The leather seat was cold, Edwina felt the night air further as she dumped her heavy jacket over the back of the seat; she pulled her long blonde hair aside with one hand as she fumbled about inside the dark cockpit for the end of a heavy data cable. Lights flickered on as the shouts of the crew rushing into the hangar echoed through the still open hatch, allowing Edwina to finally grasp at the cable that was embarrassingly slung across the back of her seat, coaxing out a frustrated mumble. 'The wagon is down... what's it looking like out there?' Deftly inserting the cable into the back of neck through the small plastic cover, quickly following up by slamming down a hand upon the engine starter; the heavy button resisting her for a moment, giving way to spin up the heavy engine beneath her with a loud roar. TACIT3 BOOTOS V1.220... MEMORY ALLOCATION 3282228b OK... CPU 380HZ, CLOCK SPEED NOMINAL. BIOSIGN CONFIRMATION... I/O HANDSHAKE... A spark and quiver ran down the woman's spine as she began to feel the cold depths of the awakening machine, red lines and overlays beginning to flicker upon the transparent cockpit of the Touro mech, status lights and annunciation flashing in sequence as the beast's engine spooled to life, its low rumble washing over the quickly filling hangar. 'Two heavies and a crapload of infantry, no movement from the wagon... what the hell is going on?' --- Pheonix-1 Naval Annex, Base Exterior The lumbering Mammoth kept its distance from its disabled brethren, reversing back at a sharp angle to keep its bulk poised between the constant fire exchange between the lines of infantry; shimmering barrier flaring up as rounds sparked off and spiraled off into the night's sky, the scattered tracers seen across the island as the local population hid and cowered in the small towns. High explosive ordinance poured into the makeshift cover of the attacking troops, the twin turreted cannons upon the heavy tank keeping constant fire upon the new arrivals, preventing the vehicle from meeting the same fate as the Carnival Wagon through its withering barrage of shells. But the final screen of defensive fire quickly died out as the weapons began to seize or empty, the rapid ravaging laid out quickly expending the war machine's capacity to fight. The colossi took scant seconds to barge through their fractured cover and barrel down upon the retreating vehicle, failing to notice the bulkhead doors opening once more... It wasn't the rumble of tracks that emerged, the deep heavy thumps of metal on concrete as four heavy walkers practically marched up the ramp to the fight, two abreast and quickly pouncing, letting loose high explosive shells and pouring down bright red tracers from their stuttering machine-guns. Caught flat footed, the only response was to charge... the humanoid constructs bounding gracefully compared to the rigid Touro mechs, clearing the dozens of meters courting only machinegun rounds and fragments from the near misses. It leveraged the blunt end of its mighty weapon against the side of an unfortunate Touro and drove the metal beast deep into the concrete with a sickening crunch of metals cracking against each other, but victory was short lived as a high explosive shell from the victim's distraught colleague buried deep into the metal man's arm, blowing the limb clear and throwing it off balance, sealing its fate at the end of another shell.
Edwina stared down the ominous towering thing that was quickly closing with her, the armoured humanoid glimmering imposingly with the fires to its back, she counted the steps her Touro made as eased the throttle, slowing her advance just enough to zone in a single shot from the 105mm cannon... the reticule jittered with the already stretched stabilization, the giant hammer mere meters from her cockpit when the moment felt right to let loose, knowing there would only be one shot. It slammed into the side of the humanoid's torso, detonating with enough force to cause the weapon to slip from its hand before a focused barrage of machinegun fire tore through the sensitive servos on its arm. Seemingly enraged by its injury, it threw its entire bulk forwards towards her, Edwina thought fast and barely had enough time to bring the heavy metal shoe of her mech down upon the concrete with undue force, the sudden shift of ground tripping her attacker just long enough for the telltale clunk of the autoloader to indicate a round was in place. The second shot blew open the mechanical innards of the giant humanoid machine, sparks and fluids spilling out onto the concrete as it struggled to move... with the phosphorous flames still burning, bodies strewn all around, she drove her Touro right to the dying machine and with a vindictive thrust, crushed it under the metal heel of her mech. Edwina blinked and slowly looked around, the cracked cockpit giving her a wide view of the now still battlefield, searchlights sweeping across the carcasses of construction machines and workers alike, the guns were silent, the battle was over. "Report from the Dis is that they are ready to provide air support as needed, over." An exasperated laugh escaped Edwina as she opened up her radio channel, speaking loudly; "A little Irene damned late for that."
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