This engagement had been running for over an hour now. The pirates had struck from nowhere. Nothing had hinted at their presence, and their opening salvos had crippled the leading guard's Cindron instantly.
The lieutenant, a mercenary officer who's battle-collective were, at the time, under the employ of Barbaris Calthorne, a wealthy commodity merchant, had been tasked with ensuring the safe escort of freight craft across the perilous wastes of Nanaaran, Novum Dolorum's largest moon. There were to be 40 such shipments to a mining outpost in the northern-most hemisphere. Because of the terrain and sheer size of the core supply ship they had to land a vast 400 Earth miles from the site and make the journey from there.
The initial deep range bio-scans had offered up nothing. Usually they could be as close as 95% reliable,showing up the faintest signatures of concealed bandit pilots well in advance of arrival at their position.
There had been zero reports on this run and, even though the opportunistic bandits would generally chance their arm for the rich rewards it could offer, it was perplexing as to why there had been nothing to indicate before the first shots were heard.
The mystery would have to be placed on the back burner for the moment. There were hostile mechs pounding in from all sides. Nothing much bigger than the Holmes class so far but such raids could throw up the odd nasty surprise.
The lieutenant forged ahead, scanning the incoming attackers for anything that might indicate the raider's leader. To his right, one of his soldiers unleashed a barrage from his T10 racks. The missiles lit up the sky in front, and there was a blinding explosion of metal and phosphorescence as the volley forked and made immediate scrap of a pair of bandit Shocklites.
"Sir" the com-link spat, "I have a bead on what appears to be their commander". The lieutenant peered through the smoke, blinking to regain his night vision. "Identify mark trooper", he requested. "Check my fire sir" the pilot responded, and unleashed a rain of ferrite rounds at a point to the lieutenant's 10 o'clock. The officer glanced across and activated his auto-targeting system towards the area indicated.
There it was. The surprise in the bran-tub. An Inferno thundered out of the ebon gloom, spewing liquid hell as it came. Clearly it was equipped with Kojin stove's, but the occasional super-heated blast from a Lizard brain voiced it's presence intermittently.
The officer new that his men, whilst capable and seasoned, could not match this adversary. "All guns hold off on that Inferno", he ordered. "Drop left and get me a distraction but stay clear of engagement".
His closest troops broke off immediately and rushed the metal giant's flank. It worked like a charm. Instinctively, the hostile banked towards the feint, and as he did so he exposed his left side. 'Gotcha' the lieutenant thought ruthlessly. He pushed his engines to their very limits and powered up his black widow battery.
The brigand commander realized his misjudgment,, but all too late. The lieutenant's lasers screeched into life and slammed deep into his foe's hull. Despite the prestigious mech's leveled armor and clearly sophisticated weaponry there were clearly no shield capabilities. The metal ripped before the blast and in a single shot it was over.
As the bandit leader fell into smoldering scrap the remaining hostiles panicked and turned in terror.
The raced towards the cover of the nearest rocky outcrops, followed the whole way by missile and projectile fire.
The day was won. The cargo transports had survived in tact thanks to the skill and method of the mercenaries and their steeds.
Once they reached the relative safety of the mining outpost they would be paid.
Tomorrow, who knew. Drinking? A few days to spend their bounty? It would be a brief celebration and the next contract would be on the cards. This engagement would carry words of praise and serve to enhance their reputation.
For now.... the journey went on.
Submitted by Steve Ross #162076