"All units, on my lead!" Ryke bellowed over the comm as he led the mechs of HK-Rupture out through the armoured gates of Stamm Basin at a run, the thunder of their mechanical feet echoing across the sand-blasted lake bed. More Hunter-Killers spilled from other entrances as the human forces scrambled to deploy before the Scraegan hammer could fall.

A Scraegan army. That was not a phrase he could say he'd ever heard. It simply didn't match the way the Scraegans operated. He didn't even know what form a Scraegan army would take. Would they just come crashing down on Brekka like a tidal wave? Or would they set up for a siege? Or, would they try to tunnel under the wall?

No use dwelling on it now, he decided. They would find out one way or another soon enough. A dozen other Hunter-Killer squadrons were racing out across the rugged plateau that spread out to the south of the city, its flat surface punctuated by craggy outcrops of burnt rock, small fissures and a host of heavily dug in static defences radiating out from Brekka in concentric rings. Ryke glanced at his HUD, noting the pulsing green globe on the terrain map that indicated their target zone, and began to angle his run towards it. So far he saw no sign of the Scraegans on his sensor but that didn't mean they weren't coming.

"What in the Everflowing River do they mean by an army?!" Koral's shrill voice speared over the comm as they traversed the plateau. "They don't ... they move in packs! They always have! They wouldn't..."

"How many packs make an army?" Thaye drawled as the young pilot's voice trailed off. "Keep you're spine strapped in, girl. If they want to line up in front of the biggest guns in the south I'm not complaining."

"Well, no prizes for guessing what they're doing here," Preese scoffed. "Guess they want their friend back."

Ryke snorted. "Over my dead body. If they want to attack Brekka they are more than welcome. The River'll be thick with Scraegan bodies today." He paused for a moment to check their distance to the target zone then flicked his comm to the local channel. "HK-Rupture – HK-Bandit. This is Sergeant Vannigan, callsign Lockjaw. Reporting for deployment."

"Copy, Lockjaw. Lieutenant Axinar – callsign Charger," replied a woman with a crisp, light voice. "Take the west side of the trench-works and spread between the two pounders. No Scraegan gets close. Those guns are your responsibility – understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Ryke clicked the comm back to his squad-wide band. "HK-Rupture on me – standard open defensive deployment. You all know the drill – Goliaths at the back, Riots in the front and Raptors running interference. We've got a couple of guns to look after so they can blow the Scraegans to the Everflowing."

Acknowledgements piled through the comm and HK-Rupture piled on speed as they swept into the deployment zone. The 'pounders', as Lieutenant Axinar had called them, were shovel-fronted bunkers that housed massive three-barrelled cannons within their heavily armoured shells, each one as long as a Hunter-Killer. Dug into deep trenches between them were broad, snub-nosed mine launchers, ready to launch their payloads into the earth and bring any attack force to the surface where they would be pounded to dust by Brekka's ordnance.

Men and women in the grey livery of Brekka's militia skittered frantically between them, spines of their anti-armour rifles just visible as they mounted firing steps. Scout Cadre skiffs whipped back and forth across the defensive lines in interlocking patrols, kicking up plumes of dust and dirt as they went. Ryke's unit passed the mechs of HK-Bandit, their hulls streaked with black paint slashes and scorched from battle – a hardened unit if their appearance was anything to go by.

His Hunter-Killers loped into position just behind a second set of trenches, spreading out into their battle lines just as they'd practiced over and over again on the Stamm Basin training fields. The Goliaths edged a few dozen yards back from the main line and the rest of the squadron spread out to give them a clear field of fire between a pair of the enormous pounder cannon emplacements.

The whole deployment was completed in a matter of minutes and Ryke was left staring at an empty horizon. Then a strange quiet descended on them. He knew that the defensive perimeter around Brekka was huge – there would be hundreds of other units deploying to form a bulwark between the southern capital and the Scraegan menace, all of them screened from the heights by Brekka's massive wall guns.

He itched for combat now. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, banishing the partial hangover from last night's celebrations. He felt as sharp and alert as he ever would.

