"If she takes on the pirates with that wounded Locust then she's as good as dead already. If we hurry we're only a few minutes behind."
Lapeidra ignites the jump jets on her Panther to vault above the forest canopy for a better visual of the horizon and any potential battlemech activity, smoke and so forth.
"I'll come along too," Lloyd says, not saying aloud how he doesn't want to seem a coward after his freeze. "I managed to get out of that without a scratch, and I can keep us on-target."
He starts to move, keeping his sensors active to watch for any kind of ambush or threats ahead. The former sensor tech pushes tries to push away any lingering fears about more missiles aimed for his head, focusing on his sensor displays instead. Keeping everything at a slight remove helps him focus, helps him not think about how sudden death on the battlefield can be.
|
"Don't do it," Jacks says, elbow-deep in Commando, to the Panther's jumping back, knowing it would do no good.
"If we all patched up the Griffin, in a few minutes' time we could all go."
The Commando fix hadn't been bad. The Mk-12 Altonian bracing strut had been snapped clean through. So he gathered some igneous rocks, melted them down, and poured hot lava over it. Not only did it form a hard cast, but the heat from the melted rock re-melted the metal together. Good as new.
"Don't get into anything you can't handle." He sighs. "If you see anything bigger than Lloyd's Wasp, just come back."
He gets out and looks for the Griffin. "Meatbag, Gunner, yous think ya can give me a hand? If we commence repairs now, then by the time they get back we should be in good shape."
'IF they get back....'
Somewhere, in the back of his mind, a strange voice wonders, 'By Thor's Hammer did she just wander off again?' But he pays it no mind.
While waiting for Diego to consider his answers, Gunny continues to truly enjoy his cigar. "Hay Jack. Think you can spare a couple feet of wire? I think I can use it to secure Diego. Not that I actually think he wants to escape. Honestly, I believe he wants off this rock, and we are probably his best chance at achieving that".
That said." Gunny takes one last drag on his cigar and then tosses it into the mud. "I don't think we've seen the last of good O-Ray-Ray. My guess, he's standing off in the tree line here, waiting for an opportunity to free Diego, or he and the Panther pilot went for reinforcements. I suppose there's an off chance he may have chickenshit himself and ran off, but I don't think that's likely. Either way, we should be ready."
"Funny thing is, I honestly don't think this merc wants to be rescued. Especially after donating the Griffin. I think he is just like everyone else on this rock, simply doing what he has to in order to survive this place. My guess, he was promised a ride out of here for his contribution. An agreement that is likely bullshit. Hell, I'm willing to bet this Griffin isn't even his. It probably belongs to the boss. Ya, I don't think he wants to be rescued." Gunny snickers slightly after considering the whole thing. "Man, I bet the boss is going to be pissed."
After securing Diego's hands, Gunny escorts him back to the Griffin's cockpit. "Looks like you're my new co-pilot. If you play nice, AND answer my questions, you've bought yourself a ride out of this place. Hell, after we finish kicking the crap out of Ray-Ray again, we might even offer him a ride as well. Nothing saying a couple shady contacts can't be useful down the road, if you know what I mean."
After finishing his one-sided conversation, Gunny fires up the Griffin to get a look at its controls. When the Mech's fully online, he begins running through its weapons, communications, and systems.
Oh, my dear grand uncle gave this package to me and told me to give it to the chief tech if I either pissed him off or we need repairs right now so, here you go!
Extra tools for Jack.
Just tell me where to bolt things in otherwise, and remember that I dont know what I am doing, to strictly dumb manual labor.
Meatbag gets at the repairs with gusto, and has zero hangups about doing them.
His behaviour shouts "I AM NOT LIKE THESE INEPT STEINER NOBLES AT ALL"
"See, I can follow orders, I am not arrogant, just rich!"
|
|
"Yeah, Gunny, yeah. I can spare some wire. Of course, for all the reasons you just said, I don't think it matters. He runs away? No ride for him. He causes trouble? No ride for him. If he gets away that just one less headache for us.
But yeah, this is your call. Do as you will.
Oh hey! Thanks Meatbag! This will come in quite handy. Sure, if you could just give me a hand here...." Jack bends to, trying to patch as much armor back on the Griffin as fast as possible.
