BattleTech: The Prodigy

by Ulquiorra9000

Chapter 21: Heavy Metal

Striking Tigers garrison, Strantor

Lyran Alliance

February 12, 3074

Seated in his simulator pod, Lane Farlow leaned forward slightly in his command couch and studied the digital battlefield on his screen. From the cockpit of his cyber Mad Cat, he carefully pieced together every element of the skirmish that dominated this sim exercise. He'd have to do this carefully and correctly... or get blown to hell.

For the past few months, Ras had been working his younger brother numb in the simulators, experimenting with different combat scenarios with a variety of 'mechs. Lane had long left his Enfield behind and had tried out a Centurion, a Phoenix Hawk, and even light 'mechs like a Wasp.

Now Lane was strapped into a Mad Cat with a custom weapons loadout, and he loved it.

"Enemy 'mechs approaching, Prodigy One," Makoto reported as his nimble Cougar sprinted along an earthy ridge. "The Hunchback is taking point with the Shadow Hawk and Griffin one hundred meters behind it. The Archer is three hundred meters behind those two."

"Noted," Lane said impatiently as he continued thinking. From these sim exercises, he had quickly learned that "charge!" did not count as a viable command. Exploiting enemy weaknesses had served him well in the academy, but now Lane had to take everything into account. Luckily for him, though, his lance had a variety of weapons and strategies available. Those four enemy 'mechs were piloted by fellow Striking Tigers, but they'd be in for a surprise. All the while, Ras spectated from a ninth simpod.

Lane cleared his throat. "Four, move to D-7 and snipe the Griffin to suppress its long-range fire for a few seconds. Two, that gives you time to bust that Hunchback's Autocannon 20 and escape through that dense clump of trees. Three, chip away at that Shadow Hawk, but get ready to retreat on my command. Kyle can't keep the Griffin suppressed too long."

"Copy that, One," Jennifer acknowledged. "What about you?"

Lane grinned. "Whatever I can."

Just before the Hunchback got a visual on Lane's stationary Mad Cat, Lane pushed his 'mech's throttle into reverse and slipped behind a hill, carefully making his way to the Archer's position. At the same time, Kyle crept his way over a tree-dotted hill with his Gauss Rifle primed to fire. With a loud screech of warped metal and a shower of sparks, the Griffin recoiled and stumbled back as Kyle's Gauss slug punched into its left shoulder. The kinetic force spun the medium 'mech around, throwing its aim off for a few precious seconds.

Without the Griffin's PPC and LRM 10 to support it, the Shadow Hawk was left to its own devices as Jennifer's Uziel raced around a hill and opened fire. Jennifer's ER PPC streaked through the air in a dazzling blue display, boiling the Shadow Hawk's right shoulder plating. Quick on the upkeep, the Shadow Hawk's pilot strafed to the side and allowed Jennifer's ER medium lasers to slice through empty air, then the Shadow Hawk's shoulder-mounted AC 5 spat fire and chipped away at Jennifer's center torso. Before Jennifer could respond, the Shadow Hawk got a lock and pounded the same area with LRMs. Smoking shards of armor flew off Jennifer's Uziel, causing the medium 'mech to wobble.

"Back out when I say, Three," Lane warned as he sprinted to the Archer. He didn't like the risks of prolonged exposure. His combat strategies usually boiled down to hit-and-run attacks, ambush, and mobility. Brutal infighting usually just wore his lance out, as he had often learned the had way.

By Lane's order, Makoto dashed past the Hunchback and let loose with its weapons. Arm-mounted ER medium lasers raked the bigger 'mech's right shoulder, causing the armor plating to glow red-hot and go soft like taffy. Then, Makoto's SRMs streaked from his Cougar's torso and smashed into the Hunchback's laser-weakened AC 20. Soft armor blasted off and smoke poured from the Hunchback's shoulder, but Lane's sensors reported that the AC 20 was still functional.

"Three, get out of there!" Lane warned. "Two, hit that AC 20 and retreat to C-8. Four, move to E-6 and keep that Griffin suppressed, then retreat to E-5."

