Chapter 6

Travel and nothing for work

Well we didn’t find any contracts available for us on Detroit so we had to look for one with a bit of travelling involved. The closest one was on Alloway which was 22 days away so there was good and bad parts to it. Bad was that it took time and time was money which we didn’t have too much spare but the good parts was that we could complete the repairs we needed to do.

Anyway we set off and no sooner had we started travelling out to the Jump ship but I got called down to a storage room where Hammer appears to have set up a still in an unused corner. Now I know that everyone has to have something to make the time go by and for relaxing after work but I expect to know about it so I can monitor things.

So I ordered it to be moved to the kitchen so quality could be ensured and nothing underhanded would happen. The crew was very happy to be able to have a drink with their meal but it didn’t work out too well. Some people got into the drinking a little bit too much and started to turn up for their shift hungover or late and their quality of work dropped.

One morning shift the still had mysteriously vanished and Yang and Darius had enigmatic smiles when people complained but I put my foot down and told everyone that it was too much of a good thing and they had to make do with their normal drinks instead. Morale was up but we lost too much time in downtime from hangovers.

Mission 18
Planet: Alloway
Mission: Insurrection Interception (assassination)

Lance:
Poltergeist – Centurion
Hammer – Blackjack
Dekker – Shadow Hawk
Medusa – Vindicator

I took the maximum amount of money for this mission because we were running low on operating funds and needed a good boost of funds. We will get a minor bit of salvage but it’s the money we need this time.

We were dropped into the Jungle close by the target’s last known location. As we started moving forward we detected three unknown signals and they looked like mechs. We kept moving up and got set into firing positions inside a forest looking down a valley.

I settled into my position and got target locks on a Panther and a Commando. The Panther was more dangerous so it was my target and a salvo savaged it and did good damage. Hammer, Dekker and Medusa all added to the damage of the Panther and it was starting to smoke and rattle from all the damage it suffered but it was still standing. Battlemechs really are tough cookies.

The Panther took a shot at Medusa but the pilot was rattled and all shots missed. The Commando and a Javelin fired at Medusa as well and did some damage to his Vindicator. Quite a bit of armour was removed but that’s what it was there for. Medusa fired on the Panther dealing more damage and then an unknown mech fired a missile strike at him and damaged his mech.

Hammer, Dekker and I aimed at the Commando and did quite a bit of damage and it had it’s left arm and torso blown off and tumbling through the air. The pilot felt that one. The Commando damaged Medusa again and Medusa fired back and killed the Commando by destroying it’s engine.

The Panther and Javelin fired on Medusa again and did serious damage. The Vindicator is not looking good at the moment with smoke rolling off it and sparks from damaged wiring exposed by the rents in the armour plates.

I fired on the Javelin to try and take it’s attention away from Medusa and as I did that, the unknown mech fired again and blew the Vindicator’s left leg off sending it crashing to the ground stunning Medusa. Hammer fired on and damaged the Javelin while Dekker damaged the Panther. But they focused on Medusa and fired on him doing severe damage as he was immobile on the ground stunned.

I fired on the Panther dealing more damage but it was still combat effective. The unknown mech turned out to be an Enforcer armed with an AC/10 and a large laser. A nasty customer and it fired on Hammer dealing damage. Hammer focused on the Panther and blew off it’s left arm and disabled it’s left torso as well. Dekker got a good lock on the Enforcer and damaged it.

Medusa stood his mech up and I could see that he couldn’t keep up in the battle with the damage to his mech so I yelled at him to eject. With a flash of explosive bolts blowing away the top of the head and then a plume of smoke, the rockets on his pilot seat fired and took him out of combat and to safety. The mech can be repaired and at least we won’t lose someone to enemy fire again.

The Panther and Javelin were ganging up on Hammer and trying to knock him out with their combined fire but I got a good lock and was able to kill the Panther with a couple precision shots to it’s centre torso. Dekker kept up the damage to the Enforcer while Hammer tried to kick the Javelin into next week but he missed. He blamed the rocky ground but I think he was just rattled from the incoming fire.

I moved into the rear arc of the Enforcer and opened up into it’s back with all my weapons dealing good damage and including some critical internal damage. The Enforcer pilot, our main target, decided that they had to get out of here and started to run away. Smart of them but it won’t be enough.

Hammer split fired on the Javelin and Enforcer dealing damage to both but the Javelin took the worst of it and lost it’s left torso and arm. Dekker got a lock on the Enforcer and ripped it’s left arm and torso off in a series of explosions. The Javelin pilot was not happy and they ran up and headbutt my mech dealing some minor damage.

I focused on the Enforcer and sent my weapons slashing into it’s back and they stabbed into the engine shielding and destroying the engine. The mech dropped to the ground and wouldn’t be getting up again. Hammer took notice of how effective that is and attacked the Javelin’s rear and did good damage to it. Dekker added his fire too and ripped it’s right leg off sending it crashing t the ground.

The Javelin pilot just would not give up and wanted to take one of us with them so they stood up and kicked my mech. Minor damage but I was sick on them so I punched them back and my left arm went right through their right torso and ripped it and the arm right off. The damage feedback was so bad that the pilot was incapacitated and knocked out.

