Operation Stiletto "novelisation" - part 1 draft 1

[DoctorMonkey]

Some of you may remember a 1999 sourcebook called Operation Stiletto that outlined a Chaos March campaign by a mercenary force hired by a number of Federated Suns corporate interests to secure raw materials they had come to rely on from the now independent worlds of Acamar and Genoa. The main companies involved are GM (of Kathil) and Johnston Industries and there are a number of sub-themes, including the use of this action to show off some of the newer designs from those companies.


Anyway, as an activity to keep my brain ticking over I have started trying to flesh out the campaign - running through the scenarios but also some of the other action that is not captured in them.


Here is my first chapter attempt... thoughts, comments and feedback appreciated


Operation Stiletto
 
DropShip Brondesbury, low orbit above Acamar, 9^th of February 3061
 
I hoped my swearing was quiet enough not to activate the microphone in my NeuroHelmet: this stream of expletives was triggered by the message from the operation commander, activating my unit from reserve. I quickly passed the notice to my troops and touched base with the Ship’s Captain about our plans – we had a number of contingencies and this fell into one reasonably neatly.
 
Once we passed the atmospheric interface, the first “stick” was released from the half dozen doors to make their own way down while the DropShip cycled and prepared the next stick while falling at about the same speed. Mine was the first ‘Mech out by a fraction of a second – an old tradition for the commander to lead the drop – as per my sneaky agreement with the Techs but I had full confidence in the rest of the troops to follow.
 
Soon the whole of my company, using the callsign Cutlass for this phase of the operation, was falling rapidly towards the Osz Forrest and battle. We were going in as a “hot drop” directly into a battle that was still shrouded by clouds below us but which the altimeters in our HUDs told us was rapidly getting closer. I could only hope that the planned air cover and other distractions would be in place when we got into range of ground fire, I thought it was too much to expect them to give us much of a briefing about what to expect though.
 
From a few thousand metres up, we could already see fires and the shape of a Leopard class DropShip making an attack run, even if the details of who or what they were targeting were unclear. Automated systems quickly kicked in and started firing jump jets on each ‘Mech to slow them as appropriate to the computer’s interpretation of need – we were lucky and they all got it right.
 
Just before we landed we got a quick SitRep – the two light recon lances that had landed in this zone had been taken out by a large hidden force, they had barely managed to get a contact report off before being overwhelmed and contact had been lost: they were the fires we could see. The two DropShips that had carried them had gone down to take a look and were now offering suppressing fire for our drop.
 
As we entered the last phase of our drop, both DropShips – Nugent and Madman – laid down smoke from their LRM launchers and then WHUMF we were down. Despite the obscured vision, our other sensors were able to pick up large radar returns, some with fusion engines from the MagRes. I fired both Gauss Rifles and my Large Laser at the first return I managed to get a lock onto and the rest of my force opened up as well, as the smoke cleared I saw that it was a Crab – barely half the weight of my own machine and now with a gaping hole in its left torso.
 
The fighting almost immediately became a melee, a vicious fight at close range with little ability to stay on a single target and finish it off but rather a dance of hitting one target of opportunity and the next moment firing at another while dodging fire from a third and fourth. Our foes were poorly arrayed to fight against our position, we had landed behind and among them and it seemed they had already been pulled out of position pursuing Shrike and Flare lances. We managed some coordination but had the advantage of both stealing the initiative and experience as a jump assault force.
 
Assessing the threats facing us, I called for fire to be concentrated against threats like SRM Carriers and Hetzer assault guns – instinct had already led my team to engage the two Demolisher tanks and one was smoking while the other had lost its turret to a “Jack In The Box” catastrophic kill. I spied an Excalibur class heavy ‘Mech, a potent threat but something of a glass hammer – he was lining up on my wingman in her Emperor when I caught him with a snapshot: one Gauss Rifle round went into his left leg but the other smashed through the armour over the left torso and caught the missile ammunition stored there. While the explosion was impressive, CASE prevented catastrophe for the pilot but shattered the engine shielding so the ‘Mech went into immediate shut down. The damage to the LRM rack by my Large Laser added nothing but a reduction in salvage value. Somehow the pilot’s ejection seemed like a limp after-thought.
 
The Emperor beside me was targeting a pair of Po Heavy Tanks, scattering submunitions across them with one tank unlucky enough to have both turret and tracks disabled while the other’s heavy Starshield armour. The follow up lasers also hit home, against the unlucky Po it further smashed the tracks but the lucky one’s armour once more held and then Ceres Arms reply came – heavy shot wasting itself against left leg and centre torso armour on the assault ‘Mech’s thick hide.
 
The other ‘Mechs in my lance were also holding their own, the Highlander finished off my Crab with LRMs while missing a fast moving Mongoose with Gauss Rifle, medium lasers and SRMs. The Marauder had more luck with ER PPC and medium laser from her left arm weapons pod smashing through the side torso of a Hammer that came too close and triggering the LRMs held there in a ‘Mech-shredding explosion while the right arm PPC and torso mounted PPC slagged and shattered a Hunter Light Support Tank that had been trying to edge back to a better range, the rattled crew evacuating rapidly and heading for cover.
 
Our foes were still trying to reorganise – to pull lighter units away from our front and get those better suited to long range slugging back from us. A pair of Striker Light Tanks found themselves closer than they found comfortable and despite firing fairly wild volleys of SRMs at us, quickly died as Valiant Buckler Standard armour proved little protection against our massed batteries of medium laser secondary weapons. Po and Scorpion tanks tried to advance and form up as a phalanx to oppose us, a mixed bag of hovertanks sped off on what looked to be flanking move while the lighter ‘Mechs jinked and juked to make themselves harder targets, less tempting than the medium trooper units still struggling to move up to contact.
 
Cutlass Company was not standing idle, a Sentinel fell before the guns of my second lance’s commander in his Falconer and his wingman in her Starslayer. A Talon made a slashing run at the fourth ‘Mech in the lance, a Phoenix Hawk, but danced right into the sights of the Lynx paired up with the Phoenix Hawk and barely made it away while the P-Hawk took some chunks out of one of the Po’s still trying to form up. The third lance split – one half moving to counter the hovertank horde while the heavier pair smashed Scorpion tanks.
 
