Snakebite 05
New Derry
Galtor III
Night
New Derry was built in the confluence of three major rivers - the Dublin and the Rutha crossing from the West, and the Xijiang River that went all the way south connecting to Changlee. The settlers built their capital on marshy terrain, and the airport was constructed on a landfill off the coast. Because of marshes, rivers, and forests surrounding the city, there were only two clear approaches to the city. The Rutha River Valley to the north, and the firm ground south in between the Wilde Forest and the Mendoza hollows that extended to the east for hundreds of miles.
The 19th Galedon Regulars and the 7th Sword of Light landed well south of New Derry on firmer ground, mostly in an attempt to protect themselves from being taken out by capital weaponry, but a happy accident nonetheless.
The marshy terrain was not good tank country, but better for hovercraft. General Liao-Hsiang's brigade was composed of Tracked and Wheeled Combat Vehicles, and dug in around the bridges. The Galtor Flying Squadron was actually not an air squadron but a mixed battalion of a company of Light Mechs, a company of hovercraft, and a company of fast Light tanks. Theoretically fast enough to swoop in and disengage at will, they were the point of contact against the 7th Sword of Light, and they were massacred in short order.
Dylan Rowe opened his eyes and let out a wordless scream. Then he winced at the hot flash of pain through his… everything.
"Easy… easy there, soldier. You're safe. You're ok. Everything's ok now…" a soft voice said from his left. He turned to see a broad-faced nurse.
All around him were the sounds of the dead and the dying. He spoke through a throat feeling like coarse sand - "Where…? Where am..? This…? The… the others?"
"Sorry I don't have any answers for you. Field teams went out to bring back everyone they found still alive when the Dracs pulled back. You're back in New Derry."
She explained that the field hospital was set up in the reinforced basement and car parks beneath buildings around Elliot Park. There was no guarantee that the Dracs wouldn't just start firing on hospitals they see.
"Did… did we lose?" Dylan asked. He couldn't even raise the opposite thought.
"Not at all. Kurita still haven't managed to get into the city. The way things are going, we might win this yet. Don't lose hope now."
Dylan looked down and clenched his fist. He was starting to get feeling back in his limbs. "Am I wounded? No? Patch me up, nurse and let me get back out there."
"Worry about it none. All your fighting means something. You're all heroes, so just rest for now."
Unfortunately, despite medical concerns, the most that Dylan suffered was a concussion and so after a few hours his place had to be given over to more seriously injured fresh arrivals. The staff wrapped his head in bandages and tinted a finger with voter's ink to make sure that he didn't try to insert himself into any combat groups.
Dylan walked out to the chillingly cold night air. Elliot Park was a wide open space in the heart of the city, cut through by the Rutha river. Floodlights lit up the park from all sides. The air trembled with the sounds of clanging metal and distant explosions. The artful greenery once a home for meditative public exercises and playing with pets had become a busting bivouac.
A landed Leopard served as the ad hoc command center. Unlike the Kurita forces, there were few actual Davion dropships on-planet. They were safely moored at the refueling stations on Galtor's moons.
The DropShip MARION DAVIES and its open Mech Bays, with the support of mobile field bays, was at the heart of the staging area, repairing and resupplying mechs and tanks. Techs and mechanics worked without rest to bring battle-worn machines back into operational condition. Hydraulics leaked, welding torches sparked, and techs did not even have the time to wipe blood out of cockpits after the dead and wounded were pulled out.
This was the paradigm of war in the 31st century. As long as it wasn't a total loss and could be dragged back to base as salvage, almost anything could be put back into service as long as there was someone willing to risk themselves.
Inside the bridge of the DropShip, tactical command tied into the much more advanced sensors of the ELH DropShip WHITE PLAINS. However, that much larger dropship was much safer out at the airfield and coordinated air power. One handled the ground war and the other the air war.
Night had fallen and no one had any time to rest.
Adjacent to the repair stations, medical tents and relief stations were set into a series of interconnected dugout field bases. Traumatic injury was treated here first before sending out to more protected underground shelters for surgery and recovery.
Men and women, many of them civilian volunteers, moved with frenetic and fearful effort. The air sizzled with communications and alarms and sirens that signaled imminent enemy arrival. With such a critical wide open space, the danger of being strafed by enemy aircraft was extreme.