When Axinar's voice burst over the comm Ryke nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Charger – Lockjaw. Be advised sapper units are inbound to our positions. Keep them covered."

"Copy that," he replied, eyes flickering to his HUD once more. Blue indicators of approaching friendly forces blinked behind their position, closing fast. In a matter of seconds half a dozen skiffs came hurtling past, these ones armoured in dark blue and open at the flanks. From those openings small figures came vaulting, sliding down cords to land on the hard-packed dirt beyond the trenches.

"Major Daginau – HK-Bandit and Rupture," a gruff man's voice sounded in his ears. "5th Platoon, Brekkan Sappers have now deployed. ETA for works completion is ten minutes. Keep our people covered."

Ryke sent his acknowledgement, his eyes still watching the horizon for any sign of the Scraegan force. In the periphery of his sight the engineers worked with furious efficiency, reinforcing the earthworks with, enormous rows of gleaming metal spikes that were driven into serried ranks in front of the militia trenches. Controlled explosions boomed across the plain as they blasted fresh gullies to slow any Scraegan charge, wide and deep enough to force their enemies to descend into them in order to climb out the other side, where storms of fire would be waiting. He saw the bulbous spherical shapes of high explosive mines being lowered into the gullies too, unpleasant surprises for any enemies that landed inside.

The work progressed at a startling pace, the vaunted Engineering Cadre specialists blasting a fresh arc of obstacles for the Scraegans to overcome in little more than the ten minutes they'd estimated. A clipped radio message from Major Daginau confirmed their completion of the works in this section of the defences. The skiffs swooped back in, scooping up the beetle-like forms of the engineers before hurtling off to the next section of the line that needed shoring up.

Then they just had to wait, the low burble of static crackling in the comms. Ryke could feel the itch in his limbs, eager to get to grips with the Scraegans where he felt he could contribute the most to the fight. Brigg and Amelia were primed and ready to unleash their mines at the first sign of the Scraegan approach. Forcing them to the surface on a wide open plain like this would expose their enemies to the full force of Brekka's guns.

He felt a flicker of unease at that thought. Brutish though they might have been, he'd never considered the Scraegans to be stupid. A full frontal assault on Brekka was tantamount to suicide – in even the best case their enemies were certain to take horrendous casualties in any attack. Was that a price worth paying to reclaim their ... shaman? Something felt off. He idly rolled the metal half of his jaw as he tried to put his finger on the feeling.

Then something bright and distant caught his eye.

His body tensed with anticipation and he quickly zoomed the optics of the Hunter-Killer to focus on the distant line of the horizon. Pinpricks of blue light blossomed at the extreme range of his vision and for a moment confusion reigned in his mind. Then he realised that they were furnace cannon shots, blasted from extreme range – dozens of them. Rather than wait to be forced to the surface by the humans, the Scraegans had surfaced well beyond the range of defences and simply opened fire. His eyes went wide and he flicked his comm to the wide band.

"Ryke," Thaye blurted. "Are you seeing-,"

"INCOMING!" he bellowed, cutting her off and simultaneously cranking up the external speakers of his Hunter-Killer to send the warning to the surrounding soldiers. "Take cover!"

For a moment the human line milled in confusion, but soon the blue fireballs were closing in, galvanising them into motion. Militia soldiers hurled themselves flat to the floor of their armoured trenches and dugouts. Men and women scrambled down from firing steps and the Hunter-Killer lines split apart.

Then the first volley came slamming into the human line.

Fired at such extreme range, many of the shots failed to find their mark, but where they did, whole sections of the trenches were obliterated. Soldiers vanished screaming in eruptions of searing blue flame, and chunks of earth and metal were thrown high into the air. Fortunately the massive bunkers that housed the pounders fared better, their thick armoured hides withstanding even direct hits, sloped plates of solid metal dispersing the explosive impacts.

