The ground all around Allen was rocked by a chain of explosions, dirt mixing with mud flew everywhere, mixing with rain and stained his dragoon hull as he swung around evading the incoming fire.
"Keep moving! Don't let it zero in on you!" He could hear the captain's yelling as they bolted away in all directions, with the giant machine sniping them from the distance using its strange weapon.
"Holy shit… I hope I didn't jinx us earlier."
"Less joking, more running, private!" The captain yelled at Hound 3.
Shock and flame followed closely on his metallic heel as Allen's Locke ran sideways. Its speed was his saving grace as the Locke dragoon was able to move at the same consistent speed in all directions thanks to its many legs.
He returned fire with his plasma launcher and machine guns as soon as a chance presented itself, he saw his scattered teammates doing the same, but the result was laughable. That giant machine casually tanked all those incoming fire like it was nothing before turning its attention to their Captain.
The ear shattering boom of the giant machine's weapon filled the air as it fired another round right towards him.
But as luck would have it, the Hound squadron leader easily evaded it with precise maneuver. Now everyone silently made an unanimous decision to fire on its head, unfortunately this time the giant machine dodged it by ducking like how a human would.
"What the fuck!?" A disbelieving voice came from Hound 4.
Before they could even make sense what's happening, the machine suddenly took off and sprinted towards the direction where Hound 4 was. The terrifying speed of that machine was enough to defy all logic as it covered half the distance between them in barely a few seconds.
"Shit! Wendel evade!"
"Fuck fuck!"
Unfortunately Hound 4 wasn't fast enough. The giant machine quickly locked onto him and with the blink of an eye fired the weapon it was holding. The blast instantly turned Hound 4--dragoon and pilot altogether--into a burning wreckage.
[HOUND 4 DISCONNECTED]
The notification appearing on Allen's HUD only stated the obvious. The rest of Hound squadron didn't need to wait before running away at full speed, lest they became the next target for elimination.
"Damnit!"
"Captain, what're we gonna do now!?" Panic creeping into Hound 3's voice.
"Keep moving! We have to get fuck away from here, get through the building and fire if you have to! Hound 2, keep an eye on it."
"Roger."
Allen quickly maneuvered his dragoon into their ruined base, the flaming remains of the place made it hard to see and traverse but at least he won't be under the giant machine's mercy for a while. The downside was he also lost sight of his other teammates now that they're scattered all over the place.
"What the hell…?" Hound 2 muttered in disbelief.
"Vigo what'd you see?"
"That thing just disappeared!"
"What?? There's no way, that thing is at least 10 meters tall! How the hell something that big just disappeared!?"
"I'm telling you, I just lost sight of that bastard!"
It didn't take long for them to know where it was heading.
"Oh God oh fuck!! Captain its on my six!" The terrified voice of Hound 6 confirmed where the giant machine disappeared to.
"Shit! Hang on kid, I'm coming!"
"Captain hur-" A loud explosion stopped from anything else, followed by static noise and a notification on their HUD.
[HOUND 6 DISCONNECTED]
"Captain! Hawkins! We've gotta get outta here now!" Hound 2 practically yelled at their leader.
Allen certainly didn't wait long to follow that suggestion and quickened his pace, breaking through rubbles and not caring about the fire surrounding him. One of the perks of riding a several ton machine that looked like an oversized spider.
A few metres in and he ran into Hound 3.
"C'mon, we gotta hurry." She urged as the two picked up the pace and trampled anything in their way.
The sound of fighting was surprisingly thick in the air, gun fires and explosions can be heard left and right throughout the place. Allen thought everyone in the rear base was annihilated by that giant machine but it seemed that wasn't the case.
They were halfway through and could already see the exit when something else got in their way.
A black shadow broke through a crumbling and blocked their path. As the smoke cleared, the full form of their new adversary was revealed.
'Oh you've gotta be kidding me…'
Standing in front of them was another war machine that looked similar to their Locke dragoon, with the exception of a somewhat smaller size and only possessing four legs instead of eight.
The Arachne was the federation counterpart of a light class dragoon, albeit smaller than the Locke in terms of width and mass, they're certainly faster and nimbler. Armed with anti-armor mounted cannon, grenade launcher, and twin machine guns. The Arachne made for an efficient fast moving dragoon perfect for all sorts of situations.
