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Jack feels more than hears the Jenner exploding. He was glad he didn't machine gun the pilot to death. Didn't feel right. Yet.
"Don't give up, Gunny! We've got them on the run now!" Jack yells into the comms of his wingman as the light Commando comes under a withering fire.
Partly taking advantage of the enemy's fixation on the surprisingly powerful Commando and also trying to take some of the heat off of him, Jack does a quick walk forward and brings the mighty Panther into range.
"Hoi there big boy. You've been giving my friends some fits. How about you get some fits of your own?"
Jack wanted to hurry up the endgame and not give the enemy a chance to get lucky, so he unleashes the full might of the Angel on the ally cat.
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"Awwwww man. Why'd Meatbag have to slag half the Jenner," Charly asks. "If we keep the mech, we'll have to replace all of those parts, and I don't trust Jack to do it."
"Are you implying that just because I touched the Leopard, I'm somehow responsible for that hunk of trog drek? Hey, it's because of me that we all didn't die in a fiery inferno of fire on re-entry! If I can help all of us to keep our next-of-kin blissfully ignorant of what exactly we're all doing out here, then I think I can patch together a mech with a little wear-and-tear on it."
"Well, something's gumming the works, and I didn't get a chance to do a once over on this walking scrapheap before we dropped," Charly snipes back at Jack
She gooses the throttle and moves through the trees at a speed that is probably faster than truly safe. The next target on the list is the Panther. She can't charge in, that will just get her killed, but thankfully cover works both ways, and the rain is bound to screw with their thermals. If she can manage to sneak into the ruins and set up an ambush.
"Lloyd, see if you can't sneak into the ruins. We need to get under this guy's guns and see if we can't catch him while he's busy playing tag with Lapeidra. Hopefully we can use the buildings to catch missiles instead of our mechs."
First Combat: Bang up Job
Gunny’s first engagement was a patrol skirmish that literally brought down the house. While assigned to a (4) Mech patrol detail, Gunny picked up a number of hostile signatures. The detail reported the readings and then investigated. The investigation turned into a full assault, which included the (4) Mech’s in his detail, (4) other Mech’s in a second detail, and (12) unidentified enemy signatures. The battle was immense and ended with the destruction of all (12) enemy combatants, (6) of the responding Steiner Mech’s, and the Commanders personal dwelling. Needless to say, he was on s@*! duty for quite some time after that.
Clinching his cigar tight between his teeth, Gunny’s eyes open wide when his console lights up. The sheer number of weapons targeting him was more than a bit alarming. "It's going to take more than that to take me out of the fight!" He replies.
“HOLY S*!$!” He exclaims in a knee jerk reaction to the mass of destruction heading his way. Fortunately, for his sake, this wasn’t the first time he had been under heavy fire. Out the corner of his eye, he sees the trail of a PPC streaking across the sky, heading directly for him. The energy bolt sizzled with explosive power, and he knew that it would leave little left of his Mech if it connected. Quickly, he pulled back on the Commando’s twin yokes and initiated an emergence torso twist. The bolt nearly caught the little Commando’s shoulder but ended up missing due to the Mech’s small stature.
Gunny’s recent years out of the cockpit made this fight feel very much as it did back when he was a rookie. Edgy, nerves, and ready to jump at the drop of a hat, he was as wound tight as a newly recruited cadet. His adrenalin was rushing, bringing back memories of his first engagement. “Apparently, I got their attention.” He stated out loud to nobody in particular. He identified six signatures on his screen that where clearly SRM’s. While recovering from the momentum of the emergency maneuver he had just executed, Gunny found himself in a compromising situation. A situation that was very similar to one he had experienced during his very first engagement, way back in the day. Like then, he tried to duck and weave the Commando in order to foul up the missile’s tracking system. Unfortunately, his tactic was less than effective, as three of the six warheads slammed into the Commando's armor. The impact sent shockwaves throughout the Mech's system while stripping away heavy amounts of its armor.
As if the impact of three warheads wasn’t enough, the little POS Locust decided to take a cheap shot with its medium laser. Gunny quickly raised the Commando’s leg in order to avoid the beam, but when all was said and done, he simply wasn’t sure if the stooped laser hit or not.
With new resolve, and a heightened need to eliminate the threat, Gunny quickly spun his Mech back around, reversed its momentum, and then brought it into a direct line of engagement with the Panther. After taxing the Commando’s engine for everything he could get out of it, he quickly advanced into range and brought all of his weapons online at once. The sound of the missile bays cranking up new rounds to replace the ones recently expended was a welcome sound. Hearing them lock into place reassured Gunny that he was once again ready to launch a full battery from that bay.
The wine of the Commando’s medium laser eventually came to a crescendo alerting Gunny that it too was ready to fire. It didn't take long for Gunny to bring the Panther into range. The Mech was right where he thought it would be. The pilot’s tactics where anticipatable, which would make it an easy target for likes of his new mercenary friends.
Gunny’s counsel finally lit up, first red, then green, then red again and finally a solid consistent green. The Commando had a full lock and Gunny Knew he might not get a second chance. He took the time necessary to link the Commando’s firing triggers into a single switch. Sweat beaded down his face as his cigar hung loosely from his mouth. Gunny hadn’t felt this alive in many years. He developed tunnel vision, focused on the Panther, as fight or flight fully set in. “Suck on this!” He shouted while triggering the Commando’s new independent firing toggle.
In a massive bellow of smoke, six SRM warheads launched from the Commando’s center torso, followed by four more warheads from the missile bay mounted on the Mech’s right arm. Almost immediately after the launch, a beam of energy streaked out from the Mech’s left arm.
Gunnys getting mauled well, lets have some fun
The Agile Phoenix hawk bursts into a run as it moves from -2 to 0, into point blank range with the Panther, seemingly seeking to bumrush the Panther.
Guten Tag! Sie werden jetzt aufgeklärt! Pirat-sein ist schlecht für Ihre Gesundheit!
Good Day! You are being reconneutered! Being a pirate is bad for your health!
Alpha Strike hostile Panther with all zeh guns!
Large laser 3
Medium lasers 2+2
Machine guns 1+1
This should get some attention of Gunny
2 fate points spent in total.
Lloyd moves over the swampy fields and lights up the pirate Panther with his sensor suite. The enemy mech glows a brilliant green as chimes indicate a solid T&T lock on the long range shooter. The sensor maestro's elation at the success is however somewhat short lived.
That is because following a single errant blast from Lapeidra that the enemy mechwarrior deftly avoids, a hellish fury of laser fire and missiles envelope the mech in a devastating crossfire.
Jack is the one to get the fireworks started. The Steiner mechwarrior drills the enemy mech with the emerald beam of his large laser. Molten armor slags to the ground, the smaller Harmon lasers adding to the growing scar of damage running from the Panther's right torso and across its midsection.
Charly jukes and zags bringing her Wasp closer to the fray and setting herself up for in a nice position on the solo forward enemy flank. Foregoing the finesse and caution portrayed by the less experienced Capellan, Gunny moves forward and unleashes a barrage of missile fire.