Staying in close communication with the Tech’s, Gunny moves the Griffin when instructed in order to make some of the harder to reach spots more available. “Any idea what we are going to do with the Commando? It might become a valuable opportunity for someone if we leave it unattended.” He asks when he gets within ear shot of the Tech’s.
|
|
"Ummph," Jack says, transferring the mouth full of self-sealing stim bolts to a hand. "If you could please lock the neurohelmet, that will be as good as covering it in ferrocrete. I "might" be able to crack that given an hour and good kit, but here? On this Terra-forsaken ball of mud in an active warzone? No one's gonna get through that firewall so no one's gonna steal it."
Operation Flyswatter
Anti-Rimword Periphery
Stettin System
Rat's Maze Marshes
1 May 2950
The bandit pilot talks but he really doesn't have much to say. Words spew forth from Deigo's oversized maw with its bad teeth and worse breath. "Ain't much keepin' dem yocals in line. Don't really take much." He says responding to Gunny's questions around mechs and other bandits. "Plus they be buried deep in dee mines. Ain't no mech gonna be much help gettin' anyone outta them old mines. So Hector he leaves a coupl'a old Manti's and a platoon or two of our PBI's to guard dee lot of dem." A momentary pause as his face bunches itself like a squeezed doughnut. "Should be at least Spin and Grendel der to be watchin'. They pilot a Jenner and..." He tilts his head toward Gunny's Commando "...and one a dem things."
Seeing Gunny's interest in the pilot of the Locust the pirate gives a leering grin but then shakes his head. "You no wanna be goin' after dat one. Little Tasha, she's one big pain. There bein' other girls if that's wat you're lookin' for." He leans in closer, enveloping Gunny in a cloud of noxious odor. "Given most of 'em a good go, so I can help you out."
Diego's gaze follows Charly, Lapeidra, and Lloyd as the three light mechs walk north in search of the closest energy source. A quick tilt of his head in their direction.
"Dey be trackin' Hector's special project." Chubby fingers curl into air-quotes at the end of his statement. He shakes his head and a soft chuckle escapes his lips. "Boss man has da fever bad. Always chasin some dis and dat about some old Star League stash. Always thinkin' a big payday is just around dee next bend. Pfhtt." A hand waves the thought away. "Dem diggers ain't gonna find nothin' but mud and a dead city." He adds clearly skeptical of any actual lostech or anything else of value being found.
"Don't know who or what dee boss man has up there right now. Might be nobody with your lot droppin' by fer a visit."
There's little else he has to say or offer except that the second energy signature is likely to be the local settlement where he and his lance had been set up for several weeks. Mostly to keep the population in check but also to patrol and conduct a bunch of sensor sweeps between there, the ruined spaceport, and a half dozen other points.
"I be thinkin' dee boss man just puttin' us to work doin' nothin. Ain't anything out here but trees, wet, and dem blackbirds." He says with a shrug.
With nothing more to gain from the prisoner, Gunny goes about securing the pirate while Jack and Markus start to sift through the wreckage of the Jenner and Commando. Finding some useful sheets of armor the two go about removing, cutting and re-welding a few patches back onto the battered Griffin.
While repairs to the prize medium mech get underway, the three scouts depart north, deeper into the ruins of the city.
Charly can't say she's happy with Lapeidra's answer, but she can't deny the truth of it either. She tries pushing it out of her mind and focusing on her sensors again, looking for signs of Lloyd's contact and any ambushers that might be lurking nearby.
Lloyd keeps an eye on his sensors, too, as he leads the group towards his the power source he'd picked up.
"...we got lucky, back home. My home," he comments after a minute or two of walking. "The Illyrian Palatinate is pretty peaceful, but... it really would have just taken hiring the wrong mercenaries for something like this to happen there."
He falls silent, thinking back to the times he'd wished something exciting would happen. If he hadn't already been cured of that, hearing about what the pirates were doing here would have fixed it.
