Mitchell's Phantom Raiders

[2ndAcr]

 I started this unit under MekHQ many versions ago, I am now restarting a new campaign under the newest version. A little back history, so folks can get a feel for how the unit began and got where it is. I will do a rough outtake of what occured until my new start date, since I do not remember it all.

 Unit began:
1 Mech Company                                1 Invader Jumpship
1 Armor Company                               1 Overlord (Combined Arms)
2 Infantry Companies                          1 Seeker Dropship
1 Aerospace Squadron

 Fleeing the Clan Invasion, the unit arrived at Stars End and fought several pitched battles with a large pirate band that wanted to take over the unit. The Pirate's lost. Instead my unit absorbed the "better" survivors of the pirate band. Adding 2 Mech Lances, 2 Companies Infantry, 1 Aero Lance, Merchant Jumpship, 2 Union (Combined Arms).

Late 3050- The unit ventured forth and for the first time raided a Clan held world. The fight did not go well at all. Landing far from a major city, the units hover tank company began pushing towards the first major town. There they found a Clan Wolf star of 2nd line Mechs along with a Star of Elementals based just outside the town. The battle or massacre as I call it, cost the unit 6 Mechs destroyed, 7 Hover tanks, 5 Mechs seriously damaged and 2 infantry companies chewed to pieces. In return the unit captured a Guillotine IIC (heavily damaged), Highlander IIC (head shot) 1 Clan Wolf Mechwarrior prisoner, 11 Clan Wolf Elementals (wounded), several Clan techs, along with some weapons, ammo and armor. The unit fled after that small fight.

 Since the unit fought bravely, the captured Clan warrior was open to talking. She slowly advised Major Mitchell on some Clan ways, bidding, trials etc. The Clan techs assisted the unit on repairing the 2 captured Mechs along with their own. Arriving back at Stars End, another pirate band tried their luck at taking over the unit. This time, the unit has 2 Clan Mechs and the pirate band was defeated. Once again the unit absorbed the "best" of the defeated unit. The unit was once again 2 Mech Companies strong.

Early 3051 the unit hit a Clan Ghost Bear planet. Advised to use some Clan ways by the Wolf warrior, the unit challenged for the spoils of the entire enemy base if they won. A full Trinary defended the base. The Wolf warrior, now mainly trusted, was allowed to take the field in her old Mech the Guillotine IIC. She challenged the Bear Commander (Kodiak). 3 rounds later the Kodiak fell to a head shot. At that time both Companies charged the enemy. Many rounds later 3 friendly Mechs still stood, battered but proud. Captured in this battle were a Clan Lion Dropship, 75 Elemental suits, 3 Ryoken, Kodiak, Thor, 10 Bandit Hover Tanks, hundreds of tons of weapons, armor, supplies. 10 Techs were taken, along with 5 Bear Warriors. All the remaining catptured equipment was salvage only.

 Returning to Stars End, this time no one attempted to try the unit in battle. But the unit had small groups of assorted "units" wanting to join. Several months passed and now the unit was a full Mech Battalion strong, full Infantry Battalion (with 2 Elemental Points) and 2 Companies of Hover tanks, and a platoon of Manticore (modified by the mechanics assisted by Clan techs, each had a Clan ERPPC and 2 Streak 4 installed in the turret and 2 tons Streak Ammo in the body). But is was time to move on, the unit prepared to make the long journey back to the Inner Sphere proper. Orbital assets now included, 2 Invader Jumpships, Merchant Jumpship, 2 Union, 2 Overlord (1 combined arms), Seeker, Trojan.

3052 arrives and the unit raided Lackhove held by Clan Jade Falcon, now more seasoned against the Clans, the unit found the planet held by a 2nd Line Falcon Trinary. The unit grounded under Safecon not far from the Falcon base. The Falcons would defend with the entire Trinary versus 2 of the units Mech Companies. If the Falcons lost, only defeated equipment would be taken along with food and water. The battle was fought and this time the unit savaged the Falcon Trinary. Taken and repaired were 2 Conjurer, 3 Vixen and a brand new Turkina B. The other taken Mechs were salvage quality only and stripped.

3053 found the unit arriving in FedCom space above Newton Square. Speaking to Fedcom officials, the unit surrendered the Lion Dropship, 200 tons of weapons to secure safe passage to Outreach, arriving there May 11, 3054. Mitchell's Phantom Raiders were born.

