Confusion, Lies and Serendipity

Operation Silent Light

116C-72G (index masked) was a colony from the Confederation set up on a barren world that was fraught with dangers, not the least of which was the proximity of House Davion aggressors.  It was abandoned during the 4th Succession war and was of little tactical importance.  House Liao units have had to conduct regular surveys of the world since then due to the proclivity of pirates and Federated Suns espionage units of using it as a base.  As the Gatekeepers dropships hit the atmosphere, none of them anticipated the momentous event that was about to occur.

The drop went smooth.  Dropships landed four clicks out from the first target, and all four were quickly surrounded by SK-im Division infantry and their support vehicles.  This amounted to a training excercise for the Liao Cháng-Chéng, with joint operations as the subject.  It went like clockwork, exactly according to plan.  Of course, there were no actual enemies apparent - but there can still be accidents.

Search objectives were spread across the northern hemisphere for the MechWarriors of Gatekeepers company, and aerospace fighters combed the frozen reaches of the southern  looking for energy and communications signatures.  The survey of the planet was scheduled to take a standard week, but Zvolimir the Blackhand knew that the Gatekeepers would be back on the drop site in three days, tops.

The first two days of the survey passed in dogged boredom for the company.  They trudged across terrain for miles, with the most excitement any of them getting was getting unstuck from difficult terrain.  They came across the abandoned habitation modules of the old colonists, forgotten and weathering silently in the lifeless wilderness of grey, cracked ground and tall, withered and blackened trees.

UglyGreeN played horrid country music in the comms channel for two hours one day, until Blackhand shut him down.  They passed the rest of the time regaling each other with tales of their homelands, and how ridiculously dangerous each was.  The comeliness of the females on those planets seemed to be inextricably linked to how dangerous the wildlife there was.

They approached the last colony site on the third day.  The sky was grey, and it seemed there was always a cloud shadow on this world, and the sun was distant and dim.

"Blackhand, are you seeing this?" Torturous interrupted Maggnamon and UglyGreeN speaking about how to capture some dangerous fish (that weighed more than a man) on some dangerous world in some dangerous fashion.  "We've got three energy signatures down there."

Blackhand studied the battle map.  Sure enough, and much to his pleasant surprise, three mech-grade energy signatures were emanating from the habitation zone.  Quick to seize their element of surprise, Blackhand ordered the company to prepare for battle.

"I've got their comms," Gearstripper reported.

"Get the drop on them - ignore the comms."  Blackhand returned.

Three strange looking mechs moved through the habitation, apparently scanning the old colonial equipment.  They didn't even know they were being stalked, much less that the Gatekeepers had taken an extra long time to move into position.  ECM Ravens piloted by DrRedCoat and Entropy Rising made sure that they didn't see anything on their sensors until it was too late.  The Gatekeepers waited with steely patience for the optimal attack.  It was over in less than a minute, and the company took very little damage in return for disabling the three active battlemechs.

"Blackhand, the comms are still incoming...looks like there are more."  Gearstripper warned.

"Roger that.  RedCoat, check for survivors.  The rest of you form up on me."  Blackhand acted quickly to form the company up to deal with the new threat.  Soon, he began to see mechs approaching on his sensors, but they were spread out, trickling back toward the habitation.  "Alright, we gonna run the Pain Train on 'em!" Blackhand eagerly squealed into the chatterbox.

The Pain Train, as the Gatekeepers call it, is a maneuver that goes like this:  Once you have the enemy in a vulnerable formation (such as a thinly supported, single file convoy) the mechs in the LCC line up single file, and run toward the end of the enemy line.  The procession goes straight, with each mech raking each enemy with all guns as they pass by.  As each successive Gatekeeper passes, the damage to enemy formations (who are scrambling to deal with the first mechs pushing past them) is catastrophic.

The first mech looked strange like the others, and bore strange markings where it had any at all.  No one recognized the image of a falcon carrying a sword that DrRedCoat uploaded.  Blackhand saw the colors and the blade and it confirmed his suspicions.  "This is a pirate company that's probably running House Liao colors to dupe fringe-worlders.  I'm getting sick of these fools." he snarled.

