"You gotta sort it out!" Gotzman has raised his voice loud enough that he's audible the moment you step from the ramp into the shaded coolness of the dropship 'mech bay.
"I gotta, do I?" The unmistakable accent of Sergeant Kang fires back, "I gotta drop everything and work on your machine?"
"I can't miss our next patrol!"
You had told the company that you'd be leading however much of Ranger Lance could be made ready by tomorrow on a routine probe op. You hadn't expected that to be the thing that started an argument.
"If I drop everything for your Valkyrie, it still won't be ready by tomorrow even if I work all night. On top of that, neither the 'Hound or the P-Hawk will be ready either. Where do you think my priority should be?" Kang asked, voice laced with sarcasm.
"This is bullshit."
"This is life!" Kang shouts after the retreating mechwarrior, "Next time bring your 'mech back with both legs attached!"
Kang storms past where you're waiting, trying not to intrude on their argument. He doesn't even notice you, striding down the dropship ramp without a backward glance. You shrug. Not a lot you can do there, Gotzman's just going to have to sit this one out. You turn and make for the 'mechs in their cradles, wanting to make sure your Wolfhound is ready for action.
Gotzman, sitting in the dropship's communication room, is forced to listen to the understrength Ranger Lance engage the Capellans rather than battling on his own terms. With Orixsky and Leathem on either side of him, he doesn't even have the space to stretch out in the cramped section.
"Private Miniato, what do you see?" Miniato is the FWL attached pilot, driving a Panther.
"Three Saracen's and two 'mechs. Vee's are hanging back."
"Stay out of trouble. Ranger is sweeping South."
"I'll hold 'em up-"
The radio is blown out by the familiar crackle of PPC fire. It seems Private Miniato wasn't interested in waiting for the Sabre forces to arrive before he started engaging. Gotzman tenses with each pulse of static, waiting for the signal to clear up again.
"Private! Pull. Back. Now." Captain Leather snaps.
"I've got it, I've got… eugh!"
"Control, this is Lead. FWL Panther has fallen. We are moving to support."
"Confirmed Ranger Lead." Orixsky says calmly into the mic.
"Lead, Four, Wasp is down an arm."
"Control, Lead, Panther non-functional, Raven down, Wasp critical damage, Ranger Lance continuing to engage."
"Wasp killed, Wasp killed. Mark one up for me, Control."
"Copy that, Sharpe, you can paint a new ring on your laser."
The rest of the battle passed reasonably quickly. Ranger Lance marched back into camp barely an hour later, towing a healthy chunk of salvage. The FWL took all of it - the Raven and the Wasp not even worth taking for parts.
Sabre spent twelve days seeing neither the hide nor hair of Capellan forces. Recon was done, probes were made, but the line of advance was seemingly abandoned by both enemy forces and civilians. Then on the 10th, Sabre got bold. Ranger Lance, at full strength now and with all repairs done, targeted a Capellan outpost near to one of Eom's major population centres. Reports indicated 'mechs, infantry and turrets in established positions, but with the full power of Ranger and an FWL Locust to act as forward recon, Sabre was confident. At least, Captain Leather was confident.
The Lance spreads out into a sweeping advance as they approach the objective, a wide patrol to catch every enemy unit in their drag net. With the sun just beginning to set and casting a purple-blue glow across the landscape, the assault begins.
"Turret ahead, I'm being painted by lasers!" You report, and the entire lance turns on it. The report of weapons fire is a clear song in the still air and the turret structures collapse punctuates it like a full stop. "Good shooting, Rangers."
"Field guns sighted, Lead. Two moving to engage."
"I'm on you, Two."
The two heavy artillery pieces, each capable of destroying a 'mech with a single shell, fire their deadly payloads. Sergeant Boywifed's Clint darts aside and the shots go wide but it throws off their return fire and they simply dig holes in the dirt around the artillery position.
"'Mechs on the South side, Lead."
"Copy that Three. Two, disengage and head South. Let's not risk the artillery if we don't have to."
"Too late, Lead."
"Repeat last, Two."
"The FWL jockey is going straight for the guns."
"Dumbass. Leave 'em, we're here for the 'mechs."
"Afirm, lead."
The Lance rounds on the three light Capellan machines, two Stingers and two Wasps. They're fast, almost too fast for weapons to track, but a few shots still land on target. Then you're in the melee. Close range engagements and physical combat take over from long range shooting. You kick a Wasp in the knee before firing a burst of lasers into another's back. The latter spears directly through the light 'mechs collar plate and decapitates it cleanly. The now immobilised 'mech drops the ground like a ragdoll with its strings cut.
"Sabre Lead? I've got a problem!"
"Go ahead, Corporal." So, the Locust pilot somehow managed not to get aced by the field guns? Impressive. Maybe he'd have a career ahead of him.
"A Whitworth just bounced over the buildings, I'm a little outnumbered here."
"Copy that. Two?"
"On it, lead." Boywifed's Clint disappears between buildings, on the hunt for a new target.
It devolves into another melee, this time in the centre of the city. Close combat, a Whitworth collapsed into the tarmac, another Wasp down with an unconscious pilot. 'Mechs fly back and forth on jump jets, weapons fire is intense but by the end of it Ranger Lance is still standing and the Capellans are in full retreat.
A week later, Ranger Lance is out again, this time probing the defences arrayed around a mining settlement. A lance of Capellan 'mechs rolls out to meet them, including a dangerous looking Vindicator.
"That's mine." Sharpe fires off over comms before taking off at a run towards the enemy. Ranger Lance followed suit, accelerating to match pace.
The engagement was a smashing success - smashing in more ways than one - until the arrival of another deadly flight of Capellan fighters. Bombs fall, napalm and cluster munitions scattering across the battlefield. Boywifed clips one, then another of the planes overhead.
The battle ends when you decapitate your second 'mech in as many engagements. When the Vindicator's head disintegrates in a shower of molten armour plate, the other mechs the enemy had brought begin to retreat from the mining camp.
The Lance is brutalised by the fight. The Phoenix Hawk is missing an arm, none of you have a full armour plate on any location, but you are at least victorious. And, most important of all, when the FWL survey the salvage, they let you take the Vindicator.
The VND-1R will be joining the company as soon as it is refitted and the pilot is washed out of the cockpit. Who gets it?
[ ] Orixsky
[ ] Leathem
