Mechwarrior Herman gripped the controls of his aging, decrepit-looking Shadow Hawk. The Mech was strictly "old-tech", as fusion powered death machines go, and wasn't a match for the newer creations. Add to that that Herman was taking a Battlemech into battle for the first time. A trial by fire against unknown forces.....Herman refused to think about it.
It was early on in the formation of the Chaos March. Formerly Liao worlds were up in open revolt as Liao agents inflamed the worlds. Several had declared their independence of their former masters already. The Eighteenth Lyran had been conducting exercises on Carver V for training exercises. Many newbies had been brought in to make up for losses taken along the Periphery. Now, the Eighteenth was pulling out, hopefully to make it to the Skye March, or at least to where they could regroup. The Dropships were deorbiting, but had relaying that there were troops in between the training lance and their Union pickup. With a -5M model Phoenix Hawk, a Wolfhound, a single Quickdraw for Lieutenant Donaldson, the only combat veteran in the lance, and him, Herman, in the Mech his father had oddly named Paladin.
The Paladin was an antique even when his father got it, and his idea of maintanence in the mercenary group he'd served with was pitiful, at best. Herman had spent months working on getting everything back to the spec circuit diagrams. Most systems were so far bypassed, that the targeting system had been mistaken for the loadind system of the Holly LRMS in the torso. Herman hoped that the ejection seat worked....
"Lieutenant!" The pilot in the Wolfhound, whose name Herman couldn't remember, chirped excitedly. Donaldson replied, somewhat quaverly over the battle circuit, or so Herman hoped, the other option too terrible to contemplate, "Yes?" "Enemy sighted, it looks like a light recon lance. A Locust, a Stinger, a Raven, and an Assasin." Herman sighed audibly in relief. With the medium lance for the good guys, it should be a quick kill. Herman checked the maps... The forces had arrayed themselves in the middle of a broad pass, which struck Herman as odd, with their lighter weight wouldn't an ambush make more sense?
"Permission to engage?" The Wolfhound pilot asked. A silence dragged over the airwaves. "Yes, Wolfhound one, Phoenix Hawk one, take out that Raven and Stinger. Shadow Hawk One, take out that assasin, it's fast but lightly armed. I'll take out the Locust. Ah, its speed will make it hard for you wetnoses to target." Herman winced. Assasins, though lightly armed and armoured, were fast, and could jump 60 more meters than his Hawk. Herman flipped the arming circuits on his missiles and autocannon. The only way to beat that Mech is to hurt it as much as possible at long range.
The Liaos waited till 600 meters to move, starting to advance towards the Guard Mechs. Donaldson's Quickdraw fired off a flight of ten missiles, followed a second later by Herman opening up with his missiles, and dropping the autocannon into position and firing off a magazine of five shells. The other two members of the lance targeted their Mechs with ER lasers. Herman checked the results of the shot on his computer. Three of five missiles had hit, all in the lower assemblies, and the autocannon had ripped up a line of crsters on the left torso. The Assasin seemed to have been caught by surprise, and its Holly rack impacted the dirt 40 meters to the right of Paladin. Hoping to keep damage down from the LRMs, Herman quickly fired jump jets, angling through the air to touch down and trigger off another salvo. A single missile struck the left arm, but the shells impacted smack into the center torso. The assasin was moving in at cruising speed now, and managed to connect. The loud bang of a miss
ile impact startled Herman, as he was thrown backwards in his seat as a five pack struck straight in his Mech's center of mass. Amazed to be alive, he triggered his autocannon again, his lancemates seemed to be doing well, but where was the Lieutenant? He quickly scanned as the deep thud of the autocannon walked up the Mech's right torso again, throwing armor clods in the air and revealing the titanium skeleton of the Assasin's torso.
There! The Quickdraw was moving in close, and triggering lasers and missiles at the Locust, which seemed to have its right knee locked. Then he was going PAST the Mech, and kept going. The other seven contenders stopoped as their commander, the only one who really knew what to do, ran like his Mech was on fire. Herman's throat went dry as he broke into a cold sweat. Now with a numerical advantage, the Locust moved in to help the Assasin take his Hawk to pieces...
