18 hours... dozens of battles and still no sign of the '82' bounties... maybe is was some prank, or fraud by stellar oligarchs needing a laugh Sandstrom thought as he looked out over the tourmaline desert.
Wait.. movement.. just a scorpion on his screen.
Where are these '82'? he thought.
0
Have You Seen
Started by Dale Sandstrom, Apr 22 2021 06:50 PM
27 replies to this topic
#22
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- 19 posts
Member
- LocationSophie's World, Free Worlds League
Posted 01 May 2021 - 08:32 PM
The Elusive Captain Scope,
For an entire day, a bone-chilling day at that, Dale Sandstrom and his lance picked their way through the remains of the frozen city, a once-great metropolis now shrouded in snow and slowly being ground-up like so much mince-meat by the enormous fast-moving Glaciers spawned by the nearby sun's unexpected fall into dormancy.
Throughout the day, the Darkdeath leapt from one ice-entombed skyscraper to the next providing overwatch to all three lances he dropped with. They had cornered the pirates here in the frozen city after a month-long campaign and now the ******** had dug in, camouflaging their mechs hoping that Dale and his fellow mechwarriors would move on after a fruitless search. Dangerous business, but nowhere near as fraught as it would have been if the pirates were trained house pilots, or Blake forbid some fanatical Draconis Combine order.
Dale was losing the battle to keep the lances searching, every hour that passed without sign of the Pirates, and calls between mechs were starting to speculate that the outlaws had somehow given the slip and there were no mechs to find among the buildings and bridges buried in snow. Unknown to the others Dale had his own agenda, he had learned that his notorious bounty: Captain Scope had taken refuge with the raiders 6 weeks before. It explained some of the tricks and advanced tactics the Pirates had started to implement recently, clearly a sign of Scope's canny mind steering them.
Sandstrom hadn't told any of the other pilots and had been careful not to call out to Captain Scope to turn himself in over open Coms for the last few weeks so that he wouldn't have to share the sizeable bounty with the others, while still splitting the reward for the Pirate contract. That contract gave Dale access to the extra tonnage and pilots he knew he needed to take in a cagey prey like Scope.
Like always, the battle started suddenly and without prelude, soon the air was filled with lightning bolts and shells hurled across the dead city by Auto-cannons. It was over quickly, the pirates for all their prep, were no match for the hunters once their heading places were discovered, they were low on supplies and had been run ragged.
As each pirate mech collapsed Dale anxiously waited, checking each ID, waiting to finally have Captain Scope or his body in hand. After 11 mechs were destroyed and disabled the minutes began to tick away slowly as the Sandstrom and the others tried to hunt down the last Mech that seemed to have turned into smoke and blown away. Of course, it was Scope in the end Sandstrom thought as he ground his teeth and Jump-jetted to the top of a former luxury hotel to get a 360-degree view of the city and the pale blue horizon beyond...
A blue spot on the mini-map winked out as one of the hunter's mechs, (a Centurion CN-9) was ambushed and destroyed, "Catapult Delta 6!... zztt...ch.." its pilot called out as his mech exploded around him. Dale swung around preparing to jump, his heart sinking for the pilot and the fact that the glaring red target was over 2 kilometers away from his current position.
By the time the Darkdeath landed at the intercept site in a cloud of superheated steam it was over... the catapult had been hollowed out, barely recognizable after being the sole target for 8 other pilots to vent their vengeance for the loss of their comrade so close to the end. What an ignoble end for a skilled pilot like Scope thought Dale, such an odd choice to move into the open like this after the ambush, the tracks showing the Catapults had moved hundreds of meters in a straight line right down an icy boulevard in its final moments... directly towards the tight cluster of towering buildings encased at the face of a glacier drawing his killer into the densest part of the city...
Cursing loudly, Sandstrom wheeled the Darkdeath around, forcing the mech back along the tracks to the ambush site pushing the reactor to full power.
When he arrived at the smoking form of the ambushed Centurion, Dale immediately spotted the mech's pilot, still alive and hammering away at the intact cockpit glass while screaming silently due to the sheared away Communication array that had been expertly shot away... presumably by Scope.
