4 replies to this topic

[Warenwolf]

First of all some info about me:

Despite having played fair number of games set in Battletech universe I am not an expert on the canon. And English is not my first language so there is a considerable risk of strange formulations in the text below.

On the writing methodology:

I will avoid writing anything that blatantly goes against the established canon and will try to adhere to it as much as possible.

Main character will never be one of the famous characters in Battletech universe, nor will he partake in events that are caused by such characters.

If I do inadvertently do something that goes against established canon - please do warn me. The story has 6800+ words and is split in four parts, of which the last was posted on 02.06.2012.

About the story:

The following story takes place in 3049, in the so-called Periphery. The business of mercenaries is far less regulated than it is in the Inner Sphere. One of these mercenaries is the protagonist of the story you are about to read. The main protagonist is not filthy rich, the ladies do not flock to his bed and he is not invulnerable on the battlefield (staple of protagonists in battlemech literature). He has no connections to the noble houses of the Inner Sphere.

Actually he is down to his last C-bill, stuck on a planet in middle of nowhere with bunch of lowlifes, waiting for a client that may or may not come:

If you prefer, you may read the story on your cellphone - epub and mobi formats are available. If someone knows a decent file sharing site that doesn't requires user to use voodoo rituals and doesn't have tons of popups please do tell.


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Dogs of War

The Tale of Ulrich

“You sure we are in right place?”
“He said to follow the road and take second turn left after the AgroCom farms”

The client, or the person representing the client, was late. From what Ulrich have hear about Sigurd, the semi-official leader of the team – the chance of him misunderstanding client's instructions couldn't be ruled out either. He walked back to the rest of the team.
“He messed up again?” Anna asked him.
Ulrich shrugged, “We'll see.”
Ulrich's luck was running out – last two contracts were far from being deemed profitable. The was literally on his last C-Bill. He needed this job badly. Sigurd's promise of profit was best offer on table right now and he hoped the old man had understood client's instructions correctly. Looking at the rest of the team, he guessed that the situation was same for the rest of them.

Aran was just as likely to pick up banditry as the merc work (granted the line between the two was sometimes blurry, especially in Periphery). The rumors said that neither banditry or mercenary work had been profitable for Aran last year – his credit line was deep in red zone, just like that of Ulrich. His mother had been a prostitute that somehow managed to convince a mech pilot working for some bandit king in Deep Periphery to marry her after he got her pregnant. After two years she left the man along with the Aran. The son picked up his fathers work and his mech when the later got stabbed in a bar fight and died chocking on his own blood.
Jacob was a St. Ives Compact deserter, not having any former experience with mercenary work. Ulrich knew almost nothing about him but sure as hell Jacob didn't come running to Periphery with C-Bills burning in his pockets. Jacob was young and green and Ulrich wondered what made him come all the way here.
Anna, unlike Jacob, was an old hand in this business – too old as people behind her back would say – and her savings had been spent on a man 40 years younger than her. She claimed she had no regrets. Her kids were of different opinion, Ulrich suspected.

They were all lone wolf type of mercs that worked short term contracts that were too small for the big mercenary outfits. Except for Jacob, Ulrich had both worked with and against both Aran and Anna from time to time. All of them had been contacted by Sigurd, a man of not exactly good repute, who in turn has been contacted by the client for supposedly high paying relatively simple job of the “industrial sabotage” type.
What made Ulrich uneasy is that the entire team of the desperate sort – the type not likely to say no. Ulrich did not believe in coincidences especially when people like Sigurd were involved. As far as Ulrich knew Sigurd had been involved in smuggling last few years and it had been long time since he was involved in any mercenary work. And the pay offered was good, almost too good. On the other hand – he was too desperate to turn back a job. He couldn't afford to tell Sigurd too buzz off when he contacted him.

“Seems our client is here,” Aran commented, hearing the helicopter first.

The helicopter flew in low, flying around the site twice before the pilot decided to land gently short distance away from their vehicle. Three men stepped outside, two of them towering giants and one “normally sized” man.
“Obvious who of them are the bodyguards,” Jacob commented with smile.
Sigurd grunted in agreement, before walking over and greeting the man, “We were bit worried about you Mr. Johnson.”
“I apologize about the delay. These are your mech pilots I gather?”
"Yes, Mr. Johnson,” Sigurd said and introduced his team.
The bodyguards stayed behind Mr. Johnson, watching the mercenaries. They had no visible weapons on them but Ulrich was sure they were armed. The pilot of the transport helicopter, obviously himself a bodyguard too, stayed leaned on his helicopter with a M&G flechette rifle in his hands.

Mr. Johnson, which Ulrich was sure was not his real name, wasted no more time than necessary on formalities and quickly steered the conversation to the business talk,
“The mission is tactically simple. The objective is on Andherlwin, a small industrial park in the north of the main continent.”

