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Green Mountain Boys, The
The start of a small merc unit and its first battle
by Nutcrackr9 |
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With my name, it was inevitable. Perhaps I should have never put it to a vote, but it was more than just my decision. You see, my parents worked at the Nagelring University and were obsessed with history. So they named me after a famous 18th century general, Ethan Allen. In grade school, I got tired of it, so I went by my middle name. But that didn't last long. Woodrow Allen was even worse, so I just learned to live with it. So when the men and women of our newly formed merc unit decided upon a name, with me as their elected Captain, the Green Mountain Boys were born.
It was such a weird beginning. I grew up around Naeglring, I got to be friendly with lots of the staff there, as well as their kids. Some ended up like me, not accepted into and acadamy or university, but we'd learned enough to match any cadet, sitting in on classes and getting some sim time when the techs were checking them out. Of course, we talked about starting a Merc unit, but we didn't have the money, and people don't give 'Mechs away. Well, almost no one. Graf Jeremy Brewer came to the University and I managed to befriend him.
When he graduated, he was headed off to go help manage the huge Defiant Industries. Part of him wanted to be a warrior, but his heart wasn't really in it. So he offered to make the university brats into a Merc Unit. We jumped at the offer, to get off this rock and fulfill our dreams was a once in a lifetime oppertunity.
Now, don't get me wrong, he was a Brewer, he wasn't stupid, he didn't just give us a bunch of 'Mech off the production lines. He bought us a motley assortment of a dozen 'Mechs and some support equipment. We got a bunch of the recon graduates to sign up with us, and he got them some vehicles for them, giving us a pair of recon lances. And he was going to earn his money back, by golly. 40% of our profits went to him, until we payed him back for the value of the equipment. There after, it was supposed to drop to 10%. And he found us a nice contract right off the bat, assuring him that he'd get some of his money back right away. Garrison duty for Hesperus II is not very eventful, but it paid well.
For our next contract, we signed up with a planet out on the edge of the Alliance, Florida. We figured it would give us lots of free time and little hassle. Well, we were wrong. Fortunatly we weren't push overs. When Brewer had bought us our 'Mechs, most were from the 30th centruy or older, and pretty run down. I had about the most advanced 'Mech, with some Kurita monstrosity called a "No-Dachi". My second, Carlton, had a new Defiance Archer, but the rest were pretty banged up. Poor Freddy drew some 28th century prototype in the lottery. It was WEIRD, a 65 tonner that could manage to get up to 84kph. It had 2 LRM-5 racks, a pair of Medium Lasers, and a PPC. The thing even had a Cellular Ammo Storage unit. It, like most of the other 'Mechs in the unit, got a work over, both at Nagelring and on Hesperus. His "Harlem" as he called it, got freezers and we upgrade the PPC to one of the extended range versions.
So, we were working on Johnson's Shadowhawk, and old "K" model, when a Union entered the atmosphere. A dozen pirates busted out and headed toward the water purification plant. So, we closed up his mech and headed out, keeping our eye on their movement with our recon boys. They didn't know the lay of the land very well, so we got there before them and got ready for them. Tina Clooney took her lance out to greet the bandits, but she wasn't going to stay long. She had a Valkrie, but Smith's Wasp, plus the our Locust and stiner weren't going to do much against a full company. So they fired a few salvos and took off running. The pirates, not a very disciplined bunch, took off after them as fast as they could go.
They ran into the rest of us. My strike lance cut off the first few from the rest, while our fire support lance ripped them appart. Tina ran through us then circled around. I spotted a Warhammer and decided to engage him. He obviously had never seen my "Mech, as I blew a lot of lasers at him, warming up the 'Mech. The TSM kicked on and he shot back, missing me with his PPCs and his SRM, catching me with his medium lasers. I closed and loosed my MRMs, making him jerk to the left, where my lasers were waiting, digging into his armor on his left side and his arm. I came up toe-to-toe with him, making his PPC useless and withering his laser and missile fire. I swung my sword and crushed his left arm, knocking him down. As I prepared to finish him off, my duel was interrupted by an old Rifleman. My 'Mech reeled as his lasers tore most of the armor off my torso and his Autocannons peppered my legs.
I switched over to IR and was about to fire on his glowing silhouete, when a plume of heat erupted from him and my sensors switched over to visual to prevent the flash from blinding me. Smith's Wasp jogged by, giving me a "thumbs-up". I shook my head, he was crazy enough to carry infernoe loads in his SRM launcher, but they could come in handy. I brought a foot down on the Warhammer's knee, crippling the huge machine. I checked the read outs. We'd lost a trio of 'Mechs, but the pirates were retreating, at least the five that remained. I had my lance pursue them, we even took down a Phoenix Hawk, but the rest got away.
So we set out to repairing and rebuilding. We were thinking about heading over to the Combine, to help mop-up the remaining Jags. Or maybe see what was happening to the Chaos march. After all, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys had a job to do. This motley band of misfits was out to show that warriors are measured by their hearts, not their sheepskins. |
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