Prologue
"Why do you have to go?" Asked Jason Anderson's wife, Deborah Anderson.
"Because it is my obligation to defend my home, this world, from any attack that would damage it." He answered.
"But why you? Can't some else go and fight?"
"I know you are worried, but I have to go. I am one of the few people on this planet that has any experience in piloting battlemechs."
"Yeah, but that was a long time ago, you're retired now. Can't you leave it to someone who is a big younger?"
She has a point there, Jason thought. Being well into his sixties, Jason was what most people called "past his prime." Still he was one of the few pilots on planet and he knew that. "Like I just said, I am one of the few people on planet with any battlemech experience. The militia needs me. Besides, I have heard that the attack force is small. If we can build up to a single battalion in strength, we will already have them outnumbered."
"How do you know you can still even pilot a battlemech?"
"I'm not that rusty, I pilot mechs every day."
"That's an agromech, they're not the same thing."
"They work under the same principles. The only thing that will have to come back to me is the targeting systems."
"Fine, go. There's no way I'll be able to stop you. You just better bring yourself back here when it's all over, and not in a body bag."
"Yes ma'am."
Chapter 1
Jason walked into the Harbor Militia's Headquarters in full uniform. He had been a Major before going into retirement, and had now been restored to that rank and given command of a full company. It felt strange being in a uniform after so long, but he thought he liked it. He was on his way to meet his people, most of which were recruits. Only his two other lance commanders had served in the militia before recruiting began.
He had already reviewed their records and examined their scores on the entrance test. Most of them had experience in agromechs, and the ones that didn't had experience in local arcades. Apparently, they had learned something in those simulators. The better recruits had been assigned to his command lance. Jason himself had brought with him his Enforcer, which he had taken with him into retirement. His techs were currently cleaning the old thing up, dusting out the cobwebs, and installing the newest technology onto it.
He had just been informed that they were outfitting his autocannon with a special new type of ammunition. He had never heard of the stuff before. Then they had explained it had just been developed months before, and they had received their first shipment this past week. It would probably be their last shipment now that the Archon had sent forces to destroy the local militia. A month ago, Prince Victor had liberated the planet of Harbor, and now the Archon Princess wanted it back.
The new ammunition was called precision ammunition, outfitted with tiny microchips, which automatically redirected autocannon ammo back on target if the shot was slightly off. He had read all the reports on it in the last few days and come to the conclusion that that would solve his targeting problem until he could get the feel of the mech back.
He was on his way to meet his company for a round in the sims for some practice. Each lance would get a chance to fight each other lance. First off was Jason's Command Lance verses 2nd Lance, which was headed up by Captain James Wilson. As Jason stepped into his simulator pod and strapped himself in, he though, this should be good.
Chapter 2
Jason unleashed his deadly autocannon on a 30-ton Battlehawk, which shuddered under the intense impacts, and returned fire with its 3 medium pulse lasers. Shrugging off the minor damage, Jason fired off his large laser, and took to the air on his jump jets. The light mech followed suit, launching itself into the air on its own jump jets. When Jason fired his autocannon, the special ammunition compensating for the difficult aiming while in the air, the Battlehawk dropped like a rock from the sky, landing on its back and not rising again.
Jason's company was all medium and light designs, putting his 50-ton Enforcer at the status of one of the heaviest mechs in his company. The only mech that had him out-tonned was Wilson's Bushwacker, which Jason was just now engaging. He fired his autocannon and large laser in one burst, which shook up the Bushwacker, but found no holes. James came back with his own autocannon, which, without the new precision ammo, missed completely, his large laser, which struck Jason in the chest, and his twin LRM5s. The paired Machine Guns on the Bushwacker were mainly used as anti-infantry weapons, and were not being used.
Jason's medium mech rocked under the force of the large laser and 10 long-range missiles, but he retained his balance and returned fire with a steady stream of autocannon shells. He stopped the stream after 5 shells had been unleashed, trying to conserve ammunition, which was less abundant with the precision ammo because of the extra weight of the special circuitry. All five shells landed dead center, as did his large laser, gouging huge chunks of armor out, and striking at delicate gyro casing, throwing the Captain's mech on its back. Another large laser finished the job, and Jason looked for his next target.
