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Inner Sphere 3017, Immacia VII, Border of the Free Worlds league
“Eighteen ten inbound.” The pilot said over the radio as the Confederate dropship lurched hard to the right. Eric was slammed into his harness like a toy in a teacup.
“#uck me, I hate landings” Jessica Lord said her face visible on Eric's Command screen.
“Relax, lurching is good, it's when the ship lurches and then vibrates that it's bad.” Eric said voice calm and, not surprisingly, the ship lurched again and a hard vibration shot through the ship.
“#uck, #uck, #uck!” Jessica said softly.
Maverick laughed “Yeeehaaa!” He shouted and put a fresh wad of chew in his mouth.
"That chew is going to give you cancer.” Nathan said his voice perfectly calm, near to monotone, as he casually scanned his screens, nothing ever seemed to bother Nathan.
“Not going to get the chance buddy-boy." Maverick said with a huge smile. "I'm gonna die right here in one of these." He said patting his controls. "Hell the day I get old and put out to pasture I'm gonna steal one and show'em what a real pilot can do when he's got nothing to loose!” Maverick said then spit into his spit-can off screen.
“You want to die, fight in Solaris.” Nathan said leaning back in his seat waiting patiently for their drop time.
“I'd bet on you.” Eric said absently listening to the pilot and co-pilot grumble about the damage from the hit that vibrated through the massive dropship.
“Solaris is for losers who couldn't find a real fight if it had ***$.” Maverick said with a chew stained grin.
“Oh, that is disgusting.” Jessica said her face already a little green.
“I've seen you take nine Gs in a fighter and this bothers you.” Nathan said to her.
“I'd fly anything if it meant I didn't have to be a passenger.” she said taking a deep breath. The ship shook again and talking stopped at the ship vibrated, lurched, and shuddered again much harder than before. Eric noticed his mech switch to internal power and sighed.
“Here we go.” He said softly and Jessica's jaw hardened and Maverick smiled. Nathan only looked up from his controls for a second.
“Containment breach!” The captains voice yelled over the intercom to Eric. “Ah, #uck! Bail it! Bail it!” He said and hammered the drop code.
“Launch!” Eric snapped and all four battlemech encased in special high-altitude-descent-pods separated from the Confederate dropship, still in high orbit, and raced downward at well over nine times one Galactic Gravity. Confederate Dropships were designed to carry battlemechs to the ground but today the mechs were cocooned in specially designed descent-pod so they could make it to the ground in one piece. No one talked, talking was all but impossible, as the rocket engines pushed the pods down at incredible speed in order to prevent the orbital batteries from getting a lock. Billions of pieces of chaff and several million super bright flares followed them down. Eric caught just a glimpse of the Confederate drop ship breaking up as a pair of heavy intercept missile blasted into it and said a quit fairwell. Each battlemech descent-pod shut off the main engines and then lurched randomly left and right as the maneuvering rockets kept them from falling straight down so that manned guns wouldn't be able to track the fall. Five inflatable decoys ejected from each pod and then the outer protective heat shield broke off along with even more chaff and flares. The descent pods were slowed by friction but still falling incredibly fast, the skin now jet black and radar absorbent, as they fell into the night.
“Nathan give me a overlay of our landing zone, I want targets.” Eric said and Nathan nodded not even looking up as he hands flew across his controls.
“Thirty seconds to separation.” Jessica said face hard jaw clenched knuckles white on the controls.
“I have a couple of possible targets, I'll highlight them on the map.” Nathan said and Eric looked them over and nodded, it wasn't their intended landing zone, but it had plenty of good targets to choose from.
“Plot a course for that geothermal power plant, it powers their largest mech factory on this continent.” Eric said and Nathan nodded.
“Three two one, separate!” Jessica said with a sigh now that she was finally in control, her eyes hard and focused. The descent-pods broke apart turning into even more debris and all four massive battlemechs touched the air of this world for the first time. Eric's felt his mech lurch as the enormous battle machine fell free and the pod broke apart right as an orbital gun sent a thousand high velocity rounds ripping through the pieces of the pod. Battlemechs were massive walking war machines standing twenty or more meters tall bristling with enough weapons to level a city. All four mechs deployed massive vented jet-black parachutes as the guns tracked the decoy pods now deploying their own slightly larger parachutes, with specially designed radar signatures, and were quickly blasted to pieces from hundreds of high velocity and explosive rounds. Each battlemech was slowed by the parachutes but were still falling at over two hundred kilometers and hour, then at the very last second, less than five hundred meters the special rockets latched to the feet of each mech roared to life matched by the mechs own jump-jets which used the machines powerful fusion engine to superheat air and Eric was slammed down into his seat by the rapid deceleration. All four battlemechs landed crushing through the canopy of the huge forest leaving the trees around them smoldering and broken.
“Yeeehaaaw!” Maverick said as they landed.
“No chatter.” Eric said voice hard and deadly serious. “Nathan how clean did we get down?”
“Debatable, they'll check this whole area with a least a lance of scouts, where near the center of the main debris field. I would expect this whole grid locked down in less than an hour.” He said.
“See if you can tap into their comm channels, the planetary defense force isn't all that professional, so they might be a little lax on radio security. Even with all our decoys they've undoubtedly estimated our landing forces at no more than a couple of lances so they won't be mobilizing the entire planetary force just for us. They'll put everyone on alert, but only for local hit and run action, and send scouts to pin us down, I don't expect more than that, not yet." Eric said.
“That's their first mistake.” Jessica said eyes hard and cold. This planet was defended not only by the Planetary Defense Force but also by the formidable Gray Death Legion Mercenary Corps and she had a debt to pay them in blood.
“Give me status.” Eric said as the leg rockets jettisoned.
“Green.”
“All green.”
“Hump me green.”
“Course is on your screen people, eyes sharp, let's move.” Eric said and the four mechs, just one lance worth, moved out through the jet black night. Eric used the arms of his massive machine to batter trees aside, when he couldn't find a way through, in order to keep on their designated path, as time was far more critical than avoiding a trail, even a two year old could track a mech through the woods, with each step leaving a meter deep hole in the ground.
“VTOLS coming in.” Nathan said his sensors already picking out the rotary craft.
“Get us out of the woods.” Eric said switching his screen to battlemode. His neurohelmet reset from the basic night vision to a tactical overlay identifying targets and showing terrain features ignoring the nearby trees. His left screen switched to a map of the local area instead of a larger hundred kilometer tactical plot. Nahtan led the way so that Eric could concentrate on tactics.
“Four farm houses and three big silos.”Eric said and Nathan only nodded since he was already leading them in exactly the right direction having seen them already. The lance of battlemechs were too large for even the large silos to hide them so they all lowered their mechs crouching down waiting. A single farmers truck was parked next to the barn and as a precaution Eric checked the heat signature on it, saw it was warm, so he knelt on it smashing the small vehicle. That would keep the farmer from running off and telling anyone about what he saw and Nathan was already jamming the VTOLS which would prevent any other form of communication. The VTOLs slowed their approach, having detected the jamming, and swept over the forest out into the grain fields, passing over a massive hundred ton automated farming machine, scanning for the source of the jamming.
“Ten seconds and they will have a good read on us.” Nathan calmly noted.
“Take them out.” Eric said and stood his Special Warfare Awesome Battlemech up, the bottom half of the machine shielded by the house and fired the Extended Range Particle Projection Cannons, usually just called ER PPCs, on his arms sending two balls of barely contained plasma particles ripping across the distance in a flash. The ER PPCs were so incredibly powerful just passing twenty meters from the grain fields lit the top of the wheat on fire. Both shots hit a VTOL blasting the rotor blades off the top of the aircraft and it fell crashing into the wheat. Nathan stepped out of the right side of the silo shielding him, leveled both arms of his Special Warfare Rifleman battlemech, and fired. Four Extended Range Large Lasers ripped across the space between them turning the dark farmland blue for a full second. All four lasers melted into a VTOLS ruining the internal combustion engine and it dropped from the sky in flames. Jessica stood her Special Warfare Marauder up and fired her three ER PPCs and all three shots blasted a VTOL sending it crashing to the ground the front end melted off. Maverick stepped out and fired both ER PPC on his Special Warfare Warhammer battlemech and the fourth VTOL evaporated in a ball of flame crashing down in molten pieces.
