Snakebite 04
West of the Depot
Galtor III
Night
Warlord Syovo Yoriyoshi was aggrieved! He was unconvinced!
In all his years he had never faced such humiliation!
Warlord Syovo Yoriyoshi wished to shake his fist at the sky and call all the gods as bastards!
The battle against the 33rd New Avalon Hussars ended inconclusively as the 17th retreated to the coverage of their DropShips' guns. General Mandella wisely decided to break off as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Momentum was one of the undefinable elements of war. The 17th and the 33rd were grinding each other down, neither able to take the advantage through hours of fighting. Even with airpower, Yoriyoshi's artillery assets were closer, and therefore could serve fire missions faster and more accurately.
Yoriyoshi himself fought in his modified Dragon with a Lord's Light PPC for a main gun, the heat managed by the removal of the rear-facing Medium Laser. There was nothing new or unexpected with fighting these Davion troops, superlative personal performance would carry the day! He fought with brutal aplomb, and his precious 17th, despite some setbacks, proved their worth to rally again and again.
He even felt that the Davions made a mistake trying to turn this into an open field battle, as it favored more Kurita speed and aggression.
However, momentum turned against Yoriyoshi when it was reported that was retreating from his own landing site, and pursued by the Eridani Light Horse.
"Warlord! I have come to support you!"
In war, there was a concept called 'the golden bridge'. As Sun Tzu stated, if you leave the enemy a way out they would be more inclined to take it rather than fight to the death.
Yoriyoshi grit his teeth. He now keenly remembered the pain of the old saying 'Fear not the omnipotent enemy - only be afraid of pig-like team-mates.'
-.
General Naguchido stood sweating in attention before Yoriyoshi. The 6th Benjamin was a heavy assault regiment, landing with nearly 100 mechs. In the space of half a day, that number was reduced to around 40.
They were inside Warlord Yoriyoshi's cramped office inside the Fortress-class dropship. Tall, lanky, and with a dreadful mien, Yoriyoshi asked through steepled fingers hiding the lower half of his face "What happened to you?"
Naguchido's report was wild and contradictory as the officer tried to downplay any mistakes and make his flight sound more like heroic action worthy of the trivids.
"Stop. Tell me what the Light Horse actually did. I do not even care that they beat you, but *how* did they beat you?"
So. Artillery?
Interesting. Everyone involved around the SLDF made artillery a strong component of their combat forces. However, the difference was that the Eridani were using… missile artillery? Not only was that lostech, that should be expensive.
From reports to Naguchido from the remains of Shazli's Battalion, the Light Horse were using weapons that hit extremely hard from long range. Naguchido was not a man for reading historical documents, but from the damage profiles Yoriyoshi suspected that they had Gauss Rifles.
He pulled up on a nearby noteputer a report from the techs. Autocannon ammo were HEAP projectiles, high explosive armor-piercing, with a shaped charge tip. Standard layered armor used by BattleMechs and Combat Vehicles of all kinds ablated in a predictable manner due to the need to protect against many different types of damage, from kinetic to explosive to laser-thermal or PPC.
The damage report of surviving mechs showed whole sections that were just punched in, internal structure deforming, and armor being hit at such speeds that they behaved more like liquid on impact when trying to resist force. No burns or hints of any explosive content whatsoever. Remains of simple steel slug were found still embedded within the bowels of the mech.
Yoriyoshi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Gauss Rifles. Causing extreme damage from extreme range, outranging even LRMs, and even when they were not lostech were mainly used by select SLDF heavy and assault battlemechs.
Light mechs would either die or topple over in one hit. Even large mechs would find themselves knocked around. What a prize, what a prize!
'And you dare tell me that the Eridani Light Horse were fielding a whole Lance of them?'
"Are you sure they were emplaced inside Hunchbacks? Is fifty tons even enough to absorb that much recoil?"
Naguchido made a face. "They were not… Hunchbacks."
