August 13, 3041
Eom landing zone
Dalevsky Badlands
"Right. Alpha-Battle lance, you're up next. Scramble and move out." Gbasden orders. The other mechwarriors grumble, having been cooped up on that rented dropship for the better part of two months, then get back to work. The sooner they can get the mechs unpacked, the sooner they can go out for a walk.
The mercs have got themselves in a bit of a pickle, that's for sure. Beta's fire lance comes around from the south, linking up with the tank lance, just in time to engage a fairly substantial number of what look like Capellan garrison units. The Fire Lance is a pretty long-ranged unit, a Vindicator, a Whitworth, a Catapult and a Wyvern, all packing LRM launchers of some kind. Battle lance double times it and isn't too far behind.
The merc tank lance looks like they've gone shopping at "discount-tanks-r-us". Seriously, it's three Vedettes and a Hunter light support tank (basically a single LRM/20 on treads). They're being chased down by a medium mech lance (Griffin, Clint, Hermes, Firestarter), a few loose light mechs (two Wasps and a Spider), as well as some hovercraft, treads and a helicopter.
Round 1:
There's not much cover here. You can kind of slink around if you're in a tank, but mechs easily stand over the shallow gullies and sand hills. Of course, the Liao militia Warrior helicopter is on the ball. It fires a burst from its on-board AC/2 at near maximum range, causing one of the "discount" merc Vedettes slips a tread, becoming immediately immobilized. Great start, guys.
Round 2:
That damn helicopter is going to be a pain. It fires at our Catapult, missing. Our Vindicator takes a couple of LRMs from a Maxim hover transport approaching from the north, but the damage is minor.
Round 3:
"Fire-One to lance. Take up position behind that ridge." Lt. Chandrasekhar calls out, as his Catapult legs it that way. It's a good ridge, high up and lets us pop out and take pot shots at the Capellans closing in from the northwest. Except for that one damn Griffin coming in from the north, firing its PPC and LRMs at us.
We focus our fire on a Hetzer trundling towards us. Most of our LRMs miss, throwing up a lot of sand and dirt but nothing else. The Whitworth manages to land a few missiles on the wheeled assault gun, slowing it down to a crawl as several of the wheels begin wobbling around. It might not be effective at LRM range, but a Hetzer's front-mounted AC/20 is no joke.
Round 4:
That merc tank lance is screwed. And, honestly, so are we if our backup doesn't get here soon.
We focus fire on the Griffin, hitting it with several LRM salvos, but its armor holds up. The allied units lose the Hunter to tread damage while disabling a Drillson hovertank.
Round 5:
"Alpha-Battle lance on station." Lt. Al Din reports, his Merlin trailing behind the faster-moving Ostsol, Trebuchet and Griffin 1S of his lance. The Merlin is an "interesting" design from the kitchen sink school of mech design. It's a sixty-tonner with a PPC and LRM/5 for long-range work, a pair of medium lasers, and a flamer/MG combo. This particular one has had the MG ammo down-graded to half-ton because nobody is going to be firing a machine gun for half an hour non-stop. With "only" a half ton of MG ammo, that single MG will shoot dry in "only" twenty seven minutes.
We watch from our firing line as the remaining merc Vedettes get kind of swarmed. The Capellans deploy some infantry from their APCs to capture the Vedette crews, so we'll have to make sure they don't get away with those guys. Which would be a lot easier if we could actually hit something as a Capellan Clint blows away a merc Vedette, leaving just one of the merc units mobile.
Round 6:
It's a very nice firing line, but the Capellans might not be that suicidal that they'll charge in. We'll probably have to bait them in with a couple of the jump-capable units. Our Merlin's PPC does find a Clint's right torso, burning all the armor off of it.
The last merc tank gets blown away, so now it's entirely our show.
Having finished the merc tanks off, the Capellans, filled with enthusiasm after their initial victory, charge our firing line. A Saladin darts around behind some rock outcroppings, but our Catapult nails it with an LRM/15 salvo, blowing the light hovertank apart. We take a few minor LRM hits, while our Merlin zaps the enemy Griffin in the left arm with a PPC. Not the best spot - the PPC is in the right arm.
