Gespenst GST-001
Mass: 50 tons
Chassis: Powerman/Hover
Power Plant: 300 Zi RE
Cruising Speed: 108 kph
Maximum Speed: 162 kph
Jump Jets: None
Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Standard Industrial
Armament:
2 Rocket Launcher 20
4 Small Laser
2 Machine Gun
1 Flamer
Manufacturer: Katinka Industrial Inc
Primary Factory: Katinka
Communication System: Neil 6000
Targeting & Tracking System: Prototype Pack linkers
Introduction Year: 3022
Tech Rating/Availability: D/X-F-X-X
Cost: 2,318,688 C-bills
Overview
A true Militiamech in all sense. This fast-moving hybrid mech was designed to be a cheap mech to hold off pirates and bandits until heavier metal could arrive and finish them.
Capabilities
This does not need a gyro as it was designed for flatlands or urban environments. It is equipped with an experimental power adaptor that allows it to be refitted with various weapons. It uses two one-shot rocket launchers and a series of small lasers for close-range hits and runs. It has one flamer for enemy infantry. The joint between the vehicle and mech part is the same as a Guntank which allows the Mechwarrior to fire in any direction.
Deployment
This mech saw its first actual deployment when two were sent for the Coronation of the new High Lady Kamea Arano. They saw battle alongside their predecessor, the Guntank-P and Guntank, as they did everything to protect sabotaged loyal Royal Guardsmen. The bot went up in flames but had saved hundreds of loyal forces.
History
This mech was made using the upper body of a Powerman and a Heavy Hover APC. There is talk about changing this with a Hover Tank bottom, but those may cause the price to jump up.
Type: Gespenst
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Tonnage: 50
Battle Value: 445
Equipment Mass
Internal Structure Industrial 10
Engine 300 Zi RE 19
Walking MP: 10
Running MP: 15
Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sink 12 2
Gyro -
Cockpit 3
Armor Factor (Industrial ) 53 8
Fuel - 1
Internal Armor
Structure Value
Head 3 9
Center Torso 16 15
Center Torso (rear) 6
R/L Torso 12 10
R/L Torso (rear) 2
R/L Arm 8 3
HB - 30
Suitable Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand
Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand
Weapons
and Ammo Location Critical Heat Tonnage
Flamer CT 1 3 1.0
Small Laser CT 1 1 0.5
Prototype Rocket Launcher 20 RT 3 5 1.5
Small Laser RT 1 1 0.5
Machine Gun LA 1 0 0.5
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100) LA 1 - 0.5
Prototype Rocket Launcher 20 LT 3 5 1.5
Small Laser LT 1 1 0.5
Small Laser HD 1 1 0.5
Machine Gun RA 1 0 0.5
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100) RA 1 - 0.5
You might want to think about adding foaming missiles, missiles that explodes into fast hardening foam which encases the target or into their joints neutralizing them, and magnetic nets. I also suggest taking pollen, sleeping gas, and cotton and stuff it in a grenade like container so that they can infiltrate the mech's air intake and put the pilots to sleep. You typically want to avoid damaging the town or city they are deployed in. Giving them nondestructive but effective means of neutralizing opposition would help with that.
You might want to think about adding foaming missiles, missiles that explodes into fast hardening foam which encases the target or into their joints neutralizing them, and magnetic nets. I also suggest taking pollen, sleeping gas, and cotton and stuff it in a grenade like container so that they can infiltrate the mech's air intake and put the pilots to sleep. You typically want to avoid damaging to the town or city they are deployed in. Giving them nondestructive but effective means of neutralizing opposition would help with that.
If you need vehicle grenade launchers to make it work then sure. They are just nondestructive means of neutralizing enemies, and they don't require a person to be in a mech to work. Since they are to be deployed in urban areas I think having some nondestructive options would be handy.
If you need vehicle grenade launchers to make it work then sure. They are just nondestructive means of neutralizing enemies, and they don't require a person to be in a mech to work. Since they are to be deployed in urban areas I think having some nondestructive options would be handy.
Look out for a new model coming then. Although it will be interesting if my SI and the Whale King manages to produce the securitymech's form SRM rockets. Just need a sample and material. That or a Peacekeeper mech.
Pretty sure there is one on the market somewhere. Either that or raiding a junk yard. Just about anything can be found in those places. I presume Battletech has a few with all the mechs being destroyed. By the way what does SRM and LRM stand for?
—————————————————— Location: Katinka, New Dutch Militia Hanger
Date: November 5, 3021, 14:30
Maxwell sighed to himself after reading the report from Ronin. Their biggest benefactor was an alien, his mechs and warship were living beings, and ComStar may or may not be another Great House. This information was unhelpful in terms of what was happening today. He would freak out later when there wasn't a knife hanging over them. To which set of information would be determined later.
The only silver lining was that Commander Chen had been preparing war materials since the news of the raid. This included starting up a production line of Guntanks that might be ready by the time those dropships land. Hell, the fact he had them started yesterday night, and they were almost done was crazy fast. He also had several light mechs prepared for his company and the PDF. So the only issue was having mechwarriors at the ready.
Max saw that having more mechs would be great. It was meaningless if no one could pilot them with enough confidence not to cause more damage or loss of life. However, he had to be careful as ComStar, of all things, might compromise his defense network. If word gets out that they had a native battlemech or militiamech line, they would be attacked again, but this time by the governmental forces instead of hired guns—those damn Capellan withstanding.
He had seen Joyce running off to get her new Enforcer ready while muttering new contracts ideas after finding out the man could make battlemech with fusion engines. So now he was alone to think about what he now knew. He absentmindedly sent the orders for Dropships to be ready for rapid responses. Max knew Hammon would have the dropship ready for his lance, but the two newer dropship crews took a long time to prepare, which was fine. It gave him more time to plan.
He looked at the newly made noteputer that Commander Chen sent to him and all lance leaders. There was no note on why he sent them other than a verbal message that Ronin told him. "This is just in case." Nothing else but knowing what has been going on since before his time. He had a good idea why.
He had already ordered more security forces to protect the network towers. However, there has been a movement of "rejoiners" who wanted them to return to the Taurian Concordat. They didn't want their planet to join a "pirate nation" full of "Star League wannabes." He was worried this was a plot by somebody to weaken them before the raid landed.
He had detractors when he took over as Governor of Katinka, but none had ever taken to arms as he brought stability and firepower to protect the planet. Besides the previous pirate attack, as the primary ASF lance was away to purchase the conventional fighters, he prevented dozens of raids from getting worse.
He had to make sure the final checks on his Mackie were done and that no sabotage happened during the previous raid. He refused to believe the AsTech last time happened to trip and damage his leg's myomers after he what learned.
—————————————————— Location: Katinka, Blitz HQ
Date: November 5, 3021, 18:30
"Everyone hurry into the shelter," Cecilia shouted as she directed dozens of Astechs, mechanics, and the few non-combatants into the hidden "bunker." If only they knew what they were sheltering in. It would break some people's common sense if not scare them like Mr. Woods was on his initial trip here. She had received orders to evacuate all personnel to the buried warship, but she couldn't convince the infantry. They wanted a fight. At least she managed to order them to stay on base and defend.
She could tell that the Commander would have some explaining to do with the accountant division they hired when the mercenary company expanded. Even if the Whale King didn't cost much to maintain and operate, it just needed people to excavate it out of the crash site inside a mountain…okay maybe it would cost a lot.
Cecilia gave a quick headcount before getting inside the Hover APC, as the number of non-combatants wasn't that high yet. Then, with an immediate start on the engine, she hit the intercom button and spoke, "Everyone. Please follow this tunnel down. I'll lead the way. We have multiple APCs and trucks here, so hop on and drive in line."
The head mechtech knew everyone was nervous, especially after the announcement that came from her noteputer. After all, something declaring wartime policies in effect would do that. Also, her noteputer could turn into a holoprojector that showed friends and foes' real-time data was unnerving. Still, it made the younger mercenaries feel like it was watching a battleRom.
It didn't take long before they reached the exact location yesterday. The only difference was that the battlemechs and finished prototype militiamech had been put away somewhere and the zoids cores hidden behind a false wall all those who knew about them helped set up. There was active work near the far end, where ten more Guntanks were being built and might be finished by the end of the day.
Everyone dispersed to look around the hanger but did not touch anything as they stared in awe of the Guntanks being built right here. She used her communicator to tell her children to stay with their mechanical friends in the play area. After all, she was sure they knew the Command Wolf and Houndsoldier were unique mechs, but they might freak out if they saw baby zoids and started putting two and two together.
The giant screens from yesterday were still down, but she knew what she had to do as her noteputer showed a big play button. Cecilia pressed it, and the screens above turned on, displaying data and information on everything happening here in Little Rock. She heard a few people shout in shock, which caused her to see a table. It wasn't there a minute ago when she arrived. It also came with her name printed across it. The table had a terminal and several small communication devices around it.
"It was going to be a long day," the mechtech thought as she walked over and took her seat. The terminal had a digital manual on it in English. She began reading what was needed to operate the mechanical parts of the mech/vehicle bays.
————————————————————— Location: Katinka, Little Rock battlefield
Date: November 5, 3021, 22:00
Force Leader Riva Shin knew she was a dead woman as she dodged the laser fire of the Sabres around her. The Corsair had already landed several hits on her, but she managed to damage a Sabre heavily. However, she could never focus on the targets because someone took potshots at her from the ground. A ground that the freaking ECM made it near impossible to see. It didn't help that it was pitch black down there.
She hid her doubts about why a defensive unit of the CCAF was being sent to deal with traitors and recapture unknown prototypes. All of this was supposedly ordered by Chancellor Maximillian Liao. However, from the rumors, she heard through her command that it was Romano Liao's orders to head out here. The commanders didn't believe this rumor, but she had seen Romano when they served together. The woman's actions made Riva's skin crawl at times.
Riva's Eagle spun away from the incoming Corsair and barely dodged another round of ground fire. She fired her lasers and vaporized nearly all the armor on the Sabre she had hit the first time around.
She still accepted the decision of her command to come here as she was one of the few true veterans of warfare. She and her partner were supposed to guarantee the survival of the Yōulíng zǒnglǐ on the "barbarian" planet and retrieve their stolen property and kill the "traitors" before razing the earth the best they could. Of course, she wasn't planning to use her infernal cluster bombs on the settlements here, but if ordered, she would have to risk her brothers and sisters' lives—especially the two on the ship she was protecting.
She would survive this battle and get her family to St. Ives with her commendations from this mission. This way, they could avoid the insanity building near Sian. Just before she could fire an alpha strike on the open Corsair, she took a hit from the damn ground fire. It hit her aft and wholly destroyed her thrusters. She tried to glide her ASF to the ground, but it spiraled uncontrollably. In the few precious seconds, she managed to gain some control. She pulled the eject lever and escaped her aerospace fighter. This action left her now tumbling in the air.
The next thing she knew was darkness.
—————————————— Location: Katinka, New Dutch proper
Date: November 5, 3021, 22:00
When Colonel Ben Gleen landed his Triumph, SNAFU, he still couldn't contact his ASF forces as the ECM took its toll on his communications. All he knew was they were engaged with a possible pirate patrol. The problem was that there were too many factions in this fight. After all, who uses another nation's dropship entry as cover? Nevertheless, he followed since he would lose his mech support if he didn't.
"Don't fire any weapon yet. We need to figure out this bad feeling from this contract." He shouted at his gunnery crew. They held off shooting until they were either attacked or identified who the enemy was. He still remembered the grabbled signals he got from the planet but couldn't comprehend anything from it. There was something fishy going on. He didn't want to take this suspicious contract, but they needed the money since he found his father's debts.
The damn old man had spent most of their reserve money on luxury goods and gambled away on Solaris matches.
He has his armored units immediately disembark to set up a perimeter. The fighting against the patrol force would have to wait as they made their FOB here with their allied units. Some might ask why a FOB, but as a mercenary unit without battlemechs, they had to set up a camp for extended campaigns. From his few talks with their allies, they thought it would be an in-and-out mission if it weren't a liberation contract but a raid one.
The feeling of something off intensified as their allied forces started firing at the patrol unit without even thinking about his men. A few of those PPC shots nearly hit his ASF. Although it was dark and their sensors a mess from the ECM, they should be able to tell that the only air units were his.
"Sir," his sensor operator shouted, "We got incoming DropShips and aerospace forces. I can't contact Captain Jameson to warn him."
He decided something was wrong as the conventional fighters dropped their bomb loads on them and their allies' dropships. It was getting bad, but he could hold out until an army of metal came toward them. He would not leave yet as he believed his gunner and his ASF would take down the conventional fighters until more ASF fighters arrived and opened fire on the Mule. That was enough, and he ordered his dropship back to space to prevent them from being grounded. As he lifted off, his fellow aerodynamic ship lifted off after him.
He would deal with saving his men later. Right now, he had to protect his dropship from any more fighter attacks. But, at least he saw something being launched into space as they flew out of the atmosphere. Maybe that was a ticket to getting a direct line with anyone in the OpFor.
——————————————————————————— Location: Katinka, The "Moby Dick" bunkers/warship
Date: November 6, 3021, 23:30
Astech Ian was perplexed. He had joined this mercenary company, lying about his age to leave the orphanage, work on battlemechs, and travel. But instead, he ended up still in Katinka and worked mainly on the few mechs and tanks they had. Well, until now, after seeing the hidden secret that command had.
First was the hidden bunker that only the upper ranks knew about. Then there were the appearing and disappearing tables with terminals and noteputers for people to monitor the situation outside and check on the status of the mechs being built. Next was a truck-size satellite launcher appearing from a hole in the ground while repairing the damaged ASF. Lastly, the speed of the automatic machine arms to fix a heavy damaged Sabre within two hours. This place was so fantastic and frightening at the same time.
It felt haunted like those who died over the centuries lived here. There was that creeping feeling of being watched and noise most of the older people around him couldn't hear. Yet, it was alive as it reacted to what head mechtech Dark ordered. This was more apparent as not long after they came back inside that those ten Guntanks were finished and Mrs. Dark mentioned looking into a new project. A skeleton of a new Sabre was being built in the mech bay where the damaged ASF was earlier.
He wanted to freak out like several other people were when they heard a deep wailing sound coming from within the hanger that made his hairs stand up. He was the only one to listen to the sound, but the noise grew loud enough for everyone to hear after launching that satellite. Those with actual battlefield experience, not him, ignored it.
