The Invasion (Knight)

[RedCoat]

The Clan Invasion.
The biggest upset to the Inner Sphere since Kerenskys Exodus triggered the succession wars, centuries ago. And now the descendants of those who left returned to take the Sphere for themselves, each Clan claiming territory and challenging each other for the juiciest planets. Against the honour driven warriors ranged the armies of the Inner Sphere, the disunited houses leading disunited campaigns and finding their ancient mechs to be ineffective at best, and useless at worst.

On another of the nameless worlds that House Steiner possessed, a young Nobleman stood proudly in his Atlas, looking across the soon to be battlefield to where Clan mechs stood, silently awaiting some kind of signal to charge. His force outnumbered them 3 to 1, but even then the chances of victory were incredibly slim…

 

[Knight_of_None]

The green rabble that had swept into the sector were Jade Falcon Warriors, they had jumped on this world, for what reasons? Unknown. Maybe resources, maybe for conquest. The dropships had deployed their enemies in a midst of a bombardment by the naval forces above their world, verdant armor lurking out in the wilds of the Steiner Territory.

In their mech force, a young warrior was laying in wait, the bombardment that gave them cover on the way onto the planet had begun the countdown. Their Omnimech adorned with missed arrays and a set of small laser systems for long range engagements and targeting enemy mech weak points. Their commander had insisted on such tactics, to pepper the enemy from the sides and destroy weapon systems, after all, coring a mech would be more expensive to refit.

The young warrior looked to their system, seeing a brief flicker on their Radar systems. The Frontline units had moved, the medium and heavy class mech pushing from the over the hill and to wage their 'open war' with the enemy.

 

[RedCoat]

The Steiner forces consisted of Blackjacks and Marauders, Mechs built to keep firing till they either melted from excess heat, they were killed or the enemy stopped moving. And alone amongst them stood the Atlas of the Noble, a tall figure standing tall like Kerensky himself against the Falcons horde as they charged into the withering hail of fire, lasers and Autocannon shells chewing at their armour, even as they’d find the greeting returned in much more devastating fashion as Clanner shots found their marks and scythed through the Steiner lines.

 

[Knight_of_None]

The pilot pushed their mech forward, taking care not to stray into the firefight. The mechs that charged the gun line, weathering the incoming rain of fire , navigating to absorb blow after blow if they had no choice. Some were torn asunder, but the tide of green armor kept coming. They didn't break or retreat, their honor no doubt making them only have on grim choice, to go out blazing their out cannons at the enemy. The wave seemed to be pulling apart, but the reason was not by the horrors of their charge. They were spreading out to allow airstrike to carve up the battlefields, a slash to the enemy as repurchased Fleas and Javelins tore their way through the battlefield, jump jets bursting and light frames sprinting to flank and use flamethrowers to force the enemies to overheat all the sooner.

The Pilots mech took aim on the Atlas, watching it as it was engaged by much heavier mech suits, A Jade Phenoix opening up its main guns upon its foe. They stalked, targeting systems focusing, missles locking in for its time to strike.

 

[RedCoat]

The Atlas was stood alone in a slowly growing pile of scrap, the Noble claiming a score of Falcon mechs as the heat warning chimed, nearly reaching its failure limit that would trigger a failure cascade, blowing it sky high. He kept firing though, hoping the constant charge would abate to allow a moment of cooling.

 

[Knight_of_None]

The charge started to slow, but as the hope began to rise in the Atlas, that they would keep from blowing their payload, the Atlas saw a missile array lanced out from the crumbling wreckage of the battlefield, 5 missles starting to beat the mounts guns if the Atlas. The pilot pushed their mech forward, trying to draw attention , opening up with laser fire on the Atlas to force its hand. A Javelin boosted over the feild,, trying to open up their flamethrowers upon the other side to force its heat all the higher.