“So the target is Magistracy of Canopus?” Ulrich asked Mr. Johnson.

“The taget is in Magistracy, yes”
Ulrich and Anna exchanged glances. They didn't care that contract was against Magistracy, but it was telling that their employer, or the man representing their employer, did not specify that directly.

“Any opposition on the site?”

“Opposition consists of one infantry company of planetary militia, including some armor elements and static defenses. More exact information will be provided en route to Andherlwin”

“How about air and mech assets?” Sigurd asked.

“Air forces are non-existant”
The answer did not surprise Ulrich. Periphery states, in this case the Magistracy of Canopus, hoarded the few air assets they had on capital and strategically essential worlds.

“As to mech opposition,” Mr. Johnson continued, “the intel is less sure, however I can say with certainty that Magistracy does not garrison this world with mech assets - The governor has employed the services of one lance of mercenaries as preventive measure against bandits, however they are rarely patrolling outside the larger settlements”

“Do we know what kind of mechs those guys have?” Ulrich asked.

“No exact intel as of yet but I doubt anything heavier than medium mechs are present. As to objective – the target is in a valley 2 to 3 kilometer wide. The industrial site is surrounded by earthworks which offer a sort of protection from direct fire. There is a small settlement 4 kilometers away where workers live. The only road connecting the settlement to Andherlwin Port crosses a river, that is non-fordable for mechs. If you want to make sure that your back is clear when retreating to the extraction point, you may consider destroying the bridge. I don't think it is necessary but I leave this up to you to decide.”

“Any more details on static defenses?” Jacob wanted to know.

“Earthworks feature a ring of eight turrets in pairs of two. Automatic LRM-15 and AC-2 turrets. These are positioned on the top of the earthworks.
Inner ring of turrets, positioned on reverse slope of earthworks consists of eight AC-5 turrets. The turrets emplacements are connected with trenches.”

Bit strange with that much defense of a site not connected to military industry, Ulrich thought. Even Spheroids rarely invested this much in the static defenses. He saw that both Aran and Anna wondered about the same.
Jacob did not seem to be much concerned by the static defenses of the site and continued asking, “How is the topography of the valley. Can we use terrain in way so that we can fire inside the industrial complex?”

“No, as you will see in pictures that will be provided to you during the transport, the mountains around the valley are unsuitable for mech operations”

“Are we supposed to level the place once in control of it?” Aran asked.

“As matter of fact -yes. The industrial site consists of five buildings, including one building serving as barracks, positioned close to the entry tunnel. The contract will be considered fulfilled by you when all of the buildings, except the barracks are destroyed.”

“As to prior agreement,” and here Mr. Johnson nodded to Sigurd, “ the payment is 800 000 C-Bills. Any potential repair expenses, provided they are due to the mission, will be covered by us. I will pay in currency you want, in manner you decide upon. How you will fulfill your mission is up to you. As I already said, the further intel, including the detailed information about the objective will be provided en route to Andherlwin”

Ulrich already knew the answer but decided to ask anyway, “Any considerations regarding the non-combat personnel?”

“None what so ever...”


End of part 1

All comments, criticism and praises are encouraged and welcomed.

Edited by Warenwolf, 05 June 2012 - 12:26 AM.

[Warenwolf]

And here is the part 2 of the story. I have added the map of the area where action takes place.

Map of the area:

Spoiler

Mechs used by the mercenaries. Note that the stats of the mechs are slightly below those found in inner sphere. Not every merc can afford to keep his mech in top condition and, especially so in the Periphery:

Ulrich:
ENF-4R Enforcer medium mech
Armament: 1x AC/10, 1x Large Laser, 1x Small Laser
Top speed: 56 km/h

Anna:
KTO-18 Kintaro medium mech (downgraded)
Armament: 1x LRM 5, 1x SRM 6, 2x Medium Laser
Top speed: 87 km/h

Aran:
FS9-H Firestarter light mech
Armament: 2x Medium Lasers, 3x Flamers, 1x Machinegun
Top speed: 90 km/h

Jacob:
UM-R60 Urbanmech light mech
Armament: 1x AC/10, 1x Small Laser
Top speed: 32 km/h

Part 2:


5th of February 3049
18 kilometers west of Schottsky
Andherlwin





The forest was silent. No animals life could be heard – the plant life was both poisons and non-edible for the animals that infested planets wherever humans lived. Predatory plant life kept the local fauna away in this part of forrest.
Only the heavy drops of rain could be heard hitting the huge leaves of the trees. No sunlight reached the forest floor. Then a crack of dry wood was heard. The octopus like tree, reacting to vibrations spread its tentacle-like branches. It had not eaten in ten years. Vibrations started to come closer. A prey was approaching.





