Chapter One Hundred and Sixty: The Hunt (Haynesville 'mech Massacre)

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty: The Hunt (Haynesville 'mech Massacre)

June 8th, 3035

The Word of Blake medium lance moved through the trees, chasing one of the militia vehicles that had been harassing them for weeks.

"I want those sons of bitches dead!" The battalion CO screamed in their ears, the mixed lance of Griffins and Phoenix'smoving through the massive underbrush.

"I don't have anything on seismic scanners," the lead Griffin reported to the rest of his lance. "I'm seeing a lot of metal content around though."

"Yeah, same here, the magnetics are going haywire," a Phoenix reported.

"I've got something on my seismics," the second Phoenix in the lance reported. "I'm moving to investigate."

The fifty-ton 'mech vanished into the trees a second later.

"Anything on your scopes three?" The lance leader asked.

"Negative, everything is clear," the Mechwarrior reported. "I've got an odd audio pickup though."

"What audio pickup?" The lead Griffinpilot asked. "We're not getting anything over here."

"It sounds like a heartbeat, and it's getting faster!" The Phoenix pilot then screamed before his audio channel vanished from their comms network.

"What the hell was that?!" Lance CO asked as he began to panic. "I don't know boss, but I've got an audio pickup as well."

"It's that damned heartbeat!" The rear Griffin pilot began to start backing out of the forest the way that they came.

"It's getting faster and louder," The only calm member of the lance reported as he tried to locate the origin of the audio. "Does anyone else hear what sounds like a chainsaw?" He asked as he twisted the torso of his Phoenix from side to side looking for where the sounds were coming from.

"No, I'm not hearing a chainsaw," The Lance CO took an audible breath in order to force his body to calm down. "But the heartbeat is still getting louder and faster."

Then, with a loud rev, a massive chainsaw burst through the trees behind the lone remaining Phoenix, sawing through one of the massive trees and continuing on into the fifty-ton 'mechs shoulder.

"Shit, it's cut through my SRM launchers!" The Phoenix pilot reported, still as cold as ice. "I'm disabling the limiters on my PPC."

"Open fire!" The two Griffins turned and tried to target the Lumberjack but hit their lancemate's Phoenix instead.

"Shoot the enemy not me you dumb motherfuckers!" The Phoenix pilot began to reverse his mech and twist out of the chainsaw blade.

Then, while the Griffins were occupied facing the Lumberjack two more industrialmechs came out of the trees behind them. The Buster industrialmechs hadn't had many modifications made to them, but they had been given two 'mech-sized spears and a couple of machine guns that were mounted to the right torso. Taking their spears, they thrust the sharpened tips into the backs of the Griffins before turning and using the extra lift generated by their lift hoists to toss the other two medium war machines into the ground below. And then, grabbing their spears they pointed them directly at the enemy cockpits.

"This is Lieutenant Daniel Rawley of the Haynesville Militia, power down and surrender your 'mechs, otherwise we'll just kill you here, and leave the burnt-out wrecks of your machines behind as a warning."

The two Griffins powered down without a struggle while the Phoenix was unable to escape from the chainsaw-wielding Lumberjack. The 70-ton industrial mech simply out massed the Phoenix and eventually breached the reactor safeties on the lighter 'mech, causing the pilot to attempt an ejection.

"We had one manage to eject successfully sir," Victor (Exciter) Wagner reported. "He ejected rather than deal with surrender." The Lyran cheerfully continued cutting into the medium war machine with his 'mech-sized chainsaw.

"What are you doing?" A Buster pilot asked.

"I'm cutting up the two Phoenix, we're going to be sending a message here," The Lyran tore the arm that he had just cut off of the 'mech and tossed it directly onto the main pathway through the forest.

"Keep up the good work Exciter," Lieutenant Dan said before he left the jump seat of the Buster industrialmech that he was riding jump seat in and climbed down the ladder to assist in getting the two Griffins moving.

June 15th, 3035

"That's the third Lance we've taken out via this method," Dan muttered to himself as he looked at the six battlemechs that they had stolen from the occupying forces.

"It probably won't work again sir," Sergeant Smith said from where he was seated. "We're going to have to do something different or they'll start catching on."

"I'm more worried about what they're doing to the people in the main cities and towns," Dan replied. "They've been cracking down on minor things and started moving them into camps around the cities."

"I'd be more worried about them trying to send in a specialized unit to track us down and kill us," Smith puffed on his cigar for a moment in thought. "We can start moving people out of the camps, but we're going to have to be careful, some people will cooperate with the enemy in order to get back to their nice stable lives."

"We can work on that once we sort out who is riding in the mechs that we stole," Lieutenant Dan said as he dropped his face into his hands. "They don't seem to understand that we can't really use them yet at this stage."

"It's every PBI's dream to be able to pilot a battlemech," Smith chuckled. "Besides, didn't you claim one of them yet?"

"No, and I won't be piloting one at all," Dan replied. "Not unless it's absolutely necessary."

"We're going to have to shift locations," Smith said, "We're a little too exposed here, and that's only worked so far because of how green the enemy troops are."

"I know," Dan replied. "I'm trying to figure out what our next move needs to be." The younger man considered the paper map of the surrounding areas. "The problem is that the enemy is operating off of the same maps that we are."

"No, they're not," Smith chuckled. "You're using a map that's from the Star League era, but they're going to be operating off of maps from the current day."

"Get me a modern map!" Dan jumped up and began to sort through his paperwork looking at the dates that they were printed.

"Here, I've got one for you right here," The grizzled old noncommissioned officer took a folded-up map out of his cargo pocket.

"There's an old railway system that was started by the Department of Mega-Engineering during the Star League Era," Dan explained. "It was only ever partially finished because they didn't want to pour that kind of resources into the periphery without a good return on their investment."

"And that is important why?" Smith asked as he took another puff of his cigar.

"It's important because I know where those partially completed tunnels are, and the enemy doesn't," Dan smiled. "We're going to be able to run rings around them for good while, maybe until our relief gets here."

"Well, then I guess we need to start moving then," Smith groaned as he eased himself up from his chair. "I'll make sure to keep any troublemakers in line while we are in transition."