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Post by Lance Commander Marcus Taylor on Aug 16, 2005 9:55:31 GMT -5
As the first one to drop at my request, my mech touched down rather gracefully for a Heavy BattleMech Chassis.
I was the first and I will be the last.
I watched as the rest of my Lance finished the drop and jettisoning their rocket boosters.
Alright Bravo Lance, close up and form on me. Delta Formation with me on point.
Bravo-2, roger. Bravo-3, I copy. Bravo-4, falling in Bravo Lead. Bravo-5 here, roger.
I brought my BattleMech up to a decent speed, slow enough that everyone could keep up and stay in formation, but fast enough to get to the facility as fast as possible.
Listen up Bravo Lance, we are going to try and pull them away from the Earthwerks facility with Long Range weapons only. If they come at us, we will break and engage at will.
However, if they don't budge, close in hard and fast, but stay in formation. They might be organized, but we are disciplined. Get in close and don't give them room to breathe. I'll give the command to break off once we press them enough.
Remeber, we don't wont to damage the facility if at all possible, so don't just fire blindly.
Bravo-2, I copy. Bravo-3, Acknowledged. Bravo-4, Understood. Bravo Lead, this is Bravo-5. You do know that I don't carry any long range weapons right?
I'm aware of the the Lance's loadout. I'm counting on you for close in support once we've engaged.
Understood sir. Just wanted to make sure.
I couldn't say I didn't blame him. After all, this was my first outing as the Lance Commander of Bravo Lance. However I was a damned fine pilot and I planned on being in command for a good long while.
Not to mention a damned good Lance Commander that people want to follow.
I smirked and thundered towards the facility. We entered a series of rolling hills. Not big ones, but enough to hide vehicles in if the pirates had any tactical sense whatsoever.
Bravo-2 to Bravo Lead, I'm getting intermittent contacts about a half click out.
I'm seeing it too now as well.
Bravo Lance, look sharp, stay in formation and switch your weapons off safe. We are weapons hot.
Bravo-2, weapons hot. Bravo-3, locked and loaded. Bravo-4, I'm ready for 'em. Bravo-5, Let's do this.
Bravo Lance to Castle-1, we are feet dry and moving to begin our assault. ETA, 10 minutes barring any contacts.
This is Castle-1, understood. Go get 'em MechWarrior.
Time to take out the trash.
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Post by Lance Commander William Rhodes on Aug 16, 2005 13:30:20 GMT -5
William maneuvered Diefenbaker into position behind and to the right of Taylor's Ryujo in a classic delta formation that he remembered practicing endlessly at the Warrior's Hall on New Syrtis. Surrounded by rolling hills perfect for a hit-and-fade ambush, Rhodes rapidly flicked through his various sensor modes (infra-red, MagScan, visual, seismic, etc.) looking for enemy contacts. Finally his IR sensors, able to detect heat sources through the bulk of the nearby hills, picked up a series of hot traces about a half-kilometer out from their position. Alerting Bravo-1, the rest of Bravo Lance armed their weapons and prepared to engage.
This is Bravo 2, one of the contacts is hot enough to be a mech. The rest look like light vehicles.
A moment later, a tiny Savannah Master burst from cover and weaved between the Mechs of Bravo Lance at blinding speed. It's ruby small laser stabbed at Diefenbaker's knee, melting some of the Ferro-Fibrous armor. William fired a shotgun blast from his LBX autocannon, spraying sub-munitions at the agile hovercraft, but the speedy little bugger was too fast for his targeting and tracking system, disappearing behind a nearby hill before the cloud of deadly fletchettes could reach him.
The rest of the enemy vehicle lance appeared at the crest of another hill, led by a sixty-five ton JaggerMech with the words "Nazereth" painted on its center torso. Around the feet of the heavy mech were a Pegasus hovertank, a conventional armored car, and an Indra infantry carrier.