“Alpha Lance, this is Steel Cage. Acknowledge reception, over”
“This is Alpha 1, reporting. Reception is better now but it still bad. Over”
“Alpha 2, Reception is bad, over,” Ulrich sounded off. It had been bad ever since they entered the xeno-forest. Plant life was somehow responsible, Anna claimed. Ulrich shook his head while Aran and Jacob sounded off. They shouldn't be using com links this close to the target. However Mr. Johnson insisted on direct involvement. Both he and Sigurd were acting as the mission's tactical officers despite the fact that with no CCI elements in orbit there was no point in them doing that.
He opened a channel to Anna, “Alpha 2 to Lance Leader. Do they want to us dead?”
“Looks like it, sweeheart.”
“Turning off coms?”
“Sure thing. Just keep intra-Lance channels on but keep the chatter to minimum. Tell the others”
Ulrich opened the channel to Aran and Jacob
“Alpha 3 and Alpha 4. We are going to have us one of them “coms are down” simulations...”
“I have been doing that ever since Anna told us that she had dream about us last night, Alpha 2. I am going to demand hazard payment” Jacob said. Ulrich chuckled.
“What the...The bloody tree tries to eat my mech!” Aran screamed on his com.
A purple tentacle like plant with barbs almost meter long had ensnared Aran's Firestarter.
“Just stomp on it, crybaby” Anna laughed, using her Kintaro to knock over the tree from which the tentacles originated.
“I am gonna fry the *******,” Aran howled in rage.
“And give away our approach, *****!?” Ulrich angrily retorted.
“It is dead anyway, Alpha 3,” Jacob chimed in.
“Let us continue boys. You can play later after you have done your homework” Anna said.
The lance continued their advance in silence. As usual after a 15 minutes had passed, the Steel Cage tried to contact them again but this time the mercenaries did not respond.
The rain continued to fall, making the progress difficult. The ground was treacherous, earth being transformed in mud. Nothing too serious for the mechs but coupled with dense forest it forced the lance to walk slowly towards their target. Now and then the xeno-plants “tasted” their mechs but retracted their tentacles when they found out that mech were too big to swallow. Two more times the Steel Cage tried to contact them.
After almost an hour, the xeno-forest was replaced by human imported growth, mostly pine trees. The rain stopped, increasing the visual range.

“Time to turn on our sensors boys, I think I can see the earthworks,” Anna said.



The Schottsky Industrial Park's defenses were two fold. The bulldozers had created artificial rectangular hill that surrounded the five buildings. These earthworks prevented the direct fire on the buildings and personell inside.
The buildings themselves were mostly underground, with only one floor being above the ground. While not giving total protection from air and artillery strikes which rarely were that much of a problem for defenders in Periphery, they minimized damages from such attacks.
On the top of the hill, on each corner of the “rectangle”, two pair of turrets were placed, providing first line defense against infantry, armor and air attacks. These turrets would not stop a determined mech lance but it would hurt it.
The second line of defense was placed inside the earthworks on reverse slope. When the surviving attack force crested the top of the hill, they would be faced with eight Autocannon/5 turrets which until the attacking force would be unable to engage, each of turrets covering entire area inside the industrial park.
While not exactly fortress type fortifications, the defenses of Schottsky Industrial Park were more than capable of dealing with occasional bandit raid and attacks from rivals of Magistracy. Or for that matter a single mercenary lance of two medium and two light mechs of which none was in prime condition...