Herman watched as all degenerated into chaos. Lieutenant Donaldson had left, leaving a Phoenix Hawk, a Wolfhound, and an old Shadow Hawk, his Paladin, vs the enemy. Even considering there wasn't too much danger, he had left, and taken a lot of their firepower with him. The only good news was that he at least gave them the slight advantage of firing his two rear mediums into the light rear torso armor of the Locust, which obligingly started to shudder. Sensors indicated internal fires, and the pilot ejected as the machine gun ammo finished cooking off and ripped the engine shielding to shreds. Donaldson's luck didn't last, as 800 meters downfield, 80 long range missiles
smashed into his Mech. Under that barrage, he couldn't control it, and it skidded, its right arm snapping off as the Quickdraw died.
"A trap!" The Wolfhound pilot yelled. And so it was. Sensors indicated two Archers, a Crusader, and a Catapult as the missiles were back-tracked and heat signatures became evident. Herman quickly moved closer, hoping to take out the Assasin, which had slowed down to a walk and wasn't firing, before it could spot him for missiles. Two SRMs left their racks, followed by the flash of a medium laser, he also fired his autocannon, but the LRMs were way underrange. The Assasin seemed surprised by the volley and swung up its medium laser and autocannons finished off the right leg armor, the medium laser slashed through the torso, and the autocannon walked up and ripped apart the Holly LRM rack. Herman winced as he was a sitting duck for the Assasin, even as it moved somewhat haltingly to swing its medium laser up. He braced himself as armor was turned to hot vapo
r. Herman was confused. His quick actions had jolted the enemy 'Mechwarrior enough to prevent it from calling his spot for devestating indirect fire, but only the laser fired. He checked his computer, which soon told the tale. Herman sighed in relief. It was a modified assasin, equipped with Artemis-IV support for its now non-existant LRM, and only mounting a pulse laser. Herman fired off again, as the others in his side did as well. Current damage was limited to armor, but the Liao support lance was moving into to position for direct fire. Herman wasn't sure what to do, when the Wolfhound came on.
"Phoenix Hawk one, Shadow Hawk one, jump up to the sides of the pass. It will be harder to aim up there, and you can fire and take down that Sassy and Stinger before they can jump up."
Herman checked his scanner. The stinger seemed locked at the elbow, and the right jump port was slagged. The Raven was missing its right arm, and looked almost ready to fall. Herman wasn't prepa
red to leave his lancemates, but with the vunerable XL engine on the Raven, it would fall, and the Wolfhound could fall back enough to join them. It seemed tactically sound, though Herman whished he had scored better on the tactics exam then the strategy right now, and hit the jump jet controls. Pillers of flame appeared as superheated air rose his Mech's heat gauge up, and the Mech, for that matter. The Phoenix Hawk joined him on the other side and fired both ER lasers down on the Stinger. Herman fired both missile racks, his autocannon, and his laser.
Herman ripped armor away and caused the left arm to go limp on the Assasin. The Phoenix Hawk was slightly luckier, as both ER Lasers burned through the stinger's head armor, and caused the cockpit, and the pilot, to turn molten. The Assasin craned up to fire its pulse laser, but at long range, it went over his shoulder. Herman checked his heat guage, and only fired his autocannon in reply, which knocked more armor off the Assasin. The Wo
lfhound was finishing up the Raven with a barrage of pointblank laser fire, though his Mech wasn't looking so great, as the forgotten fire lance reentered the fight. The Crusader rose both arms and launched swarms of missiles at the Phoenix Hawk. The Archer's joined him, as the Catapult fired at the Wolfhound. The barrage picked up the Raven and sent the junked battlemech slamming into the Wolfhound, knocking them down. The Phoenix Hawk staggered, and most of the armor was ripped away. The power leads to a Sunbeam were shredded, and a shower of sparks announced the death of a laser. Herman froze. He had wanted to be in the action, now he was. His father's Mech was lightly damaged, so far, but the Assasin was coming up to meet him. The Wolfhound had a big hole in its chest, and the Phoenix Hawk looked like a walking skeleton. Herman tried to think of a way to succeed, get glory, and win this battle. But there was none.
