Nebula California - Legend of the Four Rings

==Description==
In midst of exploring spinward of the Inner Sphere, past the Taurian Concordat. Explore Corp vessel has made the Jump into region space known as Nebula California. However, known to them the Nebula's properties prevents anyone jump their vessel into Hyperspace outside its confides.
==Background==
The story set in non-canon setting sourcebook, Welcome to Nebula California. Where within are parallels / Parody to popular culture. 
Encase of the Legend of the Four Rings, the Explore corp of this story discovers the unusual system. One themed unknown to them as Halo Videogame Universe.
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==Story==
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===Chapter 1===
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E.C.V Sao Cristovao (Magellan-class JumpShip)
Somewhere in the Nebula California
15th October, 3067
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The Magellan-class JumpShip E.C.V Sao Cristovao shimmered into a new system of the Nebula California. For the last five years the crew had tried to escape the Nebula without success instead they had spent the time surviving the variety of different worlds and peoples fighting and trading their way.
“Begin a full scan of the system let’s see what we have” Captain Yasmin Khan ordered from the centre of the Magellan’s bridge. She was young for being a Captain at thirty-two years old having been promoted to the rank following the passing of the ship’s first commander the year before. She had dark skin and long dark hair she wore her long brown hair in a ponytail behind her head. She wore a beige top and a brown straight leather jacket. Behind her the ship’s advanced holo-tank began painting a picture of the system the system was normally only found on WarShips but this Magellan-class vessel had been built by ComStar for the Explorer Corps and carried only the best of technology.
Khan turned in her chair looking at the holotank, immediately beyond the star was a thick asteroid belt and beyond that was a massive ring. “Blake’s Blood” Khan whispered looking at the ring which was, according to the sensor readings, one thousand kilometers in diameter and two hundred-and-fifty kilometres across.
“Captain Khan.” her executive officer Commander Eve Murray said gaining her attention. Khan looked over at Murray, like the captain Eve Murray was young for her rank having been promoted from the engineering deck when their captain had died. She had shoulder length straight blonde hair she wore a red jumpsuit. “Sir, we’re receiving a Star League Defense Force signal…”
“The Star League…” Khan whispered for a moment in awe even to ComStar, the secular organization which had dedicated itself to protecting knowledge and humanity, the Star League Defense Force was a power which had served and fallen centuries before. Now part of the Explorer Corps mission was to discover where remnants of that Star League had been taken when the army followed its General in a mass exodus from the Inner Sphere. After all these years unable to escape the Nebula California, instead exploring it, finally she had found them and she could not tell anyone. “From the Ring?”
“From the Ring, and from beyond” Murray answered as the holotank continued to paint a picture of the system beyond the Ring was another thick asteroid belt, and further deeper into the system there was a second Ring the exact dimensions of the first ring. The sensors continued to pick up new signals small mining, research stations and small craft dotted the star system.
As they watched the sensors showed a second asteroid belt, a third Ring and another asteroid belt followed by a fourth ring and accompanying asteroid belt. Further afield there were two orbiting gas giants protecting the system from outer system threats.
“What have we found?” Someone asked from the bridge breaking the stunned silence. Sitting staring at the holotank Captain Yasmin Khan was not sure whom had spoken.
“Captain” Leonardo Busa interrupted the silence from the communication’s console Yasmin Khan looked over at him he was older than the two women he had short dark hair and a well-trimmed ginger coloured goatee. “We are being hailed” he announced “from what appears to be a space station, they identify as the SLS Column of Winter.” He explained “Captain, the Column of Winter was a Potemkin-class Troop Cruiser which left on the Exodus” he said having checked the E.C.V Sao Cristovao’s records before speaking. “But there is one issue the ship hailing us looks nothing like a Potemkin-class vessel I have ever seen…” He said the Holotank showed the Column of Winter’s position above the planetary plane the ship’s sensors had tentatively identified it as a Potemkin-class but there were characteristics which did not fit in with the class.
“Put them up” Khan ordered Busa who nodded
<<“This is the Column of Winter to unidentified vessel, I am Captain Patrick Hansell III, welcome to the System of the Four Rings, we do not recognise your transponder but it has been many years since anyone has visited this system and we understand things may have changed. Please identify yourself and your intent, as long as you mean no hostile intent you are welcome here to visit and trade, should you wish to initiate hostile intent you will face the full force of the Star League Defense Force.”>> The male voice greeted them formally.
