It's... well its been a while hasn't it? Not entirely my fault... Well no. Things happened in my life due to my choices lol. Anyway I am back and I am going to try and post regularly again. I've also made some changes to the previous chapters, as I saw that I had made several mistakes. The big thing is in Ruby's BattleMech Corner. I've updated Ruby's Shadow Hawk to have some more tech to make it a proper "Hero" Mech.
Anyway I hope that you continue to enjoy this fic and thank you.
Chapter Six: McCarron's Armoured Cavalry
31-May-3030
Capellan Confederation
Alron
Cuirassiers d'Arc
21:04 Zulu Time
"Is there anything that you can spare us Colonel?" Jaune asked, as he hoped against hope.
Colonel Elijah Laverne sigh came over the comms as a rush of static.
"I really wish I could son," he answered regretfully, "but them sons-of-bitches Cappies, pardon my language Mister Arc, broke through on our western flank. I had to divert everythin' I had left to check them there. I'm really sorry son, but yer on yer own fer now."
"Can you at least send some water and food then?" Jaune hid his disappointment as best he could as he surveyed the exhausted IFL infantry peeking out from their positions.
"I can send you some water. We don' have much left in the way of food. It'd take 'em about an hour or so to get there at speed, but wouldn't it be easier to get water from that there river?" Colonel Laverne asked.
"Normally yes, but there's a dead Centurion leaking radiation upstream from here." Jaune answered, as he piloted Crocea Mors along the back line, as he checked both the IFL and his own lance's positions and made adjustments as needed.
"Well then, I'll get right on that as well as every bit o' scrap ammunition that I can find. Good huntin' Mister Arc."
Well at least that was one problem solved.
The other had yet to be resolved. That being the Cappies.
Speaking of which.
"Ren, Jaune, any luck finding them?" Jaune asked as he examined the tactical map again.
"We did and I got good news." Ren reported quietly as though he was worried that speaking too loudly would give away his position to the Capellens.
After the earlier clashes, Jaune had sent him and the Flea out as far as he dared, as he hoped to find the vanguard and get a much clearer picture of the Cappellen forces.
"Well hit me then. I think we could use some."
"We are only facing two lances of 'Mechs, seven of them in total. I cannot identify what kind, but I am only getting readings on light and mediums. There is one lance of tanks and two companies of mechanised infantry. One of which appears to have been depleted in the earlier skirmish." Ren reported with his usual efficiency, nothing wasted, quick and to the point.
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. "That is good news indeed. Keep watch on them, but don't engage. If spotted, fall back to this position. Understood?"
"Aff." Came Ren's short reply, before he cut the comms.
Not that they would have long to wait.
Thankfully it was the water and the ammunition that arrived first. Mostly small arms and the odd anti-tank and anti-mech missile which was quickly seized and looted by the IFL militia, who were desperate for the ammunition and the fresh clean water.
Unfortunately the Capellans launched their attack not long after it had arrived. The militia had barely a few minutes to quash their thirst and reload their spent magazines when the Capellans hit them with everything that they had. Down the main road the infantry advanced in column, their APCs slowly moving down the road, the infantry behind, as they used the vehicles for cover. Machine guns and small calibre autocannons raked the positions of the dug in IFL who resisted as fiercely as they could with their limited fire power.
As the Cappie infantry assaulted the bridge, the two lances of dark green and dirty yellow 'Mechs made their own appearance, as they pushed hard at both of Jaune's flanks, which forced the two Blackjacks to split their fire; unable to concentrate it as they had done in the previous skirmish.
"Arc, Bedfred." Capt. Bedfred shouted over the sounds of her guns, "I've got three 'Mechs tryin' to cross the river here. Looks like the Centurion we tangoed with earlier, a Panther 'en a Jenner."
"Arc, Beauregard." Beauregard's voice sounded on the verge of panic, "I gotta whole lance on me, another Centurion, an Assassin, a Panther 'en a Jenner. I aint goin' to be able to hold 'em for long suh."
