"Operations" (Part 9)

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• Date: January 25, 3030
• Planet: Anywhere
• Location: Leopard-class DropShip "Shadowfox", Briefing Room

Mikell sighed and settled into the briefing room as he powered up the tactical program on the trivid table. It sprung to life, giving a vague wireframe feed of what the battlefield looked like, large craggy cliffs with ice on them and the facility nestled in the middle of them for cover from the snowstorms. Windtraps kept power going, though the elements rarely left them all functioning at full capacity. Six blips showed up on the system to show his units, followed by small text symbols to list them. He would have to get used to behaving as mission control from now on, as he keyed the comm to read from his earpiece and began starting the encryption systems. "Check. This is Priam Command Actual."

"Command, Cordova. Signal green." Elly was in the top of the Aquila, having taken hours to load in her equipment and work out the interface bugs with the other systems. Jade was still trying to design something more efficient, but it was a back-burner project at the moment.

Aubrey's voice came on next from where he was in the field. "Command, Sagittarius One. Signal green. Systems nominal."

Reginald's voice, the map flickering to show where his Orion was located. "Command, Sagittarius Two. Signal green, systems nominal."

The blip focused over another mark on the field. "Command, Sagittarius Four. Signal green, all systems nominal." Casey back in the Valkyrie, having taken a perch high on the cliffs to keep an eye out.

Olivia was next, her position close to the facility in a place where she had long and clear lines of fire for her dual PPCs. "Command, Sagittarius Three. Signal green, all systems good."

Blip number five, the icon fuzzy as it was inside the facility. "Command, Lorelei Actual." Janice was inside due to the cold temperatures, but her goal was to keep an eye on anything going on and keep the workers safe. "Signal green, squad good."

The last icon flickered. "Command, Corvus. Signal green, everything working here." Otto sounded bored, but since he wanted to move up, he had to have battlefield experience and the Raven was the only thing they had ready for scouting. Kelly hadn't been interested in taking this combat action, and had been making snowmen outside the DropShips. Snowmen which were six inches tall, which she then would kick or stomp on. After being told about this, Irene had quietly agreed to check Kelly’s medication regimen again.

"Sagittarius, Cordova. Pinging four incoming signals in the storm. Moving at high speed."

"Corvus, Command." Mikell glanced over the display. "You should see contact in two minutes. Orders are as follows. Don't let unidentified intruders near the facility. Prevent as much hostile action as possible. Sagittarius One, you have the battlefield."

"Sagittarius Lance, One. You heard the orders. Three, cover me from there. Four, support Corvus and keep your eyes out. Two, hold at the facility for further instructions."

"One, Two. Acknowledged."

Mikell watched, and looked up as Vandal entered the room. "Active battle, Vandal, what do you want?" The 'MechWarrior hesitated and dropped into a seat, so Mikell muted his outgoing audio. "You have a couple minutes."

"You salvaged a Locust off the field-"

"I wasn't involved."

"We salvaged a Locust off the field. I've been talking with Louis and he thinks he can get it fully repaired instead of sending it off."

"And you want a Locust?" Mikell glanced from the table.

"Oh, no, the Raven is a neat 'Mech." He paused. "But Pegasus can use the speed for scouting, and maybe Otto doesn't want a Locust." He smirked.

Mikell stared at him for a moment, and then chuckled. "How far along is Louis?"

"Halfway there. All we need is to armor it up and do a systems check."

"Okay, get it done and you can put in for an ownership if you like" He paused and clicked his audio on. "Sagittarius, Command Actual, say again?"

"Command, One. Contact one 'Mech. Confirmed target SCP-1N Scorpion."

"You're kidding." Vandal muttered. "A Quad. Where did they get that?!" The brainchild of someone designing BattleMechs early on, quadruped BattleMechs used four legs instead of only two, the idea being an increase of stability and a lower target profile. However, thanks to losing arms as a place to mount weaponry, they often were lighter-armed than other ‘Mechs their weight class. For instance, the Scorpion was fifty-five tons like the Griffin, slower, and only mounted a PPC and a six-shot short-range missile launcher. It also had an infamously bumpy ride, making most who weren’t used to it sick from the motions.

Mikell muted the pickup again. "Where? Not our problem, our problem is taking it in a way which is going to make it worth the effort. I bet we can find someone willing to pay for it."

"Lunatics. Collectors. People wanting to make sure they're really dead and gone." Vandal muttered, standing up and still muttering on the way out. "A freaking Quad, really? Maybe next month we'll find a working Clint gyro. Hey Louis, you're not going to believe this."

Mikell snickered, and unmuted himself. "Cordova, Command Actual. There's got to be a DropShip operating out there, see if you can find a signal from it. Don't try to crack codes or anything, I just want a signal to follow. We need to do some proactive pirate hunting."

"Command, understood."

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• Date: January 30, 3030
• Location: Leopard-class DropShip "Shadowfox", Briefing Room

A few weeks later, Mikell and Louis were sitting in the tactical room with Elly and Vandal. They had a piece of equipment on a box and everyone had pulled up chairs around it. Louis held up his hand to stop the cross-talk going on, and pointed to the box. "Look, I don't know how to tell you this, but I can't fix it without more parts. Part of this thing is communication equipment, Elly's assured me that part is what's broken, but I don't have a clue if it can be fixed. I’ll need a proper facility to work on it, like at Salmacis. Until then? The Raven is going to be as blind as any other BattleMech out here.”

