help you stand and fight, Joshua… for I am going to kill you the Old Fashioned Way… with my hands.” He said. “The LSSU will apply pain-deadening medications even as it injects you with stimulants… so you stay awake to experience some of what you deserve… and even then, it’s still inadequate to what you should receive…”
As Maeve backed away after applying the device, the two Elementals assisted Dyckman to his feet, still in their grasp. At a nod from Krog, they too let go and backed away. By this time, the remaining members of the two points had arrived and created a circle around Dyckman and Krog.
“Now then…” The leader of the Dusal said, a dark tone to his voice. “I am going to kill you slow… and the only regret I have is that I can only do it once.” As he finished his statement, he sprang at Dyckman.
Over the course of the next ten minutes, the two men fought, with Dyckman doing his best to withstand the fists of the much larger and powerful Elemental. For his part, Dyckman gave as good as he could, landing the occasional solid hit on Krog. At one point, he managed to rock the larger man back a step.
Unfortunately, he was unable to capitalize on it as his one leg, fractured as it was during the brawl, refused to hold his weight and he fell once more in an awkward heap.
Krog stepped forward as Dyckman fell and landed a stomp on the last intact arm, snapping it like a stick. The pain from the hit proved to be enough to overwhelm the pain killers and elicited a scream of sheer agony from the Precentor.
As Dyckman flopped onto his back, Krog followed up his strike and landed a boot upon the man’s chest, pinning him to the ground like a fly.
Weakly, Josh tried to squirm out from underneath the boot, but the weight of the Elemental was too much for his remaining strength.
Krog, seeing this, merely smiled as he spoke. “Feel the strength leaving you, eh?” He said as he pressed upon the man’s chest with a steady pressure, a few millimeters at a time. “You are going to find this interesting, given your fascination with pain and torture… You will find this interesting, as you attempt to gain breath and I apply more pressure to your chest, you will have less and less ability to breathe. You see, there was a group on ancient Terra… called the Puri-tans who used to make evil people confess their sins, their crimes against the people they had harmed.
One of the means was this, a steady pressure upon the chest of the criminal as a means of gaining said confession. Unfortunately for the condemned, the ability to breathe, to confess, was hindered by this…. And often, they would pass out from the lack of oxygen.”
“You are not going to be that fortunate,” He continued as he watched Dyckman’s eyes to begin to bug out as the man looked for assistance and finding none from the surrounding Elementals. Said elementals had their own helms open, and some of them looked amused at what the Precentor was experiencing- one even appearing to film this. “You see… one of the effects of the LSSU is to keep you from passing out… depriving you the release of unconsciousness before death takes you. Fascinating really… but right now, I admit to tiring of this game…”
Krog then shifted the edge of his boot to the area above Dyckman’s sternum. “The Spheroids have a saying… He who laughs last, laughs best. I have to ask you, Joshua… Are you laughing now?” Krog then dropped the heel of his boot straight down five centimeters into his chest, snapping the sternum and impaling the man’s heart.
Agonizing pain then shot through Dyckman’s system straight to his brain and the last thing he heard before death took him was the sound of the other elemental’s laughter, a strange barking sound that he now no longer heard.
After a few moments, Krog removed his boot and stepped away, wiping his heel on the ground as if he was trying to remove mud or excrement from it. Looking over at Maeve, he nodded.
The Medic Elemental stepped forward and confirmed what he already knew. “He is dead, Ovkhan.”
Krog nodded. “Good. Bag IT and let us return. There is more work to be done… and we have help to give.”
Musings of a Gamer 