With these words, Captain Julien Laval began to move his giant lumbering Marauder II forward towards the enemy base. His hand-picked assault lance followed along side. Lt. DuPree in his Zeus, the ex-mercenary turned FedSuns pilot Frank Makolo, loyal and grateful to Laval for purchasing his new Rifleman mech, a sturdy Von Luckner heavy tank, and the Ranger's 1st Infantry Company. All this supported by a transport VTOL to drop the infantry from zip lines, and Sgt. Howard in his Stuka heavy spacefighter, currently groaning with a full compliment of high explosive bombs.
No one was really sure how Laval came upon his Marauder II. They were supposedly the exclusive design and property of the famous Wolf's Dragoons, made under contract with the previously unknown Blackwell Industries. Laval simply shouldn't have had access. And yet... after his family's legacy Marauder I developed serious problems with its fusion engine Captain Laval suddenly appeared in his brand new mech. Given the shady reputation of Laval's Baronial family, blackmail of some kind was the assumed story. Even a mercenary from the Dragoons occasionally lost at cards in one of the family's resort casinos, or got into worse trouble in areas where the family's informants were rife. Whatever the truth, Laval wasn't answering any questions.
The techs whispered that there was something odd about the machine. It was Blackwell Industries' first mech of any kind, and its design was so beautiful, so streamlined, that it should have been beyond their ability. Something about the way things fit together disturbed and fascinated those assigned to work on the machine, but they couldn't quite put their finger on what...
The slavers had set up in an old Star League fort, left to crumble on their forgotten Periphery world. Those who had survived the freeing of the slave camp and those left behind as guards prepared a desperate defense. Their best outcome (aside from unlikely victory) was life imprisonment. If the angry Rangers let them live.
The slavers mostly fielded light mechs, with a Cyclops as their commander.
The approach was dangerous, largely open ground, but Laval knowing this chose mechs with solid ranged armaments.
"Sgt. Howard," Laval said, "see if you can't soften them up for us. They look nice and bunched up for you."
"Roger, making my first bombing run."
In response to the heavy bombardment, the doors to the mech repair facility opened, revealing an unwelcome sight. Two mechs, painted in the colors of the Draconis Combine!
So that's where they got their funding, Laval thought. Once again "honorable" House Kurita was financing the riff-raff of the galaxy to fight their proxy wars for them. If the Rangers hadn't surprised the slavers, these "advisors" would have no doubt slipped off planet by now. But now they were going to go down with their ship.
"Second run successful," Howard reported, "Looks like serious damage to the Cyclops and minor to others. Taking considerable fire however."
"Keep hitting them. I want that Cyclops down by the time I arrive." Even his Marauder II could only take so many AC20 hits.
"Roger that, looping back."
As the Rangers advanced in a staggered formation, two light mechs jumped over the fortress walls to engage.
They were clearly trying to peel off the attackers, to slow them down. We'll that wasn't a problem. Time wasn't an issue after all.
Meanwhile Sgt. Howard moved in for another attack run. Unloading with missiles, lasers and every other weapon he had, the Cyclops was already teetering.
"Solid hit!" he shouted.
But as he passed, all of the enemy mechs unloaded on him. Taking serious damage to the nose and right wing, he struggled to keep control of his plane.
"It's no good," he said, desperately trying to right his plane, but the successive bombing runs had brought him too low to the ground...
"Sgt. Howard," Laval said, seeing the plane go down, "Howard come in, are you ok?"
"Yes sir," he said, "Ejected. Shaken up but I'm ok. I'm going to get the hell away from this base while you finish up. Dammit, they got my damned plane!"
"Get clear, we're just glad you're alright."
Taking a last look at his Stuka, he saw that it was largely intact, although it's nose was nearly torn off and the cockpit smashed. Turning to run for cover, he had hope that it might even be repairable.
Meanwhile Laval ordered Lt. DuPree to engage the light mechs with his Zeus. At the same time, he ordered the rest of the lance to slightly slow their pace while the mechs were dealt with.
At this point, two platoons of infantry inside the Karnov transport began their maneuvers: a slow wide flanking maneuver to try to get into the fortress itself at the moment of the attack, when the defending mechs would be otherwise occupied.
Lt. _____'s Zeus exchanged fire with the Spider and other mech.
Through the smoke, the Kurita mechs joined the firing line.
Finally in range, Laval ordered a brief halt and opened fire.
The kick tore straight through the lighter mech's leg and sent it to the ground. Silly mechwarrior must have thought he was in an Atlas.
Ignoring the weakly armed Spider, the Zeus turned back towards the fort to get in formation.
The Spider ran up behind the Zeus, firing its single medium laser into the mech's back ineffectually, while the Rangers advanced to medium range and unloaded on the enemy.
Meanwhile the Infantry were nearing their objective.
As the Zeus advanced, the Spider, desperate to slow the advance, used its jets to get above the heavy mech, hoping to land directly on the cockpit.
A near miss on the moving Zeus sent it crashing to the ground, heavily damaged.
With the Spider's ploy foiled, the Kurita mechs ordered a general advance to close the range and eliminate the Ranger's long range advantage. In doing so they found themselves right in the path of the Von Luckner's short range firepower.
As the Spider tried to rise, it was assaulted with the jump infantry that had caught up with the slightly faster mechs and tanks. However, the infantry failed to set their charges before the Spider got up, losing a wonderful opportunity.
However at this point, the VTOL transport was able to complete its mission, inserting infantry at close range while the enemy mechs had far bigger problems to deal with.
Everyone seemed to be firing at once. Heat built on all sides, and giant machines of war fought to the death while tiny humans with laser rifles ran about their heels.
The Von Luckner's crew fired salvo after salvo into the enemy while the heavy mechs of Laval's lance finished them off.
The enemy, meanwhile, concentrated their fire on the lightly damaged Zeus, finally getting lucky and tearing through its engine shielding. Lt. DuPree managed to eject as his radiation warnings went off, but the mech would need serious repairs before it would be able to see any further active duty.
Lt. ______ made a run for it, trying to get clear of the missiles and energy weapons behind him.
Another infantry platoon landed directly on an enemy mech, attaching themselves wherever they could to set their charges.
Meanwhile that suicidal spider tried the same jump jet trick on Laval's Marauder, now the main target.
Meanwhile, the few remaining mechs moved to close combat with Laval's Marauder. He grinned, savoring the chance to see what would happen when a 100 ton monster delivered punches and kicks into enemy steel.
Insertion completed, the VTOL landed to pick up Sgt. Howard.
Laval, savoring real close combat for the first time, relished the way 100 tons could tear through the enemy. Soon both mechs were scrap at his feet.
While two mechs were only disabled and their pilots could be presented to the Outworld authorities, the Kurita pilots fought to the death. Unfortunate, as they would have been useful, but the slavers would surely sing a nice song for the Outworlders before they met their fate.
"This is Captain Laval. We've completed our mission and the site is secure. Requesting dropship landing with recovery vehicles and MPs for the prisoners. Good work people. Debriefing at 0800 tomorrow. I expect the arrival of Ourworld authorities by the afternoon."
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