HG: TRTW Act One - The Gathering Storm

[Hotfoot]

The remainder of the day went without incident, and before long Janos pulled the convoy up to a nearby outcropping of rocks and began to set up camp for the night. He scheduled the shifts for watch with the most recent patrolling pilots up last, so as to get the most sleep after a long shift, with the crew on first patrol the next day up first.

The temperatures dropped dramatically when Helios fell below the horizon, as was the way of the desert. Aside from a few nocturnal animals wandering about their way, nothing happened that night.

The next day started and finished with very little occurrence as well. A few sensor blips which ended up being little more than civilian caravans or simply sensor ghosts. The sensors on the Barnaby, while possessing of considerable range, were not the most reliable when compared to the higher quality military sensors of some of the team's Gears.

That night, tension was beginning to rise within in the crew. The team was now on the edge of the reported area where the rovers had been sighted. Once again, watch assignments were determined by Janos, this time putting Gunnar and Alex together on first shift.

[frigidmagi]

Alex stayed loose and alert in his mech. He had made a quick stech of the area while it was still daylight to ensure he would notice any changes in the Terran.

He leaned back and kept his ears open but did not strain to hear. That would stir the imagination.

[rhoenix]

Moving his mech in time with the others, Gunnar kept the sensors on regular sweep, systematically checking different areas in sequence as they went.

This was when the fun usually started.

[Hotfoot]

The pair on watch seemed to both gravitate towards the same things at the same time. In the distance, something was moving behind a sand dune, motion the two gear pilots immediately recognized as the gait of a walker. As they used the optical enhancements of their Gears sensor suites, a clearer image came in. A pair of Iguana-class Recon Gears with a Jager in close support. The three were at least three kilometers out from the campsite.

[rhoenix]

As Gunnar began to filter through the data beginning to stream in, he also noted that Alex had gone quiet as well, and was looking in the same direction. He didn't need to ask if Alex had seen the Gears. Instead, planning to ambush the would-be ambushers began.

"My max range is about 1.5km, and I'm going to paste the Jager in back if it gets too close," he said to the others in a businesslike-tone. "Any ideas?"

[frigidmagi]

"Yeah, let's not shot anyone until we're sure they're hostiles. I'm pretty sure casual murder does not suit you and it damn well doesn't suit me. I'll wake up the boss and tell what we sighted. If he says bang, then we bang."
Alex said quietly and switched over to calling Janos.

"Boss we got three gears 3 klicks out, pair of iguanas and a Jager. Gunnar's ready to go bang at the word. Want to engage or should we go for info?" He reported when he was sure his boss was awake.

[Hotfoot]

Janos rolled out of his bunk, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger with one hand while his other hit his radio. "Right, keep an eye on them, if they get inside two klicks, mo-" The rest of the message turned into static, and suddenly sensor systems were showing distortions, false signatures, and general static. Inside the Barnaby, Janos hurried and woke up the other two gear pilots.

"Hurry up, we've got gears three klicks out and we're being jammed. Gear up!"

[rhoenix]

Upon hearing the static, Gunnar smiled to himself, in the sudden alone-ness of his cabin. Static meant jamming, and jamming meant those gears weren't friendly. Moreover, his guess had been right - the rear-most gear of the three approaching gears was the most important one to their mission.

Humming an old song to himself, Gunnar began lining up his shot, aiming for the crew compartment of the rear-most mech when it would come into view.

[Cynical Cat]

Marcus did not respond well to being woken up. It took him a moment to process why he was being woken and why he should not kill the fool who had done so.

He bolted for Fafnir.

[frigidmagi]

"Well... Crap." Alex said as static drowned out the rest of Janos' reply. He put his gear into motion. He would have to stay out of Gunnar's lanes of fire and provide an overwatch until the other two pilots were up and running. That meant grabbing some cover that would allow him to keep an eye on both the camp and the known enemy gears. Then he was gonna go kill something.

[Marcao]

He had decided to take a nap. A soldier never knew when he would be able to sleep and should always strive to make the best of it. When the situation deteriorated and Janos reached his bunk, it took remarkably little to get him up. He rolled out of bed, his feet making contact with the ground. He did not offer any comments or complaints, they all knew what they were here to do.

He left the bunk at speed and made his way to Fenrir. Once next to his gear, he wasted little time in climbing aboard and securing himself to his chosen implement of war. He had wisely decided to leave Fenrir on standby. As such, the normally lengthy boot up sequence was not a immediate issue. It took him forty two seconds after he was strapped in to go over his instrumentation. In his days in the Republic, it had taken him thirty seven seconds.

He found himself frowning as he pressed a series of keys and brought Fenrir's ECCM capabilities online. The strength of any group was in its ability to communicate. Fenrir on the field would make certain that they could speak to each other, assuming that the gears outside were not far more sophisticated than he expected. If things went as planned, skill would do the rest.