 

[RedCoat]

“Blood of Kerensky!” The Noble swore as his weapons were rendered destroyed, his Atlas stomping across the field through the fire, watching the heat climb as his mechs fist smashed one of the Flamethrower mech. Sadly that was the last action he’d take, the reactor breaching its heat limits and forcing the pod to eject into the air.

 

[Knight_of_None]

As he ejected, his Mech core going up in smoke only seconds later as the flamethrower mech was barely hanging into its own frame from the blow. The pilot narrowed their eyes on him as they watched them get ejected, by now the Jade Falcons were working to corral their enemies, now that their Atlas was off the field, they sensed victory. Tanks were rolling in now, eager to establish dominance on their softer targets, and to have men place their stakes in this new worlds infrastructure.

 

[RedCoat]

The Noble grunted weakly as the acceleration of the Ejection bled away, leaving him dangling under a parachute that slowly drifted downward towards the mechs that had bested his own.

 

[Knight_of_None]

The mech stomped it's way over, it's free hand opening as he drifted in the air, catching him in the Steel fist by the parachute...careful not to make their prisoner into paste. The pilot smirked as they started to pull back from the battlefield as the defenders were pushed into a retreat. "Rider-07 for Command." The pilot said patching in hail their naval commander. "Receiveing Rider-07. What's your status?"

"Enemy is in retreat, I have captured a Inner. Returning to bring them in for interrogation." They reported through the din of war around them.

 

[RedCoat]

The Noble swore loudly as he swung from the grip of the clan mech, hearing the screams of his retreating forces whilst they were hunted down.

 

[Knight_of_None]

The clanner lead the mech far from the battlefield, to the make shift base they had made. The pilot saw gaurd forces already in place to receive their new prisoner, the Pilot toggled a few switched and let the Steiners parachute drop, letting it slide into the hands of their comrades.

 

[RedCoat]

As soon as it hit the ground, Clanners were dragging the Noble from the pod, revealing his rather impressively muscled form, but he was only a free birth. Still, perhaps he’d be worth something to freshen the gene pool the clanners grew their Truebirths from.

 

[Knight_of_None]

"Put the freebirth in a cell, and keep him there." They picked up from their team leas as they dragged the defeated noble out of their pod. "Pathetic. Captured by a woman." The captain mocked as he approached the Steiner. "Guess House Steiner didn't send their best if you lost your shiny Atlas."

 

[RedCoat]

He grunted as he was dragged to the cell, but then a smile appeared on his face "Oh? Whoever said I was meant to win?" He asked, before slipping a small detonator from his uniform "Thanks for getting me away from all those Mechs. And their fusion reactors." He pressed the button down and there was a moment of silence, before a distant rumbling as every single Steiner mech that hadn't already gone critical and blown up detonated it's reactor.

 

[Knight_of_None]

The captain looked at his hands, the man's eyes widening. "No-" he started to say, trying to go to stop him. But he was too late. As they heard abd felt the eruptions. The captain ripped the device from his hands, started to grab the young man by the collar to throttle him. "You think that changes anything? We will have more!" He snapped as alerts rang out.

 

[RedCoat]

The noble's grin only got wider as he was grabbed by the throat "Oh, touch a nerve, hmm? If you've got more, why're you so upset?" He taunted, that smug grin still on his face as he spoke "Oh, and one more thing? No one said I was the only army here, did they?" He laughed louder, as reports of a second Steiner force launching an assault blared throughout the facility.

 

[Knight_of_None]

The captain smirks at the laughing Steiner. "Who said we were the main force."He challenged as the alerts came in.

As the alerts rang out, Rider looked around, then to their mech. She cursed under her helmet as she saw the mechanics panic and started to pull their tools away. She ran from her mech, knowing it wouldn't be loaded in time. Optimg for another as other pilots scrambled to jump back inti action.

 

[RedCoat]

The Steiner kept laughing as more and more explosions rocked the base "Oh, no one. But here's the fun thing... We know your force strength. And we've got you encircled..." He looked over at where Rider had been "So, you can either surrender now, or later. I'd prefer now, as some of your weren't half bad to look at."

