Mac stretched in his cockpit and rubbed the weariness from his eyes then blinked to review the vista below once more. The battle had not gone according to plan.
Heroes against the Avengers of Bunny. Old allies, older foes. The fighting should have been far more intense. From his vantage point here on the Fedioukine Heights where the gradient and light scree made footing nonviable for anything over 70 tons, he had watched the days events as they had unfolded.
They had taken the heights early and while his defenders dug in, he had taken command of his own heavy brigade to make spoiling attacks into the Bunny formations along the valley below. There had been some intense moments, he had expected nothing less from adversaries of this caliber. Some of the firefights between the opposing forces had turned into some very mean dust ups, but Mac had checked the scout reports well and avoided getting bogged down.
After a number of precision strikes, he retired in good order to the head of the valley and laagered his heavy units in reserve, ready to counter-strike when the enemy made their inevitable counter-attack.Which didn't happen.
Oh, there had been some minor probes and skirmishes, but nothing like the headlong push the Heroes had expected.
It was.... unnerving.
<They might have just decided to call it quits and make their play on the final day,> came an opinion across the squad vox channel.
Mac didn't respond. These were the 'Bunny Queen's' forces, and he had personal experience of just how tenacious she could be. He rubbed his chin and scanned the field of battle, waiting for the hammer to fall.
That had been twenty hours ago.
Down in the valley, salvage teams and medivac units worked around wreckage and through smoke and in craters, returning life to mechanical and organic being alike. Mac's chrono had just signaled the alarm for the final hour of conflict.
No shots had been fired in the last three hours since General Fuller had thundered his own units up the valley to savage the Bunny line.
Mac sighed with disappointment. The Bunnies deserved better than this. Checking his optics for the umpteenth time, he vainly searched for signs of movement. The magnification was cranked way up and centred on a knoll across the valley, too precarious even for his 70s to traverse.
40 ton territory, the court of the Bunny Queen.
Territory that was still pristine, unlike so much of the blasted surrounding area. Just as pristine as his own position.
The Bunny's had not dared to attack the heights. It wasn't that much of a surprise; she had scouted his formation herself just two days hence and had her tail handed to her. That report would have been passed to her troops, and while they may have a reputation for aggresiveness in the extreme, they were neither stupid or suicidal.
He had however hoped she had been tricking him, holding back a truer, stronger formation. She was a 70 ton jockey from way back.
He tapped his fingers on the console, considering their past history. If that actually had been her real formation, he could beat her with 70s and had done so with 65s. She had beaten him with 25's... just.
A smirk played across his face at the memory of that one as he straightened in his seat and keyed the vox.
"Mac to reserve echelons. Send up the light brigade."
There was a pause, then the speaker crackled to life.
<Mac, Fuller here. Query on your last instruction... I thought you advised us not to go for Christine, but for some reason your techs are powering up a 40 ton squadron?>
"Just paying my respects Boss," Mac responded... then smiled and added, "and I can't walk away not knowing. If she has the last victory of the day, so be it. They deserve that honour at least."
Mac sat on the edge of the crater that used to be his Keradon 'Thunder Twonk', giggling as he brushed the dust and soot from his combat gear. A figure approached the opposite side of the depression and stopped, hands on hips with an arched eyebrow.
"You feel better for that?" demanded Christine.
Mac grinned at her. "Sure, especially after I managed to put some dents in that Neph you won from me."
She threw him a flat look, an indelicate finger, then with a muttered retort of "Bite me!" turned on her heel and stalked back to her squadron. The effect was only spoiled when she glanced back over her shoulder with a wide smile.
Mac was still giggling as the Heroes pilots trudged back across the valley floor and began the climb back up to their waiting mounts on the heights. That was when the air was rent with a booming voice blaring from Loudspeakers.
"FOR THE HONOUR OF THE QUEEN! LET NO BLOW BE LEFT UN-ANSWERED!"
In the valley below stood a formation of light mecha, fifty tons or less and with a goodly proportion of Nephilax in their ranks.
Mac's wrist comm chirped for attention, and drawing his eyes away from the assembled machines he clicked on it to acknowledge the incoming message.
<Mac, Fuller here again. You best get back to your machines, that's you he's calling out.>
Mac's jaw dropped momentarily, then he quickly recovered to inquire, "Who the hell is it? I give him ten out of ten for style, but minus lots for common sense!" He was already frantically gesturing the pilots around him up the hill and set off after them at a run.
<Yeah, well it looks like their Triple Spec guy. You know, the other one you put on the 'do not poke with a stick' list? Guy's got a lot of gold in his closet,> warned Fuller.
"Yeah," muttered Mac as he swung up the ladder of his command mech, "but an unhealthy obsession with the mountain does not trump an even more unhealthy infatuation with Tory when it comes to this type of fight."
With a final cry of "LAY ON!" the Bunny lights stormed the hill, charging through the gunfire of the hastily re-assembled Heroes. Their bravery was never in any doubt, but courage alone could not counter the imbalance in tonnage.
For every Heroes Inferno that fell, a rank or more of Bunnies had been required to expend themselves to do it. At the last, Mac's command Smilodon faced down the final three attackers.
Mac's Galaxy Eye lashed out but he never got the chance to see the effect as his machine bucked hard under him and every alarm went off in the enclosed cockpit space; SHUTDOWN protocol from a bad kickback.
"CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP!!!!"
He only just had time to smack the manual explosive stud that blew his windscreen out and allowed him egress to throw himself clear of the machine as the Bunnies avenged themselves for their fallen comrades.
He winced as he landed hard and rolled, then winced again as his second rank strode forward. At least it was quick.
"For the Honour of the Queen!"
Sometimes folk just don't know when to give up. They also don't know how not to telegraph their moves. Before he had even turned his head to track the voice, Mac had activated the hidden device in his wrist comm, placed there courtesy of the Heroes chief tech and quartermaster.
The strong magnetic field gave excellent shielding against most projectile or thrown weaponry. Which in this case was just as well.
Mac climbed to his feet and regarded the Bunny champion who had lowered his weapon on seeing its complete ineffectiveness.
"Tell you what," Mac advised him lightly. "What say I apologise for any slight you feel I may have given your clan leader. As a bonus, I'll also forget the small fact that you just tried to shoot me and I also promise not to tell Christine Mainer that you believe she can't fight her own battles."
He paused to let those words sink in before continuing and took the opportunity to fossick in a hip pouch to withdraw a small brightly coloured item. "In return, you can convey this small gift to her."
Mac noted the look of suspicion on the Bunny pilots face and rolled his eyes.
"No, it's not explosive. Party hat, see?" he said as he held said item up for inspection, then held it outstretched as he smirked.
"She'll know what it means."
Submitted by David McCallum #701548