IBC Chpt 7-1

==Iron Blooded Commander - Chapter 7.1 -It's a Horror movie trope, not to see the monster until the end.==
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
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===Dressed for the Part===
Treshira StarportVindemiatrix, Lyran Commonwealth3021
The landing in Treshira was rough. Mostly because the Leopard hired to carry us wasn't doing very well. Carl gently unwound my locked up fingers from his arm as the Leopard finally slowed to a stop on the runway.
 
"Well we made it." 
 
"BARELY." I hissed as I rose on shaky legs. Never again. Getting a Dropship just became Priority number one. Pirates? Piss on them, they can wait, Dropship. That's important.
 
"Calm down, Vicky. It's okay. We landed just fine." Carl offered, sounding only half apologetic. The rest was amusement.
 
"BARELY!", Vicky exclaims
 
"Oh, is the Commander still out of it? That's fine, I'll start getting everyone ready for the unload, Carl you keep an eye on her?" Benny asked as he walked past the two of us as he sauntered out into the Leopards hangar to ready the army of uniform clad orphans out of the ship.
 
Yeah our uniforms were done. It had taken me a lot longer than I expected to modify everything. First we had to take the base pieces and physically modify them, then copy that, then modify it again, and again, and again.
 
But after at least forty iterations, everything fit comfortably, and more importantly offered benefits no one would be aware of right away.
 
The fact I made them look similar to what I remembered from the Battletech PC Games outfits was a complete coincidence, and not at all a declaration that I was so done looking like a reject from the space 80s. 
 
Now I looked like space warrior modern edition and so did all my kids.
Of course I kept our concrete styled white, and red color scheme. It was a theme at this point. So as I walked out of the Leopard, my kids running around wearing their full armor, as I had ordered whenever we were on campaign, I had recovered enough that I sauntered over to the group that had stepped out of some fancy hover cars and were waiting for us. I could tell the look of surprise wash over their face as I waltzed up in a very expensive, and well armored uniform.
 
"Commander Eisen-Blume. I was told my contact would be a 'Virgil Carolus?'" I offered and I could see the man that reminded me a lot of Arthur step forward. 
 
"Commander a pleasure to meet you, I am Virgil, Governor Maruska's aide, and since he couldn't find time to make his all the way to Treshira I will be acting as your contractor for the duration of this mission."
 
"Good. My men will be unloaded soon, and we can start our preparations."
 
"Ah. That's rather quick Commander, are you sure you don't wish to gather more intelligence. The Pirates have been stable. They don't seem to have any interest in leaving the base."
 
"A guide to the general area, and anything you might think is important is all we will need Mr. Carolus. The Iron Blooded Orphans are ready. We just need some time to stretch our legs, and we will be good to go."
 
"Ah. Very good then Commander this is…"
 
"Colonel Mark Maruska Planetary Defense force." A second man stepped forward and hesitated for a moment. He looked like he was trying to decide if this was a trick or not, but eventually it looks like his manners won out. I could smell alcohol on his breath despite the fact he was in uniform. He offered his hand which I shook firmly, being careful not to squeeze too hard. The gloves on my uniform were armored after all. 
 
"A pleasure to meet you. Anything you can tell me about these pirates that might be important during my assault would be appreciated."
 
The strange look on his face seemed to finally take over, and it was obvious he couldn't hold it in, "I can't, this has got to be a joke. Where is your actual Commander, kid? I can't deal with a little girl playing dress up right now." The Colonel questioned laughing the whole while. I could instantly tell this was going to be an annoying meeting.
 
"The Iron Blooded Orphans, combat uniform does it's job. Keeps our insides on the inside."
 
"Pfft, your fucking with me." He turned towards Mr. Carolus. "Virgil, what is this? Father really paid money for a bunch of kids. Look!" He pointed to the crew unloading our gear. "I don't think a single of them is old enough to be out of school, much less take out the rest of the Red Vultures!"
 