There is a reason the little Coventry Metalworks battlemech is taken seriously in most mechwarrior circles. Known for being a close range brawler, it can often pack a punch well above what most would expect of such a lightweight machine. Proving the case in point, Gunny unleashes ten heavy short ranged warheads upon the wounded Panther along with a blast from his own Defiance B3M Medium Laser. Missiles and laser converge on the pirate in a mass of explosive destruction. In a blink the mech's left arm flies into the air swirling in an odd operatic display through rain and fog to smash into the remains of a maintenance shack a few hundred paces away.
Reeling and staggering backward from the Commando's assault, the pirate Panther doesn't see Markus' approach until it is much too late. Another trio of emerald and ruby laser beams light up the misty day and drive deep into the mech's inner workings. The cockpit starts to break open as the pilot desperately attempts an emergency eject. Unfortunately, damage directly to the Leenex 140 fusion engine unleashes the full fury of the once harnessed power of a mini-star. A brilliant flash and a various parts and bits of metal join the constant rain as they drop back onto the surface of Stettin III. Of the ejecting pilot, there is no sign.
Lloyd's sensor lock goes blank.
From it's perch on a small eastern rise, the pirate Griffin fires it's PPC at Marcus' Phoenix Hawk. A curse escapes the lead pirates lips as he realizes the big weapon's circuitry was still acting up despite assurances from his Tech that it had been fixed. Following up with a flight of longer range missiles, the pirate promised himself he'd need a new Tech if he managed to get out of this scrap alive.
The iconic pod-shaped Locust snaps off another shot at Gunny. One that looks to strike true and potentially deep into the Commando. It then retreats back to continue flanking the Griffin.
|-------|------|------|--La-|Ll-C---X--|--J---|--G-M-|-X-------|---------|- --Gr-L|--------|--------|--------|
|_-6__|_-5_|__-4_|_-3_|___-2____|_-1_|__0___|__+1__|__+2__|__+3__|_+4__|_+5 ___|_+6__|
Active Aspects
Environment (All Zones): Slippery Slopes and Ancient Trees; Rain, Rain, Won't Go Away;
Zone 0: Ruins of a Spaceport
Zone -1 and +1: Overgrown City Ruins
Zone -4: A Safe Spot to Snipe From (+3);
Zone -3: Got a Bead on Them 1 Free Invoke (+4)
Markus: Inspiring My Comrades to Victory 2 Free Invokes (+6);
Lloyd: On Their Flank +1 Free Invoke each
Charly: On Their Flank
Enemy - Locust: Bobbing and Weaving +1 Enemy Free Invoke
Enemy - Shifting to the High Ground
Jenner: 0/6 Armor. +2 Heat. 3/16 IS.
Panther: 6/6 Armor. +4 Heat. (PPC -2 Range 4)
Griffin: 12/12. +2 Heat. (PPC -2)
Locust: 4/4 Armor. 0 Heat.
GM Fate Points: 4/6
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"Good job scouting that Panther, Stormhammers!" Jack celebrates to his team. "I can tell he was scouted well by the smoking crater he left!" he says in typical Steiner fashion.
"Next target to be scouted is the Locust. Please insure that he is scouted just as well!
I do not think the enemy will put up much more opposition so all mechs forward!"
Jack opens up his Computer system and sends a message to the resident expert, Lloyd.
"Hey there! We're getting to the endgame now, so I'd like us to make sure that Griffin knows that it's good and trog-fragged.
I'm going to slave my encephalographic process chamber to yours and I'd like you to make sure that the Griffin's sensors can't tell a mech from a monkey."
"Acknowledged, commencing jamming," Lloyd replies to Jack.
Focusing on the Griffin, he spends a few seconds leisurely walking forward while observing its sensor activity. Once he has a feel for it he aims every transmitting sensor he has straight at the enemy 'mech and blasts every frequency he'd seen it radiating.
Charly sees the Griffin and Locust sticking together. A part of her says it's suicide to get in close, but...
There's that but. The need, the desire. That itch to prove oneself better than one's opponents.
No guts, no glory. Uncle Hiro's words ring in her head. He was got her interested in mechs in the first place. The old war dog's words resonate with the ones said by Markus. Scout them he said.
Oh, she intends to.
Still out on the left flank, she uses the cover of the ruins to cross to the right, flaring her jump jets to speed through the twisted tangle. Sniping is all well and good, but she has a speedy bug to catch. This calls for shock and mayhem.
She comes screaming out of the ruins, riding her jets like a bucking bull, missiles flying and laser cracking as she locks onto the Locust.
Lapeidra watches the Panther go up in a mushroom cloud of flame, the vibration of the concussive shock agitating her bones. She thinks nothing about her lack of contribution to its destruction. A dead pirate is a dead pirate; who cares who killed it.
She pushes her attack, advancing at a brisk walk in her own Panther, still hungry for her first score with the PPC on her battlemech's right arm. Achieving range to the Griffon, she raises the cannon and briefly squares the reticle on the firing cluster panel, then softly pulls the trigger.
She makes a mental note to have Charly or Jack check the sighting on her weapons system; something's off.
The cockpit felt much hotter than Gunny remembered. The alpha strike brought the Commando to a sweltering level that caused the old man’s face to glow a crimson red. The Mech’s internal system did its job, for the most part, and vented out a significant amount of the heat. Even with the reduction, the heat still felt overwhelming. The alpha strike came at a hefty price, but one that Gunny was willing to pay in order to take the Panther out of the fight.
Now, with the Panther out of the picture, Gunny was able to focus on the annoying little Locust. The small mech, in its own right, had done a fair amount of damage. Its pilot seemed a bit more experienced than the Jenner’s, which had him a little concerned. In an attempt to keep up with the agile Mech, he was forced to press the Commando beyond its limit. The added heat tested the Mech's colling system as the Commando struggled through the mud and muck. The task wasn’t easy, considering the rain-soaked environment, but Gunny had to play the cards he was delt. Everything considered, there really wasn't much choice. Knowing the Commando’s limits, he knew his time was quickly running out.
The Commando's missile bays cracked as they loaded another set of missiles into place. While watching the Locust bob and weave, Gunny decided to time his shot in cadence with its movement. Soon, he felt he understood the other pilot's rhythm and attempted to match the Mech's pace just before launching four missiles from the Commando's wrist mounted SRM 4.
The missiles ignited, leaving a trail of smoke behind as they shrieked across the mud-covered terrain, directly towards the Locust.
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Jack sees the volume of fire coming down on the Locust and nods in satisfaction. 'Alright, it looks like it has been scouted successfully.
He opens his comms to Lapeidra.
"Hey, Lapeidra, I think that Griffin, finding itself all alone against us fine SIX stout soldiers, is ready to surrender.
And it sure would be nice to have that nice, shiny Griffin in our humble mercenary company, wouldn't it?
Please do ask if she wants to live outside of a working mech, or die inside a broken one.