He listened to his fellow Astech shout and pointed at the display of the battles. The battle maps expanded a lot more and seems to get even more detail, such as saying if a Mechwarrior or pilot died or was injured and ammo counts on both sides. He saw his two fellow orphans, who managed to be part of the escort to the capital, die as their dot representing them turn black with the word "KIA" and what killed them. Damn that Marauder and the Mongoose. Mikasa and Marlene would break if they heard this.
"Everyone," He turned to see Mechtech Dark standing on top of her APC. "Get those Guntanks ready to move. I've contacted the men outside to reinforce Little Rock's defense while the rest of our forces assist at Starport and New Dutch. I want anyone who can drive a tank in the bottom parts now—those training in gunnery in the mech part. Everyone hurry up since we are on a time limit, so hurry! Someone get a Guntank to Little Rock for Sergeant Potter and Corporal Jenkins."
He could understand why she was rushing. Half their battlemech force was at Starport, and one was downed with injuries and scarped Wasp, while Mr. Dark was down most of his weapons and marked with a broken arm and leg. He rushed into the closest militiamech next to him. He had some training in the Guntank during the prototyping phase, so he knew how to drive. Unfortunately, he just sucked at aiming. When he started up the hybrid mech, he suddenly saw the green lights on the screen increase in the New Dutch battle.
Ian's mech had no gunner, but that didn't matter. He was the closest to the tunnel door and would get it to Little Rock faster. So he drove the mech into the tunnel and sped as quickly as possible.
He bypassed the HQ main building and onto the road to Little Rock. He would arrive in half an hour.
————————————————————— Location: Katinka, Space battlefield, onboard the Hysteria
Date: November 6, 3021, 01:00
The space above Katinka was filled with lasers, missiles, and ballistic rounds as the ASF and other dropships fired upon the two fleeing Leopards, a third one was somewhere out there, but no one had spotted it. The Triumph had fired several signals for surrender by the time she got up here with the Royal guard's Leopard. That was one enemy Sumire Meyer didn't have to worry about.
Sumire thought this battle was more straightforward than any other fight she had been in. Sure they didn't make it in time for the beginning of the fight, but they were still getting paid to mop up the enemy. The Hysteria jerked hard left and avoided the PPCs from the Leopard below. She flipped her own dropship 'upside-down' and returned fire with her full payload of PPCs and large lasers hitting the enemy's left side. This was followed by weapons fire from the two Sabres, one Leopards, and one Gazelle that blasted the right of the dropship. They didn't want to destroy the ship unless absolutely necessary as these things weren't cheap and could become part of a more significant payday.
The Corsair and the last Sabre were harassing the other enemy Leopard as the remaining Dropships, which were a lot for a lone planet to own, docked with the surrender Triumph. It still confused her that this planet somehow had more dropships than ASF. It was usually the other way around.
Shaking her head off that stray thought, she gunned her energy weapons again, missing her target as she shook her chair from the impact of LRMs that hit her ship. However, the dropship was stuck again and vented air from the hole. 'So much for extra pay.' Sumire thought as she left the dropship alone to join the two ASFs in taking down the last Leopard. With that giant gaping hole, everyone would be dead if they didn't try and land. If they survive the reentry.
That was when a missile, which was surprising as Sabre usually can't carry them, flew out from the one harassing the second enemy Leopard and struck her target. One second her mark was covered in multi-color lights. The next second, the damaged dropship was gone. After that, there was no radiation, no visible scraps, and her sensors gave off weird alerts. What she heard over the coms were her allies freaking out.
However, that missile broke the enemy's will to fight as the remaining Leopard fired its surrender flare and shut down its engines. The battle for space supremacy was over. They had to bring them down to the Starport to lock down the dropships and rearm and refill.
Then, join the airlance pilots in interrogating that Sabre user about that missile.
———————————————xxxx
Location: Katinka, Little Rock proper
Date: November 6, 3021, 08:00
Jasmine Qin was confused after all the events that happened recently. First was the terrorist attack on the defense network. Then invasion from her former country. Then, finally, the orders from Rick to go to the Blitz's HQ to get some equipment to help protect the salvage crews.
What would she be picking up to assist in salvaging? Also, what was this about having two defense networks? She would get her answer soon if what Rick told her was correct.
The battles had taken their toll on everyone, so she and those who only fought a little would be doing the clean-up. It seemed all the military commanders would be meeting with the governor after they all rested. So she was doing her duty to get the after-action work done. Still, the battle wasn't a clean win. They had taken causality on their forces.
Mechwarrior Hans Schmidt and Jackie Chen died in battle. They had lost several infantry members to those terrorists, and Sergeant Killy was recovering from several shots to the gut. They had lost both the Thunderbolt and Stinger due to too much damage. The original assault militiamech, which she still considers a freak of nature, had to be recovered by one BRV. It would be refitted for single-engine use for reasons the mechtechs knew.
The four Scorpion tanks crews they sent to the Starport had all died fighting. Finally, they had dozens of injured, including the head mechtech, John Woods, from the battle. They lost two squads of militia foot soldiers to capture 'surrendered' Capellan troops. Those were just the Little Rock losses too. The casualties from the Blitz Company hadn't been reported to the Little Rock militia command yet. However, the New Dutch ones were great. So many had been lost in both the infantry and vehicle operators. At least none of their mech forces had died.
She pulled up to the gates of the Blitz's HQ with her complement of workers. Before she could even call the gate operators to confirm who they were, the entrance opened to the giant quad mech she recognized. She had only seen it twice before, once in a photo and another when it joined a patrol. It still looked majestic as it did the first time. However, she could admire the battlemech later after all the work was done. However, she did wonder where the Wolf one was.
Although she did notice that it looked more dangerous with the boxy turret on the mech's back with several laser ports.
"Commander Chen, this is Sub-commander Qin her on orders of Commander Tagger to receive equipment," She hit the transmit to send the purchasing order number for it. Despite the offer to loan out the commander's equipment, the governor had given them the check to purchase it directly. Whatever the items were, it's worth several million C-bills and a notice to offer a better salvage deal that would include a dropship.
A brief pause of silence made her wonder why he wasn't responding. Was it not enough money, or was it a shocking surprise to get such great deals?
The man's voice was tense as he said, "I have the order. Please lead your people inside and get ready to receive your products." The quad mech moved aside to let them through. It followed alongside them as they passed a few outer bunkers and several more of those militiamechs. However, what surprised her was the trailers they were led to.
Two Urbanmechs guarded it with a lance worth more slowly moving in training formation a distance away. It had to be training as one of the mechs tipped over and slammed into the ground. The emergency crew in an APC rushed over to check on the Mechwarrior. She took her eyes away when she realized the trooper driving had responded to something the mercenary commander said.
She took a moment to recollect what was said before responding. "Piloting? We were not told what the equipment we were receiving for operational security with only good faith in your actions."
Jasmine was sure she and her crew weren't supposed to hear the mercenary mutter, but it even raised more questions. "God damn ComStar."
"Sub-Commander Qin," Commander Chen said after a moment. "Commander Tagger had told me you were a Mechwarrior before becoming his XO, correct?"
She was confused before glancing at her driver and thinking about the crew in the hold. The commander rang through her head as he said "piloting," not "driving."
A quick mental count on what she remembered that one Astech from this company said when he traded his newly made militiamech for the damaged one made her realize only six Guntanks were patrolling this base. Then to the Urbanmechs running training drills. Newly-made ones based on her memories from a conversation with Kyone. One specific part of the conversation weeks ago.
She turned and looked at the trailers in front of their group and realized what was on them. Jasmine also noticed a group of techs waiting on them.
Turning on the intercom, "All Guntank trainees disembark and follow the Astechs. Gundoll. Lungfish." She called the two militia mechwarriors who had just gotten done with training. They missed the battle because there wasn't a battlemech for them to use yet. "Follow me to our new mechs."
…A Few Hours Later…
It took a while, but the mission was complete. Jasmine led her trio of Locust to the holding area where they kept the Capellan prisoners. The anti-infantry bugmechs made it much easier to round up her former comrades as none of them wanted to fight these mechs without armor support.
They even recovered the two downed ASF to bring them back to Little Rock, thanks to their trailers and the lance of those Guntanks. From what she overheard, most of these people would not be willing to work with them, with only a few having actual contempt for the Confederation. It was easy to see, insulting the Celestial Wisdom and seeing their reaction was enough to mark who should be separated from who after this day was over.
Still, she took a look around her at the number of battlemechs, militiamechs, and armor vehicles. Why does this planet have so much military power? When she first came here with Rick, she decided it would be an excellent place to hide after leaving both her masters—not wanting to be stuck between the growing factions of Candace and Romano supporters. Now she part of a recently growing power that somehow can produce mechs. When she thought about the history of this planet, she checked. There was, at best, a VTOL and two tank factories here.
Now though? It was producing two industrial mechs, four combat vehicles, two militiamechs, and possibly multiple battlemechs. All these changes happen after the appearance of the strange quad mechs.
She knew there was something about them. Maybe SLDF prototypes? But that wouldn't explain how the government somehow gained the ability to produce things this fast. She even saw the new network that was built into her Locust. She could see everyone in the Little Rock area as the "battle code," as Commander Chen set up, hasn't ended yet until tonight's meeting with the surrendering OpFor and the Aurigan Coalition.
She would attend with Rick and maybe bother him about what he learned the day before the raid. He was going to learn something about their mysterious mercenary friend.
——————————————————XXXX Location: Katinka, Little Rock Militia Hanger 3
Date: November 6, 3021, 14:00
Lieutenant Talos Esposito stared hard at his damaged mech. Especially the damaged tank cockpit where Lieutenant Jackie Chen sacrificed himself to protect the Powerman. The memories of that battle kept playing in his mind. Acting as another nightmare to the one he already suffers from.
They hadn't meant for the hit they took to damage them that badly, but a PPC to a track was enough to immobilize them.
They managed to do their duty as anti-aerospace batteries by damaging those two ASFs but failed as direct fire support. Most of the Guntank's PPC shots went wide or were off the mark by how slow it moved. However, their ballistics hit most of the time, allowing them to weaken the ASF enough for everyone's shots to knock them down.
Talos' mouth twitched when people brought up how his marksmanship brought down those Seydlitz. It wasn't his skills that saved him but Jackie's driving ability. He kept those shots from hitting anything critical on their Guntank until they finally got a clear and direct hit on those flying bastards. When those ASF flew low to avoid the turrets' angle in the darkness, they finally got the chance. If it weren't for the network noteputer, they would have lost more than First Lieutenant Brown.
The young man broke from his reminiscing when he noticed the MechTech from Markham's Marauders assigning Astechs and mechanics to work on the Little Rock's mechs and armor. This was mainly due to Uncle John being held up at the medical bay for his burns and the Blitz Company techs at their base recovering. He was last in line as the MechTech, whose name was Yang something if he remembered correctly, wanted to talk to him about it.
Talos glanced at the parts that Commander Chen had sent to him. Upgrades for his mech as they were installed in the newer, lighter Guntanks and planned enhancement. He noticed the part for his targeting system being labeled as Zi Linkers. A custom targeting system that would work better than what he had would make firing his PPC at his targets better than guessing where he needed to aim.
The memory of his missed shot made him think back to the fight. His militiamech filled reloaded and with some patchwork armor repairs, charging with the rest of the battlemechs and armed industrialmechs again the lance of raiders. They thought they could get even the scores out with their VTOL support and tanks. They were wrong.
The first to open fire was the Griffin and Panther as their PPC slammed into his mech. The armor on the center torso took them well, as he had more than enough to block them. They returned fire as the Quickdraw came close, firing its lasers and missiles into the tanks and Powerman, trying to take out the easier targets before going after them. The Wolverine was the only one to go ahead with the Talos into a solo duel between them.
Thanks to the fact he registered as an Assault mech to his enemy sensors, the other didn't outright die to how skilled the enemy was. Rook and Slapdash worked together in weakening the Quickdraw to save the two Powerman, but they had lost a Scorpion tank to the mech stomping on it. So his VTOL escort fired away at the Griffin alongside the tanks to keep it away from trying to get behind them.
For some reason, the mech couldn't shoot down the Warriors but managed to strike their Wasp from the side with its PPC, surprising Slapdash before the enemy Panther hit her battlemech in the center with a full alpha strike. That was when things went downhill fast. The first Powerman went up in flames from the Griffin, focusing on it again. It was just lucky that the pilot got out of their mech before hitching a ride on a tank back to his location. However, all the lighter mechs on his side suffered heavy damage now from getting slammed into by the Quickdraw's missiles and lasers.
The battle continued until he barely took critical damage by being mobile and acting as a shield for the remaining tanks and damaged Firestarter and Talos. He had emptied both his 35 mm rifles and the autocannon ammo damaging the Quickdraw and drawing it fire. However, the remaining three mechs took that as a cue to strike. His attempt as a shield failed when the second Powerman lost a leg and fell from the combined firepower of those mechs.
That when they rushed to take the blow for the last industrialmech here. Jackie died when several lasers punched straight into his cockpit. That is when everything blurred but by the end of it. All the mech pilots had injuries except him and the surviving vehicles. The men lost in Starport, and the tank crew who took that stomp were dead.
He thanks everything out there that the battleRom and the Noteputer gave to them by Commander Chen recorded everything. They could at least honor those who died or were severely injured during that fight.
Finally, the MechTech arrived at his mech, so he greeted him.
"Lieutenant Talos Esposito," Talos said, shaking the mech tech's metal hand.
"Yang Virtanen. Now let's see this Frankenmech of yours." The man responded with open interest in his voice. Talos almost thought he was insulting his mech, but he recognized the look in the man's eyes. He wanted to know more.
"You might have to scratch those plans, Mr. Virtanen."
A familiar voice cut through. One that caused Talos to turn. The fellow teenager in front of him was Lieutenant Harris Potter of the Blitz Company. His former driver during their prototype testing. Talos didn't hesitate to salute him before giving the fellow teen a tight hug. Military decorum, be damn.
After a few seconds, they released each other before acting as if nothing had happened. The chucking from the old Mechtech told them they still failed to hide how ecstatic they saw each other alive. Not in a lover kind of way…although knowing a few of these AsTechs here, he beat they would think that.
"Thank god you lived, man, but what did you mean about those plan changes?"
The mercenary pointed behind him and the open hanger door where a newer, lighter Guntank was parked.
