1st Company Ready Room
Purvo, Capellan Confederation
20 April, 3050
The moment of truth; first impressions.
Solomon "Sharkomodo" Kazeretti knew all too well that these were the moments that made or broke a command. While ultimately, battlefield competence and success would determine the cohesion of a unit, first impressions went a long, long way to establishing the foundation on which any success might be built. Come off as weak, and the men would not respect you. Come off as affable, and they wouldn't view you as an authority. If you were quiet, you were timid. If you were aggressive, you were compensating. The men wanted leadership, not another friend, but they wanted that leadership tempered with reason, vision, fairness and a sense of invincibility. That was a tall order in ideal circumstances. These were not ideal circumstances.
He threw the door open and strode towards the podium with a supreme aura of control and confidence. He made a point not to smirk, in fact his face was a stern and unreadable as he could make it. The trio of men waiting for his arrival took notice as well. They stopped joking and speaking. They sat up straight. They turned their full attention to him and the sizing up process began in earnest.
He dropped his noteputer on the podium and looked each man in the eye briefly. The tall, dark-haired young man on his left. The more seasoned and hardened man in the middle, and the grinning, cocky young warrior to his right. He cleared his throat and spoke.
"Gentlemen," he began in a crisp, firm voice," I am Sang Wei Sharkomodo, your new lance commander. Before you feel a need to ask, a Sharkomodo is a reptile native to my home planet. It is a 6 foot long reptile with webbed toes and the ability to swim, even in salt water. It has legendary patience, and has been known to bite a prey animal at a watering hole, and then track it for up ten days until the poison in its bite weakens and slows the prey. Then the repitle, known officially as a Dredge Lizard, will attack his prey and kill it. The locals refer to this badass lizard as a Sharko-Modo. Half bloodthirsty Shark, half patient poisonous Komodo Dragon. All predator. I did not choose it, no the callsign was given to me, and that is the last we ever need speak about thatI! Am I clear people?"
Glancing up, he saw them shift in their seats. There were mumbles, and nods, and a quiet, "Yes, sir."
He stood tall and glared back at them, "I don't have many rules gentlemen, but one of them is this. When I ask for confirmation, I expect you all to answer loud and proud as if you had the balls to be the shit kickers that Capellan MechWarriors are known to be! Now, are we clear about my callsign?"
The trio boomed a unified "Yes, SIR!"
One crisp brief nod, and he continued. "I requested each and every one of you from the other companies when Zong Shao Zvolimir offered me this command." He pointed to the tall Mech pilot to his left, "Sao Wei Matthew 'Izzy' Isertell has established an impressive duty record as a light 'Mech scout pilot." Next he indicated the older man in the middle, "MechWarrior Brian 'Vinahsa' Hart has blitzed through BattleMech training after spending years in the administrative corps. His kill ratio is nothing short of inspiring." A final nod to the youngest among them, "And this is Joseph 'Malpheus" Potter." He's new to the service and that means he has no bad habits. That's an asset, especially on the raid we're going to be a part of."
He watched all three men sit up and gain clarity and focus in an instant. It was Vinhasa who said,"Raid?"
And with a wicked, knowing grin, Solomon flicked on the big screen. "Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the planet Mendham. Oh, do we have plans for it..."
CCDS Gonggong
Pirate Point 124.65, Mendham System
Federated Commonwealth Space
20 May 3050
The guest cabin was small, especially for a military briefing. It was what they had to work worth however, and Zvolimir would not tolerate the presence of warriors who could not make due what was at hand. The five men crowded into the cabin all huddled around the small writing table that folded out of the aft bulkhead. Detailed maps of Mendham were rolled out there, and Zvolimir was illustrating various markings that had been made to them.
"Initial approach to target Alpha?" he looked to Sang Wei Stoneblade who promptly stabbed a point on the map as he leaned in closer.
"El-Zee is one-one, we form up, move down the river bank on approach to defenders at target alpha. Goal is to harrass and withdraw to waypoint bravo, here." He tapped another point of the map.
Zvolimir nodded, "You have to get them to chase the rabbit, but don't get so entrenched you can't get free. Entropy, where does that put you?"
Leaning against the doorframe of the cabin, the lean officer spoke back without hesitation. He didn't move closer to the map, confident in his knowledge of the plan. "El-Zee is one-five. Proceed to waypoints Charlie, Delta and Echo, allowing us to settle into the brush on the highlands overlooking the basin. Then wait for Stoneblade and his guys to drag them right across our sights."
"Correct," Zvolimir noted in his clipped, firm tone, "Focus on the faster units first, and be careful with anything exotic. Legs, arms, that kind of thing. Sharkomodo, where is your lance going to be when this occurs?"
"Our El-Zee is four-six, we move to the low cliffs at grid point echo ten and wait for your signal."
Zvolimir allowed himself the luxury of a brief smile. "It would appear our draconian training schedule has paid off gentlemen. Keep in mind that once we deploy second and third companies in their scavenger roles, we will have a window of minutes to secure the targets and move to exfiltration. The captain of the GongGong cannot wait for us. If you miss his extraction, you will become the guest of Hanse Davion. At least until he executes you."
The assembled officer corps nodded in understanding. Zvolimir could see in their eyes that they were ready. All of them. Whatever else the next twenty four hours had in store for them, he was sure that the Davion devils below were not ready for the storm about to break upon them.
