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[Bill Bullet]

Prologue
Bolan City, Bolan II
Lyran Alliance, Federated CommonWealth
3060

When people think of a meeting between spies, they think of dark rooms in seedy locations or rainy nights in empty warehouses. Such notions are why Cameron Yun liked to arrange such meetings in a 4-star restaurant in the middle of the day. Another popular notion the public had was that the typical spy is supposed to be dashing and look like a man of action. The men sitting across from Cameron looked like office clerks, their off the rack suits perhaps a season or so out of fashion, and their faces bland. “These two look like any of the other thousands of office workers in this city, in other words totally forgettable if not invisible.” thought Cameron to himself. The notions and ideas of the general public shielded Cameron as well. If any patron here were asked if they had seen a Demi-Precentor of ComStar, they’d answer truthfully that they had not, for they had seen no one wearing the mystical robes or even the white and gold tailored business suits that ComStar personnel now favored.

Picking a speck of lint off his blazer Cameron thought he looked rather like a librarian or professor at the local college, the padded elbows and thick spectacles he wore complimenting his look. Reaching down and picking up a worn leather briefcase, Cameron placed it before him and addressed his companions. “Gentlemen thank you for coming on such short notice, the sudden changes in your upper management must make things rather stressful at home.” The shorter of the two men tensed visibly, but his compatriot simply laughed and leaned forward casually. “Come now Mr. Yun, our management problems pale in comparison to the split your…family business has undergone. The loss of your home office must have been quite a blow.” Now it was Cameron’s turn to wince. The men in front of him were members of MI4, the Federated Suns “Stealthy Foxes”. With the sudden abdication of Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion in favor of her older sister Archon Princess Katrina Steiner of the Lyran Alliance, the staunchly Davion Department of Military Intelligence was now technically under command of the woman who had shattered the Federated CommonWealth. He had made the comment about “changes in upper management” to get a rise out of them and instead had been reminded of his own problems.

The “split in the family business” referred to the schism with the Word of Blake over the secularization of ComStar and the “loss of the home office” referred to the disastrous loss of Terra itself to Word of Blake forces. The total surprise that the Word of Blake had been able to achieve had resulted in quite a few heads rolling in ComStar’s own intelligence unit, ROM. Conceding the fact that he had lost this particular round of verbal fencing, Cameron opened the case before him and pulled out a data file. “My business rivals are what bring me here today. Our lack of manpower and the business venture on the Periphery has forced me to ask for your help.” Sliding the data file over, Cameron continued as the pair began to read through it. “My rivals have recently acquired some assets that my own business sorely needs. I need you to obtain these assets for me.” This time Cameron was pleased to see both men’s eyes widen with shock. “This is a big job.” Said the smaller agent “And the…business venture on the Periphery has tied up quite a lot of our most able manpower as well. What’s in it for us?”

Cameron steepled his fingers in front of him and leaned back in his chair, “If you acquire them for me, I am authorized to purchase these assets from you…at twice their market value. My rivals are denied their use and your own business obtains funds that will no doubt help your old manager.” The split with the Word of Blake had seen the most talented ROM agents defect to their side and Operation Bulldog, the “business venture” set to destroy Clan Smoke Jaguar had stretched ROM even thinner. Cameron needed all the help he could get and he knew that Katrina Steiner would no doubt begin to slash the operating funds of the DMI, if not purge it entirely. So a large amount of cash would be needed to aid the DMI in the coming future, if it had one at all. The taller agent looked at the data file, then back at Cameron. “Mr. Yun, this will be one hell of gamble, but you have yourself a deal.”

Chapter 1
Unknown Planet

“Break left, break left!”
“Requesting LRM support grid Alpha-2-4!”
“How’d they get behind us?!”
“This is Valiant 2, I’m hit!”

“Valiant 2 this is Brave Actual, move to grid Hotel-4-1, my lance will lay down cover fire.” Leftenant Julia Morris consulted the map in front of her and the tactical situation it presented. She did not like what she saw. Her company was surrounded on three sides and being harassed by a constant stream of LRM fire from the left flank. As it stood, her unit’s only escape route was across the river to their rear. “The moment we try crossing that, they’ll charge forward and cut us to pieces. We’ll suffer at least 85% casualties and fail the mission.” Giving the map one last look she formulated her plan and keyed up her mike. “Courage Actual this is Brave Actual. I’m sending you coordinates, move your lance along that route at top speed and report in.” Changing frequencies Julia continued. “Valiant 2 and 4, Brave 2 and 3, form a firing line in grid Hotel-4-2. Concentrate fire on anyone who comes over the ridge and keep an eye out for hostile UAVs. Hold here till my signal.”

No sooner were the words out of her mouth when the first enemy Mech crested the ridge in front of her. Centering the sights of her Dervish-7D, she waited a half second after the crosshairs registered a lock before firing. The emerald green of her two medium lasers struck the enemy in the chest, turning the armor plates into molten goo that fell off the target. Milliseconds later, the twin volleys from her arm-mounted SRM-2s impacted the same spot. The explosions knocked the enemy back and pin wheeling its arms in a human like fashion, it teetered for a moment before falling backwards out of sight. “Great shot Tower, the dreg never knew what hit him!” Julia quickly snapped back, “Valiant 4! Keep the comms clear!” The offending MechWarrior, Leftenant Ryan “Rusty” Binns was undaunted as usual, an overly cheery “Yes ma’am!” his only reply.

