Unsuccessful Escape
[dcs_p]The night held a gloom future for the five surviving members of Llana’s Breakers.
The cold, damp wind burrowed its way into their refuge, the far edge of the
forest. Kusga trees creaked and moaned, their elastic branches surrendering to
the evening’s powerful gusts. Small creatures scampered here and there, leaving
the five Mechwarriors shaken and troubled. A fine mist of weak acid rain
blanketed the open prairies just north of the Kusga grove. Hindering sight and
smell, the fine precipitation clouded the team’s flashtorch views with a bright
white wall of reflection, all the while producing toxic fumes wherever drops struck
the exposed ores rich to the area. [/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Michelle Wright shivered, recalling instances of the previous night’s disastrous
battle, the battle in which Commander Llana had finally fallen. It seemed almost
surreal, that replay of Llana’s Mech literally crumbling under the force of a
tremendous fusion explosion. The command lance had suffered unbelievably in
that explosion. A total of six Mechwarriors had been robbed of life. All four
Mechwarriors of the command lance were dead. The head analyst and Llana
herself had been lost in an instant. After that, the Breakers just had well given up.
Taking advantage of the freak incident, the enemy pirate forces had run rampant
across the battlefield. Spotting slower heavy Mechs for artillery bombardment,
the pirates had efficiently removed the Breakers of their firepower. Scout lances
scattered instantly. Though most escaped the actual battlefield, enemy pursuits
destroyed several of those that fled. Survivors had signalled one another to meet
near Baq’s Arch. The strange but natural land formation was several kilometers
away. After 21 hours, only five had arrived.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]What had gone wrong? Michelle pondered. Her only explanation was not a
positive one. She could only imagine every mercenary’s worst
nightmare…employer betrayal. All mercenaries knew of Initial Pursuit, the small
mercenary unit hired decades ago by the Outworlds Alliance. The Alliance had
considered the company sized unit disposable. Pursuit’s intelligence corps were
well known for fools, and therefore exploited regardless of the consequences.
Initial Pursuit met their end while working to weaken one of the Alliance’s inside
problems. The Alliance’s thorn, self proclaimed nobles whom had rejected
Alliance standards, overwhelmed Initial Pursuit to hunt them down like wolverines
on an arctic hare. Survivors had met a more gruesome death. Public executions
were intent on shoving the mercenary effort back into the Alliance’s face.
Looking into the dark blue glow of the chemo-heater, Michelle struggled to face
the consequences of her grave situation. Her surviving teammates were of no
comfort. Each held their own battle with this new reality. Rubbing her numb
fingers against her stiff overcoat, she contemplated options. “We must band
together if we are going to survive.” Michelle thought frantically. She decided to
propose her own plan of escaping this situation to the others.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]”Guys,” she said in a weak whisper. She struggled to find her voice, “Guys we
have to get the hell out of here. It’s not good enough to hide from these
bastards.” Michelle looked to John. “The ship is here. They won’t leave the
ship. They won’t leave here.”[/dcs_p]