Three Square Meals Ch. 050

"I've finished off the Command Centre mercs, and I'm on my way back," John said into the voice comms, updating Dana and Rachel.

Dana's excited voice came through the comm, and she said, "That sounded like a full powered railgun round. What was it like?"

John glanced around at the shattered remnants of the mercs, and said wryly, "It left a bit of a mess..."

He began to walk briskly back to the bunker, when Alyssa's worried voice came through to him clearly. *John, we've got trouble!*

*Are you and Calara alright?* he asked her, concerned for their safety.

Alyssa answered him quickly and said, *We're fine. We've taken out two of the cruisers, and the last one surrendered.*

John grinned as he jogged down the stairs, and said proudly, *That's amazing! Great job.*

The psychic blonde then said urgently, *Thanks, but that's not the problem. The carrier with the Exo-armoured mercenary's is right above the base, they've started dropping mechs!*

Swearing profusely, John vaulted over the banister, skipping the last set of steps and sprinted out into the hallway. He ran full tilt towards the heavy doors to the Command Centre, and shoved open the door. Sure enough, the huge, six hundred metre long carrier loomed overhead, hovering only one hundred metres above the ground. From this range, he could see the hangar doors open on the side, as Exo-armoured troopers stepped out from the carrier.

He watched one of the fifteen-feet-tall armoured behemoths plummet towards the ground like a stone, only for retrothrusters to kick in at the last moment, and gently halt its fall. The mech landed unsteadily on its feet, before righting itself, and jettisoning the bulky jetpack from its shoulders. It raised the long barrelled autocannon built into its right arm, and began to unload shells at the entrance to the Command Centre.

"Poom! Poom! Poom!" the autocannon rang out, as it pumped heavy rounds towards him.

John had dived backwards as soon as he saw the barrel swivelling in his direction, but one of the heavy rounds struck him in the leg, and the impact sent him sprawling across the floor. The shell hadn't been able to penetrate his body armour, but it left a broad crater of cracked concentric rings in the plating on his right thigh. The rest of the autocannon rounds smashed into the door he had opened, ripping it in half, and blasting it off its hinges as the shells struck home.

John scrabbled backwards as a volley of missiles struck the entrance way moments later, detonating in a rippling series of explosions, and the waves of force knocked him further up the corridor. John avoided the worst of the explosion, but the heat and lick of flames scorched off the last of the black paint, leaving his armour white as snow once more.

*We're on our way!* Alyssa said to him in alarm as she read his thoughts. *We'll be there as soon as we can. Hold on!*

Rachel's worried voice reached him on the comm, as she said, "What's happening up there? It sounded like explosions!"

"They're dropping mechs in the compound!" John replied, as he got back up in a crouch.

He aimed down the corridor, and a few moments later, the overconfident mech pilot strolled out in front of the scorched entrance, its heavy feet making rumbling clumping sounds with every step. It stooped down to look along the corridor, and John opened fire with his Punisher railgun.

"VrmPrrrkaow!" the railgun chattered angrily as he fired a three round burst at the heavily armoured mech.

Fortunately Dana's innovative genius for lethal destruction overcame the Terran Federation's defensive capabilities for the metal behemoth. The hyper-accelerated rounds slammed into the armoured torso, sending it reeling backwards, as the 20mm slugs smashed through the titanium plating, and punched huge holes through the mech pilot within. There was a gout of crimson from the gaping rents that has been driven through the mech's chest, and it staggered backwards, before keeling over and crashing to the ground with a loud metallic clang.

*Get to the bunker!* Alyssa said to him frantically, as he rose to his feet. *Move! Now!*

Hearing the urgency in her thoughts, John darted through the door, and into the room with the bunker. He sprinted over to the stairs, and leapt down them three at a time. Stumbling slightly at the bottom, he staggered inside, where Rachel caught and steadied him.

"Hold on to your butts!" Dana grinned, as she brandished the detonator in her hand. She flipped back the safety restraints, and then stabbed her thumb down on the red buttons.