[Demon55]

Interesting 2ndAcr.  I am looking forward to more.

[2ndAcr]

 I decided to back it up some. I am going to refight the Clan invasion with the new MekHQ  version. About to fight the first pirate band. I am a little bigger this time around. 2 Mech Companies w/Command Lance, 2 Armor Companies, 3 Infantry Companies, Aero Squadron. Overlord Combined Arms, Seeker Dropship, Invader Jumpship.

[2ndAcr]

 April 21, 3050

 Almost 6 months have passed since fleeing the Oberon Confederation as the invaders slaughtered all who opposed them. Months of jumping into uninhabited systems. Risky but safer than getting caught by the invaders. But now, the small but powerful force had finally arrived at a known pirate haven, IronLand. This pirate band was known to the forces of the Oberon Confederation, they had been raiding for several years. Known to be at least Battalion strong in Mechs.

 Upon landing, aerial recon spotted the pirate force on the move towards the small unit. The fight was brutal, finally closing to melee range. Luckily the units heavy tank company was too much for the pirates. 31 pirate Mechs fell, but only 6 of the units Mechs still stood. The units infantry and hover tank company took the pirate base with moderate losses and secured the pirates Overlord Dropship and Trojan Dropship. The unit was unable to secure the pirate Jumpship which left the system as soon as they charged the jump drives. Salvage and repair operations brought the unit back up to 27 Mechs but nearly exhausted every spare part and armor inventory. 10 Mechs were mothballed and stored aboard the Trojan until repairs could be made to them. Luckily the unit only lost 2 Mechwarriors killed.

[2ndAcr]

 November 26, 3050

 Leaving the captured Dropships, Manticore company, and 2 Infantry companies at the captured pirate base, the small unit arrived at Gustrell to arrange pick up of the captured pirate band. The system was void of space traffic. Grounding just outside the planets primary city, unknown mechs were spotted approaching rapidly. Quickly unloading, the unit braced for a possible fight. It was a fight they would not forget. The enemy force opened fire at unheard of ranges and scored telling hits. The hover company went full speed and the units Pegasus missile tanks felled 3 of the 10 enemy Mechs but payed a hefty price as 6 of their number were destroyed by the enemy. This gave the units Mechs a chance to close the distance and again a huge furball occurred. The enemy never would melee, which surprised the unit members, but they had no hesitation. Finally, the short but brutal fight was over, all 10 enemy Mechs were down, but 17 of the units 25 Mechs fell. Distressingly 7 of the units Mech warriors were killed. 3 enemy prisoners taken were strangely compliant with orders given. 2 battle worthy (the only 2) Mechs, 4 Pegasus tanks and the infantry company secured the enemy base later that day. 12 techs and huge quantity of supplies were captured. Again the captured were very compliant. Over 3 days, all the strange enemy Mechs were loaded, along with the units salvageable equipment, over 100 tons of weapons, 50 tons ammo, 100 tons standard armor, 100 tons of an unknown armor. The unit returned to IronLand.

 Arriving, they made repairs to their equipment. Attempts to repair an enemy Mech failed miserably. The equipment was unlike anything the units techs had seen before. Surprisingly, the captured techs did not hesitate to answer questions and even offered to help with repairs. Only 2 enemy Mechs were able to be made combat ready, a Stormcrow (Prime) and a Guillotine IIC. The rest were stripped for parts by the captured techs. Discussions between the units master tech and the "captured" lead tech led to quite a few of the units mechs having captured weapons mounted in place of destroyed weapons. The following is a list of modified mechs:
3 Thunderbolt TDR-5SE each had a Large Pulse and Clan LRM 15 added
3 Panther PNT-9R each had a Large Pulse and Streak SRM-4 added
2 Catapult CPLT-C1 each had Clan LRM added, 2 additional tons of ammo and armor vastly improved
3 Trebuchet TBT-5S each had 2 Streak 6, 2 tons ammo and 3 Medium Pulse added

[2ndAcr]

 January 1, 3051
 With supplies running low, the units Mechs, heavy armor company left for Stars End, upon arriving, the dropships detached and headed for the only habitable planet while the unit's Jumpship recharged and prepared to return to pick up the rest of the unit.