There was none to be found. All four mechs of 2nd lance had been eliminated. Jason's lance had lost only one man in the exchange. Jason's cockpit suddenly went dark and then lit up again as the door to the pod opened and the simulation ended. He stepped out, congratulating his lance for their victory, as well as 2nd Lance for a well-fought fight.
"If we fight this well against those Lyran scum, we won't have any problems." Jason said. A round of cheers went up as 2nd Lance stepped back into their pods and 3rd lance, commanded by Captain Alice Walker, entered their own pods.
Chapter 3It sure goes a lot faster when it's me in there fighting. Joel thought as he waited for the fight to end and the pilots to emerge. He was watching the scoreboards closely, seeing that Alice's Lance was holding the upper hand. An initial flanking move had broken 2nd lance and Alice was now cashing in on that. Two of 2nd lances mechs had fallen so far, and Alice had lost only one.
Although as the fight progressed, the skill advantage of 2nd lance began to show itself, as Alice two more of her mechs, leaving her to fend for herself against Wilson and another of his pilots. In the end, Wilson's lance won out, dropping Alice's 45-ton Blackjack.
As they emerged, Jason congratulated Alice for a good use of tactics and James for a nice comeback. Then it was time for Jason to step into the cockpit once more, as his Command Lance prepared for their showdown with 3rd Lance. Joel stepped in and watched the hatch door close as he strapped himself in. The lights went dark and then flashed to life as the simulation began. He set up his plan of engagement and the set out.
Soon he heard the cry of "Contact!" from not one, but two of his warriors. Alice had called for a double flanking maneuver, but Jason wouldn't allow his lance to fall into the deathtrap James had been trapped in. He ordered his men to fall back, angling to one side, so that they would engage one flanking group long before the other. Their four on two numbers would overwhelm the enemies and finish them off before the other force arrived.
Everything went according to plan, except that he had underestimated the speed of the other flankers. The enemy had lost one mech when the other pair arrived, hitting Jason's Lance in the rear. The whole lance shifted around, all four mechs bringing weapons to bear on Alice's mech. Take their leader, and their morale goes with her. The Blackjack was not able to withstand four mechs shooting at her and fell. They then turned to her partner.
Jason left that mech to his three lancemates, as he turned to face the other mech they had yet to drop. He fired his autocannon at the 35-ton Panther, which returned fire with its PPC, melting armor into streams, which flowed off Jason's mech. He added his Large Laser and continued firing his autocannon, quickly dropping the lightly armored light mech.
Chapter 4Finally, the invasion force was here. They had just jumped in system. The base was on full alert, although it would take 4 days until the enemy made planet fall. Until further notice, there would be a company of forces on patrol at all times. Jason was using the time to get further reacquainted with his Enforcer. It had been many years since he had last been inside its cockpit.
Thanks to the fixing the techs had given it, the 50-ton medium mech was no longer falling apart at the seams. It had been given a fresh layer of armor and paint over than. The old Federated Suns insignia had been painted on his mechs torso. He felt ready for battle, but he wasn't sure if his lance was. He hadn't been in a real mech fight in over twenty years, but he remembered it like it was just yesterday.
His last battle had been on the planet of Wakefield, which was now in Clan occupied territory. They had been forced to retreat off planet when 2 full Galaxies of Jade Falcon mechs, most of them heavy and assault class, had invaded the planet and destroyed three regiments of Inner Sphere forces. After their retreat to the dropships and out of the system, those clan forces continued their rampage until they reached Coventry, where Com Star had stopped the clan advance and forced them to agree to a 15 year truce which would be over in a mere two years. He and his Enforcer had almost not made it off Wakefield alive, but here he was.
Just then, Jason received a priority transmission from the base.
"Jason we have inbound dropships." Said John Carson, the leader of the Harbor Militia.
"Yeah, I know that. That's why I'm out here on patrol."
"No, we have new dropships. They just entered system via Pirate Point and will be arriving in only two hours. Estimated strength, one battalion."
"Understood."
This is not good, Jason thought. Now we have a battalion and a half attacking. This militia doesn't have a chance against solid Lyran units. These people are only weekend warriors.
Jason keyed into the general frequency for his company and updated them on the situation.