"Fenrir is online. I will keep the white noise from bothering us too much, you know how to handle the rest." He said.

[rhoenix]

As the static cleared, Gunnar was heard chuckling over the comm. "Thanks for the ECCM. If you could jam them too, that would be excellent. As it is, the Gear of theirs doing the jamming is probably their rear-most one. Once it comes into range, it's mine."

[Cynical Cat]

Marcus reached his Gear and pulled it open, sliding into the cockpit and slamming it closed over him. He turned over Fafnir's engine and activated the electronic warfare systems. As always the rush of power flooded his body. "Online," he said over the coms. "Ready to bring the pain."

[frigidmagi]

"Gunnar I'm moving out on your right towards the hostiles. We'll go for the L crossfire. Keep me informed as to their movements." Alex announced when the Southerners declared themselves online. He began moving carefully out to a flank position, trying to keep the terrain as a mask for his movement.

[rhoenix]

Upon hearing Alex' idea, Gunnar grinned in the darkness of his cabin. "Works for me. My first shot will be to the gear behind them - if you and I hit them at roughly the same time, it'll demoralize the shit outta them," he said, chuckling.

[Cynical Cat]

"ECM and Target Designator active," said Marcus. "Moving up to cover you backs."

[Marcao]

Fenrir was not exactly the fastest heavy gear but it did not need to be. He accelerated to combat speed and began to utilize the electronic warfare capabilities that he had added to Fenrir at great expense. He had been trained in their usage since his days in the republic, but that had been in a gear designed explicitly to mount such electronics. Working with Fenrir was far more trying as at times it seemed that the neural net itself was resisting his attempts.

“There!â€

[rhoenix]

"The big one in the rear is likely the one giving orders. Don't worry gentlemen, I know where its off switch is," said Gunnar before chuckling.

He decided to put on some classical music as good background noise as he measured the terrain, plotted the enemy Gears' positions and angles of approach on the 3D map, and measured wind speed to prepare for his shot. The music group was apparently named after a drug that was explicitly designed to destroy one's brain. The music was rather good, though.

[Hotfoot]

The static cleared from the communication lines and sensor systems once Fenrir's powerful ECCM suite switched on, limiting the range of the enemy ECM. As the forward elements moved into positions to try and engage the enemy, however, they could clearly see clouds of sand and dust being kicked into the dark of night, leading away from the encampment. Recon gears were generally among the fastest gears on the planet, and the Jager seemed to be keeping pace well enough.

Jaguars and Black Mambas were no slouches, but the best they could hope for would be to keep the enemy in line of sight for a while longer before falling behind.

[Cynical Cat]

"They seem to have lost the stomach for this," said Marcus. "That or they're trying for an ambush." Inside his Gear's cockpit, Holst's "Mars" from "The Planets" played softly.

[rhoenix]

"Huh," said Gunnar. "Well, the ECCM did rather forcefully tell them 'this ain't your playground, bitch' so yeah, they got spooked. What'll be fun is when they tell their friends, and we get the idiots later trying their luck."

[frigidmagi]

Alex ceased following. Even if he could run them down, he would be on his own, while he was sure he could take all three, especially if he got the first shot... It was likely they had friends they were running to.

"I'm coming back in." He said on the comm.

[Marcao]

"They are running, so we have a choice. We can give chase and deal with the possibility that we are going to get ambushed or we can let them go and deal with them if they try to come at us again." He said flatly. Personally, neither choice was terribly appealing but he doubted Fenrir could easily keep up with the others. It was a matter of initiative. Did they want to try and maintain the initiative or would they relinquish it.

He considered the options in silence for a moment. He expected that those light gears were no match to them in terms of firepower and were likely communicating with their fellows. If they gave chase, they could be led into an ambush. Of course, knowing that they could be led into an ambush made it more difficult for it to be actually carried out. They could let them go and expect that they would attack in numbers at a later hour. In one scenario, they fought alone and thus limited the likelyhood that their transport would be targeted. But what if some gears were laying low and waited for them to give chase before swooping down and trying to attack Janos and their transports?

"We should let them go. There is no telling how far they would lead us, and I am concerned about the possiblity of some gears trying to hit the transport while we are busy giving chase. Thoughts?" He said into the radio. In the old days, his word was law. There were times that he missed those days. This was not one of them...

[Cynical Cat]

Marcus slowed his Gear and aborted pursuit. "As much as I would love to hunt them down and fry them, it's not the right move. We're convoy protection, not seek and destroy."

[rhoenix]

Sighing, Gunnar cancelled his calculations for the long-distance shot. He kept all the software open, just in case of snap shots, but a part of him couldn't help but feel...disappointed. "Well, charming. Shall we just go, since they wanted to take away our fun?"