First, I'd like to thank my good friend Josh/Zykor for his info on Pirate's Moon weapons. I don't have Pirate's Moon. So sue me, I'm cheap.
Second, the legal stuff. MechWarrior 3 is a trademark of MicroProse, Zipper Interactive, Microsoft, and probably somebody else that I can't remember. Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun is a trademark of Westwood Studios and maybe somebody else that I also can't remember, blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah.
This story is a trademark of ME, so anybody who copies it without permission will suffer the seventh layer of hell, followed by TWELVE STRAIGHT HOURS OF THE TELETUBBIES! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The moral of this demonstration of my insanity is simple: don't steal my stories.
Yes, some characters from my story Northern Mayhem make a re-appearance in this story. What can I say, I'm a sucker for sequels.
Oh yeah, about the callsign thing. In the Tiberian Sun portions, you'll notice that I use callsigns like "Echo one six" and "Charlie three six". In a military battalion, platoon-level callsigns are determined in the following format: Company_name platoon_number platoon_position For example: Alpha one six means "Alpha company, 3rd platoon, commanding officer (six always means the commanding officer)". In other words, the commander of the 3rd platoon in Alpha company. For company positions, the format is: Company_name company_positon For example, the callsign for Charlie Company's CO would be Charlie six. A battalion commander's callsign is India Six.
And yes, I know that I'm terrible at naming chapters.
Oh yeah, it goes without saying that you probably should be at least semi-familiar with Tiberian Sun and MechWarrior 3 first. Oh yeah, this story has some Pirate's Moon stuff too. If you don't have Pirate's Moon, then: MRMs are Medium Range Missiles. They come in clusters of 10, 20, 30, and 40, with varying weights and damage. Heavy Lasers are just that, bigger and more powerful lasers. The Large ones have 600 meter range, and do almost as much damage as ER PPC and Gauss Rifle, with less tonnage and criticals needed. Cool, no? X Pulse Lasers cause more damage than normal Pulse Lasers and the Large version has a range of a whopping 1000 meters Thunderbolts are large missile launchers fire single guided missiles that do a lot of damage from an extreme range. The side number (5, 10, 15, or 20) determines the yield of the missile fired.
Now, on to the fun part.
Chapter 1: Common Battles
DAY 1, 0800 HOURS, 3064, ON TURYIS 3, CLAN WORLD
Star Captain Matthew Reider sat in the cockpit of his Madcat heavy mech as the mech stomped forward at top speed. With Smoke Jaguar all but gone from the Inner Sphere, attention was shifted onto the remants of the other clans. Special attention was paid to the Nova Cats, who were rapidly gaining more forces, including what remained of the Smoke Jaguars. Reider's current mission was to secure a small city that was under Nova Cat control. While it was generally understood that civilian damage and casualties would be inevitable, Reider's orders were to keep those at a minimum.
The city was located in a continent designated Continent D. It was about the size of Earth's Australia. The section that Mitchell was operating in was called Sector 3.
Reider's particular Madcat was acquired from an assault on a Clan armory a few weeks ago. There, the Star League's Continent D forces had discovered a large cache of heavy mechs, including a total of 230 Daishis, Madcats, Vultures, and Thors, as well as hundreds of weapons and thousands of tons of ammo. It had been a great boost in logistics, offensive power, defensive power, and morale. Needless to say, the Sector 3 MFBs had all that they could carry. The Daishis, Vultures, and some Madcats had gone into open-terrain assault operations, while the Thors and the other Madcats were used for close-in fighting operations such as this one.
Matt Reider's Madcat, callsign Knight Lead, was loaded for urban fighting. It had jump jets for a tactical edge, 2 Streak SRM-6s with 240 rounds, an Ultra AutoCannon 10, 4 ER Large Lasers, a LRM-10 with 100 missiles for any unforseen contingencies, and a Artemis IV FCS.
Reider's lancemates were an odd combination of mechs: an Avatar heavy mech , a Sunder assault mech, and Owens scout mech. All were Inner Sphere designs, so their default weapons loads were somewhat lacking.
The Avatar's machine guns had been eliminated, in favor of space for more LRM-10 missiles for the two launchers, plus the new laser configuaration--4 ER Large Lasers. Add that to a formidable LB-10X AC, and the Avatar was ready to take on anything.
The Sunder was even more impressively loaded. As the heavily-armored and heavily-armed "blaster" of this team, it had an Ultra AC 20, 2 ER PPCs, and 3 SRM 6s.
Lastly, the Owens had a load of specialized equipment that included a MASC, an AMS, and ECM, plus 2 Medium Lasers and 2 LRM-5s. It didn't carry a BAP because of the enormous attrition rate of Inner Sphere light scout mechs, all of which carried BAPs. Until the next shipment arrived from the forward staging area at Tranquil, there were going to be no BAPs available.
"Approaching the city. Knight Four, break formation," Reider ordered as they closed to 900 meters of the city.
"Knight Four copies," replied the Owens, who had been keeping in formation with the other mechs up to that point. Now, the pilot, a rookie mechwarrior named Alana Wydell, accelerated to the mech's top speed of 130 kph, far outdistancing the others. She made the Owens do a little twirl as it approached the perimeter of the city, then continued on her trek.
"I think Alana's having fun with that Owens," chuckled Lieutenant Lora Rollins, the Avatar pilot. She was a veteran of the assault on the Smoke Jaguar homeworld and numerous other operations. Although battle-hardened, she was almost always upbeat and friendly, which made the newbies feel at home.