“I have comm chatter, two more squads of VTOLS picked up the jamming.” Nathan said.
“Go stealth, flank speed, follow the road.” Eric said and they took off in the directions of the power facility.
“There will be defenders.” Nathan said having picked up a bit of chatter about the facility.
“Actually I was counting on that.” Eric said and Nathan nodded.
“How do you plan on taking them on?” He asked.
“The old fashion way, brute force, it's the last thing they will be expecting. They'll believe anything approaching will be a scout force and will want to do a little damage before moving on so we come in fast and hit them hard.” Eric said.
Chapter 2
About forty minutes later Eric and Maverick were crouched on a small cargo skimmer observing the geothermal compound with binoculars. A single medium lance of four Grey Death Legion battlemechs was sitting on alert inside the compound of the geothermal plant with two lances of light Planetary Defense tanks guarding the perimeter around the compound.
“Perfect, we'll hit them from the east right at the tree line.” Eric said and Maverick nodded turning around the small skimmer they borrowed from a nearby house. The homeowner wasn't happy but he didn't argue since his house was impolitely surrounded by four awesome machines of war. The trip back to the house took two minutes with Maverick driving at flank speed and they both jumped out and raced up the evacuation ropes back inside their waiting machines.
“We hit them here, jam them right now.” Eric said then specifically to Nathan. “Jam them full power, that's what they would expect from scouts.”
“Got it jamming on full power.” Thirty seconds later the medium sized Grey Death Legion battlemechs had moved to the front of the compound alerted to the approaching mechs by infantry scouts who heard them coming but the woods were too thick for them to identify their targets. The first good view of the attacking mechs was when all four heavy mechs fired. If medium battlemechs were the working class mech, heavy mechs were the hammer that cracked the world, ranging from sixty to seventy five tons of skeleton, myomer muscle fiber, armor, and guns, lots and lots of powerful guns. Seven ER PPCs and four large lasers fired all at once and three of the four medium mech went crashing to the ground by the force of the blasts. As the medium mechs recovered the single remaining mech, a hunchback with only short ranged weapons, charged at them. The eight small tanks fired their small class two autocannons into the woods and Eric felt a single shot slap into the armor of his right legs. All four mechs fired again and only two tanks remained and they were instantly abandoned by terrified crewmembers. The medium mechs were back on their feet but their autocannons and lasers didn't have enough range to be effective. The Centurion had a ten rack of Long Range Missile, or LRMs, which peppered Maverick's Warhammer but the thick assault-class armor barely felt the impact leaving a handful of scratches and scorch marks. All four Special Warfare heavy mechs fired again and the Centurion went down when all three of Jessica's ER PPCs hit the center torso and crippled the fusion powerplant. Maverick hammered the Clint blowing off the left leg and it crashed to the ground. Eric and Nathan both fired on the Enforcer which was desperately trying to close to get it's class ten autocannon in range. Eric hit the center and left torso with his long range ER PPC shots and Nathan followed with three out of four lasers into the center torso and the Enforcer crashed to the dirt crippled. Jessica hammered the Clint which was trying to stand with three shots blowing off one arm. The Huntchback realizing the futility of trying to get into range with it's huge, but futilely short-ranged, class-twenty-autocannon smartly chose to power down. The Clint was still trying to get up and Maveric and Jessica hammered it with five more ER PPC shots and ripping open the torso and the fusion core. The super-heated million degree plasma was suddenly exposed to twenty-five degree air and tried to instantly equalized the temperature in a massive thermal explosion. What had been a crippled Clint moments before was obliterated leaving only molten pieces. The heavy mechs began approaching the base carefully checking for additional threats.
“Jessica, the pilot lives.” Eric said as she prepared to fire on the Hunchback but instead she advanced on it ordering the pilot out with her loud speaker. All four heavy mechs were built by the Star League Defense Force, SLDF, nearly three hundred years before and were state of the art at a time when technology was far more advanced than it was now. Each Special Warfare mech was equipped with specially designed extra-light fusion engine systems in conjunction with experimental super-cooling double-heat exchangers that could more efficiently cool the massive heat created by their powerful weapons. The Marauder Jessica piloted carried three massive Extended-Range-Particle-Projection-Cannons that could fire a third farther than the traditional design and could even hit targets at point blank range. Eric's Awesome was equipped with two of these ER PPCs, one in each arm, and two older style PPCs in the torso. Even with the amazing heat exchanging properties of the super-heat-exchangers on his Awesome the designers realized four ER PPC would melt the shielding right off the fusion engine when fired together so the older style PPC, which used less energy and in turn generated less heat, were left in the torso from the original design. Even with this minor compromise Eric's Awesome was breathtaking and utterly devastating, having one more PPC than the original model, and far more armor. Mavericks Warhammer was quite possibly even more devastating equipped with two ER PPC cannons in each arm and six medium sized lasers in the torso. The combined firepower of these medium lasers did as much damage as three ER PPCs could. Firing all six medium lasers only generated a much heat as firing one ER PPC would, the only limitation was range, since the medium lasers had about half the range as the ER PPC and would loose focus pass half a kilometer. Jessica waited for the pilot to get clear and focused on the weak back armor of the Huntchback to cripple it.
“Jess, wait a minute, I have an idea.” Eric said and Jessica stopped. “Let's take out the installation, leave the mech for now.” He said and all four machines aimed at the large group of buildings all connected by a myriad of pipes moving the powerful heat from underground into massive turbines. “Take out the installation on my mark...fire!” He said then Eric fired each of his four massive PPC cannons in sequence blasting apart the concrete turbine building, he kept the fire rate slower than full battle mode, to keep from over-stressing the coolers as the engine spiked to keep up with the insane amount of power each shot required. Concrete melted and blasted away with each shot as the four massive war machines unleashed more power than a nuclear bomb. Pipes burst and super heated steam erupted like a geizer as the plant blew apart and Maverick maneuvered his Warhammer closer getting his medium lasers into the fight and the beams melted a hole through the main armored hydrogen storage tank and it detonated a massive blue flame that rocked the ground for miles. Eric shot a hole through the wall of the generator building and his next shot tore into a generator which instantly unbalanced and shot free of the frame holding it and shattered in pieces big enough to destroy a tank. In moments the entire facility was a smoking burning mass of wreckage.
Nathan then stood guard as Maverick and Eric piloted the two abandoned tanks and Jessica restarted and piloted the Hunchback into a nearby abandoned quarry careful to use the roads and not walk on the softer earth and then they came back using a skimmer taken from the geothermal plant taking their time to use the powerful fans on the skimmer to obscure the few footprints left by the hunchback.
“Let's go, jump only, land soft so you don't leave marks in the road.” He said as they jumped away and then walked along the hardened road over to the quarry and jumped down in it. Eric had them park the tanks and the hunchback on it's back along the wall and all four of them used the barrels of their weapons to gouge out rock from the wall and after a few minutes they buried the three vehicles under a layer of rock hiding them from view.
“Ok everyone powers down except Nathan.”
“With this ECM suite I can hide us from anything except a visual inspection.” Nathan said and Eric nodded. The Rifleman had an early production prototype of the Guardian ECM suite that was, in a word, incredible. It could do things that even made the ECM on a Star-League-era-battlemech pale in comparison. Sixteen minutes later two lances of Gray Death Legion Aerospace fighters roared overhead at well over mach-one leaving a ripple of sonic booms in their wake.
“Two full battalions with some of the best Aerospace fighters in service anywhere. Somehow they managed to acquire at least two full lances of Star League era fighters.” Jessica said frowning at the sight.
“Got some faint radar returns off our hull so I scrambled it to make it look like false echo, it should even fool SLDF era equipment at that speed.” Nathan said watching his screen closely. “They're circling the power plant now and the chatter isn't happy.
“Put anything you have on our net.” Eric said and Nathan nodded.
“PDF eighteen to Hawk did you get any radar hits.” A irritated voice said.
“Negative Eighteen, check for tracks and advise.” The Gray Death Legion voice said sounding rather exasperated.
“Roger, will keep trying to go green but this Free World s#it won't switch over.” The PDF voice said.
“You buy cheap you get cheap.”
