Topic: Ghosts of New Dallas (Read 2967 times)

Cryhavok101 · « **on:** February 18, 2017, 03:56:46 PM »

July 2787
New Dallas
Ultor Mining Corporation

"It's been weeks and we still haven't found anything boss." One orange environmental suit said to another. "What are the chances anyone is even left?"

The other suit turned to regard the first for a moment, before stating, "The partners asked us for this, and they were very specific. We stay until we find them. This one is burned out, we need to head back for a new one," the suit said in disgust, shaking the small electronic device.

Turning both suits headed back to a small vehicle, a modified Zboroski WiGE, and after climbing in, the pair were airborne in moments. Several months ago the Free Worlds League had decided it was going to add New Dallas to their list of conquered Hegemony worlds. When they met more resistance than they had ever thought possible, they resorted to nuclear bombardment, and decimated nearly the whole population. Every population center the world used to have was now little more than radioactive craters. The environmental control machinery the world once had that made it habitable were long gone. Landing the WiGE near a mule class DropShip, the driver wheeled the vehicle into the cargo bay carefully, and once the bay doors were sealed behind them, they got out, and secured the small vehicle in the cargo bay.

"De-con. I hate de-con," said the first suit.

"Yeah, no kidding. This is much worse than Bolan," replied the second.

Both figures stepped into a chamber which sealed behind them, and they began the decontamination procedures.

Watching the WiGE depart, Harold Wilson felt uneasy. Something was going to change. He restarted his BattleMech and moved out. "The others will want to know," he thought to himself. The Shadow Hawk had somehow survived the nuclear holocaust that had descended on his world. With the cities gone, he had abandoned any hope, but he hadn't abandoned his family, and they brought with them everyone they could. Now they were hiding, and slowly, ever so slowly dying. It was only a matter of time until it was over, unless they could find a way out. Two other members of his lance in the New Dallas Militia had come with him. So far they hadn't been found by any of the corporations that had descended on the planet to strip it of anything of value.

Together they had been watching the civilians that were there to plunder their home. "They would call themselves 'innocents' as they rape our world," Harold would think in anger. They watched for a chance they could take to get off this dying world, but none had come. This new group through, they were looking for something. Each time they had been watched they just searched, and searched, taking nothing back with them. They were different.

Cryhavok101 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 23, 2017, 09:15:56 PM »

"We have to take the chance and trust them, they may be our last hope. We can't survive here much longer," declared a woman in her mid forties. Between the fall out, the destruction of the atmospheric scrubbers, and everything, we'll be dead in a month. This world is dead, we don't have to die with it," She continued.

Harold agreed with her, but most of the survivors were treating her like she was crazy. To scarred by recent events to trust anyone, they were deciding to turtle up and hope all the badness was going to go away. "Maybe I can help you out sis," he said addressing the woman, "Me and my boys are going. You all can come with or you stay here and rot with the rest of the corpses." Turning away from their shocked faces, he went to get the rest of his family together. They would have to act fast, or it might be too late.

"Don't look at me like that, you know we have to," he said addressing his fellow surviving mechwarriors.

"You could have been nicer boss," the taller one replied. Clearly too big to fit comfortably in a 'Mech cockpit, Jason Alexton only got into the militia as a mechwarrior thanks to family money. It had been a relief for him, since there he knew he would never have to run the family business, a thing he would rather get shot than do. Often reckless, seemingly wanting to get killed in battle, this damnable invasion had subdued him greatly. Harold believed it was due to the fact that now he was the only living member of his family. Harold had never asked him why he wanted to die, seeing it as a personal matter, but he knew Jason never hated his family, and certainly never wished for their deaths. Still the classic signs of survivors guilt seemed to be eating away at the young mechwarrior.

"We don't have time to sit and debate the merits of not dying, and you both know it," Harold replied.

"How are we gonna get everyone there undetected?" the third of the trio asked. Xioa was one of the least prestigious graduates of the gunslinger program the star league had ever produced. Having annoyed the wrong administrator, upon graduation, he had been reassigned and transferred nearly continuously until his term ran out, at which time, he had left the SLDF and joined a planetary militia far, far away from his family, whom he believed he had dishonored by being so easily neutralized by an desk jockey. Going by his last name, only Harold knew his first, and only because he had seen the paperwork bringing the talented young man into the unit. Several people used to joke that Xioa was Harold's butler, always taking care of things. They were dead now, and Xioa's penchant for organization had become invaluable for their survival.

"I'm hoping they have something we can use to transport folks, otherwise we're gonna have to risk attention by stealing something," Harold replied.