"Boss, I mean Commander, saw the records about your battle at Starport. So he sent this here as a replacement so he could fulfill his promise to you. He said something about giving you a good mech remember?"
Talos had to think about the deal they made months ago. Wow, it was a short time before he received his current mech. He looked at the Guntank outside and noticed how better put together it was than his prototype. Even had LMRs that would be just as good if not better at anti-ASF usage and close-range weapons.
"So Commander Chen is giving me a new mech for what's left of my old one?" He looked back at the destroyed cockpit where Hal once was. Before he could respond, Harris said, "No, he wants to remodel your mech for how you fight since you seem to like to go in close to fight and protect your fellow men."
Talos paused and thought about how he fought. Why did he tell Hal to move in close when the entire purpose of their mech is long-range support?
"As much as I don't want to interrupt you two," Mr. Virtanen cut in. "I need to get back to work if you're going just to ship that wreck back."
"Ah yeah, sorry about that, sir," Talos said as he walked with Harris outside. First, however, he noticed that some of the Astechs with Mr. Virtanen had stopped working and looked past the Guntank.
Even the mechtech realized his people weren't working and began to yell at them to get back to work, only to be ignored. It was this thought that went through his mind. "Hey Harris," Talos started. "How will you go back to Blitz HQ without my mech? I know the BRV are all out right now still collecting salvage."
The sheepish smile on the man's face told him everything. With a sigh, "Don't tell me Commander Chen sent the"
"Holy mother of god." Came the surprised voice of Mr. Virtanen, "What is this beautiful battlemech?"
Both the boys facepalmed together as they went out there to do damage control.
—————————————————- Location: Katinka, New Dutch HPG station
Date: November 6, 3021, 14:00
Adept Delta XV felt like an elder now. Tanner sighed as he looked at the Precentor Down's death report during his visit to Starport yesterday. He had gone there to greet a new group of ComStar adepts and acolytes who were supposed to arrive yesterday. Only to get caught up in the raider's invasion. Someone had highjacked the Leopard, the Light's Beacon, and used it to attack the spaceport.
Without Precentor Down's access codes, he couldn't use the resources here to track who had done it. But, if it was just pirates, he could use his power to find out who and send a Rom strike team to remind them why people don't attack ComStar.
His lower-ranked agents had found almost nothing from the downed battlemechs as their battleRoms were confiscated by the local government. Sure they could request it, but that would require them to know of Precentor Down's death. At least they managed to get one recording from a down Powerman. Fortunately, no one was paying attention to it as the ROM inside wasn't advanced like a battlemech's. Normally.
However, the Rom was ridiculously encoded for some reason to prevent anyone from reading it. How did this backwater world gain the ability to do this? It doesn't help with all the extra war materials suddenly appearing without question and at Inner Sphere standards.
There were also reports about the odd frankenmechs that appeared on the battlefield near New Dutch. Those things were initially advertised as Militiamech that his men didn't investigate too hard as it was supposed to use primitive technology. However, reports show they held their own against true battlemechs. They had night vision recordings of the fights in New Dutch until something interfered with their equipment at the final moments. That battle reveals the sudden increase in military might.
Once the few ROM agents return from their surveillance of the military factory locations, they will openly update the system's status. It would help them get more people here to investigate and draw the attention of those foolish Great Houses here to end the technology resurgence here potentially.
On another note, Adept Delta X Sharilar Fox hasn't reported much since the sudden expansion of Little Rock and its battlemech factory. The only thing she did report before she went silent was that the commanders of the militia forces were going to hear the history of that mysterious man. His other source of information had moved to Little Rock to join her boyfriend after leaving the MRB.
It seems they may have to send someone to check on their agent. The woman who left shouldn't cause any trouble with them just asking about what had happened in Little Rock last time.
Right now, he was acting precentor for this HPG station until the First Circuit sends someone else or one of the adepts under him takes over. The so-called ECM that was rumored to help end the fighting wasn't affecting the HPG, but it did increase the number of people using their services.
He sent one of the best acolytes with ComGuard escorts to mediate the contract breach by Gleen's Armored Calvary.
—————————————————— XXXX Location: Katinka, New Dutch Militia HQ
Date: November 6, 3021, 18:00
Captain Adam Gleen stood alongside his older brother in the formal uniforms they wore during ceremonial events. Of course, they were unarmed as PDF members searched them several times before they entered the meeting room. Ben, his brother, stood tall and ready for the incoming planetary leaders, and his emotions were much better than him. He was never out as hell due to the hidden cybernetic eye he had hidden behind his eye patch. One with night vision and zoom function allowed him to see everything that happened last night after their surrender.
He still saw that monstrous blur that torn his betrayers to sherds. Sure those assholes betrayed them, but with how fast they got wrecked, it haunted him. If he didn't surrender in time, his people would have been savaged by that blurry monster. But, unfortunately, whatever it was could move too fast for his cybernetic eye to correctly see. Finally, however, the destroyed battlemechs said enough. He knew only a few within his forces had seen something out there, but he had only managed to see something on four legs as his night vision recovered from the constant flashes of lasers and the Mule's surrender flare.
Adam glanced at the Captain of the Mule, Dinero Joe, who had several PDF soldiers near him. They had it better with only one man watching both of them. However, the Mule's Captain was surrounded by armed PDF members to ensure he didn't try anything. From what he heard from passing security members, Dinero only surrendered when the last mech went down. Thus making him a potential risk. After all, the Captain of the River Runner had already been terminated for attempting to poison his prison guards.
Adam and his brother surrendered when they knew they hadn't attacked pirates, allowing them a bit of leeway. Especially when Katinka's intelligence department received their BattleROMs that showed they didn't receive any calls from the planet one their descent and had attempted to contact the planet's forces to ask for a surrender of the 'pirates' they were contacted to eliminate. The shared looks they received from all the military leaders present made it seem like they didn't know.
ComStar and MRB agents were also here to determine the validity of their contract from the MRB. When they heard about the ECM that stopped the "invasion force" from communicating, they were surprised as they weren't affected at all. That brought up questions that multiple members of the PDF answered.
He noticed one member of the defending militia, a young Asian descent man, pale and looked like he wanted to faint. He must have been a paper commander, as the other high-ranked officers took that information in stride and responded to the queries without giving too much away.
He noticed that they kept avoiding mentioning the mysterious thing that killed the final lance of mechs, nor would they explain that the ECM seemly target what it affected.
After hearing their side of what happened, an MRB agent requested the BattleROMs from the Katinka PDF and the House Arano Royal Guard mechs to clarify what happened during their battle. Adam was surprised when the PDF complied but replied that they couldn't supply their original defense network data as terrorists severely damaged it. The MRB agent received one BattleROM from a man still dressed in his Mechwarrior clothing. However, the Royal Guards and the Markham's Marauders, as they said, their ROMs external sensor data were corrupted during their landing here.
The governor, Maxwell Chili, stated to prevent any bias that may come up during the review of the BattleROM. They should do it right here as he pointed to a holo tablet with a large screen monitor in this meeting room. The man also handed the MRB and ComStar agents several folders and said.
"These are the compiled listing of everything that happened based on my mech's BattleRom for this fight. So you can compare it to what we will see from my mech's sensors."
Adam's brother spoke up, which was weird as he had told him to stay silent, "How is it that your BattleROM records even work? None of the combat personnel could get there to unscramble, and several people on your side had also noted that their ROMs are damaged."
"I had experimental TT and communication systems installed in my Mackie due to the random ECM effects we Katinkans suffer recently. Unfortunately, even ComStar has recently suffered from such events." The governor replied as he even nodded to the young ComStar agent nearby.
The said agent responded, "We have taken measures since the last event, and it seems to have stopped the interference so far." Her voice was light and sounded young compared to other ComStar personnel he had dealt with in the past.
Two of the troopers behind him handed out even more folders to everyone present. The second Adam received his. He opened it to see a list of all the units on both sides.
He noticed that the ComStar representative's guards studied everyone there as they watched through the ROM. It is a bit too professional for them to do. However, it's reasonable as most people in the Inner Sphere consider Periphery systems barbaric unless they were the Taurian Concordat or the Magistracy of Canopus. It was then that Adam noticed that a few of the PDFs security personnel were watching the ComStar agents.
"Wait," Adam almost turned to look around, but his brother had signaled him not to move. With just his current view, he noticed a Royal Guardsmen and the mercenaries were watching the ComStar agents standing in the same way the rest of the security stood.
He put that odd occurrence aside to ask his brother about it later. He knew that Ben had talked with Governor Chili before the MRB agents and ComStar arrived. However, he did remember the one thing his brother asked him not to mention.
"Do not mention any odd-looking mech except that weird frankenmech. If we want to get out of this mostly intact, just don't say anything about it."
He saw the start of the ground combat after two of their ASF had been shot down. The patrol that fell under attack from their ASF forces and the PDF hadn't recorded former ally's Leopards.
It took an hour to review the battle and match what was lost on both sides during the conflict. Despite initially being the "invading" force, they fought a highly defensive battle as the PDF's attack drove them back to the dropship landing site.
For them, their armored cavalry had heavy losses [1]:
All four Sabre were lost but salvageable. Their pilots all survived, with two having minor injuries.
Two PikesSupport Vehicle with all hands.
A Manticore heavy tank, but their crew survived.
Both of their Galleon Light tanks with most of their team injured or dead.
Nine of their twelve Scorpion light tanks were gone with all their crews except Donut's crew, who somehow survived.
All five of their Vedette tanks were gone, but most of their crews survived except that one that was outright scrapped by those two unknown mechs from a PDF dropship.
Three of the Sleipnir APC tanks had been disabled and their infantry captured, but at least they only needed tires and axial replacements.
However, all their Vargr APC tanks had been destroyed, and all the crews and infantry members were severely injured.
There were 25,080,010 C-Bill in losses as the PDF claimed all their kills as salvage. This did not include the damages to their surviving armor and medical cost for their people—nearly three times the amount of money they would have been paid for this horrible contract. Oh, sure, if it were just pirates like the contract stated, they would have had salvage to use to recoup the losses but not now.
He felt worse as he noticed the second column that listed the PDF and their mercenary forces' losses—knowing that he killed people that were not his target for money. He didn't mind killing someone for money as long as it contracted officially and for the right reasons, but to be lied to about it? That pissed him off.
He checked the defender's losses and was slightly confused as it showed dozens of casualties. A lot more than what he remembered fighting against until he noticed three sections, with the main one being labeled as New Dutch battle losses. He was shocked, not about these losses listed but because three battles were happening on this planet so close together.
Shaking his head, Adam checked just what was taken out on their battlefield.
It seemed like they put all the costly ones first as Adam read the highest-priced casualty from the PDF. One GT-02 Guntank was listed as being destroyed by a combination of his men and their former allies. Seeing the labels on this mech made him realize it was one of those weird frankenmechs from the battle. Adam wasn't sure of his feeling about that mech, but it took down those securitymechs from the Homecoming, so it was worth it compared to those walking targets.
He then checked the remaining casualties and realized how much the ECM field favored the defenders. It was a lopsided battle.
A Vargr APC tank, one Javelin, one Meteor, two Defenders, two Powerman, two Bulldogs, one Vedette tank, seven Scorpion tanks, and a Commando (which he remembered it collapsing in on itself after it escorted his men to the surrender area), and four Warrior VTOLs. Those were the total losses for the PDF outside of repairable mechs and armor against an equivalence of a battalion's worth of firepower and survived with minimal damage.
The PDF total cost $23,694,451 C-Bills in losses just from this battle with many fatalities and casualties. He double-checked the other two battle losses, but there wasn't a price tag like this one. However, he got a funny feeling looking at the battles as they all happened almost simultaneously. The other two battlefields had just as many battlemechs. The Union that rushed to the planet before their landing was taken out if the number of casualties in the town of "Little Rock" made sense. The spaceport name "Starport" (not a creative name there) had a lance of battlemech that was also taken out there. These numbers made him realize how outnumbered everyone was. It also made him question how a planet like this one had the money to arm their militia this much.
Then the discussion of payments and compensation for the damages they did to Katinka. So now the Gleen's Armored Calvary had only their surviving units and dropship but lost all rights to their salvage. Luckily, the former VMI had deposited the money meant for paying them and was sent to their accounts. But, unfortunately, it's not enough to keep his people paid if they couldn't find a contract here.
Hearing that all his damaged and destroyed vehicles would be taken by the PDF and their mercenary forces hurt a bit, but at least they were still alive. Adam did hear some pointed questions from the ComStar acolyte, but Governor Chili seems to be sidestepping around that question by using the MRB agent to check on something with Ben.
He stopped paying any attention over there as he thought about how to help his people. They were going to be in debt but at least not imprisoned or dead. Ben might have talked with the planetary governor to make some deals, but his brother hadn't told him anything.
Hours later, they reunited with their troops on their dropship to discuss what they would do now. More than half of their crewmates were in their medical bay or at the New Dutch Charity Hospital. The only ones that gathered were a few crews who tried to watch the final moments of the battle and his crush, Ciel Faux.
"Everyone," Ben spoke up suddenly, spooking a few younger crewmates. "We have managed to make a settlement with the people here. They have pardoned us for the attack on them and are willing to give us some work."
"Why would they? Sir," Ciel asked, her Lyran accent heavy. "We killed them, and they killed some of us. So why didn't they kick us to the curb and take everything?"
Adam had the same thoughts but remembered something else he heard in passing. "Colonel, what deals did we make to keep our ship and armor besides giving them the salvage?"
His brother smiled at him as he still kept the formal ranks. Sure his brother technically didn't have the same forces as when their father was the boss, but they were hoping to grow back to their ranking in the MRB ratings.
"They offered us a new contract to help guard the planet's factories and train their tank forces. Despite the strong ECM field, they saw how skilled we are and wanted to teach their tankers how to deal with a similar situation." Ben replied as he pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"Also, the person who created the ECM field felt terrible as they didn't realize it would stop all of our communication ability." Adam saw Ben chuckling before saying, "That man is the Mechwarrior of that scary mech you're so scared of, brother." Adam felt his blood drain from his face and even saw a few crewmates suddenly pale.
"So they had enough sway with the government here that he offered us this new contract. They even stated that if we accept the second long-term contract, we would have access to the vehicles we lost plus the native mechs they have here. Hell, that the whole reason we were originally hired for was to destroy their battlemech factories. So it's a win-win contract here."