My own lance’s weapons had recycled and reloaded – ready to show quite how much damage an assault lance could do. A Kintaro was just approaching range for the main battery of medium lasers and SRMs to smash us when we plastered it with the combined heavy fire of my ‘Mech and the Marauder in the 4 slot, the Emperor and Highlander spread their fire across the Po’s and Scorpions with two of the latter succumbing to the fire and brewing up while one of the Po’s lurched out of advancing line, it’s left hand track shattered.
 
One of my secondary screens, displaying a longer range sensor view, lit up with more hostile contacts moving up and for a moment my heart sank – we were doing well here but these were slow movers and so likely carried more weapons and armour than I’d like. Then a call came through on the command channel, “This is White Buffalo Actual, we are driving forces South towards you Cutlass – don’t know how many of them will make it to your lines though, they’re dumb enough to be turning their backs on us to try to get away! Boom crash! Another one bites the dust!” As I looked, one of the red dots on the screen stopped moving and then went out – the chunk of metal remained a grey dot but no sign of IFF transponder or active fusion engine activity.
 
With Buffalo Company approaching from one side and my own force grinding away at the other, our foes started to crumble – my lighter lance started engaging the flanking light ‘Mechs and hovertanks who quickly realised they were overall outgunned and started to break contact heading East. Other units, less able to escape either turned on us with renewed fury or tried to make it to cover – a few even shut down in surrender.
 
The first of the newcomers, a Hunchback and Wyvern, came into range and view through the trees of the Osz Forest, as they fled Buffalo Company: they had left the frying pan but met our fire. My lance plastered these newcomers – the Hunchback was put on its back while the Wyvern exploded as someone’s fire caught either the LRM or SRM ammunition.
 
The loss of their reinforcements disheartened the remaining forces facing us and they all powered down in surrender – the last of them came through the trees and into the open before shutting down and Buffalo Company was right behind them. Brigadier Corrigan quickly had things organised – we covered while an infantry detachment raced over in hover APCs to take charge and then he left one of the lance’s from his company to support them until more troops (and techs to look over the salvage) while the rest of us moved on to the nearest Re-up point.
 

[PeacMaker03]

Good start, Want more, please

[marauder648]

Off to a damn good start, this was a great read :)

[snakespinner]

Good start to novelisation of Operation Stiletto. O0

[DoctorMonkey]

I'm working on the next bit already, it isn't one of the scenarios but I thought it would be nice to tell the story properly rather than just the playable bits


I will also try to put up unit listings for the various groups and detail the tweaks to the "hero" company's 'Mechs

[DoctorMonkey]

Landing Zone, Osz Forest, Acamar, 9^th of February 3061
 
We arrived at the hastily unloaded Mobile Field Base which was in the shadow of several of the invasion force’s DropShips, including our own ride the Brondesbury. Even as technical crews crawled over our ‘Mechs, repairing armour damage, replacing damaged systems and then finally re-loading those of us who needed ammunition, we got a hasty briefing with our drinks and MRE snacks: apart from our own encounter with what we now discovered were the 2^nd and 3^rd Battalions of the mercenary force Legion of Truth and the loss of Shrike and Flare lances the landings had gone smoothly. Now we needed to advance quickly and seize the nearby city of Huss.
 
The main force was detailed off to advance on this regional hub but my own company, still going by the callsign Cutlass, got a different assignment. Our role was quite different – we were to take a secondary route to Huss, clear the route, distract the enemy and create a potential alternative if the main thrust was held up for reserves to take the city. We got some detachments to supplement our Jump-Assault, Heavy Cav and Skirmisher Lances – a mixed recon unit to replace the lost forces of Flare and Shrike Lances, some combat engineers and the Büffel VII Combat Engineer Vehicle clone they used to get around and a Prometheus Bridgelayer while backing us all up came some fire support LRM Carriers and one of GM’s new Savior Repair Vehicles (“for all your field maintenance and repair needs!”); we had also been promised some artillery support if we needed it but I rather hoped we would make do without.
 
I sent the recon troops ahead, supported by the Skirmishers and combat engineers in case of impediments on the route, the Heavy Cav took the flanks while my own Jump-Assault Lance formed a “core” with the supporting elements of LRM Carriers, Savior and the remaining combat engineers and infantry in the relative safety of our shadow. We would not be a fast moving force – despite the possibility of speed on the roadway I wanted a safe advance and so the screening forces used their speed to zip hither and yon ahead of us, looking for trouble while the rest of us plodded along in relative safety.
 
We were led off by a couple of old but still effective PathTrack drones from an equally old but upgraded and still highly effective Hi-Scout Drone Carrier that would scan the roadway for IEDs and hidden enemies, then the rest of the recon troops in a recce version Firestarter and a shiny new Beowulf, a Pegasus Scout Hovertank and a Plainsman Hovertank with their scout/snipers riding along in light vehicles and motorbikes giving some breadth to our advance. My own Skirmisher Lance took the flanks – leapfrogging from overwatch site to overwatch site and the Heavy Cav were forming a screen on the flanks of our advance, providing a close reserve to support the lighter forward units.
 
The first few kilometres went fairly smoothly, no contacts at all and no suspicious lumps or bumps to need the engineers to clear. The first contact was a volley of LRMs coming from a hidden light tank missing us all but giving us a start. The tank now lit up on our sensors, no fusion engine magnetic signature but still a large lump of metal and our counter-battery sensors had rapidly spotted the location from which the LRMs began their ballistic arc. Whoever this skirmisher was, he was fortunate that he was beyond the range of our LRM Carriers to reply but the Highlander in my own lance was within range and replied with 20 LRMs in counter fire before the first volley had even landed while the Firestarter and Beowulf sprinted forward to seek and, if they could, destroy.
 
The Beowulf quickly reported the destruction of what turned out to be an LRM variant Harasser, badly damaged by the blind LRM fire, they were trying to limp away when a large pulse laser shot took out their engine and left the machine a hulk, the crew bailing out. The Harasser had not been alone, however, just the first to arrive: sensors on the PathTrack drones and Beagle equipped recon ‘Mechs started to pick up flickers of more contacts – unfriendly sensors seeking us, fusion engine magnetic signatures and even some foolish comm chatter.
 
