Sgt. Golem: Royal Mech Hussar - Stubs Soon!

Tamara whipped the tablecloth off a nearby table and started wiping her sword. She searched for any sign of more wraith troopers. None emerged through the walls.

They had been terrifying at first, but now that she knew what she was dealing with, they weren’t very scary. It was impressive magic, but their weakness to iron was devastating. Anybody forewarned and paying attention shouldn't have much trouble dealing with them. The fact that they had made it this deep into the base meant there were a lot of Hungarians not paying attention.

Eva's big mech was forcing its way out the door, chasing the last of the Russians. That was one strange mech, with all its growling and carrying on. It was like nothing Tamara had ever seen. She was just glad it was on their side.

The crowd was starting to thin out, as everyone headed out the hangar doors on the back wall. Tamara made for Hannah and Angelica, who were talking to Veronica.

"Go ahead," Angelica was saying, "we need all the mechs here we can get. Hannah and I will play rear guard in case the soldiers come back in."

Tamara reached out through her link. Her mech had left the hauler and was working its way towards them. It had a cannon in its hand. As long as it was armed and headed this way, she was satisfied.

Angelica and Hannah started for the front door. Tamara spoke up. "Lieutenant? I want to go get my mech and mount up as soon as possible."

Angelica turned. "Good thinking, Tamara. Take your mech and go check out the north gate." She pointed at Veronica, who was disappearing into the crowd. "Meet up with her if you can and see what's going."

"Roger, north gate. Any particular reason?”

Angelica shook her head. “I don’t know, but the Colonel was just here, and he seemed to think it was important."

"Does he expect another attack?"

Angelica frowned. "Probably. If you run into a Russian force, fall back to rendezvous with the rest of us. Slow them down if you can, but stay safe.”

"Yes, lieutenant." She threw a quick salute.

Tamara hurried through the hangar and emerged outside just in time to see Veronica climbing into a large sedan driven by Frank Lewis. Where had he come from?

"Hey, can I get a ride?" They both turned to look at her.

"Climb in,” Frank said with a mad grin. “’The more the merrier!”

Tamara relayed Angelica’s message about the north gate as Frank gunned the big sedan and wheeled it around.

"What is it with that guy? He was just here telling me to get a car and go to the north gate. Who the hell is he?"

Tamara shrugged. "He's the colonel."

"He's got good instincts," Veronica said thoughtfully.

“Sure.” Frank didn’t sound convinced. “Well, he keeps his head in a firefight, ask me how I—"

"Turn here!" Veronica shouted, tapping him on the shoulder and pointing him to the left. He didn’t let off the gas. The car squealed around the turn and roared up the next street. They bounced along the hard-packed dirt road between the rows of barracks.

In front of the barracks, crowds of men milled around on the street, staring off in the direction of the fire or gaping open-mouthed as the phaeton roared past.

"Report to your commanders!" Veronica shouted as they passed. "Keep your heads down and watch for Russians! If you see ghosts, use iron on them!”

The phaeton roared through an intersection and narrowly missed running straight into a giant mech stomping through from the other direction.

"Holy shit!" Frank yelled as he swerved to dodge the feet of a Russian machine. It carried a huge gun, and three more mechs were visible behind it. None of them were Tamara’s.

The cannon roared and dirt fountained to their left. Frank swore again and took the next corner at full speed, tires sliding on the dirt and suspension screaming in protest. A shell whistled past and slammed into the building behind them. In a flash, they were past and turning onto the street beyond.

"Where the hell did they come from?" Tamara yelled over the roaring engine.

"I guess that's what the Colonel was expecting," Frank shouted back. "Where's your mech, Veronica?"

"Turn here!" The contessa pointed back to the right. Once again, he slammed the wheel over and took the corner dangerously fast. Ahead was the road the Russians had been on. The big car crossed it at speed, zipping into the next alley.

"Slow down! Slow down!" Veronica yelled, as Tamara couldn’t keep herself from laughing in delight. She could see a mech looming into the darkness ahead. It wasn’t Tamara’s, and it wasn’t Russian. Veronica climbed to her feet, holding onto the car and balancing, then leaped, soaring through the air and landed on its shoulder. “I’ll cover you!” she shouted down at the car.

“Turn at the next left!" Tamara yelled over the seat to Frank.

Frank pointed ahead. "The hauler's still that way!"

"Yes, but my mech's not there anymore!"

"We have to go to the hauler and get it moving! We can use its fire support!"

"Sure, sure!" Tamara said, "but first, drop me off. I can feel my mech, we’re nearly there!”

