AAR -
Spica
Federated Commonwealth
18 May 3058Marigold lance was "on patrol" about 10 klicks NW of Rangers FOB. In actuality, Eliska had witnessed short tempers and combative behavior amongst the lance and was looking to pull the team together with some fresh hunting & fishing. She wasn't sure if it had been the frustrating nature of this campaign against "pirates" with clan gear and bad attitudes, or if it was the fact that the group spanned 3 generations and the tight competitive camaraderie that existed in other groups had so far been elusive for Marigold. Their liaison had gladly provided the location of a promising lake, trading the info for an invitation. It wasn't ideal, but generally the employer liked to be included any time they were traipsing their mechs through the local countryside.
As they approached the small lake, hopefully well-stocked, scanners started pinging on an incoming pirate patrol. One of the local residents must have earned a nice bounty for reporting Marigold's location to the pirates, and they'd sent out a company-sized welcoming party. Well, if outdoor activities were off the table, maybe a good punch to the face would work also.
Marigold sought defensible positions as the pirates came into view. Eliska requested that the liaison remain out of the fight, but she politely declined to do so, and instead posted up on a hill with a good view of the entire field. At long range a few shots were fired, to zero effect.
As the pirates continued to quickly advance, Marigold units mostly found the cover they were looking for although Joshua raced ahead to get his pulse lasers into the fight as soon as possible. Always trust that a 23-year-old mechwarrior will behave exactly as expected. Brash - check. Over-confident - check.
It quickly became obvious why the liaison wasn't sitting this one out, as her ERPPC reached out and erased over a half ton of armor from the pirate Catapult. Alice in her Archer also slammed her full complement of LRM's into the enemy mech, thanks to the Artemis IV system's improved accuracy.
The final elements of the pirate company also entered the field, a mixed lance of PO and Hunter tracked tanks.
As most of the pirate heavy lance moved into the woods, Joshua aggressively moved his Maelstrom into position to begin hounding their flank/rear. The pirate catapult continued to soak lots of damage, being the lone mech to head away from the protective grove, and all the armor was stripped from it's left missile pod.
The pirate scout lance moved full speed in a flanking maneuver to the south.
The scouts continued to advance and turned into Eliska's flank in the Black Knight, combining their fire with the Catapult and the entire vehicle lance. The small hill in front of the Black Knight got the worst of it, and only a ton of armor was lost from the mech. Eliska returned fire, ripping the weapons pod off the left side of the Catapult.
Joshua's aggressive play in the Maelstrom paid off as he kicked the Grasshopper and knocked it down.
All battle discipline was lost as the battle descended into a swirling mass of chaotic destruction. The senior member of the unit, Nancy Pascha, in her Catapult sought to help the youngest member and they engaged the PO's at close range preventing them from concentrating fire on a single mech. Nancy reached out with her LRM's and destroyed the drivetrain of a pirate Hunter tank, choosing to ignore the tank's crew as they poured out and into the surrounding cover.
The combination of fire from the Maelstrom and Catapult's pulse weapons stripped the armor from the Grasshopper's leg and fused the foot actuator, resulting in yet another fall for the heavy mech.
Alice's Archer worked with the liaison to knock down the Cataphract before it could deliver a kick on the Archer, and Eliska combined fire and a brutal kick to remove the leg of the adjacent Firestarter. The enemy pilot frantically tried to remain standing, but crashed down clumsily onto a sharp upright log in the light woods, piercing the cockpit and ending his mediocre criminal career. His sacrifice made all the worse as his lancemates mostly missed the Black Knight with their fire.
As the remaining scouts moved towards the liaison, Eliska launched the Black Knight back into her original firing nest, and opened up on the Grasshopper. With armor sloughing off from sustained fire, Eliska's final shot found that single ton of ammo in the enemy mech and ignited the 70-tonner into a fireball. The pilot ejected successfully and was immediately retrieved by Joshua in his Maelstrom.
One of the Stingers, in an act of either utter bravery or absolute stupidity, launches himself into the air and aims to pile-drive the liaison's Vindicator into the turf. Incoming fire from the Vindicator and Archer removes a ton and a half of armor, but he maintains his course and violently collides with the liaison doing damage to both arms and knocking the mech off a level 3 hill for even more damage.
Joshua's recklessness costs him as fire pours in from all directions, tons of armor dropping to the ground and eventually severing one of the jump jet controls in the left torso of his Maelstrom. Despite this, he finishes off the Catapult, and kills the pilot as well.
Seeing the Maelstrom absolutely rocked by fire, and obscured in smoke, Nancy goes feral and demonstrates yet again why her callsign is Shrike. She butchers the adjacent Po with her pulse lasers, and the Hunter with her LRM's at the same time, finishing up with a damaging kick to the Po under her feet.
Eliska continues to savage the pirates as well, this time stripping the remaining armor from the Cataphract and using her clinical knowledge of mech construction to fuse the hip joint with a pulse laser.
"Shrike" continues her rampage, jumping onto the hill next to a Stinger and kicking right through it's center torso, while also pouring fire into the Cataphract, somehow hitting all ammo bins to consume both the mech and pilot in an inferno.
Alice finishes off the other Stinger with a kick as well, while Joshua focuses on the Black Knight. The Maelstrom starts to struggle under the combined weight of fire, as the Po shreds the mech's right arm, destroying his trusty ERPPC.
At this point, Eliska considered offering her enemies a chance to surrender, but the fact that her team had really come together for the first time in months gave her pause. Of course, the fact that the Rangers had lost a few people on this contract and these were just filthy pirates also came into play.
Marigold continued hunting down the remaining Black Knight, Firestarter, and Po, and a couple minutes later it was all over. Joshua's Maelstrom had legged the Black Knight, and the liaison had similarly taken the leg off the Firestarter.
Finally, "Shrike" completed her savaging of the vehicle lance by utterly destroying the Po.
In all, 3 enemy pilots were captured, and the Black Knight and Firestarter were taken as salvage, sending some additional salvage to the unit.
The Black Knight, Archer, and Catapult would just need to replace armor, and the Maelstrom would need more extensive repairs, having lost an arm, weapon, jump jet, and lots of armor.
Overall, a good day and as promised, it really WAS a good hunting spot.
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Topic: POLAR GULF Solo - Marigold Lance - 5/18/58 (Read 666 times)