The BattleTech Dynasty: Chapt 3, Solaris VII, 3040-3042

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by law90026

Always liked the Wolfhound, good luck!

Thanks! As you can see, we took them down.

[Abe Sargent]

December 6, 3040 - Our contract ends quietly.


Here we go:


Salary: x3.7, x1.4 Lyran, x1.3 Security
Salvage: Shared
Command: House
Transport: 50%
Remuneration: No
Support: Battle-Loss: 50%
Length: 3 mths
17% Bonus


What we paid:

424,250 - salary and equipment
500,000 - transport
Fix Spider - 375,000
Armor 20 tons - 200,000
Ammo - 279,000

Total: 1,778,250



Salvage Values:

Valkyrie H, LT, RA, LL, RL - 1.6 million
Marauder H, LL, RL 1.7 million
Centurion H, LL, RL, RT, LT, LA, RA 2.5 million
Clint, missing H, LA, RA, LT 1,950.000 currently : 1.45 to fix


Total value: 7,750,000


Salvaged Value: 3,875,000

Take the Clint, Marauder pieces and Valkyrie RA.



What we made:

3,875,000 - Shared Salvage
250,000 - transport
187,500 - 50% Battle Loss for Spider Leg
100,000 - 505 Battle Loss
647,275 - Salary
110,000 - Bonus
270,000 - Emergency Powers Clause Extension



Total - 5,439,775


Total Gain: 3,661,525


I fix up the Clint and send it to the garrison on Epsilon Eridani.

[Abe Sargent]

February 10, 3041 - Delta Company arrives back at Epsilon Eridani.




Okay, let’s dial the clock back…

July 1, 3040 - The following units are on Epsilon Eridani - Defender Company, Trinity Company, and Phaeton, Hex ands Delta are back from the Fletcher contract.

Pretty soon, we can expect some of the new recruits from Solaris VII to arrive. What’s that?

The best place to find recruits is on Outreach. Here you can find MechWarriors, vehicle crews, aerospace pilots, infantry platoons, and many of them have their own mech, fighter, tank, etc. Outreach gets a ton of traffic.

But it’s not the only place. Galatea is the planet that used to be the home of mercenary recruiting until Outreach replaced it. There are still a lot of lesser know and smaller units that go there. It’s losing people every year in trade, but there are still a lot there.

The third biggest recruiting spot, and quickly growing to become #2 with the fall of Galatea, is Solaris VII. If you think about it, it does make a lot of sense. Here you have a planet where MechWarriors from all over the Inner Sphere arrive, usually without mechs, and trying to make a better name for themselves. This is often one of the last refuges of the dispossessed.

And as such, there are many opportunities for recruitment, not just to stables, but to units. A lot of employers will go there too, because it is a natural place to find weaponry, armor, mechs and supplies, so a lot of units will take shore leave there.


Here are the rules for recruiting at Solaris VII.

1). I can only recruit at one third my normal speed
2). My rolls always get -1
3). If trying to recruit a MechWarrior with a mech, subtract an additional -3
4). If trying to recruit a dispossessed non-MW, subtract an additional -2 to #2 above.
5). If trying to recruit crew, pilots, battle armor, etc with everything in place, subtract an additional -2 to #4 and 2 above.


Braham Essex has 3 prestige so he can usually make 3 rolls a month, now he can make just one, at -1, with the additional modifiers listed above.

[Abe Sargent]

Okay, let’s roll for units in July.

You know, this doesn’t seem that realistic. It’s not like each unit should get separate rolls, even though that’s what the book says. Instead, I am going to roll a # of contracts each month, and I can choose who takes it and so forth. That makes a lot more sense.


July Contracts in our size:

Corporation - Security contract, in St Ives Compact, Daniels, 10 jumps away
St. Ives Compact - Garrison
Lyran Commonwealth - Objective Raid on Westerstede, in their own territory, 9 jumps away. don’t know what that’s about.
Corporation - Garrison
Corporation - Objective Raid, waaaaaay out there.


Lyran Commonwealth will be done by Trinity Company.


They want us to attack and destroy a company center in their own territory, because their intel says that the company has been selling Lyran corporate secrets and information to Free Worlds League interests. We are to land, fight off any resistance, destroy the center, and lift back off.

Contract:

Length: 1 month
Transport: 50%
Battle-Loss: 50%
Salvage: Shared
Remuneration: No
Salary: x3.7, x1.6 x 1.3
Command: Independent
18% Bonus


We will land at Westerstede on Oct 1, 3040.

[Abe Sargent]

The Security Contract:

Provide security detail for a mining consortium that has discovered some rare ores on Daniels. Word is about to get out, and they want protection for a few months. I send Hex Company.



Hex Company’s Contract:


Support: Battle-Loss 50%
Salary: x3.4%, x1.3, x1.1
Salvage: Shared
Remuneration: Yes
Command: Liaison
Transport: 50%
Length: 5 months


Hex Company will arrive on Daniels on Oct 17, 3040.


Hex Company completes their contract, quietly, on Feb 17, 3041. They return back home and arrive on July 3, 3041.



Costs:

501,840 - Salaries and upkeep for one year for Hex Company
1,100,000 - Transport for Hex Company
1,601,040 - Total Paid


Payments:

550,000 - transport
565,000 - salary
28,250 - Remuneration


1,143,500 - Made


Total Lost: 457,790

I take it out of our bank account.

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, now let’s do Trinity Company’s Contract.


October 2, 3040 - Trinity Company has disembarked near the target, and we are initially wearing the colors of Lyran Guards, but we will need to change that as we get close to our target, in order to not throw too much suspicion on the Commonwealth.


Oct 3, 3040 - We approach our target. Lyran intel says the defenders are a company of tanks and a lance of mechs. We are about to find out if they are right or not.

Nope, they were wrong by a LOT (in order to determine if intel was right or not, I roll 2d6. If I roll an 8 or higher, intel was off. An 8 itself would be a minor change, maybe in his case a few VTOLs or something. The higher the number rolled, the farther off their intel was. I rolled a 12.)


We approach the company. The center sends out a company of tanks and we see them on our screen, and move towards them. The mechs have yet to bee seen. Perhaps they are out on patrol, or yet to warm up. As we hit the extreme range on our weapons, a bunch of heat signatures flare up around us. Dozens of mech signals are warming up, all around us. There is no where to go.

It looks like an entire regiment of mechs. We break to our left in order to try and bust out, but a large number of warning shots put us in our place.

We get radioed from them, and Lt. Jason Thomas answers.

“So, it seems like our little trap worked.”

They give us a few pieces of information. Apparently, Skye Independence Movement folks fed the information to the Lyran Intelligence with the hope they would send units to attack one of their own companies. This is quite illegal. They expected either a small mercenary unit like us, or a small highly loyal Lyran unit. They got us.

They want the Steiners, not us. Their deal is simple. We walk out of here, with our mechs, if we simply reveal all of the information we have on this contract. Otherwise, they will confiscate our mechs and take us prisoner for attacking Lyran soil.

[Abe Sargent]

Well, isn’t this great. Lt. Thomas radios our liaison, who is, conveniently not available.

Now, let’s understand these actions -

1). If we lose all of our mechs, Steiner will have to replace half due to our Battle-Loss Compensation, so we really only lose half.
2). If we choose to violate the contact by revealing its terms, who our contacts were, and so forth, then we fail the mission, we could get brought up on charges by the Lyran Commonwealth before the Mercenary Review Board.
3). If we choose to violate it, it will be an embarrassment for the Commonwealth.
4). If we don’t we get tossed in jail for who knows how long. It is possible the Lyrans will ignore us in jail, because we are an embarrassment.


Secrecy was the whole point. We stick to our guns. We lose our 12 mechs. Our MechWarriors are jailed.

[Abe Sargent]

Oct 10, 3040 - No one has come to release us. We have pled our case before Steiner, and as predicted, nothing.

Oct 16, 3040 - No word is still heard about our case, and our people are still incarcerated. We start rattling sabers, not with Steiner, but with Davion. As you’ll recall, Davion and Steiner are combining their realms into one right now, and we are Davion citizens. I doubt House Davion wants mercenaries that are loyal to contracts being forgotten by Steiner.


