Through the night the lead evaporated, and the Big O took the lead, and extended it. Samael Wormwood was the boogeyman. Not the toughest on paper, he was a master of the art, and in his specialty, even the Chief had failed to beat him. Having broken the best of the Bunnies on his ground, now he was attacking. Andries was in the way.
Andries had been a mid level Avenger of Bunny, the junior clan. He had volunteered for the war, and been advanced to the senior clan, the Defenders where he stood second from the bottom. The chief said it didn’t matter your level, it mattered you put in the work, devoted all of your resources to becoming the best at your chosen specialty, and instantly rearmed after every attack to be ready in defense. If he could not win in the attack against stronger foes, he could cut off grasping fingers when they sought to reach through him for victory. He was ready.
At the outer marker his remotes picked up Samaels lineup. He was running solid Zadok. Two ranks of Zadok marched towards his him. Zadok; the trophy mecha. Cogwork council lords couldn’t buy one, the Meiji Emperor could not command the gift of one, only those who won a Clan War could earn one. A full lance of them stalked towards Andries now. He looked from his Holmes to his Axebot and Hoplite, and new himself outmatched. He snarled again. The words of the chief echoed in his ears.
“Remember, the Defenders of Bunny are undefeated. We may have run out of mecha, and some of our pilots may ran out of blood and limbs before the battle ended, but none of us have EVER been defeated. You will stand your ground, and when the enemy comes, you will remember you are a Defender of Bunny, and for the Bunny, you will unleash Hel itself, you will feed the ravens on the dead of the field, and you will advance!”
Watching the slow confident advance of Samael Wormwood, he saw the raven crest on his lead mecha and it all came clear. It was time to feed the ravens. Victory was hurling yourself into battle without hesitation or regret, defeat was accepting you are, or could be beaten. He could be killed, but he could never be beaten. He was a Defender of Bunny, and they were unbeaten.
“This is Andries, form on me, boar’s head formation. We will advance, on the center of the enemy line. We cannot be beaten, we can only be killed, and dead men drink free in Valhalla. Attack!”
His Axebot opened the attack with a solid rail gun punch to a Zadok, it its fury it burned him down with a Galaxy eye. Blue Reapers and Green Deaths flashed from the Defenders, Mac Cannons and Carnisal Lasers flashed in return. One Zadok died, and a rank of Bunnies.
A rank of Bunny Imech faced the Zadok. Assault Plasma and Carnisal lasers burned down the Bunnies, but answering Rail Cannon broke the back of another Zadok. The Bunnies advanced over the wreckage of their first two ranks, and the reeling Omicron Guard fell before them.
Ferrite Storms and Galaxy eyes cost a Hoplite and Shocklite to the charging Bunnies, but they were in close now where advanced targeting didn’t matter and nobody did close quarter battle like the Berserkyrs of the Bunnies.
At knife fighting range, a Bunny Holmes’s Green Death lived up to its name, its heterodyne lasers achieved perfect synchronicity first doubling, then tripling their power to strike like a rapier into the burning heart of a Zadok, and tear it out.
In matching fury, his wing man traded a hit with his Cornelion Ion Cannon for a miss with the Zadok’s Galaxy Eye. A humble Achilles beam showed why it was prized for lower level fighters when its beam succeeded is disrupting the shield harmonics on the engine of his target Zadok, inducing a critical kill when the sun hot plasma was unchained inside the mecha engine compartment.
Panic beginning to set in, the remaining Zadok used its powerful Galaxy Eye to fell the Holmes with the Achielles beam, and square off with the remaining Holmes.
Sapphire and Emerald, Zadok and Holmes, Omicron and Bunny they snarled their defiance at each other as the air burned with crossing laser blasts. The sapphire Zadok unleashed a sapphire Galaxy Eye that burned through the shields of the Holmes, but passed beside the cockpit above the port side shoulder paldron. Waiting for the slower crystal weapon to cycle allowed the Defender of Bunny that critical half second more to firm up his target, and the emerald Holmes screamed out Green Death in a double serving as the beam hit and sustained burn-through on the starboard flank of the Zadok, cooking off the ammunition of its auto-cannon, and gutting the powerful trophy mecha.
One battered Bunny Holmes stood over a broken foe. Many bunnies had fallen, but none of them had been defeated. You could kill them, but they would never know defeat. Andries voice broke over the command channel. “Delta 7, you are the last mech standing, fetch the beer. 82nd Omicron Guards, you fought well, anyone still alive can join us for a beer. You may carry the day when this is over, but when you step on the field with the Defenders of Bunny you have to kill us all, because we can never be defeated. We are good hosts though; free beer with every ass kicking. Grab a pint, and wait for medical recovery.”
Samael Wormwood had been around a long time, and had faced battles on more fields than he could count, but this would remain one of the strangest. Laughing he keyed his radio to reply. “82nd Omicron, I’m proud of you boys and girls, I though we had this one, the mistake was mine. Grab a brew from our friends across the field. If you want to come try us on our ground, we’d be just as happy to host you!”
They both laughed, Samael had owned the Bunnies on his ground. Andries would take the win he had and leave it at that.
Clan War rages, worlds burn, and you can get two beers in before medical/recovery comes to collect you.
Submitted by John T Mainer 28840