Maybe...depends on terrain.
Battletech [Battletech/Planetary Annihilation SI] Iron Blooded Commander
- Thread starter Seras
- Start date
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- Tags
- battletech self-insert
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Fair. Mind you if the Awesome is closing on them its target priority #1.
Seras
Well-known member
Terrain is actually super important in the next part.
Always is!
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
The LRM carriers will run dry in a minute and twenty seconds, assuming they're dumping the tubes as fast as possible which seems likely. The raiding party doesn't even know where the LRM carriers (or 'mechs) are yet although "Where that ominous cloud of missiles is rising up past the horizon" is a good guess.
Assuming it was able to charge at maximum speed in a straight line, the Wolverine can travel a bit under a mile and a quarter before the LRM carriers run dry. With this being what I take to be all difficult terrain, and having to go around ruined buildings, maybe a third of that distance, and they still don't know exactly which way to go. And well before they reach the LRM carriers, they're going to be intercepted by Red Lance and Rough Squadron at the very least. That's going to add at least a solid minute in fight time.
It's not clear to me if the LosTech scanner is increasing the actual range of the missiles or just letting them lock on at longer ranges. If it's actually letting the missiles fly further, the attackers are completely hosed. If not, I still see relatively little chance they're going to reach the carriers before the magazines are empty. Maybe before the Iron Blooded have time to reload them...
Assuming it was able to charge at maximum speed in a straight line, the Wolverine can travel a bit under a mile and a quarter before the LRM carriers run dry. With this being what I take to be all difficult terrain, and having to go around ruined buildings, maybe a third of that distance, and they still don't know exactly which way to go. And well before they reach the LRM carriers, they're going to be intercepted by Red Lance and Rough Squadron at the very least. That's going to add at least a solid minute in fight time.
It's not clear to me if the LosTech scanner is increasing the actual range of the missiles or just letting them lock on at longer ranges. If it's actually letting the missiles fly further, the attackers are completely hosed. If not, I still see relatively little chance they're going to reach the carriers before the magazines are empty. Maybe before the Iron Blooded have time to reload them...
asses. This needs to be plural to agree with the plural "kids."
stupid
Double space.
Not sure if this is a misspelling of Cranston Snord or if it's actually the name you meant to put in. If it is, it might be better to pick a throwaway name that doesn't look like an important canon one.
dripped, the tense needs to agree so it needs to be past tense to match the rest of the sentence. Sphere needs to be capitalized as it's part of a proper noun.
staticky
Lenden's, this is the possessive form.
an Awesome
double space.
its, the possessive form of it is irregular.
stomped, the tense needs to agree so it needs to be past tense.
its, that stupid irregular possessive.
LRMs, this is not possessive. Also, you have it as LRMS earlier in the thread, either one is valid depending on the style sheet (most style sheets would go with LRMs though) but it needs to be consistent across the document, whichever you choose.
The biggest factor is actual range in this story vs what the table top represents. IFF it's true to TT then the LRMs only have a range of 630 meters. Yup, not even a full kilometer. NOW, I find it likely that they are getting a bit better range. So we'll just say a Km for fun's sake. The Wolverine can close that gap in 30-40 seconds depending on if it needs to use it's Jump Jets or not.
My guess is that is what our plucky heroes are hoping happens so they can isolate the rest of the recon lance as they come streaming in against the 'arty' group. Keep the arty firing on bigger targets while the recon group has to deal with Red Lance and whatever infantry are hiding in the buildings.
Dice up the recon lance, with hopefully minimal damage b/c Red Lance has been hitting them with LRMs. Arty group takes out MAYBE another 2-4 mech's with their internal ammo loads. This will likely force the enemy to pull back and regroup out of range of the arty...maybe even pull back to their dropship and leave. OR it makes the OPFOR just go BANZAI and charge the guns. Which, is probably the smartest thing they can do. Gets them into the fight shortly before or after the Arty runs out of ammo, and potentially rescues what remains of their recon lance, if any.
My guess is that is what our plucky heroes are hoping happens so they can isolate the rest of the recon lance as they come streaming in against the 'arty' group. Keep the arty firing on bigger targets while the recon group has to deal with Red Lance and whatever infantry are hiding in the buildings.
Dice up the recon lance, with hopefully minimal damage b/c Red Lance has been hitting them with LRMs. Arty group takes out MAYBE another 2-4 mech's with their internal ammo loads. This will likely force the enemy to pull back and regroup out of range of the arty...maybe even pull back to their dropship and leave. OR it makes the OPFOR just go BANZAI and charge the guns. Which, is probably the smartest thing they can do. Gets them into the fight shortly before or after the Arty runs out of ammo, and potentially rescues what remains of their recon lance, if any.
Blasterbot
Well-known member
Depends on what sort of blocking units you can set up for the carriers. from the current setup it will likely be infantry with SRMs some with infernos in a desert environment. with single heat sinks you might not be able to get a mech to shut down if it is willing to do nothin but you can absolutely bully these guys. i that can be pretty effective depending on how the terrain looks.
*snip*
Alpha Lance. A Rifleman, RFL-3N, A Trebuchet, TBT-5N, and TBT-5S, Along with a Locust LCT-1M. A Long Distance Lance? I wondered, Probably meant for fire support, and anti-air in case they didn’t have air superiority.
Beta Lance. Two Hunchback, HBK-4P The ‘swayback’. A Firestarter, FS9-H, and Wolverine, WVR-6M. Cavalry. Tough mediums, with a scary light.
Charlie Lance. Two Phoenix Hawk PXH-1’s, an Orion, ON1-K and finally a Awesome AWS-8Q. The command and Assault Lance.
*snip*
so from this setup my priority target would be that firestarter and those pheonix hawks so the enemy looses their anti infantry mechs. in a hot environment like this a fair number of these mechs are hobbled. against either alpha or beta lance I think the centurions will come out on top especially in this heat. charlie lance is gonna need to be harassed down until they withdraw or you get a lucky hit. I would expect losses if that awesome or orion get into a brawl with the centurions.
i think the key here is you need to repel the raid not eliminate all opposition. if this raid loses 3-4 mech i don't think any amount of loot they can bring back would justify that. the awesome alone might be enough to get them to break and fall back.
edit thought. even if the LRMs aren't getting any more range the do have absurdly good targeting data. compared to standard carriers they are ignoring range penalties and indirect fire penalties. so they are going to be doing insane damage compared to expected levels.
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Chapter 3.2
Seras
Well-known member
Chapter 3.2 No Guts, no Galaxy.
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro City.
Abandoned Sector.
----
A different perspective.
Carl was ready. His squad was holed up in an old building. The Commander had given them a simple order. Be here, and when the LRMs hit. Fire. Then run.
It was a simple order, but Carl was nervous. This wasn’t the crazies of Rough Squad, this was just Delta unit. They hadn’t done anything interesting enough to get their own moniker. Nor had they bothered to pick one. They showed up, and followed orders. That’s the only special thing about them.
Sitting in an abandoned shop front, while watching battlemechs wander up the street was pretty horrifying. Just one of those things noticing them could kill the entire squad. Hell. He recognized that mech.
It was a Firestarter. Anyone who is going into infantry makes damn sure they recognize that mech above all others.
Still they had their orders. He trusted his Commander.
He heard the LRM’s before they hit. Then they smashed into the Firestarter with a deafening noise, the building shook as the missiles came down. The Firestarter was getting hammered before it suddenly moved, doing something Carl hadn’t expected. It pushed forward, and smashed itself into the same building his squad was using for cover.
The collision was horrible, everything shifted and turned, and it was only a while later that he peeked his head out from under the wooden counter he had ducked behind coughing lightly as the dust shifted slowly down.
“Report in!” He called out, and only as he listened to the call outs from around the damaged room did he grimace. Everyone was alive.
But not everyone was unscathed. “SAM! YOU ALIVE?” He found himself yelling his ears still ringing but the girl, despite bleeding simply nodded. Samantha had always been tough, a bit crazy but more than willing to brawl with anyone.
Adjusting his volume he yelled out, “Alright. Let’s get moving people, we need to get them to medical.”
Three kids in his squad were bleeding or wounded. They pulled them out of the room before Carl turned back. He could make out the damn Firestarters leg half resting in the room only feet from where he had been hiding.
He considered it.Thought it over, let the idea flip back and forth in his head. He had bags full of SRMs in that room, and it only took a moment to arm the damn things...
His eyes narrowed. “Fuck em.” He whispered as he grabbed his SRM launcher.
----
I screwed up.I realized shakily watching the little dots representing my people slowly crawl away from the mech that had smashed itself into a building to avoid the LRM volleys. I hadn’t considered it. Of course a mech would rather smash into a nearby building to avoid fire.
I was already leading the Lance to it’s next fire point, trying to brush the tears out of my eyes, I couldn’t let anyone know that I was floundering.
That was when it happened. I couldn’t help but gasp, barely calling a halt to the Lance in time to send them the targeting data.
“Remind me to promote Carl.” I commed back to command as the fourth volley of LRM fire soared across the sky.
Aiming for the Firestart that was completely prone according to my sensors. The crazy bastard of Delta unit had taken out one of the Firestarter's legs.
The LRM fire burst down into the city.
And the signature that represented the firestarter shifted. Showing it was now offline.
“Changing target! Ready and fire!” I ordered out. Another streak of LRMS took to the sky. The Hunchback was in cover, but not totally, at least not anymore from our new position. Sure probably half the LRMs we sent struck the building he was using, but the other half?
The hits sent the weakened lance into a frenzy. I winced when they blasted the buildings around them, and could only hope Delta would be okay. My order to have an escape route, or hideaway ready before ever firing might save them, if they had listened.
But there was nothing I could do for them now but trust.
Trust and send more LRMs.
----
An opposing perspective.
Isabella was pretty much totally done with this stupid mission. Fuck glory. She just wanted the fucking LRMs to stop.
Michelle, who had been one of Isabella’s friends since basic, had gotten hit by the first volley. Isabella had never seen LRMs that accurate before. The fact was, Michelle would be going home as a flag. There wasn’t enough left of the upper half of her Phoenix Hawk to search through.
She had never seen a mech sandpapered down to it’s waist before.
Then the second volley hit.
They were in open desert. Just outside the city limits, there was no other choice. “MOVE! Full forward. Get into cover!” She screamed as she hauled her Awesome into it’s full speed, the battlefist held in front of her cockpit. Hopefully if she was targeted, she would have a few seconds to punch out.
Not that she would survive the barrage of missiles, but it was the small hope sometimes.
The second barrage was just as heavy. But it wasn’t as accurate. They weren’t just traveling in a straight line this time. They were moving at full speed doing everything they could to dodge the missiles.
The damage was still immense. If not as targeted. Each chunk of the barrage hit different mechs, scraping chunks of mech down, and in an unfortunate case, blowing the entire right arm off the Orion that Hammond was piloting. The man had used the arm to cover his cockpit just like she was doing, and it was probably the only thing that saved his life.
With that the mechs slammed into the cover of the town, and the third barrage only did minor damage. The buildings took the missiles, and just like a mech didn’t handle it well. By the fourth barrage, Isabella had been forced to dash to a new building to shelter under. It continued. She would dash to a new building between volleys, her old cover turned into nothing but burning concrete.
Her two Lances were split up. But Isabella had other things to worry about. Like the rain of death.
She breathed a sigh of relief when after eight volleys, the missiles stopped coming.
She swore she would find whoever was responsible for this and kill them.
----
Even at our best hope Beta lance would eventually catch up. We knew this. It was why I prepared the first infantry ambush, and this second one. We led the Lance into a chase, whenever they grew too far out of cover we would turn and burn them until they slowed. Slowly, they caught up to us. Right where I wanted them.
It was inevitable. We turned. The three Centurions waiting and just as the first mech, the Wolverine turned the corner, three Large Lasers arced out at my shout of “Now!”
Only one beam hit, and then only for a second.
The Wolverine was quick, ducking down, and nearly falling backwards to get out of the line of fire before any more damage could be done. This pilot was good.
Better than us.
I kept my eye on the sensors. Watched as they split up. The wolverine was sitting at that corner waiting, the two Hunchbacks both split up, taking pincering paths towards us.
Switching a dial on my radio I gave the order. “NOW!” Causing our lance to charge forward.
The Wolverine realized too late that we were moving. As I charged around the corner going full speed, I released the trigger on my SRMs into the stationary mech, as I ran right past it. I could practically feel the mech's Large laser burn a trail behind me, and some of it definitely snagged the ‘arm’ of my locust. I could only keep moving as a moment later Benny turned the corner. First slamming a clawed hand into the Wolverines arm as he chopped down, saving me from any further laser’s coming my way before blasting away with his torso medium.
I lost sight of the battle a moment later. As I continued my own job. I turned the corner one of the Hunchbacks had run towards, seeing him shooting into the buildings around him with his many medium lasers. The SRM fire from my infantry had apparently pissed him off.
I ran up to him, as I hit the trigger to fire off my second round of SRMs into his right side. The explosions shifted the Hunchback a step and I continued moving. Blurring right down a rather tight alleyway that caused me to grunt as my Locust scraped along the brick buildings, but it took me out of sight of the damn Swayback.
----
An Explosive Perspective.
Vicky was gonna be pissed. Lenden knew. This was her ‘perfect’ battle plan, that he was going to interfere with, but hell. This was their chance. Rough Squad started their trucks, where they had been waiting and moved out.
Right towards the lone Hunchback that had broken off from it’s squad.
Over the radio Lenden said the only thing that any of them wanted to hear. “ROUGH SQUAD, TO GLORY!”
The SRM mounted Technicals charged forward, racing up behind the behemoth, even as it started to turn the first rockets were fired. Inferno rounds after Inferno rounds slammed into the entire street. Some hitting the mech, some not. But that didn’t matter to Rough squad. Enough hit, that the mech had other things to worry about than them for a moment.
That was all the time they needed to release their secret weapon.
Lenden himself was driving it. It had been so crazy he told the rest that he would do it. Him and him alone. His idea, his burden. Once he was sure the truck was aimed right, he stepped on the brick that he had readied and it wedged itself into the gas. He popped the door, and rolled.
He only had seconds.
He didn’t stop rolling before a second Technical skidded to a stop between him and the mech.
The explosion caused everything to go white and dark and loud and quiet all at once.
Their secret weapon, had been one of the water trucks, completely filled with gas and inferno fuel.
----
So an explosion happened, and I still had no idea what caused it.
Fucking Rough Squad. I could track them on the sensor as I realized they had dealt with the second Hunchback. That mech was currently reading offline which I could only guess was due to the explosion.
This Hunchback was still my problem, and I couldn’t give even a moment more to think about the dots vanishing from my sensor.
I was using the sensor system to track which direction the thing was looking before I would race past whatever street he wasn’t looking down and launch more SRMs.
It was moderately effective. He hadn’t hit me, and a little less than a third of my SRMs had hit. The problem was I only had 25 shots, when I shot with both SRM 2’s. And I was starting to run low.
He had no such problems. Worse, if I let up, he would circle back and that would be too dangerous for the rest of my Lance.
The game of cat and mouse was very much in my favor here. Despite everything I could literally SEE what direction the Hunchback was facing at any moment, and he kept losing me in the maze of buildings that I was traveling through like I had been born here.
For a moment I almost wished this had been an AC20 Hunchy. At least then I could shoot for an ammo explosion. This stupid sway back was a complete pain in my ass.
We played this game for a while, my SRM’s stripping armor, and obviously pissing off the pilot. The lasers that came in return, kept increasing. Despite Zaniah’s heat, he was still doing a good job of staying cool.
I slowed as I noticed he was doing something different. He was getting smart, he switched from trying to bait me into a direction, or guessing what direction I was going instead he maneuvered himself down an alley which only had one entrance. I realized that was checkmate for me. I couldn’t do anything else to this Hunchback. So instead I made use of my mobility. I shifted my target, as I slowed outside the alley, I turned around and instead raced back towards the Wolverine.
If he wanted to try and play the mouse. Then I would switch to the cat.
I caught up on the battle thanks to my sensors as I raced through the abandoned streets.
The battle had not gone well in my absence.
One medium vs three mediums should be an easy sweep.
But god were my pilots green.
The wolverine had at one point escaped by activating it’s jump jets, and from there the battle had turned into trying to catch up to the flying Wolverine.
The Centurions were struggling, he was playing with them. Hit and running whenever he was facing more than one mech at a time.
Luckily for them, I was paying attention to them again. “Gauge, No Red 3. Hold and take your next left. Red 2, Red 4 keep pursuing, save your armor as best you can. Red 3, two streets down and then a right. You should get a good shot on him, make it count, you'll know when.”
I toggled to another frequency even as I moved. Seeing there would be a second intercept. Echo unit. You will have an enemy mech intruding on you in about thirty seconds, he is a jumper. Heat him up for me please.”
Omniscience was nice.
I spent ten seconds checking on the other enemy lances. Wincing as while they were beat up, they were still moving forward. My carriers had been forced to retreat from Charlie Lance, having run out of ammo without enough time to safely reload they moved well back from where they had been before. But they weren’t moving anymore, having lost their pursuers.
The enemy were pushing towards the factory. The Scorpions making semi effective bulwark, slowing the mechs down from a full frontal charge. But they were losing. That awesome was slowed, but only just by their efforts.
I was being pulled in too many directions.
“Note to self. Command and control.” I grumble as I shift continuing to run towards the Wolverine.
The trap happened, as he came in to land jumping over a row of buildings to try and get some space from Benny and Hanna, the Inferno SRMs rocketed out of the buildings. That wolverine that had been running hard, firing large and medium lasers, and jump jetting everywhere, suddenly had a heat spike. Just in time for Gauge to turn a corner his laser weapons all in range.
Large, medium and small lasers all slashed out at the overheating Wolverine. And then I turned the corner on his other side. My SRMs lashed out, and for once, I came to a full stop to make sure my missiles would hit. Couldn’t risk any of my kids getting struck by a missed shot.
The Wolverine was struck helpless for a little too long, desperately I could see the mechwarrior trying to raise it’s weapons to fire but the heat had sent the myomer into a horrible state, Gauge finished it off with a second alpha.
I could see his Centurion nearly steaming as it too overheated, but it worked.
The cored mech shutting down, as it burned merrily. I toggled the radio back to the infantry. “Keep an eye on this guy. The pilot is still alive in there.” I called out as I switched back to my lance frequency. “Good shooting Gauge, but no time to stand around, that other Hunchback is still active. Let’s move mechwarriors.” I ordered out, only slowing until Gauges Centurion slowly cooled off and started moving again.
I took a moment to look over my diminished ammo reserves. This was going to be close.
The last Hunchback had decided to try running back to the other lances. He must have realized his allies were down. The first LRM volley from the Centurions, ended up hitting nothing but building as he turned a corner into a small alleyway before they hit. As we chased I noticed the remains of the Alpha lance turn towards us. It seems they had to decided to reinforce the fleeing Hunchback.
But that wasn’t all, and I noticed them too late. Too focused on trying to to reach the fleeing mech the ASF that were closing in, snuck up on us.
The two FWL Eagles boomed overhead, and all four of us gasped as the large lasers burned. Gauge took the heaviest hit, raising his arms to protect himself instinctively, he reduced the damage to his torso, or God forbid his cockpit, but the six large lasers were too much for his Centurion. The right arm burst off the mech in a flurry of heated slag. Losing his main weapons.
His mech stumbled, but we hadn’t gone through so many months of falling over for nothing, he steadied himself even as his gyro whined audibly from the stress of keeping him upright with the new balance.
Hanna popped off a large laser shot to try and push the ASF away but they were gone before she could do more than heat up the air behind them.
Watching the sensors, I noticed the problem. Even the Hunchback had slowed. The ASF were already turning around. Coming in for another strike. “Find cover! Enemy ASF are turning for another run! 5 o’clock!”
I grunted as I ducked into a building to hide from their eyes. This was bad. Even if we fended off the ASF’s all they were doing was pinning us down for the enemy Lance. I was getting close to calling a surrender, to pull my forces completely, when suddenly the ASF’s weren’t a problem anymore.
----
A different perspective.
Elias understood now. The fury that they had unleashed, had caused a full two lances of mechs to run around terrified of the anger they had unleashed.
If he hadn’t let himself get too focused on chasing the mechs around he would have been able to do more before running out of ammo. The carriers only had 8 volleys each if everything fired.
He could have held that lance off all day if he hadn’t ordered everyone to fire everything. It had been such a rush to watch two lances of mechs tremble at his power.
He had learned some very valuable lessons though.
Which is why he hadn’t retreated back to base like he had been ordered. Sure the Artillery unit moved, and quite a ways, because the enemy mechs had charged straight toward them after they realized no more LRM were coming down range. But with the sensors? It was child's play to move away from them. To get into a new position, and start reloading from the rounds brought in on a truck.
And so Elias was ready to remind the enemy they existed. His unit was already locking in on the approaching Alpha lance heading after the Commander when the ASF moved into the area.
Well he couldn’t allow that. It was childsplay to angle the LRM carriers to aim towards where the next ASF attack run would be coming from. “Easy boys. Two on two. Let’s remind these fighter jockeys why they aren’t the kings of the battlefield.” He chuckled, as he felt them come into range.
Fire.
The scream of four LRM carriers was massive. A scream into the sky demanding everyone on the battlefields attention. Every person that heard, or saw the attack stilled to watch. Such a tremendous amount of firepower being brought to bear and this time it was aimed into the sky. For a moment the sky was filled with so much smoke, it was as if a cloud slipped down to touch the earth.
----
An opposing perspective.
Isabella continued moving towards the objective with her remaining lance fighting surprise attacks from tanks and a few infantry surprises. Their mechs were taking some armor damage, but they weren’t kids playing at war. They were doing just fine.
The remains of her second lance were reuniting to keep the enemy Lance of mechs busy while they trashed the place, and then they could get the hell off this planet.
Isabella had been assured before she left that defenses would be minimal. The incompetent Generals that Lyrans were known for should have made this a milk run. Instead the merc company that had supposed to be so green as to still be suckling at their mothers tits was suddenly far more ferocious than expected.
Damn SAFE had dropped the ball on this one. A “cakewalk” they told her. Considering she had lost a full lance of mechs at this point, and she hadn’t heard from some of her pilots at all?
It was starting to go well, laughing as a tank round gouged out some of her armor, as PPC return fire turned the tank into slag. When suddenly that noise struck the city again. She was used to the sound of LRM fire, any mechwarrior was. But hearing so many at once? Not the most common experience. She shifted taking cover before checking to see if the fire was coming for her, she saw it.
Two ASF smacked out of the air, as if someone reached up and just slapped them to the side. She knew the sudden turn was because they had probably tried to turn out from the wall of LRMs heading towards them, but it looked very much like someone had struck them with a fist as both Eagles simply spun into the ground.
“Damnit.”
“Bully, what's the order? We leaving?” Hammond called out over the line. He had been bellyaching ever since his Orion got thrashed earlier.
“Negative Warsaw. We have our contract, and we know those carriers exist now. They only have limited ammo. We just gotta take cover when they shoot. We are switching targets. I want those carriers gone. Everyone on me.”
“Bully, we should withdraw, this is turning into a shitshow.”
“Warsaw. Man up, or punch out.” Isabella going by her callsign Bully stomped into a right turn down a different street. The carriers wouldn’t be expecting them to alter course so near to their target. The factory could wait though. She owed those missile spewing assholes some lightning and fury.
----
“Well if we have support. Alright Red Lance, let’s teach these raiders a lesson.” I toggled to a new frequency. “Artillery unit. We appreciate the backup, are you good for another volley on a new target?”
“More than ready Red 1. Just tell me where to shoot.”
“Well I like that attitude, targets, set, Let’s give them a bloody nose.”
I flipped back. “Alright Red Lance, we are going to push into enemy Alpha Lance. We will have artillery support, so let’s hit them hard. Red 3 stay back, and support with LRMs.”
““Roger that Red 1!”” They all sent back as we started moving, the three Centurions stomping forward down the road, moving to intercept the enemy long range lance. Sure they had some scary stuff, but dropping a couple hundred LRMs on their head should soften them up nicely.
We moved in just as the scream of LRMs overhead caused the lance to shift into trying to find cover.
Hanna wasn’t having any of that. We turned the corner, and as soon as she did her lasers were firing. The Hunchback we had been chasing was completely caught off guard, and her lasers burned right through his hunch, the sudden unbalancing caused the mech to slip sideways falling into the building it had been trying to take cover behind.
Benny was right there as well. He didn’t focus on the Hunchback, no he didn’t even slow down, he charged straight forward all his lasers firing as he burned lines into the Riflemans core, the heavy mech had been desperately trying to get into cover from the LRM fire, and Bennys attacks caused it to turn to face him, the mech deciding to sacrifice some more armor to LRM fire to open up.
