CadetNewb
Well-Known Member
Planetside
Intercity Highway
Golden grass serenely blew and swayed with the wind as it traveled through the gently undulating terrain. The earth, though sown with plant life, was rocky and barren by most standards. Nothing more than grass and rocks and crags, it all somehow gently curved for miles upon miles as though flat planes had decided to roll over in its sleep. Over this all, it came. Screeching, clanking, roaring, it came. Rock and rubble was crushed underneath its treads as the boxy machine sped across the rolling grasslands at a surprising clip.
A Type 34 Main Battle Tank.
Up and high at the cupola, a woman, her face framed by short cropped hair of gold and ears like a cat breathed in the warm air of the evening. Matching golden eyes surveyed the landscape before her with intensity. It wasn't long before nightfall, she knew - the lack of sun would slow down any fighting, not stop it, but, this was still something she could count on to cut the engagement short. As tough, boxy and invulnerable looking as this machine she rode was, it was untested. Untried. She didn't want to push it too far, too fast and risk her crew or herself.
It was simply best to play it safe.
A flick of an ear, something noticed, and the golden Nekovalkyrja calmly scrambled to button up the hatch as she dove into the innards of the tank. Oddly, its interior was still somewhat noisy and clanking despite the advanced materials and construction of the doom bearing machine they rode. She noted it was more noisy than the old vehicle they were assigned to, but also bristling with more weapons. It was a worthwhile tradeoff, an improvement - or so she hoped. "Enemy detected, 11 o' clock!" She yelled, her actions spurred by the mental notice which popped up in her head moments prior. "Gunner, target this location here - they'll be coming around the base of that large hill twelve hundred meters out!" the Nekovalkyrja added, commanding her crew and repeating the message to the others.
"On it!" the gunner beside her yelled back.
With a faint, smooth and oiled moan of heavy metal on metal, a sound she couldn't even hear over the roar of the electrical motors propelling the tank, clanking tracks or squeaking suspension, the turret turned to position in a blink. The servos and hydraulics for the gun worked and groaned as the gunner worked the cannon's barrel to test it, the weapon's massive breech moving up and down between the two camouflage uniformed women as a result.
She gritted her teeth, knowing her calls were going to either make or break them all. The Tank Platoon Commander stared hard into the volumetric display in front of her, a window appearing as she zoomed at where she thought they'd show. That was where they'd show, but besides just shoot them, she wondered just what other options where on the table. Her eyes quickly darted across the all encompassing display of the world around her vehicle, eyes settling on her prize. "Driver, berm at three o'clock at this location - get us there!"
"Cruising speed, I'm on it!" a voice called out from down below, the woman from which it came from buried deeper within the machine they rode. Telepathic comms or not, they still instinctively yelled - she wasn't in the turret bustle, the basket which turned with the gun. Rather, she was further down and forward of them, her own survival wholly dependent on the frontal armor of the hull.
They had to be coming soon; the golden haired Nekovalkyrja searched with a fury - THERE!
"Ripper!" she yelled once, "Gunner, Sabot!" the commander yelled yet again over the roaring noise.
"Sabot, loading!" the Nekovalkyrja across from her yelled over the cannon's breech. At her words, the machines within the machine sprung to life. The breech to the cannon opened with a hearty 'thunk' as a massive mechanical ram-rod shoved a shell into the chamber. The autoloader's work done, the breech slid down, slammed closed. The gunner focused in on her target, centering the reticule over her disgustingly vomit colored foe.
"Platoon! Armor's weak at the neck! Fire on my mark!" the Tank Platoon Commander called, waiting just a single precious moment for them all to take aim. "FIRE!"
Four cannons belched fire, and in an instant, several half meter long rods of metal flashed downrange in a blur - the projectiles smashed into the shields of the enemy power armor, not even bouncing, but completely shattering on impact by virtue of their sheer brute force. The very last, the fourth, lanced in and entered the neck in a massive gout of sparks. The armor piercing rod cleanly decapitated the unit before it exploded in a blink of white light, its aether generator overloading as its regulators malfunctioned.
"FIRE! FIRE AT WILL!" She roared, excited that its accomplices' shields were now weakened by its brilliantly bright death. The gunner grinned as the autoloader came to life again, slamming a new round into the breech even as the coaxial autocannon hammered away. "Driver, full speed, get us to that berm fast!" the blonde commanded, well aware that they were spotted by now.
"Yes ma'am!" the unseen driver replied over the din.
Four tanks bounced across the undulating terrain, firing on targets to their 10 o'clock. They were almost toy-like in their speed and the air that they caught - and utterly violent as no toy could ever be as their cannons boomed, again and again on the move. Bolts of energy and metal slugs streaked out at them from the Mishhuvurthyar foes, the ground around them exploding in gouts of dirt and rock while others splashed across the tanks' shields. At this range, even the highest quality power armor had some trouble aiming rifles perfectly for targets at such distances.
There were no exceptions despite the measures put into suits to prevent this, even with Star Army Mindies and the LASR - in the end of the day, it was still something holding a gun in its hands, claws, tentacles and what have you. Though enemy rifle fire was erratic in accuracy, shoulder mounted Mishhuvurthyar cannons suffered considerably less - 50mm slugs much more consistently impacted against the protective barriers of her brand new tanks, bouncing and ricocheting off the invisible fields.
The golden haired Neko eyed the rapidly approaching protection, quickly bringing her own weapon turret to bear - dual linked autocannons rapidly hammered at the enemy even as they instinctively scrambled for cover behind boulders and folds in terrain. Following an ally's assault, her own fat, rapid fire tracers pounded against the shields of a another Ripper after smashing through its protective rock. The two commanders beat it down, just as a shell flew in, the HEAT round tearing a limb from the enemy power armor with its explosion and lance of superheated metal. The Platoon Commander viciously grinned in delight as body parts flew in this messy ballet.
