Tales of a Grunt, Part 2 By Theo Peeples #847147

This is harder than it looked in the simulations. Damn Warhorse is moving like a rust bucket and ain’t seen a tube of grease in a few years. Thanks OK, I can make this work. As I move around the backside, I see them, just sitting there, 4 Ant’s and 2 Shocklites. They seem to be celebrating, which they should, I don’t see any of the guys I dropped in with on the scanners. As I watch from a distance, one of them turns toward my direction, and the previous pilot can be seen yelling. They made me.

As the capacitors charge, I line up and take the first shot, Ant down! And there also goes what little element of surprise I had left. I begin to strafe them, trying to get off as many shots I can. Dodging between the buildings gives me cover in this small town, but not enough, one of the Shocklites fires a barrage of missiles. Poor guy has poor aim, but the splash from the explosions was his saving grace, left leg took some damage. Mobility is still at 80%, I can keep this up. Another Ant appears to my right, and begins to take some shots, can’t hit the broad side of a barn. I turn and fire, only to realize I can’t do the same. Gotta keep moving.


Zigging and zagging through the town, the remaining 5 mechs try to surround me. The second Shocklite and an Ant come up in my 6, but I’m a soldier, their tactics are almost predictable. I do a quick 180 the second I have the thought, just to have them both lined up before they could even realize. I begin to fire all that this rust bucket has. The left arm and shoulder mounted weapons seem to want to veer off, got to remember that. The right arm laser overheated, but the right shoulder laser fires true, hit’s the Shocklite and takes out one of his missile batteries. Can’t stay here.


The numbers game it starting to catch up. I can dodge them for the most part, but even the manual targeting is akin to throwing darts blindfolded. 2 Ants flaked me from both sides. I got to get out of here. One of them connects with a direct hit to my torso. May be a blessing in disguise. I have the almost perfect hole in the cockpit being able to see them straight ahead. I turn to the right and unload everything I can on the Ant, landing a direct hit. 2 Ants down, 3 more to go. I can’t stay here much longer, this mech can’t take the strain of the battle too much longer.


I spot an opening in the distance, a perfect escape out of this battle zone. I begin to make my move at full speed, dodging along the way. The 2 Shocklites are moving to cut me off and unloading as they go. Remember that left arm and shoulder that veers off? I did, perfect for an almost surprise attack to clear one of the Shocklites out of my way. I begin to fire as I run. Seemed to work out nicely, didn’t score a solid hit, but had enough damage to the missile batteries to disable them. Finally I can see the escape route, and they seem to be breaking off. In the distance I see the previous pilot angrily stomping. Thanks for the mech!


As I’m leaving the entire area, I get a call on the comms device “We need a status update on the search and destroy”. “Mission a failure, unable to locate target and almost all grunts KIA” I replied. I keep the Warhorse in full speed away from them, only to hear “This mission is top priority, target must be eliminated. Return to the battlefield and complete your objective at all cost.” Screw them, I don’t get paid enough for this. As I continue away from the town, I hear the comms device on the mech begin to go off “You have one of our mechs, leave it where you stand, or we will hunt you down!” Seriously?


Searching through my list of contacts, I come across a fellow named General Nova, interesting guy. I heard he’s the one to contact about mech related contracts and can put me on the path to a decent repair shop. I don’t know if I’m going to keep this rust bucket, or even get any contracts with no license. If anything I need a crew, more mechs. I heard their were some of Drakes old clones hiding out on the outer edge of the galaxy, might have to look them up. They gotta eat too. The grunt leading the grunts. Either the best idea that can take me places, or the worst and I’ll just have an early retirement, permanently.




Submitted By Theo Peeples #847147