“I guess we should respond.” Khan said flicking a yellow switch on her chair “This is Captain Yasmin Khan the Commanding Officer of the Explorer Corps Vessel Sao Cristovao. My JumpShip and its attached DropShip have been assigned to explore beyond the Inner Sphere and discover what was lost during the Succession Wars. We come here in a journey of peaceful exploration.”
<<“The Succession Wars…”>> Hansell responded his voice filled with the shock of someone who had not heard of the Succession Wars, this did not surprise Yasmin Khan, the people of the Nebula were completely isolated from the rest of humanity only learning about the outside when unfortunate crews of lost JumpShips stumbled into the Nebula like the crew of the Sao Cristovao. <<“Captain Khan, if you come in peace then I invite you to the Column, I think we have a lot to discuss.”>>
“Thank you, Captain Hansell, for your offer, we will be with you shortly.” Khan replied cutting the link “Mister Heins have the Petit Milan detach and come alongside us for transit.” She said speaking to the ship’s operations officer a man in his thirties with a bald head and a full black beard, she named the Rose-class DropShip which was attached to the Sao Cristovao’s spine. “Mister Graf, as soon as the Petit Milan is clear engage engines in standard system transit operations.” She ordered unlike most JumpShips the Magellan-class was designed to make transits into systems, the ship lacked a gravity deck and the transits gave the crew a break from microgravity. While the engines were nowhere near as powerful as a DropShip’s or a WarShip’s engines, they were more than capable of moving the one hundred-and-seventy-five-ton vessel through the system.
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Over the next six days the Sao Christovao and the escorting Petit Milan moved through the system moving above the plane of the system to avoid the asteroid belt the two ships observed small craft transiting between the asteroids, various stations, ships, the Column of Winter, and the Rings themselves. Most of the shuttles were of the same class as the ships as those that were once used by the Star League Defense Force but there was also another class of ship moving between the four rings which were of a completely foreign design with a triangular main hull and with round engine nacelles at each corner of the triangle other than the engines the ships were completely aerodynamic. Unlike the Star League designs these craft carried no transponder codes, only moved between the Rings, and did not try to communicate with the JumpShip or DropShip.
The Sao Christovao slowly made its way towards the SLS Column of Winter finally reaching its position. The massive vessel was nearly twice the mass of a normal Potemkin-class Troop Cruiser the ship was turned up away from the plane of the system. Unlike a standard Potemkin the ship had ten gravity decks which moved slowly around the outer hull they appeared to be attacked to some of the DropShip Docking collars. Additionally, other Docking collars had additional modules attached to it which appeared to be possibly accommodation, construction or research related. “Blake’s Blood...” Yasmin Khan whispered as the Sao Christovao approached the massive construction “What in Terra’s name have we stumbled across?” She wondered out loud looking at the sensor images which were detailing each section of the Column’s exterior hull.
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===Chapter 2===
Column of Winter (Modified Potemkin-class Troop Cruiser)
System of the Four Rings
21st August, 3067
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A party from the Sao Christovao, which included Captain Yasmin Khan, Leonardo Busa and Major Ryan Hintze from the Petit Milan, had been escorted onboard the Column of Winter and escorted to a briefing room where they had met Captain Patrick Hansell III in a meeting room onboard one of the ships many gravity decks. The Column of Winter had all the hallmarks of a space station instead of a WarShip with civilians making their lives on every deck with areas converted into living space, workshops, and food preparation areas. The guards and crew were all dressed in uniforms which looked exactly like those from the first Star League this included Captain Patrick Hansell III he wore the uniform of a Star League Defense Force Flag officer but one without the combat ribbons most officers would wear. Hansell was a giant of a man with nearly completely black skin, he had dark brown eyes, he wore a full black colored curly beard which was kept short and trimmed neatly like anyone would expect an officer to have his full head of hair was kept short in military fashion with the sides shaved and the top short but curly like his beard.
