ASO Chpt 14

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==Chapter 14 - First Mission - Aurigan Sentinels (BattleTech CYOA)==
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===Bounty Seeking Pirates===
Axylus, Alloway System
Aurigan Coalition, Rimward Periphery
19th February, 3020
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“They’re the Cleavers,” reports Victoria from aboard the Myrmidon, where she is part of the third lance that is waiting for the Leopard to return to the Myrmidon, “They are led by Thire “Butcher” First and are part of a larger pirate band called Shadow Eclipse.”
 
“Damn it.” I curse as I recognize that last name and now I have a ready good idea of why they are here.
 
“Liz, are these guys who I think they are?” inquires Moana.
 
“Yeah, they work for Jirus,” I confirm bitterly.
 
"Wait, you know these people?" says Kamea, sounding very surprised, "Who is this Jirus?"
 
"Jirus is a known pirate warlord and one of the most influential in the Frontier," says Victoria, "He is the disgraced son of an important League noble."
 
"That Leaguer noble is my biological father," I explain, " And Jirus is my eldest half-brother who wants me dead because my stepmother passed on her hatred for me to him. My other half-siblings like me, but Jirus hates me just for being born."
 
“Elizabeth always had to be careful of him growing up,” adds Moana, “Growing up in a noble family in the Reach gave her some protection, but she effectively had a bounty on her head and had to be extra wary of pirates.”
 
“There is no ‘effectively’ about it,” I say, “Jirus has put a price on my head. I don’t know the exact number, but it is in the single digit millions and enough to buy a light ‘Mech.”
 
“God, this sounds like a bad holovid drama,” says Kamea, “How on Earth did my father never find out about this?”
 
“Well, it isn’t a legal bounty so you won’t find out about it via legitimate means,” I answer, “And I doubt whatever…we don’t have an intelligence agency, do we?”
 
“Each Founding House maintains its own spy network and while there is some cooperation at times, there is no centralized intelligence agency for the Aurigan Coalition.” replies Victoria.
 
“Well, there you go.” I say.
 
“We’re getting off-topic,” says Moana, “We have two lances of hostile ‘Mechs coming for us. How are we going to play this?”
 
“We cannot abandon the Argo,” states Kamea firmly, “Not when Doctor Murad says she can get it flying again.”
 
“Agreed,” I say, “If that was an option, I would have taken our lance back to the Argo and not brought the rest of the company back down here.”
 
“Alas, my lance is still a few minutes out.” says Victoria.
 
“A shame that we don’t have drop pods,” I say idly only to be met with silence, “What?”
 
“We do have drop pods,” says Kamea reluctantly, “We just…forgot about them.”
 
“I’m going to see if using those could cut down on our estimated arrival time.” says Victoria and she drops out of the call.
 
“We’re still young and inexperienced,” says Moana soothingly, “Stuff like this is bound to happen.”
 
“I’m the heir to House Arano and the Aurigan Coalition,” replies Kamea sourly, “I’m supposed to be good enough to avoid making foolish mistakes like this.”
 
“We’re still young and inexperienced,” I repeat, “That’s on me for not taking someone more experienced with us. I figured this would be a milk run metaphorically speaking and now we’re paying the price for me not considering how dangerous it could get.”
 
“I just hope none of us pay for our inexperience in a fatal way,” says Moana.
 
"I just hope none of us fatally pay for our inexperience," I reply.
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===Attacking with not so favorable Odds===
In the end, we are able to get all three of our lances down to the surface, one via the Hysteria and the other via drop pods. Our MechWarriors are inexperienced and our rides have been hastily rearmored and rearmed and while we will have a tonnage and numbers advantage, the Cleavers have been around long enough that they will almost certainly have the skill advantage. So when the pirates made their surrender demand prior to attacking,
 
<<“This is Colonel Thire Forst, the Butcher of the Cleavers, to the mercenaries opposing us,”>> declares the pirate leader on an open channel, <<“We merely wish to claim the bounty on the wanted woman Elizabeth Nora. Hand her over and we will let you go unmolested. Resist and I’ll show why they call me the Butcher.”>>
 
((“Just to be clear, we aren’t doing that.”)) says Moana on a private channel between our command lance.
 
>>“No, we are not,”<< agrees Kamea firmly, >>“Elizabeth, with your permission, I would like to speak to the rest of our company. Everyone here might be inexperienced, but they are also loyal scions of the Aurigan Coalition. I would like to remind them that they are fighting alongside the heirs to House Arano and House Espinosa and that we will remember how bravely they fight today.”<<
 
“You have my permission.” I tell her and I put her impromptu speech out of mind as I focus on the incoming enemy contacts.
 
They are sporadic and the Leopards came down just out of range. The distance combined with the uneven terrain makes it hard to track the enemy ‘Mech signatures and there is no chance of getting more detail from the sensors until they come closer.
 