Ignoring the trapped man, Dale brought the Darkdeath's full optics suite online and began scanning the ground. He quickly found the tracks of the Catapult where it moved away from the Centurion and then stopped. The deep prints, that were blurred and muddled by scattering of human-sized prints were already half-buried under the snowless sky. Scant meters away was a crater of snow blow away to the underlying ice of the planet, it was approximately the size of a car, or Sandstrom as angrily realized.. a small ground-effect vehicle. "Not again! damn him, not again!" the Darkdeath's owner screamed while hammering away at the mech's dash.
Several minutes later, as the others tried to free their compatriot from the skillfully disabled Centurion and began what would be a long salvage process the radio crackled to life on the non-scrambled public ban. Dale still in the cockpit of the Darkdeath turned the volume up with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"I win!" screamed the familiar voice of Captain Scope, "you hear that Sandstrom? I win! ha hahahahaaaa! better luck next planet Sophie-boy!".
Sandstrom sagged forward in his seat and began rubbing his temples as the laughter of his Bounty target echoed around the cockpit.
For an entire day, a bone-chilling day at that, Dale Sandstrom and his lance picked their way through the remains of the frozen city, a once-great metropolis now shrouded in snow and slowly being ground-up like so much mince-meat by the enormous fast-moving Glaciers spawned by the nearby sun's unexpected fall into dormancy.
Throughout the day, the Darkdeath leapt from one ice-entombed skyscraper to the next providing overwatch to all three lances he dropped with. They had cornered the pirates here in the frozen city after a month-long campaign and now the ******** had dug in, camouflaging their mechs hoping that Dale and his fellow mechwarriors would move on after a fruitless search. Dangerous business, but nowhere near as fraught as it would have been if the pirates were trained house pilots, or Blake forbid some fanatical Draconis Combine order.
Dale was losing the battle to keep the lances searching, every hour that passed without sign of the Pirates, and calls between mechs were starting to speculate that the outlaws had somehow given the slip and there were no mechs to find among the buildings and bridges buried in snow. Unknown to the others Dale had his own agenda, he had learned that his notorious bounty: Captain Scope had taken refuge with the raiders 6 weeks before. It explained some of the tricks and advanced tactics the Pirates had started to implement recently, clearly a sign of Scope's canny mind steering them.
Sandstrom hadn't told any of the other pilots and had been careful not to call out to Captain Scope to turn himself in over open Coms for the last few weeks so that he wouldn't have to share the sizeable bounty with the others, while still splitting the reward for the Pirate contract. That contract gave Dale access to the extra tonnage and pilots he knew he needed to take in a cagey prey like Scope.
Like always, the battle started suddenly and without prelude, soon the air was filled with lightning bolts and shells hurled across the dead city by Auto-cannons. It was over quickly, the pirates for all their prep, were no match for the hunters once their heading places were discovered, they were low on supplies and had been run ragged.
As each pirate mech collapsed Dale anxiously waited, checking each ID, waiting to finally have Captain Scope or his body in hand. After 11 mechs were destroyed and disabled the minutes began to tick away slowly as the Sandstrom and the others tried to hunt down the last Mech that seemed to have turned into smoke and blown away. Of course, it was Scope in the end Sandstrom thought as he ground his teeth and Jump-jetted to the top of a former luxury hotel to get a 360-degree view of the city and the pale blue horizon beyond...
A blue spot on the mini-map winked out as one of the hunter's mechs, (a Centurion CN-9) was ambushed and destroyed, "Catapult Delta 6!... zztt...ch.." its pilot called out as his mech exploded around him. Dale swung around preparing to jump, his heart sinking for the pilot and the fact that the glaring red target was over 2 kilometers away from his current position.
By the time the Darkdeath landed at the intercept site in a cloud of superheated steam it was over... the catapult had been hollowed out, barely recognizable after being the sole target for 8 other pilots to vent their vengeance for the loss of their comrade so close to the end. What an ignoble end for a skilled pilot like Scope thought Dale, such an odd choice to move into the open like this after the ambush, the tracks showing the Catapults had moved hundreds of meters in a straight line right down an icy boulevard in its final moments... directly towards the tight cluster of towering buildings encased at the face of a glacier drawing his killer into the densest part of the city...