Ryke concentrated on dodging the shots that seared over the trenches. With time to see them coming the mobile Hunter-Killers had little difficulty in avoiding them, but this was merely the opening salvo. Looking past the smouldering trench line he could see another colossal volley bearing down on them; a third not far behind it. Looking at his HUD, he guessed there must have been at least a hundred Scraegans out there to generate such a barrage, just at their section of the line. Looking past the scorching bands of blue fire he could see dark shapes coming into focus at last – ranks of charging Scraegans thundering across the plain.

They had taken the initiative – not taking a fight on human terms.

"Bandit-Rupture," Lieutenant Axinar snapped. "Scraegan attack force inbound – acknowledge?"

"Acknowledged – I see them."

"HK-Bandit – Forge-CC 12A," she continued crisply. "Reporting engagement. Scraegan assault force, estimate numbers eighty to one hundred. Request reinforcement."

Kelso's voice sounded an instant later. "Copy that, HK-Bandit. Negative on reinforcement – all defensive positions report similar Scraegan engagement. Stay within cover of the wall guns and hold the trench lines. We will monitor and reinforce as the situation develops."

"Terrific," Ryke muttered under his breath as Axinar responded. If the woman was frustrated by the response she didn't show it. But the wider implications sent a shiver up Ryke's spine. If this attack was being replicated all around the defences there had to be hundreds of Scraegans massed for this attack.

There was no time to dwell on that grim through now, however. Even as fresh bombardments of furnace cannon blasts rained down on their position, Brekka's guns finally spoke.

The enormous pounder emplacements roared defiantly, their guns erupting with bass thunder. In the distant line of Scraegans Ryke saw massive explosions tear craters in the plateau, sometimes annihilating two or three of the beasts with a single shell. Behind them far above the heavy wall guns of the city began adding their own rain of artillery shells on the advancing force. Through the hail of furnace cannon fire the militia units retook their positions on their firing steps, and volleys of anti-armour rifle fire began ripping from the earthworks.

As they crashed into the teeth of the defenders' fire more Scraegans dropped, but Ryke could already see that there wasn't enough firepower to stop them from reaching the trenches. The Hunter-Killers would be fighting soon.

"All units," he barked to his squad. "Weapon up and stand by for combat. Eyes on your HUDs – watch your spacing."

"Party time," Brigg quipped over the comm.

"Speaking of, Avalanche," Scantlin replied, the Raptor pilot's voice tinged with mischief as he deftly sidestepped a furnace cannon shot. "Looked like you were partying pretty hard with Princess last night?"

Ryke rolled his eyes, but the others took it in their stride. He let them talk, keeping a watchful eye on the approaching Scraegans. The chatter kept them at ease, and that would keep them loose for the fight to come.

"Here for a good time, not a long time," Amelia chuckled back between shells from her Goliath's cannon. "Why, feel like you're missing out on something?"

"Hah – I'm flattered but I don't swing that way, Princess."

"Shame," Marylee joked.

Scantlin let out a hoot of laughter. "Sorry to disappoint!"

Further conversation was cut off by the order Ryke had been waiting for. Lieutenant Axinar's voice cut through their chatter like a knife.

"Bandit – Rupture, prepare to intercept. On my lead."

"Copy that," Ryke replied before addressing his squad. "All right boys and girls – put a pin in it. We're going in. Keep your feet moving and don't get bogged down. Look to wound and immobilise and let the gunners finish the job."

In an instant the other nine pilots rattled off their acknowledgements and the banter died away, leaving them waiting for the Axinar's command. The Scraegans reached the line of freshly cut defences the sappers had deployed, and he saw two of them descend into one of the gullies. A couple of seconds later a fireball belched out from the trench as one of the mines detonated. One Scraegan dragged itself up and out, but the other did not emerge. Some tried leaping over the wide trenches with dubious success, while others were forced to funnel into narrow choke points to avoid the obstacles, making them easy targets for Brekka's guns.

Eventually, bloodied and bruised, the Scraegan survivors cleared the secondary defensive line and spread out once more, picking up speed as they bore down on the trench line.

Then the order came.

"All Hunter-Killers, close and engage!" Axinar shouted and a wall of twenty battle mechs surged forward to meet the onrushing Scraegans.