Thanks ever so much."
Yo, that would be good salvage, lets see if I can do something to really panick him Markus says on closed comms
I think that underweight chicken just voluntold himself to be reconneutered next! ZEIT FÜR MEINE PRÄMIERTE MURDERHOBO TECHNIK!
He adds on open ones
Seeking to take all the attention, Markus Jumps closer closer to the Griffon, but rather then shooting at it, he shoots at trees behind it hoping to have those trees crash on it from behind!
Invoking slippery slopes and ancient trees to shoot the trees and have them collapse at the jenner!
Heheheheheheh a small jump for me, a big headache for you!
The expectation is that the pirate Locust will die quickly and with little fuss. There is a reason the small 20-ton scouts are called 'coffin pods' by most warriors of the Inner Sphere. Cheap and easy to produce the mechs have been a staple of military forces since the heyday of the Star League. Some believe the mech is a forge upon which mechwarriors are truly hammered into being, for anyone who can survive long piloting one of the scouts is a survivor and a true threat in any other war machine they can get their hands on.
Thus it is that some sort of talent must be captured inside whoever pilots the Locust for this particular ragtag band of the Hellions. Charly should have had the enemy mech dead to rites. Her medium laser and SRMs should have initiated a chain of destruction that ended in the same explosive destruction that just removed the Panther pilot and mech from existence. Instead the quick moving mech jukes left, right, right, left and both laser and missiles skim past the enemy shattering shattered ferrocrete and scoring a furrow of boiling mud across the soaked ground.
Lapeidra tries again to zero her PPC in on the enemy Griffin. Again her aim is off. Is it her T&T system? A misalignment with the weapon itself? Or is all this talk of negotiating with a filthy pirate simply throwing off her aim and her cool?
Jack patches through to Lloyd and sends the sensor tech a new set of algorithms designed to rapidly breakdown and filter out the basic ECM countermeasures used by most mechs. Lloyd quickly loads and initiates the revised code. Unfortunately, the previous tests of the code all took place aboard the Nine Lives while in transit. But as the old axiom goes, no plan survives a meeting with the enemy. In this case it is the elements of Stettin III themselves. The rain and fog act as an additional layer of interference that the system simply can't overcome even after Lloyd's best efforts to manually override. The Griffin flickers and still remains only partially locked on anyone's screen.
It isn't until it is too late that Lloyd realizes using the boosted sensor signal lit his own mech up like a blasted Macy's of Tharkad Christmas tree. A barrage of long range warheads come arcing over the battlefield and slam into the light Wasp. The enemy mech then continues it's slow retreat toward the far edge of the forest.
Gunny curses an indicator light blossoms on his left leg actuator. He was already moving slow because of the underpowered engine he'd been forced to replace the standard GM150. Now he was moving at a crawl. Still he continues to push forward intent on finishing the job started by Charly. Missiles streak forth from the Commando as the twenty five ton mech once again proves its danger on the field. But again the Locust is able to avoid a good number of the explosive warheads. While much of its armor is blasted and broken, none of the missiles penetrate to the inner workings of the little mech.
Shouting more Steiner propaganda, Markus leaps his Phoenix Hawk high into the air blasting away at the trees and surrounding vegetation. He is so intent on created havoc and destruction he doesn't notice the copse of trees and boggy ground until it is too late. He attempt to threaten the Griffin actually leaves him exposed as he works to extricate himself from the bog and regain his balance.
For it's part the Locust snaps off another quick shot at Gunny and then continues to fall back toward the tree line along with its lance mate.
|-------|------|------|------|----X--|-----La|-J-Ll---|-X---C---|---G--M--| --------|---Gr-L-|--------|--------|
|_-6__|_-5_|__-4_|_-3_|__-2__|__-1__|__0___|__+1___|___+2___|_+3___|__+4___ |_+5 ___|_+6__|
Active Aspects
Environment (All Zones): Slippery Slopes and Ancient Trees; Rain, Rain, Won't Go Away;
Zone 0: Ruins of a Spaceport
Zone -1 and +1: Overgrown City Ruins
Zone -4: A Safe Spot to Snipe From (+3);
Zone -3: Got a Bead on Them 1 Free Invoke (+4)
Markus: Inspiring My Comrades to Victory 1 Free Invokes (+6);
Lloyd: On Their Flank +1 Free Invoke each
Charly: On Their Flank
Charly: Boost on Locust - Gonna Put You Down.
Enemy - Locust: Bobbing and Weaving
Enemy - Shifting to the High Ground
Enemy - vs Markus - Off Balance Among the Trees. +1 Free Enemy Invoke.
Enemy - vs Lloyd - Target Lock
Jenner: 0/6 Armor. Taken Out.
Panther: Destroyed.
Griffin: 12/12. +0 Heat. (PPC -2)
Locust: 0/4 Armor. 8/8 IS. 0 Heat.
GM Fate Points: 2/6
No running! This underweight Atlas is reasonably fast! Also, Gunny, you have done a great job! But retreat for now, ill give zeh Piratenschweine something else to worry about!
Undeterred, Markus runs in hot pursuit, making full use of his weaponry in a direct frontal charge straight out of Steiner propaganda videos. Hoping to inspire his non Steiner comrades as well. Does Fate shine on the "opportunistically at best attached to reality mechwarrior"? Or does the Steiner way claim a victim? And is it really an or? And of course, this charge would be incomplete without some tastefull Steiner Propaganda blared from open comms.
GUTEN TAG 45 TONNEN FREIHEIT GLEICHHEIT UND BRÜDERLICHKEIT SAGEN HALLO
Alpha STRIKE + inspiring my comrades to victory
Spending another fate point
Not content with the destruction unleashed, and figuring "if in doubt smash", the Merc ramms his Fist (Phoneix hawk has a fist so I shouldnt take damage) into the the enemy because why not.
Charly runs her Wasp ahead as the humid air and rain wash over her heat sinks and flash into steam from the residual heat from her charge. She gets under the Griffin's PPC and targets the Locust again. The zippy little mech's pilot is good, better than she is, but Charly's chief talent as a pilot is in gunnery. She lines up her next set of shots. She has a job to do, and her parents had always taught her and her siblings that one should take pride in their work, do everything to the best of their ability, and finish whatever you start.
And would you look at that, she's still on this pirate's flank.
Lloyd almost panics as he sees the missiles streaking towards his fragile little Wasp. He desperately sprints for some cover behind a ruined structure.
He gets his little mech behind a crumbling wall just in time, the missiles slamming into it instead of his paper-thin armor. Instead of deadly explosives his Wasp is showered with dust and bits of concrete, rattling on its armor like rain.
...and there he stays, breathing fast enough he's almost hyperventilating as his hands shake, all too aware of how close he might have just come to death.
”That little s&@&!” Gunny exclaimed after feeling the Commando wind down to a muck covered crawl. The Locust’s laser did more damage than he had originally thought. Without the Mech’s protective armor, the beam had sliced through the commando’s mechanical structure, causing the joint in its left leg to lock up. Now the Mech felt like it was at a crawl, which required the same exertion that it previously used to run.