The JagerMech filled the air with high velocity 90mm slugs from its Ultra mounts, sending crimson tracers streaking towards Bravo Lance. The high explosive rounds ripped more ferro-fibrous armor off the Hellhound's left torso and arm. William retaliated by dialing in his extended range large lasers and carving off sheets of metling armor with emerald beams from the pirate mech's right torso and leg. The heat level spiked in the cockpit as Diefenbaker's heat sinks worked overtime to compensate for the hot lasers. William was instantly drenched in sweat and his cooling vest kicked in to prevent heat exhaustion.
Shouldn't fire both of those at the same time...
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Post by Captain Benjamin Maxwell on Aug 16, 2005 18:22:30 GMT -5
Garland, Miyamoto, and a very haggard-looking Schuster took hold of the passenger harnesses dangling in the salvage VTOL's cargo compartment as I yanked its side door closed. The craft lifted, gave a gentle nudge, and dove from the open landing bay doors in a near-vertical dive toward the embattled Earthwerks facility. As I white-knuckled my harness, I switched my comm unit over to "VOX" and tried to brief Alpha lance as best I could.
"Apologies for the rough ride, gents, but given the current tac situation at the facility, this is the most safe and direct route to our point of entry - a rooftop access point here."
A holographic representation of the Earthwerks facility flickered to life in the center of the cabin, and zoomed in on its roof. A multihued insertion marker appeared near a recessed hatchway.
"The VTOL will attempt to get us as close to this point as reasonably possible, at which time we will have approximately five seconds to disembark. Bravo lance will be fully engaged with the pirate BattleMech assets, but there's no guarantee that someone won't take a pot shot at the aircraft. Once we are down, we'll need to breach and clear the facility as quickly as possible. The element of surprise is the only thing we've currently got going for us. Questions?"
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Post by Lance Commander William Rhodes on Aug 16, 2005 19:29:55 GMT -5
Sweating in his cockpit, William saw the thirty-five ton Pegasus hovertank dash down the hill as the small Savannah Master returned for another run. The Pegasus, a ubiquitous design popular with all the Successor State armies, unleashed a full spread of eighteen short range missiles from the boxy launcher on its back. This particular model seemed to have traded out the traditional medium laser for an extra SRM pack.
Smoking contrails arrowed in on Bravo Lance's position, as William slapped the activation switch for the Hellhound's laser AMS. Ruby darts sprayed the air in front of his mech knocking several warheads from the sky, but the rest crashed among the five Bravo mechs, detonations peeling off armor and flinging up fountains of dirt.
Rhodes checked his damage schematic monitor and saw that he had lost more armor on his chest and arms from the salvo. The heat index spiraled up into the red zone. The Laser AMS was not limited by ammunition like its Phalanx mini-gun cousin, but it did produce a bucket-load of heat.
You'll pay for that, pirate scum...
Sweat stung the MechWarrior's eyes as he used his control sticks to swing the glowing crosshairs on his HUD over to cover the hovertank. The tone for Streak missile lock sounded in his neurohelmet earpiece and he squeezed his index finger on the red trigger.
A flight of six missile errupted from the tubes mounted in the Hellhound's left torso, following an invisible infra-red guidance beam to their target. The brace of rockets slammed into the forward skirt on the Pegasus, ripping it open and spilling out compressed air. The pirate driver lost control, driving the nose of his hovertank into the rocky ground and causing the machine to flip over onto its back, flattening the SRM launcher. Fortunately for the four man crew, the missile's ammo magazine was deep inside the hull and didn't detonate.
An escape hatch blew on the side of the stricken hovertank's hull, and the pirate crew scurried to safety, eager to avoid the raining destruction of their larger brethren.
Scratch one enemy tin-can...
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Nicholas Schuster
Regular
DECEASED
"Blakists are like a virus. And WE are the cure."