During the hours following their meeting the party from the Sao Christovao had explained who they were, who the Explorer Corps were and what had happened to the Inner Sphere in the centuries since the SLDF left the Inner Sphere. “That’s quite a story.” Hansell replied from his chair around the table “You have been honest with me as far as I can tell so I will be with you. The Column of Winter came to this system following a miss-jump which wrecked her KF Drive stranding the crew here.” He said “Fortunately that was the only thing with was destroyed and irreparable in the miss-jump her crew quickly repaired the vessels sensors and that was when they discovered the rings.” He explained activating the table’s holotank showing the system “Four mega structures in a system filled with rubble.” He almost whispered “The rings are made of near solid Ferro-carbide armor, enough armor to outfit an entire fleet of McKenna-class Battleships a stunning display of engineering which only a thousand ships from the Department of Mega Engineering could have constructed. The crew of this ship and its passengers could not believe their luck.” He said manipulating the controls of the holotank so it displayed only one of the rings “they found that each of the rings has multiple DropShip docking collars around its circumference. My grandfather the original Patrick Hansell authorized a scouting mission to one of the rings designated Delta Ring.” he said proudly the holotank image showed a solitary Overlord-class DropShip approach and dock with the ring. “To their surprise, the ring welcomed them allowing docking recognizing their Identity Friend of Foe tags. There are some systems on the ring, to this day, we do not understand but what they found was a sight to behold.”
The holotank image changed to the view from a soldier’s helmet cam. The scene showed the trooper inside a massive airlock like structure with other troopers, hovercraft and at least one Mercury BattleMech. After several minutes the doors opened allowing the party to exit the airlock entering the ring facility the trooper followed the rest of his squad as they stepped from the metal airlock into a living environment with soil and plants beneath their feet, trees, hills, and fields stretching as far as the eye could see and above them a blue and white sky. “Oh my ******* god” the trooper swore spinning around looking back at the airlock behind them as the Mercury Class BattleMech lance stepped past them the forty-ton BattleMech leading the scouting effort.
“An internal planetary environment?” Major Ryan Hintze said in as much shock as the trooper in the recording he was a skinny man in his thirties with ginger colored hair and a light covering of facial hair on his chin.
“From what we can have found all four rings are similar to each other.” Hansell explained speaking as the images changed from plains, to forests, rivers to lakes and to snow covered mountains. “Built to be perfectly habitable to humanity but in a completely artificial setting.” The images suddenly showed a solid bunker like structure with a huge spire extending from the top of the bunkers. “These bunkers are completely secure at no point have any of the factions on any of the rings ever been able to gain access to them.”
“Factions?” Captain Khan asked not liking the sound of what was being said.
“Yes,” Hansell said glancing downwards the look of shame passing over his face “the Column of Winter was a rescue ship dispatched by General Kerensky to rescue the remains of units from all around the Terran Hegemony and evacuate them, along with their families, to join the Exodus Fleet.” He explained “The ship was never supposed to operate alone, nor were the units designed to operate together, with the pressures of trying to build a new colony and the horrors of the Civil War looming over them multiple leaders on each ring thought they could create the best society which has led to conflicts.”
“But this ship is a Star League one, your uniform, your crew?” Leonardo Busa asked shocked at what they had heard like in the Inner Sphere and in the Clan Homeworlds here in this system humanities greatest army had failed to stay together as one entity without the war that held it together.
“While all out war has been avoided on the rings there is no unified government each faction continues to believe they can lead their society to a more prosperous future. This has led to skirmishes, avoidable losses of life, the Column of Winter and its crew try to act as a neutral place where factions can meet and discuss their differences. This station continues to attempt to be the Star League for the people of this system, we may lack the ground forces to enforce this peace so we attempt t provide them with a place to come together.” He said proudly obviously hopeful that peace could continue in the system. “We’ve also helped them research and resist the virus that is present on all of the rings.”
“Virus?” Jasmin Khan asked suddenly her eyes off the rotating images from the rings and onto the captain “There is a virus here? Lethality?”
“It’s hard to explain...” Captain Hansell explained looking uncomfortable “since the early days of the rings we discovered that there is a virus present on each of them. It affects roughly 1% of the population of each ring each year but it does not kill the people, it creates madness, the people leave their lives and join groups wandering the rings they become hostile to anyone and anything they encounter. There is no known cure to this disease, our people call them the Gale as they are completely unpredictable like the wind which blows a person’s hair.” He explained “they hunt wildlife and humanity in equal measure and engage in cannibalism, they have been known to destroy entire settlements.” His voice as grave as the situation he described as the image changed to show the Gale moving as a pack against a settlement tearing structures, vehicles, and people to pieces the crazed individuals wore torn and bloodied clothing and used a variety of weapons but their tactics were the same, throwing bodies at a target. One of the images showed a swarm of people launching a full assault on a BattleMech attacking and tearing the Mech to pieces as the pilot struggled to counter the attack.
