ASO Chpt I5

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==Interlude: Coranni - Aurigan Sentinels (BattleTech CYOA)==
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===Weighting the Options===
Axylus, Alloway System
Aurigan Coalition, Rimward Periphery
19th February, 3020
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Coranni has not been having a good day, week or even month. No wait, make that a bad year. She thought things would get better after she became a stowaway on that DropShip and got off-world, but things have been a mixed bag since leaving Ur Cruinne.
 
Sure, she found Angela, her wonderful lover, and she has no regrets over that delightful turn of events. Neither does Coranni regret meeting the Shira and Tennison siblings. Now that was a fun day. The Shira brothers were fighting a lance of pirates on their own and Coranni had helpfully turned the odds in their favor by stealing a Crusader. They took down the pirate MechWarriors and then with the aid of the Tennison sisters and their Sparrowhawks, they successfully captured the pirate DropShip thanks to the clever use of her captured ‘Mech and plenty of bluffing.
Too bad her Crusader is currently damaged beyond repair. Coranni isn’t sure how helpful it would be right now, but it would be nice to be fighting in something a little heavier than her replacement Shadow Hawk. If only it could get them out of this mess that Bao got them into.
 
One thing is for certain, this is going to be the last time that Coranni trusts one of Bao’s get rich quick schemes. Even if they do need to get rich quickly if they are to make ends meet. It doesn’t matter how often Coranni and the Shira brothers win on the battlefield or how much of an excellent business woman Angela is if their clients keep stiffing their payments.
 
Now things have fallen to a new low as they are forced to work for a literal pirate at gunpoint. Thanks to the stupidity of Bao who figured that working for pirates wouldn’t be that bad, Angela, the Tennison sisters and everyone else are being held hostage by Blackmane in exchange for her and the Shira brothers fighting for the pirate leader.
 
Perhaps worst of all, they are outnumbered and outgunned against what is quite probably the biggest and nastiest foe of Coranni’s short-lived career. Not that four years as a mercenary is a short career. Statistically speaking, she is doing fairly well. Not quite a veteran yet, but certainly not one of the rookies who die or retire in their first year.
 
<< “Cora,”>> calls Masaru over a private channel, <<“Do you have a plan to get out of this?”>>
 
“Survive this battle first,” says Coranni grimly, “Half of Blackmane’s crew hasn’t and if we’re lucky, neither he or his remaining MechWarrior will either. But we need to avoid getting killed ourselves for that to mean anything.”
 
<<“I was hoping for a little more than that, but I can’t argue with the logic.”>> replies Masaru, <<“This whole situation sucks.”>>
 
“I’m kicking Bao’s arse for this once we get out of this mess.” says Coranni.
 
<<“You know, given what sort of trouble he got us into this time, I just might join you.”>> says Masaru, <<“Even as weird as it would be to help my ex beat up my little bro.”>>
 
Coranni winces at the reminder of her past relationship with Masaru, her prior relationship before hooking up with Angela, which ended up being a major mess that Coranni would rather forget about. Not that she has any realistic hope of doing that while she still works with either of the Shira brothers.
 
<<“Damn it!”>> curses Blackmane across the comms, shaking Coranni out of her thoughts as her display lights up.
 
Another LRM swarm is going down on one of the Scorpion light tanks that the pirates own. Even with less chance of survival than the Locust, the tank is blown apart to the point that Coranni would be surprised if there is anything left to salvage from its remains.
 
“Engage!” orders Coranni as she begins to march her Shadow Hawk forward, “If we just sit back, they’ll take us apart with LRMs!”
 
<<“You don’t give orders to be me, whore!”>> snarls Blackmane over the radio, but his Thunderbolt joins Masaru and Bao as the brothers follow Coranni.
 
The first thing that Coranni sees is through the glass canopy of her ‘Mech’s cockpit, seeing the distant figures of the attacking ‘Mechs while her sensors refuse to pick up anything. That doesn’t make any sense because Coranni knows that her sensors are working right, that they have been properly maintained and fixed. In fact, the only thing not working for them is their inability to detect the enemy ‘Mechs beyond vague sensor contacts.
 
She ignites her jump jets despite the poor heat sinking of the local environment, counting on the increased mobility to be worth it. After all, the poor heat sinking works both ways and those two Warhammers are going to have a hard time on Axylus using anything more than one of their PPCs.
 
Speaking of the invading Warhammers, both of them open fire on Coranni. Thankfully, all four PPC bolts go wide as the clearly inexperienced pilots of the heavy ‘Mechs are unable to keep up with a skilled and mobile MechWarrior like Coranni. Acting on instinct, Coranni fires off a return volley, limiting herself to just her medium autocannon and LRM launcher to conserve her heat buildup. It is only after she pulled the trigger that Coranni realised what had happened when the enemy ‘Mechs had opened fire.
 
For whatever reason, the act of opening fire made both Warhammers appear on her sensors. Not that it will be enough as Coranni can see Orions, Highlanders and even an Atlas. That amount of heavy metal is too much to stand against.
 
