InaG Chpt 3

==It's not a Gundam - Chapter 3 -==
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===Alea iacta est===
Junker System Jump Point
Junker, Periphery (Rimward, Anti-Spinward)
January 3025
Hostis Humanis Generis was the general policy for pirates and slavers even in the 31st Century.
 
The Inner Sphere could afford to have prisons and justice systems. Backwaters like ours generally preferred either a hole between the eyes or them being kicked out of the airlock.
 
In my opinion, Juarez met us halfway. The same could not be said for Williams. I knew Mayor Cid gave the landing party a warning over the radio, they laughed back and I knew that an execution was a mercy compared to the lynch mob that was bubbling up. Junkers had suffered long before I had showed up.
 
For now, they were stuffed in one of the shuttles with just the clothes on their backs. I could see the greed on a few of their eyes seeing my ship but that died away when they saw the dozens of so Haro-manned drones floating around, holding a pair of the TB-equivalent of a P90.
 
Speaking of Haros they had finished the last refits for the Aries. Once we cleared space I would use it to clear the air. Without ASFs, or rather the pilots to use them, it would be up to me to provide air cover. As I fussed over the AGE Builder and the other projects in the cargo hold one of the Militia approached me.
 
"Exarch," he said, "we are ready to jump."
 
"Have the Slaves been freed, Wedge?" I asked.
 
Compared to his husband, Wedge was humorless and not touched in the head. How they got together I never knew.
 
"Unfortunately we need the the techs at home to unlock the collars." Wedge grumbled.
 
"As long as we get them off. Is there any space in the shuttle?'
 
"Not unless you want to put them shoulder to shoulder with the Marians."
 
I looked up at the AGE Builder and tapped at the console. I was pleased to see that it at least was willing to print me a new shuttle.
 
On my command the Egg's internal fans began to hum and whatever mechanical magic that allowed it to work began weaving a whole shuttle pod into existence.
 
"I'll handle it. Repairs?"
 
"Complete. With the salvage and your fabricator, our Mechs are complete. The Balls are refit as well."
"We'll have the Union and the Balls draw in the Marian space defenses. The Ptolemaios can come in from behind. They won't expect it can jump ... in the meantime, it can engage them in E-War. For safety precautions, I'll have the AGE Builder get thruster packs and shields for the Union's Mechs. Just in case."
 
"Understood, Exarch. What comes after?"
 
My eyes went back to the screen and what else was queued. My ship was far from Battletech and Gundam standard. How exactly two made-up physics interacted I couldn't say only that it wasn't 'stock' celestial being make.
 
And I was strapping even more guns than it was healthy.
 
"We soften the the base defenses. Then we burn it to the ground. No base. No staging point. No Marians."
 
"...Why us, Sir?"
 
"Why what?"
 
"Why did you decide to reveal yourself to us instead of the Davions? the Steiners? Hell even Marik or ComStar? You could live like a King."
 
If he expected me to think long and hard over an answer I surprised him.
 
"...Let's just say I have more in common with you than some monarchs fighting over a fancy title."
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===Planetary Assault===
Approaching Pirate Base
Uncharted System, Periphery (Rimward, Anti-Spinward)
January 3025
Four droppers and nearly three dozen more aerospace fighters stood between the Junkers and the planet.
 
For the moment they were trading potshots.
 
The Balls kept the Pirates at long range. A mixture of small profile and dense ballistic shields kept the Marian garrison from getting close to the Union and the 'liberated' Leopard CV. Both had skeleton crews, both needed a couple of Haros hooked up to them to maintain their undermanned systems.
 
I sat in the Tieren as the battle continued to rage with no end. For lance mates it was Biggs and Wedge, both technically in frankenmechs but when one was a Wasp rebuilt with Stinger parts and a Stinger rebuilt with Wasp parts it made me question how the Wasp developer's lawsuit didn't pan out.
 
"They don't see us." Biggs spoke, "Do you think Phantom Mech applies to ships also?"
 
"Then we have the advantage." Wedge answered, "And no. I don't believe in magic."
 
Fourth was Mack. Who managed to convince the mayor to get his hands on the Hunchback. Only he seemed to be able to get it moving after I reduced the last Mechwarriors to hamburger meat.
 
"There's gold in them there hills, Ex!" He touted, "Ya sure you don't want to pick'em clean?"
 
"We have to be alive to get anything first." I explained, "Alright. It's time."
 
'Time' was the moment that we couldn't hide the ship any longer. GN Stealth tech worked wonders but every machine had it's all limits. 
 
I could feel it; the moment a Marian turned their head by chance our direction. 
 
The moment he tried we weren't some random speck or smudge on his display.
 