Chapter 5Jason smashed his hand on the override button hard enough to draw blood as more and more heat flooded into his cockpit. Usually, his Enforcer was good with the heat, but under prolonged combat, any mech began to overheat. Both the militia and the Lyrans were fully engulfed in combat with the other unit. The militia was getting crushed by the superior skill and experience of the Lyrans.
Jason was still managing to hold his own, as were his two lance leaders, but his company was falling apart. They were down to five people. The enemy battalion still had twenty-eight mechs to the militia's eighteen. Those were not good odds. The fact that there were another two Lyran companies still inbound on the planet only worsened the situation, although at the moment, Jason couldn't see the situation worse that it was.
Then it got worse, as Colonel John Carson, leader of the militia, took a PPC to his cockpit, instantly vaporizing him. Now with their leader gone, the militia broke. All morale was gone, and they attempted to break contact and flee the field. Jason managed to get his company under control and coordinate a controlled retreat with them, but the other seventeen mechs of the militia were lost, most of them were recruits just looking out for their own hides. As Jason pulled his people back, he and they continued firing on the enemy force attempting to get that one more kill.
The battle and the planet were lost with just that one fight. Jason had lost his home to Steiner, and he was angry. Despite that, he managed to keep his cool, knowing morale was low enough as it was without their leader falling apart. Maybe I wasn't as ready as I had thought. I have never felt this way about command. Maybe I AM too old for this, Jason thought.
They were fifteen kilometers away before they finally managed to lose the enemy force. Another ten kilometers away from there, and they ran into a pair of the recruits that had fled. One after another, they began finding more and more of the men who had fled. Soon they were at a strength of eleven mechs. It could easily be assumed the other six had been killed trying to escape. Still they had enough people to wage a campaign. It was not enough to fight a war, but it was enough for a guerilla campaign.
They wouldn't be able to destroy the enemy force, but they would be able to pester them and occupy them until they received some reinforcements.
Chapter 6That's if they got reinforcements. It had been five weeks now, and there was no sign of help coming soon. Most likely, Victor didn't have any units to spare, all of them being deadlocked with Lyran troops on other worlds. Still it would have been nice to get some help.
So far, Jason had lost 5 people since their initial escape, and gained one. That left him with seven mechs. They had managed to destroy one company of enemy forces total through a number of guerilla raids, quick in and out strikes. The enemy was still left with about a battalion, that's thirty-six mechs.
And as if the situation weren't bad enough, the entire planets population had fallen into turmoil. There were riots in the streets, as well as shootings, among other occurrences. Half of them were shouting out for the Federated Suns and Victor while the other half fought for the Lyran Alliance and Katrina Steiner-Davion.
Katrina - that name still stung him. Katrina was the name Katherine had changed her name to. It was the name of her grandmother, who, unlike Katherine, had been a good leader who cared about her people. Katherine's mother, Melissa Steiner-Davion had also been a good leader, until Katherine had had her assassinated.
Jason found it surprising how one family could have so many problems. A while after Katherine had had her own mother killed, she had her brother, Arthur Steiner-Davion, killed. That was after she had usurped her own brother's throne to gain more power, taking it from her own sister, Yvonne Steiner-Davion, while Victor was off annihilating Clan Smoke Jaguar and putting the clan invasion to a permanent halt. And now she was busy carrying on a bloody Civil War against the same brother whose throne she had stolen.
Jason was happy Victor was closing in one her. And while Prince Victor was on one side of the Inner Sphere, retaking his own Federated Commonwealth, his Leftenant-General Archer Christifori was retaking the Lyran Alliance on the other side of the Inner Sphere. The Lyran Alliance had split off from the Federated Suns long ago, with Katherine and her propaganda machine behind her.
Jason just hoped for the sake of all the lives in the Federated Suns that Victor would stop his tyrannical sister in time.
Chapter 7"That's it guys, pull back." Said Jason, getting off a last shot at an enemy Sparrowhawk. Combined last shots from the rest of his lance took the mech down as they pulled back into the forest from which they had ambushed the enemy patrol.
We took out four of their mechs, losing one of ours, a good exchange, but not good enough. They have us grossly outnumbered, and we need to do better than that if we ever want to get this Steiner unit off our planet. Jason thought on the way back to their base.
