Dragons Doused 01
Fake Star League Depot
Galtor III
Approx 2 AM local time
.
Warlord Yoriyoshi ran as if hell's own horses were after him.
The first day had not even finished in the invasion and already he was starting to get an inkling this was turning disastrous. In preparation for this assault, House Kurita had mobilized ten regiments attacking multiple worlds at once with small company and battalion-sized raids elsewhere.
This should have tied Davion up for weeks!
Instead they had been savaged before even landing. This war on the ground stank of desperation before they even touched down.
At the same time however, a part of him exulted - I was not wrong!
Many overlook that the much vaunted core of the New Avalon Institute of Science came from materials stolen from Halstead Station! In the 4th January of 3014, Hanse Davion personally led a force of three Mech Regiments to loot the uncovered Star League-era university on the toxic-atmosphere world. They broke into a sealed vault and uncovered a trove old books and memory storage devices. Under fire, they scooped up what they could with their their large mech hands and stuffed them into large sacks, burning whatever they could not loot.
What knowledge they had destroyed just to deny it to House Kurita! And they dare present themselves as technonological revitalists in the Inner Sphere?! They are the thieves! They are the destroyers! It all belonged to House Kurita first! Who were they to steal the people of the Combine their just inheritance?!
Kurita scientists were no less capable than Davion ones. In fact, for all that they were hailed and respected in New Avalon, they would never advance any more than bureaucrats. In the Draconis Combine, they could be rewarded more lavishly - fame, fortune, riches, women, authority and allowance to ignore laws for lesser people - there was much more incentive to excel!
In many ways, the attack on Hoff was justice for Halstead Station. It ended in mostly a draw. Now something was afoot on Galtor III.
Jamming meant that he had no idea how other forces in the world were doing, but he could make a reasonable guess. He sniffed as he looked from side to side. It was best to keep in mind what this whole invasion was about.
If there was something on the Depot, then all he had to do was to verify its existence. If there was anything of value, just loot and leave. If it was nothing more than an elaborate trap, then just simply leave. If the Galedon Regulars and the 7th Sword of Light were not inclined to follow his orders, then that was their problem.
Most of his regiment rushed at full speed towards the depot.
Finally, they arrived. The Light Horse could not stop the sheer mass of their force, those little trashcans could only crumple against their momentum!
Built on top of a wide hill - or to be more precise, a hill that did not exist until the SLDF sculpted it into being, the rumored Star League Depot was also a dropship landing zone with old rusted hulks still stuck on their pads. The depot area was not large enough to support mech combat however.
Night vision showed that new ferrocrete walls obscured the view of the depot, but compared to the old semi-collapsed installations these were unlikely to be thick enough to resist weapons fire. Mechs harassing the front of his formation retreated towards the depot, running over a suspiciously well-lit road.
Artillery fire landed nearby. Even with his orders to disperse, there were simply too many mechs arrayed in front of the depot. No matter how they struggled, that little depot would not survive their assault. Assault and heavy mechs moved to and fro, as if taunting the defenders and spoiling their aim.
Night was already terrible for artillery operations, and once they charged in - ah!
There was only one thing preventing an all-out assault.
Noya Elazar reported in. "Warlord, the situation here is the same. There are indeed multiple layers of minefields. Those deep zig-zagging trenches will make it more difficult for mine-clearing vehicles to operate."
Yoriyoshi nodded. "It is as expected. As the saying goes - Never fear that there are those more outstanding than you. Only fear that those who are more outstanding than you are also more hard-working than you."
They had multiple options to clear minefields. Mine-clearing infantry were slow and vulnerable to artillery. Those trenches were obviously there to allow infantry to pass through and make it more difficult for combat engineers to operate. However, vice versa if they were to seize those trench lines they could have a clear run all the way to the depot.
It would just be DCMS infantry having to fight through close quarters. It was not anything worth his attention. Either they succeeded on their own or they did not.
Another was to use artillery and large volume missile fire to clear minefields. One needed to really dig into the ground to churn out mines and trigger them. Unfortunately because mobile artillery was slow, they had to leave them behind. LRM-20s were much more feasible, but due to the depth of this minefield, almost not very practical.
Mech-based mine-clearing operations were also possible. A mine clearing whip could churn the soil ahead of the mech and detonate mines from a safe distance away.
… It was a glorified mech-sized weed whacker on the end of a long stick. Yoriyoshi looked at a group of Stingers and Panthers standing nearby holding long poles, like farmers waiting to rake a rice paddy.
It looked undignified. But it would work?
His radio buzzed. "Warlord, we have contact with the Eridanis main force! Due south of your position!"
