[ IP ] The complete works of Jakub Rozalski

The Chimera class walker stepped through the barren fields. The war had ravaged this land and not but torn up dirt remained. The war touched not just the land, but the walker as well. One of its six legs dragged across the ground, its hydraulics destroyed. After a day of walking south, away from the clashing armies, the walker came to a halt. 
 
 It had been snowing the entire journey, at least two feet of snow rested on the ground. Steam rolled off the walker as the snow melted and evaporated. A metal shell topped by a box with viewing windows is what made up the walker. While fully standing from the ground to the top of the walker it was about 100 feet. Holes along the side allowed for soldiers to shoot out from. The main gun a large 406mm M2020, the massive gun was mainly used to down Titan class walkers and sometimes to break down walls. Today though it would n't be used for anything, the main gun had been hit by a stray high caliber projectile and had destroyed it beyond field repair. 
 
 The walker started to lower itself to the ground, this allows the crew to easily access the ground without having to climb down the legs. It got to about half before the broken leg stopped its progress. A hatch opened near the top of the walker and a soldier climbed out. He wore engineers clothing, a beige jumpsuit with oil stains all over. His belt held various tools as well as a hand gun and a few extra magazines. He climbed down the observation box and onto the walkers top surface. The surface was slippery with melting snow and he slipped a bit but made it to the side where the ladder was. The soldier climbed down the side to a small metal ledge, made for engineers to access the leg engines. He leaned over the railing and looked at the broken leg, bent in half and jammed underneath the walker. 
 
 The soldier walked down the length of the walkway and to the back. He opened a box along the side, after picking up the phone he spoke. 
 
 “ God damn Henry, its fucking stuck. ” The soldier leaned back against the railing. “ What do you mean what is? The fucking leg, what else could I possibly be talking about. ” The soldier slammed the phone back onto its holder and closed the box, it must have been broken because it just swung open again. The soldier groaned and leaned to close it again. He walked over to one of the legs and climbed over the railing and onto the leg. It had rungs down the sides to help aid climbing, but it was slippery and hard climbing. It took him a minute to safely climb down. When he got to the ground he was thigh high in deep snow but he shuffled under the walker and yelled up. 
 
 “ Open the fucking hatch please! ” The soldier cupped his hands around his mouth as he yelled. Right after he finished speaking a small hatch opened and young mans face greeted the soldier. Even half way lowered to the ground the hatch was still 30 feet above the ground. “ Lower the ladder, green. ” As he asked the ladder started to lower down to the ground, it stopped short about seven feet off the ground. “ Wheres the rest? ” The soldier on the ground asked. 
 
 “ Its not meant to be lowered from this high off the ground, that's all there is sir! ” The young soldier started to climb down the ladder. When he got to the bottom he hopped off and landed on his back in the snow. He got up and wiped the snow off his jumpsuit, another engineer. “ What is the issue? Can we fix it? ” 
 
 “ Can we fucking fix it, can we fix it he asks. ” The other soldier mumbled to himself as he walked over to the broken leg. He looked up at it. “ Do you have knowledge of an allied factory that is around here Williams? Because if you do I would be glad to bring this walker over there and let them fix it. Here, all we can do is detach the thing and hope we do n't lose another leg. ” The soldier climbed up the broken leg and started looking it over. 
 
 “ What happened? ” Williams asked as he walked over. 
 
 “ A shell hit the leg around here. ” The soldier pointed to a damaged portion of the leg. “ Half a foot up or half a foot down and we would have been okay. The damn thing hit right in a kink in the armor, tore right through to the damn hydraulics. The leg is shot. Get up here with me I need some help shedding the armor so we can get the leg detached. ” He climbed even further up the leg to the top and reached for one of his tools and began to work on the leg. 
 
 Williams climbed up the leg to help. He got there just as the other soldier got one of the panels off. He handed it to Williams, who tossed it into the snow on the ground. “ The tricky part of releasing one of the legs is it takes two engineers. Some sort of anti-tampering mechanic or something. Get on the other side of the leg and take off that panel. ” He pointed to the other side of the leg. 
 