The Harasser’s unit ID had been obliterated by the LRMs so we could not be certain who we were facing but the next wave came into view down the road, at high speed but we managed to see who they were – Connor’s Ransackers, a relatively ill-reputed and low rent but large mercenary force mostly composed of lighter armour units. A quartet of Saracen hovertanks came into view but their volleys of LRMs lacked precision and they barely caused more than a few scratches to paintwork. Our return fire was a bit more effective – the attached scouts were close enough to open up with everything in range but the rest of us with our longer reaching weapons also managed to do some damage. Saracens are tougher beasts than Harassers but are still vulnerable to damage to their skirts or other vitals – one took a hit to the skirts and ploughed into the ground, another brewed up as the LRM launcher was hit mid-reload cycle and the internal explosion ripped the turret off. The remaining two just had chunks blown off their armour and quickly realised they were out-gunned and turned away, firing off LRMs as they pulled back.
 
I closed us up, with enemy action now pretty much inevitable I wanted the combat forces further forward backing up the scouting elements. We deployed all of the Hi-Scout’s drones ahead of us and on the flanks but pulled back the rest of the recon troops, putting my own Skirmisher and Heavy Cav Lances slightly ahead and on the flanks of my own lance. My caution was soon confirmed, a larger force of hovertanks appeared on our scopes and I also got a quick call from an aerospace fighter zooming over us en route to a support mission for the main advance – although most of the enemy was coming out to meet the main advance, there were some coming out to greet us.
 
The first elements of the enemy was about a company’s worth of hovertanks – a real mixed bag and mostly older designs: there were our two friends the surviving Saracens, three Scimitars and a Saladin, three LTV-4s, a J Edgar, a Pegasus and a pair of Plainsman. We managed to open up first, a smashing volley of Gauss Rifle, heavy laser, LRM, PPC and autocannon fire. The Saladin inevitably drew a lot of fire and veered off the roadway to crash into a turf bank spewing black smoke while one of the LTV-4s suffered a jack-in-the-box catastrophic explosion and a Plainsman suffered engine death, collapsing off its air-cushion onto the road in a mess of sparks and shed armour.
 
The hovertanks began belatedly weaving and taking evasive action but this meant their fire was even more haphazard than it might have been – between us barely more than a tonne of armour was lost to a PPC and medium autocannon despite several times that much being directed at us. Most of these hovertanks got nastier close in so I held my troops back, preferring to slug things out at longer range and put off the barrage of SRMs we would face when they closed – I managed a gorgeous shot on the Pegasus with both Gauss Rifle rounds hitting the turret and knocking the entire assembly off the body while unhappy SRM ammunition mangled the remains beyond use, my large laser struck out at one of the Scimitars but missed anything vital although half a tonne of armour coming away from the flank left it wobbling. The rest of my lance suffered similar mixed success, Hermione's Emperor successfully targeted the Saracens with one arm’s weapons each but where the right arm’s cluster munitions and heavy laser turned one Saracen into a smoking wreck, the other managed to survive without any apparent loss of capability. Poppy's Highlander launched both Gauss Rifle and LRMs into one of the LTV-4s and succeeded in smashing it sideways into the ground but Peter's Marauder was the most successful with a PPC smashing one of the Plainsman hovertanks in the engine while the other two PPCs both found the J Edgar and knocked it sideways into the path of an otherwise unengaged Scimitar which took out the J Edgar in a T-bone smash that sent it rolling and burning while the Scimitar’s nose crumpled and it collapsed with an apparent lift-fan casualty. The rest of my force was not idle, even though they had less to bring to bear: long range weapons like PPCs and heavy lasers smashed in from both flanks while the LRM carriers lobbed an extreme range volley that made up in power what it lacked in accuracy.
 
Once again, the remaining hovertank forces turned back and limped away, their over-the-shoulder fire back at us causing no damage and our own fire, despite the rapidly lengthening range, managed to catch one of the Scimitar’s in the engine, taking it out, and the remaining Plainsman was unlucky enough to have its rear armour savaged to the point it lost structural integrity and collapsed.
 
Somehow, the enemy had also failed to target any of our drones and so we were able to quickly restart our advance in the same combat block deployment we had used before this encounter. Our drive along the secondary highway to Huss had so far cost the enemy about a company of light hovertanks and us nothing more than ammunition and armour plate and I hoped we were causing the required distress in their high command.
 

[DoctorMonkey]

Highway, 5km from the suburbs of the City of Huss, Acamar, 9^th of February 3061

We made considerable progress without further probes by the enemy – they kept distant contact with a few light units but made certain to keep out of range of our weapons and only seemed to want to confirm we were staying on the highway and what our rate of progress was. About 5 klicks from the edge of the suburbs we saw why they had been keeping tabs on us: they had set up some fixed defences at a point where a ridgeline passed either side of the highway and dug in.

I called for a recon overflight by one of the aerospace fighters but was told none was available to help so decided to make a strong push and either use it as a reconnaissance in force or diversion for the main attack force advancing along the other highway or else we could commit and complete this advance if the resistance was not too great. The drones gave us an idea of what we would face from their video feeds but radar and other sensors were being blocked by powerful ECM and they had managed some camouflage as well as digging in but it seemed a lot of that had been directed against our air superiority rather than land based sighting.

This close to the enemy lines, I was worried about snipers and infiltrators despite my own recce assets hunting to make sure things were safe so rather than dismounting to hold a quick O-group, we used low power comm lasers while in line-of-site. The situation I laid out was less than ideal: the enemy were dug in on a ridge line perpendicular to the highway we had been following with about 1000 metres of clear ground between the edge of the Osz Forest and the ridge where they had dug in; we have limited fire support for this assault – no real artillery or close air support expected although we have a troop of four LRM Carriers. The plan is to attack to the left of the highway from our perspective, lay a smoke screen with the LRM Carriers and to advance the heavier half of my force in a frontal assault while the lighter half and the Beowulf move to flank them around the far left through the forest. The LRM Carriers and the rest of the rear echelon forces will be guarded by units like the SRM Carrier that keeps the LRM Carriers company and the infantry while the Firestarter keeps an eye on matters to the right of the road. The main risk is how long it will take to cross the open ground in the slow assault ‘Mechs, especially without artillery to keep the enemy’s heads down.