"Yeah, well, I just hope her fun doesn't get her killed," commented the Sunder pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 4th class David Kaiser. He was a true Mechwarrior in all aspects of the word, a veteran of every major battle in the Inner Sphere. He had been a newly-promoted CWO 1st class during the Luthien assault in 3051, and had prevailed against seemingly endless waves of enemy mechs. Later, as a CWO3, he had led several major attacks on the Smoke Jaguars, pummeling a large portion of Jaguar forces into oblivion. Now, he was a CWO4 in an operation that was commonly acknowledged as one of the last anti-Clan operations needed.
"Alright, we can bet on Alana's lifespan later," Reider told both of them. In truth, he was a little worried, also. Wydell had only been in scout missions so far, with no experience in combat.
*****
SAME TIME, JANUARY 11, 2033, 30 KILOMETERS EAST OF AMMAN, JORDAN
The only thing that Lieutenant Colonel Steve Mitchell, the commanding officer of the 15th Mechanized Battalion, could think of as his command APC sped through the desert was "thank God it's winter". If it had been any other season, the desert would no doubt be uncomfortably hot, even with the limited air conditioning inside the APC.
Mitchell and his battalion, which had two companies (Alpha and Bravo) of 140 APC-transported soldiers each, two companies (Charlie and Delta) of 14 Wolverine light mechs each, two companies (Echo and Foxtrot) of 14 Titan assault mechs each, a small platoon of engineers, and a battalon artillery battery (Golf) of 8 Hover MLRS units, had orders to link up with two other battalions plus a wing of Orca fighters and bombers for an assault on the city of Amman, which was strategically critical to the current GDI campaign of retaking Jerusalem, then all of Israel, from NOD. It was critical to establish an anti-NOD base of fire in the Middle East.
Unfortunately, there were several small but potent NOD installations between Mitchell's battalion and Amman. While all intel sources said that the installations shouldn't prove to be much of a problem to take down, Mitchell was still cautious. As his wife Rachel liked to say, if there's one thing you can count on in war it's that there's nothing you can count on in war. She go it from some philosopher or historian or something.
"Approaching Op Point Delta, sir," Mitchell's second-in-command, Major Janet Everhart, informed her CO. "There's a NOD base there, just like intel said."
Mitchell nodded, studying a satellite picture of the base. There were 5 lasers, 6 dug-in tick tanks, and a laser fence on the side that Mithcell's soldiers were approaching. However, both the northern and southern flanks each had only 2 lasers, 2 tick tanks, and concrete walls. The rear was completely undefended except for 2 above-ground Devil's Tongues and concrete walls with an automatic gate. The base was self-sustained, drawing money from Harvesters that were deployed to a tiberium field to the north.
"There's a cluster of tick tanks plus an obelisk in the center. That's going to be a tough nut to crack unless we get some air support," the battalion's senior NCO, First Seargent George Freeman, remarked. He and Mitchell went way back.
"I've contacted the wing that we're supposed to meet up with in Amman. They're traveling through here too, so we can expect air support if we take out these four SAM sites," Everhart said as she pointed to four rectangular shapes, two on the north side and two on the south.
"Simple enough. Two platoons of Titans (that's 8 Titans overall), supported by the MLRS battery, will attack the front of the base from a stand-off distance. This will be a feint, since all but 4 of the remaining Titans will attack the flanks, as will both infantry companies and one of the Wolverine companies. That's 8 Titans, 7 Wolverines, and 140 soldiers for each flank. That'll be plenty to punch through the walls, eliminate the lasers and tick tanks, and destroy the SAMs. Meanwhile, the remaining 4 Titans will lead the other Wolverine company in an assault on the base's backdoor. With three sides taken and the central defenses knocked out, we can concentrate all of our effort on the front side's defenses."
"Sounds good," Freeman commented.
"Let's do it," said Everhart.
****
"Knight Four, status?" asked Reider
"Um, I'm 50 meters into the city and it's looking good so far. If there are Nova Cat defenses here, they must've withdrawn into the center of the city...wait, I'm getting 3, 4, oh shit, 6 mech power-ups." There was a moment of silence, then, "They're all Supernovas."
"Damn! How did they manage to hide away 6 Supernovas from the MFBs' probes and Alana's BAP?" Rollins exclaimed.
"Forget that," Reider cut in. "Knight Four, get out of there. Alana, do you hear me? Get out of there!"
"I'm trying sir, but a couple of Blackhawks just popped up and are blocking the way. Oh man, now I've got at least a dozen Bulldogs and Harassers coming up on my left."
Matt Reider knew that this was the defining moment. This was the test to see if a new mech pilot could handle the stress and react to a situation, or if she would buckle and be killed. Mech piloting is not just a profession; it's a state of being. Only the best of the best survive.
Fortunately, Wydell passed the test with flying colors. "I'm going right. The terrain map shows a road that leads out of the city. I'll have to dodge some missiles and laser blasts, but I think I can make it out."
"Roger that, go!" Reider told her. "Knight Two, go into the city's left flank. Knight Three, go into the right flank. I'll going straight in to see if I can pick a few of those bastards off of Alana's back. Anything there is a target."
"Got it, Matt," Rollins replied.
"Knight Two copies," Kaiser acknowledged.
At a good speed of 65 kph, the Avatar and the Sunder ran forward side-by-side, then split up to go into the city's sides. Reider maintained course, his Madcat charging into the city at almost 80 kph. He broadcasted over the tactical net, "All units, this is Knight Lead. We've got a heavy concentration of firepower at OP Charlie, in the city. There are five Supernovas, two Blackhawks, more than a dozen tanks, and an unknown number of further forces. Requesting support."
