Chapter 8

Call to battle for Lady Arano.

Lord Madeira came to my office with a message from Lady Arano. She has a mission for us on the planet Panzyr. She is currently in a battle on the planet Panzyr against the Directorate forces and there are more Directorate forces incoming.

She would like us to make an attack on the Directorate dropship control centre to prevent incoming reinforcements being landed. This control centre is important because there is a debris field around the planet and incoming drop ships need as much help to navigate the orbital debris field without serious damage.

Our pilot, Sumire, thinks she will be able to bring us in through the field from the information we know about it. I hope that she is able to or this will not be a good mission. If we can’t get down in one piece and prevent these reinforcements getting through, Lady Arano’s forces will be in dire trouble.

It’s going to take us 24 days to get there and we will not have much time before the reinforcement drop ships arrive. We are cutting it fine but we will have to do this for the Arano Restoration and Lady Arano and all the people that are following her.

While we were travelling to Panzyr, I got called in to settle a problem with various mechwarriors playing corridor Bocce. They are playing it in the hallways outside the barracks and Darius decided to shut it down for safety reasons. The possibility of damaging the hallway walls is just too high.

I decided to host one more final match for morale reasons. Unfortunately Nekomata injured Sulphur with a miss-tossed ball and Sulphur will have to spend 18 days in the med bay. It was a good match though and the crew were happy about it.

The journey will take us three jumps between systems. The jumps themselves are instantaneous but the travel time from planetary orbit to the jump points at the north or south of the systems takes time and so does charging the jump-ship’s jump batteries.

Mission 25
Planet: Panzyr
Mission: Liberation: Panzyr

Lance:
Medusa – Atlas
Sonic – Blackjack
Nekomata – Vindicator
Sulphur – Centurion

Once we hit orbit around Panzyr, we contacted Lady Arano and found out that we cut it a little bit fine. The Directorate forces are inbound and we don’t have much time to get in, take control of the defences and then disable all defending forces and then the control centre. Once that is done, the Directorate forces on their drop ships will not be able to get through the debris field and will have to surrender or retreat.

Our battle plan is to be dropped off near the turret control centre, capture that and allow some special forces to gain control of the spaceport’s turret defences. They will be helpful in dealing with any defenders who we will encounter.

We won’t have much time from when we attack until the drop ships arrive and start through the field, so we will have to hurry and destroy the control centre.

We were dropped in close to the defence centre and Medusa moved up as close as possible to see what he could see on the scanners. He detected 2 x SRM carriers, 1 x Striker and 1 x Bulldog along with a further unknown vehicle.

Sonic unleashed on a SRM carrier and destroyed it as they are the deadliest targets. Sulphur destroyed a second carrier with her salvo. Nekomata only damaged a Striker that was in range. A second Striker moved up and damaged Sulphur and was joined by a second Bulldog which added more damage to the Centurion. The first Bulldog damaged Nekomata’s Vindicator. Medusa opened up and destroyed the first Bulldog and damaged the second.

Sonic destroyed the Striker and Nekomata destroyed the last Bulldog and we could bring in the techs and special forces to clear the turret control centre and bring the turrets online for our side. So far the mission is going good but that won’t last long because we need to get to the control centre and destroy it fast.

As the techs reported the turrets under our control and powering up, we heard a directorate communications on the clear comm channel: “All units open fire on the turrets before the enemy units get into range.” Not good.

The techs were able to tie the turret scanners into our systems and we could see the spaceport in more detail. I saw a Jenner and Panther move into position to fire on some of the turrets and damage them.

Sonic moved up to the road down into the spaceport proper and spotted an enemy Centurion. She fired on it trying to hit it’s cockpit but only did damage to the torsos. An enemy Trebuchet opened fire on a couple of turrets and destroyed them both. Not good. We need their help. Nekomata fired on the Centurion and damaged it but it is still combat capable. A Hunchback moved into view and destroyed a turret with it’s AC20.

Sulphur moved up but couldn’t get a target lock on anyone. The enemy Centurion destroyed another turret and that means half of them are now scrap. Medusa moved up and fired his LRM20 missiles at the Centurion in indirect fire mode doing some damage.

The Directorate commander sent another message: “All mechwarriors concentrate fire on these mercenary mechs. Ignore the turrets.” Well we got their attention and now we will have to fight.

But we won’t fire alone as the remaining turrets started picking targets and dealing damage. I just wish we still had all of them as they were firing into the rear arcs of the enemy mechs and we need as much help as possible.

Sulphur moved into range of the enemy Jenner and damaged it with a salvo. Nekomata thought that was a good idea and added her fire as well. Sonic was in range and was able to rip the Jenner’s left arm off in an fiery explosion. Medusa fired on the damaged Jenner and destroyed it’s left torso.

Sonic also spotted the six mechs of the enemy force and I knew we were in trouble and had a serious fight. The enemy were fielding: Jenner, Panther, Centurion, Trebuchet, Hunchback and Dragon. A hell of a lot of metal on the battlefield.

The remaining turrets were able to deal even more damage to some of the enemy mechs but nothing crippling.

The lance was ordered to form a firing line so as to bring as much fire on the enemy mechs as they came towards them. It wasn’t optimal but we had to reach the control centre of the far side of the spaceport and we didn’t have much time. We had to break through and get to it.