All three of Lane's lancemates quickly carried out the orders, but the enemy lance made sure that Prodigy lance took damage in the meantime. The Hunchback's pilot showed stunning accuracy and nailed Makoto's Cougar with a deafening AC 20 blast that breached the light 'mech's right arm. The Cougar fought to stay on its feet as its entire right arm sheared off at the shoulder with a blast of sparks and shredded armor.

Before the Hunchback could fire its lasers, Jennifer's Uziel whirled around and punished the Hunchback's AC 20 with a precisely-placed ER PPC. The sizzling lightning beam punched right into the vulnerable weapon and the Hunchback shook as an internal explosion ripped the Autocannon 20 apart. Unable to steady its aim, the Hunchback's pilot was forced to let Makoto's 'mech sprint to cover.

Meanwhile the Griffin finally got a lock and pounded the Uziel with its LRM 10, shredding the armor on the 'mech's left torso. A PPC beam tore into the same spot, and a flash of light indicated a heat sink's destruction. Remembering Lane's orders, however, Jennifer held her fire and slipped into cover.

Kyle repositioned himself at the E-6 coordinate and spat out another nickel-ferrous slug, this time assaulting the Griffin's other shoulder. Once again the Griffin was nearly thrown off its feet and fought to stay steady, and the sheer force had spun the 'mech around on the spot. The Shadow Hawk quickly pelted Kyle's Shadow Cat with LRMs before the Omnimech retreated into cover.

Now it was Lane's turn. The lance commander intercepted the Archer as it marched along the riverbank and Lane triggered the ER PPC built into his left arm. The azure lightning grazed the Archer's bulky chest and, although the glancing blow dealt minimum damage, it got the Archer's attention. The 70-ton Archer slowed down and turned to face Lane, locking its targeting systems onto the Mad Cat.

"Warning. Missile lock," came the computerized voice in Lane's helmet. Just this once, at least, Lane decided to test the Mad Cat's sheer endurance. It could be important information later on.

As the Archer unleashed forty LRMs from its shoulder-mounted launchers, Lane reciprocated with thirty of his own. Each LRM 20 launcher on this Mad Cat had been replaced with an LRM 15, which still dealt considerable damage and freed up weight on the chassis for fancy arm-mounted weapons. Lane's heat tracker spiked nearly to red, but his sixteen double heat sinks rapidly bled away the excess heat to prevent engine shutdown.

Both clouds of LRMs raced past each other and showered the two heavy 'mechs with blossoms of fire. Lane winced and fought to keep his 'mech upright as ripples of explosions shook his Mad Cat to the core. His view was flooded with blinding fire and the sim pod's chair rattled in protest, and when the smoke cleared Lane's torso armor had been worn thin. Worse, his right LRM 15 had been knocked offline.

Luckily, Lane's own missiles had ravaged the Archer just as badly. The 'mech's center torso leaked smoke and fire from its tattered armor and Lane's sensors reported several heat sinks destroyed in the Archer's bulky chest. Its left arm had been stripped of armor and only hung on by its titanium bone and myomer muscles, and one hit would sever the limb entirely.

The Archer backed up into the raging river, sinking knee-deep as it fired another LRM 20 volley. Alarmed, Lane also backpedaled and tried to get his Mad Cat behind a rocky hill, but most of the LRMs still caught his 'mech and peppered the right torso with fire. Alarms wailed in Lane's cockpit.

Time to finish him. Confident that the rest of his lance could handle themselves until he got back in position, Lane popped out of cover and spat out another ER PPC. This time he struck the Archer's damaged left LRM launcher, torching the internal ammo bins. Explosions swallowed the 'mech's right torso as Lane approached to continue fire. In his Mad Cat's right arm Lane had an Ultra Autocannon 10 and with a press of a button, Lane filled the air with loud ballistic shells. The heavy fire tore armor from the Archer's left torso.

Unwilling to take another LRM 20 hit, Lane slipped through a dense patch of trees to throw off the Archer's aim and approached the 'mech from behind a hill. On his sensors, Lane saw that the Archer was moving to intercept him in the open.

