1200 Days - Gramps' run at a Kerensky rated career

[MarkDey]

____ Twelve days until the next stop at Calseraigne, and I'm looking forward to leaving hostile territory. Toothy gets a refit to add some S Lasers at the expense of armor, giving the lance one more tool to perform some targeted disassembly when needed. Speaking of disassembly...

Event - Moonlighting with an Autocannon: Youngblood Black is found tinkering with an AC/5. I let her keep working on it.
Result: She doesn't improve the weapon, but doesn't break it either. No lasting consequences.

____ The contracts are good, and Darius briefs the pilots to expect tough resistance - all drops should assume that we will encounter multiple lances of assault mechs. It'll be a good test run for the new Annihilator. It is equipped with the best rangefinder that exists, 4 Gauss Rifles, and 4 ER M Lasers. It still has poor armor though, so it'll keep its distance. Since we are back in friendly territory, Darius and Yang get to work negotiating with the merchants and buy up all of the mech salvage. They also agree to sell our spare assembled mechs once we complete our contracts.

 

[MarkDey]

____ Darius' skill at negotiating with the merchants, combined with Yang's skill at reassembling shattered mechs, results in a great amount of profit. We start with an impressive 77 million C-Bills, and our account keeps growing until we leave orbit, resting at 141 million C-Bills. Checking our score, I'm glad to see that our overall rating has increased again. We've now received the maximum points for Mechwarrior Experience and Argo Upgrades, and we will finish the Contracts points by the time we do the jobs available in the next system. The C-Bills score is about 45% complete, and the only other area I have a concern about is our reputation with the Magistracy of Canopus.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Days Remaining: 550 ____ Career Points: 654,488 ____ Career Rating: Legendary
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -​

____ Twelve days later, we arrive at Rosendal, and it's a hotbed of Lyran activity. All seven contracts are available to us, and five are working for House Steiner.

 

[MarkDey]

Mission 255: 5 Skull Target Acquisition ____ Employer: Lyran Commonwealth ____ Target: Marik ____ Biome: Polar
Lance: Bull Shark X (Jalopy), ANH-4G (Scrub), Toothy (Jingle), Death Map (Moose)

Report: Another job where time is of the essence, but this one is against the toughest opposition we could realistically expect to face. Scrub and Jalopy bring the heavy mechs into a central forested position while Jingle sprints from beacon to beacon, setting up the targeting. Just over half of the enemy mechs are destroyed before Jalopy's armor is breached, and a lucky hit lights off all of the AC/5 ammo in the leg, sending him falling to the ground!
____Fortunately, the cockpit bracing saves him from injury. The last of the defenders are dispatched just in time for a Marik kill team to arrive between us and our evacuation zone. Two of them are sniped at a distance, but the Black Knight and enemy Bull Shark get too close for comfort. Everyone runs out of ammunition, and in the last attack, Moose charges the Death Map into melee combat, removing the enemy bracing and enabling the final salvo that eliminates them. After that, it's a long limping walk to the extraction zone for Jalopy, but we are victorious. CPLT-C1, MAD-3D (pilot kill), 2x BL-6-KNT (headshots!), 2x TDR-5SE, CPLT-C4, CTF-1X, CPLT-K2, ON1-K (pilot kill), JM6-S, GHR-5H. BLR-1G (headshot), WHM-6D (headshot), BSK-M3, BL-6-KNT.

Damage: Bull Shark X, RT, 10% structure damage, RL destroyed, including 3x AC/5 ammo
____ANH-4G, RT & RL, 20% structure damage
____Toothy, RT rear, 50% structure damage
Salvage: BL-6-KNT, BLR-1G assembled and moved into storage.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -​

____"Well, that's the toughest contract completed. Glad that we have that other Bull Shark ready."
____Thinking to myself, I should have stayed at a longer range, but there wasn't a good defensive position that we could use while also trying to get to all of the beacon locations in time.
____Darius replied, "Right. Hopefully the rest of the contracts don't prove too troublesome." I hoped so too.

 

[MarkDey]

____ It is ten days to Katla, and Yang fills that time with mech repairs. Our pilots, however, fill that time with other activities.

Event - Skinny Dipping: A recording of the hallway that leads to the Low-G Pool shows a half-dozen crew members returning from a bout of skinny dipping. After rolling my eyes, I decide to address the crew regarding basic hygiene and decorum.
Result: A single mortified voice, echoing regret through the vent shafts, is the best acknowledgement that my message was received. +2 Morale

____ The contracts in Katla are excellent, although I am sad to see that the two from the Magistracy of Canopus are unavailable. It's also odd to see three contracts from the Federated Suns, but they are all targeting pirate forces, so perhaps this is a continuing campaign against lawlessness that spans multiple systems.

