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13. Aftermath
Dead Sea Plains, Tantalus, "Stop right here!" said O'Reilly, putting her hand on the driver's arm. The groundcar bumped and crunched to a halt on the baking desert plain, throwing up a cloud of sand and rock fragments. Keira slid out and walked briskly over to the downed battlemech that had caught her eye on the drive back to the mobile field base. Despite the fact it had an arm missing and its torso had been badly mauled by repeated attacks, it was still recognisable. On closer inspection, she could make out the sword-and-diamond insignia on its relatively undamaged remaining arm, which told her this Fusillade was Demi-Precentor Osborne's command mech. A team of techs worked to cut the cockpit access hatch open, while a medivac crew stood by to administer first aid. Barely a hundred metres away, a VTOL was parked on the sand with its rotors turning, waiting to take the patient back to the sickbay aboard the dropship. White and orange sparks flew as the tech's vibroblade cut through the armour plating and locking mechanism. Cutting through the hinges, the vibroblade wielder switched off his tool, sheathed it in the scabbard that rode on his back, next to the power pack and signalled to his assistant. Together they heaved the hatch out of its frame and tossed it to the ground. Keira got as close as she could and waited impatiently as the techs clambered down, signalling to the medics, who rushed forward with a first aid kit and stretcher. One of them leaned into the cockpit, withdrawing after several seconds, shaking her head. Keira's heart skipped a beat and her stomach tightened. The medic hoisted herself up and crawled inside, reappearing several minutes later, carefully dragging Alan's inert form with her. Osborne stirred and groaned in pain as he was lowered from the cockpit to the stretcher. One of them leaned into the cockpit, withdrawing after several seconds, shaking her head. Keira's heart skipped a beat and her stomach tightened. On impulse, she jogged the short distance from the groundcar and slid between a pair of medics so she could see for herself. Alan groaned and opened his eyes as a medic carefully removed his cooling vest to examine him for torso injuries. He squinted up at O’Reilly. “Keira…did we win?” he croaked. O’Reilly gave him a reassuring smile. “Yes, we did. Precentor Bainbridge went one-on-one with the pirate commander and beat him. Robyn and Patrick are negotiating the surrender of the survivors”. Osborne managed a satisfied smile before slipping into unconsciousness. “Please, ma’am, we need to get him to sickbay ASAP. He has multiple fractures and serious concussion”, said the chief medic, staring at her with barely concealed annoyance. Keira nodded apologetically and stood back to let the medtechs continue their work. After securing the comatose officer to the stretcher and stabilising him, they hustled him aboard the waiting VTOL, which took off as soon as the doors were shut. Shielding her eyes with her hands, she squinted into the dust cloud raised by the aircraft’s rotors and followed its flight back to the distant dropship. Dropping her gaze and scanning the plain, she saw the same scene being played out at dozens of other locations. Warriors being helped from their downed mechs, rescue teams searching for those who’d ejected. The Guards didn’t have nearly enough ground troops, techs or medical teams for a clean-up op of this scale. O’Reilly sighed. They would just have to do the best they could. In the meantime, she had to find Precentor Bainbridge. She turned and began jogging back to the hovercar. |
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14. Revelations
Dead Sea Plains, Tantalus, Precentor Bainbridge stopped wincing and gritting his teeth as the high-pitched screech of the vibroblade ceased. Although normally very quiet tools, they made a hell of a racket when cutting through armour plating. There came the sound of loud banging, as though someone was hitting his mech's cockpit with a sledgehammer. The loud booming noise echoed unpleasantly around the interior of the Valiant, further punishing his ears and worsening his pounding headache. Suddenly, there was a loud clang and a shaft of bright sunlight lanced into the cockpit’s gloomy interior. Gingerly craning his neck to look upwards, Philip saw that the access hatch had been cut away. The masked face of a technician peered in at him. "You okay, sir?" "I think so. My back and neck hurt like hell, but I don’t think anything's broken". The tech nodded. "Glad to hear it, sir. Will you require any assistance in getting out?" “I’ll be fine, thanks”. Bainbridge unbuckled the four-point harness that had saved him from being thrown around the cockpit when his mech had gone down. He tentatively flexed his arms, legs and back. Although very sore, he seemed to be fully mobile. Grabbing hold of the shelf where he normally stored his neurohelmet, he heaved himself out of the command couch, feeling like a monkey clinging to a tree branch. Bolts of pain suddenly lanced through his already sore neck and back. "Aaaaaaaah!" "What's the matter, sir?" asked the tech, in some alarm. Looking down, Philip realised he'd forgotten to unplug his helmet. The cable had pulled taut and yanked the helmet down on his head and collarbone. His cooling vest was still hooked up to its port on the left-hand console and the biometric sensor pads were still stuck to his arms and legs. "Nothing", he grumbled, easing back into the couch. "Just going senile in my old age". Divesting himself of all physical attachments to his mech, he made a rather undignified exit from the machine, sliding out on his back, using whatever hand and footholds he could find. With his head and arms free, he