Salomek
Sarna
Sarna Commonality
Capellan Confederation
April 12th, 3057
"WATCH YOUR NINE, GODDAMIT! OH SHI-" Mechwarrior Jaden Hoss's speakers blared in alarm from with the aggravated voice of his lance commander. But the last bit was disconcerting, was his Lance commander just busy? Or was he dead?
"Shit" he muttered as he wrenched his mech to his left as he turned just in time to face the façade of a ruined building that exploded in a massive cloud of grey dust, masonry, and girders as a Capellan Vindicator emerged behind the cloud. Hoss grabbed both triggers, at first, sending rounds and beams of azure light into the rubble circulating around the Vindicator's feet.
Calm down, Hoss, or you are going to die here, in this godforsaken craphole of a town I never want to see again, even in my nightmares.
Hoss backed his mech off from the intruder, it's dark copper colors contrasting with the garishly large McCarron's crest taking up half of the Vindicator's torso, as ground ferrocrete and ruined rebar fell in torrents off the angles of the 'Mech. The Vindicator's torso turned, and the right arm, which was little more than a tube attached to a stub of an arm, began to glow a bright cerulean radiance that soon reached out as a man-made thunderbolt at Hoss's Enforcer, striking it in the left arm with a thunderclap and a river of scorched armor plate that fell in a groan of protest to the ruined street below.
Shit, he's packing an ER PPC. Ok, let's see how he likes my reply. Hoss brought both of the arms of his 'Mech again and triggered his autocannon. Scarlet tracers reached out from the hammering of his Federated Autocannon and intersected explosively with the Vindicator, tearing out gouts of armor plate as the rounds stitched a line from the left hip to the right shoulder.
The Vindicator righted itself, and backed off, firing it's lasers wildly at Hoss's 'Mech. Maybe he's running a bit hot, surprised he didn't use his PPC again. Hoss cautiously walked after him, sending ruby colored beams from his ChisComp Large Laser in the general direction of the Capellan 'Mech. Something isn't right about this. Why back off, unless…
The insistent hooting of a proximity alarm, and the threat detection suite created a cacophony that instantly riveted Hoss's attention. His heart raced and sweat began to pour even more than the hot confines of a 'Mech in combat usually led to. Dammit, I found the rest of his lance! Three buildings were smashed apart as dormant 'Mechs emerged from them, in the same color scheme as the Vindicator Hoss has just exchanged shots with. Blackjack, Falcon, and oh shit…a Warhammer.
The Warhammer had barely cleared the building when it triggered both of its PPCs. One went wide, and the other cobalt colored beam smashed into the right leg of Hoss's Enforcer, the impact rattling the 'Mech and warrior inside it like a pinball stuck in a cascade of impacts with the bumpers. Hoss keyed his radio "Any friendly call signs, this is Crescent Two-Five, am engaged with a lance of Capellan 'Mechs. I say again, three Capellan 'Mechs at the corner of Alfrek and Holdmanton. Burst transmitting grid ref now. Need assistance soonest. Out!"
The rest of the Capellan fire went wide, smashing storefronts and facades with childlike ease, and sending rubble tumbling into the street. The pavement was scarred with the constant movement of 'Mechs over the last five days, and who knew if anyone had been buried under the heaps of rubble, that now changed hands daily.
Hoss triggered his jump jets, seeking to get lost in the urban canyons and hoping to split up his pursuers and have something resembling a fighting chance. How in the hell am I going to kill a damn Warhammer? I mean, I only have 80 rounds left for the gun, then I'm down to a pair of lasers. Neither of which are shall we say, "blessed with ummpf."
Hoss's 'Mech grounded with a shudder as it landed in a nearby street, it's forest green and brown camouflage paintwork now crisscrossed with a mix of pockmarks and singed armor plate from the glancing hits that the Enforcer took during its brief flight. Hoss glanced at his right MFD, where a 2D representation of the 'Mech's armor and structure was presented. Most of my armor is yellow or green, though the right lower leg is orange. Ok..not too bad considering I almost played pop-up target for an entire Cappie lance.
The sound pickups detected the footfalls of the Capellan lance. Crap, they'll find me based on a likely computation of my flight path. Gotta hide. Hoss scanned his surroundings visually. There was a building that had had it's front torn open from the inside, it was gutted from the first to 12 floors, and was tall enough to hide Hoss's 'Mech. The only problem was, the heat signature. Any good FLIR is going to pick me out, if their MAD gear doesn't. He then spied a downed Phoenix Hawk bearing the "Deadly Dancers" insignia of Gamma Regiment. Ok, good question? Are there any friendlies around? Did the block just change hands again?
The footfalls were getting closer. It was time to hide and Hoss deftly ducked his 'Mech inside the remains of the building, then hurriedly shut the 'Mech down. Please don't let them find me. If they do, I'll probably have just enough time to scream before they kick my head in.
The fighting on Sarna had lasted for ten days. The 12th Vegan Rangers had grounded with 4 regiments running about 90% strength. By now, they were down to two regiments barely running 85%. And as for the Kestrel Grenadiers? Well they'd contented themselves with raising what hell they could in McCarron's rear, and had at least one regiment of his chasing down the Grenadiers. But the other Capellan regiments hadn't gotten off scot free either. Word was, McCarron's regiments were running about 70% strength each.
