Crowbars and Mechs: A Futuristic Guide to Romance

It had been a few days since he had returned to the base and gotten everything sorted out. There had been a couple of patrols sent out in pairs through the surrounding districts and perhaps a little to Theogrin’s chagrin the attitude of the woman he had met on the first day was mostly reflected in the populace. At least they were a little less hostile than she had been, and they seemed to respect that at least -this- unit of Wolves kept their distance and simply watched. The only time they seemed to bother the locals was when they would make small talk and the times when they'd buy massive amounts of food from the local producers. It was rough stuff, but it was fresh and that was all his troopers cared about. The infantry had been setting up roadblocks and checkpoints, but hadn't really slowed down the flow of traffic and it at least reinforced the notion that the Wolves were there to help. Or at least act like police. Probably because they hadn't been crushing people or reducing hats to charred cinders.... something that made Theo grin ruefully. He shook his head as he looked out at the rain washed citadel that made up his unit’s home for the moment. Six power suited infantrymen were watching over everything, and there were techs manning the sensor net that watched the surrounding districts. He stood in his normal uniform, thankful he'd worn it today as the rains brought suprisingly cool change to the whole area, something that wasn't going to last long. With the amount of humidity and heat put into the whole atmosphere the weather patterns were erratic and savage, but the rains came almost daily. He was yet again thankful for the airconditioning that made the entire base livable.. His reflections were interupted by a beeping upon the console of his desk and the urgent but calm voice of a tech rambling about multiple heat signatures and of a type he thought he recognised. Without a second thought he ordered the tech to put the whole base on alert, arm the sentry guns and deploy the entire unit. He sprinted down towards the ready action bay to get into his power armour... This one looked like it was going to be bloody.

For Charlie, this week had been like a much needed vacation. She didn't need to mine much, only a few pounds so she could turn it in at lunch time so that the Lasdaarii would know she hadn't died off and give her spot away to someone else. Yesterday, she had left a bunch of MRE wrappers in a bread crumb trail away not too far from the Wolves' base, knowing it would drive them nuts. The most sadistic part of her hoped that -he- would be the one to find it, the hat-ruiner. She wished this anguish and much more on the man who carelessly destroyed one of her last remaining heirlooms. Anguish that she fulled intended to dish out when Jasper inevitably went down in a blaze of glory. He wasn't anywhere near the size of Theo's Grizzlies. She had built him to be light-weight because Wolf machines almost always were heavy, and she wanted to be able to easily out-run the fuckers because she would most certainly need to once they saw her. She sorely wished she had the money for boosters.. After selling off some of the medpacks and other stolen goods, she had enough money to have some light weaponry flown in for Jasper- some belt-fed machine guns and an autocannon. Charlie had had to sneak him out in the dead of night out to the very edge of the glassfields, so the aliens she had paid could land and outfit him. When all that totalled up, she hadn't had the money for the autocannon rounds and this is why right now she was sitting at her bench crafting shrapnel rounds for it. Every so often she would look over and say, "Ya look real spiffy tonight Jasper. Wait'll those Wolves see you. They'll be jealous they never looked this good, eh?" In the end, she would be a paltry distraction for their cannonfire. But everyone was going to die eventually. Charlie intended to earn it.

Decked out in his power armour, he strapped himself into his resplendant Grizzly and booted the whole thing up. He noted with some satisfaction that the crowbar was now mag-gripped onto his forearm and was ever-present. It was a battered old iron and red thing, but he decided to keep it after all. He was the first one out of the gate, his infantry split into three squads and the techs holding down the base with their mounted weapons. After they'd gotten the sensor net up they’d spent the next three hours building up weapons and defences. It hadn't made him popular, but it had paid off. Quinn had stayed behind to look over the defence of their base and he knew it was in good hands as his lance strode forth to where the heat signatures were coming from. And yet in the distance he could already see tracer and the odd explosion and fire... it would seem whoever was attacking had decided to let rip at the civvies which was rather disconcerting. The infantry beside him was already baying and yipping at his heels, incredibly eager to get stuck in at the first chance. He knew exactly how they felt as they blasted along beside him with their jets and he set his mech in a long, loping run that shook the ground and made people stick their heads out of their little shanties. All to soon they were in range... and he hadn't even had time to open a channel to hail them before a burst of light autocannon fire spattered off His 'Bear's' chest plating. It had done no damage, but he was incensed as he opened up with his own autocannon. The thing was like a giant automatic shotgun as it bucked and hammered munitions downrange at the group of technicals that had shot at him. The light trucks with guns mounted on the back of them were simply shredded under the blast of submunitions, not to mention what happened to the people on it. And they were mostly humans by the look of it.. or were. He gave the general call to attack and there was an answering roar across the squad net of trained soldiers unleashed upon the enemy. Suddenly there was tracers and plasma and missiles going everywhere as -everyone- got stuck in. Theogrin snarled in happyness as his missile pods flicked open and he found himself in a shootout with an entire section of armoured units. They'd open up and shred the cover he stood behind and then he'd pop out and blast away like there was no tomorrow. Missiles punched out of the launchers on his shoulders and then ignited with a roar as they sped off to destroy whatever they'd been targeted at. His autocannon bucked and roared as he mowed down an entire section of ragtag looking infantry that had been trying to get a anti-tank missile launcher sorted out, but had started shooting him with small arms in their impatience. It was pure war... the thrill of the fight and Theogrin found himself with a maniac grin and his blood heating up.