"Colonel. We hired these Mercenaries through the MRB, they are certified. I apologize, Commander. You must-"
 
I waved him off. "Apologize after we clean up your pirates, or don't it doesn't matter to me, or my men. I just need to know what I need to watch out for, Number of mechs, any hostages, defenses?" I asked, although honestly?
 
I didn't need to know any of that.
 
"We don't know for sure how many mechs they still have active, but I have all the data right here." He offers handing me a packet of paper as the Colonel continues to scoff at the thought of us fighting.
 
Whatever. Not my problem.
 
"Good. I would like to move out tomorrow then if you can base us somewhere for the night. I don't want any travel lag to interfere."
 
"Of course, we already prepared for that Commander, we opened one of our bases to you for your stay." Mr. Carolus offered as he pointed out on the front of the packet. The first page was a map showing us the path to a military base.
 
"Perfect. I'll get my men settled for the night, go over the plan, and move in the morning."
 
"Now I know you're joking. This kid is going to rush in and get killed, probably give those pirates more mechs to play with, Virgil! I'm calling my father about this nonsense, ComStar have obviously lost their minds!"
 
The Young colonel, and he was young, I wouldn't put him past early thirties. Stomped off, back towards the most expensive car in the convoy. 
 
"I-"
 
I waved him off again. "Apologize later. Work now."
 
"Agreed. Here is the route to tak-"
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===A Vicky Mission===
"So what do they know?" I ask the group. My combat group were standing around a table that had the papers splayed across them.
 
"They know the pirates had a Lance of Battlemechs. A SHD-2K Shadow Hawk, A VL-5T Vulcan, a PNT-9R Panther, and a Firestarter, FS9-H. What they don't know is the current status of most of those. They know at least the Panther is still active. Apparently they get random PPC fire every once in a while." Benny offers pointing to a paper. 
 
"But that's not all they have." Lenden offers pushing another paper closer. "Apparently, when they took the base they claimed the unknown number of vehicles that were stored there."
 
"Somehow the Planetary defense doesn't know how many tanks they took?" I ask.
 
"Nope. The base was used as a training base. A lot of the vehicles there were wrecks. They don't know how many of them are usable."
 
"Do the pirates even have enough people to drive the tanks and the mechs?" Hanna asked, noticing the issue.
 
"Apparently, the Dropship that was disabled, it was taking off at the time. So the damage wasn't catastrophic when it crashed. The survivors gathered together and drove off in land vehicles they had with them, or stole."
 
"So these pirates have been fucking around for over two months now and the government doesn't have any idea how much force they can actually bring to bear?" Lenden asked, sounding thoroughly amused.
 
"Commander, I thought Benny was supposed to keep you from picking out any more potato level jobs?"
 
"Fuck you, Lenden. The job is solid, the intel is just spotty, and that isn't a problem anyways." I reminded him with a jab with my elbow. His armor stopped it from doing more than jostling the older boy.
 
"Yeah and the planetary guard think we are in pre-school, refuse to talk to us, and their Colonel laughs every time he sees one of us, or gets mad. You now, like a normal Vicky mission." Lenden points out.
 
"Yeah this is definitely a Vicky Mission." Hanna adds, her smirk stretching her lips.
 
"Vicky, mission." Benny offers patting Lendens shoulder like he was consoling him.
 
"So it's treason then." I hissed, dammit I didn't have a lightsaber.
 
Note to self, Lightsabers.
 
"Now that, 'let's fuck around with our Commanding officer is OVER.'"
 
"Well I still-"
 
"Carl, I swear to god. I will make you regret ever being born. So help me."
 
Instead of saying anything the boy wisely raised his hands in surrender. 
 
"Okay, so back to work. We generally know where they are. We confirmed at least that they don't have any hostages, well that we know of. The training base was alerted and they pulled everyone out before the pirates claimed it."
 
"Yeah nice of them to not even try to use the defenses or at least sabotage them." Lenden added snidely, the boy was already growing bored as he formed one of the papers into a paper airplane.
 
"It's fine, they only have a few turrets, mostly for anti-air. The base is in the middle of a deep forest. So we have lots of cover."
 