"Sir. What our new contract," A gruff-sounding voice called out to whom. Adam couldn't remember his name, but his brother responded. "Well, Sarge, you and Lopez always like tinkering with our tanks to keep them at combat readiness. So we need someone of our mechanics and you two to help teach the green crews in New Dutch how to maintain their tanks while on the field."
"Adam, Lieutenant Faux, Privates Grif, Simon, Donut, and Caboose," Ben said before glancing at a paper he pulled out of his shirt pocket. "All of you will be heading to the town of Little Rock. You all will be working on a project involving the development of a new engine they are making. Everyone here was hand-picked for their ability to complete field repairs on their machines after something went wrong. I have already signed a nondisclosure contract for this in return for the government to reimburse us with their native production machines."
Adam's brother looked at everyone with a knowing look in his eyes. "You will all gather in an hour to be escorted there."
Adam tried to ask what was in that contract that his brother accepted. They usually talk about every assignment before taking them. The fact that they had received one quickly before they had solved the issue with their previous one made him a little angry. The only thing Ben told him was that this contract would give them a new home and a chance of actually getting higher-rated contracts.
An hour later, everyone dressed in combat uniforms met up with a Hover APC and one of those Guntank mechs outside waiting for them. He still enjoyed that weird mech as he finally got information about it on the civilian planetary network. It was being advertised as an overpowered militiamech. The cost was pretty high, a good five million C-Bills, but the data of its use in battle yesterday showed that it could hold off against actual battlemechs and combat vehicles. The fact his brother did crack and tell him that part of the contract might get them a few had him confessing to his crush and the rest of the troops about it.
They drove for a couple of hours, with the privates talking about random things about what they noticed during yesterday's battle. Adam had tried to chat up with Ciel, but she was too nervous about where they were heading. After all, she was the only female in the group. The others were stationed back at base or stuck in the hospital.
However, she said it wasn't because of that but the feeling of being watched by something big outside.
Hearing that, he felt sweat break out behind his back, and the conversation between the privates all stopped as they started looking out the few gun holes in the APC. He had the same feeling when that blur that destroyed their former allies' battlemech came back with a vengeance.
"Anyone see anything," Adam whispered to the crew. All of them reported a negative except Caboose, who said he saw a "Wolf and a Doggy." Seeing stay animals was expected as most human colonized planets had Terran animals brought to them.
The PA speaker in the infantry compartment turned on as the driver said, "We are now arriving at Little Rock proper; please be ready to disembark in a few minutes and meet the military and industrial members there waiting for you."
Arriving at the Militia HQ of Little Rock, they met the Captain of the PDF, Brook Esposito, and started heading to the building they would be staying at to help with the work. The feeling of being watched was still there, but they ignored it as they discussed with Captain Esposito what they were here to do.
It was when Private Caboose stopped and waved at someone to their left, saying, "Bye-bye doggy, wolfy."
Twin howls from the forest caused everyone in Adam's team, except Caboose, to drop their stuff and look to the left. All Adam saw was two dark shapes running deeper into the thick forest. The feeling that he would have nightmares came back as he took a look at the people around him. They showed nothing on their faces as they continued working.
Lieutenant, formerly Sergeant Lopez "Baker" Dio hated his life. His fellow aerospace pilots had been bugging him about that damn missile he used against the Leopard. Lopez didn't know it was going to freaking destroy the entire dropship. Hell, when he met Lieutenant Baba and the remaining members of his lance, they also bugged him because the story of how he took out a Leopard and left no scraps had spread among the militia aerospace forces.
The only thing that stopped it from getting to the rest of the militia was Major Jefferson "Sidewinder" Anderson's order not to let it go beyond them. His lance leader stated that it was an unofficial order from Governor Maxwell himself that wanted the information of the missile sealed. So all information about the Blitz mercenary company was hidden except that they created the Guntank militiamechs, which he relabelled as battlemechs in his mind.
It still didn't stop that young woman, Sumire Meyer, from the Markham's Marauders from constantly bothering him about it when he saw her. So Lopez made sure not to take any invite to drink with her after the last time, where she somehow got him drunk enough to tell the story of how that weird quad mech could fling medium battlemechs around. Sure his friends who happen to be at the bar and listening in stopped him from going too far in detail, but he said enough that the Major had sentenced him to toilet duty for three days.
Shaking his head from those thoughts, he contacted the air control tower.
"Air Control, this is A3 with B Lead about to launch with the heading to," he glanced down and then finished with the codes for Little Rock. It had changed recently, so he kept it written down to remember it.
"This is Air Control," a male voice responded. "You have clearance to launch. Stay safe out there. There is still an enemy dropship out there."
"Roger that. Flight Blitz taking off."
He was here with Lieutenant Baba and his lancemates to deliver their broken conventional fighters and salvage ASF from the colossal battle two weeks ago to Little Rock. Two days ago, they had escorted the previous shipment of scrapped vehicles to the Blitz company, the ones they had claimed as their right to salvage.
Something was going on over at the Blitz mercenary company's landholding, but only those in the upper levels of government knew it. Hell, Lieutenant Baba had some information because his cousin had joined that mercenary company as one of the Guntank mechwarriors and even took part in the battle. They said there was a betting pool going on about the origins of the commander there. It had stopped when Captain Dark and Captain Ala ended the pot and gave everyone their money back.
Whatever the origins of that commander and his quad mechs were enough for two veteran mercenaries to end a betting pool. Thinking about the missile he got from that company, it was the right call. Lopez didn't want to know if the man had an even bigger rocket of that kind laying around.
Their flight protected the Gazelle, which carried the salvage, the repair crew, and Baba's lancemates to the destination. Usually, using a dropship for interplanetary deliveries was overkill and a waste of resources. Still, whatever the Blitz company provided the government was enough to do so.
They were nearing the hastily set up airport meant for them to land in when they received an alert from their decoy convoy. Someone has been getting into their old defense network and striking at supply runs. Thank god for the new network had a limited amount of people had access.
"Baker," Lieutenant Baba said as his Meteor pulled up from the rear. "Should we turn and help them since we're at drop-off?"
Lopez checked the defense noteputer to see what was going on at the convoy only to see that the battlemechs and tanks escort had already taken out the enemy. There was only one enemy truck left that was retreating, but the Jenner battlemech quickly took it out.
"Negative there Baba. It seems their fight is already finished. Let's contract Blitz Air control for landing approach." He glanced at the noteputer for his area and noted that the Blitz's landholding had dozens upon dozens of green dots representing allied units. How did small mercenaries grow from just one man to a regiment already?
They landed with the dropship and watched the dozens of mercenary support staff unloading the Gazelle alongside two Busters and two Powermans. While the Blitz company unloaded their rewards and supplies, he greeted the base's commanding officer, who happens to be Mrs. Dark again. They exchanged the order codes needed to transfer C-bills and ownership of the vehicles. Lieutenant Baba had gathered his lance and recruit and began walking to them.
They began walking off the airfield and towards the nearby builds. They discussed the transfer of the packages to the PDF. Lopez had noticed that Mrs. Dark had dark circles around her eyes from stress or lack of sleep. From the light muttering she was doing, it seemed she caught someone using more material than was allowed, and it took her and Commander Chen to fix. It took all night to do so.
After getting off the runway, they took a left and headed to a newly constructed ASF hanger, something that would generally bankrupt a newbie company like the Blitz, but they somehow afforded it.
"Lieutenant Dio and Lieutenant Baba," Cecilia Dark said after typing a code on her noteputer. "The commander had an agreement for the salvage to supply you all with the newest of Katinka Industrial products."
The large hanger doors opened to reveal a treasure trove of ASF fighters. "As you know, someone had updated our status to the know Inner Sphere and Periphery. So Commander Chen decided to increase the factory production of everything we could get our hands-on. So as you see, Katinka now has plenty of aerospace fighters to use once we sell these to you all."
Lopez recovered first from the shock of how many ASF were stored here. He saw dozens of Sabres just parked in the front of this hanger. The next row behind them were two lances of Seydlitz, and behind them were several ASF Lopez remembered. Four Lightning and four Eagles, the two types of ASF he fought over Little Rock.
Mrs. Dark spoke up again, "According to our contract, you may pick out one Eagle, one Lightning, and three of either Sabres or Seydlitz."
It took all of his training from his time in the FSAF to not react and just turn to the native Lieutenant Baba. He wasn't disappointed as all the people with Baba were shocked at the amount of ASF inside. It only took a few minutes before all the pilots behind him ran inside to check out the light and medium weight class aerospace fighters. They knew better than to try the Eagles.
Lopez remembered a second clause within the contract as he thought about it. If he took that clause, he would get the information he wanted but at the cost of not getting an upgrade from his Sabre. To him, it was worth it as there was a chance he could get a better bird later.
"Head Mechtech Dark," He stated formally. Lopez already had permission from Major Anderson to take the second clause if he believed it would help Governor Chili. "I wish to invoke the second clause on the payment contract for myself."
"Lieutenant Dio, you understand what you would be getting into for invoking that clause, correct?" Mrs. Dark asked as she typed a few things on her noteputer. It seems she was informing Commander Chen already.
"Of course," Lopez said with a nod. "You guys need someone to help train your recruits in conventional and aerospace fighter combat. My payment for that is good enough."
"Then please meet us at the main headquarter building after sending the purchase back to New Dutch. We will be waiting for you, Lieutenant." She said with a smile on her face.
"Ah, I must inform you that since Katinka has formally joined the Aurigan Coalition, the militia's ranks have changed to match their military system. So I'm now Cornet instead of Lieutenant ma'am."
She giggled and replied, "Already then, Cornet Dio, we will see you later."
He watched the men and women around him just stare before he called them all to attention and began shifting their new ASF back to the Gazelle. They had several large blocky items already being loaded on. Hopefully, those things took up to much space so they could fly their new, shiny ASF.
———————————————————— Location: Katinka, Blitz HQ
Date: November 24, 3021, 08:00
Yang Virtanen felt like he was in heaven or whatever utopia was in the afterlife.
He had come here alongside his commander and that young Mechwarrior Benitez. The Arano Royal Guard's Captain had come here with the remaining members of the Aurigan patrol they saved. Everyone had come for different reasons, but he had a job to do.
So not long after arriving, he was escorted by a few ASTechs to the sheltered workshop for the job. When he entered it, he froze at the visage of mechtech heaven. Inside were several frankenmechs, a few battlemechs, and those two beautiful quad mechs. He still wanted to see what made them tick because while Markham had lied about his battleRom to the ComStar and MRB agents, he had reviewed and seen the blurry image of that dog-like mech spearing a battlemech at high speed.
Not just the mechs got him excited as there was equipment everywhere that he would find in a battlemech factory or repair shop but mint condition. It was like going back to the days of new factories and freshly made tools instead of second-hand or salvaged. Heck, some machines were working on what seemed to be a massive cannon longer than that wolf mech. The rumor was strong enough to tear both legs of a Marauder and wreck the Union, if he remembers correctly.
Yang saw his fellow mechtechs he would be working with all standing around an ICE engine model he recognized. He was surprised that all three professionals were standing over a standard combustible engine. Why would they need a mechtech for something as Astech could deal with?
Greeting his fellow mechtechs, he decided to ask the obvious question.
"So, how is this new engine going to be revolutionary if it is an ICE engine?"
John, who still had a cast on his left arm, responded. "Well, for one, this isn't an internal combustion engine despite its looks."
"Really?" Yang said as he walked around the wheelchair that Toni sat in. "It looks like the same Bulldog 240 ICE inside those tanks outside." He pointed to the door where a lance of Bulldogs was being directed by a man wearing a Fedrat beret. He had noticed that man before he walked into the hanger and had to give the man respect as he did go into battle with his men despite his noble looks: still a Fedrat, just a respectable one.
"Well, Yang," Toni spoke up, "This is only a prototype based on the instructions we got from Commander Chen about how to convert it to use a new fuel source. This Reggel is almost five to six-time more energy-dense than rocket fuel but stable as freshly made armor."
She pointed at the digital board behind them that had several engineering diagrams. Some Yang recognized as ICE being refitted with new parts to do something. He didn't study it for too long before deciding what to say. The mechtech did notice the few notes from others who worked on this project. He wondered why they weren't here but pushed those thoughts aside.
"A fuel that powerful? Where the hell did it come from then?" He asked as he noticed Cecilia searching for something on the noteputer she carried. Yang almost asked what she was searching for when Toni answered his question.
"The fuel is made from these weird pollution cleaners that I really can't get into since I still have a hard time believing it. And I planted them."
Before Yang could ask what she meant, Cecilia spoke up, "She has a hard time since it would require you to know that our Commander is not fully human, nor are his battlemech machines but something called zoids."
He could hear a pin drop when he realized that he did as Toni had dropped one. He glanced at John only to see the older man just taking what she said at face value. If she was telling the truth, he looked at where the two quad mech stood only to see their heads turned, looking right at him.
Yang felt he was about to get eaten as the mouth of both canine mechs looked at him as if waiting for him to do something. Yang thought he heard them growling. It was broken when a voice shouted from the other side of the building.
"Knock it off, Wolf, Hound, or no new weapon testing tomorrow."
The growling he thought he heard stopped as an armored person came in with Raju following behind him. Markham, Benitez, and those three Aurigan Mechwarriors weren't with them.
The man must have read these thoughts as he also said, "Commander Markham is watching the other pilot their new gift with Captain Yuki."
Yang wanted to know what those gifts were but stopped himself. He would figure that out when he left. For now, time to question the so-called alien in front of him.
"So what is this new fuel source supposed to change this underpowered paperweight into something grand?"
The maybe alien began talking as a holoscreen appeared from his noteputer. In Yang's opinion, it was an incredible thing to see as something usually the size of a table coming out of a handled noteputer. He wanted one, but he would wait until after this job. Maybe get one as part of his pay? Or should he ask about the so-called alien mech?
Yang put that thought aside as he began reading the technical designs and information on how this "new" engine should work. It looked like someone cobbled together a standard ICE of a truck with the containment unit of a fusion engine. Supposedly, if conversion were done correctly on the machine, it would run about one point five times its rated power and run energy weapons without power amplifiers.
The more Yang went over the blueprints with his fellow MechTechs. He realized they had some truth to Commander Chen's origin. After all, this wasn't some crudely drawn blueprints but a detailed, if poorly translated, engine that should work. The only issue was the fuel, as he didn't even know how powerful it could be. After all, being told it's five to six-time more energy than rocket fuel meant nothing as it could be higher. If it works, then every dang Industrialmech and combat vehicle could be enhanced to greater use. Such as being a genuine threat to a battlemech or the fuel companies.
