Delta Lance "Trump Cards"

I'll work on getting post op writeup done here shortly.

 

WARNING: SHORT STORY AHEAD


Skwisgaar's Log (heh heh)
Tamar City outskirts
Surveying the wreckage post-battle.

What the hell just happened?
Who did these blacked-out mechs belong to?
Why do they want us dead?

Trump Cards were just picking up our units after repair and refit and heading out for some drill maneuvers to help Saknussen get familiar with his new King Crab. Lance and I ranged on ahead, Otack and Lars got held up paying the bar tab since they lost the last round of beer pong. It's a good thing they've got those heavy ass mechs - they're lightweights when it comes to the drinking. The drill area was a lightly jungled plain just east of the airport nearest the mechworks. When Lance and I got there we noticed the area pretty well deserted of locals. There were a couple of commercial complexes in the south of our staging area but they were empty too.

On entering the southwest edge Lance's scanner picked up unknown sensor contacts, a mix of mechs and VTOL assets, none of which displayed ID codes or responded to comms. The VTOLS came in quick and opened fire and once we got visual we noticed they were completely blacked out, no insignia or colors that could be distinguished. Lance and I quickly moved into the western-most building complex for cover screaming for Lars and Otack to get their dragging asses to us. They finally got to the now-designated battlefield about the same time the VTOLs came within firing range. A few shots were traded ineffectually at first but then I managed to nail on of the VTOLs, a Marathon, with a lucky ERLL shot and knock it out of the fight. At the same time Otack took a gauss slug right in the CT. No critical damage but it was a bit of a shock considering the distance between us and the mech forces was still a pretty large gap. Otack spotted the sniper - a Zeus - and responded with dual PPC blasts while Lars this time was the recipient of another gauss slug.

Lance and I continued to focus on the VTOLs hovering around our heads but they proved nimble enough to evade our fire. Otack continued to snipe the Zeus with PPC fire. Lars brought his LBX flak cannons to bear on the VTOLs and scored some rotor hits but by this time a group of Griffins was moving into firing range. Lars moved into the buildings with Lance and I while Otack traded shots with the Zeus from a hillside just to the west of us. The Zeus scored another gauss CT hit compounded with a Catapult K3's PPC against Otack after which he knew he had to move into the cover of the buildings. Lars, Lance and I continued to score potshots against the VTOLs to minimal effect until one of Lars' LBX shots blew a stabilizer on one of the Harbingers. With the loss of mobility I was able to hit its LRM ammo and take it out at the same time that Lance shot down the other Marathon.

Lars then directed fire at the incoming Griffins, laying out heavy damage to one and receiving multiple PPC hits in return. The King Crab was up to the challenge defiantly soaking up damage and dishing out in return. Otack made it to the cover of the building complex. Jumping around to take potshots made me the priority target for the pack of Griffins but I was able to evade the worst of it. Lance and I kept weaving in and out of cover and landing hits on the Griffins. The Zeus and K3 kept at long range sniping away, and we noticed an Axman slowly coming into range as well. Otack crashed his Warhammer into a building and used the rockcrete to absorb incoming fire and it worked for the most part. He used that opportunity to score a luck leg hit on the Catapult that knocked out some leg actuators and immobilized it for the rest of the fight. Lars finished off the last VTOL with his scattergun. A PPC blast from the K3 collapsed the building Otack was using for a baracade causing rubble to rain down on his cockpit and jarring him around quite a bit.

Lance and I kept duking it out with the Griffins and both sides landed shots trading armor damage. By this point they had moved into close quarters and we traded blows. A Griffin landed a punch on the now-exposed Warhammer's CT and caused some internal engine damage. Sensing victory, the Griffins and Zeus concentrated fire on Otack and blew out his engine causing him to eject. Luckily the CT itself remained structurally intact - it's going to take a LOT of work but I should be able to rebuild the hulk if we can source another fusion engine. The K3's PPC blew off my right arm and 2 of my mediums lasers. Damn lucky thing Otack moved the hatchet to the left arm when he owned this guy. Lars, Lance and I unloaded on the Griffins with Lance scoring a gyro hit that immobilized one close to the K3 in the open plain. 2 enemy mechs not moving but definitely not out of the fight.

With our lance leader gone we decided we had to find a way to withdraw. We still had cover from the buildings we had been fighting around and were not far away from the airport complex where we knew they had seen the fighting and Tamar authorities would surely be on the way to provide assistance. As we started to move back Lance and I fanned out to pull attention away from Lars' now-riddled King Crab. Our mobility helped keep the focus spread out amongst all our forces. Something came over us then - an all-encompassing need for revenge. We HAD to take these assholes down after what they did to Otack. And at that point they played right into our hands.

