No One Left Behind…Not Even an Urbie
"Attention all Longshots, this is
your Captain speaking. Mission accomplished, rendezvous at the drop zone, and please observe the FASTEN
SEAT BELT sign!"
Captain Jack Lee clicked
off his radio, launched his Grasshopper into the air, and crashed its 70 tons
down one last time on the wreck of the Capellan communication post. It was only
a small bit of revenge, but small bits added up over time. And he planned to
take a lot of small bits out of the Capellan Confederation.
His work done, Jack
rallied his lance and headed for his unit's dropship. The top of the old Union peeked above the buildings a few
blocks away like a giant dome, and he would be even happier once he and his
unit were safely aboard. Then his thoughts were interrupted by the radio.
"Longshots, Dragon
Ace." It was the Longshots' lead pilot, flying CAP in his Transit. "Cappie
Mechs closing on the drop zone from the west. Two lances. Vindis and
Blackjacks, with Cats in support. Looks like the rest of the garrison woke up.
Step it up down there."
"Ace, Longshot
lead," Jack responded. "Can you slow them down?"
"Will do. Deuce,
follow my shots." Overhead, Jack saw the two Transits move into a line
formation, before they dove with guns blazing. Jack could hear the hammering of
their heavy autocannons, see the streams of laser fire as they strafed the
distant Cappie garrison. Light tracers banged skyward in return as the two
Transits quickly peeled off. "Deuce, you OK?"
"Yeah, just
scratched my paint. Watch the flak, those Blackjacks can shoot from here to Sarna."
Jack leaped his
Grasshopper over a pile of rubble, the rest of his lance trailing behind him.
They were moving as fast as they could through the damaged city, but the Cappie
garrison added an urgency that made his unit seem so slow. He keyed his radio,
looking for his other lance. They should be guarding the drop zone. "Longshot
X, Longshot lead. What's going on back there, Lynn?"
Gunfire over the radio
was his response. Not good. Finally, Lynn's voice came back over the radio.
"Lead, X. I moved my unit out to meet the Cappies on the way in. We're
tied up with their lead lance to buy you time. Hurry up, we're way outgunned
here." Jack had no doubt of that; his second lance wasn't even a complete
unit. Lynn's Clint, Igor's rugged Hunchback, and that new kid's Urbie. They had
picked the kid up on a whim, a Davion farmboy turned Mechwarrior after finding
the old Urbie in his uncle's barn. It wasn't much, but any Mech was better than
none.
The next several minutes
went tensely by. Jack's lance ran and jumped as fast as it could, while the
strafing fighters supported Lynn's lance in holding off the Cappie garrison. Jack followed the fight on
the radio, listening to Lynn giving directions. Her lance had advanced into cover, and was basically pinging
any Cappie that dared to show his face. There was an explosion as one of the Cappie
Vindis went up, and Igor belted out a victory song, a snatch of Russian opera.
Jack grinned...he could see the burly Tikonov native in his head, taking a hit
of vodka from his hip flask as he toasted his downed enemy.
And then they were
there, and the roles reversed. Jack's lance formed up around the dropship, as Lynn's lance withdrew towards the drop
zone. Past them was the Capellan garrison, and Jack cringed as he saw a Cataphract
step out of cover. His lance concentrated fire, and the big Cappie ducked back
behind a building. But other Cappies were advancing, and this was starting to
get urgent.
Lynn's Clint was the
first Mech back, outrunning her slower lancemates. She turned and snapped a
shot from her autocannon, as Igor's Hunchback broke cover towards the Longshots'
Union. Jack keyed his
radio as he blasted another Cappie back into cover. "Where's the Urbie?"
He didn't want to admit that he couldn't even remember the new kid's name.
"I don't know, he
was..." Her answer was interrupted by an explosion and a huge gout of
dirt. The Longshots ducked reflexively as shrapnel flew everywhere, pinging off
Mech and dropship armor alike. Artillery!
"Time to go!"
Jack hustled his unit into the dropship, pointing and waving with his Mech's
arms to emphasize his verbal orders. Lynn's Clint was still kneeling and
shooting as she looked for the Urbie. Jack sent off a volley of fire to cover
her, as another artillery round careened off the top of the dropship before
exploding against the ground. "Come on Lynn, we can't wait or they'll blow us
apart!"
"But..." and
then her Mech was thrown on its face, as another shell landed right behind her.
No more arguing was needed. The Clint got halfway up, crawling up the ramp into
the dropship. Jack hesitated one last moment, looking for the Urbie. And then
he saw it, over 200 meters away, as it stepped out from behind a building and
shot a Cappie Blackjack square in the back. It went down, and the Urbie came
plodding slowly towards the drop zone.
Jack watched, his
Grasshopper crouching in the dropship door as another round came screaming
down. The Cappie artillery was finding the range. Jack steadied his Mech
against the hatch as the dropship's engines came up to pre-launch idle. The Urbie
wasn't going to make it, and the kid seemed to know it. He waved his autocannon
at Jack, and then stepped into cover, lining up on the advancing Cappies. Jack
felt something cold and hard inside as he closed the hatch, and as the dropship's
engines roared to full power, he saw the Urbie's cannon chew up another Cappie
Mech.
Jack parked and popped
his Mech's hatch, then ran to the bridge as the dropship slowly began lifting
off. He hung onto the seats as he looked down on the city below, seeing the Urbie
standing there with its gun blasting, holding off the Cappies while the Longshots
escaped. Again. And suddenly, that cold inside Jack turned raging hot.
Jack grabbed the dropship
pilot. "Can you hover this thing?" The surprised pilot nodded.
"Then do it. Swing us out over where he is." He grabbed the gunnery
radio as the Union tilted, sliding sideways in the air like a swinging ornament. "Get
on the tail guns, and clear the Cappies. Get the buildings too, screw'em. We
need a drop zone." He looked back at the pilot. "Put us down right on
top of the bastards."
The pilot complied. The Union, not really designed for manuvering in
atmosphere, tilted and swayed as the pilot vectored his engines. It took most
of their full power directed downward to keep the dropship in the air, and so
the sideways manuvering was awkward. In the round shadow below the swinging dropship,
Cappie Mechs were scattering as the tail guns blasted indiscriminately. The Urbie
was still shooting at the fleeing enemy, though its pilot was obviously
confused. Then suddenly, there was a mighty CRASH and RUMBLE as the 6000 ton Union came down, taking several buildings
with it.
Jack ran back down to
the Mech bay, and dropped the ramp right in front of the dumbfounded Urbie. He
grinned as the rest of the Longshots gathered around, some in their Mechs,
others not. Igor was laughing his ass off, a vodka bottle in his hand as he
slapped Jack on the back. Jack waved and yelled at the young Urbie pilot.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Come on!"
The Longshots scattered
as the Urbie marched its slow way up the ramp, cheering as the bay door closed
and the engines roared again. The young sandy-haired kid got out of the Urbie,
grinning like a fool. Jack looked around and realized that he was grinning
along with him, as all the Longshots were. Slowly, a silence fell, except for
the straining engines as the dropship burned for orbit, and Jack suddenly felt
awkward as he realized that everyone was looking at him. Finally, he just
shrugged.
"OK, NOW the
mission's accomplished."