“#uck me, I know who Hawk is, that's Colonel Hargrove that ***-**-*-***** used to be a Aerojock before he lost his arm, guess he finally got that Myomer replacement.” Jessica said.
“Nice.” Eric said and sighed. “Nathan you should shut down and run that off battery.” Eric said.
“I already did, the moment I read they were aerospace fighters and not the local junk.” He said and Eric nodded glad he had Nathan as the electronics officer. In all his life Eric had never seen a more competent sensor operator than Nathan and he could do things with computers that would have made the original designers of the prototype Rifleman proud.
“They're going to circle over us in about two minutes, going low and slow.” Nathan said and Eric nodded.
“I'm not going to fight them, not with an officer that experienced, and I doubt all he has in the local area is a single group of PDF forces unable to switch to secure comms.” Eric said.
“There's a lot of scrambled chatter, I have a single lance of VTOL heading by us and at least two lances of hovercraft approaching from the east at high speed.” Nathan said and Eric patched into the sensory output from Nathan Beagle probe and nodded.
“At that speed, I'll bet they're heading for the mech plant.” Eric said.
“At least two of those are cargo haulers, got a strong nuclear bloom from both of them.” Nathan added dialing in the signal as they got closer, he had a single radar receiver on a boom sticking up above the top of the quarry which was a nice little trick.
“FST this is Raptor Eighteen.” The same voice that called himself PDF eighteen to the Grey Death Legions spoke up.
“Raptor Eighteen FST One go.”
“What's the status on those fusion plants?”
“We have everything we need, backup plant should be in operation in six hours.”
“Excellent, keep me advised, out” PDF Eighteen said and Eric smiled.
“We're going to have to risk exposure to the aerospace fighters.” Eric said.
“No we're not.” Nathan said highlighting the display and Eric saw all eight racing south a several times the speed of sound.
“I wonder what set them off so fast?” Eric wondered but the radio crackled to life.
“Base to Raptor Eighteen, base to Raptor Eighteen.”
“Raptor go.”
“Sir we've been trying to get you on comms is your secure out again?”
“Yes, piece of s#it...what do you have?”
“Someone just blew the ammo dump at Regallia ridge, bet it's out infiltrators.”
“No s#it, so I take it that's where our aerospace is heading?”
“Affirmative sir.”
“Ok, we're going to stay here and see what we can find about who exactly we're fighting.”
“Roger, base out.” Eric already had his mech powered before the conversation was over and waited patiently while the rest followed right behind.
"Anything on our forces?" Eric asked Nathan who shook his head.
"No, only the confirmation of pod release, then we lost the link when our Confederate was destroyed."
"ETA on that convoy." Eric asked.
“Convoy will be passing along the road in six minutes.” Nathan said.
“Good we'll hit them right as they pass by at the corner, it will slow them down. Nathan I have a job for your lasers.”
Exactly six minutes later nine hover craft and two heavy hover transports raced down the paved road in tight formation with the two transports in the middle. These were top of the line hovers run by the elite Gray Death Legion and they knew what they were doing. As they reached the corner and were forced to slow down two of the hovercraft from the front broke off and stopped to eye the corner. Unfortunately even seasoned tanker were not used to heavy battlemechs appearing out of thin air at all but point blank range on massive balls of fire. Maverick didn't even bother shooting at the closest hover tank instead he just landed on it smashing it with one of his massive battlemech feet. Jessica landed in front of the second and kicked it sending the machine tumbling end over end. Eric leveled his PPCs at the lead two hovercraft and fired at the vulnerable rear armor and one exploded in a huge ball of fire and the other lost power and fell to the ground scraping to a halt. Nathan raked his lasers across the tree-line near the end of the sharp corner his powerful beams leveling several trees at the base sending them toppling into the roadway. Jessica began firing at the rear tank hitting it with all three PPC shots and it blew up and tumbled. Maverick fired all six medium lasers at one tank and it lost power then the ammo exploded spectacularly. Two of the hovercraft tried to make a break for it across the road but Eric fired at the rear armor of one tank as it tried to cross over the fallen trees and it slammed hard into the branches and tumbled out of control. The second realizing the folly of driving a hovercraft over fallen tress tried to stop and ended up slamming into a tree, spun and rolled upside down. Nathan fired all four ER Large lasers across the trees at the back of the formation knocking several down onto the two remaining rear guard hovercraft pinning them. Only one tank and both transports were still operating and all three were too busy stopping to fire at anyone scraping skirts on the pavement in an effort to stop before hitting the fallen trees. The crews on all three machines ran for their lives as Eric started approaching the transports.
“Hold!” Nathan said, voice wary, looking at his screen which was being cleverly jammed. “Somethings wrong, s#it aerospace inbound from high orbit! Take cover, this was a trap!” Nathan finished talking rapidly.
“Back into the quarry move!” Eric snapped and all four mechs launched upward on jets of superheated air. Just as Eric lifted up both cargo trucks exploded and the force of the massive blast sent his mech spinning. He jammed the throttle hard left and cut the power landing on his feet but then tumbled to the ground almost rolling over the side of the quarry. All four mechs were pushed hard by the blast but Eric was a lot closer and took more impact. Eric rolled over the side of the quarry right as the aerospace fighters raced overhead raking the ground with a torrent of laser and cannon fire. Two massive bombs dropped but they hit the ground just shy of the quarry edge leaving craters and sending a shower of rock and dirt down on them. Nathan fired at the aft end of one of the fighters and nailed it with three of his ER large laser and the fighter lurched sideways from the hits almost loosing control and then peeled off from the formation heading home trailing smoke from a critical hit.
“They're coming back from the east under heavy ECM.” Nathan said and Eric nodded.
“Blind them, move to the east quarry wall!” Eric said and they moved to the eastern side to use the thirty meter rock wall for cover. They just made it as the formation raced overhead raking at the quarry again and this time all four mechs fired as they passed overhead. A well placed bomb landed right in front of them and the massive explosion rocked all four mechs and sent a shower of rocks which bounced off their armor leaving a few dents. Medium aerospace fighters were powerful and fast but they were never intended to take on mechs alone and all four mechs fired every weapon they had and when nine PPC shots, four large lasers, and six medium lasers raked the formation it got their attention. One aerospace fighter hit by all four of Eric's shots spun out of control and smashed into the forest. A second hit by all four of Nathans shots tumbled and lost control but managed to regain it just before hitting the trees and broke off from the formation. Jessica had been aiming at the lead aircraft but hit a second one that blocked the shot and took the hits from all three of her PPCs without loosing control but trailed smoke as most of the armor on it was blasted off. Maverick hit one areospace hard with his PPC shots but all six of his medium lasers lost focus and did little damage. Maverick had also locked on with his streak short range missile launchers stacked in a pod over his right shoulder but they were well out of range and the sophisticated fire control system rejected the shots to prevent him from wasting ammo. Eric lost his breath as the cockpit literally turned into an oven as the heat spiked to almost one hundred degrees, firing all four PPC cannons at once was a bad idea under most circumstances, but not now, because the aerospace fighters would need time to turn around. His cooling suit went into overdrive to keep him from boiling in his own cockpit and a moment later cool air raced back in as the super cooling heat exchangers dealt with all that excess heat.
“The men on the ground are trying to contact the aerospace but I've got everything jammed.” Nathan said watching his screen closely and nodded. “Aerospace is bugging out, they don't want to try taking us on alone.”
“Smart decision, he's already lost one hard to replace fighter and at least two hit hard and isn't about to loose another. I'll bet he wasn't expecting to take on heavy mechs." Eric said smiling.
“That quarry was a good idea, I've never seen a better place to fight an aerospace fighter.” Jessica said and Eric nodded glad he'd chosen it himself.
“We were lucky, but now their gunning for us, they know their up against some serious hardware and not a small marauding lance of scouts so they'll be sending some heavy s#it to try and take us out.”
“Yeehaa, #uckin bring it!” Maverick said smiling.
“Wasn't that the plan anyway?” Jessica asked.
“It was indeed, now it's time to do some damage.” Eric said and updated their course.
“Nice.” Jessica said smiling. “I guess they'll be expecting an attack but not there I suspect." She said with a smirk.
“That's the problem with fighting rogues like us, you never know what they're going to do.” Eric said with a smile.