"We're here at the berm, I'm taking us hull down!" the driver called, showing her own initiative.
"Great! Let's lay right into them girls!" the commanding Neko yelled, rallying her troops. A chorus of cheers rang out as her platoon of tanks, four in total, hid their hulls behind the lip of the hard earth. Though the dirt itself provided only marginal protection against the hyper-velocity projectiles of this era, the enemy still instinctively aimed at the only exposed parts they could actually see, the turret.
Several more particle beams and automatic rifle fire bursts went wide as they tried to hit the smaller targets - in return the cannons boomed, and guns roared. The golden woman brought a hand up and bit her thumb, teeth stopped short by the new nail - a feature she hadn't had before until recently. 'This is too easy. The Mishhu have to be up to - Her thoughts were cut short as the advance force was beaten down to nothing. And the main force crested the hill, looking down on them all.
'Don't panic. Don't panic,' she thought to herself, opening up a file tucked away in her mind. 'And the manual says to...
"Command, I am outnumbered an will likely be overrun, send reinforcements." She then tapped the comms again. "Mobile guns, I need indirect artillery fire at these coordinates!"
*****
"Floor it."
Tires screeched as the eight wheeled Mobile Anti-Armor Cannons accelerated and swerved off the lonely asphalt road cutting through the planes. The green haired mobile cannon commander quickly buttoned up and strapped herself in, pushing her long braid into the back of her uniform - at these speeds, the occasional undulation and roll in the terrain threw the vehicles into the air as their wheels spun. But like cats, these vehicles unnaturally always landed feet first as their graviton systems worked to orientate them, the mobile cannons continuing on their way. "Fire mission on the move - entering coordinates to the rest of you girls! Load Plasma!" she yelled over the sound of rolling wheels and bouncing suspension.
"Sighting in - hope the targeting systems make up for us firing on the move like this!" the gunner beside her yelled back. "We never did this with our old artillery - round loading!" Above their turret bustle, the autoloader sprang to life. Like the tanks, a heavy breech fell open as guide arms stretched out before the heavy shell was quickly shoved home by a mechanical ram-rod. "Round up!"
"Cannons, FIRE!"
*****
"Keep those bores hot! I don't care if they melt!"
The tank rocked as missiles exploded nearby - countermeasures kept on streaming out, one after another as the NMX forces started to push forward now, their weapons fire massed at the tanks, rapidly eroding their protection. It didn't matter if all of them could even aim or not - the sheer quantity was giving them trouble. "Driver, back us up and find us more cover!"
"Way ahead of you!" she yelled back, the tank already reversing at the commander's first word.
Dashing backward from cover to cover, the tanks were getting pummeled - their weakened shields were beaten down, and now, lances of Impaler fire ablated against the hull while larger 50mm cannon rounds bounced off the plates, leaving behind gouges and dents. But they all were adding up, and quickly. "Where is that artil - "
Fire rained down amongst their number as the NMX scurried down the side of the distant hill like insects boiling out from their nested mound - hot burning plasma flashed to life as the shells impacted in their rear ranks. "C'mon, c'mon, more, more!" the golden eyed Neko muttered to herself - she knew that in wide, open terrain like this, undulating hills and folds in the earth or not, when combat started, it would eventually find its end. It was almost impossible to retreat once a fight was started here - they didn't have enough cover to break line of sight!
It was do or die.
"Mobile Cannons! Sending data - adjust your aim, they're on the move!"
*****
The vehicles continued to jostle and bounce, recoiling as their gun barrels pointed up high and fired, but they kept on sprinting.
A green circlet of hair was absentmindedly wrapped around a finger as the mobile gun commander idly watched the information streaming in - on the map before her, several 'echoes' dotted off, signifying the impact points of their new artillery vehicles' rounds. 'So these things are accurate on the move when firing like artillery - even if the other tech doesn't get replaced, we're definitely have to toss out the old towed pieces for this one,' she thought to herself. A voice suddenly yelled over the comms, and she yelled right back at her crew;
"Inflection data, adjust!" the green haired commander demanded
"Adjusting aim! Firing!"
*****
Though several had fallen to the opening of the barrage, the hammer head was still descending on her platoon! Night was finally coming, but with them closing, she doubted they'd be able to get away. The gunner zeroed in on a leaping, bounding Flayer 800 meters out and closing. - golden eyes watched her crew-woman send a sabot its way, swatting the machine out of the air and forcing it back to the ground. Coaxial cannon tracers streaked out in rapid succession, the caseless gauss ammo's metal links tink-tink-tinking away, piling higher and higher in the cramped vehicle.
Yes, it was luxuriously spacious in comparison to her old tank, but still!
Even as the commanding Neko opened the cupola and hastily threw armfuls of the things out, she kept crewing her remote sub-turret, its dual guns firing into the foe's weakened leg before letting a trio of mini-missiles streak out. The thunderous roar of the autocannons peppered her like several, rapid fire slaps while the missiles blew and tousled her hair with their exhaust - she slammed the hatch closed again, the rage and chaos fading instantly.
And the interior she thought was noisy!
The Flayer's leg came off under the barrage, its balance briefly lost, the creature-machine dropped low and crammed its barrel into the earth like a plow. At that, the trio of mini-missiles streaked in, hitting it at the thin top and demolishing its two upper guns. The autoloader clanked to life again, its internal racks pushing another round forward towards the ram rod. Se could see it; the enemy walker got up again, shaky, but brought is main weapon to bear - the rammer shoved the next round in.
It fired first.
Temperature in the tank suddenly leaped up to the heat of a hot summer's day as something pounded against the thick turret of the tank. "My co-ax is dead!" the gunner called, smoke just starting to billow into the interior of the tank from the destroyed weapon. The commander quickly gave the command for the NBC systems to kick in, overpressuring the interior of the vehicle and driving the smoke out.
