Chapter 09 - Home is in the Head, and the Heart

The humans had brought war back to Ozzmar.

Smoke billowed over the gutted husks of buildings, smearing Rychter's scorched air with darkness. Gunfire echoed through the streets, the deep bass of explosions reverberating across the plains and valleys that surrounded the town. Scraegan war howls climbed high into the smog in a defiant chorus as battle was joined.

And in the gullies to the east HK-Rupture were in the thick of it once more.

Ryke let out a bellow of exertion as he wrenched his warblade hard from its position within the torso of a Scraegan warrior. He twisted the thick slab of metal to one side, opening a deep gouge in the beast's thick hide. Black ichor spattered the armour of his Hunter-Killer as he pivoted back, placing his shield in the path of the massive, blunt-headed axe of his adversary.

Even as it bellowed in pain, spinning its left side back, the Scraegan swung with its right, using the natural weight of its limbs to gather momentum. Ryke had just enough time to set the feet of his mech against the valley floor before the axe-head crashed into his shield plate. His teeth rattled in his skull and his whole body felt as though it had been rung like a bell. The internal systems of the Hunter-Killer blurted a damage warning as the thick shield was dented by the blow, but he was already moving, driving forward and slamming the full weight of his war machine into the reeling monster's chest.

It toppled backwards with a roar of impotent rage, crashing to the shattered valley floor where Thaye stamped down with all fifteen tons of her Hunter-Killer onto the Scraegan's head. Its thick skull withstood the tremendous impact, but the beast was almost knocked unconscious by the blow, flailing weakly on the valley floor.

All around him the members of HK-Rupture were tearing into the second pack of Scraegan defenders trying to keep them from the Ozzmar plant. He saw the rookie pilot Brody discharge the shoulder cannon of his Goliath from barely five meters away, blowing a smoking crater in the gut of an onrushing Scraegan. Behind him, Scantlin grappled with another, hacking at it with his warblade as they blundered around in a drunken dance.

Kim's damaged Raptor mech hobbled awkwardly through the fighting with Preese and Marylee chaperoning her. Out in front the remaining Riot mechs piloted by Koral 'Hatchet' Traeder and Norville 'Sprocket' Bankspur had already broken loose.

They were making good progress, but he knew they needed to extract themselves from this brawl. Brackenshaw's flight were already beyond them, weaving through the mayhem and making a run for the plant before the Scraegans could task any more defenders to the flanking action. Without the Hunter-Killers to back them up they couldn't hold it for long. On Miquelon's front, progress had slowed as their comrades ground their way into the narrow streets.

Ryke loped past the downed Scraegan, the camera feeds from the Hunter-Killer's 'head' locking onto the buildings of Ozzmar that were finally within sight. Reluctantly he wheeled away from their objective, long enough to get a hold of the enemy that still wrestled with Scantlin. He dug the metal fingers of his enormous gauntlet around the lip of the beast's neck plate and heaved with all his might.

The Scraegan let out a coughing bark of surprise at it went tumbling backwards and crashed to the ground, but Ryke didn't wait around to finish it off. Actually killing a Scraegan took a long time, even for the fearsome armaments of the Hunter-Killers. It was time they didn't have.

"HK-Rupture, on my lead!" he roared through the comm, pausing to rattle of a burst of cannon fire at another Scraegan. "Cut yourselves loose. Mallet, Avalanche, Gutz, Hatchet, form up a rearguard action and give me rolling volleys on our six. Everybody else lock on me and burn it for the town. We've got a schedule to keep."

On his mech's display the green indicators of his pilots shuffled around to their assigned sections, wresting themselves from combat with the reeling Scraegan pack. He could see the red seismic readings of the other Scraegans in the valley closing in, trying to catch up to them after the mine blast and help their beleaguered comrades.

The quartet of mechs tasked with the rearguard formed a defensive shovel of metal, fire thundering from the guns of the two Goliaths while the Riot mechs of Koral and Marylee guarded their flanks. Sheets of rock dislodged from the valley walls crashed down on the Scraegans, further hindering them as they tried to give chase into the teeth of Brekkan fire. The mechs back-stepped at a steady pace as they fired, keeping their foes at arms length.

Ryke crashed past them and took up his position at the head of the squad once more, with Preese and Thaye close on his heels.

"Ready to bring the party, boss?" Preese said through heavy breaths.

"If you bring the shiner," Ryke replied as they broke into a jog, the ground shuddering in protest beneath the weight of the war machines.