Charlie's location was a good mile away from the initial impact site and she could still hear the gunfire. It was a short rap or a quick discharge, it just kept rolling until finally she just had to go out and look for herself. Shouldering the door open, she pulled her chair over and scrambled up on it so she could pull herself up onto the roof. Once there, she stood tall and gaped at what was happening. Soon even the ground was shaking with a ferocity that could only mean something big was happening over there. She pushed her goggles down from her forehead so they rested on her nose and started clicking the focusing lenses into place. It took all of them for her to see the screaming attackers were.. human. Her brow furrowed as she saw Wolves pull up short and start blasting everything in sight... Ok, now this was looking a little one sided. What the hell would humans be attacking a simple mining planet for? The lith, she supposed, but they have to mine most of it themselves since Lasdaarii ships exported the goods daily. Unless they planned complete and total overthrow. Charlie snorted- humans, the only species that seemed bent on wholly enslaving its own kind. Her eyes flicked back and forth from the attackers to the defending Iron Wolves. It seemed Jasper was almost calling to her. Something made her want to get involved, to do her part in a way, and also of course to try out Jasper's shiny new weapons.

Unfortunately for Theogrin and his forces, the attacking force was -much- much larger than originally anticipated. They just kept coming as his lance and troopers took a huge bite out of the attacking wave. They had advanced in a disorganised cresent as they pushed into the rough 'city' that passed for the biggest settlement and Theo had attacked on the flank not guarded by sheer cliffs from mining. He'd chewed into them, but was in danger of getting outflanked himself by the wallowing enemy force that seemed to want to do nothing more than either throw themselves on his guns or destroy everything in sight. He cursed and called for a retreat to a set point, only to lash out and attack the very edge of the flank again as it had threatened to engulf him just before. Light units and heavy tanks seemed to be the most common things this enemy had, and while they were hardly a challenge the sheer number of guns was wearing his force down. He had five casualties amongst the infantry, although all were walking wounded. Wraith four of Wraith lance had taken several heavy hits to the back when he'd been ambushed by almost thirty rpg's set up by infantry in a hab-block. He cursed again. His unit was giving the enemy hellacious casualties and yet they were being defeated, but he wasn't dead yet and it was only an hour or so into the engagement. He stepped out and looked at a crossroads and his missile pods flicked open again and almost twenty missiles howled out after punching free of their pods to wreathe the whole area in shrapnel and hot armoured death. His autocannon shook and strobed light as he drove forward once more.

For a time, she watched the insurgents gush forward like a meaty little wave against the wall of mechs the Wolves had formed. They were destroying anything in their path. People were flooding back towards her, threading their way through the shacks in quicktime, trying to get as far away from the carnage as possible. Many of them had already lost their homes and some even family members or friends.. She couldn't just sit there any longer, it had to be done. Jasper wasn't nearly outfitted enough but her support would help defend for a while if nothing else. Charlie scurried into her makeshift hanger and started Jasper up, giving him a chance to warm up while she quickly finished one or two more shrapnel rounds and loaded them. Before long, Jasper's shiny copper-colored chassis emerged and took off toward the invading forces. The Wolves were pinned down in front, so she made a wide berth around the enemy to remain unseen so she could hit them from the back. She didn't have a lot of ammo, so one thing was for certain, and that was that she could not afford a whole lot of fuck ups. One deep breath later and Jasper went chugging out into the open, firing off a couple of shrapnel rounds, one above them and one towards the middle. They were nasty things, exploding to send searing scrap metal flying into any nearby flesh for quite the grizzly effect. Charlie grunted in her cockpit with satisfaction. Once the general stun wore off, they began to include her in their fire, which she ducked away from as much as she could.