The moment he realized that a fully armed and operational Pocket WarShip was bearing down on them with guns warmed and trained.
 
It wasn't GN-powered weapons. The AGE Builder did not like to make things easy. But a full broadside of PPCs, albeit tinted GN light Blue-Green, cut through the pitch-black space. The crack of a dozen whips filled my ear. Ripping through poorly kept Pirate armor playing and then some.
 
Klaxons blared as the doors to the Mech bays opened. Biggs and Wedge stepped out lasers and guns blazing. The Pirates at the moment still panicking as we first flanked and then got among their ranks. The gun of a Hunchback peaked out, shattering one ASF before Mack pulled back to load another AC/20 shell.
 
I wasn't under any restrictions.
 
On my arms were two of the Tieren's Bazookas. At short range, and with such large targets, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. With a click a 550 mm Missile darted out of the tube of my left launcher, slamming into a Leopard's primary turret and practically shattering it. My right arm fired a second after and it hit an engine and I watched it sputter and die. The Roman dropper began to list as my attention turned to other targets. Metal slammed against metal and the magazine fed missile launchers cycled in two more rockets.
 
By now the Marian fleet was breaking up as I shattered another ASF with a missile. A second ASF went adrift as a missile clipped its side. Those who could were fleeing toward the surface. Those who didn't were now being surrounded by Balls, helpless as the Junkers moved in to take their machines and take them prisoner.
 
But our work wasn't done.
 
Our Leopard CV gained a stationary orbit as angry worker bees worked to collect the assorted escape pods and helpless pirates floating around in space suits.
 
At my command, I said on an open channel my last chance to end things without more bloodshed, "This is Exarch of the Junkers Militia. Orbit is ours. Stand down. You cannot win. You have my word."
 
Treated at least not as badly as the invasion force.
 
I didn't wait long for an answer as the snarling face of a man in vaguely romanic body armor glared back at my masked face.
 
"I am Legate Lyons of the Heirs of Rome! If you think the Marian Legions would bend to some backwater scrap peddlers then you are mistaken! MOLON LABE!"
 
He hung up and I grimaced at what was likely to be one-sided and bloody.
 
"Molon what?" Biggs asked out loud.
 
"Come and take it." I translated, "In Greek. Said a King refusing to surrender to an invading empire."
 
"What kinda cockamamie bull he's talking about!?" Mack spat, "Whose the slaving raider here!?"
 
"Not even Latin." Wedge grumbled.
 
"Tell everyone to prepare for a hot landing. They'll see the Ptolemaios as the primary target."
 
I walked the Tieren back inside, handing the Bazookas to a pair of service arms.
 
"Sir, are you going to use that new Light Battlemech?" Wedge asked.
 
"I am." I answered, "Think of it like a Land-Air Mech. Except it works."
 
Comparing Tieren to the Aries was comparing a brick wall to a sheet of paper. Empty weight alone it was a twelfth of the mass. Firmly in the Ultralight Class for Battlemechs of it was stripped to just the flight unit. I meant it when I said it was a jet with limbs.
 
This time at least I had other things to kitbash it with. E-Carbon for the airframe, Ferro-Aluminium skin, bits and pieces from ASF wrecks that would have made it be called 'Aries Space-Type' if using Gundam Jargon, the centerpiece was the slot for a Haro. For once not used as just a seat for everyone's favorite friend-shaped sphere.
 
I patted the Haro who beeped in return. Unlike the cramped Tieren which was like a one-man tank, the Aries was more like a cozy helicopter seat.
 
As I powered up the machine I knew were dropping right on the base doorstep. The ship rumbled with every lucky hit but the original had taken far worse damage than just lasers.
 
The door hissed open and the wind howled as it slammed into my face. The Aries shuddered even while still clamped to the Ptolemaios. Between lasers and flak shells, I saw the makings of a base not too dissimilar to what I've seen in my previous life. As isolated as the Periphery was, what we would call modern and advanced would be considered primitive in the millennia I found myself in.
 
Haro beeped, >>"Enemy Aircraft! Enemy Aircraft!"<<
 
The surviving ASFs from the orbital battle ... and whatever else they could scramble from the base including air-breathing jets rose to intercept them. Down below them, I saw among the Battlemechs at least one Rifleman and dozens of more gun turrets and combat vehicles both familiar and not shooting right back up at us.
 
Honestly, I was afraid. I had been since I found out I was isekai'd too.
 
Somewhere I found the courage.
 
Or maybe that was just the instincts and muscle memory.
 
I swallowed my pride and clenched some things ... as the Aries lurched forward.
 
"This is Exarch to all Junker forces. Continue the landing. I'll clear a path."
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Chapter 3