Anti-air gun mounts were emplaced on the park itself and on top of the nearby buildings. With the park being so bright in the night, it was an obvious target. The air war over New Derry was fought with the bulk of remaining Kurita air power, the elite Davion air squadrons, and now and then the tell-tale crack of Light Sub-Capital Lasers firing through the atmosphere. Although Kurita air feared moving through the sky above New Derry, one could not really be sure with these maniacs.
Another ominous siren sounded. Mechs moved to attention, their steps causing small quakes that Dylan Rowe could feel through his boots. He watched a red-orange Warhammer address a mixed group of battlemechs with a bushy wolf face symbol painted on. He thought it looked more like a cartoon coyote than a wolf, honestly. Dylan was familiar with the Lone Wolves though.
The Hunchback, a pair of Stingers, and a Vindicator, moved out as directed. The Warhammer turned around and waited for two lances of Urbanmechs to arrive. They were each led by a Catapult.
Then they moved out, into the dark and abandoned corners of the city.
Dylan Rowe respectfully bowed towards them and silently wished them luck.
-.
Dobson, recognizing the disadvantage in forces, did not expect to hold off the enemy outside of the city for too long. The cramped confines of a city benefited more those with inferior numbers and slower mechs. The undisciplined bulk of the planetary militia could not be expected to survive for long against the horribly experienced killers of House Kurita.
Kurita excelled in open field battle. The southern front of New Derry was not good tank country . The marshes and swamps along the southern front were less a hindrance to Mechs, though it would slow them down.
Armstrong did not interfere much with Dobson's defense plans. They all correctly anticipated that New Derry would have the heaviest fighting, but unlike with just handing over Assault Mechs to the 12th Vegan Rangers, doling out the contents of the stash to New Derry defenders was a much dicier prospect. The Lone Wolves were much too untrustworthy to be around lostech and the Galtor Irregulars too Green to do much good with such machines.
But Armstrong had too many Urbanmechs and it was no problem to loan a few extra companies to the defense. The Ruralmechs and Civilianmechs had already proven themselves in forestry and digging, and if they win this Galtor would be very happy buyers.
Dobson and Yao-hsiang moved some pilots from Locusts and other thin-skinned Light mechs with small guns that would be not as good in close quarters city combat. His two battalions, O'Neills Legion, and Liao Yao-hsiang's brigade waited in the dark for the enemy to enter the city.
"They're coming off the river at Froma Park!" came the fearful cry through comms.
Dobson nodded and replied "Understood. Hold them off. We are inbound, ETA - two minutes."
The mechs slowed down to take corners and ran at their full speed of about 60 kph through straight lanes. In the distance, explosions lit up the night from behind the urban skyline. The 7th Sword of Light was hammering into the strongpoints laid out at the city outskirts. Dobson had assigned the bulk of his forces there.
While the terrain ensured that there would only be a clear invasion route straight south of the city, there was feasibly still a way to cut through the dense woods surrounding New Derry. That is, the channel cut through them by the great Dublin River itself.
Kurita mechs had the clever idea of fording the river at night. This could potentially allow them to pierce straight through the defenders and even assault the headquarters.
They were now getting close enough to hear the shriek of PPC fire and the scattering burst of autocannon return fire. LRMs arced from above.
"Heavy mechs! Too many mechs! We cannot hold! Cannot hold!"
As Dobson emerged to the open space of Froma Park, a Panther landed nearby. The mech, before it could fire off its SRMs, was slapped away in a move similar to a vicious backhand. The armored cowlings around his Donal PPCs could hit like a heavy club. The light mech toppled to the ground.
The few Demolishers that Owen Roe O'Niell managed to purchase for his legion started to reverse into the dark streets. Some mechs of the Lone Wolves were still skirmishing.
The Urbanmechs walked out and started shooting, while a couple stayed back to start stomping on the fallen Panther until its pilot was either knocked unconscious or the mech internals collapsed.
Dobson zeroed in on the most dangerous mech there, a Marauder. No wonder the Irregulars were panicked. The 75-ton Marauder was *the* quintessential Heavy Mech, hunched over with a sloping saurian chassis with long birdlike legs, it made sense that it could ford the river much easier than the usual humanoid mechs. Despite that its top speed was only the norm for heavy mechs, the Marauder had a reputation for surprising nimbleness for its size, and endurance above its weight class.
Just like his own Warhammer, its primary weapon was a pair of hard-hitting PPCs. The two mechs immediately fired on each other.
The Marauder was still wading in the river however, as by lacking arms and hands it had difficulty pulling itself over the river embankments. It would not take too long to collapse the sides to create a slope for it to walk through, but until then it would be stuck with little room to maneuver.
