InaG Chpt 2

==It's not a Gundam - Chapter 2 -==
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===Naumachia===
Aboard the Ptolemaios
Junker, Periphery (Rimward, Anti-Spinward)
January 3025
The AGE Builder was an egg in both the visual and metaphorical sense.
At it's heart it was a combination 3D Printer and CNC machine. It made the equivalent of a Heavy PPC in roughly a few minutes. THAT alone would have put a target on my back.
 
It was also mercurial. The inner Mechtech/Mechwarrior in the body I was in would be tearing his hair out at the moment.
 
I tapped at the display and finally, hopefully, I got an answer. The AGE Builder hissed open and sitting in the middle of it was an Aries.
 
Basically a Harrier if it was turned into a Mech.
 
The result was a Mobile Suit that looked like pilot who didn't skip leg day. It had it's rifle and it's missile pods but my attention was what else that got made in the meantime.
 
Stacks of Ferro-Fibrous and Ferro-Luminous Armor. Battletech armor.
 
"...this is a Gacha isn't it?" I said out loud.
 
There came no answer. But I heard the door ring. With a despaired slouch I turned away from the Mecha-Gacha as the dozens or so Haro-controlled drones descended on it like ants on honey. For the most part the Haros were my only company. The Junkers were nice, if a bit too starstruck, I felt like I was walking on egg-shells trying to not let them down ... or worse: have them turn on me. My efforts only worked half the time.
 
The moment I opened the door the man everyone called Ol' Mechtech Mack stumbled and hit the ground in front of me. If there was a stereotype for crazy old coot Mack was the closest to it.
 
"Exarch!" he shouted, "I heard you were hunting for Romans!"
 
"I plan on striking their nearest base." I replied evenly. That was what the AGE Builder demanded I needed to do next.
 
"Good!" he shot up, "Then I'm going with you!"
 
"Mack, you aren't trained for combat."
 
"I ain't talking about fighting! I'm talking about stealing everything from the Marians that ain't bolted down!"
 
BT was a society of loot goblins. From what I heard even the Used Goods stores had rich-people shoulder-to-shoulder with the working class trying to grab at the same stuff.
 
"It's still dangerous." I shook my head.
 
"Of course it's dangerous! But Metal is Metal!"
 
Mack would have continued if one of the Junker Militia hadn't dropped his meaty hand on the overly energetic senior.
 
"Easy there, Old-Timer." the Miltiaman spoke, "Trust the General ... or is it First Lord? Your Highness?"
 
"For now just, Exarch." I spoke.
 
Truthfully it was a random fancy title I decided to pick up. And maybe because I wanted to get one before Devlin Stone shows up. If he ever did.
 
"Biggs, tell your men to clear the area. I'm going to lift off pretty soon."
 
While Mack protested under his firm grip the Militiaman nodded, "Understood sir. But Exarch."
 
"Yes?"
 
"Salvage is in our blood. Mack is right-"
 
"Of course I'm right!" Mack shouted.
 
"-Wedge and the Mayor agree. We want in on the raid."
 
"You mean taking this dropship you mean."
He looked at me straight in the eye, "I might be gay, but if this Aerodyne was a women I would want to have sex with it."
 
I couldn't deny the Ptolemaios was a beautiful machine. It definitely stood out compared to all those designs that aped White Base's look. It was like a fish that cut through space like it would the sea.
"We also have the Union we captured and with the Battlemechs we have and what we took from the Marians we have enough for a whole Company."
 
"Did the Mayor put you up to this?"
 
"He did." he admitted, "And you'll need our help if you want to take a Jumpship ... unless you have a Jumpship of your own..."
 
"The Ptolemaios has a synthetic germanium rod along it's spine."
 
"....Correction: If this was a women I'd invite my husband."
 
"Too much information, Biggs."
 
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They were under attack. One Dropship had been shot down. The last from what Naval Principe Juarez heard, was swarmed by the local militia before they could run. He didn't buy the panicked rumors. He could see the Junkers had more lasers than expected. Or even an Assault. But the Marian commander doubted what was likely a product of exaggeration and panicked delusions.
 
All he needed was time. The moment they had arrived the Invader had unfolded it's solar sails. The distance to Junker and the distance back was enough for one good jump did the Dropships committed to a hard burn.
But time was short.
 
His Invader still had another Dropship on a collar. A hollowed out Leopard CV that had a full eight ASFs rather than the normal six. A near complete Maniple. Add his own Invader's expanded hanger/cargo space he had ten fighters and a combat dropper at his command.
 
Juarez watched dispassionately as a still scarred Union rose up from the planet surface, joined by an unfamiliar, but beautiful looking aerodyne. Was it an old luxury liner? Maybe. Most aerodyne dropships were civilian.
 
