Chapter 10

Mission 33
Planet: Smithon
Mission: Repossession

Lance:
Hammer – Atlas
Sonic – Dragon
Vonkobra – Kintaro
Hacker – Centurion

We picked up a repossession contract where we were tasked with dealing with a Directorate commander who was behind on his repayments for his vehicles and we are to repossess them with extreme prejudice. Or in other words show what happens when you piss off the wrong people by not paying.

The opposition is described as a lance of vehicles with a reinforcement lance of mechs. Hopefully they won’t be too tough.

After we were dropped, we started to move forward through the snow towards the enemy base of operations. We were scanning for targets and found two vehicle signatures causing the lance to slow and get ready for combat.

Hacker moved forward into a forest and got a sensor lock on a SRM carrier. Not good. They are very deadly and I marked it as a priority target to destroy first. Vonkobra dealt some damage to the carrier but not enough to kill it. An unknown vehicle drove into scan range but we didn’t have enough info to identify it. Sonic got a lock on the carrier and sent a salvo into it destroying it. Another unknown vehicle moved towards the combat zone. Hammer moved up and braced as he couldn’t get a lock on anyone. An unknown vehicle sent damage into Hammer but it wasn’t much.

Hacker got a sensor lock on a Galant Urban Assault vehicle. Vonkobra damage the Galant and was joined by Sonic. It’s a tough vehicle and was still moving. A Bulldog tank got a lock on Hammer and damaged the Atlas. Hammer returned fire and killed the Bulldog and the Galant by splitting his fire to be effective.

Hammer moved forward and got a scan return on a mech. Hacker got a scan return for a second mech when he moved forward.

Hacker moved up closer and got a lock on a Crab. He also had two more unknown mechs and an unknown vehicle on the scanners. A salvo of fire into the Crab let them know we were in combat. An unknown mech sent some damage into Hacker. Vonkobra moved up and spotted a Hunchback 4G and sent some damage into it and hit the head, rattling the pilot. The other unknown mech damaged Hacker. Sonic split their weapons to send damage into both the Crab and Hunchback. That unknown vehicle is a monster because they just fired 3 PPC’s and sent two of them into Sonic’s mech. That is not good because that is probably a Shrek PPC carrier. Hammer set himself and put damage into the Hunchback, knocking it over, and then into the Crab and blowing through it’s left torso and removing the left arm.

Hacker sent ore damage into the downed Hunchback and hit it’s head and again the pilot was knocked around. They can’t take much more of that. Vonkobra took advantage and incapacitated the Hunchback pilot and taking it out of the battle. The unknown mech is a Trebuchet and they sent a missile strike into Sonic. Sonic moved into the forest for defence and sent more damage into the Crab. The Shrek PPC carrier sent more PPC’s into Hacker and ripped the right arm into scrap. Hammer got a lock on the Shrek and destroyed it with a salvo of fire.

The Trebuchet damaged Hammer and then Hacker sent fire into the Trebuchet as it was the most dangerous enemy. The Crab fired into Hacker and then Vonkobra fired into the Crab followed by Sonic who also damaged the Crab. It was Hammer who killed the Crab and then added more shots into the Trebuchet.

The Trebuchet pilot knew they were in danger because their next salvo at Sonic overheated the mech and did damage to itself. Hacker, Vonkobra and Sonic all fired into the Trebuchet but it weathered the damage and kept standing. It was Hammer in the Atlas who fired and killed the Trebuchet and winning this battle.

Our salvage teams were able to find two pieces of the Hunchback which will allow Yang to rebuild it and then they picked up part of the Trebuchet which Yang would be able to rebuild as well. Our techs are going to be busy for the new while.

Our repairs are minor with the Dragon in for 1 day and the Centurion in for 3 days. Our techs are really the backbone of this company.

After this battle, I spent a few late nights in my office dealing with paper work. One night I had a visitor, Hammer. He sits down and starts talking in a low voice as he explains that he is having trouble sleeping.

His mind is constantly thinking of how long until his name is up on the memorial wall? I wasn’t too sure about how to help him with this as it was affecting his sleep so I referred him to the med-techs for help. I also reassured Hammer that we all end up on that wall but we fight to keep it as far away as possible.

I hope it helped but as he left my office he appeared to be in good spirits.

Mission 34 Planet: Smithon Mission: Manufacturing Facility capture against Pirates

Lance: Hammer – Atlas Sonic – Dragon Vonkobra – Kintaro Hacker – Centurion

This was another battle in the hills against pirates. We had to take control of a manufacturing facility that they had control of and as we got closer it looked more and more like a Star League era facility which explains why the pirates wanted it.

As we got closer we detected four unknown mechs in range. A Firestarter moved into range and we got a lock on it. Vonkobra was suddenly under fire from two Locusts and a Panther who peppered his mech with salvos of damage. Vonkobra fired at a Locust with his missiles and then hit the Panther with the rest of his weapons. Hacker fired at the Locust as well with missiles and then sent the rest of his fire into the Locust. Sonic and Hammer sent their fire into the Panther for decent damage but it was still standing.