"We're here! Going hull down - I'll only expose the whole turret when the round is about to be finished loading!" the driver called out to them all. At her word, the next round slammed into the breach, just as something soared high overhead and the artillery barrage shifted to roll into the rest of the approaching NMX. The commander automatically knew what they were - Battlepods. The scourge of her existence. But they weren't going after her at all.
"Mobile Guns, fast movers in the air! Get out of there!" The tank commander warned the artillery crews.
"This is Triple-A, we got this," came a new voice.
*****
"UP! GET UP!"
"Whu-huh?!" the gunner stammered awake in her seat. She leaned and peered over the lip of her seat and into the bustle below, noting the angry Self Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun commander shaking a fist.
"Hostiles!"
"Right, right!" She quickly strapped herself in and reclined into the seat again, eyes searching across the HUD of her separate turret compartment's 360 degree display and the transparent durandium canopy. "Targets located - four battlepods. Targeting says Two Type 30's and a-two Type 33's," the red headed gunner informed her commander. She then quickly tied her short hair into a ponytail and got it out of her face as best she could. "Bearing, bearing...got it - they're heading for our artillery girls!"
"Shoot you slowpoke! Take down the older Type 30's first - one SPAAG each, other two start working over the 33's - fire at will!"
As the sun finally set, the four anti-aircraft vehicles fired.
Four separate streams of hundreds upon hundreds of glowing armor piercing tracers lit up the night sky, the shells they fired containing several sabots rather than a single large projectile. Like automatic shotguns, the autocannons fired a deadly spread that could be seen by the naked eye as the incendiaries burned away. The flaming cones of fire in the sky narrowed down as the gun chokes closed up, the gunners zeroing in on their targets.
*****
"They're coming right for us!" the mobile cannon commander yelled, desperately loading another shell into the magazine of the main gun - having expended the entire thing during the first barrage, they needed to reload. Instead of being able to airburst rounds at their pursuers, the gunner could only lash out with the dual autocannons their Mobile Anti-Armor Gun sported, the hammering heard through the hull of their own guns firing hardly comforting.
"I heard you the first time!" The driver swerved the vehicle about, missing the very worst of the heavy autocannon fire from the oncoming battlepods - they didn't even need to dive nose down to attack while giving chase, only requiring to keep a close bearing as their gun turrets swiveled to follow their hapless prey. Several missiles streaked in and hammered down their shields to nothing, finally exposing the hull to more fire.
Just then, the two rearmost dots high up in the night sky were assailed by a stream of orange hail.
The gunner had trouble getting the coaxial guns to elevate high enough as they jostled about, but she watched in amazement as the two Battlepods hulls simply dissolved under the fusillade as though it were acid rain of the harshest order. Like droplets pattering against soft dirt, the gunner watched as the armor piercing flechettes smashed against bare hull, the little arrows deforming and shattering into the armor and leaving behind half inch deep pockmarks individually.
But, together, they washed its armor and hull away, their combined efforts accumulating in a pair of explosions that lit up the night sky like daylight for a few precious seconds. She watched this all happen, just as a pair of missiles streaked in. Countermeasures were tossed out, the missiles curving away at the very last moment. A pair of explosions, combined with the momentum of their speed sent her entire world spinning - the eight wheeled vehicle she was in flipped end over end over end in a never ceasing blur of confusion and terror.
*****
"They're down! Firing on next target!" the gunner called out, the turret turning to track the remaining fighters. Her seat reclined as the four quad guns elevated and started to rapidly hammer again, the four belts of ammunition, two to either side of her rapidly raced to feed the guns their precious food. Shell after shell blurred by as she held the triggers down - the Neko licked her lips as the tracers of her cone of fire narrowed and focused down on her battlepod, the entire turret faintly shaking to the tearing staccato of its guns.
The Battlepods had already made to accelerate away after their first two compatriots were hosed down, but now, with four of the vehicles teaming up on the remaining two? They too were quickly washed away, another pair of suns briefly lighting up the night as they died.
For her vehicle, it had fired four hundred and sixteen flechettes. In only one second.
*****
Again, the driver's foot went down on the petal, bringing it forward and up onto the mound, exposing its cannon and turret - the Nekovalkyrja gunner fired, and right at the boom, the driver slammed it into reverse. Hostile beams and slugs impacted against the turret face, even bouncing off the gun's protective armored sleeve before it went turret-down, only exposing the commander's secondary turret.
She desperately hammered away at anything that moved, pummeling a rapidly approaching Reaper with the guns before letting loose several mini-missiles, blowing it in half at the waist. The autoloader whirred to life again, the breach opening - again, the tank sped forward as the driver hit the accelerator, bringing the main gun to bear. A flag suddenly arose in the golden haired commander's head as the point defenses requested to fire; she crushed the button under-thumb, the two grenade launchers automatically firing away their airbursting rounds, the other tanks following suit as the enemy came within 200 meters.
Like flak, the explosions and black puffs fought to suppress the advancing enemy, but she knew it was hopeless. "Stay turret up! This is it!" she yelled.
Her tank would get hit by everything at once if it pulled out of cover to flee, and the next piece of good cover was too far away, easily 400 meters. It was already over and just a matter of time until the Mishhuvurthyar troops neared, got past the weapons of her tank, hit it from the sides and rear where armor was thin. Even if she survived the beating it would take, their tentacles would reach in, drag her out. And then..."AUUUUGH! DAMN IT!" the commander roared, her sub turret finally succumbing as several 50mm cannon rounds smashed it into pieces.
It was over.
"Ladies, the the cavalry's arrived!"
