I have only been with the Defenders of Bunny for two months. Prior to this, I had served with the 14th Guards Regiment “Bears of Ulla-Tor” for six years. My stint in the Illyran Armed Forces came to an abrupt end when my noble officer hit upon the wonderful idea of selling our Green Death assault lasers and Medium Fury missile batteries and replacing them with the cheaper and less effective Cornelion Ion Cannon and Double Mordem racks. We took casualties in two different pirate raids, notably from pirates sporting Green Death and Medium Fury racks to our Cornelion Ion Cannon and Double Mordems, that we should not have taken. For some reason, the Internal Security Force seems to have connected my reports of my superiors wrongdoing with the accidental rerouting of the main power feeds from his Hyper Amp lasers to his command couch. It seemed expedient to seek other employment while my noble officers accidental BBQ-ing was still under investigation; hence my joining the Defenders of Bunny.
Having sworn to the Bunnies (actually taking oath on the ring before real live bunnies-I suppose they are less likely to sell my weapons than my former human officer), I had not deployed with them as yet as my mecha was too light for their standard mission profile. Now my implant was pinging with “Code Rainbow” and the PA was repeating the same. “ All pilots to the briefing room for immediate action briefing” Could it be? Could I finally have my chance to go to war under the Bunny banner?
Colonel Mainer was conducting the briefing. His bearded face was lit up with the sort of gleeful hunger a Polar Bear showed when it dragged up a Beluga whale on the ice, or those damned Snavurm showed when they caught some poor mech jock stuck in the swamp. This was not going to be an exercise; this would be war for sure!
“Alright boys and girls, we have a declared Code Rainbow at Kuan-ti. A Craftsman ship has hit a warp storm in transit through the Kuan-Ti space, and suffered enough damage to crash on Kuan-Ti. Rather than let their craft and its loot be seized by national forces, the Craftsmen activated the Code Rainbow filter on the Kuan-Ti gate nexus."
A hand shot up right away from Natalya Nikolaevna Shostokovich (pilot of the Ammonite Red Saviour) as she shouted the question “What level”
It was a good question. The Forerunners (or Forebearers if you get all mystical about the dead designers of the gates), built a peace filter in to their gates that could be activated during negotiations. Level 3 allowed up to three mecha of a given type, this was for deligations of three mid level officers and their aids. Level 2 allowed for only two mecha of a given type, and was used for two high level officers and their aids. Level one allowed only one mecha of a single type, and was used for a noble, his senior war leader, and one aid to conclude negotiations.
Everyone learned at the academy about the Rainbow Lock, and how once the Rainbow Lock was in place, massed movements of troops was impossible. No national army was going to put through a handful of mecha against a target defended by full squadrons, so all national academies of the great powers taught that once a gate registered a Code Rainbow, it was no longer a viable target for attack, nor worth tying up defensive resources. Why were the other Bunny pilots all grinning?
Colonel Mainer smiled wide and answered “Code Rainbow-Level 1” A mix of cheers and groans accompanied this news. The colonel continued the briefing quickly.
“As those of you who have been with us a while know, the Warrior Clans have learned a fair bit more about the Gate systems than the national armies. Our archeo-historians have concluded that while the Forerunners assumed that only a single mecha of each type could go through would in fact mean only a command, line, and scout vehicle could go through, they operated forces that were singular in nature, with each national grouping of the Forerunners having a single mecha class for each role. Humanity does not work that way, we have dozens of options for each mech role, and cheerfully use mecha from every national force, factory, and insane intergalactic menace, that we can lay our hands on” The pilots all chuckled at that.
“Single Rainbow missions will take the best pilot of the top twenty mecha classes in our arsenal. All weapons and equipment will be made available so those mecha we deploy will boast the strongest combination of weapons, sensors, engines, chassis and shield enhancements we can put together. I am uploading a pilot roster right now for those pilots who have been selected”
INLOAD DATA: CODE RAINBOW-1: ACTION IMMEDIATE
Oh holy Thor on a thunderbolt-Nom Nom made the cut! I am going to war! As I staggered upright and lurched towards the mecha bay, the other pilots all passed me and slapped me on the back. Half cheerfully “See you at the gate” and half grumbling “Don’t wreck my gear newbie” When I got to the mecha bay, I could scarcely contain my joy. There was Nom-Nom, my 40 Nifthel getting chief tech Knockers McGuinties own attention.
Nom-Nom was a powerful machine, undervalued by many, I knew well how powerful the ice mech became at higher levels. I had long argued with the Oggun pilots that the three engine slots of a Nifthel gave it a capacity for heavy hitting that far outweighed the Ogguns single engine, even with its superior armour and trample factor. With its built in Slow and Ice damage benefits, the Nifthel could be a powerful weapon in the right hands; My hands.
Knockers saw my glance flicker between the Oggun disassembled to starboard, and the Jottun disassembled to port and realize what kind of gear was going in my beloved Nom-Nom.
“Mount up and see how he likes his new rig” Knockers said with a sly smile. I climbed in the cockpit and merged with my machine. The MIU snarled to life with a hungry bear-like growl. The sensors and targeting data came up far faster than usual. An Immersive Neural Rig was enhancing my sensors, three powerful Multi-fuel Turbines promised I would hit far harder and far faster, while the Nanobot repair would more than make up for my lower base armor. My own shields had been replaced with powerful niode driven laser and projectile shields. The best was yet to come, my own devastating Envelopers had been replaced with more powerful White Knights, and a pair of Flavian Spears.
The bay doors slide open, and the Dreadnought, Jottun, Inferno, Ammonite of our first rank move out. My own screen flashes, I step off the mecha gantry, and take my place in the rear rank. Before me the gate looms. The great coordinate markers that ring the gates are lit by the bright circles of the warning lights. The Rainbow courses around the gate, flashing its bright warning to all. Code Rainbow-1; the Forerunners peace filters, the Warrior Clans call for Single Rainbow strikes. Code Rainbow, my ticket to the front lines. Nom-Nom growls as we step to the gate….and glory!
Submitted by John T Mainer 28840