Once Lane popped out of cover, he triggered his ER PPC in the hopes that he'd breach the Archer's other LRM 20's ammo. No such luck: the Archer twisted on its torso and let its right arm take the blow instead. In response, the Archer unleashed another LRM cloud and Lane desperately twisted on his torso to spread out the damage, just as his enemy had done. He was just in time: his rear armor took the blow, and although the rear armor was instantly worn out from the missiles, Lane's front armor was still safe and the Archer would need time to load another missile cluster.

Twisting back around, Lane steadied his Mad Cat and triggered both his LRM 15 and UAC 10. His heat tracker spiked to orange but it was worth it. The UAC 10 shells severed the Archer's left arm and the sudden loss of mass unbalanced the 70-ton 'mech. The pilot was helpless as Lane's LRMs smashed into its surviving LRM 20 launcher and destroyed it. This time the Archer was knocked flat on its back and the impact shuddered the 'mech to its score. One ER PPC beam fused the Archer's left knee together to keep the Archer down.

"I'm hit!" Kyle warned on the comm. "Sorry, lance commander, but my Gauss Rifle's knocked out and I can't afford to take another hit."

"Retreat, Four," Lane ordered as he marched down the river. "Two, Three, status?"

"Griffin down," Jennifer reported. "But I've taken heavy damage, as has Two."

"Copy that." As Lane got onto the scene, he found the damaged Hunchback and Shadow Hawk chasing Makoto's Cougar through a valley between two hills. Lane's ER PPC smashed into the Shadow Hawk and forced it to turn and return fire. Its Autocannon 5 shells peppered Lane's tattered torso armor and he winced as a heat sink was breached. "Prodigy Three, take him out!"

Jennifer's Uziel pounced on the Shadow Hawk. Her ER medium lasers raked the enemy 'mech and her SRM 6 pounded away the last of its armor. Then Lane's UAC 10 finished it off with a blast of sparks and smoke.

"Two, lead the Hunchback here," Lane ordered. "We'll take care of him."

Makoto's Cougar came sprinting onto the scene a minute later with the Hunchback lumbering after it at top speed. The Cougar had taken serious damage and the Hunchback's repeated laser fire threatened to destroy it, but now both Lane and Jennifer were in position to help. Jennifer's ER PPC slashed a hole into the Hunchback's chest and Lane's LRM 15 vaporized the 'mech from the inside out. The defeated Hunchback collapsed face-first and skidded to a halt.

Lane's screen went black with the green text "SIMULATION COMPLETE" blinking at him. Nodding to himself, Lane removed his helmet and ran a hand through his sweaty hair, then he slowly unstrapped himself and climbed out of the simpod.

"Good work, everyone," Ras praised once all eight Mechwarriors gathered in the simpod room. "Lane, that was a little too gutsy with the Archer but it seems that you've learned to back off when necessary. And all of you... great teamwork. No one was left out or surrounded."

Lane saluted. "Thank you, sir."

Ras nodded in approval and folded his arms. "Take five minutes to relax and change, then report to the briefing room. Something came up and it demands our attention. The Striking Tigers have a new assignment. Oh, and Lane..."

"Yes?"

A grin broke out across Ras' face. "After the meeting, remind me to take you to the 'mech hangar."

Anticipation withed in Lane's gut. "Yes, sir."

*o*o*o*o*

When Lane and his lancemates arrived in the spacious briefing room clad in their dark blue dress uniforms, they found that all the other Striking Tigers had already arrived. Quietly, Lane and the others settled in seats near the back of the auditorium-like room just as Ras started his briefing. Sayuri and the other intelligence officers stood with him at the front of the room.

"Now that we're all here, we will get to business," the Kommandant announced. He switched on a screen behind him, displaying the edge of the Lyran Alliance with a number of worlds highlighted. "As of late January this year, an increasing number of Periphery bandit raids have gotten the Lyran high command's attention. As far as we can determine, these raids are exploiting the Alliance's occupation with the Jade Falcons and the Word of Blake. Also... we have reason to believe that these raids are connected, even if they seem random."

