[h3][center][u][i]AFFS Subaltern Johan Rosales-Eichberg
Rifleman RFL-5D[/i][/u][/center][/h3]

	[b]"Excellent work, Eichberg!"[/b] Han replied at Johans contact report, but he quickly followed up with criticism. [b]"A little faster on the draw next time would be appreciated, however."[/b] Johan only flicked the radio on for a second to reply with [b]"Roger."[/b]
Johan glanced at his heat gauge and watched it slowly go down, the double heat sinks no doubt working as fast as they could in the ambient heat of Steelton. He grabbed the end of his shorts and flapped it to cool off a little as he kept his eye on the battlemap. If anyone needed fire support, he would be able to find them on his battlemap and deliver the required support much quicker than if he were to try to find them with his eyes. He was always told that while it was good to know how to fight without instruments, having good instruments were still very useful in a fight. A badass pilot is great, but a badass pilot with good radar and sensors is even better. 

	Johan watched as Mattlov moved to engage the Thunderbolt, forcing it to turn to face his flanking Shadow Hawk. The two exchanged fire, Mattlov managing to come out on top of that engagement. The Thunderbolt, now turned, had his back turned to Lyris. She took advantage of the flank and rushed into combat, sprinting at top speed towards the heavier battlemech. Johan watched anxiously, in a battle every situation could go wrong, the Thunderbolt could suddenly turn and alpha strike his friend, and a lucky hit could kill her instantly. He glanced to his heat again, it was going down, but not fast enough. Johan twisted the torso of his rifleman in preparation to step out. The small pilot felt his heart pound and he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. Then he saw a new blip on his battlemap, it must have been the Urbanmech. Even at a distance he heard the AC/20's boom, a low thunderclap. Johan pushed his war machine to the limit, going as fast as he could into a run, he needed to clear his cover quickly to get a shot off at the Urbanmech. He kept one eye on the battlemap as he put one foot in front of the other. Lyris' blip didn't go out, so the shot either missed or she survived. 

	He cleared the cover, seeing Lyris in the air, twisting to protect her head from the Thunderbolts array of medium lasers. A quick glance at the battlefield and he saw his target, hearing his friend shout, the Urbanmech was running at full speed to the Thunderbolts side. He concentrated on halting his mech as the Urbanmech fired again. Another low thunderclap, a shell of metal doom soared up from the short barrel of the AC/20 towards Lyris. Johans stomach dropped, was he too late? Would Lyris survive that shell? If it hit a noncritical component, an arm, or a leg, she could come out okay. But if it hit a side torso, and it dug into the internals, the shrapnel could shoot out into the cockpit and injure her. He could only watch as the shell approached her mech... and it went right past her, missing by about a dozen meters. The shell arced over and disappeared from view, likely landing somewhere behind Johan. He sighed in relief and halted his mech completely. He had to aim fast, he could imagine the ammo bin of the enemy AC/20 loading in another massive round. To be sure he zoomed with his neurohelm and hovered the crosshair over the gun arm of the Urbanmech once more. He squeezed the trigger for one large laser again, it would be enough, and he wanted the other laser to stay charged in case he missed with this one. The familiar blue beam surged forwards, connecting with right side torso just below the gun arm, at the hip. He pulled the laser towards the AC/20 itself and as the Urbanmech pilot tried to twist the to protect the gun. The laser found itself slashing across the AC/20 and even burning down the gun barrel itself. The gun must have been loaded. The Urbanmechs right arm exploded catastrophically, a sudden high pitched crack that sent pieces of armor and mangled gun parts at speed into the sandy ground. The area around the Urbanmech kicked up sand and dust like an airburst artillery shell had just detonated above the ground. The Urbanmech itself was midstride, and the ammunition explosion in the right arm sent the mech sideways, smashed into the ground.

	[b]"Urbanmech right arm destroyed, Urbanmech knocked over."[/b] He said into the communications network, relief in his voice. What wasn't reliving was that he now had the full attention of the Thunderbolt. It ignored the other mechs closer to it, Lyris' Griffin and Mattlov's Shadow Hawk. The pirate battlemech broke out into a full sprint towards Johan, who was stunned for a second at the sudden recklessness of the enemy mech. Johan put his mech into reverse, but the Thunderbolt charging forward was quicker. He fired a PPC quickly aimed at the heavy mech, the bolt of lightning striking it right in the center torso but the mech surged forward with intensity still, only recoiling a little against the attack. It ignored any attacks and rushed Johan, furious at the Rifleman who gunned down his companion. The Thunderbolt slammed its foot down and used its momentum to slide closer to Johan, the pilot knowing exactly how far its battlemechs intertia would take it. A mere few meters away from Johans Rifleman, the Thunderbolt thrust its left hand forward, open palmed at the Riflemans left torso. The hand impacted with a deafening crash of metal on metal, and then four quieter, but still noticeable clangs. The Thunderbolt had dug its fingers into the side torso of Johans battlemech. Johan shouted a curse as the Thunderbolt yanked his mech towards him, forcing Johan to step foward and twist his torso right slightly, forcing his guns line of attack away from the Thunderbolts torso. Johan managed to get his left gun arm pointed at his attackers left arm, and burned a laser into the Thunderbolts arm, but the pirate ignored the attack. He responded by punching with his right arm, slamming his heavy mechs fist into the Riflemans left leg, crumpling armor plating. As Johans large laser was still cycling, the Thunderbolt punched again, this time a hammer blow into the left underarm of Johan's battlemech, throwing off his aim.
[b]"Scheisse! Help!"[/b] He shouted desperately, sweating from the heat and the pressure from the attacker. In a bid to try and resist the grapple, Johan kneed the crazed pirate, he felt the attack connect but he wasn't sure where he hit. The Thunderbolt slammed his arm into the Riflemans left leg once more, collapsing the armor plating and crushing the myomer underneath. Sparks shot out from the wound in the leg, Johan heard alarms and saw on the paper doll that his left leg had been damaged heavily.