***The events of this segment take place shortly before part 7 of the 
battle for TRES HQ.  --Samhain

Vanishing Shadows
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

	Cyberpyro could only stand and watch as the Shadowwarriors, clad 
in their immense battlemechs, moved away into the gathering darkness.  
And he couldn't help but marvel at how they all seemed to disappear 
into nowhere--he'd shift his gaze from one to another for a brief instant 
only to return his gaze to where the first had been a few seconds 
ago only to see not a trace of the hulking mass of steel or of 
the warrior encased therein.  These guys--and gals--were absolutely amazing, 
the best at this.  It was obvious from the way they vanished into the 
gathering shadows that they could only have been trained and taught by 
one person... one friend, who had been beheaded by these vile invaders.  
He choked back the anger, pain, and rage at the memory of the sight of 
the head on his viewscreen.  That friend had just saved his life, through 
his work and faith.  Perhaps it was NOT all over... for if Samhain's 
legacy lived on in the form of these warriors, the X'hirjq had not been 
successful in their attempt to destroy everything that he had struggled 
to build.  It was not in vain... they WOULD win... they MUST...

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

	Riggins and Hemley, now without their battlemechs after they
sustained severe damage in the battle with the Jello-Beasts and 
consequently sending them off into the advancing X'hirjq lines, set off 
in their own direction.  They kept themselves separated from the 
remaining battlemechs, who had headed off to hide in the rocky crevases 
of the mountains surrounding the base, opting to wreak a little havoc 
of their own.
	The two colleagues set off towards the front lines of the 
battle, knowing that those self-same lines were falling back towards 
them as they advanced, scorching the ground behind them.  Well, the 
ground was about to get a little more scorched than the hodge-podge of 
defenders would ever dream of...

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

	Jones, the mission commander, led the group of 48 battlemechs 
into the mountains, and directed them to spread out as far apart as 
possible while remaining within their limited communications 
range--limited because their communicators, operated in spread-spectrum 
and extremely high frequency bursts.  It was all encrypted, of course, 
but the limited range of their transmissions further aided in protecting 
their signals and preventing detection.  Of course, it also limited the 
distance from which they could pass information to each other, but it was 
a small tactical loss.
	Each Mech operator took up a place in the shadows among the rocks 
and crevases along the mountains, then crouched down to wait for their 
time to attack again as the snow gathered and whirled around their massive 
machines, rapidly cooling them and hiding their distinctive thermal traces.

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

	[Mistress,] called the X'hirjq assigned to watch the new 
defenders who had so suddenly dropped in, and then proceded to squash 
their allies like a particularly troublesome beetle under their feet.  
[The newly-arrived mechanized defenders are pulling back into the 
mountains.  I can track them with the thermal imagers easily for now, 
but they are cooling and the trails are disappearing fast.  They will 
soon be untraceable.]
	[No matter; they will show themselves again and then they shall 
die like the rest of these prey.  But it shall be entertaining...]

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

	Riggins and Hemley rummaged in their gear packs for their laser cutters 
and set about slicing through the top layer of frozen ground.  They 
then proceeded to dig down further with picks and shovels, making two separate 
man-sized foxholes in the middle of the wide open field. Very soon, the 
forces of rag-tag defenders would retreat across their positions leaving 
them behind, giving them little choice other than to work fast.  They dug 
their holes, then quickly thatched together roofs of the frozen ground, being 
careful to insure their strength, and covered them with snow.  After 
slapping the 3 clips of mixed shells into their APATHY launchers, the 
two ShadowWarriors dropped down into their holes, gear and ammo 
beneath them and roof overhead, to wait.

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

	The defenders had no choice; the X'hirjq were too many and too 
strong.  It was time again to scorch the earth and move backwards to the 
next battle line, taking as many X'hirjq down in the process and leaving 
as few of their own behind as possible...

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

	The two Shadowwarriors-turned-foxes hunkered down in their holes, 
and listened as explosions, screams, gunfire, and footsteps passed 
overhead.  They were safe in their holes for now, but soon they would be 
sitting in the middle of enemy territory. 

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

"Vanishing Shadows"
Copyright 1996
David R. Hibbs