LUU Chpt 2

==Let Us Unite - Chapter II -==
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===Facing Roar of Bag Pipes===
Date: December 27th, 2766
Location: Unity City, Terra - Terran Hegemony
"Let's move it, people!" Colonel Armstrong Duket yelled from his Rampage, the Assault 'Mech hiding his nervous anticipation. "The longer we take, the more time the SLDF has to regroup and crush us."
 
The line of Combat Vehicles and 'Mechs seemed to move a bit faster as Duket detached a company to move as forward scouts in the direction of Unity City.
 
"I doubt any of the defenses are left able to fight but I want the way ahead cleared out," Duket told Captain Petrovich. "Anything that stands in your path must be dealt with swiftly."
 
"Yes, sir!" Petrovich saluted from his Phoenix, the ten 'Mechs, and a pair of VTOLs in his company accelerating ahead of the rest of the column.
 
The Medium Weight company used jump jets to move over a crest, landing and continuing further into the valley, the mist and darkness punctuated by the flares of their jets.
 
"It looks like the Colonel was right," Petrovich's XO laughed. "Amaris, that fat bastard has done it!"
As they reached the middle of the valley, Petrovich's XO disappeared as the crackle of a PPC was heard, his Shadow Hawk's cockpit vanishing as an Atlas stepped out of the trees and clotheslined the Captain's Phoenix, sending him crashing to the ground as his gyro screeched around him.
 
Gauss slugs, lasers, and the flash of missiles brightened the night as the VTOLs and 'Mechs disappeared under a hail of accurate fire, with very few shots missing as Petrovich shook his head to clear out the ringing and dizziness just in time to see a massive armored boot descend on his cockpit, the last sound that he heard was of bagpipes flowing through the open channels.
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===Breaking Them Out===
"Major, we're breaching now. Keep the exit clear for us," Sergeant McLeod grit his teeth in anger at having to break into his own damned security checkpoint, his stomach twisting as he held back the rage that seeped into his gut. "Move it, people!"
 
A pair of aerospace fighters streaked overhead, a sonic boom shaking the ground as the colors of the 4th Amaris Dragoons flew overhead, a cluster of bombs dropping from their anchor points as anti-aircraft fire from a handful of stations plucked the fighters from the sky.
 
But it was too late, the ground shook with an earthquake not felt in over a hundred years as everyone present stopped what they were working on for a brief second as a second sun appeared, blotting out everything else before a mushroom cloud erupted on the outskirts of Unity City, a massive crater appearing where Fort Cameron once stood.
 
The shockwave reverberated through the city, some buildings falling entirely as they absorbed the beginning of the concussive blast as dust clouds began to rise and choke out what little light remained.
 
One Marine collapsed to his knees as he watched the mushroom-shaped cloud continue, tears dripping down his face and blood down his hands as his nails dug into his hands.
 
"Fort Cameron…" He cried. "It's gone."
 
"Pull yourself together!" another noncom grabbed the downed marine by his collar and shook him. "We're still here, and unless we move right fucking now, neither us nor the Camerons will still be alive!"
 
"Go!" McLeod triggered the explosives, blowing the roof hatch open as the first marines dove into the building.
 
Then the nuke was forgotten as the Black Watch Marines entered their element, with each squad heading for their designated areas, one shifting to the throne room as McLeod and his group methodically headed for the living quarters of the Cameron Royal Family.
 
Hearing sporadic gunfire as they walked over the dead bodies of guards decorated in Cameron livery, the Marines moved faster and finally reached their destination.
 
Driving into the room, they left their dead behind, bodies littering the hallways as a squad terminated two men standing over the babies in the royal chambers, their mother lying in a puddle of blood on the floor.
 
"Check Lady Elise," the Sergeant ordered the medic as he wrapped the babies in a reflective blanket. His squad surrounded him as he tucked the two little ones into an armored baby carrier. "Little ones are secured!"
 
"Sarge," the medic shook her head. "Lady Elise, she's gone."
 
"We can't afford to get bogged down here," McLeod tucked carrier away behind him; they would survive, no matter what he had to do to ensure it.
 
"We're mobile," a different marine took point as they began to head back through the hallway, as a third brought two shaken young women along with them. They headed for the nearby entrance and a group of soldiers in RWR uniforms opened fire when they came into sight, sending the squads into cover as they shoved the Camerons into corners and behind cover before standing in front of the bullets and lasers, men and women placing themselves between danger and their charges.
 
"We've got to push forward!" McLeod fired a burst into a Rim Worlds Soldier, the young man falling back with a shocked expression on his face. "They're not going to be able to wait on us forever!"
 
With a grunt, a critically wounded marine tugged some grenades off of one of the medic's kit before shoving the medic back into cover and pulling the pins, ran into the guns blocking the hall, the panicked firing of the RWR punctuated by the explosives that vaporized him and cleared the path for the rest of them to escape.
 
Everything fell silent as the echo from the grenades finished traveling, the Black Watch gathered the few walking wounded and left those who were too critical behind. McLeod choked back a sob as they left the palace complex with only two squads left out of their company. "Major," the Sergeant's voice broke before he cleared his throat and gathered himself again. "We are exiting the Palace with VIPs!" McLeod finally broke through the silence. " Requesting immediate escort and coverage! I repeat, we have VIPs!"
 
"Copy that Sergeant!" Major MacIntosh alternated PPC fire as an RWR Rampage tried to close in. "I've got APCs on standby! Get them in and head for the spaceport! We'll make sure you get there in one piece!"
 