Gunny wasn’t sure how the Locust survived the pounding it just took, but there it was. Standing there, firing another single medium laser at his Commando. ”I hate this guy!” He said, but then paused for a moment. (Might not be a guy.) He thought for a moment. (Now that would be sexy!) He shook the thought out of his head and then refocused on the task at hand.
Using his now gimp leg, Gunny pivoted to his left, allowing the beam to pass unhindered. It eventually fizzled to nothing after striking the rain-soaked mud behind him.
“Come on little guy. We still have work to do. Don’t quit on me now.” Gunny said openly in hopes that his little Mech might hold up long enough to see the job trough. While watching his heat carefully, he noted that the gage was displaying a slight decrease. It didn’t feel like it, but the Mech’s internals could now accommodate a bit more activity.
Pressing the Commando, Gunny full throttled the Mech, moving it as fare forward as he could. While keeping a lock on the locust, he waited just long enough for his missile bays to rearm. Soon the wrenching of the Mech’s lifts stopped, followed by the all too familiar sound of the bays locking into place. ”Back at you kid.” Gunny stated while releasing the Commando’s full missile payload.
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"Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffrag it!" Jack yells into his neurohelmet as the resolute Locust refuses to just die as it was supposed to. And the Amaris- cursed weather even blocked the sensor-blast!
'Well at least Gunny can move back to safety--nope. Why is it every Commando pilot thinks he's driving a Hunchback? He'll be great as long as he doesn't get himself killed.
Aaaand now the bandits are trying for the forest. Nothing ever goes smooth!
Seeing all that lovely, lovely salvage trying to just walk out of his life, Jack sprints forward, trying to bring this whole thing to some kind of satisfying conclusion.
It would, of course, need to start with the death of that Locust. Finally.
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Lapeidra huffs. Why do we want to let these guys live? For a Griffon? Who cares. Jack's gonna owe me if this works.
She opens the comm channel to the enemy mech. "Attention Pirate s*~!bag. Your life is forfeit. We've killed all your friends and in about thirty seconds you will experience the brief sensation of your skin boiling off before you are incinerated in a thermonuclear explosion. Now if it was up to me your fate would be sealed, but my teammates seem to think it's good business to let you live in exchange for your battlemech. I'll let you decide."
Riding jet of super heated plasma Markus in his PHX-1 Phoenix Hawk floats back down to the soggy earth of Stettin III like an avenging angel on hopped up on stims. Laser fire boils armor from the flailing pirate mechs torso arms and legs while the Hawk's twin M100 machine guns prattle and chip away at spots all over the larger mech's chassis. Taken by surprise at the aggressive attack, the bandit leader staggers and stumbles backward, off balance even as he tries to drive a massive armored fist into Markus' mech.
Meanwhile a raging dance of death continues just off the Griffon's flank. Charly, Gunny and Jack all close in on the tiny enemy Locust. For a moment the quartet of fighters circle and feint and flit through the ruins and copses of the old city. Then Charly opens fire. Certain she has a bead on the Locust she unleashes a flurry of missiles and a quick shot with her Diverse Optics laser. The Locust pilot slams the quick moving mech hard left and then races between a pair of oversized spruce trees. The missiles detonate and sheer the tops of the ancient trees completely off. The ruby beam of the Wasp's laser does punch through and knock out the ammunition feeder for the pirate's machine guns.
His mech dragging like an ancient peg-legged mariner of old Terra, Gunny tries to keep up with the much faster enemy as it zig and zags through the ruins knowing that movement is life. To stop is to die. The belief proves true as both flights of missiles explode behind, to the side, or even in front of the Locust but never reaching the mech itself. In fact, during the whole encounter, Gunny suddenly curses as a warning light flashes on his console. Somehow the enemy managed to get him so twisted around it was now able to get a shot as his backside.
Fortunately, while Markus plays the avenging angel, Jack takes on the mantel of savior angel. Dropping down from the sky, the Phoenix Hawk fires both Harmon medium lasers at the Locust with the quick expectation of seeing it fall. Only both beams miss as the pirate was already moving away from the much heavier mech as quick as its bird like feet could move.
Still up it snaps off a quick shot at Gunny's back, which by all accounts could cause some serious harm.
Suddenly a female voice crackles across the open channel. Lapeidra's usually friendly upbeat tones are all hard and cold as a body on a slab. She calls out the pirate in charge, demanding he surrender his mech and most likely whatever life he'd ever hoped of living beyond this day.
Then another feminine voice crackles across the airwaves. "Haha! You are all more than welcome to the rat bastard." The voice cackles. "Be doing me a big favor if you just put him down and not worry about letting him go. If it helps at all, he's holdin' my kid an a bunch of other folk hostage back in the hills. So it ain't like you'll be putting down an angel or anything." There's a momentary pause. "Hope you rot in hell, Deigo. I'm gonna get my kid back."
The Locust then twists around and takes off quickly ramping up to its maximum speed of 129 kph as it dives into the woods.
"What?!" The bandit boss finally bloviates over the channel. "The hell I'll give up my mech. Soon as I step outta this cockpit, you'll frag me good and hard anyway. Why not I make you with blood to take it from me?" He says sending his mech leaping into the air and back toward the trees. As he lands each of you can see how he orients his mech to keep both the bulk of the Stormhammers in his frame, but also the last glimpses of the fleeing Locust.
"Make me an offer. You want my mech. Guarantee me a ride off this mudball."
|-------|------|------|------|----X--|-----La|---Ll----|---X-------|----J-- --| ---C--G-|-M------|----Gr--|--------|--L
|_-6__|_-5_|__-4_|_-3_|__-2__|__-1__|__0___|__+1___|___+2___|_+3___|__+4___ |_+5 ___|_+6__|
Active Aspects
Environment (All Zones): Slippery Slopes and Ancient Trees; Rain, Rain, Won't Go Away;
Zone 0: Ruins of a Spaceport
Zone -1 and +1: Overgrown City Ruins
Zone -4: A Safe Spot to Snipe From ;
Zone -3: Got a Bead on Them 1 Free Invoke
Markus: Inspiring My Comrades to Victory;
Enemy - Locust: Bobbing and Weaving
Enemy - Shifting to the High Ground
Enemy - vs Markus - Off Balance Among the Trees. +1 Free Enemy Invoke.
Enemy - vs Lloyd - Target Lock
Jenner: 0/6 Armor. Taken Out.
Panther: Destroyed.
Griffin: 1/12. +0 Heat. (PPC -2) 1/3 Mental Stress
Locust: 0/4 Armor. 8/8 IS. 0 Heat. Fleeing.
GM Fate Points: 0/6
Oh great, he's a kidnapper of children and I'm supposed to cut a deal with him.