“I got contacts!”, Jacob reported.
Ulrich systems came online couple of seconds later and he could himself see a mech of undetermined type and some tanks advancing on them.
“How did they know we were here!?” Jacob asked.
“Some workers in forest heard us and reported or they picked up Steel Cage's radio chatter”
“Unknown mech is of industrial type. I repeat, he is no threat,” Ulrich reported seeing the unknown mech. It was a terraforming mech trying to get away from them, weaving around the trees. He could see a women sitting high in the glass cabin, staring back on them over her shoulder.
“Oh, yeah? Wrong place and wrong time sucker!” Aran said firing his medium lasers on the terraforming mech. The lasers pierced the glass cabin with ease, killing the woman and setting her corpse on fire. The industrial mech shuddered and stopped.
“Why did you do that for psycho!?” Anna demanded to know.
Aran just laughed. Ulrich shook his head while passing by the industrial mech. It was always the same thing with Aran. He was nice as long as he wasn't armed.
He focused on the incoming armor. Four Goblin medium tanks, possibly with infantry detachments onboard.
“Are they stupid or something?” Aran asked nobody in particular. Goblins were deep in forest which meant that LRM turrets could not support them because the missiles were obstructed by the trees.
“Recon in force, I guess, Alpha 3,” Anna ventured a guess, “Alpha 2 to 4, attack enemy crawlers whose id-tag number corresponds to your own. Take them out before any arty disembarks”
Ulrich acknowledged and engaged the Goblin-2 with his L-Laser, saving his Autocannon ammunition for the bigger threats. Goblin gunner hit his Enforcer first, hitting the center torso. He would have done more damage if the driver of the Goblin was just as good as his gunner. He reversed the goblin into a tree. Ulrich fired and hit the turret, disabling the tank's weapons. He saw the crew and a infantry squad disembarking from the tank.
“They got infantry with them,” he informed the rest of the lance, using the small laser to cut the infantry down. The rest of the lance killed their targets quickly. Aran waded in between the enemy arty and used his flamers to kill the survivors, laughing in the process.
“I used up two shots on my target, only eight shots left,” Jacob reported. His Urbanmech's armament consisted of an autocannon with 10 shots and a small laser that was only useful against infantry. In Ulrich's opinion, Jacob's mech was only useful on this mission as distraction for opposition.
“Next time you run away from army do it with better mech,” Anna commented, “Lance engage the outer turret ring. I think I am going to inform the Steel Cage that we are on target nav-point.”
“They should be hearing it soon,” Jacob said over the com while at same time using his small laser to fuse the barrels of the Goblins. You never know when a brave survivor that you failed to take out, may decide to sneak back into the Goblins and start firing at your back.




The only error the security force of Schottsky Industrial Park committed was their negligence in removing the forest around the earthworks. Merely 100 meters and some places as little as 50 meters of vegetation had been cleared around the earthworks, which was far from enough. Forest provided protection from the LRM turrets while the contours in terrain provided protection from AC turrets.

Jacob's Urbanmech scored a first hit on the north western AC/5 turret, which failed to disable it for some reason and the turret continued to track his evading mech. Medium lasers from Aran's Firestarter finished the job.
Both western LRM turrets swirled around and retailed but failed to achieve anything except to destroy swaths of pine trees in their missiles' paths. Both light mechs pulled back deeper in forest.
Another 20 seconds passed before the Anna's and Ulrich medium mechs preformed their storming of the southern pair of defense turrets. Before the turrets managed to turn back on the two mechs attacking from south-western direction, both Anna and Ulrich scored direct hits on their respective targets and finish them off. The sound of high velocity shell could be heard through cockpit glass, passing too close to comfort. South-eastern AC/5 turret had engaged his Enforcer. Ulrich quickly turned left, using the earthworks to conceal him from the enemy fire.
By now the remaing north western turret had managed to train the missile box on the two box. Both Aran and Jacob scored hits on it with lasers, locking its turret ring. The turret fired despite not having solution. Most missiles missed except the 3 that hit the center torso of Anna's Kitari.
“I am OK. Bit hurt but OK,” Anna reported. Aran's firestarter dealt the final blow the LRM turret, “Alpha 3 and 4. Close up with us”
Two Partisan heavy tanks and 2-3 squads of infantry came over the top and closed on the merc Urbanmech and Firestarter. Partisan tanks concentrated on Aran's Firestarter.
“Has the Magistracy concentrated all their tanks here!?” Anna commented in disbelief. None of the mercs had seen a periphery power putting this much fight over a planet that was strategically significant as a sand corn in dessert.
Aran turned his Firestarter around and fired his 3 Flamers, obliterating the infantry. The Partisans' AC/5 shells were hitting his left arm, blasting large chunks of the metal of it in briliant show of sparks.
Jacob killed one of the Partisans with his autocannon, screaming over the com that he was down to 50 % of ammo. An Urbanmech carried only ten shells for its AC/10 autocannon. Anna fired a stream of SRM missiles on the remaining Partisan that was trying to drive around Aran's Firestarter, using his mech as protection from other mechs. The missiles found their target, all six of them slamming into the tank, detracking it and destroying its weapon. The crew began evacuating their Partisan.
With glee and shouts of enjoyment, Aran used his flamers to kill the survivors.

“Whats with suicidal attack?” Ulrich wondered. Infantry would usually use the buildings and trenches to hide themselves from mechs, attacking the mechs with explosives once those passed close enough and quickly escaping in ruins or trenches to avoid retaliation. This frontal attach made no sense.
“Keep them coming I say,” Aran chimed in, satisfied with carnage he brought in last few minutes.
“Not as smart as us, Alpha 2?” Anna suggested, “Lance leader to lance elements - Reposition on Nav Beta.”
The plan was to keep the defending force off balance, attacking in intervals, reducing the ring of defense turrets gradually. After the mercs repositioned to Beta, the plan was to attack the settlement, and destroy the bridge over the river. The attack on settlement had two goals – destroy the potential approach route of the defenders' reinforcements – although the intel indicated there was none on the planet – and the second goal was to make the defenders think that this was bandit raid and that bandits moved on to raiding the settlement. Defenders of Schottsky Industrial Park would probably not do anything to degrade their defenses but this would keep them from guessing the timing of next attack and with little luck perhaps throw off magistracy's investigators.
It was a long shot, Ulrich thought, but he would feel safer once the bridge was destroyed.

