The Comstar tech held out the noteputer to Colonel Jeffrey Sanders of the Blue Lightning Lancer Mercenaries, who placed his finger on the ID scanner to unlock the message. After a moment a man appeared on the screen. It was the Governor of Eaton.
"Colonel Sanders, my family has been sent into hiding, but the Skye Rebels are closing in any assistance will be well compensated I assure you. We will discuss the exact figures once my family and I are safe." Then the message ended and the screen went black.
Colonel Sanders sat in his chair silently for a moment, and then sent for his Exec, Major William Anderson. A few minutes later, there was a knock on his door. After a moment, the Colonel spoke, "Enter."
"You sent for me sir?"
"Yes Major, I want you to prepare the Command Company, we're heading to Eaton."
"May I ask why sir?"
"The Governor there needs some assistance, and I think that if we save his and his family's lives, he'll be willing to pay a substantial amount."
"Aye, Sir."
As the Major was leaving to start getting everything together, Colonel Sanders followed him out. The Colonel made his way to the mechbay, where he spotted his tech working on his Pillager. The 100-ton assault mech dated back to the Star-League era and was one of the most deadly designs Sanders had ever seen. It boasted an overall armament of two gauss rifles, a large laser, and a quartet of medium lasers. To top it off, the 100-ton monster was outfitted with Jump jets.
"How are the repairs coming along?" Sanders asked his tech.
"Well, Sir, I've fixed the targeting problem you were having with those two lasers, should work fine now."
"Good, get her ready for travel, we're headed off planet in three days."
"Understood Sir."
Chapter 1Colonel Sanders' stomach felt as if it had been twisted inside out and upside down, as the Jumpship finished its jump to the Eaton system. Jeffrey was already onboard the dropship, and the instant they came out of the jump, the dropship detached and headed toward Eaton, carrying Jeffrey's command Company. On its route inbound, the dropship bays opened, and a lance of aerospace fighters emerged to escort the dropship in. They still had another two lances on standby incase they encountered some resistance on their run toward the planet.
They had entered the system via a pirate point, and therefore, were only two hours away from Eaton. Jeffrey ordered his company to prepare for a hot drop. From what he had heard, the Skye rebels were making their way through the city nearest the mansion. It would only be a few hours before they made it to the mansion.
The mission would consist of three parts. The Colonel's assault lance would drop directly in the path of the Skye forces, while a mixed heavy lance would drop behind the rebels and attack from the rear. The third lance, a mixed lance of medium and light mechs, would land with the dropship at the mansion, with a company of aerospace cover to get the Governor out safely. After he was safely aboard the dropship, the dropship would pick up the two lances holding off the rebels and head off-planet.
Jeffrey entered the mechbay, and saw his tech preparing his Pillager for the drop.
"I hope she's gonna be ready."
"Don't worry sir, she's ready now."
"Good." Jeffrey said as he began climbing the chain ladder up to his mech's cockpit. While he was halfway up, the dropship shook. Over the com-line, the ship's captain informed Jeffrey that they were under attack from two other dropships.
Jeffrey had been a little raddled after the ladder had swung from side to side, but he held on. "Just keep going, let the aerospace company cover you, we need to get our mechs on planet."
"Understood."
Jeffrey finished his climb, and hopped into his cockpit. He pulled up the chain ladder and secured it in its storage bin. He closed the Ferro-glass shield that protected his cockpit, and strapped himself in. He was in usual mechwarrior attire, a cooling vest, shorts, and combat boots. He plugged his cooling vest into the cockpit, but did not activate it yet. He took his neuro-helmet off the overhead shelf, and placed it securely over his head, and then plugged that into his cockpit, making sure that the neuro-helmet had nice, solid contact with the sides of his head.
He began the power-up procedures, and the computerized voice asked for his voice ID. "Colonel Jeffrey Sanders." The computer accepted the voice ID, and Jeffrey spoke again, "It pays to be a merc." Because voices can be faked, the computer always asked for a word or phrase that is the warrior's password. With both phases of the security complete, the mech came to life beneath him.
