"Sounds shitty but", he gave a slow shrug. "They chose to hurt people and destroy things."
Max nodded, as he looked back at the fox.
"The greater good's an awful thing. But I'm glad we're on the same page, Captain. Last thing I want is anyone I love being affected." He said, feeling he had a lot in common already with their CO on that point, so far at least. He listened in to the commander and the others on the table, a little empty as he listened in carefully.
Max adjusted his collar on his fatigues, the lion noticing the presence of their commanding officer as if it was coming out of nowhere. He had probably heard what the lion had to say, and well, Max was pleased to say the least that the captain agreed. At least it was all level to him, as he listened in, knowing the cyclops-prosthetic arm-having fox had probably had an story for those that Max would find a little squeamish. For most it would have meant the end of service, immediately- so to see him back was remarkable. It meant he had probably still passed all the tests and operational requirements to keep going even in spite of such disabilities, but as Max remembered of course, disability was just a perception. No doubt Silverwind didn't even notice his handicaps, and if anything, was far more driven and detirmined not to let it rule him.. The other cuts and scars he had too didn't just show one moment of intensity, but a career made out of being on the line.
“…but bullets, well I am hard pressed to find a better way to express my dislike of someone than filling them with lead.”
Max could only chuckle heartily to Fionn's comment, nodding.
"Remind me to stay the absolute fuck out of your way, Fionn. Few other people I wish I could do that to but hey, I kind of prefer being free and able to go catch some waves rather than sit in a brig for the rest of my life." Max added chuckling, his undertone a little sarky but honest to Fionn at least- no doubt Fionn meant buisness, and he could tell that the bear understood it likewise. The bear had come to perhaps decisions like Max had, and reacted differently. All Max knew was, there was no good place to stand in a massacre, the bear probably seeing that too. You just did what kept you alive and dealt with the flames as quickly as you could. It seemed simple to override basic instinct, but even then, Max knew that telling other people to shut the fuck up and do exactly as you said, even if you didn't fully believe it or wanted to do it, was a hard thing. Especially when that meant sometimes doing the worst thing that you could do in a recon operator's job. Doing nothing. Just watching, and seeing things happen that you had absolutely no ability to change, influence or stop. Really bad things. And that, that was what haunted Max the worst. Seeing stuff and feeling totally, utterly helpless to it. Part of him wondered, if he just ran in and got killed, would it have stopped something? Probably not, he made a rational choice. But it pecked in his mind from time to time, even with his steely personality, it was a part of the job.
Turning to Rishun, the otter's exitement was also not dying down throughout, but even Max could see the little flying-squirrel like device clamber up Rishun's shoulder, taking it in for just a moment.
But it was at that moment of weakness Rishun would endure another embarrassment in the form of a little mechanical creature clacking to life from a container the same size and shape as the batteries on her tail. It climbed up to rest on her shoulder, rubbing its nose and squeaking with a clear speaker hollowness.
She seemed a little irritated, but Max was interested. Well, she certainly knew her way around coding. But moreover, actual robotics and the mechanical side too. As primative as that was, that would be an absolute send of a device for recon, a tiny, unnoticable tool that was virtually silent and undetectable. As much as Max didn't like just how bubbly Rishun was, he had to admit- she had a hell of a lot of experience around tech, the kind a lion like Max used in his day to day as a reconaissance operator. Binoculars and optical devices were good to a point- the future was in drones, UAVs and devices like this, and well, Max knew he'd have to adapt to get the benefits from such tools.
"Will do, Rishun. Scrap is a cool little device you have there. Maybe keep me posted....you might be able to programe devices, but I'm good at really making them go through their paces. If you get my drift? I don't know...I wouldn't mind having access to for room clearances and low profile recon." Max said, quite genuine and honest as he knew it was worth keeping her offer in mind.
"Gotta make sure that the seat's adjusted properly, an' it's got the right cup holder installed. See ya down there, folks".
Max nodded, following along with Silverwind as he stood up, looking to the others.
"I'm off with the Captain. No time like the present and all. Plus, I'm actually awake now..." He mused, as he itched his hair, looking over to where Silverwind was going. Indeed, there was the other half of his equipment to see, and while his small arms were all in good order, the big lumbering metal thing was the main tool that stopped Max from getting killed when they were out there.
--
Entering into the hangar, the sight of the unpackaged GEARs was a sight to behold, sitting in among other light reconaissance helicopters and ammunition stockpiles. In spite of the early morning the hubub was clear and maintainance staff were busy at work repairing or fixing various bits of kit. And among it all, Max saw his, silently walking over towards his personal GEAR.