Lapeidra grits her teeth. "Okay, Deigo, Sounds like you're willing to work with us. That's good. We hate wasting pretty mechs like yours. At the end of the day we're all mercs, so assuming you're motivations are pretty easy to guess and you don't intend to doublecross us in some way, you can fly with us and we'll let you off at the next planet. Or we can drop you off somewhere else on this dirtball. How's that s&!$ sound?"
Hearing that the the pirate, Diego, has been using hostages to coerce at least some of their opponents into fighting brings back memories Charly had long tried hard to not look at too closely. The fear of a girl in adolescence as Capellan forces came in system and took control of her home. The bitter rage and grief as she was forced to watch her beloved uncle, an older cousin, and her eldest brother were executed for treason against the Capellan Confederation. Terror as she was ripped from her family and home and put through a reeducation camp run by a sadist that was quick to use her power to crush those that couldn't fight back.
She hits the jets again and arcs over Diego and his Griffin to cut off his escape. Turning to face the heavier mech, she plugs into the open channel.
"I'd say that a mech for a ride to the jumpship is a far better trade than he deserves, don't you," Charly asks, her voice light before she continues in a much darker, colder tone. "Especially since if we have to drag him out it instead, I know I'm going to want to hear him beg for his rotten life."
Despite the venom in her voice, the emotions those rekindled memories awoke crack through her control and hit at the core of fear and gibbering terror that she had buried deep. There's a quaver to her voice, a slight hesitancy to her Wasp's movements as she squares off against Diego's Griffin that has nothing to do with misaligned actuators and improperly lubricated joints. She may have moved to block Diego's retreat, but she's also put herself out on a limb. Charly realizes just how vulnerable she is and that Griffin looks a lot bigger and tougher now than it did while she and the others chased.
C'mon. Give up. Please, give up.
She looks down and sees her hands shaking on the controls. A bad sign if there ever was one, she thinks.
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Gunny’s fears manifested into reality. The small locust proved to be a fatal adversary. Its previous shot took out one of his heat sinks, which couldn’t have been at a worst time. With the rig being maxed out, the loss of the heat sink caused the Mech to bake its own internals. Gunny was blistering from the heat, which would have left most people inoperative. Fortunately for Gunny, he had been through a lot, and knew how to manage the pain. After taking his attention off the HUD long enough to grab a bottle of water from his pack, he dumped its contents all over his face. He knew the cool water would buy him enough time to allow the Mech to cool.
Deigon didn’t have much choice. He simply couldn’t push the Commando any further. The heat had gotten to a point that it was unbearable and the little Mech’s internals where just about fried. Then he seen the Locust reappear on his screen. It was directly behind the Commando, and he knew he was completely at the other pilot’s mercy. Sitting there, helplessly awaiting his fate, Gunny made one final maneuver to try and avoid what he knew was coming next.
His chances were slim to none, and he knew it. The Commando was simply done. It had only basic motor functions and risked a complete meltdown if he pushed it any further. Yet, he knew the Locust wouldn’t let things be. The fight had become a bit personal. He had developed an ample amount of respect for his advisory and he knew they wouldn’t leave the fight without at least finishing off the Commando. So he waited patiently with both hands tightly on the Mech’s yoks. As soon as he seen the Locust heat up its laser, he lunged the Commando forward in a last-ditch effort to avoid the shot.
The Commando dove face first into the much, leaving the Mech prone and covered in rain soaked mud. The situation was embarrassing, but successful. The energy beam scatted by, burning a deep hole through one of the nearby trees. Overheated, mangled, and suffering from many internal problems, all Gunny could manage was to try and work the Commando out of the mud. During the process, he could hear the voice of the Locust’s pilot over the universal comm. (Go figure. It is a female pilot. I think I’m in love.) He tough to himself.
Sitting there, in the now sideways pilot's seat, he accepted defeat and then took out a fresh cigar and lit it. ” Sometimes life just isn’t fair.” He stated and then began to laugh deeply.
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Markus agile Phoenix hawk can easily keep up with the Griffon.
I am a "von" mein Herr, and I am not getting paid enough to publically warcrime random pirates that I dont give a s!%! about.
Especially not if I can get a mech out of not warcriming. Getting something for not doing something is great ja? Warcrimes are bad PR and the employer didnt pay extra.
If he doesnt bite I am at least starting to fix my heat problem
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Lloyd pants for a few moments longer, swallows heavily, and tries to get himself under control.
"I'm alive... it's unlikely that Griffon will target me again..."
He stares dully around his cockpit. It was quiet. Was the battle over?
...Oh, when had he switched his comms off? Right, when he didn't want the others to hear him hyperventilating from panic at seeing those missiles coming straight at his head. Clearly he hadn't been thinking. He could have kept the receive on and just stopped transmitting.
For now, he does just that, catching the some kind of discussion with the... he checks his sensors. The only pirate remaining. Oh. Because the other one was running...
...what was that about hostages?
Something doesn't seem to add up here to him. The pirates are so desperate for Mechwarriors that they're holding people hostage? But from the sound of it there are other hostages? What could possibly be so important about this ruined spaceport that they'd resort to taking hostages to guarantee the loyalty of its guards?
Now that his brain is starting to work again, Lloyd starts looking around. He's in the middle of the ruins of the spaceport, which seems to be what they were defending... he cycles through his sensors, including his Mk I eyeballs, looking around at it. Have there been recent takeoffs and landings here? Any suspicious concentrations of metal? Were they just using this as a launch site for DropShips to go raid other places?
Obviously, we can arrange to have him, bound, in a sound proof room, with his erstwhile hostages, assuming these exist. I would be babbling about hostages if I was a Pirate on the loosing side for sure. Now, if there actually were hostage, we could as well try and recruit the Locust pilot, she seems pretty capable.
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"VerDAMT!" Jack swears in Steiner as the Locust pulls off some kidna of wire-fram kung fu move to both dodge almost all of the legion of weapons fire at it, and also stab Gunny in the back.
'I can fix that Gunny. Just hold on!' he thinks as loud as he can as he sees the plucky Commando fall head-first into the mucky-muck.
His head continues to fill with the combat chatter of the Stormhammers, including the dulcet tones as Lape seeks to seal the deal with the erstwhile pirate. He had faith in her. This goose was as good as in the bag.
That left one.
Jack notes the only hit to get through the Locust's web of STEEL was one shot from Charly that clipped it's wings. Good on ya, Charly.
The White Angel SPRINTS after the stumbling Locust, now looking muchly sapped as it seeks the safety of faraway lands.
"Oh no. No no no. No home for you. You don't get to down Gunny and then get home to tea and crumpets.
'Choices are wide open
There are many to be made
But, no matter your direction
The piper must be paid'.
Jack starting sweating. All Hawks ran hot, and he had gotten used to it, to a point. But if this didn't work he couldn't keep it up for much longer.
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Watching Jack’s Hawk trudge by, from the Commando’s inverted cockpit, was interesting to say the least. After ducking down to get a better view, Gunny managed to catch the Hawk’s last-ditch effort to catch the Locust with plethora of laser fire. Gunny watched with amusement. “I doubt he’ll land a hit on her.” He says in an almost hopeful tone.
