Mission 1[]
“Yes, Lady Joy, we are en route to the Nav Point, we will hold as best we can.” Lieutenant Rander responded back to the Battalion Commander, Knight Joy. She was in charge of beginning the evacuation of as many civilians from Cottonport as possible while her Battalion held back the Blakists. Outside of the evacuation small arms were being issued to the population that would not be leaving, to perform whatever guerilla warfare they could. Being so far from New Avalon, these Federated Suns citizens would be on their own for some time.
Nerves were shot as many of these Mechwarriors never imagined they would face down the nightmares their fathers and grandfathers faced. The Naval fleets did not engage and this was purely a ground engagement outside of some aerospace battles and harassment as the Word of Blake dropships entered atmosphere. Rander’s lance was a solid group of mechs that were focused on battling it out with an enemy force.
A Longbow was supporting with four LRM 15s, Rander’s Black Knight was the anchor and the Lament and Blackjack would handle the flanks. Holding the refinery as long as they could was the goal, even better if they could break the Blakist advance. As they entered the facility and tried to take up decent positions, waiting for the enemies to arrive, people were fleeing toward Cottonport. Civilian vehicles were just ignoring the road and driving over the open fields, little trails of dust clouds being left in their wake.
Soon enough, the Blakists showed up on radar and then visuals. “I see a Highlander and Flashman on the right flank, sir!”
“Solid copy, keep your Lament moving, try to punch some holes in those mechs but do not get stuck out there with them.” Rander switched to his Blakjack Mechwarrior, “How is the left flank?”
“Sir, looks like lighter mechs… a Locust, Wraith… scratch that, we have a Lancelot.”
“Roger, don’t lose your nerve gents, we also have a Battle Cobra in the center, these guys will be tough but we aren’t meant to fight to the death, let’s hit them hard and push them back!”
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The first shots of the Battletech Resurgence Era. Battle lines between the Word of Blake and Nomad Republic fighting over a refinery outside of Cottonport on the world of Abbeville.
Moving fast, the Blakists pushed up the field, pressing on the left flank hard with the faster mech’s advance. The Blackjack moved forward to try to get some early weapons fire on the locust but discovered quickly, C3 was in effect. While he was able to dodge some of the support fire from the Wraith and Lancelot, he took a significant amount of damage.
On the right flank, the Lament and the larger mechs began exchanging fire, a Gauss slug from the Highlander slamming into the Lament’s leg. The Lament’s own Heavy PPCs missing in return. Some waves of missiles from the Longbow soared across the battlefield but missed their target Lancelot.
As the two forces closed together, the Black Knight and Lament pushed forward together to try to blunt the right flank. Combined weapons fire dealt significant damage to the Battle Cobra but could not bring it down. On the left flank the Longbow continued to chain fire all four missile racks to rip into the approaching mech’s armor.
At the same time the Blackjack pulled back to take some cover from the Lancelot, finding a prime firing position on the Wraith, ripping into some leg and arm armor, trying to take out the right arm Large Pulse Laser. However, the left flank Locust was on its own mission, clearly scouting around to the rear of the Nomad Republic Mechwarriors.
Seeing the left flank closing in, Rander took his Black Knight to the left of the two central buildings, to continue engaging the Battle Cobra. “Lieutenant! My Blackjack is going down, I’ve lost my XL!” was yelled out over the lance channel.
“Get out of your mech and run for it! I am pushing to support our Longbow before he gets swarmed!” Rander shouted back, coming about to go face to face with the Battle Cobra. Both mechs exchanged heavy fire between the Battle Cobra’s Light PPCs and the Black Knight’s laser array. However, his plans quickly changed as a PPC bolt short circuited some internal connections, damaging both the gyro and the fusion engine.
What hope seemed to exist faded even faster as the Lieutenant realized he had to fall back under Knight Joy’s orders. “Dammit!” he shouted as he fought to keep the heavy Battlemech upright. Planting a foot firmly, he prepared to move toward the Longbow’s position.
Over the lance channel, he began issuing orders, “My Black Knight has taken critical damage! Continue to rain down missile fire as I approach your Longbow!” he switched to his direct channel with the Lament, “You did a fine job holding them over there but with my mech nearly out of the fight, you have to fall back to us.”
“You got it boss, I am just trying to cause a diversion over here, en route!” called back the Lament’s pilot as he let loose with an Alpha Strike on the Highlander, severely damaging the right arm that had the Gauss Rifle. He was not happy already receiving the fall back order as his mech still had so much fight left in it. Making a hard turn, the Lament came about.
As ready as he could be, Rander pushed his Black Knight forward, the gyro in the center torso whining, frustrated that a single shot managed to damage the internals of the mech, even though it still had the majority of its external armor. But, the Blakists were upon him. In a confusing and chaotic wave of fire the Blakists were firing on the Longbow, Rander was firing on the Lancelot and sixty LRMs flew right past him at the Wraith, ripping off both arms of the Wraith, leaving it without weapons.
Then, his Black Knight shook violently from not one but, two kicks, each leg taking damage, and now his HUD showed a broken actuator in a leg. Putting his skill to the most difficult test, he was still able to keep the Black Knight standing. Checking his HUD, he could see the Lament was coming about, but was face to face with an enemy mech.
Running right up to the Lament, the Flashman Alpha Striked, sending a barrage of lasers at the Lament. However, the Lament was still going strong, the Radical Heat Sink System working at the max. Firing both Heavy PPCs at the Highlander, then hitting the Flashman with a laser, the Lament continued pushing forward at a full run.
Passing each other, the Lament continued to run toward the Longbow and Black Knight, while the Locust ran to secure the one area the Blakists had not overwhelmed yet. With the loss of the Wraith’s weapons, the mech fell back toward the downed Blackjack. The Lancelot also began backpedaling. With the Nomad lance grouping up, it was a dangerous place to be for the Lancelot and the Battle Cobra alone.
Rander pressed toward the Longbow again, however, the leg actuator gave out and it was too much for the damaged gyro, sending his Black Knight to ground. As It rolled over, he could see the Lament running up, under fire from the heavier Blake mechs behind him. It rounded the corner and unleashed the Heavy PPCs, one slamming into the Battle Cobra, ripping off a side torso. Then everything seemed to slow down as the Lieutenant tried to start standing up the Black Knight.
He lifted the mech up with its arms and could see the Longbow just ninety meters ahead let loose with another salvo of sixty missiles, flying overhead behind his Black Knight, then turned his head to see the Lament’s next steps as a Laser exploded out of the cockpit. Overwhelmed by shock he watched as the Lament took another two steps before collapsing onto the ground, both of the PPC barrels gouging out the ground, bringing the heavy mech to a stop. It laid there, completely still, a molten hole burned directly through the cockpit.
“NO!” shouted the Longbow pilot, taking a step forward. Missiles loading into their tubes.
“Negative!” shouted Rander. “Cover me and fall back! This battle has been lost!”
“But, sir, they have to pay!”
“We will give them hell but, we have to live to do it! Cover me and carpet bomb this Lancelot and Battle Cobra. Lady Joy needs us, these people need us!”
“Yes…… sir…..” the Longbow pilot clearly was saying through gritted teeth, his blood boiling.
Slowly, the Longbow began to backpedal, the Black Knight following. Waves of LRMs continued to fire, slamming down all around the Lancelot and Battle Cobra, both heavily damaged but, taking cover behind buildings.
Both surviving Nomad Republic Mechwarriors continued to fall back. The Blakists did not pursue, their objective complete of taking the facility. It was a terrible day, the first shots of the Resurgence and the Inner Sphere was already facing defeat….