“Should I light up enemy emplacements while having the chance?” Jacob volunteered.
“Yeah, Alpha 4, quick peek over the top of the earthworks. ”
Jacob used his jump jets to bring him just high enough so that his sensors could log the details inside the compound. The use of jets brought him forward and he landed quickly on the slope of the earthworks, before the autocannon and missile turrets could lock on him.
The moment he landed, an explosion tore off the legs of his mechs. His Urbanmech fell and helplessly slided down the slope, setting off another explosion that destroyed the cockpit and killed Jacob instantly.
“Minefield!” Ulrich said in disbelief. He had 52 missions behind him and only once did he encounter an anti-mech minefield.
“More money for us,” Aran commented, nonplussed by the death of Jacob.
“His bucket still had ammo,” Anna said in a non-sentimental fashion. Ulrich sighed and once again thought that his father was right. He should have been an engineer. Living a quite life and making sure his wife was with kid number six. If was dying right now instead of Jacob, his “colleagues” would only make sure that he did not bleed on anything of value. He was sure engineers don't have that kind of problems.

A beep on his sensor display caught attention.
“Mech contacts!”

End of part 2.

Edited by Warenwolf, 30 May 2012 - 06:15 AM.

[Warenwolf]

What follows is part 3 of the story. I hope you enjoy it.


............................................





The unknown mechs were closing quickly on the three remaining mercenaries. Because of the earthworks, the sensors couldn't give proper identifications on the rapidly approaching mechs. What there was no doubt about was that the mech lance was hostile.

Anna's voice came over the com, “Lance, regroup back in the forest! Assigning new Beta nav point. Staggered line. Use trees and terrain for cover.”

Ulrich acknowledged the transmission and started the retreat to the navigational point beta. At same time he turned his torso 30 degrees, minimizing the exposure of his weak rear torso armor. Most mechs' armor was
at it weakest in the rear but an Enforcer pilot had to take extra care with his.

The first element of enemy lance were identified by the IFF computer – two Wasps came around the southern corner of the rectangle formed by the earthworks.
One of the Wasps targeted Aran's Firestarter but only achieved setting one tree on fire. Ulrich fired his large laser but the Wasp pilot was quick to reposition and the laser beam only managed to torch small patch of grass on the earthworks.
The Wasps entered the forest but kept back, waiting for the rest of their lance to catch up.