 

[MarkDey]

____ Our next stop is Leyda, but the contracts are poor - only three that aren't from the pirates, so we move on. Yang takes advantage of the time to install the bulkier actuators in the most commonly used mechs. Some pilots find other ways to pass the time.

Event - The Catapult: President, along with Youngbloods Lechner and Black, are working on a makeshift catapult made of dried noodles. Since I have some time to spare, I decide to supervise their work, and only have to offer a few suggestions for improvement.
Result: The catapult works once before breaking, but it does send a radish clear across the mess hall. President, Youngblood Lechner, and Youngblood Black gain High Spirits for 30 days.

____Piriapolis is our next stop, and the contracts there are decent - only two are unavailable since they are offered by the Capellans, and importantly, there is one from the Magistracy of Canopus that we can use to further modify our reputation. The store has a Double Heat Sink for sale, as well as lots of mech salvage, which we quickly purchase.

 

[MarkDey]

____ As we travel, the monthly financial report is due, and I maintain the finances at a normal rate of pay. Moose and Goth heal up quickly, and are ready to get back into the fight. The Ingonish contracts are excellent, and we can take all of them. After buying and selling at the market (including the sale of more than a thousand Heat Sinks), I check our MRB score again. We are over half of the maximum C-Bills category score, which is a promising sign.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Days Remaining: 499 ____ Career Points: 653,985 ____ Career Rating: Legendary
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -​

 

[MarkDey]

____ We leave orbit to continue our tour of the Free Worlds League, but before we get to the jump point we encounter trouble.

Event - Pirates Ambush the Argo: Several fast moving ships appear on our scanners, and we are hailed by pirates demanding payment for safe passage. Despite being Liked by House Marik, we are not able to broadcast for help from the system authorities... perhaps we are too close to the jump point to assist. Sumire suggests detaching the Leopard to fight them, and I agree.
Result: The pirates are driven off, but not before opening fire. Youngblood Koyama is caught on the wrong side of a blast door, and is rushed to the MedBay Hospital - she is injured for 27 days.

____ Pernik has a good amount of contracts, including one from the Canopians that we are still cleared to take, so I decide to head in to orbit.

 

[MarkDey]

____ Our next stop is Ryerson, with four contracts that we can take, each at 5 skulls difficulty with good salvage rights, mostly against pirate forces. The monthly financial report also marks the second birthday of Gramps' Giants. The veterans point out to the Youngbloods some memorable locations on the updated starmap that Sumire has displayed on the screens. Even just eyeballing the distance, it looks to me like we can visit the remaining systems we will need to max out our score in the sixteen months we have remaining. Not many mercenary companies have an MRB certified Legendary Career like us. As long as we can avoid a disastrous drop, a Kerensky Career should be within our reach.

 

[MarkDey]

____On the way out of orbit, I talk with Yang for a bit on how his salvage operation is going. We both agree that this is the best way to improve our C-Bills score, and suspect that the MRB is encouraging other mercenary units to do the same thing in order to keep mechs up and running all throughout the Periphery. A call from Sumire ends our conversation before Yang starts getting into the technical details.

Event - Unexpected Debris: In Navigation, Sumire highlights a blinking red alert in our path. She'd like to blast it with the Leopard, but Farah advises avoiding it. Since we have improved the Argo's drive, I elect to send more power to the engines, as it's probably the safer course.
Result: Sumire successfully evades the debris, and the crew celebrates. Morale +2

____Our next stop is Lopez, and all but one of the contracts are available to us. Four from the Lyran Commonwealth, all targeting the Free Worlds League, and two from the Free Worlds League, targeting the pirates and the Lyrans. We still haven't come across contracts targeting the Magistracy of Canopus, so I suspect that we'll need to re-visit Canopian space if we want to maximize our reputation score.

 

[MarkDey]

____Darius supervises a large selloff of extra gear, as we will soon be heading into hostile territory. At the end of the negotiating, we have 238 million C-Bills in our account. Looking at our MRB score, this has brought us to 60% of the maximum score for the C-Bills category.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Days Remaining: 458 ____ Career Points: 667,170 ____ Career Rating: Legendary
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -​

____As we get underway, Yang rebuilds the leg of Bull Shark X, and brings it back to full strength. Goth heals up and returns to active duty. We also get a call about other people that need to heal up.

