I don't own Battletech or Mechwarrior never did.
Chapter 2
Outskirts of Solaris City
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
November 16, 3070
Jonan woke up the next morning with a start. His alarm was going off and he was not sure why. After wiping the sleep out of his eyes, he realized that he had to get up and get to work. As he went through his morning routine, it hit him. He had hired the biggest headache on Solaris VII. He realized that he had to get his staff together ASAP. This would take some explaining. An hour later Jonan gathered his senior officers together.
He looked around the round table in the meeting room, seeing the faces of the people that had been with him since he had formed the unit ten years ago. To his right sat Jonan's XO, Sarah Steiner. She was the youngest daughter of a cadet line of House Steiner. She liked to joke that there were people not yet conceived that were before her in the line of succession. She was about 5'6" with short brown hair cut so that the neuroreceptors in the neurohelmet made better contact. She had grown up on Arc Royal and had been recommended to Jonan by the great Morgan Kell himself.
Next to her sat his fire support lance's commander, Artemis. He was a tall, skinny man with a gaunt face. He was a Rasalhague ex-patriot who had lost his parents when Clan Wolf steamrolled New Bergen. Afterward he had been adopted by an uncle in the Draconis Combine, then sent to the prestigious Sun Zhang Mechwarrior Academy. After three years he had been expelled when the ISF had learned he was a Rasalhague ex-pat. When Jonan met him on Solaris VII he had been a pretty rough kid. Under his jacket one could see part of a large tattoo that identified him as a member of the Yakuza on Solaris. That hard living still showed on the man.
Next to him sat Jube Nakamashi, the commander of Jonan's elite jump capable fast attack lance and Sho Takagi, the commander of Jonan's medium battle company. Both of these men were native Kuritans, wore Yakuza tattoos, and sported prosthetic arms, having been injured during the Fedcom Civil War. While they were no Justin Allard, they were becoming more competent using the prosthetics while piloting their 'Mechs.
Next to them sat the CO of the Moon Knights' Aerospace Squadron. Don "Ace" London was tall for a fighter pilot. Even as early in the morning as it was he wore aviator glasses and what looked like an ancient Terran bomber jacket.
Next to Ace sat the commander of Jonan's elite Assault lance. When standing, he reached six feet above the floor, looking like he had stepped from the Hall of Thor. His short blonde hair, shaved at the temples, marked him as a MechWarrior, and the blue and white six-legged bear tattooed on his shoulder marked him as a Ghost Bear. Mechwarrior Tor of the Ghost Bears was here on the orders of Khan Bjorn Jorgensson. Ten years or so ago Jonan had suggested to the Khan that it might be a good idea for one of his clan to come learn the tactics of Inner Sphere mercenaries personally as the Ghost Bears were moving to the Inner Sphere. To everyone's surprise, none more than Jonan, Khan Bjorn had agreed.
Next to Tor sat the commander of Jonan's Armored Infantry Platoon, Colin O'neil. O'neil had been a member of the Comguards and ROM. After pulling a shady black op that did not go as quietly as needed, Comstar disavowed him. Jonan had picked him up on Solaris after the Civil War. He stood about 6'3" with red hair.
Finally, sitting between O'neil and Jonan was David Hasek. He, like Sarah, was a cast off noble from a cadet line. He was a tall but skinny. His was the commander of the Moon Knights' Heavy 'Mech Company, The Destroyers. He had all but been exiled from the Cappellan March for reasons unknown to Jonan. Jonan had also met him on Solaris.
Jonan sat down at his place at the table. He felt like King Arthur. If King Arthur had been a fast talking son-of-a-bitch who fought other people's wars for large sums of money, thought Jonan. He chuckled to himself. He then got serious. "Well I've got good news and bad news. Well mostly bad news. We now have a new scout company commander with real combat experience." Jonan sighed. "Problem is the mechwarrior is Chris Gamora."
The reaction was a mix of shock and annoyance, all except for Sarah. "Well, we all knew it was the only choice," she said calmly.
Ace looked appalled first at Jonan then at Sarah. "Gamora? That punk is going to get us all killed."
"Well I think that may be a little much, Ace," said Jonan. "If you have a better idea, I'm open to it. If you are hiding another combat veteran who is an expert in light tactics, please cough him up." After that Jonan's staff gave in.