Round 8:
"Sure, buddy, you go first, we're right behind you!"
That poor Hermes doesn't last very long. LRMs arc out from our firing line stripping armor all across the 40-ton mech's front. A five-missile grouping breaches the center torso armor, dinging the engine and gyro. While the Hermes is staggering around, another grouping of LRMs from Alpha-Battle lance's Trebuchet blows off the right arm then cores out the center torso, causing the Capellan mech to collapse in a pile of scrap.
Round 9:
It took a while, we're almost out of LRMs, but the situation looks like it's about to degenerate into a melee, as the Capellans make their move.
The damaged Griffin runs up from the south, promptly losing the left arm to a PPC shot from our Vindicator, then staggering back and falling over as our Catapult zaps it in the front with three out of the four medium lasers (sending a separate LRM salvo at a Striker trying to hide behind some rocks).
To the south, our Griffin 1S engages several light mechs and a hovertank, zapping an SRM launcher on the enemy tank's turret. The nearby Firestarter unloads its short-ranged arsenal, causing our mechwarrior to flinch as a few MG rounds bounce off the cockpit armor, and miss his kick, having to drop down to a knee to avoid falling over entirely.
Round 10:
The Catapult and Griffin continue their duel.
A Wasp (1L variant - SRM/4 as its one and only weapon) jumps in on the Vindicator and Whitworth still firing LRMs, but they switch targets and blast it with lasers at close range. The bug mech takes a head shot from the Whitworth, a laser to the head, which shorts out the mech's sensors, causing its SRMs to blast the hill in front of the Vindicator instead of the mech itself. Then our Trebuchet comes up behind it. A laser melts some armor off the torso.
Our Wyvern runs west, getting around the side of a Hetzer and cutting off a couple of wheels with its large laser, immobilizing the self-propelled gun.
To the south, our Ostsol takes some damage in the back from a nimble Spider firing its lasers as it lands (that mech's going to get nice and hot) - the light mech throws a punch as well, and the damage indicator for the right torso large laser lights up. The Capellan Firestarter doesn't quite inflict as much damage as its attack is disrupted by an LRM salvo from our Trebuchet, which damages one of the arm actuators. Combined with fire from the Ostsol, the 35-ton mech falls over, its left arm completely disabled.
The Merlin fires a PPC shot at the Clint, as well as some other stuff which is irrelevant as the PPC goes straight into the cockpit, frying the mechwarrior inside and collapsing the lighter mech like a rag doll.
Round 11:
The Ostsol circles around the Firestarter as the enemy mech gets up, disabling its other arm with lasers. This leaves the 35-tonner with a couple of machine guns and flamers. The laser blasts from our Trebuchet don't help, reducing the left torso to scrap. He's had enough and zips off on the remaining jump jets, trailing engine coolant and metal debris. As much as we'd like to chase him down, we've still got others shooting at us, including that obnoxious little Spider that's jumping all over the place and zapping our mechs' rear arcs.
Round 12:
The Catapult and the Griffin continue circling each other, taking pot shots at other mechs occasionally. Such as when a Wasp wanders into the Catapult's line of sight as it's turning around to face the Griffin and eats a laser to the left torso, severing the arm.
Having forced the Firestarter out of the fight, the Ostsol turns its attention to the nearby Wasp, disabling the bug mech's right arm with laser fire. Our Griffin 1S disables the Maxim that's been harassing it with SRMs, blasting a hole through the hover skirt with its right-arm mounted laser array. The mech's return fire misses as it staggers, then a boot to the center torso from high ground finishes it off.
Round 13:
There's nothing left on the south flank, so we turn our attention north. Our Vindicator finally puts out of action the Hetzer that we blasted way early in the battle - it was still trundling along towards us, but that stops after a few LRMs knock out the last of the wheels.
The Catapult and Griffin dance around some more, the Catapult taking a moment to cut up the left torso of a nearby Wasp. Just trying to prolong the fight, huh?
