THE GRATTAN
CAMPAIGN
PART 12b- COLD HEARTED
This page continues the chronological log of our Second Votoms Campaign.
7212.11.02- MOUNT TAGREN, GRATTAN
As the battle outside Tagren Base heats up, Perdas
Grane orders the next wave of troops in, under command of the
despicable Lieutenant Odiah. Odiah and his men use their Rusty
Goat light ATs, one of the few military units that DEFCOM can't
control thanks to their obsolete computer systems.
The light ATs are fast, and soon into the mix of chaos and
destruction. They are hard to hit, but one goes down in a
single shot from the soulless defenders.
The light ATs desperately engage the heavier defenders, except for
Lieutenant Odiah who cowers in the cover of a power generator
structure.
Meanwhile, Maxim continues to thin out the defending ATs, ramming
one of the Beetles into the base of a tower.
But the towers and their guns take a heavy toll on the
attackers!
The attackers do their best to keep the base, and DEFCOM, busy and
distracted, but casualties are mounting.
Maxim shifts his attention to the deadly turrets, scoring a hit, but
there are still other turrets left active...
And then DEFCOM deploys reinforcements! This is more than the
attackers can bear, and they pull back to call in help from the War
Train.
Even from two kilometers away, the guns on the War Train have the
range and firepower to pin down DEFCOM, although firing into mixed
forces is hugely risky!
Fortunately the barrages land on target, destroying more of the
Bases ATs and Turrets. But DEFCOM has even more ATs yet to
deploy...
Inside the base, Mick and Burt locate the transmitter room, but it
is guarded by two Zwerg light ATs. Burt throws a flare into
the room, blinding the Zwergs long enough for Mick to hack into
their cockpits. The pilots put a few rounds through the
computers inside the cockpits and take control of the ATs manually.
Burt manages to fire one Zwerg's guns into the base of the
Transmitter Tower, and Mick uses the other Zwerg to shove the tower
over and destroy it! Even Camo the Kizzard helps, chewing and
pulling at any cables it can get its teeth on.
With the transmitter destroyed, the remaining DEFCOM ATs outside
grind to a halt. Perdas Grane arrives in his customized
green Calamity Dog to personally supervise the capture of Tagren
Mountain Base. Maxim blows open the tower door and leads the
way inside.
Tearing their way through the dark and mazelike interior of the
base, Perdas Grane and his troops soon locate the Control Center
where the DEFCOM master computer unit is located. Following
the noise, Burt and Mick enter the center from above, Mick still
driving his captured Zwerg. Grane's master scientist, Ramoh
Harken, sets to work removing the DEFCOM MCU. Why aren't they
just destroying it before it can do any more harm to Grattan and its
people?
Perdas Grane answers this question, brutally honestly. "We
always intended to regain control of DEFCOM, not destroy it.
Now that we have done that, you Stray Dogs are no longer
needed. By killing Lieutenant Fugue, the Leash system will
kill all of you troublemakers in one shot!" At which, Grane's
Calamity Dog mercilessly guns down Lieutenant Fugue, while Odiah
just chuckles at his master's deviousness.
But Burt, Mick, Maxim, and Rotweil are... still alive, their Leashes
failing to activate! Fugue croaks his dying words... "I
disabled your leashes a long time ago... Now you must do what
you believe is right..." Furious, Perdas Grane charges out of
the Control room, smashing aside Maxim's Rising Tortoise.
Ramoh Harken is gone, having taken the DEFCOM MCU and ran in the
confusion. Rotweil just looks on in horror at the remains of
his former commander.
Furious, the Stray Dogs take their frustration out on Odiah's Rusty
Goat AT. Mick uses his captured Zwerg to tackle Odiah and
extract him from his cockpit. Maxim holds Odiah in his
crushing grip, and demands answers. Odiah admits that Perdas
Grane always considered the Stray Dogs expendable, and had set them
up for incarceration from the beginning in order to justify leashing
them and using them as tools for their own ends. But they
hadn't counted on Fugue's change of heart... The Stray Dogs
take Odiah as their prisoner and head out of the base looking for
revenge.
The Stray Dogs stop in the base Hangar on the way out, and select
some new ATs for themselves, including a Groundfire Tortoise for
Rotweil and two brand new Turbo Custom Scopedogs for Mick and Burt.
Reaching the surface, the Stray Dogs find that Perdas Grane, Ramoh
Harken, and the War Train are gone. But they can be hunted
down, and they all agree that the war criminals must be brought to
justice and the DEFCOM MCU smashed so this nightmare can never
happen again.
CONTINUE TO PART 13!
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