48 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 5 (2/2)
Which basically meant he was to stay in this area but not stay put and make himself a sitting duck. The way Daedo worked was to drill certain maneuvers, and the cadets worked on their own skills. When in a battle he would give general direction, however, it was up to the cadet to implement how they saw fit. A simple command charge down left flank could be implemented a hundred different ways.
Barran liked this style. They worked together, but he still felt free to use his own instincts and skill to pull off a general directive.
Gaumont pulled up beside him, and Barran nodded to the east side of the building, to the right. He would take the left.
There was no need to top the building. With their grapplers and medium exos, the liberos would handle the z-axis.
A ping appeared on his hud. Two mesh, northwest just over 100m. Barran tracked their path but stayed out of all their possible lines of sight. Someone else had an eye on them there was no need to show himself unless they lost track.
A second ping came up. The other two mesh on the northeast and going wider. It looked like they were going for a pincer, except the west side was narrow compared to the east.
There was railgun fire. Barran noted it was from his squad and against the western duo. He speculated to the reason, the enemy now knew they had them locked without any damage dealt. It was stupid, so there had to be a reason.
Just then the mesh duo from the northwest headed wide. Instead of continuing their line north, they now headed northwest themselves. They were trying to flank the vanguard and liberos with their railguns holding down the centre.
Barran waited for an order, he expected Daedo to order him west, or there was a small chance he would hook up with Gaumont and go east to head off that duo.
There were only seconds before Shu got into flanking position and he wondered what was taking Daedo so long.
*Daedo: Barran, Gaumont. Charge north. Take down the railguns in melee.*
Charge was a term with a specific meaning. It meant; run like a mother fucker. As opposed to advance, which meant to achieve the position cautiously.
Barran unhooked his shield and attached to his right arm. There would be little time for bouncing from cover to cover.
As soon as it was in place, he took the corner and bolted north. He did not know what Daedo had planned, but his role was simple. The mesh would either be drawn to him or occupied with the liberos and railgunners.
He had split from Gaumont, they were better off using their shields and dividing focus if one lost a shield they would hook up, and the remaining shield bearer could provide cover. The shield was an excellent form of defence versus a railgun. A round could penetrate the shield and still damage the cadet. But its speed would be greatly reduced, and the damage to a heavy exo would be negligible. The shield could take dozens of these hits before it started to disintegrate.
Every time Barran heard a sonic boom, it was a few milliseconds after the warning on his HUD. When he saw the warning, he did all he could to twist and while still covering himself with the shield angle it away from the oncoming trajectory. This could deflect the round if he was quick enough and if not lower the damage done to the shield. His most important objectives were to avoid headshots and to close the distance quickly.
So he took a round head-on, it was better than wasting time rolling on the ground.
There was no sign of the mesh's coming after him. No warning. Which meant his role was to take down the railgunners. What he needed to do was to get to close range before they killed him. Figuratively.
For inspiration Barran imagined several hot girls watching him run, jump cars, kick walls, deflect rounds and basically be badass as he closed the 300m between him and the railgunners.
They were shooting at him and Gaumont. All their positions were being tracked now. So unless they could do something to fool Daedo and his AI, those little red dots were his targets.
*Daedo: Faster Vanguard. Less caution, more speed.*
He must have been talking to Gaumont Barran thought, because there was no way he could go any quicker.
As Barran closed to 50m of the first red dot, he took a hit to his right shoulder. A full railgun round with no dispersion from his shield. The railgunners were all still in front. Two groups of two. They couldn't flank him. He would take the closer group to ensure there were no free shots. Once he was engaged, they took the chance of hitting their own squaddies.
They were atop a building on the next block. A tall one. He could make it with ten seconds of jumpjets. But that would leave him exposed unless he used the building to his right and wall run. That would give purchase, mobility and offer cover from the second pair of railgunners to the east.
It only took a fraction of a second to decide, engaging both jump jets he went up a few metres and turned on his side. He kept them both engaged while he ran across the vertical building surface. The wall run operation automatically giving more juice to the lower jet and turning it to face the ground at the correct angle.