Operation Flyswatter
Anti-Rimword Periphery
Stettin System
Ruin's of Cedarville
1 May 2950
Leaving the others behind to conduct repairs, Charly, Lloyd, and Lapeidra fan out and begin to work their way through the ruins. Lapeidra quickly pulls up an early map of the region dating back to the early 2800's. Well over a hundred years old, the map lists the surrounding ruins the three scouts are slowly stalking through as the town of Cedarville. Set up in the heart of the heavily wooded region, during it's heyday the town hosted more than a dozen major timber mills and a variety of linked wood product and pulp manufacturing facilities. These businesses exported specialty publishing papers for artists, publishing houses, historians, or others niche needs, elegant desks and furniture for corporate power players and nobles, and a vast variety of smaller crafted products for religious institutions, collectors, or anyone seeking a bit of wooden wonder in their home or business.
The collapse of the Star League and a huge amount of interstellar trade devastated the local system economy as the cost to transport bulky items quickly outpaced any demand or ability to pay for such luxuries. Thus it wasn't long before many of the settlers were forced into a much more difficult subsitance existence or those who were perhaps luckier, escaped off world altogether.
Evidence of that past economic history is mostly gone as many of the buildings were made of the local wood materials which long ago rotted away in the wet conditions. What remains are ferrocrete foundations of homes or the skeletal metallic remains of mills and factories, the machinery rusted to uselessness long ago.
As Charly is quick to discover, travel through the city is treacherous. Her sensors find it nearly impossible to detect the occasional pits and inadvertent mech traps created by collapsed and overgrown basements or storage bunkers. Her Wasp steps directly into one of these hidden obstacles. Lurching sideways, the terrible squeal of metal grinding on metal rips through the misty air as her knee actuator twists and turns in an unpleasant way in the fall. Although she is able to recover, she can certainly feel the weakness of the knee joint in the machines leg as she continues to stalk through the ruins.
Following her fall the machine savant focuses all of her attention on her machines advanced suite of sensors. This prevents any further falls and also helps her be the first to further locate and identify the energy signatures the group was tracking.
Beyond a long rusted, ruin of yet another timber mill, Charly picks up the energy signature of a mech. But not a battlemech. Instead as the three scouts circle around the ruin, they spot a heavy industrial mech armed with a jaw like digger on one arm and a secondary saw attached to the other. The mech appears to be busy excavating a large area five hundred meters beyond the mill.
What nobody notices until Charly shouts a warning across the comm is the second mech. A Phoenix Hawk sitting tucked and hidden in the shadow of several trees along the back side of the opposite edge of the pit.
"Contact. Bogie, uh, correction! Two Bogies! Industrial five-zero-zero meters out. Phoenix Hawk approximately seven-five-zero meters hiding in the trees. Dropping on your HUDs now." Charly's voice goes into a flat chant even as her heart leaps into her throat. "What's the plan Lapeidra?"
"You didn't ask me, but I'd say fall back to the others," Lloyd says, after double-checking his comm is transmitting and encrypted. "There's nothing time-critical about this, and now we know what's here. Maybe we should even go to the other contact first. Maybe if people don't have hostages getting hung over them they won't fight."
Which would be ideal, in Lloyd's opinion, because that means not getting shot at.
"Thanks for the IDs, Charly. I agree, Lloyd, no reason to put ourselves at risk here right now. We're scouting, and not in the sense that Markus means by that." Lapeidra shakes her head and laughs.
"Care to lead the way, Lloyd?"
Once Diego shares all that wonderful information, Gunny works on sizing up the new Griffin. In the process he fires up the Mech’s com and adjusts it to the group’s private channel. “Gunny to scout group, you out there?”
After making a few adjustments he continues. “Assuming your reading me, Diego has some insights that might be useful. The closer energy signature, from what he is saying, is a digging project that his boss put in place. He believes the boss is looking for some old Star League stash he believes might be buried out there. It could be lightly guarded, so be careful out there. He says the second signature is where the hostages are being kept. Based on the description, it sounds like their using a fairly deep cave guarded by a hand full of gunmen. The exact comment was a couple of old Manti’s and a platoon or two of PBI’s. Names he mentioned was Spin and Grendel. Says those two, at the very least, will be there. From the description, if we want to free those people, we will likely have to do it on foot.”
