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Chapter 1
Shipka V, Capellan Confederation, 1720 System Time, 68 Minutes Before Nightfall, 23 March 3007
Reactor: Online
Sensors: Online
Weapons: Online
All Systems: Nominal
The reactor of Tiamat , my 60 ton Dragon Heavy Mech, hums to life. Satisfied, I switch my focus over to the comms panel, double checking the frequencies before switching onto my Lance’s channel.
“Draken Lance, sound off in order.”
“Draken 2-1, Typhon is all green,” Shannon, the second fire team’s leader, replies, the paper doll representing her 75 ton Marauder Heavy ‘Mech popping up on a side monitor, showing its armor status.
“Draken 2-2, Hydra is fully functional. All LRMs loaded,” Jordan, Shannon’s battle buddy, replied, his 70 ton Archer ’s portrait joining the Marauder ’s on my side monitor.
A pause before the last and newest Lance member, Liliana, my new battle buddy, replies from her 50 ton Crab , her ‘Mech’s doll joining the other two’s.
“Draken 1-2, my Crab is reporting low hydraulics fluid in the left claw.”
“Can you get the claw open?”
“Aff, though I’m not sure it’ll close afterwards…”
“It is good enough for the mission. We should not need to get close enough. We will get the MechTechs to look at it after the mission.”
With the status of my Lance confirmed, I checked the chronometer before swapping frequencies to that of the Union -class DropShip we were currently embarked on.
“ Firesprite , this is Draken Lance. We are ready for drop. Do we have an ETA to our drop zone, over?”
“Draken Lance, this is Firesprite . Hitting atmo in five mikes. Expect landing in fifteen mikes after that. LZ appears clear, but weather is nasty, looks to be a strong gale. Going to have to take it slower than usual, over.”
“Roger. Standing by for landing, over and out.”
Twenty minutes. We had gotten ready earlier than strictly necessary, but it never hurt to be prepared. Sitting in a BattleMech’s cockpit idle was not exactly fun, but it beat having to scramble to your ‘Mech to meet the timetable. I queued up the DropShip’s sensor data on the LZ to study more while we waited, swapping back to my Lance’s comms mid-conversation.
“...was saying, she is professional. She is fair. She does not unduly assign blame,” I catch the voice of Shannon mid-sentence.
“But I failed to catch the fault in my ‘Mech during my walk around, I made a mistake!”
“And I told you said fault would not interfere with said mission, quiaff? Besides, the failure is on the MechTechs. Not you,” I say, making my presence known.
“Lead! Um, when did you get back on channel?” Liliana stutters out nervously.
“Just now in fact. Five mikes until the ride gets bumpy. Twenty until we are on the ground.”
“You just love making us wait, do you not?” Jordan replies, his tone light with humor, “The classic hurry up and wait.”
“You know it. The horror of sitting around talking for a while inside of our ‘Mechs instead of doing the exact same right outside of them.”
—
Shipka V, Capellan Confederation, 1736 System Time, 52 Minutes Before Nightfall, 23 March 3007
Around fifteen minutes of idle chatter later, and my comms unit pings, causing me to once more swap comms channels.
“ Firesprite , this is Draken Lance. We nearly down, over?”
“Aff, Draken Lance. Three mikes out. Weather has not improved, prep for a rough landing. Once we are down I want to stay landed as briefly as possible. Winds are coming in from the Northeast, strong gale strength, gusting at ninety kilometers an hour. We risk toppling if we stay grounded for long, over.”
“Draken Lance copies. We will signal you when we are off, then ping you again when ready for pickup, over.”
“Godspeed Draken Lance. Firesprite out.”
Toggling the switch yet again, I return to my Lance’s channel once more.
“Alright Draken Lance, we are in for a rough landing in two and half mikes. Once we are down, we are to get out ASAP and get clear. Firesprite wants to offload us as quickly as possible due to gale winds from the Northeast, so be ready to deal with those once we leave the ship. Everybody copy?”
“Aff Commander. We predict any issues with the wind once we get to our AO?”
“Neg 2-2. Winds should not cause excess issues with your missiles. If the winds are still strong as we are nearing the AO we will reassess then.”
“Roger.”
As we are discussing the situation, I quickly download the latest weather data from the DropShip, and send the data over to the rest of the Lance, feeding it into my ‘Mechs computers for it to properly brace. Falling over due to wind would not only be embarrassing for any member of the Lance, but cause unnecessary delays in an already long op.
I finished my preparations, ensuring the data had been properly received by the computer, right as with a harsh jolt, the DropShip comes to rest on the ground. The bay door opens, the light above it flashing green.
“Draken Lance, move out,” I call, disconnecting the last wires between Tiamat and the Firesprite , before carefully maneuvering my way out the door, feeling the ‘Mech lean into the wind as I step onto the ramp, before quickly moving a few hundred meters away from the DropShip, calling to my Lance to form up on me.
“ Firesprite , this is Draken Lance. All ‘Mechs deployed and out of blast radius. You are clear to lift off.”
“Aff. Good luck.”
The main thrusters on the Firesprite reignites and the glorious sight of a DropShip taking off greets my eye as I glance at the rear view displays.
“Alright Draken Lance, from here on out we are on our own. Time to get to work. Our target is fifteen klicks North-Northwest from here. Let us get walking.”
Chapter 2
Shipka V, Capellan Confederation, 1801 System Time, 27 Minutes Before Nightfall, 23 March 3007
Three klicks from the target, I brought Tiamat to a halt, and watched in satisfaction as my Lance formed up around me without any delays or trouble.
“Alright Draken Lance. We’ve reached the AO. From here on out, expect trouble. The wind should mean there are less patrols, but we can not count on that. They will have seen the Firesprite . As such, now is when we split. Shannon, keep me updated on your progress. Liliana, on me. Try to keep up. Got that?”
“Draken 2-1 copies. Same live position feed as always?”
“Aff. Liliana?”
“I got that, but what do you mean by try to keep up?”
“We are the hammer to our fire support’s anvil. We strike hard, strike sure, and strike fast. We do not give our foes a chance to react, quiaff?”
“I think I understand.”
“Good. Now let us get going. I want to get this over with before nightfall.”
With that, I kicked up the throttle, feeling Tiamat fall into a comfortable jog, checking my sensors to ensure Liliana was able to keep up. Easing Tiamat into a gentle right towards some trees, I noted with satisfaction that Shannon had opted to head upwind instead. We would in fact get a crossfire going.
I flipped over to laser comms, quickly aligning them with Liliana’s Crab and Shannon’s Marauder . “Keep an eye out for enemy patrols. One Element will duck into the forest two klicks from the depot and approach from there. Two Element, try and stay out of their sight line until you see the flare. Laser comms only from here.”
“Aff Star, sorry, Command. Draken 2-1 copies. Good hunting, hit them hard. We will await your flare.”
Keeping the laser tracking on Shannon, I then switch over again to Liliana’s line, “Alright. Here’s the plan, we’re ducking into the forest in half a click, then from there we are to approach the base from downwind. Once it is in sight, I will fire the flare, alerting Two Element to engage as we rush in. Remember, it is a simple smash mission. Just destroy whatever you can, but prioritize your ‘Mech’s survival, and check your heat levels. We do not need to overheat our ‘Mechs to destroy some supplies. Quiaff?”
“Aff, Command. Smash but don’t overheat.”