The lion looked up, the dark brown, grey and gold mech a trusty and dependable tool in his hands. He did love her, and she loved him back, the "Lion Rampant" a dependable reconaissance platform. A fitting name, given well, when Max was going out there and on mission he wanted his GEAR to make him the lion going absolutely bloody rampant. The name was carefully painted in black in the GEAR's cockpit door, with a now rubbed-out emblem above it. Being Max's old GEAR from his service, well, that had to go. Maybe he'd get a pinup of some kind. For now Max reminded himself, he shouldn't have been too comfortable in this team and had to still prove himself here before he took the piss a little. The typical arnament was also attached that came default with these GEAR units, a series of fragpacks on the legs, countermeasures and two 7.62mm MMGs mounted in the frame. Before he had a moment to savour his pride and joy again, he was harshly interrupted, the lion a little tempered as he was taken out of his zone.
"You must be Warrant Officer Bastion?" The mouse asked, the voice almost cracking as the lion turned, a glint in his stare almost.
"Who's asking?!" He replied sombrely, almost in a way that any other person would have regarded as almost dramatically needless. The mouse in comparison to Max was tiny, and well, the difference in tone could have very easily come across. The grey-haired mouse was clearly taken aback by it, but replied as calmly as he could.
"Ah sorry. I'm technician Ben MacCloud, sir. I'm the one of the maintainance operators assigned to look after your GEARs. I've been told you specialise in reconaissance?" Ben said, his accent a dry and quiet highland Scots tone compared to the harsh and smooth Afrikaaner/English accent of Max.
"Indeed. Hence the loadout. So you're the guy who was responsible for fitting all my equipment I asked for on here, I assume?"
"Aye, sir. She's all ready to go. Though....I didn't make sense of why you've taken a combat claw, and a HE grenade launcher on the left arm. Seems a little overkill?" Ben asked, as Max shrugged, knowing the answer already.
"It's more useful than you think, Ben. Leave that to me." Max replied dryly, as Ben walked around, looking up at Max as he did.
"Right....anyway, she's all good to go, boss. I've left the manifest pad inside. Let me know if everything's there and let me know of any adjustments." Ben said, as Max nodded, looking back.
"Good stuff. Cheers mate." Max uttered, nodding as he approached the side. Putting in his keycode, the cockpit opened up, Max pulling himself up and inside. As per his usual, he had a comfy suede chair inside his GEAR, lined over the traditional material inside. His tool was his castle, he thought to himself, and he was gonna be comfy if he was gonna be sitting here for hours on end. The cockpit opened up, he could see the control interface, and the link to his helmet dangling above, which gave him a more direct control than anything he could do like this.
Looking to his side, Max took the manifest log from the small pouch mounted on the left hand side of the cockpit, next to a manual and other servicing documents. Like any good car or bike, a GEAR was looked after by people through regular inspection and kept combat-ready. It seemed dull, but Max did have a read through it from time to time, seeing what component was upgraded or replaced, or what had been done to keep this thing in good healthy running order. After all, the last thing anyone wanted was to breakdown in a firefight not from enemy fier, but from poor maintainance. So long as the crews did their job, Max had nothing to worry about. Flicking through the tablet, he took a read of his GEAR's most recent arnament fitting.
Manifest Tab
Transfer of: RI-G23 "Hargun" GEAR from 505th Reconaissance Company to ***redacted***
Request: Warrant Officer Bastion, Maxwell Fitzroy
GEAR Designation: XO-1514
User Name: "Lion Rampant"
All standard GEAR weaponry and features have been inspected/maintaned as per SOP
Requesitioned Loadout:
Package Designation: Reconnaissance
-30mm Sniper Rifle, Handheld/Rear Hardpoint
-6x5 30mm Box Magazines, 3x5 30mm AP Box Magazines, 2x Fragmentation Grenades, 4x Smoke Grenades, Left Hip Hardpoint
-Combat Axe, Right Hip Hardpoint
-Automatic HE Grenade Launcher, Left Forearm
-Combat Claw and Ratchet for Rocket Anchor Lift, Right Forearm
-Advanced Optical Sensor Suite (Laser Designator), Left Shoulder Hardpoint
-Rocket Anchor, Right Shoulder Hardpoint
-UAV charging and mount point, Back
-3x Limpet Mines stowed on Inside Left Shoulder (Shield)
Other Stores:
-Personal Weaponry Store, Inside Rear Left Leg
-Basic Field Repair Kit, Inside Rear Right Leg
-SERE Kit checked, inspected and mounted under cockpit seat
Installed/Inspected By: Technician MacCloud, Ben
Signed: b.maccloud
Date: xx xx xxxx
Max whistled, looking up at the controls and the loadout. "Lion Rampant" was a mech that was designed as a reconaissance mech, but of course, Max knew the reality of his role meant it didn't mean being just lightly armed. While some would suggest an extended reconaissance package was needed, such as a Long Range Radar, ECM or ELINT kit, that was more the remit of the squad's electronic warfare specialist- and besides, Radar was so bulky and made you a huge glowing target to enemy anti-radiation missiles, when the entire point of a GEAR like his was not designed to be anti-air. His recon was more than sufficient at the tactical level- well, unless there was something else he was going into such aircraft or heavy armour. This mission didn't seem that way, so he wouldn't change his usual loadout for this first one at least.
