Two Red Dropships bzed into the atmosphere of Bckstone at incredible speeds, rotating on their axes only at the st moment to start their deceleration burn. Their engines fred, jets of superheated psma obscuring their sensors as they made their final descent towards their depot.

  They hadn't received any signals from the depot since their arrival, and detected dropship movements near that location. So, fearing the worst, their embarked Mechwarriors were mounted up already. All twelve mechs, the entire Command Company of the Third Battalion of Ryan's Rebel's, were locked and loaded, ready to deal with whatever happened to the depot.

  Strapped into her recently gifted 60-ton Quickdraw, Susie Morgraine-Ryan was going through her company's status screens. She was piloting the only heavy mech in the formation, her father's personal mech. The rest were a motley mix of light and medium mechs, all with various amounts of damaged armour from their st two operations. She wasn't overly worried about that; even if they were fresh, she outnumbered and out weighed the Bckstone guards by a significant margin. Unless they had reinforcements from out of system, she would be able to crush whatever they had brought against her people here.

  Quickdraw

  Spoiler

  [colpse]"ETA 30 seconds Commander." A voice came over her comms, the dropship commander giving her a heads-up about their impending nding.

  "Roger. Throw the doors open immediately, we are charging out in force." She ordered.

  "Yes, Ma'am!"

  They were coming in hot, pnning to shoot first and ask questions ter.

  "If this is a false arm, I might just kill those idiots myself." She said to herself, then reyed her orders to the company.

  Dar was waiting in a copse of trees by the main entrance in the pirate camp, watching the two Union dropships offload a dozen mechs.

  "Command 1, this is Bravo 2. Counts twelve mechs. Two Locusts, two Fleas, two Spiders, one Firestarter, one Jenner for lights. Two Cicadas, one Shadow Hawk for mediums. One Quickdraw for heavies. Various amounts of damaged armour across the board."

  "Roger. Give them hell." The old man replied, his breathing boured already.

  Dar was worried about him, but didn't have much time to think about it then. She had a job to do. She targeted one of the fleas and let loose a volley of LRMs from her concealed position. The little mechs didn't have much in the way of armour, but they had two medium pulse sers, which could get annoying, not to mention a fmer and a couple of small sers. Best to deal with them from afar.

  Fifteen missiles flew out of the treeline, quickly crossing the nearly kilometre distance between her and the advancing company, smming directly into the unsuspecting Flea. The salvo tore through the remaining armour on its left side, blowing one of the annoying mechs' sers right off its chassis. She targeted the Jenner next, the speedy mech already having identified where she was hiding and was loping towards her.

  As soon as her tubes loaded, she let fly her next volley, then hit her jump jets to start making her way back into the cave. Her mech left the copse just as nearly two dozen LRMs and a couple of rge sers burnt into her hiding pce, setting it abze.

  "Yeah. Better not stick around, else those boys will get my number." She said aloud, nding her mech in the middle of their surprise. She took aim at a different mech and let loose another volley. She didn't have much ammo left after yesterday, so her job was to use up what she had and get out of there.

  A loud explosion, accompanied by her mech's warning arm, rocked her mech. Shrapnel blew through her cockpit, cerating the right side of her body. The Shadow Hawk, on the extreme range of its 80 mm autocannon, nded a hit and blew the right torso right off her mech.

  "Hah! Now it's a party!" She said, smiling despite her injuries. She was starting to lose vision in her eye, but that didn't matter much. If John could do it with one eye, so could she. She let loose with another volley and hit her still functioning jump jets, sending her further back into the cave.

  James waited patiently as Dar made her way back into the secondary entrance to the cave. Her mech had taken a severe amount of damage already, but she was quickly making her way over to his position. Her husband, Jerome, was screening her now, his damaged Spider ying into the advancing light mechs with its two medium sers. James was also throwing a few volleys out of his Centurion's LRM uncher towards them, expending the rest of the ammunition for that weapon. They had brought one of the Flea's down, and were now worrying the more deadly Jenner.

  The rest of his nce were lying in wait over by the cave entrance to the Star League cache, powered down for now, awaiting the signal to attack. A signal that would soon be coming.

  "Just a few more seconds." He said, aiming his 80mm autocannon towards one of the light mechs swarming towards him. It was a simir weapon to the pirate Shadow Hawk's 80mm, but would fire twice as many rounds per burst*. He blew off the Firestarter's leg, causing it to colpse beside Jerome's spider. The man kicked the fallen mech's cockpit, rattling the pirate hard, before jumping off towards the exit again.

  Then tragedy struck. Several medium sers smmed into the back of Dar's mech just as she made it to him, rupturing her reactor and causing the mech to explode. The ejection system did not go off.