Chapter 3
“I'm getting jamming.” Donovan Cartwright said from the cockpit of his Archer long range heavy battlemech and scanned the nearby hills. “Area is clear, I don't have a lock on it though so whoever is jamming is good.” Donovan's Archer was on a hill three kilometers away from O'donica the main city in the region and the largest Grey Death Legion base on the continent. The remaining three heavy mechs in his lance were carefully concealed in the heavy trees nearby.
“Call the alert.” General Rigeld said from the command bunker of the Grey Death Legion Main base. “We've received a call from scout three, he didn't see anything but he heard several mechs moving in the area south of the city.” He said to one of the officers in the command bunker with him. “I want you to take over, I'm suiting up, get my Atlas powered up.” The General coldly.
“Sir it could just be another exercise the PDF just got those old Ravens and they've been playing with the electronics for a week.” The Tech Sergeant said from one of the radar screens. "They built their mech base on Belvdon City eight klicks away." He added.
“I certainly hope it is, but I don't think so, I haven't seen jamming that good since the last time we fought Wolf's Dragoons.” The General said looking at the screens.
“Sir we still don't have anything, radar is clean.” Donovan said from the cockpit of his Archer. Sirens were blaring throughout the compound and people were scrambling to their posts. All twelve battlemechs stationed at the base as a permanent guard were already being fired up by their crew chiefs even before the pilots arrived. A full lance of long range missile carrying tanks roared to battle line just outside of the city facing west. The city was on the eastern coast of the continent so the scouts were deployed both north and south of the city to spot any mechs approaching from that direction. The southern scout had raced hard out of the city to try and intercept whatever was jamming everything.
“Alert, Alert, Alert!” Staff Sergeant Mike Jones yelled into the mike of his comm unit as his radar suddenly showed four hit east of the command bunker. The hits were there for a moment and then gone but he'd sure-as-s#it seen them. Only two small patrol vehicles had been on the west side patrolling near the water when the four massive mechs simply walked out of the sea and the rifleman fired all four lasers and destroyed them before they could call for help. The city was large, one of the biggest on the planet, but the path to the Grey Death Legion compound was only two kilometers and they ran through the city at flank speed jumping over anything in their way.
“Sir! We have a call on the city emergency line!” Sergeant Parker said holding up the phone yelling over Sergeant Jones who was trying to explain what he'd seen.
“What?” Captain Woods, the senior officer of the watch asked, as he tried to answer both men at the same time. He had the phone to his ear when he saw the four heavy mechs rocket into the air just outside of the base and his eyes went wide.
“East! East! Four inbound mechs from the east!” He cried out just as General Rigeld was strapping into his mech. It wasn't possible, they had sensors in the water that would have heard the mechs approaching from that direction.
“s#it, all units, defend the east not west!” Captain Woods screamed and turned to watch in horror as the four massive mechs launch into the sky and rained fire into the compound as mechwarriors were still running toward their mech bays. Vehicles and ground service personnel were wiped away and Captain Woods stared as his screen his mind still stubbornly refusing to admit these mech existed.
"What the #uck happened to our sensor net!" Woods growled.
"Sir, someone hacked the sensors in the bay, it's an old system, they must have hacked one of the hard-lines." Sergeant Jones said fingers flying across his console. "Whoever did it was good, we're #ucked!" Jones said and Captain Woods glared at him but said nothing, he couldn't much argue, they were #ucked. General Rigeld growled and punched the override on the Atlas and ran out of the bay, tearing the support racks off as he went, sprinting into the clear, launching a full rack of twenty LRM at the mechs as they descended. All four dropped out of sight only to launch up again moments later raining even more fire across the compound. A full lance of medium mechs were already sprinting across the compound to defend their base but the damage was already done. Only four of the eight assault mechs in the bays were going to have pilots.
Eric landed his Awesome onto the top of a large office building his reticle telling him confidently he was in range despite being almost a kilometer from the Atlas running between the massive mech bays. Both PPC hammered the giant mech square in the upper torso and the pilot was so shocked by the impact he lost balance and fell over. Jessica landed onto the top of a parking garage and targeted a Cicada running ahead of rest and despite only two of three hits the mech lost an arm and the left torso was badly scorched. Maverick picked a museum to land on and crashed right through it delaying his shots but Nathan landed on a high speed overpass on the left flank and shot his lasers into an ICE fuel depot detonating the fuel supply and sending the crews of several tank running instead of getting into their tanks. Maverick ran right out of the museum and turned aiming his weapons down the street toward the front gate of the compound and took out two small gun emplacements with his medium lasers then jumped up and landed on a the same overpass Nathan was on a little farther down.
Eric fired on the Cicada himself and hit the center chest and right leg with two shots using only the long range ER PPC cannons causing the mech to stumble from the huge impacts. Jessica fired again with all three ER PPCs and hit the Cicada in the head, blew the leg arm off, and then smashed the torso again. The Cicada spun out of control having just lost three tons of armor, an arm, leg, and sustained massive internal damage. The injured and stunned pilot was unable to keep the machine upright and it crashed down at a full run utterly crippled. Maverick spotted the Atlas getting back up and fired over the fence with both ER PPCs and hammered the chest and right torso with solid hits but the Atlas was the largest mech ever produced and had over nineteen tons of armor and shook off the hits with ease now that the pilot was expecting it. The Atlas launched a full rack of twenty LRMs at Maverick who deftly dodged them jumping back into the building and they smashed down the wall of the museum. Eric, Jessica, and Nathan all concentrated fire on the Atlas and hammered it with all five ER PPC shots and three of Nathan's long range lasers. Armor was blown and melted off the Atlas with such furry Eric was impressed as the pilot managed to stay on his feet this time and fired his huge auto cannon and all his lasers at Maverick as he moved out of the building. The autocannon shot went wide lacking the range to hit but the large laser hit Maverick in the right arm melting off armor. All four mechs fired on the Atlas now and hits raked the top half of the huge mech and all four of Nathan's shots hit the left arm and blew it right off, but still it kept coming. Eric wanted the Atlas out of the fight so he fired everything, ignoring the massive heat, and hit four PPC shots on the center torso. The Atlas lost containment and the core of the fusion plant detonated in a massive thermal explosion. The four heavy mech then concentrated fire on the mechs still in the bays ripping them to shreds before any of the crews could get to them.
The remaining defenders of the Gray Death Legion base suddenly realized that defending the base was a lost cause. Captain Woods called the retreat and the seven remaining medium mechs began pulling back in a fighting retreat. Lasers and missiles hit the heavy mechs causing minor damage.
“Full attack!” Eric roared and all four heavy mechs launched through the air jumping over the gate in two hops firing at anything still moving. The medium were hit hard and gave up trying to fight their way out and fled at flank speed. Unfortunately the range wasn't long enough yet as all four heavy mechs landed on the armored bunkers in the base compound and fired shot after shot badly damaging three of the medium mechs before they were able to get out of range.
“Leave nothing standing.” Eric said to his force and they began methodically shooting every bunker in the compound only waiting for personnel to evacuate. Eight and a half minutes later they were running north through the woods while Nathan send false signals to indicate they were heading south. Using the super advanced sensors he located a group of VTOL craft that had landed outside of the city waiting for them to pass. They immediately surrendered when the mechs arrived at the small forward fueling base. Eric gave the crews and service personnel enough time to get clear and then they leveled everything.
“The Grey Death Legion mechs have consolidated north of us.” Nathan said keeping them carefully out of range as the light mechs searched for them.
“Keep us clear.”
“Aerospace inbound again two lances conventional, PDF forces it looks like.” Nathan said.
“Can you hide us from them?” Eric asked.
“Why, we'll just blast them.” Maverick said eagerly.
“Not a chance a lucky hit to the head can kill anyone and those ******** are mech-busters and have the same class twenty autocannon as that Atlas." Eric pointed out. "They would willingly sacrifice every single one of those piece of s#it fighters to take any one of us down and we don't have any repair facilities to use.” Eric added and Maverick sighed and they powered down and waited while the mech-busters flew over a two kilometers to the west.
“That's too far for visual.” Nathan said since all four mechs were now hunched down below the trees well out of sight from anything but a direct fly over.
