"It doesn't look too good, Perks..."<br/><br/>Walter stood over the tactical display, which the command crew was working frantically to update with the little snippets of info that slipped through the static. A few minutes earlier a tech had almost burst into dance after he managed to steal away some satellite feed from above, but the information of two lights having been downed wasn't turned the moment sour quickly.<br/><br/>"Well, that is war, Walter. We pay the price."<br/><br/>"I hope this engineer is worth it. Otherwise I'll drop him out the chute once we leave orbit."<br/><br/>Perkins smirked, sipping on his cup of coffee with one of his cybernetic arms behind his back. He was every bit as much a Fleet officer now that he had been in his youth, even though he had exchanged his uniform for a smartly cut suit. He was a commander of finance now, but that didn't mean he still had his tactical sleeves to pull cards from.<br/><br/>"Believe me, Walter. We need this man. His work will bring us up there with the Wolves Dragoons and Grey Deaths. A top ranking merc unit needs to evolve. And with the Clans advancing, top ranking merc units are selling."<br/><br/>Walter had nothing to reply with. Sometimes he was disgusted by the cold way Perkins looked at casualties, trauma and dismemberment. It was just statistics to him, a dip in an efficiency curve, a slight economic mishap. He looked down at the tactical map again. He made up his mind and walked away towards the bay. Dammit if Perkins' new toy wouldn't come in handy anyway.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>"Soo..."<br/><br/>The atmosphere was a bit chilly between the Marauder and the FrankenPhract. Even if he had been given the codes for the channel, it seemed this merc group was the silent sort. Which was odd, he had run several trials with experimental 'Mechs with other merc unis and they were usually a loud and boastful sort. It was a bit unnerving to be honest. He opened a tightbeam to the Marauder and began.<br/><br/>"Uhm, hey. Sorry for intruding like this, but... huh, what should I call you? Have a name or callsign or something?"<br/><br/>The scape before them changed suddenly when a Cataphract turned the corner, but Varyag's reflexes jumped into gear, the two tubes on his right arm emptying into the right torso and cockpit of the 'Mech, followed by two thudding blasts from a medium pulse laser. Seemed like the prisms wasn't just for show. There was a slight comfortable change in heat inside the cockpit. There was an itch under his chin , but the engineer wore one of the bulkier full models of neurohelmets which looked more like something an aerospace-pilot would have than a MechWarrior. As the enemy Phract toppled he continued as if nothing had happened.<br/><br/>"Anyway, it's not really Varyag. Janos or Wu will suffice among friends, which we are... I hope."<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The Cataphracts seemed to ease their attacks on the Awesome, taking up more defensive positions as they advanced after it. Their numbers thinned a bit and they only occasionally risked to pop out to take a shot. Either they were trying to encircle him or they were simply sending more around him to intercept the others who were retreating. Either way, it was just more bad news piling up as the sensors on the Awesome started to freak out. Just then the building on the right of Erich erupted into a cloud of dust and debris, a Gauss round digging into the ground in front of him and the other gracing his right leg. Two in close succession, followed up by the angry buzz of Medium lasers and then the large black 'Mech, with its leering white skull. But there was something strange about this Atlas. It feinted some punches with it's large punching claws. It had two Gauss Rifles in its chest,<strong>GODOT</strong>written in red across it. The strange thing was that it wasn't an Atlas at all. It was a Pillager.<br/><br/>"I'm guessing you are a veteran, Awesome..." The static voice carried over the comms had a sort of perverted glee over them, as if the chaos of battle was making the MechWarrior's hands sweaty. "Not like the Locust and Spider that I squeezed under my heel like the creeps they were!"<br/><br/>The twin Gauss opened fire again, followed up by a vicious uppercut towards the cockpit.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The newly arrived 'Mechs seemed wary of the Union standing in the middle of the forest. They had been summoned a long time ago, coming with a MASH in tow to the preselected location and time. As the bay doors opened they might have expected something big like a Highlander stepping out of it. Instead the rattle of the threads burst out of it, the heavy tank almost leaping out at them as it settled in the soft undergrowth. Walter smiled a bit at his seat in the combined commander/gunner seat of his brand new Gauss Rommel. He was very familiar with its trajectory and the speed wasn't too shabby.<br/><br/>"Alright, newcomers! Spread up and meet up at these coordinates in fifteen minutes. We got some 'Mechs to save!"