34 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 2 (2/2)

Barran and Gaumont were running hard as they could, but damn Daedo was leading the enemy away from them, not towards. For every three steps they took towards the enemy, the enemy took two away. The only time they gained ground is when their opponents took cover.

Barran was much faster than Gaumont, but the drills and tactics forced him to stay with Gaumont for now. At least until Gaumont engaged or was down. Gaumont was his shield. But they were ambushing the enemy. Every fibre of Barran wanted to charge in, with his own reasoning and emotions egging him on. But his discipline held, he would stay with Gaumont, at least until the enemy was in sight.

Picard and Vannier put their heads together.

”His range is this,” Picard placed markings on a virtual map. ”The enemy is here. It will place him here when he engages.”

”Assume he will draw them east, he will fight in a retreat, even if it is Daedo it is still one versus seven,” Vannier added.

A ping popped up on their virtual map. Daedo had not spoken but had indicated where they should set up. Or at least given them a guide.

”Well that makes it easier,” Picard said.

”Let's trail Barran. I assume Daedo will time our assault with his charge, we just need to remain hidden and reach this point as Barran engages,” Vannier said.

Picard nodded. They could easily outpace even Barran in their light exos, which apparently now had a better armour factor than mediums. They had a better speed enhancement than mesh, but tactics meant they could not always use its power to the fullest. Tactics, in this scenario, was about being in position without being seen.

The two railgun cadets topped each of their adjacent buildings. Close enough to have similar lines of sight to focus fire, and far enough apart to make return fire more difficult. Four hundred meters was the maximum range in the optimal segment. Their position was two hundred meters behind Barran and Gaumont.

Axelzero and Mace were trailing the two heavies when Barran and Gaumont charged two from Horus' assault rifle brigade.

The Horus squaddy was focused on Daedo when Gaumont's flamer lit up his back. It was a free shot, Gaumont was handed a kill on the platter. His celebration was drowned in the ensuing combat. As his flames spewed forth, a PPC bolt flew from their south across four hundred meters to Daedos position. They had not caught Karine Fortescue in their pincer.

Barran closed on Lola Paget, or Paget-L, as she was known in the Academy. He could not have lucked on a better victim for his first kill in his new exo and weapons of choice. Heavy Cestus. Or was it Cestii, since he had two. He didn't care.

Her armour had been damaged, presumably by Daedo's frag grenades, although in reality, it was pristine, the AR overlay showed signs of damage. The AR did not report numbers like hit points, it was supposed to be realistic. The enemy was alive until they were incapacitated or dead. You attacked them until the AR showed they were down. It even gave a kill message for the killing blow.

There was one thing about AR weapons like the cestus. Barran still got to hit things, but rather than the heavy allow chunks of metal he had some sort of absorption compound. The impact was going to be calculated, like any AR weapon, but his opponent would feel something. Albeit reduced dramatically because of the change in material. The fact that Lola Paget, the prissy little bitch who was Fortescue's lapdog even before the Academy, would feel him hitting her gave him immense pleasure.

He smashed her back with every ounce of strength he could muster. Although his Cestus was fake, her armour was real. And fortunately, for her, it was very good heavy armour. She fell prone, and after a follow-up love tap to the back of her neck, the AR reported her death.

Engagements were happening simultaneous across the map. Picard and Vannier had started to fire, and Fortescue changed her target to the Thoth Heavies.

Paget-A took cover from the railguns. The Horus squaddie with the flamer never did reach Daedo, he turned and sprinted back under orders from Fortescue.

Paget-A and her partner began to fire upon the two Railguns. They were within range, and these two versatile weapons were capable of short, medium and long range. They switched to single shot to enhance their accuracy, it was their role to tie down the two long-range weapons. They had a much better rate of fire, even with a single shot.

Fortescue wanted the railguns focused on her two surviving Assault rifles while her two trump cards would take down these challengers. She sent out her second trump card, Raoult, who was by her side, forgoing her personal protection Raoult would be needed to help deal with the medium range Thoth while she dealt with the short range.

Fortescue: Raoult, dual pistols and another grenade launcher. Cut them up.

Raoult wielded a lancesword, much like the one Daedo held when she took him out. It carried an electric shock component, it was heavy and could even be used to deflect rounds by a skilled user. And no one at the Academy was as skilled as Raoult.

Fortescue knew the last position of Lola, and the craptastic heavies that Thoth had would not have moved far in the moments that had passed since she was taken out. She aimed and fired two precise shots taking out one Thoth immediately. The second inexplicably survived somehow and was now behind cover.

”Barran,” she muttered under her breath. She actually wanted him in her squad. He was almost as good as Raoult. But she was overruled somehow, and he inexplicably went to Thoth. She did not fight for his return to her, as she wasn't looking forward to dealing with him, and just let it go.