Oct 21, 3040 - Davion agrees to see what they can do.

Nov 12, 3040 - At this point in time, Davion says they can do nothing.

Ted Izumo makes an executive decision. He comes out of retirement and leads all K&C units currently not in contract to Westerstede. We are going in hot in order to invade, free our people, grab what materiel we can, and break out.

Okay, we need to back up and find out who is available at that time.

[Abe Sargent]

Vehicle Company is on a garrison.
Trinity Company has been captured.
Aleph Company is doing cadre work for Comstar
Hex Company is doing security work in St. Ives
Delta Company is on contract until Dec 6, but it just four jumps away from Westerstede, and can meet us there.
Defender Company would just be coming online, and be available.

Delta Company
Defender Company

Cinq? Phaeton? Let’s find out by backing up the clock.

[Abe Sargent]

August, 3040 Contracts:

Fed Suns, Objective Raid, on Fomalhaut. We are to hit one of the planets taken by the Dracs last year, smash them in the mouth, destroy a listening post into Davion space, and then leave. It’s jus two jumps away.
Fed Suns, Riot and Garrison Duty somewhere. No thanks.
Retainer by Free Worlds League. HA
Free Rasalhague Republic, Extraction, against Lyrans, against Kandersteg, way out there, about 14 jumps away. No thanks friends

The Raid looks good, and seems like the sort of contract I’d normally take.


Davion needs a listening post destroyed, and as soon as we are ready, another strike by an RCT on the world will hit more important targets, and while that goes on, we should be free to hit the Listening Post with little resistance.

The Davion unit on site has the authority to hire us for additional contracts on Fomalhaut, just in case they need the support.

We send Cinq Company

Contract:

Salary: x3.4, x1.4, x1.6
Remuneration: No
Salvage: Shared
Command: House
Transport: Full
Support: Battle-Loss: 25%
Length: 2 months
15% Bonus


Alright, let’s do it.

[Abe Sargent]

August 22, 3040 - Cinq Company arrives in the Fomalhaut system two days after the RCT gets here and is already making for planetside.

August 27, 3040 - We land uncontested with our small Union class dropship as most of the defense of Fomalhaut is concentrated on the RCT attacking a large number of high value targets. We expect token resistance at the listening post.

Aug 28, 3040 - In fact, they left no one but some infantry to guard the post, and we are able to sweep in easily and destroy it. We can blast off now, if we want.

Lt. Mika Motone radios their CO to see if they have anything more to offer us while we are here, before we blast off.

A few hours later we get an Extraction contract identical to the first to head out and hit a nearby mining complex, destroy any defenders, and capture as much ore and equipment as we can load on our Union, and then we can take off. Not only will this hurt industry on Fomalhaut and the Dragon’s efforts, but it will also give the Davions some money.

Aug 29, 3040 - We hit the mine in the early morning hours. As we approach, we see some vehicles appear on our screen.


Here is Cinq Company’s very own Wolverine, piloted by Martine Kobolev. It is a 55 ton mech with a lot of variants in different Successor States, but it is quite common on the battlefield. With 5/8/5 movement good armor and usually good weapons, it’s a fine mech for the era.

[Abe Sargent]

This should not even be close.

We even win init. They all charge at me, almost kamikaze like style. One of their Leviathan’s AC20s hit’s the leg of our Crusader and hits an actuator. Our Griffin destroys the Leviathan. It is recoverable. Our Crusader falls and hits an SRM6 in his leg. He also hits his head, and then blacks out.

We lose init. I begin toi move units over to protect the Crusader. Our BattleMaster destroys a Bulldog Medium Tank. Our Hunchback destroys another. Our Crusader RL is destroyed, then its ammo goes up, and its engine explodes too. The MW is ejected, takes damage, but survives. The engine explodes and tears off the LL of our Wasp. Wolverine kicks and destroys a Von Luckner. Zeus kicks and hit’s a Sturmfeur’s fuel tank and it explodes

With so many of their vehicles destroyed, they choose to run, and allow us access to the mining complex and raid it.


Salvage:

Leviathan 2.83 mill
Bulldog Medium Tankx2 1.125 each
Von Luckner 3.69 mill




To Repair:

Wasp LL




We need about 15 tons of armor for our mechs.

[Tellistto]

Wow, some serious bad luck on that Crusader hit and boom.

Still reading along and enjoying!

Tell

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Tellistto

Wow, some serious bad luck on that Crusader hit and boom.

Still reading along and enjoying!

Tell

Thanks! There always seems to be danger in the small stuff.

[Abe Sargent]

Aug 31, 3040 - We blast off after finalizing our contract:


Salvage value: 8,770,000

Shared Value: 4,385,000


We take both the Leviathan and a Bulldog.



We made:


4,385,000 - Salvage
1,400,000 - 25% of Crusader
80,000 - 25% of Wasp Leg
37,500 - 25% of Armor
172,350 - Salary
25,850 - Bonus


We spent:

150,000 - Armor
315,000 - Wasp Leg
75,000 - Ammo
134,000 - Salary and upkeep


Total Made: 5,427,200


We will add a Griffin to the company to replace the Crusader from our empty mechs on Epsilon Eridani. This means we now have two Griffins, a bit unusual, but it was the best we could do on short notice.


Martine Kobolev is now officially elite.


Sept 28, 3040 - We arrive back at Epsilon Eridani.

[Abe Sargent]

September Contracts for Phaeton Company.


Cappellan Confederation for an Objective Raid against Free Worlds League
Free Rasalhague Republic for Planetary Defense. Nah, too heavy
Corporation in Cappella wanting a Cadre/Garrison contract. No thanks.


Let ‘s look at the CC Raid. They want us to hit Varna, a planet five jumps away. Nice. They want us to destroy a small garrison of mercenary mechs on the planet, painted in Marik colors. Fine by me.


Now, obviously I would want Phaeton Company to join the assault on Lyran Space in a but, but I have to play like I don’t know what is happening there.



Contract:

Command: Independent
Remuneration: No
Salary: x3.7, x1.6, x1.2
Length of Service: 2 months
Transport: 50%
Support - Battle Loss: 40%
Salvage: Shared
20% bonus

Oct 30, 3040 - We arrive in the Varna system.

Nov 4, 3040 - We land near the mercenary garrison. These are a company called “Jensen’s Jokers.”

Nov 5, 3040 - We head up and move out to the garrison. Our goal is not to hit anything of value, but just to smash the Jokers, letting a few retreat so that they can tell everyone Marik did it supposedly.


Here is Phaeton Company’s very rare Falcon. It’s not a great light mech with odd weapons, such as rear facing machine guns. It has decent speed.

[Abe Sargent]

Here are the mechs of Jensen’s Jokers


Stinger
Javelin
Commando
Victor
Goliath
Ostscout
Shadow Hawk
Scorpion
Phoenix Hawk
Marauder
Wolverine
Stalker

Their Victor is veteran and the rest are regular.

Alright, here we go.

We win init. One advantage they have is a nice copse of trees to hide behind so we have to charge it. Our Griffin tries to set some of their woods on fire with his PPC. It does not catch fire and nothing else major happens.

We win init again. We focus a lot of fire on their Stalker. Our Griffin hits its head with the PPC and it goes internal and the sensors and life support are both hit. Their Stalker falls, hits its head, and is destroyed. Wow. Our T Bolt took some damage but did not fall.


We lose init. We run up to their Scorpion and try and dice some weapons into it. I also bring forward my fire support because they are not coming forward from the woods, so I need to get closer for good shots. Our Thunderbolt missed their Scorpion with 6 weapons, and he needed a 7 on each one.

We win init. Out T Bolt destroys the LA of their Stinger. Our Dervish hit’s the SRM6 on their Scorpion. The T Bolt kicks and destroys the RL of their Stinge,r who falls and destroys his LT. Then the pilot blacks out.