Sulphur locked on the Centurion and damaged it while Nekomata damaged the Panther which was in range. Sonic added more damage to the Centurion and blew off it’s left arm. Medusa got into range of the Hunchback and started to chip away at it because it’s AC20 is the biggest danger on the field.

Again the surviving turrets fired into the enemy and added to the damage but they are still coming.

The Panther and Jenner pilots decided that Sulphur was their target of choice and sent some serious damage into her mech. Sulphur was not happy and sent a salvo into the Panther and got a lucky hit to it’s head. But the pilot is still alive and fighting. Nekomata damaged the Panther but in return the Trebuchet sent a couple LRM15 missiles flights into her mech. Sonic added more damage to the Panther and then the Hunchback opened up and sent a AC20 shot into Nekomata’s Vindicator causing serious damage. The damage from the dragon was just insult on top of the damage suffered. Medusa opened up on the Panther and ripped the left arm off. Pity the PPC is in the right arm.

Again the turrets opened fire and damaged some enemy mechs. That damage should start adding up but we don’t have time to just sit tight and wait for them to kill the enemy. We have to get to the control centre.

The Panther kept pumping damage into Nekomata and her mech is not looking good. Sulphur targeted the Hunchback as it’s AC/20 is the most dangerous weapon on the field. The Jenner pilot added to Nekomata’s woes with more damage causing Nekomata to jump away and fire into the Hunchback which was getting too close. The Hunchback pilot was not happy and moved into cover of one of the landing pads. Sonic damaged the Centurion and ripped into it’s left torso and destroying that section. The enemy Centurion damaged Sulphur while the Trebuchet and Dragon pilots all added more severe damage to Nekomata’s mech. Medusa split fire and damaged the Trebuchet and Dragon.

The turrets opened fire and this time the damage on the Centurion was enough to send it crashing to the ground.

The Panther and Jenner pilots damaged Nekomata’s mech enough to knock her down. Sonic got a bit of revenge on the Panther and destroyed the left torso. The Hunchback opened up on Sulphur and did severe damage to her mech. Sulphur fired back but barely did any damage in return. The Trebuchet fired on Nekomata and did critical and lethal damage to her engine and destroying her mech. I hope she got out but the chances are not good. The Dragon fired on Medusa’s Atlas but did minor damage. Medusa split fire and killed the Panther while doing damage to the Jenner and Hunchback.

The turrets again did more damage but not enough to kill any of the enemy mechs.

The Jenner pilot got brave in damaging Medusa and Sonic showed what she could do by killing the Hunchback. The Trebuchet fired on Sonic’s mech but only damaged it. Sulphur damaged the Jenner as the Dragon fired on Medusa. Medusa split his fire between the Jenner which lost it’s right arm and the Dragon which lost it’s left torso and the attached arm.

Again the turrets were able to kill a mech, the Jenner, which was severely damaged.

The Trebuchet pilot is dangerous because their next salvo hit Sulphur’s mech and blew their engine out releasing a fusion explosion. They didn’t survive that one. Sonic got a good lock on the Trebuchet and got some much needed revenge by damaging the mech with well placed shots. A few stray missiles hit the Dragon. That must have rocked the Dragon pilot because they missed when firing on Sonic. Medusa fired on the Dragon and destroyed it’s right arm and also put some damage into the Trebuchet.

This time the turrets only added more damage and no kills.

Sonic fired on the Trebuchet for more damage and then had to deal with the Dragon pilot running up and punching her mech. Medusa was able to get a good lock on the rear of the Dragon and destroyed it’s right torso and then added more damage to the Trebuchet.

The turrets had some very good luck by damaging and knocking down the Dragon and it’s pilot suffered lethal damage in the fall. So another mech out of the battle. They also ripped the right arm of the Trebuchet off.

Sonic got a lock on the Trebuchet and ripped through the left torso and sending the arm flying in an explosion. The Trebuchet fired on Medusa but only scratched the paint. Medusa fired back and ripped through the right torso.

And again the turrets paid for themselves by killing the Trebuchet which is the last enemy mech in combat.

Sonic was the pilot of the fastest moving mech so had to rush towards the control centre. She jumped up on a defensive wall to get a line of sight on the control building and open fire on it. With a cloud of dust and fire it collapsed to the ground and shutting down the orbital control system leaving the incoming Directorate drop ships without any guidance through the debris field. And without that control, they are unable to land and add their troops to the battle.

This was another hard fought battle where we won the battle but lost so much. Nekomata and Sulphur were both killed in the battle and nothing will bring them back even if we can rebuild and repair their mechs.

Battle damage will have the Blackjack out for 1 day, the Vindicator out for 6 days and rebuilding the Centurion will take 17 days.

The salvage teams were able to grab a bunch of weapons and various equipment from the wrecks but they also salvaged the complete Dragon which we can field after replacing the damaged cockpit. We also found parts of the Trebuchet, Centurion and Panther we could use. Yang says he can rebuild another Panther now.

Darius went looking for another pilot and found Reggie ‘Vonkobra’ Von Kaas to join our company. He can’t replace Nekomata or Sulphur but will be a welcome addition to our team.

After the battle was ended with the surrender of the Directorate forces they found a cache of Griffin parts that we can purchase to rebuild a Griffin mech. Good to know but not quite yet as they are expensive.

Back on the Argo, Dr. Murad announced that she had found a Star League era data archive in the Argo’s secondary computer core and we should look at trying to open this up as it may contain valuable data. Darius will try to find out any information on how to open it while we travel.