Round 14:
"Gotcha, ya little bastard!" The mechwarrior in the Griffin calls out, as she manages to track the Spider - the little mech jumps to harass the Merlin then takes three lasers to the torso, its left side suddenly sagging and the arm flying off. The Merlin, meanwhile, checks off another little annoyance that's been pelting us with SRMs and autocannon rounds, the Warrior attack helicopter - it east a PPC directly to the front and more or less disintegrates in mid-air.
Our triumph is tempered somewhat though, when the Wyvern explodes as the Capellan militia pump SRMs into its damaged left side. The LRM ammo detonates and the mechwarrior just barely manages to eject.
At this point, the Capellans break and run off. Their infantry had initially managed to capture some of the Vedette crew members, but a quick wave of our mechs' weapons in their direction convinces them to leave their prisoners behind. They wind up having to cram one and a half platoons (minus some casualties that they took when a Vedette raked them with its machine gun) into a single Maxim.
The Griffin, Firestarter, Spider and the 1L Wasp escape, along with three tanks. Although, they're so damaged it'll likely be weeks before we see them again, what with the missing arms and torso sections. The tanks we'll probably see sooner, but honestly it's hard to tell one tank from another.
We get our salvage crews out there to see what's going on. The mercs' Hunter and a Vedette turn out to be recoverable, the other two Vedettes are scrap. Our Wyvern is totaled. We grab the disabled Drillson, intending to pull the large laser off of it to replace our Ostsol's damaged one. Our Vindicator reports its LRM/5 launcher destroyed, so we claim a disabled Maxim as well, as it's got a pair of those. Grabbing the Clint is just common sense, since it's basically intact, other than some missing armor and a completely fried cockpit. To remedy that last part, we also recover the destroyed Wasp, since the cockpit electronics in it are all intact and we can use the spare parts.
The rest, we hand over to the mercs (although some of our mechwarriors express reservations re: their mercenary nature - what kind of mercenary doesn't argue over salvage?) - they come out of the exercise having traded two Vedettes for two Hetzers (is it good? Depends where you're fighting) , plus a scrapped Hermes and some rotor blades from a Warrior attack helicopter.
We also capture the mechwarrior driving the Wasp and a knocked-out Hetzer crewman.
The merc commander looks up at Lt. Chandrasekhar's Catapult with a scowl on his face. "Some rescue, jackass."
"Yeah, well, we probably lost more C-Bills on this one than you did." the Lieutenant replies.
---------------
Pvt. Zina Ochieng, driving the Griffin 1S in Alpha Company's Battle lance, apparently took a couple of shots to the dome, and will be out of action with a broken rib. Combined with Beta company's Fire lance losing the Wyvern, that puts us at two mechs down. Luckily, we've got both mechwarriors and mechs to spare.
Zenn7 talks to the mechwarrior who lost the Wyvern, one Pvt. Tessa Eng:
"We've got a couple of replacement mechs you can drive, so no need to worry about becoming dispossessed and having to hang around with the infantry."
"This guy right here, that's a Crusader CRD-3L. You know the specs on a standard Crusader, right?"
"Yeah, two of everything. LRM/10s, SRM/6s, lasers, machine guns." The private replies.
"Right, this one's the Liao variant. A superior one, if I do say so myself." he adds with a smug grin. "Still runs nice and warm, but as a concession to wusses, downgrades the SRM launchers to 4s, adds jump jets and heat sinks. So it'll be just like your Wyvern, except with more firepower and armor." He raises a finger. "Actually, this one, our techs did some custom work on, and it's got half as much MG ammo as the standard variant. Put more armor on it."
The private smirks. "Makes sense. Never heard of anybody running out of MG ammo. Except that one guy whose ammo bin door got crosswired with his coolant flush."
Zenn7 shrugs. "I wouldn't know, I'm really more of a PPC guy."
"This one's an Icarus II." he points to a beat-up-looking mech. "House Marik made these. About three hundred years ago. Same movement profile, class ten autocannon, two lasers. Lighter than your Wyvern and less range, too. Plus the AC will run out of ammo in about a minute and a half of continuous fire, so you'll have to watch your ammo count."