We lose init. Their Marauder gets a through armor critical on our Dervish’s SRM ammo and it explodes. BOOM! Our Falcon hits their Stinger’s engine twice. Our Rifleman hit’s the AC5 on their Marauder and it will no longer function. Our Awesome kicks and destroys the LL on their Javelin. Our T Bolt kicks and destroys the CT of their Stinger. Their P Hawk was kicked by us and falls. They lit the hex my T Bolt was in on fire.


We barely win init. I back our damaged T Bolt out of the fire into a heavy woods hex. Their Jav fails to stand. Our T Bolt hits their Commando’s SRM ammo and it explode.s He is the first and only mech to ever fire at it this turn. Their P hawk hit’s a foot actuator on our Rifleman. The T Bolt kicks and destroys the Javelin on the ground. That’s three mech kills by the T Bolt in two turns. Our P Hawk kicks and hits two actuators on their Scorpion. Both their Marauder and Scorpion fall.

And with that, they begin to leave, they’ve had enough. We overrun and destroy their garrison. We lost a mech, but claimed an assault mech with just a H missing. Too bad we have that damn Shared salvage on this mission.


Salvage:

Stalker missing H - 6,500,000 - about 900k to fix
Stinger H, LL, RT, RA - 660,000
Commando RA - 200,000
Javelin H, RA, LA, RL - 750,000

Total Salvage: 8,110,000

We take the parts.


Earl Ray Williams, in the Thunderbolt, gains Edge: 1.

[Abe Sargent]

Contract:


We Paid:

500,000 - transport
212,112 - Salary and upkeep of unit
200,000 - armor
185,000 - ammo


Total Payment: 1,097,212


We receive:

1,995,600 - 40% of Dervish Value
80,000 - 40% of armor
250,000 - 50% of transport
4,055,000 - Shared Salvage
230,170 - Salary
46,035 - Bonus



Total made: 6,656,805

Total - 5,559,593


Nov 7, 3040 - We launch away from Varna.

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 20, 3040 - Phaeton Company gets the message about Ted’s attack on Westerstede, and will reroute to join them in system.



Here is who we have on the attack on Westerstede:

Phaeton Company minus the Dervish
Ted Izumo in his Stalker
Defender Company
Cinq Company
Delta Company


Braham Essex cannot join us from Solaris VII. This needs to be done on the qt, and having a high profile commander over on Solaris VII suddenly pull out may cause a lot of questions. However, he has sent something else.

The Dispossessed he has already hired arrived in Epsilon Eridani a while ago. We are bringing them:


Recruiting on Solaris VII through October:


Amber Revleron, elite
Scott Parnell, elite
Manuel Juarez, veteran
Mei Zhen, elite

They have been assigned to:


Awesome 8T
Phoenix Hawk 1K
Striker
Charger 1A9




They have been assigned to Ted Izumo’s personal lance, operating outside of the company system. That way, they have been working together on Epsilon Eridani and are now ready for action.

Ted is also bringing an extra mech that might just work in this occasion.



Before we leave, Ted makes one more call to our official on Outreach. We hope for an answer.

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 15, 3040 - The Kilts and Commandos blast off from Epsilon Eridani and leave behind the second vehicle company plus the students as emergency garrison.

Nov 23, 3040 - Ted’s call to Outreach has succeeded. What we he wanting? Aid.

You see, normally, when we do assaults like this, we have AeroSpace assets covering us and keeping opposing AeroSpace units off our backs, but we have no such units in our force, so now that we are doing an action by ourselves, we need some AeroSpace assets, so Ted flips the script.

This time, we are HIRING mercenaries.


Contract with Beta Company, Hell’s Black Aces.

Dragoon Rating A

One of the best AeroSpace units in the Inner Sphere, and they will be covering for us.


Length of Contract: 2 months
Salvage: Full
Transport: 50%
Remuneration: Yes
Command: House
Salary: x4, x1.6, x1
Battle Loss: 50%
40% Bonus

Dec 18, 3040 - A day of mourning for the one year anniversary of the fall of Andurien.

EVENT - Jan 1, 3041 - Due to the ease of jamming its signal, All Inner Sphere forces have been given the ECM jamming information for the Listen-Kill missiles and they will no longer work against IS foes.

January 19, 3041 - We arrive at Westerstede.

January 27, 3041 - The rest of the units have arrived, included the Black Aces Beta Company.

[Abe Sargent]

Here is Westerstede:


1 regiment, regular troops, mechwarriors, with a tendency to lean towards Skye, but are not actually, technically, affiliated with the Isle of Skye Secessionist movement.
A variety of militia
1 regiment of conventional forces, very loyal to the Archon.


There are two reasons our action might get us in trouble:

1). We are initiating an independent military action against a successor state. This is generally viewed as “very bad.”

2). We are one jump away from Tharkad, the capital of the Lyran Commonwealth. They can respond very quickly if they want.

Let’s recap what has happened:

Trinity Company was hired by the Lyrans to destroy a control center of a company on Westerstede that their intel said was selling corporate and Lyran secrets abroad. We were to do this incognito. Intel also said there would be a small garrison force, easily overcome.

In fact, the intel was fed by Skye dissidents who wanted to catch the Lyran Commonwealth government doing something illegal, in this case, purchasing military personnel to attack a domestic company. It is illegal for the government to attack its own citizens, even through mercenaries.

We refused to reveal that we were working for the Steiner government, as part of our deal. We walked into a huge trap, and surrendered. Our mechs were taken, and our people imprisoned.

We waited for Lyran aid, but it did not come. To get us free, the Steiner Government would have to admit that they sent us. We appealed to the Federated Suns for aid, since the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth are uniting to become one realm, and although they claim they tried to help us, it didn’t take long before they could do nothing. In fact, it was a suspiciously short amount of time before we were told it would not happen.

Therefore, we have decided to assault Westerstede, find our people, break them out of jail, and then leave.


This is not a contract. We are getting no money. As such in order to support our efforts, we may have to develop some sticky fingers, if you get my drift.

My hope is that the Lyrans will keep away, because if they send a bunch of units to Westerstede to stop us, then they know we will break the silence.

[Abe Sargent]

Here is our plan.

Land, secretly if possible.
Get intel, find out where they are, what the defenses are, etc.
Try subterfuge first
Invade if necessary
Use the Black Aces to keep away enemy fighters if they show up. Otherwise, call on them to bomb and strafe the enemy. He who has air support is he who will win.
Take as much salvage as we can carry, because it may be the only pay we get.
Leave


Secondary Objective:

Find our mechs, and bring them with us.

[Abe Sargent]

Our goal is to extract the Trinity Twelve, but if we can get our hands on the mechs, then so much the better. They’ve had the mechs for a while, my guess is they’ve already been given out and are gone.


We have two things on our side:

1). Surprise. Never underestimate it.
2). Righteousness. Never underestimate it.
3). Not one, but two aces in the sleeve. The Black Aces, and….something else. We’ll see if it is needed.


We also brought four infantry platoons, and that Boomerang Spy Plane we have.

[Abe Sargent]

The Westerstede Geography:

This world has one supercontinent taking up most of the northern hemisphere, which is used solely for agriculture, and then several large Australia sized islands in the southern hemisphere that have the small amounts of industry and the commercial areas.


We attacked on one of the islands, and it only makes sense to take us to a closer jail, so we suspect they are on the islands.

We land thusly:

Black Aces in a merchant DropShip in the smallest DropPort in the area, a small industrial city on the middle of the three islands.
Delta Company and Cinq, land in the same place

Phaeton Company lands in the largest DropPort in the area, a merchant center in the capital of the western island.

Defender Company lands in the capital of the eastern island, a moderately sized city that distributes the food from the planet to DropShips for sale abroad.

Ted’s fortified Lance of five mechs, plus the infantry and Boomerang lands in the western island, in a coastal city with a small DropPort. The area sees a lot of tourism.


The western island was the one Trinity Attacked, so it is where Ted Izumo will start looking. However, we ultimately believe the central, largest island, is the one they are being kept at, but we want to eliminate this island first, just in case.

The regiment of mechs is spread out in these islands, and the conventional unit is on the continent. There are militia units down here though, in the cities, commercial and industrial areas, and such.

The capital of the planet is actually on the northern continent, so a lot of the militia is up there. The militia does include some mech forces.