There seemed little sense in delaying starting the assault, Operation Command had given no hint that more resources might become available if we held off and our over-riding aim was to distract the enemy and draw attention (and reserves) towards ourselves. We opened with the LRM Carriers laying a smoke screen – they managed to lay it almost on top of the ridge, we could see where we were going but they were blinded as we emerged from the cover of the forest and entered the open ground. A snap decision was to hold our fire as we advanced, for now at least – the hope was that the smoke would obscure our positions and we could see very little and the added weight of fire would do little to keep heads down. We moved forward as fast as we could, the ground was fairly open so we could get up to speed but even so it was little more than 50kph meaning we would spend a long two minutes until we were in their lines, hopefully a lot less before we would be able to start finding solid targets. At the same time, the flanking force set off: far faster than my own force, hopefully they could negotiate the thick forest and get around before our distraction wore thin.

As we closed, the LRM Carriers shifted their fire to create a lane in the smoke, allowing it to thin out in front of us and as we caught glimpses of enemy armour we opened fire and a few seconds later they started to return it. Now we could start to target them we could also call in LRM strikes and so half of the Carriers turned their fire to the enemy positions, exchanging HE for smoke rounds, while the other two kept up the smoke screen to our flanks. Dug in tanks proved challenging targets and what little of themselves showed was the most heavily protected – Gauss slugs, PPC bolts and lasers struck earth banks and armour with seeming little difference in effect. We were fortunate that the enemy armour was mostly older-Tech and lacked the modern long range killers like Extended Range PPC and Gauss Rifles and so the return fire was initially at least limited to lighter autocannon and LRMs.

One fear I had had not shared was that our advance might lead us through a minefield but our luck held and it seemed they either had lacked the time or the resources to mine their front, as the range closed our accuracy improved but they were able to bring heavier fire to bear. I managed to put both Gauss rounds into the turret of a Po Heavy Tank and cause it to brew up while a lighter Scorpion Tank lived down to Quikscell reputation and exploded after a volley from Peter’s Marauder. Herminione’s Emperor used cluster munitions to abrade armour, optics and other delicate parts of a pair of Vedette Medium Tanks, scorching deep scars in the armour with her lasers to try to help the smaller projectiles to get deeper in and cause more damage. Poppy managed to coordinate her fire with one of the LRM Carriers and plastered a Behemoth with enough LRMs to be nearly certain of taking it out – and strike lucky they did with missiles taking out the tank’s power pack and effectively stopping it cold: the Gauss Rifle round Poppy sent from her Highlander’s right arm missed the Behemoth but was hardly needed.

Jon and Emily were moving faster than my assault lance but as they closed they came under fire as well – Emily in particular seemed to draw more than her fair share as the lightest unit in sight in her Starslayer. While Jon fileted one Vedette, another exchanged fire with Emily and scored a lucky hit, catching her SRM launcher in mid-reload cycle with the fire following down into the full magazine and then blasting out of the advanced CASE system, saving the ‘Mech at the cost of the left arm, torso and a badly shaken MechWarrior. Emily’s fire was less impressive, scoring deep holes in the armour on the chest and bow of the tank but failing to penetrate or catch anything vital.

My secondary force was still looping around under cover of the forest but the closer my force got to the enemy’s line on the ridge the more our sophisticated sensor packages managed to overcome their powerful but primitive ECM and other countermeasures. Now we were closer, the enemy brought a second line of vehicles up to the ridge while some of them we had hurt pulled back. The first thing we saw coming up to the crest was a Hetzer: Peter reacted first and smashed a full alpha-strike into it which blasted through the thick frontal armour with PPCs and medium lasers ; the machine was gutted and rapidly spewed smoke and fire from holes and hatches and the rest of us focused on what else was coming over. A surprisingly new looking Demolisher appeared, flanked by a Po and either a Rommel or a Patton Heavy Tanks – our scans could now show us that this was the last of the heavy metal they had hiding behind the ridge, the rest was far lighter.

As this seemed to be “it”, I called in the flanking force – they were long enough legged to jump out of the forest into clear space and mostly armed with weapons that could reach out far enough to get them involved in our fight. The LRM Carriers were running low on ammunition but managed a solid salvo into the new arrivals, thinning armour and taking the track off the Rommel. Volley fire raced between our two lines, heavy autocannon traded for Gauss slugs, PPC bolts and lasers – I barely remained standing after the Demolisher hit my ‘Mech with both super-heavy autocannon bursts but I was saved by the fire being spread across Sally-Jane’s thick hide rather than landing as one. In return, I placed two Gauss slugs, a heavy laser and four medium lasers across their front and turret which left enough holes for Herminione to exploit with her Emperor’s cluster munitions and render the Demolisher a former threat and now an excellent paperweight. Poppy took on the lamed Rommel with long and short range missiles, lasers and a Gauss slug managing to rip open the already-wounded left side and kill the tank while dodging their return autocannon fire and easily shrugging off the couple of LRMs that struck her Highlander.

We had them: their main force broken and our costs were not excessive. Those of them who could run, did; the rest surrendered. We fired our long range weapons into the retreating fast movers – five Vedettes and a Hunter Light Support Tank. One Vedette took a pair of Gauss Rifle rounds to the engine and stopped, spewing smoke from its rear and the Hunter had its missile launcher shattered although managed to limp on a little further before a PPC bolt slagged the engine. We also covered the recently surrendered and whistled up our supporting elements to take over care of our prisoners. Although it would have been tempting to stand atop the ridge, smoke billowing around our victorious ‘Mechs it would also be very stupid to skyline ourselves so we traversed the ridge as quickly as we could and took up position to hold what we had taken while we more metaphorically took stock – gazing down upon the city of Huss ahead of us only a few easy kilometres from us with no serious obstructions to a race down the highway.

The main advance was proceeding more slowly than we had achieved, I managed to keep my joy at that news when I reported to HQ under control, and we were given a short time to re-arm, reload and repair. We set up the Saviour on the ridge, on the side facing away from Huss, first re-arming the least damaged ‘Mechs and LRM Carriers before moving onto the more heavily damaged ‘Mechs – my Pillager Sally-Jane and Emily’s Starslayer, although in the field it was doubtful we would have the resources or time to fully fix the damage from the SRMs cooking off. While that happened the MechWarriors and other combat troops took the opportunity to get out of our cockpits and stretch our legs, rehydrate and also answer calls of nature.

