Care Package

Paladin Rico remained crouched low among the stalks of green grains with the rest of his comrades. He could hear the thunderous roars and explosions coming from within the toppled walls before him. For the first time since stepping on this virgin land, he felt a sense of fear and unease, but the hymns sung helped eased his troubled mind as he waited patiently for the order to advance with the rest.

A Justice class Warjack puffing steam stormed past his position, the massive war machine trampling the stalks of grains into dust as it marched forward with several other Warjacks. The sudden appearance of the unknown flyers has halted the Protectorate's advance after a light escort airship was taken down, forcing them to change tactics.

Following that, more of the unknown flyers had approached over the week, raining flames down with those incredibly noisy weapons. To evade the unknown flyers, the Protectorate forces in charge of subduing this region had to deploy illusion spells, that allowed the troops to mimic their surroundings under a mirror shield, allowing them to evade the detection of the hostile flyers.

The cost of using such spells was immense, an extravagance that was almost impossible in the Old World with the number of magic crystals that was required. But with the abundance of magic crystals found in the New World, it was actually cheap to cast such a spell over each individual soldier, even the spell lasted for less than a quarter turn of the glass.

And the locals captured or converted over, were interrogated vigorously by the Inquisition, as they sought to discover the identity of those flyers, but what information given was sparse and fragmented. What information that could be pieced together was that the flyers were most likely from a demon worshipping nation seemingly very powerful in certain ways of the magicks, hidden all the way in the south west corner of the New World, called the 'Un An'.

With word sent back of their defeat, the Lord Inquisitor General dispatched more forces forward from the reinforcements sent from their motherland. The original force of two thousand Paladins, one thousand auxiliary soldiers, and a hundred Warjacks were reinforced by twice the amount.

Specialized anti air Warjacks and steam coaches were also deployed, to provide some form of anti air cover for the ground troops while a Penal class heavy air cruiser with two escorts was also dispatched. The airships hung back low to the ground under the cover of illusion spells, as they observed the 'Un An' tactics.

Paladin Rico felt a sense of pride and joy as he watched the backs of the Warjacks smashing down what remained of the walls of the town as they pushed in to drive the heretics out. He sang joyfully with the rest as the command to advance came down and just as he stood up, there was a low rumbling that grew louder and louder coming from skies.

He turned his glance upwards like many others, and saw a huge dark green wyvern like flyer, doing a loop overhead before it seemed to descend downwards towards the grain fields. "What is that thing doing?"

-----

United Nation Air Force, C - 1 Skyfrieghter, Callsign 'Carrie Zero Niner'

"Coming down for drop off!" The co pilot intoned as he kept a strict eye on flight instruments. "150... 100... 50..."

"Hold on tight!" The pilot yelled into the comms as he aimed the nose of the transport at the patch of grain fields. "We only have a limited window!"

"Wakakakakakaa!" The goblin cargo master at the rear tail hatch crackled wildly in reply over the comms. "Crazy! Me sa love CRAZY! WEeeeee!"

The bulky aircraft came down low, its underbelly just barely eight meters off the ground, its powerful propellers shredding the tips of the green grain as it came barreling down. Its rear cargo hatch had swung open, exposing the cargo inside.

"NOW! DROP IT NOW!" The pilot yelled and the goblin cargo master crackled wildly once more and ripped off the parachute cord that was attached to the cargo and a massive triple parachute system burst out. Instantly, the pallet holding the cargo was dragged out by the force of the wind, sliding the entire pallet with its cargo out of the rear cargo hatch with a piercing shriek of metal and wood.

"Wakakakaaa! Care package for you Smelly Boys!" The goblin yelled into the wind as the C - 1 Skyfreighter pulled up towards the skies. "Enjoy it, suckers!"

"HQ is gonna have my ass for this shit..." The pilot sighed as he leaned over the side to look out of the cockpit, seeing the results of the drop off. "Ah... Fark it... this will be worth it!"

-----

United Nations Army 1st Armour, Unit Zero Two

"HOLD ON TIGHT!" Warrant Officer Sath yelled to his crew as they all felt the sudden jerk. It barely lasted for a few seconds before a mightly crash followed by the wild shaking ride as the MAW they were ploughed through the grain field after being dropped off the rear of the transport plane.

"HOOOOOOLYYYYY SHIIIIIIIIT!" The driver, Corporal Clove screamed as he held on to the hand bars tightly for his life. "THIS ISSS SUUCCCH AH BAAAD IDEAAAA!"

Finally, the mad shaking came to a halt and the crew let off a relieved sigh. Sath quickly ordered, "Damage report!"

"All green expect the forward left two's suspension in yellow!" Clove replied as he ran a systems check. "Detaching parachute!"

"Weapons all green!" The gunner yelled. "Ready to rock and roll!"

"Bring her up!" Sath replied as he looked through the viewing monitors. "Let's kick some ass!"

-----

Paladin Rico stared in confusion at the strange object that fell off the rear of the large flyer. The anti air steam coaches spewed dozens of bolts from its multi pipes, hoping to hit the enemy flyer that offered itself to their Judgement.