[Abe Sargent]

January 31, 3041 - All of our units have landed on Westerstede quietly among the bustle of various DropPorts.

Feb 2, 3041 - After getting the lay of the land, Ted, the infantry, and the Boomerang are the first to investigate. We have to find out where they are hiding our people. The new reports about the attack do not mention where our people were taken.

Feb 4, 3041 - Some of our infantry have overheard about a military prison on the western continent here. It is possible that our folks were dropped off here, but we have to find out.

February 7, 3041 - After some pictures were taken by infantry from long range, we have to find out if our folks are here or not. Time to unveil one of our aces.

[Abe Sargent]

Night falls. Ted Izumo has the extra mech brought out in a cargo truck to an area near the jail, but far enough away to make sure that when he warms it up, no one will see.

The truck pulls under a copse of trees, and the mech is stood upright. Ted pauses for a few moments to reflect on the awe and majesty of the mech he is about to pilot for the second time only (he took it out for a spin back on Eridani in order to become comfortable with it, just in case. - one of the perks of the job).

He smiles as he eases into the old cockpit, but still glistening from its last cleaning. He is about to take an artifact, a relic of a former time, into battle. No person, outside of Comstar, has piloted this mech in centuries, since they were all killed in the First Succession War.

The Exterminator warms up quickly. Ted turns on the Null Signature System. Now, his mech is much more inefficient at dealing with heat, since it shunts much of the heat into the ground. However, the mech is now impenetrable to electronic scanning or spying. The only way you see this is if you can get a visual scan. At night time, this is hoped to be very uncommon, with human eyes relying on Thermographic, Electromagnetic, or Seismic sensors.


Let’s roll. Ted is able to wait out some mechs moving around, then moves after they have passed. He arrives near the jail, and he drops several giant mesh bag. Out comes Steve Sanders’s jump platoon with lasers. They begin to split up in a pre-arranged pattern in order to see if our people are here.

After a few moments, they believe that they have found the building used as a jail. There are several mechs nearby and Ted cannot risk going into the bright lights of the surrounding area. The infantry sneak up as close as they can and….

They are able to discover that yes, this is where they are being kept.

The platoon certainly makes heat, but some extra bodys of heat won’t show up as anything usual on their thermo graphic sensors, just things vehicle or mech sized.

They retreat, climb back into positions on Ted’s mech and sneak back out. On the way back out…. Ted just barely misses another scouting unit. He drops into a prone stance. Then, as he thinks they have left, one turns around abruptly as if they saw something. Ted waits…

And the mech comes near him. It’s like a movie, where the guards look around a few times, scratch their head, and then leave. After they pass for sure, Ted resumes moving.


Whew!

Objective completed.

[Abe Sargent]

Feb 11, 3041 - Slowly, over the next few days, we move our troops to the western island. Two companies plus the Black Aces are in the capital, while the other forces join Ted in the coastal port.

Time to put a plan in motion.

Here is the plan. Ted will use his Exterminator again, and this time, instead of placing infantry, he will place bombs in several key locations. He won’t be able to get near anything sensitive nor will he be able to place them in obvious places because the bombs are subject to the scanners that his mech is not.

The goal is to get in quickly, place some bombs, get out, detonate them, then, as they move in to find out what and who and where, we attack from the other side of the compound. Once we start that, Ted’s Exterminator, the mech with the inability to be seen on any scan other than the visual spectrum. He can launch long-range missiles, and perhaps attack. This will make it seem like there are forces on the side of the bombs and suggests that invasions are coming from both sides. Then, while people are distracted by both our mech attack and our bombs + Ted, our fighters begin to bomb and strafe. With the bombing and the strafing, the mech attack and the explosions we planted, there should be enough confusion to get our infantry in and get in, grab our people, and get back out.

Once the infantry are successful, Captains Ted Izumo and Matthew Humphries have decisions to make. Do we press, or run? We could press and defeat the garrison, and take what materiel we can manage, and then leave, quickly. Or we could run, but we might be fighting the entire way back to the DropShips.

[Abe Sargent]

Feb 12, 3041 - Just after midnight, Ted’s Exterminator approaches the edge of their patrols and scanners. He doesn’t see anyone and begins to approach.

He makes it easily past the first group of scouts he spies in tanks driving around outside the compound.

As he approaches the area, he finds the several areas he intends to mine. He can’t do a lot of detail work in his mech, he simply has three pre-armed and prepared bundles and drops one at each location. One is at the base of a scanner disc, and will knock out their scanners to the base’s west. Another is at a fuel storage system, and will make a satisfying boom and fire. The final one is beside a small shed with various tools in it. He begins to back away when he runs into a mech walking around. Is he seen?


….


Nope, not even close (I needed an 8 on 2d6 and rolled a 2).

Ted easily escapes. When everyone is in position a few minutes later, he detonates the first two bombs, and keeps the third for a rainy day. Operation: Liberation has begun.

[Abe Sargent]

As Captain Matthew Humphries sees the explosions far away, he orders the mechs to warm up. Within a few minutes, the various mech forces begin to march in unison towards the compounds. 54 mechs march in unison, slowly, inexorably.

As they reach range, the Steiner compound begins to ting massively. Knowing that the only group to come and spring out the prisoners would be us, we wear our flag symbol on our mechs with pride. The black crossed Gun and Sword on a red tartan background is on the right leg on every mech in the unit other than Ted’s Exterminator.

Their troops are marshalling towards the fire, but almost as one, they turn around and begin to move to us.


……

Since he did not go far, Ted is quickly able to get back near the fires, as he sees faster tanks and mechs almost reach it. Once he sees their main mech force turn around and face ours, he pauses for a few seconds, and then detonates the third bomb. A nearby tank catches on fire and stops. Then Ted launches Long Range missiles, not at some tanks or a Locust, but at the compound headquarters itself. Suddenly, a ghost unit, not appearing on their sensors is launching missiles at their command building, and another explosion goes up.

Predictably, they split up their forces and send many scout forces towards Ted, while their heavier forces push towards Matthew Humphries and his 54 mechs.


Ted begins to jump away, while still launching missiles at some of their scout units. A few glimpse something in the air.


……


Sergeant Steve Sanders begins to order the four infantry platoons under his command to approach the compound from their position from the northwest. They will pass under the area once viewed by the now destroyed sensor dish, but not close to it.


……


Ted spies the mechs of Matthew’s command split into company units in order to outflank and attack the Steiner mechs. Once combat has been joined, he orders the Black Aces to begin strafing the mechs chasing him, and bombing any remaining forces in the compound although to stay clear of the building with our people, or the two routes in and out we already planned for our infantry. Plus a few other buildings we believe have useful materiel in them, just in case we manage to win this.


……

Within two minutes, the elite AeroSpace fighters of Beta Company begin to strafe the lighter scout mechs chasing Ted, giving them more problems than they can handle. It’s dark, and only a few hit, but you don’t have to hit with much in order to really hurt a light mech or lighter medium mech.

They immediately begin to spread out to make themselves harder to hit - normal tactics against fighters strafing. Which means they are not heading back to the compound or chasing Ted.

More fighters begin to bomb several buildings and tanks in the compound. A few conventional fighters from the capital should be here in a few minutes, and the Beta Company’s job will be to shoot them and keep them off our back.

……

Seeing the heavier Steiner units charge his force, Matthew Humphries orders his units to separate into their own commands, and orders Ted’s supplement lance to back up, go off to the east when battle is ensued, and provide any support to the infantry if it is needed.

Cinq and Delta Companies are ordered to flank the foe on each side, while the 15 mech Defender company and Phaeton Company hold the middle and split.

How does the defending Steiner unit respond to this splitting of fronts? They decides to charge, as one, towards Cinq company’s flank. Matthew isn’t sure why, it’s not a smart move. Perhaps their leaders were held back or in the other unit, or perhaps they haven’t been able to go from being asleep to being attacked and assaulted and now counter striking.

The answer is simple. Cinq company begins to retreat, while Delta starts sending long range energy weaponry at their rear and Phaeton and Defender companies hit from their flank. Meanwhile, this is the perfect chance for Ted’s lance to split off.