 

[Knight_of_None]

"Jade Falcon never surrenders." The commander said. "And if you think you will live to see it, you are sorely mistaken." He said pointing to the Steiner. "Take this scum out of here, get a transport, we're taking a hostage."

 

[RedCoat]

"And here I thought we'd be friends..." The Noble joked as he was dragged away, listening to the cacophony of missile strikes and autocannons in the distance with a smirk.

 

[Knight_of_None]

As he was dragged away from the halls of the base, the soldiers abound were already running to prepare their defense and move to intercept positions. The rumbles if rockets and rhythm of battle stormed on the outside. "I say we shoot the bastard now and get on out way" one of the men growled as they drew their side arm.

"Now! Commander says we move him, we need support out there....they might get us Jade6 for this-" the other said as the motor pool got closer and closer, transport ships were already running hot, to ferry quick movement and troops off as soon as they were packed.

 

[RedCoat]

The Nobles smirk got a little wider as the sounds of gunfire and explosions got closer "Make your minds up quickly... Else you might miss the last transport" He laughed softly to himself, looking the growling man almost square in the eyes "Or you could shoot me... But that would involve disobeying your commander... And that's not honourable for you Clanners, is it?"

 

[Knight_of_None]

The solider slapped his gun against the nobles smirking smug face. "Prisoners don't talk." He grunted as they pushed him forward again. As the hell reigned down, they shoved forward, the rush of battle, misses abd laser fire rang from the bay. They fought the noble forward throwing him inti thr transports floor as they leapt aboard for the take off. Sentries jumped on their weapons as the engines flared off and the vessel began to rise.

 

[RedCoat]

"Ow... That was rude..." The noble muttered to himself, even as the ship rocked and shook, munitions impacting the armour and denting it further even as they would fly from the bay, heading for a dropship that was already burning hard towards the atmosphere.

 

[Knight_of_None]

"Silence soft fool." A voice said, while he was hauled back up, trusted into a seat to strap him in. The Voice however was not a male one, it was a woman sitting across him, much like the other Jade PHenioxes she was barring arms and armor, her eyes hard with contempt for his kind. She had close-cut hair, and a massive scar drawn from her neck to her cheek. The rock of the transport taking fire didn't make her flinch much, though her eyes were quick to look to the gunner teams in the midst of trying to return fire and the cockpit. Her hands itched to do more than sit by with the battle raged, while her brothers died. They had no clue the depth of which the trap had cost them. But they would make it a battle nonetheless.

 

[RedCoat]

He looked over to her as she spoke, narrowing his eyes as he assessed her "Okay then... Leader." He muttered to himself, even as a panicked shout would come from the cockpit as the Dropship accelerated harder, the sheer power of its rockets sending the small shuttle tumbling away, directly towards the ground as the pilots desperately tried to regain control and stop the inevitable crash. Sadly for them, they failed, the tiny shuttle smashing the ground and killing them instantly as it crushed the cockpit, the unsecured gunners being thrown from their gun mounts and dashed into boulders, whilst the passengers strapped down could do nothing but hold on for dear life.

 

[Knight_of_None]

As the ship was closed and careened out of control, the woman grabbed the straps of her seat, but her eyes started to widen as she saw the ground coming, all but for a second. The crash rocked her head backwards against the steel walls of the interior, ...first pain, but then nothing, just darkness...

 

[RedCoat]

By the time they would awaken, there was nothing but silence, the war having moved on from the crash. The only survivors were her and the Nobleman, who had awoken before her, and had now tied her hands together "Good morning, Princess... How's the headache?"

 

[Knight_of_None]

The woman groaned as she woke up, her arms tied, the restriction making her shuffle around. "Bastard-what have you-"she looked about the crash zone, her seeing that they were on the outside. "Release me, at once!'