With their companions maintaining a withering hail of fire on the Scraegans, the others pressed in an attempt to link up with Brackenshaw's force. The volcanic valley walls began to fall away around them, flattening out on the approach into what had once been the town's western guard gate.

Ryke passed through the shattered columns of metal and concrete first. As they emerged into the ruins he immediately felt unpleasant flashbacks of the Brekkan siege as he looked at the burnt-out structures. Loose rubble crinkled down jagged slopes as vibrations from the battle shook it loose. Behind him the resonant thunder of the rearguard echoed. Taking a breath, he flicked to the private comm channel.

"Thaye?" he said simply.

"I'm good, Ryke," Thaye replied, her tone steel-sharp. "Home is in the head."

"Then let's do this. Lockjaw – SC21," he said, opening the comm to Brackenshaw. "We've entered the perimeter. Status at the plant?"

A blurt of gunfire answered him first.

"Enemy contacts confirmed," the scout sergeant snapped back an instant later. "We caught them on the hop, Lockjaw, but seismics show a Scraegan detachment closing on our position. I think we kicked a sore spot."

"Copy that." Ryke couldn't keep a wry smile off his face at the veteran scout's blasé assessment of the battle. "We're on our way. Lockjaw – Kaber, we are advancing on target, copy?"

It took a few seconds before Miquelon responded. "Acknowledged! Heavy fighting on main front. Progress behind schedule – heavy resistance."

Ryke felt a pang of frustration. They'd known they would be facing heavy resistance, but the Rubicon officer still sounded stunned by the fight the Scraegans were putting up. Casualties among the mobile infantry and tank units were rising as they dug into the narrow streets, just as Brackenshaw had predicted. The urban confines were a bad place to be on the offensive.

But as he looked at the HUD, he could see that things could still be salvaged. What Miquelon had succeeded in doing was tying up the majority of the Scraegan defenders, if the seismics were accurate. Red and green indicators mingled at the line of contact inside Ozzmar's perimeter and he could see the small Scraegan unit peeling off towards the secondary plant. If he could head them off and wipe out that unit he could free up his Hunter-Killers to do even more damage.

"Lockjaw – SC21, have you got eyes on the Scraegans moving on you?"

"Near enough, Lockjaw. They're minutes out."

"We are moving to engage."

"Say again?" A hint of surprise slithered into Brackenshaw's voice.

"We are moving to engage," Ryke repeated. "Contact with Scraegans moving on your position, ETA one minute – sending target location. Think you can join the party?"

A moment passed as his hastily transmitted grid reference lasered through the dust and gun smoke to Brackenshaw's console.

"We'll meet you there, SC21 out."

Sucking in a breath of relief, Ryke nodded. "HK-Rupture, on my lead! Mallet, Avalanche, Gutz, Hatchet - close up for combat advance, standard urban combat protocols."

Then they were pounding through the crumbling streets of Ozzmar once more. More loose masonry tumbled as they moved, and he saw the signals of his rearguard moving up quickly to rejoin them. It would leave the western approach open for now, but Ryke knew there were more important concerns at hand.

"Alright, everybody, no dancing around it this time," he said over the squad-wide. "We need to eliminate this force. Engage at will – combat, pairings. Send every single one of them to the River."

Bloodthirsty acknowledgments flew back in quick succession from his pilots, the veterans hardened by battle, the less experienced following their example. They only had a small window to make this action count – he could afford no hesitation from any of them.

On the HUD three groups converged at a frightening pace as he led HK-Rupture at a diagonal course to meet the Scraegans before they could reach the plant. Brackenshaw's flight raced in from further south, heading for their enemies on a collision course at the intersection Ryke had chosen.

The three groups met in a firestorm.

Ryke caught the first Scraegan by surprise, exploding straight through the flimsy wall of a burnt out building and slamming into the beast with a bellow. His warblade was already unsheathed and he hammered its full length into the gap in armour beneath the Scraegan's armpit. Blood splurged across the black metal and the Hunter-Killer's pistons screamed as he bulled forward, bearing the thrashing Scraegan over.

"Weapons free!" he roared over the comm. "Kill 'em all!" Ripping himself free, he stepped over the Scraegan's thrashing arm and rammed the blade into its eye socket. The Scraegan let out a juddering growl and went limp as all around him the members of HK-Rupture thundered past at a full charge.

