This is great. Hope the canon story is just as riveting.
I wish.
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Xander Drake could hear the fierce wind rush past his suit threatening to blow him off course. The Salamander was an agile piece of kit on the ground or in space but was not meant to fly. Without a drag chute he had to put his arms out to maintain trim and keep on the target trajectory rather than fall into the icy black waters of the Eastern Bosporus. Even the movement of his helmet to look at the others might shift his center enough to cause a crash landing. The keel of the Wyrm was a large target but there was a small margin for error. If his 1000 kilo suit landed wrong even his strong bones would shatter and likely kill him from internal laceration if the sheer blunt force trauma didn't.
The computer engaged the thrusters in the final third of the daring jump, the g force from the sudden deceleration threatened to red him out but Drake focused on his training. He had jumped out of a shuttle in the stratosphere before this was nothing, of course that particular jump had nearly broken his back but he was still alive. Xander's knees were bent to take the initial shock he was on target, the impact even slowed jarred him and he rolled forward across the deck plates before standing and using the Salamander's foot claws to maintain control almost reaching the danger zone where the top part of the hull curved toward the water.
He reacted lighting fast as he saw Gogan about to land wrong, the Fire Elemental suits didn't have the foot claws of the Salamanders and three rolled over the edge plunging into the water to their likely doom. Two more landed hard and were mobility killed but still capable of firing their APGRs. Drake power sprinted aided by his jumps jets to reach the stricken Elemental that literally carried their entire mission on his back.
“Don't you fall Go.” The Salamander's claws dug deep into the Wyrm's armored hull and the Elementals forearms. A damaged panel gave way threatening to send both of the Elementals to the abyss. Drake instinctively dropped to the ground holding onto his fellow soldier with one arm that threatened to be ripped out of its socket. Gogan engaged his salvaged battle claw to arrest his own tumble once table he sent out a local comm signal strained with pain,
“I can't go on Xander. The impact at least broke my leg.”Xander released his grasp on the man, he probably tore a rotator cuff even though the suit had taken most of the weight. He could feel the cold sensation that always told him the drugs were flowing freely and so was his adrenaline,
“You were the best jumper in Delta.”The Elemental waved his battle claw at his companion,
“You were just the best. We wouldn't be on Terra if it were any other Warrior. Seyla brother.”Xander stood up and walked toward the fallen Elemental which released his nuclear payload. The heavy case was for protecting the mine during transit but right now Drake needed something portable. The metal case opened and revealed a large sphere with two handles capable of fitting into a waiting claws of the Hellion Khan.
“X has the package. Time to move toward that breach”The remaining Elementals circled the Khan and walked across the bucking deck of the Wyrm. Salamander claws dug deep into the hull plates as the water splashed over them. One of the giant retractable turrets lifted up out of the hull to fire lasers and missiles at incoming Snow Raven fighters. The fighters heavy lasers left behind charred metal and flash evaporated saltwater in its wake.
Drake and his Elementals could see the water warm noticeably up as the Wyrm dumped the heat from its massive laser arrays into the ocean via its heat sinks. The laser remained up tracking the Snow Raven Sabutai Ds firing three missiles missiles at one and the gargantuan 55 centimeter laser beam powerful enough to punch through a dropship, at the other. If the Elementals didn't have laser buffers built into their visors they would have been blinded and missed the Sabutai's wing cleanly sheared off and the fuselage disintegrating over Novik Bay. The other deployed chaff and dove hard with afterburners active attempting to break line of sight with the vessel. One of the missiles was still in hot pursuit of the sleek aerodynamic dagger of an Omnifighter even as it took evasive action.
“Wow!”The air around the commandos was warmed by the immense energy released. If they weren't in heat resistant armor and ankle deep in water they would have been baked alive by the brief surge of heat. Its duties complete the turret returned to its original position with immense force becoming just another bump on the back of the submersible fortress. Drake and co watched as three large missiles came out of the Prow their fiery orange tails breaking toward the North.
“We need to kill this thing soon. Move Onyx.”The Elementals found the breach they were looking for, one of the heavy turrets had been damaged while upright by the last bombing run by the Ghost Bear's Valkyries. Most of them had been shot down on the run by heavy AAA defenses but their sacrifice could enable his Hellions to get access to the Wyrm. Xander looked toward the other Star of Salamanders which had been carrying disassembled pieces of breaching gear left over from the Assault of Breaker Bay during the Regent's War,
“Get to work. We don't have much time before it clears the straits.”Without a word the Elementals assembled the Lockjaw, a super heavy cutting tool capable of chopping through the reinforced bulkheads of a submersible fortress. One of the units carried the main tool while the rest supported him as he sawed his way through the Wyrm's thick hide cutting away damaged armor and internal structure in a shower of sparks until it was wide enough for an Elemental to slide through.
The Fire Elementals were first in dropping down and sweeping the area for hostiles. Finding none they signaled the Breach team followed by the Khan's Guard. The inside of the turret was maze of wires and cooling pipes most of which were damaged to various extent by combat. One of the Fire Elementals looked behind one of the larger control panels,
“No one on damage control. Curious.”
“Perhaps we forced their hand and made them depart without a full compliment Toka. Or they have robots. Yak, find a port for the datacard.”
“Aff Khan Drake.” The datacard Xander carried was one of the most sophisticated pieces of intrusion software in the Inner Sphere developed and programmed specifically to break into Blakist systems by the Expert Program VALA on Donegal. “Found one Xander.” The Khan gently placed his nuclear mine on the damp deck and handed the card to the fellow Elemental. VALA's interface was programmed to sync with his suit's on-board computer and a few tense moments later a feminine voice came in over his helmet speakers.
“I only have basic access Xander, this system is quite complex.”
“Can you get me to engineering Vala?”
“I cannot maintain a link for long once I start going active hostile ICE will freeze me out.”Xander Drake looked around for a frame number and found one,
“Then get me a map.”
“Done. Syncing to all in the local Battlenet.”
“Open the doors in frame 5-5-1. We just need to get out of this turret.” His time on space stations had given him a unique sense of direction and operations for a commando,
“Use damage control override protocols.”Red Lights and Klaxons came alive in the turret but the doors opened.
“Hurry before they close them down from the bridge. We have seven frames till we get near engineering.” The Elementals metered themselves through the doorway barely large enough for their bulk being built for smaller industrial exoskeletons. Two Elementals were trapped behind as the door slammed shut and separated them from their fellow soldiers. The prow tilted forward slightly causing the Fire Elementals to stagger but the Salamander Marines had fought on Aphrodite and locked in their foot claws which crushed the grated floor with bundles of myomer muscles. A half dozen White and Gold clad Nighthawk suits appeared at the far end of one of the corridors holding a rail with one hand and their Mauser 1200s laser rifles with the other.
“Elementals!”Drake looked at the sphere in his clawed hands,
“So much for not enough hands on board.” The Salamanders' hands caught on fire and four Fire Elementals leveled their APGRs at the enemy.