Maxxorlord — Roleplayer Guild

The city was a mess. Piles of rubble covered the streets, and the air smelled like death. Burned out husks of cars and tanks peppered Main Street, and there were more than a few bodies stuck inside them. The medieval architecture of the Polish city would have been beautiful, if not for the fact that they were covered in holes and fires raged unhindered across the rooftops. Bodies lined the sidewalks, evidence that civilians attempting to escape the carnage had been mowed down. A stone wall from a nearby building collapsed and smashed into the ground, causing Alexander Jaegers to jump in his seat. The Liberator’s body swiveled to face the source of the sound, the 25mm Assault Rifle in its metal hands pointed at the rubble. Alexander’s eyes scanned the building and the alleys to each of its sides.”Clear.” He spoke into his helmet’s built in microphone, his voice filled with a calm determination. The mech that stood slightly back and to the right of the Liberator stomped into view. It was Second Lieutenant Ford in his Mattis, 40mm Grenade Launcher in hand. The mech brought a hand off its weapon and gave Jaegers a thumbs up. The Liberator swiveled to the left, where Sergeant Makovic and Petty Officer Hazel were in their Ranger mechs. The four mechs were marching in a line down Main Street, weapons raised and eyes on their scanners. Somewhere behind the fireteam, Ensign Malone was set up for artillery support. Alexander had no idea where Warrant Officer Rodriguez and his Alder were; the Hispanic tended to operate on his own, and maintained radio silence until he engaged the enemy.

Suddenly, four mechs simultaneously opened fire on The Jaeger Platoon. Instantly, the Jaegers reacted. Makovic and Hazel split off to the leftmost side of the street and under the cover of a balcony. They each opened fire with their rifles on the Ranger mechs on the roofs on the right side of the street, who were returning fire with their own assault rifles. Jaeger and Ford copied the maneuver, moving to the rightmost side of the street and taking cover from above fire using a balcony. Ford fired a grenade at a Ranger mech using a mess of machinery on a rooftop as cover. The grenade exploded on the Ranger’s chest, causing the machine to cease fire for a moment and stumble backwards. Alexander swiveled around and fired with his assault rifle at the last unengaged Ranger mech. The Liberator’s cannon swung around and automatically targeted the Ranger that Alexander was shooting at. The loud retort of the tank cannon was followed a few moments later by rockets buzzing out of their tubes and homing in on their targets. The armor piercing tank shell hit the Ranger directly in the chest, punching a sizeable hole in the armor. The mech’s pilot was ever so slightly exposed; the shot had punctured all the way to the cockpit. Seeing this weakness, Alex switched to single shot fire and tried to shoot into the hole. Most of the bullets dented the armor around the hole. Others were completely off their mark.

“I’m hit!” Makovic cried. Alexander turned to look at the two Ranger mechs. Hazel was crouched next to Makovic’s mech, which was currently lying on its back, one of its legs blown off and lying nearby in a ditch. Hazel grabbed Makovic and began dragging him into an alleyway.”Ensign Malone, fire support! Now!” Jaegers cried into his mic.”Rodriguez, update the battlemap! I need coordinates!” The artilleryman growled into the radio.”I’m a bit busy!” North of Main Street, Rodriguez was engaging in a guerilla style fight against two more Ranger mechs.”Gah! Moving in to get a visual!” Malone informed the rest of the squad over the communications channel.”Ford, suppressing fire!” The two Mattis class mechs stepped out of cover, turning to engage the Rangers above them. The sounds of autocannons firing accompanied the constant chattering of Ford’s many machine guns as the two mechs poured on the heat. With their backs exposed, the two Rangers on the leftside rooftops took potshots at the Mattis’ backs. Even the thick armor of a Mattis couldn’t take this amount of sustained fire for too long. Ford’s Grenade Launcher successfully landed a grenade on one of the Ranger’s arms, blowing apart of wiring and screwing with the hydraulics. The Mech’s arm went limp to its side, and dropped its assault rifle in favor of its wrist-mounted machine gun. Alexander grunted as warning lights appeared on his screen: one of the Rangers had managed to damage his right leg, cutting the mech’s speed in half.”We’re clear!” Hazel yelled into the comms, and the two Mattis mechs moved back into cover.”Yo, Rod! I’ve got a visual on the two punks on your back: puttin’ rounds down range.” Malone informed the scout. Moments later the familiar plunking sound of a mortar firing entered the cacophony of battle. An explosion rippled through the streets, far larger than any of the previous ones. A cheer quickly followed.”Direct hit! One of ‘em’s down!” Rodriguez celebrated, before turning around and firing at the final Ranger chasing it.