"Interesting. So they were alert enough to realize we could also move out under the cover of darkness. They put more priority on protecting this depot than assaulting our dropships."
The reason why the Eridani Light Horse didn't just park their regiments in front of the depot to protect it was obvious. That would render them vulnerable to concentrated enemy assault, instead of here where the attackers could be pincered from north and south.
Of course, there was a third option…
Yoriyoshi looked at the suspiciously clear straight line highway leading into the depot. The Urbanmechs had already proven that it was clear of mines.
Using the rangefinder of his Mech, he supposed it was roughly 6 kilometers long. It was narrow enough that only about two or three mechs could run side by side.
Assuming that a Jenner would be able to run through at 118 km/h, it would only take them a little over 3 minutes until they were deep in the depot, wreaking havoc with the the defenders with its quartet of Medium Lasers and setting infantry on fire with its Inferno SRMs.
Like a brace of fighting roosters, a lance of Jenners stood idly but eagerly pacing in place.
Yoriyoshi nodded approvingly and spoke through comms: "Go."
The four Jenners ran for it, two ahead and two behind. Yoriyoshi watched their outlines through the Night Vision mode on his HUD. One of the lead mechs had a special recon camera and a tightbeam microwave transmitter that relayed what the pilot would see to a screen on Yoriyoshi's mech.
At the far end of the depot, he glimpsed four shapes trundle out to the endpoint of the road.
Then suddenly his vision was filled with a bright flash as multiple PPC bolts briefly overpowered the NV sensors. The first two Jenners abruptly just seemed to crumple inwards. He could see the normally invisible traces of static electricity arcing from their hulls.
The two Jenners running behind skillfully triggered their jump jets to leap clear of the wrecks.
PPC fire mostly missed. But one landed badly on legs already damaged and stumbled. The other continued to run.
FSHRAK.
That Jenner ran straight into twelve PPCs and collapsed, only 3/4ths of the way to the depot.
And now there were wrecks blocking the once clear road.
What… what just happened?
Yoriyoshi fiddled with the action camera record and rewinded back to the moment before the attack. Four barrel-shaped mechs waited near the entrance. He frowned and squinted. He moved his head closer to the screen. "Those… are not Urbanmechs."
He leaned back and gasped. "Mackies?! Inconceivable!"
Artillery fire from the depot intensified. Yoriyoshi scowled in silence. Was it still worth it to assault depot? Mackies…
In retrospect, that made the depot having SLDF salvage much more believable. The Mackie was exclusively a Terran Hegemony design after all. The plans for the first ever battlemech was stolen and swiftly cloned by all other Great Houses, but they soon abandoned their knockoff designs for their own exclusive BattleMechs.
House Kurita, for example, found more use in the Gladiator - a 55-ton machine that could go up to 86 kph, and armed with a single PPC, two Medium Lasers, a SRM-6 launcher, and could leap up to 150 meters. While this might not sound all that impressive now, a loadout similar to the Griffin or Wolverine - in the Age of War prior to the establishment of the Star League, the DCMS brought to the battlefield unprecedented speed and ferocity.
But the Hegemony had always been proud of their brainchild and continued to produce the Mackie for militia forces even until Amaris' coup. At 100 tons, it could still be a troublesome opponent even for much more modern designs.
He racked his memories for what Mackies there could be. The MSK-9H was the most common design, with two Donal PPCs, two Starflash Medium Lasers, and an Imperator AC/20. It was a very respectable loadout even 700 years later. Even an Atlas would hesitate to fight one-on-one.
But he had a full regiment!
Yoriyoshi snarled. He had gone too far to hesitate in the face of a bunch of obsolete relics. "Commence the operation!" he ordered through comms. "The dragon has three heads!"
The 17th Benjamins would strike at the depot from three directions - two from the minefields and one straight through the main road.
Yoriyoshi's Dragon copied his movement and spread its arms wide. I don't believe you have more Mackies than I have Dragons!
-.
-.
South-West of the Fake Star League Depot
Galtor III
.
The 91st Cavalry of the Eridani Light Horse were not as adept with night fighting as the 12th Vegan Rangers. Night vision complicated things and increased chances of friendly fire. They did have one important advantage vs Kurita however.
Anything that was *not shaped like an Urbanmech* was the enemy.
The forces under Armstrong's direct command were not as green as the other battalions. Not just a few of them were formerly veteran Combat Vehicle crew that found themselves more capable of Mech command with SLDF-style neurohelmets. They still had to train how to fight using Mechs, but that indefinable quality of nerve that separated a green soldier from a regular did not need to be trained into them. Their instincts for positioning and which enemy mechs were vulnerable remained the same no matter their combat platform.
