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Front 10.3 - The Knight's Defence Part 1
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The noise around him was deafening as Kolme pushed the Neo to go further and further, every cog seemed to be grinding sourly and every piston straining, but onwards the Neo strode, free from its rubble prison.
"You three, how 'bout a sit-rep eh?"
"Roger."
"Ah, Rookie, I know this is rough an' all, but we need to know if you can still shoot lass?"
"Rog-- ah-h right, ummm. My left arm is busted I think... and my leg has some warning lights. Oh I lost the medium rifle too but I still have the regular one..."
Kolme swore silently, "That's alot of damage to keep quiet girl, you gonn'a make it to the goal?"
"Roger... Sir!"
"Alright then, I think - Sabban, Hoki how bout' ye?"
"That arm injury I got saving your sorry ass has got worse, I'm down to just one hand now too."
Sabban added.
"Sorry Lieutenant, same here - I should be able to make it and attack with my other hand but I doubt any of us can take much more than that." Hoki finished.
'Ha barely an arm each between us, this had better work.'
Rounding a final corner their goal at last came into sight - They had travelled half a city and were clearly the worse for wear but there it was, the blue markers and the reds on his map all synced up. In-front of Kolme was the city-centre, the large and somewhat overgrown park green filled with aged benches, evergreen trees, quaint fountains and gravel pathways that had clearly been swept about by the earlier pressure loss with-in the station.
Around the park was the traditionally ornate buildings of government and the likes of police & fire stations - And above it all, perfectly at the centre of the Nation-State and high in the artificial sky - The ominous sliding black shape of the enemy Fortress.
Up close Kolme could see it in more detail, it was huge for a start - Easily 3 or 4 times the mass of the Neo-Vijaiks. On two large cables ejected out from it was 'free-floating' squares with nozzles - Two more of these nozzles were also connected to the 'thing's' main body
All four were silent, not a green glow to be seen - The barrage had at last ended.
A part of Kolme could barely process that the plan had worked, that the onslaught of an attack had finally come to a close. Looking to the right side of the massive crack still running through his camera lens he could see Sabban's murky brown Neo, to the left side out another alleyway he could see Hoki's and based on his map he presumed Una was also left of him in a position obscured to his vision - They had all four made it.
****
"So, what now old man?" Sabban said after a few moments of them all simply catching their collective breaths.
"Ya... about that lad..."
"Don't you dare say you have no plan?"
"It's not that! Not exactly... Look its stopped firing, that's good ain't it?"
Kolme shot back.
Sabban snorted, "Then why don't we shoot now? While its confused!?"
"Absolutely Not!! Look lad it's like, think of it like a computer, it's running an equation which we've broken by getting into its weak spot - Now it has stalled 'cause it didn't predict this feck up right?"
"But if we open fire, that would count as a new problem superseding the current error? That about right Sir?" Hoki said, having caught on to Kolme's line of thought.
"So what, we just stand here waiting for our fuel to run out?! They still have a ship hiding here somewhere if you'd forgotten."
Before Kolme could respond there was a terrible earth-shattering gust of pressure, the blistering sound of incredible engines flaring to life - The sounds of the Submarine taking flight.
"Kolme?! Orders, do we shoot now or not?"
Sabban shouted over the sudden din.
"Hold your fire!! We can't take any more damage, let them retreat!" Kolme shouted back - His words were prompted by the fortress, which to his relief had began to move higher into the sky and away from the Neos, all while its weapons remained inactive.
"You're joking!? It's running away, this is the best chance we'll get, we have to--"
"Hold fire lad!"
Without anymore debate Kolme watched an orange line of flame arc through the sky and collide with the flat underside of the Fortress - Sabban had fired.
"God-Damn it!" Kolme roared; "All units fire, fire now before it shoots back!!"
And so amongst the blistering sounds of the invisible warship lifting off, the other three Neos joined Sabban and a flurry of orange beams began to light up the blue sky. Some shots went wide but those that did hit mostly seemed to bounce off, or be absorbed and dissipated - Until, finally one seemingly pierced the powerful armour and the Fortress caught ablaze in a startling ball of flame, causing the whole thing to rock violently in the sky.
"Hell ya! Keep it up, we're busting through that armour!" Sabban jeered, far too gleefully for Kolme's liking.
But before they could land another shot, a sudden flurry of yellow lines erupted back in Sabban's direction, their source being somewhere in the sky, behind the stricken fortress.
