Iron Empire

Fifty-Seven: Spreading Shadow

Report: Quinn
Airspace above the Mojave Desert.
United States of America.
Crash site of an Axion warship.
Designation: "Project Terminus"

It was like nothing I had ever seen. One moment Sojwa's Xiezhi was marching toward us across the desert, and the next there was a massive impact and a rolling wave of sand.

"We're being bombed!" I shouted. "Get to cover!"

Gunfire broke through the dust cloud, followed by the thunderous sound of rockets. The Xiezhi came flying out of the smoke, railguns flashing.

Stark white armour and four burning jet engines were my first glimpse at the Titan that burst from the smoke, twin shotguns clawing at Sojwa's silver shield.

Sojwa's Xiezhi was worse for wear—deep, jagged claw marks marred her silver shield, tearing the metal down the middle.

"That was close!" Sojwa exclaimed. "How the hell didn't I see that Titan coming?"

I focused my Valkyrie's rocket launchers on the approaching enemy, sending a salvo of fire in its direction. Despite its unexpected entrance, the Titan's ambush crumbled our combined onslaught.

Outgunned, the damaged mech leapt high into the air, ready to rain lead down on us once more, but a shot from a mech on the crater wall ripped it apart mid-jump. Sojwa, Alyx and I sat in stunned silence for a moment as bits of white armour rained around us.

That was when I noticed the spreading shadow beneath my mech.

"Blast!"

I swung my Valkyrie to the side, stepping backwards as fast as I could. A split-second later an impact rocked the ground directly in front of me, blinding me with sand and sparks.

"Those psychopaths are dropping onto us!" Alyx shouted. "They can't approach us without getting shot down by the perimeter team, so they're copying the strategy we used on the Aegis!"

Sure enough, a Titan rose from the cloud of sand, the shattered pieces of one of my rocket launchers crushed beneath its taloned feet. A cursory glance at my cameras revealed a glancing slash in my Valkyrie's armour—I had just barely avoided a fatal impact.

I spun my Valkyrie back around and opened fire on the Titan at point-blank range, scorching my own mech with missile fire. Although I was down to two launchers, my salvo was enough to shatter the white mech's left leg, twisting it backwards.

I was ready to finish the job when yet another shadow darkened the desert.

"Alyx!" I called. "Heads up!"

Her howitzer barrel swivelled, breaking its lock on the crippled Titan in time to narrowly avoid being sheared clean off. Another wave of sand marked the arrival of a third armoured Titan, which roared out of the dust, railguns blazing.

Sojwa leapt into action, dashing forward into range and peppering the Alyx' attacker with railguns of her own. Two of the Titan's jet engines burst into flames before it had a chance to leap again, attempting to retry its failed claw attack.

At that moment, a joyous shout filled my earpiece.

"Incoming!" Martin shouted.

I turned to see the red kettle of death itself soaring through the air, plasma cannons blazing. Martin had returned with Laura's mech.

The Exodus carried two massive plasma cannons and a heavy shotgun, each strapped to the mech's shoulder pauldrons.

The Titan turned mid-jump, its railguns ready, but the Exodus bore down on it too fast. A few plasma cannon hits and one heavy shotgun blast were all it took to send the mech toppling backwards, leaving a soaring command capsule and a fresh metal corpse.