The Cappies it seemed had run out both time and patience and they were determined to capture this town.
"Beauregard, Arc." Jaune responded, as he struggled to keep his voice as neutral as possible. "Keep firing and manoeuvring. If you need to give ground, do it. Stay alive."
"Roger that there suh!"
"Pyrrha, Jaune. See do what you can to give them some back up." Jaune ordered as he moved Crocea Mors along the street as he attempted to get a better view of the battlefield, Nora as always, was close behind.
"Aff." Came Pyrrha's terse reply, as her Black Knight ignited its JumpJets and flew towards Beauregard's beleaguered position.
Jaune launched a second drone and guided it over the battlefield. The Cappies had advanced on both flanks, the centre appeared however to be holding well. The IFL infantry were well dug in and had made the Capellan infantry's jobs that much more difficult, as they attempted to force a crossing at the bridge.
Behind them, however, on the hill that overlooked the area of the bridge and main road, the lance of tanks had finally made their appearance. Quickly they had moved into a hull down position and had begun to fire down onto the IFL defences. The infantry, with fire support from the tanks, began to advance again as they sought to dig the militia out of their holes.
Despite the range and the IFL defences, their fire was not completely ineffective. One of the IFL's APCs was hit in the opening volley. It burned in the darkening day, the light of the fires cast eerie shadows as the crack of gunfire and cannon rounds echoed throughout the burned out town.
"Jaune, Pyrrha, scratch the Assassin." Pyrrha called out over the comms, "but they are pushing all the harder."
"Arc, Bedferd!" Bedferd cut in, her tone just on the verge of panic. "This here lance is hammerin' my position with all they got, y'all gonna need to send me some help here soon or I am a goner!"
"Roger that Bedferd." Jaune kept his voice as neutral as possible, as he guided the drone over Bedfred's position. Autocannon shells, lasers and missiles streaked across the wide river, as were craters were blasted in the ground and the buildings were pummelled into rubble. Bedfred moved her Black Jack from position to position, where she would fire off a burst of autocannon and laser fire before she ignited her JumpJets to leap for more cover.
Despite her bravery, it wasn't enough and the enemy lance had gotten bolder, pushing out from cover. The Centurion from earlier, stomped forward, the Panther and Jenner covered its flanks.
"Nora, Jaune, how are you for ammo?"
"Eh, about sixty percent or so."
"Good, I got a sensor lock on a Centurion. Give him some love for Captain Bedferd." Jaune said as he fed the sensor lock to Nora's Magnhild.
"Roger dodger Jaune-Jaune." Nora chirped cheerfully as the dusk sky was lit up again by the fiery trails of her missile barrage.
A few seconds later, Bedferd whooped over the comms.
"Thank ye kindly Miss Valkyrie, that was very much appreciated." There was a burst of autocannon fire and the heavy humm of laser projectors firing. "Though my heat build up is gettin' just a tad dicey. I could use a bit o' help over here."
On the bridge the attacking column looked like it had stopped, unable to push forward into the town. The flanks were holding. If barely. Jaune breathed a small sigh of relief, the battle looked like it had turned into a stalemate, which was in all respects, perfect for him.
Though the disengagement would be a bit of a pain, he could work with this.
"Jaune, Pyrrha, Beauregard is gone." Pyrrha's voice cracked over the radio. "His Blackjack just took a direct headshot, if I leave this flank is wide open."
"Merde!" Jaune cursed. He should have known not to jinx it.
He quickly brought up his tactical map. "How many are over there?"
"Three, but they are staying mostly in cover," Pyrrha reported over the sounds of shells flying overhead and the odd electrical whump of her ER PPC firing, keeping the Cappies at bay and their heads down as best she could.
"Arc, I can't hold here much longer, I'm gonna need to withdraw to vent afore I hit critical." Bedferd was panting from the strain and the excess heat building in her cockpit.