His tiny unit had managed to set up base in the forest, using the cover of local caves, rich in metals, which helped block off satellite location. It also made if nearly impossible for enemy mechs to locate it because of the ECCM jammer they had managed to set up and the density of the woods.
They had also managed to load some supplies on a cargo haulers. Unfortunately, with their current rate of usage, they would be out of ammo and armor replacements in a few short days. Luckily, they wouldn't starve to death, thanks to some local civilians who were providing food to them. Jason had ordered all of their mechs to be stripped of as many ammo-using weapons as possible. They were to be replaced with as many laser weapons as the mech could support without compromising the mechs ability to dissipate the heat.
He had stripped the autocannon off of his own Enforcer, and replaced it with a PPC. His tech had installed a few additional heatsinks. Even with the compromises, they would be out of ammo in a week, maybe two. They needed to do something about that, and Jason knew his plan would be risky, but the risk was worth it for the equipment and supplies they would get from it.
The base the militia had occupied before being destroyed still stored all the supplies they had left behind. If Jason could time a raid for the time when the most troops were out on patrol and the least we defending the base, there would only be a company of defenders. They would be able to hold a stand up fight, but it would be good enough to get a few cargo haulers in and restock their supplies, maybe steal another mech or two to make up for any losses they would take in the attack. They would just need to make sure they got out before the patrols were called in and arrived to help out.
Now all he had to do was to brief his people with the specifics and get everyone set up and ready to go.
Chapter 8"Ok people, let's push them even farther back!" Shouted Jason over the comm. Line. "Don't give them any time to regroup."
"Yes, Sir!" Jason's people responded enthusiastically. They had managed to push back the defenders, destroying two of their mechs without any losses. Their seven mechs were trampling the enemy company. They had managed to get to a few supplies on the other edge and were now moving to secure even more supplies and fill up their haulers.
"Sir, I've got a contact behind us."
"Yeah, I read multiple contacts approaching our rear. I'm reading eight… make that twelve enemy mechs inbound. It looks like they found some backup."
"Understood," replied Jason. "We can still push a little farther, enough to fill up one more hauler. Send the rest of the haulers back. Make sure they are clear; we can't afford to lose those supplies."
"Aye, sir." His men said in unison.
Jason continued firing at the defenders as the one remaining hauler moved toward the stockpile they had just secured. As they began loading, the enemy force pushed forward. In a wedge formation, and with superior numbers, the ten enemy mechs broke Jason's line, hitting his force hard. Two of their mechs fell in the first minute of fighting. As the hauler signaled that it had the supplies, Jason ordered his people to fall back. It was a fighting retreat. Under fire from both enemy companies, they lost another three mechs on the way out, leaving only two survivors.
One disaster after another, Jason thought. The enemy force tried to pursue, but Jason and his remain partner, Glen, had too much of a speed advantage. They made it out safely with the precious cargo hauler. When they reached the base, Jason found that one of the haulers had been able to take a mech, a 65-ton Cestus. Jason decided to take that mech for himself, giving his 50-ton Enforcer to Glen, who had piloted a 35-ton Garm.
Finding a volunteer citizen to pilot the Garm was not a problem. Figuring out how they would defeat the twenty-eight remaining enemy mechs with just their three mechs was the hard part. Jason was busy planning his next move when a Tech knocked on his door.
Chapter 9"Sir we have discovered some kind of hatch. We found it while pulling in the cargo haulers and unloading them. I sent some techs into see what they could find, and they have not come out yet." The tech said.
"Do we know what they are?"
"No, sir, not yet."
"Any guesses."
"Well, we did see some kind of emblem or marking on the hatch door. It was pretty busted up, but it appeared to be the symbol of the Star League, the original Star League."
A hundred thoughts and emotions rushed through Jason's head, one of which was hope. "Have you found any mechs?"
"Well, sir, like I said, the techs I sent in have not emerged yet."
"I want to see it myself and meet the techs when the come out. If it turns out that this is a Star League Bunker or Base of some kind, and if it contains any mechs, we may be back in business."
"Understood, sir. Please follow me." The tech replied.