Cursing loudly, Sandstrom wheeled the Darkdeath around, forcing the mech back along the tracks to the ambush site pushing the reactor to full power.
When he arrived at the smoking form of the ambushed Centurion, Dale immediately spotted the mech's pilot, still alive and hammering away at the intact cockpit glass while screaming silently due to the sheared away Communication array that had been expertly shot away... presumably by Scope.
Ignoring the trapped man, Dale brought the Darkdeath's full optics suite online and began scanning the ground. He quickly found the tracks of the Catapult where it moved away from the Centurion and then stopped. The deep prints, that were blurred and muddled by scattering of human-sized prints were already half-buried under the snowless sky. Scant meters away was a crater of snow blow away to the underlying ice of the planet, it was approximately the size of a car, or Sandstrom as angrily realized.. a small ground-effect vehicle. "Not again! damn him, not again!" the Darkdeath's owner screamed while hammering away at the mech's dash.
Several minutes later, as the others tried to free their compatriot from the skillfully disabled Centurion and began what would be a long salvage process the radio crackled to life on the non-scrambled public ban. Dale still in the cockpit of the Darkdeath turned the volume up with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"I win!" screamed the familiar voice of Captain Scope, "you hear that Sandstrom? I win! ha hahahahaaaa! better luck next planet Sophie-boy!".
Sandstrom sagged forward in his seat and began rubbing his temples as the laughter of his Bounty target echoed around the cockpit.
Edited by Dale Sandstrom, 01 May 2021 - 08:42 PM.
#23
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- Big Brother
- 2 posts
Rookie
Posted 01 May 2021 - 09:09 PM
ATTN: Dale Sandstrom
If you want information on Capt. Scope - I may be able to help you out. But it's going to cost you.
If you want information on Capt. Scope - I may be able to help you out. But it's going to cost you.
#24
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- 19 posts
Member
- LocationSophie's World, Free Worlds League
Posted 01 May 2021 - 10:47 PM
getz2oo3, on 01 May 2021 - 09:09 PM, said:
ATTN: Dale Sandstrom
If you want information on Capt. Scope - I may be able to help you out. But it's going to cost you.
If you want information on Capt. Scope - I may be able to help you out. But it's going to cost you.
Of course. There is no reason why a concerned citizen like yourself who wants to do the right thing shouldn't be rewarded for his time and being observant. Use Comstar contact address: darkdeath@gmx.com and we will get that rogue sorted out.
#25
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- 19 posts
Member
- LocationSophie's World, Free Worlds League
Posted 06 May 2021 - 04:54 AM
No Blanc checks
River City: 10-221-54 3052:
I'd tracked a very elusive Mechwarrior groundside on River City, a seldom seem fellow who goes by the callsign "Blanc". By the time I arrived on River City, the Major house battles for the planet had moved to the eastern hemisphere and shifted to Aeromech clashes, but the major cities, that were still evacuated were being ransacked and ransomed by some of the contractors the Houses had cast off early as the battle for the planet shifted modes.
Those Ronin were angry and greedy, well to be honest I think some of them were bankrupted by the contract breaks and reduced to scrounging to get enough C-bills and fuel to get off the planet before the battle was decided and the old/new rulers rounded them up and confiscated their Mechs. Dirty business, and I can tell you from experience; being dispossessed is worst than death for some of us, man will do almost anything to hold onto his family's steed.
Anyway I joined 11 other looters and steered them toward Delcomino a mid-sized city that I knew was evac'd and currently being ransacked by contractor heavy infantry and three lances of penniless mechwarriors, who I had paid 50,000 C-bills to find out, Blanc was rolling with.
