AC-2AD Bravo vs Defenders of Bunny
AC-2AD Bravo, Armoured Core were back to full strength. They had known victory, and defeat, as had their foe this day. Defenders of Bunny. They were newcomers to this tier of combat, and as such were underdogs. They had known victory, hard fought and hard won, and defeat, as hard fought, and hard one. They could be beaten, but they would not give up. Good. We are Armoured Core; AC2-AD Bravo. We train for this, we live for this. Colonel Wilben Pagayon knew the ways of war, he had weighed the strengths of each side, what could be known anyway. He weighed the land, and smiled. Victory goes to those who want it most, as long as they are willing to do the hard ugly things required to earn it, like training, like planning, like scouting. They would fight in the badlands.
“Listen up, here is the Warbook on the Defenders of Bunny” There was a course of jeering at the name, but Wilben’s Clone thought the same as he did (the good ones will) and snarled his own answer.
“Stow it cupcakes, ask the Astral Claws what its like to take them lightly. The ones that lived should be out of med bay by now. You want to win smart, or die stupid?”
Wilben Prime smiled at his clone and continued.
“Strengths and Weaknesses: They are spread out a lot more than we are. On average, we are tougher, we are a lot tighter, we play our game, we win this thing.” The cheers began and he pounded the table to get them to shut up.
“Stow it Cupcakes! If we play their game we can lose this thing. They have two companies in their battalion that we can destroy in any kind of even battle. They have one company that will not even slow down as it chews through us. Get me on this people, and take it to the bank, you see Melissa, Charles, or Alyssa you are in trouble, you see their chief John, well, radio before you punch out. But that’s it, that is it. We own the rest of them. We face them one on one on our terms, and we walk away with Silver.”
The map display came up, and their implants pinged with routing assignments, communications protocols, and detailed plans for interlocking positional defense. They were going to hit the Defenders of Bunny when they came for the pass. From the heights, they could turn the pass into a gauntlet, and even the heavy metal of the top platoons could be brought down with enough concentrated fire. They would have no choice but to come into the badlands after them. A broken network of arroyo’s and canyons, dead ends and switchbacks, it was a maze. It was three hours march closer to AC-2B than the DOB. Know the ground, own the ground, own the war. The plan was simple, draw the Bunnies in, break the Bunnies up, and keep the forces in motion to bring the superior power of the AC-2 forces against the inferior DOB light formations, while avoiding the super-heavies. Who mastered the maze, would master this war. Armoured Core was about doing the hard things right every time, if it went to plan, they would own the day; TAC Computer read it as 3/2 Armoured core, with no more than 100 fights to decide it. Of course, the computer wasn’t strapping into a cockpit and chasing mecha through a maze of broken rock and steam vents.
==DOB Vanguard==
Kyra and the Ten Who Were Taken lead the advance. The most disciplined of the Defenders of Bunny, they could be counted upon to scout, without being drawn into battle. This was war for information, the heavy metal of the command team would force the breach needed in whatever the Taken found.
The pass was volcanic rock. Heat vents messing with the IR, strong magnetics fuzzing the mag-scan. The atmospherics were so charged drone range was practically line of sight, and comm channels bled with distortion. The mark I eyeball was the tool of choice for scouting.
Her Namtar (The Lady) rocked under the impact of a guass slug, the damage alarm on her HUD told her it cost her 50mm of armor. So, a Wrecker Shot. Coldly she opened a relay through her strung out mechs and rolled off a contact report. One by one the targeting sensors came live as the ambushing mecha went active against her maneuvering lance. Well now. That was sub-optimal. The pass wound through the badlands, and the heights were owned by Armoured Core. To clear the pass, they would have to root them out of the maze.
===Defenders of Bunny: Main Party====
“Frack me with a Galaxy Eye” Colonel Mainer had been happier. Armoured Core were good, probably better trained than half his troops, definitely heavier than two thirds of his troops, and not known for making mistakes. On the plains, his Assault Mecha would dominate the fast heavies of AC, and his light mecha could harass the heavier machines they could not face directly. Mobility and numbers would carry the day. In the badlands, it was like city fighting, only without civilians. Co-ordination, knowledge of the ground, and individual strength would carry the day. Advantage AC. If this was do-able, they would have to punch through at the run, if they broke the line cleanly and broke contact, they could carry the fight beyond the pass, where numbers mattered again. If they got bogged down in the badlands……….
“Listen up people. Column of Route, three lines. Melissa take right flank, I will take center, Charles and Alyssa take left. When we hit, our Assault mechs will punch a hole. We do not stop, we do not engage, we take the hits and keep moving. If you fall out of line, punch out. Armoured Core are pro’s, we will exchange you later. Do not get sucked into a slugging match in a maze they mapped and we haven’t. We punch through the maze at the run, and carry the battle to the plains beyond. If they want to follow us onto the plains, we can dance all they want. For the honor of the Bunny, ATTACK!”