Hoping his transition was properly received, he waits for a response. Looking back over his shoulder, he asks Diego one last series of question. "This crew the boss has working for him. What’s their motivation? Are they just paid help, or does the boss have something more over them, forcing them into his service?"
"Roger that," Charly says, turning away with the others and starting to go back just before Gunny's voice crackles over the comms. As he talks, she puts in the information they'd uncovered on the TacNet, marking the locations of the industrial and the Phoenix Hawk along with the dig site.
"On foot? Uh, how many of us actually know how to fight as infantry," she asks Lloyd and Lapeidra.
Nagelring informally graded my infantry skills as "acceptable for a mech jock". Not my main area of expertize. Meatbag answers over comms.
I am reasonably tough, the nickname comes from the Close combat instructor Freya "Valkyrie" Sigurdsdottir at Nagelring, I got thrown at walls a lot.
I may have some Steiner milspec flack vests, infantry helmets etc. rifles etc. ready, they are not in my mech though.
|
|
"They're coming back?" Jack mumbles, preparing to measure twice and cut once. "So we'll be doing what I suggested, we'll repair the Griffin, and then set out together.
Except had we done what I suggested the first time, and everyone help repair first, then the Griffin would be in better shape.
Rookies," Jack says, shaking his head.
Could work in our favor, with the 2 phoenix hawks, we should have a reasonable odds of taking these guys out
Hej, can you do some panniced com bullshit? So the idiots think we are afraid?
Markus makes a suggestion to the scouting team.
"Roger that," Charly says, turning away with the others and starting to go back just before Gunny's voice crackles over the comms. As he talks, she puts in the information they'd uncovered on the TacNet, marking the locations of the industrial and the Phoenix Hawk along with the dig site.
"On foot? Uh, how many of us actually know how to fight as infantry," she asks Lloyd and Lapeidra.
"There was a completely separate track at the Academy for Space Marines. Different kind of people, to put it lightly."
Lapeidra checks the chrono. "We should have time to scout the cave entrance where the hostages are being held and then get back to the group while they finish repairs. I'm guessing we'll find a damaged Locust there. Maybe we can make a friend."
Lapeidra continues to monitor her own sensor sweeps.
Seems like the ghosts in the targeting array are affecting her battlefield optics generally.
"Or at least talk her down from getting herself killed," Lloyd responds to Lapeidra's suggestion. "Fighting on foot... well, my accuracy with hand-held weapons has been described as 'please never hold a gun again', so... probably not a good idea. We might be able to scare them into surrendering, though. Nobody wants to fight a 'mech on foot, and nobody wants to be trapped in a cave with a 'mech outside that might get bored and start carving out pieces of the ceiling."
When they get closer to the target area, Lloyd checks his sensors again.
"I had an aunt that taught me how to shoot, but that's not the same as being trained to fight," Charly says as she turns with the others and focuses on her sensors again.
Oh, c'mon! Not again, Charly grumbles as her scopes start to fuzz up.
"Depends on the Aunt," says Lapeidra. "My mother's eldest sister was Jersula Medeva, counsel to the Executor General on Canopus. One time a male officer who thought that expanded rights for males meant anyone gave a shit what he thought gave Aunt Jersula an disrespectful opinion over the CommStar general frequency all hands call. She had him stripped of rank and publicly emasculated, the old-fashioned way."
Lapeidra ends the story with a sigh, all memories of her family being bittersweet at best.
Operation Flyswatter
Anti-Rimword Periphery
Stettin System
Abandoned Forsythe Systems Mining Facility
12km NE of Beta
1 May 2950
Tucked against the side of a ridge the old copper mining facility consists of a half dozen ferrocrete buildings surrounding the larger headframe and hoist. The area surrounding the facility, especially below it along the steep slope of the ridge, the forest has been recently cleared. Rows of massive logs have been gathered and stacked near the headframe while others have been used to create a defensive berm surrounding the central mining compound. The clearing and construction are obviously recent as little new growth exists within the churned, muddy clear cut ground.
