Black Knight Legion Headquarters

Harlech, Outreach

31st August 3063

                Eric manoeuvred his Cougar into its dropship hold expertly, even adding a swagger to his Mech's movements. After all the training runs he had been facing for the past few months, he was at ease with his ride. He parked the Mech and powered it down before climbing out of his cockpit. One thing he hadn't got used to was the height of the Mech. He was barely 6 metres up in the air, compared to the average 11 metre-height of other Mechs, like the revered Mad Cat. A technician was waiting for him on the gantry next to his cockpit.

"Done?"

                 Eric gave a thumbs-up to the technician. The technician proceeded with the rest of the preparations for lift-off while Eric climbed down the gantry to the dropship deck. Isabel and Radcliffe had just dismounted from their own Mechs as well. The three proceeded to the crew's quarters together.

                "What time are we blasting off for our destination?" Radcliffe asked Eric.

                "One or two more lances of Mechs and we're off to the Jumpship. Striker Lance was one of the last lances to board."

                "So we're finally going to see some action, huh? Where are we heading to anyway?" Radcliffe grinned.

                "Are you dying to earn your C-Bills?" Isabel poked. "Dying being the key word here."

                Eric cut in before Radcliffe could counter. His two lance-mates were quite often arguing needlessly.

                "Just get to the quarters and prep for lift-off. We're heading to some remote mining world near the Capellan border of the Fed Com. You don't want to be vomiting your lunch when we pull some G's in getting to our Jumpship later, so get moving!"

Black Knight Legion Dropship Black Falcon

Federated Commonwealth – Capellan Confederation Border

4th September 3063

There were a few other men and women from the other lances on the dropship already in the mission briefing room. Eric and his lance arrived just in time to hear the Colonel speaking over the speakers at the front of the room. He was still on the Legion Jumpship, the Black Talon, and radio transmission was one of the easier ways of communicating to the 2 Legion dropships already burning hard for the mining planet. The Colonel would drop on to the planet with the remaining forces of the Legion later.

"Good afternoon, Legionnaires. The Corvatti Corporation has contracted us to take care of some pirate raids on this remote mining world near the Capellan border of the Federated Commonwealth. It looks like the corporation had set up shop without any significant security survey. Now they're paying for it. We're on an open-ended contract to secure the Corvatti facilities and to eliminate the pirate threat. Check your mission overview for more detailed instructions."

"We don't know the size or the disposition of the pirate threat. We're not taking anything for granted. All light and medium lances will begin immediate recon of Corvatti mining facilities. Your tactical officer will keep you updated as we get a better picture of what we're up against. Stay sharp. Black Six, out."

                A while later, another voice came on. This time it was the sexy voice which belonged to the Legion's head of the tactical division, Mandrill.

                "You heard the Colonel. The Corvatti Corp sent me an intel report just half an hour ago, and it's not too good. They reported two mining facilities down and not responding since two days ago. Therefore it is assumed that the pirates are waiting for us, so we're taking this cautiously. Hammer and Echo lances are assigned to clear the LZ and pave the way for the Colonel's drop. Striker and Delta lances are going to be hot-dropped at the two different mining facilities for recon work. I'll be on hand to give directives as the mission progresses. Good luck, boys."

                "And girls too!" Isabel chided, even though Mandrill couldn't hear her.

Black Knight Legion Dropship Black Falcon

Corvatti Mining Colony HB-3

4th September 3063

                Eric sat in the cockpit of his Cougar, ready for the drop to the hostile world beneath. He had been studying the mission overview from Mandrill of the mining facility he had been tasked with, and the mission looked simple enough. But just to be safe, he was bringing in his whole lance: Radcliffe in his Clan Uller (or the Kit Fox) and Isabel in her Osiris. Currently the two were exchanging jibes again, but Eric was taking this seriously. It would be his first time commanding his lance into battle against an unknown enemy. Previously he had only been in live simulation exercises with the other lances, but now it's an unknown he would be facing. No way he's going to screw up this one.

                The planet was cold and lifeless, which meant an ejection would be fatal. Hardly any atmosphere at all. Plenty of crystal growths all over the planet, some even reaching the size of a Mech. They wouldn't damage his armour, but they would make visual targeting tricky. The ground looked dull and grey. No wonder it was uninhabitable. Only miners could tolerate this place, Eric sneered.

                A green light beeped for attention, signalling that they were approaching the drop zone.

                "5 minutes to the drop zone! Double-check your systems and prep for drop!" Eric warned his lance-mates.

                "Got it, Eric."

                "Sheesh, lighten up Eric! We're probably going up against a few vehicles and light Mechs. No worry now, is there?"

                "Radcliffe ……." Eric didn't have to raise his voice.

                "Roger that sir!"

                Their landing was quite smooth, thanks to the light atmosphere and the fact that they were piloting light Mechs. As soon as they touched down, Eric radioed Mandrill for further instructions.

"Striker Lance, proceed to designated coordinates and report on condition of mining facility. The last transmission received was two days ago. Hostile presence is likely. Check all nav points and report any hostile contacts as priority traffic."

Radcliffe had to make a comment. "Looks like Striker Lance gets to clean up a messy little corporate write-off!"

Eric rolled his eyes, taking his eyes off his Mech controls for a while.

"Stow it, Radcliffe. The sooner we run these points, the sooner I can get back to fleecing you at cards."

"Better work than facing down Clanners or Fed Com regulars any day," Isabel chipped in.

"My point, dear Isabel, the corporation gives no thought to the miners. They are acceptable write-offs in determining just how secure the planet is. Their precious facilities on the other hand ..." Radcliffe trailed off.

Eric had enough. Mandrill must have been grinning at the exchange between his lance-mates.

"You can both write off your next sleep cycles if you don't give a ready report and clear the comm!"

That caught their attention.

Radcliffe: "Striker Two, ready for op, over."

Isabel : "Striker Three, ready for op, over."

Eric shook his head, then reported, "Mandrill, this is Striker Lead. We report ready op."

There wasn't a sign of glee in Mandrill's voice, but then she's almost always serious. "Roger Striker One. Uptime is 0615. Mandrill out."

"Let's move it!"

A/N: Sorry for the extremely slow writing. I haven't even started the action yet. I've been busy with a few things, two of them being Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries and Warcraft III, heh! I just can't seem to write well enough, usually feeling that I've got to revise it to sound better. Perhaps some more reviews would help? BTW, Mr. Nice Guy, thanks for the review. I have to admit I don't like light Mechs, though I would agree that they are needed for recon work. However since most great Mechwarriors never pilot light Mechs into major battles, at the very least bringing in medium Mechs, I'd never dare to think myself THAT great a pilot to bring in a light Mech to spearhead an assault. Try finishing any of the Mechwarrior 4 games with only a Cougar and then you can even beat Kai Allard-Liao :o)

A/N 2 : Thanks a lot to Dire Wolf for the corrections! Man it's embarrassing :)