The dropship continued the shake under constant attack, but they were only seconds from reaching Eaton's atmosphere.
Chapter 2Jeffrey and his Pillager were soon falling to the ground. The dropship had held up under the attack, and had delivered its payload of mechs onto the battlefield. The fighting was going bad for the Governor's local forces. Two rebel companies were overrunning the last remaining lance of loyal mechs. Even before he touched down, Jeffrey fired a pair of gauss slugs into the back of a 30-ton Javelin. No mech that small, especially a damaged one, could take that much firepower to the back. The gauss slugs went right through the light mech, completely gutting it.
Jeffrey used his jump jets to keep his mech level after the recoil. He and his three lancemates landed at the same time, and all let loose everything they had from their four assault mechs. A rebel Penetrator was crushed under the force of four gauss rifles as well as Jeffrey's array of lasers. The extra two gauss rifles came from a Cerberus, piloted by one of his lancemates, Corporal Johnson, a very skilled mechwarrior.
The 75-ton enemy mech never had a chance, as its torso caved in under the attack. The counter attack was much less lethal, and came in the form of a PPC burst to Johnson from a rebel Panther. That 35-ton threat was wiped out by a gauss rifle, two pulse lasers, and twelve short-range missiles from Sergeant Railey's Victor. The mixed heavy lance had now hit the rear of the Skye rebels' attack and was taking a lot of the heat off of Jeffrey's lance.
However, not all the heat had been lifted, as Railey and his Victor fell to the ground under combined fire from a rebel Annihilator and Thunderhawk. Not many mechs could take three gauss rifles, four autocannons, and four pulse lasers, and remain alive. Knowing the Annihilator was the larger threat, Jeffrey ordered his two remaining lancemates to concentrate fire. The 100-ton assault mech fell under four gauss rifles, 1 large laser, 4 medium lasers, two ppcs, and an autocannon. The Thunderhawk stepped forward and chewed over four tons of armor off of Corporal Linda West's Banshee with its three gauss rifles.
Suddenly, a voice came over the Com. "Colonel, the dropship is down. The Governor is safe in an APC, and we are moving toward your position. Our lance wouldn't have a chance if we got attacked."
The voice was that of Leftenant Jesse Hall, the CO of the lance in charge of securing the Governor. "Jesse, keep about a kilometer way from us, and form up around the Governor, we can't afford to give the rebels a shot at him."
"Understood, Sir."
Chapter 3While they were talking, Jeffrey's lance had dropped the Thunderhawk and a rebel Lineholder. The mixed heavy lance was down to two mechs, and Jeffrey's lance had one down and one heavily damaged. One company of rebel mechs remained, and only one loyalist mech was still on its feet. This did not last long however, as three rebels combined fire to eliminate it. The rebels were closing in on the mixed heavy lance. One company on two mechs was long odds.
Jeffrey fired up his jump jets, and positioned himself right in the middle of the rebel company. His gauss rifles and lasers struck a rebel Falconer in the back, striking at its reactor shielding. The mech was forced to power down in order to avoid having his reactor blow up in his face. The move took a lot of attention off of the heavy lance, and onto Jeffrey's Pillager.
Jeffrey was not stupid though. As quickly as he had gotten in, he jumped out of the enemy line. Many of the mechs followed him, and therefore the fire came down on his assault lance, which was able to weather the eleven alpha strikes that came at them. West's Banshee fell, having taken too much damage previously. Jeffrey ordered his two lances to regroup, and fall back to the medium lance's position. He ordered one of the medium mechs to escort the Governor away from the battlefield.
As Jeffrey's four remaining mechs began to fall back, they continued firing at the enemies. The medium and light mechs were easily able to catch up and join the fight. Seven mechs on eleven was a lot better than four. Once all of his mechs had grouped together, Jeffrey ordered an all out charge. His people were to break through the enemy line and scatter into the city before the rebels knew what hit them.