“We'll take a break here, get something to eat, and wait for things to cool down a bit.” Eric said. “Two in, two out, one pilot in the Rifleman at all times on the sensors.” They all did their power checks and Eric untied the small hover skimmer from the back of his Warhammer and preped it.
“Going to watch our trail in case they send scouts.” Eric said and Maveric grabbed his massive heavy sniper rifle.
“I'll go with, you might need a hand.” He said spitting out his wad of chew and loaded a fresh gob into his mouth. Eric took his hand-held twin missile launcher two reloads and his trusty shotgun and they headed south until they found a good ambush position. Not surprisingly twenty minutes later light armored skimmer with ten heavily armed troops flew into sight following the trail left by the huge feet of the mech. Eric fired his missile launcher but missed the round skipping off the top of the armored skimmer before exploding but Maverick had better luck when he fired his sniper rifle and hit the driver in the head and the machine crashed into a tree. Eric fired his second missile swearing as some of the troops managed to evacuate before the missile hit and blew the machine to bits. At least three troopers died and two more were wounded by the exploding skimmer but that left four taking cover in the trees. Eric dropped the launcher and charged the downed craft using the large tree roots for cover as he advanced. Maverick fired as a trooper tried to move into a flanking position and hit the man in the leg dropping him in the open and a quick second shot killed him. Maverick quickly relocated as bullets ripped into the trees around his firing position. Eric charged within a meter of a trooper who had been aiming around a tree for a shot but Eric was faster and fired his fifteen millimeter shotgun at point blank and blasted the man right off his feet, injured, but still conscious as his body armor took most of the impact. Eric pumped another round into his chest and left the unconscious man on the ground stopping only long enough to toss his rifle and side arm away. He charged forward but ducked as a stream of bullets from an automatic rifle tracked him. A single round slammed into his arm leaving a bloody gouge but it wasn't life threatening and Eric low crawled deeper into cover. Maverick moved west to his backup firing position and spotted a trooper that was moving to get behind Eric, took careful aim, and hit the trooper in the head killing him instantly. The only remaining trooper was hidden and firing on Eric to keep him pinned but he had no way of stopping Maverick who worked his way around to get a shot. Eric made several potshots just to keep the troopers attention on him until Maverick got into position and dropped the trooper with a clean shot.
“They're going to send more.” Mav said and Eric nodded.
“Of course they will but they know exactly what's at the end of this trail so they're going to advance cautiously which will give us some time.” He said and Maverick nodded as they jumped back on their hidden skimmer and raced back fifteen kilometers to their mechs. Eric took that time to treat his wounded arm and Maverick made fun of him.
“Hurts don't it?”
“Yes it does.”
“Well then next time don't miss with the first shot.” Mav said smiling at Eric who gave him a dirty look.
“Next time you can shoot it.” Eric said.
“Hell no, I'd be lucky to shoot that thing in the right direction. I'll shoot this and hit a gnat off a dragoons *** at two kilometers.”
“I'd like to see you prove that.”
Eric and Maverick were still eating when Jessica spoke up over their ear comms.
“Wakey, wakey, we have a full company inbound and on the prowl.” She said and climbed out of the rifleman and ran over to her Marauder. Since the mechs were all sitting against trees getting in was a snap and only Eric stumbled as he lost grip with his wounded right arm and had to get in a little slower than normal. Once he was up Eric checked the tactical map and he could see it was an attempt to box them in.
“We have four lances sweeping in from the south, south-west, and northwest. I see at least two lances of VTOL and those mechbusters are back.” Nathan said and Eric nodded.
“Ok Nathan I want you to draw the mechbusters in first, give them a small comm burst, nothing too juicy, but just something to get them interested. Try to draw without scarring them off.” Eric said and Nathan nodded and worked the controls and using the angled dish he sent a burst transmission in line with the fighters. As expected the mech-busters turned to do a visual sweep and right as they passed overhead even though it was long range getting fix on the mech-busters wasn't too hard since they were flying level and straight. Five PPC cannons shots hit three of the eight mechbusters and one detonated quite spectacularly. They started banking in hard but Eric had their mechs running into a small clearing to get to full speed. As the fighters raced by for an attack all four mechs fired again this time they hit with seven out of eight shots and three mechbusters took hits. A second blew up and two more lost control and were too low to recover since their weapons were short range and both hit the trees and exploded. The four remaining fired as they passed and cannon shells ripped the ground but thanks to their speed only Jessica took a hit smashing into her center torso and nearly breached the armor despite the thickness and she nearly fell over from the sheer force of the impact. The mechbusters turned for another pass but this time the assault mechs stopped and waited in the middle of the clearing and as the mechbusters approached again all units fired and after the blast of energy only one mechbuster made it through the withering fire tumbling out of control and smashed to the ground right in front of them. The pilot managed to eject and his parachute landed lightly about a meter from Eric's foot. Ignoring the terrified PDF pilot they ran north into the teeth of the assault.
Eric drove them right into range of the scout lance working the north and as soon as they spotted the light mechs they fired. The lighter mechs had no intention of fighting them but Nathan's expert hands with the Guardian forced them into visual range and it only took a single volley to cripple the lance leaving only one mech still standing and Maverick dispatched the last one with two long range ER PPC hits to the back.
“Aerospace fighters are inbound tracking with a lance of mechs. They want to engage us at the same time.” Nathan said and Eric nodded.
“ETA on the fighters?”
“Less than a minute.”
“Ok the heavy lance is falling behind but both medium lances are linked up just to the south and are closing, lets make them pay.” Eric said and they turned and ran south. Eric picked out a patch of ground that included a medium sized lake and a nice rocky outcropping and they took the high ground and watched as the two four-mech medium lances arrived and all four of their heavy mechs fired at long range getting four solid hits on the medium mechs which had to either go around the lake or run through it.
“Aerospace inbound west!” Nathan said and Eric nodded and all four mech jumped into the air and dropped into the lake each completely submerging as the aerospace fighters raked over them but the lasers and cannons hit the water and were ineffective. All four mechs walked back until they were waist deep in the lake and fired every weapon at the approaching medium mechs. The medium mechs fired their, large lasers, autocannons and LRM which streaked back at them and Eric took hits along with a solid hit on Nathans center torso by a class five autocannon. Eric let loose with a full four PPCs ravaging a medium mech so badly he burned right thought the right side of the chest and the right arm literally fell off. Again the aerospace fighters came back for another pass but they jumped back into the water and the fighters wasted their shots into the water. Two Enforcers jumped in after them trying to get into point blank range with Eric who backed off enough to rocket upward away from them and fired three PPCs at a Hunchback trying to get his huge class twenty autocannon into range. One shot ravage the head of the mech but the other two were wasted hitting the water creating a huge ball of steam obscuring the mech for a few moment but also spoiling it's shot. Maverick jumped upward and fired his six streak missiles, all six medium lasers, and one PPC at the Hunchback and in one blast the already damaged Hunchback crashed into the water a broken wreck. Jessica had her eyes on a long range Trebuchet and slammed it in the right leg with two PPC shots which all but ripped the leg off and left the machine limping with a melted knee joint. Nathan jumped onto the small hill and fired his lasers into the chest of a Vidicator as it jumped over the lake firing it's PPC at him. The Vindicator went out of control and smashed into the lake head first and the fusion core tripped and shut down as water leaked into the core. Two aerospace fighters raced overhead taking shots at Nathan who took two large laser hits to chest and legs and a class ten autocannon blasted his left arm hard. Jessica also took a hit from a class ten autocannon to the leg and two lasers to her left torso and right arm.
“Take out the aerospace that flies over next.” Eric said and they all jumped over behind the cliff taking cover as the medium mechs charged after them. Two more aerospace fighters raced overhead blasting at them but a torrent of fire destroyed one completely and the other hit Eric with the class ten autocannon and all four lasers blasting armor off his leg, both arms, chest, and left torso. Leading the way Eric launched into the air and literally landed right into the middle of the approaching medium mechs. Eric dropped right onto the head of a fifty-five ton Kintaro killing the pilot but he lost his balance and tumbled crashing hard to the ground. Jessica landed on the shoulders of a second Hunchback smashed it right to the ground disabling the main gun and nearly severing both arms. Maverick landed in front of both Enforcers and knocked one over with a vicious kick and then ravaged the other with all six medium lasers and streak SRMs ripping apart the center torso and shutting the fusion engine down. Nathan leap upward but as he landed he angled forward and turned his undamaged shoulder into a Wyvern and bashed backward twenty meters crashing onto it's back.