A transmission from Wydell came, "I'm having some problems, sir. Two Shadowcats have popped up in front of me. I'm maneuvering with them and the other mechs, plus the Bulldogs and Harrasers, but I'm outnumbered at least 20 to 1. It's very tight space in here, sir. I'm getting ht all over the place...I'm trying to kill one of them by shooting their legs, but everytime I find a mark, another sonofabitch shoots me and knocks me off-target. I can't get out, sir, it's blocked off everywhere."
Reider's Madcat had entered the city and was blasting vehicles to bits with its lasers and Ultra AC 10, all the while running toward Alana's position. "Hang on, Alana, I'm coming up on your position. Here's the plan. I'm gonna blast the mechs blocking you from the route that you came in from, and I want you to help me by hitting them in the front with everything that you've got. After they're down, I want you to run back the way that you came, right into the Bulldogs and Harassers. I took care of most of them"--a pause as he veered the Madcat right to avoid missiles fired by a Harasser. The missiles blasted a gaping hole in the side of a bank. While continuing his run, Reider twisted the torso around and blasted the Harasser apart with 2 laser hits--"so you should only take light damage as you run right past them and out of the city."
"I hope this works, sir," Wydell told him. "Center torso armor is at critical...left torso armor at critical...right leg armor at critical."
"Alana, now!" Reider yelled as his Madcat stopped and whirled to the left, targeting the backs of two Blackhawks that were viciously firing at the Alana. Alana radioed in acknowledgement, and the Owens fired both lasers and ten missiles at the Blackhawks. They hit the Blackhawks' legs and slammed the two medium mechs back.
Reider fired at the same instant, shooting 4 ER lasers and the Ultra AC 10 at the left Blackhawk's legs, and 12 Streak SRMs missiles and 20 LRMs at the right Blackhawk's legs. Simultaneously, he did a coolant flush to prevent his mech from melting down from the enormous heat generated.
A leg on each of the mechs was destroyed. Since a leg kill was fatal to any mech, both Blackhawks fell down, ruined and useless. Meanwhile, Wydell maneuvered the Owens around some laser fire from the two Shadowcats, dodged a Gauss Rifle shot, and ran toward Reider's Madcat. She turned at the corner, 5 feet from Reider, and ran straight at the vehicles.
One Bulldog that was still alive fired, and took off the Owens's right torso. Reider could hear Wydell scream in terror on the comm, then calm down as her mech kept going despite the damage. He took out the Bulldog with two laser blasts as Wydell successfully cleared the perimeter of the city.
*****
The MLRS battery fired the opening shots, as 16 ADAT missiles streaked out, knocking some holes in the laser fence. The Titans then fired, their 120mm cannons further damaging the fence. The other forces in the battalion began splitting north and south as the more missiles and 120mm shells flew out, this time at the lasers. Four erupted in flames, as the tick tanks returned fire at the Titans. The Titans did the smart thing and backed away, preferring to let the MLRS battery pummel the tick tanks from a safe distance.
The concrete walls on the north and south sides easily fell, opening up the lasers and tick tanks to the lethal big-caliber fire of the Titans and the less-lethal but still-potent rapid-fire machine guns of the Wolverines. APCs rushed in through the cracks, unloading light infantry and disc throwers to finish off the defenses and start firing at the SAM sites.
At the same time, the 4 Titans assigned to attacking the rear had taken down the walls of the base's backside, allowing 14 Wolverines to rush in and tear up the two hapless Devil's Tongues with their machine guns. Then, the Wolverines fired at a squad of infantry that had rushed out to meet them. Their twin machine guns chattered merrily as they chopped down the pitifully ineffective NOD infantry.
All the remaining tick tanks in the base charged forward, firing at the GDI forces. However, it soon became clear that they were outnumbered and heavily outgunned. The Titans and disc throwers devastated these tanks. A squad of Cyborgs rushed out of the barracks, but they were sent to that big Hand of NOD in the sky by a combination of machine gun fire from the Wolverines, pulse rifle fire from the light infantry, and high explosive grenades from the disc throwers.
A rumble was heard as 8 Orca fighters and 4 Orca bombers streaked in, assaulting the Obelisk and central tick tanks with missiles and high explosive bombs.
*****
With Wydell safely out of the city, Reider turned his attention to cleaning up the two Shadowcats that were still alive. Indeed, they came around the corner, right into his weapon sights. "Die, Clan scum," he growled as he concentrated laser fire on the left Shadowcat's cockpit, killing the pilot. The second Shadowcat, terrified, ran right to escape this pushy Madcat. He was greeted with an in-your-face 18-missile SRM barrage from Kaiser's Sunder that knocked him down. Two PPC blasts to the center torso finished him off.
Just then, a barrage of laser shots from the Supernovas got their attention. They ducked behind a building to shield themselves. "Lora, where are you?" Eric asked.
"On the Supernovas' right flank, boss," the cocky female pilot replied. "I'm hiding in the shadows of one of the buildings. It looks like this new ECM gear is working--their sensors are so screwed up they can't see me even though I'm about 10 meters away. I've got missiles targeted on the lead Supernova and lasers targeted on one of the legs of the Supernova in the right flank guard positon. I gotta say, that pilot's not doing his job very well. Isn't he supposed to be guarding the right flank?"