"Jaune, Ren." Ren broke into the comms as though he was merely making a report on the weather. "Leopard coming in hot."
Jaune cursed again.
Just the news he needed, as a silver and dark green Leopard dropship roared overhead, the insignia of a knight brazen across the brow as it shot passed his defences and hovered at the outskirts of the town.
When it rains, it pours. What had looked like a stalemate angling in his favour had now turned into what could quickly become a massive catastrophe.
McCarron's Armoured Cavalry had made their appearance. Hidden from Ren's recon, they were a very unwelcome addition. A whole lance leapt from the bay doors, the ground shaking as they landed and began to push into the town.
The Cappies, Jaune realised, had been a distraction. They were meant to hold them in place while the mercenaries from the Big MAC came in and hammered them from behind. It had been a bold and aggressive manoeuvre; the skies above Alron were still contested by both IFL and their Davion/FedCom allies.
Still it had worked, the town of Andersburg was wide open, even as Jaune rushed to try and seal the gap. A Hunchback plodded into view, its massive bulk lit up by his sensors as it turned towards him. The massive cannon resting on its shoulders boomed as it fired.
Crocea Mors shuddered as the round slammed into its left torso, the armour shrieking as it was torn away by a glancing hit. Jaune quickly reversed his 'Mech, scrambling for cover as he fired his own gun in return. The massive two-hundred millimetre AC/20 roared out its reply, a burst of shells striking the Hunchback in the centre torso, tearing through its armour. Next came the twin beams of Jaune's medium lasers, both hitting the centre and both leaving massive scorch marks on the already tormented machine.
But it was a Hunchback.
It was built to take those hits and return them in kind.
"Nora, Jaune, I got a Hunchback that's a little too close for comfort!" Jaune called out, quickly getting a sensor lock and feeding it to Nora's own machine.
"You got it boss! I recommend taking a few steps back…" Nora cheerfully called back.
"Je vous salue Marie, comblée de grâce." Jaune mumbled under his breath as the sky above him filled with missiles from Nora's Archer. While he had absolute faith in Nora; he did not have any whatsoever, in the missiles that now flew overhead.
Danger Close. The enemy 'Mech was less than fifty metres away and now there were a whole lot of missiles in the air, which screamed towards them on fiery tails. They seemed to almost hang in the air for a split second before they fell back down to earth. Right on top of the Hunchback.
Jaune whooped, as armour was blown off in spinning chunks and splinters. Its massive shoulder cannon, equal to Crocea Mors own, was blown to shreds by the LRMs. The pilot seemed almost dazed as Jaune manoeuvred out of cover and lined up his shot.
His cannon spoke, three shells slammed into the 'Mech, blasting apart armour and components. The Hunchback was crippled, it began to withdraw, firing off a green blast from its single remaining laser, hoping to stall Jaune's vengeance.
Fortunately Jaune had other considerations to attend to and was more than happy to allow the crippled and nearly defenceless Hunchback to withdraw.
"Missile incoming! Missile incoming!"
Like the warning blares of Crocea Mors as it was pelted by LRMs.
The lancemates of the Hunchback had arrived to support their crippled ally. A Trebuchet had taken up position just outside of providing fire support as a fourth Centurion and a Shadow Hawk advanced on him. Their AC/10s fired as quickly as they could, the rounds blowing off whole sections of armour plating and as they forced him back into cover, just as another shower of LRMs slammed into him.
"Dawson, Arc!" Jaune coughed into his mic as smoke began to fill his cockpit, "there's a Trebuchet just outside of town!"
"Roger that there suh." Sgt. Dawson drawled, his indicator moving from his position on the map. As was Pyrrha's?
Jaune turned Crocea Mors just as he received another fusillade of fire from the two enemy 'Mechs, closing on his position. Warnings blared from his console as his armour was stripped away bit by bit from blasts of solid shot and laser beams.