Autocannon fire and missiles streaked in from the west, hammering into the Mishhu offensive - several Infantry Combat Vehicles rapidly closed in from half a kilometer away, heavily laden with numerous power armors riding on top and within. They leaped off or poured out and skimmed the ground, firing their rifles as more mini-missiles streaked into the NMX mass. But it wasn't over yet. "Get over here we need point defense! They're almost right on top of us!"
A mushroom cloud suddenly appeared not too far off - one of the Commander's precious tanks in her platoon had become surrounded by Mishhu forces. Rounds had peppered its exposed sides and rear, pounding into the thinner armor. Fires flared as hydrogen fuel sparked and burned, the reactor in the back going off in a shockingly small burst of flame - but it was the piercing shot to the rear of the turret that did it in. High explosive ammunition within the magazine caught and did as advertised, exploding upwards in a massive conflagration that could be seen by all.
And then, her own was next.
A pair of missiles streaked in and exploded against the cannon barrel, mangling it. As though it were waiting, a Ripper leaped and landed at a few meters to the tank's side and fired it's cannon into the side of the turret. Its own cannon boomed - the first round impacted, dug deep into its armor, but the second one smashed through the thinner hide. Shrapnel and spall cut into the commander and gunner, the two screaming in shock and pain. The driver grit her teeth at their screaming and turned the tank's front to face their assailant and floored it.
Over 50 tons of weapons, armor and rage rammed into the Ripper as it tried to futilely stop the oncoming mass - it was smashed into the front bumper and finally dragged into and under one of the treads. The driver automatically locked the tread it was under and kept gunning the throttle on the other, essentially grinding the enemy power armor under its weight. Plates of armor and limbs came off, even as the rubber padding on the Yamataium tracks came off, but a Zesuaium blade flew off an errant arm and got stuck, tearing apart a road wheel and destroying the treads under which it lay, effectively preventing the tank from running away.
The Driver. She simply sat, knowing what would happen next - her hands quickly reached and fumbled for her NSP at her hip, brought the weapon to her head and -
"Hey, hey! Any survivors in there?" a familiar voice called out. The driver's eyes quickly darted to the display in the tank, finally realizing what was happening - she was surrounded by Star Army power armors as several ICV's and Armored General Purpose Carriers hauling supplies closed in. It was the commander of the ICVs, a raven haired beauty clad in Daisy-type armor. The driver opened her mouth, speechless at her own sheer dumb luck.
"Yeah," a surprising voice spoke up. "The field uniform ate up most of the shrapnel, but me and the gunner definitely have some bits of metal in us," the Tank Platoon Commander spoke up with a grimace. The driver pulled herself out of the seat and turned to see the commander and gunner nursing their wounds. "Help us get out, would you?"
"Sure, no problems - this means the drinks are on you next leave, right? I could really use a drink after tonight." The Daisy, helmet clipped to her belt, brushed a hair aside as she leaped onto the hull and opened the hatch.
"You? What about me? I could really use some sake," the gunner spoke up, pointing to a missing finger - once more, she now had four fingers on her hand rather than this newfangled five.
*****
"Ichi, ni, SAN!"
At the count of three, the vehicle righted itself with their help pushing, its gravitational systems doing most of the work righting the Mobile Gun. Though the rear hatch had come flying off in the explosion, and the turret itself got jammed up good, they were alright thanks to the padded seats and straps. The tanks nearby were beat up good, their frontal hulls and turret faces looking more like inwardly crumpled moonscapes than anything else.
Just a bit more punishment, and they would have finally broken at the welds or get pierced by a well placed round. The one that had cooked off its armor still had its entire crew survive - though knocked unconscous by the sheer force of the blast, the blowout panels did what they were supposed to do, and vented the worst of the chaos away. Meanwhile, the rest were either cannibalizing parts from vehicles, such as taking the barrel of the main gun from the rolled over and turret jammed Mobile Gun, or an autocannon turret from a fresh ICV.
Deep impacts and gaping holes were quickly filled in with Yamataium weld, the self repairing metal taking care of the fine detailed work by itself. It was a busy day, but, they weren't done here yet,
Very soon, the vehicles would be rolling again.
*****
"Wow, you're not looking too good!" the Nepleslian spoke in concern. He, like the rest of those from Origin, were well dressed, either in matching business suits, or in coveralls in the company's colors. He was, simply put, just one of their underlings, charged with getting her feedback however. "So uh...did you find everything ok?" he asked the Tank Platoon Commander sheepishly, warily watching her cast and eyepatch.
"Sōzōshī." she flatly spoke to the main in Yamatai-go. This drew an expression of confusion from him - it honestly seemed that the Nekovalkyrja didn't know Trade, and he most certainly hadn't learned Yamatai-go quite yet!
"Uh, ok. Just let me cram that through the auto-translator and - "
"Sōzōshī!!!!" she suddenly shouted, raising her hand high, but palm down. "Shizukana", she then whispered, hand low. Just as he was about to open his mouth to inquire, the golden eyed Nekovalkyrja yelled at him once again, "Sōzōshī!!!!". It was a very odd sight, seeing a fit, six foot tall man cower to a young woman a full head shorter than him as she yelled. "Sōzōshī tanku," the Neko finally explained to him very frankly.
"O-oh! The tank is noisy inside! Right, right." He quickly jotted some notes down on his datapad. "Yeah, we can finish up some of the interior work and refine the mechanics - it shouldn't even need noise dampening mater - "
"Urusai," she simply spoke, crossing her good arm over the cast and peering at him through the corner of her good golden eye as she turned away. It was almost as though she were waiting for something very specific from him. The young Nepleslian wasn't an idiot of course, and thought very quickly on his toes. It was why Origin sent him as part of the development team after all.
"You look tired. Maybe you would like to get something to drink perhaps?" he asked. "We can try talking over this some more then."
The prototype Type 34's were going to get done, and done right of course. He'd never slack off on his job!
She smiled at him.