 Making planet fall, a large pirate force descended upon the unit. This time the advanced weapons made a huge difference and the enemy Mech battalion was shredded. Only 3 of the units Mechs fell. Over a month passed before the entire unit was once again together. During this time, a small company sized band approached and offered to link up with the unit, best of all this unit had a very old Tramp Jumpship and a Union Dropship. Overall the unit now had the following:

2 Clan Mechs (Stormcrow and Guillotine IIC)
11 modified Mechs
39 Mechs
12 Manticore Tanks
6 Pegasus Missile tanks
Infantry Battalion
Invader Jumpship
Tramp Jumpship
2 Overlord Dropships (1 Combined Arms, 1 standard)
1 Seeker Dropship (carries Mech Lance)
1 Trojan Dropship
1 Union Dropship
6 Corsair Aero Fighters

Mech Battalion
Command Lance
4 Companies

[2ndAcr]

 October 6, 3051

 The unit raided Clan Wolf world Crellacor. Using Clan ways, learned by extensive talks with the captured Wolf warriors, the unit bargained all captured machines as Isolora along with the Clan base versus their surrender. Facing the units 3 Mech Companies bid would be a Supernova Trinary. Facing Elementals for the first time was a very rude shock for the over confident mech warriors. Within minutes 5 Mechs had fallen the the armored infantry. Using massed focus fire, the unit managed to finally defeat the Clan force. Only 11 Mechs still stood on the units side. Taken as Isolora:
1 Gladiator
2 Thor
1 Nightstar
1 Highlander IIC
1 Mad Dog
1 Vulture
2 Thunderbolt (Royal)
1 Victor C
60 Elemental suits
250 tons weapons
120 double heat sinks
150 tons ammo
300 tons armor
2 Coolant Trucks
11 Wolf Mechwarriors
28
 Wolf Elementals
6 Battle Armor Techs
18 Mech Techs
2 Mechanics

 The Unit fled the planet as soon as the Dropships were loaded. Returning to IronLand. Re-occupying the old base there. Once settled in, repairs were begun on the units equipment. Once again even more of the unit's mechs were upgraded with Clan weapons and equipment. Some only had a few, some had full bore upgrades done to them. Here the Clan Techs were god sends. The unit favored the Clan Pulse lasers over all others. The accuaracy, damage and range was just too good to pass up on. Many PPC armed Mechs had the PPC replaced with a Clan Large Pulse Laser for a vast improvement. The most time consuming upgrades were installing Clan Double heat sinks in place of the regular heat sinks on select Mechs. Upgrades made:
1 Battlemaster BLR-1D  1 ERPPC, 5 Med Pulse Laser, 20 Double Heat Sinks
1 Quickdraw QKD-5A   4 Med Pulse Laser, Streak SRM4
1 Nightstar NSR-9J    2 Clan Gauss, ERPPC, 4 Med Pulse, ER Small Laser, 18 Clan Double Heat Sink
1 Warhammer WHM-6D   2 ERPPC, 20 Clan Double Heat Sinks
3 Guillotine GLT-4L      Clan ER Large, 4 Med Pulse, Clan SRM 6, 18 Clan Double
2 Shadow Hawk SHD-2K    ERPPC, Clan LRM 20, 2 tons ammo, 13 Clan Double
4 Griffon GRF-1S         Clan Large Pulse

 Once upgrades were made, the unit made the choice to return to the Inner Sphere proper.

[2ndAcr]

 November 5, 3051

 The unit departed IronLand into the periphery to try and make their way back to the Inner Sphere proper. Sticking to the risky but slower uninhabited systems. Not knowing when or where a Clan naval force might show up was nerve racking and kept the unit on edge.

 December 21, 3051

 The unit arrived at Gotterdamerung, knowing it was held by Clan Jade Falcon from the Wolf warriors, one last raid was enacted. Broadcasting a challenge per Clan ways, the unit was met with scorn and curses by the Falcon Commander and classified the unit as pirates, which in a way they were. Deciding to take only the Mechs to the ground, Major Mitchell kept the rest of the unit in orbit. Finding out the unit was attacking Falcons, several Wolf warriors asked to take the field against them. 52 unit Mechs took the field upon landing. Facing them was a heavy Mech Trinary (of both Omni and 2nd Line) along with a Binary Nova. Battle was joined and hard fought. But the unit's numbers plus the upgrades made all the difference. At the end, the Falcons were defeated and the unit only lost 11 Mechs in the fight, but had 4 Mech warriors killed in the fight. The defeated Falcons were a surly dejected group.