[DoctorMonkey]

Advance to Huss, Acamar, 9^th of February 3061

We managed a couple of hours respite from combat before we both saw the main advance from our ridgetop and got the call through the command net ordering us on. Apart from the losses in the initial landing, mostly Shrike and Flare Lances, things had gone surprisingly close to the planned timeline – LZ secured and the advance on Huss with the city set to fall in only a few more hours which would make all of the D-Day objectives complete. We were not complacent, we knew the defenders of Huss might make us fight for the city and we remained alert to counter attack or other unexpected action.

My ‘Mech was repaired but Emily’s Starslayer was still felt to be too badly damaged to join our advance: I folded the Beowulf into my Heavy Cav Lance and kept the Firestarter with the scout group. Our advance was somewhat different now, we had clear ground and the highway ahead of us and there were no obvious dug in defences at the edge of the city. The lack of dug in forces meant that hopefully they would not contest the urban area but it might be a trap – if they caught us in the open with artillery they could drive us forward in an uncoordinated manner and have dug the forces in deeper into the city. However, if they had artillery I would have expected them to use it before now as the ridgeline would have been a far better proposition for a defence of a city you hope to keep than deep inside that which you want to save!

I had not relished the assault on the ridgeline defences and was still getting over my relief at having not lost anyone in that action, my own preference would have been to conduct a drop-assault on that position and overwhelmed it from above rather than slog forwards on the ground. Again, it was the advance into the enemy’s territory that had me worried – the initiative lay too much on the wrong side for my tastes. The only bit of good news was that a troop of artillery was being deployed to exploit the advanced position we had seized, so hopefully we could counter any strikes by the enemy and I could keep my LRM Carriers closer to my advance rather than needing to use them as poor man’s artillery.

We formed up, yet again the Hi-Scout’s drones led the way but this time my lance led the way, the others forming up on our flanks with the supporting forces behind including the LRM Carriers and their close protection escort SRM Carrier and Partisan Air Defence Tank. We moved forward slowly, keeping formation, down the highway towards Huss while the main assault force approached down a different highway with the intention being that we would arrive at the city at the same time. This time, at least, we had a reconnaissance overflight by one of the aerospace fighters which confirmed no signs of a trap and so our advance continued steadily.

We got a call to halt over the comm net from the main advancing force – someone was approaching them waving a white flag. The concern was that we might disrupt attempts to get Huss to surrender: taking the city quickly was a priority, we could chase down the garrison if they fled but holding the city would give us a base and quickly allow us to establish at least some legitimacy.

We held for what felt like hours but was only actually about 20 minutes but when stranded in the middle of a plain along the highway, too close to enemy positions for comfort. We moved a little bit to take what little cover we could but this was still a nervous time for us. The news we had hoped for came across – the civil government of Huss was surrendering and the garrison of mercenaries and the Acamar Cavalry, the renamed planetary militia forces loyal to the current regime, were withdrawing and would be allowed to withdraw 50 km unmolested if they stuck to highways and kept moving. The local city forces decided they were more loyal to their citizenry than the planetary regime – police, city trained bands and the county yeomanry forces for the surrounding county of Huss – which meant that hopefully the city would suffer as little disruption, rioting or other problems with the change of power.

[DoctorMonkey]

I am also thinking of writing up the units involved in this - the Cutlass Company that are the heroes of our tale as well as the various opponents we are facing like the Legion of Truth, Connor's Ransackers and the like


I have also put together the customised 'Mechs for a number of the main "cast", tweaks to some of the 'Mechs that I think make them better, mostly just little things or else I have an excuse such as it being mostly smashed up before being salvaged and fixed to explain bigger changes


I guess I should post those in the other bits of the Fan Forum and put links up?

[snakespinner]

A nice write up for the scenario.
Looking forward to the toe of the units and the mechs. O0

[DoctorMonkey]

first unit write up - actually one we haven't seen yet! The planet's ComGuard garrison


http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=54307.0

[DoctorMonkey]

and I have added The Legion of Truth, a not-very-good mercenary command opposing the forces engaged in Operation Stiletto

[Rainbow 6]

Good read, looking forwards to seeing more.

[DoctorMonkey]

it is a work in progress but it is progressing :-)


I am just writing up the Mary-Sue point of view unit at the moment

[DoctorMonkey]

The Mary-Sues are up in the non-canon units thread, and here is a link to the custom 'Mechs they drive

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=54316.new#new

[Ajax_Wolf_Alpha]

.... but Edward’s Marauder was the most successful with a PPC smashing one of the Plainsman hovertanks in the engine while the other PPC and Gauss Rifle both found the J Edgar and knocked it sideways into the path of an ....

Where GR round is this from? Ed's Marauder (Peter?) has three PPCs.

[DoctorMonkey]

Where GR round is this from? Ed's Marauder (Peter?) has three PPCs.

I did say it was a first draft!

I was initially planning around different names and had not finalised them and the Marauder was initially going to just be the Bounty Hunter 3044 model but then I played around on SSW and decided I preferred this mod

I will try to edit and update it later today

[DoctorMonkey]

Right, tidied it up - now to try to get on with a bit more writing done!

[DoctorMonkey]

“Com-Z” Field Base, Outskirts of Huss, Acamar, 22^nd of February 3061

The occupation of Huss went remarkably smoothly, agents and “factors” had been quietly lining up the local business, civic and social leaders for a while prior to the landings. We backed up the early good work by behaving impeccably in the city, setting up outside and working hard to keep things normal and to make sure orders flowed into the local businesses.

We were never quartered in the city, probably a good thing as BattleMechs can tear up tarmac and are unpopular with the rest of the traffic. Instead we were pulled back into what quickly became called the Com-Z – the field base we established on the outskirts of the city around the DropShips and where we then created stockpiles and repair centres as well as accommodation and other amenities. Rather than just patch-jobs and jury-rigging the damage to our ‘Mechs we could now get a proper repair and servicing completed – including the battered Starslayer and some tweaks to mine. For the moment, salvaged ‘Mechs were being used to fill gaps in rosters if the MechWarriors were less hurt than their rides and the promise was that we would receive parts if we needed and could take some bonus pay in the form of newly manufactured goods directly from either Johnson, GM or one of the other backers of the project.

I did not change our line-up for now but we talked through some possible re-organisations to give ourselves more flexibility and were also able to link up with the other detached companies from our force. Now more like a reinforced battalion in strength, we talked through more options for different deployment schemes and the like, all speculation as the overall planning happened above us in the main HQ. Every so often we would get more intel, either official or gossip, and that would start a new chain over coffee but we were still being kept as a reserve rather than being in the field.

