"This is a simple mission: protect the shuttle as it launches into space."
The contents of the disc detailed a very detailed and precise attack on the employer's one and only functioning lauch pad.
Three mechs were not enough to defend this one: nearly a dozen mercenaries had been hired, with promises of bonuses for the highest killing person.
The attack detailed enemy forces advancing by both air and sea. Nearly ten wings of bombers, each with at least half a dozen aircraft within each wing, were set to advance on the launch pad in three different waves. Long-range mortars would be set up, accompanied by one mech each, as the ground forces including at least another 10 mechs commanded the rival company's ground units, composed of tanks and support mechs.
There had been concern of misdirection about the contents of the disc, but forces had been seen moving covertly into the positions described, down to the latitude and longitude.
The plan was this: there would be two teams of three, and three teams of two, with yet one more mech situatied as a big cannon at the center of the complex. The trios would be the ones sent out to battle the ground troops yet not too far from base, and the duos would play defense, shooting down bombs and bombers alike.
Trios were suggested as "light, agile mechs, fit for scurrying about skirmishing," while the duos were discribed as "massive tanks to blow everything up." It was a surprise, then, to all but the Zair and Stryke, that Golem would accompany them in their trio. The tank-treaded behemoth was by no means the most agile of mechs, but it would be able to move fast enough to keep up as long as the red and the blue stayed together. After issuing a threat of elimination to any objections, naysayers kept silent.
The other trio was unknown to the Zair, save Headstriker. The two had come to a draw in a previous arena battle not so long ago.
The trio of duos were rather non-descript themselves. Nearly all had two miniguns, one on each shoulder, able to provide a sheer wall of bullets to detonate any incoming and deadly projectiles at the lauch pad. Some had rifles and shields, others had miniguns for arms, and yet there was even one that held a sniper rifle for precision and an energy blade, for that 'just in case' moment.
There were other types of defenses strewn about the complex: stationary battlements, rocket launchers, all controlled be people within the control center. Failing that, computers themselves.
The launch complex itself would be a chore to defend. It did lie on a flat plain, with clear views in every direction, but it was basically a sitting duck. Its only advantange also became its weak point: it would be easily approached on all sides. Enemy forces were set to advance from the north and the east, with later waves of mechs coming from the west, and lastly, the south. The south was suppose to be a surprise: it was the side opposite from the general direction of the opposing company.
Trios took their spots at the northern walls, their gates open, as the two gates on the other three walls were closed and locked. Duos took their place on the ramparts, one each on the west, north, and east walls. Zair had ready its shoulder-mounted sniper rifle, another energy rifle lying nearby. Its left hand held another energy blade, and its left shoulder lay bare for the time being. Stryke had ready a long-range grenade launcher over the left shoulder, its trademark three-teired sniper rifle mounted on its right. A rifle of its own lay nearby, ready for use, and its own blade lay ready on its left arm. Golem paced back and forth the distance of the gate, meeting Zair at one end and Stryke at the other, yet never turning to either, its sights set on the horizon. Both shoulder weapons had their safeties off, waiting to launch their salvos at the enemies soon to be coming.
The tension was much the same throughout the rest of the complex; and as recorded the first mortar shell rose into the air with the setting of the sun as enemies took to their advance, the first wave of bombers gaining altitude. They had clung close to the ground to avoid dectection; rather, to avoid detection until stealth was no longer necessary. Four mechs leading armored troops and units advanced from the north and another three from the west appeared seemingly from out of the ground and began their approach.
The plan was to surprise the assault, not letting them know that their plans had no longer been secret. The duos stood behind battlements, out of sight from land. Once the first bombs were dropped, they were to shoot them down and destroy of what bombers they could without using too much ammunition. The trios were not to move, as this may entice the enemy mechs to advance without caution towards the complex, allowing the defenders to catch as many enemy mechs in traps and snares before coming face to face.
The bombers leveled, their bays opening, their payloads falling towards the ground. Duos appeared, their barrells already spinning, knowing just exactly what to expect. Two barrels on one mech, at six mechs, proved to be an amazing fire show as tracers formed a wall of lead speeding into the sky, a shield against the bombs from the air. Bombs exploded, taking others with them, as rounds flew past and pierced the bombers themselves. Two of the three bombers went down, being shot further to pieces as they fell to the earth. The bombers, though, were not alone. More rose from the ground, much more than expected: nearly three dozen more gained altitude, preparing their final approach.
