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Bad Deployment
A Turian Mechwarrior battles Raiders.
by Solarmech |
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Outside Samantha’s Choice
Colchis, Turian Concordat
July 18, 3062
Subaltern John Piskard of the Turian Defense Force was having a bad day. "No, not a bad day." he thought sitting in the cockpit of his Marshal class Battlemech (nicknamed "Erp") "No, its been a bad YEAR."
It hadn't started off that way. The planet where he was deployed wasn't bad, a little dry and rough, but not bad. And things had been getting "interesting" with Jan Kier, another Subaltern in his company.
Then things went to hell.
The unit had been "redeployed". Where a company of mechs had guarded the major town of Samantha's Choice, now only his lance stood. Jan was halfway across the planet and the Brigadier was five hours away by fast hovercraft. Not only where two-thirds of the mechs gone, 30% of the armor had been pulled.
But things where worse now, his unit had company, and it was not the friendly kind.
Six hours ago a merchant jumpship had entered system and stumbled on another jumpship of unknown configuration. After a search of the nearby space a dropship was found ready to enter the atmosphere. And it's course was for Samantha’s Choice. It was not known what class of dropship it was, but it was large enough to carry at least two lances of mechs.
So that was why John was sitting in Erp waiting with the rest of his lance, Jack in his Commando, Grace in a brand new Garm, And Sam in his old Stinger. John did not like the odds at all, unless he managed to pull an ace out of his sleeve.
Then John ran out of time to worry as his sensors picked up 6 unknowns.
"Six?" he thought "Who runs in groups of six? This can't be Comstar. Of course two mechs could be guarding the dropship..."
As the six bogies got closer his battle computer attempted to identify the enemy mechs. Tried and failed.
"Frag!" he muttered "Not only am I out numbered, but I don't know what I am fighting, much less WHO!"
Erp's sensors where able to give him some information though. There where 4 light mechs and two medium mechs. Double frag.
John then recalled an intel report on a new group of pirates. The TDF had tagged the group the TriClops Raiders", as all their mechs had a skull with three eye sockets on them. He also remembered that this group used lances of three mechs and had "non-standard" missiles systems. John had almost stopped reading the report after suggestions that Davion was behind the Raiders. John didn't trust Davion farther than he could throw Erp, but not every problem the Turians had came from them.
Then there was no time to think as the Raider mechs entered firing range.
Thirty seconds later things where getting hot. John's lance had been giving ground before the Raiders, so only light Autocannons, LRM's and Erp's large laser had been used. One thing John quickly noted and did not like was that the three enemy mechs that had long range weapons had been concentrating most of their fire on his mech, with an occasional shot at Grace in her Garm. The other thing was that the observation in the TDF report that the Raiders used "non-standard" missile systems was a gross understatement. So far he had taken several hits from the damn things. These mechs fired one large missile that could make a big dent in a mech’s armor. One of the light mechs fired a missile that peeled off almost as much armor as a PPC. The two identical medium mechs fired a smaller version that did a little more damage than a medium laser or a Class 5 autocannon. He had a real good comparison with the light AC as the two medium mechs had one each and where using them to chip away at Erp’s armor.
So far Erp's 10 tons of Ferro-Fibrous armor was holding up, but it would not last forever. The Raider mechs crossed the 90 meter gully that marked the starting point of the Turian lances withdrawal and a coded signal crackled out from Erp's communication systems.
John grinned savagely as four Gladius hovercraft bolted from their hidden positions around a bend in the gully. As four Class 10 autocannons belched fire into the thinly armored rear of one of the Raiders medium mechs, 160 long range missiles streaked from their launchers on a pair of hidden Heavy LRM Carriers. As the Raider medium mech crashed to the ground with its destroyed engine, the wave of LRM's were directed to their target by Sam to the closest Raider mech. Though less than half of the missiles hit, the light mech vanished in a cloud of explosions. Little was left to be seen of the Raider mech when the smoke cleared.
With a third of their force destroyed, the Raiders attempted a fighting withdrawal, but where unable to retreat quickly enough. In the end, only one light Raider mech escaped. The Turians had not escaped unscathed. John paused and said a silent prayer for the crew of the burning Gladius hovercraft. Erp moved with a pronounced limp, while Graces Garm was going to need a whole new leg and Jack’s Commando was probably going to be scrapped. Another Gladius was going to need its entire fan system rebuilt. Only the two heavy LRM carriers and their two wheeled Light SRM Carrier guards escaped damage.
As Erp's long range Sensors recorded the departure of the Raider Dropship, John hoped that the Turian upper command would get the hint and send help out here. Whoever these TriClops Raider where, they where not your average pirates. And they would be back.
***
Six weeks later
It had turned out that the Commando was recoverable, but only just. It was still in the shop and would be for a few weeks more. John walked towards the rough building that served as the mech bay as dark clouds gathered overhead.
"Finally going to rain." he thought "Its only been about...hmmm....four weeks since it rained last?"
"Subaltern Piscard!" called a voice behind him.
"Nuts." The only time someone used his name and rank out here was when it was OFFICIAL. John turned around and returned the salute from the Corporal that had come up behind him.
"With the Brigadiers compliments, Sir." the enlisted man stated as he handed John a sealed packet.
"Thank you." John said as he took the offered packet. "Dismissed."
"Double nuts. This IS official." John though as he examined the packet. He hoped to hell this was official notification of more units being added to the planet’s defense, but he doubted it.
John continued his walk towards the mechs bay and Erp as he opened the packet and started reading. After the first line or two he stopped dead in his tracks. He read the orders inside carefully, then reread them to convince himself he had not made a mistake. Slowly the pieces of paper fell to the ground as John’s hands went numb from disbelief. He looked up at the sky as the first drops of rain fell. As John stood looking up at the crying sky, the orders for the all the planet's mechs to be withdrawn and be reassigned to the Inner Sphere grew wet and muddy at his feet. |
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