The strategy at the moment seemed to be to push our boundaries out, slowly and carefully seizing high ground, important junctions and other choke points. We would fill in behind with rear area security patrols and I was quite surprised that our lighter units were not sent out to join those already out there, burning up myomer and lube as they patrolled, rested and went back out on patrol. After a week or so we got one Warning To Move but that quickly fizzled, before we had even been told which DropShip to load onto or what we might be going up against. Our ‘Mechs were spotless and the Techs were getting fretful as they had to suppress the temptation to tinker further: what started off as a threat to volunteer some of our Techs to the forward deployed “Re-Up” teams actually turned into a plan I was going to submit to The Brigadier by the end of the third week of kicking our heels.

Bored and frustrated at the inactivity and lack of briefing, I made enough of a nuisance of myself that I managed to get my command cadre brought in on a briefing: it turned out we were there to bulk out the audience as a fresh mixed regiment had arrived along with some corporate executive types and so everything was going to be rehashed and we wanted to look powerful to the non-military types as they would be negotiating the smooth takeover of the planet, or at least the mercantile parts.

The Brigadier himself came to address the audience, we were in a college lecture theatre with a solid guard around the building to prevent interlopers but hired legitimately from the owners and it was a Saturday so school was out. For all of his gruff and seeming forced militaristic style at times, I liked the Brigadier and had done since I saw his planning and good responses to challenges in the work up to Operation Stiletto on Kathil and then Novaya Zemlya and this had been cemented by good leadership during the actual Op here on Acamar.

“I’ll start at the beginning and avoid any politics or bull”, he said, “we are here on Acamar, and aim to be on Genoa soon, not to bring them back into the FedCom fold but on behalf of our private industry backers – led by GM of Kathil and Johnston Industries of New Syrtis – who want the steady supply of material from these worlds back.”

He paused and let the blunt words sink in. There is merit in giving clarity to the Commander’s Intent and by making sure everyone knew the reason for the operation, he framed all of our actions.

“I am going to focus on Acamar for now, a world in an Ice Age but with equatorial regions like this that are comfortable and give us easy access to raw materials without having to freeze our butts off. The population has been here for a long time and lacks the mono-culture or even consistent naming of many worlds but the population is divided: the nobility thrived under the CapCon while the merchants and industrialists chaffed and felt exploited while the workers and common people had rights on paper but rarely in practice. A generation or two ago, the tables turned and under FedCom rule trade and industry came to prominence and workers’ rights became better enforced while the nobility retreated to their manors and clubs and grumbled and plotted.” He let out a sigh, “now we have an unhappy balance – no one is really in charge, trade is faltering, ordinary people are losing their protections and the nobility are challenging the FedCom balance of power. GM, JI and a number of other concerns in the FedCom had come to rely on the steady supply line of raw materials, silver and gold and have sent us to try to bring peace and prosperity for most, if not all.”

“We have started by taking the outlying city of Huss, gateway to a hinterland and the Osz Forest but also the mountains which have many of the most lucrative mines. With this area now secure, we have a solid base to expand. At the moment the pro-Liao nobility have the upper hand and are based in the capital Kalskag under a chap called Calvin Noru; the other major city on-planet is Flat which previously acted as the centre for the Acamar Merchants Freedom Guild but suffered badly a few years ago during the civil war when the Tiger Sharks were here. The Merchants are among the backers of this expedition but have been diminished as an organisation by the years of conflict.”

Another pause, no questions but time for this to sink in. “We are planning a clean campaign, we want the resources and industrial output of Acamar and Genoa with a happy workforce and populace not a battle-blasted hostile occupation. We aim to take the planets and then be able to quickly wind down our forces and shift to garrison rather than anything more – some of the forces currently employed will move to garrison contracts either with the governments or corporations, others will move on. I won’t bore you all with operational details, some of you are here for other tasks, but I am pleased with how things have gone so far.”

[DoctorMonkey]

The meeting ended, the different groups breaking apart for more detailed briefings – corporate types to learn what our spies and agents had found out to aid them in forming alliances, mercenary units to receive tactical and operational briefings specific to their roles. I took my company’s MechWarriors and other senior personnel to meet up with the other company teams there to work on how we would combine forces and work together, the Techs also took the opportunity to compare notes on mods, supplies and clever work-arounds they had come up with. The other companies were calling themselves Claymore and Seax and we had a support force of artillery ‘Mechs, recce units and the like rounding up to about another company’s worth of troops.

“Com-Z” Field Base, Outskirts of Huss, Acamar, 18^th of March 3061

Things had not become dull but routine had started to set in – patrols were probing forward alternating with periods of rest and refit back within the Com-Z. Noru’s forces had largely gone quiet although they did sometimes challenge our patrols. We had recently had a bit of a clash with a patrol of Noru forces and the buggers had damaged my ‘Mech’s ER Large Laser so badly that the whole setting needed replacing and after some of the other ‘Mechs in the wider force had suffered damage, there weren’t many left! The Tech Team had sat down with me and the Quartermaster and we had come up with a work around but in doing so took the changes further.

To test out my new load out, I took my lance out for a Live Fire Exercise just outside the Com-Z compound. The rest of the company was on a routine patrol and taking the opportunity to put their ‘Mechs through their paces while Claymore was off at the front and Seax were undergoing a major service and maintenance block having just pulled a double length patrol although no combat. We were barely a third of the way through the exercise, blasting apart targets and jumping hither and yon when a call came through on the comm:

“Alert! Alert! Scramble all ‘Mechs! All personnel to defence stations! Bandits in the Com-Z!”

There was then very little confusion on the net – a good sign of how professional the whole of Operation Stiletto and Task Force Acamar was that almost no one asked for more details or questioned this over the open comm. I dialled up our designated MechCommander who started a rapid briefing for us: fast moving hovertank raiders had broken through into the compound and started shooting up our supplies. It turns out we were on the right side of the Com-Z to intercept and so we got a vector and made best speed.

The first targets to pop up shot around a supply dump that started spewing smoke as they fired volleys of SRMs into it – Harassers (again). The small, fast targets were difficult and they had not yet seen us so we held our fire and they quickly disappeared out of sight. A mixed lance appeared next, Scarborough’s finest in the form of a Saladin escorted by a trio of Saracens: these ones did see us and turned to attack, flights of LRMs erupting from the Saracens at us. Having just got “pumped” from the start of the exercise, we quickly replied while also dodging the incoming fire; our time as a unit was not wasted as Hermione and Poppy concentrated fire on the Saladin, looking to take it out before it could enter range, while Peter and I spread fire across the remaining three targets.