As soon as the two pairs of Locke's eight red eyes met the Arachne's four blue eyes, the smaller spider mech fired its cannon like a cowboy quickdraw. Allen's quick reflex allowed to dodge it easily while Hound 3 leapt to the side, the sizzling shell whistled past their dragoon and missed them entirely. A single armor piercing round from an Arachne wasn't enough to pierce Locke's front armor, but misfortunes can and will happen in a battle and they weren't in the risking mood.
In that same split second, Allen fired two charges from his plasma launcher as a counterattack, which the Arachne dodged by leaping to the side. Hound 3 fired her plasma launcher too in succession but that Arachne was equally quick as them both.
It was a fight of speed between the three, even if the Locke boasted heavier firepower and better armor, Allen wasn't in the mood for a fight and neither was his friend.
The three light dragoons run around firing at each other, blue energy scorching the ground while cannon rounds piercing anything in its path, both dodging and hiding in whatever cover they can find. While the Arachne seemed hell bent on trying to win the fight, Allen was busy thinking of a gap for him to escape.
He's well aware he doesn't have that much time before that mysterious giant machine found him, and moreover…
'These Arachnes always operate in swarm formation. If one is here, the rest'll eventually show up.'
As much as he has faith in his skill as a pilot, he's not going toe to toe with a dozen Arachnes with a bigger monster threatening to turn him into a past tense. The situation was absolutely unfavourable for him.
He was concentrating on finding a chance to run away while keeping an eye on the Arachne's cannon and grenade launcher that rained sticky bombs on him.
Eventually an opportunity presented itself and he quickly took it.
"Cover me." He said to Hound 3 as he swung to the side.
Hound 3's machine guns spewed hot leads onto the Arachne while Allen headed towards the burning remains of a dropship and disappeared behind it as he outran another cannon round. The Arachne didn't follow him there and instead went sideways hoping to intercept him as he emerged on the other side and taking cover from Hound 3 relentless attack, something Allen was hoping it would do and thus, fall into his trap.
As it reached midways, Allen burst out of the dropship's burning hull and descended upon the helpless Arachne.
The left leg of Locke's two front legs pierced its hull and pinned it to the ground, something it was designed to do with relative ease. Allen didn't waste anymore time and quickly disengaged, didn't even bother to check his kill. He simply judged the small explosion under his feet earlier as a sign the Arachne was out of commission.
"Nice work!" Hound 3 said as she fell into step with Allen.
Their progress were halted once again when more of those Arachnes dragoon showed up in their way.
"Oh come on! We don't have time for this!" Hound 3 angrily shouted as she pressed onward and barreled directly into one of the Arachne. The speed and weight difference easily made the Arachne crash into the ground with Hound 3's Locke on top.
Allen dodged two rounds fired towards him by zigzagging and fired his plasma launcher at almost point blank range, turning the Arachne in front of him into toasted junk in four hits.
They evaded the rest and kept on going, dodging rounds after rounds coming from behind them and the occasional bombs coming from above.
"Persistent bastards!" Hound 3 spinned around and unloaded everything she got on their pursuers while still moving at full speed, albeit backwards now.
Allen kept his sight straight towards the road, smashing through any obstacles to make sure Hound 3 didn't trip on anything.
Three of the pursuing Arachnes fell victim to her plasma charges. One got its leg blown off, the second one received a headshot that instantly crumpled the front armor and killed the pilot, and the last one got blown into smithereens when the plasma charge hit its primed grenade inside its own launcher. The consecutive blast was big enough to temporarily halt the remaining pursuers.
"That'll do." Hound 3 huffed as she turned back and continued along.
Took them a while but they eventually reached the outer perimeter of their rear base, a wide open field with a forest at the end, there's nobody there beside those two.
'Either everyone's dead or they're still fighting back there.' Allen surmised while looking back at the battlefield behind them.
"Captain, Hound 3 here. Where're you? Allen and I already got out."
"Little busy here." A series of explosion and gunfires can be heard from the Captain's side as he spoke.
"Hold on Captain, I'm making my way to you."
"Copy that Hound 2. Any visual on that giant bastard?"
"None, that thing slipped away again."
"How the hell something that big can sneak around us like that?" Hound 3 wondered aloud.