***

Colonel Semias Morgan had walked his mech out into position, and was standing by the carrier's huge hangar bay doors. His men worked like a well oiled machine, and he had grinned with satisfaction as his elite mech platoon had combat dropped into the hostile LZ with perfect precision. He always went in with the first squad, his best and brightest. Mercs he'd hand-picked and worked with for eight years now, ever since he'd bought this carrier and outfitted it with mechs. Several of these men he knew personally from his days back in the corps, and he had even convinced a few of them to retire from the Terran Federation military to join him as a mercenary.

He looked down and could see his men fanning out, securing a perimeter around the drop zone, and he almost felt sorry for the poor bastards that had dared to attack them. He nodded to the second mech platoon that was moving into position, and he was just about to step out of the carrier, when two thunderous detonations enveloped his base on SerpentHold. He looked on in horror as the colossal explosions ripped through the compound, flattening buildings and tossing the mechs aside like broken toy soldiers.

The shields on the carrier prevented any debris or the explosion itself from reaching the hangar, and when the clouds of smoke finally cleared, he gaped in stunned disbelief at the destruction wrought below. Fires raged in the burning hellscape, illuminating the scene of devastation in flickering orange flames. There were now two huge craters where the main and backup generators had been, and the blast waves from those explosions had flattened the armoury, barracks, shield projector and maintenance garage. The command centre had partially collapsed, and looked like a sad, broken ruin of its once imposing sight.

"No..." he mumbled in shock, at the thought of the time, effort and money he'd invested in this base and the men that had been wiped out in an instant.

***

Jade yanked back on the flightstick as the three fighters on her tail sent long streams of orange laser bolts towards her from their wing-mounted Gatling lasers. Her shields were out, and the hull of the gunship was scorched in several places where the Elite Red Hornet pilots had managed to hit her armour.

They had been in the middle of an intense dogfight for what seemed like forever, and it seemed that her surprise assault against the first wing, had not given her an accurate appreciation of the skill of these pilots. The targeting computer was finding these quick and nimble fighters almost impossible to hit, especially with the Nymph executing such wild evasive manoeuvres. She'd only been able to destroy three of them by taking control of the turreted Gatling lasers from the outmatched targeting computer, and concentrating on aiming the weapons herself. Although she had been able to take out half the wing, when her shields had gone, she knew that she had to concentrate purely on piloting or she was doomed.

She was getting flashbacks to that battle in Iota-Leonis against the Kintark, feeling that same dual sensation of rising panic at being hunted, and frustration at not being able to do anything about it. Jade decided that she really didn't like fighters very much.

The Nymph concentrated on making herself more dense, increasing her resistance to G-Force, then yanked the flightstick to the right, and rolling the Raptor through several tight spins. This threw the fighters off her tail for a couple of seconds, and gave her an opportunity to yank back the flightstick and bring the Raptor up in incredibly tight loop.

At the speed she was going, the G-forces were incredible, and the G-Force meter went off the scale, flashing red and blaring a warning. She felt herself get a bit lightheaded, but managed to maintain consciousness. The Red Hornet pilots had followed her into the loop, and while their fighters were more agile and manoeuvrable than the Raptor, the pilots were Terrans, and faced with all their physical limitations.

Jade flipped to manual control of her guns, and when two of the pilots blacked out, she cut the fighters in half as they sailed past her. The last fighter gave up on the loop, choosing to retain consciousness whilst losing his prey, and he raced away into the clouds. Jade levelled out of the loop, then turned to pursue the fighter, and while they had agility on their side, the Raptor had raw power. She cranked up the engines, and there was a sonic boom as she blasted through the sound barrier, rapidly increasing her speed, and catching up with the last of the Red Hornet fighters.

The Pilot had seen more than enough of Jade's fearsome skills, and was desperate to flee, pulling up and climbing for orbit. Unfortunately for him, Jade wasn't in a forgiving mood, knowing that she'd get a worried look from John for putting herself in danger. She opened up with all six Gatling lasers, and the bright orange laser bolts sliced through the light armour, cutting the enemy fighter to pieces.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and brushed the back of her hand over her brow. If she sweated, it would have been pouring off her by now. Alyssa had been keeping her informed about events up in space, as well as those down on the ground, so Jade turned the Raptor and raced towards the Cobras base. Even from this distance, dozens of kilometres away, she could see the smoke from the explosions rising up above the horizon.