So after hearing what Cecilia said about trying to check the shielding within the engine, Yang spoke up, "I can understand the conversion and the designs here." Then, waving his mechanical hand at the blueprints. "But I need an example of what this 'Reggel' can do."
The man paused and looked at the two quad mechs, who had stood still since the threat earlier, suddenly turned and looked at the guy. Something was going on between them before the black wolf crouched down, and a small hole opened on its forward legs. Commander Chen grabbed a canteen from an open drum and climbed up to the spot.
The man poured in the amber liquid until he emptied the canteen and jumped off the wolf mech. Without warning, the quad mech started glowing a bright color before the light faded away to reveal it back in perfect condition: no scraps, dents, or paint chips from when Yang first saw it. However, a question appeared in his head. How was this magic liquid fuel for this modified engine?
At least he didn't have to voice it as Chen said, "What you just saw was my Command Wolf here just processed some of the Reggel right away to do self-repairs, but the rest keeps him running. With mild combat, that little bit will keep Wolf running for about three weeks. Normal vehicles that used Reggel should keep them running from anywhere from a month or so."
Yang picked up on the unsaid hint. "So we aren't creating a new engine but trying to recreate a lost tech one in a sense."
"Well, yes, in a sense, although I'm getting a feeling from you that where this comes from isn't as important as what it can do."
Yang huff before saying, "I'll say this now then, either you are an alien as you claim, or you're a crazy guy with powerful tech. It doesn't matter to me as long as I get to work on something interesting."
This time old Mastiff finally gave a gruff chuckle before anyone else could do anything. "That is what I'm doing until Chen shares that history of his planet with Lord Arano."
The look on Commander Chen's face lit up with a smile. As if to say something was finally going his way. It was an odd feeling, as wouldn't someone want people to believe him outright?
"Well, that's good, but we are getting off track. Yang. What do you think about these blueprints and what we have here? What is missing to turn this ICE into a reggel engine completely?"
Yang looked at the engine on the floor, the blueprint, and what he remembers from working on Bulldogtanks back in the Capellan Confederation. Then, he walked over to the digital board where he initially saw it before making the design's mark based on his experience. The mechtech could see what the other had done but noticed a few things that could be added and removed to allow better flow. Finally, he glanced at the holoscreen from the noteputer to verify the difference before continuing. He could feel the eyes of everyone on him as he worked, and it was exhilarating to show off.
He was definitely going to ask for a mech size weapon as payment as he continued to have fun with redesigning this engine. Inputs from the others were added if and only if they made sense.
——————————————————— XXXX Location: ????, ????
Date: December 7, 3021
Agent Siren to the Magestrix.
Reports of battlemech factories and combat vehicles appearing on Katinka have been proven. So far over, there are several confirmed mech and tank factories. There are reports that other factories exist, but it is currently unconfirmed. It is still unknown how the government obtain these factories before joining the Aurigan Coalition. High Lord Arano has given Baron Chili Dukedom over the planet and a seat at the Council. However, there are rumors that Duke Chili now had a private conversation with Lord Arano on another matter. That matter is unknown, but reports say that the leader of the Aurigan Coalition left the room pale white and with fear in his eyes.
For now, I will head to the town of Little Rock to investigate the mercenary company that started a few months ago but has a landholding here. It is believed to be the source of the Aerospace fighters and odd combat mechs. There is a scion of House Cirillo working as a Mechwarrior there that I await order on how to use this information. The mercenary unit is highly protective of its members and could result in backlash should I fail.
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Agent Howl to the Director:
Reports of the fighting caused by the ex-Vandenburg Mechanized Industries executive have not caused severe harm between the Concordat and the Coalition. While our allies worry that we would continue the attack on a growing power, these concerns have been placated thanks to the recent agreement between the High Lord of the Coalition with Protector Thomas Calderon. The deal has been settled but was not transmitted through the HPG for unknown reasons. However, reports are stating that Protector Calderon's health has improved despite giving up on the planets he refused to let join the Coalitions.
However, the chief adviser of High Lord Tamati Arano II, Santiago Espinosa, has been building up even more military forces for unknown reasons. It is believed that a coup may be happening soon as I investigate further into this matter. The recent agreement does state the trade agreement will be temporarily halted should something happen to the Aurigan Coalition. Something I will try to prevent for the good of the Concordat.
I will continue my observation here on Coromodir VI.
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Agent Bean to Stanford Blake,
This report is urgent for Jaime Wolf to read. I managed to overhear the Governor of Katinka talking with my protection detail about those quad mechs and their owner. They are what the Warden was formed to defend the Inner Sphere against. Unfortunately, I cannot say more as I received more intelligence that could put my life at risk using the HPG. I will find out their intention soon from my detail's visit to them.
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Agent Yuri to the Directorate:
I must report massive failure to punish the deserters and retrieve the unknown quad mechs. The Fifth Confederation Reserve Cavalry members have been captured and released to Larsha, where they await the Celestial Wisdom judgment. However, I must report that several members registered as killed in action are, in fact, alive and have joined a mercenary company that currently has the quad mechs as part of its forces. None are known members of our agency and must request members of the Capellan Operations Branch to send experience agents to deal with these traitors and capture the mechs ordered by the Chancellor.
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Agent Jackson to Dame Catherine Humphrey,
I have intercepted a SAFE transmission about a rapid build-up of forces in the little nation of the Aurigan Coalition, thanks to one planet, Katinka. It has somehow gained multiple combat and industrial factories within a few months. I have checked SAFE's database about that planet and found that none of them existed during or after the Star League. A report from our agents in the Taurian Concordat shows a few new medium battlemechs and ASF models appear within the Taurian Defense Force that were not salvaged or purchased.
I believe more investigation on Katinka to determine how to access these fast production rates to boost our forces. Due to the nature of the Aurigan Coalition High Lord. Trade may be our primary angle of approach.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Agent Fox to MI2:
The report of an old civil war era battlemech appearing in the Periphery has proven true. The Swordsman (SD-2) is produced in the system of Katinka. I'm currently sending a squad of agents to check out who is creating this battlemech and stop its production if possible. Additionally, I have technical members looking for information on how this planet could produce twenty of these mechs within two months after confirmation of its existence.
——————————————————— Location: Coromodir system, Coromodir VI, Cordia City, Arano Palace.
Date: February 18, 3022, 20:00
Raju "Mastiff" sighed as he finished to checks around the room. He used the noteputer and a sensor that the unique mercenary had given to check for listening devices. He found ten so far.
High Lord Tamati Arano II, Lady Serena Arano, and Kamea Arano sat inside the private room. Captain Yuki stood at the door as a guard while her two adjacent guarded the palace in their new Swordsman battlemech.
The chief advisor, Santiago Espinosa, was out with his daughter to check on a newly arrived Catapult (CPLT-K2) that he had brought for her. It spoke many things with that action, besides spoiling his daughter. Santiago was pretty much-telling anyone paying attention that his house was building up his military and political power. The man managed to get a Kurita unique variation on the Catapult and brand new at that. It spoke of how much influence he had outside the Coalition.
Mastiff turned to his liege lord, who was angry at the listening devices in a private room, and said, "Clear." He then looked at Captain Yuki, who walked over to take the bag of listening devices before speaking to his lord.
"Lord Tamati, I must now tell you something else that I hid about the source of our new factories."
"Speak Mastiff, whatever you had hidden must have been important if you were willing to go this far. Although, I will need to speak with my palace head security after this meeting." The smokey voice of his lord spoke out. The fire on the dropship last week had damaged his lungs and some burns on his body. However, it would have brought him to his jumpship destined for the Magistracy of Canopus to talk as an in-between for the Taurian Concordat's Protector and the Magestrix. A Jumpship that suffered a misjump and lost all hands. By pure luck, both Tamati and Serena weren't on that ship due to the dropship fire.
"As you know, those factory modules we gave to the Taurian Concordat to produce Sabre and Lightning ASF help ease the tensions between our nations. The battlemech ones of the Blackjack, Vindicator, Phoenix, and Cicada allowed us to annex those planets that wished to join us." Mastiff said as he typed in several codes to the noteputer in his hands. He saw Kamea look at her father in shock. Even Lady Serena did as well.
"Yes, I was surprised a mercenary could build those. I had wanted to hire Commander Chen to work directly under you like Markham's Marauders. You said he refused but gave you all these modules with the Mule you brought back. If I remember correctly, something about a down payment for a planet with specific conditions." They had several battlemech factories spread to each of the other founding house lords' planets. It would prevent a surgical strike from destroying all of them.
"There was a reason for that, my lord," Mastiff said as he finally found what he was looking for and sat the noteputer on the ground. It suddenly broke open, and many parts came out to form a grid that slowly put a holoscreen up. "The man claims to be a descendant of humans who meet with aliens known as Zoidians, their biomechanical allies, the zoids."
He let the documentary play out, not mentioning that the man Commander Michael Chen was confirmed to be a genuine alien despite his claim as only a mixed descendant. His DNA didn't lie, as even the most genetically engineered people in the Magistracy of Canopus still had markers unique to humans and could be identified as artificial. The man's DNA seemed all-natural and was changing from the initial check on its own without nano machines' assistance.
Mastiff could hear the gasp from the royal family as he thought about the new upgrades to his Centurion. The alien man had told him about what he had found out about ComStar and that he wanted to give him a weapon to surprise any assassination attempts and protect his charge. So he received a double-barrel energy weapon called an AZ Shock cannon and a Zi metal shield for the left arm.
The shock cannon was definitely alien tech as there was no way a weapon should cool down a mech for firing it. They had to replace his class ten autocannon with the gun as it was lighter than it usually. Thanks to scraps from a CN9-AL model found on Katinka. He could now use it as its arm naturally had energy connectors. Also, the weight-saving gave him enough room to add an LRM-15 model to his mech. The shield on his left arm was made out of magical metal as it weight as much as his old shield, offering nearly four times the protection. The example Commander Chen showed him on how a PPC hits proved it enough. The rest went to armor and heat sinks making his trooper mech into a juggernaut role.
After all, who didn't want a weapon that does double the damage of a class ten autocannon without ammo and drains your heat? Also, it becomes stronger as you generate more heat. He considers it a dream weapon. Now there was a need to find a way to increase his heat level while fighting. It was an exciting concept to deal with as a veteran Mechwarrior.
A few times in his life, he could feel surprised. This was one of those times. Some weapons could destroy battlemechs and down dropships as a mech-sized one. That was considered impossible until now.
Mastiff could still hear the same reactions Yuki had to the same information being shown to House Arano. Commander Chen trusted them enough by sheer reputation than anything else. After all, the man never met his lord but trusted Tamati to not break go rogue with this information.
When the final parts of the documentary finished with how Commander Chen's escaped the implosion of Planet Zi. The entire Arano family exhaled as they concluded that several hour-long holovids.
There was an uncomfortable silence before his lord spoke up. "How much of this do you believe is true or made up?" There was a little tremble in his tone but seeing both the female members of House Arano seem shaken pushed Mastiff to respond. "I believe so based on my observations during the month of working together with the Blitz Company. The physical evidence from Governor Chili also pushes for this idea than a Star League experiment."
Lord Tamati took on a thoughtful look, missing how his wife and daughter started searching through the minor data-based provided in the noteputer. Mastiff could see it was the few medical technologies that the man had managed to store within the noteputer. So while Lady Serena wasn't hurt during the fire, it was due to her husband's protection.
Finally, the Lord spoke up, "My daughter," causing Kamea to look up from the holoscreen. "Yes, father?"
"I shall allow you to take the throne as High Lady early," his statement caused the young woman to gasp and his wife to walk over quickly. "The injuries I received from the fire are too much already for my body. My family physician has already told me how long I have left."
"No, this can not be," Kamea nearly shouted, causing Yuki almost abandon her post. "There must be a way to help you recover. I think Mother and I had found it within the database." Mastiff waved the captain back to her position as the Arano family talked. He returned to the family as Kamea brought the noteputer to her mother.
Lady Serena brought up an image of a glass medical capsule. "Dear, I believe our guest of honor has the answer to help you recover." It flashed through several diagrams on how to create it. "While I do not believe we can recreate it in time, this Commander Chen should have one." She turned to Mastiff and finished, "Right?"
The old Mechwarrior tried to remember what was shown to him in that semi-buried ship zoid he was allowed in. He remembered seeing several battlemechs, militiamechs, aerospace fighters, combat vehicles, and several standard mech and zoid weapons. However, the various rooms he was shown still surprised him that the man would let a stranger see all of them when that image appeared in his mind. "Yes, the Commander does have one of those in his medical room. He calls it a stasis healing chamber that will keep wounds from getting worse while healing."
"Then send for him and his device. So I will not have my father die when I can prevent it." So Kamea ordered but was then cut off by her father.
"I know of a way to send for him without ComStar finding out. Instead, we will hold your coronation in two weeks and invite all the founding house lords to greet its new council member. All are allowed to bring their guards as usual for our meetings. This will allow Duke Chili to bring Commander Chen along with this healing chamber."
"I will head to the HPG to send it," Mastiff nodded before heading to leave. However, before he reached the doors and his student guarding them, he heard a discussion about a star map. "Captain Yuki, keep guard here with your company until I return." "Yes, Sensei."
He briskly walked out to the royal guard's APC to be transported to the HPG station on Cordia City's outskirts. The only risk would be that ComStar would find out about the chamber and destroy it because of its advanced technology. While he was glad to know about ComStar's hidden agenda, he made him and his lord's family paranoid about using their intergalactic communication system. They still used it but no longer for sensitive subjects unless they wanted someone to know.
Mastiff drove into the parking area for military vehicles and brought the messages to need to be sent out. He hoped nothing got in the way of this message. But, unfortunately, the carrier to send it via jumpships wouldn't make it in time.
——————————————————- XXXX Location: Talitha system, jump point recharge station, inside JumpShip Jacknight's mall
Date: February 18, 3022, 20:00
Michael Andrews had the time of his life. He excepted have an exciting life fighting for the Black Widow Company, but then his Commander had pulled him and others into a room with several of Wolf's Dragoon mechwarriors and aerospace fighter pilots. The reason was simple—a special mission from Jamie Wolf himself.