Just give them a whole battery of Pulse Lasers, enough speed to equal a Galleon Light Tank, and watch them go to work.
Streak SRMs lit up the night. The radar guidance of these launchers simply refused to engage on friendly IFF.
Armstrong's Atlas had also been upgraded. An Improved Gauss Rifle, two ER PPCs, and a LRM-15 +Artemis launcher gave him confidence to face up even to a Clan 'Mech if they arrived right at that moment. The enemy command mech was a Stalker, and against the relatively common Assault Mech that had a respectable all-range armament, he could only 'pity the fool with not enough heatsinks to their name'.
The difference between a soldier and a warrior was that the former wanted the fight to always be as unfair as possible.
Armstrong listened to combat chatter while he resolutely took potshots at enemy Mechs. Unlike the fight with the 91st 2nd Battalion with Jamal Fallehy versus the Naguchido's also 2nd Battalion, the Kurita forces were much less willing to charge into a battle line composed of Assault Mechs.
The 1st Batallion he commanded, plus the Regimental Battlegroup, was the Heavy Assault Battalion. They were the best that the nanolathe could produce, just limited to things that could conceivably have been produced by the Star League; just in case they were taken as salvage.
Still, he had instructed the troops beforehand - do not care overmuch for your machines. Save the meat, waste the metal. There would always be more. Urbanmechs would always be an embarrassment of riches.
"Aaah! If I can't hit you, then I'll just kick you!"
Jenners were wicked fast and often confounded targeting, leading the enemy into a 'circle of death', moving around them faster than torsos could twist to track. One of the Jenners had almost a birdlike look of confusion as it was struck by a spin-kick from an arm-less and hand-less Urbanmech.
"The return of the Star League begins and ends with us! If we embarrass ourselves here, they might decide it's not worth trying to fix things! Nothing but total victory matters, brothers!"
"Just remember your training! Combine fire!"
"Johann, your armor is getting low! Pull back, I'll cover you! Felder! Switch with him!"
"Take down one and we are equal! Take two down before dying and we make a profit!"
"Those who fear death will die! Those who seek death will live! As our ancestors charged into the gauntlet of Terra, never shall we flinch from our enemies! For the glory of the regiment!"
"Running low on Gauss ammo. Asking for reload."
"Sorry sir. My father died to Inferno SRMs. Just cooked alive in his mech. I panicked. Good thing my Double Heatsinks could handle it."
"Ejecting!"
"Internal Damage, but CASE managed to contain it. Still have my PPCs."
"My little Urbie, my little Urbie! Aaa, aaa, aaa, aaah!"
"Friendship is having six of your best mates with you beating up on someone you don't like."
"Let's play a game of TAG!"
"Spike Lance to Slayer Company Lead, enemy LRM assets at nav Beta neutralized."
-.
The DCMS had always relied on their aggression to carry the day, and the Benjamin Regulars were taken aback by facing an even more fearless enemy.
Battalion Commander Sharon, annoyed by the harassment of small fast Urbanmechs all day wished for a more conclusive battle. After rearming and repairing at the dropship bays, Yoriyoshi reassigned them to protect the southern flank. Now he was regretting that wish.
What the hell kind of horses are these?! The DCMS have always thought that Wolf's Dragoons were not all that impressive and losing to the Light Horse without even firing a shot was shameful and a waste of the Coordinator's coin, but if this was the level of brutality they faced on Hoff…?!
Finally it made sense. The Eridani Light Horse losing *only* half a regiment on Hoff, then being able to destroy whole regiments after that.
Truly, Davion was the only worthy adversary of the Dragon.
The 17th were more disciplined than Naguchido's troops and at least were not suffering constantly artillery bombardment, but they could not slow down at all the sheer mass of metal pushing their way. These horses were acting like staving cannibals! The dragon was nothing but meat to them!
Unforgivable. They had to delay the 91st until the Warlord could seize the Depot!
They would die to the last here than let these horses pass!
-.
-.
Fake Star League Depot
Galtor III
The mine-clearing efforts of the 17th Benjamin proceeded at an almost literal breakneck pace.
Mechs slapped the ground with angry abandon. Against infantry trying to pop out of cover with SRMs and single-shot LRMs, they answered with flamers and inferno gel. The trenches lit up the night like veins of burning blood.
Rippling booms preceded their arrival. Rippling booms answered their approach.
However, these mechs were not so helpless in the face of an artillery response. As soon as their sensors relayed the sound of incoming artillery, they jumped back and dispersed. The random scatter of artillery would sometimes even help them by digging out mines for them. They jumped to existing artillery blast craters, secure that they would not be mined anymore.