Benny was lucky, the AC/5’s hit two separate points and blew armor off his mech, while the large lasers didn’t keep a burn long enough as Benny simply charged through. Shoulder checking the rifleman straight out of the buildings cover it had been using.
And into the rain of LRM that had been focusing on it.
The staccato of missiles landing on the rifleman echoed through the street as it fell. Not rising after the barrage ended.
The trebuchet pair weren’t having any of this.
The 5S unloaded on Bennys back. Two SRM6’s and three medium lasers, more than enough to cause some serious damage as Bennys Centurion’s gyro screamed in pain as his mech toppled forward as if someone kicked it in the back.
Gauges missiles struck then, focusing on the wrong trebuchet for the first volley, as the LRM10 hit the 5N.
Hanna was there, before the 5S could finish off Benny. The girl was utterly silent over coms as she fired every laser she had that faced forward in an alpha into the side of the Trebuchet. She hit something, because in a fury, the entire left side of the mech disappeared in fire, although it was staggering around, still alive.
Then I was there.
SRM/4, my last reload blasting into the 5S’s open right side. Hitting something, as it’s staggering gait as it tried to regain control ended as if it lost muscle control. It flopped to the street with a thunderous bang.
Unfortunately, the fact was, our Mechwarriors were green. It was why we made an amatuer mistake. We took our eyes off a downed, but not out mech.
The Hunchback was clambering to its feet as we focused on the Trebuchet. The 5N’s medium lasers flashing out, scoring across Hanna’s Centurion, dragging her attention to it, distracting her.
The HUnchback rose up, missing it’s right side, and it’s most dangerous weapons, but it wasn’t done. The sucker punch came out of nowhere, to both me and Hanna, although she felt it worse than me. Her Centurion was knocked to the side, staggering her as the battle took a turn for the worst. Realizing I had to move. I rushed in.
The Hunchback turned on me, twisting his arm up to block the expected SRM shots. Instead all he did was slow enough that it guaranteed my hit. I slammed into him at max speed.
Everything went a little topsy turvy there.
----
A different perspective.
Lieutenant Hanna Hayha, Mechwarrior, was not about to let this be how her first battle went.
She staggered shaking her head to regain her focus to pull the Centurion back upright, her left arm already shooting up to shield against the three medium lasers the Trebuchet burned across her. Her right arm, aimed and fired at the hip, the large laser wasn’t on point at first, but it only took a moment to wiggle the arm until it was burning across the trebuchets chest. The heat spike would have had her staggering if she was on her feet.
She had no time to do anything more, the Commander just rammed the Hunchback that just knocked her lights out and it was time to return the favor. The Hunchback was thankfully heavily damaged, and was struggling to move the 20 ton Locust that was laying across it’s chest where it had been knocked on its ass. She stomped. Her Centurion’s 50 tons came crashing down on the Hunchbacks arm, crushing it into scrap, even as another barrage of medium lasers splashed her.
Her left arm, which she had been using to try and block the damage sliced off, as two of the mediums went internal, staggered once again as the weight of her mech shifted, she didn’t fight it this time.
She was used to falling.
She let her Centurion fall into the side of a building, it was just enough to keep her moderately stable. Her large laser rose up, and the Trebuchet noticed it at the same time. He ducked, but Hanna had been ready. Two Months of accuracy training on the stupid little courses Vicky had put together let her lead the shot, Her large laser burned out, and the Trebuchet felt it. She hit something important, as a moment later the Trebuchet, started jettisoning it’s ammo in a hurry, The mech didn't hesitate, as it passed around a corner, leaking LRM’s behind it. As she waited, her breath heavy, and one eye covered in blood, she realized it wasn’t coming back.
----
A different perspective.
Elias was cursing this enemy in the Awesome. It was relentless. They had switched to trying to take out the assault lance once Red Lance had gotten into close quarters with the enemy, but in the time it took it was obvious Charlie Lance was heading for them.
And unfortunately, despite the advantage of knowing where the enemy was, they weren’t getting away.
Too slow.
The Awesome was acting like a battering ram, charging through the buildings between them, especially once the ammo had run dry once again.
Elias had a decision to make.
“Artillery Unit! We are bailing on our machines. Don’t forget to complete final measures. Follow me, we are going to run into the underground here! Once we bail, don’t waste time, work together, no one dies today.”
That was all the time he had his carrier skidded to a stop as his driver hit the brakes, and the other three carriers did the same. They had already ditched the maintenance group of Normans a while back. The Norman truck having no issue outrunning the stampeding assault mech. So when the 12 soldiers piled out of the carriers, after releasing the button on the thermite charge that would turn the Lostech sensors to slag. They all rushed into the building Elias had chosen, the front door kicked open as they charged in, heading towards the large underground floors the building had. Elias waited until the rest passed him. Taking just a moment to look over the four carriers, that were already starting to be turned into slag by angry PPC fire the Awesome venting it’s wrath.
“Sorry Vicky.” He moaned. Unable to do anything else to protect the valuable Lostech. He just hoped what he had done here today would be enough that Vicky wouldn’t kill him for losing something so valuable in their first battle.
He turned and ran downstairs listening to the shrieking of metal.
----
It took a few minutes for Vicky to jerk awake. It was expected, she had just body checked a medium mech after all.
Groaning a bit she reached out and flipped her mic. “I’m alive. Radio check.” She groaned.
“Glad to hear you’re okay Vicky.” The voice was Hanna but I could tell she wasn’t doing great either, “Bennys alive, but pissed. His Centurion is done.”
“I’m alright too.” Gauge offered, “You and Benny had it the worst.”
“Good. Good.” I mutter checking the status board of my mech for a moment. I was sort of done hanging face towards the ground. Thankfully everything turned up if not green, good enough. And I started moving until I was once more rising to my feet.
The Hunchback beneath me was shut down. “What happened to him?” I asked, looking around once I got to my feet.
Gauge quickly responded, “Oh the Hunchback? He shut down once Hanna pointed at his cockpit. We have some infantry on the way to secure him.”
“Alright.” I toggle the status of my mech back to my sensor to see what we were working with. I instantly winced. “We have a problem.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Their Charlie Lance just finished mopping up our LRM Carriers. I think they are moving on to the factory. We are about to fail our objective.”
“Fuck.” Hanna offered with a breathy groan. “Alright. Give me a second Commander. I’ll be ready to move.”
“...No. Take your time. We aren’t going to be able to really stop them. We are switching to harassment. Let’s move into LRM range, and remind them we are still here, but otherwise, this fight is over for us.”
“Fuck. Understood Commander.”
We all staggered out of the street once the infantry arrived to secure everything, my Locust was limping, one of my legs wasn’t happy about whatever I had done to it, and my entire right side of my mech was basically a crumple zone at this point, but somehow I was still walking.
Hanna and Gauge both kept up well. Despite the damage each had taken they were still capable of doing something unlike me. I was only good for a command and control. After a few minutes we moved into range. Gauge and Hanna sent a volley into the enemy Awesome. Hopefully it had taken enough damage at this point that the LRMs would do something.
----
An opposing perspective.
Isabell was pretty sure she was developing a bit of a complex with LRMs at this point. She had truly enjoyed smashing the carriers into scrap, these fucking militia assholes were lucky she didn’t have time to chase them down.
They still had a job to do.
Unfortunately, once again her mech was attacked from above. She was so done with this. “Bully, This is Scarecrow, that’s the two Centurions we clashed with before, that's definitely two separate LRM10’s.” Scarecrow radioed in, his trebuchet 5N out of ammo after he ditched it because of an internal breach.
“FUCK this shit! These fucking LRMS! How are they hitting us! You said you scrapped them pretty good, right?”
“Yeah Captain, one had lost it’s gun arm, the other lost it’s off hand. Both were pretty worn down. I’m surprised they didn’t just run at this point. These mercs are ballsy.”
“They aren’t ballsy, they are stupid fuckers, and I’m gonna enjoy teaching them that. Everyone on me.” She growled. Couple of mediums? Injured mediums at that? Fucking easy. And it would be satisfying. Her recovery teams would be on their way. Maybe she could actually end this raid with a full recovery of their downed mechs. That would make this entire clusterfuck worth it.
“Full speed. I don’t want them running!”
----
“Enemy lance is shifting, new coordinates… Wait. Shit, They are charging us. Move move!” I call out over the comms as I see the enemy Awesome starting bursting through buildings heading straight towards us.
We were not ready to get into a fight with an assault mech.
Unfortunately, it was hard to run from a mech and break line of sight, when the mech simply smashed through everything on it’s way directly towards you. We tried a few times to escape around the Awesome, but the buildings closer to the factory were heavily damaged, and there weren’t as many paths we could take.
I realized in horror that it was catching up.
I quickly toggled to a new frequency. “This is Commander Eisen-Blume, of the Iron Blooded Mercenary Company. Raiding force commander please respond.”
The open frequency was sent out and after only a few moments I got my response. “So you're the little shit that has been dropping LRMs on me all day. This is Captain Isabella Nash of the Scything Hawks.”
“We have done everything we can, I am pulling the Iron Blooded from the AO. You win, Captain.”
It took a few moments for the response to come, and I could see the beeping on my dash as my Lance tried to reach me at the same time, but I ignored them, Mercenaries don’t fight to the death. We had done more than anyone could have expected from us at this point. Fights are rarely to decimation after all.
Quite often raiders could even request a withdrawal from a battlefield. No one wanted to take a fight to the bitter end. It rarely ended in anything more than just a loss for everyone involved.
Which is why when the response came it caught me by surprise.
“No. No, I am not going to let you weasel away. You pissed me off, when I catch you little girl, I’m going to smash your cockpit into scrap. You and every one of your mechs. You’ve been having fun beating on my weaklings, Now it’s time for you to face the veterans.”
The final words of the message were combined with a PPC burning through a building as an Awesome smashed through it, the PPC just barely burning past my Locust.
I felt the heat of the lightning across my face through the cockpit window. I moved. Hanna fired, Lasers lashing out. Gauge added his medium laser as well. Medium lasers and a large laser burning through the air slamming into the Awesome.
And being completely ignored as the chest PPC’s fired. The blue lightning crossed the distance and smashed into Hanna’s Centurion. The blasted slag of superheated metal burst off the chest of her mech and she was slammed backwards into a building.
Gauge was too close to use his LRM’s, his single medium laser was all that flashed out in response. Burning another groove across the Awesomes chest.
Then the arm mounted PPC arced out, and his Centurions leg was blown off in a flash of sparks, the force kicking the remains of his leg back and causing the mech to fall face first into the ground.
It didn’t move after that.
I noticed her arm aiming downward.
“What the fuck!” I screamed as I went into close combat with an assault mech. My Locust slammed into the Awesome. Hoping like the Hunchback I could knock this thing on it’s ass.
Instead the pilot proved that she wasn’t bragging about being a veteran. She seemed to roll with the blow, and a moment later the Awesome’s battle fist arced out, and I felt the right side of my Locust simply give way to the blow. Everything was spinning and I was sure I screamed, as I felt myself crash hard into the ground.
----
An explosive perspective.
Lenden swore that when this was all over, he would cry over his friends. Like Francis, his friend that had driven a truck between him and an explosion that would have burned him alive. Instead the truck had tanked the blow. Francis… He hadn’t survived the shockwave.
But that was for later. They had all swore a vow today. It took a while for the fire to die down enough they could get in. Even with the water trucks they had prepared to try and put out enough of the fire to get access to the cockpit. Lenden limped forward, the burn on his leg was pretty nasty, but now wasn’t the time to wait. The remains of Rough Squad had forced open the cockpit of the Hunchback. The pilot, dead or unconscious, didn't matter to them. The bullet made sure of it regardless.
They had pushed him forward. He would never forget that. They chose him to be the first among them. One of his brothers passed him the shrine. And he fitted the data card into it, the card containing his brain wave data. He clambered into the mech, ripping the old Neurohelmet out of the slot in the mech and plugging in the one they had brought. Their shrine.
The massive ancient neurohelm was exactly what they had needed. Trying to put on someone elses neurohelmet was a dangerous and stupid act, but bringing in a neurohelm that had their own data ready? It was much safer.
They knew the tricks to it. Old mech jockeys and Admechs would talk sometimes. About how to hijack an enemy mech. Those were always the best stories.
Rough squad had sworn an oath they would do so. They wouldn’t wait for the Commander to hand them their future. They would go out and take it with their own two hands. Lenden took out the powerful magnet and ran it over the security line the magnet would interfere with the security system long enough for the mech to active without frying his brain.
He pressed the activation button.
Then he prayed.
----
I knew I hadn’t been out long. I gasped, coughing up blood that had rolled down and coated my face. I reached out, trying to press the mic button to call for a check, but I realized as soon as I moved my right arm was broken. It simply flopped as I reached, sending an arc of pain through me.
“Fuck.” I used my left to shift my Neurohelmet, letting me look out, and see through the shattered canopy. I had gotten lucky, I realized.
But not that lucky.
The Awesome was standing tall. Hanna’s Centurion lay crumpled at its feet. I couldn’t see Gauge, but considering I didn’t see him from my angle, meant he was down too. I watched, unable to do anything else as the Awesome stepped back towards me. My Locust was busted, but a moment later my radio crackled to life.
“Well little bug? You still alive in there? I hope you are, I really want to hear you scream when you die.”
“G-guess you get your wish then.” I coughed out, that wet sound wasn’t good.
“Oh. You're pretty tough. Most of the time when I swat bug mechs that’s it. Dead bug. But you're still alive in there huh. Well I guess this is it little bug.” I watched out the broken screen as the Awesome’s arm mounted PPC rose up. I saw the PPC begin charging. Blue lightning arcing and charging down the barrel of the gun, sure the PPC don’t work well at minimum ranges, but that’s for armor.
They would still incinerate me into atoms.
“Well at least I tried.”
“No one will remember you for trying, Bug.”
“I WILL!” The scream startled both of us from the scene. The Awesome was definitely not ready because a moment later. There was nothing but green light.
I blinked my eyes, shocked at what had happened. The Awesome, the monster of a machine that ripped through my lance like butter. It’s PPC which had been so bright a moment before was darkening, as the power went out.
Eight medium lasers was too much for it.The beams tore into the weakened armor of the Awesome and found something in its core. A moment later even as the Awesome was still raising its arm to redirect the PPC from me towards the enemy showing up, it’s arm went limp.
But the pilot wasn’t a veteran for nothing, before it could crumple down too far, the cockpit blew and the pilot ejected.
And then, for just a bit, everything was silent, before the mech slammed into the ground.
From then on, I was in a daze, or unconscious. The last firm thing I saw was a Hunchback, Still steaming from the heat of overheating to fire an alpha, covered entirely in scorch marks and in some places still on fire, dragging itself down the street, one of its legs disabled.
----
A different perspective.
Benny was exhausted. They all were. His Centurion cold and lifeless under him was horrible enough, but thank god he didn’t have to sit helpless and watch his family die before his eyes.
The Awesome still smoking from it’s cockpit was… Awesome. They had done it, sent off an Assault mech. Burned some arrogant Marik veteran bad.
She sounded like a bitch, and now she lost her mech. Benny really hoped she burned at being dispossessed.
“Did we do it?” Hanna asked weakly over the line. Her Centurion was on it’s back from where Benny had watched the Awesome pound the weakened mech into the concrete.
“Hell yeah we did it, ROUGH SQUAD!” Lenden of all people screamed into the radio causing Benny to helplessly chuckle. Those crazies had actually done it.
Of course Benny knew what his little brothers were up to. He just also knew it was pointless to try and stop them. Sometimes kids needed to be crazy.
Of course it was never that easy.
“Well don’t party too soon.” The voice coming over the radio chilled them all. The rest of the enemy Lance peaked through the building the Awesome had smashed through. But before Benny could even imagine any worse circumstances the voice continued. “This is Lieutenant Hammond, of the Scything Hawks. As the highest commanding officer in the AO. I am requesting a ceasefire. We would appreciate a return of any prisoners, in exchange, we will consider this battle over and retreat.”
No response came, and it was then that Benny realized that Vicky wasn't responding. That fact made only one response an option to him. He had to make sure she survived.
“This is Haumptmann Rommel of the Iron Blooded Orphans. We accept. Men will be returned, but fallen metal is ours as salvage.”
It was quiet for a few moments before a snort echoed over the radio, “Heh. Well as much as I would like to argue with you there kid, frankly, I’m a little afraid about what other tricks you have up your sleeves. Alright. You keep your salvage, but we will continue grabbing anything we have already started on. Whoever claims it first, it’s there's. Fair?”
“Fair.”
Benny reached out, switching the radio immediately to the private channels “Someone get a medical team here immediately, The Commander isn’t responding!”
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro City.
Abandoned Sector.
----
A different perspective.
Carl was ready. His squad was holed up in an old building. The Commander had given them a simple order. Be here, and when the LRMs hit. Fire. Then run.
It was a simple order, but Carl was nervous. This wasn’t the crazies of Rough Squad, this was just Delta unit. They hadn’t done anything interesting enough to get their own moniker. Nor had they bothered to pick one. They showed up, and followed orders. That’s the only special thing about them.
Sitting in an abandoned shop front, while watching battlemechs wander up the street was pretty horrifying. Just one of those things noticing them could kill the entire squad. Hell. He recognized that mech.
It was a Firestarter. Anyone who is going into infantry makes damn sure they recognize that mech above all others.
Still they had their orders. He trusted his Commander.
He heard the LRM’s before they hit. Then they smashed into the Firestarter with a deafening noise, the building shook as the missiles came down. The Firestarter was getting hammered before it suddenly moved, doing something Carl hadn’t expected. It pushed forward, and smashed itself into the same building his squad was using for cover.
The collision was horrible, everything shifted and turned, and it was only a while later that he peeked his head out from under the wooden counter he had ducked behind coughing lightly as the dust shifted slowly down.
“Report in!” He called out, and only as he listened to the call outs from around the damaged room did he grimace. Everyone was alive.
But not everyone was unscathed. “SAM! YOU ALIVE?” He found himself yelling his ears still ringing but the girl, despite bleeding simply nodded. Samantha had always been tough, a bit crazy but more than willing to brawl with anyone.
Adjusting his volume he yelled out, “Alright. Let’s get moving people, we need to get them to medical.”
Three kids in his squad were bleeding or wounded. They pulled them out of the room before Carl turned back. He could make out the damn Firestarters leg half resting in the room only feet from where he had been hiding.
He considered it.Thought it over, let the idea flip back and forth in his head. He had bags full of SRMs in that room, and it only took a moment to arm the damn things...
His eyes narrowed. “Fuck em.” He whispered as he grabbed his SRM launcher.
----
I screwed up.I realized shakily watching the little dots representing my people slowly crawl away from the mech that had smashed itself into a building to avoid the LRM volleys. I hadn’t considered it. Of course a mech would rather smash into a nearby building to avoid fire.
I was already leading the Lance to it’s next fire point, trying to brush the tears out of my eyes, I couldn’t let anyone know that I was floundering.
That was when it happened. I couldn’t help but gasp, barely calling a halt to the Lance in time to send them the targeting data.
“Remind me to promote Carl.” I commed back to command as the fourth volley of LRM fire soared across the sky.
Aiming for the Firestart that was completely prone according to my sensors. The crazy bastard of Delta unit had taken out one of the Firestarter's legs.
The LRM fire burst down into the city.
And the signature that represented the firestarter shifted. Showing it was now offline.
“Changing target! Ready and fire!” I ordered out. Another streak of LRMS took to the sky. The Hunchback was in cover, but not totally, at least not anymore from our new position. Sure probably half the LRMs we sent struck the building he was using, but the other half?
The hits sent the weakened lance into a frenzy. I winced when they blasted the buildings around them, and could only hope Delta would be okay. My order to have an escape route, or hideaway ready before ever firing might save them, if they had listened.
But there was nothing I could do for them now but trust.
Trust and send more LRMs.
----
An opposing perspective.
Isabella was pretty much totally done with this stupid mission. Fuck glory. She just wanted the fucking LRMs to stop.
Michelle, who had been one of Isabella’s friends since basic, had gotten hit by the first volley. Isabella had never seen LRMs that accurate before. The fact was, Michelle would be going home as a flag. There wasn’t enough left of the upper half of her Phoenix Hawk to search through.
She had never seen a mech sandpapered down to it’s waist before.
Then the second volley hit.
They were in open desert. Just outside the city limits, there was no other choice. “MOVE! Full forward. Get into cover!” She screamed as she hauled her Awesome into it’s full speed, the battlefist held in front of her cockpit. Hopefully if she was targeted, she would have a few seconds to punch out.
Not that she would survive the barrage of missiles, but it was the small hope sometimes.
The second barrage was just as heavy. But it wasn’t as accurate. They weren’t just traveling in a straight line this time. They were moving at full speed doing everything they could to dodge the missiles.
The damage was still immense. If not as targeted. Each chunk of the barrage hit different mechs, scraping chunks of mech down, and in an unfortunate case, blowing the entire right arm off the Orion that Hammond was piloting. The man had used the arm to cover his cockpit just like she was doing, and it was probably the only thing that saved his life.
With that the mechs slammed into the cover of the town, and the third barrage only did minor damage. The buildings took the missiles, and just like a mech didn’t handle it well. By the fourth barrage, Isabella had been forced to dash to a new building to shelter under. It continued. She would dash to a new building between volleys, her old cover turned into nothing but burning concrete.
Her two Lances were split up. But Isabella had other things to worry about. Like the rain of death.
She breathed a sigh of relief when after eight volleys, the missiles stopped coming.
She swore she would find whoever was responsible for this and kill them.
----
Even at our best hope Beta lance would eventually catch up. We knew this. It was why I prepared the first infantry ambush, and this second one. We led the Lance into a chase, whenever they grew too far out of cover we would turn and burn them until they slowed. Slowly, they caught up to us. Right where I wanted them.
It was inevitable. We turned. The three Centurions waiting and just as the first mech, the Wolverine turned the corner, three Large Lasers arced out at my shout of “Now!”
Only one beam hit, and then only for a second.
The Wolverine was quick, ducking down, and nearly falling backwards to get out of the line of fire before any more damage could be done. This pilot was good.
Better than us.
I kept my eye on the sensors. Watched as they split up. The wolverine was sitting at that corner waiting, the two Hunchbacks both split up, taking pincering paths towards us.
Switching a dial on my radio I gave the order. “NOW!” Causing our lance to charge forward.
The Wolverine realized too late that we were moving. As I charged around the corner going full speed, I released the trigger on my SRMs into the stationary mech, as I ran right past it. I could practically feel the mech's Large laser burn a trail behind me, and some of it definitely snagged the ‘arm’ of my locust. I could only keep moving as a moment later Benny turned the corner. First slamming a clawed hand into the Wolverines arm as he chopped down, saving me from any further laser’s coming my way before blasting away with his torso medium.
I lost sight of the battle a moment later. As I continued my own job. I turned the corner one of the Hunchbacks had run towards, seeing him shooting into the buildings around him with his many medium lasers. The SRM fire from my infantry had apparently pissed him off.
I ran up to him, as I hit the trigger to fire off my second round of SRMs into his right side. The explosions shifted the Hunchback a step and I continued moving. Blurring right down a rather tight alleyway that caused me to grunt as my Locust scraped along the brick buildings, but it took me out of sight of the damn Swayback.
----
An Explosive Perspective.
Vicky was gonna be pissed. Lenden knew. This was her ‘perfect’ battle plan, that he was going to interfere with, but hell. This was their chance. Rough Squad started their trucks, where they had been waiting and moved out.
Right towards the lone Hunchback that had broken off from it’s squad.
Over the radio Lenden said the only thing that any of them wanted to hear. “ROUGH SQUAD, TO GLORY!”
The SRM mounted Technicals charged forward, racing up behind the behemoth, even as it started to turn the first rockets were fired. Inferno rounds after Inferno rounds slammed into the entire street. Some hitting the mech, some not. But that didn’t matter to Rough squad. Enough hit, that the mech had other things to worry about than them for a moment.
That was all the time they needed to release their secret weapon.
Lenden himself was driving it. It had been so crazy he told the rest that he would do it. Him and him alone. His idea, his burden. Once he was sure the truck was aimed right, he stepped on the brick that he had readied and it wedged itself into the gas. He popped the door, and rolled.
He only had seconds.
He didn’t stop rolling before a second Technical skidded to a stop between him and the mech.
The explosion caused everything to go white and dark and loud and quiet all at once.
Their secret weapon, had been one of the water trucks, completely filled with gas and inferno fuel.
----
So an explosion happened, and I still had no idea what caused it.
Fucking Rough Squad. I could track them on the sensor as I realized they had dealt with the second Hunchback. That mech was currently reading offline which I could only guess was due to the explosion.