Posts: 139
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Post by Nicholas Schuster on Aug 17, 2005 10:35:52 GMT -5
The VTOL gave a lurch as it ground to a halt atop the roof of the facility. Before I could ask any questions, I was grabbed by the arm, and pulled out of the craft, Maxwell right behind me. As soon as the four of us were out, the VTOL went screaming back into the sky. Below us, the deafening sounds of 'Mech combat roared, and I could see that the facility was under full assault by Bravo lance. The white paint of the Earthwerks building gleamed in the sunlight, and I had to shield my eyes from its reflective surface. Captain Maxwell pulled a DetPac from his bandolier, and armed it, affixing it to the doorway we would be going through.
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MechWarrior Alex Thorn
Regular
LEGIONNAIRES
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." - Winston Churchill
Posts: 176
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Post by MechWarrior Alex Thorn on Aug 17, 2005 10:36:29 GMT -5
I pulled into formation behind Bravo Lead. As we went along I saw the JaggerMech appear over the ridge. I fired a alpha strike. My ER Lasers and my ER PPCs lanced over the 'Mech's armor. The PPCs hit the torso tearing the words "Nazereth" off. When my weapons recycled I fired my ER Large Lasers. They hit the left arm ripping it from its mount.
"Ha. He's not so leathal now boys."
Just then I saw a flash across my vision. It was the Savannha Master. I fired my Medium Lasers at it but to no avail. I punched my radio.
"Someone has got to get a lock on that Savannah Master."
Rounds from the JaggerMech's remaining Ultra Cannons ripped into my Black Knight. I looked at the armor readings and my torso and left leg were now in the yellow.
Alright time to finish you off.
I waited for my weapons to recycle again. Once they did I fired another alpha strike. The ER Medium Laser rippled across the JaggerMech's torso while the ER Larger Lasers ripped the other Ultra Cannon mounts off. The PPCs hit the right leg crippling its actuators. The 'Mech fell and as soon as my PPCs recycled I hit it with them. A small explosion went off followed by a large one as the reactor blew.
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Post by Dr. Jessica Saturina on Aug 17, 2005 12:23:21 GMT -5
Wyatt and Dr. Edwards made me leave the infirmary to get some sleep when thy found me asleep in the chair next to Wedges bed. I went reluctantly. I did feel exhausted.
Once in my room I showered, laying down on my bed trying to go back to sleep. I must have drifted off, for I awoke from a dream. I looked at the time. I'd only slept 3 hours, I tried going back to sleep, but it was illusive. Finally giving up, I jumped up, getting dressed, went to the mess hall for some food.
I grabbed a sandwich and some tea, sat at a table eating my food leisurely as I went over the dream in my head. The dream was a curious one, very intriguing, one I wouldn't mind having again. I smiled thinking of that. I knew I wouldn't be able to go to sleep again, so I grabbed some jello, chicken broth, some crackers, and some soda, taking it with me as I made my way back to the infirmary.
Wedge had been very sick. He wasn't able to to eat, so we kept IV's going. I wanted to see if I could get him to eat something. I walked into the infirmary, Alice was there.
"Dr. Saturina what are you doing here? Dr. Edwards said you were resting."
"I did for awhile, but awoke and couldn't get back to sleep. With the mission on its way I'm just too nervous. I want to be ready to go if I need to go. Since I didn't drop with one of the lances this time, I want to be alert, ready to go at a moments notice. I'm rested though so don't worry. I'll take over with Wedge. I want to see if I can get him to eat."
"Yes Dr. I have some things I could be doing anyway."
Going over to Wedges bed I put the food on the table next to the bed. He was awake but had his eyes closed.
"Wedge do you think you could eat something? I have some jello, broth, crackers. I'd like you to try. You really need to try to get something in your stomach."
His face grimaced. He made a grumbling noise.
"I'll try some jello Doc."