The Hunter-Killer counter charge was ferocious. The well-drilled militia units ducked down deep in the remains of their trenches, allowing the war machines to go thundering overhead and out onto the flats without crushing their comrades underfoot. Ryke led the way, his blood pounding in his veins as he raced headlong into the crush, fire spewing from his cannon.

There were still over fifty Scraegans racing towards them, but the guns of the defensive emplacements continued their hail until the last possible moment, their unerring accuracy sending heavy ordnance fizzing over the heads of the Hunter-Killers. Barely one hundred yards from the trench line the two sides met, and the killing began.

Ryke strafed to his left as a battle-scarred Scraegan lunged for him, blasting a trail of explosive shots across its flank and twisting to crash his shoulder shield into it from the side. The Scraegan tumbled to the ground with a roar, taking the legs out from one of its companions as it went.

He didn't wait around, lunging forward at the tip of the arrowhead of HK-Rupture, with Thaye and Preese right on his heels. The two hardened pilots moved with the ease of experience, hacking and blasting at the mass of shaggy armoured bodies. The other Riot mechs filled out to the left and right, flanked by the Raptors of Scantlin and the new pilot Kim 'Haunter' Lassange. Behind the centre of the wedge, the two Goliath mechs thundered along, using their bulky armoured machines to simply bulldoze past Scraegans that tried to intercept them.

A sharp, screech of pain knifed into Ryke's hearing and he glanced at the HUD to see a damage warning blinking on Koral's Riot mech. She'd taken a hit.

"Hatchet," he snapped out her callsign as he spun his mech, gashing open a Scraegan's arm with a vicious swing of his warblade. "Report!"

"Armour compromised," she gasped out. "Furnace shot."

"Covering!" Marlyee was already moving on the HUD to shadow their beleaguered comrade. Brigg's Goliath mech also angled to the left to provide extra support. Ryke didn't look back; he couldn't afford to.

"Stay on course," he shouted. "Hatchet, get loose and disengage if you are combat ineffective."

"Copy... copy that." Her voice was tight with pain – whatever damage had been done to her mech had clearly injured the pilot within, but there was nothing he could do for her except keep fighting. Gritting his teeth he barrelled forward with a bellow of anger, crushing his shield straight into the face of the next Scraegan in line with enough force to knock the beast flat onto its back.

Bounding forward, he planted a foot hard on the Scraegan's skull, using the weight of his mech to grind the thing into the dirt before springing forward. Thaye followed up behind him, maiming the Scraegan with a brutal stab from her warblade into its upper thigh.

Eventually the mechs of HK-Rupture and HK-Bandit punched their way through the Scraegan line, scorched and battered from the short but intense melee. Out on open ground he finally got a look at Koral's mech. A furnace cannon shot had caught her in the back, severely damaging her mech's ammo feeders and fusing servos and hydraulics up and down the right flank of the machine. She limped clear, chaperoned by the mechs of Marylee and Brigg.

With his pilot safe – for now – Ryke turned his attention back to the battle. They had scored few direct kills, but as Ryke wheeled back around to face the Scraegans he could see they'd achieved their objective. Slowed down and in many cases, halted entirely by the Hunter-Killer counter attack, the Scraegan force had become stranded in the middle of a killing field.

With the Hunter-Killers clear, the pounders, the militia and the Brekkan wall guns opened up with renewed fury, bringing a deadly salvo of fire to bear on their enemies. Scraegan bodies were torn up by the massive shells, riddled with armour piercing shots and blown to pieces by the heavy pounders.

The attack here had almost been beaten off and Ryke felt a rush of elation. Maybe the kidnapping of the leader had actually goaded the Scraegans into a fatally reckless assault on the fortress city. The charge here had already left dozens of Scraegans dead in exchange for the unfortunate militia troops caught in the opening Scraegan barrage. In cold hard numbers it was a trade the humans could take all day, every day. Ryke allowed himself a vicious smile as he prepared to go diving back into the fight, to pincer the Scraegan force and finish it off.

Then the pounder emplacement on the right of their line suddenly blew apart.