Observing from the safer confines of the forest nearly a kilometer from the actual compound, the Stormhammer scouts give the place a look. Base scans from Lloyd, Lapeidra, and Charly all indicate a fusion power plant operating within the hoist house. It matches the signal signature Lloyd spotted earlier. Of additional interest are several other smaller power signatures sitting hidden behind the wood and dirt barrier. Although not strong enough to indicate another heavy plant like the one powering the entire mining operation, they are certainly within the parameters for light mechs or a mid sized tanks.
Hej, Charlie, I got these incredibly long winded "notes of a sensor tech" on how to spot anomalies and distinguish them from sensor malfunctions, something about synchronising your on-off-sweep patterns with weather fluctations to eliminate noise using a phased apperture sweep? I only understand about half of these words but maybe it helps! According to Big Rock he made use of this for cinematic purposes somehow, but I know better then to ask him details.
The well resources Lyran noble bastard offers.
Lloyd brings his Wasp to a halt and spends some quality time with his various sensors.
"Markus, I'm the one here who was a sensor tech in a previous life, so to speak. Why didn't you give those notes to me?" he complains as he works.
"Looks like we've got... a Jenner and a pair of smaller mechs, maybe Locust and Commando. A couple of heavier tanks, maybe Manticores, though they're dug in, they're probably using them as turrets. And I *think* they've got a pair of Whirlwind-L's upon in that tower. Definitely going to want the whole crew for this one."
"Huh? Oh, um? Th-thanks," Charly says before starting to read through the notes. There were even some notes on the Wasp specifically.
"Hey Lloyd, have you read this," she asks after a few minutes and sending him a copy.
"Hokay, I've got a Jenner and a couple of smaller sources, maybe a Commando and something else? Having some trouble nailing them down."
"Good work with the sensor sweeps, team. Lloyd, you're the professional and we should definitely be looking through your eyes here. Great information."
She stops her Panther. "Team, did you hear those reports? How are the repairs coming? Ready to rendezvous and move forward together into the next engagement?"
Catching the transmission at the last minute, Gunny keys his radio and replies. "That’s a good copy Lapeidra. Repairs, on our end are coming along slow. Jack had to piece together a lift using spare cable and some local trees. The process is working but, it’s a bit slow. We are fortunate he's a solid Tech.”
"Roger that. We'll be along shortly."
Dont mind me, I guess hammering these armor plates back on doubles for my physical exercise. Pretty sure "Sadly not a Stealth Atlas" is almost ready to do some reconneutering
Markus answers as he gets back into his unusually named mech.
Operation Flyswatter
Anti-Rimword Periphery
Stettin System
Ruins of the Cedarville Spaceport
1 May 2950
Sparks fly as the minor sun of Jack's welder works its way along a central panel of the Griffin's center torso. Searching the remains of the pirate Jenner and Gunny's battered Commando, the quick working tech managed to salvage enough armor plating to weld together a few solid plates to protect the most vulnerable elements of the larger mech.
With a signal from Jack, Markus lowers the makeshift scaffold consisting of the hand of his Phoenix Hawk, a few feet further so the tech can continue his weld.
Meanwhile, having convinced Deigo to hand over the Griffin's initiation sequence and command code, with a little not so subtle help from his ever-handy 'interrogation' pistol, Gunny busies himself trying to re-calibrate and initialize the mechs neurohelmet and onboard systems to his own brain patterns and processes. A task that often takes hours and many fine tuning adjustments from specialized technicians is crammed into the hour or so it takes the scout crew to scope out the two signals picked up north and northeast of the port.
After a few false starts and several reboots of the onboard computer system, Gunny is fairly certain he has full control of the Griffin. Testing that theory must wait until Jack's completed his repairs and the 55-ton machine is freed from its makeshift gantry of timber and rusted cable scrounged from one of the more intact warehouse facilities.
Ideas already abound as to how to refit the Griffin. Of course all of those must wait until there's more time and the real workspace aboard the Nine Lives before such plans can be put to the torch. Meanwhile the carcass of the Jenner sits nearby along with the core of one of its Argra 3L lasers and the shot up remnants of the Thunderstroke short range missile launcher, both of which Jack said he could repair despite their rather worse for wear appearance.
When the scout team signal's their findings, Jack is just wrapping up the final patch welds on the Griffin. A quarter hour later and the tech is back on the ground, and with the help of Markus, has the captured mech free of its makeshift constraints. And none too soon, for it is just as Jack is giving Gunny a thumbs up that the scouting party emerges from the trees.