Julia had no idea what he had to be happy about. Rusty’s StarSlayer was in terrible shape. He had gotten caught in a heavy LRM barrage and only by sacrificing his Mech’s arms had he been able to shield his torso and protect the twin Large Lasers that made up his primary armament. However, the loss of limbs had not protected him from all damage, and now his armor was more theory than actual fact. One wrong move and his Mech would be vaporized, most likely before he had a chance to punch out.

A whole lance of enemy Mechs came rushing over the ridge this time and Julia was forced to forget Rusty’s problems, so focused was she on keeping herself alive. Alternating fire between her SRMs and her Medium Lasers, Julia backed her Dervish toward the river, keeping an eye on the range indicator underneath her crosshairs. Her movement brought her to the attention of one of the enemy Mechs and it leveled the auto-cannon in its arm at her and fired. The stuttering roar of AC/5 rounds against her left side and had Julia fighting the controls and gravity to keep her Mech upright as a ton of armor was jackhammered away. The neuro-helmet on her head linked her natural sense of balance to the gyro in the heart of her Dervish and she was able to keep the 55-ton war machine from crashing to the ground.

Just as her Mech reached the water’s edge she heard the ping of a weapons lock. Clicking the safety off her control stick, Julia pulled the trigger and fired her main weapon. With a thunderous whoosh that drowned out even the impacts of the AC/5, the two LRM-15s on her chest launched towards her antagonist. Controlled by the Artemis firing computer and fired at their minimum range, the majority of the salvo hit the enemy Mech with only a few missiles impacting the ground around it. Before she had a chance to assess the damage, her radio crackled to life. “Brave Actual this is Courage Actual. We are in position; I repeat we are in position.” Julia allowed herself a smile of relief. “Roger that Courage Actual. Valiant Lance, Brave Lance, charge the enemy’s position on our right flank then wheel left. Let’s end this.”

Edited by Bill Bullet, 28 March 2015 - 06:55 PM.

[Bill Bullet]

Chapter 2
Bolan City, Bolan II
Melissa Steiner Martial Academy of Bolan

“And end it you did Leftenant Morris. Having your recon lance go up the river then come out behind Red team’s Mechs on the left flank was a risky move, but it worked. Shot in the back, they began to panic and when Leftenant Aldrin shifted his forces you were able to overwhelm his right flank then roll his company up when you hit his exposed side.” Hauptmann-Kommandant Douglas Rourke rearranged the papers in front of him and cleared his throat. “You eliminated the enemy company and destroyed the objective, however…” spitting Julia with a glare Rourke continued “…your unit sustained over 68% casualties with yourself among them. Now tell me Leftenant, how exactly am I supposed to grade this performance?”

Julia stared straight ahead, her eyes boring a hole into the wall behind the Hauptmann-Kommandant’s head. “Sir, Red Team was able to lure my unit into an ambush somehow. Escaping would have resulted in higher casualties and we would have failed the objective. My attack plan took into account that Leftenant Aldrin favors massed LRM bombardment from one side and as such he would group all his LRM heavy Mechs in one place to lure my main body towards them so we could be hit in the rear. By attacking that lance from an unexpected direction, I could get him to move early and instead outflank him. The relatively fresh state of his Mechs compared to mine inevitably meant that I would sustain heavy casualties so that was also factored in. My own demise, while not a favorable outcome, was also calculated since Leftenant Aldrin would order his troops to concentrate fire on me in an attempt to sway the battle in his favor.”

“Very well, you are dismissed Leftenant Morris.” With a wave of his hand Rourke concluded the debriefing. Biting her lip, Julia hesitated. “Yes Leftenant?” Rourke looked up from his desk. “Sir, I would like to know how exactly Leftenant Aldrin was able to ascertain my position during the exercise. He didn’t have a single recon Mech in his company and our approach was…” Rourke cut Julia off with another imperious wave of his hand. “No doubt you tipped him off during your approach Leftenant, I’m sure Leftenant Aldrin would like to keep some of his tactics secret, especially since you are able to…”factor in” his decisions so easily. You are dismissed.” This time the Hauptmann-Kommandant’s tone left no room for hesitation. Squaring her shoulders, Julia turned on her heel and marched off.

“Hmph, not bad for a Davion, too bad I wasn’t able to smoke her myself.” muttered Leftenant Oscar Aldrin, the leader of Red team. Rourke stood up from his desk and slammed his hands down on the stack of after action reports. “You incompetent fool!” he hissed. “I gave you her company’s exact position and line of travel and she still beat you! I gave you the list of Mechs her and her men were piloting and she still out fought you! The best soldiers in this academy, true Lyrans all were in your company and SHE. STILL. BEAT. YOU.” His venom apparently spent, Rourke sat back in his chair. “The Archon Princess has ordered the reformation of the 2^nd FedCom RCT and this Academy is to provide her with the soldiers to do that. Undesirables loyal to Victor Davion and the Federated Suns are to be denied assignments to this unit so that the Archon may have another force entirely loyal to her if by some chance her brother returns from the Clan Wars. Yet to deny those positions outright would cause unrest throughout the Federated CommonWealth at a time when the Archon Princess needs it stable.”