Event - Travelers in Need: A nearby ship is requesting help in dealing with an outbreak of Periphery Pox. With an eye to boosting our standing with House Marik, as well as remembering the grumbling the last time this happened, I agree with Farah and arrange to send over some medical supplies.
Result: -1 Medical Point for 14 days. +1 Reputation with the Free Worlds League, bringing us back to Honored. Morale +1

____Monthly financial report - normal pay. There is a flashpoint in Shaunavon to engage a pro-Capellan insurgent group on behalf of House Davion. It might be worth it when we get to Federated Suns territory. There are decent contracts in Nukus; we can take four of them and they are all against pirates.

 

[MarkDey]

Our next stop is Shiba, but the contracts are poor - only two that are available to us. Goth heals up along the way, and we journey on to Prix, but the contracts there are even worse. Apparently the downtime is giving people time to devote to more personal issues.

Event - Class Warfare: Youngblood Boyd is trying to use their noble title and order Jalopy around. Jalopy lashes out with a punch after one too many remarks, catching Youngblood Boyd in the nose. Both pilots snap to attention as I approach. "I am in command, Youngblood, not you. I hope you're a better fighter than you are a leader because you're both going to settle this in the boxing ring." If nothing else, this should give the crew something to focus on.
Result: Youngblood Boyd dominates the fight, using several techniques they were obviously taught by a private tutor. Jalopy is injured for 7 days. Youngblood Boyd gains High Spirits for 30 days. Morale +2 (Maximum Morale)

The contracts in Shaun are good, so I decide to stop there. The next monthly financial report comes due on the way in to orbit and pay is kept at a normal level. Five contracts are available to us from the Free Worlds League and the Federated Suns, all in Martian terrain.

 

[MarkDey]

Jalopy heals up about the same time that Yang finishes the repairs on the mechs. Looking at the contracts in the Menke system, I'm impressed with how far House Marik and House Davion are willing to reach inside Capellan territory to get things done. Five out of the seven contracts available are ones we can take, and most of those are targeting House Liao directly.

 

[MarkDey]

Mission 300: 4.5 Skull Capture Base ____ Employer: Federated Suns ____ Target: Pirates ____ Biome: Urban
Lance: Bull Shark X (Jalopy), Bull Shark U (Sugar), Toothy (Jingle), Death Map (Moose)

Report: Our first mission is to capture a factory that the local criminals have recently made operational again. This should be seen by the populace as a good thing, and will also let us get intelligence on the ground since House Liao has blacklisted us. A defending lance of mechs detects our drop into the city, and we move to engage them. HGN-733P (pilot kill), ON1-K (pilot kill), JM6-A (legs kill), AWS-8Q (pilot kill). Reinforcements arrive just as soon as the enemy Awesome is disabled. HGN-733P (headshot), MAD-3R, WHM-6D (pilot kill), BLR-1G (pilot kill).

Salvage: HGN-733P, WHM-6D, JM6-A assembled and moved into storage.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -​

____A small celebration is held to mark 300 contracts completed. This turns into an excuse to have a bragging competition between the pilots. Jingle is the clear winner, with Moose close behind, which is no surprise as they have been on nearly every deployment given their specialized Recon and Skirmisher abilities. Among the six Vanguards, Sugar has been on the most deployments, President has the most experience and kills, and Goth has the dubious honor of having the most injuries.

Elite Pilots
Goth: 110 deployments, 142 mech kills, 43 other kills, 9 injuries, 775 days with Gramps' Giants, 193,300 XP over max
Hangover: 113 deployments, 181 mech kills, 55 other kills, 4 injuries, 796 days with Gramps' Giants, 214,600 XP over max
Jalopy: 105 deployments, 163 mech kills, 45 other kills, 3 injuries, 796 days with Gramps' Giants, 182,600 XP over max
Jingle: 297 deployments, 520 mech kills, 129 other kills, 0 injuries, 795 days with Gramps' Giants, 753,100 XP over max
Moose: 283 deployments, 221 mech kills, 89 other kills, 4 injuries, 796 days with Gramps' Giants, 711,800 XP over max
President: 114 deployments, 189 mech kills, 56 other kills, 2 injuries, 765 days with Gramps' Giants, 233,400 XP over max
Scrub: 94 deployments, 178 mech kills, 25 other kills, 1 injuries, 786 days with Gramps' Giants, 199,200 XP over max
Sugar: 118 deployments, 184 mech kills, 43 other kills, 6 injuries, 796 days with Gramps' Giants, 176,700 XP over max

____The Youngbloods grumble a bit, only able to use simulator high scores, but Lechner, Muntenaeu, Zhang, and Petrenko are the top lance. As Goth shows off her scars they all agree that not being injured is nice, as is being paid to be fully prepared to do well when they enter live combat.