"Well you heard our reports," Lloyd says as he brings his Wasp back into sight of the heavy hitters of their oversized lance. "The mine is more heavily defended, but if we take out the guards and rescue the hostages we might have better luck convincing anyone else to stand down, like that Phoenix Hawk pilot. We'll have to hit that turret and the tanks hard and fast, though."
After adjusting the neuro-link to accommodate his signature, Gunny changes the Griffin's Command Codes to a set he has used throughout his carrier. While doing so, he ensures Diego is not within range to observe the process. “Well Diego, it looks like we might have your stomper back in the fight. Apparently, we didn’t get the entire frame covered in armor, but it looks like most the vitals are well protected. It should be good enough for a long-distance support Mech. It’s a shame you didn’t gear this bad boy out for a real fight. It would have made a formidable opponent in the hands of a skilled pilot.”
After voicing his thoughts out loud, Gunny ensures the Griffin's comm is set to the group personal channel and then keys his mic. "Looks like Jack got it done. At least as much as could be done considering the available parts. She isn’t pretty, but I think she still has some fight in her. I assume we are considering making a run at the mine in order to free the prisoners. Any idea on what we want to do with Diego during this process? I mean, if we are getting out of the Mech’s and going in heel to toe, do we intend to leave him in the Mech? I suppose we could leave him here. I don’t think it's in his best interest to run off, especially with a ride off this rock in the balance. If he returns to the boss, it's just as likely he would be shot on sight for giving up the Griffin. Any thoughts?”
After closing the mic, Gunny continues to make any final adjustment to the pilot’s station, Neuro-link, and system. Once complete, he sits back comfortably in his new chair and lights up a fresh cigar. “I’m thinking I might need to find another source for these damn things. Won’t be long before I’m out.” He states, as a matter of a fact, to no one in particular.
|
|
Jack climbed down, tired but happy. He heated up a make-shift soap from wood, rocks, and gravel. It did a good job getting most of the grease out of his hands and even smelled kinda nice. It wasn't exactly wood milk, but still nice all the same.
"Thanks Gunny. I say we tell Diego to stay put. If he wants to do us a favor and run off, that's one less headache. I put a block on the Jenner-shaped-paperweight, and there's no way he can crack open the Commando, so I don't see what he can do."
Jack was still kinda tired and administration of POWs wasn't really his area of expertise. He's had his say, but if they give Diego a Chernobyl-Cherry sloppy, or a bullet to the brain, he just couldn't care.
But when it came to scouting securing future salvage, that he might could help with!
He climbs into the Angel and starts engaging the group's Heads-Up Display to sandbox out the situation.
"That's a fine idea Lloyd, but I'd like to start with the easy thing first. If the pilot of that other Hawk wants to give up, I think we can give them reason enough. Or we can disable their mech and get more information out of them. Either way.
If we split up into three groups--two groups with a Phoenix Hawk and Wasp, and the third groups of the Griffin and Panther--and approach the enemy Phoenix Hawk, we can come at it from three different angles, in effect surrounding it.
It can't really run, because in any direction is a superior force. Best case for it, it's facing itself plus a Wasp, with a whole bunch more coming at it quick. Faced with 6 on 1 like that, I'd give up.
Then we can ask that pilot for more data on that big mine. Maybe there's some clue they would know that would help?"
Your cunning ist exzellent! Ja I am all up for it!
Meatbag is as enthusiastic as ever.
Can we take out ze enemy emplacement and tanks from a distance? Are the lookouts on tops of things that are easier to hit and not much tougher by any chance?
Lapeidra doesn't voice her concerns, which have more to do with her total failure to successfully target anything with her Panther's PPC. Her frustration with herself clouds her judgment. More than anything she fears letting her teammates down again.
"I trust Lloyd's threat assessment. We know what the Phoenix Hawk brings but not the mining mech. At least we know where it is and if we get too close we can use the ruins of the city to keep away from it.
"The tanks, on the other hand, I don't know. Maybe we just need to get to them fast and step on them. Have any of you fought tanks before?"