Standing up Rourke walked around his desk till he was standing in front of Leftenant Oscar. “As loyal subjects to House Steiner we cannot allow that to happen.” Placing his hand on Oscar’s shoulder he pitched his voice low, forcing Oscar to lean close. “As such I have gathered all the MechWarriors and other personnel with mixed or misplaced loyalties and placed them in 3^rd company under Leftenant Morris. Now all I need do is to find some way to disgrace her or justify the reasons why I would deny her and the rest of 3^rd company advancement. At the same time proving the loyalty and superiority of our Lyran MechWarriors” Suddenly the grip on Oscar’s shoulder tightened like a vice. “AND I CAN’T DO THAT WHEN THE MEN UNDER MY COMMAND ARE INCAPABLE OF BEATING HER IN A RIGGED TRAINING EXERCISE!” Jerking back in shock, Oscar was spared a humiliating fall on his rump when he crashed into the filing cabinets behind him.

Rourke looked like he was about to continue when the intercom on his desk suddenly beeped. “Hauptmann-Kommandant, there are two men here to see you sir.” Stalking over to his desk Rourke straightened his uniform before pressing the button, the tone of his voice now completely devoid of its earlier rage. “I wasn’t expecting any visitors Sergeant, did they state their business?” The sergeant of the other end answered quickly. “No sir, they said its need-to-know only…uhh their credentials check out sir, they’re from Loki.” Rourke’s eyes widened with shock but he quickly composed himself. “Very well Sergeant, send them in, I doubt you could have stopped them anyway.”

Moments later two men walked into the office and stood before the Hauptmann-Kommandant who was once again seated. “Well gentlemen,” he said. “What can I do for you?” The taller of the two Loki agents grinned at Rourke almost wolfishly. “Hauptmann-Kommandant, we need to borrow your army for a robbery.”

Edited by Bill Bullet, 28 March 2015 - 06:55 PM.

[Bill Bullet]

Chapter 3
Bolan City Spaceport, Bolan II
1 week later

As she watched the last of her command’s BattleMechs, a brand new Enfield, being secured in the hangar, Julia rolled her shoulders in a futile attempt to relieve the tension that had built up there in the past two weeks. The sudden mobilization of the Melissa Steiner Martial Academy’s training cadre had been sudden and unexpected. The usual build-up of rumors and whisperings generated by a military base’s grapevine even with the most secretive of missions had been entirely absent. The Hauptmann-Kommandant had simply gathered the officers of the cadre and informed them to prep their commands for mobilization, full combat prep. The training cadre of the Academy had a full battalion of Mechs, but was severely lacking in artillery and AeroSpace support and was also entirely devoid of armor and infantry assets. Even so, it took a full week of preparation to load equipment and ammunition onto the three Union-Class Dropships that served the battalion.

Looking around the hangar, Julia spotted the members of her command lance walking towards her. The three of them looked flush with excitement for the coming operation, like children on their way to a field trip rather than troops preparing for an unknown mission into an unknown part of space for unknown reasons. “Hey Tower! I thought we’d find you fussing over here!” Julia winced internally at the use of her callsign. Her ability to successfully analyze tactical situations and get lost in tech manuals at the expense of social interaction had earned her the moniker “Ivory Tower” when she was a fresh young cadet and seemed to follow her around no matter which command she was posted to. The one who had called out was her lance-mate Leftenant Junior-Grade Rachel McGuldrick, a native of the Isle of Skye. Rachel’s emerald green eyes flashed with annoyance when she took in Julia’s appearance. “Come on Jules, you look like you haven’t slept in days! Let Boss Higgins and the rest of the Techs deal with this nonsense, we’re the first company that’s fully loaded unlike some people.” With a contemptuous jerk of her thumb, Rachel indicated the still unloaded Mechs of Second Company. “You’d think these Lyrans would know how to respect a time table!”

“But you are a Lyran yourself Rachel.” Said MechWarrior Bryon DuPont, or “Dewey” as everyone called him. “That’s only because the Isle of Skye can’t sort out its independence movements from its bowel movements.” Rachel retorted with a grin. “Besides, you’ll never catch me respecting a time table Dewey; you oughta know that by now!” The last member of the group, MechWarrior Peter Caine chimed in finally. “That DOES explain why you’re always late paying me back for drinks Rachel.” Rachel tossed her head dismissively, the effect somewhat lessened by the fact that her red hair was cut short in the manner favored by MechWarriors. “Mr. Caine I would think the pleasure of my company would be compensation enough.” Rolling his eyes, Dewey spotted some techs spray painting the side of the DropShip. “I wonder what that’s all about. Don’t DropShip crews get all weird about the names of their ships?” The group turned to look. Several meters away, a group of Techs had painted over both the name of the ship and the emblem of the MSMA and were already painting in a new emblem.

“This op gets weirder every day.” Muttered Peter “First the sudden mobilization, then the non-regulation camo patterns, now they’re repainting the DropShips?” Rachel was unfazed by Peter’s musings however. “Come on Pete, it’s probably something to do with the new Star League Defense Force song and dance the Major Houses are so worked up about, don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

Julia silenced them all with a wave of her hand before they could start another one of their seemingly endless bantering sessions. “Enough you guys, why’d you come looking for me?” Reminded of their original goal, the trio suddenly looked sheepish. “We were supposed to tell you that the Kommandant wants to see you for a briefing.” Said Peter, suddenly obsessed with a grease mark on the floor of the hangar so as to avoid the now furious gaze of his commander. Resisting the urge to strangle her command lance only because it would cause even further delay, Julia ran off towards the command bunker.

Edited by Bill Bullet, 30 March 2015 - 03:01 PM.