As she expected, around the next corner Tamara saw her mech heading toward them. It stopped, waiting for her. Frank hit the gas and Tamara leaped, flipping in the air and landing hard on the shoulder, as the metal clanged under her feet.

In a cloud of dust, Frank was gone, racing towards the hauler.

Tamara’s mech carried a big autocannon. The Polish crews had armed the mechs before the party. She grinned and made a mental note to thank Sergeant Golem the next time she saw him.

She urged her charger into motion and hurried down the street. Hopefully, she could catch up with the others before they caught up with the Russians.

It felt good to be back with her bonded mech, but she felt silly standing up there in a ball gown. She shivered. The hemline was high, the neckline was low, and the night was starting to get cool.

Tamara checked her cannon as they moved. She had her mech work the action, loading a round into the chamber. This was a long-barreled autocannon of a type she wasn't familiar with, and she gave it a quick inspection. Eight rounds, around 35 millimeter. That should be effective against mechs at almost any realistic range. Three more magazines hung in a canvas sling over her charger’s shoulder. She made herself a mental promise; after this she would go through the hauler’s stored weapons and learn everything there was to know about all her options.

Tamara jogged her mech across the next intersection. Suddenly, the air filled with cannon fire, shots whizzing all around her. One shell sproinged off the back armor of her mech as she dove it forward. She leapt off, as the mech came down in a shoulder roll. It rolled and came up in a crouch, as Tamara sailed across the street in a magic infused leap. She landed near one of the barracks and took off running, putting another building between her and the Russians.

When her mech caught up, she jumped back on its shoulder. Together they crossed the next street and leapt onto a roof. She landed near the edge of the roof, dropped off the mech, and made a quick crawl up the rough tiles to the peak, keeping low to not expose herself to the enemy.

Russian mechs was marching up the street a block and a half away. She counted at least four, but in the shadows behind them, she saw more movement—perhaps two wings of Russian mechs in all.

With a nudge through her link, Tamara raised her mech up, lifting its cannon just above the roofline. She ducked back as it opened fire.

It took three quick shots, then it slid back down the roof. Tamara herself dashed for the edge and leapt clear of the building as the third shot was still in the air.

The brick-and-wood barracks exploded under a barrage of fire from the Russians. Tamara summoned her shield behind her as she landed. She came up sprinting and rejoined her mech a little way down the street. As they ran, bricks and sticks bounced off her shield. She was burning istota at a furious rate. She needed to find her allies and link up.

This whole area was a gridwork of one-story buildings, whether offices or small barracks, she couldn't tell. They were all the same drab, utilitarian military architecture. That meant plenty of hiding places. She leapt up to the shoulder of her mech. They dodged between the next row of buildings, getting a block farther away from the Russians. She heard another flurry of shots, but nothing landed near her. It sounded like they might be firing in a different direction.

Tamara pulled up at the next corner and waited. Here she had a clear shot down the road she had just been on, which intersect the ones the Russians were coming up. She waited, mech crouched, cannon up and ready. A quick check showed her it had five more rounds of 35mm in its big box magazine. She shifted her mech back a step, lining up for a speedy getaway around the nearest corner.

There was no moonlight. The only illumination came from a few feeble streetlights and the occasional light by a doorway. She kept a watch on the barracks to the east, in case the Russians changed direction.

Up on her mech’s shoulder, she was only a foot or so from the lip of the roof beside her. Tamara climbed up and peeked over the edge. Three buildings down, Russian mechs stomped into view.

Tamara leaned her mech, one shoulder, arm and cannon around the building and snapped off two shots at the Russians before ducking away. They scurried back from their hiding place. The end of the barracks blew to splinters under a barrage of fire as Tamara and her mech made their way across the street.

After a block, Tamara paused, looking for a good field of fire for another ambush. They were rapidly running out of barracks. In two more rows, the buildings changed. If she remembered right, there were a few taller buildings ahead before they reached the open field by the mech hangar.

She caught a whisper of movement behind her. A mech was sneaking up behind her. Tamara swung her whole charger around. Before she could get the cannon in line-

"Stop, wait, it's me!"

Veronica had caught up with her. The Hungarian contessa stood in her ball gown on the shoulder of a sleek charger. It carried a mech-sized sword. There was a swivel-mount machine gun on the other of its shoulders, but Tamara didn't see an ammo box or belt.

Veronica grimaced. "I ambushed them from the shadows a few blocks back, but I was only able to damage one before they chased me off. We're not slowing them down much, are we?"

"No, we're not," Tamara agreed. She swung her gun around and covered the next lane of fire. "Cover our flank and get ready to move. Let me take a shot then we move."