They did not have to wait long – three more mechs were ID'ed by the IFF computer – one Locust and Assassin and trailing behind those two a slowly advancing Hunchback.
Wasps advanced quickly – their goal obviously to slow down the three mercenary mechs.
“I fear that these guys are not normal mercenaries like us.” Anna said. Ulrich agreed. In Periphery not only were the repair costs high, the places capable of servicing mechs few but also the replacement parts extremely hard to get. Normal merenary lance would not follow a disengaging enemy lance.
“Watch out for the Hunchback, keep moving” she continued while exchanging laser fire with the Wasps that seemed to focus on her.
“Moving to support, Alpha leader,” Aran announced taking his mech closer to Anna's Kintaro.
Most of the fire exchange was with lasers but the hits were few and effects were minimal because the trees did not allow for laser beams to keep contact for long times with rapidly moving mechs. Soon the several small fires started filling the air with smoke.
The skirmish between Wasps and Anna and Aran were taking them further apart from Ulrich's Enforcer that was with his 54 km/h top speed slowest mech in this engagement.
Both Locust and Assassin rapidly closed with Ulrich, trying to hit him with their lasers. Ulrich resisted temptation to retaliate. Assassin fired missiles at Ulrich from his SRM battery but achieved nothing except knocking few trees down in the dense forest.
Finally Locust got over-eager and Ulrich saw a clear line. He fired his Large laser, hitting the center torso of the Locust. The enemy mech staggered as the armor melted and was burned away by the powerful laser beam. The torso of the enemy mech was black but he remained the standing. The enemy pilot quickly disengaged, setting course for the Schottsky Industrial Park and the protection of the remaing turrets there.
Ulrich took quick glance on enemy and the lance's status icons and saw that one of the Wasps had while the other had disengaged and was heading towards him, followed by the Anna's and Aran's mechs.
The Hunchback was also getting closer and fired its two medium lasers, targeting Ulrich's Enforcer's legs. The beams made a brief contact, enough to darken the armor but not to do any serious damage. Assassin tried to use his speed to get on the side of Ulrich.
Ulrich turned his mech and closed on the Assassin. The Assassin turned and fired his medium laser, achieving a solid hit on the Enforcer's right arm. He followed up with missile launches from both his LRM and SRM batteries. The range was too short and most of the missile's detonators were not armed when they hit the Enforcer, bouncing harmlessly off.
But few missiles had managed to arm themselves and the left shoulder actuator was disabled. Ulrich swore – this limited the vertical traverse of the left arm where his large laser was mounted. He fired his AC cannon hitting the center left torso of the Assassin. By now Aran's Firestarter was close enough and fired his medium laser at same time, dealing additional damage to the staggering Assassin.
At same time the Wasp pilot turned his mech around and engaged Anna's mech in a deadly dance. Too late did Anna realize that Wasp for pinning her down so that the Hunchback could get firing solution. The Hunchback's Autocannon/20 roared, the mighty shell hitting her left leg, obliterating it. Her mech fell down. The Wasp tried to finish her off but she fired her medium lasers on it, signaling she had still a bite and doing great deal of damage on the light mech in the process. Wasp pilot disengaged.
Ulrich fired his large laser on the Assassin hitting the torso one again and doing significant damage once again. The warning lights started to flash in his mech, warning him of heat buildup. His heat sinks were not getting rid of the heat as fast as they should. Nevertheless, he was certain that the Assassin mech would be soon destroyed either by him or the Aran's Firestarter.
The Assassin pilot realized this and fired his medium laser on Aran's Firestarter before ejecting. Aran started to aim his flamers on the ejection seat, intending to grill the pilot when the sound of the autocannon fire could be heard again. The cannon shell hit the Firestarter in the cockpit, killing Aran and going all the way through the Aran's mech. The Firestarter fell down on the ground.
“Damn,” Ulrich said to himself. Anna was down and her mech was helpless against the Wasp that was now positioned so that she could not use her medium lasers on her arm to target the mech that was firing on her. Hunchback was closing on him. The Enforcer was tough but couldn't go toe to toe with undamaged Hunchback that could kill the Enforcer with one lucky 185 mm shell from its autocannon. On top of that he had only 3 shots left for his own autocannon and the heat buildup in his mech was too large for him to dare to use the large laser yet.
He fired his own Autocannon on the Hunchback trying to hit the enemy mech's own shoulder-mounted autocannon. The 125 mm shell hit the center torso instead. Ulrich turned his mech sideways, offering least possible target and putting his left arm so that it covered most of the vital torso area. The Hunchbacks autocannon roared again, the shell destroying the left arm of Ulrich's Enforcer. The Hunchback followed up with his two medium lasers, burning off good chank of the Enforcer's side armor.
The lance info bar informed Ulrich that Anna had ejected. The sweat was running down his face, the salty sweat drops burning his eyes. He noticed that the Wasp pilot was bringing his mech behind Ulrich's own mech. He was running out of the time. Ulrich fired his autocannon at the Hunchback. To his disbelief the shell barely touched the AC emplacement on the Hunchback that was busy with his own evading maneuvers and bounced off without doing any damage.
Ulrich turned his mech 60 degrees so that the center torso armor would be at its thickest when the Hunchback fired. This time the enemy pilot fired his medium lasers first before firing from the autocannon. The shell hit the center torso, bulging the torse and making huge gauge in the armor, almost half meter deep.
Ulrich fired his autocannon and the 125 mm shell hit the Hunchback's autocannon emplacement. Ulrich glanced nervously on the damage analyzor data screen and was relieved to see that the autocannon was taken out.
“Perhaps I can win this one,” he said to himself. Then the Wasp fired from point blank range. The laser beam burned through the thin armor of the Enforcer's rear, making a tiny hole through the armor. All displays went offline and the Enforcer was no longer responding to Ulrich's commands.

Edited by Warenwolf, 02 June 2012 - 02:47 AM.

[Shortbus]

Moar

[Warenwolf]

4th and last part of the story:



-----------------


Swearing on four languages, Ulrich tried to restart the engine. Nothing functioned any more and the neural helmet was signaling inactive line just as if it had been unplugged.
Wasp's laser attack must have damaged or destroyed the control systems, forcing the engine into automatic shutdown. He saw through the cockpit how the Hunchback fired his medium lasers once again. In the now silent mech, the crackling sounds of melting armor could be easily heard. Realizing that the battle was lost, Ulrich activated the thermite explosive device beside his seat that would destroy the upper part of his mech and then he activated the ejection sequence switch.

