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Iron Blooded Commander
- Chapter 11-X -
Opposing Force[]
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Alone fighting a Beast[]
Desolate icy wastes of Phecda near
Phecda, Lyran Commonwealth
3022
<<"FUCK! Someone just took out our fucking Dropship!">> Captain Reynolds voice crackled over the comms. And She knew. Instantly that shit had just gotten real.
No defenders would take out the dropship once it was landed unless they were confident in their ability to finish off the raiders. Otherwise everyone died.
"Alright everyone. We are altering course, Bravo Lance on me. I don't want any fuckups!" She wondered if that last bit had been towards her? She didn't care. She was better than any of the other pilots. They all knew it. Even in her Phoenix Hawk. Every time she had dueled Reynolds in his Marauder she had won.
If only she wasn't a pariah.
The first sign something was definitely wrong when Reynolds voice reached out to Issiah. His Spider had been sent out to scout the enemy dropship landing.
Nothing came through.
That had been it for Reynolds. He was in full damage control. Everyone needed to keep their focus because enemies were coming.
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Wolverine Medium 'Mech
The instant loss of Max's Wolverine had the entire Company freaking out. Something was out there. The whispers over the private comm lines would be going crazy she knew. They excluded her, but she had been in enough fights to know that while the main line was kept for orders. Private ones would be full of chatter and freaking out.
She kept her focus. Even as Reynolds called in a massive strike on his Marauder. His attempt to retreat leading to a downed Hunchback and him dodging as 'something' fired from out in the blizzard.
<<"I have no idea what is out there. Something is hitting me hard. Watch out for PPC fire.">>
She clicked her comms once to offer her acceptance as she raced through the snow. More fell. Gonzales Gryphon was struck when the idiot was focusing on the factory.
But it was Reynolds breathless <<"Oh Fuck.">> That stuck with her. And a moment later she watched his mech fall out of connection.
Then. Then!
More than anything, what happened next stuck with her. Froze her heart.
((("I am the Phantom of the Star League. Come.")))
A familiar voice echoed out over her comm, but no one was laughing at the frankly cheesy line. Because an enemy that just took out a Lance of mechs doesn't need to brag.
Their kill count already did that.
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Phoenix Hawk Medium 'Mech
Her Phoenix Hawk burned, as she dodged actively trying to avoid whatever it was that being shot at through her in the snow. Her computer was at least now able to read something. A big heat source.
An Assault mech.
She cursed herself, wishing she had her old baby. She shook that away an old wound now. She had to focus. The battle continued and more fell. She finally reached it. Her large laser hot and ready to make a shot when the snow cleared, just enough to give her sight.
She nearly stuttered to a stop, even as her Large laser fired mostly on reflex. Only her long years in a cockpit kept her moving aborting any attempt to aim her laser, which is the only reason she survived that fucking monsters PPC strike. Although that wasn't what shocked her. Gauss Rifles. That fucking thing had Gauss Rifles! She recognized them, even vaguely recognized the mech. Which her computer helpfully supplied after it whined for a good ten seconds.
Jesus fuckin' Christ.
She breathed a sigh of relief when it seemed to focus on the others first. As she continued to try and do something to this thing, but even her large laser only seemed to scratch it. Like she was fighting a titanic beast whose hide was stronger than her blade.
She almost wanted to cry as she watched Vince get fucking destroyed in a move that she prayed she never had to experience. The shockwave alone probably knocked him unconscious if not burst his head like a grape outright.
Then this fucking beast turned to her.
She dodged, trying to keep out of range of a full alpha strike. She could handle the Gauss, and the PPC, but Medium Lasers would tear her Hawk up.
Just like she they had the Vulcan.
She jumped bouncing out of range of the mediums as the beast turned to her, but it was too late she had been too distracted watching the Vulcan be torn apart. She dodged the ray of lightning. The PPC nearly heating up her cockpit as it passed just so by her, but suddenly something struck her and she was tumbling.