The fighting was brutal, to put it mildly. No quarter had been asked or given by either side, and the only things left alive in Salomek at this point were the rats, feral dogs, and those combatants on both sides whom fate hadn't seen fit to cut short their time on this plane of existence. Hoss reached back into a locker just above the right shoulder of his command couch and fished out a ration cracker, which he proceeded to nibble on while he waited, he hoped, for the Capellans to pass him by. Damn, what a mess. Am I gonna see tomorrow? How about the next five minutes? Hoss was gripping his stick so hard with his right hand that his knuckles of his fingers were turning white. The insides of his fingerless gloves and his neurohelmet were slick with sweat, and the pit in his stomach only seemed to say, please don't let me die here.
Hoss took a moment to listen to his surroundings, the boom of far off autocannon fire, the whine-crack of a PPC discharging, and the footfalls of a 'Mech perhaps running toward battle or running for its life. The situation was confused, and there was not a distinct frontline, often buildings changed hands two or three times a day.
We've got another two, two and a half weeks before things get desperate, I hate to think General Stancel might have to seek terms thought Hoss.
A set of footfalls drew closer, the building began to shake. Oh crap, have they found me?
Sarna, Part 1
Attacking Units: 12th Vegan Rangers (all four regiments), 1st Kestrel Grenadiers
Defending Units: McCarron's Armored Cavalry (all five regiments), Sarna Home Guard.
The 12th Vegan Rangers grounded on Sarna on April 2nd, 3057 and quickly set up a perimeter around the small city of Salomek to await further help from follow-on FC units. They were immediately hit on three sides by four regiments of McCarron's Armored Cavalry (the 5th was kept in reserve), and the 12th's Delta Regiment was overrun after 72 hours of hard fighting, with the remaining three regiments withdrawing into Salomek proper, anchoring their defense on a ring of low hills that made up most of the "Old City" The hills overlooked the "New City" across the White River, a tributary of the Grey River that ran to the south. The 12th dug into the hills and fortified the urban center of the Old City as best as they could, blowing all six bridges across the White River behind them. McCarron's Armored Cavalry soon followed them across the river and launched several abortive battalion sized assaults to take one or more of the hills that comprised the Old City. The Sarna Home Guard was also kept in reserve to protect Backtal and Sarna City.
One of the more notable actions was the assault by 3rd McCarron's to take a sluice dam where one of the larger hills known as Prince Hill, met the White River. 3rd Battalion, Alpha Regiment, 12th Vegan Rangers held off the entire 3rd McCarron's Regiment for three days before a counterattack by the rest of Alpha into the teeth of the 3rd Regiment that gutted both regiments on the aptly named "Plain of Red Tears" ended the most serious threat to the 12th's perimeter in this phase of the battle. After this, that sluice dam was known to both sides as simply "the Damba."
After this assault, McCarron satisfied himself with rotating his regiments into and out of the fight, probing the lines of the 12th and launching company and lance sized raids into the 12th's perimeter. Places like the "Crayon Factory" and the "TAV Hostel" entered military history as they changed hands five and six times between the two sides in a matter of days. Once the 1st Kestrel Grenadiers arrived on April 9th, they began a campaign of raids and mobile actions to draw off some of the MAC and managed to lead the 5th MAC Regiment on a wild goose chase that continued for most of the battle, occasionally turning and smashing isolated companies when they strayed too far from the rest of the regiment.
When asked by the Small World Theatre HQ what the status of his command was, General Tom Stancel simply responded by FAX. "Issue in doubt, send help soonest."
1st Kestrel Grenadiers Mobile HQ, 8km NW of Svoboda
Sarna Commonality
Capellan Confederation
April 19th, 3057
Marshal Agatha Stromp sighed as she looked over the situation map on the holo table in her Mobile HQ. The 12th is dying by inches and Archie McCarron smells blood. You'd think he'd have offered Tom Stancel the honors of war by now. Guess nobody's in the mood for that right now. She sipped her cold coffee contemplatively. Not bad Sargent Major, I see your "training" of Corporal McTavish goes well.
"Alright boys and girls, we've probably done all we can here. Drawing off one regiment of the Big Mac was all well and good, but I want to make them come at us. Where's a good place?"
Her S-3, a Leftenant General with a prominent widow's peak and a hawklike nose by the name of Shemp, shook his head. "Mam, with all due respect. There's shit all we can do here. McCarron won't take the bait, and even if we wreck the 5th, well, Archie's part of the CCAF now. He'll just see it as the cost of killing us. But he won't turn and do that until he's done with the 12th Vegan. No, if we want him to come after us with more than the 5th MAC? We must hit something that will make them sit up and take notice.
Agatha smiled. "OK, how about Sarna City?"
The S-2, another Leftenant General with the nametape of "Jenkov" with long grey hair tied up in a bun, and piercing blue eyes seemed to pin her commander with them. "No ma'am, with respect, our strength projections have a good chunk of the Planetary Guard there. We couldn't get out of there before the 5th caught us and then smashed us between them."
Shemp smiled. "We have a better plan, Marshal. A much better plan. We plan on turning on the 5th again, and smothering them with our fire support assets, we've been saving the ammo for a rainy day. We then detach the Mounted Grenadiers, have them cross the Straights of Losar here-"pointing to a point on the situation map. "-and hit the Tengo Aerospace plant at Backtal."
"Isn't that splitting the regiment, Shemp?" a look of concern crossing Stomp's face.
"It is mam, but if we want to make the Capellans react, this is a way to do it. We may not like the reaction we get though, so we're going to have to stay mobile from here on in if we execute this plan."
Stromp smiled a feral smile. "Ok, Shemp, get with Jenkov's boys and girls and write this up. I haven't approved it yet. But let's see what the nitty gritty looks like. We'll reconvene in 6 hours."