Andrews was now on a charted course to the Aurigan Reach, some backwater place in the Periphery, to do some investigation there. They would be part of a new sub-group called Wolfpack led by that damn woman that Natasha hated, Leslie Gruber. Not only that, most of the people besides himself were original members of the Wolf's Dragoons. The ones with a mysterious past.
He was with their newest recruit, Charlene Durant, taking a few drinks to get to know each other. An ASF pilot who received a new Stingray for this mission to the Periphery, Durant was hoping to be part of the main force of Wolf Dragoons. But instead, he was assigned here with Michael on a special mission to the backwoods of the Inner Sphere.
During this drinking session, they had invited those not on duty in their Leopard that they highjacked from some newbie pirates. It was sheer luck that they managed to get it on a contract job they did for extra C-bills while on their way to the boonies.
Now their forces stood as two Leopards with most of the experienced members in their original one. In addition, they were recruiting new crewmates on their way to their next jump point.
Andrew was still waiting for the one member of their drinking group whom he could stand even if he seemed out of his mind during his days off. Then, taking another gulp of the piss poor beer found in this jumpship, he saw the man in question.
The man coming to their tablet, one Kurt Brunner, seemed to be not high on whatever he took during his time off. However, the man looked a lot better than usual as he even refused the beer that Durant offered him. It was the first time either man saw Brunner refuse a drink.
"So what's the good news that you don't want a drink, Brunner?" Durant asked. The ASF pilot put down his beer and pushed the water bottle and their chips to the man. Brunner took them and took a few bites of the chips and a sip of water before responding.
"You know that I have been having a rough time sleeping since the last two jumps," Brunner said as he continued to munch on the chips. "Recently, I had dreams that showed me something interesting. So I hope we reach this Katinka system faster now."
That drew both men's attention as they knew something was up. Typically Brunner was so depressed or dower and just listened to orders. However, now he looks excited like a child with a new battlemech toy. They waited to see if Brunner who let anything slip now that he was acting differently.
Their wish would not be answered as a group on a nearby table called out. "Y'all going to Katinka system? The same system in the Aurigan Reach?" It was a rough and experienced voice that drew their attention.
The voice belongs to an old but muscular man with several other youths of similar build. Andrew noticed the design of their clothing. It was the symbol for the Kramer's Parts and Machinery company, a Solaris company known for its work in Class 1 and Class 2 arenas. He saw their logo on several exoskeleton fights. The one thing that original Wolf Dragoons and recruits did together for some team building. So why were several of the professional mechtechs on a ship so far away from Solaris VII?
He was lucky neither man with him reacted with surprise at the older man's interruptions, even if Brunner looked at the man with a bit of disdain in his eyes. Something Andrew noticed about a lot of the original members of Wolf Dragoon. He was going to use the man's interruption as a source of information. They had to have a reason to go to the boonies after all?
"Yes, we are heading to that system," Andrew replied as he could feel the glare of both his companions on him. There weren't any orders to keep where they were going a secret as far as he knew. However, there might be a chance they could find out what was happening in that area if a well-known company sent its people out. "Who are you, and why do you want to know?"
"Well, let me introduce myself," The old muscular man stood up. "My name is John Kramer of Kramer's Parts and Machinery." Andrew took his handshake as he introduced himself. "My name is Michael Andrew of the Wolfpack."
"Wolfpack? Any relations to the Wolf's Dragoons?" Kramer asked as the men dining with him also looked up from their dinner.
"Yes, we are a new division heading out to check the Periphery for new talents," Andrew replied before his companions could say anything. It was a good excuse for why a group of Wolf's Dragoon members was heading to the boonies. "So why are mechtechs going to the Aurigan Reach?"
The older man paused for a moment but decided to say, "All I can say is we have a job offer there for my specific skill sets. I was interested in the fact your group is heading there and willing to offer my services for a trip there."
That had Andrew coming up short. He wasn't the Captain of his group, but his Leopard was shorthanded. They had planned on hiring more recruits to help maintain the dropship, but there wasn't anyone around in this system. It was almost like someone was giving them a helping hand with these mechtechs on this jumpship. However, his experience in the Black Widow Company had made him more liberal with his decisions.
"How about this," Durrant spoke up while Brunner had turned his mild glaring into interest. "I'll go ask my Captain on the ship about your request while Andrew here continues discussing the details."
The ASF and LAM pilots walked back to their dropship docking collar to talk with both ship captains. Andrew tho realized why Durrant said that. The ASF pilot must have realized what Andrew would do and decided to leave to give him the opportunity.
Andrew smirked as he silently thanked Durrant as spoke to Kramer, "Well, I'm pretty sure I can convince the Captain of my dropship to take your group in as help, but you might have to give me something to work with on why you are heading to the same place as us."
Kramer talked with the men behind him as one of them pulled out a noteputer and looked at a contract agreement. The youth behind Kramer whispered something to the older man, who took a thoughtful look. The MechTech finally answered his question, "While I cannot say what we are hired to do there. Just take a look at what my company specializes in should give you a hint. Also, we are more than willing to work for half the normal rates for veteran mechtechs. All for the trip to Katinka as fast as possible."
"I'm surprised. Why didn't this job pay for your trip there?"
Kramer looked down in anger. The same expression was on several young men's faces behind the mechtech. "Well, a pirate attack tends to take you off course. We have the C-Bills, but we missed our jumpship, and this was the only one heading in a similar direction. Our rescuers, the Jake's Cavalier, had just left this Jumpship to another. They were heading to the damn snake territory and not Rimward."
"I see."
Andrew paused to review what he could do to convince his Commander for this group to let them join. But, especially if there was a chance they were connected with the mission's parameters, it seems like luck was on his side as the captains of both dropships and his Commander for the Wolfpack had arrived.
"Well, my current Commander is here, and she might be able to discuss with you about this. Hey Commander Gruber. Meet mechtech John Kramer and his crew from Kramer's Parts and Machinery."
They greeted each other and fell into the debate on what would be hammered out for this trip. Andrew could tell the Captain of his ship was happy for the potential of half-priced help. However, commander Gruber didn't want to until she asked what kind of work their group did. When Kramer mentioned exoskeleton creation and light battlemech work, she seemed to turn around and ask them to join as well.
It seemed like things were going somewhat well, so Andrew grabbed the drinks he had brought. There was no sense in wasting them.
——————————————————- Location: Katinka, Little Rock Militia Training field
Date: February 20, 3022, 06:00
Captain Brook Esposito watched as the new militiamech ran across the training field against his son and his new Guntank-P and his security lance. These new mechs were the same ones he saw months ago that finally had weapons and proper setup. They were true militiamechs using only industrial-grade equipment and standard weapons they could get anywhere. The only things that weren't were those new power adaptors found through the Guntank battlemechs and the Gespenst. Those things would be game changes if they could supply enough power for all grades of weapons instead of being so limited.
The two newly promoted Cornets ran their Urbanmechs side by side with the solo Quasit, trying to tag those two militiamechs while his son herded them to the walking trash cans and securitymech.
They finally beat the two militiamechs when the training round finally stuck the bottom over-armored APC part. It took two direct hits with a class ten autocannon to break through that part, making them highly easy to destroy. The only problem was trying to hit them. They move way too fast to strike most of the time, and only his son mech, himself, or Subaltern Rick Tagger (who hated the rank name) could do so.
"Okay, exercise over, Blitz Tan lance, please move back with your mechanized infantry to Hanger three for repairs. LRC lance back to Hanger one for repairs and debriefing. LRB lance and my lance will be coming out for a training run against Commander Chen and his Command Wolf."
The sudden increase in chatter made everyone rush back to their respective hangers. After all, that happened in the battle for Katinka. Everyone who knew about the zoids knew how powerful they could be.
Now he and Rick, with their lances, would take on the weaker of the two combat-ready zoids. Commander Chen didn't hold back anymore after the battle for Katinka, as he had lost personnel in his infantry and a Guntank team. While it would be considered light in Inner Sphere battles, it hit that man hard that he started sharing some of his tech with the Katinka PDF. With that tech, they managed to disable that last enemy dropship that refused to give up.
Oh, they still remember when they had his company of battlemech/militiamech with vehicle support versus the man Houndsoldier and his three battlemechs allies with the zoidtech equipped. They lost badly. Sure they took down the battlemechs, the modified Urbanmech, Swordsman, and Shadow Hawk, but they all lost out to the sheer power of the HoundSoldier zoid.
Brook still remembers his battlemech's computer spazzing out as hit took a pseudo hit from that Buster Cannon. That freaking thing had his combat computer crashing due to how much damage it should have done to his Talos. Not just his, but all the mech who happen to be looking in that direction at the time. At least the triple barrel energy cannons that mech had could register correctly and not freeze up the computer.
Now he was here with Rick in their battlemechs with their lances. The LRA, his lance, had his Talos (TLS-1B), a Swordsman (SD-2), a Locust (LCT-1E), and a Toro (TR-A-6) decent enough. However, he felt terrible for Rick lance as it was his custom Phoenix Hawk, a Guntank (GT-02), and two Locust (LCT-1V). They were all pretty much green as grass, with their only combat experience being against the Blitz Company. They haven't had a chance against regular opponents yet.
Thus the battle began as the starting flare appeared…
Two hours later…
Brook got out of his "Dead" battlemech as he looked at his lance. They had managed to win this time, but only because they had focus-fired at one leg to disable it enough for their units to hit it. At least now his Load King will get some sort of upgrades. After watching his son run circles around some of the mechwarriors they hired after the Battle for Katinka, that was the bet he placed for this battle. Still, he wished at least three of their mech were "alive" as only the Toro and one of the Locust (LCT-1V) were left alive with heavy "damages."
His son had rushed up to him with something in hand.
"Captain," Talos said with a quick salute, which he returned. "We got a message from Governor Chili for the Blitz Company and us. It's a physical letter, father."
That brought Brook's thoughts to a halt. They only used physical letters despite their slowness when the message through ComStar's HPG would be dangerous. They couldn't use the Ziputer (which officially noted that Commander Chen hated that name) to communicate from long distance as someone had shot down the satellite they set up months ago. Several new ones will be sent up soon.
Brook read what was in the letter and frowned immediately. He reached for his Ziputer and contacted everyone with a Ziputer in Little Rock, "Commander Chen, we have an issue. Come to Hanger one. All Subalterns, get your lances ready for actual combat. Lance Sergeant Kill, get all combat vehicles ready as well. Subaltern Qin, please get the Shippo ready for rapid transport."
The Command Wolf nearly broke into Hanger one as Commander Chen leaped out of a four-meter drop and landed without any discomfort. Brook hurriedly moved to the man with the letter to let him read it. Brook watched to see if he could make sense of that one section that he wasn't sure was about.
The looks on Commander Chen's face told him enough as the man started barking out orders on his Ziputer (which somehow the alien man knew he thought that as he glared at him).
After Chen was finished sending out his orders, he turned to him. He asked, "Brook, based on this message, we all need to prepare for the Coronation of High Lady Kamea Arano, even if it is just a cover to bring one of my healing chambers for High Lord Tamati. It seems like there might be trouble brewing too."
Brook quickly responded, "We will send my son his lance with you. I believe the governor wants you to bring some of those Gespenst and a Guntank as your support and extra guard. This way, Katinka can show off its native mech production, and we would have something most people haven't fought before. Are you bring a zoid with you?"
The man paused before responding, "I'll bring Wolf with me. As much as I don't want them to be revealed, Hound has informed me that someone had managed to leak it from the dropship we missed those many months ago. So we will need Hound here to help with Katinka's defense should someone use this as a trap."
"That sounds right," Brook said as he nodded. "The Shippo should be ready to launch in a bit. Your Union should be ready now. Do you think it can take all of us to Coromodir VI?"
"It better be after all the money I sunk into it. Thank god Rick let me use the Shippo for off-world contracts. We wouldn't have enough money to keep things going with just the contracts from Governor Chili."
"Hell, I still don't know how you spend so much that quickly," Brook said as he shook his head. The man earned millions of C-bills thanks to the licensing of the Guntank-P, Guntank, and Gespenst. That was not including the fact that he did create those factory modules for the ASF, conventional fighters, combat vehicles, and industrial mechs. Yet spends most of it to upgrade his people, get them highly trained, and send them out on contracts most returned from.
"I'll tell you once I get a planet to settle the Zi Core. I don't want to kill people putting that thing down accidentally." Chen said while moving to his zoid.
"Hey," Brook called out to get his attention. "I know this might not be the best of times, but I'll send my Loader King for those upgrades. We might need another heavy battlemech line with what might happen."
"The rumored coup that everyone is hearing about?" Commander Chen said because many people around them had heard of freezing. "I know about it and will help you stop it if it springs while we are at Coromodir."
Brook watched the man get into the Wolf mech and leave to his headquarters. It was a massive relief with them there as that mech and pilot were more potent than an entire company or two.
"All right, troops!" Brook shouted to everyone in his hanger. "Get those mechs ready. LRC lance gets prepared to board the Shippo, and all others are ready for any attacks while they are gone. Corporals Parker and Barton, get into your Corsair and guard that ship with your life."
The Little Rock militia forces became a beehive of activity as they prepared for what was to come. As much as he wanted to send their best with the governor. Max had already said no in that letter. If the coup didn't happen, they would have many products to show all their fellow coalition planets. If it does, they won't risk any of their heavy, slow units as the faster units could get him and any allies out of there.
———————————————————- XXXX Location: Katinka, ???????????? Core
Date: February 20, 3022, 9:00
Communication log:
'The Warrior is walking into a trap and knows it. He wishes to stop the coming storm.'
"Has Moby recovered enough to join the Warrior? A zoid your power will assist him greatly."
'I have digested enough and only wait for these humans to dig out a few more tons of dirt and rock off me. My weapons systems are fully only; however, my head is still being repaired for the warrior and his pod to stay in.'
'The Warrior has decided to lead the pack with him on that planet should the trap not be sprung. He wishes for you to stay and watch everything here.'
"I disagree with that motion, but the warrior has chosen, hasn't he."
'Yes, he has. However, the decision wasn't because of your power not being sufficient but rather your size. I'm small enough for the lifeless transport."
'I will try and increase my recovery. I have detected even more of the lifeless machines called Dig Lords and Dig Kings approaching.'
"I shall keep watch over them then."
"HELLO, HELLO."
"I'll watch those children as well. How did they manage to link up with our communication network for the Warrior use?"