After Phaeton, Defender and Delta begin to close, Cinq spins and turns to face their force. With them outflanked and units in the rear, their command structure begins to break up and they dissolve into lances, moving as units of four mechs before battle even begins.

When the AeroSpace units begin to hit their compound and the scouting mechs begin to be strafed by fighters, it is obvious that the mechs Matthew are about to hit deflate just a little, but it is too late now.

A random number of lances hits each company, as they have lost all coordination.

[Abe Sargent]

Number of mechs in the compound - 2 battalions - 72. # of scout mechs currently missing. 24. 48 mechs remaining, almost exclusively medium, heavy and assault, and all with fire support or close in hitting roles.

That means there are 12 lances out there, half fire support and half close range. How will they break down against us? Well, let’s roll and find out.


Phaeton: Fire Support x1, Close Range x3

Delta: Fire Support, x2

Cinq: Fire Support x3, Close Rangex1

Defender: Close Rangex2


Okay, so we have two companies with two lances each, and two companies with 4 lances each. Plus, our plus size company, Defender company, is only against two lances. Hmm.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s begin with Defender Company.

Our Foes:

Hunchback
Awesome
BattleMaster
Orion
Wolverine
Valkyrie
Thunderbolt
Zeus


Three assaults, 2 heavies, 2 mediums and one light (the Valkyrie)


Here is Defender’s Grasshopper piloted by Bryson Abasi. It is a heavy mech that I am not a fan of, although I know some others might disagree with me. It is 70 tons with 4/6/4 movement, quite interesting for a heavy mech. To its credit, it is almost fully armored. It features 4 medium lasers, a large laser, a useless LRM5, and 22 heat sinks. It’s not the worse mech I’ve ever seen, but I’ve seen a lot better, and the LRM5 is superfluous when fighting against mechs of a similar weight.

[Abe Sargent]

Okay, here is Defender’s first action for us. Let’s go.


We win init. This should be over soon. Elite pilots at night fighting regular pilots at night, plus we have 15 mechs to their 8, even if their 8 are heavier, that’s good odds. They rush us. In darkness, it takes you three spaces for each hex you walk or run but not jump, not counting trees or whatnot. Our area is bereft of trees and just has minor slopes. All units are at +3 to hit, and as a result, elite pilots are much better. Adding 3 to your base of 2 is much easier to hit than adding it to a base of 4. I’ve got pilots that only need to hit 7s and 8s after all modifiers, and they have to hit 9s and 10s. Good math. Our Archer and Stalker hit their Zeus in the each once each, and the external armor is shed away and the sensors are hit.

We lose init. Our Grasshopper hit’s the Zeus’s head with a Medium Laser and it dies.

We win init. Our P Hawk jumps around the back of their Hunchy, an then fires a lot of weapons into its rear and it hits ammo and explodes.

We lose init again. I hop our Firestarter behind their Thunderbolt. Their Awesome falls after taking a lot of damage.

We lose again. I jump our P Hawk behind their BattleMaster. I get our Jav in the rear arc of their T Bolt three spaces back. Their Awesome stands. Our Jav goes internal and hit’s the T Bolt’s LRM15. Their Awesome falls again, heh.

We win init. I hope our FS behind their T Bolt again. Their Awesome does not try to stand. Their BattleMaster gets a through armor critical on our Orion and hits its MG ammo and it explodes. Lucky bastards. Our Warhammer hit’s a pair of leg actuaotrs on their BM. It tumbles. Our FS missed all but one shot (and needed 8s). Our BM kicks and hits an engine on their Awesome.

We win init. I jump our Whitworth behind their fallen BM who failed to stand. Jav behind their T Bolt. Stinger behind their Orion. Our BattleMaster hits their Awesome’s cockpit and their pilot dies. Our Whitworth and Grasshopper each kick off the leg of their BM.

With four of their original mechs destroyed including all three assaults, they begin to retreat, and Matthew immediately moves to block them. Their Valkyrie and Wolverine get away, they was too far back and too fast with jump jets. Their other two mechs are encircled and we easily are faster with many jump capable units. They surrender their machines to us.




Salvage:

Zeus missing H
Awesome with cockpit hit, PPC hits twice, heat sink hit.
BattleMaster missing RL, LL, hit SRM6 x2, Medium Laser, PPC
Hunchback LA, RT

Thunderbolt
Orion

Captured

Valkyrie and Wolverine got away.

[Abe Sargent]

Defender Company is the first to finish since they were the firs to engage. Seeing their comrades fall, the other groups will fight much harder before quitting, instead of just going about halfsies.

It will take about 20 tons for my mechs, because we didn’t get much damage at all to any of our mechs. It was really hard for them to hit us, and although we missed a lot, we hit enough.

I hand our MW the unabused Orion to replace the destroyed one. We get the security codes from the MW we captured, but will turn loose soon.


Next up, Phaeton Company, who was near Defender company.


Phaeton’s Foes:

Valkyrie
Griffin
Rifleman
Thunderbolt
Stalker
Atlas
Warhammer
Centurion
Victor
Shadow Hawk
Panther
Cyclops
Ostsol
Enforcer
Crusader
Merlin

4 assaults, 2 lights, 6 heavies, 4 mediums




Remember that Phaeton Company is down a mech. So that’s 11 vs. 16. Of those 11, 6 are jump jet equipped.


This is our foe’s Victor. It is an 80 assault mech designed to close with its foe, with 4/6/4 movement and featuring a powerful AC20 with medium lasers to back it up. However, it has lighter armor than you’d expect, and it is often the victim of its own tactics.

[Abe Sargent]

They have a much higher BV than us even at regular. We just have to hope that we will be able to turn the darkness into enough of an advantage that we manage to be victorious. This place is almost completely flat and out in the open, so no one can hide behind anything.

We win init. Just an exchange of long range weapons and very sloooow positioning.

We win init. Just more exchange of fire barely.

We win init yet again. This is going slowly. It’s tough, I want to talk about the battles, but there is not much happening, so nothing to talk about. I do hop our Jav 10F behind their Crusader. We miss all of the Mls and the kick on the Crusader.

We still win init. I jump our P Hawk behind their Crusader. Our Catapult loses an LRM15 buts hits an engine and gyro on their S Hawk. Both our Cat and their S Hawk fall.

We still win init. They stand their S Hawk back up. We stand up our Catapult. We jump our Jav behind their Crusader. More attacks.

We win init yet again. Still very little. P Hawk behind the Crusader, etc. Our Awesome destroys their S Hawk’s head with a PPC and its RL and LT with another in the same barrage. Their Rifleman falls. Our P Hawk kicks their Crusader and it tumbles.

They roll a 10 for init but we manage a 12 and win yet again. Silly. Rifleman stands. Jav behind their Crusader who stood back up. Our Awesome blows the RA of their Ostsol. Their Centurion destroys the LL of our Warhammer. Their Crusaders destroys its LT. Our Warhammer and their Rifleman fall. Our Hammer pilot blacks out so I can’t eject this next turn….

We win init yet again 9 to 7. P Hawk behind the Crusader. Their Rifleman fails to stand. Theur Crusader hit’s the engine x2 on my Warhammer 6L. Their Ostsol destroys the CT. Dead Warhammer. Our Griffin destroys the Rifleman’s RA. Their Atlas’s AC20 hits our Riflemans AC5 and Large laser on its RA. Their Crusader falls again after being kicked by the P Hawk. We roll high enough to recover the CT section (I rolled a10). Let’s try the engine and gyro. Nope, both need to be replaced

We win init 8 to 6. Their Crusader rises again. Jav behind the Crusader. Our Rifelman hit’s a LL on their Ostsol. Our Hermes II destroys its LL. It falls and destroys its RT.

We win init 11 to 10. Their Ostsol rises. P Hawk behind the Crusader. Our Awesome hit’s the AC10 on their Centurion. Our T Bolt destroys the RL of their R Man. Our Panther destroys its LT. Our Rifleman destroys the RL of their Ostsol. Our Catapult hit’s a foot actuator on their Centurion. Our P Hawk hits the gyro on their Crusader. Their Crusader, Centurion and Ostsol all tumble.

