DMHT7

=Chapter 7=
==Dead Man's Hand: A Taste Of Ashes==
Bluebell, Sweet Water
Coventry Province
Federated Commonwealth
10th July, 3057
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Joker was on the verge of drifting off to sleep when the alert siren sounded. The already busy Mech Bay exploded into a sea of frantic action. Quickly bringing her Loki up to full combat readiness, she expected to see hostile red blips appear on her tactical screen, but it remained clear.
"Boss, I've been listening in on the militia frequencies." Kelso reported over the encrypted channel reserved for Dead Man's Hand, "Sounds like the emergency was a ruse for a bunch of pirates to make planetfall." 
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Joker quickly used her communications system to try and contact Kobe, only to get nothing, "Where they at?"
"Looks like to the north, up by the Rogue River..." Kelso's voice trailed off.
"Talk to me, Bobbie." her commander looked across to where her friends Wolverine stood.
"Last report had the S&R team taking fire." the other woman sounded distant, "Boss, they'd just landed at the Kobe farm."
An odd sense of detachment came over Joker, almost as if she was watching a movie. She could still feel her Loki humming beneath her. With enough caged power to level a city, but at the same time it felt a world away. She could hear other voices over the radio, but they sounded distant. Like her entire world had suddenly been submerged in water. She suddenly realized that she was running a full systems check, ensuring that the OmniMechs was ready for immediate contact.
Only problem was, she was a good two hours away from where... the fighting was, even at a dead run. With the Ante-Up still grounded, she couldn't see any other options.
"Boss, I have an idea." Aaung's voice cut through the static, "It's somewhat bizarre and extremely risky."
"I say we go with the bizarre and risky." Scilicorn cut in, "Worked for us so far."
"I got nothing, Boss." Kelso admitted.
"What you go, Jay." Joker was amazed at just how calm she sounded.
"Well, you and I will need jump-packs. Then we'll need some cargo sleds..." began to explain.
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