Youngbloods with XP available
Berg: 19,550
Black: 19,650
Boyd: 15,400
Galvan: 15,400
Grimes: 17,400
Koch: 16,600
Koyama: 20,500
Lechner: 24,350
Levi: 17,400
Merceir: 20,850
Muntenaeu: 24,350
Ono: 14,500
Paredes: 20,850
Petrenko: 24,290
Wisniewski: 15,400
Zhang: 24,350

 

[MarkDey]

Yang has all of the mechs repaired by the time we reach the jump point to leave the system. Sindalin is an even better set of contracts than Menke, with the Capellans only offering one job, and the rest being offered by the Free Worlds League, Federated Suns, and Lyran Commonwealth. The planet isn't much to look at, but the pay is good. Jalopy and Goth return from the med bay hospital on the way in to orbit. I take a look at the MRB score and there hasn't been much movement on the C-Bills category, but that should change once we cross the border out of the Capellan Confederation and can sell all of the mechs that Yang has been assembling.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Days Remaining: 395 ____ Career Points: 685,684 ____ Career Rating: Legendary
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -​

 

[MarkDey]

The monthly financial report takes longer to process this month, but in the end I decide to leave the pay at a normal level. Taking a walk around the ship before turning in for the night, I find something unexpected in the mech bay.

Event - Moonlighting with an LRM: Youngblood Koyama is the latest pilot that wants to tinker with mech weaponry, although this time it's an LRM 15. I let her keep working on it. She actually succeeds in making it a bit more damaging, although she managed to injure herself in the process.
Result: Youngblood Koyama is injured for 14 days - Goth is glad for the company while she's there. An LRM15 is upgraded to an LRM15+

Checking the contracts at the Gardnaus jump point shows a good opportunity with all but one of them being available for us to take. As we make out way in to orbit, I pass Goth in the hallway after her release from medbay. Arriving at the library to return a book, I come across an overwhelmed pilot.

Event - Self-Improvement: Youngblood Berg is surrounded with books, datapads, and holovid chips as he tries to make himself more useful. When asked for advice on what to study, I direct him to the technical manuals to get a better sense of the mech systems.
Result: Youngblood Berg gains Technician.

 

[MarkDey]

____ I breathe a sigh of relief as we set a course out of Capellan space. Darius has been working with Yang to come up with the best sales pitch for the mechs that have been reassembled, and he seems confident that there will be enough interested buyers in the Federated Suns. The med bay hospital eventually returns Scrub, Hangover, Sugar, and Youngblood Koyama to full duty.
____ Lochmantle is an excellent system for mercenary work. The Draconis Combine and Federated Suns are offering three contracts each, and they are mostly 5 skull contracts that are targeting each other. Also, with the store open to us, we buy up all of the mech salvage that is available. Darius then gets to work, and eventually finds buyers for all of our extra mechs, even if delivering them proves a little tricky.
____ Sumire takes our Leopard down to the surface to make a delivery with Yang, and two other Leopards from House Davion dock with the Argo. As I see crate after crate being loaded onto the Davion Leopards, I take another look at Darius' summary. Over the last three months, Yang's crew put together over two battalions worth of mechs - a full 84 chassis, mostly heavy and assault. Darius managed to bring in 85 million C-Bills after all of his negotiating. He also has a note which says that total is just for the mechs, and the hundreds of weapons and equipment that are leaving our storage bays will bring in several million more.
____ Checking our MRB score, we are nearly three-quarters of the maximum score for the C-Bills category. If we can keep this up, then we should be able to get the maximum points for that category with the time we have left.
____ My plan is to visit most of the systems in the Federated Suns and the bordering part of the Taurian Concordat, and then move back through the Capellan Confederation towards the Free Worlds League. If we need to, we should still have enough time to head into the Magistracy of Canopus and run some more contracts against them to further decrease our reputation and increase our MRB score for Negative Reputation, but I'd like to finish our 1200 days inside the Free Worlds League.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Days Remaining: 374 ____ Career Points: 696,064 ____ Career Rating: Legendary
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -​

 

[MarkDey]

Yang starts the repairs on the Death Map and Bull Shark, and then starts upgrading some of the lighter mechs in preparation for possible deployment for an upcoming flashpoint (Hearts and Minds.) The pockmarked planet of Daol looks to be another good location for mercenary work, with four contracts from the Draconis Combine and two from the Federated Suns. If we take all of them, it will drop our standing with the Federated Suns below Honored, but that shouldn't be too difficult to recover.