[Bill Bullet]

Chapter 3 cont.

Pausing only long enough to catch her breath and check that her dark brown hair was still in its tidy bun at the nape of her neck, Julia knocked on the door of the Command, Control, and Communications room or C3 as it was called. “Enter.” Came the gruff voice of her commander. Julia entered the room and mentally scratched “murder my command lance” off her checklist when she saw that she was not the last person to arrive. Still missing was the commander of the MSMA battalion’s AeroSpace unit and Julia’s close friend Boss, the Lead Tech in charge of all things mechanical in the battalion. “Ah, Leftenant Morris good of you to join us; sit down and we’ll begin the briefing as soon as our missing officers arrive.” Julia quickly found a seat among the other officers present. “Any idea in that big brain of yours as to what the hell is going on and why they’re out there mutilating my ship?” said a low voice.

Turning to the owner of the voice, Julia lowered her own so as not to be overheard by the commander. “Captain Evans, if I knew what was going on and why they were…mutilating your DropShip I’d be a much happier person.” Captain Evans was a reliable man who viewed hot drops into dangerous landing zones with the same nonchalance as he viewed cargo deliveries deep in friendly territory. It was a valuable trait in any Captain, which was why Julia always wondered why he had been assigned to her company rather than the Hauptmann-Kommandant’s. Before Captain Evans could complain further, the last two members of the command staff walked in. The Lead Tech wiped his hands on a rag as he sat down next to Julia. “Sorry I’m late sir, realigning the missile tubes on one of the Catapults took longer than expected.” The commander of the AeroSpace unit offered no explanation for his tardiness and simply took a seat near the rear of the briefing room.

The lights dimmed as the Hauptmann-Kommandant turned on the holotable and projected the image of a slowly revolving planet into the air in front of his audience. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Oliver. The planet was a Free Worlds League holding till the 4^th Succession War when it was taken over by FedCom forces. The planet then reverted back to FWL control about 2 years ago after Prince Victor Davion instigated the conflict with the FWL and the Capellan Confederation. Despite changing hands several times, Oliver has always been home to the Brigadier Corporation’s main factory which always remained under FWL control…until now.” Julia couldn’t help but notice the commander’s omission of Prince Victor’s Steiner heritage but kept her face deliberately blank. Captain Evans however rolled his eyes and grunted with annoyance, a sound fortunately covered up by the sound of the holotable switching views from a planetary orbit to a tactical view of the city where Brigadier Corp. kept its factory.

The commander continued with his briefing. “Recent intelligence tells us that control of the facilities, and in fact the entire planet has passed to the Word of Blake and that the Blakists have begun research and development into their own classes of BattleMechs, augmented with reverse-engineered Clan Tech. Of extremely important note is a new type of Guass Rifle modeled off the Clan variant. Our mission will be to raid the facility, steal the prototype and any new Mech designs, and then return to FedCom space so that they may be studied by our own technicians.” Julia leaned back in her chair trying to absorb this. Since the Clan invasion, open warfare between the Inner Sphere Houses had all but ceased except for some exceptions. The outside threat of the Clans had united the various factions against a common foe, culminating in the announcement of the Second Star League. The rebirth of the fabled League had all but ended such operations like corporate raiding, no one side wanting to be seen as a belligerent in this time of new found unity, especially with the majority of the Inner Sphere military off in the Periphery waging a war of annihilation against Clan Smoke Jaguar.

Before she could voice a question however, Rourke continued. “Due to the sensitive nature of the current political climate, a formal mission is not being launched. The higher ups believe that a small force, disguised as a mercenary unit can take the planet’s defenders by surprise. Furthermore, the unique political status of the Word of Blake should shield the Archon-Princess in the unlikely event we are discovered. They are not a nation-state, and they only supervise HPG communication within the FWL. Since control of the planet and the facilities on it have been gifted to them, there is no risk of FWL troops being harmed either. Our troops gain the benefit of live combat experience, powerful new technology will fall into our hands, and a potentially dangerous faction is denied its use. All in all, a brilliant plan springing from the mind of our Archon-Princess.”

Julia realized now just how big an operation this was. If it had been conceived and order by Katrina Steiner herself, then no objection she could raise would derail it. In fact doing so could very well derail her entire career instead. Deciding digression was the better part of valor; Julia instead opened up her intel packet and began to memorize it. “Hauptmann-Kommandant, I have just one question: what will our false mercenary unit be called?” asked Leftenant Oscar Aldrin. “Due to the secrecy and danger in this mission as well as the potential for a large reward, I have decided to call us…The Gamblin’ Ghosts.”

[Bill Bullet]

Chapter 4
Free Worlds League Space, Planet Oliver
FCS Tiny Dancer (renamed Royal Flush)

The face of MechWarrior Trenton Frasier, callsign “Ego” was bathed in the soft light of his Hunchback’s command console. All other light was shut out by the drop-pod cocoon wrapped around his Mech. The ablative ceramic shell of the pod would protect him and his Mech from the hellfire of atmospheric reentry as he was launched from the bay of his DropShip towards his unit’s objective; the planetary spaceport. At a preprogrammed height, the pod would then detach into several pieces, distracting defensive ground fire and allowing him to ignite the jump packs welded to his Mech. The jump packs would slow his final descent till he was once again on solid ground, where he would finally be the master of his own fate. There wasn’t a MechWarrior in the entire galaxy that relished the idea of a hot drop like this. Too many variables were outside of the pilot’s control, too many ways to die before you even had a chance to fire your weapons or even see the enemy. However, the hot drop remained the most efficient and tactically surprising way to deliver a lot of troops to key areas and as such Ego found himself counting down the minutes till the operation began.

