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Wolfly Games
An ''In character'' story of a contest on Arc Royal
by Tempest |
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After Kya and I had pulled the wishbone on the Dasher to see who got to take the corpse as a trophy (I'd let her win), we rejoined the column as it headed back to the dropships. My jets were randomly spurting - the crash landing had knocked some wires loose on the control mechanism, and I was forced to stop occasionally and smack my chest to knock the wires back into place. As it turned out, our force had taken very little in the way of casualties, probably thanks to us arriving late in the battle. The planetary defense forces had been almost completely wiped out, and several of the Wolf units had taken heavy losses. The Falcons had been nearly annihilated, though, and we'd held the planet.
As we approached the pickup zone, a familiar profile was standing in the path, silhouetted against the setting sun. The Vulture was somewhat scarred, but intact. Tutuola certainly had a flair for the dramatic. I flipped my sensors back on and got Teec running. Vulture omnimech, Alpha variant. Quite likely exactly the same mech that had gutted me on Suk II.
I see you've done your homework, Star Captain.
The Vulture faced directly at me, two hundred meters away. Besides the small hill he was standing on top of, there was no terrain at all nearby. It would be a straight brawl. A Man O' War stood about three hundred meters behind Tutuola, most likely his second.
I will not wait any longer. Make your challenge now, or return the bondsman.
Pushy bastard, aren't you? I am Sergeant Major Robert Jean De Molay, loyal warrior of House Davion since the year three thousand, twenty-six. My codex brims with the names of those I have defeated. Soldiers of all Houses, mercenaries, and Clan warriors grace its lines. I do now declare a Trial of Possession for my comrade in arms, Corporal Laura Daives of the 33rd Avalon Hussars, taken in bond after the battle of Orkney. Who stands to defend the honor of the 4th Wolf Guards against my challenge?
I, Star Captain Vertin Tutuola, who leads the Alpha trinary of the 4th Wolf Guards, accept your challenge, freebirth. May you fight with honor, so that your defeat will brighten my codex. I declare Star Commander Millay my second for this Trial.
Having a second of my own for this would probably be useful. Teec sounded a collision warning, and I felt a heavy pressure on my shoulder. The threat display indicated a Kuritan Grand Dragon standing directly behind me. Sure I'd seen him, Muso Soseki stepped back, taking position a similar three hundred meters to my rear.
I declare Tai-i Muso Soseki as my second for this Trial. Prepare yourself, Clanner.
We both assumed a careful, wide-legged stance, each staring at the other, waiting for one to flinch. A little drop of sweat ran down the side of my neck as the light amplifiers kicked in with the dusk. The Clanner moved first, popping open his missile doors and unleashing a wave of rockets at my position. Fortunately, I was expecting him to do that, and my jets had me in the air before he fired. Somersaulting, I brought my rifle around and fired a shot into him from above. It burned into the left missile bay door, which snapped shut with its partner immediately. He countered that with the only gun he could bring to bear - his autocannon. Small shells bee-stung up the side of my leg as I came down. I landed on his left side as he turned, a little closer than I wanted to be. Rushing, I gained a bit of distance before he could try and use the missiles again. We danced, turning circles around each other - mine wide, his tight - each trying to get the other into a better position. I kept on his left side and farther out, not wanting his particle cannon or his missiles to come into play. Even though I was moving faster than him, my wider arc was losing me ground. I didn't dare get closer, and I couldn't afford to let him get the big gun into this.
As if frustrated, he skidded slightly and reversed direction, bringing me into his main gun's arc. The shot slammed home just over my right elbow. I gritted my teeth as the neural interface triggered my funny bone. I continued circling, running straight in front of him to get back to his weaker left. He closed the distance, but not enough to get a good missile shot at me. A cannon slug bit my arm, but it was fortunately still numb from the particle hit. I slammed on my own brakes to switch direction, firing my rifle cross-body. The shot punched right through the Vulture's armor, and was accompanied by a huge secondary explosion. The force of the missiles exploding knocked the Clanner on his back and threw his arm across the field. It harmlessly bounced off of Muso's Dragon.
