Corvatti Drop Ship Black Spear
Inbound
Kentares IV
30th September 3063
Finally, a planet with grass, a very breathable atmosphere, and blue skies. The place seems like paradise after the dull grey of the mining colonies.
Of course it was all just a simulation, but Eric knew that the Kentares IV landscape wouldn't be too far away from this recreation. He breathed deeply, even though the air he breathed was actually the air in his simulator's cockpit, which in turn was being taken from the dropship atmosphere. Suddenly his earphone came to life.
"Eric, this would be how the landscape of Kentares IV is like."
He smiled, recognising the speaker's voice, and keyed a response.
"You ought to join us down here, Mandrill. Beeeeautiful day."
"Yeah, this landscape fits Mandrill's good looks just fine."
Eric frowned at Radcliffe's retort. He moved his control stick, torso-turning to look at the Catapult standing behind him, on his left side. For the last few days, since the completion of their jump, Radcliffe had seemed to be trying to put Eric in a spot when Eric was talking to Mandrill. Maybe Radcliffe somehow knew that he had a slight crush on her. Regardless, his crack needed a retort.
"Very funny, Radcliffe. Watch it that I don't turn turncoat and start firing on your rear armour. All that LRM ammo exploding would really leave a headache."
Before Radcliffe answered, Isabel cut in. "Which kind of makes me wonder: why did you pick to pilot that Ryoken Eric? You'd rather give the heavy Mech to that old boy there?" Her Bushwhacker stood twenty metres off Eric's right flank. After her encounter with the pirate Mech the other day, it seemed ironic that she would be piloting that ride now. At the least she was sure it wasn't the same Mech she had brought down. Unless the master technician she spoke to was lying.
"Hey, I'd attract less attention with this Mech. Gives me the better chance to sneak around and snipe the enemy with my ER large lasers and LRMs. Right, Olsen?"
No response. Eric smirked. Olsen was sulking after being assigned a new Assassin. He was wishing for a medium Mech like the Shadowcat or even the Ryoken but Eric felt that Olsen still needed more practise with his piloting skills, and it would be better to start in a light chassis.
Mandrill, breaking silence after all this while, finally over-rode their frequencies and gave the order.
"Move out and engage the enemy at nav Beta. Take it as a simple test of your skills in your new Mechs. Let's see some teamwork."
"Aye aye, ma`am!"
Corvatti Drop Ship Black Spear
Inbound
Kentares IV
1st October 3063
Activating his microphone by dropping his jaw, Eric spoke on his lance's frequency. "Okay Striker Lance, we're showing no Mech activity in the spaceport. Once we touchdown, get the tech vehicles clear ASAP. We'll get nav plots from Mandrill once we're on the ground. Intel reports two Calliope turrets flanking the main gates on the south side of the base, so watch out for them."
The Black Spear had just received landing coordinates from the spaceport control tower. According to plan, Striker Lance would quickly disembark first to neutralise all nearby hostiles and then clear the way for the support vehicles to a clearing south of the spaceport. There were two problems: one being that the intel they had on the spaceport was more than a year old, and the other being that they had no intel on the area's defences. There could be an assault lance stationed in the vicinity but they wouldn't know about it until a Gauss slug smashed into them.
And furthermore, plans almost never work out on the field. As if to prove his point, the urgent voice of Mandrill came over the line.
"Eric, we detect more than 2 Calliope turrets around the base! Another pair of Calliopes guarding the northern entrance of the base. This could get pretty bad. You'll have to clear them quickly. Also, we've identified a lance of Mechs in partial shutdown on the eastern perimeter of the base. Unknown chassis weight. Looks like the spaceport garrison."
Radcliffe interjected, "Now that wasn't on any of our briefings!"