His sensor array flared and screamed about a new 'unknown' contact and he caught sight of the bizzare mech as it attacked. With the flank that he had assaulted buckling the entire enemy assault was grinding slower and slower as it reacted but as it brought its main force to bear he knew he would be unable to stand against it. He had taken quite a bit of damage and the left leg of 'Blackwraith', his mech, was now pulling slowly. He could still walk and sprint, but he knew that he needed a long service, which he wasn't going to get for a while. He felt the mech shudder gently as another rack of missiles slotted into place and his PPC blazed out and he dragged the stream of tactical fire across the sides of a few heavily armoured tanks. There had been infantry clinging to the sides of them but there was little more than steaming meat and the occasional howling wounded. His lasers stabbed out in a tight triangle formation and speared one of the already damaged tanks, its munitions overheating and blowing the thing sky high as he pressed forwards once more. He had already detailed ten of his infantryman back to act as a staging point for more casualties, and wraith four had broken off to guard them as best it could.. it was in even more distress then Theogrin was. And yet for all this, he knew he'd have to break off soon, it was like he was facing down an entire mechanised infantry division in a single city. They would not be able to advance on his base across the plains that seperated it from the buildings without getting shot up, but they would own the entire city before him.

Charlie was actually quite enjoying her shrapnel-tainment and used every last round she had to pepper fatal wounds across the invading infantry. Once that was done, she had a choice- start spraying rounds like no tomorrow or get to stomping. ... Stomping it was. Jasper jogged out from his position, immediately taking masses of fire from the infantry he was advancing towards. Soon, he was upon them, weilding a salvaged I-beam and began to whip it around, smashing trucks left and right, batting men off their feet and generally not giving a shit who he stepped on. Occasionally she took some well-aimed shots at far away trucks and deployed smaller bombs like she had used for her grand supply robbery. It didn't take long for it to become overwhelming however, as she was first and foremost a rookie. It was time for her to attempt a retreat.

His lance was moving backwards, giving ground one horrible blood soaked step at a time. He hadn't had any fatals, but his infantry was down to nine actives, the rest had wounds, six of them critical. He had given the order to pull out, covering his own retreat carefully and that of his men, only moving when he was sure they were out, at least until the first shell landed. Whatever had fired it it had to be their biggest.. and only weapon. The first one landed and nearly killed him as it dug out a great crater and nearly buried him beneath a four level shantie he had been using for cover. He battered his way free as he got his mech back upright and restored order on the comms, but it looked like he was going to be cut off. He snarled and ordered the retreat anyway, he'd make it out himself if he had to. He had no idea where that copper mech had come from, or where it had gone but for the moment he was concerned with living and doing naught else as his autocannon and missiles and PPC blazed incandescent death back at the massive wave attack. He moved deeper into the depths of the city, hoping to lose his attackers in that twisting warren of metal and steam and cavernous rock. He knew there was an old steam vent that the city had been built around to give it power and water, and the depths of the city went deep inside. Hopefully that would cover the metallic and heat signature of his mech, not that anyone would have any trouble finding him just at the moment. He fired his missiles at one building and his autocannon at the other, shattering them both and dropping them across the street and retreating into that metal hell, now deserted of people.

Something had made a really loud noise that made Charlie jump. Jasper jerked a little in response to the movement, bumping into a nearby building and nearly making the flimsy construction collapse. Every once in a while she would stop and turn and spray bullets back at them. They were incorrigable it seemed, as she backed up towards the city, wishing she had someone to give cover fire. She had long since lost sight of the Iron Wolves, but screaming and gunfire and the general level of bloodthirst the enemy was giving off as they poured toward the base told her they weren't finished yet. Charlie would have given anything to have the munitions they had, but poor Jasper had to make do with chucking walls and large sections of metal and sparing shots at the enemy humans. This was fucking madness but it was clearly exhilerating. She could feel a grim smile stretching her lips even when they clearly had the upper hand. So long as she was a hinderance, she was doing her job.

He slid between buildings, agile and deft in a mech clearly not really designed for it. He paused only to stick his autocannon out and let rip into a hovel that just disintergrated under the punishing firepower. It was a weapon designed to blast armour off of other mechs and tanks... what it did to corrigated iron and human flesh didn't bear thinking about. And yet that was the fourth infilitrator team he had hunted down as he made his retreat deeper and deeper into the cleft that the city was built on, and it was getting darker and darker. He could have sworn he could see the red glow of the lava that heated the water which gave life to this otherwise barren rock, but he had bigger problems. All the metal around him meant that his radio was just about useless at this point as he spied what looked to be a hanger or a shed or -something- down the back of one of the streets. He made his way toward it, careful to not leave bleedingly obvious tracks behind him as he checked it out, and then nudged the doors aside. Perhaps here would be a good place to lay low. It was built back into the rock and only had one entrance, and yet it was a big enough place that you could hide in easily, mech included. He eyed the surrounding area warily and pushed inside. At the very least it would provide a decent ambush site but from the sounds of things the bastards that had attacked them were doing their level best to either chase civilians or get themselves shot to hell by the rest of the wolves.