On the other hand, its heatsinks being surrounded by cool rushing water meant that its PPCs could fire much more often. This had quickly overwhelmed the defenders. It had a dorsal-mounted AC/5 in a turret that could add keep steady pressure as its PPCs cycled.
Lighter Mechs with back-mounted Jump Jets were able to jump clear off the river and onto the wide open parkland. Phoenix Hawks, Panthers, Javelins - almost a dozen mechs had already managed to get through. The other Heavy Mech was a 70-ton Grasshopper - with a Large Laser, 4 Medium Lasers, a LRM-5 characteristically inset right into the bulbous head of the mech, and thick armor - it was well equipped to jump straight into heavy fights.
The wreckage of some light mechs were a testament to the defenders' efforts.
Dobson grimaced as PPC bolts struck his mech, the kinetic and thermal component blasting out nearly a ton of armor, and stray charged particles scrambled his screen for a moment as they burst into a momentary spray of EMP.
His own return fire struck the Marauder well, but he had no time to feel good about that. He pushed his Mech into a brisk walk, twisting its torso to keep a bead on the Marauder.
Behind him, the Urbanmechs started shooting.
Braaap.
Braaap.
Braaap.
It was a widely-held belief that an Urbanmech had a combat lifespan of about two minutes on the pitched battlefield. Whether this was how soon before it could be destroyed or the ten shots from its single ton of AC/10 ammo could be exhausted, few could say. Maybe both.
But the Urbanmech-5As that Armstrong had generously 'donated' to the Galtor Irregulars militia had downgraded the AC/10 into an AC/5. This freed up the tons to change the engine from a pathetic 60-rated Fusion Engine capable only of pushing it up to 32 km/h into a more common 120-rated Engine that could let it run up to 64 kph - normal Heavy Mech speeds.
Of course, the inherent problem is that the AC/5 does half as much damage.
It also had double the ammunition, and had the same range profile as a PPC. The hastily-trained pilots in the Urbanmechs had no need to do anything complicated. They just had to walk and shoot.
"Lance One! Concentrate fire on that Marauder!" Dobson shouted.
Four Urbanmechs began to spray the Marauder with cannon fire, shells skipping and making little bursting splashes on the river when they missed. LRMs from the two Catapults added their warload, and with a total of sixty LRMs inbound, even the thick armor of a Marauder would feel it.
The Kurita mechs ran to engage the newcomers in close range combat to disrupt their fire. AC/5s may have the range, but could not kill anything quickly.
"Keep it steady! Keep steady!" Dobson reassured the pilots over comms even as he could hear some of them starting to shout things like "Die Kurita!" or "And this is for my father! This is for my mother! And this because fuck you!" and "RAAAAAAAAAAAA!".
Spray and pray was the best one could hope for from green pilots. Fortunately, these Urbanmechs had thick enough armor for a Light Mech, and had two Medium Lasers for a significant short-range punch.
With Kurita forces facing Dobson's group squarely, it was now at this point that the Lone Wolves sprang at them from the other side of the park.
Now pinned in a crossfire, some of the Kurita mechs tried to flee due north for breathing room, only to run into the tanks hiding there. An AC/20 was the single most powerful gun available to a MechWarrior, capable of killing a light mech in one shot. A Demolisher was an 80-ton tank that had two of them. There were also some Hetzers, 40-ton wheeled assault guns that had an AC/20 built into the hull, though given the quality control of Quikscell Company it was a miracle that they even arrived all working and with one a few missing parts.
While all those tankers knew they would not last long in close range combat against much more maneuverable mechs that could just jump over them, they could sell their lives for a great cost to House Kurita.
A few more shots rang in 'murder alley' before being silenced. Mechs had now managed to slip into the city.
Dobson was not worried. The rest of his regimental battlegroup were still around as the last line of defense. He was more concerned with killing the enemy Marauder.
The Grasshopper tried to engage his mech, but the pilots in the Urbanmechs had learned that while the stumpy little machines had no arms, they were surprisingly good kickers and were not shy at all about charging right back to kick enemy mechs in the shin. The Grasshopper pilot was momentarily taken aback by this sudden and highly aggressive defensive screen.
A Grasshopper was a humanoid mech with arms and fists that could punch back, but Urbanmechs were so small that they could not be reached without bending over. And it trying to kick back meant that Urbanmech was now firing point blank shots straight into the heavy Mech's crotch.