Success. It turned out that the Enforcer pilot was from the Magistracy of Canopus and was trying to raise an insurrection against the planetary government. Well they won’t be doing that now. With the success of the mission as well as taking out all guards, we got a 45% bonus to the monetary reward and that was great work by Darius to negotiate for that.

Add in a good bit of salvage of a piece each of the following mechs: Panther, Commando, Javelin. We now have enough pieces to rebuild a Panther. Yang will be happy. But then again, with having to repair the Vindicator which will take about 9 days, we have to keep Yang in a good mood. He has to replace a jump jet and a med-laser as well as the cockpit assemble and all the missing armour.

Medusa was banged up a bit from the damage as well as ejecting so he will spend about 20 days in the med-bays recovering.

Travelling and Fun.

The new contract we picked up was a simple battle against some Capellan battlemechs causing trouble on Cluff’s Stand. It’s a 22 day trip so we will have a lot of time to finish repairs and train. This should be a simple battle and not too much for us.

Just after we left orbit we had an encounter with some pirate fighters who came in and told us that we either pay them or we start losing atmosphere. We started running to combat positions and I ordered the dropship to be readied for a sortie to get rid of the pirates but it will take a bit of time.

We kept trying to talk the pirates around to leaving but they weren’t going for it and left a couple of craters in our armour from warning shots. I ordered the dropship to release and attack them from the backside of the Argo. It wasn’t a real fight as the fighters were so fast that we couldn’t get good locks but after a couple final shots they decided we weren’t worth the risk and they left. I don’t know where they are based but I sent a message to the planetary government anyway.

The damage was minor but our techs were a bit rattled and they were forced to spend time repairing the Argo as well as repairing our mechs. What a waste of time.

But we had a different problem pop up with the Argo. Every 2.4 hours, we would feel a vibration throughout the Argo. It doesn’t last long but it is disconcerting all the same. Dr Murad is investigating and she believes she knows what is causing the problem and it’s not a fault. The designers missed a problem with the rotating habitat modules when they are folded back for travelling.

Dr Murad has spent a lot of time tracking down the vibration and unfortunately is can’t be fixed and we will just have to live with it. It’s annoying but she is watching for stress and damage and nothing is showing. Hopefully the Star League engineers built the Argo to deal with it.

Finally we arrived in orbit around Cluff’s Stand.

Mission 19
Planet: Cluff’s Stand

Mission: Last Mech Standing

Lance:
Poltergeist – Centurion
Hammer – Blackjack
Dekker – Shadow Hawk
Medusa – Vindicator

Now this should be a straight battle and we have been dropped into the desert at night. It’s cool but we will still have to watch our heat. As we moved towards the reported position of the enemy lance, we got four mechs showing on our scanners.

An enemy Javelin and Panther came around a small rocky outcropping and opened fire on my Centurion doing some damage. I returned fire on the Panther and a stray shot clipped the Javelin for bonus damage. Hammer, Dekker and Medusa followed suit and poured damage into the Panther, rattling the pilot who tried to hit Hammer and missed with everything.

The Javelin fired on me and damaged my mech some more. Four medium lasers is nothing to laugh about. An enemy Commando came into view and fired on Medusa doing some damage. I fired back at the Javelin and got a lucky head hit, rattling the pilot and possibly injuring them.

Hammer set his mech and aiming carefully, he opened up on the Panther and almost ripped it into pieces. He damaged both side torsos and added to the previous damage and disabled them and sending both arms flying. With one salvo the Panther was almost totally disarmed. Well it was disarmed but it still has it’s SRM4 launcher. I’m sorry for the pun.

Dekker split fire on the Panther and Commando and doing damage to both. Medusa followed up by splitting his fire at the Javelin and missing and then coring out the Panther and removing it from combat. A second Javelin popped up and damaged Medusa.

The Commando fired on my Centurion and I decided to run up to the second Javelin JVN-10F and try to punch it to death. I removed it’s right arm but that didn’t do much. The first Javelin fired on me in revenge. Hammer started picking on the Commando while Dekker split fire on the first Javelin and commando and damaging them.

Medusa stumbled in his mech and then the two Javelins and the Commando opened fire on him as they saw he was unstable. I locked onto the Commando and ripped it’s left torso and arm off. Hammer saw it was unstable so hit it with a full salvo and ripped it’s right leg, arm and torso off in a flash of flame and sending it crashing to the ground with so much damage to it’s gyro that it would never fight again without serious repairs.

Dekker ran to the second Javelin and punched it so hard that he ripped through it’s right torso and removed it right arm. The Javelin pilot felt that one. Medusa split fire on the Javelins and damaged the first one but killed the second with engine damage. The remaining Javelin fired on Hammer but missed.

With a single enemy mech remaining, we all locked on and fired at it. Hammer, Dekker and myself and did damage and we saw it’s right torso disabled and left arm sent flying. But Medusa got the kill when he sent his salvo into it’s gyro and shattering it.

Success and we called in the dropship and salvage teams to clean up. Medusa will have to spend 17 days in the med-bays because his mech took a shot to the head and some damage got through to him.