Drexel, Mendham, Federated Commonwealth
21 May, 3050
"Saber 4, watch that Vulcan!" Sang Wei Stoneblade barked on channel, "It's not a pogue it's got one of those new pulse lasers!"
For Stoneblade, the downside of Mechjocking was the high altitude drop. Being sealed blind in a cocoon and then dropped from thousands of feet up was not his idea of a good time. No non-spacer liked the feeling of a jump, but Stoneblade hated having to trust some damn automated cocoon for his life and well being. He had made it though, and found his troopers with minimal difficulty.
They had slipped onto the surface apparently unnoticed. In fact, their path along the Grezin River's richly-forested banks had brought them to within a single kilometer of the Mendham Electronics plant. The same factory where some of the most advanced targeting and tracking systems in the Inner Sphere were made. The renowned Garret D2J and now Improved Garret 11JA were the pinnacle of anti-aircraft targeting. The infamous Illyrian Lancers stood guard at the factory site. They were fabled in reputation and lore, and yet they had effectively been caught with their pants down.
Stoneblade's lance had opened fire on the BattleMechs standing patrol and it was like kicking over an anthill. A full company of jump-capable BattleMechs were now trying to surround and destroy his lance. They were mostly light and medium machines, but at least two heavies could be seen as well. After all, it wasn't every day you saw a Thunderbolt take flight.
His men were doing him proud. They kept their throttles down and their speed up. They weaved through patches of trees and soggy ground without getting bogged down. They took shots as they presented themselves and refused to break off and give chase. It was everything they had worked at, and it seemed like it was working.
To his left, he saw Sao-Wei "Earnd"'s Victor unleash an auto cannon shell and a laser at a Javelin that zipped past him in an effort to shower the assault 'Mech with short ranged missiles. And while missiles peppered explosion across his BattleMech's armor, the responding auto cannon shell slammed into the Javelin's right arm and snapped it off just above the elbow. The light machine twisted awkwardly and managed to keep itself upright. At least until a moment later, when it was blindsided by a heavy auto cannon shell that roared from Archangel's Hunchback. The lightly armored and already-battered Javelin caught the stream of ballistic hail right in its chest. The shells bored through it like furious termites, exploding clouds of black smoke and showers of sparks and electrical arcs from its hidden depths. The 'Mech's feet flipped up in the air as the upper body stopped in its tracks. Unceremoniously, the Javelin splatted into the marsh, and stopped moving.
"Scratch one," Archangel called over the tac-com.
"Yeah nice shot, but kept that ass moving and watch for back bugs," Stoneblade reminded him, "We're forty five seconds to bravo. Don't get caught now!"
It was chaos. A blur of machines racing through and around and past each other. The Illlyrian Lancer MechWarriors were indeed skillful at trying to isolate single 'Mechs so they could be brought low with massed fire. However, the Gatekeepers had trained for the tactic, and chosen the battleground as well. Many of the Illyrian BattleMechs were getting stuck in muddy patches of marsh as they landed from jet-assisted leaps. They had to keep pulling their feet out of the mud, buying Stoneblade and his men the time they needed to alter course and keep moving west. To keep sprinting towards the reinforcements they knew were waiting for them. Despite their planning, training, and tactical awareness, Stoneblade knew the race was going to unnervingly close.
He had to side step his Cataphract out of the path where an azure bolt of laser light sliced through the air. The Enforcer had gotten ahead of him, and was trying to either score a direct hit or herd him off to the right where that Thunderbolt was clearing a thicket of spruce trees. Stoneblade stomped his right foot pedal instead and cranked the sticks left. The Cataphract looked like it turned on a dime, to its left, heading for the sheer eight foot bank of an irrigation ditch. Just as fast as he had turned left, he snapped back to the right in a display of pure piloting prowess. As he passed on the left side of the Enforcer, he drilled his own large laser and auto cannon into the Davion 'Mech's right side. He saw both hits melt and blast chunks of armor away, but knew neither hit had been particularly damaging.
The metallic hum that raced past his cockpit and the explosion of earth thirty meters ahead screamed out a new warning. "Oh f---," Stoneblade thought to himself, "That Thunderbolt has a damn Gauss Rifle on it!" The Gauss rifle was a feared new addition to the battlefield. Incredibly damaging even at long ranges, it also provoked no heat to fire. It didn't even fire explosive shells. The sheer kinetic impact of its watermelon-sized nickel slugs was enough to shred even the thickest armor. His thumb keyed the tac-com again.
"Saber Actual to all friendlies. T-Bolt is x-tech. Repeat T-Bolt is x-tech! Saber Lance, through the trees now!"
As ordered, all four mechs turned directly to the thatches and patches of trees that were clumped along the river's path. The Cataphract, Hunchback, Victor and Darrin Call's Shadow Hawk suddenly turned north as if they were a precision 'Mech drill team. They dove in blind and headlong, and somehow, all four BattleMechs also came out the far side on their feet and none the worse for wear. The basin was maybe eight hundred meters across at this point, with a lone line of low hills providing a wall across the far side of the water. They'd made it, or so Stoneblade hoped. Even now he could feel and hear their pursuers crashing and smashing and leaping over the woods to renew their chase. He could make out the Enforcer, as well as a Hatchetman, Whitworth, and Centurion.
He looked up to the ridge and muttered a quiet, "You better be there."
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