Alliance Steel

Take a look into the life of a not-so-ordninary servant of the light!

Topic/Postby Lilandris » 23 Aug 2015, 06:23

Alliance Steel

Well what do you know! A story! Le gasp! :X

I figured it was high time I documented Lil's work as an Auxilliary trooper and tanker for the Alliance military in Draenor with a story. I mean, I've mentioned and referred to it an indecent amount of times, but not written a single story about it. I felt guilty.

But yeah, I know what you're all thinking, especially you Gergel ( :Q ) So you don't have to say it :P -
Shameless, cheeky nerd country follows. :X

Didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped either, but it's something at least. Enjoy!


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Alliance Steel

The Nagrand weather was usually pleasant. Lots of sunshine and dry heat, only a few rainy days in a month. The heat wasn't too harsh either, at least if you were acustomed to the desert or Blackrock Mountain from before. There was a gentle breeze over the rolling plains. The twitter of birds and the occasional bleats from the native talbuk filled the air on this calm and serene day.
Atop her prized siege tank - The Thaurissan Mk. I prototype, Lilandris sat with her back to the rear end of the tank's turret with her eyes closed, enjoying the warm sun on her face and listening to the nearby wildlife outside the gates of the Alliance outpost. At the sound of creaking, armored footsteps approaching, she opened one eye and tilted her head sideways slightly to look at the man who stopped beside her tank.
"The Commander requests your presence in the briefing room, Sergeant."
"Break time is over I guess. Thank you, Corporal, carry on."
The Corporal saluted before marching off. Lil let out a yawn and stretched to wake her limbs up properly.
"Ironsnare!" She spoke over her shoulder towards the open top hatch on the tank.
"Yes, ma'am?" The dwarven man's voice came from within the tank.
"I'm going to see the Commander. Ten silver says he wants us to do an extra patrol of the perimeter."
"Yer on! Ah reckon he rather wants us ta scare off the Clefthooves again, ma'am."
Lil let out a chuckle before she turned herself on her bum and slid off the tank and walked off to the briefing room.

The Commander sat at the desk at the far end of the room when she got there. He raised his eyes slowly from his work at the desk, put the quill in the inkwell and threaded his hands together in front of him.
"Ah, come in, Sergeant."
"New orders, sir? Another patrol I take it?"
"Negative, Sergeant. Bigger I'm afraid. Our forces in Gorgrond have asked for reinforcements, they requested armor, amongst other things."
"Gorgrond? I thought we had that region under control?"
"Not as much as you might think. Especially not around the Blackrock Foundry and the Iron Docks up north. But maintaining what we have and keeping the Iron Horde presence in check is the main goal of the reinforcement. The men up there can probably use some break time as well, and with more hands, there's more space for taking a breather."
"So we're replacing them, sir?"
"No, Sergeant, think of it as giving slack to a strained rope. I want your squad ready to move out in an hour. You're dismissed." He returned his eyes to the papers on his desk and reached for the quill pen.
"Yes, Commander." Lil saluted, then marched out, starting her rounds to rouse the rest of her vehicle squad from their recuperation.

Finally back to her own tank, it was time to make her own preparations. She climbed on top and slid through the hatch, seating herself in the Commander seat.
"How's she doing, Ironsnare?"
"Should be good to go, ma'am. Engine has been oiled up, as well as the instruments."
"Excellent." Lil began testing the instruments that she controlled. She kicked the shell ejector with her left leg. To her surprise an empty shell popped out of the main gun.
"...I guess we missed a spot."
"Dun' ye be blamin' that one on me, ma'am."
"Hey, I said -we- didn't I?" She gave a chuckle before she continued. "Right, ejector is functional... Testing the gun..." She kicked down her right leg on the firing pedal above her footrest. A cacophonous metal clang came from the firing mechanism, as expected on not striking a shell. "Good... Turret..." She began operating the cranks for elevating the gun barrel and turning the turret, doing a 360 degree turn of the turret before lowering the gun barrel back down. "Fully operational.. Nice job, Ironsnare."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"And lastly, radio." She reached up to close the hatch above her then plugged the radio wire into the radio cup on her right ear, - part of her faceplate, then flipped the switch on the cup up.
"Testing, testing, this is Armored Saint, report in, squad." The radio kept its low static humming after she released the button, awaiting response from the other tanks. After a few seconds, the first reply came back. A human man's voice.
"Loud and clear, Armored Saint. Lion's Roar reporting in, we are good to go."
Then the second one. A dwarven lady's voice.
"Acknowledged, Armored Saint. Thundercall reportin' in. We are locked an' loaded and ready ta move out on yer orders."
"Good copy, squad. Form up, single file. The Commander will be with us shortly, no doubt." Lil rose out of her seat and popped the hatch again, looking behind to see Lion's Roar and Thundercall fall in behind her. The Commander hurried across the yard towards them.
"Reporting for duty, Commander, we are good to go." Lil saluted the Commander as he came close, the tank commanders of the other two tanks popped out of their hatches as well to salute and hear what the base Commander had to say.
"Excellent, here's your maps." He tossed a small map package to each commander. "Be careful up there alright? And keep your eyes out through Talador too, yes? I will send word to Fort Wrynn that you guys are rolling through there soon. For the Alliance! May the Light be with you!" He saluted, and the tankers saluted back.
"Yes, sir." Lil turned her head to nod at the other tankers, they nodded back and everyone got back in their tanks.
"Alright Ironsnare, take us out."
"Aye aye, Sergeant."
Lil grinned to herself as the tank rumbled to life and moved out.