Using the beds electronic system I put the head of the bed into an almost sitting up position. I spooned a tiny amount of the jello onto the spoon. Placed it to his lips, he took it in. It took a little while but he finally swallowed it. I continued to spoon feed the jello to him. I managed to get half of it down him. Once he started to grumble more, I stopped trying to feed him. Putting the head of the bed back down, I told him to sleep. He did well, we would try again some other time.
With nothing to take care of at this moment, I sat myself in the chair by his bed again. All I could do is wait. Wait to see if the guys needed me on the planet. Wait to see if Wedge needed something. Basically just wait.[ Waiting sucked.
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Post by Lance Commander William Rhodes on Aug 17, 2005 14:05:15 GMT -5
The Hellhound canopy automatically darkened as the enemy JagerMech exploded in a blinding flash of light under the hail of fire that was Thorn's alpha strike. Burning Mech wreckage showered all over the nearby hills. The force of the explosion was enough to engulf the nearby armored car as well and shred through its light armor plate, devouring it in the inferno.
There was little time to celebrate, however. Diefenbaker's sensors detected more vehicles approaching through the hills as well as a full Mech lance maneuvering into a flanking position. In addition, there was still the Savannah Master to deal with and the Indra APC had opened its hatches, deploying a platoon of SRM armed infantry.
Heads up, Bravos. These guys were just bait. I've got Mechs and Vehicles flanking our position.
IFF tagged the mechs as a Zeus, Centurion, Cicada, and a pair of Firestarters.
Things are about to get interesting...
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Post by Wedge Lourde on Aug 17, 2005 19:10:07 GMT -5
I nibbled on the jello, and swallowed only tiny peices. After the jello, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I ralphed, and sat up. Dr. Saturina was snoozing off in the chair next to my nightstand. I opened my lips to speak, but I decided not to awake The Doctor.
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Post by Commander Garrett Garland on Aug 17, 2005 19:11:36 GMT -5
I disembarked from the VTOL, noticing an errant SRM flying overhead—at least I hoped it was an errant one. Grabbing Schuster’s arm, I pulled him out of the VTOL—I wasn’t sure if he was at full capacity. I looked back at the VTOL’s tinted windows, Forester’s silhouette barley visible. I made sure my gyroslug rifle was locked and loaded as Captain Maxwell primed the door breaching charge. Looking back over the roof I could see two Firestarters entering combat, engaging the ‘mechs of bravo lance. I never really understood Firestarters, why would someone make such a dishonorable ‘mech? I could take being smashed to pieces by a gauss slug or pierced by a laser beam—even disintegrated by a PPC, but being boiled alive in my own cockpit? Just as I finished that thought I was greeted by twin explosions, seeming equally powerful. Although the Firestarter’s napalm tanks detonating provided for an excellent bang, the closeness of the door’s lock blowing apart made it equally loud. I turned my attention back to my part of the mission, taking point down the corridor.
It seemed that this corridor was used to service the many ventilation shafts which conglomerated at this particular junction. Handing the Captain my rifle, I slide down one of the shafts marked with a small plaque: ‘Administration’. Using my hands and knees to control my descent I found myself vertically suspended above a small fan moving fairly slowly. Kicking downwards, I broke the fan from its mounting, sending it flying towards the ventilation grate in the ceiling of the administration office; they’d know I was coming. It was a tight fit around the fan mounting, but I managed to get by eliciting a small grunt. I was about 2 meters above the now broken ceiling grate and from there 3.5 meters from the floor when I saw a head looking up at me. It would seem that one of the pirates had come to investigate the fallen grating—he probably just attributed it to the occasional missed shot the Earthwerks’ building was receiving. Fortunately for me, his curiosity did not bred caution; his weapon was not pointed up the shaft. Releasing pressure from the sides of the shaft, I slid down landing on top of the pirate. My booted feet made contact with the man’s head and shoulders, sending him to the floor. I fell with him, careful to not land on my knees. The man was obviously out, but he wasn’t the only one who noticed the falling grate. In the corner of the room were several Earthwerks’ employees were all asking for immediate rescue; the pirates weren’t butchers at least. My rifle came sliding down the shaft, bouncing against the fan mounting before making its final descent into my hands.
