Deadmen&Friends
- Recon, Rescue, Reposession -
1 - Prelude
We're waist deep in quick sand and going down quick. We got been stuck in this part of the periphery after the banks locked our jump ship access. Money's running low and so is morale. Around here people expect you to smash a lance worth of vehicles and mechs for barely 100k C-bills and be happy about it.
Ever since the commander and the senior lance got smoked we've been on our own. The sorry bunch that's left elected me to lead them to glory, but all I see in front of us is an endless abyss and the shade of oblivion.
We sold the Locust at Belerophon to make ends meet, so we're down to four mechs, all of them now refitted for service.
The Spider had to shed some JJs to mount full armor and a pair of small lasers to beef up her double Mediums.
I also had the MechTechs switch the ShadowHawk to SRMs, none of us are exceptionally good shots, so I suspect a shotgun will do better then a rifle.
Lastly, I decided to drop the AC2s from the Black Jack, making space for the AC5 and more Armor. It'll do as a second row brawler while still retaining some range.
As for the pilots...
I'm a rookie myself no doubt, but the team that stuck with me after the commander is even more green, blank slates really, but eager enough to prove themselves in the field.
Vilmos "Cruithe" Coelho (3.2.3.3)
He is the heir of some noble family from the Capellan Confederation, but besides the family name, there isn't much to inherit. He's a decent shot, somewhat tactically inclined and brave enough, but not the fastest on the svivel. Outside he's a likeable if somewhat stiff man who sticks to hierarchys like boarding pods to a ships hull. Also it seems he's something going on with Lady Fortune and might share some of his luck.
Cornell "Macho" Kristiansen (3.2.3.2)
Macho was born a periphery commoner and snuck aboard the Leopard a couple of years ago. He's learned enough to pilot a mech and shoot it's guns, but he's lacking in his understanding of tactics and is more often stupid then brave. He suffers no insult and allways strives to outdo his peers. I hope he doesn't get killed while doing so, but at least he's improving.
Michael "Smog" Mehmedovic (2.3.2.2)
Smog is a Taurian, a Taurian noble, though even he disregards any such distinction, headstrong and volatile, but unfortunately little more. He has potential, at least as a pilot, but of all of my misfits, he's the most misfitting one.
Sezim "Triceratops" Mariani (3.3.2.3)
Sezim is the fifth son, born to marik nobility in the Free Worlds League. Being to far down the line to inherit any landed titles, he set out to be a mechwarrior. He's a cautios and methodical man with good grasp on all mechwarrior disciplines. But he lacks the guts to dive into a brawl, preferring to stay at the side lines, until he may land a decisive blow.
2 - Heavy Lifting
It appears the name Deadmen&Friends still carries some weight. We got contacted by some canopian lady (30k for a meeting, I could get use to that). We're to retrieve some old wrecked drop ship from a pirate moon called Ancylus, or something like that. Deal was for us to clear the closeby pirate base, while canopian marines and engineers took possession of the craft. Not to much to ask for a million C-bill Payday!
Cruithe drew the short straw and had to take the Spider, I myself took the Shadow Hawk, Macho the Black Jack and Triceratops got the Vindicator. To be honest, there wasn't to much strategy involved in our approach. We swung around the right flank of the base entrance, Cruithe and I taking point and relieving the turret generator of its duty.
Macho took a bit of fire from a pair of defending Strikers, but he and Triceratops had no trouble taking them out.
Pushing further in, I took down a Scorpion Cruithe had outflanked and softened up. Triceratops taking his second name from another Scorp.
While Cruithe chased down the last remaining defender, a ramshackle bulldog, Triceratops ran his Vindicator a little to hot taking down the second generator.
After regrouping and taking some time to cool, we took down the radar towers to clear the path for the capellans, and then proceeded into the bases courtyard through a breach in the courtainwall.
Turns out the base wasn't as much close to the wreck, as it incorporated the downed Dropship, likely as a powersource if nothing else. Inside, the second wave of defence met us. A Jenner, a Commando, a Locust and two vehicles, all in less then pristine condition. Cruithe, eagerly going after the vehilces got flanked by the Jenner and the Commando. The Spiders left torso evaporated in an instant.
While Triceratops pledged to down the Locust, I slammed into the Commando, disrupting balance andcreating enough of an opening for Macho to blow him to bits.
The Jenner tried to take another shot at our Spider, but Cruithe dodged him and jumped as far as his jets would carry him and into full cover.
With the Locust-Pilot breathing void after to PPC-shots squarely to the CT, we were free to pile into the Jenner, who chose to eject, rather then follow his comrades into the grave.
I remember hoping for a brief respite, as he shot up into orbit, but it was not to be. Instead a goddamn Quickdraw accompanied by a Shadowhawk stepped into the fight. I was out of position, we all were, but there was neither room nor time to properly regroup and though the team held up well, losing momentum could have brought us down then and there.
So I charged forward, planting myself between my team and the enemy, opened up on the quickdraw and braced for his revenge. The light show was quite spectacular, thinking back, but the pirate captain wasn't a good shot andprobably drunk too. Last thing I expected was not to be hit. But seeing me standing there unscratched did a lot to inspire the others. Macho would not suffer to be second to my bravado and rolled up beside me, blasting the Quickdraws side torso away with an almost perfectly placed salvo.
Triceratops meanwhile repositioned and used his LRM to put more pressure unto the Quickdraw and even Cruithe suddenly appeared in the pirates six after circling around the left flank and tore into her rear armor.
The Shadowhawk turned on the spot to go after Cruithe, who sacrificed his Spiders second arm to save from a crippling blow. I called my team to keep the pressure on the Quickdraw, hoping for Cruithe to get out by himself and was rewarded, after a second barrage from the three of us, the pirate captain decided to flip the eject and leave for greener pastures.
The shadow hawk pilot proved to be much more stubborn. We toppled him and happily kicked him, while he was down, but when he finally ejected, there wasn't much of his mech left.
In the end, what suffered the most was ourselves. Me, Cruithe and Macho went straight to theMedBay, strapped to the bed for three to four weeks, no recourse. And the Spider was trashed. Two arms missing, the CT basically gone and the left leg hardly more then a jumble of artificiall muscle and bent metal.
But we got out ahead, a million and change in cb-bills, a share of parts from the Quickdraw and the Shadow Hawk, some AC5's and, courtesy of our employer, a complete Centurion Chassi the pirates didn't get around to fitting. We'll scrap the spider, a refit is just to darn expensive and we can't afford to run surplus mechs, especially not useless ones.
Addendum:
It seems our real client is one Lady Arano, the ousted Lady of the Aurigan reach. Apparently her late father has hired Deadmen&Friends before and she'd hoped to meet the old guard. She wasn't to happy to hear they're all gone and none of us are with the crew long enough to remember serving alongside the Aurigan Army.
But apparently our performance was convincing enough. She needs deniable assets and we need coin. Naturally, there was mutual ground to be found. She dealt with the banks to give us some breathing room, but she made it quite clear she had a million or two to spare, if we were to desert her cause.
I don't care for her cause, but I'll honor my contracts. After all, that is the only thing seperating mercs from pirates. No back stabbery, just straight business.
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