But first, drinks.
Intercity Highway
Golden grass serenely blew and swayed with the wind as it traveled through the gently undulating terrain. The earth, though sown with plant life, was rocky and barren by most standards. Nothing more than grass and rocks and crags, it all somehow gently curved for miles upon miles as though flat planes had decided to roll over in its sleep. Over this all, it came. Screeching, clanking, roaring, it came. Rock and rubble was crushed underneath its treads as the boxy machine sped across the rolling grasslands at a surprising clip.
A Type 34 Main Battle Tank.
Up and high at the cupola, a woman, her face framed by short cropped hair of gold and ears like a cat breathed in the warm air of the evening. Matching golden eyes surveyed the landscape before her with intensity. It wasn't long before nightfall, she knew - the lack of sun would slow down any fighting, not stop it, but, this was still something she could count on to cut the engagement short. As tough, boxy and invulnerable looking as this machine she rode was, it was untested. Untried. She didn't want to push it too far, too fast and risk her crew or herself.
It was simply best to play it safe.
A flick of an ear, something noticed, and the golden Nekovalkyrja calmly scrambled to button up the hatch as she dove into the innards of the tank. Oddly, its interior was still somewhat noisy and clanking despite the advanced materials and construction of the doom bearing machine they rode. She noted it was more noisy than the old vehicle they were assigned to, but also bristling with more weapons. It was a worthwhile tradeoff, an improvement - or so she hoped. "Enemy detected, 11 o' clock!" She yelled, her actions spurred by the mental notice which popped up in her head moments prior. "Gunner, target this location here - they'll be coming around the base of that large hill twelve hundred meters out!" the Nekovalkyrja added, commanding her crew and repeating the message to the others.
"On it!" the gunner beside her yelled back.
With a faint, smooth and oiled moan of heavy metal on metal, a sound she couldn't even hear over the roar of the electrical motors propelling the tank, clanking tracks or squeaking suspension, the turret turned to position in a blink. The servos and hydraulics for the gun worked and groaned as the gunner worked the cannon's barrel to test it, the weapon's massive breech moving up and down between the two camouflage uniformed women as a result.
She gritted her teeth, knowing her calls were going to either make or break them all. The Tank Platoon Commander stared hard into the volumetric display in front of her, a window appearing as she zoomed at where she thought they'd show. That was where they'd show, but besides just shoot them, she wondered just what other options where on the table. Her eyes quickly darted across the all encompassing display of the world around her vehicle, eyes settling on her prize. "Driver, berm at three o'clock at this location - get us there!"
"Cruising speed, I'm on it!" a voice called out from down below, the woman from which it came from buried deeper within the machine they rode. Telepathic comms or not, they still instinctively yelled - she wasn't in the turret bustle, the basket which turned with the gun. Rather, she was further down and forward of them, her own survival wholly dependent on the frontal armor of the hull.
They had to be coming soon; the golden haired Nekovalkyrja searched with a fury - THERE!
"Ripper!" she yelled once, "Gunner, Sabot!" the commander yelled yet again over the roaring noise.
"Sabot, loading!" the Nekovalkyrja across from her yelled over the cannon's breech. At her words, the machines within the machine sprung to life. The breech to the cannon opened with a hearty 'thunk' as a massive mechanical ram-rod shoved a shell into the chamber. The autoloader's work done, the breech slid down, slammed closed. The gunner focused in on her target, centering the reticule over her disgustingly vomit colored foe.
"Platoon! Armor's weak at the neck! Fire on my mark!" the Tank Platoon Commander called, waiting just a single precious moment for them all to take aim. "FIRE!"
Four cannons belched fire, and in an instant, several half meter long rods of metal flashed downrange in a blur - the projectiles smashed into the shields of the enemy power armor, not even bouncing, but completely shattering on impact by virtue of their sheer brute force. The very last, the fourth, lanced in and entered the neck in a massive gout of sparks. The armor piercing rod cleanly decapitated the unit before it exploded in a blink of white light, its aether generator overloading as its regulators malfunctioned.
"FIRE! FIRE AT WILL!" She roared, excited that its accomplices' shields were now weakened by its brilliantly bright death. The gunner grinned as the autoloader came to life again, slamming a new round into the breech even as the coaxial autocannon hammered away. "Driver, full speed, get us to that berm fast!" the blonde commanded, well aware that they were spotted by now.
"Yes ma'am!" the unseen driver replied over the din.
Four tanks bounced across the undulating terrain, firing on targets to their 10 o'clock. They were almost toy-like in their speed and the air that they caught - and utterly violent as no toy could ever be as their cannons boomed, again and again on the move. Bolts of energy and metal slugs streaked out at them from the Mishhuvurthyar foes, the ground around them exploding in gouts of dirt and rock while others splashed across the tanks' shields. At this range, even the highest quality power armor had some trouble aiming rifles perfectly for targets at such distances.
There were no exceptions despite the measures put into suits to prevent this, even with Star Army Mindies and the LASR - in the end of the day, it was still something holding a gun in its hands, claws, tentacles and what have you. Though enemy rifle fire was erratic in accuracy, shoulder mounted Mishhuvurthyar cannons suffered considerably less - 50mm slugs much more consistently impacted against the protective barriers of her brand new tanks, bouncing and ricocheting off the invisible fields.
The golden haired Neko eyed the rapidly approaching protection, quickly bringing her own weapon turret to bear - dual linked autocannons rapidly hammered at the enemy even as they instinctively scrambled for cover behind boulders and folds in terrain. Following an ally's assault, her own fat, rapid fire tracers pounded against the shields of a another Ripper after smashing through its protective rock. The two commanders beat it down, just as a shell flew in, the HEAT round tearing a limb from the enemy power armor with its explosion and lance of superheated metal. The Platoon Commander viciously grinned in delight as body parts flew in this messy ballet.