Two more aerospace fighters raced overhead raking along a path hitting everything there, friend and foe alike. Eric took a laser blast right to the canopy and the heat burned the exposed flesh on his arms but the canopy went black preventing his death and the armorplast melted and warped but held keeping him alive. Eric used his viewport in the helmet to aim a kick at a Sentinel that had fallen over from a hit to the leg and kicked in the cockpit canopy. Nathan was knocked over from two autocannon hits to his legs but his mech was only lightly damaged the heavy armor shrugging off the powerful hits. Jessica fired all three PPCs at the prone Enforcer and blew it apart hitting the center torso with all three shots. With only two mechs still fighting the crippled Hunchback fled and a Wyvern sprinted away which left them to concentrate on the next two aerospace fighters that streaked by. Eric had them fire at the one on the right only and with a hellish blast of fire it went down in flames. The second hit Jessica with rapid fire lasers and but missed with the autocannon.
“Assault mechs are almost in range.” Nathan said and Eric nodded.
“Take the high ground, Nathan, Maverick, you're on air guard.” He said they took their place watching as the lance of assault mechs broke out of the woods and regrouped with the two surviving medium mechs. Eric looked over the mechs, Awesome, King Crab, Banshee, and Battlemaster all equipped with long range weapons. Eric and Jessica fired four ER PPCs right as they broke free of the woods and hit the King Crab melting off some of the thick armor on the torso. The King Crab launched a rack of LRM missiles at them followed by PPC shots from the Battlemaster, Banshee, and Awesome. All of their fire was concentrated on Jessica who used her jumpjets to launch into the air in an attempt to avoid the incoming fire. Missiles hit Jessica's marauder all the standard PPCs were just out of range and the shots lost containment before they hit showering sparks off her armor but causing little damage.
“Battlemaster!” Eric called and they fired all three of Jessica's round hammered the Battlemaster right across the chest and Eric fired his two long range ER PPC but only managed a single hit to the left leg but it was a lucky hit right when the pilot was trying to compensate for the sudden explosive loss of armor and the leg was off the ground. The Battlemaster tumbled to the ground face first. Four Aerospace fighters streaked in but Nathan and Maverick were ready and they concentrated fire on one hitting it with every shot. The armor on the nose was melted right off and the fighters plummeted to the ground with the cockpit melted into slag. The three remaining fighters got their revenge raking all four mechs and Eric took hits from three large lasers and two autocannon tens and it smashed all the armor off his right arm and he took hits to his right leg and right torso. Eric did a quick check of the internal systems on the arm and nodded seeing everything still green. Jessica took two laser hits to the right arm and right torso but shook them off with ease. Nathan was hit with an autocannon to the chest and one large laser hit to his leg but the armor held. Maverick somehow lucked out without a single hit anywhere. Jessica fired again at the Battlemaster as it tried to get up and hammered it with all three ER PPC shots right across the upper torso and Eric did the same both of his PPC shots hitting the weakened left torso and then watched in sudden horror as the SRM pod mounted there suddenly detonated and blew the top half of the Battlemaster apart.
“One down.” Jessica said as more missiles from the King Crab hammered her Marauder. The Banshee raced ahead of the other and fired a PPC and class five autocannon that raked the Marauder's legs and center torso.
“Armors almost gone in the chest.” She said firing all three PPCs at the Banshee.
“I'll give them a target.” Eric said moving forward and he leveled all four PPCs at the Banshee and fired. Heat spiked like a rocket inside the cockpit but Eric Ignored it watching at the Banshee staggered backward hammered with all four PPC shots right across the chest and left arm and it toppled over backward unable to compensate for nearly two and a half tons of armor instantly evaporated. Both standing battlemechs leveled at Eric and fired realizing now just how dangerous his Special Warfare Awesome was. Armor melted all over his chest, legs, and he lost some structure in the right arm but only lost a single heat sink. Showing all green Eric ignored the heat spiking in the cockpit and worked his magic keeping the mech upright and the core from tripping due to excess heat.
“All units take out the King Crab!” Eric said all four mechs turned and fired together. Nine PPCs, four lasers, six short range streak missiles and all six of the Warhammers medium lasers ravaged the King Crab. Four PPCs, three medium lasers, and two of the short range missiles all struck the center torso and blew right out the back armor leaving a hole where the fusion engine used to exists. Eric was stunned for a moment until the super heated remains of the engine detonated with so much force it knocked the enemy Awesome right over sideways. Eric felt the heat searing his skin but slammed the emergency override that kept the engine running and hammered the jumpjets. A moment later all four mechs in his lance followed his lead just ahead of the six remaining aerospace fighters coming in for the kill. Nathan fired in the air and amazingly hitting the left wing of the lead fighter with three of the four shots. All six fighters focused on him but he was already dropping. Only the lead fighter managed a shot at Nathan before he landed in the lake but the lead pilot had equally good skills and hit Nathan's Rifleman with two large lasers and the nose mounted class ten autocannon and Nathan spun from the impact and splashed into the lake on his back. Five bombs splashed into the water after them detonating and Eric felt his mech shutter and watched as water poured into the cracked canopy but ignored it since the all the controls were water tight. The right arm of his mech was exposed to the water the ER PPC flooded and lost containment causing the capacitor to overload which nearly severed the arm as it detonated and several more alarms rang through the flooding cockpit. Eric could see his engine shield was leaking but not bad enough to be terminal. The Banshee and Awesome were getting up but they turned their back and ran leaving the field of battle.
“They've been called back.” Nathan said. “Transmission was in the clear calling every Grey Death Legon unit.” He noted.
“They're not getting away.” Eric said they moved forward into waist deep firing at the two remaining assault mech blasting away armor. Assault mechs were designed for heavy fighting and both walked backward hammering all four already damaged mech *** they moved. Nathan lost a laser and Maverick lost all of his right torso armor but wasn't out yet. Suddenly four medium mechs arrived in the tree-line behind the four retreating Grey Death Legion mechs and Maverick gave a huge cheer.
“Yeehaa!!” All four pilots smiled recognizing the new arrivals. A fifty five ton SW Ravager, two fifty ton SW Gunners, and a fifty-five SW General Patton, fired twelve medium lasers, fire large lasers, an ER PPC, and a LB-X class ten autocannon blasting through the thin back armor of the two assault mechs and left them burning wrecks. The two surviving medium mechs immediately powered down frantically calling for surrender.
The six aerospace fighters had swung around for another pass but found themselves facing eight battlemechs instead of four and peeled away at high speed without firing another shot.
“Thanks Kelly.” Eric said to the beautiful face that appeared on his command screen.
“My pleasure, it's not every day a girl gets to drop an a couple of assault mechs in one volley.” Kelly said her red curls sticking out of the sides of her neurohelmet in a way Eric found utterly enthralling.
“Hey baby!” Maverick said with a dirty grin at her but Kelly just rolled her eyes and muted him.
“Where you headed?” She asked him.
“I think this little blob on the orbital snaps is a mech resupply base just south of here.". Eric said.
“They might expect that.” She pointed out.
“That's the thing, they're expecting wounded from the battle, but not enemy wounded." Eric said pointing out the two enemy mechs shut down nearby.
“Feel like playing dress-up?” He asked Kelly.
“Not in that Hunchback.” She said looking at the crippled machine.
“Not that one, we'll use my spare Huntchback.” Eric said and the look she gave made him laugh.
Chapter 4
“Repair base Sixteen I have two mechs inbond, confirm.”
“Ninteen, Alpha six, and Omega six declared a retreat from the battle but those damn mechs have spooky good jamming, radio is useless.”
“Roger than, I've got a solid visual on Omega four and Epsilon five, IFF is green sir.” The spotter said the Huntchback and Wyvern ran full speed toward the base. Point of fact Eric was rather lucky to be alive having taken a large laser right to the cockpit earlier and glad he was in battlemech with an undamaged cockpit.
“Ten-four keep an eye out for those mechs your supply base is exactly what they might go for and we don't have any other resupply in the area HQ is pulling out every battlemech that is still mobile.”