Part of why Mechs were kings of the battlefield was the limited feedback from the neurohelmet, allowing the pilot to extend their kinesthetic sense out into the machine, feeling it as if it were a second skin. While hits would not exactly hurt - though internal explosions could rip through the Mech so quickly that it could overwhelm damage sensors and actually deliver a mental shock to the pilot - this was distracting enough to buy a few seconds of confusion.
The Gyro and hip motors were there, important for balance, so a Mech should still try to protect its groin area.
The Grasshopper engaged its Jump Jets away from all these Urbanmechs to go fight the more typical Lone Wolves mercenaries.
Even with wildly inaccurate gunfire from four AC/5-carrying Urbanmechs, enough shots could degrade armor. The Kurita pilots chose to disregard the smaller mechs to focus on trading fire with Dobson. PPC fire slammed into each heavy mech, but combined fire had its own weight.
The Kurita pilot fought to the last, even as the Davion mechs chewed through its armor and started to carve into its internals. Finally, with a breaching reactor, the mech slumped to the side and drowned into the ink-black waters of the Dublin River.
Dobson grit his teeth and switched targets. His SRMs and Medium Lasers now sliced into other mechs at close range. PPCs had a field inhibitor creating a minimum range, to prevent its carrying mech from being affected by the EMP effects of its firing. The Urbanmechs continued to *Braaaaap!* unceasingly into the enemy, and shooting twin green beams of Medium Lasers, at close range now seeing more effective hits much to their rabid pleasure.
The raid by the 19th Galedon was beaten back after a few more minutes, but the night was still young.
Dobson stared at the wrecks lighting up the night like a bunch of flickering campfires. Dobson breathed heavily and ordered "Half of you stay here and guard, and give me a casualty report. The rest… rearm and refit back at HQ. They might try this again."
-.
Southern front
New Derry
The Kurita forces assaulted New Derry on four columns, one for each bridge over the Dublin River with the fifth central bridge currently unopposed.
The 19th Galedon had the west, and the 7th Sword of Light had the east, and through a strip of land never shall the two meet. There was this invisible line that invited someone to just send a unit through, but while the two Kurita regiments would never help each other no matter how the battle turned, they would not be above mutually shooting at something front and back.
Maneuver combat was more difficult at night. Marshes were ideal grounds for hovercraft, but the Galtor Irregulars could only get a dozen of those, and at night their speed was a hindrance as they would likely slip and crash into things. Hovercraft were mainly harassers, fragile and lacking firepower.
Armstrong only asked Dobson to hold off Kurita until daylight.
The Dahar DMM, despite being overlooked as a militia unit, were regulars at fighting House Kurita.
But the Lone Wolves could not be so easily summarized as a regular, veteran, or elite force. Their composition varied from month to month and week to week, and saw all sorts of strange mercenary individuals. Some units were barely useful, and paid a pittance. Others were there as elite units that were poor team players. Some were good at following orders. Others were willing to die as long as they were paid enough. Others were there for some minor moral stance that at least they were not bandits or pirates. Some saw the Lone Wolves as the lowest point a mercenary can go, while others saw it as the start of their careers.
Dobson assigned the Lone Wolves into lance-sized groups, sending them to hide in the industrial districts in hunter-killer teams. They were offered sizable rewards for verified mech kills, shared between all units in a lance to prevent kill stealing. Dobson was aware of the Star League depot and its contents, and so informed his own forces not to be too concerned about salvage.
The 7th Sword of Light was an elite regiment, among the best of the best, and had top priority for supplies and equipment with their own dedicated JumpShips and DropShips. Only those who had served flawlessly for at least five years in another regiment and pass a grueling series of mental, physical, spiritual, and political tests could join the Sword of Light regiments. They were not tied to any specific area but could be sent to any realm to assist as needed. Trouble-shooters and trouble-makers, they had the direct favor of the Coordinator himself.
The 7th Sword of Light was normally tasked with defending Luthien. They represented the Pillar of Teak, defending the culture of the Draconis Combine. As much as Warlord Yoriyoshi had a bone to pick with the Eridani Light Horse for destroying the 11th Benjamin Regulars, and Warlord Samsonov irked at the Eridani Light Horse getting its first resurgent fame from destroying his 2nd Galedon Regulars, Takashi Kurita had to think long and hard if he should risk a loss of face from not responding to the Eridani Light Horse's provocations.
