[h2][center][u][b]Johan Rosales-Eichberg & Lyris von Wulfhart[/b][/u][/center][/h2]
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	Help had come, with the tremendous sound of tons of metal being torn asunder. Johan leaned his Rifleman over to peer beyond the attacking Thunderbolt, he saw his friend Lyris, having charged the distance between them. She left her axe in the heavy mech and took a step back, raising her gauntlet of three lasers. The Thunderbolt, almost sensing what was going to happen, pressed forward into Johan’s battlemech, hoping to push him down or to simply crash into him. Johan had to take a stand, he took a step back with his undamaged leg and braced against the weight. A split second later, Lyris’ three lasers burned a two colored swath of destruction across the Thunderbolt’s back, but it still stood. It was Lyris’ second attack that dealt a fatal blow.

	The lasers raked across the Thunderbolt’s back once more, this time finding the ammunition bin of its LRM pod. Johan’s eyes widened as he felt the first explosion, two or three missiles detonated from the heat of the laser, rupturing the warheads. Then another, like a bag of popcorn, a rapid cracking came from the Thunderbolt. Johan tried to pull away but the Thunderbolt held on, its vice grip keeping Johan close to the exploding ammo bin. A split second later, fire spewed out of the panels between armor plating, and then with a thunderclap the entire side torso erupted in an explosion. Johan grit his teeth and was rocked in his seat, his mech being peppered by shrapnel. The glass panels in front of him cracked as two pieces of shrapnel impacted against it. Johan felt the grip loosen and he took the chance to step away and twist to protect his cockpit, he saw the entire left arm of the Thunderbolt fall off, covered in soot and fire as he stepped away. He noticed Lyris doing the same on his battlemap as the ammo bin continued to cook off, shooting out rockets through the ruptured spaced between armor plating.

	It was only a few seconds, but it felt like half an eternity. No words were spoken between the lance until the secondary explosions slowed.
[b]“You still with us Mouse?”[/b] Lyris asked quietly, concerned, almost like she didn’t want to know the answer.
Johan took a second to catch his breath and keyed his communications, grabbing his canteen and splashing some water on his arms and neck, [b]“Surprisingly yes, pilot unhurt. Rifleman minor damage all around, minor cockpit damage, right arm armor minor damage, left leg structure exposed but still functional, left torso armor low. Still combat effective.”[/b] He reported.
[b]"Message received, glad you're still in one piece,"[/b] a hint of relief in her voice, [b]"we might need to get you a hammer or something. Fallback to the support line for now until we can secure the Opfor."[/b] 

Lyris had only but a moment to take a breath, the oppressive heat of her cockpit growing beyond simple discomfort. She wiped her forehead with the back of her forearm as she sighed, by which point she noticed that the fallen TDR was beginning to rumble back to life. She cursed under her breath as her allies began to shout warnings of the immediate threat. Her eyes darted to her heat gauge which was still sitting in the red zone- she couldn't rely on her energy weapon systems without risking a shutdown. Her internels were already taking damage from the overworked core. The obnoxious red lights made sure to remind her constantly. The thought of activating override mode came to mind but was just as quickly dismissed. She might be able to push her machine further still; however, she knew she was nearing her own limit. Darkness flickered across her eyes as lights swam at the edges of her vision. Sweat was running profusely down her body as the discomfort of her cockpit rose. Still, she couldn't afford to be passive while this behemoth of steel before her regained their footing. Her mech adjusted its stance twisting its torso around so that the Griffin's right shoulder faced the TDR. 

She gritted her teeth as her steed charged forward closing the gap she had made earlier. She then willed her Griffin to twist around bringing its left battle fist into play, pounding down with the momentum of her movement and striking a decisive blow onto the Thunderbolt’s damaged left section. The Thunderbolt might easily outweigh her mech ton for ton, even with a partially missing torso, but he was in an incredibly vulnerable position. Lyris might not have been the best shot in her lance, but she had always excelled in CQC. The weight of her blow came down on the TDR like the heavy hand of an angry titan. The metallic resounding echo of the blow could be heard from quite a distance. It also had the desired effect of halting the TDR's movement. For now.