"Take cover, new contacts!" Kolme instructed but he hardly needed to as all four Neos ducked back into the cover of the streets.
"No!!" Sabban spat from his hiding spot.
Kolme too peaked out, it took him a moment to spot their newest issue - About a quarter of the still partially flaming fortress was gone, not destroyed but gone - It was slowly but surely reseeding into thin air, it was retreating inside the invisible submarine.
Sabban wasn't about to let that happen, he pushed back out into the open area and rose his rifle to fire once more, but again was interrupted by a thin flurry of yellow beams - "Another enemy!?"
As if on que a shape emerged from the same nothingness that the Fortress was retreating into, it let loose one more volley and then appeared to 'step-off' something, in the way a swimmer might of jumped from a diving board.
Vijaiks seldom did 'acrobatics', such things were too complex for the bulky shape of these modern day tanks and yet Kolme watched as the object, now clearly a black & grey Vijaik, spiralled and twirled through the air before landing on the park green with flourish.
Sabban didn't hesitate, his eyes still set on the prize he rose his rifle a third time to try and desperately hit the now two-thirds vanished Fortress - And for a third time this new Vijaik fired at him, causing Sabban to dodge and miss his shot one final time.
Kolme, Una and Hoki all attempted to fire on this new threat only for it to turn its rifle on them too - With a blinding accuracy the angular, sleek looking mech fired shots that forced each of the Neos back into cover before finally a faint clicking noise indicted the weapon had run dry - It mattered little, as the Fortress was now completely gone from sight, escaped...
Kolme watched their replacement opponent toss its now empty gun away and draw a blade with either hand, then hunch over and hold the blades out in front of itself.
Were he not so tense Kolme might have appreciated the machine's poise - Like acrobatics, Vijaiks were not particularly well made for sword-play and yet in-front of Kolme was a Vijaik that looked like an expert in the craft.
He held what were mostly likely calabar blades, however unlike Scarlet's signature great-swords, these were far more dainty objects, one shorter than the other with an almost katana like look to them.
The mech itself was nothing like a Neo, its blacks & greys ran along its angular light-weight frame - Its head looked like some massive 'V' shape, its visor glowed a bright green.
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The 'Special' [https://i.imgur.com/z4M33pa.jpg]
"An MBT-Special, heavily customised?" Hoki said quietly over the comms - However Kolme hadn't needed Hoki's encyclopaedic mech knowledge to know that much, he had seen pros use this model many times before.
Having tossed aside its rifle and with the Fortress having disappeared, the 'Special' simply stood between the four Neos with its impressive blades drawn.
A bead of sweat ran down Kolme's forehead - The enemy was alone sure, and the Special he knew hadn't been in production for some years now, making their enemy out-dated - On the other hand he and the others barely had a fully functional mech between them, they were all running alarmingly low on energy and this guy, knowing they had just fended off a Fortress, had still had the balls to simply jump down in front of them - 'Can we beat something, or someone like that?'
The air around them still swirled from the Submarine's engines, the artificial sky above indicated it was about noon - The now five mechs squared off at one another. A brick, loosened in all the earlier attacks, fell with a thud out of one of the many damaged buildings - The Special Vijaik sprang like a panther.
Its movements matched well with its sword form, it sprinted forward at a remarkable speed and a low profile, aiming straight for Kolme.
In moments the new enemy would be atop him, Kolme went to raise his rifle but then thought better of it, letting the thing drop and drawing from his side an arc-staff. The telescopic weapon slide forward and ignited into its pillar of orange just in time to block the first slash from the enemy's katana looking blade.
Kolme's machine was nearly sent flying by the sheer impact - Not letting up the Special twirled, throwing aside Kolme's poorly griped arc-staff with one blade and aiming the second squarely at the old Neo's already damaged bulkhead. Before it could hit, Kolme rapidly threw up his left arm - Although the hand had been rendered to a pulp earlier, the arm still moved - Effectively blocking the Special's incoming blade.
A second later the much abused arm was nothing but a stump from the elbow down.
The Special seemed to hesitate for a moment following this, as though surprized that Kolme had managed to block the assault, before raising its blades once more to finish the old pilot. Before it could a series of orange lighting coursed around it, causing the enemy to literally jump backwards out of harms way.
As Kolme let out a sigh of relief, the Special took a few more paces back before regaining its X-pattern sword form.
"Sir--" Una suddenly said across the radio.
Kolme caught his breath before answering, "Ya lass? Good to hear ya talking again but now might not be the time."