She looks down at Deigo. "We really don't know which of the pirate mechwarriors out there are conscripts with family hostages, and which are pieces of shit like that one. I'm not in a hurry to make orphans."
Lapeidra hates the pirates all the more for making this about children. It feels personal to her.
She points the PPC at Deigo and toggles on the external speaker. "Hey shithead. The pilots in the Hawk and the miner - are they yours or are they like that ace in the Locust? What about the tank drivers? Who else out here are you holding their family as hostages?"
After escorting Diego out of the Griffin, Gunny began untying the man’s hands. The wire, although effective, created deep striations along the pirate's wrists. Gunny figured if the group intended to leave the man out alone, he should at least be able to defend himself if something unpleasant stumbled by. “Well Diego, looks like we are going to deal with some of your boss’s other interests before we head out. If you hang out here, lay low, and we will return and uphold our end of the deal. If you take off, you’re on your own. If you alert the boss, you die. Simple as that. If you follow through and make it off this planet, I might consider you an asset for future business. Who knows, there might even be some decent profits down the road."
Once Lapeidra’s PPC comes online, and is redirected towards Diego, Gunny begins the process of taking large steps back. “I strongly recommend you patch things up with Lapeidra. She has a powerful temper. Perhaps some flowers or candy might help.” He states while moving back to the Griffin.
After returning to the Griffin’s much more comfortable pilots’ seat, Gunny re-initiates the Mech’s command codes and then brings the Mech in line with the rest of the group. The much larger Mech now towers over the Commando and the groups smaller Mech’s. “OK, everyone. The griffin is online and ready. It looks like all its systems are operational. Its LRM’s are dormant, but ready to bring online. Its PPC is powered and ready to heat up. In a moment, the fashion generator should reach ignition and become self-sustaining. Jack, if you would, name off the two groups and then lead the way.”
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Charly looks over the repairs she can see on the Griffin and finds herself wanting to shrivel away into nothing. Jack had done a far better job than she knows she could have done given the same constraints, and her earlier sniping at him seems all the more petty now that she's seen what he can do.
Well, this is turning out to be a great day for my ego.
After having been humbled so soon after putting herself in danger, she keeps quiet and waits to be told what to do rather than offering her unqualified suggestions.
Lloyd squirms in his seat a little. He doesn't like the idea of letting Diego go, but he also doesn't like the idea of breaking their word, much less killing him in cold blood. Fortunately it's easy enough to let the others keep making the decisions on what happens with him.
"I'd say let's wait on the answer to this question and act accordingly. If the pilots at the dig site are being threatened to keep them in line, I still say let's go to the mine first. If not then fine, let's take care of them."
|
|
Jack busied himself with getting the Angel ready to fight. She'd gone cold during the repairs and she liked to be warm for action. He turned his life support down low to let her have power until she was up. The rest of his mind chewed over the repairs to the Griffin, full of what-ifs if he had more time.
Jack, if you would, name off the two groups and then lead the way.” [/b]
His mind went blank and his blood ran cold. Name the two groups. Make a plan, tell others that plan, do the plan. This was it. If he lead them all into a trap it would be all on him. Was he up for this? Perhaps if he begged off, stuck a spanner in his vox, played mute for an honor he could lay down and let it all go away. How had it come to this.
He knew how. All those hours, weeks, YEARS! Years spent poring over technical manuals. Was he the only man with the latest technical readout as bathroom reading material? Surely not! Of course, he knew no others that showed the same level of interest--well, perhaps that Charly girl, she showed promise--but hardly a majority. The mechs just 'danced' in front of him. He didn't need to think, to look up their statistics, to wonder at what who was capable of. He just knew, and all the pieces full into place. Indeed they couldn't NOT! The dominoes were alreay out of the box.
Time to set 'em up and knock 'em down.
"Copy Griffin," names were hard for him. Spanners, strut, foot actuators, they made sense. Mechs had names that made sense. Human names had no rules and too many vowels. His mind buzzed with static just thinking about them. "You, me, and Charly," Charly he could remember. It rhymed with 'Urbie', "will form Group East. We will go 1-2 klicks East of the dig site. Panther, Hawk, and Lloyd," Lloyd he could remember. Only one vowel. "will be Group West. You will go 1-2 klicks west of the dig site.
