[h2][center][b]Merry-Go-Round[/b][/center][/h2]

Aroxy and the rest of the crew of the [i]Merry-Go-Round[/i] had barely had a chance to register the successful takedown of the Hunchback before the hull was again rattled to the point where the [i]Von Luckner[/i] seemed shutter like some angry war elephant from antiquity, growing more irate with yet another massive hammerstrike to her armor. As the interior lights dimmed and sensor screens flickered, things happened quickly thereafter, but the shift of the energy in the battle was as palpable as the smell of scorched armor and chemical propellant in the air. Almost as soon as the sound of jet noise roared overhead, debris fell over and pranged off their armor like rain. The Panther and Hunchback both exploded, but there was no time to search the periscope for whatever the hell was going on. They needed to put their guns on the next target pronto, and the crew’s silence after the second AC20 strike signaled all were of the same grim sincerity. This was not an unfamiliar position and Aroxy had seen enough in his career to sense the energy in a fight. It was often the same, whether it was a fist fight or a clash of armor. He didn’t need a sensor screen to tell him [i]Merry[/i] wasn’t going to take many more high powered shots, the curtain needed to be closed on this circus.

Almost as aggravating as being tagged by [i]two[/i] AC20 shots, was Raven’s voice again coming through on comms as if he had somehow sensed Aroxy had turned off the “open” frequency. He didn’t answer the mechwarrior, but if they survived this, there was going to be a certain level of satisfaction to be had at the Colonel’s debrief when it came to signals discipline and some of the Knights’ more enthusiastic warriors. “Keep an eye on that flyer, Helma.” Aroxy growled watching it flash out of effective range.

“Got it!”  

Ansel had been slightly knocked out of rhythm by the last hit, but Aroxy could tell by the sound of loader’s work, that the main gun was just about ready to fire again. As the [i]Crusader[/i] and [i]Catapult[/i] advanced, he could feel his gut tighten with the knowledge the well armored medium mech was still loaded with inferno SRMs. They wouldn’t be able to reverse quicker than the mechs could advance and this was going to be the Fists’ last stand. They had nothing to lose and he could vividly remember how it had only taken a lucky salvo from the [i]Longbow[/i] to damage their final drive back in the raid. In a dark corner of his mind, he reckoned if he was a depraved, murderous son-of-a-bitch, a giant target like [i]Merry[/i] that was only traditionally armored and not environment sealed like a mech would be exactly what he would take with him if he was about to check out. He could already sense Takka lining up on the mech’s center mass. If [i]Crusader[/i]’s were known for nothing else, it was exploding in spectacular ways and that was exactly how this was going to go down- until he heard the squad frequency crackle again:

[color=SteelBlue]"Pull… back!  Do- let them…. close- -tankers or… treat; -ox them …the bridge!"[/color]

He wasn’t sure if a piece of falling [i]Mechbuster[/i] had pranged off the antenna or it was just the haggard gasp of Daschke’s nearly wrecked [i]Ostroc[/i], but it instantly reminded him of the briefing: [color=Olive][i]All else fails, we bring the goddamn mountain down on them.[/i][/color]. 

“Takka! Hit the bridge now!” Aroxy barked. “Helma, everything into the structure. We’ll take our chances with the flyboy.”