This Hunchback was still my problem, and I couldn’t give even a moment more to think about the dots vanishing from my sensor.
I was using the sensor system to track which direction the thing was looking before I would race past whatever street he wasn’t looking down and launch more SRMs.
It was moderately effective. He hadn’t hit me, and a little less than a third of my SRMs had hit. The problem was I only had 25 shots, when I shot with both SRM 2’s. And I was starting to run low.
He had no such problems. Worse, if I let up, he would circle back and that would be too dangerous for the rest of my Lance.
The game of cat and mouse was very much in my favor here. Despite everything I could literally SEE what direction the Hunchback was facing at any moment, and he kept losing me in the maze of buildings that I was traveling through like I had been born here.
For a moment I almost wished this had been an AC20 Hunchy. At least then I could shoot for an ammo explosion. This stupid sway back was a complete pain in my ass.
We played this game for a while, my SRM’s stripping armor, and obviously pissing off the pilot. The lasers that came in return, kept increasing. Despite Zaniah’s heat, he was still doing a good job of staying cool.
I slowed as I noticed he was doing something different. He was getting smart, he switched from trying to bait me into a direction, or guessing what direction I was going instead he maneuvered himself down an alley which only had one entrance. I realized that was checkmate for me. I couldn’t do anything else to this Hunchback. So instead I made use of my mobility. I shifted my target, as I slowed outside the alley, I turned around and instead raced back towards the Wolverine.
If he wanted to try and play the mouse. Then I would switch to the cat.
I caught up on the battle thanks to my sensors as I raced through the abandoned streets.
The battle had not gone well in my absence.
One medium vs three mediums should be an easy sweep.
But god were my pilots green.
The wolverine had at one point escaped by activating it’s jump jets, and from there the battle had turned into trying to catch up to the flying Wolverine.
The Centurions were struggling, he was playing with them. Hit and running whenever he was facing more than one mech at a time.
Luckily for them, I was paying attention to them again. “Gauge, No Red 3. Hold and take your next left. Red 2, Red 4 keep pursuing, save your armor as best you can. Red 3, two streets down and then a right. You should get a good shot on him, make it count, you'll know when.”
I toggled to another frequency even as I moved. Seeing there would be a second intercept. Echo unit. You will have an enemy mech intruding on you in about thirty seconds, he is a jumper. Heat him up for me please.”
Omniscience was nice.
I spent ten seconds checking on the other enemy lances. Wincing as while they were beat up, they were still moving forward. My carriers had been forced to retreat from Charlie Lance, having run out of ammo without enough time to safely reload they moved well back from where they had been before. But they weren’t moving anymore, having lost their pursuers.
The enemy were pushing towards the factory. The Scorpions making semi effective bulwark, slowing the mechs down from a full frontal charge. But they were losing. That awesome was slowed, but only just by their efforts.
I was being pulled in too many directions.
“Note to self. Command and control.” I grumble as I shift continuing to run towards the Wolverine.
The trap happened, as he came in to land jumping over a row of buildings to try and get some space from Benny and Hanna, the Inferno SRMs rocketed out of the buildings. That wolverine that had been running hard, firing large and medium lasers, and jump jetting everywhere, suddenly had a heat spike. Just in time for Gauge to turn a corner his laser weapons all in range.
Large, medium and small lasers all slashed out at the overheating Wolverine. And then I turned the corner on his other side. My SRMs lashed out, and for once, I came to a full stop to make sure my missiles would hit. Couldn’t risk any of my kids getting struck by a missed shot.
The Wolverine was struck helpless for a little too long, desperately I could see the mechwarrior trying to raise it’s weapons to fire but the heat had sent the myomer into a horrible state, Gauge finished it off with a second alpha.
I could see his Centurion nearly steaming as it too overheated, but it worked.
The cored mech shutting down, as it burned merrily. I toggled the radio back to the infantry. “Keep an eye on this guy. The pilot is still alive in there.” I called out as I switched back to my lance frequency. “Good shooting Gauge, but no time to stand around, that other Hunchback is still active. Let’s move mechwarriors.” I ordered out, only slowing until Gauges Centurion slowly cooled off and started moving again.
I took a moment to look over my diminished ammo reserves. This was going to be close.
The last Hunchback had decided to try running back to the other lances. He must have realized his allies were down. The first LRM volley from the Centurions, ended up hitting nothing but building as he turned a corner into a small alleyway before they hit. As we chased I noticed the remains of the Alpha lance turn towards us. It seems they had to decided to reinforce the fleeing Hunchback.
But that wasn’t all, and I noticed them too late. Too focused on trying to to reach the fleeing mech the ASF that were closing in, snuck up on us.
The two FWL Eagles boomed overhead, and all four of us gasped as the large lasers burned. Gauge took the heaviest hit, raising his arms to protect himself instinctively, he reduced the damage to his torso, or God forbid his cockpit, but the six large lasers were too much for his Centurion. The right arm burst off the mech in a flurry of heated slag. Losing his main weapons.
His mech stumbled, but we hadn’t gone through so many months of falling over for nothing, he steadied himself even as his gyro whined audibly from the stress of keeping him upright with the new balance.
Hanna popped off a large laser shot to try and push the ASF away but they were gone before she could do more than heat up the air behind them.
Watching the sensors, I noticed the problem. Even the Hunchback had slowed. The ASF were already turning around. Coming in for another strike. “Find cover! Enemy ASF are turning for another run! 5 o’clock!”
I grunted as I ducked into a building to hide from their eyes. This was bad. Even if we fended off the ASF’s all they were doing was pinning us down for the enemy Lance. I was getting close to calling a surrender, to pull my forces completely, when suddenly the ASF’s weren’t a problem anymore.
----
A different perspective.
Elias understood now. The fury that they had unleashed, had caused a full two lances of mechs to run around terrified of the anger they had unleashed.
If he hadn’t let himself get too focused on chasing the mechs around he would have been able to do more before running out of ammo. The carriers only had 8 volleys each if everything fired.
He could have held that lance off all day if he hadn’t ordered everyone to fire everything. It had been such a rush to watch two lances of mechs tremble at his power.
He had learned some very valuable lessons though.
Which is why he hadn’t retreated back to base like he had been ordered. Sure the Artillery unit moved, and quite a ways, because the enemy mechs had charged straight toward them after they realized no more LRM were coming down range. But with the sensors? It was child's play to move away from them. To get into a new position, and start reloading from the rounds brought in on a truck.
And so Elias was ready to remind the enemy they existed. His unit was already locking in on the approaching Alpha lance heading after the Commander when the ASF moved into the area.
Well he couldn’t allow that. It was childsplay to angle the LRM carriers to aim towards where the next ASF attack run would be coming from. “Easy boys. Two on two. Let’s remind these fighter jockeys why they aren’t the kings of the battlefield.” He chuckled, as he felt them come into range.
Fire.
The scream of four LRM carriers was massive. A scream into the sky demanding everyone on the battlefields attention. Every person that heard, or saw the attack stilled to watch. Such a tremendous amount of firepower being brought to bear and this time it was aimed into the sky. For a moment the sky was filled with so much smoke, it was as if a cloud slipped down to touch the earth.
----
An opposing perspective.
Isabella continued moving towards the objective with her remaining lance fighting surprise attacks from tanks and a few infantry surprises. Their mechs were taking some armor damage, but they weren’t kids playing at war. They were doing just fine.
The remains of her second lance were reuniting to keep the enemy Lance of mechs busy while they trashed the place, and then they could get the hell off this planet.
Isabella had been assured before she left that defenses would be minimal. The incompetent Generals that Lyrans were known for should have made this a milk run. Instead the merc company that had supposed to be so green as to still be suckling at their mothers tits was suddenly far more ferocious than expected.
Damn SAFE had dropped the ball on this one. A “cakewalk” they told her. Considering she had lost a full lance of mechs at this point, and she hadn’t heard from some of her pilots at all?
It was starting to go well, laughing as a tank round gouged out some of her armor, as PPC return fire turned the tank into slag. When suddenly that noise struck the city again. She was used to the sound of LRM fire, any mechwarrior was. But hearing so many at once? Not the most common experience. She shifted taking cover before checking to see if the fire was coming for her, she saw it.
Two ASF smacked out of the air, as if someone reached up and just slapped them to the side. She knew the sudden turn was because they had probably tried to turn out from the wall of LRMs heading towards them, but it looked very much like someone had struck them with a fist as both Eagles simply spun into the ground.
“Damnit.”
“Bully, what's the order? We leaving?” Hammond called out over the line. He had been bellyaching ever since his Orion got thrashed earlier.
“Negative Warsaw. We have our contract, and we know those carriers exist now. They only have limited ammo. We just gotta take cover when they shoot. We are switching targets. I want those carriers gone. Everyone on me.”
“Bully, we should withdraw, this is turning into a shitshow.”
“Warsaw. Man up, or punch out.” Isabella going by her callsign Bully stomped into a right turn down a different street. The carriers wouldn’t be expecting them to alter course so near to their target. The factory could wait though. She owed those missile spewing assholes some lightning and fury.
----
“Well if we have support. Alright Red Lance, let’s teach these raiders a lesson.” I toggled to a new frequency. “Artillery unit. We appreciate the backup, are you good for another volley on a new target?”
“More than ready Red 1. Just tell me where to shoot.”
“Well I like that attitude, targets, set, Let’s give them a bloody nose.”
I flipped back. “Alright Red Lance, we are going to push into enemy Alpha Lance. We will have artillery support, so let’s hit them hard. Red 3 stay back, and support with LRMs.”
““Roger that Red 1!”” They all sent back as we started moving, the three Centurions stomping forward down the road, moving to intercept the enemy long range lance. Sure they had some scary stuff, but dropping a couple hundred LRMs on their head should soften them up nicely.
We moved in just as the scream of LRMs overhead caused the lance to shift into trying to find cover.
Hanna wasn’t having any of that. We turned the corner, and as soon as she did her lasers were firing. The Hunchback we had been chasing was completely caught off guard, and her lasers burned right through his hunch, the sudden unbalancing caused the mech to slip sideways falling into the building it had been trying to take cover behind.
Benny was right there as well. He didn’t focus on the Hunchback, no he didn’t even slow down, he charged straight forward all his lasers firing as he burned lines into the Riflemans core, the heavy mech had been desperately trying to get into cover from the LRM fire, and Bennys attacks caused it to turn to face him, the mech deciding to sacrifice some more armor to LRM fire to open up.
Benny was lucky, the AC/5’s hit two separate points and blew armor off his mech, while the large lasers didn’t keep a burn long enough as Benny simply charged through. Shoulder checking the rifleman straight out of the buildings cover it had been using.
And into the rain of LRM that had been focusing on it.
The staccato of missiles landing on the rifleman echoed through the street as it fell. Not rising after the barrage ended.
The trebuchet pair weren’t having any of this.
The 5S unloaded on Bennys back. Two SRM6’s and three medium lasers, more than enough to cause some serious damage as Bennys Centurion’s gyro screamed in pain as his mech toppled forward as if someone kicked it in the back.
Gauges missiles struck then, focusing on the wrong trebuchet for the first volley, as the LRM10 hit the 5N.
Hanna was there, before the 5S could finish off Benny. The girl was utterly silent over coms as she fired every laser she had that faced forward in an alpha into the side of the Trebuchet. She hit something, because in a fury, the entire left side of the mech disappeared in fire, although it was staggering around, still alive.
Then I was there.
SRM/4, my last reload blasting into the 5S’s open right side. Hitting something, as it’s staggering gait as it tried to regain control ended as if it lost muscle control. It flopped to the street with a thunderous bang.
Unfortunately, the fact was, our Mechwarriors were green. It was why we made an amatuer mistake. We took our eyes off a downed, but not out mech.
The Hunchback was clambering to its feet as we focused on the Trebuchet. The 5N’s medium lasers flashing out, scoring across Hanna’s Centurion, dragging her attention to it, distracting her.
The HUnchback rose up, missing it’s right side, and it’s most dangerous weapons, but it wasn’t done. The sucker punch came out of nowhere, to both me and Hanna, although she felt it worse than me. Her Centurion was knocked to the side, staggering her as the battle took a turn for the worst. Realizing I had to move. I rushed in.
The Hunchback turned on me, twisting his arm up to block the expected SRM shots. Instead all he did was slow enough that it guaranteed my hit. I slammed into him at max speed.
Everything went a little topsy turvy there.
----
A different perspective.
Lieutenant Hanna Hayha, Mechwarrior, was not about to let this be how her first battle went.
She staggered shaking her head to regain her focus to pull the Centurion back upright, her left arm already shooting up to shield against the three medium lasers the Trebuchet burned across her. Her right arm, aimed and fired at the hip, the large laser wasn’t on point at first, but it only took a moment to wiggle the arm until it was burning across the trebuchets chest. The heat spike would have had her staggering if she was on her feet.
She had no time to do anything more, the Commander just rammed the Hunchback that just knocked her lights out and it was time to return the favor. The Hunchback was thankfully heavily damaged, and was struggling to move the 20 ton Locust that was laying across it’s chest where it had been knocked on its ass. She stomped. Her Centurion’s 50 tons came crashing down on the Hunchbacks arm, crushing it into scrap, even as another barrage of medium lasers splashed her.
Her left arm, which she had been using to try and block the damage sliced off, as two of the mediums went internal, staggered once again as the weight of her mech shifted, she didn’t fight it this time.
She was used to falling.
She let her Centurion fall into the side of a building, it was just enough to keep her moderately stable. Her large laser rose up, and the Trebuchet noticed it at the same time. He ducked, but Hanna had been ready. Two Months of accuracy training on the stupid little courses Vicky had put together let her lead the shot, Her large laser burned out, and the Trebuchet felt it. She hit something important, as a moment later the Trebuchet, started jettisoning it’s ammo in a hurry, The mech didn't hesitate, as it passed around a corner, leaking LRM’s behind it. As she waited, her breath heavy, and one eye covered in blood, she realized it wasn’t coming back.
----
A different perspective.
Elias was cursing this enemy in the Awesome. It was relentless. They had switched to trying to take out the assault lance once Red Lance had gotten into close quarters with the enemy, but in the time it took it was obvious Charlie Lance was heading for them.
And unfortunately, despite the advantage of knowing where the enemy was, they weren’t getting away.
Too slow.
The Awesome was acting like a battering ram, charging through the buildings between them, especially once the ammo had run dry once again.
Elias had a decision to make.
“Artillery Unit! We are bailing on our machines. Don’t forget to complete final measures. Follow me, we are going to run into the underground here! Once we bail, don’t waste time, work together, no one dies today.”
That was all the time he had his carrier skidded to a stop as his driver hit the brakes, and the other three carriers did the same. They had already ditched the maintenance group of Normans a while back. The Norman truck having no issue outrunning the stampeding assault mech. So when the 12 soldiers piled out of the carriers, after releasing the button on the thermite charge that would turn the Lostech sensors to slag. They all rushed into the building Elias had chosen, the front door kicked open as they charged in, heading towards the large underground floors the building had. Elias waited until the rest passed him. Taking just a moment to look over the four carriers, that were already starting to be turned into slag by angry PPC fire the Awesome venting it’s wrath.
“Sorry Vicky.” He moaned. Unable to do anything else to protect the valuable Lostech. He just hoped what he had done here today would be enough that Vicky wouldn’t kill him for losing something so valuable in their first battle.
He turned and ran downstairs listening to the shrieking of metal.
----
It took a few minutes for Vicky to jerk awake. It was expected, she had just body checked a medium mech after all.
Groaning a bit she reached out and flipped her mic. “I’m alive. Radio check.” She groaned.
“Glad to hear you’re okay Vicky.” The voice was Hanna but I could tell she wasn’t doing great either, “Bennys alive, but pissed. His Centurion is done.”
“I’m alright too.” Gauge offered, “You and Benny had it the worst.”
“Good. Good.” I mutter checking the status board of my mech for a moment. I was sort of done hanging face towards the ground. Thankfully everything turned up if not green, good enough. And I started moving until I was once more rising to my feet.
The Hunchback beneath me was shut down. “What happened to him?” I asked, looking around once I got to my feet.
Gauge quickly responded, “Oh the Hunchback? He shut down once Hanna pointed at his cockpit. We have some infantry on the way to secure him.”
“Alright.” I toggle the status of my mech back to my sensor to see what we were working with. I instantly winced. “We have a problem.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Their Charlie Lance just finished mopping up our LRM Carriers. I think they are moving on to the factory. We are about to fail our objective.”
“Fuck.” Hanna offered with a breathy groan. “Alright. Give me a second Commander. I’ll be ready to move.”
“...No. Take your time. We aren’t going to be able to really stop them. We are switching to harassment. Let’s move into LRM range, and remind them we are still here, but otherwise, this fight is over for us.”
“Fuck. Understood Commander.”
We all staggered out of the street once the infantry arrived to secure everything, my Locust was limping, one of my legs wasn’t happy about whatever I had done to it, and my entire right side of my mech was basically a crumple zone at this point, but somehow I was still walking.
Hanna and Gauge both kept up well. Despite the damage each had taken they were still capable of doing something unlike me. I was only good for a command and control. After a few minutes we moved into range. Gauge and Hanna sent a volley into the enemy Awesome. Hopefully it had taken enough damage at this point that the LRMs would do something.
----
An opposing perspective.
Isabell was pretty sure she was developing a bit of a complex with LRMs at this point. She had truly enjoyed smashing the carriers into scrap, these fucking militia assholes were lucky she didn’t have time to chase them down.
They still had a job to do.
Unfortunately, once again her mech was attacked from above. She was so done with this. “Bully, This is Scarecrow, that’s the two Centurions we clashed with before, that's definitely two separate LRM10’s.” Scarecrow radioed in, his trebuchet 5N out of ammo after he ditched it because of an internal breach.
“FUCK this shit! These fucking LRMS! How are they hitting us! You said you scrapped them pretty good, right?”
“Yeah Captain, one had lost it’s gun arm, the other lost it’s off hand. Both were pretty worn down. I’m surprised they didn’t just run at this point. These mercs are ballsy.”
“They aren’t ballsy, they are stupid fuckers, and I’m gonna enjoy teaching them that. Everyone on me.” She growled. Couple of mediums? Injured mediums at that? Fucking easy. And it would be satisfying. Her recovery teams would be on their way. Maybe she could actually end this raid with a full recovery of their downed mechs. That would make this entire clusterfuck worth it.
“Full speed. I don’t want them running!”
----
“Enemy lance is shifting, new coordinates… Wait. Shit, They are charging us. Move move!” I call out over the comms as I see the enemy Awesome starting bursting through buildings heading straight towards us.
We were not ready to get into a fight with an assault mech.
Unfortunately, it was hard to run from a mech and break line of sight, when the mech simply smashed through everything on it’s way directly towards you. We tried a few times to escape around the Awesome, but the buildings closer to the factory were heavily damaged, and there weren’t as many paths we could take.
I realized in horror that it was catching up.
I quickly toggled to a new frequency. “This is Commander Eisen-Blume, of the Iron Blooded Mercenary Company. Raiding force commander please respond.”
The open frequency was sent out and after only a few moments I got my response. “So you're the little shit that has been dropping LRMs on me all day. This is Captain Isabella Nash of the Scything Hawks.”
“We have done everything we can, I am pulling the Iron Blooded from the AO. You win, Captain.”
It took a few moments for the response to come, and I could see the beeping on my dash as my Lance tried to reach me at the same time, but I ignored them, Mercenaries don’t fight to the death. We had done more than anyone could have expected from us at this point. Fights are rarely to decimation after all.
Quite often raiders could even request a withdrawal from a battlefield. No one wanted to take a fight to the bitter end. It rarely ended in anything more than just a loss for everyone involved.
Which is why when the response came it caught me by surprise.
“No. No, I am not going to let you weasel away. You pissed me off, when I catch you little girl, I’m going to smash your cockpit into scrap. You and every one of your mechs. You’ve been having fun beating on my weaklings, Now it’s time for you to face the veterans.”
The final words of the message were combined with a PPC burning through a building as an Awesome smashed through it, the PPC just barely burning past my Locust.
I felt the heat of the lightning across my face through the cockpit window. I moved. Hanna fired, Lasers lashing out. Gauge added his medium laser as well. Medium lasers and a large laser burning through the air slamming into the Awesome.
And being completely ignored as the chest PPC’s fired. The blue lightning crossed the distance and smashed into Hanna’s Centurion. The blasted slag of superheated metal burst off the chest of her mech and she was slammed backwards into a building.
Gauge was too close to use his LRM’s, his single medium laser was all that flashed out in response. Burning another groove across the Awesomes chest.
Then the arm mounted PPC arced out, and his Centurions leg was blown off in a flash of sparks, the force kicking the remains of his leg back and causing the mech to fall face first into the ground.
It didn’t move after that.
I noticed her arm aiming downward.
“What the fuck!” I screamed as I went into close combat with an assault mech. My Locust slammed into the Awesome. Hoping like the Hunchback I could knock this thing on it’s ass.
Instead the pilot proved that she wasn’t bragging about being a veteran. She seemed to roll with the blow, and a moment later the Awesome’s battle fist arced out, and I felt the right side of my Locust simply give way to the blow. Everything was spinning and I was sure I screamed, as I felt myself crash hard into the ground.
----
An explosive perspective.
Lenden swore that when this was all over, he would cry over his friends. Like Francis, his friend that had driven a truck between him and an explosion that would have burned him alive. Instead the truck had tanked the blow. Francis… He hadn’t survived the shockwave.
But that was for later. They had all swore a vow today. It took a while for the fire to die down enough they could get in. Even with the water trucks they had prepared to try and put out enough of the fire to get access to the cockpit. Lenden limped forward, the burn on his leg was pretty nasty, but now wasn’t the time to wait. The remains of Rough Squad had forced open the cockpit of the Hunchback. The pilot, dead or unconscious, didn't matter to them. The bullet made sure of it regardless.
They had pushed him forward. He would never forget that. They chose him to be the first among them. One of his brothers passed him the shrine. And he fitted the data card into it, the card containing his brain wave data. He clambered into the mech, ripping the old Neurohelmet out of the slot in the mech and plugging in the one they had brought. Their shrine.
The massive ancient neurohelm was exactly what they had needed. Trying to put on someone elses neurohelmet was a dangerous and stupid act, but bringing in a neurohelm that had their own data ready? It was much safer.
They knew the tricks to it. Old mech jockeys and Admechs would talk sometimes. About how to hijack an enemy mech. Those were always the best stories.
Rough squad had sworn an oath they would do so. They wouldn’t wait for the Commander to hand them their future. They would go out and take it with their own two hands. Lenden took out the powerful magnet and ran it over the security line the magnet would interfere with the security system long enough for the mech to active without frying his brain.
He pressed the activation button.
Then he prayed.
----
I knew I hadn’t been out long. I gasped, coughing up blood that had rolled down and coated my face. I reached out, trying to press the mic button to call for a check, but I realized as soon as I moved my right arm was broken. It simply flopped as I reached, sending an arc of pain through me.
“Fuck.” I used my left to shift my Neurohelmet, letting me look out, and see through the shattered canopy. I had gotten lucky, I realized.
But not that lucky.
The Awesome was standing tall. Hanna’s Centurion lay crumpled at its feet. I couldn’t see Gauge, but considering I didn’t see him from my angle, meant he was down too. I watched, unable to do anything else as the Awesome stepped back towards me. My Locust was busted, but a moment later my radio crackled to life.
“Well little bug? You still alive in there? I hope you are, I really want to hear you scream when you die.”
“G-guess you get your wish then.” I coughed out, that wet sound wasn’t good.
“Oh. You're pretty tough. Most of the time when I swat bug mechs that’s it. Dead bug. But you're still alive in there huh. Well I guess this is it little bug.” I watched out the broken screen as the Awesome’s arm mounted PPC rose up. I saw the PPC begin charging. Blue lightning arcing and charging down the barrel of the gun, sure the PPC don’t work well at minimum ranges, but that’s for armor.
They would still incinerate me into atoms.
“Well at least I tried.”
“No one will remember you for trying, Bug.”
“I WILL!” The scream startled both of us from the scene. The Awesome was definitely not ready because a moment later. There was nothing but green light.
I blinked my eyes, shocked at what had happened. The Awesome, the monster of a machine that ripped through my lance like butter. It’s PPC which had been so bright a moment before was darkening, as the power went out.
Eight medium lasers was too much for it.The beams tore into the weakened armor of the Awesome and found something in its core. A moment later even as the Awesome was still raising its arm to redirect the PPC from me towards the enemy showing up, it’s arm went limp.
But the pilot wasn’t a veteran for nothing, before it could crumple down too far, the cockpit blew and the pilot ejected.
And then, for just a bit, everything was silent, before the mech slammed into the ground.