***

Down in the bunker, the ground had seemed to lurch under their feet when Dana's explosives had been triggered, and all the lights went out as a deep bass rumble echoed dully through the room. The freed prisoners screamed in panic, until Rachel activated the outer lighting on her armour, bathing the room in a soft white glow. Dust was thick in the air, and they could see motes of it in the dim illumination from her armour. The kidnap victims coughed lightly, but seemed otherwise unscathed.

They were all crouched near the floor, and John slowly rose to his feet, saying, "Is everyone alright?"

Dana and Rachel nodded, looking at him with wide eyes, while the freed prisoners all blinked owlishly in the gloom. John walked over to the entrance, and above the stairwell, sections of the ceiling had collapsed, dropping girders and rubble across the stairs. He carefully approached the rumble strewn stairwell, to see how bad the collapsed ceiling was.

"If you move that girder there, you should be able to lift most of it out the way," Dana said, peering over his shoulder in the half-light.

John nodded, and said to her, "Sure, I'll give that a try. Back up a little so I'm not worrying about you being hit by rubble."

Dana grinned at him affectionately, then did as he asked, scampering backwards, and ducking back into the bunker. Once she was well clear, John reached up, taking hold of the huge steel girder that had smashed through the ceiling and brought it down on the stairwell. He flexed his muscles and with an ominous groan, and a shower of dust and stones, the huge girder creaked upwards, lifting the collapsed ceiling with it.

The two little children were sitting next to Rachel, cuddling her tightly as she knelt next to them, as they watched John lift the huge girder out of the way. The women prisoners were watching in amazement, while the children had looks of awe on their faces.

"Is he a superhero?" the little boy asked in wonder.

Rachel laughed, and smiled as she looked down at him, then said gently, "No, he just ate all his vegetables."

"Is he your boyfriend?" the little girl asked curiously.

The other women all laughed at that, and Rachel blushed, then nodded as she said, "Yes, he's my boyfriend."

The little girl sighed and said, "When I grow up, I want a boyfriend just like that."

Rachel nodded and said softly, "I'm a very lucky girl."

***

Hitch Mallor stared in shock at the shattered remains of the Cobra base, as his heavy tank raced back up the slope to the plateau. He and his men had seen the huge explosions at the base, but now, seeing it flattened and burning like this was something else entirely.

Their carrier was hovering overhead, and Hitch recognised the distinctive shape of Colonel Morgan's Command mech standing in the doorway to the hangar bay. The carrier was suddenly struck by six bright orange beams, and before Hitch's horrified eyes, a huge white spacecraft descended out of the clouds, and began unloading laser cannon blasts on the carrier.

The Colonel and his remaining mech platoon began to jump out of the carrier, dropping like stones as they fell from the huge vessel. Hitch felt a surge of relief when the Colonel seemed to get clear, but that was short lived when one of his men yelled in fear, "That fucking gunship is back!!"

The white hulled ship raced in, and bright orange laser bolts started ripping through the falling mercenaries in their mechs. The pilot was just as merciless with the mechs as they had been with his tank column, and both men and machines were cut to ribbons by lethally accurate laser fire. The white cruiser opened up as well, and the bright curtain of orange laser bolts meant instant death for the unfortunate mercenaries who had tried to jump to the base below.

An ominous clang on their tank's hull had Hitch staring at his tank crew with wide eyes. "What the fuck was that?" he said to the gunner in a hushed voice.

The gunner stared back at him on the verge of panic, and started to reply, when there was a horrific tearing screech of twisting metal that drowned out anything he might have said. The four men sitting in the tank looked up in horror as the turret was ripped effortlessly off the hull. They gaped in shock at the man who had torn the top off their tank, just as easily as if he'd opened a can of sardines, and he casually tossed the mangled turret aside.

"Any last words?" the man asked curiously, as he unshouldered an evil looking white rifle, pointing it towards the gaping hole above the mercs.

"You fucking bastard!" Hitch shouted at him angrily, and was gunned down a second later.

John rolled his eyes, and said, "Very profound."

***

Colonel Semias Morgan landed on the rubble strewn remnants of his base, and grappled with the controls of his mech as he laboured to keep it steady. He jettisoned his drop pack, and looked around, trying to get his bearings. He glanced upwards to check to see how his second platoon were doing, and gaped in horror as he watched a white gunship start shooting his men out of the sky.