The Saladin died, it took most of the firepower of the two combined to do it but they achieved a Catastrophic Kill, pieces of the unlucky assault hovertank spreading far and wide as ammunition and fuel blew in response to autocannon, Gauss rifle and LRM fire. One of the Saracens lost its turret, another had the aircushion blown out from under it while the third survived the savage fire we brought to bear with only armour loss. The last of the hovertanks returned fire but was too busy dodging to hit any of us, before a second volley could put it down it scarpered out of sight among the cargo containers.

Harassers – probably the ones from before – then appeared closer than was comfortable from a side alley that had been built up from cargo crates. They launched their missile loads at us and kept moving, the missiles blooming before they hit and spreading burning napalm across our ‘Mechs. We had already opened fire before knowing what subtype of missiles had been used against us and the heat-load was brutal but our counter-fire at that sort of close range was equally brutal and we carried armour that weighed nearly as much as their machines. Our machines roasted and our cooling systems struggled so we stayed still; the Harassers all died under our fire, the paper-thin armour presenting little barrier to the fire power we brought to bear.

Other units were starting to appear or power up to fight the raiders – both those on stand-down from combat ops and the patrols and garrison of the Com-Z. It quickly became apparent that there had not been all that many raiders, fast hovertanks and a handful of sappers to break the fences and help plant demolition charges and we had destroyed quite a few of them. Dave’s Skirmisher Lance had taken out several when they dashed back from their patrol but Jon’s Heavy Cavalry didn’t make it back until after all of the excitement was over. Our Tech teams were unimpressed by the cosmetic damage to our ‘Mechs and other injuries they had suffered from the inferno-gel but we had managed to limit the damage to the supplies to only a fraction of them and nothing vital was lost.

The consequences of the attack on the Com-Z had a larger impact on our strategy and operations than it did our supply stocks, although the locals of Huss did well enough out of the need to replenish these. The strategic change was that instead of an incremental, progressive and stable advance – taking and holding territory and consolidating gains in a careful pattern for mutual support, local and wider advantage and with the aim of strangling Noru’s support and forces. Instead, we were going to strike!

[DoctorMonkey]

2 kilometres outside Kalskag, Acamar, 21^st of March 3061

Aerospace forces proved the undoing of the Noru forces in the Trans-Mahn region, both rapid strikes by our aerospace and conventional fighter units who stepped up their tempo of operations by a large margin and by the use of DropShips to overwhelm, bypass and otherwise thwart the land-bound Noru-ites. The step up in operations was not limited to the conventional advance and we were part of that strategy – while a task force aimed to take and hold the city of Flat, we were tasked with creating a distraction they could not afford to ignore to divide their attention and reserves. We had been landed by DropShip a few kilometres from Kalskag and Noru’s headquarters and were to mount a demonstration and strike to draw them off, hopefully DropShips would pick us up or we would be able to walk back to friendly lines if things seemed too hot for a pick up to be organised.

It has taken us a few minutes to settle our stomachs after combat dropping from terrain-hugging Leopard-class DropShips, the ride had been an experience most of us did not want to repeat. Some infantry scouts headed out on motorbikes, their aim to infiltrate and create some more chaos while our ‘Mechs drew attention. Having let the scouts disappear into cover, we moved quickly to the highway from our clearing in the woods and made good speed to Kalskag.

I was not surprised when we were detected by the time we were 2 kilometres from the city limits, a dozen fusion reactors and multi-tonne lumps of ferrous metal show up on most sensors. Our intelligence had struggled to pin down exactly which units Noru had in Kalskag and which had just been moved forward to the Trans-Mahn or area around Flat – we quickly saw a Quick Reaction Force of ‘Mechs sporting Kasparov’s Knights colours coming out to meet us. I was impressed by the Knights, they came at us directly despite being a medium lance against my company – a Shadow Hawk leading two Wolverines and a Vindicator.

My lance closed to engage the Knights while the other two lances flanked right and picked up the pace, the intention being to get into the city and smash their supply dumps and HQ as soon as possible. The battle started at long range, the advantage immediately ours as their fire was poorly aimed from the run while we moved more deliberately and our shots hurt them far more than the paint-scratches they caused. The Shadow Hawk was clearly one of the Davion variants that sacrificed armour for firepower, it was just a pity that it mostly sacrificed it for short range firepower as my Gauss Rifle rounds found what I assume was ammunition with little armour protecting it and no CASE to stop it’s detonation from ripping apart the machine although the pilot managed to successfully punch out. Hermione was on my right wing and fired both autocannon and large lasers into one of the Wolverines as it dashed forward ahead of the rest, heavy armour held against the fire but the loss of more than two tonnes of armour while moving at such speed on highway tarmac meant it lost its footing and fell. Poppy engaged the other Wolverine but it jumped unexpectedly and so she barely managed to land a few missiles against its hide and her Gauss Rifle missed entirely, the Wolverine seemed to lack anything with the range to fire back at even a moderate range. The final exchange of fire was between Peter’s Marauder with three PPCs and the Vindicator’s sole PPC and handful of LRMs; Peter managed to dodge the LRMs entirely and the PPC only burned the paint off the left shoulder of his ‘Mech while all three PPCs struck solidly, two in the torso but one took off the head entirely.

The fight barely lasted a second exchange of fire, the jumping Wolverine had played that card and a MechWarrior as good as Poppy was not going to be tricked again. This time as the Wolverine jumped in close, about two thirds of the way through its leap she smashed it with Gauss Rifle, lasers and SRMs – landing in complete disarray was a generous description of the subsequent crash. I saved my Gauss Rifles but riddled the downed Wolverine with my laser battery while Peter and Hermione tore the other Wolverine apart as it still lay on its back. The QRF had failed in slowing us down, two thirds of my company had not even been engaged and my own force had barely broken step to dispose of them, and they had bought the rest of the garrison no respite or preparation time.