At the same moment Brackenshaw's flight came scything in as the Scraegan pack tried to turn and face the new threat. They were flanked again, this time by the raking salvo of fire that poured from the Scout Cadre soldiers. Rifles clattered and turrets boomed across the shell-torn intersection. Errant furnace cannon shots screamed in all directions as their foes tried to decide what to target.

A brief, bloody mayhem engulfed the two forces. Another of the Scout Cadre skiffs was smashed end over end when the Scraegan beta leading the pack struck its prow with a blunt-headed axe. Critical damage indicators blurted over Ryke's HUD from Scantlin's Raptor mech. He pumped a dozen point blank shots into a wounded Scraegan beneath his clawed foot before pivoting to locate their stricken comrade.

The Hunter-Killer was belching smoke from a gaping rupture in its rear fuel stack. Scantlin staggered forward, and behind him a bulky, white-furred Scraegan warrior reared back for another swing from its jagged edged club of metal.

"Haze – covering!" a voice barked over the comm before Ryke had taken another step. An instant before the second lethal blow could land, Brody lunged into the path of the swing, twisting his Goliath's thick shield to block it. The impact rang above the clamour of battle and he saw a great spray of metal shards tear loose from the shield as the Scraegan ripped its weapon across the armour.

Brody staggered but kept his feet, and retaliated with a bone cracking punch to the Scraegan's snout.

It lurched backwards into the clutches of Norville's Riot mech. The veteran pilot hacked at its lower legs from behind, taking two savage swipes from left to right to bring the beast crashing to its knees. It let out a bellow of pain that was abruptly cut off when a shot from Brody's cannon blew its throat open. The Scraegan thumped forward into the dust, blood pooling around its massive frame.

The Scraegan pack fought as ferociously as Ryke expected, but caught in a surprise counter charge by the human forces, they were quickly overwhelmed by the savage precision of the Hunter-Killers and Brackenshaw's troops. With dead and dying Scraegans littering the intersection, Ryke heaved a shuddering breath and took stock.

The beta that had been leading the back dragged its battered frame away, bleeding from a dozen gaping wounds as it led the paltry handful of survivors to safety. On the HUD he could see the two Scraegan packs that had been guarding the western valley reaches were now in the town, trying to catch up to them. To the north Miquelon and the rest of the strike force had made some progress as they bulldozed into Ozzmar's outskirts, but they were moving far too slowly.

"Lockjaw – SC21," he barked. "Eyes on Miquelon. You see what I see?"

"We can hit them from behind," Brackenshaw confirmed, the veteran's eyes recognising his plan in an instant. "What about the plant?"

"It's all for nothing if we don't clear the Scraegans out of Ozzmar." He shrugged. "We can break their main defence and double back for the stragglers with the rest of the strike force on our back."

"I can ride that wave. Pull in behind us and we'll lead you in. Eastern flank looks the softest."

"Copy that – we'll follow your lead. Lockjaw out." He flicked his comm to the squad-wide. "Mallet, stay with Haze. Get clear of the combat zone – copy?"

"I... copy. Disengaging." The reluctance in the new pilot's voice was obvious, but Brody obeyed nonetheless. The indicators of the two mechs edged away from the fighting, leaving Ryke's group eight strong now.

"The rest of you," Ryke continued. "On my lead."

A fresh stream of acknowledgements filtered crisply to his ears from the remaining pilots. With barely a pause for breath, their section of the attack force formed up again, the remaining skiffs from Brackenshaw's Scout Cadre detachment gunning engines and traversing turrets as they swung around onto their new heading.

Streams of dust and grit blasted through the intersection as the scouts set off. Their blade-like forms darted into the forest of shattered buildings once more and Ryke led the Hunter-Killers in pursuit. On the display he watched as they closed in on the rear of the main Scraegan defence. The rolling thunder of heavy gunfire swelled in his auditory filters.

He took a deep breath; checked over his systems. A handful of minor damage warnings complained across his mech, but nothing that would really impact his combat effectiveness. The ammo drum for his main cannon was down to a third, and he could see similar readings across the board. HK-Rupture had one had frenzy of violence left in them for this assault.

"SC21 – Lockjaw. Enemy contact in thirty seconds. Confirm target?"

"Target confirmed," Ryke replied. "We're right behind you, Sergeant."

A moment later the combined force of Brackenshaw's flight and the Hunter-Killers under Ryke's command plunged a dagger into the back of the Scraegan line.