A volley of missiles from Nora forced the Centurion to retreat, allowing Jaune to fire a burst from his AC/20, blasting away at the Shadow Hawk, turning its dull silver and green paint scheme black and splintered with shot and shell.
Off in the distance the Trebuchet had turned to deal with the Crosscut as Sergeant Dawson charged out of cover, the teeth of his giant chainsaw roaring as he slammed into the surprised 'Mech.
But Jaune was soon dragged away from that to the more immediate concerns of the two medium 'Mechs facing him. The silver and green Centurion had recovered and pushed forward, bringing its weapons to bear as Jaune turned to show his relatively undamaged left side.
Only for a bright, blue and white blast of a PPC to strike the Centurion in the cockpit.
The head vanished in an explosion of molten metal and plasma, the former pilot, nothing more than ash in the wind as the mercenary Centurion collapsed to the earth with a screech of tearing metal and the heavy thud of multi-tons of armour plating and weapons hit the ground.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pyrrha's gold, red and bronze Black Knight, Miló, rush past him to engage the stunned Shadow Hawk, as it turned to engage this new, avenging enemy, rather than the nearly crippled Thunderbolt.
It fired off everything it had, a blast from its AC/10, a volley from its two medium lasers and SRMs. Pyrrha however had already ignited her JumpJets. The alpha strike missed, as it blew craters and melted scorch marks into the pavement.
In a move that had been honed on the fields of battle with the Wolf's Dragoons and perfected in the Solaris Ring, Pyrrha expertly guided her 'Mech over and around the Shadow Hawk and unleashed a barrage of weapons fire onto its unprotected rear.
Bright beams of pulsing energy cut into the rear of the Shadow Hawk, melting the armour and burning away critical systems, until several beams burned through and into the fusion powerplant, gutting the 'Mech.
There was no ejection.
In less than ten minutes, Pyrrha, not only halted and but had reversed the Cappies premier mercenary company's attack.
Almost single handedly.
With some help from Dawson, who was quite enthusiastically cutting the Trebuchet to shreds.
"I am sorry Jaune, but I saw that you needed help." Pyrrha confessed, "I could not leave you to face that lance on your own."
"What about the flank?" Jaune asked, ignoring her explanation as he launched a third drone.
"Exposed for now, but if we move quickly we could hit them from behind and roll them up."
"Arc, Bedferd," The captain broke in, her voice strangely calm. "My Blackjack is done. I've overheated 'en the Cappies are pushin' in. Miss Valkyrie's doin' all she can but I'm about to be overwhelmed here. I'm punchin' out."
A bright blue light erupted on the riverbank as Bedferd's ejection seat blasted clear from her crippled Blackjack and into the night sky.
"Merde." Jaune cursed again. "Nora, Jaune, put some fire onto that Centurion. Maybe if we can deal with it the Cappies will get the hint."
"Already on it Cap'n! But I'm down to my last coupla missiles. I got enough for maybe two or three more, then I got nothin' left but to start punchin' things."
"Roger," Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose as Pyrrha, Dawson and himself rounded the corner and just in time to see the remains of the Capellans second lance stomping onto the bank and into the town, towards the dug-in infantry.
"Ren, Jaune, get rid of those tanks now. Pyrrha, you know what to do." Jaune ordered as he fired off a burst of AC/20 into the Jenner, blasting it off balance as Dawson in his IndustrialMech charged in.
Pyrrha quickly targeted the Capellan Centurion and gave it the same treatment she had the first one. A blast of her PPC disintegrated armour, fried its sensor and left it vulnerable to the seven pulse laser that carved into it. Armour ran like wax, ammo cooked off, the resulting explosions tearing its arm off and stunning the pilot.
Heat radiating off the Black Knight in distorted waves, Pyrrha quickly closed the distance and smashed her 'Mech's fist into the weakened and non-existent armour, tearing the 'Mech to pieces. Reminding everyone that she was the Invincible Girl.
The four time Solaris Champion.