<<“Alright, you mercenary mutts,”>> says Colonel Forst over the open channel again, <<“This is your last chance to surrender and walk away with your lives and ‘Mechs. If you don’t…we’re cutting to carve you up like a fat big and I can’t say you’ll be luckier to survive to be one of our slaves instead of dying in your cockpits. I’m a BattleMech ace with over a dozen kills to my name. You won’t be beating me.”>>
 
We should be able to take them. We have a lance of Assault ‘Mechs, a demi-company of heavies and a pair of Griffins. The odds are that half of the pirate ‘Mechs will be Bug ‘Mechs. We can take them. Colonel Forst is used to being a big fish in a small pond. He and his gang of pirates won’t be prepared to fight an SLDF-vintage Assault Company.
 
It isn’t long before the first Cleavers come into range, a pair of sprinting Locusts, each one moving at eighty miles per hour as their pilots move at maximum speed. As the company opens fire upon the enemy ‘Mechs coming into sight, my battle computer pegs both of the hostiles as the LCT-3V variant of the Locust. That's a relatively recent modification of the Locust where they stick in a second medium laser and remove some of the armor and ammo in exchange. Can’t remember where the armor is weaker, but honestly, it doesn't matter because we’ll be lucky to land any hits at the speed the Bug ‘Mechs are going.
Speaking of, I hold my fire for a second longer, just enough time to get some targeting data from the rest of Paladin Company. I might be a poor shot, but I upgraded the target-tracking system of Solus Prime for a reason. So while I fire off a volley from my LRMs, I also line up a very computer-assisted shot from my gauss rifle on one of the Locusts, aiming for its center torso. I pull the trigger and I missed. Sort of.
I didn’t get the kill shot on the central torso that I was looking for, but my Gauss slug tore its way through the left torso of the Locust. The pirate ‘Mech isn’t out of the fight yet, but it is vulnerable and missing one of its machine guns.
 
The enemy wasn’t idly however and while the Locusts didn’t get close enough to fire their own weapons, they spotted for the rest of the Cleavers. Even as Paladin Company unleashed their firepower upon the two unfortunate Bug ‘Mechs, around sixty or so LRMs rained down on the front ranks of my Sentinels. Nothing close to causing an armour breach and nothing close to the amount of LRMs that we can put out, but it shows that the Cleavers are fighting smart. Smarter than the Buccaneers at least.
 
Still, if we can give up this rate of exchange, attrition will favor us. We have more LRMs and the Locusts can only do so many recon runs before they take enough hits to be brought down. Then the Cleavers will have to spend more scouts, who will go the same way as the Locusts did, or they will be forced to engage us in the field, where our superior tonnage and numbers will crush them.
 
Then before I can react, a pair of man-made lightning bolts slam into my ‘Mech, leaving the Solus Prime staggering slightly whilst depleting my frontal armour. I just took a hit to both my center torso and left torso, the latter losing about a third of its armor.
 
“What in the name of Blake was that?” I demand over the comms as I pull back.
 
>>“PPCs,”<< says Kamea, >>“But with increased range?”<<
 
((“No, not increased range, just regular range”)) corrects Moana.
 
>>“They shot us from outside of our range.”<< counters Kamea.
))“No, that came from within the firing range of a PPC,”(( says Donovan, ))“It was within firing range, but not sensor range.”((
 
“They’re playing it smart,” I say as I figure out what happened, “They aren’t sending in the Locusts again, they’re using them to sight us beyond the range of our own sensors. And they have a Marauder or Warhammer in there. Or at least a ‘Mech with a pair of PPCs.”
 
>>“Do you have a plan to deal with them?”<< asks Kamea.
 
“Give me a moment,” I reply as I think it over because this changes things.
 
If they are hitting us from outside our range then, the battle of attrition will no longer favor us. The Cleavers will just whittle us down whilst we will be helpless to strike back. Not unless something changes which means that we’ll have to do something.
 
“This is Knight,” I say on the company channel, using my callsign, “Move up to engage the enemy. They have the advantage at range so we’ll have to crush them with weight of metal and numbers. Stay with your lancemates and don’t let yourself get separated. We cannot let them pick us off one by one.”
 
((“So we’re charging in?”)) inquires Moana a moment later on a private channel.
 
“They can snipe us at range so yeah,” I confirm as Paladin Company begins to move forth, “It isn’t ideal, but I can’t think of anything better. Can you?”
 
((“No, I can’t,”)) admits Moana after a moment, ((“I just hope we don’t screw this up.”))
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==Author's Chapter Commentary==
; A Word from the Author: The pirates might be lacking numbers and tonnage, but they aren’t without skill so they’ll be putting up a meaningful fight.
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