Now things were much more in my favor, and I pressed the attack. Getting in close, I let loose with everything I had, barely restraining myself from kicking his head in. I was going to win this one on Clanner terms, so there wouldn't be anything to whine about afterwards. The shots ricocheted all over, nipping off strips of armor like small aggressive dogs. The Vulture rolled over, shielding the open wound with the ground, and the right missile door clacked open. I couldn't even attempt to dodge, and just threw my arms up to shield my face. A cloud of missiles pummeled me, one separating my right arm just over the elbow. As I stumbled back, I discarded my rifle, which was hysterically spitting bolts of energy from a massive hole in the barrel. Tutuola regained his feet, and triumphantly fired a particle shot at me as I staggered. While it was intended, no doubt, to vaporize my engine (again), he instead tore the top off of my right jump column. The computer did some quick damage control to shut off the exhaust ports, but the crash-landing the Dasher caused earlier had left the link severed. With the vents to the reactor still open, the entire column exploded, causing me to black out in pain.
When I managed to come back to the world, my thoughts proceeded in this order: 1) Ow, that hurt like hell. 2) I think I'm not dead. 3) Where the hell am I, and where's that bastard so I can finish him off?
The cockpit was trashed, so I'd obviously had a bad fall. Teec was pitifully half-whining through its damaged speaker, giving off just about every tone I know of. The sensors were SNAFU, but I could visually see both Muso and the Clanner second. The Vulture was nowhere to be spotted, though, which was very odd. No real terrain, so the only place would be hiding behind one of the seconds - something I really doubt a Clanner would do. Right about then, I came around enough to notice a gentle burning feeling around my left wrist. I rolled over, and found that I had been laying on top of Tutuola's Vulture, my left arm straight through his chest.
Near as I gathered from the sudden wave of radio chatter between the observers, when my jump column exploded, it had thrown me around wildly, and I'd collided with Tutuola. He'd had his missile bay door open to take another shot at me, which had been his fatal mistake. When I rammed into him, it had been fist-first, and that hand had gone cleanly past the open door, the launchers, and right into his reactor. I'd put a massive hole in the fuel cell, so his computer automatically shut down the entire engine. In return, half my arm had melted off, but he wasn't going anyplace until the reactor was repaired or restarted, if he was suicidal.
Do you surrender, Star Captain?
That was a dishonorable tactic, surrat.
Complain later. Surrender now, or I'll scalp you.
To emphasize that I was still combat-ready and he wasn't, I pulled my arm out of his chest, and pointed it at the mech's head. He couldn't know that all the weapons on it had gotten scrapped from the reactor heat.
The Trail and the bondsman are yours, Sergeant Major. You fought with more honor than I expected from a freebirth.
That was all I'd needed to hear. Muso and Kya were kind enough to drag me the rest of the way back to the dropship, since I was lacking a leg or two. My old buddy wouldn't be going out into the field for quite a while. From the way I see it, that just gives me plenty of time to paint a pair of new kill marks on.
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The four of us in Mongrel lance left the dropship with a cocky air around us. We'd taken down three Falcon mechs and one Wolf one - not a bad number, since we'd all come away with our lives and our rides. Ian and Kya, the two Stars, were smoking big cigars, which I'd turned down. Muso, on the other hand, had grabbed one the moment it was offered.
Seconds after we disembarked, Laura had me in a headlock-like hug. "If you ever just walk out on me like that again, Robby..." I think Kya tried to separate us to save me, but Muso stopped her. He knew us well enough, already, and let my Laura and I have the moment. I slipped out of the headlock just enough to breathe, and rested my aching head on her shoulder. While she'd been with me since I'd borrowed her in the Kell Building, now things were the same as they'd been years ago. I think that I could be forgiven for getting a bit misty-eyed. Laura, though, didn't feel that way. Her own eyes were wet red as she smiled at me. "Don't go sentimental on me now." I broke down completely at that point. I really did have her back - she'd used a contraction.
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When we got back to the room, Zola nearly stabbed me with a sealed package. "These were delivered about an hour ago." I was about to ask why she didn't just open them, when the big red 'Confidential: Unauthorized Personnel Do Not Open' stamp on it got my attention.
Undoubtedly, our new orders. Carefully cracking the envelope open, I silently handed two tightly bound packets to Walt and Zola. Walt tore into his instantly, shredding it eagerly. Zola just set it down next to herself, intently watching me pull out my set of papers.