After keying his com, Gunny transmits a message over the group’s secured channel. Meh, let her go Jack. From where I’m sitting, she’s earned it. Besides, you wouldn’t want to kill my next ex-wife would ya.”
Lapeidra echoes Gunny's concern, if not his intent. "Let her go, boys. She's got a kid." The realization hits the young woman hard: some mercs are human beings, and not just hired killers.
A ear jarring *pop*clang* echoes across the battlefield and the Locust suddenly lurches sideways. The racing machine slows dramatically, it's race for the trees suddenly a lot longer thanks to the aftereffects of Charly's laser shot. But as the Locust still has a slim chance to reach the cover and relative safety of the trees, the pirate Griffin finds itself with fewer possibilities.
Despite the fact that Gunny's last second dive into the mud put his Commando at a temporary disadvantage, the enemy medium mech was still outgunned five to one. Lapeidra's gruff offer spins around in Deigo's mind like a whirling revolver chamber. Only rather than one bullet, the blasted gun carried nearly a full load. Gritting his teeth and cursing the incompetence and treachery of his lance mates, for in Deigo's mind such things were always the fault of someone else, he slowly releases the grip on the control sticks within the Griffin's broiling cockpit.
"Alright. Alright. Hold your fire. It's a deal. I get clear passage off this rock, you get the mech." He broadcasts to Lapeidra. The mechs arms drop to its side and all indicators show the weapons powering down.
Meanwhile, Jack perhaps not realizing Gunny's dive into the muck was more a self-inflicted, last second, desperate dodge, seeks revenge upon the fleeing Locust.
Running forward, the Phoenix Hawk churns up mud and muck in an effort to catch up with the hampered scout. Seeing an opening, Jack raises the barrel of his heavy Harmon laser and hears the momentary chime of a target lock. An emerald beam streaks toward the fleeing fighter. The air within the confines of the Hawk's cockpit becomes sweltering. Sweat pours from Jack's body as he tries to catch his breath in the roasting chamber his mech has become. But the momentary heat will certainly be worth it to bring the blasted elusive Locust down.
The laser strike misses. Later, reviewing the battle ROM's, it is still unclear exactly how the enemy pilot managed to avoid what would have likely been a devastating and potentially killing blow for such a light mech. But avoid it the woman did. One second the beam is on target to drill right into the rear torso of the Locust, the next it is simply boiling mud and digging a momentary trench in the soggy earth before it rapidly fills itself back in.
The limping Locust pushes ahead to trees and this time does slip into the dense outskirts of the deeper forest.
Meanwhile, Gunny pulls himself up from the muck and Lloyd...Lloyd slowly recovers from the reality that those were real missiles coming for him only moments ago. Covering his momentary panic in the field, he focuses his mind on the puzzle at hand. With the enemy in flight or surrendering, he performs another deeper sweep of the ruins and surrounding area.
Jenner: 0/6 Armor. Taken Out.
Panther: Destroyed.
Griffin: 1/12. +0 Heat. (PPC -2) 3/3 Mental Stress Broken Morale
Locust: 0/4 Armor. 6/8 IS. 0 Heat. Fleeing.
GM Fate Points: 0/6
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Your orders from Captain Vikkhas are to scout the second location while the Golden Janissaires, a heavy mech outfit accompanying the mission to Stettin, hit the colony capital. A heavily forested and marshy area referred to as the Rat’s Maze Marsh surrounding what appears to have once been a minor space port and timber harvesting operation.
Jack sighs more than screams as the pilot of the Locust proves still capable, one legged or no. It drives the point home that, bravado aside, he is just no warrior.
"You win this round!" he comms at the fleeing Locust. "Go make sure your bairn is safe. But you owe Gunny a date to make up for it!"
As he watches the mech go he thinks it is true what they say: Even on the battlefield, love can bloom.
Turning back to the now-quite field, he starts to get excited. THIS is where his passion is. He cares not for breaking mechs. Fixing them is where his heart lays.
"Congrats, Stormhammers. We have, officially, fulfilled our orders by "scouting" the enemy. The enemy has been very well scouted.
If someone wouldn't mind getting on the comms to Captain Vikkhas to report our success, I could start some repairs. I should say in two hours I can get us right as rain.
Or three hours if Charly helps."
Lloyd stares at his sensor readouts for a little while. He spends a bit of time fiddling with them, trying to refine his returns, but long-distance power sources don't tell you much more than "There's a fusion plant around here" no matter how good you are.
"Hey..." he begins, then remembers that he still has his comm's transmitter off.
He switches it on, double-checks that he's on the encrypted company channel, and starts again. "Hey, any of the rest of you think it's funny these pirates were standing around in this ruin here? It'd take a desperate pirate to land a DropShip in what's left of this spaceport, and there's nothing *here* to resupply it with. But I got a couple power sources on sensors. One two klicks upriver, weak enough the rain's interfering with the signal. Other one's... maybe twelve klicks away? Roughly the direction that Locust headed. We in any kind of shape to check them out?"
Charly mutes her mic and locks her mech's legs before taking off the neurohelm and gulping down air to calm her nerves. She listens to the chatter over the comms with half an ear. She'd expected the pirate to fight, to perhaps vent his wrath on her and the tissue-thin skin of "her" mech.
As the heat in the cockpit lessens from uncomfortable to something approaching normal temperatures, she begins to shake as her imagination and the aftershocks of the adrenaline rush run rampant through her mind and body. It wasn't like her first fight. There she'd been outnumbered, but those pirates had been idiots and it hadn't been hard for her to engage in that game of cat and mouse.
This fight was different. She is an idiot for thinking that she could block Diego's escape. Best case if he chose to fight would have been having the Wasp wrecked, and she wasn't sure if being killed or being taken prisoner as a hostage would have been worse. Given the man's apparent morals, none at all, it would have been too much like being back under the Capellan's thumb again, something that still gives her nightmares, though they are blessedly infrequent nowadays.
"I'm such an idiot," she groans as she buries her head in her hands.
Idiot or not, there's a job to do. Lloyd's found something. Maybe that's why he dropped out of sight at the end. We're under orders to scout this area, now go do it!
She takes in one last deep breath to make sure she has control of her voice before donning the neurohelm again and unmuting her mic.
"I guess Lapeidra and I should check out those two sources while Lloyd and Markus watch over Gunny and Jack," she asks. Part of her is glad to have the distraction from the inevitable berating she'll be giving herself.
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Jack had started making a list of everything they needed to get done. Then things got complicated.
"Belay that, Charly. We're not regulars with grand-sweeping orders like 'go that over that planet'. We're just a merc group with a very specific set of orders, orders that we just completed. We can't go galivanting across the countryside without checking in. Also, we have more important things at this moment.
Charly, please facilitate our best friend Deigo getting out of his Griffin. Do NOT let him lock his neurohelmet--we have enough to do without that. Tell him he's got five minutes to get packed. We don't need to put security on him because if he disappears, so much the better.