"So do they."
 
"Yeah but Lenden, Cover works both ways. And we have better eyes than they do."
 
He nodded at that. "That's true, what about our Carriers? Up in the mountains in a forest isn't going to let them do much."
 
"Hey! The Artillery Unit can handle any terrain!" Elias spoke up, affronted.
 
"We are going to go slow and steady, they can't ambush us, and they can't use traps against us. So we surprise them. They will think they have every advantage. We will whittle those advantages down." I offer my smile turning sharp.
 
"First. Once we get up there, we find a location." I motion towards the map we had been given of the area. "We build some defenses for the Carriers."
 
"Oh, You mean capital B build huh? Sure that's safe?"
 
"It will be, I'll check to make sure we don't have any spies, but the plan is to get them to leave the base, the base is only a minor objective, but I bet we can get a bonus if we return the base still intact."
 
"Wait, you want to fight them in the forest?"
 
"No, Lenden. I want to kill them in the forest. A fight means they stand a chance."
 
It took a moment for that to pass through his head, before his grin turned sinister "Oh, Commander. I sometimes forget how much of a troublemaker you were before all this. I'm in."
 
That night I took off in the Locust. For once thankful that we weren't fully professional, as the Locust never did get the Nanoforge refitted to a Medium laser. And in a bright green flash far from civilization. A Metal Extractor came into being.
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===A Brief Tale of a confident Ambusher===
Treshira mountainsVindemiatrix, Lyran CommonwealthPerspective of Anthoni Elric
Toni, was getting truly sick of being the 'spotter' while the rest of the gang were back at base, sleeping comfy in the military barracks, he was out here in a roughly put together hut they had made, watching the damn road. Sure they were up in the mountains, but this planet with it's fucked up sun was still hotter than he really wanted to deal with.
 
"Bet they're all eating the good food, probably all cooked and hot, instead of this." he grunted, shoveling another spoonful of lukewarm mash into his face. The food that his gang had left him with was stuff that could be stored without a fridge. Not exactly what you want to eat for weeks on end though.
 
Weeks had gone by since he had even seen a single military scout. At first they had sent them up all the time, trying to figure out what the gang was up to.
 
Toni had spotted every one of them. The road was the only way up this side of the mountain, unless you had jump jets on a mech, but those things were loud. So he wasn't worried besides, his little hut was well hidden, nearly invisible from the road, and even harder to spot from any other direction. He spotted the fools that drove up in jeeps, and informed Martin. Martin loved shooting light vehicles with his PPC.
 
Toni was so sure of his safety, so sure that no one could get past him. He never heard the birdsong die down, as he chewed on his meal. Never heard the knife slip out from a sheath.
 
He certainly never heard anything ever again.
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===Hungry to Prove their Worth===
Delta Ops
Treshira MountainsPerspective of Carl
"Commander, enemy down, we have the radio, and are heading to the road for pickup." Carl said before turning to his squad. He was surprisingly okay with what just happened. He always expected his first kill to be more of an explosion of regret, or conscience. Instead his hands felt steady and he was feeling good. 
 
Ready to continue with their mission.
 
"You okay, Carl?" Samantha asked aloud, forgoing the radio for the moment.
 
"I'm okay, Sam, not about to let killing a pirate mess with my calm. We got work to do."
 
She nodded once firmly, and the squad filed out of the small hut, leaving the corpse where it lay. It wasn't their concern. They had a job to do, and the entire Delta Ops would be damned before they messed this up.
 
The Delta Ops had a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Despite helping with Helm, despite doing something so amazing, few of the other Iron Blooded knew about it. To most of the Company, they were just the weird Delta guys.
 
Carl wanted to make a statement, so as much as Green Lancer newbies wanted to show off, Delta Ops wanted it even more.
The power on their NightHawks still near fully charged the small group left, rushing through the forest, using their jump jets from time to time to move over obstacles, until they were overlooking the road. The mechs already started to tromp past them as they waited, Lenden giving wave as he stormed past.
 