Within thirty minutes they had managed to cut through into the 12th minefield layer. The minefield would never be able to stop a serious attacker, which was the reason why they were not at all a central defensive measure for important citadels. They were only ever a delaying measure for battlemech and vehicle defenders to arrive.
Now missiles streaked from the base.
The Kurita mechs stopped and immediately dodged. Artillery Missiles were much more obvious, but they believed the bigger weapon had a larger bang. The Arrow IV passed them buy and exploded in an airbust behind them.
The mechwarriors grimaced. In relief, yes, because the missiles missed - but at the same time a reminder why artillery missiles were lostech and much more dangerous. The airbust cluster warhead would shower an area with miniature bomblets, and had a much higher chance of hitting the head. Being a humanoid type mech had its disadvantages.
They returned to the task, and then after a few more minutes, had to fall back against artillery again.
Other mechs looked for mines on magscan and tried to carve them out of the ground with lasers. This was a slower, less guaranteed method. These mechs behind the main mine-clearing group were widening the route for the rest of the Kurita force.
Suddenly, there was a bang.
One of the second line mechs experienced something punching through its foot.
Bang. Bang.
The mechs that leaped back from the artillery barrage landed into a blooming series of explosions as soon as they touched down. One of them was unlucky enough to trigger many close-packed mines at once, and its left leg was torn asunder. It crashed, knocking the wind out of its pilot, luckily not triggering even more mines.
The rest of the group froze in place. The Davions could have taken them out with cluster mines. But instead of killing them, they just wasted so much work and put them all inside an active minefield. One they could not dodge away from because they had no idea what else is now a minefield. The waiting company behind them would have to start all over.
Soon enough the artillery barrage resumed.
"This… this is outrageous. It is unfair," one of the Kurita mechwarriors mumbled as he shielded his mech's canopy with his arms as Cluster warheads exploded overhead. "How could you clear a minefield and be trapped in a minefield? Just kill us instead of insulting us like this! Give us an honorable death if you dare!"
-.
Mechs were piling high into a strange mountain of wrecks in front of the depot. New Mechs were even starting to use them as cover.
The line of Mackies at the base entrance had yet to stop firing. There were eight of them now. When the first line cycles its PPCs, the one at the rear would continue to fire. If the one at the front were taking too much damage from LRMs, they would switch. There were probably three such assault lances in there - two for firing, one behind emergency battlefield armor repairs.
And of course there were still Urbanmechs in there. There were small enough that the Mackies could just fire over their heads.
Yoriyoshi tried sending Dragons through with the first line being a wall to absorb fire so that the rear composed of Jenners could jump above and rush the wall of fire. The Super Urbanmechs with their Large Pulse Lasers cut them down before they could close into Medium Laser range.
Yoriyoshi tried sending rows of Dragons through, but then the Davions just called down an artillery strike into the densely packed formation.
He sent mechs to try to widen the road. They were unable to make good headway against the minefield and trying to run through hoping they just had a chance not to step on mines just had them fall prey to it. These were some damned dense minefields, what the hell.
It was a waste of time trying to clear the minefields off the side of the road, but the clumping dead Dragons means that they had to do mine clearing operations just to get around them.
Yoriyoshi looked numb at the reports. The Light Horse were pushing in from the north and south.
Those Mechs - those Mackies! - he was convinced they were protecting something important. They might even *be* the something important. Four PPCs in a mech was unimaginable. Even an Awesome with three PPCs could not afford to alpha strike every time. Those mechs had yet to even start to slow down!
He…. was starting to run out of Dragons.
His face twisted up with bitterness. For all his efforts, would it be just a waste? Six regiments on a single planet, when Hanse Davion outfoxed the Combine with just three regiments on Halstead Station? The Galedon and the Sword of Light Regiments had a simpler job, but he had argued most for this invasion and if he simply withdrew from the prize with nothing for it - could he still live like a man?
Sixty years he had spent in service to House Kurita, would this be the end of it? In shame and ignominy from *a simple chokepoint* in a *wide open plain*?
He closed his eyes and stilled himself. No. He had a regiment! He was the Warlord of Benjamin, master of over 70 worlds!
Or at least, a battalion or so. The rest were now fighting to give him time. Everything he would send into the gullet of the beast! He had enough men! Enough mechs! Davion would choke on their deaths!
He was not stupid enough to lead the charge personally, but this time, he would join the charge. He would send the assault mechs first to absorb fire and exchange volleys. Then once they inevitably fell, send the Dragons and the Jenners in the hope that their speed lets them finally get that last aching kilometer in. Then the slower mechs like the Panthers and the remaining heavies. They would be barrier troops to shoot any man of Kurita that was cowardly enough to turn away from their moment of glory.