ASO Chpt 15

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==Chapter 15 - First Mission - Aurigan Sentinels (BattleTech CYOA)==
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Axylus, Alloway System
Aurigan Frontier, Rimward Periphery
19th February, 3020
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As we charge, the Cleavers get off a volley on us. Assorted firepower strikes Paladin Company and Solus Prime takes an autocannon to the right arm in addition to being struck by a pair of stray LRMs. 
 
I return fire, unleashing my own LRM launcher on the unfortunate Centurion that attacked me. I ding it up a little, but I only reduce its armor by a small amount and do nothing impactful. The same cannot be said for the followup shot from my Gauss Rifle as it slams into the side containing its LRMs, the sheer power of the Gauss Rifle penetrates the internal structure and shreds the armor of the medium ‘Mech. Alas, there isn’t any further damage as my battle computer indicates that not only is the LRM launcher unharmed, but all of its remaining ammo remains intact.
After that, it is a bit of a free-for-all brawl as Paladin Company disperses into the hills that the Cleavers are hiding in. A pair of medium lasers rake across the Solus Prime, both green beams burning gorges into my armor while I fire at a Stinger with my SRMs and a couple of lasers, which is about as far as I push things without gaining excess heat for my ‘Mech. For my skill level, I do oddly well as despite missing with one of the lasers, the other mangles the left arm of the Bug ‘Mech, which is then promptly blown away by one of my SRMs. The Stringer tries to flee with its jump jets only for Moana to gut its main body with her Gauss Rifle, leaving the cored out remains of the light ‘Mech to fall to the ground.
 
I don’t have any time to savour the small victory as a pair of PPC blasts my ‘Mech as a Marauder bears down on me. My armor is holding, but after taking a second PPC shot, my center torso is about to about fifty percent and I am not eager to see it get any lower. I turn to face the Marauder and my IFF tags the heavy ‘Mech as belonging to Colonel Forst himself.
 
“This is Knight,” I call into the company channel, “I’m going to need help with this Marauder!”
 
I fire my Gauss and all four medium lasers at the pirate leader, willing to accept the excess heat if it means bringing down the enemy commander, but Colonel Forst just side steps. I might be naturally talented, but I have nothing on the skill that Colonel Forst is showing at the pirate warlord deftly maneuvers his Marauder out of my line of fire. Even as I struggle to draw a bead on him, I have no doubts that my counterpart is having zero difficulty lining up another shot on me.
 
My saving grace is that the lack of atmosphere combined with the heavy heat output of the PPCs means that Colonel Forst will have to use them sparingly. Alas, that doesn’t mean that the pirate Marauder is without other weapons. The autocannon mounted on its shoulder spits out two shells, both of them aimed directly at me. I really mean at me as both shots slam into my skull-faced cockpit.
 
The twin impacts aren’t enough to breach my cockpit even as all of its armor is blown away, but that doesn’t mean I personally got out of it unscathed. It is sort of like getting hit whilst wearing body armor, where the armor might protect you from getting killed, but if you get hit hard enough, you will be bruised or worse.
 
In this case? It hurts and it hurts all over. A couple of things are sparking and while my cockpit is functional, I can already tell that Yang will need to give it a proper workover on the way home. But I have to push through because if I don’t, Colonel Forst is just going to finish the job and I would rather be in pain than dead.
 
I fire a full Alpha Strike at the Marauder, massively heating up my ‘Mech in exchange for forcing the pirate to back off if just for a moment. I don’t have time to see damage I do as I twist my ride so that I get some mass between my exposed cockpit and the Marauder. The heavy ‘Mech doesn’t open fire as I do so and I suspect that he is cooling off some of that heat given he is using PPCs in a lunar environment.
 
That’s when Jenelle comes to my aid as she enters the fray with her Orion. She misses with her autocannon, but one of her medium lasers and an SRM strike the side of the Marauder, clawing away at its armour. Thank you for BattleTech protagonists. 
I fire my Gauss at the Marauder as I have too much ammo to run out in a single brawl and it is a good way to keep up the pressure whilst Solus Prime cools off from my Alpha Strike. I miss of course, but it means that Colonel Forst has to split his attention between me and Jenelle. Unfortunately, that seems to be something that is right up the Butcher’s alley as he dances between the two of us, clearly able to handle tracking both of us.
 