"You know, if he hadn't been running the Raven like a cut-rate Jenner, he wouldn't have broken it." Vandal sighed and looked to Mikell. "So now what, boss?"

"Now we bench Otto for a bit. Louis, did you get the Locust back together?"

"No, the team working on the Scorpion-"

"Leave it for now. Or better yet, start dismantling it for deep storage. We won't be offloading it soon. Get our Locust ready and Vandal will take over piloting it." Vandal nodded, and stood up.

"Sure thing." Louis stood up. "What about the other thing?" He meant the two small vehicles they'd seized from the attacking force. A lightly-armed, lightly-armored vehicle which was probably one of the ways the pirates stole goods; a kick from the Valkyrie had broken its motive system, and stopped it from going anywhere. The second vehicle was a Scimitar, mass-produced hovercraft with a Class Five Autocannon and a pair of two-shot short-range missile launchers. Fast, and with them modified to operate in the sub-freezing temperatures they were proving a real pain.

"Don't have a need for the Packrat, so you know what to do. Deep storage. And as much as I want to add a Scimitar to the mess, you said the skirt is damaged?" At the nod and shrug, Mikell pointed a thumb over the shoulder. "Parts and storage."

"Got it." He picked up the damaged module and headed out of the room, Vandal following.

Elly moved to sit closer, and tapped the edge of the table to bring it to life. "Okay, now, there was a signal but it was giving sporadic activity. I don't think anyone was monitoring the battle in real-time like we are. If there's another DropShip out there, it didn't have the field commander on it. But I don't think there's a DropShip out there, just a command post. That's the bad news. Good news is that I think I found where it is."

She pulled up a planetary survey map and typed into the keys before zooming in. "The Aurora Ridge, as it's known locally. Home to some nasty snowstorms and hail the size of Autocannon shot. Could be minerals out there but to take a team out there this time of year is suicide, and to try any other time of the year it'll be buried under six feet of snow - along with cracks and ravines to fall into if you aren't careful. Fun place, and perfect for them to hide some sort of operation."

"Signal's coming from there?"

"Far as I could pinpoint, but I couldn't find exactly where. And with the equipment down on the Raven, we are going to have to do this the hard way with active scans blanketing the whole area letting them know we're there." She scowled, and sighed. "Sorry, boss."

"Oh, it's okay." He said, and she blinked. "If they know we're coming maybe they'll spook and make a mistake. Or we force their hand, which is just as good. We need to act before we're stuck on defense for an extended period. The cold's doing a number on the Aquila."

The old Black Eagle had functioned fine up until the cold got a grip on it. Fluid lines running slush, turret pivot points freezing solid, and there was trouble again with the system interface. For the third time, requiring Louis and Jade to reinstall the system basics. Something which had Jade promising to kill someone if she ever figured out who wrote the fire control software for the non-turret weapons. And Mikell didn't even want to think about Louis' report, now that he was looking at the broken equipment module on top of that mess. If he was lucky, they could fix it once they got back from the frontier. The troubles were going to mount up quickly if they spent much longer here - the environment was just harsh on equipment. But if they could figure out what the pirates had as a base of operations here, or if they had one, then they could properly cap the contract and lift back for Tharkad and more civilized places.

---

• Location: Leopard-class DropShip "Shadowfox", Briefing Room

The Shadowfox cruised over the Aurora Ridge snowfield, as Mikell watched the blips which represented Pegasus Lance maneuver. The Locust joined the Raven, the Griffin, and the Wolfhound in spreading out. So far there wasn't anything of note, but Vandal had already almost had the snow crumble under his 'Mech's feet into a crevice. Mikell paused, and then opened the unit band. “Pegasus, Command Actual. Snowstorm is looking pretty bad from sensors. Be careful with your targets, and call your shots. I don’t want any friendly fire accidents.”

“Copy, Command. Pegasus, you heard the man. If you can’t visually see your target but the computer can, call shots. Shoot the pirates, don’t shoot each other. And especially don’t shoot me.” There was a moment later as the Griffin stopped. "Cordova, One. Contact. Metallic structure under the snow." Simone spoke up from the Griffin. "Give me a minute."

"One, Four. On my way."

"Negative, Four." Simone sent back. "Keep your distance unless it's a trap."

"Pegasus, Cordova." Elly spoke. "Six signals just went active. I repeat, I have six contacts. Three confirmed as 'Mechs, coming in from the north ridge fast."

"Cordova, Four. I see them. Be advised, two Stingers inbound. I don't see the third yet."

Mikell pulled out a small notepad and flipped through. "Cordova, Command Actual. That's so far seven 'Mechs they've brought out to fight with. Am I counting wrong?"

"Command, Cordova. Get back to you on that."