"Can the wise-assing, Knight Three," Reider told her, although he was secretly glad that she had lightened up the atmosphere with her cocky attitude. If they were going to take on five Supernovas, they couldn't afford to be too tense. Any slip-up could be fatal. On the tac net, he broadcasted, "MFBs, where's our support?"
"I've directed a lance of 3 Thors, callsign Gold Dragon, to your position. That's the best I can do; I can't get any artillery strikes, because those are going to the Daishi assaults on the riverside laser defenses. Besides, any indirect fire would cause unacceptable damage to civilian property," replied Reider's direct superior, Star Colonel Ruben Mantel.
"Roger that. Have the Thors come up behind the Supernovas and blast them full-strength. Also, you guys rendezvous with Alana; her mech is badly damaged," Reider replied.
"Wilco. MFBs out."
"Alright Matt, what's the game plan?" asked Kaiser.
"Well, first, there's the ever-present directive of not getting killed," Reider started.
"And you call me a wiseass?" Rollins cut in.
"Yes I do, wiseass, now shut up and let me finish," Reider replied with a humorous tone. "My plan is simple. Dave will hit them from the front, Lora will hit them from the right, and I'll swerve around to the left and hit them there. We'll maneuver as needed. Hopefully we'll do enough damage to"
"Two copies," Kaiser replied.
"Three copies, locked and loaded," Rollins added.
"Go!"
*****
It was then that all hell broke loose. A formation of 9 decloaked Stealth Tanks, 12 Attack Cycles, and 12 Attack Buggies came charging from the north, and 4 Stealth Tanks decloaked in the middle of the base. While the 4 Stealth Tanks weren't much of a problem, thanks to rapid-reaction fire from the Titans, the NOD forces that were coming were. They could inflict serious attrition on some of the battalion's lighter forces.
Mitchell, Everhart, and Freeman were all outside their APC now and clutching their pulse rifles. Mitchell had a handheld Tactical Situation Display (TSD) in front of him, and was making a decision about how to confront the incoming Noddies.
"Golf six, have your launchers engage hostiles from standoff range. Echo one six and Echo six, have your Titans engage hostiles head-on; keep them occupied enough for the others to get them. Echo six and Delta six, take Echo company's remaining Titans and all of Delta company's remaining Wolverines in a left flank thrust. Foxtrot six, take all your Titans in a left flank thrust. Charlie one six and Charlie two six, see if your Wolverines can sneak around and attack the rear. Charlie three six, your platoon will provide a cover escort for Bravo two six. Bravo two six, your troops will load up in their APCs and make a series of fast slash-and-run attacks. Alpha company and the rest of Bravo company, hold the base and continue eliminating opposition."
The plan was perfectly executed. Eight Titans held the NOD force by the nose as the others tore into the flanks, eliminating the Stealth Tanks, then the Attack Cycles, then the Attack Buggies. Only one Titan and four soldiers were lost.
*****
The Avatar cut loose with a frightening amount of firepower. Ten missiles (ballistically fired) hit the right torso of the lead mech, while the lasers and the autocannon ripped into the right leg of the Supernova that Rollins was dissing, knocking it down.
Meannwhile, Kaiser's Sunder emerged and fired with even more force than the Avatar. The Ultra AC 20 and ER PPCs mercilessly tore into the head-torso area of the lead Supernova, blasting off the right torso and arm and heavily damaging everything else. Eighteen SRMs hit the left-flank-guard Supernova to soften it up for Reider.
Reider came tearing from the left, pummeling the already-damaged left flank guard with 10 LRMs and 12 SRMs, knocking it down and turning the armor of the entire torso-arm area critical. Two laser blasts knocked off both arms, leaving the mech completely defenseless (all of its weapons [6 ER Large Lasers] were contained in the arms). The Supernova tried to escape by using its jump jets, but it was killed by two AC blasts to the center torso.
As the three combat-ready Supernovas began to turn to meet their foes, Rollins finished off the right flank guard with a bunch of powerful leg shots, then charged out and began a "merry-go-around" circle arouund the Supernovas while firing at the legs. Her maneuvering made it hard for the Supernovas to target her, but she was still hit five times out of twelve shots, mainly in the center and left torsos. This latest laser burst had overheated the Supernovas temporarily, which bought Reider time to ignite jump jets and leap over the head of one Supernova. He landed right between the three Supernovas that could still fight effectively.
Kaiser finished off the heavily-damaged lead Supernova with two ER PPC shots to the cockpit, leaving just the three Supernovas that were still standing to deal with. The Ultra AC 20 pumped rounds into the left leg of one of the Supernovas, while 18 SRMs knocked it and its targeting systems off-balance. Reider was wreaking havoc from inside the circle of Supernovas, blasting away at the vulnerable back armor. He shot the Supernova that Kaiser was firing at, the combined firepower destroying the unfortunate assault mech, but not before it fired four laser shots that all hit Kaiser's Sunder in the right torso.
The two remaining mechs, now that they had enough time to respond to the attack, did so with awesome firepower. They had each brought along two LRM-15s with 600 missiles in addition to the lasers, and fired them at point-blank range. Rollins was knocked off her feet by a 30-missile and 2-laser volley that damaged the cockpit and threatened to blow off both the left and right torsos. Even a tank like the Sunder was blasted back by a similiar barrage of firepower.