"We're here at the berm, I'm taking us hull down!" the driver called, showing her own initiative.
"Great! Let's lay right into them girls!" the commanding Neko yelled, rallying her troops. A chorus of cheers rang out as her platoon of tanks, four in total, hid their hulls behind the lip of the hard earth. Though the dirt itself provided only marginal protection against the hyper-velocity projectiles of this era, the enemy still instinctively aimed at the only exposed parts they could actually see, the turret.
Several more particle beams and automatic rifle fire bursts went wide as they tried to hit the smaller targets - in return the cannons boomed, and guns roared. The golden woman brought a hand up and bit her thumb, teeth stopped short by the new nail - a feature she hadn't had before until recently. 'This is too easy. The Mishhu have to be up to - Her thoughts were cut short as the advance force was beaten down to nothing. And the main force crested the hill, looking down on them all.
'Don't panic. Don't panic,' she thought to herself, opening up a file tucked away in her mind. 'And the manual says to...
"Command, I am outnumbered an will likely be overrun, send reinforcements." She then tapped the comms again. "Mobile guns, I need indirect artillery fire at these coordinates!"
*****
"Floor it."
Tires screeched as the eight wheeled Mobile Anti-Armor Cannons accelerated and swerved off the lonely asphalt road cutting through the planes. The green haired mobile cannon commander quickly buttoned up and strapped herself in, pushing her long braid into the back of her uniform - at these speeds, the occasional undulation and roll in the terrain threw the vehicles into the air as their wheels spun. But like cats, these vehicles unnaturally always landed feet first as their graviton systems worked to orientate them, the mobile cannons continuing on their way. "Fire mission on the move - entering coordinates to the rest of you girls! Load Plasma!" she yelled over the sound of rolling wheels and bouncing suspension.
"Sighting in - hope the targeting systems make up for us firing on the move like this!" the gunner beside her yelled back. "We never did this with our old artillery - round loading!" Above their turret bustle, the autoloader sprang to life. Like the tanks, a heavy breech fell open as guide arms stretched out before the heavy shell was quickly shoved home by a mechanical ram-rod. "Round up!"
"Cannons, FIRE!"
*****
"Keep those bores hot! I don't care if they melt!"
The tank rocked as missiles exploded nearby - countermeasures kept on streaming out, one after another as the NMX forces started to push forward now, their weapons fire massed at the tanks, rapidly eroding their protection. It didn't matter if all of them could even aim or not - the sheer quantity was giving them trouble. "Driver, back us up and find us more cover!"
"Way ahead of you!" she yelled back, the tank already reversing at the commander's first word.
Dashing backward from cover to cover, the tanks were getting pummeled - their weakened shields were beaten down, and now, lances of Impaler fire ablated against the hull while larger 50mm cannon rounds bounced off the plates, leaving behind gouges and dents. But they all were adding up, and quickly. "Where is that artil - "
Fire rained down amongst their number as the NMX scurried down the side of the distant hill like insects boiling out from their nested mound - hot burning plasma flashed to life as the shells impacted in their rear ranks. "C'mon, c'mon, more, more!" the golden eyed Neko muttered to herself - she knew that in wide, open terrain like this, undulating hills and folds in the earth or not, when combat started, it would eventually find its end. It was almost impossible to retreat once a fight was started here - they didn't have enough cover to break line of sight!
It was do or die.
"Mobile Cannons! Sending data - adjust your aim, they're on the move!"
*****
The vehicles continued to jostle and bounce, recoiling as their gun barrels pointed up high and fired, but they kept on sprinting.
A green circlet of hair was absentmindedly wrapped around a finger as the mobile gun commander idly watched the information streaming in - on the map before her, several 'echoes' dotted off, signifying the impact points of their new artillery vehicles' rounds. 'So these things are accurate on the move when firing like artillery - even if the other tech doesn't get replaced, we're definitely have to toss out the old towed pieces for this one,' she thought to herself. A voice suddenly yelled over the comms, and she yelled right back at her crew;
"Inflection data, adjust!" the green haired commander demanded
"Adjusting aim! Firing!"
*****
Though several had fallen to the opening of the barrage, the hammer head was still descending on her platoon! Night was finally coming, but with them closing, she doubted they'd be able to get away. The gunner zeroed in on a leaping, bounding Flayer 800 meters out and closing. - golden eyes watched her crew-woman send a sabot its way, swatting the machine out of the air and forcing it back to the ground. Coaxial cannon tracers streaked out in rapid succession, the caseless gauss ammo's metal links tink-tink-tinking away, piling higher and higher in the cramped vehicle.
Yes, it was luxuriously spacious in comparison to her old tank, but still!
Even as the commanding Neko opened the cupola and hastily threw armfuls of the things out, she kept crewing her remote sub-turret, its dual guns firing into the foe's weakened leg before letting a trio of mini-missiles streak out. The thunderous roar of the autocannons peppered her like several, rapid fire slaps while the missiles blew and tousled her hair with their exhaust - she slammed the hatch closed again, the rage and chaos fading instantly.
And the interior she thought was noisy!
The Flayer's leg came off under the barrage, its balance briefly lost, the creature-machine dropped low and crammed its barrel into the earth like a plow. At that, the trio of mini-missiles streaked in, hitting it at the thin top and demolishing its two upper guns. The autoloader clanked to life again, its internal racks pushing another round forward towards the ram rod. Se could see it; the enemy walker got up again, shaky, but brought is main weapon to bear - the rammer shoved the next round in.
It fired first.
Temperature in the tank suddenly leaped up to the heat of a hot summer's day as something pounded against the thick turret of the tank. "My co-ax is dead!" the gunner called, smoke just starting to billow into the interior of the tank from the destroyed weapon. The commander quickly gave the command for the NBC systems to kick in, overpressuring the interior of the vehicle and driving the smoke out.