The tactic certainly caught the rebels off-guard, they were not ready for such a bold move from the smaller force. Jeffrey's Lancers dropped three and lost one in the attack. Jeffrey ordered the detached medium mech to rejoin the group and bring the Governor with him. The city would provide plenty of cover for the APC.
After playing hide and seek for fifteen minutes, the APC and medium mech finally arrived. Colonel Sanders got the Governor on the Com. "Governor, have the rebels seized the HPG station yet?"
"No, the HPG station is protected by a battalion of Comstar mechs."
"Ok good. Leftenant Hall, I want your lance to escort the Governor to the HPG station. Make sure that the Comstar forces know that you are not hostile. Send an HPG message back to Major Anderson. Tell him to bring whatever he can muster. I know it won't be much, just his company and another dropship, but we need to get off this rock somehow."
"Aye, Sir."
Chapter 4Jeffrey mashed down on his trigger so hard his hand began to bleed. His twin gauss rifles and laser array carved into the center of a 50-ton rebel Crab. The medium mech reeled under the attack, but managed to get off a shot of its own from its mixed array of lasers. Jeffrey's 100-ton mammoth easily absorbed the barrage, and he unleashed another pair of nickel-iron slugs on the medium mech. The metallic spheres penetrated the armor of the smaller mech, and crushed its main supports. The mech's torso caved in on itself.
Jeffrey took a full salvo of forty missiles from a rebel Catapult jumping back to safety behind a building. They had been playing that game of hit and run, cat and mouse, all day. Jeffrey had lost an additional two mechs, leaving only himself and Corporal Johnson. The medium lance, what was left of it, had made it safely out of the city with the Governor and were hopefully three quarters of the way to the HPG station by now.
The rebels were down to five mechs after the on Jeffrey had just dropped. They had tried numerous times to break past and pursue the medium lance, but the two assault mechs we heavier than anything the rebels had left, and were able to repulse each push. Both Jeffrey and Johnson had taken substantial damage, although the Corporal had taken the worst of it.
Jeffrey was brought out of thought by a voice over the Com. "Colonel, we show a battalion of rebels five klicks out from the city. Leftenant Hall has made it safely to the HPG station." It was the voice of Josh Hasher, the remaining leader of the aerospace elements he had brought along.
"Ok Josh, on my mark, you bring your lance into the city and give us some cover. You guys will slow them down enough for us to make it to the HPG station, just keep on 'em."
"You got it boss."
"Now!"
After a moment's delay, lasers and autocannons rained down from above to shower the rebel mechs. Jeffrey and Johnson pulled farther back behind more cover. They soon lost their lock on the rebel mechs through all the buildings. That also meant that the rebels likely could not see them either. They then pushed their mechs to full throttle. After a few minutes they had cleared the edge of the city.
The aerospace fighters still had the rebels tied up in the same spot of the city, but Josh Hasher reported that the enemy battalion had arrived and he had been forced to bug out after losing two more fighters.
That gave Jeffrey and Johnson about a six-kilometer lead, and considering that the rebels still had to navigate through the city with over thirty-six mechs, they would only gain ground.
Chapter 5It had been about two hours since they had had any enemy contact, and after a long day of fighting, Jeffrey was beginning to get tired. The rocky desert terrain continued to pass by as his mech lumbered down the narrow road. It was a very impressive landscape, with the mountains far off highlighted by the sunset over the orange desert ground.
It had actually been about two hours since they had seen anything moving beside themselves. The aerospace fighters had pulled back toward the Comstar HPG facility. Jeffrey had already begun to get comfortable in his command chair, relaxing with each step of his mech on the pavement. It was nice to be able to calm down after the tense fighting in the city. Fortunately, Jeffrey had been mindful of his aim and movements, and had avoided ramming or shooting any buildings.
Now all he could do was reflect on the happenings of the day and wonder how the fighting was going elsewhere in the Lyran Alliance and Federated Suns. Their job was not to stop the Skye rebels but to rescue the Governor, and that is what they had done. Jeffrey did not care if the rebellion in Skye was shielding Prince Victor from his sister's forces. At the beginning of the civil war, Jeffrey had decided not to take sides. Although, with recent events, he had been leaning towards Victor's side, but still refused to get involved. Right now, all Jeffrey cared about was how he was going to get his people off this miserable rock. The Major would get their message in a day or two when Comstar sent it out. The best Jeffrey could hope for was reinforcements in a week.