Although his lancemates were starting to fall apart, Reider was still largely intact. He knew he had to draw fire away from his lancemates, lest he lose two good friends. So, he fired continuously and furiously at both Supernovas, flushing coolant when needed to keep his Madcat from blowing apart from the enormous amount of heat generated. Within the course of a few seconds, the two Supernovas received a total of 20 LRMs, 24 SRMs, 6 ER Large Laser blasts, 30 autocannon rounds. Despite the coolant, this pushed Reider's heat level to critical, and he had to shut down for a moment. However, this lost time was not fatal, since both Supernovas had fallen and had to get back up.
When he could move, Reider made a short jump over the Supernovas' heads, turned around before they could, and blasted them with more point-blank missile shots. Immediately, he pushed the jumpjets to pull power and flew sideways to the left, throwing off the aim of the two angry Supernovas for a moment. Lasers sliced in the air, dangerously close to the Madcat.
By now, the speedy Thors had arrived, and had knocked both Supernovas back with an opening barrage of 45 LRMs. Three ER PPC shots were next, which made short work of one of the Supernovas. The other was killed by a series of LB-10X shots to the cockpit.
Reider breathed a sigh of relief, as did his lancemates. "Thanks for the help, Gold Dragon."
"No problem, Knight Lead. It looks like you guys took heavy damage; we have nothing else to do, so we'd be happy to escort you back to the MFBs."
"Thanks."
The Madcat, Avatar, Sunder, and 3 Thors walked back toward the Mobile Field Bases, another mission accomplished, another objective taken, and another meeting with death delayed.
Chapter 2: Fates Twisted
LATER, SAME DAY, ON TURYIS 3
"Knight Lance, we've detected a curious facility approximately 14 kilometers from here. You are to go there and check it out. We'll make a decision on whether to destroy it or not when we get there," Colonel Mandel called.
"Knight Lead copies," Reider replied in his new Daishi. "Our previous mechs were taken in for repairs, but we now have 2 full-health Daishis, 1 full-health Sunder, and 1 full-health Atlas."
The 4 assault mechs began moving out. Mitchell looked over at Wydell's mech. Since no scouting was needed, Wydell was piloting a Sunder in the same configuration as Kaiser's had been.
"Alana, you okay?" Reider asked the still-shaken-up newbie.
"Fine, sir," Wydell replied.
Rollins, in the other Daishi, knew better. "Hey, that was worst-case. Really. You did a fantastic job of staying alive under circumstances that would've killed 99% of other pilots. You have what it takes to be a truly great mechwarrior, I guarantee it."
Reider could see Wydell nod in her cockpit, apparently feeling better. She replied, "Thank you, ma'am. I hope that's true." Rollins replied something, and the two women began carrying on a conversation.
Reider said nothing. Wydell had done a terrific job of staying alive. However, if her confidence had been killed, then it didn't mean squat. Intelligence, planning, and instinct were very important qualities for a Mech pilot, but in a world where Death could come at any time, confidence was a mechwarrior's most important asset. Either they had it, or they didn't. Those who didn't were usually identified and sent back to guard the rear areas, where nothing ever happened and chances for career advancement were almost nonexistence. Or, if they were sent to a front-line area, they were killed.
The two Daishis, each armed with 4 Large Pulse Lasers, a Thunderbolt 10, and a LB-20X AC, had sacrificed some lasers that they didn't need in order so that each mech could get more room for more powerful engines, a Targeting Computer, an Artemis IV, an AMS, a MASC, Jump Jets, and extra ammo. The last mech in the lance, the Atlas piloted by Kaiser, was configured as a multi-purpose "show-stopper", with 4 Heavy Large Lasers, two MRM-30s with lots of missiles, a MASC, and all the DHSs that it could carry. Knight Lance was made up entirely of 90-100 ton assault mechs, and that had its obvious advantages. Together, they could amass deadly firepower at any range.
There was no hurry, so they went forward at 65 kph, a fairly decent speed. Op Point Able was still about 6 kilometers away, and the four tired mechwarriors allowed themselves to lower their guards slightly. Occasionally, they could see other mechs fighting, but they were usually far away and posed no threat.
*****
SAME TIME, SAME DAY, 2033
"The area's secure, sir," Everhart told Mitchell as the latter scanned the base visually.
Mitchell didn't reply. Instead, he commented, "This base has no pavement."
"So?" asked Everhart.
Mitchell gave Freeman a look, and Freeman immediately knew what he was talking about. They had a psychic link that had developed way back whhen Mitchell was a green-as-grass second lieutenant defending Griffin Base. "All the other bases that we've taken had pavement. This one doesn't, which means there are possibly Sub APCs and Devil's Tongues lying in wait."
"Then how 'bout we flush 'em out, sir?" asked Captain Simon Morrison, the commander of Echo Company and possibly the youngest company commander in GDI. He was the oldest son in a wealthy British business family, and had become disenchanted with the greedy money-grabbing ways of his family. So, he had signed up for GDI a few years ago, and had finally wound up here. Like Freeman, he and Mitchell went way back, to a frozen hell called Operation Northern Mayhem.
Mitchell looked up at Morrison, who was sitting in a 25-foot-tall Titan. The rest of Echo Company was with him. "Sounds good to me, captain."
The 14 Titans opened fire at the ground, their high explosive 120mm shells blowing large holes in the ground and sending shockwaves throughout the entire base.
Six Devil's Tongues revealed themselves, only to be greeted by deadly point-blank firing from Bravo Company's infantry. Two more Devil's Tongues popped up right behind Mitchell's command staff. Their flamethrowers fired, threatening to toast Mitchell, Everhart, and Freeman...