“This is insane.” Leonardo Busa commented
“Primitive, but effective against a BattleMech, impressive, especially since we don’t have many.” Major Ryan Hintze noted onboard the Petit Milan they only had four true BattleMechs the others were civilian models, the same as their vehicles designed mostly for exploration.
“Nor do the peoples of the Ring” Captain Hansell explained “the original crew of the Column of Winter had a limited number; many have been lost in the internal conflicts of the various ring factions and this system completely lacks the materials needed to construct a fusion reactor.” He said smiling on seeing their surprise “Yes, we have also been surprised by that but we believe it was the original builder’s intention to remove such resources from this system making it impossible to build weapons of mass destruction so the rings could remain as they had been built. So once a BattleMech is lost by any manner it is unfortunately lost permanently.
“Captain.” Yasmin Khan said raising from her chair steadying herself for a moment in the artificial gravity she was more used to microgravity environments after years of space exploration. “I would like to ask permission to visit one of the rings, see some of it for ourselves.” Yasmin said looking at the images and then to the Captain.
“Of course,” Hansell said “I am powerless to stop you, while the Column of Winter’s naval array is mostly intact but to use it would mean your complete destruction. We are a vessel and a people of peace; you have come here in peace and that will be answered by the same from us.” He said proudly “I would suggest you land on the Delta Ring and contact the United Ring Alliance one of the largest military factions on the rings, they have operations throughout the system and have tried to hold true to many of the SLDF’s ideals.”
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===Chapter 3===
Petit Milan (Rose-class DropShip)
System of the Four Rings
23rd August, 3067
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While the Sao Christovao and a team of researchers remained at the Column of Winter, safely away from any debris which was moving around the system and with permission to further explore the vessel/station, the Petit Milan moved towards the Delta Ring. Captain Yasmin Khan had transferred onboard the ship as a curious passenger while Major Ryan Hintze and his crew brought the DropShip closer to the massive ring. “Major, message from the Column of Winter, we should hold position the ring is shifting its position.” The communication’s officer Richard Tucker said from his position he was in his forties, his head completely bald and he wore a red and grey jumpsuit.
“It’s doing what?” Hintze asked but he did not have to wait for an answer while the massive ring continued to rotate slowly, they assumed to provide the inhabitants with gravity, massive thrusters on the back side of the ring fired momentarily turning the ring in its position. “Wow..” Hintze let out watching as the ring began to rotate “the power requirements alone for that…” he whispered.
“Why is it moving position? Won’t that affect its orbit?” Yasmin Khan asked from her observation seat already the crew of the Petit Milan were at work attempting to work out just that.
“Oh my God, Major!” Amelia Leclerc exclaimed from the sensor station her New Avalonian accent unmistakable she was only in her twenties and beautiful with long dark hair, a slender but athletic frame and she wore a tight navy-blue jumpsuit. “In the center of the ring there is a planetary core.” She said explaining her outburst “The sensors recorded a gravitational bump as we approached the ring, I thought it was due to the mass of the ring but in the center, there is a planetary core which appears to have had all the planetary mass from around it knocked away and the core itself supercooled.” Unlike the JumpShip the DropShip relied on screens to relay the information instead of a holotank so around the control bridge there were several displays of the slowly rotating ring continuing to change its orbit revealing the core.
“That should be impossible.” Hintze said glancing around the bridge landing on Yasmin Khan who looked as shocked as anyone one of the researchers arrived on the bridge.
“The asteroid belts…” Khan began before the researcher interrupted her with his deep booming voice.
“Major!” Dr Bryan Gordon said as he entered the Rose-class DropShip’s bridge, that was “Bryan with a y” as he told everyone he encountered for the first time “this system continues to astound us, we must board the ring!”
“Yes, Doctor I am aware but perhaps you are not aware of the complexities of matching a rings rotational speed while it is maneuvering?” Hintze replied turning the question back on the man who often said he was the brains in the room. Bryan Gordon, Bryan with a y, was a barrel of a man with a greying dark mullet of a haircut, a pierced nose and ear with gold rings in both.