Suddenly the comm system of his Mech crackled to life. “Attention Wild Cards, this is Ace of Diamonds.” It was the voice of his company commander Captain Julia. The weeks of travel time between Bolan II and Oliver had been spent training and organizing the unit so it could better disguise itself as a mercenary unit. As such, Ego was now Jack of Spades, a member of Spade Lance, a part of Wild Card Company, under the command of the newly promoted “Captain”. The changes to officer titles and the ban on the use of last names had been hardest of all for Ego, a lifetime soldier in the FedCom military, to adapt to. Traditions pounded into his head from day one of basic training had to be ignored for the safety of his unit and he had spent more than a few hours on punishment detail for letting a “Hauptmann” or “Leftenant” loose on the unit radio.

“We are closing in over the drop zone; remember your training and your mission. The planet’s defenders were caught unaware but they will have noticed our DropShips coming and hitting the spaceport is planetary invasion 101, so expect heavy resistance.” Travel among the stars consisted of using Jumpships to fold the very fabric of space to leap 30 lightyears away. Typically Jumpships would navigate their jumps to either the nadir or zenith points of a system’s sun. However these points were easy to monitor and usually had defenders or at least early warning systems available to impede the progress of raiders. Therefore, commanders would sometimes sacrifice the safety of using these fixed points for much less reliable, albeit much closer and less monitored “pirate points” within the system.

The jump had been completed successfully and the raiders had launched in their DropShips toward the planet. It was only now that their ships were within hours of the planet’s atmosphere that they had been detected, giving the enemy limited time to reposition their defensive forces rather than the days they would have had if the raiders had jumped in at the expected places. Ego vaguely knew that the calculations required to pull off such a jump were complex and dangerous, but all he cared about was getting off the ship and onto solid ground as fast as possible. At least down there I only have to worry about Blakists killing me instead of a misplaced decimal point on some tech’s monitor. He thought grimly.

Edited by Bill Bullet, 30 April 2015 - 12:46 AM.

[Bill Bullet]

Chapter 4 cont.
Ego watched as the timer he had set up clicked down to zero. As soon as it did, he felt rather than heard a sudden thump through the walls of his drop-pod. “That’s the release clamps letting go…” he muttered. Nothing happened for several moments, then the entire pod began to vibrate and the heat inside the cockpit began to climb. “…and now I’m in the atmosphere. Nothing to worry about…if the pod fails I’ll be dead before I realize something’s gone wrong.” At least that’s what the technician had said as he sealed Ego into his pod a few hours ago. “Bet nobody has ever been able to tell him otherwise.” All communication cut off by the reentry and blind to the world around him, Ego felt like the minutes were dragging into hours or even days. “Jeez at this point I’ll be so happy to be on the ground I won’t even care how dangerous it is. Heh, the higher-ups probably count on that…” No sooner were the words out of his mouth when suddenly a large bang deafened him and a bright light blinded him.

It was only when the sound continued and his eyes adjusted that Ego was certain that he hadn’t died. In fact, his drop-pod had reached its preprogrammed altitude and detonated around him just as the tech said it would. A few seconds later the jump packs ignited and his 55-ton Hunchback descended towards its target. Looking around the cockpit, Ego saw the flashes of anti-aircraft fire all around and the light of tracers zipping past. “Spades, this is Ace sound off!” the sound of his lance leader came over the radio, a comforting sound among the cacophony of potential death all around him. “King of Spades here, I’m in one piece” came a reply over the radio. “Queen of Spades, alive and kicking!” went another. Ego keyed his mike “Jack of Spades here, I don’t think they’re happy to see us!” Ego could hear Ace’s chuckle over the comms. “Alright people just like we practiced, hit them hard and fast, our main objective is the Control Tower, the Clubs should be right behind.”

Ego came down in a field behind some hangars to the west of the objective. Quickly scanning the area, he spotted some APCs fleeing towards the cover of the buildings. With practiced ease he pulled up his crosshairs and fired the Medium Lasers in his Mech’s arms. The emerald shafts of coherent light hit the lightly armored vehicles and they exploded. Moving forward, he scanned the hangars for other threats, his scan revealing 2 targets in a low power state waiting inside the largest of the buildings. “Peek-a-boo, I see you!” Ego grunted as he brought his Mech’s main weapon to bear on the target closest to him. The mighty roar of his Hunchback’s AC/20 sent a round flying towards the thin walls of the hangar, the shell was so massive that despite the powerful propellant that launched it, the shell could still be tracked by the human eye.

The shell went right through the wall shattering the prefabricated structure and impacting on its target. Without the wall blocking his scanner, it immediately designated the target as a Firefly-4B a light Mech. Ego immediately followed up his attack with a blast from his Medium Lasers. At such close range he couldn’t miss, and both lasers speared their target in almost the same place as the AC/20 shell. In an attempt to ambush him, the Fireflys had been in a low-power state which allowed for quick start-ups but kept the weapon systems off and the Mech immobile. This maneuver, combined with hiding in a building surrounded by equipment, would normally have hidden the Mechs. If Ego had continued on, they could quickly bring their weapons online and fire into the Hunchback’s much weaker rear armor. “Too bad for you, I’m the paranoid sort and I hooked up a BAP to my lady.” The stronger sensor suite had picked up the lower emissions of the powered down Mechs and now the hunters were the hunted.