"We're here! Going hull down - I'll only expose the whole turret when the round is about to be finished loading!" the driver called out to them all. At her word, the next round slammed into the breach, just as something soared high overhead and the artillery barrage shifted to roll into the rest of the approaching NMX. The commander automatically knew what they were - Battlepods. The scourge of her existence. But they weren't going after her at all.
"Mobile Guns, fast movers in the air! Get out of there!" The tank commander warned the artillery crews.
"This is Triple-A, we got this," came a new voice.
*****
"UP! GET UP!"
"Whu-huh?!" the gunner stammered awake in her seat. She leaned and peered over the lip of her seat and into the bustle below, noting the angry Self Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun commander shaking a fist.
"Hostiles!"
"Right, right!" She quickly strapped herself in and reclined into the seat again, eyes searching across the HUD of her separate turret compartment's 360 degree display and the transparent durandium canopy. "Targets located - four battlepods. Targeting says Two Type 30's and a-two Type 33's," the red headed gunner informed her commander. She then quickly tied her short hair into a ponytail and got it out of her face as best she could. "Bearing, bearing...got it - they're heading for our artillery girls!"
"Shoot you slowpoke! Take down the older Type 30's first - one SPAAG each, other two start working over the 33's - fire at will!"
As the sun finally set, the four anti-aircraft vehicles fired.
Four separate streams of hundreds upon hundreds of glowing armor piercing tracers lit up the night sky, the shells they fired containing several sabots rather than a single large projectile. Like automatic shotguns, the autocannons fired a deadly spread that could be seen by the naked eye as the incendiaries burned away. The flaming cones of fire in the sky narrowed down as the gun chokes closed up, the gunners zeroing in on their targets.
*****
"They're coming right for us!" the mobile cannon commander yelled, desperately loading another shell into the magazine of the main gun - having expended the entire thing during the first barrage, they needed to reload. Instead of being able to airburst rounds at their pursuers, the gunner could only lash out with the dual autocannons their Mobile Anti-Armor Gun sported, the hammering heard through the hull of their own guns firing hardly comforting.
"I heard you the first time!" The driver swerved the vehicle about, missing the very worst of the heavy autocannon fire from the oncoming battlepods - they didn't even need to dive nose down to attack while giving chase, only requiring to keep a close bearing as their gun turrets swiveled to follow their hapless prey. Several missiles streaked in and hammered down their shields to nothing, finally exposing the hull to more fire.
Just then, the two rearmost dots high up in the night sky were assailed by a stream of orange hail.
The gunner had trouble getting the coaxial guns to elevate high enough as they jostled about, but she watched in amazement as the two Battlepods hulls simply dissolved under the fusillade as though it were acid rain of the harshest order. Like droplets pattering against soft dirt, the gunner watched as the armor piercing flechettes smashed against bare hull, the little arrows deforming and shattering into the armor and leaving behind half inch deep pockmarks individually.
But, together, they washed its armor and hull away, their combined efforts accumulating in a pair of explosions that lit up the night sky like daylight for a few precious seconds. She watched this all happen, just as a pair of missiles streaked in. Countermeasures were tossed out, the missiles curving away at the very last moment. A pair of explosions, combined with the momentum of their speed sent her entire world spinning - the eight wheeled vehicle she was in flipped end over end over end in a never ceasing blur of confusion and terror.
*****
"They're down! Firing on next target!" the gunner called out, the turret turning to track the remaining fighters. Her seat reclined as the four quad guns elevated and started to rapidly hammer again, the four belts of ammunition, two to either side of her rapidly raced to feed the guns their precious food. Shell after shell blurred by as she held the triggers down - the Neko licked her lips as the tracers of her cone of fire narrowed and focused down on her battlepod, the entire turret faintly shaking to the tearing staccato of its guns.
The Battlepods had already made to accelerate away after their first two compatriots were hosed down, but now, with four of the vehicles teaming up on the remaining two? They too were quickly washed away, another pair of suns briefly lighting up the night as they died.
For her vehicle, it had fired four hundred and sixteen flechettes. In only one second.
*****
Again, the driver's foot went down on the petal, bringing it forward and up onto the mound, exposing its cannon and turret - the Nekovalkyrja gunner fired, and right at the boom, the driver slammed it into reverse. Hostile beams and slugs impacted against the turret face, even bouncing off the gun's protective armored sleeve before it went turret-down, only exposing the commander's secondary turret.
She desperately hammered away at anything that moved, pummeling a rapidly approaching Reaper with the guns before letting loose several mini-missiles, blowing it in half at the waist. The autoloader whirred to life again, the breach opening - again, the tank sped forward as the driver hit the accelerator, bringing the main gun to bear. A flag suddenly arose in the golden haired commander's head as the point defenses requested to fire; she crushed the button under-thumb, the two grenade launchers automatically firing away their airbursting rounds, the other tanks following suit as the enemy came within 200 meters.
Like flak, the explosions and black puffs fought to suppress the advancing enemy, but she knew it was hopeless. "Stay turret up! This is it!" she yelled.
Her tank would get hit by everything at once if it pulled out of cover to flee, and the next piece of good cover was too far away, easily 400 meters. It was already over and just a matter of time until the Mishhuvurthyar troops neared, got past the weapons of her tank, hit it from the sides and rear where armor was thin. Even if she survived the beating it would take, their tentacles would reach in, drag her out. And then..."AUUUUGH! DAMN IT!" the commander roared, her sub turret finally succumbing as several 50mm cannon rounds smashed it into pieces.
It was over.
"Ladies, the the cavalry's arrived!"