===Point Stalingrad: Valhalla Badlands hour +1 ===
Clone Wilben watched the world spin, and rode the feedback as his mecha crashed to the ground. His TAC put the information on his HUD. He had been kneecapped by an Exacto Shot fired from a Dreadnought. Warbook put two lances with that mecha in DOB. As the machine stalked past, its gun raging as it destroyed the rest of his command, he noticed the pretty pink lips painted on its left butt cheek, and pink kill rings on its guns (many, many kill rings) and decided he had just met Melissa Powell. Well, somebody had to draw the short straw.
===Point Stalingrad, Valhalla Badlands hour +1==
Clone Wilben smiled, spitting blood onto his cockpit screen. He called the engineering team to begin a field repair of his vehicles. They weren't stopping Melissa, but the crack of rail-cannon he heard argued that Schindoe had popped out of his box canyon to jump whoever was trying to follow her through the maze. Welcome to Stalingrad, you bleed for every inch of it.
===DOB: Point Stalingrad, Valhalla Badlands +12====
Charles Newburn had punched through Pittman, his Assault mecha crushing the Ogguns of a foe that just didn’t have the armor to go toe to toe with him. The fight took longer than it should, as the AC just refused to accept the loss, and made him kill every single machine. He punched up the comm channel to update his column. The way was clear.
“Eric, get your ass up here, the way is clear” there was no response. He switched to the broadband channel and picked up savage distortion and combat chatter.
“Eric, you are supposed to be on my tail, keep up and get out of the pass before we get bogged down!”
It was Stephanie who answered, “Eric is down, his Harrel is damaged. Alyssa is holding them off while we do a recovery, but the Armoured Core have cut us off. I am not heavy enough to face what is coming out sector Delta 7, so am withdrawing through the side passage in our North West. Hopefully we can rejoin you.”
Charles’ blood ran cold. He turned his machines and marched back into the maze. This was what they had tried not to do. Split up in a maze against a foe that outmatched them on average, and knew the ground. Point Stalingrad. Not a happy name for the invading force. We are going to bleed for every inch, even if we win. Welcome to Valhalla, battle awaits.
===AC-2AD Bravo: Point Stalingrad, Valhalla badlands +21 hours==
Atpentus’ Oggun rocked under the shock of supercooled nanobots injected by the Black Ice. His controls slowed and it took all his skill to ride out the shot without falling. It was a good hit, but not good enough. He took a quick shot of Hatoraide from his cockpit dispenser to clear his thoughts. Exhaustion was a factor now, everyone was slower, clumsy. The fight was not supposed to go on this long, these Bunnies just did not know when they were beat. His Galaxy Eye screamed as he watched the enemy Oggun (War book reads it as “The Rock”, Lt Ferbie Doodle Mainer) explode. They had done it, sort of. It had taken three times as long, and the kill ratio looked more like 4/3 than 3/2, but unless they did something stupid, they were winning this thing. The siege of Stalingrad was ending with a defensive win, even if it cost.
The communications were crap. They had laid cables and comm relays all over the canyond, but with all the missiles and plasma tossed around, most of them were either shrapnel or irradiated garbage. They were on equal footing now. Tired, punchy, only in communication within line of sight, or at best the next corner.
Lt Danny Libriyanto punched through a signal, although the squeal and feedback argued he was at the edge of range.
“They are breaking, they are pulling back! I see that Torrent leading his lance away, they have stopped advancing. I can cut him off. Time to fry me some Bunny!”
Atpentus heard Colonel Pagayon’s order to stand fast. Punching a relay, he put the signal on a tight beam for Danny’s Inferno, but got no reply. Looking down he saw the reactor status of Danny’s mech flash from green to amber, then go out. The Defenders of Bunny were not going to win this, but Armoured Core could still lose if they were stupid enough to give up their interior positions and fall out of mutual support. He took a sip of his Hatoraide, and stilled the shakes in his hands. They could exchange Danny when it was done, lord knows, both sides knew they were dealing with professionals at this point.
== AC-2 AD Bravo Command: Point Stalingrad, Valhalla Badlands +24===
Three hundred fifty plus battles. Wilben shook his head and winced, the feedback and toxins from 24 hours of constant combat had worn him thin. Computers knew the numbers, but it took men and women to know war. This had been a war. Armoured Core showed the worth of its constant training, its fierce discipline, and its fighting spirit. It had been enough. Just. Defenders of Bunny may be new to this tier of battle, but few enough of the veterans could have matched the Armoured Core in the badlands, let the next people they faced take them lightly.
Valhalla was the legend of the heroes hall, where champions battled all day, and feasted all night. This world was well named. There had been no cowards here, no fools. Hard men and women had given there all, again and again, never flinching, never yielding, but never hating either. This had been pure, this had been…..glorious! Victory belonged to Armoured Core, but glory? Glory belonged to any who could claim they fought the Siege of Stalingrad. Would he share a drink with his enemies? Damned straight. No one who had not fought at Stalingrad could understand it, those who shared that, shared enough.
Submitted by John T Mainer#28840