Intrigued babble murmured amongst the Tigers until Sayuri pointed at the screen. "My intelligence staff as been analyzing the communications all over this area on both a planetary and interplanetary scale, and although the signs are subtle, there are indicators that these various pirate crews and bandit gangs are collaborating. Their patterns of attacks and retreats suggest that an unknown person or persons is controlling them all."

"So how do we find out?" piped up Allison Skyllia. The energetic woman tossed her hair. "Pirates are morons with second-rate 'mechs and equipment. There's bound to be a pattern that you intelligence officers can pick up on. What can those pirates hide from us?"

Sayuri made a sympathetic smile. "I know how badly you all want to find the pirate leaders and smash them, but it will not be that easy. The data that I've gathered so far only suggests an overseer to the raids, but there's no solid trail of crumbs to follow. The pirates and bandits are, in all honesty, handling their cyber-operations with surprising skill and finesse. This is unprecedented."

"I imagine that capturing a few pirates would change that," mentioned Xavier Garfield of Alpha Company. "Those worms would easily turn on their friends to save their own hides. No honor among thieves."

Ras nodded. "Which is exactly why we're going here: the planet Lowland." He pushed a button on his remote and zoomed the screen onto a Lyran world on the edge of Periphery space. "This is a colony world with only a few small cities and scattered towns. Its industry is logging and tin mining, and based on the pattern of bandit raids in the area, Lowland is next to be hit. Us Tigers will land planet-side and catch the raiders in the act. With any luck, we'll get enough verbal and computer intelligence to track down the pirate overseers."

Lane closely studied the map. Lowland got its name from most of its land being close to sea level, with only a few small highland areas and mountains to the north. All the settlements lay on the lowlands in the middle of huge pine forests and gorges loaded with metal ores. Forests provide a lot of cover for bandits to launch guerrilla raids, he realized. This is bound to be tricky... unless we leave the bandits alone and let them get cocky enough to charge straight at the cities.

"We will leave Strantor in twenty-four hours," Ras went on. "After three jumps, we'll be in Lowland's system. Speed is of the essence here. If we're too late, it may be some time before we get the jump on the raiders again. Dismissed."

*o*o*o*o*

"So what did you want to talk about in here?" Lane asked his brother as both Farlows walked into the cavernous 'mech hangar at the Striking Tigers garrison. All forty Tigers 'mechs were lined up against the walls, but as the brothers walked, Lane realized that his Enfield wasn't in here.

"It's not what I want to talk about, but show you," Ras grinned as he walked past one of the many Black Knights in the room. He pointed up at the next 'mech. "This is now yours."

Lane stopped and stared. "All mine?"

Between two Black Knights stood a Mad Cat, already painted in the orange and black paint scheme of the Striking Tigers. Lane recognized the weapons in it: an LRM 15 in each shoulder-mounted pod, an ER PPC and ER medium laser in the left arm's blocky gun pod and an Ultra Autocannon 10 in the right arm. It's just like the Mad Cat that Ras had me try out in the simpods! That's some serious heavy metal. He turned to Ras. "I... well, I don't know what to say."

"You can say 'Thank you, Cassandra and Bellany and Kyle, for setting up this 'mech for me!'," said Cassandra as she and Bellany emerged from around the Mad Cat's left foot. She beamed widely. "Ras brought over a Mad Cat that was captured a few years ago and had us techies refit it to the simulator's configuration. He told us how much you enjoyed that 'mech, so we made it a reality. Omnimech technology is a lot of fun to work with, believe me."

Lane smiled. "Thank you all. Believe me, fighting with Omnimech technology is a lot of fun, too. You did all this for me?"

Ras slapped his brother on the back. "Consider it an after-the-fact welcome present to the Striking Tigers. It actually wasn't quite as much trouble as it sounds like."

"What about Makoto and Jennifer? Did they get new 'mechs?"

Bellany shook her head. "We offered them some, but they're fixated on the Uziel and Cougar that they've got now. Some people are so stubborn."

Lane flexed his fingers. "Can I take it for a walk on the garrison grounds? Just for a bit?"

"Please do. I'd like you to get a feel for it before we ship out for Lowland," Ras said. "Something tells me that we're in for the ride of our lives."