Correl Peninsular

Kentares IV

2nd October 3063

            The scene was perfect for a romantic holo-vid or for some couple to tie the knot. The rising sun, wispy clouds dotting the sky, the native birds of Kentares making their first flights of the day, humid smell of the mornings after a particularly dewy night ….. and the hulking shapes of Striker Lance's Mechs silhouetted by the morning sun. Radcliffe and Isabel were still on camp patrol, being the first line of defence against any would-be attackers if the Dresari forces ever found them. They shouldn't, considering that their camp location was in a well-entrenched position in the middle of an abandoned mining camp. The metal signatures of the place would serve as a perfect mask for their Mechs, and camouflage tarpaulins were used to mask their vehicles and camps from direct visual identification from any satellites or over-flying aircraft. However a little precaution never hurt. Radcliffe and Isabel were just slowly walking around the camp's outer perimeter in low-power, watching for any signs of possible ambush or reconnaissance units. Eric, who had just awoken, stood outside his personal tent.

            The previous day, Eric had led the way into the mining camp and then quickly taking point while his lance powered down to be serviced by the technicians. His armour was in shambles after the tussle with the Axeman but they had fought off all the Dresari air forces attempting to tail them, and there shouldn't be any way for the Dresaris to locate them, for now. Eric would have to do something about those air forces sooner or later. They were a force to reckon with, having almost destroyed one of the supply transports with a concentrated attack of LRMs yesterday. Only Radcliffe's decisive move to quickly jump his Catapult to absorb most of the missile attack saved the crew; as well as Radcliffe's favourite beef burgers being stored in the vehicle.

            Eric grinned at the thought of that. So typical of Radcliffe to quip, even after using his Mech as a shield for others. Radcliffe was badly shaken by a few missile rounds on his cockpit, but was feeling okay now.

            He stretched his muscles and yawned to clear his groggy mind. Only having slept 4 hours, Eric was feeling a little beat-up. But they'd have to move fast to catch the Dresari off-guard, and Eric would have to lead the way in the assault today. For one thing, he needed to check with Mandrill about what mission options there were. The short brisk walk to the makeshift command tent invigorated him. He lifted the flap of the tent and found Mandrill working at a table with two other command staff. A map lay on the table, with plenty of markings on it. Nearby them, a radioman sat at another table listening mutely to some transmissions over the general frequencies.

            "G'morning, Mandrill. Got any mission specs for us?"

            Mandrill turned to look at him and Eric could see the tired look on her face. Eric raised an eyebrow, cutting in before Mandrill could reply.

            "Good grief, woman, you've had better days. Been awake all night?"

            Mandrill smiled and shook her head. Eric loved to see her smile; therefore he was always trying to find ways to cheer her up.

            "Eric, somebody has to stay up and coordinate all the activities on-camp. Unlike the bunch of glorified Mechwarriors we have here, some of us," the two staff members smirked at Eric, "have to stay up the whole night planning the next day's activities."

            Eric held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Right, right, you fellas have blown my ego to bits. But let's not forget, it's we guys who have to bear the brunt of it all in battle. You guys can just stay here, cocooned in safety while we get some autocannon rounds trying to form cocoons around our cockpits."

            Mandrill smiled again. "Well, speaking of autocannon rounds, we had to take off the Devastator off the Axeman. We don't have any reloads in the inventory but we found a large laser to replace it instead. Probably means a lot hotter Mech but it's better than running out of ammo in the middle of combat. The techs are still going over repairing that Mech and adding heat sinks. We've scrapped the UrbanMech down to the last bit of ferro-fibrous; it was not really usable anymore. Your lance's Mechs are in as good a condition as they can get."

            Eric nodded. He came closer to Mandrill, smelling her perfume while looking at the map on the table. 'She always smells so good', Eric thought silently.

            Absently, he pointed to the map's marked positions.

            "What mission ops do we have?"

            Mandrill walked over to the radioman and picked up a few sheets of paper scribbled with writing. "We started picking up local broadcasts from government media and local opposition groups. It appears Dresari is really in a messy situation here. Shortly after the death of his sister, several key advisors broke from his side and began a rebel movement under the banner of the KFA, Kentares Free Army. Political dissidents are being rounded up into camps and conflict has escalated to battlefield aggression. This may make our job a lot easier. Until we go after the MODLs, we'll need to keep one Mechwarrior with Tac Com for local security. You'll have to run the next few missions with only two lancemates."

            Mandrill passed the papers to Eric, and then gestured to a point on the map.

            "We have a decent location on the local Dresari airbase. It is defended by Mech patrols and turrets as well as its attendant aircraft. Taking it out should lessen enemy air support in this theatre of operations."