 Major Mitchell sent word to ground the rest of the unit's forces and dispatched a Company of Mechs to take control of the Falcon Base. Upon securing the base, the unit's techs and infantry stripped the base of anything not nailed down, plus recovered every downed Falcon Mech. Taken were the following:
1 Spartan SPT-N2
2 Loki
1 Thug 11E
1 Warhammer IIC
1 Ostroc OSR-2Cb
1 Vixen
1 Crab CRB-20
1 Viper
1 Black Hawk
1 Mongoose MON-67
3 StormCrow
1 Puma
1 Uller
1 DragonFly
1 Talon TLN-5W
225 tons weapons
200 tons armor
150 Double Heat Sinks
100 tons ammo
7 Mechs as salvage

The unit departed on 26 December 3051 and arrived at Outreach on March 1, 3053 where the unit voted and took the name Mitchell's Phantom Raiders. There the unit registered with the MRBC, but left themselves unavailable for hire as they aquired new equipment, half the units techs went to school with the Wolf's Dragoons to learn more about Clan Tech. For funds the unit sold the Union Dropship, lots of Clan salvage. This allowed the unit to purchase new Mechs, the unit's techs also stripped Clan weapons off older models and put the old weapons on and sold those Mechs that had newer versions for purchase. Also a large purchase was made in the Inner Sphere Standard BA, 120 suits.

[Dave Talley]

2 years to make it to Outreach? 

obvious plot killer, they sell all the stuff and retire to a private island resort

[2ndAcr]

 They did not reach Fed Com space until February 3052. They crossed over at Hood IV. Roughly 40 jumps from Gotterdamerung. Plus they got held up by Customs Inspections. So basically a year to reach Outreach.


 Remember, I decided to re-fight the Clan invasion after I posted the first backstory. First one had them reaching Outreach in 3054

[Dave Talley]

ahh
I was thinking immediately after the last action which is only 4? jumps to
lyran space?

[2ndAcr]

 Took the Periphery long way around. Did not want to cross thru Falcon front line country, might trip over a warship and get blasted. My dice rolls for random events make me nervous sometimes.

[Elmoth]

You do not need to go to outreach in any case. You can hire a representative there to get you contracts and move the unit from contract to contract. Faster. :)

[2ndAcr]

 They have things and skills my unit needs. Since my unit was not a true Merc command until arriving at Outreach, they would not have a representative. Now that we have properly registered as a Merc command and once we are fully re-organized, restocked and further modifications made, we shall move out and begin raising some cain.

[2ndAcr]

 Feb 14, 3053
 Outreach

 Major Mitchell (now a Colonel as the unit was Regimental strength) studied his units new TOE breakdown. Recruitment had gone well. Enough personnel had been recruited to fill field another Mech company, another armor company and suitable candidates had been found (although extremely green) to field an oversized Battle Armor Company. He had lost some personnel to retirement and several Wolf Mechwarriors and Elementals had opted to join the Dragoons.

 All technicians (that had been with the unit 2 years plus) had completed the Dragoon training program. So 80% of his tech force could maintain Clan equipment. 90% of the units upgrades were completed. The unit had traded several Clan Omni-Mechs to the Dragoons in exchange for help with upgrade. A battered Union Dropship was purchased and with Dragoon help converted to carry 10 Mechs, 20 squads of BA, 5 light tanks and 235 tons cargo. The decision to sell the first Union had been due to it's age, it was worn out.

 The Wolf Elementals that had chosen to stay with the unit were formed into 4 points each assigned to a training Platoon in the new Battle Armor Training Company. They would help train the units green BA personnel in BA operations. These squads were formed in standard units of 4 to a squad but once they deploy for combat operations, when ready, they would form 5 squad platoons, 4 platoons to the Company. While training, they would also assist in security operations.

 The units Manticores (full company of 12) had been fully upgraded with a Clan ERPPC and 2 Streak SRM4 in the turret with 2 tons Streak ammo stored in the body. The units Hover Tank Company consisted of 4 Condor (Lio), 4 Pegasus (Missile) and 4 Drillison (upgraded to carry a Clan LP). A Company of new Goblin tanks had been upgraded to carry Clan LP and had boosted armor (these would support and carry the units Infantry Battalion). This formed the units Armor Battalion.

