The sun shone brightly over Outpost 45 Alpha. Clan Wolf was in its fifteenth year of occupation of Dawn, and had had very little opposition from any conflicting forces. Sure, a couple of resistances had been set up against the Clan, but the most that had ever been established were a small squad of Medium 'Mechs (mainly along the lines of Hellspawns and Inner Sphere Stormcrows, which they've labeled a "Ryoken") led by a couple of Heavys (Timber Wolfs and/or Summoners, Inner Sphere "Mad Cat" and "Thor," respectively). No significant force had ever been able to penetrate the main factory complex.
That was one thing that annoyed the Clan about the Inner Sphere, and all-the-more glad that it had established itself so firmly within its boundaries. Renaming such beautiful pieces of machinery to such filthy names was almost unforgivable. The Clan has a proud tradition in this neck of the universe, and its people stand behind it. The Inner Sphere may have their "Mad Cats" and "Daishis", but if you ask anyone around here, they will proudly describe them as Timber Wolves and Dire Wolves.
Outpost 45 Alpha was just a small guard point on the outer perimeter. There wasn't much in the way of facilities here, just a small tower to help relay messages back and forth between the outpost and the main complex. Usually a group of five to six Light mechs were stationed here as runners for if any enemy 'Mechs appeared, usually Kit Foxes (Inner Sphere designation: Uller) and Vipers (Dragonflies). These shifts would get rotated every eight hours. If anything did show up, they would start heading back, using encrypted com signals to alert the Clan. This would usually draw the enemy to follow them, thinking they were just running under superior firepower. Being the resistances were mostly civilian-led, none of them really had military training, so most of the time they'd fall for it. The other times, they'd just sit there for a while to make sure nothing else was there, and then head home.
Star Commander Jose Aquilermo and his Star were on shift at this point. He and the five Points he commanded were on watch as dutifully as ever, just liked hundreds upon hundreds of Stars had done so beforehand. This was so routine that it was starting to get old. He hated this shift so much that every time he would see his name up on the board, he would let out a groan so loud that people swore the people on Tamar may eventually get it.
Jose checked his radar carefully. His hawk-like eyes were trained to notice any readings that appeared remotely out of the ordinary. "Okay, team. Sit rep." he barked into his headset. "I've got nothing, sir," replied Point Commander Kyle Atkins. "Is this really necessary, sir?" retorted Fuyuko Saitou, also a Point Commander. "We've been doing these every hour on the hour, and still nothing. It's been the same routine for weeks." "You will do as you're told," came the stern voice of the Star Commander. "But sir…" began Saitou, though she was quickly interrupted. "That's enough," quipped Aquilermo.
He couldn't help but think, though, that Saitou might actually have a point. They'd been able to take on all resistance that had approached, and nothing had happened for weeks. Did the Clan Council know something that the warriors didn't? There had been no activity on the wire as of late. No Inner Sphere factions had taken up arms against any organization, let alone the Clans, and the Clans themselves had pretty much ended hostilities against rival Clans. Still, something was bugging the veteran Star Commander. He wanted to get some answers, and he wanted them as soon as possible.
He didn't know just how soon he was going to get them.
As Aquilermo kept scanning his radar, an unfamiliar blip briefly appeared off to his east, then vanished just as quickly. That was odd, he thought. Maintaining his composure, he eventually managed to radio his Star. "All points, did anyone catch that?" Each, in turn, responded negatively, which worried him even more. Closing the comlink, he gathered his thoughts for a second. How could no one else have seen that? Am I the only one watching the radar? Re-establishing contact with the rest, he told them "I picked up an unidentified contact about 450 meters off. It may be nothing, but stay alert, people."
Suddenly, a bright object in the sky glinted off the windshield of his Kit Fox. Turning back to the east, he had to immediately jog to his right in time to attempt to dodge a barrage of missiles bearing down on him. A couple of them grazed across his left arm, shearing off a few layers of armor, exposing the circuitry underneath it. Luckily, it didn't hit any of his weapons. However, it did knock him off balance enough to distract him off of where the projectiles came from. Leveling off his sights and coming around, two huge metal behemoths suddenly appeared in his field of vision. A couple of Mad Dogs (IS designation: "Vulture") stood ready to fire off more missile-laden volleys. Vultures have two very large missile racks that can store up to twenty missiles each, making them deadly at extended range.