On their way to the hatch, Jason couldn't help but imagine what could be inside the mysterious Star League-era bunker. Even a handful of mechs could turn this fight around.
Jason soon found out it was better than a handful when the techs emerged from the hatch with their flashlights. The first one stood up and, realizing Jason was standing there, came to a straight attention and flashed a crisp salute.
"Report."
"Sir, we have just finished the preliminary survey of the bunker. It is definitely Star League-era. It is also a military installation for sure. We found a full company of mechs in perfect condition as well as an enormous stock of supplies. Enough to last us at least two months out here."
"What types of mechs?"
"We found what looked like one assault mech, a few heavies, a few mediums, and a few lights. We will make a more detailed survey shortly."
"Good." Jason said while turning back to the master technician who had first informed him of the situation in his office. "I want a full report as soon as we have all the information. I want a full list of the mechs we have as well as what kind of ammunition reserves we have."
"Yes, sir. You heard him guys, let's get down there."
As Jason turned to head back to his office, he could help but feel excited. A full company of Star League mechs would easily even the odds.
Chapter 10
An hour later, Jason received the full report. Apparently, the Star League-era base had been found some time ago, because only a few of the mechs were Star League designs. There was no report of a base on this planet, so whoever had found it had apparently never had time to tell anyone. But still, a company was a company, although all Star League designs would have been nice. Long ago the Star League had collapsed, and most or all of the advance technology of that great era had been lost to the Inner Sphere.
What had remained of it had been take with General Kerensky along the great Exodus Road to Strana-Mechty, the home of the clans. Anything they didn't take with them had been stored by Com Star and had only recently resurfaced with the invasion of the clans. The technology for building War Ships had also just been rediscovered, having been lost with the Star League. A War Ship was like a Jumpship in that it could travel between stars, but it was also equipped with engines, which allowed for in-system travel. That allowed the War Ship to come into orbit of a planet, although they still required dropships to land mechs. War Ships could therefore easily dominate the world of space combat and were sometimes, rarely, even used for naval bombardment of planets, destroying forces and buildings on the surface with its heavy naval weapons.
Fortunately, the one assault mech they had found was a Star League design, a 100-ton Pillager. They had also found a trio a Star League designed Sentinels. The other two lances were more recent designs, but they would do. Jason, being the commanding officer, took the Pillager. They found plenty of volunteers among the populous who were willing and able. They now had a full fifteen mechs with which to oppose the enemy force. Still outnumber almost two to one, Jason would need a good plan, but they could do it.
Jason decided to carry on the guerilla tactics for a little longer. He would only use one lance, a lance of lighter mechs. That would keep the enemy uninformed of the newly discovered materials. So Jason retained his Cestus, at least for a little while.
Chapter 11
Jason pulled the trigger on his paired Large Lasers and his Gauss Rifle, sending a deadly barrage of weaponry at an enemy Hermes. They 40-ton mech was able to weather the devastating barrage and remain on its feet, but it took heavy damage. Damage Jason exploited before the Hermes could fire another shot, striking at the lighter mech with his Large Lasers once again and putting it out of the fight.
He then turned to see and enemy Catapult staring him in the face. The enemy mech fired its 40 long-range missiles at Jason, who spun and dodged, but 30 of the missiles still found their mark, shredding almost two tons of armor off his torso. Jason charged the enemy mech firing his gauss rifle followed by his lasers, drilling into the equally sized mech, while pulling inside the LRM's minimum range. The Catapult fired everything it had, but the LRMs failed to activate, bouncing off his Cestus harmlessly. Only the Catapult's Large Laser had any effect at all, boiling armor off Jason's chest. Jason again fired his gauss rifle, this time accompanied only by one of his large lasers, reducing the heat production as he lit of his jump jets and sailed over the enemy mech.
Coming down on the other side of it, Jason pulled his mech into a turn and before the Catapult could turn around, Jason unleashed another destructive alpha strike, finding all of his previous holes, and gutting the missile boat as they were called. Having completely crushed the enemy patrol lance, the two remaining mechs of what had once been his lance pulled back behind him. They had only lost one today. Tomorrow, Jason would implement the next to last step of retaking this world. Then he could get home to his wife, whom he had made that promise to what seemed like ages ago.