  "DARLA!!!" Jerome screamed on the comms, his small mech flying back into the fray before James could try to rein him in. He nded on top of the Jenner, smashing his thirty-ton mech into the top of the pirate who just killed his wife in a daring Death From Above maneuver. The Spider's leg actuators crumpled, the already damaged mech literally falling apart from his assault, but he had destroyed the most deadly mech currently on the field in exchange. He was quickly overwhelmed with both missile and ser fire, the husband and wife pair dying together in a bze of glory.

  "Fudge." He cursed to himself, firing his autocannon again, adding a couple of shots of his medium sers to boot. He backed his mech into the cave mouth, no time to mourn the loss of both the Guards' remaining light mechs and their pilots. He was still buying more time, waiting for the more deadly mechs to enter the killzone.

  The first pirate Cicada entered the cave, then the other. James counted to five, then pressed another button. The button that activated the remote detonation mines they had pnted earlier. A massive explosion shook the cave, causing rocks to fall from the ceiling, and the resulting fireball blinded him for a moment. That didn't stop him from backpedaling into the tunnel, firing one st volley blindly into the swarm of light mechs as if in challenge. Would they dare follow him down this path where they couldn't surround him and their targeting and communications wouldn't work?

  Saying a silent prayer for his two fallen comrades, he disappeared down the path like a trapdoor spider entering its ir, waiting to see who was foolish enough to follow him.

  He wasn't disappointed.

  Susie looked at the devastation in front of her, whistling softly. The two Cicadas were caught in that massive bst, leaving almost nothing of those two mechs remaining, even before they were buried under tons of rock. She and the Shadow Hawk pilot, Daniel Reyes, had been far enough back that they didn't get caught in the explosion. However, there was now a lot of rubble between her and her remaining mechs that had been engaging the guards.

  Undeterred, she activated her jump jets, slowly making her way over the pile of rocks.

  "Status report." She called out across the radio.

  "Two enemy mechs down. Remaining for- *Shhhhickt* entering a tunnel to *Shhhhickt* down a Centurion th- *Shhhickt* -ars to be out of ammo." A voice came across the radio; the comms were clearly affected by significant interference caused by mineral deposits in this area. Not that it was unexpected, it was the main reason they had chosen this location for their depot. The fact that there was a Star League cache here was just an added bonus that they had recently discovered when one of the pirates was bored enough to go and explore that cave.

  "Follow him." She ordered. If they could destroy what remained of the guard here, they could possibly annex Bckstone for the Greater Valkyrate, and she could prove to her parents that she was indeed ready to assume the throne. She was already in her early thirties now, her parents both in their sixties. She knew they wanted to retire soon, and it was one of her greatest wishes to assume their throne peacefully. She had no interest in regicide, but would do it if they tried to cling to power for much longer.

  "Susie dear, over by the cache!" Daniel said, her sometimes lover being a bit too familiar on the comms about a minute ter. She looked over and cursed. Three medium mechs were coming out of that cave. She opened up with her LRMs, the ten missiles peppering the Griffin that was leading the two lighter Assassins.

  "Engage them! Bravo and Charlie Lance! Return to the depot!" She called across the comms.

  *Static*

  "Damn it!" She cursed, knowing she fucked up. "Daniel, engage from ranged, and start moving back through the rubble. Get me out of this, and I will even let you be on top tonight."

  "Heh. Yes, Ma'am," He said, focusing his fire on the Griffin.

  "You seemed a little too excited about that." She quipped, engaging her jump jets.

  "Not every day you get to top your future Queen. Besides, I know how you like it."

  "Some days I don't know why I haven't castrated you and sent you to the mines."

  "You damn well know why."

  The two of them bantered as they exchanged fire with the Guards, trying to make light of the situation they found themselves in. They just needed to get under the cover of the guns of their dropships, and they would be fine.

  The pirates chased the backpedaling Centurion through the tunnel, the five smaller mechs continually swapping the lead position as they took ser fire from the rger mech. Its autocannon had only barked once, leading them to believe he was already out of ammo. Thirsty for blood, they continued to snap at its heels, bleeding even more armour off the nearly toothless machine.

  It exited the tunnel, following the left path. A Locust was currently leading the chase, its pilot leaning on his throttles more, trying to find a way to get around the Centurion now that it was in the open. If they could cut it off, it would be done for.

  Explosions rippled across the ground and his mech's legs, startling him for a second, but he quickly regained his composure when he saw what was shooting at him. "Contact, Bck Jack. It's heavily damaged. Jumpers move up. The rest of you stay on the Centurion."

  He raked his machine guns over the mech as the rest of the pirates shot out of the cave, peppering the battered mech's viewport with bullet holes. The ferrogss wouldn't give that easily, but it probably rattled the pilot a bit at the very least.

  "ARRGGGHHH!!!" A scream came across his headset, and suddenly the other Locust went flying past him, off the side of the cliff.

  "Surprise, Dumbasses. Here comes the pain." A deep baritone voice said in an angry tone. Very angry.

  The pirate realized that they may have made a mistake.