The trip through Nagrand and Talador was thankfully uneventful, any undesirable elements so far had kept their distance so far. As they rolled through the triangle where Talador, Tanaan and Gorgrond connected, they spotted a few Iron Horde scouts flying overhead on their wyverns.
"Well, I do believe we're spotted." Lil looked wearily up at them from the hatch.
Ironsnare spoke on the internal line. "You think we're in trouble, Sergeant?"
"Don't think so, if they're looking for anything in particular it's probably not us, anyway. Doesn't hurt to be careful though." She flipped the radio switch on her ear cup and looked back at the other two tanks behind. "We've been spotted by enemy scouts up high. Keep an eye out for anything that might be trouble."
"Acknowledged, Sergeant." The others replied in unison.

As dusk made its presence, they passed the Iron Horde keep serving as gate into Tanaan, it had recently been taken control of by a Horde force. Ironsnare rested his eyes on the structure, just a short distance away off the side of the road.
"Ye think they'll send us intae the jungle soon, Sergeant?"
"I fear that will be the case, yes."
"Not a good place for a tank."
"Certainly not. But I guess the higher ups will make an excuse of testing this here prototype 'rigorously'. Not my place to argue either, even though I can already tell them how that will turn out."
"It's madness, and potentially suicide. We've nae idea what those unfluxed Iron goons got in store fer us in there."
"I'm sure we'll find out, and figure out a way to stay alive."
Lil reached for the signal gun down by the seat.
"I'm gonna signal the Horde over in the keep, in case they're feeling twitchy and mistake us for someone come to fight."
She loaded up a flare and switched on the signal light on the tank. Climbing back up to pop out of the hatch she pointed the signal gun to the sky and fired off. After the Alliance symbol was illuminating the sky above, she grabbed the signal light, giving off a light signal the Horde and Alliance had agreed upon to indicate non-hostility. Still she couldn't shake a bad feeling in her gut; They were technically still the enemy. Familiar, but not friendly. She was relieved however, when the signal was returned.
"That's right, Horde folk. Nothing to see here. Keep rolling, Ironsnare."
"Aye, ma'am."
Lilandris settled back down in her seat, closed the hatch above and turned off the signal light. She got on the radio again with the rest of the squad.
"We'll be resting once we hit Gorgrond, we got to be sharp and ready for that terrain."