The seat belts tightened and pulled him back on the seat, while the upper part of the cockpit was blasted clear. The part of the cockpit, where the chair was, blasted clear of the doomed mech, rockets firing in serious blasts, lifting the cockpit 300 meters above the ground. When the rockets were spent, the seat was detached from the cockpit module and see-through parachute was deployed.

Ulrich tipped the parachute so that it gained speed, trying to put as much as possible distance between himself and the two mechs. Finally he dropped in small clearing, 19 seconds after the ejection from his mech. He came down hard and fast, gritting his teeth from the pain of the landing. Fortunately nothing was broken.
Ulrich took his IR rejection cape from the seat and hid the seat as best as he could. Just as he sprayed the parachute with chemical that would dissolve it quickly, he felt the ground vibrate from the approaching mech. Ulrich could not see it because of the smoke from the fires, but he did want to bet that the mech pilots would not see him with IR imaging so he took his IR rejection cape on and on his four started to walk towards the sound.

One of the methods of avoiding detection is to “pierce the hunter's line”, with the goal of getting behind the hunters into the area which the hunters had just checked. Soon he could see through the smoke the shape of the 30 tonn Wasp passing him on his right. Ulrich turned right. By now he was drenched in the sweat. The IR rejection cape reduced his infrared signature but it also hindered his body in getting rid of the heat. He could hear the Hunchback going through the forest to his left.
He opened his cape and immediately felt better as he was cooled by the cold air. Deciding that he was still in danger zone he started to run, trying to put as much distance between himself and the two mechs.
Suddently Ulrich saw a charred dead body on the ground. Looking around he recognized the area where his lance has engaged the Goblin tanks one hour earlier. He could see the wreck of one of them some distance from him. Carefully approaching the destroyed tank, he checked the area around him. There was no hostile survivors around. Only dead bodies littered the ground. Ulrich prayed from the fingers of a dead soldier a heavy needler carbine, and then decided to hide in one of the destroyed Goblins.
He entered the first one. Insides reeked of burned flesh and he almost threw up. Still he decided that is chances were better hiding inside a tank so he stayed.
Ulrich could hear the mechs wandering around searching for him. After one hour had passed, he could hear the mechs moving away.

While still being a free man, he had a problem of what to do next. On his east was the Schottsky settlement
which was soon bound to be filled with planetary militia. On his west was a kilometer of human planted forest. Bordering this was a xenoforest where deadly plantlike resided. He also had no idea of whether Anna was still alive. Then he remembered the terraform mech. Perhaps the controls could be repaired. With that mech he could cross the xenoforest and reach the extraction point. He waited half hour more to make sure that the Hunchback and Wasp had given up search for him and then started to search for the terraform mech.
He found it quickly, not far from where the group of goblin tanks were destroyed. Probably he had passed it without seeing it through the smoke and fog. Ulrich climbed aboard. Grizzly sight awaited him in the cockpit – the woman pilot was dead with her hair burned away and grinning cranium all that was remaing of her face. Most of her body was ash now. He dragged the body of the dead pilot outside. The terraform mech was no true mech – the controls were indirect with no neural input decoder and control system. Most of the controll system markings was burned off but Ulrich figured out after a while how to turn on the terraform mech. The com system used throat mics but those had been melted down by the heat when Aran had killed the pilot. He could only use com system on the receiver mode and had no way of contacting the Steel Cage.
Ulrich turned on the com system anyway. You can never know what enemy chatter may reveal. The receiver was tuned on frequency used by Schottsky militia. He was still too close to the Schottsky Industrial Park, he could from the mech cockpit see the outline of the earthworks. Ulrich quickly set the direction for the xenoforest.
The chatter on the com was mostly about the militia reporting rumors. Mechs that governor had hired were in the town (good to know, thought Ulrich) and were waiting for recovery trucks. Also someone was wanting to know what they should do with the dead bandit women. That could only be Anna, Ulrich thought. So she did not make it. Nobody spoke about searching for him. He would probably be deep in the xenoforest before they thought about organizing another hunt for him.
Ulrich calculated that with the extraction nav point only 35 kilometers away, he could reach it in two hours.