Not a chance. Morrison maneuvered his Titan between the three officers and the two Devil's Tongues. The flame barely scratched the big mech. The MLRSes and Titans fired, annihilating these two Devil's Tongues. Now, this base was truly secure.
*****
It was obvious that the Nova Cat defenders highly valued the installation and whatever was in it. Three Champions had already wrecked themselves trying to turn away Knight lance. Defeating them had been relatively simple--they only had medium-to-close-range weapons, so all the four Star League assault mechs had to do was hang back at maximum range of their long-range weapons and pummel the Champions from a distance.
Now, Knight Lance was four kilometers from the facility, and another cluster of mechs were detected. Two Orions and six Shadowcats appeared, the former sporting ER PPCs and LRM-20s and the latter carrying ER Medium Lasers and Gauss Rifles. The LRM-20s, ER PPCs and Gauss Rifles were a big threat, since they could engage Knight Lance at long range.
"Knight Two, go forward and get in range of your weapons. Concentrate your fire on the Orions," Reider ordered as he group-fired his Pulse Lasers at one of the Orions. A small flash was seen from long range as an arm was blown off. Reider switched to the Thunderbolt-10 while he kept the big assault mech moving, running diagonal to the enemy mechs to throw off their aim and torso-twisting to keep the aiming reticule on-target to achieve a lock. As soon as the tone was heard, he fired. The big missile sped toward the Orion, striking the center torso. Another Thunderbolt-10 was fired, again hitting the center torso. This time, the hit was fatal, and the Orion was destroyed.
"Knight Two copies," Kaiser replied as he pushed his Atlas forward, oblivious to a few stray missiles and the occasional Gauss Rifle round hitting him.
"Knight Three is engaging the Shadowcats," Rollins radioed as her Daishi charged forward, taking the initiative. She kept a solid stream of Pulse Laser fire on the left leg of one of the Shadowcats while keeping her own mech jinking and jiving, dodging one Gauss Rifle slug after another. The leg blew apart, and that Shadowcat was knocked out of the fight.
Taking her cue from Rollins, who had become like an older sister to her, Wydell announced, "Knight Four attacking." Her Sunder let loose with two ER PPC blasts that blew the head off of an Orion. The Sunder kept moving forward, its weaponry being most effective at close range.
Redier grinned to himself. Apparently, Wydell's confidence was doing just fine. He fired another TBOLT-10, this time at a Shadowcat that was for the most part standing still. Stupid. A Shadowcat's most valuable asset was its speed, and if the enemy mech pilot didn't know that, then he didn't deserve to pilot a mech. Reider's TBOLT-10 made sure of that as it blasted apart a leg, destroying that immobile Shadowcat.
With both Orions already destroyed, Kaiser's fearsome Atlas turned its attention to the Shadowcats. Sixty MRMs slammed into a Shadowcat, both knocking it back and destroying it. One by one, the Heavy Lasers flashed out and struck legs, killing another two Shadowcats.
As the Atlas stopped firing for a second to cool down, both Daishis ganged up on the only Shadowcat left. Two Thunderbolt-10s hit the mech, making it fall down and blowing off both torsos. The defenseless mech got up, turned, and ran as fast as its injured legs would allow. Knight Lance let it go. There was no point in killing a mech that posed no threat.
The four assault mechs continued their journey, closing to 1.2 kilometers before they heard the words "mech power-up detected" in their cockpits again. by now, there was a mountain range on their right, and they stayed close to it. The last thing they needed was a flank assault from hidden Nova Cat forces.
"Those Clanners sure weren't cheap about protecting this place," Rollins remarked. "Look at this: 4 Cauldron-Born, 2 Annihilators, and 2 Masakari. This is crazy. With the way they've guarded this place, you'd think we're attacking the Nova Cat headquarters or something."
"That's some heavy metal, alright," said Colonel Mantel. "This facility must be very important to them. Hang back for a minute, I'm going to try to get more fire-support for you."
"Negative. They're coming toward us," Reider replied. "Those Cauldron-Born have enough long- and short-range weapons to give us a tough fight, but I'm most worried about those Masakari. As for the Annihilators, as long as we don't get close enough to let them use their autocannons, they shouldn't pose much of a threat. Knight Four, see if you can sneak around and get them from the rear. We'll cover you. Knights Two and Three, concentrate fire on the two Masakari. I'll hold off the Cauldron-Born."
A roger from everyone. A continuous Pulse Laser volley from Reider was enough to discourage the Annihilators from coming too close. Then, he fired a TBOLT-10 into one of the Cauldron-Born, making sure that his Daishi was running at max speed at all times. Right after the lasers recharged, Reider fired a concentrated volley into the targeted Cauldron-Born. Then, another TBOLT-10 streaked out and hit the enemy mech, turning its entire torso armor critical. However, before he could fire again, Reider was forced to slam Jump Jets to maximum and hop over 40 LRMs that had been fired at him. Some struck the legs, but not enough to worry about. The missiles gone, Reider fired his Pulse Lasers again, taking off the heavily-damaged Cauldron-Born's right torso, then killing it by destroying the center torso. One down, three to go.
Meanwhile, Rollins and Kaiser, hugging the mountain to minimize the firewpoer that would hit them, furiously lashed out at the two Masakari assault mechs. Rollins's Daishi, running at its MASC-assisted top speed of 78 kph, targeted the lead Masakari's left leg with a continuous burst from all four Pulse Lasers. The Masakari returned fire with a fearsome TBOLT-20 missile and 2 ER PPC blasts. The Nova Cat was apparently good at lead shooting, because both ER PPCs hit, the impact threatening to knock over the Daishi. Some damage had been done to the left torso, but not enough to really worry about.