From then on, I was in a daze, or unconscious. The last firm thing I saw was a Hunchback, Still steaming from the heat of overheating to fire an alpha, covered entirely in scorch marks and in some places still on fire, dragging itself down the street, one of its legs disabled.
----
A different perspective.
Benny was exhausted. They all were. His Centurion cold and lifeless under him was horrible enough, but thank god he didn’t have to sit helpless and watch his family die before his eyes.
The Awesome still smoking from it’s cockpit was… Awesome. They had done it, sent off an Assault mech. Burned some arrogant Marik veteran bad.
She sounded like a bitch, and now she lost her mech. Benny really hoped she burned at being dispossessed.
“Did we do it?” Hanna asked weakly over the line. Her Centurion was on it’s back from where Benny had watched the Awesome pound the weakened mech into the concrete.
“Hell yeah we did it, ROUGH SQUAD!” Lenden of all people screamed into the radio causing Benny to helplessly chuckle. Those crazies had actually done it.
Of course Benny knew what his little brothers were up to. He just also knew it was pointless to try and stop them. Sometimes kids needed to be crazy.
Of course it was never that easy.
“Well don’t party too soon.” The voice coming over the radio chilled them all. The rest of the enemy Lance peaked through the building the Awesome had smashed through. But before Benny could even imagine any worse circumstances the voice continued. “This is Lieutenant Hammond, of the Scything Hawks. As the highest commanding officer in the AO. I am requesting a ceasefire. We would appreciate a return of any prisoners, in exchange, we will consider this battle over and retreat.”
No response came, and it was then that Benny realized that Vicky wasn't responding. That fact made only one response an option to him. He had to make sure she survived.
“This is Haumptmann Rommel of the Iron Blooded Orphans. We accept. Men will be returned, but fallen metal is ours as salvage.”
It was quiet for a few moments before a snort echoed over the radio, “Heh. Well as much as I would like to argue with you there kid, frankly, I’m a little afraid about what other tricks you have up your sleeves. Alright. You keep your salvage, but we will continue grabbing anything we have already started on. Whoever claims it first, it’s there's. Fair?”
“Fair.”
Benny reached out, switching the radio immediately to the private channels “Someone get a medical team here immediately, The Commander isn’t responding!”
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Very appropriate that the assault 'mech beating up a bunch of orphans uses the callsign "Bully." Her just Kool-Ade-Manning her way right through buildings to crush an objective was a well-written way to show how devastatingly powerful an Assault 'Mech is and also a good way to highlight her overbearing personality.
I like the Chekov's gun set up by Vicky throwing away the old Neurohelmet and Rough squad recovering it and using it here. I did not see that coming and it makes perfect sense.
However, there's one typo in the previous chapter that really, really needs changing.
I didn't put it in grammar as it seemed fine to me but it implies the ASF from the raiding force were destroyed by the defense, so the same ASF showing up to strafe the orphans was quite confusing. This needs to be cleaned up a bit, either not using "birds" for both sides or perhaps not calling the invading force "defense."
"I winced, as while they were beaten up..." would flow better.
It is also inappropriate to assume the Rifleperson's gender like that.
I like the Chekov's gun set up by Vicky throwing away the old Neurohelmet and Rough squad recovering it and using it here. I did not see that coming and it makes perfect sense.
However, there's one typo in the previous chapter that really, really needs changing.
I didn't put it in grammar as it seemed fine to me but it implies the ASF from the raiding force were destroyed by the defense, so the same ASF showing up to strafe the orphans was quite confusing. This needs to be cleaned up a bit, either not using "birds" for both sides or perhaps not calling the invading force "defense."
'em Yes, there's actually rules of grammar for that bit of slang.
Needs a space (two in some style sheets, including the ones I ascribe to) after the period.
its
Firestarter
its twice
lasers
its
Wolverine should be capitalized, and another its.
Tense errors, "wincing" and "were beat up" are present tense while the rest of the story is past tense.
"I winced, as while they were beaten up..." would flow better.
Typically when you append "semi" to a word you need to hyphenate it, tentative as there could be a style sheet that says otherwise, but I'm not aware of one. Awesome needs to be capitalized.
its
mother's
target's, this one is a contraction. This is also one area where it would be more appropriate not to contract and write "target set" because of how confusing that contraction can be, as it looks just like the possessive, or "targets are set" for the plural if you prefer. There also shouldn't be a comma in the middle of "target set" regardless of chosen form.
Quote marks shouldn't be quadruple, even with multiple people talking.
Rifleman's, also this is one heck of a long sentence and would be better parsed by splitting it into two, perhaps three sentences.
It is also inappropriate to assume the Rifleperson's gender like that.
its Yes, I know it's stupid that "its" is the only possessive that doesn't get an apostrophe, and confusing as all heck, but I didn't make the rules.
its The capitalization of "The" suggests to me that this was meant to start a new sentence (which looks better) so the comma just before it needs to be a period.
its
Benny's, this is a contraction. Yes, apostrophes have stupid rules.
The "a" needs to go.
its twice
Bet everybody's tired of me typing "its."
its
else's
were to make the tenses agree, was is present tense when the rest is past. A space or two needed after period, also another its.
its
its
Chapter 4.1
Seras
Well-known member
Chapter 4.1 From the Ashes, Flowers bloom.
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro Hospital
I slowly came awake. The soft beeping of a heart beat monitor, and quiet conversation lulling me from my dreams. The bright lights stung my eyes when I finally managed to get them open.
I wasn’t alone. The room was actually quite full. More than a few of my kids were on beds, in the room, chatting or spending time together.
I survived.
“Fuck.” I croak out.
The noise caused a flurry of activity as everyone jumped forward to check on me. I eventually waved them off, with my left arm, as my right was in a cast that was pretty hefty, “Water.”
After my throat was wetted and I was able to talk. “Where are we?”
“The hospital, Benny brought everyone that was too injured for us to do anything with here.” A girl informed me, she was sitting in the bed next to me, her arm just as broken as mine. Ah, After a second I recognized her. Melissa, one of the drivers for the supply department.
Before I could ask the big question on my mind Benny walked in. He had a bandage around his head but otherwise seemed fine. “Glad to see you awake Commander.”
“Benny… How many did we lose?”
He hesitated. Before sighing. “I should have expected you to ask that first thing. Twelve we lost twelve.”
“So… So many?”
“Half of that is from Rough Squad… They went a little wild.”
“Half! There are only twelve people in Rough Squad! What did those idiots do!?”
“They decided to capture a mech.” Benny offered solemnly.
I went silent at that. How else could I respond? Did those idiots die because I kept the fact that I could create mechs a secret? Was this all my fault? It hit me hard.
“Vicky, it’s not your fault. Rough Squad… They wanted to make their mark. There is nothing you could have done. Not even you.”
“I’m their Commander Benny. It’s my job to keep them alive. I failed.”
“Vicky, we won. We beat a League raid, the factory wasn’t even touched. We didn’t sign up for a safe job. Death… Death happens. Better to die once following what we believe in than to live a long life for nothing.”
“That.. Benny they died! I lead them straight to their deaths! Twelve of my kids!”
He put a hand to my lips before I could keep my rant. Idly he brushed the tears dripping down my eyes, “No. Twelve of your soldiers. Men and women that picked up weapons and chose to fight. Chose to believe following your path is a path worth walking. Danger and all. They aren’t the only ones. We won. That has more of an effect than you think. We had a hiring surge since the battle. There is more than just the one orphanage on Zaniah, the others? We’ve had kids show up hitchhiking traveling from all over. The Zaniah news is going crazy. The Iron Blooded Orphans are being mentioned everywhere. This is the first raid that has been stopped from trashing a factory in almost two decades.”
“Their life isn’t worth that.”
“Vicky… You were always pretty sensitive, but you know… We all think our life is worth that. I would happily sacrifice my life to keep some asshole Leaguer from trashing more factories, from destroying what little we have left… Maybe your view is a little skewed, but saving that factory was huge, important.”
I blinked through the tears raising my eyes from where I had been glaring at my blanket, unable to look him in the eye. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s true though. We all have things we are willing to die for. I want to stop the fall of the Inner Sphere. If the SLDF was around I would have joined in a heartbeat. Gauge? Man, he is more obsessed with tech than I am. I think he took the fact the raid was aimed at a factory pretty personally. Hanna? She just wants to kill the sort of people that killed her parents… Rough Squad? They wanted glory. A chance to make their own path in the world. A way to say that they matter. That they exist.”
“They do exist! They! They are my soldiers, my family! They died Benny!”
“Commander, that’s why we follow you. Not because you paid for this, but because as we’ve learned over the months we have been working together, you care about us as people. So don’t… Don’t break down over this. None of them would want you to stop walking this path because of that, because of them.”
“FUUUUCK!” I screamed at him, why couldn’t he just agree, why couldn’t he see what a waste it was!
His arms were warm though.
—-
It took a few hours for me to calm down. During the process Benny talked to me about everything that happened, from Rough Squad’s crazy success in stealing an active Battlemech, to the second in command of the raiders calling it off once their leader in the Awesome fell. By then my bed had been invaded by the kids in the room. Benny took up a chair, but I had Melissa sitting beside me, using her one unbroken hand, to play with my short hair. Others lounged on my bed. Just being around. I was ending up with a ton of little braids, but frankly, I didn’t care. It was nice to have the company.
“So we have been getting calls from the Governess. She seems pretty… Upset. ComStar messaged us and let us know her arbitration has been rescinded, apparently, that recording you took of your conversation with her was all the proof ComStar needed to determine the Governess was up to something. Demi-Precentor Franks has been in touch, he called himself.. So yeah, apparently your arbitration is just waiting on you for determination of what you want to do.”
“I see.” I huffed, yeah I expected in the end ComStar would side with us over this, we fought. Really when it comes down to it, regardless of what the Governess might like to say we had stood and fought. Damn hard for a green barely registered company.
The MRB appreciated that. Plus the recording of her needing to give me the defense frequency before the battle rather tidily proved something fucky had been going on.
“The Governess has requested a meeting with you, I believe her exact words were ‘before the Commander meets with ComStar preferably.’ So what do you think?”
“I think that the Governess wants to sweeten a deal so we don’t utterly torch her to the MRB. No Merc wants to work with someone that purposely tried to screw over a merc company.” I tell them leaning back on the large pillow I was resting on. “Depending on how she does this, I might let it go with a few stipulations.”
“Really? But fuck her!” Melissa said from beside me. “That bitch tried to get us killed, she gave us bad water! And lied to the MRB!”
“Yeah, but what’s more important, a spot of justified revenge, or doing what’s best for all of us?”
“I don’t like it Commander. Bitch should get what’s coming to her.” Melissa huffed.
“Oh she will, exactly where she will like it the least. Her pocketbook.”
“Eh, I’d rather shoot her, but I guess you're the boss.” She offered finally as she finished a braid.
“Alright. Other than the arm I’m basically good to go at this point.”
“And the concussion.” Benny added which I promptly ignored. I had a nasty cut over my right eyebrow now, I was pretty sure it would be a bitching scar, Mechwarriors all had scars, it was just part of the job.
“Good to go! So let’s get that started. Benny, she is paying for all this already right? I don’t have to really escalate things do I?”
“No. The Governess paid for medical injuries in the line of duty according to contract, I don’t think the people of Zaniah would have accepted turning us away anyways. Seriously, we have been in the news every day since the raid.”
“Good. Good. That... That’s a relief.” I exhale letting that tension go. At least my kids were being taken care of. “Let’s get me a shower, and then a change of clothes, and let’s go see the Governess, I’m getting antsy sitting around.”
“Don’t think the doctors will be happy with you running around so fast, Vicky, you should take it easy, the Governess can wait.”
“Well good thing they aren’t my doctors then, C’mon help me up.”
—-
I checked on every injured Iron Blooded before heading out. Thankfully the worst were just broken bones. Poor Carl had a fracture in his leg after taking out the Firestarter. The explosion had been bigger than he expected. But he seemed quite pleased at how it turned out.
Not every infantryman gets to tell the story of how they legged a mech regardless of size.
Showered, and wearing actual clothes again, I sauntered out of the Hospital, the doctors blabbing when to come back to get the cast off and irrelevant details at me, but I was too focused. This was too important.
Officers jacket over my shoulders, necessary now because of the broken arm, I must have made quite the sight because the Iron blooded were grinning and happy when I walked past them out of the hospital.
Benny was my chauffeur today as he pulled up in our customary Norman trucks, he was mother henning pretty bad and I was doing my best to ignore his concern.
During the drive he was the first to break the silence. “There is a problem you need to be aware of, Commander. Lenden… Well, The contract’s salvage clause, it doesn’t exactly give us much wiggle room. Lenden hasn’t turned over the Hunchback he captured. There hasn’t been more than a single request for it, but… He isn’t going to want to hand it over.”
I nodded my head. “I see. That’s fine. He won’t have to. I promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure that mech stays with us.”
The silence in the car stretched on until we pulled up to the Governess mansion, and it was her mansion, her personal residence, that I had been invited too. It was massively opulent.
More than anything I had seen in either life. The sheer wealth exuded on the building was almost sickening considering I had seen the fringes. The edges of the world where life was long dead.
We were escorted inside by a butler of all things, into a very comfortable sitting room. If I could have, I would have brought a sensor and copied the couch. It was that comfortable.
“I like this couch.”
“Yeah, it’s amazing. I wonder how much it costs?” Benny asked.
“Probably a lot, bet we could afford one.”
“I am afraid that couch would be beyond even you Commander Eisen-Blume, it has been in my collection for some time.” And there she was. Entering the room seemingly without a care in the world, a tea set was carried in by a butler and three cups were set out for us.
“Governess Alessa… Well you are the one that requested this meeting, are we finally having that overdue conversation?”
“I did, and in a way yes. We are. You are… More perceptive than I had given you credit for. My fault I admit. I allowed my greed to overlook how dangerous someone would have to be to put together a company such as yours. Especially at your age.”
“Am I just here for you to compliment me?”
“No. No, not at all.. I am here to offer an apology, and to hopefully settle the matter with the MRB.”
“Makes sense. You basically already got what you wanted in the end. An assault mech. Quite the catch for the son of a Governess.”
She stilled for just a moment before nodding. “Yes. Arthur has already claimed it, although Vincent is quite incensed.”
“Yes I suppose either son would be frustrated if they couldn’t pilot it.” I eyed her as I gently threatened her. If I claimed the Awesome as the cost to balance the books, how would she react, I couldn’t help but wonder.
“Perhaps. Although I am sure arrangements could be made for something other than an already claimed and legally salvaged mech.
“Perhaps.” I let the silence spread for a few moments.
“You are a difficult young woman to work with Commander.”
“You think so? I would say you are the difficult one to work with Lady Alessa.”
We eyed each other, her over a tea cup, me simply over my nose. Wasn’t a huge tea fan. So I was gonna pass, but she could think it was a snub all she wanted.
“The MRB has already made their decision. I know Demi-Precentor Franks has been kind enough to alert me that my arbitration request was declined. While yours… Well we both know what sort of position this leaves me in.” She said, sipping her drink.
“And now you want to do anything you can to salvage your reputation… And hopefully keep the MRB from cracking down. After all, right now you are the Governess with the foresight to hire us, but a week from now, you may be the Governess that tried to betray her own mercs before a league raid, one in which the mercs despite being betrayed went out and fought anyway. The fact we are children, and orphans. Well, that’s used against us when trying to get people to treat us with respect, but no one likes the idea of betraying orphans. Do I have that about right?”
She was silent for a long while. “Quite. And perceptive again. Yes Commander, I am here to discuss what it will cost to settle this… Disagreement, no, this betrayal between us… Internally.”
“You are in luck, Governess. I am in the market for a settlement, and if you agree to my terms. I don’t believe this will even mean the end of our working relationship.”
A quiet look passed over the Governess’s face, I had no idea what it meant, but a moment later she sat the teacup back on the coaster.
“Well Commander. Don’t keep me in suspense.”
—-
So I fleeced her. I fleeced her so hard in the end she thanked me for it. The best part? She thought she had tricked me.
God I love out of context problems. She never even knew what it was I was aiming for to begin with. She thought I was a normal mech company. That I cared about getting the best, mechs I could. She couldn’t understand that I couldn’t care less.
In the end, the agreement was simple enough.
Despite our low salvage contract. The Hunchback 4P that had been taken in battle would not be treated as salvage, it would simply default to Iron Blooded ownership. No negotiations regarding it were allowed.
The second was permanent ownership over the military installation dubbed Red Base. It was now a Landhold under my Mercenary Company into perpetuity. A permanent base that belonged to us, right on the border of Lyran and FWL space. Well as long as I remained a Lyran Mercenary, and didn’t ally with an enemy state The LCAF didn’t usually take kindly to that.
Finally our original contract had been thrown into the shredder and a new one was created, following far more generous terms. The pay wasn’t much better than it had been before on the outset, but that was never the reason for us coming here. Instead we got our salvage rights upgraded a hefty amount. If we took down the metal, without any assistance from the Zaniah Planetary Defense group, then it was almost guaranteed to be ours, except for some specific circumstances.
We had also been given access to the LCAF ‘company’ store. The access went through the Planetary Defense group. If we needed to order some equipment, we could place the order and the LCAF would get it to us if possible. Paying in full of course.
Very useful. Especially since that went both ways. I could now sell salvage directly into the network.
And of course all of our munitions would be ‘reimbursed’ from our battle. That was quite a few tons of LRMs she was on the hook for. I was kind enough to accept a cash payment for 90% of the tonnage, since that was a lot of LRMs to just have on hand. Especially for a military force that doesn’t even have any equipment that uses them.
Finally? Well let’s just say that she was paying out a hefty chunk of change to pay for the equipment of my mechs. My Locust was trashed, one of my Centurions had a broken Fusion Engine.
That wasn’t cheap stuff. So she would pay the cost for parts. Which I wouldn’t bother to purchase, and so a good amount of cash was flowing into our coffers.
That really was it.
I hadn’t requested the Awesome. Or fought over the Firestarter remains that we managed to claim. Or any of the other mechs. It had amused me to brush aside every mention of the salvaged mechs once I confirmed Lendens mech was ours, her confusion almost had me breaking out into giggles. Almost.
In the end I got what I wanted, ownership of our home. The right to defend it, and for as long as the contract between us continued, peace.
Peace was more valuable than anything else. And as a wise Ferengi once said. Never pay more for something than it is worth, Third rule of Acquisition. If I had tried to fight for the Awesome, or tried to get more money out of her, or any other mech, it would just increase the price of peace between us, make that peace rocky and dangerous. Instead? She thought I was terrible at negotiating, and she got everything she could ever want. A mech for her son, a working factory, the happiness of her population. And of course a Merc Company based out of her home that lived near her precious factories.
We got our own home. On a planet where the Governess owed my company a huge debt. She can’t move against me now. Her reputation had shot up on the planet. We had done something great, and it was the Governess that brought us in, she was the one that saw something in our company. So her reputation was gold.
Her foresight was being praised all over the news. Although I am sure most of that was state issued, but it was still the sentiment that was spreading. Now that we were heroes, and she was a wonderful leader, she couldn’t touch us. The crash of an uplifted reputation if she did and it got out?
Besides, She had earned enough salvage, and hadn’t had to pay the millions it would cost to fix her factory, or simply out of lost profit. With that one raid turned away. We have probably completely changed the course of her future.
And ours.
—-
A peak behind the curtain.
Baroness Maria Alessa quietly sipped her tea as the girl left. What an utterly mad situation. How could anyone have planned for this? For this child?
“What are your thoughts, Uncle?”
General Faulker was a family friend, an older man that had never gone to war in his life, but thanks to his family's former wealth he had been a “Social General.” For the Commonwealth. Of course his family's finances burned away when her parents were killed by a League raid, he had spent the majority of his fortune on defenses for her planet, his only way to get back at the ones that killed his loved ones. The man acted as if she was his niece, or a daughter to watch over, as he had no children of his own.
His support is all that kept Zaniah safe some years ago. It was why despite his finances in ruin, she made sure he wanted for nothing, and gave him something to keep himself occupied. It was the least she could do for her honorary uncle.
“She… makes me uncomfortable.” He finally offered, as he settled into the couch across from her. He had been watching and listening to the whole conversation with Commander Eisen-Blume. “I’ve known child soldiers before. But never one so young in command. They usually don’t act that knowledgeable. She acts more like she is forty than fourteen.”
“My thoughts as well. It’s… Discomforting under her blue eyes, don’t you think?”
“Oh yes, she looks right through you, like she knows more than you ever could… But enough joking. She did us a favor… Not just with the battle, if we hadn’t been checking every incoming dropship to try and find her supplier we never would have noticed the raid so early.”
“It irritates me that’s true.” She offered, taking another sip of her tea. “We still haven’t found anything about who could be supplying her equipment? Two Centurions don’t appear out of nothing Uncle.”
“No no. Not a thing, we haven’t found any hint of a dropship landing that could have supplied her. Or kept her supplied. Either she has the craziest dropship captain in the world, going through pirate points without our notice, which.. Is possible, my dear. Our eyes in the sky aren’t what they used to be.”
“No but still I refuse to accept that we missed that entirely. She was cut off. The entire company was. Not once did they ask for supplies from us, like their contract said they could. No complaints about the food or water… we got confirmation on that rumor didn’t we?”
“Yes. Somehow water trucks have been leaving the base and selling water to the area. Cheaply I might add. Talked to a few that said money wasn’t even always involved, just trading for food or other supplies.”
She sets her tea cup down before she threw it. “Nothing makes sense.”
“Oh it does if you consider that we were outfoxed. The girl was a step ahead every step of the way. We thought we were strangling her effectiveness, but she bypassed us at every turn without us even thinking to look into it. The fact she doubled her mechs… Old Franks isn’t pleased. Even if she stops the arbitration we both know ComStar won’t forget this. Finding new mercenaries may be more difficult in the future.”
She snorted. “We couldn’t afford them anyways.” She looked out the window into the clear sky. “How is our tank company?”
“Damaged, but recoverable, we only lost two instead of all of them. Thanks to the Commanders warning.”
Alessa clicked her tongue, an old habit she had never quite broke. “I don’t understand her! We were concerned about her being a spy, or a plant, after we found the additional mechs, but that doesn’t fit! She fought too hard against the raid for that. Saved some of our defenses. Nothing that girl does makes sense. It’s like interacting with a damned devil. Whenever I assume she is going to do something, she does the opposite! Whenever I think I know what her story is, I’m wrong!”
“I still can’t believe she asked for so little. She could have demanded the Awesome… You know that.”
“And I would have been forced to give it to her, yes. ComStar would have gladly bent us over... A barrel Uncle. Don’t give me that look.” She huffed a laugh as her Uncle's irritation continued.
“A lady doesn’t speak like that… But yes. We were in trouble there. And… The sword of Damocles has been lifted… For a pittance. No one acts that way my dear, not unless they want something.”
“The question of what that girl wants has been eluding me for over a week, dear uncle. A long sleepless week. We must have a traitor, uncle. It’s the only thing that makes sense. No other way for a dropship to have landed without us knowing about it.”
“Perhaps, but looking for traitors means you inevitably find them. Whether they are there or not.”
“What choice do I have! A child made a complete fool of me! Then had the audacity to save us. To save my world! How else can I react? How am I supposed to act? She should be an enemy, I know how to deal with them, but she carried a dagger at my back, but offered no threats to use it, she basically handed me the blade when she walked out.”
“Hmmm. Difficult, perhaps stop getting caught up in her then. Young Arthur now has his mech, and we can fix something for little Vincent now. Maybe even repair a few others and create a full Lance. With that, your holdings have already improved drastically. The factories weren’t damaged, which is a first in some time. How about instead of plotting for her. Just wait. Wait and watch, and only plan when action needs to be done. For now… Well. I have some old contacts with LIC. I’ve sent them an update on what happened here. The young girl will be watched. If she is a spy, or a plant by the League? They will find out, and make sure she has a swift end.”
She took a deep breath picking up her tea and sipping on the cooling liquid. “Wait and see Uncle? That is your advice far too often.”
“And yet, it always seems to be the intelligent choice.”
She bit back a snort. “Sure it is.”
—-
Of course the Demi-Precentor was quite interested when I called him not long after telling him the arbitration was being canceled. But I didn’t bother to hide the fact that I had made a deal with the Governess that in my eyes had balanced the issue.
He was quite pleased to not have to do anything further.
After stopping by the Hospital once more, to check on everyone, I did have something I needed to see.
Our Mechs of course still belonged to us, even if they were damaged, but walking into the underground mechbay to see the hulks of our former rides? It was sad. Like watching a beached whale. Or an old lion finally running out of steam.
My Locust was nothing by scrap at this point. The massive shattered dent that made up the entire right side of the mech both from my charges, and getting struck by a battlefist showed just how much abuse she had taken.
