[Had a cold that took me out of action for four days straight, just getting back into it.]
"So, basically", Cylus explains to the guy in the Enforcer as they march their patrol route while the Scorpions busy themselves unloading more ammo from the supply depot, "the best time to take your shot when you're jumping is just after you turn your jets off. Before, you're getting all kinds of rumbling from the thrusters. And once you start coming down, you're going to want to pay attention to balancing and won't have as much time for targeting."
"I thought the targeting computer handles that?" The Enforcer pilot asks.
"Sure, if by 'handles' you mean 'makes the crosshairs shake like a nervous kid taking his citizenship test'". Cylus answers.
"What?"
"Never mind, it's a Capellan joke."
"Hey, Gamma-One, cut the chatter. Outer perimeter sensors show we've got company coming in. Looks like they got by the Scrops out on patrol. Get to your positions."
The mixed Marik militia and Conway's Crescents force attacking the supply depot is looking on the light side, and at first we see nothing heavier than the 50-ton Vedettes, and a bunch of hovercraft. We also see four much heavier-looking sensor blips closing in from a distance, but it'll take them a while to get to us.
The Scorpions had managed to set up a minefield on one of the roads leading into the supply depot proper. Scrub's Warhammer is hidden inside a warehouse. Low-power, ready to pounce. Not the most ambushy mech ever, but good enough. The rest of Gamma-One is the Enforcer, Cylus in the Grasshopper and Hyena driving around in an Atlas while the techs fix the LBX autocannon on the Striker.
Round 1:
The first thing that happens is that a Harasser runs over the minefield and disintegrates.
"See? Watch!" Cylus calls out, firing up the Grasshopper's jump jets. SRMs fly up from a nearby Harasser, a few dinging the heavy mech, then the light hovercraft disintegrates under laser fire. A laser from an incoming Locust hits Cylus in the right torso as well, but armor holds up.
Hyena's armor swats aside the nearby Vedette's shot, then spins up the Atlas' hefty autocannon, blowing away the tank's front armor then plowing SRMs into the breach. The tank isn't quite destroyed but begins a rapid retreat.
Round 2:
A Saladin zips by Scrub's concealed position and she blows it away with a pair of PPC shots. She then can't resist the opportunity to blast another Harasser with her remaining lasers. This redlines her mech, but pays off, as the little hover technical takes internal damage and starts zipping away, trailing smoke. Unfortunately, Scrub's building gets pounded with SRMs and the floor collapses, with the Warhammer losing a bunch of armor from the debris.
The Locust that attacked Cylus last turn gets a little too clever and somehow manages to get around the Grasshopper, but in a very disadvantageous position. Cylus hops back over it to avoid the laser as it struggles to get up. Then takes off the bug mech's left weapons mount and nearly removes the right leg with lasers before snapping it with a stomp.
Hyena and the Enforcer both take headshots from SRMs, but stay conscious. The Enforcer disables the offending Pegasus with a blast from the large laser, while Hyena isn't bothered by a little shrapnel and blows away one of the offending hovercraft as well.
Round 3:
The legged Locust tries to get up, which was an unfortunate choice. The leg can't hold up its weight and it falls back down, driving the right weapons mount into the engine, which immediately goes cold.
Hyena continues taking rapid SRM fire from surrounding units, but the Atlas' armor is easily able to absorb the unfocused pelting. His torso-mounted autocannon spits a steady stream of lead, destroying another Harasser SRM source, then stomps on a Galleon tank as it drives by, firing lasers. It stops firing. And existing as a three-dimensional object. A Wasp tries to kick Hyena in one of the legs, but neither the Atlas nor the mechwarrior inside are moved by the effort and the bug mech winds up on the ground.
Cylus goes after a Scorpion tank, heating the Grasshopper up a bit, but it pays off - lasers soften the armor up to the point where a foot simply crushes the light tank.
Scrub find steady footing within her basement then turns and blows a building out from under a Spider. The smaller mech falls quite a good distance and its heat readings spike.
Round 4:
Cylus continues northeast down the street, rampaging through the light Crescents tanks, zapping another Harasser with the Grasshopper's trusty lasers while gracefully flitting back and forth.
To the south, the Enforcer legs a Wasp, disabling one of its limbs with an AC/10 blast. Miraculously, the enemy mech remains standing briefly. Until it doesn't and falls over.
Hyena glowers at the Wasp to the south as it backs up frantically. Falling over next to an Atlas after failing to kick it, probably not the best plan. Our mechwarrior sends a swarm of LRMs and autocannon rounds after it, turning it into scrap. A Javelin manages to land a few missiles on the back of Hyena's mech, but it's still sandpaper.
Having gotten massacred with very little to show for it, the remaining Crescents peel off. Salvage is gonna be crappy, but man did we take a lot of little bug mechs and crappy hovertanks out of circulation. The only unit we're interested in claiming is the Saladin, which has AC/20 ammo on it. There's a spike of rather annoyed-sounding radio traffic between the retreating anklebiters and the enemy units further out, but it's obvious that the Crescents are panicked and not planning to listen. Wonder what amount of money they actually got offered.
"So where are the enemy units, Captain?" Hyena asks, jokingly.
Elsewhere, Alpha-One and the accompanying lances torch the sector 2 orbital defense facility, blowing away all critical equipment, then return to base.
----
The techs back at the dropships use their week pretty well, working on returning Freyland's Quickdraw to working order. It costs over half a million in spare parts due to gyro and engine damage, but they get it done. Hyena's Striker comes back to working order as well, with the main problem now being that there's very little ammo for the autocannon, barely enough to last a single pitched battle. The spare Grasshopper Moley was riding winds up needing more repairs than we're capable of carrying out, with the left arm being basically useless, but that's ok, because the Thunderbolt is back up.
Xwraith finally emerges from restricted duty, itching to get back into it as well. By the end of the week, everyone's back in their mechs (except the four that we lost). We will wind up having to issue field promotions to a couple of mechwarriors as well, having lost a pair of squad leaders. We'll noodle over who gets the spot.
----
We discuss the present situation with Skolkov, and he suggests that we relocate our dropships, as hostile activity near them has intensified once again. The Scorpions have located a good staging area but it's crawling with Marik infantry and low-quality units, so we'll need to clear that stuff out. But it should reduce the odds off an attack on our landing zone for the time being. Probably need one lance to remove the riffraff.
Marik militia units are poking around our captured orbital defense facility in sector 1. Given that we're moving our dropships, we won't really be needing to hold it, but we do have the opportunity to give the militia guys a bloody nose. Of course, they've shown the capability to absorb an incredible amount of losses (granted, in crappy light tanks and hovercraft, which you can pump out of any random factory that makes tractors and ceiling fans respectively). This would need two lances if we do commit to defending the orbital defense facility. Or, we could just torch it like the other one and be done with it.
Marik forces and Crescents move in on the supply depot again. We still kind of want to hold on to it, and hey it's hard to pass up a chance to blow more of those traitors away. Sensors detect a Marik dropship touching down nearby as well, we may be able to send some mechs to get a piece of it. One lance here, and we'd probably want two to take on the dropship.
Finally, before taking off, a Marik supply convoy is passing near our dropships' current location. It may be worth it to hit it and either capture or destroy the supplies. One lance should be sufficient.
Which of these things should we do?
All lances are at full strength, except Alpha-Two and Gamma-Two, both unavailable due to excessive casualties and battle damage.