McLeod and his men stuffed the Camerons into the armored vehicles and sped off, the rest of the Black Watch lance following behind and providing cover fire and an escort while the empty APCs spread out to act as a diversion.
 
"Colonel," MacIntosh reported. "Moving to spaceport, objectives secured!"
 
"Major, we'll play distraction as long as we can, get to the spaceport and get out of here."
 
"I can divert once they're at the spaceport to support," the major shifted and allowed a spatter of RWR autocannon fire to land on a section of his arm. "You'll need all the help you can get."
 
>>"That's a negative, Major,"<< Colonel Schmitt's voice was firm. >>"They need security. That's on you right now."<<
 
The APCs and 'Mechs reached the spaceport where a lone Colossus was surrounded by the husks of dead 'Mechs and vehicles.
 
"Get them on board!" the captain of the dropship ordered. "We don't have much time!"
 
The 'Mechs and vehicles sped onto the loading bay, the massive doors shutting behind them as the Marines moved the Camerons off of the vehicles and further into the armored core of the massive dropship.
 
"Reagan SDS, this is the SLS Abyss, we have VIPs onboard, we are requesting covering fire while we evac!"
(("This is Reagan, we'll hold out as long as we can!"))
 
"See you in hell, Reagan." the captain smiled.
 
(("Godspeed, Abyss, we'll regroup when we can."))
 
The massive fusion torches of the Colossus class dropship ignited and a few squadrons of aerospace fighters bearing the green drab of the SLDF regulars moved into an escort formation as the ship made a break for orbit.
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===Final Stand===
"Scout Company, report!" Colonel Duket barked, only to be met by silence. "Captain Petrovich, status report!" Still, no one responded.
 
"Gamma company," Duket finally turned to a mixed group of hovercraft and heavy 'Mechs. "Go see what happened to Petrovich, and bring some infantry support, they may be able to bring us information."
 
A handful of hover APCs detached themselves from the infantry section to follow after the company, with the handful of artillery pieces that the Dragoons had brought with them beginning to set up for supporting fire.
 
"Major Everett," the Colonel called out, causing the Archer to slow down a bit. "Report back as soon as you've made contact."
 
The Major's Archer waved a hand and moved out at a rapid jog, barely keeping pace with the faster heavies that made up a part of his Company's forces.
 
As the company pushed through the trees, the handful of J. Edgars moving ahead of the heavier mechs as a screening force heard something unusual coming from their comms systems.
 
"The hell is that?" the driver asked.
 
"Some sort of music, I think?" the comms and sensors operator replied. "Trying to isolate it now."
 
Then a pair of large pulse laser shots melted the frontal armor into slag and punched through, savaging the fusion reactor and sending the hovercraft careening into a nearby tree.
 
"Contact!" a lone surviving hovercraft broadcast on every frequency. "We have heavy enemy contact!"
"Get out of there," Everett ordered. "We'll handle it from here."
 
The sound of bagpipes filled every comms channel as the heavy 'Mechs pushed into the Gorst Flats proper, their sensors now lighting up and revealing the outlines of nine 'Mechs clad in the olive drab of the SLDF regulars before they vanished from sensors entirely.
 
A Flashman stepped out of the trees and its trio of large lasers illuminated the darkness and scarred a Thunderbolt, the two heavy 'Mechs exchanging fire as the Flashman seemed to weave around the enemy fire, its Anti-Missile System taking out what missiles tried to strike at it.
 
Then an Atlas appeared behind the Flashman as the heavy 'Mech seemed to vanish back into the trees, its LRMs hammering down on the Thud before it too, vanished into the trees.
 
The Black Watch appeared and disappeared, using the trees as cover and only ever taking minimal armor damage as they killed everything that began entering the valley, the darkness of night, heavy tree cover, and advanced technology allowed them to shred everything that entered the valley.
 
But even the greatest of heroes cannot stand forever, and one by one, they began to fall.
 
Charles Southorn's Flashman was the first to fall to the onslaught of the 4th Dragoons, his extralight engine that had allowed him to accomplish his hit-and-run tactics being breached by a lucky shot, his 'Mech falling as he ejected and vanished into the darkness.
Then Jewels Ferrel's Crockett fell, her Gauss Rifle shredding an enemy VTOL as a trio of PPCs from differing 'Mechs critically damaged the heavy weapon, the capacitors exploding and sending the Assault 'Mech hurtling to the ground as its gyro gave up with a mighty screech, her 'Mech doing one last service in crumpling onto an enemy combat vehicle and preventing it from targeting any of her brethren.
 
Two more fell before Colonel Duket and Amaris finally had had enough, and giving the order, a squadron of aerospace fighters screamed through the air over the valley and dropped a tactical nuke down on where the remaining Black Watch Mechwarriors stood.
 
Colonel Duket watched grimly as the cloud moved up and through the atmosphere, the 4th Dragoons waiting for the initial fallout to cease before pushing through the broken husks of the Black Watch and the 4th Dragoons' own forces.
There, standing in the field was the skeletal structure of both a Highlander and a Thug, their fists raised in a one finger salute as if daring them to step past or die, the faint sound of bagpipes lingering even though it should have stopped after the explosion and fallout.
 
The Dragoons made a wide berth around the two 'Mechs, not willing to test whatever spirit it was that had allowed them to survive a direct nuclear detonation. Besides, they had a job to do anyway, even if they were down more than a quarter of their overall force strength.
 
To this day, anyone that visits the Gorst Flats swears that when you near the site of the Black Watch's last stand, that you can still hear bagpipes playing from the Highlander and Thug that remain as a monument to what they accomplished.
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