The ground forces, stunned, watched their first wave of allies go down in flames of blue and yellow and red.
And as expected, the mechs advanced towards the battlements, blue glows surrounding their backs, trying to take revenge for their seeming lack of preparedness.
And so the Zair left fly one shot, removing the head of an advancing Hephastus, bringing it into a jumbled pile of arms and legs driving into the sand and dirt. Stryke had begun lobbing grenades towards them, hoping to take a few off their tracks and maybe into the pitfalls and traps and mines they had prepared. One of his grenades managed to knock one speeding mech into another, in which case the second just enough altitude to set off a mine. The explosion engulfed the surprised mech, removing half of its body in the process, sending the rest of it into a heap of metal to the ground.
Stryke remounted the grenade launcher and unfolded its other weapon, the barrel sticking out nearly 24 meters from the wall. No enemy visible was out of this weapons range. It pulled the trigger, the enormous shell casing flying into the air and cracking the cement below as it landed. Yet another mech was out of the fight, but this one's floater system was knocked off line, rendered further useless as its head landed 10 meters away.
The advancing enemy was caught off guard, but not off guard enough. Mech units from the west and the south began their advance towards the complex, and a duo unit was pulled to head them off, as well as the Zair's. The five were meant to stop nearly eight. The other trio stuck behind, taking pot shots at the advancing mechs from the north and the east, another duo unit dirverted to help depend the threat from land as the automated turrents came alive and filled the night sky with tracers, exploding unseen shells. It was too dark to make shots with any accuracy; the only things the stationary mech and the other duo unit could do was fire blindly into the night sky. Six enemy mechs gathered towards the northeast, with an almost even five to oppose. The ground forces were left behind to their own devices; this battle had gone to the behemoths of war.
To the southwest, five met six as two enemies were destroyed before meeting face to face. The trio kept forward as the duo hung back, providing support fire over the open field. Their raised their shields and hoped that their attackers would let no one pass. The Zair sped by the Golem, overboosting into the middle of the enemy pack. Stryke drew a yellow quadped away to duel on the plains, as the Golem destroyed another enemy mech with a barrage of grenades and bullets.
Zair slashed at one of the four remaining, flying past and sunk its blade into the furthest back. The advancing enemy was then down to four, one distracted by Stryke, leaving three to deal with the Zair. Cannon fire disrupted their aim as shots from the Golem and the heavy duo pelted their backs, but not before one shot a rocket the back of the Zair, hitting squarely, knocking it to the ground, just as Stryke easily disabled his enemy with his blade. The Golem precisely lobbed on grenade into the chest of an enemy while shooting the legs of another, disabling one and crippling the other. It sauntered up and landed the finishing blow, a clean cut across the neck.
Minimal damage to the Zair, and a rather easy battle. The Zair thought on why the enemies seemed like novices on the groups way back to the complex. The shuttle was in its final stages as bombs loomed fell around the complex, the blanket of lead slowing and stopping for reloads and repositionings. The northeastern defenders returned, with one reverse-legged mech badly damaged, hunched over the shoulder of a companion. Bombers begun to crash down around the complex, their metal hulls falling into the earth from their once lofty perches above. The duos retook their positions atop the battlements and continued their fire into the night sky.
Explosions shown across the blackness, their sound unreaching to the pilots housed within their mechanial monstosities. The trios took ther spots at the northern gates once more as they picked off incoming mortar shells from the north, casually shotting and lobbing grenades into the grounds before them to dissuade non-mech unit to come near and storm the complex.
The shuttle finally launched, to the tune of falling bombers and rising tracers, to the sound of explosions in the sky. No enemy had bothered to save one last round to shoot at the launching shuttle, as once going, they were too fast to catch up to with any weapon, save another shuttle.
"Mission accomplished; shuttle successfully launched."
There was a slight cheer throughout the comm speakers from a few of the other pilots. It had not been a hard night; it had just been a long one. It was not yet day, either.
A great light flashed above them, a column of energy passing through the night sky. It illuminated anything and everything, so much so that it seemed almost as if it were noon.
It vanished, but not before it clipped the launched shuttle, blowing it into pieces. It colored the sky in reds and yellows, and slight oranges as piecese of heated metal fell back towards the earth.
A machine appeared on the horizon, accompanied by the rising sun. But you could not see the sun, being blocked by the behemoth.
"It can't be," one pilot managed to stammer. "It can't be...that!"