Yoriyoshi grimaced as the report continued, and was verified by reports from mechwarrior and technicians. Urbanmech. Large Urbanmechs.
The BattleROMs proved this. They were like mushrooms coming out of the soil.
Urbanmechs that are somehow exactly other mechs. "What would that even be called?" he murmured with furrowed brows.
Urbanmech Warhammer? Urbanhammers?
Urbanrauders?
Urbantapults?
Urbanchbacks?
Why?
How?
... WHY?
What madness is driving these horses?
He took a deep breath. "Well. Regardless of their… aesthetics… they clearly work. They are clearly using lostech. Did the Light Horse… find an Urbanmech factory, or something?"
Having fast Urbanmechs was one thing - that was arguably possible with finding a whole cache of light mechs, and refitting them with various weapons made sense if they were supposed to be dedicated garrison mechs. Even artillery versions were plausible under that premise. The SLDF was the sort of profligates and under-the-table procurement corruption to allow this sort of thing. They would bury whole battalions of Assault mechs just in case.
But Heavy Mechs? That implied a need for a dedicated production line.
And with a frown "Is it… on *this* planet?"
After some more thought, that was unlikely. But there has to be something important here or they would not risk bringing so much valuable lostech into combat. He glanced up at Naguchido. There was not enough mech bay capacity for them all to leave. This fool ran for his fat life, but unlike what other Kurita generals might say, Yoriyoshi admitted it was the correct decision.
Someone incompetent enough not to be able to shield against the enemy on his own volition might as well surrender his command to someone who can. Fortunately it seems the Light Horse did not seem intent on pursuing Naguchido to the bitter end.
"This is a disgrace," Yoriyoshi told Naguchido. "But given the quality of your opposition it is not too shameful. You may yet have the chance to redeem yourself."
With atmospheric conditions allowing it, the communications equipment of his Fortress could now pick up transmissions from the other side of the continent. The siege of New Derry had begun and urban combat usually would take some time to conclude.
Not everyone had painted themselves with ignominy as Naguchido… or the Draconis Combine Admiralty, for that matter. With such powerful Assault DropShips in play, no matter how the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery performed on planet, they were effectively trapped here. He needed to give a reason for the Coordinator to send a more powerful second wave and rescue these regiments.
They must have the prestige of fulfilling objectives, punishing Davion and these insipid Galtorians, and obtaining prizes.
He had sent people to probe the minefields all day. There was a suspiciously wide and well-lit road leading into the depot. Perhaps that was necessary to move out so much of the loot they had gained. The depot might be empty now.
Or… he mused, the fact that it needed such a road in the first place implied that there was more buried underground there that needed access. The depot was once a starport and the Wagnall Plain was once used for wide-scale SLDF training exercises.
The scouts reported that the minefields and trenches protecting the depot were extensive. Why go so far if that wasn't something there worth keeping?
Perhaps the technology was less about individual salvage but SLDF command and training facilities?
He leaned back on his chair. The DCMS might dislike officers showing initiative, not the least because the DCMS like the Imperial Japanese Army it was modeled after had a tendency for junior officers to look to conveniently murder their superior officers for the sake of a promotion, but strategically the Draconis Combine enjoyed very high initiative. They were often the ones to act first and force the enemy to respond.
Waiting around was not the way. He had to recover the momentum!
Night fighting was rarely done, even though almost all Mechs and Vehicles had some form of night vision system. Darkness severely degraded the usefulness of artillery and reduced the usefulness of long ranged or extended range weaponry. Energy and missile weapons might even temporarily blind the pilot from too many bright explosions overpowering the sensors.
Yoriyoshi however, made it a core of his regimental doctrine that his troops should be able to do what others considered difficult. Night battle was one area where technology and training could overcome normally imbalanced odds.
Darkness would also help hide units using AEP to detect and disarm mines. Night was the best time to move against the depot.
"T-Tai-sho…", Naguchido gulped. He was sweating buckets and it had been many years since he had to stand in attention for so long.