Once the mechs were clear, the Norman truck they were using as a command vehicle, and a storage for the NightHawks slowed to a stop below them.
 
They jumped from the cliff, months of training let them activate their jump jets, slowing them to a more comfortable landing beside the truck, as they all clambered into the back of the truck.
 
"Good job out there!" Vicky yelled out from the back window of the truck, Carl handed the radio to her getting a thumbs up before settling in, turning his NightHawk to low power mode until they would be needed again.
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===Setting Up Shop===
With the spotter dead, and their radio in our hands we now had a path straight to the base. Other than the land mines that they had placed further up the road, but landmines are only a threat if you don't know they are there. 
 
They didn't have any other spotters. Pirates' discipline wasn't their best trait after all. Not that it would have mattered if they did.
 
"Okay Green 3, did you find a good place for our FOB?"
 
<<"I did, Commander! Sending coordinates now!">>
 
I looked over the space Erica picked out. It was just a bit north of the base, and was actually at a higher elevation, giving a good overlook of the base. If we positioned ourselves correctly, we could probably attack without them being able to see us. "Good spot. Let's move out!"
 
Eventually we had to move off road which did present some issues we hadn't considered. "Okay, smash that tree out of the way, try to keep it quiet!" I called out to Benny who was using a small laser and his gripping arm to cut a tree out of the way of our Carriers.
 
It worked, and after a few minutes of stomping on the fires we cleared the path and the Carriers made another few meters before we found another stoppage.
 
"Okay! That's enough, Green 3. I'm swapping with you for a bit." I growl. I was not happy sitting around while daylight was burning.
When Erica swapped seats with me I could tell she was unhappy, but I clapped her armored shoulder as we passed. "Just until we get to the FOB. The Battle, and the Mech is still yours." Once I was in the Locust. The bright light of the Nanoforge quickly cleared our path, best thing? It was quiet, and I could construct a dirt road without much issue. We started making incredible time while driving literally through the middle of a forest.
 
The location of our FOB was reached within just an hour at that rate, and after first clearing the area, I started building. First strong walls, made up of the same material as a Castle Brian. In other words nothing the pirates had would do much against these without a real concerted effort. 
 
Then I built up a few Turrets at each of the four corners. These were actually AC/20 Turrets. Anything looking to attack our little fort would swiftly wish it wasn't surrounded by trees, because to get close enough to attack would mean you are close enough for the turrets to return fire.
 
Housing came next, A secondary building in the middle, for us to use to bunker down in case we are attacked.
 
Then I just made a junction for our LRM Carriers, and enough LRM ammo to refuel a few hundred times if necessary. I did have to slow what I created, in order to let the metal extractor catch up on the metal production, but as night fell we were done.
 
After switching out of the Locust, giving it back to Erica. I settled into the small Command office I had created. A powerful radio system would keep us in contact even if the pirates had some more powerful ECM, or jamming equipment. And since it was SLDF equipment, it should be impossible for some Pirates to listen in. 
 
"Alright. Operation Midnight visitors is a go!"
 
(("Commander. Please pick a better operation name, or let Benny choose.")) Lenden complained. 
 
"Commander prerogative to pick the operation names! Now move your ass, Green 4!"
 
"Yeah yeah. Fuckin ey, Benny, how do we put up with this shit."
 
"You are still broadcasting to me as well, Lenden!" I snark at him which causes his broadcast to suddenly end. 
 
Moron.
 
From there. Benny took Command. "This is Green 1. Green 3, provide coordinates for bombardment to our Lance. Command will determine Carrier group targets. Let's move Mechwarriors."
 
But none of us expected the radio to crackle to life and for me to listen in on an interesting response. "Hold on a moment Benny. They might just make this even easier for us."
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===Rumble in the Jungle===
Treshira Mountain Military BasePerspective of Damien Cross
Darrien Cross wasn't used to dealing with this level of trouble. He had been a pirate for years, had been on more than a few raids, but he had never had a drop ship drop out from under him, or at least never had one dropped out, while the pirates were leaving the planet. 
 