Four hours later, the fueltanks of the mech were empty. Unlike the military mechs this one was powered by combustion engine that required fuel, and now its tanks were dry.
Ulrich climbed outside and stretched his arms. The piloting of this industrial mech was far more exhausting than piloting his Enforcer. Without neural link, the locomotion of the mech was really an exercise in interrupting the fall in right moment. On top of that the cockpit was not as solid as that of military mech and he had to use the circular saw fairly often to defend himself from probing tentacles in the xenoforest. Ulrich had exited the xenoforest half hour ago and he shuddered to think what would have happened if the mech had stopped inside the xenoforest. He had spent twice as much time in the travel than he calculated with.
Strapping the heavy needler carbine on his back, he started walking towards the extraction point that was only half hour away.
The going was slow but he was making good time when he heard a sound behind him. Turning to see what had made the sound saved his life. The flechettes flew past his head, nicking his ear. He dropped to the ground and took off the safety of his carbine. The blood was flowing down his head
.
“I think I got him,” he heard a familiar sound speak. It belonged to one of the Mr. Johnson's bodyguards. He heard the sound of the huge man approaching. Ulrich lifted his weapon and when the bodyguard appeared he fired one shot. The heavy needler flechettes hit the man, staggering him backwards. The bodyguard snarled and to Ulrichs disbelief started to lift his own weapon. Nobody lives through that, Urlich thought firing once again, this time aiming on the head. The bodyguard dropped on the ground, this time really dead. His colleague stormed towards Ulrich, moving with an incredible speed. Ulrich tried to fire again but the huge bodyguard batted away the carbine as if was a toy. It flew away from Ulrichs hands. The bodyguard crashed into Ulrich, both man ending up on the ground. Ulrich was no expert gutter fighter but he had the tools of the trade.
A coilfibric blade, mounted in the extraction mechanism that was strapped to Ulrich's arm jumped out as Ulrich activated the mechanism. He stabbed his attacker in the side but the bodyguard just grunted and hit him in his face with such force that Ulrich had trouble staying conscious. The coilfibric blade started to rotate, having same effect on human flesh as that of circular saw. Soon the bodyguards stomach was in ruin and this was something he felt. His eyes rolled back and he started to shake before finally dying.
Ulrich stood up, still dizzy from the fight. He could not comprehend why the Mr. Johnson's bodyguards have attacked him. Was this some sort of punishment for not preforming the mission?
Much more carefully now he started to head towards the camp. Using took on his IR rejection cape and stayed in the shadows. He crawled last hundred meters.

He saw both pilot and Mr.Johnson leaning over a sensor reader inside one of the tents.
“The sensors reported a mech, Sir”
“Only mechs left on this world is ours... Take contact with Schottsky and see what they think,” Mr. Johnson's voice could be heard.
Ulrich was tired. Johnson and his pilot were not friendly and this was the Periphery -where you first shot and then bomb and questions you leave to forensic teams. He lifted the heavy needler, switched it on full automatic and emptied entire clip in the tent. When he was finished the tents was collapsed and the blood was seeping under it.
Satisfied with today's work he staggered on to the next tent and went to sleep.


In the morning Ulrich woke from the cold. Since he was still alive he guessed that there was no other personnel in the camp. The day before he was too tired – he had simply forgotten to secure the camp.
Ulrich used next two hours to check the camp entirely. A fresh grave outside the camp told him where Sigurd were now. He found in the helicopter brand new credit chips worth 850 000 C-bills and around 400 000 dollars that Magistracy of Canopus used as currency. There was also 150 000 Marian Hegemony Talents and just as much Taurian Concordat Bulls. There was also a log of a half finished message on the helicopter's satellite comwriter that was not yet sent:

25^th of January 3049
DIRCOM: 456-458-AR-3
From: OU-12A


Herewith is the Summary of action concerning the situation in the operative sector Andherlwin-1.
As per your instructions in order number 43A-21-3048, the deep infiltration group has now finished establishing forward operations base Schottsky on the planet Andherlwin.

The garrison force was deemed insufficient, limited to forces operating as security detail for the local governor as previously reported in the report 120N-12-3048 . To meet the requirement for a sufficiently large garrison force, I have initiated operation Winter 3049 (see report 12D-22-3048 for details). It is now with great pleasure that I can report a success.
The governor has agreed to the request of expanded security force in the Schottsky due to recent “bandit” incursions. Magistracy will probably not see these events as a reason to move additional forces to the planet.

Ulrich speculated on whose behalf the now deceased Mr. Johnson worked. Mr. Johnson, or whatever his real name was, according to the message had hired the mercenaries to stage the attack on the Schottsky Industrial Park in order to obtain a permission from local governor for presence of larger defense force in Schottsky area. The attack of the mercenaries was doomed from the outset but Ulrich could not come up with any scenario that would justify such convoluted operation.
Well, I guess I'll never know, Ulrich thought, deciding that in the end the answer to the mystery did not matter. It was a problem he was not paid to solve.



One week later he was on the outbound flight from Andherlwin, leaving the planet with well over one million C-Bills in his pocket. It was not enough for a mech but it was more than enough to start a new life. Now it was only the matter of choosing where. He leaned back in his seat opening the book he recently bough - "Most Beautiful Planets of Inner Sphere"

THE END

Edited by Warenwolf, 02 June 2012 - 12:13 PM.