On round 11 we finally lose init 9 to 11. Their Crusader and Centurion stand again. We can’t jump behind their Crusader because they finally decided to guard its back with their Cyclops. Our Rifleman destroys the CT of their Ostsol.

We lose init 5 to 6. We have some damaged mehcs and so do they, we need to start offing their Rifleman, Centurion and Crusader. P Hawk behind their Cyclops. I fire at the Crusader though. Our Panther’s PPC is hit. Our P Hawk destroys the LA of their Crusader. Our Awesome hit’s the LRM10 on their Centurion. Out Catapult destroys the RA and RT of their Centurion. It falls and hits its engine once.

We win init 11 to 5. Their Centurion stays on the ground. Jav behind the Cyclops. Again, it will fire at the Crusader. Our Catapult destroys their Rifleman after hitting its AC5 ammo. Our Javelin hit’s the Crusader’s SRM ammo and it goes up too. Who builds a mech with ammo in its CT? Stupid Crusader. Their Thunderbolt and Atlas fall under damage. Our T Bolt and Griffin have been soloing their T Bolt for awhile and now we are getting results.

We lose init 6 to 10. Atlas and T Bolt of theirs stand. P Hawk in their Cyclops’ rear. Our T Bolt hit’s the Large Laser on their T Bolt.

We lose init 2 to 10. I hop both our Falcon and Jav behind their Cyclops. Our Hermes II hit’s the Hip Actuator on one of their Cyclops’s legs. It falls hard. Our Falcon misses a kick and falls. Our Jav kicks their Atlas and it falls.

We win 7 to 5. Their Cyclops stands. I get our P Hawk behind their now standing Atlas. Our Falcon scrambles up. Our Griffin destroys the CT of their Rifleman. Both their Thunderbolt and Atlas fall under weapons.

We lose 4 to 7. Jav jumps behind their Atlas. Their mechs rise. A lot of my mechs are starting to run out of ammo. Our T Bolt hit’s the engine, LRm15 and empty LRM15 slot on their Thunderbolt. Our Panther’s SRM4 hit’s a couple of leg actuators on their T Bolt. Our Hermes II hit’s a leg actuator on their Cyclops. Their T Bolt falls and destroys its RA and RT, hits its gyro twice and, it is out officially.

We win init 8 to 5. Quick status. Untouched - Javelin. Barely damaged - Hermes II, Griffin, T Bolt, Awesome, P Hawk. Damaged significantly - Catapult, Panther, Falcon, Rifleman. They are still pushing, no question. P Hawk behind the Atlas. Our Hermes II took some fire this turn.

I win 5 to 4. Their Cyclops falls while running. Our T Bolt destroys the CT of their Atlas. Our Hermes II hits another foot actuator on their Cyclops.

And with that, they begin to retreat with us having killed their Atlas, Shadow Hawk, Thunderbolt, Rifleman, Crusader, Ostsol, and Centurion. That’s a lot of kills.

We surround them like before, and like before, many get away. We are unable to stop their Valkyrie, Panther, Merlin, Enforcer and Victor from fleeing the field. The other three mechs surrender to us.




Salvage:

Shadow Hawk missing LT, H, RL
Ostsol H, LL
Crusader LT, LA, RL
Centurion H, LA, LL, RL
Atlas H, LL, RL, RA, LA, LT, RT
T Bolt gyro x2, leg actuators, engine x2, RA and RT destroyed.


Captured:

Warhammer
Cyclops with many actuators hit
Stalker



Repair:

Warhammer - LT, LL, gyro and engine need to be replaced.
Need to fix LRM15 on Catapult, AC5 and Large Laser on Rifleman, PPC on Panther.



This took hours to do, it was so slooow. Boring.

Oh, and it will take about 60 tons of armor for our scoured team.

Anakago Intade, in the Griffin, got his 8th kill and now has Edge: 1. We take the Warhammer 6R to replace the Warhammer 6L that got hammered until it gets fixed.

[Abe Sargent]

The next attack that hits is the thrust against Delta hitting them from their rear. They have two lances against our heavy company. Easy killings.


Here are our foes:

Archer 2S
Trebuchet
Griffin
Stalker
Marauder
JagerMech 6A (the one with two LRM15s and 2 AC2s)
Striker
Blackjack


Here is Samir Azif’s Wasp from Delta company, a very common 20 ton mech with a medium laser and a SRM2. It has 6/9/6 movement and relies on speed and not armor to keep it alive. According to some accounts, the Wasp is the second most common mech in the Inner Sphere after the Locust.

[Abe Sargent]

We win init, 6 to 5. Their Griffin hops next to my Crusader and I have to wonder why. Griffin’s weapons are a PPC and LRM10, both of which have minimum ranges. No other weapons, so it’s like it can’t even hit my Crusader, so the Crusader just stands still in order to nail their Griffin. Javelin behind their Marauder, Spider behind their Stalker. Then we just exchange fire.

We lose init 5 to 11. Jumped our Wasp behind their Blackjack. Spider behind their JagerMech. Jav behind their Striker. Their Griffin falls after taking some damage.

We win 10 to 7. Their Griffin arises. I manage our Dragon behind their Archer. The Jav too. Our BattleMaster runs up to their Marauder. Spider behind their Stalker. Our Black Knight hit’s the gyro and engine each once of their Trebuchet. Our Hermes II hits the Trebuchet’s ammo and BOOM. Our Awesome, their Griffin and their Marauder all fall. Our Javelin punches twice and goes internal both times on their Archer buts hits no critical components.

We won 9 to 3. Our Awesome arises. Griffin stands again. Spider behind the Striker. Wasp behind the JagerMech. Jav behind Archer again. The Griffin blew off its LA when it fell, before it stood again. Their Marauder stands up for more BattleMaster beatings. Sometimes you should just stay down kid. Our Crusader hit’s the engine on their Striker after it turns and exposes it to us after trying to escape from our Spider. Our Black Knight decapitates their Marauder. I told you to stay seated. Their Striker falls.

We win 11 to 2. They are down to 6 mechs and falling. Jav behind JagerMech. Wasp behind Blackjack. Spider behind Stalker. Their Striker stays on the ground. Our ‘Hammer destroys the Griffin’s RA. Their Stalker falls.

We win 5 to 4. This turn their Striker stands along with their Stalker. Jag behind JagerMech. We concentrate a lot of fire on their Stalker and it tumbles. Our Black Knight took some hits too. Our Banshee punches their Archer in its LT and destroys it. Our BM kicks their downed Stalker and hits an engine.

We win 9 to 8. They hop their Griffin away despite severe damage. I position my Catapult and Wasp to punt heads on their Griffin and/or Blackjack who are standing beside each other. Our Black Knight destroys the LL of their Stalker and hits its gyro twice. That counts as the kill. Our Hermes II then destroys its CT and that does not count as the kill. Not recoverable. Our Banshee punches the engine of their Archer. Our Spider kicks their Jagermech and gets a leg blown off critical on its LL. Our Jav punches and destroys its RA.

With just a few mechs left, they try to leave, but a legged JagerMech, savaged Archer, Striker are not getting away, but the savaged Griffin with virtually nothing left anywhere manages to elude as does the Blackjack.


Maggie Fraticelli, our Black Knight pilot, notched 8 kills and gains Edge: 1



Salvage:

Trebuchet LA
Marauder missing H and LA
Archer LA
Stalker RL, H, RT, LT, RA, LA
JagerMech LL


Captured:

Jagermech missing LL and RA
Archer 2s - engine hit, missing LT and LA
Striker no major damage, just a lot of armor gone.



It will take about 25 tons of armor for us.

[Abe Sargent]

Once the remaining forces see how quickly and effectively Delta, Phaeton and Defender company, they stop charging Cinq company, who is now ready for them, and regroup with the remaining units that managed to flee us and begin to move off into the night. We have more important things, so they go.




……


As Steve Sanders moves his men into the complex, he hides as some tanks come flying by, trying to elude the bombing from above. Ted’s lance of mechs is moving towards the facility and chasing some vehicles that fled before them.