Mikell frowned, rubbing at his chin. That was a lot of 'Mech firepower for pirates, usually they stuck to less 'Mech and more vehicles. Quick raids, not battle forces. To be fair, Stingers and Locusts actually fit into that, but still, the number of BattleMechs gave him pause in considering this. The “bug ‘Mechs” being common didn’t mean it was easy to get your hand on almost two full lances of them.

"One, Three." Otto was backing away. "Contact here. Metal structure, like a hatch. I got a power reading."

"Three, One, hold position."

"It's opening!" Otto yelped, as Elly spoke over him into the radio.

"Pegasus, Cordova. New contact confirmed, UM-R60 UrbanMech." The small, squat form of the UrbanMech was something designed specifically for one purpose; it was meant to be a weapons platform in an urban environment, sporting a Class Ten Autocannon and enough speed to fall behind with almost any other unit. The Jump Jets mounted on it were a concession to the reality of urban combat requiring one to maneuver vertically almost as often as on the same horizontal level.

"Three, One. Drop last order, back off now."

A crackle, and Mikell noticed the damage telemetry for the Raven light up. He moved to look at it and winced. "Hit!" The leg had lit up bright. "Actuator damaged."

"Three, shut up." Kelly's voice snapped. "Don't be a baby, I'm on my way to take out the trash." A bare pause. "Target acquired, firing." Another flash, Mikell pulling up data showing the UrbanMech lighting up in the torso.

"Pegasus, Cordova. New contact. Striker Light Tank coming in from One's nine. Distance roughly three hundred meters."

"Where are they coming from?" Simone muttered. "Two, keep Three from going down. Four, do not engage, work back our way and mind the footing."

"One, Four. Copy, en route."

Mikell clicked his comm. "Louis, anyone you can have ready fast?"

"The Valkyrie can be brought up quickly, about two minutes to partial startup. Jump jets means we can drop better, anyone else will hit like a rock."

"Get Casey in the saddle." He turned back to the table to glance over it. "Pegasus, Command Actual. Sagittarius Four en route, two minutes."

"Command, One. Copy." A pause, and a crackle as the Griffin fired in a direction. "Trashcan down. Two, tank's all yours. Three, fall back to my position."

"One, Four, Stinger engaged. Be there soon." Vandal's Locust was whipping around quickly, and Mikell saw flashes on both it and the Stinger it had engaged. The Locust had taken a hit to one of the torso sections, but from the feed the Stinger had almost lost an arm.

"Four, One, disengage."

"Negative, One. Safer here."

"Four, I need you back here, not getting flanked."

"Negative, One. Stinger two en route to you. Variant model, two sparks and no shots. I got this one." Sure enough the second Stinger had kept moving towards the rest of the battle. Mikell frowned, but checked and nodded; Vandal's instincts were good.

Standing still, Kelly's Wolfhound turned and fired, striking that Stinger in the chest hard enough to make it pause. Then it dropped to the ground, probably from gyro damage. "One, Two. Stinger down." This was immediately followed by a crash in the comm. "Tank wants to play!"

"I'm on it, Two." Simone paused. "Wait, where's the sixth-"

"Pegasus, Cordova. New contact confirmed. Firestarter coming up." The blip came out of the hatch Simone had found first, and began hosing fire over the Griffin. The FS9-H Firestarter was, as the name suggested, armed with BattleMech-style flamethrowers which would hose fire over anything remotely close to it. Any other weapons it had were more a concession to needing a few other tricks.

"Command, One. Where's my support?!" There was the sound of a warning klaxon going off and a computer voice warning about heat levels. "Getting toasty here."

"Boss, this is Louis." The intercom crackled. "We're all set to drop here."

Mikell clicked the intercom. "Drop now, drop now, drop now."

"Got it."

The Valkyrie appeared on the field. "One, Valkyrie. Hey, girl, miss me? Engaging the matchstick."

"Valkyrie, One. Ride on."

A few moments later, one of the enemy blips shut off. "One, Four. Stinger down and out, swinging your way." Vandal sighed. "They don't make em like they used to."

"One, Two. Firing." Kelly stood still again, just turning at the waist and firing the main weapon on her right arm. It slammed into the back of the Firestarter.

"Thanks Two."

"One, Valkyrie. Firing." Missiles streaked past the Griffin, slamming the Firestarter in the front. "Oooh, that will leave a mark. Where's the tank?"

"I'm on the tank, Valkyrie." Vandal's voice broke in.

An unfamiliar voice came over one of the open channels. "I surrender! I'll pop my hatch, just don't shoot, there's a leak in the fuel lines!"

"This is Commander Priam Company." Mikell responded, frowning. "Who am I speaking to?"

"Pilot of the Firestarter. Look, I'm shutting down now, just let me get out of here before something catches on fire."

"Command, Four. Tank's surrendered as well, with what's left of the crew."

"Cordova, have Eva take us down, we have prisoners to take in."

"Don't we usually avoid taking pirates prisoner?"

"Information is more important here." Mikell keyed the comm open again. "I accept your surrender. Throw down all weapons and wait for retrieval. If any of you decide to pull any weapons on my people, the Locust is going to shred you."

"Can I have some of those flamers?" Kelly asked into the open comm. "They'd look good on-"

"No."