Barran ran towards the railgunners and up the building. Swinging his shield back in front. It was catching the wind, but it couldn't be helped. You didn't mess with railguns. Especially good ones like these.
He saw a message on his HUD, Gaumont had gone down before reaching his target. Before negative thoughts or doubt crept in, he imagined a full squad of Amun-Ra hotties cheering him. ”Go Barran Go,” they screamed in ecstasy at his prowess just like one of those mecha stories.
He screamed as he flew.
”Die you fuckers!”
Barran hit the top of the building he was aiming for, and the two railgunners had already begun to scramble. They would most likely retreat north and allow the other two to flank him. He would have none of that.
Barran twisted as he flipped his feet touching the building only once. Shu scrambled off the rear of the building while Barran let his jumpjets shutdown, as momentum helped him breach the northern end of the building. Gravity would take over.
There was no time to pull his one-handed minigun which rested on his back, it was stowed as it was unwieldy to run with compared to the cestus.
He would just have to close the last of the distance as the Shu cadets scampered. They were in heavies also. Fairly old school. If they were returning long-range fire, it made the most sense. They weren't used to other heavies being significantly more mobile than theirs. Not at M2 level intra level. And although they were now M3, this was the first term for them as well.
Barran picked a victim, the one on the left. He was taller than Barran, they both were. But not by much, the two years advantage in age was all they had.
The Shu cadet landed and rolled to the side. Barran was still falling. Before the Shu cadet finished his roll, Barran had activated his jumpjets again, he still had a good twenty seconds of juice. He would land on top of the M3 cadet if possible.
The second cadet was rolling as well. He couldn't see what Barran was doing before he made that decision. Otherwise, he would have pulled his railgun and began firing. The leap off the building should not be unexpected. It must have been the speed that surprised Shu. Barran still had momentum from his fifty-metre charge when he topped the building, and it didn't wear off entirely until midway through his fall down.
He smashed his boots down onto the Cadet. It was one thing AR couldn't protect you from. This sort of physical attack brought real fear from other cadets as they could get hurt. It was nothing the medical centre couldn't fix, but no one wanted to be kicked or punched with 14kN by a cestus. Luckily for Shuby, it wasn't, in reality, a 14kN hit, because the cestus was an arena version. But his strength counted towards the damage and the melee hit was still real. It would bruise, crack ribs and punctured lungs. But it wouldn't kill.
Barran's foot smashed into the M3 Shu cadets side causing him to wince and curl up. He was probably winded. Barran had to hit him until the system declared him incapacitated at least.
One clean crack to the head, and jump, he hoped that was enough because staying motionless would lead to a railgun round in the back.
The message came across his hud. The M3 Shu cadet called Vaughn was down.
Barran spun facing the direction where the other railgunner was expected to finish his roll. This Shu cadet was kneeling, and he was looking down the barrel of a railgun. Barran brought his shield around and charged. The round hitting him full in the chest moments before his shield was in place.
The Amun-Ra squad of eight hot girls, which only existed in Barran's imagination, were sure to be in rapture as he bounded heroically, while wounded, across the fifteen-metre gap separating him and the Shu railgunner.
Another kill message scrolled across their HUDs, but neither the Shu cadet nor Barran had time to pay it any attention. One was desperately trying to fire another round in the moments that remained, willing his loading mechanism on, while Barran was getting his shoulder behind his shield.
The Shu cadet would not get away as he had chosen to stand fast and fire. His round loaded into the chamber as Barran hit causing the railgun barrel to swing up towards the sky.
The Shu cadet lay on his back, floored for a moment. And a moment was all Barran needed to torso twist and bring down his cestus onto the opposing cadets face mask. This time he did not jump after hitting his opponent, he was almost on a knee above his quarry.
Another message flashed across the HUD.
Indicating Barran killed Silva with a cestus, and Thoth now had five kills to Shu's three.
As Barran read the messages, two railgun rounds hit him in the chest killing him. He was incapacitated until the match was over. He would just have to lie where he fell.
Shu now had four kills to Thoth's five. Thoth only had seven Cadets to Shu's eight. Which meant there were only three remaining from each team.
As Barran lay there dead, he imagined the Amun-Ra girls one last time. They wept over his heroic demise.