The following morning, well rested after a peaceful night, Lil spoke to the other tank commanders.
"We've been ordered to check in with one of our outposts a short ways north-east of here. A bit of a detour, but needs to be done. After that, we resume our main objective; pushing north through the canyons, alright?"
They nodded in response.
"Alright, let's mount up, gentlemen."
Quickly setting off on the road to the outpost, it didn't take long until they could see it in the distance, though something didn't look right. Lil rose out of the top hatch with her spyglass and looked down towards the outpost. It was under attack!
"Double-time it, Ironsnare, the enemy is attacking the outpost!"
She raised the squad on the radio.
"Battle formation everyone, the enemy is spotted dead ahead attacking the outpost. Thundercall, move up and put eyes on them for us. Lion's Roar, keep up and watch the flank."
"Aye, Sergeant, Thundercall on the move." The dwarven lady responded, and shortly after the smaller and faster tank sped past Lil's and charged towards the enemy.
"Ironsnare, get us down to that mound on the left there, that should give us some cover to work from."
Lil loaded up a shell in the gun and begun looking for her first target through the hatch visors, seeing an Iron Horde demolisher at eleven o'clock. She cranked the gun around and looked through the gun sight, lining up the crosshairs on the Demolisher.
"Slow us down a bit, Ironsnare, then floor it after I've shot."
Ironsnare pulled the levers back to slow down, making it less bumpy for Lil to take the shot.
"Here goes nothing. Iron Horde, meet Alliance Steel!" Lil kicked the firing mechanism, and with a loud bang, the shell flew towards its target, easily eating through the lightly armored Demolisher and blowing it to bits. "Kaboom! Weapons free everyone, if they didn't know already, they know we're here now."
Barreling down the slack hill towards the battlefield, Lil ejected the empty shell from the gun, and put it on the empty rack, grabbing a fresh one from the other rack and shoving it into the gun. The hollow metal clunk as the shell was loaded up had become a sound she loved. She started looking for the next target, though the rumbling and shaking of the speeding Thaurissan Mk. II Prototype made it hard to get a clear look at anything. As they reached flat ground, she quickly drew a bead on another demolisher.
"Closing in on the mound now Ma'am!"
"Take us down to the end of it and stop so I can take the shot."
"Aye!"
Lil braced against the momentum of the tank with her right hoof as Ironsnare hit the breaks hard. As the tank stopped wobbling, Lil fired off the shell. Another direct hit, though not as spectacular as the first. No explosion, but the vehicle was definitely put out of commission. Lil quickly loaded another shell with practiced ease, then vehemently cranked the gun back around to point forwards again, peeking out of the visors to see if anyone were taking aim at them. One of the Iron cannons on a ridge a distance ahead was turning towards them.
"Back up! Back up! Evasive maneuvers!"
Ironsnare hit the reverse, and barely a moment later, their previous position was hit by a cannonball, erupting in an explosion and a spray of dirt over them.
"Keep going!" Lil felt her pulse jump to a higher pace in an instant. "Thundercall! You guys able to move up on the ridgeline and take down those cannons?"
"Negative, Ma'am! We're already dodging Iron Stars and cannonballs ourselves!"
Lil looked around through the visors, locating the friendly tank and their attackers, spotting the cloud of dust from what could be none other than the agile friendly to their right over the dirt mound.
"Stand by, Thundercall, Armored Saint will attempt to assist!"
"In your own time, Ma'am, we are in deep! We're attractin' a lot o' attention!"
"Ironsnare, take us all the way back to the other end of the mound and turn us towards the field!"
At the other end, Lil had a clear shot at one of the Iron Star launchers giving Thundercall trouble. Lobbing a shell at them splintered the wood and caused the Iron Star to careen off to the left towards friendly lines.
"That's one! Reloading! Floor it Ironsnare, get us out of this ditch!"
They sped across the field towards Thundercall, veering away from enemy fire. Lil took aim at another target, though a bump in the terrain caused the shell to connect with the dirt instead of the target.
"Damn it!"
She quickly proceeded to reload to take another shot, this time making a satisfying, direct hit on the enemy.
"That's it, Thundercall, you're clear!"
"'Preciate it, Armored Saint, good shooting, heading for the ridge now!"
"Roger! Lion's Roar, move in to assist Thundercall ASAP."
"Acknowledged, Armored Saint, moving on target. Be advised, you got ground troops moving in on you."
"Ground troops?" Lil barely had time to think about it before she heard a clang of metal connecting with her tank's chassis, followed by the thud of someone landing on it. Someone had grapple-hooked onto them.
"Hitching a ride are we?" Lil drew her revolver from her thigh and pointed it towards the top hatch above her. She cocked it and as the sound of the orc on the outside came close to the hatch, she rose quickly, slamming the hatch open, and luckily catching the face of the orc with it. He staggered in the pain, trying to keep his footing, giving Lil enough time to shoot him in the face. His limp body tumbled off the side of the tank. The next moment, another orc made a similar attempt at attack. Though as soon as she landed on the tank, Lil gave her a shot in the face as well.
"Keep your grubby boots off my tank, you mongrels!"
As shots began to whiz by in return, she quickly ducked back inside the tank and closed the hatch.
"Get us into some cover, Ironsnare!"
"Aye Ma'am!"