“Major, you and your very capable crew will accomplish that feat like the many other impossible maneuvers they have accomplished previously. I am very sure.” Gordon responded looking nervously around the room trying to gain some favour with the crew. “But you must understand we need to see what is inside that ring!”
“We will soon see inside the Ring, Doctor, but for now we must wait.”
“Retro-thrusters firing, she’s slowing her turn” Leclerc announced she said studying her readings “orbit remains stable. From what we’re reading it appears to have turned to avoid an incoming meteor shower.” She said continuing to look at the sensor readings.
“Why would something so large be concerned with asteroids” Bryan Gordon scoffed “it could take hits from a million asteroid and you would barely scratch the surface.” He said confidently, from what they had read the rings were covered in thick Capital Grade armor the rings could indeed take many hits before being concerned.
“You don’t take a hit just because you can.” Khan muttered under her breath but when no-one else spoke up she continued looking at the researcher “if a ship is in space for hundreds of years without the chance of maintenance it is commonsense to avoid taking additional hits if you can, cumulative damage could be devastating over a period of time.”
“And the ring appears to have solar panels on its star facing side” Leclerc added
“SOLAR panels” Gordon responded emphasizing the word showing his surprise and interest “surely it cannot be powered by sunlight?” he asked floating across the bridge to look at the sensor readings.
“No…” Leclerc answered glancing over her shoulder at the Doctor who was now floating over her shoulder looking at her readings. “We are receiving readings from more than one hundred fusion plants dotted around the structure, there may be more, it appears the solar panels simply act to supplement the fusion power maybe to conserve fuel or allow the fusion reactors to run at a lower power output.” She said tapping some controls.
“Impressive.” Gordon said watching her tap the controls for a moment Khan wondered if he was impressed with Leclerc or with the readings, but thankfully Hintze interrupted her thoughts.
“Helm, if the ring has stabilized move us in on the docking collar match rotation.” He said they had heard from the Column of Winter that despite the age-old rule of never trying to dock with a moving object that this procedure would be perfectly safe with the Rings due to some automated systems built into the ring all the DropShip had to do was get close to the Ring’s docking pad and be orientated the correct way for a planetary landing.
The Petit Milan approached the ring at 0.5 Gravity of acceleration Gordon found himself drawn from his floating position to the deck of the vessel still holding onto Leclerc’s chair. As it closed on the Ring thrusters on the top and bottom of the ship on different sides of the vessel fired turning the ship’s orientation so the rear of the ship was faced towards the ring.
“Cut main thrust, extend landing feet” Hintze ordered, he did not like the idea but apparently this was the best way to dock with the Rings without catastrophically damaging the vessels involved. He had not asked Captain Hansell exactly how they knew that but had taken their word for it. With the DropShip’s landing legs extended the thrusters on the side of the ship facing away from the direction of travel now acting to keep the ship’s pace up.
From the Ring six harpoons fired at the bottom of the DropShip each of them impacting with the DropShip. “Helm, thrusters to continue to fire to keep our orientation only, do not fight the wires” Hintz said continuing to monitor the situation as the Petit Milan was slowly reeled in towards the Ring’s rotating surface “impressive” he whispered off to the side Khan smiled seeing he was impressed with what he was seeing, Khan herself felt the same way as she had since arriving in the system, everything in this system was overwhelming. There was a mechanical thump as the Petit Milan came into contact with Ring’s surface touching the landing pad interlocking clamps extended locking onto the DropShip securing it to the deck.
“And we’re down Cap’tn, thrusters offline.” Ewen Bremner the helmsman said he had mousy blond hair and wore a maroon and white striped shirt with brown dungarees over the top. “Sir, we’re moving again.” he said glancing at Hintze, the entire DropPad was moving lowering inside the massive ring once the Petit Milan was fully inside the ring pressure doors closed sealing the surface once more.
“Who built this thing?” Khan wondered out loud she realized sitting the microgravity had gone and she was feeling the force of a standard 1G in gravity.
“This is incredible!” Bryan Gordon nearly shouted in the middle of the bridge.
“Alright people, we’ve got some mysteries to work out.” Hintze said “we’re going to play this smart, no showing all our cards in one move so team one will take a pair of Chevaliers and a pair of Pintos nothing too scary but nothing to show exactly what we’ve got in our pockets. I am going to sit observation seat” he said looking around the bridge finding Yasmin Khan “Captain, you are welcome to join us.” Yasmin nodded her agreement and the crew began to move around the DropShip’s bridge.