The idiots I dropped with were chewed up by Blanc's mates in just minutes. I don't know who the shot-caller was but those dozen stayed tight and drew our mechs across the river to them, all while making full use of the emptied tanks and giant pipes of the fuel-farm to full effect... just brilliant warriors. Every 2 of 3 shots we fired were blocked and deflected, while Blanc's pals were deadeyes, just picking us apart. Not pretty, I can tell you.
In no time I was reduced to an army of one, and still hadn't ID'd the Mech Blanc was in (no amount of C-bills could get me that info) and I was watching the enemy start to close in on my position in a burning building where I was using my Stealth and the ample smoke as cover. Not an ideal situation, but for once I was lucky and the Pipes worked for me as a Marauder's twin lightning bolts from his PPCs were blocked by a intervening pipe, no lottery, but the best luck I've had in a month.
I broke cover JJ'ing across the river as fast as I could push the Darkdeath, I was across less than a minute before ranging shots started shattering windows all around me. This was bad, but not bad enough for me to leave Blanc, or at least ID what Mech he was piloting. I needed to salvage something out of this farce, and to do that I had to get at least some kind of intel or insight on Blanc or his Mech, and I needed to do it before I could withdraw. Popping off my ECM, I started to lead them towards the airfield above the city, making sure to jump high into plain view. But once I reached the runways I set about losing them again, turning the stealth back on as I passed behind a half-crushed hangar.
For the next ten minutes I made a white-knuckle circum-navigation of the city's northern boundary coming almost full circle to the fuel-farm. Seeing no mechs there (where did that damn legged Nova cat get to?) I eased my way along the harbor mouth towards the citadel's seaside flank and hopped up to the top of the burning customs office and started searching with my optics for the raiders. I could see a smoking dragon looking out over the city from the base of the Hyperpulse dish, In plain sight! just begging to be finished off... but I hadn't dropped with the Darkdeath's usual LGR and was sporting a RAC5 for the close-in city fighting, at that range it would have only tipped them off to my position. Besides no point in making these pilots any angrier by killing more of them than I have too.
Speaking of angry, by now the public band was filled with abuse from the opposition and it was not friendly. I guess these days the only thing worse than killing somebody's lance-mate is making them wait, or work for it... kids these days. I made several good faith offers to take Blanc in exchange for leaving off, but they were not buying, which is understandable with the odds at 9 vs 1. The whole time Blanc never said a word... very cool customer, by this point they are usually begging, threatening or trying to make a deal with me.
That done, I knew time was running out and that I needed to spot this bounty at before things went any further downhill, I leap-frogged across a series of flat towers, scanning as best as I could while in stealth. I let a Raven pass under me untouched, because it wasn't Blanc and it was too out in the open... I set traps, I don't fall into them. After 5 mins I spotted Blanc's mech tucked away in a tunnel under the airfield, smart. As I began moving with the smoke of the fires towards the tunnel to get a clear torso shot I started spinning-up the RAC5 and feathering the mech's jump-jets.
Then, out of the smoke bulled that same damn PPC packing Marauder! moving across the open space in the peculiar zombie-duck gait of theirs, with no other options I open up on it with the RAC and thunder filled the cockpit. Two white-hot bolts of the PPCs hammered into the space where the Darkdeath had been a split second before as we hurdled up and over the Marauder spinning 180 degrees and hammering it's cockpit and center gun with RAC rounds the whole way. "don't jam! don't jam you loud *******!" I yelled at the RAC as I pushed the Assassin up behind the Marauder that was still facing the other way.
Apparently it was listening, because it showed only a sliver of yellow when I double checked the RAC ramp and prepared to finish him off with a full blast through the thin rear armor that was left. As the RAC spun up again, the clanking sound was suddenly drowned out by a screeching blast of the Dropship proximity and no-fire warning coming over all com channels. Taking a breath I let go of the trigger and the spinning barrels ran down.
Too late.
The Marauder slowly spun around, and if looks of horror were worth C-bills, the look on that poor ******** face would have paid my annual ammo bill. Through the dirty smeared cockpit panels, I saw his aghast face drain of all color as he realized just how close he had come to being killed.
