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I, Kerensky
by Roguebaron |
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Hogye, Engadine,
Melissa Theater, Lyran Alliance,
April 2, 3058
Megi’s far-fetched negotiating tactic had earned Hogye another week to live. For most, a week would make little difference. But for me, yesterday’s incident was a pivotal moment in planning my next move. We have seen the strength of the Hunt Lance: a lance of battlemechs, backed up by two lances of battle tanks. We knew that much, and we had a week to think about the best possible defense. The tanks should be easy to handle. They would not be able to travel across extreme terrain, such as cliffs, lakes, or steep hills. The battlemechs were the main problem. If we could find a way to neutralize the mech’s mobility, we stood a chance, although slim, against the Hunt Lance.
But all of those could wait. Since the day I killed the two nolans, their activities on Hogye’s perimeter had increased. They had never come to Hogye, but recon said there were more nolans than ever. I guessed that these intelligent animals were investigating us. The incident three days ago must have given them quite a shock. I hoped that they were still just as shaken as when they saw their friends decapitated by a mere human.
My mind wandered as I was being outfitted with the Cutlass battle armor by Cedro in the mech garage. The Cutlass was more of exoskeleton armor rather than full-blown battle armor such as Gnome or Elemental. But again, it was designed as sport armor. The people of Hogye constructed this armor as a protection against the nolans in the Rooting. It had a high tensile strength to withstand the nolan’s sharp claws, and it increased the human’s power and agility. But it did not do well against heat or direct impact such as bullets or shrapnel.
“There, all set up,” Cedro smiled, then handed me two kinds of weapons. “Here’s your primary weapon: an assault laser rifle. The laser beam is strong enough to cut through the nolan’s skin. But it has a slow recharge time, just like laser weapons in general. Here’s your secondary weapon: a submachine gun. The bullets won’t pierce the nolan’s skin, but it will scare them away until your laser rifle is ready.”
I holstered my submachine gun on a small rack on my belt, and slung the laser rifle on my shoulder. Giving Cedro a thumbs up, I strapped on my helmet and walked outside the garage. The Cutlass gave me considerable ease in moving, almost felt like I was walking on cotton gauze. Outside, there waited 7 other Cutlass armored men, ready to deliver hard punishment to the nolans. I tapped my helmet twice and spoke to the microphone, “Can anyone hear me?”
A burst of response flooded my speaker.
“Good. Let us divide ourselves into 2 groups. Bane, Yanthe, Lyu, you go with me. Pirse, you lead the rest. I want diamond formation, so we will have 360-degree field coverage all the time. Our laser rifles are powerful but recharge slow, so when you see a nolan, wait until you get a clear shot. The nolans are very intelligent. They know we have weapons, and they will try to trick us or set up an ambush. When in doubt, shoot. You know that there are no humans within 2 kilometer radius so if it’s furry, don’t hesitate.”
“How long this is gonna take?” one of them asked, a slight tremor in his voice.
“It depends,” I replied. “We will go to the east and kill as many nolans as possible. If the situation becomes out of control, I will call Sheriff Fercyn for fire support while we retreat back to downtown.” I pointed at the Commando that towered over Hogye’s short buildings. “If you still have doubt in me, have faith in Sheriff Fercyn. He will not let you down.”
My mentioning of the sheriff gave them significant confidence. They stretched up and checked their weapons, making sure that there would be no malfunctioning at the critical moment. I switched the safety off, then led our march to the eastern part of the town.
Hogye was a small town, with a population of roughly 500 citizens. The size of the town was barely 2-kilometer in radius. The town was surrounded by hills and light forest, which was a perfect place for the nolans to wait, snoop, and set up an ambush. Hogye’s topography was also the reason that it was one of the hottest spots during the heyday of The Rooting, before the Clan Invasion.
Along the way to the eastern perimeter, I could feel that we were being watched. I knew that the nolans were there, scouting us, measuring us up and down, but letting us make the first move. When we got there, we immediately climbed up a hill and set up a defense line. The hill provided good view coverage of the plain. We waited for almost half an hour, but we did not spot any nolan activities. All we saw were insects, birds, and some arboreal creatures. I did not like what I saw. Too much quiet made me nervous, and I knew it made everybody nervous too. I knew that the nolans were intelligent enough to set a trap. I wish we had infrared goggles to detect their body heat.