“Major, I’d like to be part of the advanced party…” Gordon almost pleaded looking over towards Hintze
“Not this time Doc, there is a clear chance we’re going into a combat situation, you and your team are staying on the boat until I get a lay of the land.”
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Sometime later the four vehicles along with two squads of infantry troopers had exited the DropShip into a huge bay with a roof which just cleared the top of the Rose-class DropShip. Standing in the bay as the crew offloaded the two VTOLs Captain Yasmin Khan looked up at the roof thinking that beyond it there was the outside surface of the ring and the vacuum of space.
The cargo bay which reminded Yasmin of any space station or WarShip cargo bay that she had ever been in or seen a video of but one that was in a state of full gravity. Almost as she looked around and thought “where to next” several lights around the bay activated lighting a path away from the Petit Milan and towards what looked like a massive elevator which could probably move the entire cargo hold of their DropShip in one go. “I guess we’re being invited aboard” Hintze said looking at Yasmin Khan who nodded “let’s move it out people!”
The four vehicles were quickly moved onto the elevator around which several lights went from green, to orange and then to red before the door began to close. “Alright people make sure the breaks are on, secure the vehicles to the deck and move your asses away from the vehicles. We’ve all seen the videos this is going to be a bit of a trip.” Hintze warned all of them knew what could happen as the elevator moved. Around them the crews attached the vehicles to the deck with a series of straps tying them down and then everyone backed off.
From the videos provided by the Column of Winter they had seen that one when the elevator moved it sometimes caused accidents due to the changes in gravity caused by the movement. As the platform moved upwards the surface under their feet began to tilt and turn as the elevator rotated through a one hundred-and-eighty degrees. Captain Yasmin Khan leaned to the right to counter the rotation, she saw the others on the elevator doing the same and did not feel too silly, there was a moment that passed when microgravity filled the bay and each of them began to lift off the deck the vehicles strained against their straps but held firm. In the videos of the first transit the vehicles had not been tied down and had landed on troopers causing horrific injuries and damage to the craft. After the moments of microgravity passed, they were brought back to the deck and the elevator continued to rise until it stopped. The lighting around the elevator changed from red to orange and then green again before the doors opened revealing another cargo bay.
“Move out people, keep focused on what’s going on.” Hintze ordered the two eight-wheeled Chevaliers were first to move forwards with Hintze standing at the observation hatch on one of the turreted thirty-five-ton vehicles. Behind them the infantry troopers escorted the two Pinto VTOLs with Yasmin Khan joining them, she had chosen to join the crew of one of the VTOLs so believing she’d see more of the Ring from the air.
They moved forward to a large doorway which showed bright “sunlight” created by the artificial environment. Yasmin Khan stepped out of the dark bay and felt like one of those Star League Defense Force troopers all those years before a sense of complete awe. The elevator bay had been set into the side of a hillside, no doubt to hide the mechanisms used to support it, below the bay extended kilometer after kilometer of bright green rolling hills, brown and green outcroppings of trees and winding perfectly blue rivers.
From information they had gained from the Column of Winter the closest Base camp of the United Ring Alliance was three kilometres from the exit of the elevator the two Chevaliers moved forwards with the two Pintos escorting hovering one hundred meters above the two vehicles. They moved over the ground quickly the terrain solid under the vehicle’s tires allowing good progress. In the lead Pinto Yasmin could see the Ring curve away in the distance just showing how alien the environment was, even the sides of the ring were covered by mountainous environments.
“Sir, we have incoming contacts four contacts fast moving hovercraft western flank.” One of the Chevalier tankers reported looking at Major Hintze.
“Nothing aggressive let the sensors do their job, we don’t want to appear threatening for any reason, warn the VTOLs” he ordered watching the screens.
Above Yasmin Khan could see the four hovercrafts rapidly approaching their vehicles while each of the Petit Milan’s vehicles weighed in between thirty and thirty-five tons none of the purple painted craft looked like they were more than ten tons in weight. “Khan to Hintze, they are changing formation into a strafing one, we’re breaking high and right for a better look.” Yasmin said pulling on the Pinto’s controls while she had been a JumpShip Captain for several years her first love had been flying a helicopter. The two aircraft pulled away and to a higher altitude as the four hovercrafts came in firing. From her higher position she could see that while being painted purple the vehicles were very low to the ground, held up by powerful fans and ‘with a sub-nosed front along with two distinct control panel “wings” which were closer to the ground and appeared to have their own directional fans. At the rear a fully armored pilot/rider controlled the craft in a hunched over position their head obscured by the nosecone of the vehicle. As the four craft approached, they strafed to the side and opened fire on the two Chevaliers from all four craft streams of what looked like pulse laser fire against the two wheeled tanks. They then continued moving heading in the opposite direction to the Chevalier’s course in a typical fade-and-run attack.