'Unknown. I will look into it—good luck, Wolf, on protecting the warrior. Reggel has sent to the lifeless transport for you. Reporting, those humans known as ComStar are sending more small lifeless machines to Little Rock's Talos factory. Routing allies units to location."
'Will you two be okay assisting the human while the Warrior is with me?'
'We shall make do with what we have. Once my repairs are complete, we shall be ready to restart our race.'
"As the humans say here. Good Luck, Wolf."
'Good luck, Hound, and you too, Moby Dick.'
———————————————
AN: To give everyone an introductory look at the Katinka total ASF units. Here they are. Note that the planet initially only had two dropships and five Aerospace fighters. Also, I finally got that freaking House Arano book to see what I consider canon in BT outside of something I decided to add from MWO.
[1]: Surviving the destruction of a vehicle was up to chance.
4 x Leopard Dropship (two captured during the pirate attack, one from the Commander Tagger)
1 x Gazelle Dropship (captured during the pirate attack)
1 x Danais Dropship (original) (On a journey selling minerals)
1 x Invader Jumpship (captured during the pirate attack. Repaired and with the Danais)
4 x Sabre (SB-27) (1 wrecked during the attack on pirate jumpship and declared scrapped)
1 x Corsair (CSR-V12)
2 x Defender (purchased during the pirate raid)
2 x Meteor (purchased during the pirate raid)
Also, since Katinka has joined the Aurigan Coalition, I changing their military ranks to match the ranking system in the ACM (Aurigan Coalition Military) for the PDF we will see. Mercenaries will mostly use SL ranks.
Well, it's time for the favorite part of SI stories, derailing time.
Planets in consideration for colonizing. Peratallada (south of Heliat), Untran and Tuncalunas (West of Herotutus)
Well I wouldn't say universe ending disaster but all those people who will get caught up in the madness will cause problems. Oh not to those Inner Sphere nobles but for my SI since he actually has emotions for his fellow sentient beings.
ComStar trying to messing things up is always fun to write as they (the ones on Katinka) suck. It once Terra one's arrive that things might go WTF for my guys.
Was the satellite Whale King launched one of those judge satellites from New Century? It got shot down relatively quickly.
The king now knows and hopefully being on the good graces of royalty will divert or alter a lot of the nonsense in Battletech just waiting for someone to trip over. Would be nice if there is a Rudolph equivalent or a noble princess to befriend. That way we can give them a mech that resembles a saberfang or just make a mini imitation of the zoid about the size of a big cat.
I didn't see any mention of a burrowing zoid but perhaps I just missed it.
Was the satellite Whale King launched one of those judge satellites from New Century? It got shot down relatively quickly.
The king now knows and hopefully being on the good graces of royalty will divert or alter a lot of the nonsense in Battletech just waiting for someone to trip over. Would be nice if there is a Rudolph equivalent or a noble princess to befriend. That way we can give them a mech that resembles a saberfang or just make a mini imitation of the zoid about the size of a big cat.
I didn't see any mention of a burrowing zoid but perhaps I just missed it.
I cast no stones for my houses are all of glass. Seriously, I've reread my first couple fics and find myself making corrections still 6* years later.
They sometimes come out more obviously if you reread the sentence by itself twice, so the intent framed by prior and later sentences doesn't influence the perception that glosses over the mistake. *Counting the ones published here.
I cast no stones for my houses are all of glass. Seriously, I've reread my first couple fics and find myself making corrections still 6* years later.
They sometimes come out more obviously if you reread the sentence by itself twice, so the intent framed by prior and later sentences doesn't influence the perception that glosses over the mistake. *Counting the ones published here.
Same. Heck I tend to ask up to three people for beta read even after self editing. Later when I did reread I tend to catch even more. It just ridiculous how often it happens right?
Also now I gotta go to SB to fix these there after lunch.
Chapter 6.01: A Coup? What Coup? Meet my anti-Coup Wolf!
Chapter 6.01: A Coup? What Coup? Meet my anti-Coup Wolf!
—————————————————————- Location: Coromodir system, on route to Coromodir VI in the Magnolia
Date: March 12, 3022, 03:00
I just found out something about myself. I'm not too fond of jumps and want Moby Dick's warp drive repaired soon. Unfortunately, Wolf and I were incapacitated for a day after the initial jumps to the Coromodir system and missed a few things. Luckily Lieutenant Potter and Private Jessie gave me a summary of what happened.
We arrived at Coromodir just two days before the coronation as there were some delays down on Coromodir VI. My Union, the Magnolia, was already on the burn trip to the planet's drop port with Governor Chili and his group in the Shippo. The man didn't bring his Mackie despite knowing a chance of a coup about to happen. He said he would rely on their mechs and my team if things went wrong. The Mule we won in the Battle for Katinka, as people called it, had already arrived to sell materials and report back to us how things were going.
I'm glad that the Magnolia was registered as a Katinka Industrial Inc merchant ship. Sure it's a little sneaky to do, but it would let his people go in as members of a mech industry instead of professional mercenaries. If things went south, we could earn pay and recognition for saving people. It was a little morbid, but this would happen either way. All I could do was hope my people could save those caught in the crossfire.
I thought about the forces in my ship. The mechbays held Wolf, a Guntank, two Gespenst, Melody, and Zin's Pike lance. With those were two Eagles being piloted by our new aerospace fighter pilots. Their names currently escaped my mind as the pounding headache was still there.
We had a few empty bay spots if we had to evacuate people. I already told my people of the potential fight we might run into here. Most of my Aurigan citizens reacted violently as they said it couldn't possibly happen until I showed them the note letter from Governor Chili and my data about Santiago Espinosa from the coalition's military forces. They became depressed by that until I said our current contract from House Arano's Royal Guard was to assist in stopping it if the coup happens.
I didn't want to cause any more depression, so a few hours until landing, I decided to give a speech. I sucked at those, but I would try anyway.
"All right, you lot," I said, standing on top of Wolf's head. "Y'all know what we might be running into, so I will say this. IF, and I mean IF, the coup happens, we switch from being a 'show and tell' to 'rescue work.' If nothing happens, evidence provided otherwise, we get an excellent ride to the capital, and you can have well-deserved R&R., So I want everyone at their best. We got five hours until we arrive, so everyone except the active crew rest."
I got down to meet with Zin and Farida. They were the people I trusted to protect Magnolia and the drop site while I was at the arena to display the Guntank and Gespenst, which happen to be on the route where the MC and Kamea would be taking.
I took a look at Zin and asked, "How are the planned defense and infantry doing?"
The man, dressed in the Katinka Industrial security uniform, replied, "We have the sandbags and barricades ready. The two APCs are armed with SRM-2, and the platoon of infantry are now wearing modified Capellan Infantry kits with M61A laser rifles with an SRM launcher for every five troopers. Sergeant Manning is getting the Pikes ready and discussing with Captain Sparrow about ship defenses. I'm still sorry that those mechtechs were still delayed, or we might have better equipment for our PBI."
I nodded as I also felt annoyed but couldn't help that the hired help for my project was delayed via distance. Well, that and engineer's ride needed to take contracts for C-Bills. I looked at Farida. She had her orders and stayed dressed in Blitz company Mechwarrior uniform. "I'm to head to the local mercenary cantina and find any units to hire without going through ComStar. I will try and get those with mechs or vehicles, but if I notice they are hired already, I will come back and watch over the ship with Sergeant Manning."
That was when a stay memory hit me. "Farida," I called out to her before she could get buckled down. "While you're down there, check if the Markham's Marauders are there. If they are, tell them to contact Mastiff and me as soon as possible."
I sat down and buckled up as everyone prepared themselves. I hope things go well, but anything could happen. The feeling I got from Wolf told me that at least he would be ready when we landed. I'm glad I kept one of the Zi satellites to let us monitor each other.
I grumbled in anger as I read the message I received from Mastiff. The coup was going to happen as he had Yang from Markham's Marauders check the personal Royal guardsmen for the escort duty only to find their battlemech had been sabotaged. Mastiff had gone out of his way to handpick several more guardsmen who had their machines tampered with to be part of the central escort by securing the route before their journey from the Arano's manor to the palace.
I sent messages to all my forces, 'mission is a go.' I hoped the former High Lord could rest in the bunker where my HSC was sent. Hopefully, he healed and helped us stop this coup.
I moved to where Wolf lay and got into the cockpit. The big boy was cycling through the weapon systems to check their connections. His twin fifty-millimeter beam cannons had been recalibrated for anti DropShip missiles work. In case we somehow still lost and had to evacuate the Royal Guard.
I had switched out the Vulcan machine guns for four small lasers. Switched the single Electromagnetic cannon for a quad of Large Lasers. It was heavier than one zoid weapon, but Wolf said he could handle it, so I let him. It just reduced his speed by another ten kilometers per hour.
Knowing that there were probably other Founding Houses that joined the coup without blackmail made my work harder. Especially since I remember some mercenaries that House Espinoza had hired, but I'm not sure how many. The only good thing was that the Taurian Concordat wasn't involved publicly. Thanks to the previous High Lord using those factory modules I made for the Aurigan Coalition as bargaining chips. Well, the medium mech ones and some of the ASF. I can understand why but I'm still pissed as it could mean the Aurigan just empowered their closest enemy.
I would figure out what politics were happening after this coup. I turned on the screen that allowed me to see through the two Gespenst as they traveled to the 'testing' sit with our Guntank and Katinka's Guntank-P. I had ordered their 'maintenance' crew of two squads to travel with them to the testing ground. Both as an action to prevent tampering and help fix any Royal Guard battlemechs or combat vehicles sabotaged. It seems like Governor Chili had the same idea as I saw a squad of 'AsTech' riding on the tank parts of the Guntank-P.
The Shippo informed me that it had dropped off its remaining mechs at the testing ground with Governor Chili and his protection detail. Luckily they got away with it because of just what mechs were dropped off.
It wasn't unusual as they were Urbanmechs and a Quasit. They were not a threat compared to the two Wolverines and six bugmechs acting as security with a symbol showing they belonged to House Espinoza. That was worrying as there were three Royal Guard battlemechs in the hanger being worked on. Ones that were probably being sabotaged if the sensor told me right. I sent a message to the actual AsTech, who was part of the two infantry squads, to inform those mechwarriors if they saw them.
Of course, Governor Chili had an excellent plan to increase our forces there to help out the Arano Royal Guards station. It was the reason the Quasit and Urbanmechs were here for. Live fire exercise after the test runs. With most of the Founding House Lords in attendance, it would allow our forces to protect the loyal ones from those part of the coup.
I was surprised that they managed to change the location of where the Council would gather until I realized the coliseum and the training grounds that the MC in the Battletech 2018 game would have fought in both of these locations. So I did a quick map check to see how long it would take for Wolf and me to get there. It would take me ten minutes to reach them at full speed. So I kept my coms ready when that bastard Santiago was all for his coup.
"Commander," my Ziputer (god damnit, I'm starting to call them that) spoke up. "Apex here. I managed to recruit a few more combat vehicle operators, but almost all the mechwarriors here say they have a job. I said the passcode you got from Mastiff to contact the ones the High Lord hired but that only two of twenty mechwarriors responded."
"Return with them to the Magnolia Apex and make it fast. I see Mastiff on the holoscreen meeting up with Lady Arano in their battlemechs."
I watched through the eyes of Private Mikasa's Gespenst as it took out the remote-controlled Urbanmech by rushing behind it and unleashing everything but the rockets. I noticed that the ammo in her machine guns was almost half empty when she finished the mech off. I wish I had insisted on her taking the twin medium laser gun pods. At least Marlene's Gespenst had them. It was then two hours of the 'prototypes' doing work and showing off when I noticed something on my holoscreen battle map.
Suddenly a flare of red began appearing on the screen. Some of the enemies were around the arena where the prototypes were tested in front of the Founding Houses. The rest started appearing throughout the city and surrounding towns and cities.
"Commander. I'm on my way back to the Magnolia now. I barely managed to join the mercenaries we hired, but one of the mechwarriors just got gun down by Aurigan military infantrymen wearing House Madeira and Espinosa sigil." I could hear gunfire through the Ziputer.
"Return ASAP and stay safe." I switch my Ziputer coms target to Magnolia's speakers, "All forces prepare for battle. The coup is a go. I repeat, the coup is a go. Time to be big damn heroes!"
I could hear my troopers cheering, and they got into position. The two Heavy Wheel APC drove off with a fire team to the nearby tree lines to hopefully ambush any enemy coming in. Oh, they were coming as I could see red dots heading to my dropship's landing zone.
"Mastiff. This is Blitz Lead. I'm informing you the enemy has begun its coup." I said as Wolf got up and began powering up to combat readiness. "Roger that, son. I'll escort Kamea to our preplanned rally point to rush Santiago's box in the coliseum."
It was then another voice that broke into the com network. "I must thank you, mercenary, for helping my family in its time of need." Yep, it was Kamea. Mastiff must have given her one of the spare Ziputer (god damn, name now stuck in my head). "It is no problem, my lady, but hold your thanks once we stop this madness."
I noticed a text message from the Royal Guards with the soon-to-be High Lady. It was only two, and it had to be Captain Yuki Honda and Mechwarrior Aether. I gave them a quick read where they both said their thanks for coming to help and wanting to catch a drink later after putting down this coup.
I smiled a bit as they sounded like we had already won. I didn't want to jinx that as I moved Wolf outside the hanger of the Union. I could hear Santiago's voice through the open coms. His call for arms to return to their 'glory' years. I was going to help the other force-feed the would-be dictator his words.
I hit the coms on the Ziputer to target Markham's dropship and asked, "This is Blitz lead, Commander Chen to Commander Markham. Are your forces ready?"
"This is dropship pilot Sumire Meyer," a shaken voice came through the line. What the hell happened? There wasn't any bombing yet that would have killed Markham.
"What happened over there, Miss Meyer," I said as I tried to direct my satellite to scan their location.
"Commander Markham is down. Hell, everyone down except Glitch and our sol Sabre. We were ambushed by a group called Ibex Rampant and the Black Carvels and just barely managed to get away."
Damn it. I was hoping these mercenaries could help with all the warnings they got from Mastiff. "Do you know any other merc on our side?"
"There are the Sablehart Irregulars. Their leader is Capitan Silber Zobel. They were supposed to meet up with the Black Caravel and us. I'm not sure where they are after those Caravel bastards betrayed us. Those are the only companies House Arano managed to hire besides ourselves."