Yoriyoshi blinked and looked up. "Oh. Yes. I had forgotten you were here. I have new orders for you. This time the 3rd Benjamin will stay and fight, or else you will be dishonored. Defend my dropships. You will fight to the last, do you hear me?! There is no other route to survival!
"Those who seek death shall live, and those who cling to life will die! Do you understand?!"
"H-hai, Warlord! We will not disappoint!"
"... I am disappointed already. Give your men two hours of sleep, and then have them spend the rest of the night in their cockpits. Mobilize the troops! We move out before midnight!"
-.
At the same time, the 33rd Hussars and the 91st Eridani were set up in an ad hoc camp some distance away. Workmechs reloaded battlemechs, and pilots dined inside their cockpits. General Mandella was relieved to find out that the Light Horse's MREs were not really any better than Davion MREs. Through a thousand years, it seems humanity had finally exhausted how many ways to ruin supposedly a package of lasagna.
Mandella cycled in the fresh Lyon's Battalion and sent Meade's Battalion back to the base camp. It was a costly battle but he had to admit that it could easily have been much worse.
He sighed as he watched BROTHER EYE's report on the strategic map. He breathed out "Let's do a night battle! They will never expect it!" Then in a louder voice "Said *everybody*, because what the hell is this?! It looks like no one wants to rest and all want to just keep fighting at night to surprise the enemy!"
Armstrong laughed through comms.
Then Mandella continued "I'm more surprised that the numbers are still so even. From your reputation I was expecting you to wipe out the 3rd Benjamin completely in a few hours."
Armstrong replied: "We need to hit them at a point just below where they would feel pressured enough to say 'eff this for a plate of imitation crab sticks', load up into their DropShips, and leave. Trying to destroy enemies retreating offworld looks dishonorable and would diminish our own allowances for peaceful withdrawal."
Mandella nodded. "Not even Kurita will chase a retreating enemy too hard once they manage to break orbit." He blinked. "Then… wouldn't this make having pocket warships pointless once the enemy already landed? If they are leaving, would this not mean all you can do is to watch them burn towards the jump point no matter how easy it would be to destroy them?"
"Yes, sadly traditions of warfare say we should allow them to leave. However, that is not to say that having capital weapons dropships are useless once the enemy have landed. Night *is* the best time for them to achieve as much of their objectives as possible. Our Pocket Warships are built on an *aerodyne* hull, and shoot at things while *inside* the atmosphere."
Mandella flicked his gaze towards the digital clock. 10:26.
He sighed again. "So we just have to keep the Kurita forces around their landing site busy?"
"It's up to you how daring you want to do this. We won't be able to support you so easily with artillery and air strikes."
Mandella's nostrils flared. "We know how to fight. Trying to babysit us all the time is insulting. Go do whatever you need to do, General. We can handle things here."
-.
-.
South of New Wuhan
Galtor III
The Amphigean Light Assault Group was caught in a pincer. The 12th Vegan Rangers recklessly pushed from north and south.
The two small moons of Galtor gave little light. The 1st Amphigeans advanced cautiously, relying on their discipline to maintain lance cohesion, their looming silhouettes barely visible against the dark backdrop of the night.
Headlights made all mechs more easily detected from a distance. However, range reduction still impacted everyone since it was difficult to see any features at near perfect darkness. Any mechs that walked with lights out risked running into their own lance-mates.
This was less of a problem with fire support mechs and assault mechs that did not move so fast as to risk crashing in the first place. While the mediums and faster heavy mechs of the Rangers pulled attention from the defenders, long-range mechs struck from the second line with PPCs and LRMs. They only had to aim at the lights.
More precision weapons or medium-ranged weapons like Autocannons and Large Lasers demanded that their pilots skirmish close to the enemy to get reliable hits. Anyone trying to get hits with Medium Lasers needed to get even closers, because lasers demanded that the gunner keep the beam on target for as long as possible. A wide slashing beam does very little damage, like water slicking off a raincoat.
