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Battletech meets Jurasic Park
by Demun God |
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Old Man Hessman's Abandoned Barn, North of Graham City
Guiasar, Free Worlds League
18 December 3065
"You did what!" Donovan shouted.
The hour was early in the morning. The few remaining Techs moved about Frank's Hunchback trying to replace damaged parts as best they could with the limited tools and spare parts they had, but all activities stopped at Donovan's shout.
Blackstone quickly cut their curiosity off at the pass, "Come on, get back to work!"
The work details began in a noisy symphony again, as young woman, dirty, tired, and scared, repeated, "Our lab genetically manipulated some of the native wildlife into killing machines to help save lives."
Donovan shook his head in shocked confusion. Was this an oxy-moron, or what?
"You basically turned our Guiasaran Brontosaurus-wannabes into Guiasaran Super-Velociraptor-wannabes!"
The scientist almost cried, "I know, it was wrong. It sounded like a good idea at the beginning. But then something terrible happened,.."
Donovan rolled his eyes, " 'Something'? What 'something'!"
The young woman brushed a strand of dirty blonde hair from her face, "Our fool-proof pen was not so fool-proof. Two years ago, when the project was started, our company built another fenced-in area in the middle of the jungle. We figured if the Velociraptors were in their native habitat, they wouldn't change the way they were, to adapt. We wanted to keep them the way they were. My Assistant Chief made a knock-out drug that could easily subdue them when the time came. One day, they were able to break through the reinforced steel gates we had in place. My Assistant Chief stood directly in front of one of the beasts, as it charged through an access hallway. The dart stuck squarely into the animal's chest, but didn't stop him. I got so scared I ran, but William's screams will never escape me." The woman was staring off to one side, as if reliving the experience in her mind.
Donovan was still shaking his head, refusing to believe what had happened, "You know, I was born and raised on this planet. These animals lived peacefully with this planet's human population for as long as I can remember. And probably before I even existed, the relation between wildlife and human were peaceful all the way back to the first colony of this planet!"
Before the scientist could reply, a SWAT trooper walked over. By the look on his face, he was not in a good mood, "Lady, you mean to tell me you are responsible for those?those things out there!" the trooper was pointing torwards the barn's main doors.
The woman simply nodded her head, too ashamed to verbally answer. "Lady!" the trooper yelled, almost directly in her face, "I have four letters of condolences to write because of those damn things!" the man's face was turning red with anger, and his voice was getting louder with each word he said. "If it wasn't for you playing God, they'd be here right now, and God-willing, when this war is over, be back with their families!"
The police officer was now up in the woman's face, "But now, I have to tell their spouses and children that their husband or father won't be coming home, 'cause some chick with a needle felt like changing the world!"
The woman sunk to her knees sobbing into her hands, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she kept repeating.
Blackstone grabbed the man by the back of the shoulders, spinning him to the side. The SWAT member spun back around and got into Blackstone's face, but before he could say anything, Blackstone gritted his teeth, "That's enough trooper! We know it's a problem,?"
"Problem! Problem! " The trooper chuckled. "No kidding this is a problem!"
He pointed to the woman on the ground, "Well, I guess I can say that I met God now. And look, she really is a woman!"
With one giant shove, Blackstone yelled, "That's enough! Get outside!"
The trooper brushed some dirt from his uniform, and after giving the woman a death stare, huffed outside. Blackstone looked to Donovan, who was still trying to make the unbelievable, believable. In a lower voice, so only Donovan and Blackstone were in hearing distance, Blackstone said, "Don?"
Donovan looked up with a blank stare, then mumbled, "Raymond, do you know what this means? The whole balance of life could be thrown off, because of this. If these? 'SVR's?exist in numbers, the whole human population on Guiasar could be wiped out."
Blackstone pulled Chief Genetics Scientist Tezra Alexander to her feet, "Ms. Alexander, how many of these 'Super-Velociraptors' did you 'create'?"
She took a few seconds to compose herself, again brushing away a stubborn tress of blonde hair, "My latest report said ten, but that report was a day or two old."
"A day or two old?" Blackstone repeated, shocked himself, "Were you producing these things on a daily basis, or what?"
"A few we did, but we thought we were proceeding too fast." Blackstone snorted at that comment.
Donovan started putting this shocking news into the current events table,
"OK, so we have ten of these SVR's out in the jungle. I'm assuming these things breed, correct?" He looked at Tezra for confirmation, who simply nodded her head.