That thought slipped through the panic that enveloped his mind. He t
hought quickly. Losing the battle would win this war. He quickly slammed open the throttle on his Mech, as the Assasin cleared the cliff top and settled down. The brush of the laser rose his heat and melted armor, but the Mech wasn't prepared as 55 tons of ferro-steel plating slammed into the Sassy. Outmassed, outmaneuver, and out of space to step backwards, the Assasin's front crumpled in, as he tried to compensate. That compensation met empty air as the Assasin fell, falling the 20 meters to the floor of the cavern. Herman winced as an extremely loud CLANG shook the area as the Assasin hit the ground. Herman was pretty sure that the Mech was out of the fight, if not totaled, but he was thinking of the second part of his plan. He quickly opened the radio, as he spun around, using the distraction of the Assasin to make the break towards the forests a kilometer away. Hopefully, the enemy Mechs wouldn't make it to the top of the cliff before he reached the woods' cover and could slip away. "Phoenix Ha
wk One, Wolfhound One, head for the forest, we can't win against a bunch of 65 tonners, and will reach the reandavous yet. Shadow Hawk One out." Herman quickly sprinted the difference, calling his god that he made the right decision...
The missile lock siren blared again without respite as the enemy Crusader persistently fired off its LRM-packs. Heramn quickly torso-twisted, and moved the Mech behind a light stand of trees as he kept the throttle as high as he dared in the heavy vegetation. Again, most of the missiles struck his still-fresh leg armor. Only the Crusader had presured him, perhaps because its long-range and short range firepower gave him no advantages. Herman thought it was probably trying to take out an actuator, so it could easily catch up and finish it up with lasers and SRMs. The Crusader fired again, and Herman cursed as he risked shutdown as he triggered his jump jets. The missiles tore up the ground where he was as he landed 150 meters away. To discourage the powerful adversary, he quickly triggered a flight of LRMs back his autocannon's servos whining to try and obtain lock, that went over the head. Herman was perplexed. The warbook had said a CRD-3R, but it has already fired far mo
re than its reloads should have allowed. Herman counted himself lucky for not being dead, but his computer had already counted the thing having six tons of LRM-15 ammo. His Hawk couldn't take this, but how do you take on a Mech, bigger, meaner, and could rip him to shreds if he slowed down? Herman urgently scanned for cover, but there was none really to be seen. His heat was up, he was almost out of expendables, except for SRMs, but he wasn't planning to get close enough for those. Maybe the legendary Death-From-Above? Except Herman was sure he wasn't capable enough to pull that off without smashing his Mech in the process. It was days like these he wished he had become a Tech.
The enemy pilot held a tight grin. The somewhat clumsy movements of the Shadow Hawk as it gradually pulled out of range annoyed him, but then, there was a reason he had basically doubled the battle length of his LRMs by removing his MGs. As he lined up again, a warning buzzer went off. He grimaced in annoyance, b
etween the vegetation, and the Quickdraw drawing them from the ambush, this simple little attack was going nowhere fast. He was sure the more lightly armored, weaker Mechs would be brought down by his lancemates, but this one's near-foolish charging attack that killed the Assasin had impressed him.
He checked the buzzer, his heat was going up. Ten single heat sinks couldn't deal with running, and firing off the LRMs, he slapped the override in annoyance and lined up again, as the Shadow Hawk stepped into a light stand of trees. Most of the missiles shredded bark and wood, but the Hawk didn't emerge. Perhaps it was diabled, or maybe it wanted to go down in a blaze of glory. He smiled again, that ancient-looking Shadow Hawk would go in a blaze, alright....