She had killed better in the ring than these.
In the distance explosions flashed on the hill as the tanks were now prey to the two stalking light 'Mechs. On the bridge the Capellan infantry began to fall back, first in some order, but it was not long before all command and control was lost and they began to rout.
"Hey Jaune! The Cappies are starting to run away!" Nora cheered over the radio, "I smashed that last Centurion and the other one then booked it. I think I could still hit him though."
"Negative Nora." Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, as the Jenner attempted to stumble towards the river and escape from his lance. "I think they've had enough."
"Arc, Bedferd. Still alive 'ere, thanks to the PBIs, they pulled me outta the river before the Cappies could getta hold o' me." Bedferd's drawl echoed through the comms, much to the Cuirassiers relief. "Thank ye kindly for your help in settlin' this manner."
"Good to hear you are alive, Bedferd." Pyrrha chimed in as she fell back into formation with the lance as Jaune signalled for the Juniper to come and pick them up.
"Yeah." Jaune added as let out a deep breath as relief filled him. "Well… See you around the galaxy, Captain."
The sun was setting.
The Capellan vanguard had been utterly depleted, if not destroyed.
It had been a tough fight, but his lance had pulled through. Though salvage would not be as profitable as Jaune had hoped. There simply wasn't time to land and sort through the various pieces and parts.
Though he could probably convince the IFL to share in what they had collected over the last weeks as compensation for the loss of salvage from the battlefield in addition to their pay.
But for now the mission was done.
The Cuirassiers and the IFL could pullout now and to the evac zone. Them to FedCom space and what freedom they could expect from the Noble Houses.
Him and his lance to space and their next payday.
Such was the life of a Mercenary.
Glossary:
ER PPC: Extended Range what happens when you take a PPC and give it that little extra umph to it? Well ya get a PPC that can out range practically anything short of a LRM. On top of that, you can also safely use it at short range. All around a pretty nasty weapon. Was not a fan of goin' up against that thing in Solaris.
Pulse Lasers: Another bita lostech that Pyrrha and Ren managed to get their hands on while in the Wolf's Dragoons. Instead of a beam of incredibly hot light to melt armour and people, these use several beams in pulses, allowing for repeated hits in the same area, instead of it being spread around. Again, was a bitch to fight against.
AC/20: So an AC/20 is what happens when overcompensation meets weapon designs after snorting a rail of Canopus Battlepowder. Basically take a really, really big gun and then have it fire two hundred millimetre shells. It's great for just about anythin' from infantry, artillery, tanks, 'Mechs, hippies, protesters, rebels, conscientious objectors, squirrels, pirates and pirate squirrels.
BattleMech Corner:
And now it's time for big stompy robots!
So today we will continue on the 'Mech's of Ruby's Rangers because that's what I'm sticking to! You can wait your turn Jaune!
Anyway let me tell you about Blake's Wolverine, Gambol Shroud! We've designated it as WVR-G4D. Blake's pretty quiet as to where her 'Mech came from, but I've seen mostly Capellan and Canopus parts used in her.
Not that any of us would judge. Considering how much of our 'Mechs tend to run on salvaged parts. Well, Weiss might, but her 'Mech is brand new so she don' count.
Anyway, as a rule Wolverine's are a very capable fast strike and skirmish 'Mech and Blake's isn't an exemption to that. If anything its actually probably even better at skirmishing because in addition to the five jump jets and SRM 6, Blake found an UAC/5 that allows her to put a lot of shells down range.
So she's pretty fast, capable of leaping in and out of combat relatively easily… Though the reliance on ammunition makes her not the best choice to have in a long drawn out fight, she and Yang make a very good combination with her needling them only for Yang to come in with the knock out punch.
[You're just mad we stole that job off of you in 3028] - Comment by ArcKnight 17:43 17/09/3035
[i was sick that day! don't make me come over there and kick your butt again] - Comment by RedlikeRoses 17:45 17/09/3035