"Ok, I'm not a dinosaur expert or anything, but I would assume, that the SVR population on Guiasar has at least doubled to its present number of at least twenty. I know for a fact, that at least one is dead, although, it took about a hundred rounds to bring it down."
Tezra jumped in, "They were designed to take a lot of punishment and keep fighting. These animals were going to used in war."
Blackstone jumped, "Say what!?"
"We figured if the Free Worlds League Military took some of these animals, put them on a field of battle, the opposition would either surrender immediately or flee. This is how we figured we could save lives. After the battle was declared over, we would shoot the SVR's with the knock-out drug and bring them back."
"So much for your knock-out drug."
Donovan glanced at Blackstone, "You're not helping."
He then looked back to Tezra, "There is only one thing you can do here, Ms. Alexander. You're going to have to get your little scientist click back together and come up with a drug that will be able to take these things out with one shot."
Alexander's eyes widen, "The only place we can do that, is at the lab, and I'm not going back there. It's a killing ground!"
The angry SWAT trooper walked back in the barn, just in time to hear Tezra's last words. Pointing across the barn, "You reap what you sow, Lady!"
"Trooper, if you don't get back outside, I will bust you down to crossing-guard!" Blackstone yelled.
"We'll send some protection. But you've got to get back there and make that drug. If you don't, if we even win against the mercs, then we'll have another war on our hands."
"I'm not going back there, unless a Mech comes with me." Tezra stated flatly.
Blackstone and Donovan looked at each other.
"We'll send MechOfficer Robinson with you, along with a five-man guard. They'll be armed with the heaviest weapons we have."
"We have a weapons locker at the facility, too." Reading the looks on the two police officers' faces, "We have multi-millions of C-bills worth of equipment there, we weren't taking any chances."
"So where were these weapons, when the SVR's broke out?" Donovan asked.
"I have no idea."
"At day break, you'll head back to your facility to conduct tests in order to make a drug that can knock these animals out with one shot."
"Excuse me? You can't just order me around."
"Ma'am, if you don't do it, I'll have you arrested for willfully endangering the entire population of this planet."
With that, Tezra could say nothing more.
**************************
The dawn brought a new day, but no new changes. The mercenary unit known as Mobile Fire still had full control of Graham City and that's just the way that Lieutenant Colonel Donald Moore intended to keep it. With the Mech repair facility at the Central Police Station still in full operational order and spare parts found in the bay combined with his own, he basically had a full company of twelve BattleMechs at his disposal. Thought most of his Mechs were on the lighter side, he was still confident with the numerical advantage still on his side.
"So Lieutenant Sheraton, you mean to tell me, all they have out there is five Mechs, with MacAllister's Stalker the heaviest?"
Sheraton smiled an evil grin, already picturing 'Planetary Governor James Sheraton', "Yes sir. They also have about two squads that could be classified as infantry, mainly made of regular police officers, with a few SWAT troops mixed in."
Moore rubbed his chin in thought, "I see. And you were saying that all this time, they've only been a few kilometers north of the city?"
"Yes sir."
"What are their latest plans concerning current events?"
"We'll fight a war of attrition, basically. They know we have the numbers, but they have a few heavier guns. Hit and run attacks will be a definite."
Moore walked over to a map on the wall, "So if we were to-?."
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion outside, which rattled the windows and doors of the building. Moore and Sheraton ran to a window on the north side of the Graham City Southern Police Station in time to see the warped, flaming remains of a civilian cargo truck next to a similarly destroyed Blizzard hover transport. A single Mobile Fire trooper staggered out of the back ramp-door fully engulfed in flame. He took one step onto the ground then collapsed.
"Colonel Moore, this is security team-4." A guard transmitted to Moore, via radio headset, "We just had a terrorist strike against our front gate. We saw a Graham police car drive away. When shouted to stop, the car increased speed."
"Fine!" Moore shouted, "Send the five-minute Armor!"
The Five-Minute Armor was a four-tank 'Lance' of armor that could respond to anything in less than five minutes. The fans on the two hovercrafts whirled to life, as tires squealed from the rear end of an improved Striker Light Tank. The clanking treads of an improved Galleon Light Tank was heard, as it was the first vehicle out of the gates, smashing the burned-out frame of the cargo truck out of the way. The city's roads were almost completely deserted except for the brave few who chose to venture out of their homes.