Eric shook his head. "Cut it out, Radcliffe. We've got enough firepower to take all of them out, unless the lance turns out to be an assault or heavy lance. When we hit the ground, scan the sector for enemies and neutralise any threats. Then Isabel, Olsen; escort the techs out of the base and destroy the turrets. Watch out for infantry firing on our vehicles. The turrets probably have a power generator somewhere in the spaceport. They can't possibly fire upon us while we're still in the base perimeters, so find the generator and we've got a clear path out of here. Radcliffe, you're with me. Investigate the lance of Mechs and let's try to make sure they never do power up."
His lance, including Olsen, responded affirmatively.
Mandrill announced to them, "Spaceport in sight. Defences are still down. This is it, Striker Lance."
"You heard the lady, Striker Lance! We're grounding in less than 5 minutes. Clear the comm. and get moving the moment the bay door opens." Eric shut off his mike and watched the countdown timer. Doubts returned: what if the Lyrans had really leaked their impending assault to the Dresaris already? 'No choice. We'll have to wish for some luck,' Eric thought.
Spaceport Kappa Phi
Correl Peninsular
Kentares IV
1st October 3063
Eric pranced his Ryoken towards the Mech hangars, watching his sensors with the keen senses of a bat. Just behind him, Radcliffe brought up his Catapult.
Upon landing, Striker Lance had quickly disembarked and found hardly any activity in the spaceport. In fact, the port defenders were caught napping. Only after they had walked their Mechs out on to spaceport tarmac and started to take out guard posts, then the alarms started to wail. They made short work of the infantry defenders, blowing apart their machine gun nests and infantry transports with just their lasers. A lance of Bulldog tanks now lay quiet nearby after Olsen levelled the crews' barracks with a full salvo of missiles. After the destruction of the barracks, resistance swiftly tapered off. The support vehicles started to roll out of the Black Spear, while Striker lance split up on the pre-assigned duties.
So far so good.
"This is Striker Three! We're approaching the main gates, sir. No sign of the power generator anywhere. You'll have to take it out for us, Eric. We'll hold position here and try to fend off any attacks, but be quick."
"Affirmative, Striker One out."
Eric was still busy skirting the many small buildings blocking their view of the Mech hangars. Not only did the buildings block their view, they also shielded the defenders from his sensors. This would turn out to be one close-range fight, if the Mechs had successfully powered up. Eric had expected the spaceport to have many buildings, according to the briefing, but apparently the intel from the Lyrans were pretty bad in those terms. Seemed like the Dresaris had purposely erected temporary buildings to create a pseudo-urban environment – possibly one of the worst environments Mechs could operate in.
Then they got ambushed.
"Arrgh! I'm hit! I'm hit!"
Eric checked his rear view camera and was astonished to see Radcliffe's Catapult lying prone on the ground and a huge gash in its rear armour. Even more astonishing was the Mech standing behind it: an Axeman, with its jump jet ports still steaming. Eric hadn't expected such a Mech here in the Dresari spaceport, considering how remote this place was. Perhaps the Lyrans had under-estimated the garrison force. Armed with a Luxor Devastator autocannon on its left arm and medium lasers on its right arm wrists, the Axeman sent a shudder through Eric when he glimpsed the huge ferro-fibrous battle axe in the right fist of the Mech. That weapon, added with its jump jet capabilities, had enough close-range firepower to kill even an assault Mech. It had struck down Radcliffe with a swipe from its battleaxe and a burst from its autocannon, thoroughly eviscerating the Mech's rear armour but fortunately not breaking through the reactor shielding. For now, it still ignored Eric.
Then it suddenly looked up and bathed Eric's Ryoken in laser fire. Eric grimaced as he watched armour melt off his rear torso. Luckily the lasers were just medium class and didn't do as much damage as the autocannon.
Relying on his impulses, Eric swiftly whipped his Mech around and quickly triggered all his lasers, trying to hit the enemy Mech before it attacked Radcliffe. A well-aimed blow from the axe could instantly decapitate the prone Catapult, and he'll be damned if he'd let Radcliffe die just like that! The temperature spiked momentarily, giving Eric a swift reminder that his cooling curve was much worse in this semi-tropical environment than on the mining colony before this. He quickly called out to Radcliffe to pull out of the area. Radcliffe didn't respond. Instead Eric heard Isabel on the comm. line.