She willed her mech to continue applying pressure, pushing down as the TDR's one reaming arm pushed off against the ground with the creaking of motors.  She wouldn't be able to hold him forever; already he was inching up, legs adjusting to push against the ground when the opening presented itself. 
[b]"Johan!"[/b] She shouted into her comms, strain in her voice, [b]"clear out while you can."[/b]

The boy sat for a moment, frozen. In front on him, a BattleMech rose up from the ground, battered, smoldering and half destroyed. Rising in defiance, pressing against Lyris’ attempts to keep it down. The stuff of heroes, the stuff you hear in stories, that tenacity that forged legendary pilots. Happening right in front of them. Happening against them. Johan let his jaw drop an inch, there came moments in every person’s life that defined them. Lyris made hers, choosing to hold back this mech, that had taken the combined firepower of a whole lance and still endured, to save a friend. Johan blinked and swallowed. His mech stomped forward, accelerating into a jog.

[b]“Negative we’ll take this one together!”[/b] He replied, determination and adrenaline pumping through him. He kicked the knee of one of the Thunderbolts legs, throwing it off balance and disrupting its attempts to get back up, it fell once more with a resounding thud. Johan brought his mech over to bear once more and rose his right foot, the undamaged leg, and brought it down on the right hip joint of the Thunderbolt. He leaned into the attack, crushing through the armored skirt and crunching the hip of the Thunderbolt, his aim was to damage the hip actuator that allowed the leg to rotate. That was a risk, while the both of them were sure to take out the Thunderbolt, both of their mechs would be tied up in combat. The pirate Harassers were still unaccounted for and that meant they could appear from any direction at any time.

Wulfhart might have expected that response from Johan, he had earned his place in the lance as a proven mechwarrior just like the rest of them. Ready to face danger or even death whenever the situation called for it. It was still hard for her to break the years conditioning of her lance-mate being the meek victim of his peers. She had become so accustomed to fighting his battles it had become almost second nature- even now. It only made sense they'd have a better chance of bringing this bulwark of steel down working together than alone. She found she might be proud of him gaining such resolve, smiling despite herself. But she needed to focus on the here and now to deal with this Thunderbolt, or perhaps more precisely the pirate mechwarrior. 

If his earlier reaction to the Urbie was anything to go by, Wulfhart found it hard to believe this pirate would surrender easily. They could ground him if they destroyed his damaged torso actuators. That might work, however, that could take time - time the pirate could use to either get to his feet or have his allies still standing come to his aid. 

[b]"Hold him steady,"[/b] Lyris shouted over comms backing her Battlemech off as she focused her scans nearby. She was confident Johan's battlemech could keep the pirate in place better than her own Griffin ever could. At least long enough too...

There it was! 

The battle hatchet she had embedded into the TDR's back had fallen free in the face of the explosions the Thunderbolt had suffered from earlier, the one-ton ax leaning beside a boulder. She knelt and swept her mech's left around, grabbing hold of the hatchets hilt and rising in the same motion with a torso twist. She made the awkward maneuver seem deceptively simple, but all it would have taken was the hatchet facing at an odd angle for her to be unable to retrieve it. 

By the time she rose to her full height alarm bells had begun to sound once more in her cockpit. She had no time to properly brace for the impacts as four missiles struck her mech's right side. In an instant, a bloom of bitter fiery orange sprung to life and with it a blanket of black smoke. Two rockets beat against her Griffin's right leg, weakening the armor of the right shin and causing more severe damage to her mech's knee joint. The forth smacked against her right torso just under the arm, denting the armor there but causing mostly superficial damage from the glancing blow. 

The fourth and final shot detonated against the Griffin's right shoulder, creating a spray of deadly shrapnel that could have easily led to physical injury if not for the mech's side shields that protected the pilot from attacks of that very nature. The damage overall was inconvenient but not critical; still it rocked Lyris's mech off balance all the same. In a panic, she extended her sensors to the umbrella provided by their UAVs. It seemed the two Harasser had gone wide to either flank as the Thunderbolt provided a distraction. The simple tactic had worked, though one harasser had been chased off by their two Condor escorts on the southern front. 

That still left the other Harasser on the north flank; thankfully it seemed their one Plainsman escort was already moving to intercept. The damage had been done; however, Lyris fought to correct her mech in time to capitalize on the downed Thunderbolt. She should have known the Harassers would try this, but she had allowed herself to become tunnel visioned and might have lost their chance to end this quickly.