Scouts are first out, but they are not alone. More powerful mechas move out too, but slowly. They don't want to miss anything. Scanners are at maximum detection settings, be there anything alive, either organic or mechanical, they will spot it. They are bright moving targets, anybody who wants to shoot hardly could miss, but they don't care. They have a mission to do, and it must be done fast.
Still they are not defenseless. Behind us are fighting units moving too. They don't search, they are ready to shoot back. Fast and hard. Preferably before the enemy gets the first shot off. Camp security was breached, and whoever did this, will pay.
Camp itself is a hurdle of people. Security personal check every building, inside and outside. Face scanners are everywhere and active, if your face isn't in the database, your life is really in danger. They will find any outsider who is unlucky enough to still be in camp. The clan leader is missing, and rescuing him is top priority.
Fast! Efficient! Unforgiving!
I bet that in some clans, it really would look like that. Kidnappers only hope would be enough of a head start with speed to keep that advantage. But in our clan? We lost our leader, and it all went a little differently...
But lets start at the beginning. Faction war was over, we were just returned back to our camp. All quest pilots and their staff had left already, so it was time to rest and be merry. Fix mechs, evaluate loot and plan ahead. You know, all usual stuff, there would be nearly a month before anything official would need doing.
So we did sort of scatter. Everybody did what they liked to do. Some rest. Some hit kotm and circuit. Some select missions to do. I select kotm. I really could use new weapons. Usually there would be other clan members too, but they seem to be little tired after war, specially faction, that there really weren't many of us collecting medals. Truth to tell, I didn't collect either, but at least I was there.
Then came that surprise announcement again. Another war. How we could relax if there is always some new fight to avoid. Lay low and do nothing, that was what I signed for. But at least it's normal war, and we are back in our original group, so there shouldn't be too much of a hassle. To avoid unnecessary prep talks, I signed the war notification early, like most of others too. Now the boss is free to do normal paper work, and all is over a little faster.
The day went by. Then another. Still no “we go to war” announcement... Questions and rumors started to spread.
- When do we go to war?
- Has anybody seen the boss?
- Another leader with communication problems, they can't register either.
- One is on a field trip, can't register.
- Drake is out again and collecting samples.
- Leader is kidnapped.
- Leader is tired and ran away.
- He is resting and will come back before deadline.
- He retired.
- He got tons of loot and is hiding it.
Lot's of talk and speculation, but no actual facts. Some active ones started to look for clues. They contacted kotm and circuit officials, to see if they have some info. Last seen about week before. Week? We really are camped, half sleep most of the time.
There was efforts to track him down, if he is visiting home. Maybe there is something that prevented him from returning. Nothing in the news network. Other pilots at same area haven't noticed anything out of order. This is more than weird. I think that some even try to contact Drake, to see if he has some info, but no answer there either. Then there were those assassins and forerunners and stuff... We did “fight” against them as a faction, but I don't think that any of our clan even shot a shot against them... we were there only to look, surely they don't kill because of that?
The deadline was still closing on us. We should go war, our leader would want us to go, but we have no official authority to do so. Like that would stop us. Little hacking, and we manage to send a registration. Soon came approval of registration, we were accepted and ready to go. But we would go as unlimited clan, no specialist for us unless leader emerged early enough to set them (there are limits how much do we dare to cheat that system). And we have no plan what we would do in war. Do we lay low and just wait for the shooting to stop? Should we try to win something?
Would it be fun to see our leaders face, when (if) he returns, and we have a shiny new medal to brag about.
But there are some serious decisions to make too... There was a message sent to the previous leader, if he could come back and take over camp again. Still no response, but after war and raid, when clans are unlocked again, we really should do something. Before that, we wait and hope...
Submitted by Kalevi Karvinen#863817