Alexander focus his mind, shutting out the chatter from his platoon. He zoomed in on the injured enemy Ranger, aiming for the hole in its front. A single round left the Liberator’s gun, zooming through the air towards the target. The bullet entered the puncture wound in the mech. From there, Alexander lost sight of it: but he knew what was happening. The bullet hadn’t come out the back, which meant it was bouncing around on the inside. A half a second passed before the mech charged off the side of the roof and landed with a thud on the street below, unmoving. The pilot had to have been hit, and in a panic had slammed his or her foot down on the pedal and unknowingly sent him or herself to their doom. Turning away from the grim sight, Jaegers added his fire to Ford’s, who desperately needed the help. He wasn’t built for mech to mech combat. Alexander’s cannon fired off once more, but missed. On the other side of the street, Hazel popped in and out of the cover of the alleyway, firing at the mostly uninjured Rangers on the right side rooftops.”Surprise, pendejo!” Rodriguez laughed, firing off a pointblank burst of 20mm Assault Rifle fire into the last left side mech’s back.”You two took the other one down, then, I presume?” Alexander asked, as he and Ford moved from cover to help Hazel in his firefight.”Yep. Guy didn’t stand a chance.” Malone responded, as a mortar round exploded on the rooftop one of the Rangers was standing on. The two Rangers went down quickly to the combined firepower of four mechs firing at them.

”Tangos down. You finished yet, Warrant Officer?” Jaegers asked, turning around. The Alder and the Ranger had both dropped their Assault Rifles, and were engaging in close quarters combat. The Ranger swiped with its oversized combat knife at the Alder, but Rodriguez’s excellent piloting skills meant that he could dodge away from the Ranger’s clumsy strikes with relative ease. The Alder itself was pouring on the fire with its wrist mounted machine guns, which didn’t seem to be doing all that much to the Ranger. Suddenly, in a fit of anger, the Ranger threw his knife to the ground and brought up his wrist-mounted machine guns. Rodriguez was moving in an instant. The Alder dashed forward, pounding its fists into the chest of the Ranger, causing it to stumble. The lighter mech moved swiftly, grabbing one of the Ranger’s unsteady legs and pulling it out from under him. The Ranger mech fell over onto its back. Rod jumped onto the Ranger, using its own knife to slice a hole in the hull and revealing the cockpit. The Alder lowering a machine gun into the hole it had greeted and opened fire.

Alexander’s screen went black and a female voice entered the comms channel: “Simulation over. The 122th is victorious over the 63th.” The roof of the simulation chamber opened like a jet’s canopy, and Alexander climbed out the top of the fake mech cockpit and into the simulation room. His men were gathered together in front of their cockpits, celebrating yet another victory. Alex passed them and met the commander of the 63th in the center of the room. The two shook hands; their faces were solemn, but for different reasons. Alexander didn’t want to give the impression he was gloating, and the 63th’s captain didn’t want to show his disappointment in his team’s failure.”Captain.” Alex said, breaking the handshake and saluting.”At ease, First Lieutenant. You’re just as skilled as your superiors said you were.” Alex nodded at the compliment.”Thank you, sir.” As the intercom crackled to life, the room went silent as the order to deploy was given. The two platoons split up, and moved towards their respective armories.”Get to the armory and suit up. Meet me in the mech hangar once you’re all armed. Dismissed!” The men scrambled away out the various doors of the room, and Alexander grimaced.

He’d have to kill his first man today.

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