“Maintain formation and stay covered,” I whispered on my mike. “Be ready with your guns, but do not shoot until I say so.”
Slowly I got up while looking at every direction. It was still quiet. I could smell the faint stench of nolans. So I grabbed my submachine gun, and fired a short burst at a bush about 50 meters away from my position. The rattling sound echoed through the light forest, and the bullets chipped the wood and the leaves, tossing splinters to every direction. But as much as I wanted to see a movement, I did not see anything else.
I fired another short burst, then another, and another. I covered as much area as possible without wasting my bullets. It was hard to see in the forest, because everything was dim. But on a corner, I saw something strange. My bullets did not seem to pass through the thickets. I knew there was something behind the brush. It could be a rock, or a dead tree stump, but it could also be a nolan.
“Yanthe,” I whispered, trying not to startle the very nervous guy. “Do you see that brush near the big tree? Hit it with your laser.”
I saw Yanthe’s hands shaking when he hoisted his laser rifle, and fired at the brush. A cloud of greenish ooze sprouted from the thicket, followed by an agonizing scream. A second later a big shadow jumped out of the brush and zipped to the right. I tried to hit it, but before I could make my shot, it slipped behind a large tree. I could not see where Yanthe hit it, but I knew he hurt the beast.
“Stay calm!” I hissed, seeing the Hogye citizens started to panic. The wood suddenly went alive. I saw a lot of movements in the brush, heard crunching sounds and low growls, and often a taunting bellow. I knew they were trying to draw our fire, squeezing us until we were frustrated. I had to keep my lance mates cool. “They are trying to intimidate us. Stay low, keep alert, and do not…”
My lips were still wet when I caught an erratic movement on my left. A big shadow leapt into the air, hit a tree, then launched itself at me. It was a big nolan, bigger than the ones I killed. Its humongous claws were spread wide open, ready to slice me. I ducked and fired my laser from under my armpit. The beam streaked through the air and hit the beast dead center. The beam bored through the thick hide, and a shade of green mist burst from its chest. The big beast flew past my head and crashed with a hefty thud. The gaping hole on its chest puffed green steam.
I did not have time to marvel at my handiwork. Two more nolans burst from behind the trees, one landed in the midst of the formation. Driven by panic, two people fired their lasers, but missed miserably. The nolan swung its large claw and scraped a man. The Cutlass armor prevented the talons hitting vital organs, but the tip of the talons blasted through the armor and sank into the flesh. The man screamed in terror as the nolan tried to retract its claws, but they were stuck on the Cutlass armor.
“Fire at will!” I screamed my order while firing my submachine gun at the nolan. Even though my bullets bounced at the thick hide of the beast, I could see that the nolan was hurt. I knew my laser rifle had not finished charging, so I jumped ahead, trying to grab the poor man. But the nolan was quicker. It leapt onto a tree – with the man stuck on its claw screaming and crying – and ran deeper into the forest.
Logically, I would assume that the man was a loss. I could not abandon the six Hogye citizens alone to pursue the one that had virtually no chance of survival. But I had given them my words. I promised to bring them home, all of them. This was a difficult choice, and for a moment, I froze. My heart prompted me to jump into the darkness and trail this nolan. It would not go far, considering the burden it carried on its hand. But my common sense forced me to stay and fight these beasts.
My moment of pondering was disrupted when another nolan attacked me from the right. I aimed my rifle at its midst, but it swung its arm and hit my arm. My vision blurred when the pain stroke my hand. My laser rifle flew several meters away. I jumped to the side, but the nolan got my left feet. The beast grabbed my left ankle and heaved me toward it. That huge claws dashed toward my face, and I knew my visor would not hold the onslaught. I flexed my abs muscle to flinch as hard as I could, and the mighty claw slammed into the ground just millimeters away from my head. I grabbed my submachine gun and shoved it into the nolan’s mouth. I pulled the trigger, and green fluid showered from the beast’s mouth. It screeched in mortal agony, and crashed to the ground, writhing while grabbing its jaw.