grabbed the radio antenna attached to his mech's head and eased the rest of his body out of the cockpit's stuffy confines. He hung precariously several feet above the desert for several moments, before the aerial, heated by the desert sun, began to burn his hands through the finger-less gloves he always wore. He let go, cursing as he fell, landing awkwardly and twisting his ankle. "Ow! Dammit! Son of a bitch!" he swore as he spat sand out of his mouth. Pain flared again in his back. His legs suddenly felt unsteady as he tried to get to his feet. As he knelt there, trying to regain his balance, the sound of an approaching vehicle made him look up. "Precentor!" Bainbridge squinted into the harsh desert sun, brushing sand from his face as the jeep came to a halt. One of the occupants, a shadowy silhouette, leapt out and ran over to kneel beside him. It was Demi-Precentor O'Reilly. "Keira! Its good to see you". "You too, sir", she replied, with barely concealed relief, as she helped him to his feet. Philip was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice the tears welling up in her eyes. "I thought you...we didn’t know if..." she trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. "Yeah - I wasn’t sure for a while there", he said, staring up at the dust-covered wreck that had formerly been one of the finest assault mechs to be found in the Periphery. His gaze moved to the statuesque form of the pirate Pillager, where it still towered over his fallen mech. The craters in its torso and legs and missing patches of armour on its arms bore mute testament to the ferocity of their battle. He winced as he took in its cockpit...or what was left of it. The close range blast of the twin PPCs had immolated the Pillager’s canopy and charred everything inside to black carbon dust. The cooling ferroglass had covered the remains with a black glassy coating. He had never seen anything like it in his life...and never wanted to again. Averting his eyes, his gaze settled on the Valiant's massive upraised left arm and saw why PPCs were fitted with field inhibitors. Firing them at virtually point blank range had caused a backwash effect, which had melted the ends of the gun barrels into a twisted mess. Philip shook his head, trying to banish the gloomy thoughts that were beginning to settle on him like a heavy cloak. "I suppose I'm lucky the bugger didn't fall right on top of me", he said, turning to Keira and gesturing at the pirate mech. "Thats just the kind of..." He was cut off in mid sentence as Keira suddenly threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Feeling slightly awkward and embarrassed, Philip quickly glanced round to see if anyone was looking. The tech crew that had freed him were nowhere to be seen, having moved on to their next assignment. The whine of engines filled the air and dust storm erupted as a shuttle landed nearby. "You've no idea how scared I was Philip", she said, raising her voice to make herself heard. “I thought nothing could be scarier than my first live combat mission, but when I saw your mech go down..." Her fingers continued to dig into his arms as she stared up at him, tears now openly running down her face. "I thought I'd lost you..." Philip was so stunned that, for a few moments, the pain of his injuries no longer registered. He stared at her in bewilderment as he struggled for something to say. "Keira...I had no idea..." O’Reilly gave a small laugh and began wiping her eyes, trying to pull herself together. "Of course you didn't…you're always so busy with the affairs of the regiment”. She smiled sadly, “I know personal relationships are frowned on, especially at command level and as your XO I'm supposed to make things easier for you…not more complicated. That’s why I never said anything…but today made me realise I couldn’t go on hiding my feelings". "Keira…I know I’ve never said this, but you’ve always been very important to me…and I care a great deal about you…" Philip managed, suddenly feeling quite light-headed and very weak. "But…?” Keira’s big green eyes shone with tears and her lower lip trembled as she tried not to cry again, dreading his next words. Suddenly, Philip slumped against her and she found herself struggling to hold him upright. “Philip…Philip…oh my god” O’Reilly looked around frantically for help as she tried to lower the unconscious Precentor to the ground, as gently as possible. Just then, a team of weary-looking, sand-dusted medics exited the shuttlecraft, flown in from the Indefatigable to act as an air ambulance, to tend to the injured commander. They rushed over, bearing a stretcher and first aid kits. The team leader motioned Keira to get out of the way as the medics ran through their procedures to examine Bainbridge and stabilise him, prior to the trip to sickbay. “Don’t worry ma’am, we’ll take good care of him”, she said reassuringly. “I’d better come with him”, O’Reilly said as she made to follow the medics on board the shuttle. The chief medic held a hand up to stop her. “With all due respect, ma’am, what you need to do is assume command of the Guards and start planning to get us off this godforsaken rock”, she said in her best physician’s voice, the one she used when talking to unruly patients who refused their medication. Keira blinked in surprise at being told what to do by a junior officer. The shock obviously registered on her face as the medic continued in a gentler tone, “You look in pretty bad shape yourself Ma'am. Seems this has been a rough first deployment for everyone. When we get back to the Indy, I recommend you take an extended leave period”. With that, she moved up the ramp and into the shuttle’s bay. The door closed and the craft took off in a whirl of sand and engine noise. |
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