Caught unprepared like this, the first Firefly had been unable to move and had died almost immediately under Ego’s first salvo. The second Mech, determined not to share its companion’s fate quickly fired itself up and began moving towards the doors of the hangar. Ego knew that the lighter Mech could run circles around him, so with a yell he accelerated forward and lowered his Mech’s shoulder. Crashing through the remains of the wall, he shoved the destroyed Mech out of the way and lined up a second shot. Firing his AC/20 and one of his Medium Lasers simultaneously spiked the heat in his Mech as the fusion engine in its heart roared. The laser missed, but the autocannon shell buried itself in the hip of the fleeing Firefly staggering it. The enemy MechWarrior panicked, and instead of ignoring Ego and making a run for it, the Firefly turned and fired all three of its Medium lasers as well as its LRM-5 towards Ego.

Twisting his Mech’s torso to the right, Ego spread the damage from the lasers across the armor of his Mech while keeping the valuable AC/20 on his shoulder safe from harm. The LRMs impacted his Mech with hollow clangs; fired too close to arm they did little more than scratch his paint. Turning back towards the doomed Firefly, Ego fired all his weapons this time into the damaged hip of the light Mech. The rising heat in his cockpit was nothing compared to the thrill of victory as the leg of the Firefly snapped off and the 30-ton war machine crashed to the ground as a useless pile of scrap. Keying his external speakers Ego hailed the downed pilot. “Power down your Mech and go help your buddy, the fight’s over.” The mission called for no prisoners in the initial stages, but Captain Julia had made it clear that she wanted no needless bloodshed, a decision that earned her Ego’s respect and loyalty, he had no intention of being a murderer.

Suddenly one of the Medium lasers on the upright portion of the downed Mech lashed out and burned a hole in the roof past Ego’s head. “DAMN!” he shouted and on reflex fired both his Medium lasers into the cockpit of the Firefly. At such close range, the twin beams quickly burned through the ferroglass of the cockpit and flash cooked the pilot inside. Ego had dismissed the claims that the Word of Blake was a bunch of fanatics, but the suicidal actions of his enemy showed him just how far they were willing to go. With a sudden twist of his gut Ego began to wonder just how bloody this raid was going to get.

[Bill Bullet]

Chapter 4
Gordon City, Planet Oliver

“Wild Card has secured the spaceport and Banshee Company has successfully surrounded the Brigadier Corporation facility. However, our picket lances have already detected large numbers of Blakist troops heading our way. The concentration of their forces on this planet seems to indicate that the enemy thought we would land somewhere else.” Julia and her company had claimed a small movie theatre that was inside the spaceport complex as their briefing room. It had only one auditorium and one screen but it was large enough to seat them all and leave enough room to stow their gear. Looking over her troops from the small stage jutting out in front of the screen, Julia felt a surge of pride at what she saw. Despite the uncertainty of the operation, the risk their assignment posed, and the fanatical fighting of the defenders, Wild Card Company had suffered zero casualties. The damage to their Mechs was being repaired quickly by Boss who reported that the loss of a Centurion’s left arm was the worst of it.

Julia had seen that piece of action herself. Her command lance, codenamed Diamond Lance, had just finished securing the grounded DropShips at the Spaceport and was linking up with Heart Lance on the western edge of the Spaceport. They had been tasked with securing the main gate and the road towards the city from any attempt at a counter-attack. Just as they arrived, Heart Lance was attacked by a group of tanks led by a 75-ton Marauder. The massive Mech’s paired PPCs fired with blatant disregard for heat build-up and the Centurion piloted by Heart Lance’s leader Lieutenant Bolton was caught in the open. Luckily, despite the sudden and violent appearance of the Marauder, Lt. Bolton kept his head and managed to take the brunt of the assault with the left arm of his Mech. Julia recalled later that it looked like something out of a fantasy novel; the lone knight facing the terrible fire of a dragon under the protection of his shield.

At the time however, she had been more concerned with keeping Bolton alive and had ordered the rest of his lance to fire on the swarming tanks while her own lance unleashed their firepower on the enemy Mech. For all its fearsome weaponry, the Marauder had a serious drawback; the legs of the mighty war machine were very weakly armored. Most pilots compensated for this by either seeking cover or by constant maneuvering. The Word of Blake pilot however had brought his Mech to a standstill, seemingly crazed at the defiance and survival of Lt. Bolton’s much smaller Mech. Julia and her command lance focused all their fire on the unprotected Mech’s legs and almost simultaneously they both snapped under the barrage of autocannon and laser fire. The enormous machine fell with a resounding crash, and to everyone’s surprise was consumed in a massive fireball as its reactor detonated and devoured the Mech. The resulting shockwave tore off the Centurion’s savaged left arm and sent the Mech itself flying.

Luckily, Lt. Bolton suffered only an impressive cut above his left eye, and the now worshipful attention of the younger members of the entire company. To hear the more tame stories around camp, Lt. Bolton had faced and defeated the Mech single-handed. Other, more colorful tales said it was a whole LANCE of Marauders. Lt. Bolton of course denied all these rumors and tried desperately to set the story straight, but Julia knew that the engagement was already the stuff of company legend. In fact, the replacement shield arm being fitted to his Mech at this moment had a very impressive mural of a warrior facing down a fire-breathing three-headed Hydra and the word "Slayer" was being traced onto the armor plate beneath his cockpit.