"No idea, but I'm not keen on finding out the hard way."
"Keep your eyes open. That bastard could swoop down on us anytime."
"Should we wait for you two here?"
"Negative Hound 3. Withdraw now, we'll meet at Point Echo."
"Roger that, we'll be waitin-.. what the..?"
A persistent beeping interrupted Hound 3's conversation. It was an alert coming from her danger detection system. Allen had one too - a flashing red exclamation mark inside a triangle, and it was telling them to look above. Both of their eyes went wide when seeing what's above them.
"Oh shit!"
Hound 3's surprise was drowned when a blue light flashed before their eyes. The next thing they knew, an explosion knocked them both off their metallic feet with the shockwave sending both flying in two directions.
Allen was quick to regain his bearing with his dragoon even if he himself was still feeling disoriented.
A few electrical sparks greeted his regained senses as he took a quick look at his Locke's condition.
'Minimal damage… lucky that blast didn't tear off my legs again.'
He looked around for a sign of what attacked them and found it flying above. The mysterious giant machine has made its appearance once again and this time it was onboard a heavy helicopter hovering overhead, popping its metallic figure out the interior with weapons pointed at them.
'Son of a bitch.'
That thing quickly spotted Allen and rained down fire upon him. Allen backstepped and evaded as fast as he could, running away from the blue lights coming from above. Now that he wasn't caught by surprise, he recognised that weapon used against him to be some kind of railgun, judging from the blue lights the round emitted as it travelled through the air.
"Hound 3, Hound 5, do you copy? What happened!?" Their captain called.
"Hound 5 here. I'm fine. That machine found us."Shit.... Where's 3?"
Allen kept an eye out for Hound 3 and eventually found her some distance away from him, her condition however wasn't as lucky as her.
'Shit….'
From the looks of it, her Locke's entire left side was blown apart, leaving the internal parts and its power core exposed. Without the other four legs to support it, her dragoon looked like it sunken into the ground. She seemed to have been blown away quite far apart and overturned several times before crashing.
"She's out, captain."
"Dammit!"
"Hound 3, can you hear me?" Allen tried checking on her. A small sense of relief he received when he heard his friend's groaning over the radio.
"Uughh… fucking shi-... I'm fine."
"Can you move?"
"I think so… dammit.. it hurts as hell."
Allen mulled over his options for a moment while nimbly running around trying not to get hit. Then a decision was made.
"Get out of your dragoon and withdraw now."
"No shit dude, you better give me a ride though."
"Can't do, I'll stay behind and buy you some time."
"Wait what!? You're kidding me…"
"Your unit is pretty much destroyed and that machine has found us, you won't be of any use here. There should be a secondary supply base a few meters north of our position, it's probably in the woods. You can find a vehicle there to get to Point Echo."
"You're asking me to leave you here dealing with that bastard!?"
"Unless you have a death wish, that's what I suggest."
"Arrrrgh goddamnit… you better get back alive you hear?"
"Yeah…"
"Stupid war… stupid feds…" Hound 3 grumbled, the struggling sound she made indicated she's trying to break out of her cockpit.
As Allen was hearing that, another alert hit him like a brick.
[WARNING : MULTIPLE ENEMY SIGNATURE DETECTED]
Along with that warning, several red dots appeared on his radar, all coming from the base. The radar was somewhat unreliable because the red dots kept fading and reappearing in different places, but he counted at least seven consistent presences.
'Must be other Arachnes.' He surmised. "You better hurry over there." He urged Hound 3.
"I know!"
"Captain, this is Hound 5. Hound 3 is no longer fit for combat, she's withdrawing now." Allen reported.
"Copy that Hound 5, you should go too now."
He sighed a bit when he heard that, eyes glancing to the approaching enemies.
"No can do sir, several enemies are approaching our position. That unknown machine is also hovering above us." He paused for a moment, observing the situation. "I'm distracting them while Hound 3 escapes."
As soon as he said that, those Arachnes showed up and opened fire at him. Allen started to circle around, trying his best not to get surrounded or caught in the blast from the mysterious machine's weapon.
"That's too reckless, you won't make it!" Hound 2 joined in, warning him.
"Vigo's right. Hold tight Dietrich, we're coming!" The captain exclaimed but Allen declined.