Our infantry break into the building where we suspect they are hiding our people easily enough, but the building in big. We thought it was just office. It was not. There are several light tanks in here hiding from the bombing, and since we told them not to bomb this building, they are safe.

Steve Sanders and our infantry will have to defeat these tanks.


Our units:

Jump Laser Platoon
Foot SRM Platoon
Foot Rifle Platoon
Motorized Rifle

Their Tanks:

Scorpion Light Tank (ick)
J. Edgar Light Hover Tank


The Scorpion has a machine gun, which is an infantry killer.

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, here we go.


We lost init 7 to 11. We concentrate our fire on the J Edgar who is near us and our Jump Laser platoon damages its movement system and it is now immobile.

We lose 9 to 10. They choose to back up with their Scorpion and attack with its AC5 from outside our range. Our Foot Platoon Rifle destroys the J. Edgar’s right sid.e They are now promoted to Regular with their 4th kill. The Scorpion kills 6 men in the Jump laser platoon.

We lose 3 to 10. We advance towards their Scorpion in its corner and it tried to run but we get a turn to fire at it. Our Jump platoon hits its movement and it is destroyed and now immobile.

Their Scorpion crew surrender as our infantry begin to surround the tank.


Salvage:

Scorpion Light Tank with destroyed movement system
J Edgar with the same


Steve Sanders orders most of his men to rescue Trinity company. He begins to interrogate the captured vehicle crews. Where are Trinity Company mechs? That sort of thing. We are informed by several crew members independently that they were given away and distributed, as I feared.

[Abe Sargent]

With our objective reached, and our foes destroyed, we have a short period of time to get what we can before forces from the capital city reach us.

Hell’s Black Aces have a few conventional fighters and many vehicles they took as salvage. We order all of our DropShips to lift off and head here as one.

The remaining vehicles and mechs have dispersed.

We kept a few areas clean of bombs and our infantry cracks them open. There is some materiel here for us to procure. Not too much though. It’s not like we hit lucky and got LosTech refit kits or extra mechs or anything. Just some weapons, ammo and armor.


After taking what we can load onto the DropShips, both salvage and procurement, we lift off, with the Black Aces providing us a fighter screen as we head into space and to our JumpShips.



February 16, 3041 - Braham Essex finishes a long conversation with the very pleased Steiner delegation on Solaris VII. They know it was us that attacked their base, took tons of their mechs and materiel, made off with our people, and caused a lot of damage. Yet they are very, very happy, because we hammered and embarrassed a unit with significant Skye leanings. I wouldn’t be surprised if they played us they entire time, and actually knew the information was fake that they used to send us on a mission, and then did psych profiles that suggested we wouldn’t take it, and then would go in there, clean up the Steiner mess, and then give them a service they could not do themselves.

They happily send us a full company of mechs of the exact models of Trinity Company, so that we did not lose any materiel, and we can keep what we took, which means we took our materiel from Skye Secession and not from loyalists. Best of both worlds for Steiner.

Sometimes, the byzantine workings of the Great Houses really just piss me off.

[Abe Sargent]

February 17, 3041 - Our taskforce leaves the Westerstede system.

May 4, 3041 - We arrive back in Epsilon Eridani. We finish paying the Black Aces and they head back to Outreach.



Okay, let’s take a look at some stuff: What we took, what we have, what we spent, and so forth.



Transit to Westerstede and Back Again: 9 jumps away, 450k each way. 900k per DropShip, and we took 6 DropShips, so we spent 5.4 mill on transit.

Armor: Total used: 105 tons

Ammo: We used a lot of our initial ammo



5.4 mill - Transport
1,050,000 - Armor
962,500 - Ammo
4.2 million - to repair Warhammer 6L damaged in the fighting
600,000 - We give each member of Trinity Company a 50k C Bill bonus for their time incarcerated.
2,072,034 - Salary and upkeep for all units
1,950,000 - Total Paid to Hell’s Black Aces


Total Spent: 16,234,534

[Abe Sargent]

What did we get from the base rooms? Let’s roll some dice.

5 AC2s
3 MG
6 Flamer
6 LRM10
4 Medium Laser
2 SRM6
4 SRM4
1 SRM2
9 Heat Sinks
30 tons of armor
6 tons of AC20 ammo
5 tons of AC2 ammo
2 tons of MG ammo
10 tons of LRM10 ammo
4 tons of LRM5 ammo
7 tons of SRM6 ammo
6 tons of SRM4 ammo
3 tons of SRM2 ammo



Total: 2,786,000

This can mostly cut into the previous price, since much of it is ammo and armor that would just get used instead of spending. There are some weapons and heat sinks in here though, so we’ll have to sell some of them for a reduced price in order to get some cash.

Total After Selling: 2,400,000

[Abe Sargent]

What else did we salvage:


Scorpion Light Tank with destroyed movement system
J Edgar with the same
Trebuchet LA
Marauder missing H and LA
Stalker RL, H, RT, LT, RA, LA
Jagermech missing RA
Archer 2S - engine hit, missing LT
Shadow Hawk missing LT, H, RL
Ostsol H, LL
Crusader LT, LA, RL
Centurion H, LA, LL, RL
Atlas H, LL, RL, RA, LA, LT, RT
T Bolt gyro x2, leg actuators, engine x2, RA and RT destroyed.
Zeus missing H
Awesome with cockpit hit, PPC hits twice, heat sink hit.
BattleMaster missing RL, LL, hit SRM6 x2, Medium Laser, PPC
Hunchback LA, RT
Cyclops
Stalker
Thunderbolt
Striker
Warhammer




And this is where we will make money. Let’s start selling pieces:


Sold Ostsol, Crusader, Centurion, Hunchback, Trebuchet: 4,375,000 C Bills made from these sales.

Spend about 1,150,000 to get Awesome, Cyclops, Stalker, Thunderbolt, Striker and Warhammer back to perfect order.


I have to replace the severely damaged T Bolt engine after failing to fix it. Ick. That’s 1.125 mill Cbills right there. It will cost another 1.25 mill for parts, armor, and ammo.

We fix the damage to the BattleMaster. We use the salvaged Stalker leg to replace one of the missing legs for the BM. It will cost 650k for the other leg. Then add 330k for armor and ammo.

The Zeus Head only costs about 750k to fix.

Scorpion Light Tank and J Edgar are functional with about 250k total spent.

We just sell the Shadow Hawk for 3.75 mill instead of fixing it.

Archer needs about 1,050k in ammo, armor, and torso piece.

JagerMech needs just 500k for the arm, but the AC in the arm is another 100k, plus armor and ammo is 950k total.

Marauder needs 1.5 mill for parts, weapons (PPCs are expensive), armor, ammo


We are keeping these parts, sent to Delta Company:

Stalker H, RT, LT, RA, LA
Atlas H, LL, RL, RA, LA, LT, RT


Total: -830,000

[Abe Sargent]

These are immediately added to our garrison. They need only minor work.

Cyclops
Stalker
Thunderboltx2
Striker
Warhammer
Awesome
Marauder
JagerMech
Archer 2S
Zeus
BattleMaster

Scorpion Light Tank
J. Edgar Hovertank




Total Lost: 14,664,534



We take it out of our bank, but look what we gained. I could sell that for a ton of money, but why bother? These 12 mechs represent a full company, and it would be a powerful company too, look at how heavy they are. Awesome, Thunderbolts, Warhammer Archer, Zeus, BattleMaster - these are good machines. Even the next level of Marauder, that JagerMech variant, Striker, Stalker and Cyclops are pretty good too.

Remember we also captured an Orion but used it to replace a destroyed Orion in Defender Company.


Once we arrive back at Epsilon Eridani, we notice that the recruit from Braham Essex on S7 have been gathering and acting as a garrison force along with the vehicle force we have there and the students.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s go back a second:

Jan 1, 3041 - The next class has enrolled in the Essex Training Academy - 8 people.

5 students will graduates from the inaugural class from Jan 1, 3039 at the end of this year. The second class of 6 will graduates in the next year. Then we have 8 more. That gives us an emergency defense force of 19 MechWarriors, probably Green, to help defend us in times of need.