“She was a good mech.”
Gauge had joined me. Unlike Benny who had been watching over the members of the Iron Blooded Orphans, Gauge had been overseeing their mechanical side. The damages we had taken were quite immense after all.
“It still is! We can fix it up!” Gauge was a bit more hopeful than I.
“No. Move her over into my private bay. I’ll… Create her replacement and let her rest. She did well.”
“It’s a mech Vicky. Stop treating it like a fallen soldier.” Gauge scoffed as he poked my shoulder. “It’ll take a while obviously, but we can fix it. If you want to get something new, keep it anyways, we can use it as one of the benefits for our repair team. When they fix it someone can pilot it. Win win. They get more training and a reward for doing well.”
“My Poor fallen soldier, she was such a good girl Gauge.” I continued to over-react.
His look of disgust tore a laugh from me, probably the first one I have had since I woke up. “I can’t deal with you while you are acting like this.” He huffed as he stomped away.
I smirked before turning back to my mech. I couldn’t help but put my hand on her shattered armor, feeling the texture of the plates so battered as to be useless. “We were a good team. Thank you… But I guess it is time for me to move on.”
Although that would have to come later. Before anything else, I only had my Noteputer Nanoforge left. First I needed to replace my ride, so I could get back to building what we needed. So with that I turned away from my first mech. And headed to my private Mechbay. I would need a new mech, and I reminded myself, I would have to yell at Gauge to remove any of the Lostech from the old Locust. They couldn't use a Nanoforge anyways, so might as well get them to replace it with a medium laser.
It would be good practice.
I waltzed into my private sanctum, With a few button presses I pulled up something I hadn’t done anything with before.
“Centurion NFX, huh? Well, let's see what piloting you is like.”
And in a burst of green light it began.
—-
Lenden was my next stop once I left my Noteputer to build. He was easy enough to find. The entirety of Rough Squad, what was left of them were surrounding the scorched mech that had caused so many problems.
And had saved my life.
“Commander on deck!” The call went out as I approached, from none other than Lenden himself, which was a surprise. Rough Squad, and it’s leader weren’t known for their discipline. I saluted. “At ease, Rough Squad.” I called out as I watched the six boys all standing around a neurohelm.
I had been planning on a memorial of course. I would have to do something for those we lost, but I see now that I was beaten to it.
The old neurohelm I had hated so much, the thing gave me a headache just looking at it, but now? It carried the names of each of the fallen etched into it.
“We added their names after the battle. This thing? It was our hope. A promise showing we could be Mechwarriors too. By our own strength, our own will. They will always be with us.”
I took a shuddering breath.
“I can’t condone what you did. Not now, maybe not ever, even if you did save my life Lenden… No I won’t say anymore. You all did what you thought was right. What you thought you needed to, and who am I to say you were wrong.” Even if I am thinking it.
I put my hand on the neurohelm, thinking of the boys that had sacrificed everything to wear this stupid thing.
“Are you going to be the pilot of our Scorchback?”
Lenden blinked at me for a minute before getting the joke, as he turned to his Hunchback that had been burned so much, none of the original paint remained. Just a black and gray soot that coated every inch of the mech. “Yeah. The boys agreed I would be his pilot. But with him I’ll work hard. Each of us will get a mech… working together… I heard uh… The military jerks, they’ve been poking around, making noise about him. My Scorchback… What-?” he asked, unable to really ask the question. If after everything they had done, would I have to give away the mech they had died for.
“He’s yours. The Governess forfeited any salvage claim to him this morning. Go talk to Gauge, we will need his computer reset and probably stripped out to set him up for you as a permanent pilot. Mechwarrior.” I left him with that, watching the pride bloom in his breast.
“Oh, And Lieutenant. Pick a last name… Also if you ever do something so stupid again, I’ll kill you myself.”
—-
I had figured I would deal with a lot of tense situations after I woke up. People mourning over their friends. Their family. I had fully expected to have to comfort someone crying eventually.
I just… Really?
“C-commander! I’m s-so soo sorry!” Elias was not a small guy. He was probably one of the tallest teens, the boy’s parents were probably from Rasalhague considering he looked like a young viking.
The fact his arms were weakly folded over my shoulders as he bawled into my shoulder in regret really made this scene uncomfortable.
“Elias… It’s fine. I ordered you to scrap them in case they were ever lost.”
“But Com-mander!” He hiccuped, trying to stem his runny nose, “The Lostech, I destroyed it! If, if, I had just used my head. We wouldn’t have lost them! I could have held those mechs off all day if I just used my head!”
“It’s okay Elias. We all made mistakes, but you survived, you got your unit through the battle alive, that’s what’s important. We can replace equipment.”
“No! We, you can’t just replace Lostech Commander! I can’t even imagine how much those scanners were worth! Millions!? Billions? I ruined them! I destroyed them, because I messed up!”
Awkward. This was so awkward. How do I explain this? How do I get him to realize the sensors he broke are worthless to me? That I valued their life an infinite times more? “No. Elias, you listen to me. You are alive. You learned from this battle right, you just said you know you made mistakes, in the future will you make the same mistakes again?”
“No! Never! I’ll stagger fire, aim at different mechs, hold fire when they are in cover so I don’t waste ammo. Have one of the carriers reload while the others keep overwatch, that way I can keep firing and they won’t know when it’s safe to move… I’ll. I’ll!”
“Good. That right there, is worth more than any Lostech Elias. You earned something that we are so desperate for. The entire reason we are on this planet. Experience. You just went from a completely green artillery officer. To something more. Something valuable. The loss of the carriers? A small price to pay for that.”
“Vicky!” Elias bear hugged me as he continued crying. Damnit. Fission mailed I guess. I’ll get them next time.
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro Hospital
I slowly came awake. The soft beeping of a heart beat monitor, and quiet conversation lulling me from my dreams. The bright lights stung my eyes when I finally managed to get them open.
I wasn’t alone. The room was actually quite full. More than a few of my kids were on beds, in the room, chatting or spending time together.
I survived.
“Fuck.” I croak out.
The noise caused a flurry of activity as everyone jumped forward to check on me. I eventually waved them off, with my left arm, as my right was in a cast that was pretty hefty, “Water.”
After my throat was wetted and I was able to talk. “Where are we?”
“The hospital, Benny brought everyone that was too injured for us to do anything with here.” A girl informed me, she was sitting in the bed next to me, her arm just as broken as mine. Ah, After a second I recognized her. Melissa, one of the drivers for the supply department.
Before I could ask the big question on my mind Benny walked in. He had a bandage around his head but otherwise seemed fine. “Glad to see you awake Commander.”
“Benny… How many did we lose?”
He hesitated. Before sighing. “I should have expected you to ask that first thing. Twelve we lost twelve.”
“So… So many?”
“Half of that is from Rough Squad… They went a little wild.”
“Half! There are only twelve people in Rough Squad! What did those idiots do!?”
“They decided to capture a mech.” Benny offered solemnly.
I went silent at that. How else could I respond? Did those idiots die because I kept the fact that I could create mechs a secret? Was this all my fault? It hit me hard.
“Vicky, it’s not your fault. Rough Squad… They wanted to make their mark. There is nothing you could have done. Not even you.”
“I’m their Commander Benny. It’s my job to keep them alive. I failed.”
“Vicky, we won. We beat a League raid, the factory wasn’t even touched. We didn’t sign up for a safe job. Death… Death happens. Better to die once following what we believe in than to live a long life for nothing.”
“That.. Benny they died! I lead them straight to their deaths! Twelve of my kids!”
He put a hand to my lips before I could keep my rant. Idly he brushed the tears dripping down my eyes, “No. Twelve of your soldiers. Men and women that picked up weapons and chose to fight. Chose to believe following your path is a path worth walking. Danger and all. They aren’t the only ones. We won. That has more of an effect than you think. We had a hiring surge since the battle. There is more than just the one orphanage on Zaniah, the others? We’ve had kids show up hitchhiking traveling from all over. The Zaniah news is going crazy. The Iron Blooded Orphans are being mentioned everywhere. This is the first raid that has been stopped from trashing a factory in almost two decades.”
“Their life isn’t worth that.”
“Vicky… You were always pretty sensitive, but you know… We all think our life is worth that. I would happily sacrifice my life to keep some asshole Leaguer from trashing more factories, from destroying what little we have left… Maybe your view is a little skewed, but saving that factory was huge, important.”
I blinked through the tears raising my eyes from where I had been glaring at my blanket, unable to look him in the eye. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s true though. We all have things we are willing to die for. I want to stop the fall of the Inner Sphere. If the SLDF was around I would have joined in a heartbeat. Gauge? Man, he is more obsessed with tech than I am. I think he took the fact the raid was aimed at a factory pretty personally. Hanna? She just wants to kill the sort of people that killed her parents… Rough Squad? They wanted glory. A chance to make their own path in the world. A way to say that they matter. That they exist.”
“They do exist! They! They are my soldiers, my family! They died Benny!”
“Commander, that’s why we follow you. Not because you paid for this, but because as we’ve learned over the months we have been working together, you care about us as people. So don’t… Don’t break down over this. None of them would want you to stop walking this path because of that, because of them.”
“FUUUUCK!” I screamed at him, why couldn’t he just agree, why couldn’t he see what a waste it was!
His arms were warm though.
—-
It took a few hours for me to calm down. During the process Benny talked to me about everything that happened, from Rough Squad’s crazy success in stealing an active Battlemech, to the second in command of the raiders calling it off once their leader in the Awesome fell. By then my bed had been invaded by the kids in the room. Benny took up a chair, but I had Melissa sitting beside me, using her one unbroken hand, to play with my short hair. Others lounged on my bed. Just being around. I was ending up with a ton of little braids, but frankly, I didn’t care. It was nice to have the company.
“So we have been getting calls from the Governess. She seems pretty… Upset. ComStar messaged us and let us know her arbitration has been rescinded, apparently, that recording you took of your conversation with her was all the proof ComStar needed to determine the Governess was up to something. Demi-Precentor Franks has been in touch, he called himself.. So yeah, apparently your arbitration is just waiting on you for determination of what you want to do.”
“I see.” I huffed, yeah I expected in the end ComStar would side with us over this, we fought. Really when it comes down to it, regardless of what the Governess might like to say we had stood and fought. Damn hard for a green barely registered company.
The MRB appreciated that. Plus the recording of her needing to give me the defense frequency before the battle rather tidily proved something fucky had been going on.
“The Governess has requested a meeting with you, I believe her exact words were ‘before the Commander meets with ComStar preferably.’ So what do you think?”
“I think that the Governess wants to sweeten a deal so we don’t utterly torch her to the MRB. No Merc wants to work with someone that purposely tried to screw over a merc company.” I tell them leaning back on the large pillow I was resting on. “Depending on how she does this, I might let it go with a few stipulations.”
“Really? But fuck her!” Melissa said from beside me. “That bitch tried to get us killed, she gave us bad water! And lied to the MRB!”
“Yeah, but what’s more important, a spot of justified revenge, or doing what’s best for all of us?”
“I don’t like it Commander. Bitch should get what’s coming to her.” Melissa huffed.
“Oh she will, exactly where she will like it the least. Her pocketbook.”
“Eh, I’d rather shoot her, but I guess you're the boss.” She offered finally as she finished a braid.
“Alright. Other than the arm I’m basically good to go at this point.”
“And the concussion.” Benny added which I promptly ignored. I had a nasty cut over my right eyebrow now, I was pretty sure it would be a bitching scar, Mechwarriors all had scars, it was just part of the job.
“Good to go! So let’s get that started. Benny, she is paying for all this already right? I don’t have to really escalate things do I?”
“No. The Governess paid for medical injuries in the line of duty according to contract, I don’t think the people of Zaniah would have accepted turning us away anyways. Seriously, we have been in the news every day since the raid.”
“Good. Good. That... That’s a relief.” I exhale letting that tension go. At least my kids were being taken care of. “Let’s get me a shower, and then a change of clothes, and let’s go see the Governess, I’m getting antsy sitting around.”
“Don’t think the doctors will be happy with you running around so fast, Vicky, you should take it easy, the Governess can wait.”
“Well good thing they aren’t my doctors then, C’mon help me up.”
—-
I checked on every injured Iron Blooded before heading out. Thankfully the worst were just broken bones. Poor Carl had a fracture in his leg after taking out the Firestarter. The explosion had been bigger than he expected. But he seemed quite pleased at how it turned out.
Not every infantryman gets to tell the story of how they legged a mech regardless of size.
Showered, and wearing actual clothes again, I sauntered out of the Hospital, the doctors blabbing when to come back to get the cast off and irrelevant details at me, but I was too focused. This was too important.
Officers jacket over my shoulders, necessary now because of the broken arm, I must have made quite the sight because the Iron blooded were grinning and happy when I walked past them out of the hospital.
Benny was my chauffeur today as he pulled up in our customary Norman trucks, he was mother henning pretty bad and I was doing my best to ignore his concern.
During the drive he was the first to break the silence. “There is a problem you need to be aware of, Commander. Lenden… Well, The contract’s salvage clause, it doesn’t exactly give us much wiggle room. Lenden hasn’t turned over the Hunchback he captured. There hasn’t been more than a single request for it, but… He isn’t going to want to hand it over.”
I nodded my head. “I see. That’s fine. He won’t have to. I promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure that mech stays with us.”
The silence in the car stretched on until we pulled up to the Governess mansion, and it was her mansion, her personal residence, that I had been invited too. It was massively opulent.
More than anything I had seen in either life. The sheer wealth exuded on the building was almost sickening considering I had seen the fringes. The edges of the world where life was long dead.
We were escorted inside by a butler of all things, into a very comfortable sitting room. If I could have, I would have brought a sensor and copied the couch. It was that comfortable.
“I like this couch.”
“Yeah, it’s amazing. I wonder how much it costs?” Benny asked.
“Probably a lot, bet we could afford one.”
“I am afraid that couch would be beyond even you Commander Eisen-Blume, it has been in my collection for some time.” And there she was. Entering the room seemingly without a care in the world, a tea set was carried in by a butler and three cups were set out for us.
“Governess Alessa… Well you are the one that requested this meeting, are we finally having that overdue conversation?”
“I did, and in a way yes. We are. You are… More perceptive than I had given you credit for. My fault I admit. I allowed my greed to overlook how dangerous someone would have to be to put together a company such as yours. Especially at your age.”
“Am I just here for you to compliment me?”
“No. No, not at all.. I am here to offer an apology, and to hopefully settle the matter with the MRB.”
“Makes sense. You basically already got what you wanted in the end. An assault mech. Quite the catch for the son of a Governess.”
She stilled for just a moment before nodding. “Yes. Arthur has already claimed it, although Vincent is quite incensed.”
“Yes I suppose either son would be frustrated if they couldn’t pilot it.” I eyed her as I gently threatened her. If I claimed the Awesome as the cost to balance the books, how would she react, I couldn’t help but wonder.
“Perhaps. Although I am sure arrangements could be made for something other than an already claimed and legally salvaged mech.
“Perhaps.” I let the silence spread for a few moments.
“You are a difficult young woman to work with Commander.”
“You think so? I would say you are the difficult one to work with Lady Alessa.”
We eyed each other, her over a tea cup, me simply over my nose. Wasn’t a huge tea fan. So I was gonna pass, but she could think it was a snub all she wanted.
“The MRB has already made their decision. I know Demi-Precentor Franks has been kind enough to alert me that my arbitration request was declined. While yours… Well we both know what sort of position this leaves me in.” She said, sipping her drink.
“And now you want to do anything you can to salvage your reputation… And hopefully keep the MRB from cracking down. After all, right now you are the Governess with the foresight to hire us, but a week from now, you may be the Governess that tried to betray her own mercs before a league raid, one in which the mercs despite being betrayed went out and fought anyway. The fact we are children, and orphans. Well, that’s used against us when trying to get people to treat us with respect, but no one likes the idea of betraying orphans. Do I have that about right?”
She was silent for a long while. “Quite. And perceptive again. Yes Commander, I am here to discuss what it will cost to settle this… Disagreement, no, this betrayal between us… Internally.”
“You are in luck, Governess. I am in the market for a settlement, and if you agree to my terms. I don’t believe this will even mean the end of our working relationship.”
A quiet look passed over the Governess’s face, I had no idea what it meant, but a moment later she sat the teacup back on the coaster.
“Well Commander. Don’t keep me in suspense.”
—-
So I fleeced her. I fleeced her so hard in the end she thanked me for it. The best part? She thought she had tricked me.
God I love out of context problems. She never even knew what it was I was aiming for to begin with. She thought I was a normal mech company. That I cared about getting the best, mechs I could. She couldn’t understand that I couldn’t care less.
In the end, the agreement was simple enough.
Despite our low salvage contract. The Hunchback 4P that had been taken in battle would not be treated as salvage, it would simply default to Iron Blooded ownership. No negotiations regarding it were allowed.
The second was permanent ownership over the military installation dubbed Red Base. It was now a Landhold under my Mercenary Company into perpetuity. A permanent base that belonged to us, right on the border of Lyran and FWL space. Well as long as I remained a Lyran Mercenary, and didn’t ally with an enemy state The LCAF didn’t usually take kindly to that.
Finally our original contract had been thrown into the shredder and a new one was created, following far more generous terms. The pay wasn’t much better than it had been before on the outset, but that was never the reason for us coming here. Instead we got our salvage rights upgraded a hefty amount. If we took down the metal, without any assistance from the Zaniah Planetary Defense group, then it was almost guaranteed to be ours, except for some specific circumstances.
We had also been given access to the LCAF ‘company’ store. The access went through the Planetary Defense group. If we needed to order some equipment, we could place the order and the LCAF would get it to us if possible. Paying in full of course.
Very useful. Especially since that went both ways. I could now sell salvage directly into the network.
And of course all of our munitions would be ‘reimbursed’ from our battle. That was quite a few tons of LRMs she was on the hook for. I was kind enough to accept a cash payment for 90% of the tonnage, since that was a lot of LRMs to just have on hand. Especially for a military force that doesn’t even have any equipment that uses them.
Finally? Well let’s just say that she was paying out a hefty chunk of change to pay for the equipment of my mechs. My Locust was trashed, one of my Centurions had a broken Fusion Engine.
That wasn’t cheap stuff. So she would pay the cost for parts. Which I wouldn’t bother to purchase, and so a good amount of cash was flowing into our coffers.
That really was it.
I hadn’t requested the Awesome. Or fought over the Firestarter remains that we managed to claim. Or any of the other mechs. It had amused me to brush aside every mention of the salvaged mechs once I confirmed Lendens mech was ours, her confusion almost had me breaking out into giggles. Almost.
In the end I got what I wanted, ownership of our home. The right to defend it, and for as long as the contract between us continued, peace.
Peace was more valuable than anything else. And as a wise Ferengi once said. Never pay more for something than it is worth, Third rule of Acquisition. If I had tried to fight for the Awesome, or tried to get more money out of her, or any other mech, it would just increase the price of peace between us, make that peace rocky and dangerous. Instead? She thought I was terrible at negotiating, and she got everything she could ever want. A mech for her son, a working factory, the happiness of her population. And of course a Merc Company based out of her home that lived near her precious factories.
We got our own home. On a planet where the Governess owed my company a huge debt. She can’t move against me now. Her reputation had shot up on the planet. We had done something great, and it was the Governess that brought us in, she was the one that saw something in our company. So her reputation was gold.
Her foresight was being praised all over the news. Although I am sure most of that was state issued, but it was still the sentiment that was spreading. Now that we were heroes, and she was a wonderful leader, she couldn’t touch us. The crash of an uplifted reputation if she did and it got out?
Besides, She had earned enough salvage, and hadn’t had to pay the millions it would cost to fix her factory, or simply out of lost profit. With that one raid turned away. We have probably completely changed the course of her future.
And ours.
—-
A peak behind the curtain.
Baroness Maria Alessa quietly sipped her tea as the girl left. What an utterly mad situation. How could anyone have planned for this? For this child?
“What are your thoughts, Uncle?”
General Faulker was a family friend, an older man that had never gone to war in his life, but thanks to his family's former wealth he had been a “Social General.” For the Commonwealth. Of course his family's finances burned away when her parents were killed by a League raid, he had spent the majority of his fortune on defenses for her planet, his only way to get back at the ones that killed his loved ones. The man acted as if she was his niece, or a daughter to watch over, as he had no children of his own.
His support is all that kept Zaniah safe some years ago. It was why despite his finances in ruin, she made sure he wanted for nothing, and gave him something to keep himself occupied. It was the least she could do for her honorary uncle.
“She… makes me uncomfortable.” He finally offered, as he settled into the couch across from her. He had been watching and listening to the whole conversation with Commander Eisen-Blume. “I’ve known child soldiers before. But never one so young in command. They usually don’t act that knowledgeable. She acts more like she is forty than fourteen.”
“My thoughts as well. It’s… Discomforting under her blue eyes, don’t you think?”
“Oh yes, she looks right through you, like she knows more than you ever could… But enough joking. She did us a favor… Not just with the battle, if we hadn’t been checking every incoming dropship to try and find her supplier we never would have noticed the raid so early.”
“It irritates me that’s true.” She offered, taking another sip of her tea. “We still haven’t found anything about who could be supplying her equipment? Two Centurions don’t appear out of nothing Uncle.”
“No no. Not a thing, we haven’t found any hint of a dropship landing that could have supplied her. Or kept her supplied. Either she has the craziest dropship captain in the world, going through pirate points without our notice, which.. Is possible, my dear. Our eyes in the sky aren’t what they used to be.”
“No but still I refuse to accept that we missed that entirely. She was cut off. The entire company was. Not once did they ask for supplies from us, like their contract said they could. No complaints about the food or water… we got confirmation on that rumor didn’t we?”
“Yes. Somehow water trucks have been leaving the base and selling water to the area. Cheaply I might add. Talked to a few that said money wasn’t even always involved, just trading for food or other supplies.”
She sets her tea cup down before she threw it. “Nothing makes sense.”
“Oh it does if you consider that we were outfoxed. The girl was a step ahead every step of the way. We thought we were strangling her effectiveness, but she bypassed us at every turn without us even thinking to look into it. The fact she doubled her mechs… Old Franks isn’t pleased. Even if she stops the arbitration we both know ComStar won’t forget this. Finding new mercenaries may be more difficult in the future.”
She snorted. “We couldn’t afford them anyways.” She looked out the window into the clear sky. “How is our tank company?”
“Damaged, but recoverable, we only lost two instead of all of them. Thanks to the Commanders warning.”
Alessa clicked her tongue, an old habit she had never quite broke. “I don’t understand her! We were concerned about her being a spy, or a plant, after we found the additional mechs, but that doesn’t fit! She fought too hard against the raid for that. Saved some of our defenses. Nothing that girl does makes sense. It’s like interacting with a damned devil. Whenever I assume she is going to do something, she does the opposite! Whenever I think I know what her story is, I’m wrong!”
“I still can’t believe she asked for so little. She could have demanded the Awesome… You know that.”
“And I would have been forced to give it to her, yes. ComStar would have gladly bent us over... A barrel Uncle. Don’t give me that look.” She huffed a laugh as her Uncle's irritation continued.
“A lady doesn’t speak like that… But yes. We were in trouble there. And… The sword of Damocles has been lifted… For a pittance. No one acts that way my dear, not unless they want something.”
“The question of what that girl wants has been eluding me for over a week, dear uncle. A long sleepless week. We must have a traitor, uncle. It’s the only thing that makes sense. No other way for a dropship to have landed without us knowing about it.”
“Perhaps, but looking for traitors means you inevitably find them. Whether they are there or not.”
“What choice do I have! A child made a complete fool of me! Then had the audacity to save us. To save my world! How else can I react? How am I supposed to act? She should be an enemy, I know how to deal with them, but she carried a dagger at my back, but offered no threats to use it, she basically handed me the blade when she walked out.”
“Hmmm. Difficult, perhaps stop getting caught up in her then. Young Arthur now has his mech, and we can fix something for little Vincent now. Maybe even repair a few others and create a full Lance. With that, your holdings have already improved drastically. The factories weren’t damaged, which is a first in some time. How about instead of plotting for her. Just wait. Wait and watch, and only plan when action needs to be done. For now… Well. I have some old contacts with LIC. I’ve sent them an update on what happened here. The young girl will be watched. If she is a spy, or a plant by the League? They will find out, and make sure she has a swift end.”
She took a deep breath picking up her tea and sipping on the cooling liquid. “Wait and see Uncle? That is your advice far too often.”
“And yet, it always seems to be the intelligent choice.”
She bit back a snort. “Sure it is.”
—-
Of course the Demi-Precentor was quite interested when I called him not long after telling him the arbitration was being canceled. But I didn’t bother to hide the fact that I had made a deal with the Governess that in my eyes had balanced the issue.