He watched and waited, all the while his two Centuries prepared to fight. Unlike Mechwarriors, Aerojocks knew how mortal they really were. In the air a stall could be fatal and while an ASF may survive a crash, the pilot may as well be reduced to a bloody pulp. Space was worse. Oxygen was limited, fuel was limited, one wrong mistake could lead to their birds imploding or sent careening into the void, never seen again.
No. He would not discount the forces coming his way.
 
The ASFs warmed up and arrayed themselves in a screen in front of the Leopard CV with the Invader at the back. Facing them were small craft. In his years serving the Legions he had seen many types of combat craft. From armed shuttles and dedicated space-only gunboats he had seen them and faced them all.
 
The armed utility pods were no different. In fact he focused his attention more on the than the dropships. The former had arms and those arms could latch onto his Invader. A Dropper trying to dock onto an enemy Jumper was suicide. To his annoyance they were better protected. They held large armored panels in their hands to act as improvised shields. The ball-shaped craft couldn't outmaneuver his ASFs but they would be a nuisance no matter what.
The battle began in earnest. Lasers and shells flew back and forth. The ASFs dodged while the more static balls huddled behind their shields and their dropships swiveling their guns around. It was not a stalemate. The Junkers were clearly not used to fighting in space as he and his Legionnaires were.
It was, in his opinion, a matter of time. One mistake and their mockery of a formation would collapse and his Velites would rip through them like the wolves of Remus.
 
"PRINCIPES!" one of his officers shouted, "The Unknown Dropships is deploying it's Battlemechs."
 
Sure enough a lance of mechs stepped out from the aeryodyne, clearly held by service arms and tethered lines.
 
"A desperate tactic." He mumbled, "But a laser doesn't care who fires it... tell the Centurions to target what is holding them down. Do not damage the ship more than you need ... it would make a fine gift to the Imperator."
 
"Yes, Principes!"
 
If cut from the ship the Battlemechs were helpless in space. It was why it was considered a last-ditch option. He gave the order knowing it easier said than done. He saw Centurion William's Hunchback on the Aerodyne's roof. Still carrying the scars of the ground battle and not even painting over the blue and gold that was the Marian's colors. But it's lasers joined it's lancemates warding off the ASFs.
 
Juarez glared at the map, trying to see the chink in the armor.
 
"...What is that Mech?"
 
The bridge crew studied the mech he pointed at as well. Unfortunately their answer raised more questions.
 
"Unknown, Principes. But the computers say it is over 120 Tons."
 
He frowned, Williams was right, "The Junkers are clever." He reasoned, "Too clever. But they made a mistake and I will capitalize on it. Cut THAT one loose first."
 
"Yes Principes."
The giant wasn't green. But the bulk and cyclopean eye identified it well enough. At his command the ASFs banked and turned to strafe the dropship.
 
Almost as if the MechWarrior could read their minds it detached itself free from the Aerodyne as small thrusters across it's body began to adjust the Mech's direction.
 
Foolish. That would save neither him or his parent Dropship.
 
"One pass." He spoke, "Enough to disable it."
 
The ASFs adjusted and turned to avenge the deaths of the Marians who died on Junker. One pass. One Alpha Strike.
 
As they did so Juarez's idle thoughts were fixed upon the mech itself. In Star League English and Capellan Chinese was etched the name 'Tieren'. It was armed with an autocannon on each arm. But his attention was on the tanks installed on the legs. What were they their for? Oxygen? Fuel? Either way it was a bad design.
Then the Battlemech twisted. In a blue of motion it's arms whipped out and barked. In an instant two ASFs had their cockpits shatter with hits. A third panicked and slammed into forth and the pair careened away from the fight
 
The Tieren tucked it's legs back as it's boosters roared forward. A fifth unlucky Aerojock died as the Superheavy's foot slammed into the ASF's side and nearly snapped the fighter in two.
 
Juarez was silent. His Legionnaires on the bridge were silent as the grave. A Century. Five whole Aerospace Fighters. Gone. Just like that. The remaining half of his Maniple veered far and away, circling the Junker fleet less like wolves and more liked scared dogs.
 
"Principes!" Someone shouted, "Your orders, Principes!"
 
His men shouted for him but the Marian couldn't hear them.
 
All the strategies he had? Never accounted for a Superheavy Battlemech capable of fighting in space. A mech that could be so mobile that the pilot might as well be wearing it like some enlarged suit. He looked and looked into his memories as the emboldened militia followed behind the Tieren. The mech chased the ASFs while the combat pods continued to pick away at their craft.
 
What finally decided the battle was the Battlemech slamming onto the top of the Leopard, gun barrel pressed against the bridge's glass.
 
Juarez swallowed. He was done.
 
"Soldiers of the Hegemony. Stand down. Hail the Junkers ... I will discuss ... terms ... "
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Chapter 2