"No but sir, on the open channels..."
"Hmmm-m?"
Kolme fiddled with his comms board for a moment and then to his surprize a voice with a southern twang came across;
"--I repeat: This is the dashing MBT-Special unit standing before ya - The name is Moncha and I have got to admit, didn't expect ya to block that, Mr.Neo unit - So listen, out of respect, lower your weapons and I'll let you all be prisoners of war, eh?"
Kolme stared mouth agape at the radio, 'Is he trying to buy time, or is he just that arrogant in his abilities?'
Before any of the squad could send back a message, this 'Moncha' spoke up once more;
"Ah wait, sorry gang, new orders from the boss - Brace yourselves!" The man said cheerily and with that his mech soared forward like some sort of wild hunting animal.
It moved even faster than before, this time charging at Hoki - She in turn fired her rifle at it but it simple twirled and stepped to the side before skidding to a halt right in-front of the cyan-Neo.
In a single slice it removed Hoki's hand, rifle and all from its socket.
Una had managed to get close in this time, striding forward with her own arc-staff drawn - Even this proved futile as 'Moncha' moved from the one movement of taking Hoki's arm, straight onto a second slice, capturing Una's own remaining Neo arm with-out a moments hesitation.
"Look out!" Kolme shouted helplessly, too far away to be of any use - The Special wound back its arm and then launched forward sword first - Before it could hit, Una's machine was pushed aside as Sabban's just as damaged Neo took the limelight, blocking the incoming katana with his arc-staff, the ragged Neo's orange visor glowing a bright red for all to see.
Una and Hoki quickly took the chance to move back away both their machines having been rendered useless in mere moments - While Moncha and Sabban squared up to one another - Ordinarily Kolme might of been hopeful, Sabban was a pro at close-quarters combat, but today?
The two mechs circled one another, the Special without so much as a scratch despite having now disabled three of the Neos - Sabban on the other hand was battered, one arm still limp, his shield long since lost and one of his machine's legs visibly leaking a black liquid.
They kept circling, as though the mechs themselves were sizing each other up, the red edged katanas against the sleek pole of the Neo's staff.
Moncha once more made the first move, his swords were a flurry - With each blow Sabban was forced further and further back, desperately blocking clash after clash with his lone blade.
At last Moncha hit hard enough to loosen the Neo's grip on its staff, the beam of orange being sent flying, the Speical rounded its arm back once more, ready to cut straight through the Neo's cockpit, but even with one arm Sabban was fast.
He reached for his shotgun and brought it up to where Moncha was about the step - This was the shotguns designed purpose, to bust open the cockpits of other Vijaiks up close.
The gun fired, Moncha ducked - Abandoning his move against the cockpit, the wiry body of the Special instead aimed low and swept through Sabban's left leg in one swipe. The shotgun spray rattling harmlessly against the rounded shoulder pads of the Special.
Even Sabban's talents could go no further, as his now one-legged machine toppled backwards, the severed part exploding violently and through that smoke charged the Special, finally ready to finish things once and for all.....
----
And then, in a moment Kolme's old eyes couldn't believe - The Special began to float, to fly upwards - It was accompanied by new sounds and vibrations.
If the submarine starting its engines had been intense, then this felt down right apocalyptic.
As the Special had been fighting the Neos, a massive barrage of pink, red and orange light had appeared from nowhere and assaulted the very sky itself. In a moment somehow more bizarre than everything already happening, the blue noon sky had been riddled with fissures and score lines, before it had shattered like glass, massive shards of metal had begun to tumble - The sky above had started falling in on the city.
Buildings not already damaged by the Fortress were crushed by shards of skyline - A hole miles in diameter was formed.
Everything was lifting and moving, all the air in the Nation-State rushing to escape through this monumental gash - And the Vijaik Speical simply allowed itself to get carried up by this, it began to float gracefully into the sky and towards space, as though this had always been its escape plan.
"C-clamps, ah, magnetic clamps now..." Kolme said as best he could.
Glancing around himself he could see Una and Hoki, like him in barely functioning machines, still reeling from the Special's assault - Their Neo's feet firmly clamping to the ground beneath. Around them hurricanes of glass and debris began to spin as every window shattered and every door was busted off its hinges - Entire buildings looked like they might start to take flight at any moment and in amongst it the MBT-Special flew like some metallic super hero.
"Sabban!" Una and Hoki both exclaimed in borderline sync.
Kolme turned to look too, "The hell are you doing!!"
****