            Eric had leafed through only two pages of the papers; the radioman's writing was far too messy for him to read. He placed it on the table and rubbed his chin. "And taking out the airbase now would make it that much harder for them to locate our camp too. Any idea of those Mech defenders?"

            Mandrill shook her head. "Major Dupree could only supply us with satellite pictures, nothing more. We've been trying to analyse the shots, and we can ascertain that the airbase is defended by a perimeter of Calliope turrets. The turret controls are in a very exposed position and shouldn't be a problem to knock out. As for the Mech defenders; it seems that the Lyrans under-estimated the defences of this peninsular. There appears to be two full lances of Mechs around that base, but we can't be really sure."

            Eric sighed. Bad odds. They would be outnumbered two to one, and worse still Eric would only have two lancemates.

            "I think we better postpone the mission to tonight. We can't possibly move out in the bright light of day, we need stealth to cover our approach. Hopefully we catch the defenders napping."

            Mandrill pondered over that a while, then nodded. "Agreed. That will give the techs more time to prep your Mechs anyway. You might want to go over the mission parameters with me now, and brief your lancemates later."

            Eric felt his stomach grumble at him for neglecting his breakfast, but he ignored it. What better way to spend the morning than with Mandrill?

Correl Peninsular

Kentares IV

2nd October 3063

            "External lights off, radar set to passive mode."

            "Ditto here, Striker One."

            Eric acknowledged Radcliffe and Isabel's comm. reports. They were approaching the north-west corner of the airbase, and stealth was now essential for their attack.

Mandrill's voice came on, sounding a little crackling since she was more than a kilometre away. Eric had preferred her to stay at the base-camp, defended by Robert Olsen, but she wanted to be near the battle to coordinate the fight, so she was in an armoured APC escorted by a Swiftwind and two Condors (hovercraft tanks), far behind them.

            "Okay Striker Lance, op orders as follows. Move to the air base at nav Alpha and destroy the air control tower and any aircraft hangars you encounter. Dresari comm. intercepts indicate a significant Mech presence in and around the airfield. Report ready op."

            Eric keyed his transmitter. "Op order received. Striker Lance reports ready op."

            "Roger. Op time is 2145 hours. Mandrill out."

            Eric switched to his lance's frequency. "Okay Striker Lance, keep a close eye on the scanners. They don't know we're coming, so let's maximize the surprise factor. We take out this airfield and we can expect a lot less air harassment in our future ops."

            Isabel replied, "Roger. I've had enough of these Dresari jet jockeys already." Radcliffe just keyed his transmitter in response.

            Eric pushed his throttle up to the max, bringing his Ryoken into a loping run at roughly 85 kilometres per hour. Behind him, Radcliffe's Catapult and Isabel's Bushwhacker ran to catch up with him. The terrain was dotted with a few trees, allowing them to run at their top speed. Nav Alpha loomed closer on their sensors. Still no response, which was good.

            At 1.5 klicks from the base, Eric picked out a bunch of lights shining far away on his left flank. He slowed his Mech, activated his lance's frequency.

            "Lamps there at 10 o'clock. Mechs. Probably one of the defending lances."

            "Striker One, do we engage now? We'd alert the base to our presence then."

            "We can't let this lance slip in behind our backs while we take out the base, Striker Three. We get sandwiched between the on-base defenders and this lance, we're finished."

            Radcliffe reported, "Looks like a bunch of light and medium Mechs. Easy pickings, if we strike fast."

            Eric radioed Mandrill about his impending attack on the lance of Mechs, and she also concurred.

            "Keep your radar on passive. Let's rock, guys!"

            "Guys?"

            Eric groaned. "All right, boys and girls. Move it Isabel!"

            All three of them fired their long range weapons in unison, attaining their objective of stunning the mixed enemy lance. Autocannon fire from Isabel's AC10 drilled into a Javelin, while Eric's and Radcliffe's large lasers converged on a Raven, melting off generous amounts of armour on its torso. The two Mechs staggered and faltered in their steps, while their compatriots searched for the source of the sudden attack. Eric grinned devilishly, pleased that the enemy lance was that wet behind their ears. This was the perfect terrain for long-range combat, and so he had switched back his SRMs for LRM launchers. It meant losing some armour on his Mech but the added offensive capability meant a lot to him. He hovered his reticule over the almost stationary Raven (as well as he could on a Mech running at its top speed) and triggered his LRMs. Beside him, Radcliffe unleashed his LRMs on the Javelin Isabel had struck earlier. Even Isabel launched her LRMs, adding to the hellish salvo of missiles bearing in on the two light Mechs. Each of them hadn't activated their active sensors yet, hence their missiles weren't locked on to the Mechs.