“Green light on defense fire” Hintze ordered which was all Khan needed the two Pintos turned together tracking the path of the ground vehicles both Pintos opened up with their under nose forward firing long range missile launchers. Some of the missiles impacted on two of the vehicles damaging them and causing small explosions on the ground the two craft moved in quickly finishing off their targets with their medium lasers before continuing on they returned to their previous altitude. As the Pintos pulled away the two Chevaliers opened fire with their turreted lasers the red beams momentarily connected the Chevaliers, who were quickly moving away from their targets, to their target the large bore lasers cut through the remaining two vehicles like their armour was butter with both swiftly exploding in balls of fire moments later.
The four vehicles travelled another kilometre before encountering and alien looking angular bunker made up entirely of ferro-crete with a large spire in the centre. Beside the structure were a pair of all-terrain vehicles flanking what looked like an unarmed APC all of which were no bigger than the two hovercraft they had previously encountered. These vehicles looked far more conventional than the hovercraft looking more live oversized jeeps which were painted green. Two of the vehicles large mounted guns at the back while the APC had space for an entire squad of infantry. “Unidentified vehicles this is Sergeant Jack Simpson of the United Ring Alliance please identify.”
“This is Major Ryan Hintze of the Explorer Corps; the Column of Winter should have announced our arrival?” Hintze communicated as the four vehicles continued to close on their position.
“Affirmative, we were made aware but not of the size of your party. Hold position we’re involved in an extraction mission…” before he could say more there was a huge explosion from the structure with the two doors flying clear in the smoke and fire. Half a dozen figures ran from the structure all of them dressed in combat fatigues and armed with hand weapons all of them ran towards the three vehicles.
As the retreating figures boarded the APC behind them moving far slower from the facility was a single figure dressed fully in what appeared to be green and black painted battle armour. The trooper was armed with a large assault weapon which they fired into the facility as several more figures began to charge out. Of this newest group there appeared to be no uniformity in what they were wearing, how they were armed or in what tactics they were using this new group fired wildly as the long battle armoured trooper and the vehicles were targeted. The battle armoured trooper stood their ground firing as bullets flew in on them several of the bullets appeared to be deflected away from the suite by some sort of energy shield. Behind the trooper both vehicles opened fire with their mounted machine guns filling the space with weapons fire cutting down nearly a dozen people in a matter of minutes. The battle armoured trooper finished off the engagement by firing several grenades from a launcher slung under the barrel of its rifle into the facility blowing up the entrance caving it in.
The three vehicles then led the Explorer Corps vehicles towards their facility. There they found a huge sprawling military facility at the gate there was a Griffin BattleMech and an unknown of BattleMech which had one arm with multiple ballistic weapons and a missile launcher, their sensors suggested it was powered by a fuel cell instead of a fusion reactor. The main doors opened allowing the all-terrain vehicles and the two explorer corps vehicles to enter while the Pintos flew over the walls.
Inside they found training ground for infantry, vehicles and Mechs which could have been taken straight out of a Star League Defence Force manual. The two Pintos landed on landing fields and Captain Yasmin Khan dismounted joining Major Ryan Hintze beside one of the parked Chevaliers he was looking at some of the scoring caused on the side of the vehicle by the attack. “Major, everyone alright?” She enquired
“No harm, Captain” Hintze replied looking over the damage “the sensors detected mostly heat damage from the attacks, some sort of directed plasma.” He explained “you see that trooper?” He asked quietly Yasmin simply nodded as a group from the base approached them.
“I’m Colonel Malcolm Keens, welcome to Delta Ring.” The lead figure said he was dressed in a grey military uniform with the Star League’s Cameron Star on the left breast along with several campaign ribbons. Behind him stood one of the battle armoured troopers now this close they could appreciate the size of the individual their face completely obscured by a mirrored silver visor.
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Legend of the Four Rings
Legend of the Four Rings