Within ten minutes the enemy mechs were loaded and secured on two battered old dropships and roaring skyward on columns and dirty white smoke while my ride was broadcasting threats to lift-off without me if I didn't board immediately. I couldn't help but notice that the last enemy Mech to board their dropships was Blanc's, I don't know if that was to insult or humiliate me, either way it doesn't matter, because for me it's not personal... its just business.
See you again soon Blanc, very soon.
River City: 10-221-54 3052:
I'd tracked a very elusive Mechwarrior groundside on River City, a seldom seem fellow who goes by the callsign "Blanc". By the time I arrived on River City, the Major house battles for the planet had moved to the eastern hemisphere and shifted to Aeromech clashes, but the major cities, that were still evacuated were being ransacked and ransomed by some of the contractors the Houses had cast off early as the battle for the planet shifted modes.
Those Ronin were angry and greedy, well to be honest I think some of them were bankrupted by the contract breaks and reduced to scrounging to get enough C-bills and fuel to get off the planet before the battle was decided and the old/new rulers rounded them up and confiscated their Mechs. Dirty business, and I can tell you from experience; being dispossessed is worst than death for some of us, man will do almost anything to hold onto his family's steed.
Anyway I joined 11 other looters and steered them toward Delcomino a mid-sized city that I knew was evac'd and currently being ransacked by contractor heavy infantry and three lances of penniless mechwarriors, who I had paid 50,000 C-bills to find out, Blanc was rolling with.
The idiots I dropped with were chewed up by Blanc's mates in just minutes. I don't know who the shot-caller was but those dozen stayed tight and drew our mechs across the river to them, all while making full use of the emptied tanks and giant pipes of the fuel-farm to full effect... just brilliant warriors. Every 2 of 3 shots we fired were blocked and deflected, while Blanc's pals were deadeyes, just picking us apart. Not pretty, I can tell you.
In no time I was reduced to an army of one, and still hadn't ID'd the Mech Blanc was in (no amount of C-bills could get me that info) and I was watching the enemy start to close in on my position in a burning building where I was using my Stealth and the ample smoke as cover. Not an ideal situation, but for once I was lucky and the Pipes worked for me as a Marauder's twin lightning bolts from his PPCs were blocked by a intervening pipe, no lottery, but the best luck I've had in a month.
I broke cover JJ'ing across the river as fast as I could push the Darkdeath, I was across less than a minute before ranging shots started shattering windows all around me. This was bad, but not bad enough for me to leave Blanc, or at least ID what Mech he was piloting. I needed to salvage something out of this farce, and to do that I had to get at least some kind of intel or insight on Blanc or his Mech, and I needed to do it before I could withdraw. Popping off my ECM, I started to lead them towards the airfield above the city, making sure to jump high into plain view. But once I reached the runways I set about losing them again, turning the stealth back on as I passed behind a half-crushed hangar.
For the next ten minutes I made a white-knuckle circum-navigation of the city's northern boundary coming almost full circle to the fuel-farm. Seeing no mechs there (where did that damn legged Nova cat get to?) I eased my way along the harbor mouth towards the citadel's seaside flank and hopped up to the top of the burning customs office and started searching with my optics for the raiders. I could see a smoking dragon looking out over the city from the base of the Hyperpulse dish, In plain sight! just begging to be finished off... but I hadn't dropped with the Darkdeath's usual LGR and was sporting a RAC5 for the close-in city fighting, at that range it would have only tipped them off to my position. Besides no point in making these pilots any angrier by killing more of them than I have too.
Speaking of angry, by now the public band was filled with abuse from the opposition and it was not friendly. I guess these days the only thing worse than killing somebody's lance-mate is making them wait, or work for it... kids these days. I made several good faith offers to take Blanc in exchange for leaving off, but they were not buying, which is understandable with the odds at 9 vs 1. The whole time Blanc never said a word... very cool customer, by this point they are usually begging, threatening or trying to make a deal with me.