            But then how hard would it be to hit a stationary target?

            The missile fire wreaked havoc amongst the enemy lance, unaccustomed to dealing with a much heavier attacking force and completely caught by surprise out on these open fields. Missiles which didn't smash into armour plates blew the terrain all over the place, creating the effect slightly similar to Arrow IV missile artillery barrage. In the chaos, Eric spied the only medium Mech in the lance, a Crab. He immediately ordered his lancemates to engage the others and leave the Crab to him. He'd been relishing a chance to slug it out with a so-called Davion officer!

            Just over a mile away, Mandrill watched the conflict over audio feeds and data telemetry received from Striker lance. Somehow it felt so much tenser listening to the battle than actually witnessing it through Mech gun cameras as she usually did, but Eric had argued that setting up the video telemetry as they did in past missions could compromise her location. Low-key and short bursts of information from the lance would serve better. She sighed absently, remembering how she finally gave in to Eric's arguments. Eric really cared for her, but she just couldn't reciprocate his feelings. She shook the thought off and continued to watch the sensors and data feed.

            Eric finally had his first taste of utter victory. Striker lance was barely damaged after the short scuffle, and the Crab and an Osiris was quite salvageable, provided the salvage crews had enough time to work on them. All the enemy pilots even ejected successfully. But now they had other concerns.

            "Incoming air bogeys on your south-south-west, angels 10."

            Eric keyed his transmitter. "Roger that Mandrill. We're ready for them."

            The Raven must have had the chance to radio an emergency call to the airbase. However it wouldn't do much to help. Striker lance was now within visual range of the base, just shielded behind a ridge, and most of the planes were not even powered up yet. Only about 4 Peregrine attack choppers were in the air, and Eric noticed only a few other rotary-wing aircraft starting up their engines.

Just moments ago Striker lance turned on their sensors and soon started receiving readings from Radcliffe's Beagle Active Probe sensors.

            "Striker One! I detect three enemy Mechs moving in on our position. Catapult, Uziel and," with a touch of malice in his voice, "a Commando."

            Eric realised that his lance severely outgunned the enemy lance, unless the last undetected Mech proved to be a heavy or assault. Better remain cautious.

            "Strikers Two and Three pick out a target for yourselves and stick with it for now. Be careful, we still don't know what the last Mech is. I'll supply air cover and then I'll go after the turret controls. Watch yourselves. Striker One out."

            Switching his ER large lasers to single fire, Eric's contemptuously lanced his fiery red beams into the enemy choppers from a distance. One solid hit was enough to eviscerate the lightly armoured Peregrines, and soon all 4 choppers were just flaming wrecks on the ground. They succeeded in damaging a little of his armour though, but not enough to worry Eric yet.

            The Calliope turrets worried him more.

            Radcliffe and Isabel were sticking together on his far right flank, trying hard to stay out of visual lock of the turrets while sniping away at the Dresari Mechs hiding between the few turrets and airbase buildings. So far the turrets' armament of LRMs and medium class pulse lasers has barely nicked their armour but it would take a slight mistake for them and the Dresari forces would bring in their firepower. Eric would have to brave the turrets to enter the base and knock out the control grid. Fortunately for him, most of the Dresari forces were engrossed in his other two lancemates.

            Big mistake.

            Eric pushed his Mech into a full loping run, struggling to hold his Mech firmly upright. He crested the ridge and found himself running right at a Calliope turret aiming at his lancemates. Eric fired his full complement of weapons immediately, but that was pretty unnecessary. His ER large lasers and ER medium lasers bit into the armoured turret with a vengeance, setting off the ammunition stores within. The resultant explosion almost blinded Eric, but he ran on past the flaming wreck right into the base. He panted as the heat in his Mech went up almost into the critical zone, but he had no time to slow down and wait for his Mech to cool.

            Eric had only gone more than 20 metres when the Commando suddenly blocked his way, popping out from inside an aircraft hangar. Eric felt a slight tremor run through his Mech as the Commando hit him with a few SRMs. Stupid move, the Commando could have attacked his rear armour instead where it would've made a bigger difference. Eric fired his medium lasers at the Mech but missed, sending his beams into the walls of the hangar behind it.

            Just then Eric remembered. Wasn't there a Commando near the other Dresari Mechs just now?