"The plan stays the same. O'neil, I need you to outfit your men with light battle armor. David, Sho, I need you two to start bringing in your people. Eric Grey will have to keep fighting the robes without us. Ace, make sure your people are ready to go. We may need you to clear a hole. This all hinges on O'neil being able to get the message off. We don't lift off until everyone is on a dropship. Now I need to go fill in Gamora."
Jonan's headquarters was located in an old firebase that had been abandoned years ago. As the games grew, it became bad business for any of the successor states to interfere militarily on Solaris VII. Jonan had been able to purchase the building while he was competing in the arenas. It had multiple mechbays, enough to house Jonan's mech battalion. He found the champ in the mechbay dedicated to Jonan's HQ Company. Gamora was looking at a massive Masakari.
"Like what you see?" Jonan asked as he approached.
"Yes, I do. When do I get to take her out for a spin?"
"Well, as soon as you fight Tor for it. But, I should warn you. Clanners, especially Ghost Bears, don't generally take kindly to people trying to take their 'Mechs."
"Well, what will I be driving?"
"Oh it's not in here. You're gonna have to come with me." Jonan led Gamora across the compound to what at first had seemed like an empty mechbay. Inside the mechbay stood a lone machine.
As they approached the 'Mech, Gamora got his first up close look. "What is this piece of hunk of junk?"
"That is your 'Mech. It is a Spirit."
"What happened to the legs?" The 35 ton Jade Falcon built 'Mech looked fine except for the legs. They were deformed and covered in a patchwork of armor.
"Well, a few years back, Artemis, one of my best mechwarriors, was led into a mine field and the legs were destroyed beyond any hope of repair. Since then our techs have been using salvage to rebuild the leg structure and replace the armor. It's not pretty, but my head tech says it moves just like new. Here is the deal. I need a commander for my scout company. From the file I got from the AFFS liaison on planet, I read that you were an expert in scout tactics and knew how to run a scout operation."
"Do I have much of a choice?"
"Not really."
"Well then I guess I'm in."
"Good, we have a briefing at noon tomorrow to go over the plan to get off this world."
Outskirts of Solaris City
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
November 17, 3070
A day after Jonan officially gave Chris Gamora the job as company commander, every lance leader in the battalion met in the Moon Knights' briefing room. The battalion's lances had returned to base the night before. Jonan stood at the front of the room with a holo-projector behind him.
"Welcome back, everyone," Jonan began. "I hope you all gave the Word of Blake militia all kinds of hell. Well, let's begin." Jonan brought up a map of Solaris City on the projector. "I don't know about you people, but I'm ready to get off this rock and really get into the fight against these damned robes. There are two things we need to address. We have to get our people successfully into our dropships, and we have to get a jumpship out of system. As for the first problem, that is easy. We move in a combat formation towards the spaceport. Unless something has changed in the past few days, the dropships are not being guarded by the robes. I would guess this is because they don't expect us to try and go anywhere with their blockade of the system. As for the jumpship, that is going to be a bit more difficult. Luckily I have had a plan in place since the Word showed up in-system. I sent our jumpship off with orders to be at a nearby system so I can get them a message. Now normally, getting that message out would be a problem since the Word controls the HPGs here. But thankfully, O'neil knows how to operate a HPG. So to that end, O'neil will take his men in light armor to the closest uplink break into the building and send the message. We won't send 'Mech support in an attempt to gain a modicum of surprise. But fear not, help will be close. Alright, we have a more detailed printout of the operation for you to brief your men with. When you are done I expect them to be destroyed. Get it done. We will be painting the 'Mechs in parade colors in hopes that it throws off the robes. We move out in 48 hours."
As the lance commanders filed out of the briefing room Jonan saw Don approach the dais. "Why do my people get left out of the operation?" Don asked angrily. "We've been on the ground for almost two years, and the first op we go on, we are grounded."
"Ace, calm down," said Jonan with a raised eyebrow. "You aren't being left out. That briefing was mainly for the ground pounders. I'm going to need you in the air as a screen for the dropships. It's my hope that by the time we get to the jump point, the jumpship will be in-system. However, if it's not, you will need to protect the dropship from any Word attackers."
"Well if that's the case then I'm sorry. This being cooped up planet side has got me on my last nerve."