Star Captain Malcom Jorgensson cut hard to the left in his battle-scarredTurkina. The 95-ton machine was surprisingly manueverable for its size, and Jorgensson took full advantage of it. The Combine Avatar shot past him, and Malcolm cut in his targeting computer. The computer's blue crosshairs lined up with the black and starred machine's back. Jorgensson pulled back on both of his arm triggers, sending two sapphire coherent blasts and twin streams of verdant energy into the enemy machine. A secondary explosion gouted from the right side of the Combine OmniMech, whiting out the thermal sensor as the blast consumed the machine's extralight fusion reactor.
Scanning his tactical sensors, the remains of his Trinary, now numbering less than two Stars, were brawling with the remnants of two Genyosha companies. Even as he watched, a Point of Elementals swarmed up the sides of a Lynx ripping at the stubby turret-shaped right arm. The Elementals ripped at the base of the extended-range PPC. Dropping the right-arm crosshairs over the small rounded head of the Combine machine, he triggered the twin extended-range large lasers. The first beam struck only a glancing blow, frying armor off the small structure. The second finished the job, turning the Combine pilot into a torch.
As the machine plowed into the ground, Jorgensson felt a heavy impact strike his machine, then the Turkina tipped forward. Throwing the birdlike machine's arms forward, he barely managed to stabilize the staggering OmniMech. Glancing at the damage schematic, he found a red splotch across the back of his machine, directly behind the fusion engine. A breach was dumping atomic fire into the guts of the Omni, and the pulse laser in the center torso had been knocked out. Turning to face the attacker, one of the last Combine machines, he lined his machine's fearsome weapons complement up with the enemy Atlas' center-of-mass. He pulled every trigger in his cockpit, sending an eye-searing mass of laser light into the chest of the Combine machine just as it fired a swarm of missiles and lasers.
The next thing Jorgensson knew, his Turkina was lying on its face, tree-like left leg torn off at the hip, left arm lying loose and dysfunctional ten meters from the downed machine. The head had been struck by a large laser, which seared its viewport almost shut. One of the few systems still functioning was the tactical screen, which showed four green contacts converging on his position. He heard a clanging and screeching as metal tore loose from its supports. Watching a patch of armor peel back from the top of the cockpit, he saw the armored head of an Elemental come into view. "Star Captain, we won. The remains of the Combine battalion is in full retreat. We lost most of the Trinary, however." Despite the crippling injuries he had taken in the fall, Jorgensson said, "Excellent, Point Commander. What of Star Commander Jessica?"
The Elemental bowed its armored head, and said, in a regretful tone, "She was crippled by the same Combine Atlas that you killed. Our medics are just now working on her."
Then he passed out, awakening in a bed, IV tubes in his wrist and a lightweight cast on his arm. He turned his head, groaning as a dagger of pain shot up his spine. The figure in the next bed was over 2 meters tall, much too big to be Jessica. He looked over at the opposite bed, spotting the quiet form of his second-in-command as she laid undisturbed. He noticed one eye open, then she turned her head towards him, and smiled. Malcom smiled back and closed his eyes. "After all, not all wars are won on the battlefield," he thought to himself as his eyes closed and he slipped into sleep.