Jenelle continues to attack the Marauder, spacing out her weapons so she doesn’t overheat her Orion. Colonel Forst is good enough to avoid the majority of her shots, but the Marauder isn’t the most agile of ‘Mechs and as green as she is, Jenelle is still a decent shot. Colonel Forst loses more of his armor as Jenelle chips away at his ride and just as I get my hopes up, it all changes in a flash.
 
The Marauder fires its PPCs after Colonel Forst lines up a shot and I think the autocannon was fired as well. I don’t know what happened to Jenelle, but one moment her Orion is fine and the next it is going up in flames as one arm goes flying and the torso is engulfed in a raging fireball as the Orion goes from mostly untouched to cored. I look for an ejection seat, hoping that I am wrong and Jenelle isn’t still in her flaming wreck of a ‘Mech.
 
But no, there was no ejection and I am back to facing down the Marauder on my own. I should have another moment or two as Colonel Forst needs to cool his ‘Mech again, but after that I am likely toast just like Jenelle. Which hurts, but I’ll mourn her later when I am still alive to do so. I fire my Gauss Rifle once again and also once again, I miss with the low heat weapon as Colonel Forst continues to dance in that Marauder of his. 
“Damn you!” cries Kamea as her Atlas comes lumbering up between my own Atlas and the remains of Jenelle’s Orion, firing her LRMs into the Marauder, 
 
The twenty missiles from Kamea’s ‘Mech are soon joined by thrice that number as both Catapults using our sensors for indirect fire. Colonel Forst does his best, but there is only so much that the best pilot can do to avoid eighty LRMs in a Marauder whilst in the relative open. Perhaps one in five LRMs actually hit Colonel Forst, but that is enough to continue to chip away at his armour, which is starting to look low in a couple of places.
 
A large laser lances out at the Marauder, forcing Colonel Forst to back up as one of Paladin Company’s Griffins shows up. As an alert flashes upon on my screens, I let out a sigh of relief as I am within the protection of the Griffin’s Guardian ECM. It isn’t a guarantee of safety, but it means that the pirate leader will have a much harder time finishing me off. Provided that I don’t break the effect by engaging Colonel Forst further as the downside of not having the Guardian ECM installed in my ‘Mech is that actively targeting a ‘Mech disrupts the effects of the Guardian ECM.
 
Just as I form some tentative plans for taking out Colonel Forst and avenging Jenelle, the pirate warlord dashes them as he doesn’t stop backing up his Marauder. Instead of continuing to engage us, he swings his ‘Mech and begins to run away, back towards where the Cleavers landed their Leopards.
 
“What?” exclaims Kamea over the comms, “You can’t just run like that!”
 
“Stop me, you whoring bitch!” retorts Colonel Forst even as Kamea is already unloading more LRMs into the rear of fleeing Marauder.
 
The Arano heiress isn’t the only one to engage the pirate warlord. Moana fires her gauss rifle and LRMs at the Marauder as do both Catapults while a Warhammer fires one of its PPCs. Actually no, the Warhammer is firing its only remaining PPC as the heavy ‘Mech lost one of its arms in the fighting. I even add my own LRMs and Gauss Rifle to the fray.
 
It isn’t enough to take down Colonel Forst as despite shredding the rear armor of the Marauder, the pirate ‘Mech successfully escapes into the hills. Without line of sight, most of our weapons are ineffective and we lack the sensor data to fire out LRMs. I could send one of the Griffins to pursue Colonel Forst and act as a spotter for our LRMs, but a single glance at the burning wreck of Jenelle’s Orion puts the kibosh on that idea. I don’t want to send a single ‘Mech after the pirate when he has already proven his moniker by gutting Jenelle like he did.
Instead, I look around and see that the battle is over. Paladin Company is scattered, but Jenelle was the only ‘Mech to go down on our side while only half of the Cleavers got away. It isn’t a clean victory as most of our ‘Mechs aren’t fit for another battle without a serious workover in the MechBays, but we won.
 
I wince as the adrenaline begins to fade now that the battle is over and my body hurts. We won, but between the state of Paladin Company, Jenelle’s probable death and my own injuries, I certainly don’t feel like I’ve won.
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==Author's Chapter Commentary==
; A Word from the Author: The rest of it will be Elizabeth recovering from this battle and sorting out logistics, politics and other such stuff. Meanwhile, Colonel Forst gets away to be an enemy in a future arc, something I didn’t originally intend. In the end, I figured it would be more impactful to have an enemy who has appeared on-screen and proven their chops before over one who is appearing for the first time.
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