“Roger our mechs have already pulled out but I've got sixteen main battle tanks here and eight LRM carriers, we'll give as good as we've got, and they're pretty heavily damaged from Air One's report.”
“Damaged but still very, very dangerous.” The scout said watching the Hunchback and Wyvern move past and turned to scan the woods. “I'll bet they let these ones go so they could follow them here.” The older scout said to the young Private next to him who was barely out of high school and they both froze. Deep in the woods, right at maximum magnification, he spotted the leg of a mech just standing there.
“I have a confirmed sighting, confirmed sighting!” He yelled into the mike. “I was right, they followed that one.” He said and turned just in time to see the Wyvern spin around and fire off into the wood right as the mech he spotted lept into the air along with six others and rained fire down hitting only the LRM carriers. Four of them erupted in flames instantly destroyed and the Wyvern and Hunchback ran backwards toward the back of the camp past the line of tanks firing wildly at the attacking mechs as they went. The six mechs landed in the dense woods closer to the spotter and then lept into the air again exchanging long rang fire with the four remaining LRM carriers. Unfortunately four LRM tanks were no match for that amount of firepower and in the panic of the moment no one gave the order to concentrate fire making the spattering of hits useless. The tanks roared forward trying to close and get their class five autocannons into range but suddenly the Hunchback changed targets and fired it's class twenty autocannon and both medium lasers into the back of a tank crippling it instantly. The Wyvern also changed targets hitting the back of another tank with it's large laser, six SRMs, and both small lasers and the tank detonated as the fuel tank was breached. Confusion rained as the six approaching mechs roared into the air and finished off the remaining LRM carriers and killed at least one of the battle tanks. Half of the tanks turned to shoot at the Hunchback and Wyvern but Eric used the powerful jumpjets to outmaneuver the slower tanks and Kelly just charged in point blank using the huge autocannon to full effect. Shots pounded into the undamaged Hunchback but to no avail as the remaining seven battlemechs charged in using their better maneuverability to get in close. In the confusion the tanks fired in all directions while the better coordinated mechs, now at point blank range, moved in and around them shooting at the tanks vulnerable backsides while carefully shielding their own. In moments only two tanks remained while all of the mechs took damage but stayed on their feet. The surviving tank crews wisely abandoned their vehicles and left them on the field while the mechs moved into the base and calmly took command. Eric and Kelly got out weapons in hand while the rest of the battlemechs stood guard calmly making sure no one did anything stupid.
The base commander Colonel Gregory Adams walked out alone to meet them. “I surrender the base, please allow my men to leave.” He said.
“I'll do one better, we're about to attack this planet, being a Planetary Defense Unit, you are not part of the mercenary command paid to protect it. Every one of you is a part-time citizen soldier from what I understand, is that true?” Eric asked.
“Yes sir it is.” He said.
“The sovereignty of this planet has been brought into question in both courts, and won in both courts, which means the holder of the planet has legal president to keep it. By the end of today the Grey Death Legion will be withdrawing from the planet and the Free Worlds League will have made a diplomatic relationship with your government solidifying her right to keep this world making it the defacto sovereign government.” Eric said. “I intend the transition of government to be as smooth as possible, you have surrendered to me but under the above conditions I do not see you as prisoners, but as refugees from an illegal government, and as such are entitled to retain all of your rank and equipment. In exchange for this simple service I only ask for use of your facility and your techs to facilitate repairs on my damaged mechs.” Eric said.
“If I refuse?” Colonel Adams asked.
“I will still allow you to leave as you requested but will destroy all of this equipment. Equipment I that will cost your government a considerable sum of money to replace. I assure you sir that they will be happy that you chose to cooperate with us and thus managed to save a large sum of expensive equipment.” Eric said.
“What if you don't win?” He asked.
“In that case we will withdraw leaving you with your equipment intact as payment for your services.”
“They won't look at it that way.”
“That's why I'm leaving you the choice, but you are a repair base, and we'll make sure the attacking units know you are cooperating.” Eric said and had timed it almost perfectly as the orbital batteries began firing again.
“s#it.” Colonel Adams said and could see at least fifteen overlord dropships and ten Avenger aerodyne assault dropships entering the atmosphere all around them. A large formation of twenty Free World League aerospace fighters raced overhead. Nathan made sure none of the attacking ships or aircraft targeted the base. Eric and Kelly waited patiently for Colonel Gregory to make his decision.
“It's probably my rank either way but we'll fix you up.” He said and Eric nodded.
“Good, you can start on my Awesome.” He said and Colonel Gregory formed up every member of the repair and resupply base.
“These are mercenaries and have asked us for repair work in exchange for not destroying the base. I feel that is a fair exchange, we'll fix them up and in exchange this base will not be attacked by the Freebees landing all around us. Because of this you will all be able to make it home to your families.” He said.
“Do you believe him?” One tech called out and Gregory nodded.
“I do, I've been watching the battle reports carefully and every crew that abandoned their vehicles, including the three crews standing here, were left unharmed. People die in war and you all know it, many of your friends are dead right here and believe me I haven't forgotten that, but my choices are limited and under the circumstances, helping them is by far the lesser evil.” He said and got a murmur of agreement. “As for sabotage...don't.” Gregory said calmly, “ I will personally sit in the cockpit of every mech that leaves the repair bay along with one randomly selected tech, you'll pick straws, understood.” Gregory said and got a murmur again. “Understood!” He repeated and they snapped to attention and rifled “Understood!” back to which he nodded. “Dismissed, get to work.”
The sun was just coming up and Eric watched as the highest ranking techs pondered over the damaged ER PPC on his left arm, lost tech damaged beyond repair, so they were checking to make sure a standard arm would fit on the modified Awesome frame. Kelly's medium lance wasn't damaged much at all so she'd left to help the invasion leaving just Eric and his heavy lance at the repair bay.
Two days later a Leopard drop ship with local Planetary Defense Markings arrived with a two star General from the Planetary Defense Force and a Man in a very recognizable ornate purple uniform. The General spoke with Colonel Adams for a few moments, then spoke with the gathered formation of men.
“The planet has surrendered to the Free Worlds League Forces, supported by none other than the famous Wolf's Dragoon.” He said indicating the man with him but it was no longer a surprise as Eric, Nathan, Jessica, and Maverick stood in their own Purple Elite Wolf's uniforms, their mechs smartly painted to Wolf's colors. “You lost to a worthy foe and we have sued for peace. The Grey Death Legion contract is void by their withdrawing from the field and has been picked up by the Wolfs who graciously agreed to provide two full legions at the same price.” He said and Eric smiled. The man with the General approached Eric's team.
“For valor in the field.” He said giving each of them the a Wolfs head pinned on their uniform then returned to standing next to the General who nodded.
“Colonel Adams as of today all members of the PDF forces are given thirty days of paid leave. All bases will have Dragoon guards assigned, here are your orders.” He said handing Colonel Adams a data card took it and saluted the General's return the salute nodding. “Dismissed Colonel.” He said and walked back to the empty dropship. The Wolfs Officer shook his head as he looked over the full repaired and freshly painted heavy mechs in Eric's Lance. “Only you would find a way to go through a battle like that without a scratch.” He said though it was obvious he knew exactly what happened and how they got fixed up.
“It pays to be good.”
“Load them up, the fleet is leaving in less than an hour.” The man said gruffly turning his back on Eric's tiny formation so they wouldn't see him smile.
“What about my new mechs? Leopard only fits four.” Eric asked.
“I'll send for them... now get moving.” Jamie Wolf grumbled.
“You heard the man.” Eric said with a huge grin shared by his crew.
“Yeehaaw!!!”
Appendix
SW Marauder
Built on the Marauder frame the SW Marauder incorporates the new Extended Range Particle Projection Cannons in both arms and completely replaces the light hitting AC in the torso with a third ER PPC. To keep from melting to scrap the regular heat sinks were replaced with a the new super cooling heat exchangers referred to as double heat sinks. The large extendible fins incorporated into the double heat sinks give the SW Marauder a menacing look when fully deployed but otherwise the SW Marauder looks like the original. The massive 300XL engine was designed into the chassis without needing to increase the frame size by utilizing the space freed up by the removal of the autocannon and ammo bays.