A Locust fired it’s missiles into Vonkobra and then another Locust fired into Hacker. The Panther joined in with firing it’s SRM4 and PPC into Hacker’s mech. Then the Firestarter unloaded on Vonkobra and it’s flamers were heating up his mech something severe. Hacker was too hot to fire anything so he walked up to a Locust and punched it and ripped through it’s right torso and removing the right arm as well. Vonkobra was close enough to the other Locust to punch it and removed it’s left torso and arm. Sonic split fire between the Firestarter and Panther and did minor damage to both. Hammer set his Atlas and opened up on the two Locusts and the Panther. Both Locusts were killed and the Panther took damage.

The Firestarter pilot locked onto Sonic and some of the damage hit the head and injured her. The Panther pilot was feeling brave and damaged Hammer’s Atlas and barely scratched the paint job.Hacker fired at the Panther for damage and then Vonkobra added some more damage to it while also firing into the Firestarter’s rear for minor damage. Sonic got a good shot on the Panther but was then able to kill the Firestarter and get rid of that threat. Hammer could then focus on the Panther and send some serious damage against it.

The Panther pilot started to run away and Hacker and Vonkobra got a couple of good salvos off at it. One shot seems to hit the head as well. An unknown mech fired on Vonkobra and dealt some surprise damage. Sonic fired on and damaged the Panther and then Hammer fired as well and turned the right torso and arm into scrap.

Hacker ran up to the Panther and tried to punch it but missed. It was funny to watch him swing and miss but I really wish he had hit. Vonkobra yelled out “This is how you do it.” and ran up and punched it’s left torso and arm into scrap. Another shot from the unknown mech came in and hit Hammer. Sonic was excited to join in on defeating the Panther so she ran up and kicked it and drove it’s right leg up into it’s torso and spearing the engine. That killed the mech dead. Hammer moved up a bit to get into a forest and spotted an enemy Hunchback. The Hunchback 4G has one of the biggest and deadliest weapons on the battlefield, an Autocannon-20. Hammer sent as much damage as he got into the Hunchback as we have to get it down fast. An unknown mech advanced but we couldn’t get a target lock on it yet.

Hacker and Vonkobra sent their salvos into the Hunchback but it shrugged the damage off. The Hunchback and the unknown mech fired on Hammer and he shrugged that damage off. Sonic and Hammer fired into the Hunchback and did minor damage. We really need to start seriously damaging it before it gets into AC20 range. The unknown turned out to be a Hunchback 4P. This mech is armed with 8 medium lasers.

Hacker moved forward to reposition his mech and got another unknown mech on the scanner. He then split fire between the two Hunchbacks. The unknown sent damage into Hacker’s Centurion. Vonkobra sent a salvo into the Hunchback 4P and left it’s left arm as scrap removing a medium laser. Sonic backed up into the forest for protection and then unloaded on the 4G and it looks like the AC20 took a critical hit. It’s still usable but suffers penalties to firing. The 4G fired into Hacker for a bunch of damage but he is still going. Hammer fired into the 4P for minor damage but then killed the 4G by ripping it’s right side off and then coring out it’s engine.

The Hunchback 4P and Hacker traded salvos of damage but both were still standing afterwards. An enemy Shadow Hawk came into range and unloaded on Hacker to add more damage to his mech. Vonkobra targeted the new enemy and fired at both the 4P and Shadow Hawk, damaging both. Sonic kept firing on the 4P and was joined by weapon fire from Hammer who also fired into the Shadow Hawk. The reason why they would split fire is because some long ranged weapons have a penalty to firing too close so it’s better to fire them at a second target instead of wasting the fire at a single target. Which is what Hammer decided to do. Some shots went into the 4P and the rest into the Shadow Hawk.

The Shadow Hawk came closer to fire into Hacker and Hacker was then able to get nice and close to punch the Shadow Hawk in return. Vonkobra sent more damage into the Shadow Hawk and turned it’s left torso and arm into scrap metal hanging on by a few cables. The 4P damaged Hacker and turned his left arm into scrap. Sonic fired on thew Shadow Hawk and ripped through the right arm and torso. The pilot is taking a lot of damage from the damage but is still standing. Hammer took advantage of the severe damage and killed the Shadow Hawk and then put the rest of the fire into the 4P.

The Hunchback 4P damaged Vonkobra and then Hacker and Vonkobra walked up to the Hunchback and punched and kicked it. Hacker’s fist went right through the left torso and sent the left arm bouncing away. Sonic added to the damage and turned the 4P’s right torso and arm into scrap. Hammer took aim and destroyed the 4P finally.

With the last enemy mech falling to the ground, we called in the drop ships and got ready to pull out.

The salvage teams were able to get a bunch of mech pieces. We picked up parts of the Hunchback 4G and 4P, Firestarter, Panther, Locust and Shadow Hawk. There was a bunch of equipment and weapons as well.

Vonkobra will have to spend 11 days in the med bay while Yang is repairing the Kintaro and Centurion.

Mission 35 Planet: Smithon Mission: Hide the Evidence

Lance: Hammer – Atlas Medusa – Dragon Poltergeist – Kintaro Hacker – Centurion

This contract had orders for us to take out a pirate base where some missing associates were being held and questioned. The downside to this is that they believe they are already beyond rescue so we will be going in to destroy the base instead of rescuing anyone. Time to teach these pirates a lesson.

We were dropped into a blind canyon and we could see the base up ahead. As we started to get closer, we got a warning that we would be fired upon but that didn’t dissuade us as we were here to deal with them no matter what.