The raking speed of a 35-ton Jenner mattered less here. They could no longer move full speed keeping track of the enemy, because they had no idea if they were facing the front or rear of the enemy at all. It was almost impossible for anyone to predict the enemy's movements. The only way to tell was to get light spilling over from their searchlights.
The much slower Davion Enforcer 50-ton BattleMech, now, could reliably expect the enemy to run at them head-on. With a Large Laser and an AC/10 on each arm, they gave out heavy one-two punches, now that these pesky Light Mechs were no longer zooming around the battlefield trying to stab people in the back.
Elsewhere, 45-ton Phoenix Hawk trying to get to the backline as a Scout Lance leader, just got its face punched in by the angry fist of an 80-ton Victor BattleMech running with lights out and passive sensors only. The mechs following their leader were now in AC/20 range.
The Rangers dispersed their forces into pairs, blending into the shadows and the outline of trees, and making it challenging for the enemy to get an idea of their total available forces.
Streaks of LRM fire lit up the night, and brief but devastating flashes of particle cannons and lasers was all the direct hint anyone could have for each other's positions. Targeting and Tracking Systems struggled to maintain locks as chaos and uncertainty ruled the field, Mech signatures popping in and out.
Though their homeworld Verde was as green and pleasant as its name implied, the Rangers were as comfortable in the night as they were in the day. This dated back to their founder, Lawrence Helmund Nelson, and the original 12th Vegan Rangers would roam the devastated worlds along the Combine-Suns border, providing aid and justice to those in need. To overcome disparity in numbers and to maximize surprise against pirates, bandits, and Kurita troops that performed atrocities, the Rangers trained themselves to strike suddenly and swiftly like avenging ghosts in the night.
The 1st Amphigean LAG were adept at fighting in clear terrain and when they could combine fire against enemy units. They were excellent team fighters. But the dark demanded that each man fight as much against themselves as the enemy.
Those who tried to survive by turning off their searchlights became much less effective and much more at risk of friendly fire. The Rangers were far more practiced at resisting the reflex urge to pull the trigger as soon as something moves through the crosshair. If it goes blue, even for a second, don't shoot.
Bragg's Battalion, impatient at the long hours spent floating in orbit while their comrades fought and died, crashed furiously into the 1st Amphigeans LAG's southern flank. Filled with Assaults and Heavies, fighting in pairs still meant they grossly outmatched the enemy. The Kurita forces were caught in a deadly overlapping web of fire.
Attempts at counter-attacks pulled Kurita mechs into more traps. Mechs went out into the dark and would never be seen again, their last moments only crackling shouts and screams into comms.
With their forces in ever-increasing disarray, Olivet Satterhwaite ordered a hasty retreat. The defense line contracted narrower and narrower as Mechs fled into the enveloping darkness. But the shadow of their DropShips would offer little respite, as DropShips were large obvious targets and had no advantage firing into the darkness.
However, they were concentrated enough that any more attempts to push would diminish the advantage of darkness and reduce both sides into a slugging match. The Ranger's awesome momentum could only defray from here.
However, Margrave Douglass still had three more weapons he could use against the 1st Amphigean LAG.
Most of the DropShips of the 1st Amphigeans were aerodyne-type dropships. They had paltry firepower for their size, but being long and broad they made excellent cover and could lift off in a hurry. If the Amphigeans decided to fly away, they could support any other combat site on the planet.
#GALTORCOM
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) We have pocketed the 1st Amphigean LAG.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) Landing Site A with the two Triumphs are under siege.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) Landing Site B with the Excalibur and another Triumph are personally engaged.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) I want these ships grounded. Requesting air strike.
EYE: EYE acknowledges.
EYE: Patching through to Merino Air Squadron:
Merino_Air Copy that, command.
Merino_Air We're all loaded up, ready for a bombing run.
