[dcs_p]As he had feared, the pack had been seriously damaged by the Spider’s assault.
Nothing happened when he attempted to jet away to a safer location along the
library’s north wall. While manually resetting the controls, Ryan checked the
jetpack’s maneuvering compensators. Though one was offline, he would be able
to use the remaining to manually fly his armor if needed. This would be neither
convenient nor safe, but anything would be better than being cut in half by another
one of the Spider’s medium lasers. Deciding on his new course of action, Ryan
was surprised to see a small laser hit the cockpit of the head of the Spider. He
realized that his surviving teammate had carefully set up a sniper-shot in an
attempt to deal the Mech a fatal blow. Ryan was not alone, and he would soon
be able to line up a similar sniper-shot if the Mech’s pilot decided to attack the
Purifier armor that had just dealt it such a deadly blow.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Grinning inside his Purifier armor. Steve realized how much damage he had just
done to his 30 ton enemy. He knew that such a shot would not go unpunished,
and that the Spider’s pilot would devote everything to killing the attacker who had
almost completely destroyed the machine’s cockpit. However, Steve also
realized that his shot had nearly ended the entire battle. If only he could land a
similar shot before being killed, he would not only save himself and avenge his
fallen teammate, he would also win this fight for his whole team.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Steve had immediately begun taking evasive actions after completing his carefully
aimed shot. He had not anticipated the Spider to react as it was now. The
machine quickly pivoted on its right heel, bringing the left side of its body into the
library and destroying a large portion of the building. As the entire structure
shuddered under the impact, Steve fell to his feet. He was temporarily, totally
defenseless. He had to recover his footing quickly if he wanted to survive this
encounter.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]After having received the emergency beacon signal, Sergei Dive cold-started his
fusion reactor and immediately began moving his small Maultier
armored-hovercraft towards his mission’s pick up point, a public library. Arming
the 15 ton vehicle’s only weapons system, Sergei readied a small barrage of
short ranged missiles. The Maultier’s missiles carried a specialized payload.
Rather than packing explosives or fiery fuel, Sergei’s machine sported costly
electro-magnetic pulse devices that were only recently designed to fit on short
ranged warheads. These EMP missiles were capable of rendering small
electronic devices completely useless, or distorting the functions of a larger
electrical system such as a BattleMech targeting computer. Sergei wasn’t sure
what kind of enemies he would be facing today, but he wanted to be ready with
everything he had right from the get go. He realized that he would be facing a
small Mech as he neared the library’s west side. He unlocked the main exit door
of the Maultier personnel carrier just as the hovercraft neared the southern wall of
the building.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Jasmine could hear the arrival of the Striker’s armored personnel hovercraft just
outside the library’s outer wall. It would only be a matter of time before the
infantry inside would be rescuing her from the library. Unfortunately for Jasmine,
she had lost too much blood without receiving the proper medical attention.[/dcs_p]