Meanwhile, the white assault cruiser tore into his carrier with its laser cannons, until moments later the carrier's shields blew out, and laser bolts started striking its hull. He had no idea how that assault cruiser wasn't blown into a million pieces by his cruisers, but it seemed totally unscathed. It began to open fire with dozens of Gatling lasers, targeting any mechs which somehow managed to avoid the gunship. He watched the last of his men leap from the carrier's hangar, only to be tracked and hit by eight Gatling lasers, which cut him clean in half. The upper and lower sections of the mech fell to the ground in two separate glowing pieces.

He flinched as there was a big explosion on the carrier, and it yawed to starboard, tipping away from the base. The white assault cruiser pivoted in place, and as soon as the carrier was clear, six blazingly bright orange beam lasers slashed across the engines, slicing them in half in a series of explosions. The carrier dropped like a rock, and although Colonel Morgan couldn't see it crash, he felt the tremors of the impact through his feet.

Gone. All of it. Every last man and bit of equipment he'd painstakingly gathered over the last ten years had been ripped apart in just under an hour. Overwhelmed with rage and grief, he yelled out his pain and anger in one long bellowing release. As he sat in his command chair afterwards, panting with the exertion, he looked up, and saw a white armoured man with a Lion on his shoulderpad striding towards him.

"You..." he snarled through gritted teeth, feeling the hate rising up, and colouring his vision red.

Flipping a switch on the external speakers, he roared, "Fight me one on one, 'Lion of the Federation' if you've got the balls!"

The white armoured man strode towards him confidently, and Colonel Morgan grinned with anticipation. He readied both his 40mm autocannons, and his shoulder mounted rocket pods, training them on John Blake as he walked calmly towards him.

"You're one cocky son of a bitch, I'll give you that," the Colonel grudgingly admitted.

He had the external audio ready, in case his opponent replied, but instead of some defiant challenge from Commodore Blake, he heard an odd sound from his right.

"VrmPkaow!"

Suddenly Colonel Morgan was in agony, and he gaped down in horror at the bloodied stumps where his hands had been. A twelve inch wide hole had been punched through the right side of his mech, and the slug had ripped apart the controls, and his hands with them. The mech tottered over, collapsing on its front, and he screamed with pain, thrashing in his chair.

A few moment later, the mech was flipped over, and the bolts holding the canopy securely in place snapped like twigs as the front was ripped off the mech. Through his pain, Colonel Morgan stared up at the man, and instantly recognised him as Commodore John Blake from the TFNN interviews. John smiled at him, then turned to his left and said, "Nice shot, honey."

Colonel Morgan stared up at him in utter disbelief, and managed to mumble, "Why? What did I ever do to you?"

John knelt down next to him, and said quietly, "Absolutely nothing. But you hurt my friend, so I decided to destroy you, and everything you'd built. Hopefully, it'll make her feel a bit better."

Before the shell-shocked colonel could reply, a black armoured figure appeared in his view, holding a sinister looking rifle with a shimmer of heat coming from the barrel. The beautiful brunette removed her helmet, and looked down at him, studying his pain contorted face.

"Do you remember the Voss kidnapping?" the girl asked him in a voice throbbing with emotion.

He tried to think through the agonising pain shooting up his arms, and snarled dismissively, "Yeah, some rich bitch. We grabbed her years ago, but her tightass husband wouldn't pay up, so we killed her. What the fuck has that got to do with anything?!"

The girl's face crumpled with grief for a moment before she managed to control herself. She then looked down at him, and said softly, "Her name was Catherine Voss. She was my mother, and I loved her very much."

Those were the last words Colonel Semias Morgan ever heard, as the girl slowly raised her rifle and shot him in his astonished face.

***

Jade brought the Raptor down to land in the middle of the ravaged landing area. The floor was blackened and scorched from the explosions, and large chunks of rubble were strewn about the ground. She lowered the landing ramp, then got up from her seat, and darted out the back of the cockpit, eager to see John and the girls again.

Dropping down in the grav-tube, she dashed through the front loading area, and stood at the top of the loading ramp. John walked towards her with his arm wrapped around Rachel, while Dana followed behind them, leading several women and holding hands with two young children.