Shadows of the past (part 3 of 3)

This mission wouldn't be easy, Celt Nurvalkin spared no expense on his personal Angel Cartel army. and his planet side compound deep in angel controlled space was evidence enough.
A Cheetah class covert ops ship aligned to the planet and a single cloaked Caldari-made dropship rocketed for the surface. Inside the dropship sat Kris and Jarik. Outfitted head to toe in rust brown heavy commando suits and flanked my military grade MTACs (Mechanized Torso-actuated Chassis) the two knew that what awaited them on the surface required strength over stealth.
"Jarik," said Kris "what's the plan?"
Jarik looked over at the eager Brutor sitting opposite him, armor gleaming red in the glow of the entry into the atmosphere.
"Secure the landing zone" he said, "Then set up the MTACs"
the intercom chirped,
"We're three minutes out, scopes are clean, we're going in silent."
"Thank you pilot."

The dropship landed 30km from the compound gates, hidden behind a hill.
they disembarked and rushed to the hill to set up their rifles. The gates were headily guarded, tanks, MTACs, and mounted autocannons had a deadly killzone set up in front.
"Kris, deploy the MTACs." Jarik said, "Set yours up for tactical sniper and artillery support" Jarik smiled, "I'll run with anti-infantry." Jarik jumped into his MTAC and felt the armor plates close around him and the specially designed capsuleer interface slip into his implant. Looking around he eyed the equipment he wanted for this op.
"Ready" he heard Kris say over the Comlink.
"Good, take out the autocannons first then drop as many mechanized units as possible."
"Aye Aye Jarik, Elders be with you."

Jarik urged his suit into a full sprint as Kris began firing at the autocannons.
There's the front lines, Jarik thought and began spinning the arm mounted 80mm Chaingun. the combined attack from two front's had the Angel soldiers caught offguard and they quickly fell to the withering fire from Jarik's chaingun. "Jarik, behind you!" Jarik dodged just as an Angel Cartel MTAC suit clobbered the ground where he stood before. Acting quickly he delivered a Crushing blow to the operator's cabin and the MTAC ceased moving. Suddenly the remaining Angel's retreated into the base and the loudspeakers came to life.
"Jarik, my old friend" it was Celt "So good of you to stop by." Jarik switched his feed to broadcast.
"Come out and fight Celt, unless you're as cowardly as I remember..."
"How DARE you call me a coward!" came the angry response "You think a coward could have built all this?"
"You think a coward would have the balls to join the Angels and make an empire?"
Jarik smirked, "Then why don't you face me now Celt? Pick your ass up and prove you're not a coward." Jarik's smile died the instant Celt's MTAC deployed, A full twelve feet taller than his and bristling with heavy weapons.
"How do ya like me now bitch!" Celt screamed as he fired a rocket directly at Jarik.

Kris couldn't believe what he saw, Fuck, that thing must be at least three times the size of Jarik's! He tore off the sniper rifle attached to his MTAC. I need something bigger! That's when he saw it, a 300mm howitzer artillery filled up the place where 4 other MTAC's would have been. It was a spare from the Cheetah and had one round pre-loaded in the barrel. Kris quickly dragged it out and awkwardly mounted it on the back of the MTAC. Aiming for the head of Celt's XHeavy MTAC braced himself for the inevitable destruction of his MTAC when he fired it. "I got your back Jarik" he yelled and activated the weapon.

The sound of the 300mm cannon was deafening, it took exactly .4 seconds to reach the target and when it hit, the small nuclear fission explosion sent all the Radiation alarms off inside Jarik's MTAC, the single shot leveled most of the mansion complex leaving Jarik miraculously preserved under the headless wreck of Celt's MTAC. Jark knew that the a shot that loud had to come from a 300mm howitzer. he sprinted as fast as his damaged MTAC would carry him to the top to discover that what he had feared had been true all that remained of Kris' MTAC were the legs, severed at the knee the rest of the crippled remains were buried in the side of the now defunct dropship. Jarik, tears welling in his eyes, tore the top off of the dropship and extracted the wreckage of an MTAC. Carefully cracking open the cockpit he discovered to his amazement that Kris was alive! "Hey boss" he said weakly "I think my back's broken"
"Nothing a few cloning sessions can't fix" Jarik said beaming, "Thanks for the assist by-the-way."
"I couldn't just let you sit there and die." he responded, "Besides now we don't have to carry all that expensive equipment back with us."
The former pilot of the dropship climbed out of the cockpit nursing a broken arm
"I've taken the liberty of calling the SOE for help, they're about 10 minutes away, and they'll be able to take care of Kris."
Jarik's Comlink chirped, It was from Yitri Ole:
I'm sure he'll be happier to hear it from you Jarik, Kris has been accepted into the Capsuleer program, he's to report directly to the Capsuleer representative at the Republic Military School as soon as possible.
Jarik turned turned the datapad towards Kris' prone form, "Looks like you've gotten what you wanted Kris" Kris' eyes grew wide.
Jarik's mind was on something else however, his past.