A few moments later she gasped, her breath coming back to her. Her hands were shaking. Was that a Gauss? Was that what it was like to be hit by a Gauss Rifle!? She felt out her controls her cockpit was buried in the snow, probably the only reason she was still alive. Her mech moved. The round had struck her side torso and she prayed for a moment that her machine gun ammo hadn't gone up.
But now wasn't the time for that. If she wanted to survive she needed to get up!
She heaved herself up her Phoenix Hawk rising from the snow and ready to fight once more!
The battle was damn near over she noticed. She fired once before the Francis in his Centurion seemed to come apart at the waist. Two Gauss slugs nearly ripping the mech in half.
She shivered. That was her fate if she got hit again.
She breathed out and let herself feel her 'mech. Every move, Every jump and dodge and dip moves she had done a thousand times. This pilot was good. But not that good. She kept herself just out of range of the Medium Lasers. Her large searing a few scars into the armor but nothing she allowed herself to take a risk for.
It took a moment when the Beast suddenly shifted and she realized what was about to happen. "ISAAC MO-" It was too late. She saw his Griffin fall into the snow.
She was alone.
God.
Her mech was burning up but as the Beast shifted back… Something connected them. An acceptance. She breathed, feeling her mech cool. She could do this. A David versus Goliath battle. She could do this.
A flurry of snow cut it from her sight, and she jumped, just in time to avoid the medium lasers cutting through the snow into steam.
She aimed down, she knew the Beast hadn't moved. It was slow. Her Large laser arced out burning into armor the first time she had gotten a long strike on this thing nearly the entire battle. Instantly she cut her jets, letting her drop in direction, barely dodging the PPC that pierced through where she had been.
This pilot was good. She was better.
The battle continued. Dodge dodge small shot to score some armor damage. Dodge dodge!
It continued for a few minutes. Her Phoenix Hawk once more nearly melting with how it was getting. But she had to keep pushing. If she stopped. If she tried to break away she would die.
She nearly roared when her Large pierced into something, and those Gauss Rifles went silent right after. The beast was injured! If it could bleed she could kill it! She roared in her heart.
Then. As if it had realized her thoughts?
It shifted back a step. The snow brushed along it's hide cooling the score lines across it.
And the Beast disappeared.
Impossible. She gaped. One second it had been there. Her mech had kept it in sights but then… As if…
It was a stray thought one that hit her only as she took a bouncing run forward. Almost as if disbelieving the mech could simply vanish from where it had been.
She wasn't fighting a Beast.
Her Jump Jets roared trying to escape trying anything as the Monster came out of the snow directly infront of her. As if appearing from nothing.
It was a Phantom. It had even told her!
She wasn't sure what happened in the next few moments. Her 'mech tumbling backwards faster than it had been going forward rocked her. Only a few moments later she managed to blink her eyes clear and look up. It was there.
She had to know. Dizzily she fought herself up and took a swing.
Her fist connected, breaking a few shards of armor off as it moved back slightly.
Was it real? Was it a Phantom? She honestly didn't know. So confused. So shocked she didn't even try to dodge the PPC firing.
The PPC that blew her mechs arm off leaving her in the snow again. For the final time. Staring up she was sure what was coming next. A PPC shot to the cockpit.
It was what she would do.
It was what she HAD done.
But it never came. No, Sergeant Isabella Nash, Once Captain of her own raiders waited in the snow head full of fog. And a feeling in her breast that what she had just fought, wasn't even real. A Phantom come to punish her once more.
She knew when she eventually ended up back in the League there was only one thing she would tell her superiors.
The Phantom of the SLDF was here.
Beware.
- Author's Chapter Note
- You can all thank MovingTarget (reader of SpaceBattles.com) For this. He asked, and ye all shall receive. Note this was just written, it's not edited nearly as well as my normal chapters, and you can sorta consider it semi-canon. As I didn't have any intention of writing it for the enemy perspective, but I liked the thought and it came out... Interesting. So you can have this sub-chapter and treat it however you want.