To Max at least, a recon mech was designed to do a few very simple things. First, to carry an enormous 30mm rifle into the fight, and pick light armour and infantry targets from over 3km away with deadly, thunderbolt like power. He had that box easily ticked- mobility was key to him, and achieved using the rocket anchor, which could throw his GEAR up buildings or cliffs with a bit more ease. That and punch through vehicles, or other GEARS with the melee setup of this GEAR. A more highly advanced sensor kit allowed for him to have a longer line of sight than others, as well as detect a variety of anomalies that often wouldn't be seen. Say, if there was armour beyond the treeline, or abnormal audio oscillations.
Second, when shit hit the fan, and you were potentially on your own, you had to have the firepower to handle your own fight. Usually, a recon operator wasn't up against heavy armour, but a variety of infantry and light armour- and in very close proximity, because you were comprimised. Inside a GEAR, that meant you couldn't exactly run and hide, but you had to stay and fight as hard as possible. Hence the 2x machine guns in the frame, an automatic MGL on Lion Rampant's left arm. For even more close-quarters encounters, a Combat Claw in his right hand and/or a combat axe in his left were enough to make anyone that was thinking of charging the GEAR and planting charges another thought. A combat claw, whilst more of an engineer's tool was actually a very acute weapon in his right forearm, and well, it doubled up nicely as a ratchetting point for the rocket anchor to give him a hand in pulling the GEAR upward. Lastly, the limpet mines in the shoulder were interesting as the final piece of kit- why bother with magnetic limpet charges? Because when armour came knocking, Max needed something aggressive, not passive to blow stuff up. Leslie could spend her time rigging something to go boom or Fionn could perhaps provide a dedicated anti-tank launcher to fore, but Max needed something more immediate as his only heavy anti-armour protection. A limpet mine was simple- lay on road that you're watching over or possibly going to get flanked from, tank rolls past, magnet sticks, very big boom. Not a lot of effort, but like all things, a tool for destruction and the fact it was magnetic made it a failsafe. Also rather useful on emplaced metal points or stationary vehicles, given it could be timer-set if required.
With the Reconaissance Package, Max could be very hard-hitting, but it wasn't exactly a sustained arsenal- it was enough to destroy an outpost, but not enough to plod through sustained combat like a frontline mech like Fionn's likely would. It was more a scalpel, rather than a hammer- a precision tool to help Max do what he did best and cover as many possibilities as possible that a recon operator was up against, rather than turn everything into cinders. Each part was considered- and another component in an arsenal if used correctly, was able to last weeks out in the wild and take on a variety of threats. All things considered, it was just his approach to reconaissance. Some operators wanted ELINT, intelligence over everything- but Max just didn't see the merit in that. Why bother trying to be generalist and do everything when you were just needed for one thing- finding targets and engaging them? Rishun had signals covered, and when it actually came to turning things inside out, Fionn had their back. Max didn't mind adding or taking out certain parts to improve movement or to get more specialism in one combat role, but for the best part, this package did what he needed it to.
Sighing as he flicked the tablet back into it's pocket, he looked around in the cockpit, seeing a picture of him and his brothers and sisters mounted above the cockpit door, a picture from at least two years ago. Max in a t-shirt with a rock band on it, and his siblings in far more formal attire, manes, everything. He wasn't like them, he reminded himself, standing tall above them with his braided hair and cuts compared to their clean, proud demeanour. Talisa Bastion, his older sister was closest to him in height and probably the main person in Max's life that made him so fierce. She was fearless like he was, but then again, working as a lawyer meant you had to be when you presented a case. Max respected that, she fought battles with people in a civil way after all, not like his. Even in spite of all those differences, they were all familiy. And Max kept in contact, even if he was an outcast relatively speaking. A lion family didn't splinter or break rank that easy. Maybe they didn't always see eye to eye, but they were people to care for. People to protect, and maybe if they didn't understand, that was probably best for everyone in general.
With a gentle scoot, he was back out onto the deck from the cockpit, tail and to paws on ground, looking back at the lumbering GEAR.
"Back at it again then." Max uttered, as he looked over to the rest, watching them get ready. As for his own, he had the two leg mounted kits to personally inspect and his weaponry to place in the GEAR's leg. It seemed ready for war, and Max knew that while piloting a GEAR wasn't his top speciality, alongside electronic warfare or combat engineering, he could be confident that "Lion Rampant" was ready for his needs.
op2024
LadyAmber
stormphrax
Estylwen
Snowdrops
wintersoldier
Pen Name
Rhona W
Sylvan
Starlance