But by the spirits, Coranni won’t give in without a fight. She may fall today, but she won’t go gently into the dark. She just needs to stay mobile and be conservative with her heat. Rely upon her jump jets and keep some distance. Speaking of which, she ignites her jump jets once more even as more hostile firepower is directed her way.
 
She spares a moment to check on the others to see how they are faring and things aren’t looking pretty. Saying her allies were dueling would be a lie as the situation would be more accurately described as dogpilling as each fighter on her side is being swarmed by multiple opponents.
 
Coranni snaps off another volley of her autocannon and LRMs, this time aiming at the closest of the Highlanders. Which may or may not be a good thing as it certainly gets the attention of the other ‘Mech and Coranni isn’t sure if that is something she wants. Especially since she can tell that the MechWarrior piloting it is clearly more experienced than the majority of their compatriots.
What in the name of the spirits is that gun? Coranni can see the gun built into the Highlander’s right arm, but it isn’t a PPC like the HGN-733P. It isn’t the HGN-733 or HGN-733C as she doesn’t recognize the gun as an autocannon either. She glances at her readouts, where her warbook is pinging it as a HGN-732, which causes Coranni to frown as she hasn’t heard of that model before.
 
Still, a lower number must be good, right? That makes it an earlier model so it shouldn’t be as good as an upgraded model from a later date.
 
A score of LRMs come raining down on her as Coranni fires her autocannon into the enemy assault ‘Mech and fires up her jump jets once more. Her cockpit is starting to get a little sweaty, but so long as she avoids overheating, things should be fine. Or at least as fine as you can get under these circumstances.
 
The unknown gun fires and Coranni barely avoids a glancing hit from it even as both medium lasers of the enemy Highlander fire at her. One outright misses, but the other burns away some of her armor. In turn, Coranni fires her LRMs, hitting with all five missiles yet the damage dealt is largely ineffectual against the ninety-ton warmachine that her opponent is piloting.
 
Coranni bites back a curse as she watches Masaru eject as her lancemate abandons his Wolverine before he goes down with the ‘Mech. Blackmane’s Vedette goes down to one of the Warhammers, completely blown away by its PPCs and Blackmane himself is in trouble as he duels another Highlander alongside two Atlases.
By the spirits, Coranni will count herself lucky if she takes down this Highlander. Will that earn her the respect of her foes or earn their enmity? She doesn’t know and she doesn’t care because right now, she needs to survive this fight.
 
More LRMs and another shot from that big gun come her way and she fires back with her autocannon as she jumps again. Her heat is becoming a bit unbearable now, but she’ll just have to run hot for this fight. Hopefully, none of the attackers have flamers. By the spirits, that would be a total disaster.
 
Blackmane goes down as the second Highlander uses its unknown weapon in the right arm to somehow cause an ammo explosion in Blackmane’s Thunderbolt despite having yet to breach the armor in that region. The final tank is down, hammered into non-functionality by LRM fire while both Heidrun and Bao are on their last legs.
 
With the majority of her allies down, Coranni no longer needs to worry about just the Highlander as their duel is interrupted as more foes come to aid the enemy assault ‘Mech. As more missiles and lasers come her way, Coranni focuses purely on evasion and even that isn’t enough to keep the damage from slowly mounting.
 
Her ‘Mech is on the verge of overheating, causing Coranni to swelter in her cockpit while every area of her Shadow Hawk apart from the cockpit has taken some degree of armor damage. She has plenty of ammo left, but she is struggling to use it without overheating her ‘Mech or exposing herself to enemy fire. Everyone else is down and by all rights Coranni should have joined them by now. It is a testament to both her own skill and the inexperience of her opponents that she hasn’t.
<<“Coranni!”>> calls Angela over the radio and the sweating Coranni jerks at the unexpected voice of her lover, <<“I need you to stand down.”>>
 
“What?” demands Coranni, exhaustion slipping into her voice.
<<“General Nora’s commandos have freed me and the others.”>> says Angela, <<“I explained the situation to her and convinced her to give you a chance to stand down. So Cora, please do that before you get your arse killed doing something stupid.”>>
 
Now that Angela mentions it, Coranni has noticed that the enemy ‘Mechs have stopped firing at her. They haven’t let her go, but they have backed off and given her some space. And just looking at her opponents, Coranni can see that she isn’t going to be winning this battle. She is facing down two whole lances of enemy ‘Mechs and the lightest of her opponents is equal in weight to her Shadow Hawk.
 
She’ll have to trust in Angela and hope that her girlfriend knows what she is doing.
“Alright, Angie,” replies Coranni, “I’m going to stand down now.”
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==Author's Chapter Commentary==
; A Word from the Author: Here is the perspective of the mercenary leader, which covers the last of the interludes for this arc. The remainder of the arc will be purely from Elizabeth’s perspective. Anyway, not too much to say except Coranni will be plot relevant in the future. I don’t think it is a spoiler to say that Elizabeth intends to recruit her and her character is too developed in my notes for me to not make use of it. Also the characterization of her and her group has changed somewhat since the old story.
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