Merino_Air Just give us the coordinates.
EYE: With ready permission from ELH Command, Urbanmech LAMs inbound.
EYE: Anti-Ship Missiles loaded.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) Urbanmech LAM…
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) Gnnh.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) Just hearing that still gives me unpleasant shivers.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) It sounds so wrong.
EYE: Do the impossible, see the invisible
EYE: Break the unbreakable, touch the untouchable
EYE: LAM, LAM, Light the Power.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) … is this software artificially *intelligent* or not?
-.
As the fighting never managed to get into New Wuhan, its airport remained secure. Bombs were loaded into fightercraft hardpoints. A lance of Urbanmech LAMs were assigned to the SLS GAMBLER BAY as its last line of defense, but now they were free to engage.
Within minutes, Margrave Douglass could see the horizon light up with a second sunrise.
Then, some moments later, a panicked and wobbly set of lights ascended into the night.
-.
#GALTORCOM
EYE: Strike complete. Reporting.
EYE: One Triumph-class DropShip destroyed.
EYE: One Triumph-class DropShip heavily damaged.
EYE: One Triumph-class DropShip in flight.
EYE: Enemy mechs in disarray, defending remaining dropship.
EYE: Counting nine units unable to withdraw.
-.
They were fleeing to regroup. With their drives flaring in the night, air forces could track that dropship wherever it may go. But anywhere was better than being shot at from the ground and the air simultaneously.
A Triumph modified to carry mechs could carry two Companies. Three could carry two Battalions.
Douglass put that dropship with potentially one surviving Battalion out of his mind.
Mandela had two more weapons he could use against these Kurita forces.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
A heavy cadence followed behind his command mech. A full company of assault mechs, twelve 100-tonners, walked at a leisurely 35 kph. They were the reason any wild dogs of Amphigeans could not return to their pack.
Landing Site B was the primary drop site with the 1st Amphigean LAG's regimental battlegroup.
The last remaining DropShip was a spheroid - or rather, a typical egg shape. The Excalibur, at 19,000 tons, was vastly larger than an Overlord and could fit a battalion with an extra company and 24 heavy vehicles and nearly 100 crew and infantry, and still with plenty of extra room for cargo. Unfortunately for all its size, it only had about enough armor as a Union. It was too many baskets in one egg.
Margrave Douglass asked his men if any would sacrifice to pilot a different mech into battle. He had little difficulty finding twelve men and women willing to put aside pride in their habitual rides. This was more awesome than an Awesome.
He temporarily reorganized them into a Provisional Assault Company. They had a simple job - to stay together, move as one as an unstoppable wall, breaking everything in their path.
Galtor had two full battalions of fresh Royal Mackies. That was seventy-two assault mechs just waiting for anyone to claim them.
Galtor had too many goddamn assault mechs free for the taking.
If only Yoriyoshi actually knew this.
Unfortunately these were simply on loan, since Davion would be claiming the bulk of salvage, but Douglass was confident he could get a mech or two once this was done. A Mackie was at least not an Urbanmech.
FSHRAK. FSHRAK. FSHRAK.
FSHRAK. FSHRAK. FSHRAK.
FSHRAK. FSHRAK. FSHRAK.
FSHRAK. FSHRAK. FSHRAK.
Massed PPC fire turned the night briefly into a blue day.
The rest of the Rangers only had to screen the assault company. DropShips were big and hard to miss. Forty-eight PPCs firing as one, in repeated volleys, punched through into the side of the Triumph-class vessel after only four volleys. That ship might theoretically be able to lift off and fly away at low speed, but in no way could it go up into space.
Then the landing site blossomed with fire, as Davion aircraft swooped in from the north.
The 1st Amphigean Light Assault Group was caught like a pack of hyenas pushed against a cliff.
-.
Then the 12th Vegan Rangers had one last weapon they could use against the 1st Amphigean LAG.
The knowledge that they were both, technically, mercenaries.
-.
-.