I got up and tried to find my rifle, but in the mean time a nolan had been bludgeoning one of my lance mates. The beast held the poor man at the ankles and slammed the body around, first into the ground, then into the tree, using it as a club. The Cutlass armor held the man together, but I knew that he was dead. His laser rifle was on the ground and I saw the green charge light, signaling its readiness. I scrambled for the rifle and fired at the nolan. The big predator screamed, then reeled to the ground with a steaming hole in its chest.
By this time, the nolans had swarmed our hill. My team members were reduced to five, and although they could hang on, the nolans were getting closer and closer to them. The nolans, on the other hand, did not seem to be deterred by their casualties and our firepower. They were determined to exterminate us. Somehow I thought they knew that if we fell, Hogye would be theirs.
I could not let that to happen.
“Regroup to the center!” I commanded my team, who quickly followed my lead. “They have numbers, but we have range! Let them come and blast them before they get into range! Make every shot count!”
I spotted the closest nolan and blasted it with my laser. The nolan roared in its death throes, then slid down the hill, spurting smoke from its chest. Another team member fired his laser, and hit a nolan right in the head. The nolan died before it crashed to the ground. Two nolans came from the left, and my team greeted them with two well-placed salvo to their midsections. As the two tumbled, three more came from behind. My rifle had recharged, so I blasted the closest nolan while other team members disposed the others. Their confidence had grown considerably, and I did not sense uneasiness anymore. Comments like “Yeah! How do you like it, huh?” or “Who’s the daddy now?” filled up the comlink.
This battle lasted about half an hour, when the nolan carcasses had littered the ground. Knowing that they were outgunned, the beasts retreated into the depth of the forest. My teammates opened their helmets and watched the nolans retreating, awe gleaming in their eyes. They had been oppressed by the nolans for so long that it was hard for them to believe that today they had triumphed over the beasts.
“I don’t believe it,” one murmured. “Jesus Christ! I don’t believe it!”
“We did it!” another one added. “Mr. Parker, we did it! Sonofabitch, we won!”
“Look at the bodies down there! You go to hell, jackasses!”
“I told you,” I stripped my helmet. “There is nothing you cannot do if you believe in yourself.”
“My wife’s gonna be thrilled! Let’s get home!”
The simple men from Hogye started to scatter when they spotted the mangled heap of flesh that was their fallen comrade. They stopped for a moment, lamenting in their own way to commemorate the valiant effort this deceased had given.
“What about Elbil?” somebody asked. “I saw he was taken by a nolan.”
“Poor Elbil,” another replied. “But he’s dead. Nobody had ever come back being hitched by a nolan. Let’s just go home…”
“Go ahead,” I said. “You deserve it. Leave Elbil to me. I promise to bring everybody home.”
One of them handed in his laser rifle to me. “Here. You need it more than I do.”
“Thank you,” I slung the rifle on my shoulder. “We meet at Hogye.”
As the men happily sprinted toward Hogye, I inspected the ground, looking for any trail of blood that could lead me to Elbil. It was hard, considering most of the ground were covered by the greenish fluid that was nolan’s blood. But at last I found it, small drops of blood on the ground and swaths of blood on the tree trunks. I paused a moment, thinking that it might be another nolan trap. But I had no choice. I might still have a chance to bring Elbil back alive if I move fast. So I readied my rifles and started to run, following the blood trail.
The smears of blood eventually led me to a strange rune, about 1 click away from the battle scene. It was a large structure, nothing like I have ever seen. It looked almost like a giant cylinder, but the wall was utterly shattered. Cracks and holes pockmarked the wall, and at some point, I could smell smoke. The blood trail went straight into the heart of this rune through a large crack on the wall. I knew that I would be extremely vulnerable if I went into the rune. There were a lot of places where the nolan could hide and ambush me. But again, I did not have a choice. I would not gamble with a human’s life. So I readied my rifles and delved into the rune.