Herman waited inside the trees, near the edge. He had his plan ready. A few more kilometers, and the topographic maps said that a plain was coming up, where his superior speed would allow him to disengage. He quickly pulled
up a tree, and waited. He grinned nervously. There was one reason he really hadn't repaired the slight dings, while not hurting functioning, made it look old. It made others underestimate the Mech's capabilities. No time for that now, the enemy Crusader was emerging.
The pilot chuckled, the Hawk had pulled up a branch and was brandishing it at his Mech, while firing his SRMs and lasers. He chuckled, such foolishness would easily be rooted out. Tree trunks were no good as clubs, and it would be simple for the junior Mechwarrior to be crushed in his cockpit by the slugging power in the Crusader.
Herman nearly stopped firing as armor was pitted and ripped away by his fire. He knew he was hitting it, but it just shrugged it off. The Crusader didn't return fire, but reached up its hands as if to pluck him from his seat. Trying to swallow his fear, Herman waited for just the right moment of overconfidence, like that he'd seen earlier in the enemy Assasin. Strike them hard at firs
t, they aren't sure what to think of you, and then you can use the surprise. Just a little closer....
As the Crusader pilot prepared to close its hands, regardless of the fact that his torso armor was almost gone, a sudden gong caused the pilot's eyes to swim, and his head to ache. What the hell...? Splinters flew around his cockpit, and his groggy mind filled in that, apparently, the Hawk pilot had waited for overconfidence, and when his guard was down, struck. Then, the Hawk was moving in. He tried to line up for a shot, but the club had ripped all the armor, and the sensors away from his head. Then, it was too late, the Shadow Hawk reared back. The last thought in the pilot's mind was that the Lyran acadamies were damn good to produce pilots like this....
Herman sighed as the tension of the flight flowed out as the Crusader's head was reduced to bent titanium. The joy of life that pulsed through him made him close the eyes until two thoughts popped through his head. One:
there was almost certainly other Liaos out here. Two: He had successfully taken out a Mech where the numbers didn't favor him, where his skill was more important. Herman had found his vocation. Quickly lighting the jump jets for a quick hop over the trees. Herman quickly headed for the plains, and perhaps deliverence.
Herman risked the radio for the first time since suggesting the lance 'head for the hills'. Close enough to the Union his tracking system picked up the remnants of heat trails from aerospace fighters, but they all headed up, probably to a stratospheric battle. Herman rammed the throttle
back and forth in an attempt to push Paladin's leg's out of the holes. Paladin took one step, then lurched, Herman desperately pulled back, and his gyro shrieked as the Paladin nearly fell flat on its face, only being kept up by the fact its weight had gotten it half-mired in the muck yet again. Herman sighed, no response on the radio, no reaction mass for the jets, and he was out of LRMs, had three loads for his autocannon, and 15 loads for his SRM. And, since Paladin was a walking skeleton, Herman wasn't sure he could beat a short platoon of foot infantry with slug throwers. Herman winced, this was turning out like some evil training exercise. First, he'd had to use planning and tactics to keep from getting killed in the Liao's noose. Then, he had to shoot straight enough to take on a big, mean Crusader. Now, a test of piloting, and this was very tedious. Herman considered firing his laser to try and dry out the mud, and, pushed the throttle up again, concentrating on keeping the Mech's feet under i
t. If he remembered the area where the dropship had landed, this swamp could only be a half hour's march, or another long, tedious hour, the way he was getting this thing moving. AND it was getting dark, and, after the little incident with the Crusader, Herman definately wanted to avoid trees! He pushed the throttle forward with a sigh...
According to his chrometer, ten kilometers and thirty minutes later, Herman switched on the Paladin's lights and the cockpit's low-light system to see. Herman waited for the green shadows of Light Amplification to deal with the darkness, and then hit the HUD a few times. The low-light filters activated, though reluctantly, and Herman was reminded that despite the fact Battlemechs were highly mobile, with excellent endurance and firepower, like all military machines, they needed lots of maintence. The Paladin was worse than most, requiring near constant upkeep of several leaky seals and badly wired myomer bundles Herman hadn't had the time or C-bills to fi
x yet. Herman sighed, he'd survived his baptism of fire, and was going to starve to death stuck in a swamp. The grin that thought brought got him moving his Paladin again when a quick paced set of three laser bolts struck ten meters to the rear.
