IIOD monitored the canyon's illumination and the explosive turmoil below from deep inside the high crags above.  They dared not engage the adversaries below until more information could be gathered.  Commander Edwards' company was dropped from the Jumpship along with many others from Solaris.  They were all on the same team now….  And exactly who they were fighting, no one knew for sure. 

 The Information available while in transit was scarce at best.  Twycross, a world long held by the Federated Commonwealth was none the less a perimeter world and bordered near Kurita boundaries and uncharted space.  These foes they observed below in the canyon were definitely not Combine units… and the colossal dreadnoughts that were orbiting the planet were unlike anything ever even conceived of by Inner Sphere engineers. 

 "They come from beyond the periphery," Colonel Jamie Wolf addressed the contingent of mechwarriors keyed into the Dragoons' Priority battleground commchannel-359. 

 "They are the Clans…" Wolf paused a moment to let the name sink in. 

 "We’ve actually known about them for some time.  We knew they were coming, but not when or where.  And we knew it would be a crushing incursion into our space."

 "They are here on Twycross, and the invasion has begun.  Who they are fighting however, none of Wolf’s Dragoons intelligence or reconnaissance missions have been able to gather."

 As Wolf continued talking, a streaking light caught Wallart’s attention as its trajectory was heading right into his direction.

 "Sorry to interrupt Colonel," Wallart keyed up his own comm-link over Wolfs.  "We have a situation here, seems our hideaway has been sniffed out! Projectiles coming our way… Take evasive action."

 In a matter of seconds the blur however could be made out… it was some type of aerospace fighter flying at him out of control bellowing smoke and fire out its aft end.  His targeting computer could not put a match on the design.

 Wallart stepped the Atlas back into the canyon outcropping to avoid the collision. 

 As the aerofighter neared the ground, it began to contort and change shape.  The fighter was transforming into a battlemech!  And it roughly landed in the space Wallart had been occupying only seconds before.  Stunned, Wallart withheld the fire trigger on the autocannon. 

 The damaged VF1-A, Alpha Class Veritech fighter hastily transformed to Battloid mode to avoid crashing into the precipice.  The pilot had taken on some sort of energy surge out in space, which knocked out its primary power system.  Damaged on entry into the planet's atmosphere and caught between random laser fire the Veritech lost all navigation sensors.  The pilot ace relied on sheer skill and emergency power to guide the craft to the ground. 

 With a spotlight aimed at the mech in front of him, Wallart saw the cockpit open, and watched the pilot's eyes bulge as he did a double take looking to the head of the Atlas.  After a half-second, he waved his hands in a gesture of friendship. 

 Wallart waved the massive fist of the Atlas with mutual regard and then pointed the Gauss gun it was holding directly at the tiny human form in front of him. 

 He punched up the external loud speaker, and adjusted the frequency response of the pickups as well. 

 "Identify yourself!"

 "Commander Max Sterling, Robotech Defense Force.  Who might you be? And can somebody tell me what in the hell is going on around here?"