[center][h2][b]Ilshar Ard’sabekh[/b][/h2][/center]



‘Sprinting away’ was easier said than done, as it turned out. The ‘mech might not have had a bead on Ilshar’s position, but as it had already so clearly proved, it did not need one to keep him pinned. Its parting cannon-blast sent the tarrhaidim on a crouching swerve to the side from behind the tree he was using as cover, while the falling missile, as if possessed by a malign will, extended the swathe of ruination almost directly across the path he had been ready to take in his evasive motion. The indiscriminate inferno had still failed to reach him, but that was a small blessing indeed.


As he laboriously picked his way through the charred hell, trying not to gouge his leg open on a protruding piece of shrapnel while he put some distance between himself and where the League pilot thought he was, Ilshar had at least a moment to review the scan data shared by Rasch. This must have been a frontline beast, if that energy shield meant anything - built to stand up to logistically efficient beam guns, less good against an enemy with the local industrial base to supply solid ammunition. In this case, this meant less protection against his gun too, which was a thing to be thankful for.


[b][i]“Cameras should take priority,”[/i][/b] he spoke into the intercom, several eyes split between his HUD, the ground ahead and the menacing evolutions of the walker, now almost to his side, [b][i]“It's got more teeth than just the cannon. Blind the beast and it's as good as dead.”[/i][/b]


Just then, the ‘mech proceeded to prove how much he'd underestimated those teeth. Nexus’ spiral maw, whoever was driving that wasn't above putting the whole damnably expensive mountain of metal on the line!


A narrow instant's consideration told Ilshar it was not all so bad. From where he stood, the walker’s forward-leaning folded form gave him clear sight of both the jutting back antenna and the camera pod on its retracted shoulder. In the moment he had before the massive machine hurtled past him on its way to collision with Echo, he fired a wide burst at its upper side, sweeping from its shoulder to the back, before hurriedly striding on towards the edge of the burned undergrowth and the refuge of still living trees.