Herman whirled Paladin around as targeting brackets highlighted the source of the shot. Herman quickly switched off his lights to make him harder to target, though his chances of hitting were about the same as a ROM agent leaving Word of Blake. His targeting brackets came up with the gold of a lock, along with the important information of the design he was facing. QKD-4G Quickdraw, 60 tons, four medium lasers. Herman groaned, he was about to be Dispossesd. After all he and Paladin had been through, they had no way of taking down a fully functional Quickdraw, especially with Paladin's current lack of fuel for its jump jets. After another scan from his system, the HUD posted an additonal information. Heavy damage to gyro, engine shielding, right
jump jets gone, LRM system smashed in, and the Mech seemed to be missing his right arm. That thought wandered through Herman's mind looking somewhere to connect to as the light on his comm. system came up. He slapped it down quickly, hoping the Dropship was finally coming through.
"Mechwarrior Herman, so glad to see you," a jovial voice said, "I'm sure you're a bit surprised to see me, after all, I was running smack into a swarm of LRMs." Herman's mouth dropped open. Lieutenant Donaldson, alive, even though everyone had seen him lose control of his Mech as it dug a furrow in the ground after over a hundred missiles smashed in. Though, the shape was about right....
"After you wetnoses moved to engage, and my daring maneuver," Herman snorted, "of running behind their lines. You left me to die! I heard you give the command yourself! I don't know whether any one else made it, but them, I'll file court martials, but let's face it, that tin can you're in couldn't survive in a
real fight. Everyone knows it." Herman brought his right arm over the battered Quickdraw's head in anger. Sure, the Paladin was old, decript looking, but it was a decent enough Mech. The fact he was alive and had two Liao kills in his battle ROMs now said something complimentary. Taking on his Lieutenant though?? Herman weighed honor against the centimeter-thickness of Paladin's remaining armor. Herman decided that he probably outgunned the Quickdraw now, and besides, if Donaldson fired first, he'd have a hard time covering it.
"I'll expunge the Eighteenth's record of your weakness, and all the others, who thought so little of me that I wouldn't be able to survive. Well guess what, I'll show you by killing you all!" Donaldson laughed hysterically as he brought the Quickdraw's remaining arm around to engage. Herman resembled a deer in headlights as the arm moved into position. The thought that came through the panic locked thoughts was "He's slipped a primary cam!" Then Herman thoug
ht of something. Donaldson has already fired first with those three lasers that had managed to completely miss from ambush! Before Herman could use this justification to open up, Donaldson beat him to it.
Donaldson opened up with a single laser, which boiled the traces of armor remianing on the right leg. Herman considered that a sighting shot, since after the first three missing, something must be wrong with the targeting system. Herman flipped back on his lights and dropped his autocannon into position, firing his first of three shots, his laser, and both SRMS. Having moved only a little to get into positon (and the swamp slowing Paladin considrably), and Donaldson keeping his Quickdraw as still as a targeting dummy at the Acadamy, everything Herman shot managed to tear through into the damaged right torso, killing the power feed to one of the rear-mounted lasers. Donaldson seemed surprised by the suddeness of the attack, but triggered off all his remaining forward weaponry: four SRMs, a
nd a medium laser. The laser went wide over the shoulder, as Herman desperately tried to get Paladin out of the pit it had dug and moving, and the three SRMs hit the left arm, ripping through myomer muscle and the lower actuator. Between the neurohelmet Herman was wearing, and the gyro, Herman had no trouble keeping his balance. In fact, the shots helped Herman by giving him the momentum to get his Mech out of the holes. Herman shifted to high speed, trying to keep from sinking and he snap fired his medium twice, his autocannon and SRM once.