He had known just as they did, they weren't going to turn around to pick him up. The Red Vultures had a code. There was no way they would turn around to try and save his scrawny ass, not even for his mechs. The Dropship crash had been an accident. One of the damn engines gave out mid-thrust.
 
A complete one in a million.
 
Of course no one knew that at the time. All the other pirates saw was their dropship suddenly fall out of the air. Of course they didn't turn around. No way would they risk their metal.
 
But Darrien had sprung into action. Readying those that survived, arming them all and making a breakout into the forest. They had been chased but mechs were far superior to vehicles in the forests. Especially Pots in his Firestarter. A few forest fires, a few hijackings to get more vehicles, eventually sneaking onto a military training base and taking over.
 
It had been going better than he expected. They had managed to take on enough metal that no one on the Planetary Guard was willing to make a move. Not with the mountains and forests between them. Sure they would have been in trouble from AFS bombing runs, but that was what the AA turrets on the base were for. 
 
So he settled in, planned. Killed a few of his men that came up with stupid ideas like trying to blend into the population, or escape.
 
He couldn't have any of them wander off while he still needed them. Plus he was the boss, and so he was already trying to get them all off planet. There were plenty of dropships willing to make a nice stack of C-bills for just picking up a group and taking them somewhere. 
 
No one had bit yet. The Planetary Governor was doing a good job of keeping the sky above the base clear.
 
Still they had time. They had pushed back the first push of tanks and air support that tried to push them out. The AA turrets and mechs took out that attack. Since then, small scouting attacks have come through, but nothing they weren't ready for. Scouts on each of the roads on the way up, and a watchful eye for any tricks kept their base secure.
 
That and the mines on the roads.
 
The passing months had given him enough time to get some of the vehicles running, he had even managed to put the two light mechs back together. They had been stolen during the raids, but too damaged to do more than haul away. Not that they would help much, but gifting the mechs to some of his dispossessed warriors had kept morale up. No Mechwarrior wanted to lose their ride once they got one. So they stayed instead of trying to run into the forest to escape.
 
It had been working well. Food wasn't too hard to come by. There was a sort of deer that tasted pretty good, in the forest. Apparently it was endangered? Not his concern. The rest of the supplies? Well they were starting to run low, but not to the point where they needed to think about raiding.
 
"Yo, Darrien. Toni ain't responding to his radio." Mal called out as Darrien was doing his rounds, if he didn't he would find his crew slacking around, only when he was around cracking the whip did shit get done.
 
"What? Fucker, Mal, It's Captain! You shit. And give me that fucking radio." he snatched it from Mals hand and flipped the button. "Toni, you fat fuck, this is Darrien. If you don't respond to me in ten seconds, I'm sending a fucking kill squad out to remove your bottomless hole!"
 
Not a sound came through. "Toni?" he repeated but nothing but static.
 
Darrien had known the man for years now. There was a reason he had put him on scout duty, he was good at it, and although sometimes he wouldn't respond to the radio right away. The man was also a coward. Threaten him, and getting to that radio would be his first and only job.
 
But nothing came through.
 
"I don't like this..." He muttered to himself. "Mal, go wake everyone up, tell them to get mounted up. Something fucky is going on."
 
"C'mon Darr-Captain, it's just Toni fallin asleep or some shit, everyone is partying right now, if I go tell them to mount up I'll be dealing with whining all week."
 
"If you don't do as I say, you won't be having any problems next week." 
 
"Alright alright! I'm on it, Captain." Mal huffed as he wandered off.
 
Darrien was getting that feeling down his spine when shit was about to hit the fan. So instead of wandering around he made his way over to his Shadow Hawk. The startup was fast enough, the damn thing just needed a few kicks to get all the displays to turn on.
It was all quiet according to his sensors. Nothing on thermal or vibration. "Am I just overreacting?"
 
His heart was starting to slow down, as the sense of fear disappeared. He waited for the rest of his Lance to mount up. 
 