"Striker One! Do we move to assist?"
The Axeman made its move before Eric could reply to Isabel's call. It had been barely struck by Eric's flurry of laser shots earlier, but knew that Eric posed a greater threat than Radcliffe now and was now trying to close in with Eric. The Mech nimbly jumped over Radcliffe and landed not 20 metres away from Eric's Ryoken. At that distance, Eric's long range missiles were useless.
But Eric had modified his chassis to support SRMs instead, after the last round in the simulators. He had been knocked around by a Hunchback's heavy autocannon at close range; almost destroying his simulated Mech. Fortunately Eric had already pummelled him with missiles before it successfully closed the distance, enough to finish it off with his lasers. Still the lesson was well-learnt: Eric had traded off his long-range capability for the close-range stopping power of the SRM.
Eric fired off his SRMs, this time impacting almost every missile on the enemy Mech.
He put his Mech into reverse as he watched the missile rounds blast armour off the Mech. The pilot must have been surprised by Eric's configuration, and almost stumbled over. Eric laughed cruelly, then remembered Isabel's offer for help earlier.
"Negative, Striker Three. Hold position. I've got a feeling that the other 3 Mechs of the lance are converging on your position, repeat, 3 Mechs. Hang tight!"
"Affirmative Striker One. Striker Four is now scouting on the rooftops for any signs of the remaining members of the enemy lance. Good hunting, sir."
Eric grinned at the last remark, but didn't have time to respond to Isabel, for the Axeman had risen and was bringing its autocannon to bear on Eric.
Just then, his threat indicators rang.
"Enemy Mech behind me!!" Eric shouted at in alarm. Too late.
A full burst of autocannon fire raked Eric's back, bursting open his rear torso and chipping away at Eric's fusion reactor shielding.
Robert Olsen saw the blips on his sensors just before he heard his lance leader scream something about some enema being behind him. Olsen didn't know if his lance leader needed help, but he knew that he had better get Isabel to back him up now.
"Striker Three! I saw two slow blips on my sensors just now, 100 metres from my location! I think it was 2 UrbanMechs! Requesting backup!"
"Striker Four, didn't you hear Striker One calling out just now? He needs help!"
Robert shook his head. "We've got to deal with these two Mechs first! They are much closer to the convoy!"
Mandrill came onto the frequency. "Striker Four is right, Three. If those are two UrbanMechs, he's going to be outgunned. Priority is to the convoy. I still read Striker Two as functional. He'll aid Striker One. We can hold our own against any infantry here."
Isabel almost blasted back, "You mean priority goes to that vehicle you're sitting in now!!" but held back. Once again she'd have to acquiesce and obey Mandrill's command. She swiftly turned her Mech towards Olsen's position and started to run towards him.
For the first time since piloting the Ryoken, Eric wished he had jump jets. With the lack in mobility, he couldn't get out of the precarious position he had now.
The Axeman had been joined by an UrbanMech, and they both surrounded him now, Axeman to his left and the other to his right. It was the UrbanMech who had stealthily crept up his back and smashed his rear armour with its medium autocannon. Eric now had his back to a building to protect his ravaged rear armour, and knew that he had only seconds to survive if he tried to engage any one of his attackers, as the other would unload weapons fire on his rear.
"Damn it, Radcliffe, I need help now ….." he mumbled through gritted teeth.
Autocannon fire skipped off his right arm, tearing through one of his large lasers. One weapon gone and he hadn't even made a kill yet!
'Of course, I might not even survive this fight,' Eric thought gloomily.
If he had to go down, he'd go down fighting!! He promptly decided that the UrbanMech would make a better target to unload on, given the Mech's lesser armour compared to the Axeman. Taking out at the least one Mech would even out the odds facing the remainder of his lance. Eric quickly switched his all weapons to a primary fire group. Meanwhile more bursts of autocannon from both Mechs had cratered his armour on both his flanks. Warning lights had started to show, but fortunately no weapons were lost in the last assaults.