 “ Got it off sir. ” Williams said as he tossed the panel aside. “ What now? ” 
 
 “ Now the next part is going to be really dangerous. Its a last case scenario to take a leg off due to the danger of the releasing. ” He climbed over to Williams. “ This here, this is the release nut. We both have to turn them clockwise. Once it cant move anymore you press this lever here and the leg will release. We have it lowered as far as the machine can go so it wont fall away right away, but as soon as you press this lever get the fuck off the leg. We do n't want to be on it when it falls. Get off the leg and watch it, if you see it start to lean towards you get out of the way. ” He climbed over to his side. “ Are you ready? ” 
 
 “ Yes sir. ” Williams replied. 
 
 “ Also, stop calling me sir. I'm just an engineer, call me Hanson. ” Hanson told him. 
 
 “ I'm ready, Hanson. ” 
 
 “ All right, three. Two. One. ” They both turned their tools and pressed the lever. Immediately after the thing started to fall. “ Dammit, hold on green! ” The leg started to tip away from the walker. Luckily the two were not underneath when it landed. They hopped off the leg and into the snow. The walker leaned and corrected itself. “ Alright. Get up that ladder and bring the ladder up. Go tell the lead engineer that it's ready to be lowered all the way. ” Before Williams could move an explosion knocked the two soldiers onto the ground. The walker had been hit by a large shell and started to tip to the side, away from the soldiers. The pilot tried to correct itself but being lowered it lost some of its control and fell to the side. 
 
 “ Williams! Were being attacked, get up. ” Hanson was leaning over Williams shaking him. “ Get up! ” He helped Williams up and they looked over to the tree line on the hill. Soldiers were pouring from the forest. A couple small gorilla class bi-pod walkers accompanied them. “ Its a small force, more than we can take though. Get behind the walker! ” They started to move around the walker and just got around as a few rounds tore through the air. A few seconds slower and they would have been filled with holes. 
 
 “ Henry! Can you hear me? ” Hanson yelled into the viewing box. The glass windows had shattered from the fall. 
 
 “ Hanson! Is that you? ” A voice called from inside the walker. A figure climbed out from a window. He was an old man with a blond beard. He wore a gray coat down to his black boots. A holster was just visible at his side, sticking out from the coat. He wore a special helmet signifying his place as captain. It was white with face guards down the side to help protect from shrapnel. 
 
 “ Captain Marmonte, is Hanson in there? ” Hanson asked. 
 
 “ Yea, hes going through the walker trying to help the men. ” 
 
 “ What happened? I thought the enemy were n't this far south. ” 
 
 “ I guess they were tracking us, damn them. A titan class is over the tree line, we wont have to worry about it, but it shot over the trees and nailed us in our side. I'm surprised I survived, it was so loud and hot in there. ” The captain brushed snow off his coat. He walked over to the window again and looked inside. “ Everyone out! Weapons ready! Get on top of this walker and prepare for a fight. ” He turned back towards Hanson and Williams. “ What did you see? How many men? ” 
 
 “ At least a hundred men, and there we more coming out of the forest. I counted five bi-pods before I got around the side. They were gorilla class, so quick and not heavily armed. We might be able to fend them off for a bit, but not for long. We need to get out of here. I would say we have about ten minutes before they get down the hill. Maybe more, maybe less. The snow is thick. ” 
 
 “ We wont make it, we stay and fight. We are a couple miles from the designated point. They would have heard the explosion from the titan's shot, they are most likely scrambling hunter class this way. I would suspect about half an hour till they get here. If we can hold em off for that long well be golden. ” The captain leaned in and shouted. “ Rifles, three of em. Get some extra ammo. ” Three rifles were handed through the glass and a box of ammo came with them. “ Take these and get up on the walker. Find a spot where you can safely pick soldiers off. Start taking shots as soon as you are confident you can hit them. We hold this spot for as long as we can. See that farm house back there? ” He pointed behind them towards a small farm house with a barn in the distance. “ That's our fall back point. If shit goes south we retreat to there. Ill send some boys over there to start defenses and get them away from the bulk of the fight. We have a lot of greens on board and I do n't want to be responsible for their deaths. I promised you all when we left that Id get you all home. Now get up there, hurry. ” The captain walked around the observation box and got out of sight.