His best shot until then was to stay at the HPG. Though the Skye rebels did have numbers over the Com Guard, they would likely not go that far just to get at the Governor. Jeffrey could guess that the Com Guard would harbor his people until help did arrive. The Skye rebellion was not helping anyone, and it had already claimed so many lives. In the first weeks of fighting, the Gray Death Legion, a most elite mercenary unit, a regiment's worth of warriors, had been nearly wiped out.
Now his small band of Mercenaries was being eliminated. The seven mechs he had lost today may not be all that much to a regular unit, but in an Elite group as small as his, seven was more than a quarter of his warriors. The Governor would pay up, Jeffrey would see to that. He needed the money to rebuild his unit after today's losses. He had lost a full lance of heavy mechs, two assault mechs, and a medium mech, some very costly losses indeed.
Chapter 6Jeffrey was still thinking about the losses, the Steiner-Davion civil war, and the Skye rebellion when he got hit from behind by a gauss slug. As he struggled to sit up and keep his mech on its feet, he checked his radar. He was only five minutes from the Comstar facility. His attack was a Hollander, which was accompanied by two lances of light and medium mechs. The faster lances must have been detached to slow us down so the larger mechs could catch up, Jeffrey thought. The Hollander was a very odd design. Its only weapon was a single gauss rifle, lending substantial firepower and range for a mech its size, mounted in a long narrow tube on its left shoulder that appeared to be bigger than the mech itself.
Jeffrey toggled for his Communication line to his entire company. "Leftenant Hall, we are five minute out, that's two minutes for you, and we have two lances of small mechs pursuing, get over here and bring some of those Com Guard warriors with you."
It took a moment for him to get a response, "Aye, Sir. We'll be there in just a few minutes."
That said, Jeffrey twisted his torso as far is it would go, turning his arms to get a lock on a rebel Sentinel. Jeffrey was still out of the smaller mechs range, but it was not beyond his reach, and Jeffrey unleashed a pair of gauss slugs. The spheres impacted on the upper arm and torso of the smaller mech, putting it on the ground. As fast as they cycled, Jeffrey sent another set of slugs into the smaller mechs torso, finishing the job. A faster rebel Commando had closed to closer range and unleashed its lasers and missiles on Jeffrey's assault mech. His mech shook as the missiles dug tiny craters into his armor, and Jeffrey returned fire with his lasers and one gauss rifle, hoping to save some ammunition.
Johnson was working over a rebel Jenner with his twin gauss rifles. As the light mech faltered under the attack, a pair of 30-ton Urbanmechs and a 20-ton Fireball stepped up to take its place. Jeffrey hit the Fireball with his lasers and second gauss rifle, chewing through the fragile armor of the light mech. Jeffrey struggled to breathe, sweat pouring down the side of his face as the heat levels in his cockpit rose seven degrees. The twin Urbanmechs dug into Johnson's Cerberus's side with their autocannons. A rebel Garm stepped up and added its autocannon to the barrage of depleted uranium shells. As if that was not enough, a rebel Men Shen added its four pulse lasers, and a swarm of twenty long-range missiles.
The Cerberus's arm was pummeled into scrap, as was its side torso. One of the pulse lasers from the Men Shen penetrated to knick the delicate Gyroscope in the heart of the assault mech. Through a combined feat of skill and luck, Johnson kept the brutalized assault mech on its feet, and fought back with his one remaining gauss rifle, taking the leg of one of the Urbanmechs off at the knee. Jeffrey unleashed his weapons on the Men Shen, trying to take out the heaviest rebel mech. To ensure that the job was done, he put every weapon on his main trigger, and mashed down on the trigger.