Autocannon fire and missiles streaked in from the west, hammering into the Mishhu offensive - several Infantry Combat Vehicles rapidly closed in from half a kilometer away, heavily laden with numerous power armors riding on top and within. They leaped off or poured out and skimmed the ground, firing their rifles as more mini-missiles streaked into the NMX mass. But it wasn't over yet. "Get over here we need point defense! They're almost right on top of us!"
A mushroom cloud suddenly appeared not too far off - one of the Commander's precious tanks in her platoon had become surrounded by Mishhu forces. Rounds had peppered its exposed sides and rear, pounding into the thinner armor. Fires flared as hydrogen fuel sparked and burned, the reactor in the back going off in a shockingly small burst of flame - but it was the piercing shot to the rear of the turret that did it in. High explosive ammunition within the magazine caught and did as advertised, exploding upwards in a massive conflagration that could be seen by all.
And then, her own was next.
A pair of missiles streaked in and exploded against the cannon barrel, mangling it. As though it were waiting, a Ripper leaped and landed at a few meters to the tank's side and fired it's cannon into the side of the turret. Its own cannon boomed - the first round impacted, dug deep into its armor, but the second one smashed through the thinner hide. Shrapnel and spall cut into the commander and gunner, the two screaming in shock and pain. The driver grit her teeth at their screaming and turned the tank's front to face their assailant and floored it.
Over 50 tons of weapons, armor and rage rammed into the Ripper as it tried to futilely stop the oncoming mass - it was smashed into the front bumper and finally dragged into and under one of the treads. The driver automatically locked the tread it was under and kept gunning the throttle on the other, essentially grinding the enemy power armor under its weight. Plates of armor and limbs came off, even as the rubber padding on the Yamataium tracks came off, but a Zesuaium blade flew off an errant arm and got stuck, tearing apart a road wheel and destroying the treads under which it lay, effectively preventing the tank from running away.
The Driver. She simply sat, knowing what would happen next - her hands quickly reached and fumbled for her NSP at her hip, brought the weapon to her head and -
"Hey, hey! Any survivors in there?" a familiar voice called out. The driver's eyes quickly darted to the display in the tank, finally realizing what was happening - she was surrounded by Star Army power armors as several ICV's and Armored General Purpose Carriers hauling supplies closed in. It was the commander of the ICVs, a raven haired beauty clad in Daisy-type armor. The driver opened her mouth, speechless at her own sheer dumb luck.
"Yeah," a surprising voice spoke up. "The field uniform ate up most of the shrapnel, but me and the gunner definitely have some bits of metal in us," the Tank Platoon Commander spoke up with a grimace. The driver pulled herself out of the seat and turned to see the commander and gunner nursing their wounds. "Help us get out, would you?"
"Sure, no problems - this means the drinks are on you next leave, right? I could really use a drink after tonight." The Daisy, helmet clipped to her belt, brushed a hair aside as she leaped onto the hull and opened the hatch.
"You? What about me? I could really use some sake," the gunner spoke up, pointing to a missing finger - once more, she now had four fingers on her hand rather than this newfangled five.
*****
"Ichi, ni, SAN!"
At the count of three, the vehicle righted itself with their help pushing, its gravitational systems doing most of the work righting the Mobile Gun. Though the rear hatch had come flying off in the explosion, and the turret itself got jammed up good, they were alright thanks to the padded seats and straps. The tanks nearby were beat up good, their frontal hulls and turret faces looking more like inwardly crumpled moonscapes than anything else.
Just a bit more punishment, and they would have finally broken at the welds or get pierced by a well placed round. The one that had cooked off its armor still had its entire crew survive - though knocked unconscous by the sheer force of the blast, the blowout panels did what they were supposed to do, and vented the worst of the chaos away. Meanwhile, the rest were either cannibalizing parts from vehicles, such as taking the barrel of the main gun from the rolled over and turret jammed Mobile Gun, or an autocannon turret from a fresh ICV.
Deep impacts and gaping holes were quickly filled in with Yamataium weld, the self repairing metal taking care of the fine detailed work by itself. It was a busy day, but, they weren't done here yet,
Very soon, the vehicles would be rolling again.
*****
"Wow, you're not looking too good!" the Nepleslian spoke in concern. He, like the rest of those from Origin, were well dressed, either in matching business suits, or in coveralls in the company's colors. He was, simply put, just one of their underlings, charged with getting her feedback however. "So uh...did you find everything ok?" he asked the Tank Platoon Commander sheepishly, warily watching her cast and eyepatch.
"Sōzōshī." she flatly spoke to the main in Yamatai-go. This drew an expression of confusion from him - it honestly seemed that the Nekovalkyrja didn't know Trade, and he most certainly hadn't learned Yamatai-go quite yet!
"Uh, ok. Just let me cram that through the auto-translator and - "
"Sōzōshī!!!!" she suddenly shouted, raising her hand high, but palm down. "Shizukana", she then whispered, hand low. Just as he was about to open his mouth to inquire, the golden eyed Nekovalkyrja yelled at him once again, "Sōzōshī!!!!". It was a very odd sight, seeing a fit, six foot tall man cower to a young woman a full head shorter than him as she yelled. "Sōzōshī tanku," the Neko finally explained to him very frankly.
"O-oh! The tank is noisy inside! Right, right." He quickly jotted some notes down on his datapad. "Yeah, we can finish up some of the interior work and refine the mechanics - it shouldn't even need noise dampening mater - "
"Urusai," she simply spoke, crossing her good arm over the cast and peering at him through the corner of her good golden eye as she turned away. It was almost as though she were waiting for something very specific from him. The young Nepleslian wasn't an idiot of course, and thought very quickly on his toes. It was why Origin sent him as part of the development team after all.
"You look tired. Maybe you would like to get something to drink perhaps?" he asked. "We can try talking over this some more then."
The prototype Type 34's were going to get done, and done right of course. He'd never slack off on his job!
She smiled at him.
But first, drinks.