"What about that Hunchback?" Pvt. Eng points out.
Another shrug. "Sure, but you won't be able to keep up with your lance in rough terrain." He waves around the cavernous storage bay of the rented Mule.
"We've also got another Eridani Light Horse Thunderbolt, a Catapult, a Grasshopper and some Panthers. Oh yeah, and some Whitworths and a Hatchetman. Just don't have the mechwarriors to man them all. Think about it and get back to me in the morning. I'll have the techs pull it out of storage in time for your next sortie."
Replacement for the Wyvern (a mixed-range 4/6/4 mech, which moved at the same rate as the rest of the Fire lance):
[] Crusader CRD-3L - a Liao variant of the Crusader. 65 tons, good armor, good weapons loadout. Ok heat management. SRMs in legs impede kicking.
[] Icarus II - a Marik special. 40 tons, crap armor, ok weapons. Good heat management. Runs out of ammo quick.
[] Thunderbolt TDR-5SE - jumping Thunderbolt. Good weapons, good armor. Ok heat management as long as you bracket fire.
[] Catapult CPLT-C1 - We just saw it in action. Runs dry on LRMs pretty quick, but has excellent heat management and four backup lasers. Good armor.
[] Grasshopper - Cylus' favorite mech. Excellent armor, many lasers plus a tiny LRM rack.
[] Panther - Kurita classic with a PPC. Well-armored for its size.
[] Hatchetman - Not that fast, not much armor, but it's got an axe.
[] Whitworth - twin LRM/10s backed up by three lasers
Temporary replacement for Griffin 1S (a shorter-range better-heat-managed Griffin)
[] Dervish DV-6M - we love these things. Armor's a little low, heat's kind of high, but good weapons at all ranges.
[] Griffin GRF-1N - classic long-range sniper. PPC and LRM/10. Heats up like an Awesome with its heat sinks turned off.
The merc leader we bailed out wastes no time briefing us on their targets. The lance of tanks isn't all there is, but it's all there is in the area, for now. They've been making do with scavenged Capellan militia equipment for a while, which explains why a bunch of supposedly bad-ass mercs would be using Vedettes.
That aside, there are two Capellan facilities within range of one another. One of them contains data servers and equipment prototypes that the mercs (and thus, we) have been contracted to recover. The other contains command & control for the local theater of operations. A combination of our reconaissance and the "after-action report" the mercs share with us explains why they're having a crap time.
The facility with the data servers and prototype equipment is defended by a full assault lance. Two Strikers, a Stalker and an Awesome ("they shot the crap out of us when we tried a hit and run, I'm pretty sure they've got our mechs"). Plus a reinforced company of light tanks, and a pair of Vindicators.
The command center is a little lighter, as it's only got two heavy mech lances and a short light mech lance. But they've also got a dropship, Triumph-class, that they will no doubt use to ferry large numbers of tanks around from one place to the other.
Ideally, we'll want to torch both places, but we still have to grab the servers and equipment prototypes.
Gbasden smirks at Zarathud and winces. "You were right, it's a tech grab. That's going to be a tough nut to crack." he looks at Zenn7. "No holding back on this one."
"Should we bring the aero jocks?" El Guapo pipes up.
"Maybe. We can load them up with bombs, but with that dropship in area, I don't know."
Lance deployment for data center (pick 2):
[] Command Lance (Awesome, upgraded Marauder, Catapult, upgraded Hatchetman)
[] Battle Lance (Merlin, Trebuchet 5J, Ostsol, Griffin replacement)
[] Urban Lance (Crusader 3L, Shadow Hawk 2K, Trebuchet 5J, Phoenix Hawk 1D)
[] Strike Squadron (Shilone, Hellcat, Corsair)
Lance deployment for command center (pick 2)
[] Assault lance (Awesome x2, Victor, Thunderbolt)
[] Hunter Lance (Guillotine, Stalker, Atlas, Orion)
[] Fire Lance (Catapult, Vindicator, Whitworth, Wyvern replacement)
[] Strike Squadron (Stuka, Lightning, Lucifer)