As Fortescue lined up the railguns flank, Raoult took on the pistol wielder. Axelzero, one of the non-threats in Thoth zero. Fortescue was mainly concerned with Mace, Barran and Vannier. And now Daedalus or Daedo, the famous CyberMech player had deigned to join her Academy. Mace who ranked third in M1 was another who had tanked her entrance tests like Daedo. And Fortescue wondered if that was planned or the tests were not thorough enough.

She was quite happy for all the potential engineers to end up in Thoth, they would assist her in later years. And those engineers needed a leader, whom Vannier, the likeable girl, was ideally suited. Thoth, however, was not supposed to be challenging her handpicked Horus team. And it was time to put them down.

A boom of a railgun rang out, those things made too much noise to be an effective sniper rifle Fortescue thought. The fact the rounds travelled at such high speeds, they not only broke Mach one for a sonic boom, like most guns, but they could also break Mach two and three. The nature of their mechanism made it impossible to muffle.

She lined up a Thoth Cadet, it wasn't Vannier, it must be Picard, and fired. Her advanced PPC prototype was the best weapon available from the Fortescue group. The AR was kind enough to add huge amounts of debris when the bolts impacted a building due to its insane damage. It's range, its best attribute, was not a mere hundred meters but an astonishing five hundred meters maximum range, with zero to two hundred being optimal.

But even at four hundred meters, its massive damage was good enough to take down a standard heavy mech in one shot. If Raoult was her second trump card, her advanced heavy exos were her third trump card which made her Particle Projection Cannon Prototype her main asset.

Fortescue: does anyone have eyes on any Thoth squaddies?

She asked as she changed position.

Raoult: I'm engaged with a grenade user. A second one.

Fortescue: that would be Mace. Take her out.

Paget-A: I have Vannier. Wait. Barran just popped up and .. OUT.

Aline Paget did not have time to talk on comms with Barran in an enhanced heavy exo charging her position. He had been damaged significantly, the AR indicated scarring across one of his sides, it even impaired his movement on that side somewhat. Although in reality, his exo had suffered no damage, when the AR calculated non-lethal damage it would affect any impairments that non-lethal damage caused. Cadets always argued the effects were overstated by the AR adjudicator because no one like being handicapped.

Paget-A twisted as Barran flew through the air, he was diving over their cover. She had changed from single shot to burst automatically when she saw him and continued to shoot him as soon as she got out of the way and was able to turn.

Barran crushed her partner with two strikes to the head, he was now deactivated and probably in real pain. She returned the favour by firing short burst after short burst into his helmet.

At this range with her accuracy, Paget-A was able to burst headshots easily. But as Barran charged her, she began to waver. For the first time, she got an inkling of the difference between a simulation and the real thing. He wasn't going to kill her, but his fist would actually hit her. Her aim suffered slightly.

She began to wonder what was his armour rating, he had taken a hit from Karine's PPC and now several rounds from her rifle. In her armour, she could not dodge very well. Barran was moving much better in his heavy armour than she could ever hope to achieve in hers.

He closed on her, but he did not dodge, he ran straight at her like a bull. What took seconds felt like a lifetime. She emptied her entire clip into his torso, she had given up on headshots, she was panicking, and her accuracy dropped significantly. At least she had the wherewithal to realise this and to take steps to accommodate.

Her heart began to pound faster as the skirmish evolved, nothing she had done previously had prepared her for this. Barran was roaring as his charge brought within a few steps. Paget-A had been back peddling, and her retreat came to a halt when her back hit a building. Her first clip was empty, and she fumbled with another.

”Goodnight sweetie,” Barran called as his massive fist collided with her head.

She fell to the ground in a kneeling position. She would have fallen over, but the building and her exo had prevented that. Barran paused, he was confused why she had not died with the blow when she had fallen to her knees and was immobile for a moment. He did not know that her armour, like Fortescue and Raoult, was even better than the others. He also did not realise that she was not dead, she was merely stunned.

Something the AR adjudicator did not enforce in the arena. In fact was her stun was genuine. She loaded her clip finally and began to fire after regaining composure.

Barran swore.

As the rounds from her rifle hit his midsection, he swung a hammer blow at her head. A blow that never reached its intended target. The AR adjudicator deactivated him before he could finish the strike. Paget-A stood and kicked him. Barran fell backwards. He could not move as he was presumed dead. All he could do was watch the kill message appear on his hud. Paget-A (image of rifle) Barran.

”Fuck!” he swore to himself. He would never hesitate or prejudge again. He would pound an enemy until he got the death message.

Raoult stalked Mace. Or was it Mace that was stalking her.