He was quite pleased to not have to do anything further.
After stopping by the Hospital once more, to check on everyone, I did have something I needed to see.
Our Mechs of course still belonged to us, even if they were damaged, but walking into the underground mechbay to see the hulks of our former rides? It was sad. Like watching a beached whale. Or an old lion finally running out of steam.
My Locust was nothing by scrap at this point. The massive shattered dent that made up the entire right side of the mech both from my charges, and getting struck by a battlefist showed just how much abuse she had taken.
“She was a good mech.”
Gauge had joined me. Unlike Benny who had been watching over the members of the Iron Blooded Orphans, Gauge had been overseeing their mechanical side. The damages we had taken were quite immense after all.
“It still is! We can fix it up!” Gauge was a bit more hopeful than I.
“No. Move her over into my private bay. I’ll… Create her replacement and let her rest. She did well.”
“It’s a mech Vicky. Stop treating it like a fallen soldier.” Gauge scoffed as he poked my shoulder. “It’ll take a while obviously, but we can fix it. If you want to get something new, keep it anyways, we can use it as one of the benefits for our repair team. When they fix it someone can pilot it. Win win. They get more training and a reward for doing well.”
“My Poor fallen soldier, she was such a good girl Gauge.” I continued to over-react.
His look of disgust tore a laugh from me, probably the first one I have had since I woke up. “I can’t deal with you while you are acting like this.” He huffed as he stomped away.
I smirked before turning back to my mech. I couldn’t help but put my hand on her shattered armor, feeling the texture of the plates so battered as to be useless. “We were a good team. Thank you… But I guess it is time for me to move on.”
Although that would have to come later. Before anything else, I only had my Noteputer Nanoforge left. First I needed to replace my ride, so I could get back to building what we needed. So with that I turned away from my first mech. And headed to my private Mechbay. I would need a new mech, and I reminded myself, I would have to yell at Gauge to remove any of the Lostech from the old Locust. They couldn't use a Nanoforge anyways, so might as well get them to replace it with a medium laser.
It would be good practice.
I waltzed into my private sanctum, With a few button presses I pulled up something I hadn’t done anything with before.
“Centurion NFX, huh? Well, let's see what piloting you is like.”
And in a burst of green light it began.
—-
Lenden was my next stop once I left my Noteputer to build. He was easy enough to find. The entirety of Rough Squad, what was left of them were surrounding the scorched mech that had caused so many problems.
And had saved my life.
“Commander on deck!” The call went out as I approached, from none other than Lenden himself, which was a surprise. Rough Squad, and it’s leader weren’t known for their discipline. I saluted. “At ease, Rough Squad.” I called out as I watched the six boys all standing around a neurohelm.
I had been planning on a memorial of course. I would have to do something for those we lost, but I see now that I was beaten to it.
The old neurohelm I had hated so much, the thing gave me a headache just looking at it, but now? It carried the names of each of the fallen etched into it.
“We added their names after the battle. This thing? It was our hope. A promise showing we could be Mechwarriors too. By our own strength, our own will. They will always be with us.”
I took a shuddering breath.
“I can’t condone what you did. Not now, maybe not ever, even if you did save my life Lenden… No I won’t say anymore. You all did what you thought was right. What you thought you needed to, and who am I to say you were wrong.” Even if I am thinking it.
I put my hand on the neurohelm, thinking of the boys that had sacrificed everything to wear this stupid thing.
“Are you going to be the pilot of our Scorchback?”
Lenden blinked at me for a minute before getting the joke, as he turned to his Hunchback that had been burned so much, none of the original paint remained. Just a black and gray soot that coated every inch of the mech. “Yeah. The boys agreed I would be his pilot. But with him I’ll work hard. Each of us will get a mech… working together… I heard uh… The military jerks, they’ve been poking around, making noise about him. My Scorchback… What-?” he asked, unable to really ask the question. If after everything they had done, would I have to give away the mech they had died for.
“He’s yours. The Governess forfeited any salvage claim to him this morning. Go talk to Gauge, we will need his computer reset and probably stripped out to set him up for you as a permanent pilot. Mechwarrior.” I left him with that, watching the pride bloom in his breast.
“Oh, And Lieutenant. Pick a last name… Also if you ever do something so stupid again, I’ll kill you myself.”
—-
I had figured I would deal with a lot of tense situations after I woke up. People mourning over their friends. Their family. I had fully expected to have to comfort someone crying eventually.
I just… Really?
“C-commander! I’m s-so soo sorry!” Elias was not a small guy. He was probably one of the tallest teens, the boy’s parents were probably from Rasalhague considering he looked like a young viking.
The fact his arms were weakly folded over my shoulders as he bawled into my shoulder in regret really made this scene uncomfortable.
“Elias… It’s fine. I ordered you to scrap them in case they were ever lost.”
“But Com-mander!” He hiccuped, trying to stem his runny nose, “The Lostech, I destroyed it! If, if, I had just used my head. We wouldn’t have lost them! I could have held those mechs off all day if I just used my head!”
“It’s okay Elias. We all made mistakes, but you survived, you got your unit through the battle alive, that’s what’s important. We can replace equipment.”
“No! We, you can’t just replace Lostech Commander! I can’t even imagine how much those scanners were worth! Millions!? Billions? I ruined them! I destroyed them, because I messed up!”
Awkward. This was so awkward. How do I explain this? How do I get him to realize the sensors he broke are worthless to me? That I valued their life an infinite times more? “No. Elias, you listen to me. You are alive. You learned from this battle right, you just said you know you made mistakes, in the future will you make the same mistakes again?”
“No! Never! I’ll stagger fire, aim at different mechs, hold fire when they are in cover so I don’t waste ammo. Have one of the carriers reload while the others keep overwatch, that way I can keep firing and they won’t know when it’s safe to move… I’ll. I’ll!”
“Good. That right there, is worth more than any Lostech Elias. You earned something that we are so desperate for. The entire reason we are on this planet. Experience. You just went from a completely green artillery officer. To something more. Something valuable. The loss of the carriers? A small price to pay for that.”
“Vicky!” Elias bear hugged me as he continued crying. Damnit. Fission mailed I guess. I’ll get them next time.
I'm rather enjoying this! Looking forward to more, especially like how confused everybody is trying to figure out WTF is going on with these kids.
I like the characterizations, I like the human element of things, this isn't simple wank but rather a well written story that works in the setting. I like how people aren't cardboard cutouts, the Governess comes across realistically here.
I like the characterizations, I like the human element of things, this isn't simple wank but rather a well written story that works in the setting. I like how people aren't cardboard cutouts, the Governess comes across realistically here.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
I'm surprised Vicky didn't try to negotiate to have her "techs" take a look at the loot for "practice" purposes, having the blueprints for an Awesome, Wolverine, and Firestarter would probably be handy along with whatever else was there. Perhaps she thinks showing up with a lance of Awesomes would be too over the top...
As with Lord Sunhawk, I thoroughly enjoyed the talk with the Governess. So good to see a character who knows when to fold 'em and to come to an agreement rather than going full edgelord and having to humiliate their opponent, or fight to the stupid end.
Peak is the top of a mountain, peek is a glimpse of something. Pique is irritation.
I've seen four used from time to time but never two.
Overall your grammar has tightened up a lot since the beginning, aside from issues with putting periods at the end of quotations that continues to plague you. This list is getting shorter every chapter.
As with Lord Sunhawk, I thoroughly enjoyed the talk with the Governess. So good to see a character who knows when to fold 'em and to come to an agreement rather than going full edgelord and having to humiliate their opponent, or fight to the stupid end.
peek
Peak is the top of a mountain, peek is a glimpse of something. Pique is irritation.
An ellipsis should have three periods, ie ...
I've seen four used from time to time but never two.
its
Needs to end in a question mark.
Viking needs to be capitalized.
Overall your grammar has tightened up a lot since the beginning, aside from issues with putting periods at the end of quotations that continues to plague you. This list is getting shorter every chapter.
I think the biggest problem at this point is coming up with where the NEW Centurion is going to come from. That, and Vicki needs to be a bit more circumspect in how she's getting all the 'stuff'.
At least that's my opinion.
At least that's my opinion.
Seras
Well-known member
Thank you! That's kind of what I am aiming for. I think there is too much "REVENGE AGAINST THOSE WHO OPPOSE ME" In stories and they forget that all that does is cost you more in the long run. I knew it would be a little divisive when I came up with the idea but I felt it was important to show that Vicky isn't interested in that sort of thing.
Thanks! Yeah I can't read most Xianxia stories because of that. The constant "This person insulted me by not immediately caving to my every whim and must be destroyed even if it costs me everything!" Is so.. Foolish. most people a MAJORITY of people aren't like this.
And there is a reason Vicky isn't too worried about the scans of the new mechs. She has other things on her mind. The next chapter ends on a wham line.
Chapter 4.2
Seras
Well-known member
Chapter 4.2 From the Ashes, Flowers bloom.
3020
Zaniah III
Red Base
“So we need to discuss our mistakes, where we could have done better, and most importantly, what do we need to make sure next time this happens, we all end up walking away without a scratch while our enemies smolder. Broken arms suck.” And dead kids give nightmares.
Of course Benny spoke up first. “We need some actual infantry traps. We could have led the enemy through the streets that we already prepped to take them out. Mines are the most obvious but remote explosives are good too, it would give our infantry control of what goes off, keep it from becoming indiscriminate.”
“I like it. Let’s put on the list we need a unit for demolitions. I’m sure we can find some madmen in our company. What else?”
“We need better training… I wasn’t able to do much during this fight. Every time I had to do more than just shoot LRM’s at range, I… I failed.” Gauge spoke up next, I couldn’t see them as his hands were under the table, but I knew he was fisting his hands in his clothing. It was a bad habit of his.
“Agreed, but Gauge, you did fine. We are all green pilots going up against an actual military force. The fact we all survived is good. It means we get to walk away with what we learned. Training is already something we are going to work on. I think I have a way to help with that, but the problem is it relies on other people willing to help, so table that one for a bit. What else?” I said, reaching over and patting his shoulder.
“We need a better command structure… Sorry Commander, but there were times we could have used some better synergy.” Hanna offered, “The infantry was running around doing whatever they wanted, or just staying tight in buildings during the fighting. If they had been given directions to move, or keep working with us, we could have probably fought off the enemy with less problems.”
“Yeah, we do need a new Command and control squad. I’m useful enough, but when I’m in the middle of a fight, I was too focused on what’s in front of me. Benny, I put too much on your shoulders when we started. Infantry command, Mechwarrior, and more than a few extra jobs. Who do we have in the infantry you think can take over as infantry command?”
He looked a little abashed for a moment. “You already have the ones I would trust doing other jobs. Elias, is our Artillery head. Markus is in the Defense Unit. Hanna is with us now. Honestly Commander we might not have anyone experienced to take over. We might have to train someone up.”
“Experience. It does always seem to come to that, doesn't it? Well any ideas on how we can figure out who our new infantry leader should be?”
“Wargames?” Gauge surprisingly piped up. All three of us looked at him and he realized he was the center of attention. “Umm. We set up a war game… Make it a copy of the fight we just had. Since we have all the data already. Just have people challenge it, the one who does the best, can take the job?”
“Wargames don't show leadership though Gauge, they just show who can tell people where to go…”
“No. Gauge is right, a wargame is perfect, but we make it real. Benny, we set up an actual infantry war game. Small squads of our infantry vs a mech. We can have them try to take it down, mechs have a virtual damage mode. We can get some of the equipment our infantry will need to take part. See how everyone does, whoever does the best, or leads best we make them the head of our Infantry.”
“I like it.” Hanna offered with a grin. “Let’s do it, it’ll be useful for us too. We can use it to get used to fighting infantry.That is a concern no matter what the mech jockeys on Solaris like to say.”
“Alright. Benny. Sorry but I’m dropping this in your lap. Delegate if you have to, but let’s make it work, if you need something just let me know.”
Weary Benny sighed. “Yes Commander.”
—-
Four days later. Everyone was out of the hospital if not fully recovered. It was time.
None of us wore black. No, instead everyone was wearing our normal uniforms. As we gathered far from base. We stood in the ruined and burnt streets where the battle had taken place. Where Rough Squad had lost their lives, and where the blood of our company was spilled.
We all stood around as the last trucks dropped off the last few soldiers. The entire company was here right now. Not a single person that wore the Eisen-Blume wasn’t filling this street. The numbers were growing. I could barely even start counting just how many there were, I had even been forced to make another fleet of trucks just to transport us all.
Finally when I was satisfied I clambered up onto the hood of a Norman looking over the crowd. Thankfully I had been prepared, and a megaphone was handed up to me by Benny who was at my side.
“Those of you, who were here from the beginning know that the first time we had a moment like this, I made you a promise. An oath, as your Commander to every one of you. Today I fulfill that promise. To those who have joined us since, watch, and know that I will never break my promise to you. Only when this ceremony is conducted for me, will my oath end. Iron Blooded Orphans! Today we plant the blooms that grow from the land where our Iron blood was spilled!”
I turned, nodding to Benny who opened up one of the many, many boxes I had made this morning. It had taken me a while to get them to look right, but I was pleased enough with them now.
The four foot long piece of metal, had a spider lily shaped out of the top of it. It was metal of course. This was not something that was meant to disappear. I hoped that despite the weather on Zaniah, the metal flowers will last.
That’s why I had made them out of Battlemech armor.
Slowly I moved forward stepping down from the truck taking the first metal flower. Literally an Eisen-Blume. And pushed it deep through a crack in the old broken concrete, deep into the earth. When I rose, I fumbled with the megaphone thanks to my broken arm, before raising my voice.
“We plant these, not for the dead. But to remind us, that here, our family’s blood was spilled. There is one flower for each of you. Plant one. Push your loss into the earth, and let everyone for a million years who walks here know that this is where we fought! This is where our blood was spilled!”
I dropped the megaphone then. I couldn’t wipe my eyes with my stupid cast. I stood there, before my flower, as did every member of my company. Orphans, all but one, as Alfred was among us. Planted a metal flower. When we left that street it was covered in hundreds of them. A spot of bright red, in forgotten ruins.
—-
The next day, I had finally put together a meeting with Colonel Enders of the 10th Sky Rangers. Funnily enough, I hadn’t even had to reach out to him to set this up. Colonel Enders had contacted us to set up a meeting.
I guess proving that my orphans knew how to scrap with the League has given us a bit more respect. Which was good. I had wanted to meet with the 10th anyways. They had something I needed.
Pulling up to the large military base that the 10th was based out of it reminded me just how little we had been offered. It was huge, well kept, and bristling with weapons. The concrete walls were thick, and mounted with enough weapons that it would make a very tough nut to crack open.
The fact that the 10th were a full regiment, even if at the moment they were recovering? They were big boys. That they were placed here on Zaniah was more LCAF’s doing than anything the Governess had set up. This was a border world after all. It was important to keep it safe and strong, and yet it was quiet enough that they could recover. At least that was my understanding.
Walking through an actual military installation with history, and discipline made me a little self conscious at just how different my little band was in comparison.
I was led into an office, the desk had a neat stack of folders settled upon it, and there sat Colonel Herb Enders, the current CO of the 10th Skye Rangers.
“Commander Eisen-Blume, welcome, please take a seat, can I get you anything to drink?” He stood, his tanned skin and perfectly cut uniform was a good look for him, I took the hand he offered as I nodded.
“Some water, would be fine Colonel.”
“Yes the heat has been rather horrid today.” He offered passing over a bottle of cold water out of a small fridge as we took our seats. “I would like to apologize before anything else Commander. We had our orders from the Governess office. Despite the fact they aren’t directly in charge of our contract it is customary for companies in my position to heed the words of the planet's representative, as long as it doesn’t go against the contract. She was quite firm that she wanted us to not have any communication with your company.”
I nodded along as he spoke. “I didn’t know if that was the case, but I’m not surprised to hear about it. Governess Alessa, wanted to give us a rough time.”
He grimaced lightly there. “Yes… I didn’t agree, and I would like you to know that I did speak with the MRB about the order when they contacted us regarding your arbitration. Dreadful conduct.”
“Thank you. Although if it helps, we have settled our debts with the Governess at this point.”
“Good! Good. I never like having to protect a planet when politics are hampering our every move.”
“Speaking of, may I ask… I assume it’s politics, but why don’t the 10th fight back against the raids? You don’t strike me as the sort of CO to let these raids go by.”
This time he did more than grimace, he took a harsh sip of his tea that he poured for himself. “Politics is right. The defense of Hartzborg was deemed the highest priority on the planet. We were given strict orders, to never even allow the chance that damage could come to it. During a raid we are required to lock down the Starport, don’t ask me the reasoning, I just follow my orders. Even if they do make us all feel rather useless.”
“I see. I won’t ask any more about it then. Orders are orders. May I ask instead, what prompted you to reach out?”
“Ah, well the order from the Governess was rescinded, and I felt I owed you a face to face meeting, you did try and reach out to us for so long. I viewed it as only fair.” He leans back in his chair. “Your defense, well you earned more than a little bit of my time with that.”
“Well in that case, I had been hoping to speak about some joint training. Although that will have to wait. The damage sustained has put us out of the fight for a while.”
“Yes I heard about your mechs, even saw some of the battleROM from your Hauptmanns Centurion. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Locust attempt to tackle an Awesome before.” He quietly took a sip of his tea, but I could still see the slight smile beneath his mustache.
I felt a flush go up my cheeks, “It was a spur of the moment thing.”
“It was brave. Take no offense at my joke Commander. I was damn impressed when I saw it. I couldn’t name many Mechwarriors that would have done the same in your position, even less who are leaders.”
“I’ll take the compliment, Colonel. I would do it again, if those few seconds bought the lives of my Lance then they were worth it.”
“Exactly.” He tipped his tea cup at me, “So Commander, I have no issue with some joint training time in the future, I have heard you are joining us on a more permanent basis?”
“Yes the Governess was… kind enough to confirm our landhold on Red Base.”
“Not a bad setup for the first year of your Company, Commander. I’ve seen mercs that have been around for decades that haven’t earned their own home.”
I nodded, thanking him once again for his compliment. “Speaking back to training though Colonel, I was interested in asking if you have access to any Military MechSims, I need something to keep the training of my Mechwarriors up while our metal is repaired.”
“Hmm. I do. The base we occupy does have some sim trainers, but unfortunately, they are old models. They don’t travel well, and the few active ones left are rather busy. My own men need to keep in shape as well.” He said apologetically.
I nodded. It was a simple fact in the sphere, the older something is usually the better it is. If it wasn’t simply broken.
“I don’t suppose… You said active… Are any of them nonfunctional?” The idea was there.
“Hmm. Yes, this base was an old training facility, there are eight of them in total, or were, now only… four I believe? Are still working, the other four are either offline, or disassembled for spare parts.”
“I happen to have a pretty good AsTech. A friend of mine was interested in joining ComStar before I set this up, he can fix just about anything in my experience. What would it cost to get one of those nonfunctional sims?”
He huffed a quiet laugh into his tea. “I’ve heard such claims before, but if you think you can do better. I have no issues. They are just collecting dust currently. I’ll have some of my men pack it up and ship it to your Red Base, it’s the least I could do after failing to assist you before.”
“Well Colonel, in that case, I accept your apology in full, and thank you.”
—-
So we now had twenty four Mech Sims set up in a previously unused hangar. The scans from the broken one, had shown the issue to mostly be a single damaged electronic part that had given out, a mix between a hard drive, and a memory stick.
So that was thankfully fixed once it was copied. The new training room, I sold to my kids as a ‘secret gift’ and told that just like the underground, to keep their mouth shut about it.
Of course I couldn’t exactly hide something like this. Even with 24 of them, they were now 24/7 occupied. These weren’t the toy sims that kids could play with at every mall in the sphere. No, these were military trainers. You need to use an actual Neurohelm to move, and there was a setup period so each person had to have the brainwave scan installed in the sims.
Then they had a massive database of mechs and customizations. They even had a lot of mechs that were more modern, obviously the database was kept up to date by the 10th. Then each sim pod was connected together, all 24 could be in a fight simultaneously. The pods shifted and moved. They blasted you with hot air which could get the insides sweltering. The damn things were Star League era tech.
Each of them were brand new. Every issue that the sims might have earned over centuries of constant use? Gone. As if I had plucked them straight from the final years of the StarLeague. Now they were mine.
But as I said, I couldn’t hide them. So I wasn’t truly shocked when I was stopped by Sergeant Kurtz just a day or so after opening the new training room.
“Commander? Mind if I have a minute?”
“Sergeant, of course I’m on my way to my office, join me.” I walked along with the older man, and it was pretty obvious I was about to have an uncomfortable conversation. He was wringing his hands, and looked a little constipated. He was obviously not looking forward to this conversation.
Now neither was I.
We settled into my little office as he took the chair opposite me, the same chair he had sat in a month ago when we discussed whether he wanted to stay or not.
“Commander. I’ve been at this for a long time. I’m not exactly a young man anymore. I know what a base, even a merc base is like, the issues that come up. The amount of work it takes to expand… I’ve noticed things. Things like we never had ammunition delivered. Yet, we burned through more ammunition in a week than most regiments spend in monthly training. Things like to appear despite never being delivered. I checked. Our perimeter is fairly secure at this point. Yet things just appear without any coming or going.” He trailed off there for a while simply staring at me, as if wanting to ask a question but not sure how.
Finally I broke the silence. “Sergeant. You can understand that all companies have secrets. Things we don’t share with just anyone.”
“Yes I know, and I won’t push Commander, that’s not what I mean. I just want you to know that I have noticed things, and if I have noticed, others might have as well.”
I nodded, what else could I do? “I would appreciate, if anything you see, or think you see, you keep to yourself Sergeant. The last thing I want is rumors to get out that could cause trouble for my kids.”
He snorts a little at that. “My mouth is shut Commander. You don’t get very far in life, especially military life, if you go around blabbing secrets.” He hesitates there. “But you can trust me kid. You brats have grown on me. If I blabbed about the weirdness, most won’t listen, but the ones who do? It would just mean kids I've trained will die.”
I nod slowly. Pondering what I could do about this, what I should do? It came to me slowly. A realization. That nothing improves, unless we improve it. I don’t like the great houses. Each of them has lost sight of what makes humanity great. It’s not our capacity for war, or even our ingenuity, it’s our ability to work together. To build, and help even the weakest of us.
And they have lost what it takes to do that. The single most important aspect of a social relationship.
So I made a decision, would I come to regret it? Perhaps, but I couldn’t go wrong by following a simple motto.
Do the opposite of whatever the great houses would do.
So I nodded, stood up and decided to show trust in humanity. Trust which is so absent in the Inner Sphere. I pulled out my Noteputer. “This is where everything started. It belonged to my mother and I found it-”
—-
A Different Perspective.
Gertrude Bruden, although everyone just called her Gerty, had not known what to expect when she had decided to risk it. Leaving the orphanage and traveling across the entire length of Starboro to try and see if she could join them.
The Iron Blooded Orphans.
It had been a rumor at first. The Merc company that was taking over some of the defense of the city. Then the rumors grew. That they were all children. That their Commander was a tiny blonde girl barely 10 and yet she had a smile that would freeze the hearts of grown men. That they were all killers, and murders, and thieves.
Finally the truth came out. That they won.
The rumors both died and ballooned after that. Any negative thoughts towards them were gone. The Iron Blooded were heroes. Zaniah needed heroes.
But the news had shown it all. Some of the battle footage during the raid, and it had been amazing. The League had run. For the first time, in as long as Gerty had been alive. The League raids had been pushed back before they could do any damage. The same raids that had killed her parents just a few years ago.
So she decided to risk it. To head to their base. To join them. She hitchhiked across the city, sitting in the back of old trucks, or in one case holding onto the back of a construction truck as it ambled along, when she started noticing she wasn’t alone.
The closer she got, the more kids started appearing. Others soon joined her on the journey. Orphans one and all. Then there were no more trucks to hitchhike with and instead down a long dusty road the group of orphans started walking.
The heat was just starting to get to them when they heard the truck approaching. Down the road a truck was trundling up, it slowed as the group all walked over to the side of the road to let it pass, but the vehicle slowed coming to a stop beside the group.
The head that popped out was an older boy and he gave everyone a gentle smile. “Let me guess, coming to see if you can join the Iron Blooded?”
Berty spoke up first. “Yes! We want to be mechwarriors too. We want to fight!” The general mutterings of agreement behind her filled her with excitement. They were all doing this!
The boy just nodded looking a little sad as he looked over the group. “Well. You are certainly brave enough. C’mon, let’s get you all something to drink, and I’ll give you a ride back to base.” He offered stepping out, and the handsome boy smiled at all of them. As he walked to the back of his truck and pulled out a hose, Gerty realized the truck had a full water tank on it’s back, and freshwater started flowing.