"Fuck, Darrien, I was just about to get some, you pulled me away cause Toni fell asleep jackin off again?"
"Like fuck you were, Pots, I wouldn't touch your shit even if your Firestarter was on the table." Milly in her Vulcan hissed out over comms. 
 
"Hah! Like hell I'd ever wager, my girl. She's got me through all sorts of scrapes."
 
"Enough! Toni isn't responding still. So that means something happened to him, chance it's nothing, but chance is it's a Planetary Guard column moving up to fuck us in the ass. So we are moving out, going to go check the road, and check on the fucker to see if we need to kill him for fucking around. Let's move."
 
His order was listened to if not without plenty of grumbling as the four mechs of his Lance moved out, The secondary Lance, moved with them. They were supposed to screen the advance, but the light mech pilots often stuck too close to do that. Unfortunately they had only been mechwarriors for a short time, and they often came too close. Feeling safer in a group.
 
"Mitchell, get the tanks prepped too. I don't want any surprises while we are gone." He radioed out, that tingling down his back was still just as strong.
 
(("Yeah yeah 'captain' Let me handle the ground pounders. You lead your 'mechs around.")) The tank commander responded as Darrien grit his teeth. If these men would just follow his orders he could have already left this miserable backwater. But no, every order had to be cajoled, or bribed. It was miserable. He didn't know how Red had done it.
 
The Lance headed out of the base, into the forest, stepping carefully in their lackluster formation. 
 
The forest was quiet, and there wasn't even a moon to guide them, as they traveled. First Darrien wanted eyes on the road, he wasn't about to let this whole night be ruined just because Toni fell asleep or fell off a cliff or something.
 
The glow of his faulty nightvision lit up the forest in a green haze. Thermal barely worked on his mech, never had really, but it had only gotten worse over the years. So he was stuck with this vision if he wanted to see anything at night. The small lights on the front of his mech barely illuminated anything, and one of them was still broken. Even replacing the light didn't fix that problem so it was some internal wiring not connected. 
 
As they traveled in the dark something kept tingling up his spine. Something was wrong, but he couldn't figure it out. Like an itch under his skin.
 
Fortunately, it wasn't him that finally figured it out. 
 
Pots in his Firestarter noticed it first. He heard a soft *Thunk* echo through his mech and slowed for a moment <<"Hey, guys I think there is something on my mech?">> He called out swiveling lightly to try and see, but his Firestarter's night vision and thermal were the worst out of the whole group. Being a Firestarter it had to deal with some sudden changes. 
 
"Probably a tree branchm Pots, keep your focus."
 
<<"No guys really that sounded metallic on my hull! It sounded weird!">>
 
"Pots! Chill your shit get back in formation! We need to keep moving, I don't want to be out here all night!" Darrien roared back. "I don't see shit on your mech, That goes for the rest of you too. Keep your bellyaching to yourself, now move!"
 
The nervous energy from Pots was spreading though. Everyone was looking around constantly like something was in the darkness with them.
 
They traveled for quite a while in the dark, their radios quiet. The forest tripping them up, and keeping them moving slow. They didn't dare take the roads, not after they had mined them so thoroughly.
 
They finally made it to Toni's hut and it was a bit of an argument but Darrien was firm. "Fucking asshole, I gave you an order since Toni isn't responding yet, Get your ass down there and see if he is inside!" Darrien yelled at Scott, the red haired man was usually rather difficult to work with, but he was also the most expendable, not like his Locust was going to do much in a scrap.
 
Watching the red headed man pop the hatch on his mech and slowly crawl down the ladder thankfully he didn't fall in the dark. He hit the dirt and pulled his pistol before sneaking into the hut. 
 
A moment later, the hut went up in a fireball. And Darrien knew that bad feeling he had wasn't about to go away. "Everyone back to base! We need to make ready to be attacked!" The Lance started moving in a hurry through the dark forest. Leaving the Locust to stand watch over the flames disappearing behind them as they hurried.
 