It was all about DEMETER CORE. The Eridani Light Horse had given it to everyone, except the visible snub and insult to House Kurita. Saying "they would steal it for themselves anyway", it condemned the people of House Kurita as unworthy of survival and that they were craven instead of honorable and fearsome warriors.
The 7th Sword of Light on Galtor was not a full regiment, but two reinforced battalions made no difference other than potential face-saving if they were somehow defeated.
Takashi Kurita was uninterested in reconquering Galtor III, though its loss was another insult to the Combine. The Benjamin Regulars were concerned with loot, the Galedon Regulars with appropriating glory, but the 7th Sword of Light had orders to raze New Derry to the ground.
"Dog of the Davions!" screamed Tai-sa (Colonel) Hidoshi Tamura. "Stop laughing and die!"
Kismet Battalion of the 7th Sword of Light had the honor of being the vanguard. They were wonderfully talented at prosecuting close combat, and even physical attacks.
But unpredictability was the name of the game for the Lone Wolves. House Kurita succeeded on audacity, aggression, and a blatant disregard for the lives of their men, but even they balked at total lunacy.
Jump-capable mechs swarmed ahead to jump clear of the river, while heavier mechs stood in the back line providing fire support. As the Recon Company of the Kismet Battalion passed a row of warehouses, a group of mechs charged out firing and swinging. The infrared battlefield with Mechs showing up as white shapes on a fuzzy dark background swiftly turned chaotic.
One of those Lone Wolves mercenaries somehow had gotten his hands on a Hatchetman and was now running around chopping up Combine mech while broadcasting loud lunatic laughter on an open frequency.
Other Lone Wolves lances fired from the shadow of the industrial zone.
Braaam! That strange Hatchetman shot out bursts from its torso-mounted AC/10, then waved its Hatchet to fend off threats at close range. Chop! Even elite Sword of Light pilots well used to physical combat had to scramble back against a two-ton slab of sharpened metal falling towards their cockpits.
A Dragon shielded its face with its arm, and the hatchet cut deep into the endoskeleton of the mech. The Hatchetman kicked at the Dragon, the recoil helping to pull its weapon free.
Braaam! An AC/10 burst hit the enemy Dragon point-blank. The Mech fell flat on its back, as if staring up at the night sky and contemplating the universe.
The other Lone Wolves Mechs were likewise punching and kicking, devolving this fight of sophisticated war machines into a brutal and thuggish melee. Shadow Hawks, Griffins, Phoenix Hawks, Wolverines - mainly humanoid type BattleMechs with Jump Jets. As they grappled, the Hatchetman ran around the battlefield hitting arm joints, hips, exposed cockpits, all the while still laughing like a maniac and screaming about scalps.
Then just as quickly, the group jumped off and ran back into the rows of warehouses, daring the Kurita forces to chase them into the maze.
-.
Panthers, Jenners, Valkyries, Stingers, and other light mechs with jump jets - moved ahead of the formation. Assault Mechs of the 19th Galedon and the 7th Sword of Light suppressed defenders while they bypassed the forwards defensive positions. Tanks in hull down firing positions were easy prey to being stabbed in the back, but fortunately for them the Kurita mechs were more interested clearing the river.
They jumped over the Dublin in a single bound and landed cleanly on the other side.
A lance broke off to hit the bridge defenders from behind while others continued to pour through into the city.
A Jenner detected a tank waiting around the corner in an alley, and simply jumped over the gap. The tank could not elevate its turret far enough.
Apart from the center of the city, New Derry was in almost total blackness with power to the street lights shut off from the substations. The searchlights from the jumping Mech only had a moment to notice that the streets were wet.
But that was not water. The volunteer firefighters of New Derry had pumped certain streets with an oil slick, and the landing lost its footing after just one more step. Policemen from the upper floors pelted the stricken mech with Inferno SRMs. A conflagration swiftly spread up and down the street.
Another Jenner following close by turned the corner, saw all the fire and smoke, and immediately turned around to head another way.
The Hetzer Assault Gun rolled out of the alley and shot it in the back. The Kurita mech staggered on its feet, and while the AC/20 hit only punched straight through its torso, that was not enough to kill it as it just barely missed the reactor. The SRM ammo igniting and exploding moments later however, completely tore it apart and leaving but a pair of scorched legs falling over.
Other Kurita mechs met the Lone Wolves and Dahar DMM teams at the far end of a street.
Seen from outside of the city, rows of New Derry avenues were now aflame, making the dark and abandoned metropolis even more like a waiting hell.
But the night was long, and there was yet more killing to be done.
-.
-.