            "I've found the last Mech! Commando! These guys are pretty outgunned!" Eric shouted joyfully over his lance's frequencies. Isabel and Radcliffe just acknowledged with grunts, signs that they were still concentrating on their battle. Eric knew they needed him to quickly take down the turrets. Just then his LRMs cycled free, and a lock sounded in his ears. He thumbed the trigger and watched as LRMs bathed the puny 25 tonne Mech in flames. It managed to pull back into the hangar, but the pilot must have been badly shaken by the missiles.

            Eric decided to just ignore the Mech and ran on past the hangar, searching for the turret control tower. On his way, he passed the air control tower. Eric unleashed a full burst of missiles and took down the structure. Then he saw the array standing right smack in the middle of the airbase, defended by a few laser turrets manned manually by soldiers. Deciding that the tower had a higher priority, he fired his large lasers into the tower, burning into its communications array. A few laser shots burned into his arm and torso armour, but they did nothing to scar his fast-rising spirits. His comm. line buzzed with excitement.

            "All right! Turrets down! Striker Two engaging enemy Catapult!"

            "I'm on the Uziel!"

            Eric couldn't help but smile at his lancemates' enthusiasm, but had to transmit a warning anyway. "Watch your backs, Strikers. That Commando could hit you pretty bad if you don't watch it."

            He didn't expect how accurate his words would be, until he felt weapons fire rake his vulnerable rear armour. Drat! The last Commando had come after him! The damage indicators flashed a warning at him, telling him that a few sections of his rear armour were almost virtually gone.

            Eric watched his rear monitors and saw that the Commando had bugged out. Now that pilot was getting cleverer. Eric dealt with the laser turrets ringing the tower first before retreating to a safer position, where the enemy Commando could not sneak up on him that easily. When it did try to sneak up on him again, Eric was ready for it. It dashed out from behind cover on his right flank, hitting him with a medium laser but utterly missing with its SRMs. A concentrated burst of lasers cut through the Commando's flimsy right leg and sent it crashing to the ground. Eric carefully squashed its weapons, leaving it helpless, and then continued to assist his lancemates in bringing down the remaining defenders. After the destruction of the turret control grid, the defenders lost heart and abandoned the base. Striker lance failed to bring down the remaining Commando and the Uziel, but managed to so thoroughly damage the slow-moving Catapult that it surrendered.

            Mandrill soon brought in a salvage team with her and quickly cleared the area of any good salvage. They couldn't afford to tow any of the Mechs away but did strip them of all valuable components, lacking any Prime Movers. Before they left, they rigged the area with charges and blew up the target structures plus unsalvageable items. It was a pity that they didn't bring vibra-bombs along; otherwise they could have mined the place and left it unusable for a long period of time. But destroying so many key structures made sure that any re-occupation force would have to work double-shifts just to clear the debris, and that pleased Eric enough. So pleased that he allowed all of the captured Dresari forces to leave, which Mandrill had protested initially but gave in after realising that they didn't have enough provisions to support any prisoners of war.

            Just a few hours before dawn, Striker Lance escorted the tech vehicles and Mandrill out of the area to their own camp. Once again, a solitary figure, though unlike the first one, watched from a discreet distance. He pocketed his telescope and spoke into a radio.

            "The raiders are very well trained, sir. They actually took down the whole airbase with 3 medium Mechs!"

            A crackling reply came back. "I expected such of them, Private. Did you identify their insignia?"

            The infantryman lifted his noteputer up for ease of reading. "Yes, sir. The Black Knight Legion, sir."

            "Good. Pull back and meet me in the village safe house. We've got to pass on this knowledge to Sir Karl."

            The soldier slunk away under the cover of night and disappeared.

A/N : This time around, a much easier fight for Eric. I think they deserve a break from getting hammered, haha! Anyway, I'm really happy to see that most people appreciate my fan fic. Many thanks to those who have given me encouragement, and also thanks to those who gave me some interesting critiques.

I'm afraid I can't write much more because my final exams are barely a week more, so the next chapter will only be uploaded in mid-April, at the earliest. I hope I don't lose points with you guys just cos I don't write on a timely basis. Just can't find the time.

A-Danny, thanks for your critique. To be frank, I treat this is my version of Black Knight. I also hate Microsoft's way of giving Clan Mechs to pirates and militia units so I decided to throw out most of the Clan Mechs in the game in exchange for Inner Sphere Mechs, as evident in this chapter (there was supposed to be 2 or 3 Shadowcats here!). But it is possible for there to be a few Clan Mechs, after all Operation Serpent had ended and the Victor's Star League was supposed to be selling off Clan tech. So I am writing a fan fic on MW4: Black Knight with more Inner Sphere Mechs but also with a few Clan Mechs.

By the way, I've got a question: is Kentares IV in the Lyran Commonwealth? Are Karl Sonntag and Ian Dresari Lyrans?