The bad thing about a steam engine was that the damned thing wasn't quiet at all. She had finally shaken off the troops from the main attacking force that had followed her into slums and whenever she would stop to let Jasper cool off a little, she would find herself surrounded by gunners from inside the hovels themselves. She almost wished for a damn flamethrower so she could just torch the place to hell and be done with it. Her retreat was going much slower now that she had to keep a careful eye on Jasper's temperature. If he overheated, she was pretty much done-for with no side-arms and no crowbar and absolutely zip to protect herself with. It was getting terribly hot inside the cockpit as well, being surrounded by overworked machinery with no way to get much ventilation besides popping the hatch. Poor Charlie was practically pouring sweat now, her hands a bit slippery as she carefully guided Jasper forward, trying not to destroy too much at the same time.

He had just gotten everything perfect, the doors shut and his mech running cool and quiet when he saw that dented copper heap of crap come stumbling around the corner. He had seen it attacking whomever was hitting the city and figured that at this point there wasn't any reason for him to go blazing out there and destroy it. With almost impossibly delicate manuvering for something that large, he pushed the doors open again and snuck up beside the copper mech and unleashed his autocannon at the following infantry that was harassing her. It thundered again and swept them away in a red mist and a tumbling bunch of body parts before he tried to radio it and caught himself. He cursed and then tapped the copper coloured mech and gestured to the hangar barn just as another one of those macro-shells landed and shook the pair of them. What little sky there was vanished in a cloud of smoke and dust and tumbling shanties that were busy sliding down the edge of the ravine. He switched over to his loudspeakers and snarled, the voice matching the red fanged grin on his mech, “GO DAMMIT, THIS PLACE IS GONNA COLLAPSE, HAUL ARSE!”

Where the fucking hell had he come from?! One minute she was returning fire, the next they had evaporated and that same crazy bastard was tapping on her proverbial shoulder.. She didn't have time to argue but what was worse, she couldn't do what he wanted and couldn't tell him why. Growling, she whipped Jasper around and did her very best to beat a retreat while making damn sure her engine wasn't about to explode or seize. It wasn't very fast but it was the best she could do without physically being carried out of there. The falling dark was helping, as the bright sun was no longer glaring down upon the metal shell and thus allowed her to move a bit faster. Charlie was tempted to disarm Jasper just so he would get even lighter but she had spent a -lot- of money on those and damned if she was gonna leave em behind for scrap. At least nearly all of her ammo was spent.

He reversed up and covered her retreat, cursing that she was so bloody slow. The avalanche of falling building materials was punctuated by an enemy tank that had slid down and landed turret down with a resounding clang that echoed out through the ravine... and then promptly exploded. It shook more debris loose and blocked the passageway fairly neatly although no doubt there would be infantry units combing the whole place. He finally got her pushed inside, and there was enough room for their respective mechs to stand facing each other each side of the barn. He pulled the doors shut and looked through one of the many holes in the roof above the doors as the entire passageway collapsed. It sounded like rushing water and yet it was metal and rock and inadvertantly.. people. Or bits of them at least. He hoped it was the enemies he had savaged in the last few hours of fighting but he knew there would be civilian casualties. Not caused by his or any of the wolves hands but simply by that of the maniacs that had attacked. He'd never heard of anything like it in civilised societies these days. The worst part about it was that knew there was next to no chance of reinforcements uprisings like this just didn't happen any more, so there was no point in planetwide comms between the defensive units, nor was there any mobile reserves. He cursed again and waited... the avalanche had slowed to a trickle. Now it just looked like they had to wait it out for a while. He turned back to the copper mech and looked at the rickety thing and raised an eyebrow. He was mildly impressed whoever it was had actually taken it into combat. It looked like -arse- but it had managed to survive, even if it wasn't in absolutely hard contact like he had been. Although he knew his mech looked scarcely better, the white and navy blue paint scheme marred and dirty and armour plates buckled an shattered and scarred. Still, he patted the console of his faithful machine. Blackwraith had served him well and was still eager for more.

Once he'd nearly shoved her inside, she immediately shut Jasper down. One of the gears in his left arm was grinding badly like something was stuck between the teeth, so badly she could hear it all the way inside the cockpit. For a second, it crossed her mind that he probably had fancy air-conditioning in his mech and she hated him for it without even knowing whether it was true or not. With Jasper down, the only noise after the avalanche had settled was Jasper's metal hissing quietly and her own heavy breathing and she sat there and tried to calm herself. What was there to do now? She was stuck with him here and if she popped the hatch she risked him pummelling her to death for her cunning deceit. But it was so hot.. Sighing with exasperation, she kicked the door and it opened an inch or two, allowing steam to hiss out of the cockpit and the fresh, albeit a little dusty, air to flow in. Ahhh, wonderful relief.