 

[MarkDey]

____ On the way to Shaunavon, Yang makes his repairs and continues tinkering with the mechs. Arm actuators are moved around on the lighter mechs just in case they are needed. The Firestarter will be able to punch well above its weight, making any medium mech Unstable with a single hit. Toothy undergoes some work and can now make any assault mech Unstable with a single hit. I also consider swapping out a S Laser for a Flamer on Toothy for the sole purpose of being able to do fine-scale mech disassembly, but ultimately decide against it. The Blasthopper is redesigned, and the improved MGs are installed on the Firestarter. I should probably send it to storage and replace it with another Orion 40 now that Toothy has proven itself a very capable scout, but will take care of that later. Right now, I have a more pressing concern.

Event - Black Market Shakedown: We have been contacted and told that we need to pay a membership renewal fee in order to maintain our access to the black market. Naturally, this is while we are about to arrive at a black market system within a week. Cutting across Darius' rant, I decide to pay it.
Result: We lose 2.5 million C Bills but retain Black Market access. Money talks.

____ For the monthly financial report, I hold everyone at normal pay. Scrub, Goth, and President all heal up. As we enter orbit, Darius notes that another flashpoint is available in Mitchel to help the Capellan Confederation lift a Lyran siege. Not really worth our time. What is worth our time is the store and the black market - of particular interest are the MG+ weapons and large amount of mech salvage.
____ Yang also submits a separate purchase request for something exceptional - a Star League era Black Knight. It has proprietary technology that can't be reverse engineered or modified, letting it hold eight double heat sinks in its legs. That would be an impressive replacement for the Blasthopper in the heavy weight restricted lance, but his plan is actually to strip it and put it into storage, using the double heat sinks on other mechs. It's tempting... but it's also 254 million C-Bills. We can actually afford it... I decide to hold off for now, but will revisit that before we leave the system.

 

[MarkDey]

- - - - - - - - Flashpoint: Hearts and Minds - - - - - - -
A pro-Capellan insurgent group called the Emerald Dawn threatens to destabilize Shaunavon's political landscape. We've been tasked with eliminating the group's two co-leaders. First up is Matis "Bishop" Crenshaw.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -​

Mission 331: 2 Skull Assassinate ____ Employer: Federated Suns ____ Target: Emerald Dawn ____ Biome: Urban
Lance: FS9-M (Jingle), Toothy (Hangover), SHD-15 (Scrub), Death Rap (Moose)

Report: This is the first drop of the upgraded light lance, and Jingle has already told Hangover twice to be careful piloting Toothy. Personally, I think that Jingle is the one that needs to be careful, running around in the upgunned Firestarter, but I remember piloting my Jenner and getting tired of people telling me to be careful, so I keep my thoughts to myself. Moose complains a bit about the tightness of the Death Rap and having to coordinate the lance and LRM fire without the Cyclops gear, but they've run enough simulator drills on it to still be effective.
____ We drop into the city and Bishop hails us, demanding that we stay out of his way. We move to cut him off and engage some hostile vehicle and mech escorts. 2x Striker, LCT-1E, LCT-1S. We detect Bishop and his escorts soon enough, and they have a Raven to provide ECM support. A sensor lock from Scrub lets Moose drop a near half-ton of missiles on the Raven, which destroys the left torso and the ECM equipment along with it. Surprisingly, the ECM field doesn't drop! That's when I see the other Raven and move to destroy it as well. SDR-5K, 2xRVN-1X (pilot kills), JR7-D (pilot kill), BJ-1 (pilot kill). The destabilizing melee attacks from the Firestarter work well to disable enemy mechs, even if the timing of when to move in is rather tricky.

Salvage: RVN-1X assembled and moved into storage.

 

[MarkDey]

____ Our next stop is Wrentham, and Yang is disappointed that we didn't buy the Star League era Black Knight, but is soon working on a refit of Toothy that incorporates some advanced Target Acquisition Gear that we recently purchased. It will be helpful for boosting the damage of ballistic shots on a target, but it also provides a standard range scalpel for enemy mech disassembly. To keep the damage close to the same, since an M Laser is replaced with the TAG, the regular S Laser is upgraded to an ER S Laser to match the other one.
____ Also, the Blasthopper refit is stopped, and the mech is put into storage once I realize that I don't actually need it for a heavy weight limit lance. The upgraded MGs are installed on the Firestarter instead. This leaves us with nine mech bays being used to house the mechs for our standard and weight limited deployments, and the other nine are to be filled with Yang's rotating salvage assembly projects.
____ Four contracts are available, all from House Davion, making it just worth heading in to orbit. Jalopy heals up shortly after we leave the jump point, and once we arrive, Darius executes the purchase orders to buy the mech salvage, two more upgraded MGs, and another set of cockpit bracing.