The high speed and long barrel of the AC/5 carried led to short-range inaccuracy. Herman got a good view of this as the exaggerated field of movement caused by the close range sent the autocannons spinning over the Quickdraw's shoulder. Both missiles hit the chest, and one medium laser smashed into a leg, with the other hitting the left arm. Donaldson tried to respond, but once again missed with his laser. Herman was too busy concentrating on flanking
the Quickdraw and the sudden rush of heat caused by a high run and the lasers. Considering Donaldson's track record with lasers in this battle, if he could face the one in the rear, he'd manage to win. Herman fired his last autocannon, missiels and lasers. One missile went wide, but the other struck the square of the back. The laser and autocannon also tunneled, through, ripping apart the rear armor and finising off the LRM. The flaw in the plan became apparent when the Quickdraw jumped, spinning around before landing and delivering a punch. Paldin stumbled backwards, as the left torso frame was bent inwards, and the empty LRM bin was crushed. The shifting mud and the punch were too much, and Paladin went down hard, crushing the other actuators in the left arm, and crushing what remained of his armor. Herman struggled to rise, but knew it was too late as the Quickdraw rose its left hand. Even with a bum targeting system, anyone could hit him square in the cockpit at this range. Herman fired his laser
into the approaching behemouth, and took a final look around the cockpit, when the Quickdraw glowed red as the energy was released.
The laser went wide, striking not a meter from the Hawks' cockpit. Herman sighed in relief, not believing he was alive, until a warning on the HUD made him look up. Descending through the night was a Phoenix Hawk! It fired a large laser and two medium pulse lasers into the Quickdraw's back. The Quickdraw stumbled, looking like the gyro was damaged, and fell. Paladin's sensors read the engine as being destroyed. Herman blinked, the red must have been the lasers ripping apart Donaldson's gyro. Considering it only fired one large, and judging by the paint marks, this was the PXH-3M from his training lance. Herman his the comm. board with relief.
"This is Mechwarrior Amy, Eighteenth Lyran, Herman, Herman, you drop out of sight for a few minutes, and your CO is trying to kill you." Herman laughed unsteadily, as he finally managed to recall the name
of the PXH pilot.
"Well, I saw who toasted him down, remember that if you arrest me for striking a superior officer."
"He's not that superior, judging by he missed with every laser shot but one. I saw it on my scanners and came to help. I tried to call you, but it looks like you were busy."
"Where's what's-his-name with the inpronouncable first name, in the Wolfhound, I thought those Archer's had come and done you in!"
"Only had a Catapult to deal with, my armor on board may be light, but my one last Sunbeam cored the Catapult pretty quickly with my better jumps! I don't know where .. whatever.. is, I think he's gone. I'm afraid the Archers went after him he's gone." The silence stretched for a moment, before Herman broke the silence.
"Are you going to stand there all day, or give me a hand up?" The Phoenix Hawk extended its heads, and clapped, metal ringing. Herman sighed, but then the Phoenix Hawk helped him to its feet. "Tal
ly ho, Herman, I'll stay on the ground, but you're going to have to run to keep up."
Herman grinned, "At least I'm here if you trip up!" Herman heard a scoff cut off with the click of the radio. Herman started to push it in motion as he sighed. Amy related her story. Up on the cliff. She had started to jump for some hills, and had the jump-capable Catapult follow, but had managed to take it out in an action eerily similar to his work with the Crusader. He'd seen the Archer's firing on the Wolfhound, but was unable to help thanks to her own problems. She had been heading back, but then ran into the same swamp, and gone on foot to save reaction mass (Herman grred at that) and then finally had the sensors show the destinct flash of lasers and explosions in the distance. She had come, and ended up helping Herman.
"Well, I'm glad to see someone else made it out, going to look good on the report from this training assignemnt." Herman remarked as the Dropship, and the defense
perimeter appeared in the distance, "But the Liaos are going to pay. There's been to much death on this world because of them, and we're going to discuss their tendency to tresspass on other people's planets."