About 3 hours had passed since his departure, the rolling hills being slowly replaced with barren wastes and sandy dunes. The green town that he had lived in the past few years had been extremely close to the desert and, by extension, bandits. It was this proximity that spurred Nicholas to stay in the town. The past three hours had been rather uneventful, the autopilot commanding the mech to slowly trudge along the sand towards the provided coordinates. It was moments like these that the large space inside the mech was well appreciated - it allowed storage of more luxury goods, such as radios and books. The radio waves, being unable to pierce through the thick plates of metal that armored the unit, resulted in the device becoming little more than a staticky piece of plastic. That left nothing but the books to his disposal, only the finest of Frontier literature... from a decade ago. Most of it was propaganda, but several combat guides were still fairly applicable - as such, skimming through tactics and strategies that he had drilled into his head at 18 became the pastime for the next 2 hours. 

The final hour was spent simply waiting in anticipation - his first fight in months, and his first real battle in... How many years? It had been so long that Nick had forgotten. His hands balled into fists, squeezing the cold metal of his units steering system. Sweat would have pooled off of his face, had he not had the AC turned as high as it could go to fight back the heat... No, the coolness cleared his head as well, made his thoughts vanish. The bitter cold reminded him of home, the frontier, the countless nights he had spent curled up in a ball in his unit, praying that he wasn't going to die that day. That was when he was new, fresh to the military - he was a veteran, a man of action. He wasn't weak like he used to be.

Even as this thought passed his head, he couldn't help but find himself trembling at the thought of risking his life again.

[hr]

Finally, he had found his position - slightly over 5 kilometers away from the bustling train, nearby the tracks. Judging by the vehicles speed, it would probably pass him withing a few minutes, and considering his own units pathetic speed... Well, he would have to follow by air if the train passed him. Considering the lack of arms on his own unit, he lacked the fine manipulation necessary to recover the crate of Elementium. As the thought passed his mind, several messages came in through T's frequency.

[color=E46B63]"This is Pilot Designate F-003 'Alecto' hailing 'T.' We are now confirming arrival over the Iron Canal. I'll standby just outside of sensor range, but I'm prepared for rapid aerial deployment against the target when all other units are in position. Please confirm your status. Alecto out."[/color]

[color=coral]"Talk about a party. This is Rabbit and Fang. Sending IFF Codes to all pilots on this frequency. Try not to shoot at us yeah? Paint's expensive out here in the desertlands."[/color]

As the woman said, his units targeting system immediately began to recalibrate itself, including the target units as friendlies.

[color=2f538c]”This is Fang checking in, letting you all know, just in case IFF gets knocked out, that we’re the ones in the heavily modified Jager Hound and Chevalier units, wouldn’t want to get shot at due to equipment failure.”[/color]

While this 'Alecto' was no where in sight, she had already provided verbal confirmation of her presence, and assured that she would provide aerial support. Not to mention, she did so very formally, a trait that Nick appreciated greatly. The others, while not as formal, id provide both their codes and their units, both of which were very intelligent - not to mention, it saved Nick the effort of asking for them to avoid accidentally shooting them. This was when he began to observe the situation - the train was surrounded with 13 separate guards mechs, 10 sharing the same design. This almost certainly meant they were drones, or low ranking soldiers at best. While the train could theoretically be derailed with an explosive, doing so would almost definitely damage the cargo inside, and Nicholas was not comfortable with seeing priceless Elementium being consumed in the flames of the burning fuel and machinery. Activating his targeting system, he waited until 3 mechs had their heat signatures tracked before activating the comms system. Nicholas alerted the others to his presence shortly after.

[color=a36209]"N, reporting in. Here are my own IFF codes - for clarification, I pilot a Northern Artillery Unit. My current position is roughly 10 kilometers down the trains path, but I will be able to provide long-ranged support. I am beginning to target 3 of the black units to the front of the train, and will fire when I am told to initiate combat. Be careful not to derail the train - Elementium is too precious to risk being devoured in the flames. N, reporting out."[/color]

After that, the cold sweat took over, and Nick slowly unbuttoned the top button of his uniform. This feeling, like his heart was trying to leap from his chest, like it could stop at any second - this was what he had missed. This rush, this exhilaration. It was already back, and he didn't even start combat yet. Gripping his controls with all of his might, Nick was prepared to launch a salvo at a moments notice.

[@Liotrent][@vietmyke][@Feyblue][@Pathfinder]