Woah, sudden Ares is built 70 years before it was made? This AU is really packed with surprises.
The Word of Blake did have all the technical details to make them according to Canon, just didn't get the chance to. Helps when you have a the Wolverine Clan in Exile hanging out on Mars for nearly two centuries with an axe to grind.
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Ghosts of MarsSho-Sa Akira Tormark's Komodo “Aiansukeru” Battlemech walked on the shores of the Helles Sea at the South Pole of Mars. The rest of his Light Assault Group walked or rolled behind him, the Armored Infantry buttoned up in the IFVs to protect them from the hazardous martian surface. The alien sea was covered with a layer of ice under which dark purple algae lived and the shores were lined with black lichen all engineered to withstand the briny alkaline water and cold CO2 rich air.
He looked at the corner of his HUD to see the outside air temperature (-47 C), pressure (5.7 kPa), and weather forecast (Dry Thundersnow). It was winter in the Southern Hemisphere but the Hellas Sea was high above the equatorial plane of Mars so there would still be meager light from Sol, at least until the Polar storm rolled in.
“Chu-I Ito, Report.”The scout commander came in over the radio,
“I've found the enemy Sho-Sa. You need to come over here to see it though.”Akira's Komodo broke into a run followed by the rest of the formation,
“What is it?” As he crested a set of dunes next to Ito's Venom all the breath in his body left him. He zoomed in on the lead mech.
“Kuroshinju? It can't be.”A red crab with black Kanji stepped forward from a group very similar to Akira's own.
“It is Akira. You thought me dead on Dieron?”
“You were dead Shakur. I saw your mech go down with an open cockpit in the burning rubble of Fortress Dieron alongside Oji Hohiro's Daishi.”
“And yet I still live.”
“As a monster, alongside other ghosts still stuck in the past.”
“My Yokai and I haven't changed a bit. You have however become the Shogun's pet dragon. I had not expected it when I first recruited you to join our order.
Was certain you would only share the battlefield with a Clan from the other side.”
“If you truly haven't changed Shakur.” Akira engaged his Komodo's combat mode as the Polar strom began to blow in from the sea,
“Then you will lose the same way brother.”
“All glory to the Ghosts of the Black Dragon Akira.”
“We serve the Shogun Shakur. Your hungry ghosts are Ronin of the worst order.” The two DCMS forces charged toward one another as the dry snow began to fall around them. The lightning overhead was answered below as the two forces exchanged PPCs and the thunder matched the impact of missile. The Kin Masuko and Yokai clashed with a fury reserved only for the worst of enemies.
Wights clawed at Panthers taking the impact of their SRMs straight to the heavily armored torso
A massive cloud of missiles crash into a Naginata knocking it to the ground where it is swarmed by Kages
Rattlesnakes make high speed passes on Grand Dragons disappearing into the red dust storm as quickly as they appear before the lumbering mechs can get a firing solution. Friendly Jenners chased their brethren.
Venoms leap against Wolf Traps firing on Tokugawa and Schiltron tanks while their Raiden Armored Infantry were engaging an Akuma.
A lance of Kyudos held their ground against an assault by Kin Masuko Gladiators
Inside Aiansukeru Akira Tormark attempted to get a targeting solution on an enemy Rattlesnake but it was proving difficult with the electrical interference and reduced visibility caused by the Polar storm blowing up red dust from the dunes behind them. Out of the dust he saw his real target, Shakur Faraq's battle damaged Crab. The man who was his best friend and adopted brother from his military school days in Takaoguchi as well as former Black Dragon co-conspirator until he had second thoughts and ended up in a concentration camp with Franklin Sakamoto.
“Shakur, surrender your swords. I do not want you to die again.”The snow and dust were blowing between the at high speeds isolating the two commanders from the great battle.
“You know I can't do that Akira.”Sho-Sa Tormark was sweating but it was not from his Komodo's internal heat which dissipated faster on the Martian South Pole,
“Why not! Your cause is lost, has been since almost the beginning.”
“No cause is lost as long as there are those that remember. The Clans will die here and if necessary I will take out their allies as well. You should not have come Akira I do not relish fighting against you.”
“The Blakists destroyed so much, they nearly ended the Combine.”
“Change is frequently painful brother. Our efforts still made a more powerful and proud Combine. Besides the Word is not done with the Clans yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“You'll find out tomorrow.
Until then.
Yõjin Suro!”The Crab lifted one of its clan tech heavy lasers at the Komodo. Akira avoided the blast foiling his former friend's targeting solution as the dry snow instantly sublimed back into the Martian atmosphere due to the sudden surge of heat. A follow up shot ripped into the right leg tearing into the myomer and titanium structure below. Akira's remaining trio of clan medium lasers took off one of the arms as he closed with the enemy. His agile mech wove across the wind swept Martian steppe even with a perforated leg.
The final blow was struck as Akira's lasers cored the engine and exposed the cockpit of his former friend. His own mech was gimped by the final heavy laser blast to his leg burning away most of the myomer and metal underlayment. A heavy small laser hit the cockpit burning away most of the gold painted armored canopy of his black mech. Aiansukero fell to the ground with a crash after its ankle buckled. Akira's body pulled hard against the restraints and he only barely managed to avoid injury by training and good fortune.
Kuroshinju crumbled to the ground falling on its side mangling the remaining arm under its fifty ton mass. Akira shook off the fall and released his restraints allowing the Martian storm to begin covering his mech with supercold hoarfrost. The external cameras were covered in dry ice so he couldn't see the cockpit of his enemy nor did he wish to rise and expose himself to the crossfire around him.
“I am down but alive Kin Masuko. Ryu e no Eikõ!”The chant was echoed across the battlenet as the combat action continued. The fast moving polar storm cleared over the field exposing downed units covered in dry white snow and red dust.
“Hang in their Sho-Sa.”“Take care of the others My mech can limp off the field.” Akira turned his comm-unit off,
“but I have to do something first.”Akira ensured that his Mechwarrior Combat Suit was environmentally sealed and heated, he detached the neurohelmet, and turned on his headlight before crawling back to the hatch to open it. The dry snow sublimated off the matte black combat suit as he walked across the blood red regolith. He felt the chill around him as even the powerful electronic heating elements could not completely combat a -60*C cold.
Kuroshinju was still powered down and cold based on the suits IR sensors meaning that Shakur might be dead or unconscious. He drew his Nakijima laser pistol holding it flush in his environmental suit's gloves as he stepped over the Crab's broken arm covered in rime and neared the cockpit. The cockpit was torn to shreds and Shakur's MCS breached. His dark skin was covered in frosted flecks of red blood atop burn marks, his lips were icy blue, and brown eyes shut. Akira holstered his pistol and disengaged the restraints that still held the dead man in the cockpit's chair gently lowering him to the surface.
Akira's eyes were red with barely constrained tears as got as close to seiza as the MCS would allow him to holding his hands in prayer over the illuminated corpse.
“You were lost in darkness and I failed to bring you back to the light. Now that you are gone I wish you safe travels in the world of the Kami.”He stood back up and searched through the twisted metal of the cockpit to find the man's damaged swords. Once more returning to seiza he held them over the body,
“I will return these to your family. You died a proud Warrior.” With a final bow,
“Just on the wrong side.”