TOW9

==Chapter 9 - The Other War==
04/22/3060 Location – Circe IV, Pentagon Worlds
We already saw a bit of them in the Dagda entry. They will continue to play a critical role in this story just like they did in canon but smarter this time.
Claude Goulet stood on the bridge with the rest of his team suddenly on alert with the Jaguar calling in concerned. What is it, Faye?
The Jaguar synced her helmet's POV to the Battlenet maintained by the Scarabs. What Claude saw in her camera was carnage. All space stations had 'storm shelters' to protect crew in the event of a solar storm, micrometeorite swarm, or enemy action anything else could be handled by small lasers mounted in strategic points on the fuselage. Within the one Faye was looking into she saw no few than a dozen men, or the parts of them, and multiple hole punctures leaking water globules from the radiation insulation tanks.
Claude was trying to figure out what did these people in, Its not lasers so not the Marines. Grenades?
Faye's POV panned around, putting her fingers in one of the leaking holes to find a clean round edge. It's too clean. This was a heavy rifle of some kind.
One of the Jaguars was looking around and signaled her to come over toward a crunched portion of the superstructure. Claude's blood went cold as he saw the distinctive pattern of an Elemental's battle claw crumbling the station's walls. We have a rogue Elemental suit.
She lifted her Mauser into the field of view. If there is an Elemental on the loose I would feel a lot better with some heavier weapons.
Neg, Faye get your people up here.
Claude tried to turn on one of the vacant consoles but was met with a lock-screen and routines that flashed epitaphs at him. They locked the cameras down we need eyes on this station. He whirled his finger the tactical sign for form up and follow and the Mandrills fell in now very alert to the new danger. The team immediately went into motion heading toward the shuttle bay. 
All teams drop whatever you are doing and return to the docking bay. Konrad pick three splicers (Harvester slang for Hackers) to come up here and help Faye get me eyes. I also need a rock launcher and two shields capable of taking a burst from a heavy machine gun. We are going hunting.
Kline he might be outside do a frame by frame search with your fighters.
Nina abort docking maneuver if this Elemental gets on-board its over for your people.
Kline's Batu was running low on fuel (reaction mass technically) but Claude needed him outside. He bellied up to his Wingman who transferred the ammonia before slowly heading back to the Mastodon. The second Scarab joined him but kept its distance. The gunship was much larger than his aerospace fighter and not quite as nimble as the Viper interceptor, it did however have an active probe that might find their target faster especially if he was hiding behind protrusions on the fuselage. 
The RCS jets on his Batu fired as he approached within twenty meters of the habitat station. This was a dangerous distance, an Elemental suit configured for Space Ops could easily make the jump to board his fighter to rip off the cockpit or use the machine gun to punch through the few soft spots on all fighters. 
He engaged the tight beam RADAR and pointed it toward the station engaging in a sweep. Elemental's ceramic carbide armor reflected it differently than the normal ferro-aluminum used to protect stations from the normal hazards of their environment. The task was still like finding a needle on a piece of metal you needed to feel it out without getting pricked. Each 'slice' of the station was marked with the interior frame number to make servicing the antennae and surface components easier.
Three hundred meters away on the other side of the station the Scarab Gunship maintained a standoff distance of fifty meters. Behind the flight deck a dedicated crewman manned the active probe searching the station on all frequencies. Its weapons were fully extended and moved with the cockpit gunner's helmet just like that of a Donar attack helicopter but about six times larger. The gunner and sensor operator detected a thruster pack engaging.’‘We have him Claude. Section B, Frame five, compartment twelve.’‘ The Gunship turned but was not fast enough to catch the Elemental before he entered an out of sight maintenance airlock.
Claude shouldered a tube while Evan and Kosha carried the makeshift shields cut from heavy boxes on the docks by the Harvesters' hydraulic cutter-spreader 'jaws'. Each of the Mandrills shed their lighter weapons and carried the heavy Mausers that would have a limited effect on the battlesuit. They looked towards the alphanumeric markings in their own compartment, the enemy location was relatively close they might reach him before the airlock cycled. ‘‘Kline get over there. We will try to pin and push him out.’‘
Aff, RCS engaged. Outside J. Kline simply slowed himself and waited for the right frame to come into view from the rotating station and altered his attitude to reach the coordinates. The Gunship adjusted its own position giving the fighter plenty of room to maneuver around them.
Inside the Mandrills split into two groups holding the corridor next to the airlock each located at a right angle to the other. The Elemental had just reentered and was being suppressed by the under-barrel grenades and high power lances of the Mausers (which unlike the original was an ER laser rifle rather than a pulsed variety) but the power packs were running low. The makeshift shields had protected them from some machine gun bursts but the Elemental had more ammo than they had armor. Two Mandrills had been injured already and withdrawn. 
Behind the Elemental Claude saw the outline of the airlock that Arsenal had used to reenter.
Can you cut through the station hull? Just around the Airlock.
Aff, stand clear.
Joseph adjusted his targeting module to create a circle and fired its seven pulse lasers and over twenty seconds had breached the lightweight armor. Inside the station Claude and the others braced themselves as the air vented. Emergency bulkheads closed to prevent more atmosphere from being lost to space. The Elemental suit was solidly locked onto the ground looking towards him. He shouldered the recoil-less rifle and fired a solid slug that silently adhered to the Battle Suit's damaged breastplate. The Elemental didn't move but Claude was sure he was laughing about how ineffectual the weapon was...
Right until the high powered rocket booster activated and blew him off his feet and out the hole into empty space where he was cut to shreds by precision guided pulse lasers. A rock launcher was not a weapon but was a tool used by naval salvage crews to move heavy objects. In this case a one ton Elemental suit and its operator. 
Joseph came in over the radio, his fighter was positioned in line with the hole and he could see the CSS of Claude. He turned and tipped his wings before disappearing from sight, Nice lay up, Claude. See you soon.
This is Goulet, the rogue Elemental has been dealt with. I still want all salvage crews to operate in trios and keep your helmets on. I want a report on what we are dealing with in an hour.
Mastodon, you should be clear to dock after picking up Kline.
Scarab two, can we get a ride? Bulkheads are sealed for a reason this time.
Scarab two slowly moved toward their location 'dropping' a remotely operated STABO cable for the final twenty meters. The cable's 'top' thruster pack slowly entered the station and the Mandrills hooked onto the line using their suit harness and were gently pulled aboard.
-----
Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter
Category:The Other War Chapters
Category:Works by AlphaMirage