108 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
108 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
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Flak Trap
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Stepping out onto the tarmac from the hangar, the sun rising over the
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hills glinted off of the flight helmet in his hand. "A beutiful morning."
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he said to himself gleefully. 1st Lt. Roger Lake of the 44th FedCom
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aerospace squadron was in a good mood , after two months of the heaviest
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fighting he's seen and numerous raids-turned-bloodbaths into the Draconis
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Combine's territory , an expedition finally captured their headquarters ,
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triggering the collapse of the Draconis Combine. At a treaty hearing in
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New Avalon , leaders of the Draconis combine , Federated Commonwealth and
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the Smoke Jaguar and Nova Cat clans , divided the Draconis Combine into
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sections for each of the two clans and FedCom. The Combine's army
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surrendering their arms and turning their few reamaining units to the
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their conquerors. With a powerful Warden at command of the Smoke Jaguar
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Clan , they made a truce agreeing to help FedCom and other Inner Sphere
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armies against the other Clans.
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On the first day since the Treaty of New Avalon , Lt. Lake was
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assigned a patrol of the new front along the Smoke Jaguar's territory.
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"Hornet Squdron to your craft , Hornet Squadron" said the calm female
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voice over the basewide Com. Running to his craft , he hopped in and
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suited up, his small 5' 8" frame easily slipping into the cockpit. He
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taxied out of the hangar , tech crews scurrying out of the way , onto the
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runway."Hornet Sqaudron flight of four , takeoff at runway 09 , over." he
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radioed the tower. "Hornet flight cleared , good luck Roger." said the
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controller and good friend of Roger , Keith McMichael. "Hornet flight
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check in." he said over the tactical frequency. "Two here" , "Three
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checking in" , "Four's okay". "Okay guy's lets rendevous with the
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jumpship".
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An hour later , Roger's magscan picked up the ship. "Okay gang ,
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single file formation , 25 percent power." he said to his squad , giving
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them proper instructions for a hangar approach. "Good morning Hornet
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Flight this your friendly neighborhood dropship , the Monarch , how may we
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help you?""Hornet flight of four reqesting docking space for the ride to
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the front ,over.". "Okay Hornet Flight , request granted , docking bays
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18 through 22,welcome aboard.". The four Wasp II aerospace fighters
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entered and docked without a hitch.
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Later in the briefing room ,a nice lavishly furnished room with a
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nice view of the planet the ship was orbiting , the four pilots met with
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the Briefing officer. He ran over the basic outline of the mission and
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their flight path.Soon the PA system ordered everyone to their chambers
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for the jump into hyperspace. Lake went to his chamber and climbed in. He
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was nervous , he hated hypersleep chambers , he didn't know why but he
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did. As he shut the door an activated the chamber he heard over the PA ,
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good night and enjoy your ride , thank you for flying monarch.
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Roger woke with a start. His ears were ringing and his head hurt from the sleep. His wingman , 1st Lt. Paul Ropich , was standing over his
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chamber. "Wake up sir , he launch in 45 minutes." he said. "Crap , my
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chamber must've screwed up , I should've been awake one hour ago."
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He got up and dressed , stopped at the caffeteria for a hurried breakfast
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consisting of eggs and coffe , but it tasted more like cardboard and
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swill.He met his flight in the hangar bay. Tech crews were already
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prepping the ships , and the ordinance cart bringing their weapons.
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" Good morning , Sir , running late are we?" said 2nd Lt. Nick Bianco ,
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one of his flight members. "Shut-up and suit-up , mere underling." said
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Roger jokingly. Finally they were all suited up and ready to go , as were
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their craft: The Wasp II. Each carried eight AMX-12 missles for
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ship-to-ship use , and four ASD-4E strike missles, not to mention the
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built in AC-5. They weren't going in unprepared , treaty or no treaty. He
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strapped in and cleared them out the of the ship , as he and his flight
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cleared the bay doors , he got a radio message , " Hornet flight , this
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is Monarch control , be advised of a Jaguar Millenium Class warship
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about 8 km to your 9 o'clock , copy?" Roger was worried , a Millienum was
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a very large ship used for assaults. " Yeah , I copy Monarch , after we
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do the recon run on the base we'll swing around and check it out , over.".
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"Copy all Hornet lead ,out.". " Hear that guys? stay sharp on this one ,
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as we run on the base look for signs of an invasion force.". He guided
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his flight through a turbulent flight into the atmosphere were it was late
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evening , the sun just setting. " The base is just a few kilometers ahead
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, slow down , dont activate any weapons systems, and waggle your wings a
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couple of times to show 'em were friendly." Roger was worried even more
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now , as they neared the base he saw large groups of equipment. "Looks
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like a whole Regimental Combat Team , Vultures , MadCats , Thors , My god.
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..Dashi's! , thats one damn strong force..." "Sir!" , interrupted Ropich ,
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"Missle batteries targeting us , my threat receiver is flippin' out! , I
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think we'd better..." he was cut off as his ship exploded into a bright
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orange ball of flame." Evasive Manuvers! Get the hell out of here ,
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NOW!"He launched a pair of ASD-4E's at a battery and pointed his craft
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toward the stars , hitting full afterbuner. Missle and lasers shooting all
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around him , he took a hit to the wing but stabilized. " Fighters ,
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incoming!" he heard over the intercom. He picked up 12 Sharks coming out
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of the warship. "THE WARSHIP!" he screamed over the radio as barrage
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after barrage of lasers came out the sky from it. He popped into a
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thunderstorm and had a quick chance to rest , the lightning blocking the
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scanners of bloodthirsty enemies. The Clans weren't supposed to act like
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that , they were an honorable race. He was sure that he wasn't fighting
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clans , but had no proof , he couldn't risk another run on the base to
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confirm. He tensed as he saw a ship come up in front of him ... a wasp.
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It was Nick Bianco. They were the only ones left. He didn't have to worry
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about the Jumpship , there was an intergalactic treaty covering that ,
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which simply stated that none shall attack a jump ship. He made up his
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mind , using visual signals , he told Bianco to break for the jump ship.
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He was going to confirm who was attacking. Like a bat out of hell , was
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Roger out of the clouds , redirecting power to his engines , pushing it
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for all it was worth , he took several hits , crippling his craft , by the
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time he was over the base , He glanced down and saw it , gleaming red ,
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a coiled dragon. "Draconis...."
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2nd Lt. Nick Bianco looked over his shoulder at his flight leader running
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on the base , his craft just broke out of the clouds , he caught sight
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Roger's ship and watched as it sped over the assault force , Nick's radio
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came alive and he heard "Draconis" as he saw his flight leaders craft
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disintegrate into thousands of pieces , getting hit by an LRM-20. As Nick
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exited the atmosphere , out of danger , he radioed the Monarch. The
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Draconis Combine was not dead. Paul Ropich was. Josh Witten was. Roger
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Lake was.
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Brendan Meara , 1/18/95 |