Rollins turned on her jump jets as the Thunderbolt approached, allowing the big missile to climb up to her altitude. Then, abruptly, she cut the jets, and the Daishi rapidly fell to the ground. The TBOLT was too close and didn't have enough room to follow, so it harmlessly streaked overhead.
"What an idiot, thinking he could actually hit moi with a Big T," Rollins exclaimed as she returned the favor by shooting a TBOLT-10 into the Masakari, who had no jump jets. Then, she fired her Pulse Lasers at the left leg again, cursing as she was again momentarily knocked off-balance by an ER PPC. The range continued to close.
By intentionally detonating an unlocked TBOLT between the three remaining Cauldron-Born, Reider was able to split up the mechs and make them more manageable. He immediately switched to the LB-20X as the closest enemy mech came into range. The shotgun of autocannons, the LB-20X was Reider's most devastating weapon. He aimed for the targeted Cauldron-Born's right leg and fired, feeling a healthy recoil as the AC spewed rounds into the chubby legs of the Nova Cat mech. He fired again. This time, the impact of the projectiles knocked down the mech. Reider finished it off by shooting his Pulse Lasers into the badly-damaged right leg.
Another Cauldron-Born tried to hit him from the side, but Reider saw him. He ignited jump jets in a hop that brought his 100-ton monster down on the Cauldron-Born. The Daishi's legs kicked the Cauldron-Born in the chest, knocking it down. Then, from point-blank range, Reider poured autocannon rounds into the helpless mech, destroying it before it could get up.
Meanwhile, Rollins was shooting her own LB-20X into the Masakari that she was fighting. Finally, the left leg gave, and the Masakari was destroyed. Rollins then shifted fire to the Masakari that Kaiser was shooting at, although the latter had the situation well in hand. A beating from swarms of MRMs and devastating Heavy Laser shots had literally unarmed the Masakari, and practically its entire body's armor was at critical. A shot to the center torso destroyed it.
Rollins glanced to her left. It looked like Reider had already taken down three Cauldron-Born, and was working on the fourth. However, he wasn't having an easy time, and the Cauldron-Born showed its close-combat capabilities. Two SRMs struck Reider, followed by LB-5X shells, followed by a Gauss Rifle slug, followed by more LB-5X shells, followed by two more SRMs. The Daishi was continuously knocked back, the armor on its right torso at 50% strength. However, now it showed what an advantage jump jets could give in a battle. Reider made the Daishi do a sideways jump, leaping over more firepower from the Cauldron-Born while "walking" a string of LB-20X shells along the potent mech's torso area. Then, he fired a point-blank TBOLT that added to theh damage, followed by a burst from all 4 Pulse Lasers. By the time he landed, Reider had fired another bolley of autocannon rounds into the Cauldron-Born, finally killing it.
While her lance leader and lancemates had been battling the six heavy/assault mechs, Alana Wydell's Sunder had snuck behind the two Annihilators. Meanwhile, reinforcements in the form of 4 Vultures had arrived. Wydell picked the left Annihilator. The Vultures picked the right one.
There aren't many things that can knock over a 100-ton Annihilator. However, an Ultra AC 20 is one of those things. The sheer impact power from the devastating anti-armor rounds striking the left Annihilator's left leg was enough to send it sprawling. Thanks to the UAC20's fast recycle rate, Wydell fired again. And again. And again. For the coup d'grace, she fired two ER PPCs that finished off the left leg.
Meanwhile, the other Annihilator had turned to attack its comrade's assailant, but was struck by a whopping 320 MRMs from the Vultures before it could fire. The entire torso area just plain disappeared.
"Knight Lead, area secured," Reider informed over the tac net.
"Knights Two and Three, area secured," Kaiser broadcasted.
"Knight Four, area secured," from Wydell.
"Ghost Lance, area secured," confirmed the lance of Vultures.
"Knight Lead, while you were fighting with the enemy mechs, we sent some probes to your location. That facility is like nothing we've ever seen before. However, we've confirmed that there's a chronoshift field around it," Colonel Mantel announced.
"Chronoshift field? You mean like time travel?" asked Rollins.
"Yes, apparently. It extends around most of this sector. We don't know exactly what kind of research has been going on in there, and frankly, we don't care. It's too much of a risk for it to remain. You are to destroy it by any means nece--" he was interrupted from a blinding flash from the building. In the blink of an eye, practically every person, every vehicle, and every mech on Continent D disappeared, leaving only an eerie silence.
*****
Knight Lance, Ghost Lance, and the 12 MFBs that served as Colonel Mantel's mobile HQ appeared in the middle of an odd base, full of structures that none of them had ever seen before. One particularly bizarre building was a barracks shaped like a hand.
There were also people there, some in vehicles, some not. There were also a couple dozen mechs that were about the size of Elementals, plus some big mechs that looked like a cross between an Orion and an Annihilator.
These people could be hostile...but Reider doubted it. Somehow, he knew that these were the good guys.
"Boss..." Rollins trailed off, not sure what to say.
"Alright, what the hell is going on here?" was heard. Reider looked down. The question had been asked by a man with a bullhorn. Standing beside him was a woman and another man. They looked like the leaders of these people. They were dressed in what appeared to be small bio-suits, colored gold.
Reider hit the Daishi's loudspeaker button, which amplified his voice to allow anybody outside the mech within a reasonable radius hear him. "That's what I'd like to know."