Running through a dark forest, with the fear that the attack was finally coming that the fucking Planetary Guard were finally hitting them? Darrien wasn't at his best, but what was worse? Nothing should have slipped this far through. They had traps, spotters, sensors, hell the military base had a surface to air radar! 
 
This attack should not be possible without something letting the Red Vultures it was on. The fact they had already lost a mech pilot to a fucking trap? That was when Darrien knew something really fucky was going on. "Hey, is anyone seeing anything? Martin, you have the best sensor system, catching anything? I got a bad feeling."
 
<>"Nothing that I can see, boss. It's all quiet out there."<>
 
"Fuck that, something is definitely up, everyone check in!" Darrien demanded something was twigging at the back of his head when he turned around for a moment to see, something had been off.
 
<<"H-hey… Where is Brent?">> Pots called out as he was spinning around. Darrien felt ice down his back turning around to check on his crew when he noticed the missing mech. The Javelin wasn't with the Lance.
 
"W-when did that happen? Who saw him last! Speak up now!" Darrien demanded.
 
<-"He was behind me when we started running! I was sure he was gonna follow!"-> Milly responded from her Vulcan. The entire forest seemed oddly quiet as each of the mechs around them started spinning in place trying to find whatever it was in the forest that was hunting them. 
 
"Alright don't lose your shit, stick close, I want everyone on my six, and whoever is in the back gets checked on every minute. This isn't some horror Holovid bullshit. Clear comms, and keep your head on a swivel let's get back to base." Darrien took command, it was all he really could do. 
 
Their pace through the forest was much slower this time, all of them knew something was in the forest with them, but they couldn't tell what. Their jittery nerves eventually came to a head when Milly lost it and started shooting her flamethrower and mediums into the dark, screaming that something had been on her mech. 
The freakout only made discipline worse. Pots suddenly rushed ahead, his Firestarter disappearing into the forest. 
"DAMNIT, POTS, GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!" Darrien screamed into the radio as he kept his weapons angled out in the dark ready to defend if any attack came. 
 
None did. Except a few moments later an explosion echoed out from ahead of them, and the entire Lance moved as one for probably the first time. They rushed to catch up to Pots. "Pots! Pots respond damnit was that you! Are you under attack!? POOOOOOTS!"
 
They learned soon enough he had. They came across the smoke from his Firestarter laying face down in the dark. Smoke drifted out from his busted cockpit. 
 
<-"What the fuck. Something head shot him!?"->
 
"Can it! We are dealing with something out here, together this time! If you rush off on your own you are dead!" The Lance of mechs stormed through the forest, it was no longer quiet, as they smashed trees to make their way. 
 
He hadn't heard any fire. Just one explosion. What the hell could have blown up Pots cockpit without any noise? The unease was only building, when as they stomped through the woods Darrien noticed it first. 
 
Smoke burning into the sky, creating a slight heat haze on the dark sky on his thermals. 
 
"Fuck, the base!" He growled as he kicked up the speed daring for a moment to activate his jets just to get high enough to maybe see what was going on. The fact he could see smoke pluming up from the base only made his fear increase. "Base is full of smoke, we are under attack for sure. We are going to go reinforce, don't fall behind. Don't leave anyone behind!" He knew the information wouldn't do much for Lance's confidence. Three mechs down already.
 
What a clusterfuck.
 
He rushed. Which he realized was a mistake right when his LRM alarm went off.
 
Darrien had enough time to look up, seeing the hundreds of flares of missiles coming down on his position. He dove to the side, hoping the tree cover was enough to save his life as they crashed down on his Lance. 
 
The trees splintering and cracking was just barely audible over the explosions of the missiles as if the forest around them was coming alive in response to the attack. Fires started everywhere, and Darrien realized in horror that even as one barrage of Missiles ended, he could already see the faint fires of more plumes shooting into the sky.
 
"R-run to the base! Everyone!" 
He pushed his Shadow Hawk forward trying to escape the fire before it became too much, out of the corner of his eye he noticed Martin take to the air on jump jets, trying to escape the fire. 
 