Lloyd, good work on the sensors. We'll get to that in a few ticks, but right now can you please run a scan and see if we can find where the pilot of the Jenner ejected to? I don't want him running around causing trouble, especially with a name like 'Ray-Ray'. If he wants the same deal as Diego, great, but we should get his word first.
Gunny, Lape, can you two please try to bring up Captain Vikkhas? Tell him what happened here, and also about Lloyd's scan and ask what he wants us to do now. Maybe something, or maybe nothing and then I'll start on the repairs."
Jack was anxious to get to looting the battlefield to see what they could scrounge up. Every moment was agony to stay in check, but he didn't want their payment getting tied up in some kind of unable-to-fulfill-objectives red tape.
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Gunny, Lape, can you two please try to bring up Captain Vikkhas? Tell him what happened here, and also about Lloyd's scan and ask what he wants us to do now. Maybe something, or maybe nothing and then I'll start on the repairs."[/b]
Lapeidra opens the comms wide to respond, "Lapeidra! It's three f&+#ing syllables!"
Then she dials in to Charly's personal channel. "You alright, girlfriend? You're looking a little frozen. If it's about Deigo, he makes me want to scream. Pirate scumbags like him vaporized everyone I cared about in this big damned galaxy, and I cry about it every damned day. It tears me up that we offered him a deal."
Lapeidra gulps air and considers what she is about to say next. First making sure only Charly can hear her she adds,"But it was just an offer. Deigo is gonna pay as soon as we interrogate him about kidnapping children. There's only one way for that to go down."
No one in her previous life would have recognized the stone-cold b*@&% Lapeidra had become. But that's the way things had to be.
After erecting the Commando out of the mud, Gunny felt a bit embarrassed about the Mech's condition. Somewhat distracted with the process, he almost missed the transmission about the energy reading. After considering the possibility that the group might have just freed a community, or a group of people, he processed the value of such a contact. That accomplishment could prove valuable to not only his lance, but also their employer. That’s not to mention the possibility of meeting that sexy Locust pilot.
“Lapeidra, you got this?” Gunny asked while moving his mud-covered Commando back over to where the group had gathered around the Griffin. After arriving there, he powered down his Mech, and then climbed out of its cockpit. Once on the ground, he walked over to Diego, pulled out his laser pistol, and then pointed it directly at the pirate’s head. “Now then, looks like you and me have some unfinished business. I know the group offered you freedom for your surrender, but it’s a crying damn shame they didn’t check with me first. You know, life's simply not fair sometimes.” He stated while his finger tightened slightly on the trigger. “You have one chance at this d*+!&@%. Answer these next questions wrong, and I’m going to blow your brains out. Simple as that. Now, where are the hostages, and how many do you have guarding them. Are their Mech’s there, or just other pirates?”
Charly winces as she hears Lapeidra ask her if she's okay, but she soon realizes that the former teen idol had patched into her private channel.
"I--" she says before realizing that she didn't know what to say. How is she supposed to respond to this?
"I don't know if I'm okay. It's-- it's not the pirate. We said we'd get him off world and on a jumpship. Didn't mention a thing about what happens when we dock with said ship, or whose custody he'd be in."
She looks out at where Gunny was now holding Diego the pirate at gunpoint and lets out a harsh laugh.
"Though I think Gunny's gonna make sure we don't even have to worry about that much," she adds with another chuckle as bitter as lye.
She falls silent for a moment. She feels drained and tired, like she had the night a couple of years back half the tech crew of her old company got food poisoning and she'd had to pull over twenty-four hours straight of hard, frantic work to prep the lance for a combat drop.
"That was my second fight, ever," she admits over the private channel between. "I'm a tech, Lapeidra. I wasn't trained at any fancy military academy or learned on the frontlines from battle hardened veterans. I'm a tech that was desperate enough to live to fight for it and lucky enough that the people I was fighting were too dumb to take out someone who's not even a rookie after five hours. And here I go acting like I actually know what I'm doing outside of a repair bay, and... I got lucky again. I always seem to be just lucky, and I'm worried that I won't get good before my luck runs out. And... I..."
Charly falls silent again. The dam had let loose and she felt a need to at least know someone understands her, even if she didn't understand herself like she didn't understand others. It was stupid, irrational, but they trusted her enough to have her fight alongside them, and...
And what? She wonders for a moment, poking at the thought as she tried to sort through her own feelings enough to at least pretend she even understands herself. It wasn't just the combat. It wasn't just her mistakes that had shaken her so badly. No, she realizes, it was the reminder that her family had been ripped away from her, that she is alone, that had helped to shake her so badly.
"What do you know about the Cappellan Confederation," she asks quietly.
Agreed, inform he captain about the hostage situation as well. Taking custody of them with an eye to freeing them should play havoc on pirate cohesion, while also being the good and PR savy thing to do.
Markus responds over comms.
We are also not splitting our unit, just a bad idea in general.
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'Want something done....'
Jack opens up the sat-comm and tries to report in. He's never actually done this before, but he's fixed lots of them so it should work. Probably.
"Come in Captain Vikkhas? This is Stormhammers Actual."
He didn't actually know what that last part meant...but he'd always wanted to say it.
"We have captured point Alpha. Met and decimated one lance resistance. Awaiting further orders.
Also, our sensor guy reports a couple possible power sources. One Two klicks away, the other twelve that are North-ish."
Is that how people talked about this stuff? Yeah. Probably.
Vikkhas this is Storm Hammer 2. It appears Pirate leadership has hostages, including among pirate mech pilot relatives.
Sending vocal recording for verification He transmits the relevant transmissions from the Locust.
Assuming this pans out, it could be used to degrade enemy cohesion.
On the all Storm hammers channel:
Lady Lapeidra, we may get an extra Locust out of it if we play our cards right, but I need your people skills. And some expertize in comm systems. He pauses
I was looking to propose this:
Greetings Mechwarrior, I am Markus von Steinchen the pilot of the Phoenix Hawk and the resident Lyran noble, you have proven yourself resourcefull. We are willing to assist you in retrieving your hostages, and offer you a job.
We do not have the infantry for an actual hostage rescue, and nor do you. But we do however have the Griffon of your boss, and as such also his comm codes. And enough vocal snippets to fake an order of him ordering you to move the hostages elsewhere, particularly if you pitch in on this. Here is the deal, you bluff your way in, free the hostages, and spontaneously join our merry band of mercenaries, bringing with you any other hostage and much valuable information.
In return, you either get to upgrade yourself from pirate to legit merc, and/or a date with your boss in a sound proof room and/or a ticket off this world.
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When Gunny gets out of the Commando and puts a pistol in Geigo's face, Lapeidra's eyes go wide. She's a bit jealous, to be honest. But while her attention is with Charly, she merely raises her Panther's arm cannon, pointing it at the pirate to assist with whatever threats her comrade is making. Her finger rests beside the trigger. You know, just in case.
