Lyris Von Wulfhart
Impact information from Lyris's HUD lit up confirming her LRM barrage had hit home. She had no line of sight on her enemy, however, so the effectiveness of her attack was hard to discern. But going by the continued assault on the Cadet Sergeant's position- that much at least revealed that the missiles had done little to impede the heavy mech. No surprise there Lyris thought. It was going to take more than that to take out something as durable as a Thunderbolt. Her launcher was already loading up another volley of missiles when her sensors picked up movement on their side of the field as Peter's Shadow Hawk burst into movement suddenly.
The Thunderbolt reacted immediately with return fire, but her sensors could see Peters signature on her systems HUD. It only took her a moment to see what he must be planning given his route and projected movement. She was a little surprised how quickly the pirate was falling for it, but he either had no trust in the allied forces to his rear or he had none to prevent the maneuver, to begin with, regardless she could not allow this opportunity to slip by without taking advantage. If they could remove the Thunderbolt from play, it would be a significant victory for their side in the battle. As the heavy mech swiveled to keep the Shadow Hawk in it's LOS, Lyris pushed her mech into movement. The whine of servo actuators coupled with the sudden roar of her Griffin's engines heralded her burst into the action.
Her Griffin took a long stride, and then another that carried it to the edge of the rocky outcropping. Another, and she was falling into a dead sprint. A fierce grin spread across her face as she stomped down into the vortex of battle and out into the open. Adrenaline had long since overtaken her earlier fear and indecision- further emboldened by the actions of her comrades. She did not waste time shooting on the move, least her wild shots give the Thunderbolt a forwarning to the flanking movement. It had only caught sight of Peter's mech and traded briefly with Johan's Riflemen, and the pirate must have assumed the LRM's had been the work of a carrier or slower moving mech. The idea that a highly mobile Griffin had been waiting in the wings must never have crossed their mind. That was a deadly mistake she was all too happy to exploit.
"Always keep moving in combat, you go slow you die."
The wise words of one of the Star Guard mercenary captains suddenly floated to her mind. The advice repeated over and over again in the back of her mind as her battlemech charged at an angle following the path Peter had so that her left side and torso faced the enemy. The exchange between the Shadow Hawk and the Thunderbolt continued, and the shared network of the lance revealed that the armor of the Thunderbolt left torso had been compromised. Lyris descended into a slight incline in the landscape and soon found herself charging up a hill that would bring her well within range for her trio of medium lasers.
Her pace slowed just enough to allow her to aim at the thinner rear armor of the heavy battlemech. The power in Lyris’s three wrist-mounted laser cannons surged as her will became fire. Clenching one haptic gauntlet, she punched it forward to let loose her first salvo. Three bright green beams of killing heat leapt outward, spearing from Lyris’s fist to tear through the enemys back. One beam struck the upper right torso, while the last two burned into the central torso armor. The armor instantly began flashing from grey to red to white hot in an instant before vaporizing into scalding, super-heated mist.
The Thunderbolt rocked it's upper-body around faster than Lyris could have anticipated, using the motors of its upper torso to keep the Shadow Hawk and Griffin to it's right and left side respectively. Lyris punched her jump-jets online to keep pace with the torso twist. This allowed her another volley of telling hits into its rear armor. Already much of it's back plated armor had melted away to reveal the more vulnerable internal structures within. Thanks to her earlier charge the Thunderbolts own shoulder mounted LRM served as a blind spot for the air-born Griffin.
With luck, another few raking attacks into its rear would cook the pirates LRM ammo bins and then...
Blazing klaxons blared to life throughout Lyris's cockpit as automated warnings screamed into her nerohelmets HUD. In a sudden thought of alarm, Wulfhart thought she might have pushed her engines too far; double heat sinks be damned. However, the signals were proximity warnings of a nearby threat not the sudden shutdown of her engine. She broadened her perspective as she tapped into the other sensor systems afforded to her and realized almost too late the danger. Riding from the treeline on stubby legs like some kind of rusted knight in armor was the Urbanmech from earlier. The armor on its right arm had melted away, and the structure sparked and smoked, but the AC/20 was quite alive and well. As if to prove this very fact that same cannon belched forth with a resounding and distinctive boom that quickly put to shame the autocannon Peters Shadow Hawk sported.
The weapon was still well out of its effective range, however, and the shell wheezed by just below her steeds legs. Lyris landed a moment later, and shot skyward once more in the opposite direction, giving up her pursuit of the Thunderbolts damaged rear section to create distance from the most dangerous weapon on the field. This brought her around to where the Thunderbolt could finally bring its guns to bear on the pesky moth eating at it's back. Two lasers streaked by, going wide of their mark, but the third hit home. Lyris had only enough time to intercept what might have been a direct shot to her Griffins head by twisting her torso and bringing her shielded left arm to bear. The heat washed over the armor there turning it an angry red.
"Durch die Götter!" she spat into comms, "someone gut that uber now!"