"No captain, you should withdraw too." He said between gritted teeth as an Arachne's armor piercing round missed him by a hair's breadth. With a press of a trigger, his plasma launcher spewed forth blue energy that found its mark on the Arachne's lower joint that connected its main body and legs.
"Like hell I will!"
"Captain. It's important that we ensure any one of us escape no matter what, the more the better. We have information about an unknown enemy capable of untold damage, that's all the more reason to run as fast as we could."
There was silence on the other side, Allen in the meantime was kept busy dodging more cannon rounds fired one after another at him.
"Right now, you, Hound 2, and Hound 3 have the best chance of escaping with that info and passing it to high command. It's only my duty to make sure these enemies didn't pursue any of you."
It seemed his rhetoric was enough to convince his captain.
"Bloody hell... you don't talk much but when you do, you're pretty good at it."
Allen didn't reply.
"Hound 3, can you hear me? You better haul ass and move as fast as you can. We'll try and catch up with you."
"Don't have to tell me twice sir!"
"Dietrich! You must and will definitely return alive 'ya hear me? I'll make sure they make you and Richter a lieutenant even if I'm dead."
"Much appreciated sir, I've no plan on dying anyway." Allen replied casually.
"Holy shit! Finally, 'bout time we got promoted!" Even in this life threatening situation, Allen can literally hear the excitement bleeding from Hound 3.
"Godspeed to you two. C'mon Vigo, let's wrap up here."
"Roger that sir."
With their conversation over, Allen focused all his attention on his remaining enemies.
'Six Arachnes plus one flying unknown…' He takes a look at his current weapon and finds it lacking. 'Four charges left on both launchers. Machine guns at 200. Just my luck.'
He was at least glad the distraction worked and all of the enemies were entirely focused on him.
'Let's do this then.'
Evading another volley of cannon and railgun rounds, Allen ducked into a nearby flaming remains of a tank while returning fire with his machine guns. He didn't stay for long as the airborne machine immediately zero in on his position and soon a blue light consumed everything where he stood earlier.
But it doesn't matter, with the Arachnes lured in, Allen re-entered their rear base and made his way into a favourable position inside the burning labyrinth.
He hid himself as fast as possible and watched the open space where he thought the Arachnes would use and sure enough, those four legged mechanical spiders passed by him as they tried to quickly pick up his trail. Just as Allen hoped.
He waited until the third one passed before he sprunged his trap, something rather similar like he did earlier if not even more reckless.
He charged into the fourth Arachne in line and collided with each other, piercing its torso hull with the Locke's front leg, he could see blood actually splattering out before he positioned himself directly right in front of the two Arachnes behind the fourth, and also placing them right in front of his plasma launchers.
He pulled both triggers and two blue energy charges flew straight and true. Both destroyed their targets, with one sending the left Arachne tumbling sideways while the second completely crumpled the right Arachne's front armor, exposing the pilot within which Allen wasted no time finishing off with a hail of bullets from his machine guns.
But to that Arachne's credit, its pilot managed to squeeze out one last shot from the cannon and an armor-piercing round cleanly sliced Allen's right plasma launcher into two.
'Damnit' He cursed inwardly as he ran away again, evading the other three Arachnes that had passed him earlier. They had turned around after he successfully ambushed their three friends and were now hot on his tails.
As he was leading them around in a wild goose chase, Allen noticed something strange.
'Two…? Where's the other one?'
The answer to his question immediately presented itself in the form of a cannon round fired from his side and headed straight towards his head. Allen's reflex made him quick enough to step on the brake and saved himself from being sliced into two but unfortunately the shot instead tore apart his Locke's two front legs in a single swoop.
'Shit!' He quickly turned to the side and fired off his machine guns, to which the Arachne that ambushed him evaded by leaping to its right.
The other two soon catched up and fired their grenade launcher, Allen quickly stepped back thinking it was explosive but it was smoke that spewed forth instead of fire. That split second confusion of his proved almost fatal as two rounds of solid steel pierced the white smoke screen and hammered his front armor.
With one round lodging itself halfway within the Locke's front armor while the second piercing it all the way through and missing Allen's head by a mere inch. It was only by sheer luck that the round didn't hit his dragoon's core and immediately turned him into toasted bread.
In an almost panicking manner, Allen tumbled backwards and to the side, evading the two Arachnes hiding behind the smokescreen.