I had spread west with one of the Griffins. Lars was still in the city with the Zeus and another Griffin closing in. Lance had jetted east drawing away the Axman. Just then a full weapon blast from the King Crab blew the closest Griffin down to the ground and he proved unable to get his mech righted back up. I was able to maneuver behind the western-most Griffin, right behind him, and after blasting him with weapons I left a hatchet-sized hole where his cockpit used to be. Mech decapitation - a thing of beauty. Sheo finished off the central Griffin and the tides had turned. Lance and I pulled back to the city trading shots with the Axman and Zeus along the way. We knew if we could get gathered up and focus then the two mobile enemy mechs had no chance and we were right. The Zeus continued to hammer away with its Gauss rifle and we blew a collective sigh of relief when its ammo ran out. Lance then scored an engine critical hit with his ERLL and slow it down letting us move in for the kill. Lars layed fire thick alternating between the Axman and Zeus but even his KGC-010s prodigious armor was wearing thin. After a full alpha strike the Zeus was blown to the ground and there I buried my hatchet in its chest blowing its LRM ammo and engine. The pilot blacked out and died from an ejection malfunction. Poor bastard.

The Axman was a bit more cautious now. It still had some covering fire from the K3 and Griffin in the plains north of our position but we had building cover and momentum on our side. Try as he might, the Axman could not escape Lars' withering fire and was blown apart within seconds of moving into the city.

It had been a hell of a firefight. 6 mechs and 4 VTOLs against our lance of 4 - damn long odds. We evened them up nicely though. Even though we were down a mech we had managed to drop all 4 whirlybirds and 4 of their mechs, including the assault which we assumed to be their force leader. The last two were immobile in the center of a plain but were good shots and had long range weaponry. We were under building cover but beat up and didn't want to risk a charge into the open. Lars tried opening up the comms again to negotiate a surrender but got no response. In fact somehow the last Griffin found a way to get back on its feet and began to flee north and that was our cue to pursue. Lars was too slow and beat up to follow but Lance and I were up to the task and took off north to hunt him down. The Catapult suddenly blew to pieces just as we came into the open - looked like a self-destruct. Why not stand and fight, or even just eject? This day kept getting weirder and weirder. The Griffin didn't get far before he fell to our combined fire.

That brings us to now. Still no clue who they were or why they attacked us. Tamar authorities are keeping tight-lipped and butting us out of the investigation. I managed to get a few seconds to rummage through the wreckage of the Catapult and found the comms system box. Might provide us a clue. It's an Olivetti Squawkbox3.56, not really a common system used in Catapults. Another thing - the serial number looks like it comes from the factory on Sudeten, a Tamar Pact world. I'll have to get back to the garage to cross reference it and make sure.

First thing's first though - we gotta get Otack to a medic and get his Warhammer recovered and repaired. Maybe Duke Kelswa will let us have some of this wreckage since we got attacked on his planet under his watch. Then we get to who it was that hit us - and why.

 

Very nice write up. Lars appreciates your forbearance in not screaming about the damage done to his new KGC

 

Sweet Wrench is sitting in her loading bay when she hears the report of incoming mechs.
"Time to see what these things can do," she gathers up the tools laying around she's been cataloging and rounds the corner to the mess walking through the doors. Unlike some people who would be unhappy with the sight of broken mechs, she smiles, and starts to triage them in her mind from quickest fix to longest and most available parts.

 

Careful, Skwi is awfully territorial about Delta's mechs.

 

Amazing write-up Skwi. That was one hell of a fight.

 

Excellent write up Skwi, needed some of that info for my "Commando's Chronicler Report" as I call it... might have it done by tomorrow.

I hope to be able to listen in on drops to do a full story type write up such as above. On drops I can't be there for I will write up a report by a "chronicler" or "Loremaster" of sorts for the unit.

 

Um. Wat?

 

Yeah, but a couple things. IS CASE only goes in torsos, and with the XL they would be useless. Second, no energy backup? Fifth, that's gonna be super expensive.

 

Cheaper Wolverine retrofit - turn it into a Gladiator.

Swap to DHS and remove 3 (making total 11), swap LL for PPC, add ML to LA, move SRM ammo to LT. Retains mobility and armor, almost heat neutral, adds range and damage.

 

I was just browsing through mechs and fondly thinking of my beloved GLD-4R when I remembered "Hey, I've already got a 55T 5/8/5 that's really close!"