"OK, MechWarriors, we got their attention, time to do your part!"
Blackstone said, as the Galleon fired off a few medium laser bursts. One laser skimmed along side of the car, melting the paint. "ETA, approximately one minute!"
Blackstone swerved the car all over the road, making as difficult a target as possible as laser bolts, autocannon rounds, and missiles ate up the main streets through the City of Graham. Turning down Boyle Street, Blackstone knew his chances of death had just increased ten-fold. Boyle Street was a dead end. Blackstone fishtailed the cruiser sideways, and waited for the inevitable. The Galleon and the Striker slowed to a crawl, and started down Boyle Street as though savoring the kill.
Abruptly, the front face of an apartment building blew outwards as a 50-ton Hunchback smashed through. Driving its fist straight down onto the Galleon, Police-Sergeant Frank Harrison's heavy autocannon was lined up perfectly with the Striker. The top of the first light tank exploded outwards, as chunks of armor flew in all directions and internal structure gave way to the sheer force of the blow. The autocannon bucked, as shell casings rang against the cracked street. The Striker instantly ignited as the explosive kinetic energy of the shells did their job. Before the Galleon crew had time to regain their wits, Frank stood his Mech up, then slammed his fist back down again, killing the tank crew instantly.
Unfortunately, the Saladin Assault Hover Tank crew guessed that he would go for another punch, and lined their vehicle up. The Saladin mounted only one weapon, but that was all it needed. The Hunchback's head/cockpit assembly was lined up perfectly with the hover tank's Scarborough Original Type 20 heavy autocannon. With one pull of the trigger, the Hunchback's head detonated. The uncontrolled 50-ton Mech dropped like a rock, crushing the Galleon and Striker under it. At that instant, another building's front face blew outward, this one much larger than the Hunchback's entrance. The 85-ton behemoth made Frank's machine look puny. The turret on the Condor Heavy Hover Tank whirled around, but not before Donovan fired off an extended-range large laser burst, followed by 6 high explosive short-range missiles. The combined firepower melted the vehicle's light armor protection, digging into internals and blowing up the vehicle from the inside out. The Saladin was in the process of turning, its large autocannon a fixed emplacement facing front. Donovan sent twelve short-range missiles into the assault tank, before it could even complete its turn.
The tank exploded, as Donovan got on the radio, "Ray, get the hell out of here, we got inbound Mechs!"
Blackstone swerved around the carnage that used to be four armored vehicles and a Mech, as Donovan had no time to feel for the loss of Sergeant Harrison. As Blackstone made his getaway, the massive Stalker turned to face its new attackers. A NGS-4S Night Sky came into focus on Donovan's targeting systems as it stepped off the main highway, and onto the beginning of Boyle Street. The newcomer fired off its large pulse laser, catching Donovan's Mech square in the thickly-armored left leg. Donovan waited a few more seconds before launching the current loads in both of his long-range missile ten-packs. Twenty projectiles rode white-tailed contrails the short distance between the Night Sky and the Stalker, engulfing the smaller Mech in a mixed cloud of white, gray, and black smoke.
Donovan charged his Mech forward, before the Mobile Fire Mech could reacquire the target and get a good lock on it. With a thunderous crashed of ripping metal, the Stalker shoved the Night Sky aside. The lighter Mech lost its balance and fell back into the side of another office building.
"Don! Heavy armor moving in!" Blackstone yelled, just before the Von Luckner Heavy Tank blocking his path fired. The burly police sergeant swerved his car to the side just before the shell impacted the ground. The cruiser was caught in the explosive blast wave, lifting the police car up, onto its side in a sickening symphony of crushing, twisting metal. Sparks showered the road while the momentum of the car carried it forward, as Blackstone struggled frantically not to put his hands down through the busted out window, onto the ground, lest his hands be sheared off.
Behind the Von Luckner, a Typhoon Urban Assault Vehicle moved forward, its huge turret-mounted cannon focusing squaring on the upturned police cruiser. Blackstone struggled to crawl out of the mangled vehicle, as crewmen from the Mobile Fire vehicle rushed out to cover him with personal weapons. Blackstone felt his head. Looking at his hand, it was covered with blood. He then looked at the mercenaries, and with a sweep of his finger, pointed at all of them and said, "You are all under arrest. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." He then lost consciousness, collapsing over the roof of the car. |
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