Unfortunately for Allen again, the gaping hole in front of him left his cockpit monitor completely out of order, making him effectively blind.
With no other option, he was forced to open the cockpit in order to see. The canopy opened with a hiss and heat crawling up his skin under the pilot suit. Thankfully his helmet was sealed and has a filter so doesn't have to deal with the smoke around him. Though it only improved his situation by a really small margin.
'Now what…'
He didn't need to check on the damage to know his dragoon was in pretty bad shape. Although his HUD was still online so he doesn't have to aim or look for his enemies manually which would be hard in the low visibility situation he's in.
The situation had gone from bad to worse for him now. The sound of Arachnes approaching was getting closer and closer with each passing moment.
He wasn't planning on dying anytime soon but it seemed that plan of his was getting more and more impossible these days.
A sigh escaped his lips yet again. He thought giving up, surrendering would be much easier than fighting desperately like he's doing.
But suddenly, out of nowhere, a memory resurfaced on his troubled mind.
'Why now of all time…'
A memory of a distant past, perhaps not that distant yet it was far away now.
A memory of a home he lost, people left behind, and everything that was taken away.
Once again that memory reminded him of his purpose, on why he became a soldier, on why he's not allowed to give up. No, such privileges weren't his to begin with.
That memory didn't give him motivation, no unyielding determination inspired by it, there was no burning will that sprouted from it. Only a reminder, a grim remembrance of his duty, on what he's supposed to do.
There was nothing more inside him but a solemn resignation.
With a quiet resolve, Allen marched forward to battle yet again.
§
Gwendolyn frowned as she scanned the surface below her painted in dancing red and orange, frustration bubbling inside her.
"Where did that thing go…?" She said to no one in particular.
Her unit had proceeded with the plan and laid waste to the unaware imperial forces, attacked from behind and combined with panic had made it easy to completely annihilate them. Her squadron was split into three and assigned to each imperial rear base for maximum efficiency.
Sweyn got the west base while their captain handled the central line, Gwen was to take care of the east.
It was so easy that Gwendolyn herself was getting scared of how everything was proceeding too smoothly.
Until she saw the six dragoons heading her way.
She paid no mind to them as all six were just light class dragoons, barely a threat to the mech she's using.
She handled them just like how they practiced. Scattering them before taking them out one by one was the easiest method she was taught.
They tried to hit her but it was a child's play dodging the incoming fire. She took out one dragoon with barely any effort, then managed to sneak behind another and claimed another kill for her record.
The rest escaped and hid themselves within the burning base that Gwendolyn herself had destroyed.
'Clever' She thought before reporting it to the allied dragoon squadron clearing off any stragglers in the vicinity.
She could find those imperial dragoons herself but she judged it'll take too much time and they might have escaped by the time she caught their trails. Locke dragoons are famous for being small speed demons.
Thankfully the unit who answered her call was a fellow speed demon, the Arachnes.
The plan was for the Arachne squadron to find and flush them out, destroy if they can, but overall make those Locke dragoons get out from wherever they're hiding. Gwendolyn would wait in the air using a heavy dual engine transport helicopter she hailed to act as a mobile high ground.
She eventually did find two of those imperial dragoons at the back end of the rear base. Without further ado, Gwendolyn aimed her railgun rifle right between the two Locke dragoons. She figured the blast would be strong enough to take out both in one fell swoop.
She squeezed the trigger, a loud boom followed as blue sparks travelled across her rifle's barrel, sending the railgun round straight through the air. The signature blue explosion of a High Explosive round fired from a railgun consumed the two enemy target. Two figures blown away to either side with one crashing violently into the ground, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the second dragoon that skidded smoothly before stabilising its footing.
"Tch…" It was a mistake on her part that she wished to quickly correct.
Unfortunately for her, that mistake proved to be quite fatal as that dragoon had taken out four out of the seven Arachnes that came hunting for it. To make matters worse none of their attacks were able to connect, not even Gwendolyn's sniping was able to take that enemy dragoon out.
Gwendolyn could only watch from above as she feared friendly fire if she used her weapon while the Arachnes and their target were engaged that close.
Although the Arachnes were eventually able to cripple that imperial dragoon, it doesn't seem their chance of killing it was any higher.