The Captain yelled, “Got another one coming!”
I set my rifle down and caught the Captain’s as it fell through the ceiling into my hands. His rifle was most impressive, an AC-88. I knew that this was not his favorite weapon though—he cherished his antique Dessert Eagle, even upgrading its firing mechanism to handle depleted uranium slugs. Although DU rounds had more penetrating power, I still used conventional ammunition whenever using ballistic weapons—tungsten may not have the penetration of DU, but it didn’t vaporize into a fine dust, leaving the battlescene toxic for generations to come. Admittedly the small amounts of radioactivity caused by the depleted uranium were not a big problem in themselves for they were merely emitting alpha radiation, nearly harmless. However, if ingested, DU could still be devastating on a person’s system. Most people would find it odd that people would consume DU, but considering the penetrating power of the DU it is not too hard to image small bits of shrapnel burying itself in those on the battlefield or someone inhaling the toxic dust after the round disintegrated against its target. The real problem, however, was water contamination. Our weapons had progressed far over the past few centuries, but it came with a price. As soldiers over a millennia discovered, when they missed with a DU round it bore deep into the ground, possibly even reaching underground streams. The uranium particles would disseminate in the groundwater, causing a carcinogenic effect when consumed. However, this was not the time to ponder the moral usage of depleted uranium with hostiles all around.
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Post by Captain Benjamin Maxwell on Aug 17, 2005 20:29:31 GMT -5
My combat boots made a distinct "thud" as I hit the floor, falling into a crouch position to absorb the impact as I drew my Desert Eagle from its holster, training it on the temporarily-unconscious pirate. I looked to Garland, who acknowledged my glance with a nod, and immediately set about applying disposable flexi-cuffs to our first prisoner. I slowly rose to my feet as I collected my assault rifle and reholstered the handgun. Walking over to the small, terrified-looking group of office workers that had been herded into a single cubicle, I placed my assault rifle on 'safe,' and pointed the barrel away from the civillians.
"I'm Captain Benjamin Maxwell, of the Legionnaires. We're here to rescue you."
My eyes drifted across the ID badges that the employees were wearing, trying to find an administrator, manager, or supervisor that I could give instructions to, and perhaps get a bit more information on the bastards that had taken the factory hostage.
"Is there a supervisor here?"
A pudgy hand was raised near the back of the cubicle, and a rotund, balding, jolly-looking man slowly made his way to the front of the group.
"I'm Fred Danforth...I'm...I'm the floor supervisor for the three to eleven shift."
"Are any of your people hurt?"
Danforth turned around, gesturing into the cubicle, dabbing at his sweat-covered face with a handkerchief which shook in his hand.
"There's...there's a few...Bob and Theresa got beaten up pretty badly in the first raid...and Janet - Janet passed out just before you guys got here and hasn't come around. We don't know exactly what's wrong with her."
I nodded.
"All right, Mister Danforth...we're going to get a medical team in here to attend to you and your staff. In the meantime, I need you to make sure no one leaves this office. We haven't cleared the rest of the building yet."
Danforth's head bobbed in acknowledgement.
"Can you tell me anything more about these raiders? Their tactics, numbers, armament...?"
A terrified, confused look crossed the supervisor's face.
"I don't...I don't know...it all happened so fast..."
"It's all right. Just hang tight - we'll get you through this."
I pulled my portable comm unit from its holster, and pressed it into Danforth's hand.
"At the first sign of trouble, I want you call us. Just press the button and start speaking. Don't hesitate to use it as often as necessary."
Danforth swallowed hard, and nodded.
"Thank you, Captain Maxwell. Be safe in there."
I shook Danforth's hand, and keyed my headset.
"Alpha-1 to Liberty - we have made initial entry into the factory. Medics are needed at our location - please have the triage team prep and deploy as quickly as possible."