The next encounter with Noru forces was a company of tanks, dug in beside the highway in a prepared position; these carried the Legion of Truth’s badge and one even sported a cavalry guidon from an extended radio antenna! Jon’s Heavy Cavalry lance led the attack this time, my lance held back but offered long range fire support, splitting either side of the highway to threaten their flanks while Dave led Skirmisher lance even further around them to carry on towards Kalskag. Jon opened the exchange with ER PPC and Gauss Rifle, the Zhukov with the guidon rocked as they smashed into the turret’s armour but it held until a very long range volley of LRMs from Poppy exploited the holes and also managed to land a few on the thin engine grating-covers – the guns drooped and ominous smoke started to erupt from the machine. It was a long shot for Emily’s standard large lasers but the Behemoth presented a big enough target, despite being dug in, that both hit – one on the front glacis of the body and the other the turret. Sasha and Dave used extended range large lasers and a PPC to wreck a Myrmidon that ideally would have been manoeuvring rather than dug in.

The Legion of Truth forces lived down to the relatively poor quality we had seen from them back in the Osz Forest, little of their fire was accurate and none of our ‘Mechs took more than armour damage with a few circuits tripped but nothing our secondary and tertiary systems could not easily take over. The rest of my lance added our fire to the Heavy Cavalry’s, my pair of Gauss Rifle rounds took a Po out with heavy damage to the turret. Hermione blasted a pair of Scorpion light tanks with paired scattergun autocannon and extended range large laser from each arm managing to gouge or exploit enough that one brewed up and the other looked in no fit state to continue – and the crew agreed, bailing out and breaking for cover. Finally Peter laid into a Rommel with all three PPCs, the threat of the super-heavy but short ranged gun marking it for a lot of attention: two PPCs smashed into the turret which shed armour like water but it was the third that managed a lucky strike in the gap just at the turret ring weak-point and blew through that taking out the tank.

Jon’s force closed in on the remaining tanks, the best of them had been dealt with and all that remained was just over a lance of Vedettes. A short flurry of mostly laser fire, supported by a few PPC blasts, and it was all over. Another line of defence by the Noru forces defending Kalskag had been noisily despatched and hopefully reserves were being pulled away from Flat and the Trans-Mahn to deal with us. We were now near the edge of more built up areas, mostly warehouses and other industrial units rather than residential and it would hopefully not be long before we could return the rear area damage they had done to the Com-Z.

Skirmisher Lance now led the way, threading their way through side streets in pairs either side of the highway as it made its way towards the depots our scouts had identified – fortunately the same good lines of communication that made the depots useful for the Noru forces meant we had easy access to them as well. Dave led Mary in an attack on the next wave of defenders, this time a unit of hovertanks from the 1^st Provisional Acamar Cavalry. The Acamar Cavalry were a mixed bunch, some long standing local militia dedicated to the security of the planet while others were opportunistic off world chancers, loyal only to the loot they could steal and the C-bills from Noru; we were lucky enough to find ourselves against the latter. The hovertanks were a mixed bag – two ancient LTV-4s that might have dated back to the Terran Hegemony, a Condor that looked like the Davion variant with a pair of medium autocannon and a Drillson.

The hovertanks made quick progress down empty streets but against their speed Dave and Mary used jump jets and manoeuvrability, jumping into close range with a fusillade of lasers and making difficult targets for turret mounted long guns, PPCs and even missiles. Now the speed counted against the hovertanks as they were committed to a relatively slow turning circle while training their turrets on the ‘Mechs and so their second volley was also ineffectual but they were easy targets for the ‘Mechs now relatively stable for optimal accuracy: the Condor and one of the LTV-4s crashed out from the damage dealt while the other two roared out of the line of fire carrying less armour than they had moments before.

Carlos and Louise, the last two members of the company, were now very much the leading edge of the force. As they approached the depot the few infantry guards ran for cover and left the warehouses and piles of supplies completely unguarded and they quickly laid about them with rapid laser fire and jump jet assisted squashing and burning of kit. Soon joined by Dave and Mary, the damage increased rapidly with a large smoke cloud demonstrating the failure of Noru to protect even his own capital. The smoke also seemed to summon more of the Kalskag garrison – at least a dozen red markers were starting to appear on our sensor screens and the number kept climbing.

The Heavy Cavalry lance made it to the depot and added an even heavier weight of fire to the destruction while my own Jump Assault lance formed a perimeter. A large part of our mission was pretty much complete: we had stirred up trouble and done real damage to the Noru logistics as well as providing ample cover for a wave of scouts to infiltrate Kalskag. Now we just needed to get away. The plan had included this phase, either we would break contact and call in a pick up by DropShip or we would have to walk to friendly lines, possibly getting support along the way depending on how things were going.

[DoctorMonkey]

Leaving The Industrial Warehouse Zone, Kalskag, Acamar, 21^st of March 3061

We got out the way we had come: out of the city and quickly across the open ground before the forest started. The highway was still in reasonable shape and while much of the defenders attention was diverted from chasing us too hard, they threw their efforts into fighting the fires and trying to save some of the contents of the depot we had worked so hard to destroy. A pair of VTOLs had lifted off from the local base and, while one circled the fire, the other came after us a short way before being shot down.

My slower moving lance was led by the Heavy Cavalry Lance while Skirmisher Lance kept an eye on the back door. While we had used the same exit route from the city for the practical reason that it was the fastest, we were not risking three Leopard DropShips in the same manner; we had several LZs planned, ranging from fairly close in where we would hope to get in and out before much interference could happen to far away where the DropShips would have a safer run flying nap-of-the-earth.

Our luck was in, a flight of friendly Aerospace Fighters managed to catch the small Kalskag air defence fighter contingent on the ground and while their actual losses were light, the disruption caused was sufficient window for our DropShips to plunge in from orbit at the closest LZ and then boost for friendly skies. The bomber flight had turned back to chase off the three light ASFs that lifted from Kalskag but neither side was in the mood for a serious fight and after a few glancing hits both withdrew.

We kept our elation bottled up as we raced back for friendly territory, aware that flying so fast and low even with the bulk of a DropShip meant we were only a Golden BB away from disaster but the low level chatter started as steam was blown off and the joking and gripping started.

[DoctorMonkey]

Sorry about the long interval, the last-but-one chunk was written in January and I have just thrown together the last bit but am not entirely happy with it.


I am not sure where to go next with the story as the scenarios then go down quite an odd track so please bear with me


Also, any feedback about the story and story-telling appreciated