When we are at opposite sides, we will close in and order the 'Hawk and work mech to surrender. Aaaaand then I guess we'll take it from there."
Once the others finish the dialog and resolution with The Prisoner, he'll move out.
|
|
Lloyd squirms in his seat a little. He doesn't like the idea of letting Diego go, but he also doesn't like the idea of breaking their word, much less killing him in cold blood. Fortunately it's easy enough to let the others keep making the decisions on what happens with him.
"I'd say let's wait on the answer to this question and act accordingly. If the pilots at the dig site are being threatened to keep them in line, I still say let's go to the mine first. If not then fine, let's take care of them."
"I hear ya, Lloyd, but the mine sounds like it'll be hard. I'm hoping us at 6 to 1 or 2 at the dig site will make it easy. But, if we're hurting after the mine fight, and only have 1 or 2 operational mechs afterward, then the dig site becomes even money afterwards.
When I repair things, I try to do the easy things first, because they give me a boost to go in to the hard things. Because the truth is, after doing something hard, even something easy can look like just too dang much to bother with.
Besides, I'm hoping that either the digger or the other 'Hawk will help us, and that'll make a hard thing less hard!"
"This crew the boss has working for him. What’s their motivation? Are they just paid help, or does the boss have something more over them, forcing them into his service?"
Deigo stares at Gunny for several seconds, blinks and then shrugs. "Can't say as to them's motives. But boss man is always good at given folk a reason ta do what he wants. Most o' da time he don't share those reasons wit the likes 'o me." Another shrug of his lumpy shoulders. "Diggers weren't brought from the mine like dat sneaky wench. So can't say what keep 'em workin'."
The former bandit rubs his wrists vigorously once they are freed. With rain dripping down his features he watches Gunny and the rest of the Stormhammers ready for departure. To Gunny's final warning and set of choices the big man just shrugs again and then goes to sit in the relative shelter of some nearby trees.
“Copy that Jack.” Gunny replies and then brings the Griffin into line with his designated group. Once in formation, he keeps pace, keeping the Griffin towards the back of the pack. “I have to say, this new stomper is roomier than the Commando, but it feels a bit bulky.”
"Roger, Jack," Charly acknowledges.
"Acknowledged," Lloyd says tersely, maneuvering his Wasp into loose formation with the west group.
Time for some more good old Steiner Reconneutering!
Its weird though because that thing already is a crater, so what will it look like once I reconneutered it? One way to find out!
Meatbag is enthusiastic as ever.
Operation Flyswatter
Anti-Rimword Periphery
Stettin System
Ruins of the Cedarville Spaceport
1 May 2950
The Stormhammers form up and begin to move north into the ruins of the city following the general path marked by the scout team a bit more than an hour ago.
The rain increases. No longer the gentle mist, water pours from the sky at a steady drenching pace of an inch or more per hour. Minor waterfalls spring to life from the tops of old buildings, the cold waters cascading into the overgrown, cracked streets below.
At first, everyone chalks up the loss of the sensor signatures at the dig site to the worsening environmental conditions. But as the lance closes in on the muddy, increasingly water filled pit, it is clear that both the industrial digger and the Phoenix Hawk have left. One explanation is simply the weather. Looking at the huge quantities of water gathering in the already tricky to maneuver area, none of you relish the thought of trying to pilot any kind of mech in that mud and muck. Much less a much less agile and ponderous industrial machine.
Operating under the assumption the two mechs would simply return to the main sight at the abandoned mine, the Stormhammers adjust course and set out in that direction. That is when the first worrisome message from command blinks on your comm panels.
"Beta One....Beta One...*ZZZT*...is Flyswat...*zzt*...Command. *BRRT* heavier than....*ZZZT*....Janissaires forced to pull...BZZZZZZT...Beware of assault level...ZZZBBBBTTTTZZZZ....Copy?"
The message is choppy with interference and static. Only every few words can be understood. A quick check in with the Last of Nine still waiting at the original landing coordinates assures everyone of its continued safety and security. But attempts to break through the interference and connect with Vikkhas seem futile at the moment.