 The units Tramp Jumpship was sold and a decent Invader Jumpship bought instead. This gave the unit a cash surplus that helped pay for everything done. The units Trojan was sold and a Mule was puchased. A huge portion of cash went to purchase a Command Overlord. Aerospace was the units weak point. They had the ability to transport a full wing of 18 but still only had 6. This would have to wait for the next unit downtime as cash was getting low and the unit needed work.

[2ndAcr]

 Feb 23, 3053
 Outreach

 Colonel Mitchell sat in his office and studied the available contracts. Several were very tempting.

 The best was working for the Combine, they wanted a Relief Mission but were offering 100% Transport and a wonderful 60% of the salvage. Only problem he saw was it would mean going against Clan Wolf again. Fighting the Clans was just plain brutal and costly. They offered no Damage compensation. But that salvage right was very tempting.

 Another was a Garrison contract by the FedComs. On the Clan front but offered only 20% Exchange for salvage but 100% Damage Compensation.

 The last was from the Cappies, another Garrison offer on the FedCom border. Low risk, decent pay.

[2ndAcr]

 March 2, 3053

 Colonel Mitchell finally found the perfect contract for his unit. Working for the FedCom, Garrison duty on Chahar for 1.5 years. Just close enough to the Clan front that they might see the occasional raid but not exactly on the front lines. 40% salvage meant that of they do get hit, they might grab some goodies.

 He wanted time to get his BA troopers trained up and also time for his troopers to get some decent rest. It had been a had few years of almost constant combat.

 A knock at the door caused him to look up, in the doorway was Jared Merrill, the one of the first Clan warriors captured by the unit. Colonel Mitchell valued the friendship that had grown between them.
"Come on in Jared, you never have to knock" Colonel Mitchell said as he leaned back in his chair "So what are you doing in the office complex? I figured you would be challenging Dragoons to trials." He allowed his mind to wander over these still strange friends of his.

 Jared Merrill, age 33, once of Clan Snow Raven, taken by the Wolves, then captured by the Raiders. After his capture by the Raiders, he had shown open contempt at being captured by these "pirates". But slowly he realized that the dirty tricks the unit used in his capture was just a outgunned small unit using whatever means they could to survive and win. All the captured Clan personnel were treated by this man he now called a friend decently. He protected them when some, at first, were wanting blood. Slowly he began to counsel his friend on Clan ways, how to win, but to do it in an honorable fashion that would lessen the blow to any future captured. He drove a Stormcrow and was pure death in it.

 Maria Winson, age 25, was another Wolf warrior captured in that first raid. A stunningly beautiful woman, he had made sure the word went out that any, and he meant any harm to her would be met with brutal force upon her capture. Jared called her a Ristar, which he finally found out meant a rising star in Clan Wolf. As a Mechwarrior she had few equals, she was plain deadly. After the long years, she was finally letting go of the harshest Clan ways and finally seeing that being Freeborn, as Clanners called us, was not an evil thing. Rumor had it that she has been seeing someone regularly, one of the units tank gunners.

 Those 2 were instumental in helping the vast number of Clan captured cope and also in recruitment of the captured that followed.

 "Word got back to me that I needed to cool it with the challenges, seems the Dragoons do not like getting beaten." Jared said with a sneer on his face. This snapped Colonel Mitchell back out of his thoughts.
 "So how many did you win?"
 "I have challenged and fought 7 duels with the Dragoons, they have not defeated me yet."
 "Yeah, you might want to lay low for a bit, they might trial for our entire unit if you keep it up and we have too many "pups" as you call them."
 "Yes, we have many pups, but mainly in our Battle Armor units, our Mechwarriors are a different matter, even you Freeborn are dangerous foes in their Mechs."
 "Careful with that Freeborn stuff Jared, you know that still pisses people off. Alone with me, you can use the term as I know how it is meant, but outside that, please be careful."
 "Aff, I mean yes sir. It just freely flows from my mouth and I do not even realize it."
 "It will take time, so what brings you around today? Guilt catch up to you and you decide to help me with some paperwork?"
 "Never that sir, I came over with an idea to run by you."
 "I am always open to ideas, what do you have in mind?"
 "I have been thinking, once the BA pups are done with their training, and it will be some hard training, Captain Marshall, from what I gather, is a stern but capable leader. I would like to suggest we regroup the best of the former Clan Mechwarriors and all the Elementals into one unit. We have trained and fought our entire lives together, we instinctively know what the other is thinking in combat. Today, we have 14 former Clan Mechwarriors and 21 Elementals. We have 14 Clan Omni Mechs, if we count your Executioner, but I will leave that to you, so 13 Omni Mechs. We could field a full strength Binary easy."
 