Edited by Bill Bullet, 12 April 2015 - 12:16 AM.

[Bill Bullet]

[Chapter 4 is going to focus more on the character's of Wild Card company than action, So if the pew pew and the boom boom is what you're after, it'll be back in Chapter 5]

Chapter 4 cont.

Continuing the briefing, Julia began to outline her company’s new orders. “Ok people, Wild Card’s latest assignment is gonna be a fun one. Since we did so well in taking the spaceport, the Colonel has given us the task of trying to divert the incoming enemy reinforcements. To accomplish this goal I have decided we will raid an industrial complex behind enemy lines. Our intel says that complex was where the Word of Blake troops thought we were headed, at least judging by the troop concentrations.” Pulling up a map of the continent on the movie screen behind her, Julia used a laser pointer to highlight her plan. “We managed to catch the Blakists off balance and caught their Dropships still in the Spaceport. We believe that the enemy was willing to lose the Spaceport in order to protect that complex, the forces we faced were apparently the last group of troops being transported away.” A voice from the audience spoke up. “The risk of losing their Dropships explains why those fanatics fought like…well, fanatics!” A grumble rippled through the crowd; of the defending forces, only a handful of them had actually survived to be captured, most fighting to the death or committing suicide when they could fight no more. Waving her hand to regain their attention, Julia continued.

“Anyway, without their Dropships the Word of Blake is being forced to march their machines up this highway here. I calculate that it will take them at least 5 days to arrive here. All of their air power has been diverted to provide them with cover so we can’t just bomb them back to the Stone Age. Their advantage is their numbers, our advantage is our mobility. Therefore, we will take our Dropship and swing around their main body to hit the complex on the third day of their journey when they’re at the midpoint between the complex and the city.” Looking back at her troops she saw them smiling and nodding in agreement with her plan. Raising her hands, Julia began to toss her laserpointer from left to right. “In essence, we will be playing keep away with the Blakists. On the one end, their Dropships and the Guass Rifles at Brigadier, on the other end this industrial complex they were so keen to protect. The best case scenario will have the Blakists splitting their forces to engage both targets. We’ll allow them to get within spitting distance of us then simply hop into our Dropship and leave to join our main force, giving us the numerical advantage. I figure we have a 45% chance of that happening. Worst case scenario they focus all their forces on one target. This is unfortunately the more likely outcome. However if we factor that in, then we simply need to have the other half of our force jump in to hit the Blakists in the rear.”

The voice from before spoke up again and this time Julia was able to identify it as Rusty. “That’s Ivory Tower for you! She’s always thinking three steps ahead!” The chorus of agreement from this statement caused a involuntary blush to creep up Julia’s neck and she was glad her dark complexion kept it hidden from her troops in the audience. To her immediate left up on the stage however, Rachel was able to spot it and lightly elbowed Bryan. “I swear Dewey, if she ever finds out it was you who gave her that nickname back when we were all cadets, she’s gonna skin you alive.” Grinning wickedly, Rachel adopted a very mocking imitation of Bryan’s French accent. “No, no, you see she es always locked away with her precious books, she barely has time for us other cadets. She es an ivory towher and it is funney because she is the opposite of i-vo-ry and I am oh so clever! Hon, hon- ack!” Rachel’s mockery was cut short when Peter trod rather deliberately on her foot, saving Dewey from further torment. “Behave you two.” Rachel quieted down but couldn’t help muttering mutinously “If I had a step ladder you wouldn’t be so cocky…” forcing Dewey into a coughing fit to stop himself from laughing.

Edited by Bill Bullet, 17 April 2015 - 09:52 AM.

[Bill Bullet]

Chapter 4 continued

After the briefing, Julia left to file a report at the battalion’s command center. Her command lance gathered at the foot of Dewey’s Merlin. The 60-ton behemoth was waiting to be loaded into Wild Card Company’s DropShip and so provided an excellent place to get out of the sun and eat. Rachel sat down on an empty ammo bin and began tearing into her MRE like a wild animal. “Tell you what, all our secrecy would be for nothing if the Blakes ever got their hands on our food.” She mumbled through her meal. “I mean hell; there isn’t a merc outfit in the Inner Sphere with chow this good!” Poking at the brown sludge that the wrapper it came in claimed was beef stew, Peter snorted in disgust. “I have no idea how you’re able to stomach this stuff Rachel, it looks like something the Techs scrapped out of an actuator!” “Nah the stuff we scrape out usually tastes better!” said Boss as he walked up the group. “Hey Boss, finished with all the repairs?” said Dewey as he leaned back against the foot of his Mech. “Yeah, got the boys doing the loading now, figured even those louts can handle that much.” Even as he groused the trio could see he was beaming with pride at the skill of his team.

Swiping a hand through his blonde hair, Dewey looked out over the controlled chaos of the battalion’s base. “Well for a green unit, we seem to be doing alright for ourselves. Even those clods in Second Company seem to be handling themselves well.” Peter gulped down another bite of his food and shuddered as it went down. “Hey now, we aren’t at the academy anymore, those guys aren’t our rivals here. Being able to count on each other is worth a lot more than any exercise pennant flying under the company flag now.” Rachel rolled her eyes and muttered “Yeah well, excuse me for not getting the warm fuzzies knowing we gotta rely on Lt. Aldrin to rescue our butts if this operation goes sideways. You oughta know how much he dislikes Davions and other so-called troublesome elements.” Dewey laughed while Peter glared at her. “You ARE a troublesome element Rachel!” said Dewey as he opened his MRE.