They pounded the first mechs into dust.  The third one attempted to run, but the Pain Train was rolling.  The first volleys had struck the next-to-last mech before Gearstripper's voice patched through the comms.

"Zvo," Gearstripper addressed Blackhand informally, "I'm patching this through.  You have to listen to this."

The company heard the vox-patch squeal as the transmission came over their internal communications.  Someone was frantically yelling at the Gatekeepers, and it took a moment to get a clear read on the speaker's accent - they had no idea where this guy was from.  Once attenuated, they could hear him clearly, and all shooting ceased as Blackhand called a halt.  All the mechs stopped moving, and all was still but the wind.

"This is Star Commander Sean Pryde, and I challenge your cowardly commander to a Trial of Possession!  You have no respect for true warriors, I..."  the comms cut off as Blackhand cut him off.

"This is Sao-Shao Blackhand of the Gatekeepers company.  You are trespassing on sanctioned ground and are here illegally.  Power down your mech and order your compatriot to do the same."  As Blackhand spoke, he silently signaled Jerry Wargate, Maggnamon, DrRedCoat and Uglygreen to peel off to the east.  Flanking around a small formation, the last enemy mech would be caught unawares and destroyed quickly by both of the HBK-4G's in that lance.

Blackhand flipped the comms back on, and nothing but silence from the newcomer.  After a moment, Commander Pryde began again, "I challenge you.  You win, and my men and I will surrender with no further resistance."

Such a ludicrous thing coming through the microphone caused all the Gatekeepers to begin laughing maniacally.  Even Blackhand smiled an incredulous grin as he waited for the laughter and jokes to die off, then retorted in what was plainly his caricature of a bureaucrat's political discourse, "Oh?  Such a great deal, I shall be forced to ponder this a moment...but say, friend - I wonder what do you get if you win?"

"You return my men and their mechs to me and leave this planet."  came the reply from their strange new acquaintance.

Zvolimir scanned the pirate's mech.  It was strange, didn't conform to any known pattern and the computer could not get a read on it's weapon systems.  However, it had been badly damaged already by AC/20 shots at short range.  He grinned.  Why not?  Something different, anyway.  Even if he lost, there's absolutely NO WAY.

"You're on."  Blackhand stated, and the Gatekeepers sat back in their mechs to watch the show.  Into the internal channel he ordered UglyGreeN's lance to hold their attack.  His Spider was tiny, and the pirate's mech was huge.  "Torturous?"

"Here." came the Sang-Wei's voice.  Torturous was one of the best officers Blackhand had served with, and happened to be piloting a Highlander at this exact moment.

"Care for some one-on-one?"  Blackhand asked the captain.

"Sure!"  Torturous was instantly enthusiastic, and began to move out to engage the pirate further from the company.  He could plainly see the unfair advantage he had with the pirate's weakened armor, and at a signal from Blackhand began systematically disabling the gyroscope of the enemy walker.  With the Highlander's jump capability, Torturous was able to simply outmaneuver the pirate once it had been legged.  He fought well, but the pirate pilot had been caught at extreme disadvantage.  As for Torturous - he lost an arm, but only because he insisted on grinding it against his enemy's weapon mount.

The pirate's mech went down in a smoking wreck, and everyone congratulated Torturous on his successful engagement.

"Ugly, get that last mech to power down and bring the pilot to me."  Blackhand ordered C-Lance.

...

Sean Pryde woke groggily from his blackout.  He was in the mech's cockpit, but it wasn't burning.  There was a lot of damage, and the cockpit glass had been smashed.  He looked up to see a House Liao soldier in cold weather gear hanging through the busted cockpit frame, reaching and flicking his power switches off to prevent an overload explosion.  He struggled to move, but the soldier motioned for him to stop.  As he began to fade out from his concussion, the enemy mechwarrior looked down at him and spoke.

"Don't worry, buddy.  I'm a doctor."

DrRedCoat, that is. 

To Be Continued...