"Copy that, Alpha-1. Medical assets will be deploying to your location in ten."
I made my way over to Garland, who stood near the now-bound and gagged raider.
"Okay, Commander. What've we got?"
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Post by Gen Miyamoto on Aug 18, 2005 0:55:54 GMT -5
We deployed and forced our entry into the facility, the team was light and made impressive time. We rushed into the dark interior and began searching for a promising route to likley hostage locations. A scenario of using the air conditioning ducts had been discussed and now, executed. Garland slid down a shaft towards the administrative center, we waited above in tense silence. After a moment, Maxwell turned to Schuster and me.
"I'm going down, make for the network node, and play it safe, we don't know what to expect yet." With that he tossed his weapons and plummeted downward to meet the other branch of Alpha. Devided we stood more of a chance to confuse the pirates and to over represent our numbers. Though risky, this should send them running.
We stood for a second in silence, and then we turned down the hall towards the stairway. Schuster leaning just slightly on the wall.
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Post by Lance Commander William Rhodes on Aug 18, 2005 14:18:39 GMT -5
The Diefenbaker's cockpit screens displayed static for a moment from residual EMP as a PPC bolt from the Indra streaked by its head.
That was a little too close for comfort.
Placing his targeting crosshairs on the 35-ton infantry carrier, William let loose with another Streak salvo and a blast from his LBX autocannon. The short ranged missiles slammed into the quad mini-gun turret on the rear of the APC, shearing it clean off, while hyper-velocity fletchettes from the autocannon shredded the bulbous front wheels, splattering burning rubber and Harjel everywhere. Harjel was a liquid substance used by Clan elementals and Warships to automatically seal breaches. It could also seal punctured tires, which was its purpose on the Indra, but was only rated up to a .50 caliber hole. The autocannon on the Hellhound had a much larger bore than that and left the advanced tire system in ruins.
William zoomed in with his visual sensors and noticed that in the confusion of the last few moments, the Indra crew had left one of the infantry boarding hatches open after having disembarked the foot sloggers. A sure sign of an undisciplined and poorly trained crew, but William was not about to let the opportunity pass. Quickly obtaining a target lock, he fired one of his extended range large lasers (mindful of the heat this time) sending an emerald beam lancing through the open hatch and into the innards of the Indra.
A moment later, a secondary explosion flashed and the Indra ripped itself apart as its machine gun and SRM bins cooked off. The Indra itself wasn't armed with missiles, but it did carry extra rounds for the dismounted infantry platoon. A huge orange fireball spiraled into the sky and several of the poor bloody infantry were engulfed in the deadly flames.
By this time, the pirate mechs were cresting a nearby hill, seeking to pin Bravo Lance between themselves and the Earthwerks factory. William knew that fighting mechs would be a lot tougher than light vehicles. Mentally preparing himself, he turned his Mech towards a hatchet-bearing Centurion. An unusual modification for such a design...
This is Bravo 2, I've got the Centurion.
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Nicholas Schuster
Regular
DECEASED
"Blakists are like a virus. And WE are the cure."
Posts: 139
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Post by Nicholas Schuster on Aug 18, 2005 14:27:47 GMT -5
We were left alone in the corridor - Miyamoto and I - and I turned to the Commander for direction.
"Okay, sir - how do you want to do this? I can try to access the computer network from here and see what information I can acquire, or we can wait until we've reached a fortified position. It's your call."
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Post by Gen Miyamoto on Aug 18, 2005 14:57:20 GMT -5
"Okay, sir - how do you want to do this? I can try to access the computer network from here and see what information I can acquire, or we can wait until we've reached a fortified position. It's your call."
I replied quietly, "Let's find ourselves somewhere with network access, see if we can't keep our heads down untill the fireworks start."
We opened the doorway to the access stairway and proceeded downward cautiously. I reminded myself to be discreet, we were looking for information not a body count.
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