"In The End" by Adam Stevens

Ragnar pounded down the gantry on all fours before vaulting into the mech’s cockpit, wincing in pain as he trapped his tail. Techs scurried across the floor, klaxons wailing as the sound of battle echoed throughout the cavernous bay. Ragnar hurriedly pulled on his gauntlets and donned his helmet as the hangar shook with a tremendous explosion, falling debris smashing through the canopy of another mech, the war machine crashing to the ground in sheets of flame. The black wolf swore violently and started up the reactor, quickly running through system checks as a high-pitched whine filled the hangar from the idle titan. As the reactor peaked, the hangar rumbled again, this time from the battlemech as it gracefully rose to it’s full height and majestically strode forward with a rhythmic pounding, it’s weapons swinging round into a ready position.

The mech marched out of the hangar shrouded in a blue haze as its shields absorbed the weapons fire that instantly targeted the towering weapons platform. Fire splashed harmlessly off it as it opened fire in return. Armour was turned to molten slag as the pulse lasers worked their way across the hostile vehicles, high explosive shells from the auto cannons shredding the war machines, the bolts blasting shrapnel high into the air.

Ragnar was thrown against his harness as a missile salvo impacted his shields, causing them to flicker under the barrage, the mech taking a side-step as the internal gyros fought to keep the machine upright. The mech’s torso turned without breaking stride, returning fire with a missile salvo of its own, sending a catastrophic shock-wave through the advancing troops that threatened Sanctuary.

Morphs scurried into cover as another mech rounded a building ahead, trying to bring its weapons to bear on Ragnar’s vehicle. Activating vast plasma jets, he propelled the hundred ton war walker through the air, opening fire with a pair of vast rail guns as the lighter mech failed to keep a track on him. Burning blue fire trails leapt from the heavy cannons as the hypervelocity slugs punched straight through the scout mech, burying themselves deep into the ground below. The mech went critical, vaporising buildings and troops with equal ease as the roiling fireball engulfed everything for a hundred metres in all directions.

Ragnar’s was machine landed with a heavy thud causing the concrete surface below to buckle, the hundred-ton war machine’s legs absorbing the impact before rising again to it’s full, intimidating height.

A pair of ion blasts impacted the side of Ragnar’s mech, the first overloading the shields, the second ripping clear one of the gauss rifles, causing the HUD to short out with the following EM pulse. A further two mechs strode forward, their lasers constantly firing in a continuous stream of destructive energy as the lupine pilot desperately fought to bring his weapons to bear. His return fire was feeble compared to that which ravaged his war machine, peeling off the armour and punching through towards his vital systems. Again, the ion cannons blasted into his mech, the energies ravaging one of his missile racks, causing them to detonate on a cascading display of fire. Another blast punched into the leg, the continuous whining of sirens inside the cockpit as the mech limped forward. Ragnar opened fire with everything he had, concentrating on the lightest mech. His last rail gun punched through his opponent’s canopy, the explosive shell ripping through into the reactor.

The resulting detonation was as spectacular as it was deadly. An incandescent sphere of flame slammed into the attacking mechs, eating through their armour in an instant and setting of a chain reaction that obliterated a vast area of ground in the enormous detonations.

Struggling to bring his lame mech under control, Ragnar re-routed energy into his shields determined to make a difference in this battle. His mech was slammed to the floor as the leg was torn off by a massive volley of missiles, tearing through his shielding and armour, sending the mighty war machine crashing to the floor. Flames poured from a gaping in the torso and electrical systems sparked and crackled on impact with the hard, unforgiving stone. Blackness overcame Ragnar as his head slammed into the cockpit canopy his limp form suspended by his harness. He would play no further role in the battle for Sanctuary which continued with all the ferocity of a raging firestorm.