I began scanning the area for the Commander's name while I told Sumire my coordinates so that they would be under my ASF and Dropship cover. I alerted Dragon that the Hysteria was landing to support us while we helped bandage their wounded.
I switch my scans to the ongoing battle at the Coliseum and its field around it. I was glad that our forces there were doing fine, but the guards nearby weren't.
"Dragon, you have command here. I'm off to support our forces at Rotua Township." I moved Wolf through the roads and slammed through the lance of combat vehicles coming my way. Wolf's small and large lasers flashed out while the twin beam cannon shot at the heavy tank. "To all Blitz forces at the Coliseum, finish your fights and meet me at Rotua Township. We need to support the forces here until we can rally with Lady Arano."
I finally found the Sablehart Irregulars in the middle of a fight against several batteries of artillery guards. It was a double lance with a mix of heavies, mediums, and lights.
"Captain Zobel of the Sablehart Irregulars. This is Commander Chen of the Blitz Company under Captain Raju Montgomery of the loyal Royal Guards. Do you need assistance?"
"This is Captain Zobel. How am I sure you're on my side? I just got reports that the Markham's Marauders just got hit by a traitorous band of mercenaries." I fired by twin beam cannons to finish off the Hetzer tank. "I can patch you through to Sumire if you need me to. I just found out that the Black Caravel ambushed Markham, and they are down to just their dropship, one battlemech, and one ASF."
"Mother of God, they must have taken a beating. We are good here, but it would be appreciated if you could provide any ASF support." He said as I watched the red dots representing the artillery go dark.
"Roger that. Private Cooper will be there in two. Look for an Eagle." I finished my reply as I reached Rotua Township. It was hell on Earth here as I noticed two battlemechs overheating while standing still being shot at by two combat vehicles. I just fired the four large lasers at the Scorpion light tank ending its existence, and my twin beam cannon melted the Galleon.
I hoped my trooper at the coliseum could come quickly as I started firing into the air to ward off several conventional fighters.
"Who the heck does this to a mech?"Astech Ian thought before taking a deep breath to look away from his almost completed work. He watched the screen inside the mechbay change to the announcement from Santiago Espinosa. He had just gotten done helping the third Mechwarrior, the pilot of the Stinger (STG-3G), fix the hidden sabotage when the message came through from the view screen of the coliseum. The Mechwarrior had pushed him out of her cockpit. He watched as she got the battlemech online while her comrades also rushed to their mechs.
A traitor in the guard's lance gunned down the Mechwarrior of the Javelin; the last pilot managed to get into his Commando (COM-2D). Ian himself ducked behind a crate as several enemy infantry fired several lasers at the Stinger. They were quickly taken out by gunfire from his squad, who stripped themselves of the baggy work clothes to reveal the Blitz color armor.
"Hurry up and assist loyalist forces against these traitors. For the Aurigan Coalition!" Shouted Sergeant Night yelled as he led a Katinka militia infantry group to join Ian's squad.
The battle was a go as Ian, still hiding behind the crate, rose and smacked a House Espinosa soldier with his wrench. The Astech then drew his auto-pistol and fired all ten shots into the surprised troopers. Ian had ducked back behind the metal crate as the return fire came before it suddenly stopped.
"Astech Ian," The voice of his commanding officer came from below. "Hurry up and grab our SRM. We have to help our mechs against those traitors."
"Yes, sir," Ian shouted as he rushed to the crate of 'tools' they were unloaded from the Guntank. He already saw infantry personnel running off with a launcher to the Coliseum stands. He knew the second squad was outside with the guests trying to protect the nobles and industrial executives watching the demonstration.
He barely carried the SRM launcher with two reloads out the doors when he saw an enemy Locust destroyed from death from above Urbanmech. He never thought he would see a day when the so-called trashcan of the mech world was willing to do a DFA. Then again, the walking brick was missing its autocannon and was heavily damaged. Nevertheless, its laser lashed out and killed a group of incoming infantry dressed in House Madeira color.
Shaking his head, he put on the infantry helmet he grabbed from the crate and turned it on to his squad's channel.
"Everyone, Gespenst One is bringing some targets right behind them. All SRM infantry get ready to fire in ten seconds." Ian looked around for where his squad was, realized he was slightly out of position, and ran to them.
He managed to link up with his team and aimed his SRM right where Gespenst One should be rounding in a second. Not disappointed, the hybridmech came flying around the corner, nearly tilting over, with its mech half one-eighty from its standard position. As Gespenst One passed their location, the mech fired its rocket launchers right in the open space where it was filled with an enemy Wolverine.
Most rockets went wide and missed, but a dozen had hit its torso.
"Everyone fire at its LT!" His Commander shouted as his SRM fired, followed by everyone else. Alongside the missiles were several small red lasers striking a variety of places. Then, before the mech could do anything else, its left torso went up in flame, followed by a secondary explosion that brought it down.
"Move it, people, link up with the Gespenst and hang on to the handgrips. We gotta help with the fighting inside the Coliseum. Gespenst Two is heavily damaged, and the Guntanks are too busy protecting the VIPs." So they rushed to the incoming mech and started climbing on it.
"Shit, allied Stinger just went down. Fireteam Jack, you are on rescue duty. Get that Mechwarrior. She should be landing over there." Ian watched a few members who hadn't made it to their mech turn and ran to another nav point where the Mechwarrior should be landing.
It only took a minute, but that was a long time in battle. By the time the Gespenst arrived at the Coliseum entrance when they had sawed the second Urbanmech of the Katinka lance go down. Its killer was two Locusts missing most of their weapons except the medium laser in the middle.
His team managed to avenge the fallen battlemech as the Gespenst charged at the enemy mechs firing all four of its small lasers and twin machine guns, coring one of them. The second one managed to fire its medium laser and ripped the left arm of the hybridmech. The last Locust went down from their second volley of SRMs.
He could hear battle outside the area but his commanding officer and Sergeant Night of the Katinka forces just belted out orders to help the VIPs to their vehicles or escort them to a Vargr APC nearby.
It was a blur of following orders, carrying the dead, and retrieval of down personnel. It was not long after he reloaded both Gespenst's Rocket Launchers when Commander Chen's voice came from all Blitz mechs.
"This is Blitz Lead to all Blitz forces. I'm defending Rotua Township with the remaining loyal Aurigan forces of Cordia city. Should you run into any loyalist forces. Assist them. Gather any loyal Aurigan forces to regroup here."
Ian noticed a few people, security forces that nearly died to traitors, just shaking their heads, saying it was a trap. Then, he saw the Ibis team try and talk to some of the people they rescued, pointing at their Blitz company logo.
A man in heavy infantry armor standing onto the Katinka hybridmech from the Katinka forces and spoke into a com device. Suddenly the speaker from the Guntank-P, which needs a new name in his opinion, opened with Governor Chili's voice.
"All Katinka forces. This is Duke Chili. We will join our allies in defending our nation's capital. All mechs load into the Shippo. Any Arano forces can join us there." He saw more of the forces originally debating on the decision before joining the Katinka contingent. He watched the remaining battlemech of House Arano color join up with them, the Commando. They all boarded the Leopard the arrived on the outskirts of the arena. Two Corsair flew in patrol pattern around them.
Several APCs arrived to collect the security forces that were going to join them for the trip to Rotua Town.
Ian turned to check on what was left of their forces here. Both Gespensts were damaged and missing an arm each. Their Guntank was pretty okay, mainly armor damage that he and another Astech patched up as much as possible. Ammo reloaded as much as they could from the hanger here. His commanding officer asked if someone could commandeer the pilotless Javelin and bring it to the fight.
He was surprised a female noble jumped up and took that offer to be the Mechwarrior. An older man who seemed to be her father tried to dissuade her. She refused and joined us with their convoy to Rotua Township.
All of this happened within two hours since House Espinosa declared its coup. This was the second most frighting day of his life.
—————————————— Location: Katinka System, Katinka, Whale King (Moby Dick)
Date: March 12, 3022, 10:00
When Cecilia Dark thought today couldn't get any weirder, it did. She and all those with the Ziputer received a message to gather within the recently uncovered transport Zoid. It was strange as no one except the Commander should be able to do that.
However, the message said one thing. "Gather all forces. Coup in process, House Arano is under attack. Duke Chili is under attack. The Warrior is under attack."
Houndsoldier stood in the middle of the hanger. With him were two companies of mechs now stored within the main hanger. Dozens of aerospace fighters were held in the side, and lower-level hangers as their pilots joined the flight. A battalion's worth of combat vehicles was stored in the middle area. The entire Katinka PDF had sent their best to them. Unfortunately, only a few experienced groups were staying to defend the planet.
Gleen's Armored Calvary had just contacted them, asking where they wanted them. They had orders from Secretary Gracie to join them in reinforcing the forces under attack. Their dropship was heading into orbit with several Katinka combat vehicle lances joining them.
"This is Mechwarrior Rook, temporary Commander of the Blitz Company." Her husband spoke into a nearby terminal that transmitted his voice to all forces. "We are preparing to head out and help our Commander and Duke Chili. All Blitz Company members join inside the ship now. Please head to Little Rock for anyone wishing to stay in the area. We are about to lift off in twenty minutes."
She watched Michael sigh as he moved to his new mech of a Quickdraw, newly made from the Whale King itself, and sat on the foot. Cecilia joined him and patted his back. He was more of a soldier than a commander and knew that. So ordering so many people to pack up and get ready was never wracking.
"Liebe," He said as he hugged her. "Do you believe we can make it in time with this zoid?"
The mechtech thought about all the specs for the Whale King. She was the main person helping with repairs while Toni focused on the Battlemechs.
"I believe so. We have a war to win now. This is the excitement we looked for when we decided to stay working as mercenaries." She got up, and he followed. "Let's hope the kids and their partners stay inside their bunks here." She finished as the kids and their zoid companions had been trying to get into the zoid cores area for some reason.
Mrs. Dark took a deep breath and shouted into the handheld PA receiver. "All forces prepare for lift-off. All force commanders, please meet me on the bridge."
She was nervous as even though she said that, no one had ever been able to open the bridge doors. Not even Commander Chen.
However, now was the time for everyone to be allowed in there. To enable the crew to see what was happening as they flew. Cecilia arrived at the door with her husband with other passengers, one she recognized as Captain Esposito, also made it.
Cecilia greeted all of them before turning back to the door and taking a deep breath. She reached out to the keypad that would open the door to the bridge when it suddenly opened to reveal a majestic sight. There were hundreds of chairs and terminals for everyone to sit at. Several had giant signs for weapon controls, navigation, and steering over the main area in the middle of the floor.
Some ASF pilots and extra Union crew members went to the weapons and navigation while everyone else began spreading out and taking stations. Several more people, including Toni, came in as there was plenty of room and still had many stations to fill.
An alert blared out when everyone had taken a station and those who hadn't secured themselves in the chairs as they had a seatbelt.
Suddenly a holoscreen opened in mid-air with markers for all allied forces nearby. It seemed everyone that was staying was far away enough now.
She looked to her husband, who nodded and talked into the speaker on his Ziputer.
"Everyone prepare for lift-off. All staying forces have moved out of the launching area. No enemies in the area, and everything is secured. Get ready for space travel." Michael sighed after saying all that and muttering, "I hope Commander finds a better XO at this rate."
Captain Esposito suddenly spoke up, "I didn't know how smooth this lift-off would be or that we were in space already. Hell, we have artificial gravity too?"
That cause everyone waiting for the rumble punching through the atmosphere to freeze and look at the man.
"What what did you say, Captain?" Subaltern Baba, if she remembered correctly, spoke up.
"Subaltern Tagger just sent me a message saying they just watch us punch right through the atmosphere within minutes, and we didn't feel a thing."
The odd feeling within her intensified as no one was at the helm.
"Moby Dick, turn on outside cameras," She shouted and hoped the zoid would listen. It did as it had several holoscreens showing the vastness of space and another one with Katinka slowly shrinking.
"Ma'am," A Blitz support staff member shouted from her station, "The SNAFU is asking what this ship is and what they are supposed to do without a jumpship in the system."
A message suddenly appeared in an unknown language on one of the holoscreens, but it then slowly translated into the words "Dock on the top of me."
Cecilia looked at her husband, who said, "You are in command, Liebe." Men. They just leave her with the most stress. She walked over to the female staff member and took the receiver from her. "Dock onto of this ship. There should be a newly made docking collar there."
It didn't take long before the Triumph class dropship docked onto Moby Dick.
Another message appeared as voices on the other end of the radio suddenly shouted, "Holy shit, we are moving."
A map of the Katinka system appeared as the dot representing them was moving over eight Gs in thrust, yet no one felt anything.
However, while some paid attention to the map, Cecilia watched the words translate to English. She could feel all the blood draining from her face as she spoke into the headset. "SNAFU, prepare your ship weapons now. We are about to hit FTL in a bit."
She cut off the radio as she turned to the several weapon stations. Most were manned, but there were three that weren't. "Someone get on those weapon stations fast. This ship wants its weapon primed and ready. There must be something in the Warp Gate FTL if we have to have our weapons ready!"
A few shouts of denial were heard, but suddenly, more passengers appeared and ran to the weapon stations. She recognized them as the turret controllers for the base. She shook that thought out of her head and looked back at the message.
The message read: "Prepare the weapons. Entering Wrap Gate FTL. Watch for giant tentacles."
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AN: Yeah, sorry for such a short chapter. Real-life is starting to pick up hard. So a brief section for chapter 6. Maybe there will be more than two or so for this one.
Well it isn't demons but still having to deal with hostile wild life while in FTL transit is a good excuse for why your ships are so well armed. They aren't warships after all just look out the window.
Wait, was that a small ship they jumped in or the big ass miles long capital class they just took because if it's the second the whole damn human race is about to start staring and asking questions... and sending spy's/commandos.
On the right hand, new FTL technology coupled with a "hybrid alien design" (depending on how things roll the Whale King could be passed off as a test bed prototype ship rather than a Zoid).
On the left tentacle,the possibility of being eaten by Space Plankton that looks like it could chow down a pod of Whale Kings for lunch, as well as concerns of these Warp Gate fauna getting through and occupying real space and bring a threat to conventional Drop/Jump Ships.
would be fun to see if there exit points shows the tentacle's in there form of ftl
still talk about a secret out of the bag thats going to have some fallout