Aguilermo was ready to begin making his retreat towards the main complex, when one of the Vultures suddenly turned slightly. It was then that he noticed a small, emerald-green logo on its flank. The seasoned commander automatically knew that there was only one organization that used that logo: the long-time rival of Clan Wolf, Clan Jade Falcon. Almost simultaneously, the trees around the Vultures suddenly crashed to the ground, revealing more monster 'Mechs. Dire Wolves and Warhawks (IS "Masakari") were spaced in around more Mad Dogs, as well as groups of Timber Wolves, Summoners, and a few Hellbringers (IS "Loki").
This was the largest offensive that Aguilermo had seen mounted against this complex. Something also told him, in the back of his head, that this had a high possibility of being the last offensive he'd ever see. Nevertheless, though his Star already got the idea from the warning shot, he ordered a swift (very swift) retreat towards the complex. "All points, retreat! Let's get the hell out of here!" He knew that going up against such heavy firepower in Light 'Mechs would have been deemed almost certain suicide.
Some of the group, unfortunately, didn't get the memo fast enough. Turning to his left, Aguilermo looked just in time to see the cockpit of Point Commander Atkins' Dragonfly explode in a pink blaze, hit full-on with a direct hit from an ER Large Laser fired off by one of the Dire Wolfs. "Atkins, no!" he yelled. It was no use, though. He immediately knew Atkins wasn't going to be recovering from that kind of a hit. Regaining composure, he finished his turn, kicked his throttle up as high as it could go, and flipped the com link over to the encrypted channel. "Dawn Base, this is Star Commander Jose Aguilermo from Outpost 45. We are under attack by a massive battalion of 'Mechs belonging to the Jade Falcon Clan." He could not believe he was actually saying that, but a burst of green light barely missing his right shoulder snapped him back to reality. "Ready all forces! I repeat, ready all forces! Please, hurry!" he begged into the line. To Aguilermo's relief, the voice on the other end calmly replied "Understood. Thank you, Commander."
Then, he stopped to think for a second. The words had reassured him, but the tone of voice almost implied that whoever it was either didn't believe him, or just didn't care. Or perhaps there was more behind it. Maybe someone in the base knew. Maybe there was a traitor in the ranks. He quickly got that thought out of his head. He knew the Clan's code of honor, and very few had ever betrayed that, for they knew the consequences. Loyalty to the Clan meant loyalty for life.
Aguilermo continued to run, as did the rest of his Star, minus Atkins. He felt a twinge of guilt that Atkins had to die on what, until now, had been such a meaningless patrol duty. He almost immediately shook that off, and made it his mission to make sure Atkins would not have died in vain. His resolve would be short-lived, however, as a sudden blast on the rear of his 'Mech sent him flying, landing flat on the face of the 35-ton machine. Warning indicators on his HUD immediately alerted him that the gyro of his Kit Fox had given out under whatever it was that hit him, not to mention most of the armor, if not all of it, was missing from the upper half of his legs. Judging by the force and the brevity of the blast, he gathered it was probably a PPC (Particle Projectile Cannon) loosed from one of the Summoners. Kit Foxes just weren't meant to take that kind of a hit.
It was at this point that the gravity of the situation began to set in. Here he was, a veteran Star Commander, sitting facedown on the sands of Dawn in a relatively weak Battlemech waiting for the end to come. The least he wanted to do was be able to look whoever would deal the finishing blow to him in the face. Using both his arms and what was left of his legs, after a few minutes, he finally managed to at least flip enough to where he could look out and see where he'd just come from. There, he could see two massive, metal legs standing directly behind him. They then began to come closer. Aguilermo never flinched, though. That is, until the massive 'Mech suddenly nudged him with one of those massive legs he'd seen. The enemy 'Mech pilot then flipped him over so they could face each other, though "face" may not have been the best term for it. The first thing he ended up seeing was the equally massive right arm of a Dire Wolf staring him in the face.
Gritting his teeth, Aguilermo knew what was coming. He immediately thought of his wife and children, who lived inside the base complex with him. He feared greatly for their safety, since he did not know how well the base could be protected from such high firepower. He also thought of his parents. He thought of his friends. But most of all, though, he thought of the Clan, and how well they were going to be able to handle this coming invasion. Before another moment passed, a familiar blinding pink light immediately filled the cockpit, and then, just as suddenly, everything went black…