Statistics________________Tons
75 Tons__________________75.0
Speed
_____Walk___4
_____Run____6
_____Jump___4____________4.0
Engine 300XL_____________9.5
Gyro____________________3.0
Cockpit__________________3.0
Internal Structure__________7.5
Heat Sinks 21 (42)__________11.0
Armor Factor = 224__________14.0
Weapons / Equipment______________Mounted
ER PPC__________________7.0_____Left Arm
ER PPC__________________7.0_____Right Arm
ER PPC__________________7.0_____Right Torso
Medium Laser_____________1.0_____Center Torso
Medium Laser_____________1.0_____Center Torso
SW Warhammer
Using the Standard Warhammer frame the SW version also replaced the two traditional PPC with the new ER PPC(s). A total of six medium lasers were also included with one moved to the head to help aim. The six pack SRM launcher was redesigned into a new stacked Steak Launcher using three Streak SRM 2 launchers. The single ton of SRM ammo was linked to a CASE system that would blow out the back armor without causing any internal damage. The huge search light on left torso was left in place.
Statistics_______________Tons
70 Tons________________70.0
Speed
____Walk__4
____Run___6
____Jump__4____________4.0
Engine 280XL___________8.0
Gyro__________________3.0
Cockpit________________3.0
Internal Structure________7.0
Heat Sinks 15 (30)________5.0
Armor Factor = 216_______13.5
Weapons/Equipment_____________Mounted
ER PPC_________________7.0_____Left Arm
ER PPC_________________7.0_____Right Arm
Medium Laser___________1.0_____Left Torso
Medium Laser___________1.0_____Left Torso
Medium Laser___________1.0_____Head
Medium Laser___________1.0_____Right Torso
Medium Laser___________1.0_____Right Torso
Medium Laser___________1.0_____Right Torso
Streak SRM 2____________1.5_____Right Torso
Streak SRM 2____________1.5_____Right Torso
Streak SRM 2____________1.5_____Right Torso
Ammo SRM (50)_________1.0_____Center Torso
Case___________________0.5_____Center Torso
Search Light_____________0.5_____Left Torso
SW Rifleman
Taking the original Rifleman and upgrading it to a new SW version proved to be extremely difficult and required significant changes to the chassis. The frame was strengthened and the overall weight was increased to 75 tons. A new XL engine was installed along with the new super cooling heat exchangers. The large laser and autocannons were also replaced with four of the new ER Large Lasers which freed up several tons for added armor protection. The most significant overall change was the addition of both a Guardian ECM suit and Beagle Active Probe giving the Rifleman a sensor package far superior to virtually any other in production. The new Rifleman was so effective an upgrade that one was assigned in every independent Special Warfare heavy lance.
Statistics_______________Tons
75 Tons________________75.0
Speed
_____Walk__4
_____Run___6
_____Jump__4___________4.0
Engine 300XL___________9.5
Gyro__________________3.0
Cockpit________________3.0
Internal Structure________7.5
Heat Sinks 21 (42)________11.0
Armor Factor = 224_______14.0
Weapons/Equipment____________Mounted
ER Large Laser__________5.0___Left Arm
ER Large Laser__________5.0___Left Arm
ER Large Laser__________5.0___Right Arm
ER Large Laser__________5.0___Right Arm
TAG__________________1.0___Head
Guardian ECM__________1.5___Center Torso
Beagle Active Probe________1.5___Left Torso
SW Awesome
The one thing always lacking in the original design of the Awesome was to find a way and fit four PPC cannons without melting the reactor when it fired. Months of testing and one melted prototype later the finalized version modified the original removing the PPC in the right arm and adding ER PPCs to both arms. The standard PPCs were left in the torso because firing four ER PPC(s) overtaxed the fusion core shutting it down every time all four fired destroying two early prototypes. The designers compromised by leaving the older PPC in place which enabled the Awesome to fire all four, when needed, though not without significant heat build up.
Statistics________________Tons
85 Tons__________________85
Speed
______Walk__4
______Run___6
______Jump__4___________4.0
Engine 340XL____________13.5
Gyro___________________4.0
Cockpit_________________3.0
Internal Structure_________8.5
Heat Sinks 21 (42)_________11.0
Armor Factor = 208________13.0
Weapons / Equipment_____________Mounted
ER PPC_________________7.0____Left Arm
ER PPC_________________7.0____Right Arm
PPC____________________7.0____Left Torso
PPC____________________7.0____Right Torso
SW Ravager
Very few mechwarriors asked to pilot the Ravager when it was first unveiled. Even the engineers were worried that linking so many medium laser together was asking for trouble with heat and no mechwarrior wants to engage opponents with longer ranged weapons than their own. The test pilots quickly changed their mind the first time a lance of Ravagers was used in combat and cut a much heavier lance to pieces in seconds. The high speed, stunning jump capability, and solid armor allowed them to close so rapidly the range limitation proved less troublesome than expected. When they did get in close and all 12 medium lasers were fired together the result was truly devastating. Most pilots alternated firing one arm at a time pounding opponents to bits without even a slight spike in heat using their jumpjets to hit opponents from vulnerable angles. Up to 9 medium laser could be fired without any heat buildup at all and the engineers put triggers on each linked to fire three lasers when the trigger was pulled back halfway and six lasers when pulled back completely. The Ravager also proved to be exceptionally resistant to damage as the sheer number of weapons made knocking them out all but impossible allowing even badly damaged Ravagers to stay in the fight.
Statistics____________Tons
50 Tons______________50.0
Speed
_____Walk 6
_____Run 9
_____Jump 6_________3.0
Engine 300 XL________9.5
Gyro________________3.0
Cockpit______________3.0
Internal Structure_____5.0
Heat Sink 14 (28)______4.0
Armor Factor = 168____10.5
Weapons / Equipment________Mounted
(x3) Medium Laser______3.0___Left Arm
(x3) Medium Laser_____3.0___Right Arm
(x3) Medium Laser_____3.0___Left Torso
(x3) Medium Laser_____3.0___Right Torso
SW Gunner
The Gunner is a well balance mech with excellent damage potential, good speed, and heavy armor. The Gunner was designed in only 600 hours with virtually no difficulty. The basic stance was typical of a Maurader with a low set torso and reverse knee legs with classic beautiful lines dominated by the huge autocannon offsetting the cockpit. From the outset the Gunner was designed as a front line fighting machine and full ton of cluster ammo was typically used to maximize hits to exposed vital areas on opponents.
Statistics________________Tons
55 Tons__________________55.0
Speed
____Walk___5
____Run____8
____Jump___5____________2.5
Engine 275 XL____________8.0
Gyro____________________3.0
Cockpit__________________3.0
Endo Steel Structure______3.0
Heat Sink 11 (22)_________1.0
Armor Factor = 176_______11.0
Weapons / Equipment_____________Mounted
LB 10-X AC______________11.0____Left Torso
ER Large Laser_____________5.0______Left Arm
ER Large Laser_____________5.0______Right Arm
Ammo AC (20)_____________2.0______Right Torso
Case_____________________0.5_____Right Torso
SW General Patton
A solid well built mech designed with good fighting ability and the best electronics available. Originally the General Patton was simply a retrofitted Gunner with the autocannon removed to make room for the upgraded electronics but further design revisions added the ER PPC and half a ton more armor and was put into full production. The SW General Patton was added to medium mech lances and proved undeniably effective. The sheer amount of electronics required specially trained pilots and in early productions runs proved troublesome but the engineers quickly worked out the quirks and the fielded models proved their worth in combat. Like the SW Rifleman the GP was required in every medium Special Warfare lance.
Statistics________________Tons
55 Tons_________________55.0
Speed
_____Walk____5
_____Run_____8
_____Jump____5_________2.5
Engine 275 XL___________8.0
Gyro__________________3.0
Cockpit________________3.0
Internal Structure________5.5
Heat Sinks 15 (30)________5.0
Armor Factor = 184_______11.5
Weapons / Equipment__________Mounted
ER Large Laser___________5.0___Left Arm
ER PPC_________________7.0___Right Arm
Small Laser______________0.5___Head
Beagle Active Probe________1.5___Left Torso
Guardian Active Probe_____1.5___Right Torso
Tag_____________________1.0__Center Torso
