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Angel 6
by David Wainio |
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Stark Hills near Holth Forest
Tukayyid
19 May 3052
Terry pressed down on the steering pedal while switching his joysticks from weapons to arm movements so he could better pump them to keep speed and balance. That was a trick the Guardian Angels had taught him. His ComGuard trainers had been skilled but too tied to doctrine. Doctrine was to never switch away from weapons control in an enemy occupied area. Let the computer, gyro, and neurohelmet do all the work. Bossman felt doctrine was fine and dandy, but not to let it get you killed when there was a better way. Angle One was far less.. mystic than Terry had ever figured even a ComGuard Adept could be but the man knew how to pilot the snot out of a BattleMech. And how to pass on his knowledge.
A small Clan OmniMech was waiting on the far side of the ridge for him. It fired, but Terry’s sudden evasive maneuver placed his Hussar largely out of harm’s way as only a few short range missiles hit home. The damage was minimal.
“Pound him now, before he recovers,” came Bossman’s voice. Terry could barely hear Angel Lead over all the radio static but he’d picked up the Adept’s urgency.
Splashing loose gravel and kicking stones about in a fan-tailed shower Terry brought his Hussar to a halt and turned to face the Ghost Bear Omni. He lost a precious moment switching back to targeting but his reticule was dead center over the enemy ‘Mech by chance as weapon control was restored. Heat leaked into his cockpit as he fired off the one weapon his small BattleMech mounted. Cluster munition autocannon fire blasted across the center front and the cockpit area of the Omni and it pitched back, seemingly losing it’s footing on the steep slope and sliding away down the hillside. Accident and providence had given him a quick kill against an already damaged Omni. Panting both from the heat and from the emotional slap of suddenly being thrust back into combat, Terry realized that he had never even read the ID tag on the dispatched enemy scout.
Faintly through the static hiss in his earphones Terry thought he heard Angel One say something about falling back or falling down. But before he could make out what his field commander was trying to tell him the concussive force of two separate LRM strikes hammered through his Hussar blowing out one of the armored viewports and pushing the 30 ton machine off balance backwards. He felt a stinging pain in his throat and leg as his world started to tumble with a frightening roar until with a bone jarring jolt knocked all the air out of him. The tumbling Mech had slammed to a stop at the base of the ravine.
Warning buzzers buzzed and emergency icons twinkled but none of that was of concern to Terry any more. His eyesight grew dim and narrow – as if he was looking out a long tunnel – as he stared up at the slate gray sky above. He had let Angels down. He had been too late. Had he the energy his tortured conscious would have howled in frustration. But there was nothing left within him willing to struggle on. He quietly let the growing darkness claim him.
Terry
With a groan he flopped his head sideways at the interruption.
Angel Six |
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