[center][b][h2][color=Silver]Raven Rivers[/color][/h2][/b][/center]

In the time that he had been with Colonel Wayne, Raven had encountered countless vagrants, soldiers, House armies and rival merc camps. There was a mix of the twisted and the sane in a dance as old as war itself, but what he saw massing in the distance and headed towards the Knights position was truly hard to match against any of his past experiences. Seeing the footage of the stadium attack in Yuzhny Portveyn on the holovids was one thing. He’d seen people self destruct a mech or crash a fighter kamikaze style when there was no hope left, but he knew when he first saw them that these Heavenly Sword followers were a different breed altogether. He’d never seen anyone on the field of battle that was [i]blatantly suicidal[/i]. It was the first time and it was almost a sight to behold in itself. [i]Almost[/i]. [i][color=silver]What a waste[/color][/i]. He thought. He shook his head and pushed the ‘Hawk’s throttle forward firmly and pivoted the torso into a leaning run beneath him. He leaned with it in the straps. The mass of vehicles seemed to be growing even larger as a jumble of small contacts coming into the edge of his sensor screen. The Shadowhawk was in a full sprint now, the river’s edge coming up quickly in front of him, he could see water breaking over rocks in white trails as he thumbed the jump jets on the throttle and spoke into the mic: “[color=silver]Knights! Chain fire! Keep the trigger hot![/color]”

The Shadowhawk soared over the river like an olympic long jumper, legs still cartwheeling as it flew. Leading the charge, far out front was some exceptionally devout member of the Sword riding a monobike that presented as good a target for landing as any and Raven wanted to make an impression on the rest of his followers. This wasn’t the supply raid. They weren’t desperate. This was the Green Knights on a contract. It was a bad day to be a suicidal lunatic. The full weight of the ‘Hawk crashed down on the roadway and skidded, breaking up the pavement. Raven thought he felt a dull thud beneath him as the mech’s footpad landed, but he figured it was probably the gas tank exploding on the bike he’d just buried under several feet of dirt, rock and asphalt. Whatever it was, he didn’t think any more about it as he cut the stick and throttle to allow the machine to slide in a crouched posture like a defensive lineman, careful of the angle of his main gun over the terrain. He raised one arm and raked the full burn time of his medium laser across a crowd of wheeled vehicles that were unable to flee from the roadway. 

The resulting explosions were much larger than he anticipated, momentarily lighting up the early morning. His glance quickly narrowed. He pivoted and fired an SRM salvo into a scurrying hoverjeep that also exploded with enough force that he could see the concussion spread through the air. “[color=silver]They’re [i]all[/i] loaded with explosives…[/color]” He said, twisting the Hawk’s figure slightly to dodge a rocket fired from far out of its range. Its exhaust trail curled past him and the mech’s humanoid figure resembled someone observing an annoying insect flying closeby. He leveled the AC5 and cracked off a shot into a large truck. Having loaded armor piercing rounds that were none too graciously provided by the Espian Guards during the raid, the shot punched through the cabover design with such force he thought he could see springs, rotors and the entirety of the engine and drivetrain being blown out the sides of the vehicle. “[color=silver]Steel Rain, load AP, target the larger trucks, they’re too overloaded to maneuver effectively.[/color]” He knew full well Aroxy’s crew would be more than elated at the prospect of a sitting duck for their hungry main gun. He continued: “[color=silver]Target the cab.[/color]” His face might have winced a little at the sound of the words and what it meant. One of the Von Luckner’s rounds wouldn’t punch a hole like his AC5, it would [i]remove[/i] the cab, like a freight train hit. 
 
It was time to move again, not that he’d been standing still. Mechwarrios didn’t last long on the front lines standing still and certainly he was not in the habit of underestimating opponents, no matter how lopsided the confrontation might have been. The whole opening exchange had only been a few seconds since he’d touched down on the south side of the river. However, he’d done what he set out to do: create a log jam along the roadway and sew some unexpected fear into the hearts of their attackers. There was some satisfaction in seeing the frantic flash of brake lights and he knew it was time to get Marit’s volleys into play. Moving again, his medium laser was back on the trigger and he washed another shot over a cadre of technicals careening past the truck’s broken carcass. He glanced at the sensor screen as he worked. Sgt Dalton and his shooters would be in position to help him with the fast movers, but he could see some disturbance on the screen clouding more vehicles in the distance and preventing him from getting a lock further out for his LRMs. 

“[color=silver]Buckshot 1, move up. I’ll cover. This isn’t their main push.[/color]" He squinted a bit at the sensor screen between his legs, comparing it to what he could see with the naked eye in thermal view. “[color=silver]They’re using some kind of drones…[/color]” He lamented his aging vision, having to look harder like some old codger studying the morning paper. A younger version of himself would have had no trouble seeing what was going on. The drones wafted in the air uneasily like they were overloaded and the sensor screen made more sense. “[color=silver]We need to take’em out so Giggles can open up.[/color]”


For the time being he knew Marit could target whatever he could get a sensor lock on, but the vehicles were too small and random, more suited to himself and Sgt Dalton’s troopers and wouldn’t make the most out of her lethal volleys. It would be like swatting flies with a sledgehammer. He arced his turn, firing as he went and tapping on the jump jets making the ‘Hawk almost skip over the terrain and being careful to stay out of Aroxy’s kill zone, keeping the insanity contained in a crossfire between them. He didn’t bother giving orders to Jon, because Jon wasn’t a Knight. He was just there. Raven felt like they didn’t even need him and the fact that he had some hot rod mech was unsurprising. It seemed to fit Cassandra’s air of extravagance like another piece of jewelry or designer clothing.  He fired another burst from his AC5 that folded a light truck in half and kept moving. 

[@Starlance]
[@Bork Lazer]