It took me several minutes to adjust myself to the dimly lit surroundings. The interior was wide, almost 15 meters tall. The air inside was soggy. Fortunately, my helmet was equipped with oxygen purifier, so I could go on without fear of intoxication. I walked slowly, knowing that the nolans might have been watching me, waiting for me to make a wrong move. I felt like a dozen eyes were watching every step that I made. In a sense, it was true. I could spot hundreds of crawling insects on the wall, but the one that I wanted to see – or kill – had not shown up yet.
Five minutes passed and I started to smell the familiar stench of a nolan. I stopped, opening up all of my senses to spot the predator, but I could not see it. I had seen their capability to blend in with their environment, much like a chameleon. But no matter how cunning, adaptable, and devious a nolan was, I was even more so.
Slowly I lowered my rifle from my shoulder, and held it with my left. With two rifles in both hands, I crouched on the floor and assumed a low position. The rune was not my turf, but it was not the nolan’s either. I assumed that the nolan had figured out the recharging time of my laser rifle, and it was waiting for me to shoot blindly in the dark. I fired the rifle in my left hand.
I was right.
As soon as the beam bounced off the wall, a low growl echoed in the dark room. I smiled victoriously as I turned around to face the incoming nolan. I caught a glimpse of dread in its eyes as I fired my other rifle, and sliced its throat with the laser. The big predator skidded on the hard paved floor, gurgling uncontrollably as green fluid spurted from its neck. I waited until my rifle recharged, then I shot the head of the beast, ending its misery.
I collected my other rifle and swept the rune, looking for any hint of Elbil. But strangely enough, I could not find any trace of human being. I began to wonder if this nolan was the same nolan that hitched Elbil. If it was not, then what was the trail of blood at the mine entry? This puzzled me for some time, and I began to wonder if this was actually another trap by the nolans. I went deeper and deeper into the mine, and was about to give up when I saw something at the end of the tunnel.
I came into a broad hallway, with debris lying around. It was not until I paid closer attention that I realized what type of debris it was. Battlemech parts. I could make out arms, legs, chips of armor, gearboxes, tubes, cockpit glass, belts, gun shells… By the amount of parts, I reckoned there were at least two-dozen battlemechs, shattered, mutilated, and abandoned. An unspeakable carnage must have happened here.
And then, there was the big shadow on the corner. It was a battlemech, a huge one, with two gigantic cannons as its lower arms and two smaller cannons on its torso. Even bigger than the biggest battlemech I have ever seen, the Viper’s Jaggermech. It was in terrible condition. Its armor was almost shredded to the internal structure. But nonetheless, it was the only mech intact. Its head almost touched the ceiling, and this mech had two windows as the cockpit, closely resembling eyes. There was a grill below these eyes, giving the mech an impression of a sinister grin.
I was so mesmerized by the mech that I did not see someone coming. Suddenly I was jerked aside. My body hit the wall, and through my visor I saw a man, a human being, pinning me to the wall. He was about my size, but I have never seen him before. His eyes shot unprecedented hatred toward me. I was so caught off guard that I did not know what to do.
“Leave! This mech is mine!” the man croaked.
“My name is Parker, I am looking for my…”
“Leave! Go away!” he fizzled even more. “I will kill you all! This mech is mine!”
“Do you know me?” I asked. “Who are you?”
“Get out! Get out!!” he screamed, then hopped into the darkness. My subsequent effort to find him ended up in total failure. I guessed this place was his turf, and I would not be able to find him if he decided to disappear. But I wondered what kind of man lived in this condition. And then, there was this mech. What was this mech doing down here? If Hogye had this mech, why did nobody use it? A battlemech this magnitude would solve Hogye’s problems easily. And what about the other mechs, the ripped-apart mechs that littered this rune? Where did they come from?
I spent about two hours searching for answers to all my questions, and still I could not find anything. Just the mysterious mech, looking at me with its cynical leer. It seemed that Elbil was never here, and neither was the strange man. In fact, I never found Elbil. When I decided to come back to Hogye, it was already dark, and a big celebration was underway. I came to Megi, hoping to get some explanation about my strange encounter in the rune, but she was just too caught up with the party. I just had to wait for another day. |
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