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[b]Grasslands, Sector E-10[/b]
[b]Thirty Minutes After Convoy Departure from Outpost F-10[/b]

[color=Crimson]"Eeeeeuuughhh,"[/color] Cadet Windham groaned, his face all but turning green from nausea as the Mobile HQ bumped and bucked off-road. [color=Crimson]"The sooner we get back to base, the better."[/color]

[color=Khaki]"Got a paper bag under the seat if you need it,"[/color] Cadet Higgins smirked. Windham shot him an angry glare, which just made his smirk grow that much wider.

[color=Olive]"Any sign of being trailed?"[/color] Colonel Wayne asked again, as he'd done every few minutes since they rolled out.

[color=SkyBlue]"Still nothing, sir,"[/color] Lieutenant Lyons responded, managing to keep her monitors and notes in order even as the rough ride knocked everyone in the cabin around. [color=SkyBlue]"If the enemy's using one of their [i]Ravens[/i], though, I doubt we'll see them coming."[/color]

The [i]Raven[/i] was the pride and joy of the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces, a technological breakthrough after centuries of stagnation and degradation. While the ECM field deployed by Ziska's own [i]Raven[/i] kept the Green Knights and the convoy safe from detection, the Crimson Fists having one of their own meant they could pull the same trick.

And much to Colonel Wayne's trepidation, it wasn't the only trick that an advanced ECM Suite could perform.

[color=SkyBlue]"Hang on, Colonel,"[/color] Lyons said as the tell-tale [i]BEEP-BEEP-BEEP[/i] of enemy contacts appeared on the Mobile HQ's monitors. [color=SkyBlue]"I'm picking up all four contacts again, about two klicks to the north of us."[/color]

[color=Olive]"Heading our way?"[/color]

[color=SkyBlue]"Negative,"[/color] the Lieutenant answered. [color=SkyBlue]"At their current heading, it's likely that they're going to stumble into the Knights."[/color]

[color=Crimson]"But why drop the ECM field?"[/color] Windham asked. [color=Crimson]"Why make their presence known when they know we're in the area?"[/color]

[color=Olive]"Because they're using the ECM offensively,"[/color] the Colonel answered. [color=Olive]"An ECM Suite can be configured to work as a counter to an active field. If that [i]Raven[/i] has a counter-ECM going and it happens across Ziska's ECM bubble..."[/color]

[color=Khaki]"...then it'll leave the Green Knights and the convoy open to enemy fire,"[/color] Higgins concluded.

[color=Olive]"Any eyes on the enemy Mechs yet?"[/color]

[color=Crimson]"Negative, Colonel,"[/color] came the response from Windham. [color=Crimson]"Seismic sensors are still picking up three 35-tonners and one 85-tonner. One [i]Raven[/i] for sure, and probably the [i]Battlemaster.[/i] No word on the others."[/color]

[color=Olive]"Get ready to send another microwave-burst transmission,"[/color] Colonel Wayne ordered. [color=Olive]"That assault 'Mech won't be able to keep up with the lights, so we might be able to convince it to go for some slower prey. The [i]Battlemaster[/i] only has one PPC for range; if we keep enough distance from it, we can keep out of the brunt of its firepower. Then we can make a break for the storm cell coming in and lose them in the rain."[/color]

[color=SkyBlue]"Understood, sir,"[/color] Lyons nodded, obedient but unconvinced. Regardless of whether it was the [i]Battlemaster's[/i] only long-range weapon, a Particle Projector Cannon could still chew through the HQ's armor with two well-placed hits. [color=SkyBlue]"The enemy is getting danger-close to the convoy. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll move right past us...."[/color]

[color=Olive]"Don't hold your breath,"[/color] the Colonel scoffed. [color=Olive]"Chances are this is about to get real ugly."[/color]

[hr]

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As the Green Knights shepherded the supply convoy along, trying to slip away to the rendezvous point, a nearby copse of trees began to rattle with movement. With a sudden cacophony of snapping branches and splintering tree trunks, three massive shapes erupted from the tree line with alarming speed.

The first was a familiar sight to the Green Knights: the back-canted legs and beak-like fuselage gave away the form of a [url=https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Raven][i]Raven[/i][/url]. Identical to the one piloted by Ziska, save for a paint job of bloody crimson trimmed with yellow in flame patterns, it sported a pair of Ceres Arms Medium Lasers and a six-rack of Harpoon Short-Range Missiles. This firepower was not particularly fearsome, but what truly made it frightening was its electronic warfare equipment. Along with the ever-useful ECM Suite, the [i]Raven[/i] carried a Bloodhound Active Sensor Probe to seek out hidden enemy units, a Target Acquisition Gear targeting laser to direct long-range fire, and a Narc Missile Beacon to guide more warheads to their targets. The [i]Raven[/i] was hardly a stand-up fighter, but made for a brilliant support 'Mech, one that now sprinted towards the convoy with its targeting laser glimmering in the morning mist.