  As soon as James' mech came out of the tunnel, John began the activation sequence to the Charger, having powered it down to minimize the chance of the pirates detecting it. Its big engine roared to life, and John smmed the throttles forward, unching the assault mech towards the gaggle of light mechs now pincered between him and the Centurion.

  Not bothering with the sers, he smmed his left arm into the back of one of the Locust, the impact adding to its own momentum and sending it off the edge of the cliff.

  The two Spiders jumped then, clearing the old man's mech, but John paid them no mind. He barked a taunt over an open channel, then, twisting his torso the other way, he brought his right hand into the side of the other locust. Metal crumpled, the machine gun on the smaller mech twisting under the impact, its whole chassis careening into the cliff face.

  The Flea turned and sprayed John with its whole armament, peppering his mech with sers and a Fmer. He felt a slight wash of heat from that, but the Charger shrugged it off like it was nothing. Because it really was nothing to an Assault mech.

  James took the opening that Flea just gave him, aimed his 80mm cannon at its back, and let fly with his st remaining salvo of HEAP rounds. It tore through the smaller machine's paper-thin rear armour, ripping into its internals and forcing its reactor into emergency shutdown.

  John smmed both his arms down on top of the Locust like some sort of WWE wrestler, crushing the top of the machine and breaking off the other machine gun. He then pinned it with both arms and started to drag the beleaguered mech to the side of the ravine.

  "No! No! No! NO!!!" The pirate screamed.

  "C'mon now, can't Locust fly?" He replied, kicking it in the back and unching it after its buddy.

  "ARRRRRGGH- *Shhiztick*"

  "Guess not," John said, then turned to the shutdown Flea. Its canopy was open, the pirate tossing her sidearm out the side and raising her hands. "Good call. Stay right there." He said over the open comms and walked past the now inoperable machine.

  "You seem to be having fun," James said, his voice strained. He was running towards Lucy's position, firing his sers at the backs of the speedy mechs.

  "Just a bit. This wouldn't have worked anywhere near as well on an open field."

  "No, it wouldn't have. These little bastards would have swarmed us, letting the rest of the company pick us apart from range."

  "I hate to be a bother, but I ne- ARGH!" Lucy started to say something, then screamed in pain as an explosion rippled through her mech. One of the Spiders' sers had penetrated her center torso, catching what was left of her autocannon ammo. Her mech's head detached as its engine exploded, sending her flying over the ravine.

  "LUCY!" John shouted, now seeing red. He throttled up his mech, chasing after the two light mechs. The pair of them started to jump away, over the top of the pile of rubble left from the exploding Jenner and out of his reach.

  There was no response on the radio.

  "John, she should be fine. Come, we still have work to do."

  John looked down the ravine, the distance too far for his mech to jump down. It might survive, though, and he could go find her.

  "Lucy..."

  "John! We already lost Dar and Jerome! We can't afford to lose you, too!"

  "What?" John replied, James bombshell snapping him out of his ridiculous thoughts.

  "Reactor explosion and her ejection system didn't deploy. Jerome jumped on top of the offending mech with his full weight, destroying it but disabling his Spider. These guys blew him up as well."

  "God damnit!" John cursed. He had only met them a few days ago, but he had memories of them reaching back for years now. It hurt to hear that they were dead now.

  Maybe I can come back and use resurrection magic on them? DEN Return!Instead of the usual transition to DEN, a screen popped up in front of him.

  [If you use DEN Return, you will automatically fail this Bonus World and will never be able to return. Do you still want to activate this skill?]

  "Huh?"

  Since when? I thought that was the point of having that skill? God damnit! No, I do not!

  The screen disappeared, leaving John with a view of the ravine below. He was confused and angry now, finding Lucy suddenly seemed a lot more urgent than it did a moment ago.

  "John, you will not survive that fall. Come, let's go. The rest of the Guards should be cleaning up the remaining mechs. Let's give them a hand."

  "Yeah," John said, backing away from the edge. "By the way, I found something else in there. This might be a good time for me to go get it."

  "Oh? What is it?"

  "It's a surprise. Did I ever tell you before that I used to be a pilot?" John replied, smming his throttle forward at full speed, heading back to the cave.

  "Wait! John, what about the prisoner?"

  "Kill them or carry them, I don't care. I have to go rescue Lucy."

  "Darn it, John! I am still your CO!" James said, unable to keep up with John's speeding mech. He chuckled, then coughed up some more blood. His body was beginning to fail him, but he could keep going a bit longer. "Damn kids these days. Always so impulsive. Back in my day, we wouldn't be so rude to our elders. At least not to their faces."

  * - This is just showing the difference between an AC/5 Shadow Hawk and an AC/10 Centurion. A lot of the Autocannons were like that. In particur, several variants of the AC/20 fired 120mm, 155mm, 183mm, and 203mm rounds. The games dumbed it down to four different cannon sizes, while the lore had dozens of different sizes.