That done, I knew time was running out and that I needed to spot this bounty at before things went any further downhill, I leap-frogged across a series of flat towers, scanning as best as I could while in stealth. I let a Raven pass under me untouched, because it wasn't Blanc and it was too out in the open... I set traps, I don't fall into them. After 5 mins I spotted Blanc's mech tucked away in a tunnel under the airfield, smart. As I began moving with the smoke of the fires towards the tunnel to get a clear torso shot I started spinning-up the RAC5 and feathering the mech's jump-jets.
Then, out of the smoke bulled that same damn PPC packing Marauder! moving across the open space in the peculiar zombie-duck gait of theirs, with no other options I open up on it with the RAC and thunder filled the cockpit. Two white-hot bolts of the PPCs hammered into the space where the Darkdeath had been a split second before as we hurdled up and over the Marauder spinning 180 degrees and hammering it's cockpit and center gun with RAC rounds the whole way. "don't jam! don't jam you loud *******!" I yelled at the RAC as I pushed the Assassin up behind the Marauder that was still facing the other way.
Apparently it was listening, because it showed only a sliver of yellow when I double checked the RAC ramp and prepared to finish him off with a full blast through the thin rear armor that was left. As the RAC spun up again, the clanking sound was suddenly drowned out by a screeching blast of the Dropship proximity and no-fire warning coming over all com channels. Taking a breath I let go of the trigger and the spinning barrels ran down.
Too late.
The Marauder slowly spun around, and if looks of horror were worth C-bills, the look on that poor ******** face would have paid my annual ammo bill. Through the dirty smeared cockpit panels, I saw his aghast face drain of all color as he realized just how close he had come to being killed.
Within ten minutes the enemy mechs were loaded and secured on two battered old dropships and roaring skyward on columns and dirty white smoke while my ride was broadcasting threats to lift-off without me if I didn't board immediately. I couldn't help but notice that the last enemy Mech to board their dropships was Blanc's, I don't know if that was to insult or humiliate me, either way it doesn't matter, because for me it's not personal... its just business.
See you again soon Blanc, very soon.
#26
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- 8 posts
Rookie
Posted 07 May 2021 - 02:13 PM
i just want everybody to know ,,,they told me they where single ok,,,dont blame me, learn to treat her better and she wont be bothering me.
#27
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-
- 19 posts
Member
- LocationSophie's World, Free Worlds League
Posted 09 May 2021 - 01:03 AM
Big bet on Solaris city pays off
After taking a punt on one of the hot tips my ad in the HMWT site was starting to bring in, I finally caught up with Blanc in Solaris City. It was a long hot night spend chasing shadows and enemy fire before my lances were able to sort Blanc out from the chaff he was travelling with. Unsurprisingly, the other 11 mechs had to be taken out before we could get the cagey pilot nailed down.
Otherwise it was an unremarkable gig, and I was able to recover Blanc from the wreckage of his mech no too worse for the wear. In fact, I have little doubt he will be bailed out and put back on the battlefield soon enough, there is no way the Great Houses are going to leave a pilot that skilled cooling his heels in lockup.
I suppose the only item of note was a small disagreement with one of my lancemates, a little commando pilot who could be a bit abrasive and a bit too eager to claim the bounty for himself. Fortunately I was able to reason with him in the end.
After taking a punt on one of the hot tips my ad in the HMWT site was starting to bring in, I finally caught up with Blanc in Solaris City. It was a long hot night spend chasing shadows and enemy fire before my lances were able to sort Blanc out from the chaff he was travelling with. Unsurprisingly, the other 11 mechs had to be taken out before we could get the cagey pilot nailed down.
Otherwise it was an unremarkable gig, and I was able to recover Blanc from the wreckage of his mech no too worse for the wear. In fact, I have little doubt he will be bailed out and put back on the battlefield soon enough, there is no way the Great Houses are going to leave a pilot that skilled cooling his heels in lockup.
I suppose the only item of note was a small disagreement with one of my lancemates, a little commando pilot who could be a bit abrasive and a bit too eager to claim the bounty for himself. Fortunately I was able to reason with him in the end.
#28
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- Ace Of Spades
- 7,020 posts
Member
- LocationCO
Posted 10 May 2021 - 01:26 PM
I heard he hangs out with Russ and Paul
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