They all gathered around to drink their fill, “So I’m Freddy, what are all of your names?”
“I’m Gerty, Gerty Bruden.” “Hanz Franz! Nice to meet you!” “Vitali.”
And more and more names flew out until he laughingly told us he wouldn’t remember all of them. “Well come on then, go ahead and hop on. And whoever looks sick come join me in the cab, I’ll turn around and drive you to the base. Save you the walk.”
Freddy drove them down the long road until the base slowly came into view. The long concrete wall that surrounded the base had a red stripe along the top, she felt her heart speed up. This was it!
The truck pulled to a stop at a checkpoint and from the large building next to the entrance, a few kids came out. All were carrying weapons, and looked around smartly, despite breaking into a conversation, “Back early Freddy, found some strays I see!”
“It seems that way! Mind taking them in from here?”
“Sure sure, you go do your job I’ll do mine. Alright newbies! Come over here, and let’s get you all in some cool air, and go over everything. We will be contacting the orphanage you were at just to prove you are an orphan, if you aren’t an orphan, that’s okay as long as you are over 18. If you aren’t 18 yet, sorry but we can’t have you join just yet!”
The words flowed over all of them, as they were led inside the guard house, it actually had stairs leading down right behind the desk and window the guards had been watching from, downstairs it was nice and cool, and they even had a little water fountain to drink from which many took advantage of.
Gerty just felt more and more impressed. They really were all just kids! She kept expecting to see an adult come down and start putting down orders, but it never happened. The guard assigned to go over her induction brought her to a quiet room off the hall. “Here come on and sit down, I’m Markus, I’ll be going over setting you up, if you have any questions feel free to ask, we have a few weird traditions so if something confuses you just ask.”
“O-Oh that’s great. I’m, You will take me I mean? It wasn’t just a rumor, that you accept everyone?”
“Hah! That’s a common first question, yeah if you are an orphan, and you want to work, we welcome you. The Iron Blooded Company accepts everyone.”
“I thought it was the Iron Blooded Orphans?”
“A nickname! Don’t worry, Commander calls us that sometimes too that’s where it comes from.”
Gerty felt her nervousness fall from her shoulders the more questions she got answered, the more everything was working. This might actually work! She might be more than just some girl stuck in an orphanage. After Markus confirmed she actually was an orphan, they finished a few pieces of paperwork, and she was led back outside.
When she saw the base itself she was actually pretty confused. A large hangar, and buildings that looked like they were falling over.
“Yeah everyone thinks that when they first see Red Base. C’mon. The real thing is surprising.” He led her inside the large hangar, and for a moment she was disappointed at not seeing any mechs. But then?
Then Markus led her down a large ramp, big enough for two Battlemechs to walk side by side, and then she hit the real Hangar. The massive amount of activity almost drowned her as she tried to keep up with it all. Kids.. Teenagers like her were everywhere. Jogging around in groups chanting cadence, some were driving trucks in and out, others were carrying parts to and fro. It was an utter hive of activity.
And the mechs! She stared in awe as a Centurion was being worked on, sparks flew from where a teenager was doing something to the armor on the shoulder. Fixing it?
Markus raised his voice to be heard over the din. “C’mon this way!” Leading her through a door the noise cut out drastically, and she couldn’t even get the question out before he patted her shoulder. “This is the real Red Base. Everything upstairs? Just smoke and mirrors. It’s a tradition to bring the noobies down the mech way first, so it hits you all at once. C’mon, I’ll show you your new room, and you can change into the trainee uniform, then we can grab you some chow before we go over your training schedule. Oh and we need to get your Dogtags! That’s important, don't let me forget.”
“Y-yeah! Sure!”
Gerty didn’t think she had ever been more excited in her life. For once. Something good had happened. The first good thing since her parents died.
—-
It took nearly a week it felt like before things regained an equilibrium. Issues stopped cropping up every minute. Our second round of bootcamp was filled with new members. Those that do exceptionally well were rewarded with time on the Sims, with the idea that the best on the Sims might get a chance to be Mechwarriors in the future.
Competition for Sim time was understandably fierce. But that was good. It meant the kids were training seriously, constantly trying to get that sweet sweet experience. And as we had learned, Experience, while not everything, does tend to trump most things.
But now I have some free time. And it was time to go check out my new ride. It had been completed a while back. I had used her to create both the new Sim pods, as well as all the Eisen-Blume during the memorial.
But that was the extent of my time in her. Mostly, as trying to pilot a mech with a broken arm was a difficult experience to begin with, I was incredibly glad I wasn’t going outside. The dunes would have been incredibly dangerous if I had to pilot with a cast, imagine slipping and being unable to regain the balance on the mech because my arm wasn’t able to move? Still, the new Centurion NFX was a huge departure from my Locust. Mainly because this thing didn’t have a Small Nanoforge installed.
No, the large laser was the replaced weapon this time, because the Centurion NFX? It didn’t have a Small Nanoforge. It had a Medium Nanoforge. What was the difference between the two? No idea. What the hell a Large Nanoforge needed to be mounted on? No idea. I was actually wondering if there even was a Large Nanoforge for mechs. Thinking instead if it was naval equipment.
Regardless, I had sacrificed the main weapon of a Centurion for the Nanoforge, but considering the huge upgrade from a man-portable Nanoforge, to a small? I was betting the medium was a beast of a constructor.
And I needed to expand the base. A lot. During initial construction I had created enough rooms for every one of us to have a room, and some spares. We were already doubling up on rooms at the moment, and expanding every day.
That was not acceptable to me.
Thankfully I was a genius. Eh I was alright. And I had known I would need to expand later. So any time I finished another room construction? I made at least one fake blast door that just wouldn’t open, no matter what the kids did to try and pry them open. Until I needed to expand again. Then I would go down, late at night, actually make the blast door functional, and then expand outwards.
Then at some point in the morning, when the kids were playing the ‘try to open this Blastdoor’ game. It would work.
So we kept growing.
Well thanks to the increase in population, I had to be sneaky at night. Create a second larger barracks hallway. This hallway I treated less like officer quarters like the previous one, and instead had each room slightly larger, but with bunk beds, and a larger bathroom. Once I had all the dimensions right, and how it was supposed to look. Well, Green fog ballooned out of the right arm of my Centurion, and I willed matter into reality.
At least that is what it felt like. The construction speed was massively improved. More than a factor of ten from what I could tell. I laughed as the world around me seemed to simply shift and change in a cloud of green light. This was fun.
When it was completed, the newly expanded barracks would easily house the massive influx in population we were receiving. I spent a while in the mech after, just getting used to how it moved, and how different it felt to be so much taller.
The legs were the hardest part to get used to though. They bent the wrong way. Deciding that getting used to a new mech was important I went ahead and added a row of Mechsims into my personal Mechbay. That way I wouldn’t have to fight the kids to actually get in some sim time.
Can’t have the kids who have never actually piloted a real mech beat me after all.
That would be embarrassing as the Commander.
—-
Now that peace was restored, and I had less things on my mind to worry about, like being stabbed in the back by the person hiring me. I had a big issue ahead of me. Money. While the contract from the Governess was paying out a certain amount of C-bills per month, it wasn’t an amazing offering. Despite the big cash injection from after the battle, in the end I needed way more cash if I was going to step things up.
So I put together a box full of Centurion parts, pieces we pulled from the damaged Centurion that we were already replacing with brand new Nanoforged pieces, and went off base to find a merchant interested in picking them up to sell elsewhere.
The problem came when trying to find a merchant willing to put down a few million C-bills for spare parts.
They existed! I was sure of it. But not on Zaniah. At least none that I could find. I didn’t exactly want to sell this stuff through anywhere ComStar could find out about it. If I really wanted to sell something immediately, I knew I had access to the LCAF supply lines, I could put whatever I wanted up for sale on that, and it would get bought up by someone that needed it.
But that meant telling ComStar because the phone company knows all.
The longer I could keep ComStar in the dark about what I was doing, the less questions they would have about me. So I was trying to make this sale myself, and unfortunately going nowhere.
Which is why I, a fourteen year old, was standing at the entrance of a bar that is right outside the spaceport. The exact sort of place you go to find a dropship captain.
God I never felt more like Luke Skywalker in my life.
Of course life was never as good as the movies. This was just a bar. It smelled, drunk men and women were all over the place, and there was a visible look of surprise when I walked in. My broken arm probably didn’t do much for my appearance, but I was a badass Mercenary Commander, got the scars to prove it, so they will just have to live with it. I walked up to the bar, because what else does someone do when looking for something in a bar?
The bartender took one look at me, and actually dipped his head surprising me. “Commander, how can I help you?”
I smiled my reputation on Zaniah was exploding. My MRB picture had been on the evening news for days after the raid. “Looking for a ship interested in buying salvage, hard to sell mech parts on planet.”
“Huh. Not many come here looking to buy mech parts, but if you are looking for merchants, try that one.” He pointed out a group in a corner, laughing and drinking some beers together as they partied.
“Lovely, thank you.” I stepped off the bar stool and headed over. But not before dropping a few C-bills on the counter.
I was noticed pretty quickly by the group, and I could see the look of confusion pass over faces as each person noticed me. “Evening. I’m looking to sell some Mech salvage, I heard someone here is a merchant?”
“Well lass, I’m certainly a purveyor of goods, but I don’t usually pick up mech parts on this route. Nor do I usually buy from random children in a bar!” The man was red faced, and red bearded and he laughed thunderously at his own joke. I gave him a minute to finish his amusement
“Well I have 40 tons worth of premium Centurion salvage, the mech not the aero fighter. And it’s well packaged, and would keep well on a trip to Solaris.”
“Just came from there lass, like I said, not usually in business for mech parts on this route. How’s a wee one like you end up with mech salvage eh?”
Oh Curiosity. You are the best of allures. I took a seat, as I settled in I introduced myself. “Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume, of the Iron Blooded Mercenary company. We just sent off a League raid.”
“Oh Hell. I did hear that the Mercs were kids, I just didn’t expect the kids to be so young!” He burst into laughter, “Captain Frerick McCarthy, of my one true love, my dear Mule Senta Freia. Well I can’t say I’m super interested in mech parts, but let’s talk about cost yeah?”
“Sure.” I smiled a gentle grin. This merchant was going to walk out of here a good few million poorer. But that’s business for you.
—-
Making a deal with Captain McCarthy took a long time. Mostly because he was drunk to start, and getting drunker through the night, but he held out, haggling on the deal before we finally agreed. I made some hefty cash, and transported the massive metal box full of parts to his ship the next day, checked and verified before pay would complete.
The C-Bills were exactly what I needed. Now that I had more liquid funds, It was time to plan and prepare.
I continued to build up both the defenses, and the size of our underground complex, over the next few months, while I started preparing for some of the trips I would need to get everything sorted out. Finding a unit that could handle the first leg of the problem wasn’t that difficult, training them so they could hopefully complete it without being seen, or dying was far more.
Delta Unit, Now formally named Delta Ops, thanks to Carl's willingness to poke an active Firestarter mech as an infantryman was the one I selected. They were loyal, and more than that… well, Crazy. I needed crazy.
Teaching a group of kids covert ops skills wasn’t exactly an easy job, made harder because I have no idea how to really teach the skills either.
I didn’t have those skills. Hell no one did. It wasn’t commonly spread around, much less to a group of orphans. Even Sergeant Kurtz looked at me like he thought I was crazy when I told my command staff I was training them in covert operations.
So instead I decided the best way to do it is live training. I gave Carl a sensor pack, sent him out into the desert in different clothes that were nothing like our normal uniform, and told them to infiltrate Red Base.
Of course everyone was alerted that if they saw anyone from Delta Ops to sound an alarm those that did? Earned some extra sim time. The first few times were disasters for Delta Ops. But every time Carl would meet up with me after failing and we would go over what caused the failure, and if there was something that could have saved him? Something that would have helped him get farther? I would get it. Buying, and selling, even picking up a few more stealthy weapons on the company store to make sure they had equipment they needed.
So I would produce equipment, and off Delta Ops would go trying again. As I said months passed before one night as I was sitting in my office, my door opened, and in walked Carl, wearing his infiltration gear with his gun out.
“Bang, Your dead Commander.”
All I could do was smile.
—-
A different perspective.
Vitali was used to things not going his way. Too difficult to live with, had been the words his once adopted parents had used when returning him back to the orphanage. He knew he was difficult. He couldn’t help it. He was always angry, lashing out, half the time he didn’t even know why he did it.
It was why he decided to leave the orphanage, to join the Mercs. They could at least let him get a shot at some Leaguers. Of course, he hadn’t expected how… Easy it all was. He got not quite a private, but a very comfortable room. His own clothes, that were fit just to him, boots, gear, weapons.
He really liked the weapons.
Although he was still himself, even in a new place.
His bloody fist was proof of that.
“Private! I want an explanation.” Hauptmann Benjamin ‘Benny’ Rommel was a tough son of a bitch. Vitali had gotten into a fight with him on his first few days, and got the shit kicked out of him because of it.
Benny was good. Skilled enough to send Vitali on his ass when he caused some trouble. But this time he wasn’t fighting Benny. No this was worse.
“Fucker! Benny! This asshole hit me!”
“I can see that Private! Quiet up. It’s my time to figure this out now.” He ordered and even Vitali could respect the quiet that spread when he ordered. The old timers respected Benny a lot.
Hell, Vitali did too. He was a Mechwarrior after all.
“Alright Vitali, walk with me.” He ordered and Vitali after only a moment, to defeat his instinct to disobey, started following. “You don’t get along with many of the others do you?”
“They’re annoying. They all want to play around. I want to kill Leaguers.” Vitali ended up admitting honestly.
“Yeah I figured that was it. You aren’t alone in that you know? Although it’s a small number, we all have seen some shit, some of us lost family to the League, some of us are here for revenge.”
“Yeah So?” Vitali challenged. “Bet the rest didn’t just bloody another kid, so what? Going to kick me out?”
Benny slowed, turning just a bit and giving Vitali a smile of all things. “Hell no. We aren’t here for kiddy school. We are here to fight a damned war. That hate? We are gonna use it. Use you until you're actually doing something useful instead of just causing trouble.”
Vitali didn’t have a response for that, which Benny seemed to know because a moment later he was knocking on a door, something Vitali had never seen the older boy do before walking into a room. He turned, “You coming?”
Vitali scoffed but walked in.
That was how Vitali met Rough Squad. That was how after getting into a fight with Lenden Motherfucking Scorch, he was invited to Rough Squad. So his life, when he gave it, would mean something.
Vitali found his home.
—-
“I’ve brought all of you here today to discuss the single most important job we may ever do.” I told the gathered crowd.
Benny, Gauge, Hanna and Carl were sitting to my right. Alfred, Lenden, Elias, and Markus on my left. The complete command staff of the company, as it stood. I had been slowly researching this in secret for months, coming up with plan after plan.
Now it was time to bring it to light. To see if anyone saw something I didn’t. “I brought you all into this, because I need manpower and perspective.” I pushed a button and the holo table. A piece of equipment I had spent an inordinate amount of time and C-bills acquiring. This one was brand new, and the display had none of the glitching, or fuzziness of the model I had originally bought. In fact this may be the holotable in the best shape in the entire Inner Sphere. I guess I was just ‘lucky’ that the one I picked up wasn’t as broken as I had been told.
I waited for a moment for everyone to take in the planet spinning. It wasn’t an up to date map, in fact it was probably not even wholly accurate, but it was a good enough representation.
“This is the Planet Helm.”
3020
Zaniah III
Red Base
“So we need to discuss our mistakes, where we could have done better, and most importantly, what do we need to make sure next time this happens, we all end up walking away without a scratch while our enemies smolder. Broken arms suck.” And dead kids give nightmares.
Of course Benny spoke up first. “We need some actual infantry traps. We could have led the enemy through the streets that we already prepped to take them out. Mines are the most obvious but remote explosives are good too, it would give our infantry control of what goes off, keep it from becoming indiscriminate.”
“I like it. Let’s put on the list we need a unit for demolitions. I’m sure we can find some madmen in our company. What else?”
“We need better training… I wasn’t able to do much during this fight. Every time I had to do more than just shoot LRM’s at range, I… I failed.” Gauge spoke up next, I couldn’t see them as his hands were under the table, but I knew he was fisting his hands in his clothing. It was a bad habit of his.
“Agreed, but Gauge, you did fine. We are all green pilots going up against an actual military force. The fact we all survived is good. It means we get to walk away with what we learned. Training is already something we are going to work on. I think I have a way to help with that, but the problem is it relies on other people willing to help, so table that one for a bit. What else?” I said, reaching over and patting his shoulder.
“We need a better command structure… Sorry Commander, but there were times we could have used some better synergy.” Hanna offered, “The infantry was running around doing whatever they wanted, or just staying tight in buildings during the fighting. If they had been given directions to move, or keep working with us, we could have probably fought off the enemy with less problems.”
“Yeah, we do need a new Command and control squad. I’m useful enough, but when I’m in the middle of a fight, I was too focused on what’s in front of me. Benny, I put too much on your shoulders when we started. Infantry command, Mechwarrior, and more than a few extra jobs. Who do we have in the infantry you think can take over as infantry command?”
He looked a little abashed for a moment. “You already have the ones I would trust doing other jobs. Elias, is our Artillery head. Markus is in the Defense Unit. Hanna is with us now. Honestly Commander we might not have anyone experienced to take over. We might have to train someone up.”
“Experience. It does always seem to come to that, doesn't it? Well any ideas on how we can figure out who our new infantry leader should be?”
“Wargames?” Gauge surprisingly piped up. All three of us looked at him and he realized he was the center of attention. “Umm. We set up a war game… Make it a copy of the fight we just had. Since we have all the data already. Just have people challenge it, the one who does the best, can take the job?”
“Wargames don't show leadership though Gauge, they just show who can tell people where to go…”
“No. Gauge is right, a wargame is perfect, but we make it real. Benny, we set up an actual infantry war game. Small squads of our infantry vs a mech. We can have them try to take it down, mechs have a virtual damage mode. We can get some of the equipment our infantry will need to take part. See how everyone does, whoever does the best, or leads best we make them the head of our Infantry.”
“I like it.” Hanna offered with a grin. “Let’s do it, it’ll be useful for us too. We can use it to get used to fighting infantry.That is a concern no matter what the mech jockeys on Solaris like to say.”
“Alright. Benny. Sorry but I’m dropping this in your lap. Delegate if you have to, but let’s make it work, if you need something just let me know.”
Weary Benny sighed. “Yes Commander.”
—-
Four days later. Everyone was out of the hospital if not fully recovered. It was time.
None of us wore black. No, instead everyone was wearing our normal uniforms. As we gathered far from base. We stood in the ruined and burnt streets where the battle had taken place. Where Rough Squad had lost their lives, and where the blood of our company was spilled.
We all stood around as the last trucks dropped off the last few soldiers. The entire company was here right now. Not a single person that wore the Eisen-Blume wasn’t filling this street. The numbers were growing. I could barely even start counting just how many there were, I had even been forced to make another fleet of trucks just to transport us all.
Finally when I was satisfied I clambered up onto the hood of a Norman looking over the crowd. Thankfully I had been prepared, and a megaphone was handed up to me by Benny who was at my side.
“Those of you, who were here from the beginning know that the first time we had a moment like this, I made you a promise. An oath, as your Commander to every one of you. Today I fulfill that promise. To those who have joined us since, watch, and know that I will never break my promise to you. Only when this ceremony is conducted for me, will my oath end. Iron Blooded Orphans! Today we plant the blooms that grow from the land where our Iron blood was spilled!”
I turned, nodding to Benny who opened up one of the many, many boxes I had made this morning. It had taken me a while to get them to look right, but I was pleased enough with them now.
The four foot long piece of metal, had a spider lily shaped out of the top of it. It was metal of course. This was not something that was meant to disappear. I hoped that despite the weather on Zaniah, the metal flowers will last.
That’s why I had made them out of Battlemech armor.
Slowly I moved forward stepping down from the truck taking the first metal flower. Literally an Eisen-Blume. And pushed it deep through a crack in the old broken concrete, deep into the earth. When I rose, I fumbled with the megaphone thanks to my broken arm, before raising my voice.
“We plant these, not for the dead. But to remind us, that here, our family’s blood was spilled. There is one flower for each of you. Plant one. Push your loss into the earth, and let everyone for a million years who walks here know that this is where we fought! This is where our blood was spilled!”
I dropped the megaphone then. I couldn’t wipe my eyes with my stupid cast. I stood there, before my flower, as did every member of my company. Orphans, all but one, as Alfred was among us. Planted a metal flower. When we left that street it was covered in hundreds of them. A spot of bright red, in forgotten ruins.
—-
The next day, I had finally put together a meeting with Colonel Enders of the 10th Sky Rangers. Funnily enough, I hadn’t even had to reach out to him to set this up. Colonel Enders had contacted us to set up a meeting.
I guess proving that my orphans knew how to scrap with the League has given us a bit more respect. Which was good. I had wanted to meet with the 10th anyways. They had something I needed.
Pulling up to the large military base that the 10th was based out of it reminded me just how little we had been offered. It was huge, well kept, and bristling with weapons. The concrete walls were thick, and mounted with enough weapons that it would make a very tough nut to crack open.
The fact that the 10th were a full regiment, even if at the moment they were recovering? They were big boys. That they were placed here on Zaniah was more LCAF’s doing than anything the Governess had set up. This was a border world after all. It was important to keep it safe and strong, and yet it was quiet enough that they could recover. At least that was my understanding.
Walking through an actual military installation with history, and discipline made me a little self conscious at just how different my little band was in comparison.
I was led into an office, the desk had a neat stack of folders settled upon it, and there sat Colonel Herb Enders, the current CO of the 10th Skye Rangers.
“Commander Eisen-Blume, welcome, please take a seat, can I get you anything to drink?” He stood, his tanned skin and perfectly cut uniform was a good look for him, I took the hand he offered as I nodded.
“Some water, would be fine Colonel.”
“Yes the heat has been rather horrid today.” He offered passing over a bottle of cold water out of a small fridge as we took our seats. “I would like to apologize before anything else Commander. We had our orders from the Governess office. Despite the fact they aren’t directly in charge of our contract it is customary for companies in my position to heed the words of the planet's representative, as long as it doesn’t go against the contract. She was quite firm that she wanted us to not have any communication with your company.”
I nodded along as he spoke. “I didn’t know if that was the case, but I’m not surprised to hear about it. Governess Alessa, wanted to give us a rough time.”
He grimaced lightly there. “Yes… I didn’t agree, and I would like you to know that I did speak with the MRB about the order when they contacted us regarding your arbitration. Dreadful conduct.”
“Thank you. Although if it helps, we have settled our debts with the Governess at this point.”
“Good! Good. I never like having to protect a planet when politics are hampering our every move.”
“Speaking of, may I ask… I assume it’s politics, but why don’t the 10th fight back against the raids? You don’t strike me as the sort of CO to let these raids go by.”
This time he did more than grimace, he took a harsh sip of his tea that he poured for himself. “Politics is right. The defense of Hartzborg was deemed the highest priority on the planet. We were given strict orders, to never even allow the chance that damage could come to it. During a raid we are required to lock down the Starport, don’t ask me the reasoning, I just follow my orders. Even if they do make us all feel rather useless.”
“I see. I won’t ask any more about it then. Orders are orders. May I ask instead, what prompted you to reach out?”
“Ah, well the order from the Governess was rescinded, and I felt I owed you a face to face meeting, you did try and reach out to us for so long. I viewed it as only fair.” He leans back in his chair. “Your defense, well you earned more than a little bit of my time with that.”
“Well in that case, I had been hoping to speak about some joint training. Although that will have to wait. The damage sustained has put us out of the fight for a while.”
“Yes I heard about your mechs, even saw some of the battleROM from your Hauptmanns Centurion. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Locust attempt to tackle an Awesome before.” He quietly took a sip of his tea, but I could still see the slight smile beneath his mustache.
I felt a flush go up my cheeks, “It was a spur of the moment thing.”
“It was brave. Take no offense at my joke Commander. I was damn impressed when I saw it. I couldn’t name many Mechwarriors that would have done the same in your position, even less who are leaders.”
“I’ll take the compliment, Colonel. I would do it again, if those few seconds bought the lives of my Lance then they were worth it.”
“Exactly.” He tipped his tea cup at me, “So Commander, I have no issue with some joint training time in the future, I have heard you are joining us on a more permanent basis?”
“Yes the Governess was… kind enough to confirm our landhold on Red Base.”
“Not a bad setup for the first year of your Company, Commander. I’ve seen mercs that have been around for decades that haven’t earned their own home.”