Flanking the [i]Raven[/i] were two other light 'Mechs, both substantially more potent in terms of firepower. On its left side was a [url=https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Jenner][i]Jenner,[/i][/url], the preferred light striker of the Draconis Combine. Like the [i]Raven[/i], its profile was almost completely inhuman, a dome-like cockpit thrust ahead of the main torso, stumpy weapon pods where arms might be, and a pair of vaguely humanoid legs that took long, bounding strides, quickly overtaking the [i]Raven[/i] in a full sprint. It carried a quartet of Argra 3L Lasers, backed up by a Thunderstroke-4 Short-Range Missile Launcher, giving the light mech the ability to punch well above its weight, and sported enough Jump Jets to grant it excellent agility on top of its speed.

The third was an extremely rare sight, one almost never seen outside of Steiner or Davion forces, and even then only in the past five years. Unlike the bird-like [i]Raven[/i] and strangely insectoid [i]Jenner[/i], this 'Mech was near completely humanoid, barring the massive gun muzzle ending its right arm, and the canine-shaped head that identified the new 'Mech as a [url=https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Wolfhound][i]Wolfhound[/i][/url]. Like the [i]Jenner[/i], the [i]Wolfhound[/i] was a hard-hitting harasser 'Mech, sporting four Defiance B3M Medium Lasers, though one of them was mounted in the 'Mech's rear to discourage enemies from getting behind it. Instead of short-range missiles, however, the [i]Wolfhound[/i] punctuated its salvos with a Setanta Arms Large Laser. Firing its entire compliment of energy weapons turned the 'Mech's cockpit into an oven for the pilot, but it could dish out a tremendous amount of damage for a 'Mech its size.

Acting together, the [i]Jenner[/i] and the [i]Wolfhound[/i] had the potential to shred much larger 'Mechs in short order, and that is precisely what the 'Mechs of the Crimson Fists set about doing. Picking what they believed to be the biggest possible threat, the two Light 'Mechs sprinted toward the [i]Ostroc[/i], zig-zagging in a serpentine pattern to avoid fire from the Green Knights as they approached. The [i]Jenner[/i] suddenly broke to the left, and the [i]Wolfhound[/i] to the right, before filling the dull gray morning with blinding laser light. Between the two light 'Mechs, five of their seven Medium Lasers hit their marks, melting gouts of armor off of the heavy 'Mech's torso, mostly between the left side and center. While the [i]Wolfhound[/i]'s Large Laser went wide, carving a trench in the earth by the [i]Ostroc[/i], all four of the [i]Jenner's[/i] SRMs connected, blasting more armored fragments off of the [i]Ostroc's[/i] chest and right arm. Together, while the damage wasn't enough to pierce the Heavy 'Mech's armor and risk catastrophic internal damage, the sudden loss of so much mass combined with the concussive blasts from the missiles threatened to knock Daschke's 'Mech to the ground.

Meanwhile, the [i]Raven[/i] split away from the other two, bearing down on one of the convoy trucks instead. With a flash of its TAG laser and a jet of propellant as the Narc Missile Beacon crunched into the side of the truck, the light support 'Mech suddenly changed course to disengage, attempting to disengage before the Green Knights could focus fire on it.

As the [i]Raven[/i] broke away, the sky filled with streaks of fire and smoke, before a hellish rain of Long-Range Missiles screamed down onto the unfortunate supply truck, blasting the defenseless vehicle and its occupants to pieces in a single salvo. The truck, carrying mostly MREs and spare uniforms, was mercifully the least valuable in the convoy, but the next in line was one of the all-too-vital water trucks.

While bits of debris from the supply truck rained down on the battlefield, an electronically-modulated voice boomed over an open comms channel.

[color=Maroon][i]"To the gutless, sell-sword mercenary scum who call themselves Gawain's Green Knights,"[/i][/color] the voice declared, [color=Maroon][i]"You have chosen a poor day to crawl out from whatever hole in which you have hidden since our rise to power. Today, you face the Fire Witches, the burning wrath of the Crimson Fists. It will be my distinct pleasure to send you all to the hell that awaits you."[/i][/color]

Nearly a full kilometer back, a figure crested a hill. While it was indeed an 85-tonner, it was not the [i]Battlemaster[/i] the Colonel had suspected. While the [i]Battlemaster[/i] was roughly humanoid in shape from top to bottom, any resemblance to the human form this 'Mech might have had ended at the waist. Its torso was blocky, with its head built into the main fuselage rather than above it. The wide, square chest boasted gleaming laser lenses and racks of missiles, but those were paltry compared to the huge, barrel-like drums where its arms should be. These massive cylinders carried enough LRMs to destroy or cripple nearly any enemy unit on the field in a single salvo-- just as it had done during the coup, when it had killed Wrathchild.

Standing at the top of the hill was the absolute last word in long-range firepower: a [url=https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Longbow][i]Longbow.[/i][/url]

[color=Maroon][i]"Come and face the Fire Witch, Green Knights. Come and burn, like your friends before you."[/i][/color]