Meanwhile, the strange object that fell off, torn through the stalks of grains, kicking up dirt along its path of destruction within the grain field before coming to a stop. The billowing balloon like bags trailing behind the object was carried away by the wind and all eyes were on the object that came to a sudden halt.

Rico squinted his eyes as he spotted some movement from the dull green object. He frowned, feeling a sense of unease again when a brief flash appeared from the object and the next thing he saw was a brief sharp tipped conical shadow that hung in the air by the shimmering magic barrier just a hand spun away from the back of the Warjack.

His mind was barely able to register the strange image when he found himself tumbling away in the dirt by a sudden explosion.

-----

"Load HEAT!" Sath yelled as he aimed a laser pointer on the nearest enemy golem. "On my marked target!"

"UP!" The loader replied back as he slammed in a blue banded shell into the breach of the 88 mm gun.

"FIRE!" Sath yelled and the gunner using Sath's laser indicator fired the cannon directly at the rear of the enemy golem.

"HIT!"

"Again!" Sath ordered, seeing the telltale flickering barrier around the golem. "Sub cannon! Own time own target! Engage!"

The Manned Armoured Walker was an MK IV variant, unlike the old MK I which Sath and his crew piloted a couple of years back. The MK IV carried a 88 mm long barrel cannon in place of the standard 3" cannon (76 mm) stub nose barrel. The side .50 cal ball turrets were removed and the hull of the MK IV was longer by a metre, allowing the addition of a forward mounted 20 mm autocannon turret next to the driver / pilot seat. It also carried two nine shot 120 mm mortar pods on its rear, providing it with indirect fire support.

"Get us out of here!" Sath ordered as he spotted the rest of the enemy golems turning around. The second HEAT round had knocked the golem flat down, while the 20 mm and driver controlled .50 cal guns were chewing up the dazed infantry. "Keep moving!"

The strapped and clamps holding the MAW to the pallet snapped as the driver applied power. The MAW unfolded itself from its crouch like a spider coming alive. Its eight multi jointed legs unfolding and stretching out while the gyro stabilizers and heavy duty suspensions carried the main hull upwards.

Rectangular blocks of armour plating covered its entire hull and certain portions of its legs. The flat rectangular turret spun smoothly and let loose another roar and high velocity round hammered another golem too slow to react, sending it crashing down in a cloud of flames and smoke.

Sath had a fierce grin on his face as he tracked the enemy golems which had fanned out. The golems speed surprised him for a moment as they rushed forward to engage his MAW. "Circle right around the bastards! Gunner! Hit them when you have a shot!"

"Think you pieces of metal are faster than us?" Clove hissed as he engaged the drive system of the MAW. With the brakes and cramps released on the wheeled feet of the MAW, the wheels drove the MAW to the side, dodging a couple of giant spike balls tossed by the enemy, further smashing up the already torn up pallet.

Pushing the MAW to a circling dash, the 88 mm gun turret swivelled around, the long barrel was like a finger of death as it pointed towards the enemy and spat out shells at them. The MAW ploughed through the grain fields, while the enemy golems tried to chase and encircle it, but the MAW was faster its eight wheeled legs, allowing to move across the relatively flat terrain with ease.

The MAW charged straight into a retreating wagon that looked like a boiler on wheels with many pipes sticking out, that fired off dozens and dozens of bolts at it. The bolts bounced off the thick sloping armour and the MAW t boned the wagon, the force and weight of the MAW, crumpled the wagon and steam erupted out from the broken boiler.

"Infantry in the open! Two o'clock!" The driver called out as he spotted the enemy mass.

"Roger!" Sath replied and he flipped the safeties off the mortar pods. "Engaging with mortars!"

The two nine tube mortar pods at the rear of the turret popped as Sath fired off a volley of six mortars, three from each pod, at the enemy infantry. The shrieking mortar splashed over the enemy, exploding into grey smoke puffs overhead, as the mortar bombs air burst, flaying the infantry with red hot shrapnel.

"Looks like the boys are finally coming out to join the fun!" Sath commented when laser beam like tracer fire came flying down at the enemy golems. "Damn... they are KSing our frags!"

The previously retreated IFVs had rolled forward after the MAW had landed and disrupted the enemy golems' advance. With the pressure taken off and enough time was brought for the IFVs to reload, they charged back into the battle with their 20 mm gatling guns blazing, ripping the golems that had pushed them back to shreds before pushing forward to assist the lone MAW that was single handedly engaging over a dozen enemy golems.

Now that the tides had turned, the remaining Protectorate forces beat a hasty retreat, abandoning their wounded and downed golems in the fields.

Sath popped the commander hatch open and poked his body out as he took in the sights and smell of the battlefield. He took a deep breath and coughed, shaking his head. "I wonder why those hoomans always like to say they love the smell of napalm or whatever after a battle..."

"Maybe, they have different tastes?" Clove joined in as he appeared from his driver hatch.

"It always smells of metal, shit, and piss after a fight," Sath sighed. "And now, this god awful stench of cooked flesh and chemicals!"

"I guess... they love war and bloodshed?"