I nodded, thanking him once again for his compliment. “Speaking back to training though Colonel, I was interested in asking if you have access to any Military MechSims, I need something to keep the training of my Mechwarriors up while our metal is repaired.”
“Hmm. I do. The base we occupy does have some sim trainers, but unfortunately, they are old models. They don’t travel well, and the few active ones left are rather busy. My own men need to keep in shape as well.” He said apologetically.
I nodded. It was a simple fact in the sphere, the older something is usually the better it is. If it wasn’t simply broken.
“I don’t suppose… You said active… Are any of them nonfunctional?” The idea was there.
“Hmm. Yes, this base was an old training facility, there are eight of them in total, or were, now only… four I believe? Are still working, the other four are either offline, or disassembled for spare parts.”
“I happen to have a pretty good AsTech. A friend of mine was interested in joining ComStar before I set this up, he can fix just about anything in my experience. What would it cost to get one of those nonfunctional sims?”
He huffed a quiet laugh into his tea. “I’ve heard such claims before, but if you think you can do better. I have no issues. They are just collecting dust currently. I’ll have some of my men pack it up and ship it to your Red Base, it’s the least I could do after failing to assist you before.”
“Well Colonel, in that case, I accept your apology in full, and thank you.”
—-
So we now had twenty four Mech Sims set up in a previously unused hangar. The scans from the broken one, had shown the issue to mostly be a single damaged electronic part that had given out, a mix between a hard drive, and a memory stick.
So that was thankfully fixed once it was copied. The new training room, I sold to my kids as a ‘secret gift’ and told that just like the underground, to keep their mouth shut about it.
Of course I couldn’t exactly hide something like this. Even with 24 of them, they were now 24/7 occupied. These weren’t the toy sims that kids could play with at every mall in the sphere. No, these were military trainers. You need to use an actual Neurohelm to move, and there was a setup period so each person had to have the brainwave scan installed in the sims.
Then they had a massive database of mechs and customizations. They even had a lot of mechs that were more modern, obviously the database was kept up to date by the 10th. Then each sim pod was connected together, all 24 could be in a fight simultaneously. The pods shifted and moved. They blasted you with hot air which could get the insides sweltering. The damn things were Star League era tech.
Each of them were brand new. Every issue that the sims might have earned over centuries of constant use? Gone. As if I had plucked them straight from the final years of the StarLeague. Now they were mine.
But as I said, I couldn’t hide them. So I wasn’t truly shocked when I was stopped by Sergeant Kurtz just a day or so after opening the new training room.
“Commander? Mind if I have a minute?”
“Sergeant, of course I’m on my way to my office, join me.” I walked along with the older man, and it was pretty obvious I was about to have an uncomfortable conversation. He was wringing his hands, and looked a little constipated. He was obviously not looking forward to this conversation.
Now neither was I.
We settled into my little office as he took the chair opposite me, the same chair he had sat in a month ago when we discussed whether he wanted to stay or not.
“Commander. I’ve been at this for a long time. I’m not exactly a young man anymore. I know what a base, even a merc base is like, the issues that come up. The amount of work it takes to expand… I’ve noticed things. Things like we never had ammunition delivered. Yet, we burned through more ammunition in a week than most regiments spend in monthly training. Things like to appear despite never being delivered. I checked. Our perimeter is fairly secure at this point. Yet things just appear without any coming or going.” He trailed off there for a while simply staring at me, as if wanting to ask a question but not sure how.
Finally I broke the silence. “Sergeant. You can understand that all companies have secrets. Things we don’t share with just anyone.”
“Yes I know, and I won’t push Commander, that’s not what I mean. I just want you to know that I have noticed things, and if I have noticed, others might have as well.”
I nodded, what else could I do? “I would appreciate, if anything you see, or think you see, you keep to yourself Sergeant. The last thing I want is rumors to get out that could cause trouble for my kids.”
He snorts a little at that. “My mouth is shut Commander. You don’t get very far in life, especially military life, if you go around blabbing secrets.” He hesitates there. “But you can trust me kid. You brats have grown on me. If I blabbed about the weirdness, most won’t listen, but the ones who do? It would just mean kids I've trained will die.”
I nod slowly. Pondering what I could do about this, what I should do? It came to me slowly. A realization. That nothing improves, unless we improve it. I don’t like the great houses. Each of them has lost sight of what makes humanity great. It’s not our capacity for war, or even our ingenuity, it’s our ability to work together. To build, and help even the weakest of us.
And they have lost what it takes to do that. The single most important aspect of a social relationship.
So I made a decision, would I come to regret it? Perhaps, but I couldn’t go wrong by following a simple motto.
Do the opposite of whatever the great houses would do.
So I nodded, stood up and decided to show trust in humanity. Trust which is so absent in the Inner Sphere. I pulled out my Noteputer. “This is where everything started. It belonged to my mother and I found it-”
—-
A Different Perspective.
Gertrude Bruden, although everyone just called her Gerty, had not known what to expect when she had decided to risk it. Leaving the orphanage and traveling across the entire length of Starboro to try and see if she could join them.
The Iron Blooded Orphans.
It had been a rumor at first. The Merc company that was taking over some of the defense of the city. Then the rumors grew. That they were all children. That their Commander was a tiny blonde girl barely 10 and yet she had a smile that would freeze the hearts of grown men. That they were all killers, and murders, and thieves.
Finally the truth came out. That they won.
The rumors both died and ballooned after that. Any negative thoughts towards them were gone. The Iron Blooded were heroes. Zaniah needed heroes.
But the news had shown it all. Some of the battle footage during the raid, and it had been amazing. The League had run. For the first time, in as long as Gerty had been alive. The League raids had been pushed back before they could do any damage. The same raids that had killed her parents just a few years ago.
So she decided to risk it. To head to their base. To join them. She hitchhiked across the city, sitting in the back of old trucks, or in one case holding onto the back of a construction truck as it ambled along, when she started noticing she wasn’t alone.
The closer she got, the more kids started appearing. Others soon joined her on the journey. Orphans one and all. Then there were no more trucks to hitchhike with and instead down a long dusty road the group of orphans started walking.
The heat was just starting to get to them when they heard the truck approaching. Down the road a truck was trundling up, it slowed as the group all walked over to the side of the road to let it pass, but the vehicle slowed coming to a stop beside the group.
The head that popped out was an older boy and he gave everyone a gentle smile. “Let me guess, coming to see if you can join the Iron Blooded?”
Berty spoke up first. “Yes! We want to be mechwarriors too. We want to fight!” The general mutterings of agreement behind her filled her with excitement. They were all doing this!
The boy just nodded looking a little sad as he looked over the group. “Well. You are certainly brave enough. C’mon, let’s get you all something to drink, and I’ll give you a ride back to base.” He offered stepping out, and the handsome boy smiled at all of them. As he walked to the back of his truck and pulled out a hose, Gerty realized the truck had a full water tank on it’s back, and freshwater started flowing.
They all gathered around to drink their fill, “So I’m Freddy, what are all of your names?”
“I’m Gerty, Gerty Bruden.” “Hanz Franz! Nice to meet you!” “Vitali.”
And more and more names flew out until he laughingly told us he wouldn’t remember all of them. “Well come on then, go ahead and hop on. And whoever looks sick come join me in the cab, I’ll turn around and drive you to the base. Save you the walk.”
Freddy drove them down the long road until the base slowly came into view. The long concrete wall that surrounded the base had a red stripe along the top, she felt her heart speed up. This was it!
The truck pulled to a stop at a checkpoint and from the large building next to the entrance, a few kids came out. All were carrying weapons, and looked around smartly, despite breaking into a conversation, “Back early Freddy, found some strays I see!”
“It seems that way! Mind taking them in from here?”
“Sure sure, you go do your job I’ll do mine. Alright newbies! Come over here, and let’s get you all in some cool air, and go over everything. We will be contacting the orphanage you were at just to prove you are an orphan, if you aren’t an orphan, that’s okay as long as you are over 18. If you aren’t 18 yet, sorry but we can’t have you join just yet!”
The words flowed over all of them, as they were led inside the guard house, it actually had stairs leading down right behind the desk and window the guards had been watching from, downstairs it was nice and cool, and they even had a little water fountain to drink from which many took advantage of.
Gerty just felt more and more impressed. They really were all just kids! She kept expecting to see an adult come down and start putting down orders, but it never happened. The guard assigned to go over her induction brought her to a quiet room off the hall. “Here come on and sit down, I’m Markus, I’ll be going over setting you up, if you have any questions feel free to ask, we have a few weird traditions so if something confuses you just ask.”
“O-Oh that’s great. I’m, You will take me I mean? It wasn’t just a rumor, that you accept everyone?”
“Hah! That’s a common first question, yeah if you are an orphan, and you want to work, we welcome you. The Iron Blooded Company accepts everyone.”
“I thought it was the Iron Blooded Orphans?”
“A nickname! Don’t worry, Commander calls us that sometimes too that’s where it comes from.”
Gerty felt her nervousness fall from her shoulders the more questions she got answered, the more everything was working. This might actually work! She might be more than just some girl stuck in an orphanage. After Markus confirmed she actually was an orphan, they finished a few pieces of paperwork, and she was led back outside.
When she saw the base itself she was actually pretty confused. A large hangar, and buildings that looked like they were falling over.
“Yeah everyone thinks that when they first see Red Base. C’mon. The real thing is surprising.” He led her inside the large hangar, and for a moment she was disappointed at not seeing any mechs. But then?
Then Markus led her down a large ramp, big enough for two Battlemechs to walk side by side, and then she hit the real Hangar. The massive amount of activity almost drowned her as she tried to keep up with it all. Kids.. Teenagers like her were everywhere. Jogging around in groups chanting cadence, some were driving trucks in and out, others were carrying parts to and fro. It was an utter hive of activity.
And the mechs! She stared in awe as a Centurion was being worked on, sparks flew from where a teenager was doing something to the armor on the shoulder. Fixing it?
Markus raised his voice to be heard over the din. “C’mon this way!” Leading her through a door the noise cut out drastically, and she couldn’t even get the question out before he patted her shoulder. “This is the real Red Base. Everything upstairs? Just smoke and mirrors. It’s a tradition to bring the noobies down the mech way first, so it hits you all at once. C’mon, I’ll show you your new room, and you can change into the trainee uniform, then we can grab you some chow before we go over your training schedule. Oh and we need to get your Dogtags! That’s important, don't let me forget.”
“Y-yeah! Sure!”
Gerty didn’t think she had ever been more excited in her life. For once. Something good had happened. The first good thing since her parents died.
—-
It took nearly a week it felt like before things regained an equilibrium. Issues stopped cropping up every minute. Our second round of bootcamp was filled with new members. Those that do exceptionally well were rewarded with time on the Sims, with the idea that the best on the Sims might get a chance to be Mechwarriors in the future.
Competition for Sim time was understandably fierce. But that was good. It meant the kids were training seriously, constantly trying to get that sweet sweet experience. And as we had learned, Experience, while not everything, does tend to trump most things.
But now I have some free time. And it was time to go check out my new ride. It had been completed a while back. I had used her to create both the new Sim pods, as well as all the Eisen-Blume during the memorial.
But that was the extent of my time in her. Mostly, as trying to pilot a mech with a broken arm was a difficult experience to begin with, I was incredibly glad I wasn’t going outside. The dunes would have been incredibly dangerous if I had to pilot with a cast, imagine slipping and being unable to regain the balance on the mech because my arm wasn’t able to move? Still, the new Centurion NFX was a huge departure from my Locust. Mainly because this thing didn’t have a Small Nanoforge installed.
No, the large laser was the replaced weapon this time, because the Centurion NFX? It didn’t have a Small Nanoforge. It had a Medium Nanoforge. What was the difference between the two? No idea. What the hell a Large Nanoforge needed to be mounted on? No idea. I was actually wondering if there even was a Large Nanoforge for mechs. Thinking instead if it was naval equipment.
Regardless, I had sacrificed the main weapon of a Centurion for the Nanoforge, but considering the huge upgrade from a man-portable Nanoforge, to a small? I was betting the medium was a beast of a constructor.
And I needed to expand the base. A lot. During initial construction I had created enough rooms for every one of us to have a room, and some spares. We were already doubling up on rooms at the moment, and expanding every day.
That was not acceptable to me.
Thankfully I was a genius. Eh I was alright. And I had known I would need to expand later. So any time I finished another room construction? I made at least one fake blast door that just wouldn’t open, no matter what the kids did to try and pry them open. Until I needed to expand again. Then I would go down, late at night, actually make the blast door functional, and then expand outwards.
Then at some point in the morning, when the kids were playing the ‘try to open this Blastdoor’ game. It would work.
So we kept growing.
Well thanks to the increase in population, I had to be sneaky at night. Create a second larger barracks hallway. This hallway I treated less like officer quarters like the previous one, and instead had each room slightly larger, but with bunk beds, and a larger bathroom. Once I had all the dimensions right, and how it was supposed to look. Well, Green fog ballooned out of the right arm of my Centurion, and I willed matter into reality.
At least that is what it felt like. The construction speed was massively improved. More than a factor of ten from what I could tell. I laughed as the world around me seemed to simply shift and change in a cloud of green light. This was fun.
When it was completed, the newly expanded barracks would easily house the massive influx in population we were receiving. I spent a while in the mech after, just getting used to how it moved, and how different it felt to be so much taller.
The legs were the hardest part to get used to though. They bent the wrong way. Deciding that getting used to a new mech was important I went ahead and added a row of Mechsims into my personal Mechbay. That way I wouldn’t have to fight the kids to actually get in some sim time.
Can’t have the kids who have never actually piloted a real mech beat me after all.
That would be embarrassing as the Commander.
—-
Now that peace was restored, and I had less things on my mind to worry about, like being stabbed in the back by the person hiring me. I had a big issue ahead of me. Money. While the contract from the Governess was paying out a certain amount of C-bills per month, it wasn’t an amazing offering. Despite the big cash injection from after the battle, in the end I needed way more cash if I was going to step things up.
So I put together a box full of Centurion parts, pieces we pulled from the damaged Centurion that we were already replacing with brand new Nanoforged pieces, and went off base to find a merchant interested in picking them up to sell elsewhere.
The problem came when trying to find a merchant willing to put down a few million C-bills for spare parts.
They existed! I was sure of it. But not on Zaniah. At least none that I could find. I didn’t exactly want to sell this stuff through anywhere ComStar could find out about it. If I really wanted to sell something immediately, I knew I had access to the LCAF supply lines, I could put whatever I wanted up for sale on that, and it would get bought up by someone that needed it.
But that meant telling ComStar because the phone company knows all.
The longer I could keep ComStar in the dark about what I was doing, the less questions they would have about me. So I was trying to make this sale myself, and unfortunately going nowhere.
Which is why I, a fourteen year old, was standing at the entrance of a bar that is right outside the spaceport. The exact sort of place you go to find a dropship captain.
God I never felt more like Luke Skywalker in my life.
Of course life was never as good as the movies. This was just a bar. It smelled, drunk men and women were all over the place, and there was a visible look of surprise when I walked in. My broken arm probably didn’t do much for my appearance, but I was a badass Mercenary Commander, got the scars to prove it, so they will just have to live with it. I walked up to the bar, because what else does someone do when looking for something in a bar?
The bartender took one look at me, and actually dipped his head surprising me. “Commander, how can I help you?”
I smiled my reputation on Zaniah was exploding. My MRB picture had been on the evening news for days after the raid. “Looking for a ship interested in buying salvage, hard to sell mech parts on planet.”
“Huh. Not many come here looking to buy mech parts, but if you are looking for merchants, try that one.” He pointed out a group in a corner, laughing and drinking some beers together as they partied.
“Lovely, thank you.” I stepped off the bar stool and headed over. But not before dropping a few C-bills on the counter.
I was noticed pretty quickly by the group, and I could see the look of confusion pass over faces as each person noticed me. “Evening. I’m looking to sell some Mech salvage, I heard someone here is a merchant?”
“Well lass, I’m certainly a purveyor of goods, but I don’t usually pick up mech parts on this route. Nor do I usually buy from random children in a bar!” The man was red faced, and red bearded and he laughed thunderously at his own joke. I gave him a minute to finish his amusement
“Well I have 40 tons worth of premium Centurion salvage, the mech not the aero fighter. And it’s well packaged, and would keep well on a trip to Solaris.”
“Just came from there lass, like I said, not usually in business for mech parts on this route. How’s a wee one like you end up with mech salvage eh?”
Oh Curiosity. You are the best of allures. I took a seat, as I settled in I introduced myself. “Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume, of the Iron Blooded Mercenary company. We just sent off a League raid.”
“Oh Hell. I did hear that the Mercs were kids, I just didn’t expect the kids to be so young!” He burst into laughter, “Captain Frerick McCarthy, of my one true love, my dear Mule Senta Freia. Well I can’t say I’m super interested in mech parts, but let’s talk about cost yeah?”
“Sure.” I smiled a gentle grin. This merchant was going to walk out of here a good few million poorer. But that’s business for you.
—-
Making a deal with Captain McCarthy took a long time. Mostly because he was drunk to start, and getting drunker through the night, but he held out, haggling on the deal before we finally agreed. I made some hefty cash, and transported the massive metal box full of parts to his ship the next day, checked and verified before pay would complete.
The C-Bills were exactly what I needed. Now that I had more liquid funds, It was time to plan and prepare.
I continued to build up both the defenses, and the size of our underground complex, over the next few months, while I started preparing for some of the trips I would need to get everything sorted out. Finding a unit that could handle the first leg of the problem wasn’t that difficult, training them so they could hopefully complete it without being seen, or dying was far more.
Delta Unit, Now formally named Delta Ops, thanks to Carl's willingness to poke an active Firestarter mech as an infantryman was the one I selected. They were loyal, and more than that… well, Crazy. I needed crazy.
Teaching a group of kids covert ops skills wasn’t exactly an easy job, made harder because I have no idea how to really teach the skills either.
I didn’t have those skills. Hell no one did. It wasn’t commonly spread around, much less to a group of orphans. Even Sergeant Kurtz looked at me like he thought I was crazy when I told my command staff I was training them in covert operations.
So instead I decided the best way to do it is live training. I gave Carl a sensor pack, sent him out into the desert in different clothes that were nothing like our normal uniform, and told them to infiltrate Red Base.
Of course everyone was alerted that if they saw anyone from Delta Ops to sound an alarm those that did? Earned some extra sim time. The first few times were disasters for Delta Ops. But every time Carl would meet up with me after failing and we would go over what caused the failure, and if there was something that could have saved him? Something that would have helped him get farther? I would get it. Buying, and selling, even picking up a few more stealthy weapons on the company store to make sure they had equipment they needed.
So I would produce equipment, and off Delta Ops would go trying again. As I said months passed before one night as I was sitting in my office, my door opened, and in walked Carl, wearing his infiltration gear with his gun out.
“Bang, Your dead Commander.”
All I could do was smile.
—-
A different perspective.
Vitali was used to things not going his way. Too difficult to live with, had been the words his once adopted parents had used when returning him back to the orphanage. He knew he was difficult. He couldn’t help it. He was always angry, lashing out, half the time he didn’t even know why he did it.
It was why he decided to leave the orphanage, to join the Mercs. They could at least let him get a shot at some Leaguers. Of course, he hadn’t expected how… Easy it all was. He got not quite a private, but a very comfortable room. His own clothes, that were fit just to him, boots, gear, weapons.
He really liked the weapons.
Although he was still himself, even in a new place.
His bloody fist was proof of that.
“Private! I want an explanation.” Hauptmann Benjamin ‘Benny’ Rommel was a tough son of a bitch. Vitali had gotten into a fight with him on his first few days, and got the shit kicked out of him because of it.
Benny was good. Skilled enough to send Vitali on his ass when he caused some trouble. But this time he wasn’t fighting Benny. No this was worse.
“Fucker! Benny! This asshole hit me!”
“I can see that Private! Quiet up. It’s my time to figure this out now.” He ordered and even Vitali could respect the quiet that spread when he ordered. The old timers respected Benny a lot.
Hell, Vitali did too. He was a Mechwarrior after all.
“Alright Vitali, walk with me.” He ordered and Vitali after only a moment, to defeat his instinct to disobey, started following. “You don’t get along with many of the others do you?”
“They’re annoying. They all want to play around. I want to kill Leaguers.” Vitali ended up admitting honestly.
“Yeah I figured that was it. You aren’t alone in that you know? Although it’s a small number, we all have seen some shit, some of us lost family to the League, some of us are here for revenge.”
“Yeah So?” Vitali challenged. “Bet the rest didn’t just bloody another kid, so what? Going to kick me out?”
Benny slowed, turning just a bit and giving Vitali a smile of all things. “Hell no. We aren’t here for kiddy school. We are here to fight a damned war. That hate? We are gonna use it. Use you until you're actually doing something useful instead of just causing trouble.”
Vitali didn’t have a response for that, which Benny seemed to know because a moment later he was knocking on a door, something Vitali had never seen the older boy do before walking into a room. He turned, “You coming?”
Vitali scoffed but walked in.
That was how Vitali met Rough Squad. That was how after getting into a fight with Lenden Motherfucking Scorch, he was invited to Rough Squad. So his life, when he gave it, would mean something.
Vitali found his home.
—-
“I’ve brought all of you here today to discuss the single most important job we may ever do.” I told the gathered crowd.
Benny, Gauge, Hanna and Carl were sitting to my right. Alfred, Lenden, Elias, and Markus on my left. The complete command staff of the company, as it stood. I had been slowly researching this in secret for months, coming up with plan after plan.
Now it was time to bring it to light. To see if anyone saw something I didn’t. “I brought you all into this, because I need manpower and perspective.” I pushed a button and the holo table. A piece of equipment I had spent an inordinate amount of time and C-bills acquiring. This one was brand new, and the display had none of the glitching, or fuzziness of the model I had originally bought. In fact this may be the holotable in the best shape in the entire Inner Sphere. I guess I was just ‘lucky’ that the one I picked up wasn’t as broken as I had been told.
I waited for a moment for everyone to take in the planet spinning. It wasn’t an up to date map, in fact it was probably not even wholly accurate, but it was a good enough representation.
“This is the Planet Helm.”
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Vicky really needs to get an IndustrialMech she can mount the nanoforge on instead of keeping on giving up the best weapon of her 'mech that's expected to go into combat. Taking that large laser off a Centurion AL leaves it with a small and two mediums, pretty much on par with a basic Stinger or Wasp, and when your 50 tonner is only as well-armed as one of those you know you're in trouble.
Her expecting to get several million for 40 tons of scrap Centurion parts also seemed excessive to me, a fully intact brand new Centurion is only 3.9 million so expecting even a full million for used parts for one for it seems excessive, she shouldn't be expecting several even for an intact Centurion given the merchant's going to want to make a decent profit and has to pay to ship it.
Overall I have to admit, this chapter felt like it had a bit too much filler. Some of the stuff was necessary but a lot of it seemed too much cruft to me compared to how packed previous ones were.
Her expecting to get several million for 40 tons of scrap Centurion parts also seemed excessive to me, a fully intact brand new Centurion is only 3.9 million so expecting even a full million for used parts for one for it seems excessive, she shouldn't be expecting several even for an intact Centurion given the merchant's going to want to make a decent profit and has to pay to ship it.
Overall I have to admit, this chapter felt like it had a bit too much filler. Some of the stuff was necessary but a lot of it seemed too much cruft to me compared to how packed previous ones were.
I don't normally quibble about commas, as their placement is often a matter of taste and varies by style sheet, but this one really doesn't belong there and ruins any flow the sentence should have.
Seras
Well-known member
That's all fair. The Centurion was more an experiment to see what happens with a Medium Nanoforge, and won't be a 'combat' model. After all, at this point if she is planning on going to fight she can just outright make a new mech for that.
I don't think the cost is that out there. A couple of Fusion Engines would definitely hit that almost on their own. And I never said what was in the box of parts.
Yeah this was a definite filler chapter. That was on purpose as a cool down from the battle chapter last time. Although I know some of it was bloat. The scene with the Dropship captain was originally going somewhere completely different, but it ended up not working out, so I trashed it, and worked it into something else. To be honest, this is the first story I have ever written where I am putting myself into a time crunch. (One chapter a week) so I'm not always gonna hit the mark on every chapter.
I'll keep in mind keeping things going more in the future, but I also like a little fluff in a chapter. I'll work on it.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
say with the stuff available on the blueprints Vicky has she can easily make HBS heavy laser turrets and for that matter Heavy LRM turrets
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
I don't think it works that way. She has all the components but unless she actually knows how they all work and interact, she can't remix or design plans, just print what's already scanned. She can shape a block of concrete into any form she wants by imagining it but it's still just concrete in a shape. A turret is more complex, she probably needs to scan one first.