Two burning blue lights lit up the forest shooting from the same angle as the base. The large lasers burned chunks of Martin's armor down, Something went internal on his mech and his leg went flying in another direction. His mech tipped sideways. 
Darrien watched as the Panther fell sideways into the forest below.
 
Darrien didn't have time to worry about that, because he just realized that the enemy was between him and the base. 
 
"Fuck! Why hasn't the base alerted us to an attack!" He screamed into his radio, but what was even more terrifying is that he hadn't heard his Lance since the missile assault. He hunkered down for a moment switching radio frequencies on the knob trying to reach anyone but only a faint hiss reached his ears. 
 
They were jamming him too?
 
"Who are these fuckers?" He couldn't help but ask aloud. The planets militia didn't have this sort of equipment! They would have known! The fucks would have used it during the initial raid! This couldn't be LOKI right? He hadn't done enough to piss off the Lyrans that bad surely!
 
No one was answering his comms, and now he was trapped with an unknown number of enemies in the forest. What fucking hell had caused this! How had they slipped past him completely!? They hadn't noticed any spotters, or spys, there would have been something! Even a radio transmission would have been at least picked up alerting them, but nothing!
 
Nothing until Toni missed his clock in.
 
It ran through his head then. The last time Toni had contacted them was that morning, to let them know he hadn't seen anything.
 
"They had hours to slip past us." He dreaded that realization, but it was too late now. He decided that the base was done. So was his Lance, they would mill about and be an appetizing target for a while. He was getting the hell out of here. He turned off every scanner he had, going passive, hopefully it would keep him hidden long enough to get away.
 
Behind him as he ran he heard the sounds of combat continue, until it went silent not long after. He rushed away, using his jump jets sparingly to hop down the mountain. He of course had set up a small getaway during the months of idleness. Heading out on 'scouting' missions to stretch his legs he really had been transporting enough supplies to last him a while to hide out in the mountains.
 
As a Pirate, Darrien knew that sometimes especially when things got bad, you had to plan to just disappear for a time. He ran for a good hour or two staying very low to stay out of any chance to be noticed, thankfully he was mostly going down hill. Then in a valley that had an ancient mountain run off stream, there was a truly ancient old cabin along a river a good few miles from the base. He had scoped it out, and had taken it over months ago.
 
When he arrived, the first thing he did was slip his ShadowHawk into the rapids. The freezing cold mountain water which was the coldest thing around would keep any overhead thermal from reading it after just a few minutes, he settled in, letting the water flow over his mech partially submerging his cockpit. His hatch ending up just under a small fall in the rapids, putting it above the water, but still hidden from view from any angle. He quickly grabbed anything he needed, opening the hatch for as short a time as possible to keep as much water out as he could before closing and sealing it. 
 
He started a fire in the old cabin's fireplace to warm up. Switching into some more normal clothes and even planning on hiding his looks. Give it a year or two, and a new man would wander out of the mountains, a bald man, instead of his full head of hair, with a full beard instead of his clean shaven face. He would get a ride out of here, find some way to transport the Shadow Hawk, maybe a flatbed or something, and he would be safe from whatever the fuck was happening on this planet.
 
Darrien Cross was done with whatever had happened back there. He was completely ready to start a new life, as a new man. Idly he started considering what his new name should be. "Terry maybe? I always liked Terry."
 
"Good name." The voice spoke from behind his ear.
 
The knife cut off his shocked response.
 
As he gurgled out from the knife sticking through the back of his neck he could just see the shape of the form that had killed him. The final thoughts of the man Darrien Cross was full of horror at the sight, he had never seen anything like it. And even in his last moments, until the monster spoke, he never heard him.
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==Chapter Notes==
*; Chapter Notes from the Author : So did a bit of an experiment on this one. Having all of the fighting be done from the enemies perspective. I hope I hit the sense of terror I was aiming for? Fighting a group that always knows where you are, and they are basically impossible to find without direct eyesight is probably pretty horrifying.
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Chapter 7-1