Before Eric made his move, his comm. line flickered. It was the pilot of the Axeman.
"Pilot of the pirate Ryoken. Power down your Mech and we will let you live. We've got you surrounded and your lance leader dead. This is your last chance."
Such audacity! The Dresari pilots probably thought that Radcliffe was the lance leader. But was he really dead? Eric felt a sense of dread creep into him. Didn't he call out when he got hit? He couldn't be dead now.
Right on cue, Eric heard a war-like yell over his comm. line.
"Tallyho!"
The Axeman suddenly stumbled over and crashed to the ground, face-first Eric didn't need to know what had happened. Radcliffe had been feigning unconsciousness and had waited for the Axeman to develop a false sense of security. He had overheard their transmission to Eric and quickly got up just in time to pummel the Axeman from behind with his full complement of LRMs. Armour shards flew all over the place, some even glancing off Eric. But he ignored it.
It was the UrbanMech's turn to get pasted.
Eric brought his Mech around to bear on the other Mech and unloaded his full weapons complement onto it, who was so surprised to see his lancemate down that he didn't even fire off a shot at Eric. The SRMs bathed the Mech in flames and it crashed backward on to the ground, unable to take the abuse. Eric quickly jogged over to the Mech and crushed the autocannon on its stubby left arm with his Mech's leg, rendering it useless. Behind him, Radcliffe had jumped his Mech right on to the Axeman's left arm, impaling it to the ground with his Mech's weight. Just to make sure, Radcliffe's lasers cut through its right leg to permanently disable the Mech.
"There's a present from heaven, you old prick!! I'm back from the dead!" Radcliffe taunted the Axeman over the general frequencies.
Eric grinned as he watched the Axeman squirm and try to free itself on his rear monitors. The UrbanMech was now effectively weaponless; having only a small laser left while his lancemate was prone on the ground. He toggled for the general frequencies.
"Give it up. Power down your Mechs and we'll let you live. Got it?" Eric said gleefully, emphasising the same words the Axeman's pilot used earlier.
Isabel fired another round of autocannon at the UrbanMech, knocking it over. The badly damaged Mech crashed backwards into a nearby warehouse and never got up again. The pilot had either knocked himself out cold, or was wisely playing dead. Not that his Mech could do much anyway, with hardly any armour to fight further. Isabel smiled triumphantly. She activated her comm. link.
"Olsen, you've got that other UrbanMech wrapped up? I'm done a little bit early here."
"He's been a little nasty with me, but I think I've got him now. Just a little while more ……" there was the sound of weapons discharge.
"… done. One kill for the scoreboard!"
Isabel chuckled. Olsen was spending so much time with Radcliffe till he had picked up Radcliffe's brand of humour. But at the least he was getting more confident in battle. They both had engaged the Mechs at the same time earlier and then split off to fight their own battles. Olsen didn't need much help this time. He got banged up a little for a while but still hung on long enough to defeat the other pilot. Not bad, but then he was going up one-on-one against an UrbanMech, 10 tonnes lighter than his Assassin and not as maneuverable as the Assassin.
Nevertheless Isabel resisted the urge to dampen Olsen's enthusiasm and instead just told him, "Got it, Striker Four. I've just heard from Mandrill, Striker One and Two have joined up with the convoy. See if you can find the generator and let's get out of here. I think we've worn out our welcome."
Less than half an hour later, Striker Lance was escorting the support vehicles to a nearby abandoned mining encampment, hauling along two chassis on captured Prime Movers. A few Peregrine light attack choppers tried to track their progress but were easily driven off by Radcliffe's LRMs.
Half a kilometre away on a ridge overlooking the Legionnaires, a man put away his binoculars and walked back to his jeep. He turned on the ignition and quickly drove off, out of sight from the mercenaries.
"Interesting. Very interesting. These pirates are quite well-equipped and well trained. I wonder if they'd join us?" he mused to himself.