After only a few more meters however, a large projectile connected with the tank, giving a loud sing of metal and giving the tank a good shake. Lil was a little dazed by the impact, but that was the least of her concerns as the tank immediately ground to a halt, sliding it's rear out to the right.
"Our left track has come off Ma'am! We're sittin' murlocs here!"
"At least our front is pointed towards the enemy!" Lil quickly scoured their immediate surroundings for approaching threats, while getting on the radio again.
"This is Armored Saint, we're hit! We're hit! We need immediate assistance!"
To Lil's relief, she could see the enemy cannons on the ridge had their hands full with her two squad mates. But more ground troops were closing in on them, there was no way Lil could fend them all off on her own. She cranked the gun around to take a shot at the approaching group of grunts, taking a chunk of them out. Frantically she began reloading. Trying her best to keep cool-headed.
"Ironsnare, grab the belly gun, open fire!"
The dwarf began firing off the gun mounted next to him, the steady thumps of repeating shots causing a loud racket inside the tank. Lil fired off another shot at the grunts. They were getting dangerously close. Suddenly the radio gave off static and an unfamiliar voice came from it, she assumed it was the fort commander.
"Armored Saint, hold your fire, footmen are in position to assist you! Repeat: footmen are moving in!"
"Roger that, sir! Holding fire!"
Right then a large group of footmen ran past the tank on either side, charging the enemy head on. What a relief. But now was no time to sit back.
"Stigander! Get the tools, we need to fix that track!"
They quickly exited the tank. Hastily assessing the damage, they saw part of the track had slid off to the side a little, jamming the wheel. Lil grabbed a sledgehammer from the tool rack on the tank's exterior and began to knock it back into place. Ironsnare began replacing a piece of the track further down that had been completely ravaged from the shot that hit them.
"Bah! Who's idea was it to put tracks on instead of wheels!?" The dwarf yelled in frantic frustration.
"Shut up and fix it, Stigander! That shot would have shredded a metal wheel anyway!" With a final knock with the sledgehammer, the track slid back into place on the wheel.
"Yeah yeah wotever!"
Lil rushed over to help Ironsnare with the replacement, she prayed every second that they wouldn't be hit by enemy fire out here.
An excruciatingly long moment later, Ironsnare yelled out in a tiny celebration.
"Wohoo! I got it!"
"Alright, back in!"
Not a second later, enemy shots came at them, most of them connecting with the tank's hull. But Ironsnare cried out in pain.
"Ack! they got me! Dwarf down!"
"Damn it! We need to get back inside the tank!" Lil quickly grabbed the dwarf on the ground dragging him with her behind the tank.
"You could stand to eat a little less from the field rations, Stigander!"
"Gnnngh, bite me Sarge! Aaaagh!"
"Work with me here!" Lil pushed the dwarf up on top of the hull before climbing up herself. "I know you're in pain, but just get in there! Take my seat I'll get us out of here!"
With some assistance, the dwarf managed to get down through the top hatch. Lil closed the hatch from the outside, quickly moving down to the driver's hatch and hopping inside. She quickly moved the seat back to make room for her larger stature and hit the engine ignition. She turned around to face Ironsnare behind her as best she could, chanting her holy magics to relieve his pain and heal the wound a little, though more would be necessary to keep him alive. They needed to get out of the battle. Lil turned back forwards and firmly grasped the driving levers on either side of the seat. She pushed both of them hard forwards. The engine rumbled and the tracks screeched as the tank got moving again. The relief was unimaginable.
"We're heading into the base!"
Ironsnare responded with something feverish and incoherent that could be either a prayer or a drinking song, or both.
Pulling the left lever back, she made the tank turn left and headed for the fort gates. More Alliance troops were taking to the field. The fort was firing ballistae at the enemy still, but by the looks of it, the enemy would be driven on the run soon. Lil couldn't help but worry about her squad mates on the ridge. She mouthed prayers as she drove, her knuckles going white as she anxiously clutched the levers, guiding the rumbling tank to the fort. As she expected, the gates were closed. She stopped the tank, then crawled back to Ironsnare to use the radio.
"Damn it, Stigander, you're bleeding all over the place!"
He kept on with his feverish praying/singing, clearly in shock. Lil plugged into the radio again, attempting to make contact with the fort commander again.
"Open the gates! We're in need of medical assistance!"
There was a short reply from the commander, then the gates opened. Lil quickly returned to the driver's seat and drove inside the fort, hearing the sound of victory trumpets as she entered. The battle was over.
Signatur defekt, techniker ist informiert
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Lilandris
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