[dcs_p]Just after 1420, Meg Kurtis reported a radar blip on her sensors. The unit
detected was unusually small, but warranted further attention as there were no
other units known to be operating on the moon. Through closer inspection, Meg
had caught a video image of the unit. It seemed to be a medium sized truck,
probably weighing in at around 20 tons. The vehicle immediately began some
sort of launch sequence and before Meg was able to get a weapons lock, the
vehicle’s missile was launched. Though small and seemingly fragile, the missile
had actually been carrying a nuclear payload. A ‘dirty’ bomb, it was designed to
contaminate and kill as many living beings as it possibly could. Due to its nuclear
nature, it had also apparently been sufficiently fueled to create an immense blast
radius. The tremendous force of the blast had strewn toxic materials across the
desert in seconds. The bomb touched down near the majority of Betty Stalwart’s
scout lance, the Burners. From its point of impact, it had likely vaporized much of
Betty’s Stinger.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Thanks to Meg’s early warning, Duo had ordered his assault lance back and his
own lance to split up. Fortunately the backup lance consisting of small Mechs
had been away on a separate assignment.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Duo’s lance had quickly spread into two groups. He and Byron Jones had moved
to the east while Corven Case and Buford Olman had moved north. Within 90
seconds of Betty’s warning, the bomb detonated. Buford and Corven avoided the
worst of it. Byron Jones Mech instantly collapsed in the shock wave, and Duo’s
custom Hatamoto-chi had followed. Both men were able to move their Mechs
from the ground. However, Byron’s leg assembly had been damaged in the
unusual fall, and it seemed that speed had sentenced him to a cruel punishment.
He was unable to escape the area as quickly as Duo, and had suffered from
prolonged radiation exposure. Nuclear fallout began within the first 6 minutes,
and the poisonous ‘snow’ blanketed the area in which Duo and Byron were
moving.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Among the other members of his company, the assault lance had suffered one
immediate casualty. Ex-pirate Adam Vindraff had been piloting his Clan upgraded
Gallowglas out far in front of his teammates. The blast had pushed his Mech into
a crumpled heap. It had also blown his lancemates’ Mechs down. While Kurtis
Carrico had been able to jump jet his Falconer backwards in a retreat from the
area, Alexus Capone’s Thug had been damaged in its fall. Without a working leg,
it could only crawl from the area slowly. Before long the Thug was scraping
along through a field of radioactive ‘snow’. The fallout now covered Alexus’s
Mech and prevented her from safely exiting the machine. Her continuous silence
was an ominous reminder that her lancemates might never hear from her again.
She was too proud to cry out for help under such hopeless circumstances, but
her Mech continued to slide over the barren plain as she maneuvered it further
and further from ground zero.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Duo was working on a plan of rescue. With any luck, he and Bryon would arrive
back at the Dropship pick-up point in the next 10 minutes. From there they would
have access to undamaged communications systems to contact the backup
lance. The small group had to be warned of the possibility of any further
attacks. In addition, they could ask their teammates for help in dealing with those
with radiation sickness and contact the main Strider’s Strikers base on the nearby
world of Miranda.[/dcs_p]