The 55-ton Men Shen melted under the deadly barrage of lasers and gauss rifles. Even with that mech down, the rebel Hollander, the remaining Urbanmech, and the Garm stepped up and polished off Johnson's Cerberus. Jeffrey had his sights set on the 35-ton Garm, and fired his two gauss rifles, holding his lasers back to let his heat levels fall down a bit. The Garm shed over two tons of armor under the attack, and collapsed into a heap of scrap metal.
Chapter 7Jeffrey fought his control stick, not to keep his mech upright, but to keep his lock on the rebel Urbanmech while in chewed up his armor with its autocannon. The Hollander added its gauss rifle to the list of Jeffrey's problems. Warning lights flashed everywhere. Jeffrey's armor had been breached in more areas than he could count, one of his gauss rifles had been destroyed, a heat sink was leaking coolant, and his heat levels were becoming critical.
Then Jeffrey saw a silvery blur flash right by his cockpit. At first he though it was a gauss rifle from the Hollander, but when he looked up, he saw that the Urbanmech's cockpit had been dug out. He checked his radar, and found the source of the gauss slugs. A Com Guard Devastator fired its twin PPCs into the Hollander, and followed with the gauss rifles as they recycled. The other eleven Com Guard mechs had not even gotten a shot of before their CO had finished off the two remaining rebels.
Jeffrey switched to the general frequency and addressed the Com Guard CO, "Thanks for the help."
"No problem, we saw another battalion of rebels moving in on this position, we should fall back to the HPG station."
"You'll get no argument from me."
The four lances moved toward the HPG, and arrived without any further problems. The Com Guard aerospace fighters reported that the rebels had called off their attack, although it was likely they would strike in the next few days. After seventy-two hours of being in the cockpit, Jeffrey went straight to the barracks that Comstar had provided them and went to bed.
Chapter 8The following day, Comstar reported that a Jumpship had entered the system via the same pirate point that Jeffrey's group had used. An hour later, Jeffrey had Major Anderson on the Com channel. "Major, the Com Guard will cover our withdraw off planet. They are going to deploy their battalion around the HPG station to protect your landing so we can get our remaining mechs, fighters, and the Governor loaded.
"Understood sir, we'll be there in about an hour."
After Comstar had repaired his remaining lance of mechs, Jeffrey had offered to join the defense of the HPG station until the dropship arrived. Another lance was always helpful, especially when that lance included a 100-ton jump capable monster. The Com Guard battalion along with Jeffrey's lance moved to about a kilometer away from the HPG station and set up among a set of hills. There were no trees on the barren desert where the station was located.
They waited there for half an hour without any enemy contact. Then suddenly, "I have one at 160, distance seven hundred meters." Every mech in the force turned and unleashed whatever range weapons they had on the unfortunate Stalker. Even an 85-ton assault mech could not handle that kind of firepower, and it just ceased to exist. As the enemy mechs closed, the two lines mixed, and the fight became a free-for-all. The fighting was fast a brutal. After a half an hour, the Com Guard held the upper hand with a company left versus the eight mechs of the rebels.
Seeing that Comstar was in good shape, Jeffrey signaled his people to fall back to the HPG station where the dropship was waiting. He also sent a message to the Com Guard leader, a Precentor Fields, signaling their withdraw. As they made their was back to the dropship, a short trip, Jeffrey could only think that the Governor had better pay in full for his family's rescue. They were soon boarding the dropship, and Jeffrey saw the Governor's APC parked in the mechbay. Jeffrey dismounted his mech and headed for his office. On his way there he sent out an order to have the Governor report there at his earliest convenience.
As Jeffrey was settling into his chair, there came a knock on the door. "Enter." The door opened and the Governor stepped in. Jeffrey rose to his feet. "Governor, your family is safe, now it is time to discuss my pay."
"Very well. I can offer 10 million C-Bills."
"Fifteen Million."
"Twelve million."
"12,500,000 C-Bills."
"Done."
Good, Jeffrey thought. That should pay my people's salaries and start the rebuilding process. I guess we'll have to go back to hunting pirates for a little while longer.
The End
Angel of Death {CSV}