They had only a moment to wait before the Russians stomped into view. A streetlight down the way backlit the Russians. Tamara took an extra second to line up her shot. She let the mech with the big shield pass, then a sword carrier, before lining up on the third mech in the row—a hulking unit with spiky shoulders and a short-barreled autocannon.

Tamara was trained as a scout sniper. This was her element. When she was dismounted, she preferred the personal touch of sabers. They weren't very useful in modern warfare. On the battlefield, it was the sniper that could reach out and touch the enemy first.

She lined up on the upper arm of her target, just above its cannon. There was a special way of nudging your mech through the link to get it to properly squeeze a trigger. A rider with less finesse couldn't do it. Her mech would jerk its shots. For girls using spray-and-pray tactics, that was fine. A proper marksman employed a more delicate touch.

Like most mech weapons, the trigger actuation passed through a series of linkages, not as simple and elegant as a human-sized rifle. To properly balance a weapon this large and make it easy for a mech to wield it one-handed, it was a bullpup configuration with the action and magazine behind the grip where the shooter held it. This meant it had to use a linkage between the trigger and the action itself. More moving parts meant more friction and more places to bind or stick.

The trigger pull was long but relatively smooth. Tamara felt the pull through her link, heard the soft creak of metal on metal and wood. It could have been smoother. She made a mental note to ask Sergeant Golem to take a look at her weapon.

The cannon roared. She focused on watching her first shot land. It flew mostly true, striking the target's upper arm just slightly off center, ripping through armor and internal mechanisms. “Move!” she told Veronica in a furious whisper.

Tamara ducked her mech out of sight, and fell back as shells ripped through the corner they had been hiding behind. She had to give it to these Russians—they reacted quickly, even if their tactics seemed rather unimaginative. They were still marching straight up the street she had first spotted them on. If she had a couple more mechs with her, she could set up a proper ambush.

Was it her imagination, or had there been less in the enemy's volley this time? Had she been able to make that target drop its gun? She had disabled its arm; hopefully, its rider wasn't used to shooting off-handed. Getting the most out of a mech's marksmanship took a lot of training. If someone didn't practice with their weak-side hand, she would be sloppy and slow.

Tamara and Veronica came around the corner, straight into an ambush. It took her a moment to recognize Hannah and Angelica on the mechs standing there with cannons leveled.

"We almost shot you!" Hannah said, her voice shaky.

"They're right behind us! At least two wings!"

Angelica swore. "Alright, fan out, set up a crossfire. Let's see if we can't give 'em a nice surprise."

A couple of quick orders, a moment’s scramble, and the girls were in position. The mech lay prone on the backside of the roof slope, with only its head, shoulder, and cannon above the ridge line. The roof of the building under Tamara’s mech creaked as she shifted her aim. It was going to be a mad scramble to get off this thing once they unleashed their volley.

"Here they come," Hannah said. She was prone on the roof, fifteen feet further down.

The approaching mechs came into the light of a streetlight a block and a half away. Just like before they were marching straight down the street, two abreast, with a big shielder in front, flanked by a swordsman and followed up by cannon-armed mechs. Perfect adherence to Russian antique fighting doctrine, which was probably why Tamara had never fit in well with her previous wings. In that dense pack formation, they were easy targets. Or would be, but with that big shield at the front, Tamara and her allies were going to have a hard time doing any damage. Still, they needed to slow them. They needed to give the Hungarians more time to assemble and arm up.

“Now!” Angelica shouted.

All three gun-armed mechs rose up and open fire, spraying the approaching Russians with a hail of bullets. The Russian shielder caught the first volley.

Tamara shifted her aim. A lot of shielders didn't stretch enough of their magic down low. They kept the strongest part of their shield directly in front of their body. Often that left a thin spot near the ground.

She lined up her second shot and squeezed it off. As the shielder mech's foot came down, the 35mm round took it through the ankle, shattering the joint and almost completely severing the metal foot. The weight of the mech coming down on it did the rest of the job for her, and the shielding mech toppled forward. The shield collapsed and Angelica and Hannah's cannon rounds ripped into the crowd of machines,. Metal and blood flew as they riddled front rank.

Angelica yelled, "Fall back!"

Tamara squeezed off one more shot. The high-velocity round caught a mech through the head, transforming its armored skull into a cloud of shrapnel that tore into its rider and threw her from its shoulder. The girl tumbled away as the machine flopped on its face.

Tamara slid down the roof and threw herself towards the ground. All around her, shingles ripped and shredded as the remaining Russians opened fire. Her mech landed next to her in a crouch. Together they dashed away, the building melted behind them under a hail of bullets.