Chapter 12
"Here we go guys. This is it. If we win now, we will retake this planet from those rotten Steiner troops."
A round of cheers went up on the comm. line. Jason and his lance walked themselves into position to ambush yet another enemy patrol lance. Although this one happened to contain a few assault class designs, Jason's Lance also boasted a pair of assault mechs as well as the Cestus now piloted by Glen and the Catapult they had salvaged yesterday.
As the enemy lance began to walk by, Jason began the count down saying, "On my mark, engage them, I will fire the first shot."
As the seconds ticked by, the first enemy mech passed to the point when Jason could see its rear, and shouting, "Now!" Jason opened fire on the 80-ton Zeus with his paired gauss slugs, which ricocheted off the mechs back, leaving nearly two tons of armor scrap on the ground, and followed through with his Large Laser and his four medium lasers, digging deep into the enemy assault machine's internals and striking at the reactor shielding. The heat bleeding off and the damage to the reactor was stopped by the auto-safety shield that popped into place shutting the mech down for good.
As the other mechs in his lance fired at the enemy, another mech took heavy damage, but none fell. It was clear that the enemy had called for reinforcements, falling right into Jason's trap. They obviously intended to end this now by destroying the remaining lance of rebels. The problem was, they would find more than a lance waiting to ambush them. As they continued fighting, Jason received a report from the leader of the second part of their maneuver.
"Sir, we have successfully ambushed the enemy, they have… I should say had one company; we took three of them out with our first strikes. They are falling apart. We are currently pursuing, I doubt they will last much long, but we will take some losses, that's for sure."
"Understood." Jason answered, firing another pair of gauss slugs at an enemy Black Knight.
"Okay," Jason said on his lance frequency. "The trap has been sprung, these guys aren't getting any reinforcements anytime soon."
Another round of cheers went up from his lance. Soon the Black Knight was down. The Catapult in Jason's lance had also fallen, but three enemies had gone down with it. That left his three mechs against the hundred-ton Annihilator. It fired on Jason with all four of its heavy autocannons, ripping his armor into dust. The enemy assault mech also added its four medium pulse lasers to Jason's problems, melting even more armor and digging into Jason's internal structure. Jason held his mech upright and hit back with everything at his disposal, as did Glen and the other 95-ton Banshee in Jason's lance. The combined fire was too much for the enemy assault mech, which collapsed to the ground with its entire torso severed from its legs.
The other ambush was also successful, and the 9 remaining mechs moved on the enemy base. It was their nine on the enemy's eight. The final battle for planetary supremacy and Jason would not allow them to lose this battle.
Chapter 13
Jason watched as another of his mechs fell to the one remaining enemy warrior, who was continuing his rampage in his 100-ton Berserker. He ran from mech to mech, using his mech's MASC to increase his speed to get from mech to mech. Jason had lost five people to this warrior and wouldn't let himself lose any more. He fired on the Assault mech with his paired gauss rifles, the two slugs smashing into the enemy mech. Equal in tonnage to Jason's Pillager, the Berserker was less heavily armed, but if Jason allowed himself to get too close, that huge ax carried by the 100-ton mech would crush him in an instant.
He followed through on his Gauss slugs, dragging his reticle across the screen, and pulling the trigger on his lasers. One Laser and four medium lasers reached across the space between them, searing over a ton of armor of the front of the mech.
The Berserker engaged its MASC, charging at Jason full throttle. At the last moment Jason jammed down on his jump jets, working the pedals to push himself forward. His mech jumped up and flew over the rampaging, aptly named, Berserker. The mech began turning, the over-used myomer muscles of the Berserker gave way. That was the only downside of the MASC; it sometimes overstressed the muscles in the mech. The assault mech collapsed to the ground. There it made an easy target to Jason to finish it off with his heavy weapons.
The battle was finally over, and Jason's one remaining lance moved into the base and secured the structure. They captured the surviving enemies and located their own survivors. With all invading forces on-planet destroyed, the lance of mechs moved to the problem of calming the populous. They took their mechs to the streets, trying to settle the fighting and strikes. Just the sight of a mech silenced the people, and no more fighting took place. Jason's job was done in the militia, and he gladly turned over command to Glen before departing for home.
Angel of Death {CSV}