I broke the seal and read the first page. I read silently, and for some reason, everybody else in the room went quiet, as well.
"You two go pack up and get to the ship. Laura and I have a few things to take care of, so don't worry if we're a little late. Just get on the ship and to your assignments. Dismissed." Walt nearly danced out the door, tightly clutching his papers and beaming like an idiot. Zee went more slowly, glancing back at us before closing the door.
Silently, I stared out the window. A heavy mist obscured most of the view, limiting me to the shadowy outlines of nearby buildings and a peppering of rain on the glass. Laura put a hand on my shoulder. I could see her questioning look reflected in the glass. "This is really the best chance I'm going to get, you know." Without turning, I passed her the orders, to explain.
TO: De Molay, R. J., Sgt. Maj.
FROM: Grey, S. H., Hpt.
SUBJECT: Relocation
Training Garrison Ajax renamed 23rd Leibwache. Relocated to Murchison.
Report for duty immediately.
-Stephen
Laura looked back up at me after reading. "So? It's t... oh. Prince Victor."
I nodded. "I didn't think she'd have the gall to do it so boldly. Maybe she's planning to use the St. Ives incident as a distraction for an attack."
"What are you planning to do about it? Just not show up?"
Sighing, I shrugged. "I don't know. I can't just keep dancing to Her Stienerness' drum, though. This is just too blatantly against the Prince. I've got to do something."
"We," corrected Laura. She flashed a toothy grin at me. "Since you technically own me after that Trial, you're not going to get rid of me already."
Turning, I grinned widely at her. "I thought you were retiring." My grin disappeared into a frown when my eyes caught movement behind Laura.
"And I thought I told you to leave."
Zola visibly cringed. "I, um, I... forgot this." Limply, she reached down and picked up her still sealed orders. I restrained the urge to reach over and throttle her. "Anyway, it's good that I did, or I wouldn't have been able to give you my support." She did her best to rise up and look confident.
"No."
"Aw, come on," she whined. "You're going to need help, and I'm from Davion space too!"
"No, you're from Steiner-Davion space. You never knew what it was like to live as a Sun. That's one thing I managed to get from Marc Ward - this is a fight from my and Laura's generation, not yours." I ended my little speech with a stomp, to emphasize that I wasn't going to give in on this point. Zee drooped for a moment, then got a horrible smile.
"You can't stop me. If you leave, you're no longer my commanding officer, and I can do as I please." I started to say something, but stopped, catching myself. She did have a point there.
Laura laughed. "Are you sure you didn't have a daughter and not tell me, Robby? You pulled almost exactly the same stunt on Lt. Mitchell, remember?" I cowered slightly, remembering that incident quite well. I'd have to talk Zee out of this later. The way her and Laura were smiling at each other was enough to convince me I wasn't going to get very far right away. I glanced at the door again, waiting for Walt to come in and offer help, too.
Zee noticed, and shook her head. "He's already heading to the 'port. That uppity father of his got him an easy job, watching some safe backwater planet. He couldn't have been happier." I sighed. Walt would probably be ruined in whatever fall-out came from what we might do, but there was nothing to do about that.
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While they hadn't been proper Combine mechanics, Tai-i Muso Soseki was happy with the job the Kell Hound technicians had done, patching up the small battle wounds on his Grand Dragon. Now, it was out of their hands and being placed, gently as possible, into the dropship that would take them both back home. A set of footsteps stopped a few feet behind him. "Yes?"
Gunjin Cjell responded, slightly out of breath. "Tai-i, there are three Davions who wish to see you." A pleasant smile crossed Muso's face. The Commonweath pilots had been very good company, despite centuries of bad blood. The fourth one of their company was missing - the blond haired boy - but the other three made up for the loss in their looks. Each was wearing an expression of grim determination, and was in full dress uniform. De Molay had the look about him of a Blakist who was about to slay the 'false' Primus.
The three Sun soldiers arranged themselves in a neat line, right in front of Muso, who blinked, not exactly sure how to react to this display. De Molay took a step forward, and drew out the katana he'd taken from the Combine long ago. Carefully taking hold of the blade, he offered the weapon to the Drac. "I, and my fellow Davion loyalists, officially request political asylum from the Steiner regime in the Draconis Combine."
-T |
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