Okay, back from that little backwards turn.


Here are the MechWarriors Braham sent us:


Claire Sawicky, elite
Marissa Sharpe, elite
Isabella Sanchez, elite
Roderick Hampton, elite
Bao Yu, elite
Abdullah Badawi, elite

Six MechWarriors more for the machine.

They join with “Ted’s Lance”


Amber Revleron, elite, Awesome 8T
Scott Parnell, elite, Phoenix Hawk 1K
Manuel Juarez, veteran, Striker
Mei Zhen, elite, Charger 1A9

Ted grabs a few recruits on Outreach when taking back Hell’s Black Aces:

Brady O’Malley, veteran
Adam Nyambui, elite

This gives us our newest company.


Meet the new Typhon Company (I am resurrecting the name)


Anvil Lance

Lt. Amber Revleron, elite, Awesome 8T
Manuel Juarez, veteran, Striker
Adam Nyambui, elite, Merlin
Marissa Sharpe, elite, Wolverine


Hammer Lance

Sgt. Mei Zhen, elite, Charger 1A9
Brady O’Malley, veteran, JagerMech JM6-A
Roderick Hampton, elite, Griffin
Abdullah Badawi, elite, Marauder


Thunder Lance

Sgt. Scott Parnell, elite, Phoenix Hawk 1K
Bao Yu, elite, Javelin
Isabella Sanchez, elite, Jenner
Clare Sawicky, elite, Ostscout



We send, to Phaeton Company with a missing mech, the Zeus, now assigned to Aurelia Yevgina.

[Abe Sargent]

That means we have, unoccupied and unassigned, on Epsilon Eridani, the following mechs.



Marauder
Shadow Hawk
Awesome x3
Locust x2
Wasp x2
Hermes II
Grasshopper
Charger 1A1
2750 Lancelot x2
2750 Exterminator
Talon 5W
2750 Highlander
2750 Flashman
Excalibur B2
2750 Mongoose
2750 Hermes
Phoenix Hawk 1K
Lowtech Mongoose
Grand Dragon
Warhammer x2
Ostroc
Phoenix Hawk
Jenner
Cyclops
Stalker
Thunderboltx2
Striker
Archer 2S
BattleMaster



It’s hard to find good scout mechs in the older technology. There are too many sucky scout mechs like Locust, Wasp, Stinger, Hermes II, Flea, and so forth. That means there are only a few scouts I want: Spider, Javelin, Phoenix Hawk, Jenner. Therefore, my least diverse aspect of my units is the scouting units.

That will change eventually though, as new mechs are built that don‘t suck so much.

[Abe Sargent]

May 14, 3041 - Aleph Company arrives back from its contract for ComStar in the former Duchy of Andurien.

Trinity Company is ordered to spent some time in R&R and light garrison work on Epsilon Eridani until future notice.

Hex Company is due back on July 17, 3041.

June 1, 3041 - We begin to take contracts again. As a reminder, here are our Companies on Epsilon Eridani:

Aleph Company
Phaeton Company
Trinity Company - Not Currently Taking Contracts
Delta Company
Cinq Company
Hex Company - Due back Jul 17
Defender Company
Typhon Company
Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker.

Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on May 16, 3042.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s see what contracts are available this month in the Inner Sphere that interest me.

Objective Raid by Marian Hegemony way out in the Periphery.
Lyran Commonwealth asking us for another Objective Raid, this time on Draconis Combine
Lyran Commonwealth asking for Defense Contract

Where are the Lyran Contracts?

The Raid is on Shirotori, which is usually a non-descript planet with not much going on. It’s about 8 jumps away. Steiner forces raided the world as part of the War of 3039, but after they got trounced by the Dragon, they hid a large amount of supplies in two caves before blasting off. They suspect that those have never been found, so the contract is to hit Shirotori, grab the stuff from those caves, and blast off.

Simple enough. We assign our newly minted Typhon Company to head out there and get their first contract.


The details:

Length: 1 month
Salvage: Full
Transport: 50%
Command: Liaison
Support: Battle Loss 40%
Remuneration: Yes
Salary: x3.5, x1.3,x1.6


Typhon Company will arrive at Shirotori on Sept 15, 3041.


Let’s go ahead and do it.

[Abe Sargent]

Sept 15, 3041 - Typhon Company arrives on planet at the relatively quiet planet of Shirotori. There are only a few DropPorts in this quiet agrarian planet. Most of the planet are islands and archipelagos, and there is a strong fishing, seaweed, kelp and other sea foods industry here. There are some very common seaweeds here on Shirotori that are hard to grow elsewhere, so the planet does have some value.

There are some mountains in a few of the islands that suggest where tectonic plates merge. One of those supposedly has the lost Steiner cache of supplies. We land nearby in a large seaport that also has some DropPort facilities.

That evening, after landing, we leave the mechs in the DropShip and move to secure transport on the ground for a few days.

Sept 16, 3041 - We begin to move out, scouting in a few vehicles. After several hours, we move into the hills, and after a few more, we get to the rocky mountainous area supposed to have our cache. As we near it, we find no sign of any sort of recent activity. We camp out for the evening.

Sept 17, 3041 - After having been here for 12 hours, we notice no patrols, no surveillance, no contact with humanity of any kind. So we move out, find the cave that Steiner told us about, and discover that both caves still have, deep inside, the materiel stored here by Steiner forces two years ago.

We retreat and order our DropShip to come nearby, where we will load up in our mechs, and wait to see if anybody comes to protest our presence for a few hours while the goods are loading onto the Ship.


A few hours later, the DropShip is here, we are all in mechs around it, and goods are being loaded as fast as we can. We notice no enemies at all for the entire time, and our DropShip lifts off with no problems at all


A combat-free first mission for Typhon.

They arrive back on January 2, 3042.


Contract:

Basically, we paid 400k transportation, and a few hundred for salary, and they gave us a salary. It was easy to account for since no salvage, no battle loss compensation, no armor, no ammo, no fixing things up, etc.

[Abe Sargent]

Back to June 1, 3041 - The Defense contract the LC was offering was for work out in th ePeropheyr, and I don’t want to go that far.

July 1, 3041 - More contracts?

Corporation wants Cadre/Garrison work for four months. Seems like a nice soft contract for Cinq Company after some heavy work in Westerstede.
Fed Suns for Obj Raid on Periphery. No thanks.
Fed Suns for Pirate Hunting along Drac Combine border. Where is this? Around Breed, actually.
Fed Suns for Retainer, long term
Draconis Combine for Planetary Assault against who? Galtor III. Wow, that’s going to be a major contract.



Aleph Company
Phaeton Company
Trinity Company - Not Currently Taking Contracts
Delta Company
Cinq Company
Hex Company - Due back Jul 17
Defender Company
Typhon Company - Due Back Jan 2, 3042
Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker.

Vehicle Company - Currently garrison contract, will return on May 16, 3042.


Cinq is heading to Exedor in the Capellan Confederation for four months t do some training and garrison work for a company there. 8 jumps away.


Contract:

Salary: x.3.4, x1.1, x1.3 for both Cadre and Garrison work
Length: 4 months
Support: 50% Battle Loss
Transport: 50%
Remuneration: No
Command: House
Salvage: Shared
15% Bonus

We launch and will arrive on Sept 30, 3041.

[Abe Sargent]

Sept 30, 3041 - We arrive on Exedor.

Nov 1, 3041 - Cinq Company begins training corporate personnel in combat.

Dec 10, 3041 - The mining consortium on Exedor is actually attacked, and we are called in as garrison troops.

We arrive at the landing point for the raiders, and, not expecting their foes to have mechs but just vehicles, we catch them by surprise. With a few minutes, the lance of mechs has surrendered and are turned over to our employer. Their two AeroSpace fighters and their Drop Ship flee.

March 1, 3042 - Our contract expires.


Contract:


Spent:


464k spent salary and upkeep
800k transport

Received:

400k transport
577k - salary + bonus
4,450,000 shared salvage

We took a Spider and Locust as our cut of the scout lance’s salvage.

4,163,000 made


We arrive back on June 27, 3042