"Whoever that pilot is… they're good." Gwendolyn was willing to admit that, which was why she won't make anymore mistakes.
She kept a close eye on the surface below, trying to get a glimpse of that Locke dragoon.
"Viper team, I don't have any clear visuals from up here. Any sign of the enemy? Over." She asked over the radio to what's left of the Arachne unit but no answer came.
"Viper team, come in! Do you copy?"
Once again, no answer. Then as if answering her confusion, the two blue dots on her radar disappeared one after another.
"Shit.." She cursed, fearing the worst. "Overlord, this is Cerberus 3. Viper team is down, I repeat Viper team is down."
"Copy that Cerberus 3, sending medevac for possible survivors. Confirm how many hostile in your sector, over."
"One hostile. A light class dragoon, Locke model. Over."
"Repeat that Cerberus 3. How many enemies?" The question came with a tone of disbelief.
"I said one hostile!" Gwendolyn shouted in frustration before turning her attention back to the ground.
She scoured the base with her scope but found no sign of either Viper or that imperial dragoon. Her radar showed three dots of two allies and one enemy but she couldn't see any of them down in the raging flame. Thermal vision won't help either due to the fire.
"Bastard, where the hell are you..?"
She was so focused on looking for the enemy dragoon that she didn't see the attack coming straight at her. A projectile flew across the air and nailed one of the helicopter's engines and instantly destroyed it.
"What the…!?"
Immediately the aircraft started spinning out of control with Gwendolyn's mech losing its balance and slamming into the metallic interior.
The sound of alarm from both the helicopter and her mech filled her ear as Gwendolyn and her mech tumbled around inside the helicopter.
A little quick thinking saved her there. She kicked open the closed metal door of the helicopter and jumped out before it crashed.
60…. 50…. 40….. so were the numbers displayed on the altimeter at her monitor as her mech freefalled, she felt like her stomach was rising to her throat. Her breath halted on instinct, in anticipation for the coming landing, then in a moment a thunderous jarring impact shook her very being as her mech reached the ground.
Even though the shock absorber had reduced the effect, she still felt a little disoriented from the impact.
Her senses soon kicked into overdrive however as her mech's head twisting and turning around while her eyes darted everywhere looking for whatever had shot her down.
"Shit… shit… this is bad." It was her first real battle after all, so it's no wonder Gwendolyn was feeling nervous, especially after realising she's fighting someone who seemed to be a skilled pilot.
The silence was oppressive, even though she was in the middle of a battle, she heard nothing but her own heartbeat. She's well aware sitting in her landing place was irrational, but she can't bring herself to move for fear that Locke was lurking nearby.
Perhaps it's due to her nervousness that breeds carelessness or maybe the enemy pilot was simply way better than her, but in the end Gwendolyn never saw the trap that she had fallen for.
A shadow moved around the corner of her eyes and she quickly turned to follow it, which in turn set her sight on the imperial dragoon that had been toying with her hidden behind a smoke screen.
There was no mistaking the spider-like figure of the imperial war machine.
Gwendolyn pulled the trigger as fast as she could, not intending to let it escape again. Her railgun rifle sparked blue and the explosive round was fired.
With nothing on its way, the round traveled faster than sound and in the blink of an eye, obliterated her target in a wave of blue light. Trepidation washed over her as she approached her killed target.
Her eyes went wide as she beheld the obliterated remains.
"An Arachne!?"
She had mistaken the slightly similar form of her ally's dragoon for her enemy.
That in turn made her blind to the actual enemy coming her back. Her detection system blared to alert her but it was too late.
Although her eyes managed to catch sight of it, her reflex wasn't fast enough.
The Locke leaped from behind a fire and started firing everything it got on the unarmoured back of Gwendolyn's mech. Causing it to lose balance and toppled down, dropping to its knee.
Gwendolyn tried to bring her rifle into line of fire but never had the chance to, a plasma charge went and destroyed her mech's head, turning Gwendolyn into literally blind of her surroundings.
Before she could activate the secondary outer camera and even before the panic could even settle, she felt something heavy crashing against her mech, the jarring impact rocked her inside her cockpit.
The moment she turned on the secondary visual camera was the moment her eyes went wide of the image in front of her.
In that moment, a bright light engulfed her as the Locke bursted into an explosion.
Darkness soon took her.