"Who are you people? Are you reinforcement Titans that HQ sent us? If so, you guys have got some weird paint jobs," said the man with the bullhorn.
"Titans? We don't know what they are," said Colonel Mantel as he stepped out of his MFB and walked over to bullhorn man. "Who are you?" A couple of soldiers raised their rifles at Mantel, but the guy made a gesture and the soldiers put their rifles down.
"I'm Lieutenant Colonel Steven Mitchell, GDI, commanding officer of the 15th Mechanized Battalion. This is my executive officer, Major Janet Everhart, and my senior NCO, First Seargent George Freeman." Everhart and Freeman both made polite nods.
Mantel extended his right hand. "Star Colonel Ruben Mantel, Inner Sphere Star League, commander of Star League forces in Sector 3, Continent D, Clan world Turyis 3."
Mitchell shook it. "Well, Star Colonel, it looks like you and I have a lot to sort out."
"Indeed."
*****
They were gathered in the Temple of NOD inside the captured base, which was very comfortable and roomy. On one side of a rectangular conference table sat Mantel, Reider, and the leaders of five other lances that had found their way here. On the other side was Mitchell, Everhart, Freeman, and all of Mitchell's company commanders. Mitchell had explained all about the GDI-NOD war, and Mantel had explained about the Inner Sphere - Clan war.
"We have heard of this war, mostly from Earth mythology," Mantel told them.
"Mythology? You mean there's no actual record of what we did that passes on to the 31st Century?" Everhart asked, incredulous.
"The Inner Sphere has been wracked by centuries of civil war. Your records were probably destroyed," Reider theorized. "However, we are unified now. Our forces were assaulting a facility in one of the continents in a Clan world when there was a flash of light, and we ended up here."
"You guys just popped up," Freeman confirmed.
"Okay, we know that we've traveled back in time, and we're probably not alone. The chronoshift field extended around most of Sector 3, so others must have come with us," Reider commented.
Mantel noddded. "I sent out some probes, and I've located other lances. I've directed some of them here,"--he gestured at the other five lance leaders--"but I told some to stay put and gather in staging points. Then, some were just too far away. Apparently, when we re-materialized here, we were randomly strewn around this area. So, sometimes, Star League forces and Nova Cat forces re-appeared right next to each other...and destroyed eachh other. It looks like the chronoshift field was set to transport anything the size of a person and larger."
Mitchell sighed. "We've been sending out our own scouts, and nothing in our world in a 50-square-kilometer area seems to have been affected. However, everything else outside the area is...whacked."
"Fifty square kilometers was the size of the chronoshift field. There are leftover chronoshift particles here, so that confirms that this is our re-materialization area. If so, you were probably protected from any changes by the chronoshift field," Mantel told him.
"What do you mean, whacked?" Reider asked Mitchell.
Everhart spoke up. "It's a NOD-ruled world out there. Tiberium is thriving everywhere, there are mutants and cyborgs walking around, signs praising Kane, the works."
"You may have been protected from change, but apparently the rest of the world hasn't been. History has been altered," the pilot of Ghost Lead spoke up.
"Our relatives...?" asked Morrison.
"Probably dead or mutated," Mithcell told him. Everyone could see that this was painful for Mitchell. All of a sudden, he had lost his wife.
"Well, I for one don't want to live in a world ruled by NOD and Tiberium. How do we change it back?" asked Freeman.
"We don't know. We don't even know how it got to be this way in the first place," Mantel replied. "You said that a 50-square-kilometer area here wasn't affected. Are there any other GDI units within that area?"
Mitchell nodded. "Our sister battalion, the 16th. Plus an air wing of Orca fighters and bombers, some Orca Carryalls."
Suddenly, Wydell walked into the room. She looked around, found Mantel, walked over to him, told him something, then left. On the way out, Morrison caught her eye, and she smiled at him. He smiled back.
Mantel spoke up. "I've just been informed that two Firefly-class scout mechs have detected a convoy passing 20 kilometers to the north. The convoy consists of what looks like 3 research hovercraft escorted by two Madcats bearing Nova Cat markings and what appears to be four vehicles with two wheels in a front-rear configuration."
"NOD attack cycles," Everhart offered. "Weak armor, twin missile launchers. Hardly a match for our Titans or your...what are they called, BattleMechs?"
"Easy pickings," Reider commented. "We can capture and interrogate them. Maybe that'll give us some answers. Knight Lance would like the mission, sir."
Mantel looked around, then said, "Alright, do it. Until everything gets back to normal, Star League and GDI forces have to work in full cooperation. Colonel Mitchell, send some of your faster units with us. Our MASC-equipped assault mechs can move pretty fast."
"Titans are our most survivable units, but they're somewhat lacking in the speed department. We'll carry them to battle via air with the air wing's Carryalls," Mitchell replied.
Mantel turned to Reider. "Get your mechs ready, Matt. You'll be moving out as soon as possible."
"My lance was born ready, sir," Reider replied confidently. "We'll kick ass."
Mitchell grinned. "Well, I can see confidence is something that's survived through the centuries. Alright people, let's get to work. Simon, get two platoons together. Janet, contact all GDI units around here and have them converge on us. Dismissed."
The Star League officers and their GDI brothers both stood up, saluted each other, and filed out of the room.
End of Part 1
Preview for Part 2:
The NOD-NovaCat convoy is captured, and the good guys get the answers to their question. Some romance pops up. Repelling an attack by an enemy preemptive strike force. Formulating a plan to get everything back to normal.
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