10
05/08/3052
Ranna adjusted the cooling vest, her now SLDF Olive Drab Warhammer’s weapons had been disabled by a software lock until she completed her Trial of Position. Star Colonel Kerensky found it cumbersome to carry her bondswoman around, thus Ranna found herself on a lengthening leash tied to her bondholder or her Hellbringer. That Omnimech was configured similarly to Ranna’s Warhammer, and she couldn’t shake that was likely a purposeful choice. Her leash even extended to the Mech’s DI computer, locked as it was in low power mode with just enough sensors to operate safely and a remote kill switch.
Antares City looked more like a ruin now than when she had landed nearly a month ago before Katya’s forces defeated them. She looked around for familiar insignias but found none, most of them had redeployed to the forward operating bases the Adders established after occupation. Mongoose Epsilon Galaxy had fully deployed their ground contingent of lightweight high speed Mechs for which they were known who moved in strange bird-like formations across the cleared ground.
They passed by a high razor fenced area that looked much like a POW camp. Some prisoners milled about in the square under the close observation of watch towers manned by auxiliary infantry. To her relief they didn’t seem to be in overt distress, but they did stare at her Warhammer. Their looks which filled her with guilt at having the privilege of watching TV in a comfortable college dorm when not doing Katya’s gopher work while they suffered. She whispered to herself, “I’ll find a way to get you out. Don’t give up.”
The airspace above the Starport was thick with aerodyne Nova Fox dropship freighters and the spheroid combat transports of the 37th Strikers and Epsilon Galaxy. Green and Red running lights revealed their presence in an otherwise light disciplined site as the freighters pulled into their established parking ramps. Aft cargo ramps were lowered to disgorging an army of well-drilled quadruped war machines. These machines, the SXR Autonomous Battlemechs, followed a signals truck to the marshalling area before setting down like so many big cats at rest, their bug like camera arrays followed Katya and my Battlemechs as we passed between them.
The only thing that she knew about them was that they were the same types of robots that had exterminated the 12th Star Guard, utterly fearless, and equipped with some of the most advanced weapons and sub-systems in the Touman’s inventory but possessed limited tactical acumen. Katya didn’t trust them preferring Drones under the control of operators rather than Scientist’s projects, knowing Diana Pryde that seemed reasonable.
At Central Command Asa Taney presented his grand plan to stop the Wolf Dragoons which was good because Alba’s Deep Space Sensors picked up the Jump Signatures of the Charlemagne, Tokugawa, and Nelson escorting a massive AMC multi-unit task force later that night.
General Maeve Wolf issued her batchall,
Complete Surrender
or
Total Annihilation.
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