Lapeidra pauses with Markus for a minute and responds first to Charly directly. "My father used to say, 'I'd rather be lucky then good.' You proved yourself today. These are just big hunks of welded metal with guns; any child could pilot one. What's important - and the thing they can't teach you at the academy, trust me - is that you can push aside all your fears and trudge this big dumb robot onto a battlefield knowing there's a good chance you'll die in it someday. Luck is more valuable than any training.
"As for the Confederation, I know what everyone knows, but nothing more. If you want to talk later on the ship I'm there for you."
Taking a moment to observe the situation with Gunny and Deigo, she flips her comm channel over to Markus: "I really don't like keeping deals with pirates. Sorry if that works against what we're trying to accomplish financially at the moment. I do wanna find those kids, and I don't need a contract for it. If pirate s&@*face here is conscripting regular mercs against their will to work for him by holding their families hostage we should know soon enough and decide what to do then."
Lapeidra imagines her Academy Commander Riley speaking to her with those authoritative tones. She hopes to have ten percent of Riley's panache. That girl could straight-up take charge and make any situation her own.
She waits for Gunny's interrogation to develop.
"Acknowledged Stormhammers." A static filled reply of Captain Vikkhas crackles over the airwaves. "One lance removed and potential hostage or forced conscription fighters. The Janissares are engaged with the enemy at target Alpha." A bit of a pause. "You are approved to investigate additional power sources. Be warned, heavier than expected resistance encountered at the first dropzone. It seems our friend Hector may have more assets than previously anticipated."
While Jack and Markus report to the expedition higher ups. Gunny approaches the task of seeking further information from the prisoner with the usual measure of calm and detachment.
"Hey WHOA!" The pirate screeches, sweat pouring from his already sweat soaked body. Filthy hands shoot into the air as the barrel of Gunny's pistol holds steadily just a few inches from the bridge of the bandit's nose. "Der ain't no need to go waving dat beamer 'round and 'round." He drawls, his eyes practically crossing as they stare at the gun barrel.
"Now, sure Hector wanted us ta' take a bit o' insurance out ta make sure dem locals pulled their weight if we was gonna put 'em ina 'mech." He says. "Dem locals plenty eager enough ta get off'a dis rock. But we ain't no merchant hauling service. Gotta earn yer way. 'Til ya do, you an' yer kin are on prohibition."
"Can't be sure who's watching the shop. Probably Caster's boys." He adds with a shrug of his bulky shoulders. "Couple o' mechs an' and them ole beater tanks o' his."
Gunny glances out the corner of his eye when Lapeidra’s arm cannon comes to bear on the situation. Without delay, he takes a large step back, reassess the situation, and then takes another large step back. All the while, he keeps his pistol trained on Diego. “How many Mech's and how many tanks are we talking about?” He asks while lowing his pistol.
“You know, I’m going to be honest with you. I personally don’t give two s**~s about your reason for taking those hostages. I simply want to free them. Now, we can blast them free, scrapping everything along the way, OR we could attempt a more reasonable approach. After all, I can be a very reasonable guy.” He states while lighting up what's left of his cigar.
“Can you think of a way we could accomplish this without killing everyone? Perhaps, you throwing your weight around or barking orders might get the job done. Do you have enough juice to pull off something like that? He asks while taking another visual measurement between himself and Diego. After looking back over at Lapeidra’s Mech, he takes another large step back.
"Oh, I almost forgot. One more thing. What's the name of that lady pilot that was piloting the Locust?"
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'Okay, sure, I guess we were target Bravo. But it was Alpha for us!" Jack thinks, kicking himself. He's not a leader and not a warrior, so it's time to be about the one thing he is good at.
With the, what would you call that? Interrogation? Sure. With the interrogation of the pirate underweigh, Jack gets on the ground and takes out...The Multitool.
To call it a multitool is both precisely accurate and a lethal understatement.
They had said not to go there. The Badlands of Gruumsh, they called it. Said electronics went haywire and you'd die from either heat or cold, depending.
So of course he went. It wasn't so bad. The feedback was from lepton neutrinos, so he just had to rig his engine pylons with a tricylic phase. He was fine. Until he got lost.
It was hard to tell how he got there. Someplace no one had ever been, or at least not in a long time, not since someone lost a battle. He hadn't exactly discovered a Lostech cache the way every kid dreamt, but it was something.
There were a few plates of mech armor he had never seen before. Star League stuff. Eventually they ended up on the Angel, saved his life when any other Hawk would've given up the ghost. And of course The Multitool.
It could re-from itself into any tool using nano-tech. Of course. That wasn't really unheard of. Astronomically expensive, but not unheard of. But it could also handle heat in two special ways. One was a focused laser that cut through anything. And he meant anything. Rocks, armor, ferrocrete, anything. You could also put anything in its hamper and it would melt it to liquid. Anything. Rocks became lava. Metal became slag. Sand became glass. With this he could repair a mech in half the time. Or do things only a full machine shop could. Armor half-gone? Cut the bad parts off, melt them down, and pour it back on. Then find a rusty car, cut that up, melt it down, and pour it on top.
So has three priorities: Fix the Commando, fix the Commando again, and see what condition the Jenner is in.
succeed
succeed
"Okay," Charly mumbles just loud enough for it carry over the white noise of the channel.
Most of her tools were back on the Leopard, and she thinks about hopping out to do what she could, but wonders if she'd do better to go looking for that signal that Lloyd found.
The broadcast from their employers over the Lance's Comms channel settles the matter.
"Since we have the go ahead, I'll check out the closer of the two sources. Does our... guest know what's at the other by chance?"
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Gunny glances over at Charlotte. "That could become dangerous if things get ugly. Even if Diego here says what's out there, I don't know if I would entirely trust the information. Recon is, without a doubt, the best option. I would bring some muscle with you, have them set up a small distance away, that way you have somewhere to fall back to if it gets ugly. Give me a few more minutes with Diego here. Hopefully he has some insight."
Gunny locks back over at Diego. "Well? How many tanks? How many Mechs? What kind are they? How many troops? And finally, we are picking up two energy signatures. One close and the other further away. What can we expect at each one?"
Oh, and don't forget, I want the name of the lady piloting the locust."
Gunny takes a moment to ash his cigar before continuing. "I'm guessing Diego here is going to hesitate on answering some of these questions, and of course, at that point, I'm going to be obligated to kill him. I wouldn't be a man of my word if I didn't."
"Since we have the go ahead, I'll check out the closer of the two sources. Does our... guest know what's at the other by chance?"
"I'll come with you, Charly," says Lapeidra, seeing Gunny has the situation with Deigo under full control.
"Noted," Charly says before opening up a private circuit between her mech and Lapeidra's.
"Thanks. I'll try not to freak out until this is over," she says before starting the work of trying to pinpoint the location of Lloyd's contact.
Unfortunately, something continues to eat at her and she finds it harder than usual to focus on the readouts and displays in her cockpit. After a few minutes of walking, she hails Lapeidra again.
"Do you think we should contact the Locust pilot and offer her our help getting her kid back? She's probably going to get killed if she tries it alone."