This from Samhain:

****The events of this segment occur nearly simultaneously with part 11 
of the Battle for TRES HQ.  --Samhain

Daybreak
^^^^^^^^

	The Shadowwarriors surveyed the battlefield.  The operation had been 
a literally smashing success and the group of battlearmored X'hirjq.  The 
dust was beginning to clear, and the first rays of dawn began to filter 
through the spaces between the mountain peaks.  The storm of the day before 
had passed, and the shadows were beginning to be chased back into the cracks 
and crevases of the mountains.
	"Keep your eyes and sensors peeled," growled Jones.  "That's not the 
last of them; that's for damn sure."

************************************************************************

	Jones had no idea of just how correct he was.  The devourer class 
battlearmor divisions had just been ordered in; the battlemechs were to 
fall.
	[Approach as close as possible,] ordered X'nalenx, the group 
leader.  [Split up, 2 per machine.  This must be as fast as possible; they 
still have formidable firepower and are much larger than we are.  But we 
have all the advantages...]
	The cloaked devourers moved in as close as they dared; one of the 
mechs was pushed into a crevase, however, and nearly unapproachable.
	[Mistress,] hissed one of the X'hirjq to the group leader, [we 
cannot get close enough to this machine.  We will need assistance to insure 
our success...]
	[No.  We can spare no extras; you must fight better than you have 
ever fought before.  And you must fight wisely.]
	The youngster knew when not to question her elder's judgement.  
[Yes, my mistress.  It shall be done.]

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	Krocheck squeezed his 'mech back further into the crevice, being as 
cautious as possible to keep his armaments where they could still fire out 
from his defensive position.  He had to take extra care so as to protect his 
backside, which had been ripped open from an assault from behind earlier, 
yet not to cramp his mobility and firing too much; it was a challenge indeed 
even for the best battlemech pilot short of Samhain himself.  And of course 
his presence here was impossible.
	All he could do was sit back, watch, and wait.

************************************************************************

	[We are all in position.] reported the group leader back to her 
superior.  [We are beginning the assault now!]
	With that, she hissed the order to attack.

************************************************************************

	Jones' eyes swept his sensors for about the 100th time in the last 
minute.  Still nothing.  "Damn," he muttered to himself, "where are they?"
	As if in answer to his question, the 2 Devourer battlearmored 
X'hirjq behind him raced in behind him and slashed through the thick armor 
on his legs.  One then leapt up onto the back of his mech and proceeded to 
dig deep into the armor and towards its delicate inner workings with its 
vibro claws.
	"Holy ratfuck!" screamed Jones.  "They've been here all along!  All 
units, cover your backs with fire!"
	His orders were too late, though; all the battlemechs were suffering 
the same fate.  All except for one, that is...

************************************************************************

	The 2 X'hirjq huntresses slipped in as quickly as they could, trying 
to get to the well-protected Jihaddi.
	[He is better protected than the spiny X'horoo'centh,] commented 
the first.
	[Indeed, but he will fall.  He must.] answered the second.

	They soon found out that this one would not fall so easily.  A line 
of autocannon fire sliced a line back and forth across his field of fire.  
And there was nowhere for them to run.
	One of them tried to leap out of the way, only to come back down 
directly in his line of fire again.

************************************************************************

	The entrenched Krocheck heard his commander's screams over his 
headset.  Without thinking, he instantly started spraying the wide-open area 
in front of him with his autocannon, and was rewarded with two blossoming 
explosions of orange where his tracer rounds came to a sudden stop.
	"YESSSSSSSSS!" he cried.  But his excitement was short lived; his 
comrades were being ripped apart all across the field.

	"KROCHECK!  Is that you?" Called Jones' voice over the headset.  
"Whoever you are, you *must* do that which is required!  Do you hear me?  DO 
THAT WHICH IS REQUIRED!"
	"Yes sir," whispered Krocheck, solemnly and sadly.  "I will do that 
which is required," he repeated back the code words that they all hoped 
would never need be said, the words that none hoped they would ever need to 
repeat.

	Krocheck slowly and cautiously punched in the key code sequence to 
link in to all the other Shadowwarrior battlemechs.  Each warrior had a 
sequence of his or her own that would do this, for you never knew who would 
have to do it, who would be left alive to enter it.
	Hot tears flowed down his cheeks as he punched open the comm 
channel, and he cried out over it "JIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" to 
and received a chorus as an answer, "JIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"
	And with that, he pushed the last button.

	He could only sit in his cockpit and watch as little miniature 
mushroom clouds went off all over the field.  Wherever there was a 
battlemech, wherever there was a reactor powering a massive war machine, an 
instantaneous overload took place setting off a chain reaction detonating 
the entire battlemech and ripping it to shreds.
	Shrapnel and flames consumed the attacking X'hirjq instantly, taking 
the lizard lives as quickly and efficiently as they took those of the Jihaddi 
within the suits.

	Krocheck sat and watched as the field glowed, flames burning 
brightly and hot here and there across the field.  His tears flowed freely 
and just as hot down his cheeks.  He had done that which was required.  
	Death before dishonor. 

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	[Impressive,] remarked the X'hirjq assault leader.  [They have 
sacrificed themselves to protect their friends.]
	Even her protege could understand without questioning this time.  
They had died to destroy the attackers rather than fail in their quest to 
defend their comrades in arms.  [These Jihaddi fought well, nobly.]
	[Yes, hatchling.  We shall honor them as well as their sacrifice.  
Call back the remaining Devourers, and we shall perform the ritual of the 
X'hirq'a'al to honor the passing of great warriors.]
	[Yes Mistress.  It shall be done.]

************************************************************************

	Krocheck, his battlemech out of ammunition and badly damaged, 
scanned the field.  He found a gathering of 4 of his comrades who had 
managed to escape their fallen mechs after destroying their attackers, and 
took them into his great metallic hands to carry them to safety.
	"Wait for me!" cried one more as he dashed up, a massive cannon 
swinging at his hip.  Riggins approached, and climbed up onto one of the 
massive feet where he fastened himself securely for the ride.

[Music: "Dust in the Wind," Kansas]

	The rag-tag group of 6 remaining Shadowwarriors climbed to the top 
of a ridge, and stood, honoring their fallen comrades, sunlight washing over 
them.

-fin-

"Daybreak"
Copyright 1996
David R. Hibbs