TOW22

Chapter 22 - The Other War
07/20/3060 Location – Eden, Pentagon Worlds
A countdown timer activated itself in the HUD of Magnus' Rhino slowly ticking down from 15:00. As impossible as it seemed he had taken an hour-long nap while the dropship traveled along its parabolic trajectory toward the target area. The world outside his visor was the same as he had left it but the racked Jade Falcon Elemental suits in front of him were coming alive inside their restraints.
Star Colonel Zymot's sharp, biting voice came in over the Battlenet, “All Points. We drop on the target in fifteen. Updating tac map feeds now.” A small topo map appeared in the lower left quadrant of his HUD. “Filigree is presently suppressing the enemy but its quiet out there no sign of the missing mechs lots of infantry. Hazard Flight will take over when they Bingo.
EXO-FIVEs will secure the dropship. All others attack the Bandits and keep them away from the Mechanized Forces.
We will burn them out cave by cave if we must. That is all.”
The former Ghost Bear ran through his diagnostics just as he had done hundreds of times before in Sibko and a dozen times since taking his Trial of Position last week. His Power Armor had a large energy pack constantly trickle charged via an NTB but required an outside generator to recharge in a timely manner the meager voltage of the NTB could barely run the re-breather mask presently on his face. He manually cycled the cylindrical magazine that held his missile reloads ensuring it was operational and verified that his laser was as well. Diagnostics complete Magnus clicked a button on the inside of his helmet with his chin signaling Rhino Four-Two's readiness.
Ten minutes later the bay doors opened beneath them and a torrent of thin cold air filled the cabin. Magnus' feet were hanging thousands of meters held in place with steel supports. Once the countdown reached zero, he and the others were released into Eden's stratosphere like so much confetti. A moment of primal panic filled him threatening to overcome his training, but he maintained control as he tumbled through the air. With a sharp tug that strained the steel cable mounted to his suit the drag chute deployed.
A Rhino was not designed to fly but all Elementals were trained for HALO type operations. Freezing cold air roared past, and the ground grew worryingly closer; the extra 500 Kilos of his suit over the Falcon ones made the Rhinos fall faster. His suit’s computer engaged its descent protocol burning at the precise rate needed to bring the heavy armor down for a ‘soft’ landing. Halfway through the deceleration the Falcons began doing the same with their more powerful jump jets followed by the EXO-FIVEs which were light enough that their parachutes were capable of doing most of the work.
One of the Jagatai from Filigree flew through their formation in a power dive launching its missiles at the threats growing larger in his visor before it flared back to the skies. The Elementals of the Third Velites and Fortieth Mechanized Cavalry landed before the smoke settled with a thump. Their Sassanid’s thundering engines faded as it continuing to the landing site to unload the others.
The Warriors were surrounded by Bandits who paused as they processed the unexpected drop of so many Armored Infantry in their midst. Their helmets showed no expression but their bodies did; they realized they were outnumbered and horribly outgunned. Falcon Salamanders took advantage of the surprise igniting their flamers with palpable menace before turning them on the clutch of infantry who fled in terror only to be cut down by laser fire.
Heavy weapons opened fire on the exposed Elementals from concealed positions in the rocks, machine guns rounds whistled by chipped stone with each impact, mortar bombs thumped and created small craters, and the smoke of rockets filled the air. Hell's Horsesmen advanced into the firestorm trusting their heavy armor, weapons, and hard earned skill hunting dezgra foes such as these.
They were followed by the Elementals and Salamanders whose hunched and monstrous forms firing inferno missiles which arced awkwardly into concealed firing positions spreading deadly napalm upon impact. Sounds of ammunition cooking off or detonating bouncing off the boulders filling the air with a harsh din. Mercifully no one could smell the barbecued Bandits or white phosphorous, the screams of the wounded and dying were lost in their helmets or the sounds of automatic weapons fire.
Taking advantage of the confusion the EXO-FIVE Warriors jumped toward the 40th's Lion dropship CHH Stirrup raking enemy positions from above with their weapons and executing any injured Bandits they found with Myomer enhanced armored gloves or boots. Their objective was to secure the flight deck and activate its weapons; failing that they were to deny the asset rather than allowing the Horses' to face the dishonor of losing their transport to Bandits.
Dozens of Infantry stormed out of their bunkers in a desperate and frenzied charge knowing they could not outrun or outgun the Warriors. Rather than burn hiding in their fighting positions they intended to die on their feet. The Clan Warriors were happy to oblige but could not stop all of the soldiers scrambling over the boulders with surprising ease. Bandits closed to melee range with the Warriors intentionally getting between them to break unit cohesion and create a cross-fire condition.
Magnus was in the second line with the rest of his Point when they were overrun with hostiles scrambling over the boulders. They were heavily armored but surprisingly agile. The pulse laser in his right arm fired vaporizing a section of the gray ablative vest but it held. He heard the alert that signaled a malfunction in the laser's power supply and the device sparked as an anti-material rifle hit it in just the right spot to disable his primary anti-personnel weapon.
His Rhino's acoustic sensor triangulated the rifleman marking him with an orange triangle visible in the AR. The final pair of missiles streaked toward that location and Magnus was rewarded with a spray of crimson mist on the gray stone. Using the voice commands the missile pack disengaged landing a short distance behind him and making the suit more agile. Other Rhinos were doing the same joining their Falcon Elemental counterparts currently engaged in a brutal close quarters battle against the fanatical bandits.
Shortly after there was nothing left of the Bandits but meat and bone with the Salamanders being particularly brutal in melee. Filigree was Bingo their high performance Aerospace fighters lacked endurance in 'heavy air' being optimized for space combat but capable of both. Hazard Flight was five minutes out but the Elementals saw the eight stolen Pouncers bounding over the cliffs toward them.
Star Colonel Zigfried Ravenwater came in over the Battlenet. “All missiles on me.” Out of the Trinary only a Star of Elementals had missiles remaining most of them Rhinos and very few reloads at that. The Horse and Falcon Elementals scattered but the missile unit stood firm in the center led by Star Colonel Ravenwater who had mounted the still burning skeleton of a Glass Spider Battlemech. “Prepare yourselves Elementals. Here they come.”
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