Wiping his brow, Boss said in a conversational tone. “Well now speaking of trouble, those fellas from Loki are walking this way.” Rachel choked on her latest bite and Peter froze. Only Dewey was able to maintain his calm, though Boss could see his knuckles whitening as he gripped his food tray. Agents of Loki were the Lyran’s shadowy and violent agent provocateurs, essentially state-sponsored terrorists. Largely reined in during the rule of Hanse Davion and the original Katrina Steiner, they were once again running rampant under the orders of Katrina Steiner-Davion. This resurgence in their activity was seen as ominous by many of the Davion aligned members of the FedCom military. The two men walked towards them wearing the typical garb of mercenary officers and they came to a stop at the foot of the Merlin. “Fine machine you have there Lt. DuPont.” said the first “Indeed, and according to the reports you handle her quite well.” said the other. “Thank you sirs.” said Dewey, his normally easy tone now clipped and to the point. Reaching into his pocket, the first agent pulled out a sheet of paper. “Lt. Caine you are to hand these orders to Captain Morris and no one else am I clear?” Taking the paper, Peter quickly folded it and put it inside his jumpsuit. “Yessir!” “What’s this all about anyway?” said Rachel, a hint of belligerence in her tone. “Lt. McGuldrick I hardly find it surprising that a native of Skye would have trouble with the idea of following orders, but do us all a favor and save us the theatrics, you’ll find out soon enough.” Before Rachel could retort the two men turned and left, their methodical steps carrying them away.

Edited by Bill Bullet, 30 April 2015 - 12:27 AM.

[Bill Bullet]

“I tell you what Rusty; those spooks give me the creeps. Betcha the Komman- erm, the Colonel asked them along to keep an eye on our company.” Trenton “Ego” Frasier glared at the two Loki agents as they walked up the ramp and into the DropShip Mech bay. He and Rusty were standing atop the gantry holding Rusty’s StarSlayer in place. Without a glance over his shoulder, Rusty grunted his agreement. “I don’t like it anymore than you do Ego, but I doubt the Colonel has that kinda pull with the LIC.” He said referring to the Lyran branch of the Federated Commonwealth’s intelligence unit. “Besides, the scuttlebutt is that this whole op is their baby anyway so I wouldn’t worry too much…unless you’ve gotten seditious on me.” Ego rolled his eyes. “So they got us to do the dirty work, which hardly makes me feel better. Also, your crosshairs readings are still off by a few tenths of a degree.” Rusty groaned and then returned to the systems check of his Mech. Since the majority of the Mech’s armaments were lasers, the StarSlayer’s targeting systems required almost constant readjustment to stay accurate at the long ranges it was capable of engaging at. Since Rusty was the Mech’s pilot he always insisted that he be the one to handle the readjusting instead of one of the brigade’s techs. It was a level of attention to detail that Ego found ironic considering the laid-back attitude that Rusty approached everything else in his life.

“There, that oughta do it!” exclaimed Rusty as he restarted the targeting computer. Taking the noteputer from Ego he double checked the figures scrolling across it. “Yep right on the money! My little Queen is ready to dish out punishment in spades!” Rusty looked at Ego and waggled his eyebrows, grinning from ear to ear. “I refuse to laugh at that. It would only encourage you.” said Ego, shaking his head at his lancemate. “I’m also pretty sure the Archon-Princess outlawed terrible puns when she kicked her sister out of the regency.” Undeterred, Rusty laughed and finished bolting the cover over the targeting computer. “You’re doing that thing again where you talk politics and try to get me to act serious, despite knowing I never ever will be. The whole Lyran this and Davion that thing is just overreacting. The Federated Commonwealth was the brain-child of Hanse Davion and the original Katrina Steiner. I doubt the whole thing is gonna fall apart in a single generation.” Ego shook his head at his friend’s nonchalance but knew that arguing politics with Rusty would accomplish nothing. The fact that two of the brigade’s three companies were made up entirely of Lyrans and pro-Katrina soldiers while their own company boasted only troopers from Davion space Rusty had dismissed as mere coincidence the last time Ego brought it up. Rusty had also dismissed Ego’s story that despite his Lyran ancestry, he had been transferred to Wild Card company not long after he had gotten drunk in a bar and started making toasts to Prince Victor, though Rusty would tease him about having “seditious thoughts” every chance he got.

[Bill Bullet]

Colonel Douglas Rourke consulted the tactical map in front of him and weighed his options. The plan thought up by Captain Morris was a good one, enabling him to run the Blakists ragged and preserve his force while he accomplished his goals. Smiling to himself, he looked down at the two situation reports in his hand. Inside one of the reports it gave full credit for the formulation of the plan to him and him alone. If the operation failed entirely or even failed to succeed sufficiently, the other report would place the blame squarely on the shoulders of Morris and her company of Davions and malcontents. Rourke considered himself a practical man; while he had strived to find any excuse to remove Morris and soldiers like her from his command while they had been safely tucked away on Bolan II, here in the middle of enemy territory he would simply use them as tools to further his own ambitions. If Morris and her Wild Cards were destroyed in the process all the better.