The Trio reached their 'Mechs and began preparing them to start back up and go back out into the hell their homes had become.

Cryhavok101 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 08, 2017, 08:17:49 PM »

"Another day another waste of a patrol," said an Orange Environmental suit. "Anyone who was here is long dead, we are wasting our time. The radiation will have damaged any recording that might have been here, we're not finding anything."

The second suit was about to reply when the vehicle's sensors started beeping. Turning away from his colleague, the second suit examined the instrument briefly before declaring, "You're wrong Bill, that's a 'Mech reactor powering up. Sixty meters that way," he said, pointing to the north. Counter to most conventional wisdom, the first suit immediately steered the small WiGE towards the 'Mech.

"Think they'll talk?" first Bill asked.

"I think that is why they let us know they were there. They must be getting desperate by now," the second suit replied. "They've probably been watching us for a while."

As they reached the site, Bill spotted the 'Mech, identifying it as a Shadow Hawk. "Over there James," Bill said to the second suit, pointing it out as he steered the vehicle closer.

Their comm crackled with static from the interference in the atmosphere and the radiation permeating everything, "How many people can you get off this rock?"

"Straight to business, good, time is ticking. My DropShip can carry hundreds out of here, including your 'Mech. How many do you have?" James spoke back into the comm to the unidentified MechWarrior.

"What will it cost us?" the warrior queried back.

"That bill has been paid already, but I think those who did will want your testimony and first hand accounts of what happened here," James replied. Continuing, he said, "My name is James Ultor, my father and I own Ultor Mining company. We have the means to get you out, and far away. How many do we need to move?"

Only static answered for nearly two minutes, then the comms crackled once again and the native's voice spoke, "Three 'Mechs, eighty-three civilians. How soon will you be ready?"

"Can they get to our DropShip?"

"Not through this."

"Okay, I know of a few vehicles in the area that we can acquire to transport them, but we'll need your help. Will you come back to our ship so we can make the plans easier?"

"Lead on"

Signalling his companions on a separate channel, Harold gave the order to follow him but keep their distance, and keep watch. Then he trailed behind the tiny WiGE off to see his people's only hope.

Cryhavok101 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2017, 10:23:47 AM »

The raid began as Harold Wilson's 'Mech struck out at the landed DropShip. Staying at long range, the attack was more like poking it with needles, but it served it's purpose. Civilians in the camp panicked and scattered. "The Ultor boys better hurry," Harold thought to himself, knowing even this brief exposure was dangerous. People would start hunting them.

Xioa's Kyudo opened fire on the DropShip as well, and the huge missile rack on the 'Mech spread explosions all across the ship's side. Alexton's Thunderbolt opened fire with it's own missiles from yet another direction.

Civilians across the encampment were starting vehicles and trying to get them away from the attacking force. Two in particular were taking an unusual route right by Harold's Shadow Hawk. "Looks like no one noticed them," Harold said to his lancemates, "begin withdrawing." The replies came back affirmative. As they each pulled back a sudden roar from the sky precipitated their worst fear, as a pair of Eagle aerospace fighters flew by like a bolt of lighting, unleashing a brutal attack on Alexton's Thunderbolt. The 'Mech staggered and almost fell, it's gyro clearly damaged in the attack. Holes in the armor easily visible.

"Boss I'm not getting out of here, go now, before those bastards come back!" Alexton called into the lance's comm channel. All three of them knew this was a possibility, and what their duty was, "Make them pay," was Harold's only response as he and Xioa continued to withdraw. The DropShip was clearly crippled, it's lights gone dark, but some security forces had decided they were going to engage the 'Mechs. The Shadow Hawk and the Kyudo ignored them as they dashed away, but the Thunderbolt limped forward into camp and unleashed a spray of machine guns and short range missiles that tore through the meager security forces, and left small fires in the remaining equipment.

As the two 'Mechs disappeared into the radiation and mist, the Thunderbolt limped up to the crippled DropShip and began hammering it with it's fists, while triggering it's weapons over and over. The heat in the 'Mech rose swiftly as it tore into the hapless DropShip. Ripping and tearing his way through the shreds of it's armor, Alexton was about to actually drive his 'Mech into the bowels of the DropShip when the Eagles struck again. The tons of armor melting off the 'Mech in all location made it stagger and finally fall.

Refusing to surrender to the inevitable, Alexton worked the 'Mech's arms and crawled into the DropShip's bowels. Damaging everything he came across, tearing through the plunderers hiding inside, and finally reaching the huge reactor that powered the ship. Seconds later the massive crater was all that remained where a camp was.

