Chapter 2

Mission 5

Pirate Convoy Hunt.
Planet: Linhauiguan

Lance:
Glitch – Shadow Hawk
Dekker – Vindicator
Behemoth – Blackjack
Medusa – Centurion

We picked up a contract to hunt down a possible pirate convoy. It was supposed to be a cake walk but you know what they say about cake walks.

We had to travel to a new system for this mission but that allowed us to repair the battle damage and refit the Centurion. While we were travelling, we helped with repairs and trained and just generally goofed off in our spare time.

Glitch and Dekker got into an argument over coffee because someone forgot to order enough last time but by sharing it out we got through that conflict. They were even a bit upbeat about it so good all around.

It is an rocky planet so lots of heat and dust. Our heatsinks are not going to work as good as they usually do so we will have to worry about overheating.

We were dropped in some dunes and orientated on the suspected area the pirate convoy was reported to be. We had our Blackjack, Vindicator, Shadow Hawk and Centurion armed and ready.

First contact was a pair of fast moving targets coming towards our position. We also saw some blips moving slowly toward the enemy LZ. As we got closer we got a clearer scan on the fast movers and saw they were a Locust and Spider.

Glitch opened up on them with her Shadow Hawk’s weapons and the PPC got a lucky hit on the Spider. Medusa opened fire just afterwards and we were all surprised to see the Spider collapse when the AC-10 hit it in the centre torso again and disabled it. One down but this was just one of the guards, we had to hit the convoy.

Dekker moved up and got a lock on one of the convoy vehicles and opened up with his Vindicator. He did some damage but not enough to kill it. Behemoth jumped on top of a dune and had a nice targeting lock on the Galleon and opening up with both AC-2’s was able to kill it.

The Locust moved in and sent a medium laser at Glitch but it hit low and missed. Glitch returned fire on the Locust and did damage all over but not enough to kill it. When Medusa moved up towards the convoy blips, he was able to get a lock and killed another Galleon that was rushing towards the LZ and escape. Only two left.

Dekker opened up on the Locust and killed it with withering fire into the left torso and then doing enough damage to disable the mech completely.

This left two vehicles we had to kill and they were getting uncomfortably close to their LZ. We had to rush as we were out of position and a chase is never sure.

Behemoth put the pedal down in the Blackjack and got a target lock on another Galleon and that allowed the others to fire on it destroying it. But it wasn’t enough.

The final vehicle was able to get to the LZ and their dropship came in and lifted off with it all safe. We failed to complete the contract and it wasn’t bad luck but us forgetting the objective and stopping to play with the guards.

We called in the dropship and reported our failure. We picked up a couple pieces of salvage and some money but we were not feeling good.

The meeting we had to figure out why we failed was not a happy one. But we worked out that we forgot what the objective was and that is what went wrong. Not going to let that happen again.

Mission 6

Pirate Convoy Ambush
Planet: Linhauiguan

Lance:
Glitch – Shadow Hawk
Dekker – Vindicator
Behemoth – Blackjack
Medusa – Centurion

We had to get back on the horse to get our confidence back and the best way was to take out another convoy being run by pirates. This time would be different. We would not forget what we were there for.

We dropped with Glitch in the Shadow Hawk, Medusa in the Centurion, Behemoth in the Blackjack and Dekker in the Vindicator and we were armed for bears.

The dropship was able to drop us in front of the convoy this time. They were coming towards us and we were in almost perfect position to take them as they came at us.

Unfortunately the Centurion didn’t have any jump jets so Medusa had to go around but they were positioned as a perfect backstop if any got past us. The rest jumped up and formed a skirmish line to face the enemy convoy and their guards.

With the battle being fought on the tundra, we didn’t have as much trouble with overheating but that also worked for the enemy.

First contact was a Striker combat vehicle armed with long and short ranged missiles. A deadly little enemy if ignored so we opened up on it as it came in range and it blew up. A further two targets appeared on the scopes. Mechs by the look of them and when we used a sensor lock on one of them we were unpleasantly surprised to see a Panther.

Armed with a PPC and a SRM-4 pack, it is a deadly light mech. That PPC does a lot of damage and interferes with sensors when it hits. So that made it a primary target now.

Next blips were fast moving Galleon light tanks. More anti-personnel vehicles so they were more secondary dangers but as part of the convoy, priority targets.

Dekker opened up on the Galleon on the Galleon in front and did major damage but Glitch had to kill it with a follow up set of attacks. Behemoth blew the following Galleon away with a pair of perfectly placed AC-2 shots and 4 medium lasers into the front of it. And poor Medusa in the back had to launch a LRM attack at the Panther. A bit of damage but nothing serious which is always the problem with missiles.

The second mech blip turned out to be another Panther and things got more serious when it’s PPC and SRMs came in and savaged Glitch’s Shadow Hawk. A follow up attack from the first Panther and a missile launch from the last convoy vehicle did more damage to her mech and she took a hit to the head injuring her.

We had to focus fire on the Panther as we couldn’t afford to take much more damage to either glitch or her mech. She started to retreat behind the others for some protection while everyone started to try and take the Panthers down.

Behemoth was able to bracket one Panther with his weapons and took off both arms removing the PPC and reducing the threat it provided. Glitch got some revenge on it by destroying it’s centre torso and taking it out of the fight. Dekker took shots at the second Panther but while doing damage, didn’t take it out of combat. And that hidden vehicle did more damage to Glitch and again she took a head hit, doing more damage to both mech and pilot.

The last vehicle came into sight and we had another Striker to deal with. Behemoth took it down with a alpha-strike of all weapons that chewed through it’s armour and set off it’s ammo with a lovely explosion.

Now we just had to take that last Panther out and we focused everything on it and it was quickly taken down when it’s centre torso was destroyed.

With the last enemy taken care of, we called in the dropship and salvage crews. Plenty of salvage and it all helps to increase our stores. We especially wanted to see if we could salvage one of those Panthers to add to the mechs in the company.

Our choice of salvage was a bunch of weapons and some very large pieces of the Panthers. Our techs were very happy because with what we had in storage, they could rebuild a Panther battlemech for our company. It wasn’t much to look at but a new paint job and a bit of buffing and the Marauders have a nice Panther standing with the rest of the mechs.

Unfortunately Glitch will be in the med bay for a month recovering from her injuries and physiotherapy to get her back into fighting trim. Her Shadow Hawk would also take a bit of time to be repaired.