Crisis at Garmil's Gate - 10

Sir Ramsey saw on his helmet's viewscreen a readout on the Oni-class mecha now facing him. Typical of the class, they were manlike in appearance save for one big eye-piece for a primary visual sensor and light emitter mounted in the head servo, rather than the dual-eye system usually employed. Blaster rifle in the main hand, shield in the off-hand, beam saber in a recessed housing in the main arm, and able to accept mission-specific accessories in external mounts. Not able to fly in an atmosphere unassisted, but can do jumps; said to be a revision of a much older model from the Empire of Man era centuries ago.

Then Ramsey noted the modifications. Three were a dull gray in color, with only a red lens in the senor eye denoting their true allegiance. The fourth was a bright royal blue, with the same red sensor eye lens; he had to be the leader, and the leader's units was likely an ace's custom unit before its mothballing. He would have to be handled last.

Ramsey went back inside the ruined headquarters, heading to the levels below ground--to the parking garage and the motor pool--as he knew what was to come next: complete leveling of all above-ground structures. Sure enough, the mecha began firing to reduce the ruins to rubble, and Ramsey dodged several partial collapses as he rushed down the halls and shafts to find what he sought: wheels, and another way out.

Outside, the man in the royal blue unit raised an arm. "Cease fire!"

The fire ceased. As silence reclaimed the space, and the dust cleared, the Mining Guild compound was now indeed nothing more than a weird pattern of rubble around the courtyard.

"Unit Four, stay here with a squad of workers. Bring back the infantry and have them start mop-up." the man said, "The rest of you, follow me. I know where he's going."

The royal blue unit, two of the gray ones, and most of the workers turned about and left the scene to begin circling around to intercept Sir Ramsey. Inside, Ramsey cut open a shaft door with his beam sword from the inside, kicked it down, and leaped out of the shaft and into the motor pool. He looked about, and then his eyes fixed on a hovercycle.

"Perfect." he said as Ramsey ran to the bike, got on, and started it up. "Now it's time to move to the next step."

Outside, the rebel mecha turned around a bend on a service road connecting the compound with the spaceport. There they saw another road connect to it, leading to another--concealed--entrance far from prying eyes.

"He's got to be there!" the man said, "We've got him! Fire!"

Inside, Ramsey brought the bike within sight of the door leading outside. He revved the engine as he heard the enemy fire upon the door. He revved it higher and higher, and when the door came down he launched out with a shot. Bolts of blaster fire wizzed be his face and rockets flew just past his commandeered hovercycle as he charged right at then.

Rather than immediately turning aside, he fixed his eyes on the worker in the lead and went right for it. As he closed, he drew his beam sword. At the last second, he turned just aside and passed the lead worker. He ignited his sword and sliced into the worker's fuselage where the legs--currently in wheeled mode, acting more like an ATV--met the main body, forcing to swerve and crash.

Ramsey cut into a second worker as he passed through the mob, this time slicing into an external rocket pod. It had rockets left to launch, so moments after Ramsey passed the pod's fire control system caught fire and misfired the rockets. The explosion blew up the worker. Then Ramsey swerved to dodge a blow from one of the grey Oni, passing between its legs, and fled away from the mob at top speed- but not towards the spaceport. Instead, Ramsey ran towards the very open mining pit the rebels came from.

The man in the blue unit laughed. "The madman! There's no way out for him there! All units, turn about and continue pursuit. Let's run this animal to the ground."