Cryhavok101 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 05, 2017, 01:31:23 AM »

Within seconds of the large transport trucks pulling up outside the caverns the survivors were staying in, they were loading up into the trucks. Trying to minimize their exposure to the now harsh atmosphere and all the contaminants that had been released into it. It took only a few short minutes, as the survivors abandoned anything they couldn't easily carry so they could fit everyone they could into the trucks.

By the time Wilson and Xioa caught up with them the trucks were ready to go. Moving out, they took paths that allowed the most cover from the air. They wound through forested parks, and made their way through industrial centers. Eventually they arrived at the Ultor Mining DropShip. The vehicles loaded directly onto the vessel.

"You're next," Harold said quietly into the comm. Xioa moved his Kyudo into the DropShip and began powering down. When he was in Harold called the DropShip and ordered, "Close up, get them to safety."

James swiftly replied, "Don't be stupid you are coming too!"

Harold replied, "They are searching all outbound flights. They search you, no one gets out. So I'm going to make sure they don't."

James pleaded, "It doesn't have to be that way! We can burn hard and get away before they catch us. We have a ship waiting at a pirate point."

Harold calmly replied, "They have birds in the air already, thanks to our heist. It's not going to be so easy. Now stop arguing and get those people out of here."

Xioa cut in, "James he's right, we all knew it the moment they made their first pass back there. Harold can hold them off."

Confused James began closing the DropShip's doors. He asked, "How is a 'Mech supposed to hold... oh, I see."

What James saw was Harold Wilson's Shadow Hawk converting to fighter mode. As the DropShip took off, so did the Shadow Hawk. Harold opened up his comm and told them, "If they don't catch us, you're gonna have to pick me up, this thing is light on the fuel."

"Will do boss," replied Xioa, now manning the DropShip's comms.

As the DropShip climbed out of the thick atmosphere, a harsh voice came over the comms, "Ultor Mining One you are not authorized to depart, stand down and prepare to be boarded." The same pair of Eagle fighters began approaching the DropShip, and it began a full burn trying to escape the gravity as fast as possible and escape into deep space. As the fighters prepared to open fire, one of them declared, "I've been hit, It's my engine, I'm losing thrust!"

"There's another fighter up here with us! What is that?" asked the other Eagle pilot as the Shadow Hawk broke through the clouds and engaged them at close range. "It's only one. Break and engage it," came the order. "Whatever that DropShip is carrying it probably isn't as important as dealing with a hostile."

Harold dove back into the clouds almost immediately, thinking to himself, "How green are these guys, transmitting in the open like that?" Knowing that flying in the clouds was suicidal, but not having a choice, Harold relied on his instruments to come around and make another attack. He could see the flashes of light as the Eagles' lasers lit up the clouds. Some of them coming quite close. He waited for one flashing light show to end then popped back up above the clouds and fired another salvo of LRMs and a blast of his Extended Range Large Laser. The belly shot sparked fire in the same area on the other fighter. "Yes," shouted Harold in his cockpit, knowing the pair of fighters wouldn't be able to chase the DropShip with damaged engines. Unfortunately the return fire came before he could drop back down into cloud cover.

The Eagles had pulled a split s maneuver, picking up velocity and pointing right at Harold. The barrage of lasers shredded the Shadow Hawk. The structural differences between a fighter and his Land Air 'Mech were the only thing that saved him... and possibly the inexperience of the eagle pilots. Limping now worse than them, he knew he had no escape. As the DropShip finally struggled out of the planet's gravity and burned hard for open space, Harold experienced his final moments.

Just as the three fighters passed each other, Harold strong-armed his shadow hawk through an immelman. He triggered both of his lasers at the aft of one of the fighters, resulting in an explosion as the fighter lost all power and angled for the ground in what would result in a very messy end. The LRM rack that was triggered only a second later at the other Eagle didn't have quite as spectacular results, the other fighter had been able to turn around before they impacted, and the thick nose armor of the eagle weathered the barrage before delivering the killing blow to the Shadow Hawk. The deadly barrage of lasers burned away the remains of the center torso of the LAM, and the head and cockpit as well. Unfortunately the heat spike from the alpha strike caused the inexperienced pilot to lose control, and the fighter was swiftly lost under the clouds.

OBT Forum

News:

Author Topic: Ghosts of New Dallas (Read 2967 times)

Cryhavok101

Ghosts of New Dallas

Cryhavok101

Re: Ghosts of New Dallas

Cryhavok101

Re: Ghosts of New Dallas

Cryhavok101

Re: Ghosts of New Dallas

Cryhavok101

Re: Ghosts of New Dallas