 Colonel Mitchell grimaced inwardly and Jared caught the brief look.
 "Something wrong Colonel?"
 "I have some doubts, I do not want to cause a division in the unit. You know, a Clan unit and a Inner Sphere scum unit" He quickly held up his hand "that is how any newly captured Clan personnel would see it, there could be some anger at being assigned to a non Clan unit."
 "Okay, yes I see how that could effect things. How about we select the best of all for the new unit? That way the unit is mixed, but we form it Clan fashion, Stars, Binary, Trinary. I suggest this so it helps the Elementals immensly as they train as points of 5. We can easily get our best non Clan warriors up to speed on being in a Star of 5 instead of a Lance of 4. Plus get them train on carrying BA on their Mechs and the changes the Mechs go thru as the BA mounts and dismounts."
 "Now this idea I could support. I am about to accept a Garrison contract, so I am leery of making unit changes right now. We have time to work out the details and maybe test the idea while on contract. Plus I am going to let Capt Marshal work the new BA troopers hard during this contract."

[Elmoth]

Nice. So you are going after clan organization

[2ndAcr]

 Only for a small slice of my unit. My primary units are still 3x3...……we will see after this contract how big I can get. I can get really big if not careful because MekHQ likes to throw full Trinary at my lances which then get clobbered when I send over a company to reinforce them. And it does this non stop. I can easily devastate a Cluster over time. So I use a lot of "random event" dice rolls and such.

 I am fond of large fights where my units can compliment each other and find fighting a full on Cluster versus my Regiment a harder fight since Princess does not do Zell in any way and focus fires. Same as me.

 Example: I roll 1 die 6...…….1-3 no big battle, 4-6 big battle
               1 die 6...……...1-3 no loot, 4-6 loot
               2 die 6...……...1-3 mech, 4-6 vehicles, 7-9 overrun base, 10-12 dropship capture
               1 die 6...……… equals amount of each: up to 6 mechs, 6 vehicles, only 1 dropship

 I also have charts written up for equipment, ERPPC ERLL etc then roll for amount, same for ammo, armor etc but these are used on base overrun. I still have to win the battle to get the goods. If I get lucky and score a die roll for chance to capture a Jumpship, it is a simple 1 die 6 yes or no capture. I use same methods for company sized units that wish to join up permanent etc. Roll for chance, then roll for a yes/no answer.

[2ndAcr]

 July 22, 3053
 Chahar

 Colonel Mitchell descended the ramp of one of the 2 Ares Shuttles the unit had. The rest of his unit was still inbound to their new home for the next year and a half. Seeing several AFFC officers nearby, he headed that way. Reaching them, he saluted.

 "Colonel Mitchell and the Phantom Raiders reporting in" He said.

 "Colonel Mitchell, it is good to have your unit here. Your taking over garrison duties will allow us to shift the Regiment to the front lines. We have not had any incursions in a long while so this should be a nice quiet duty station for your people." The older officer stated. "I have a ground car waiting if you would be so kind we will head for headquarters."

 15 minutes later, they had all entered an office in the base headquarters and everyone was seated comfortably. A different officer entered and began the briefing.

 "I am Leftenant Colonel Patterson, I am the base commanding officer in charge of this base, though I am in charge of the base, your unit will be the only combat unit assigned here so we will be working closely with each other. I will also act as your Liaison Officer with the AFFC. You are on an independent command contract, so will just represent the AFFC in day to day dealings, you control combat operations. We have housing and support facilities for your full unit with room to spare. This base was built to house a full Mech Regiment, armor regiment and 2 infantry regiments. So we will have plenty of room. The airbase can house over 2 wings of Aerospace fighters. We have several live fire ranges and maneuver areas available for your use. The planet currently has a militia of 2 Mech companies, 2 infantry battalions. They are not active troops and only meet once month unless on alert. These units are not available to you for any combat operations and answer to Planetary Government.

 Since we are close to the border, we have a fully stocked ammo depot, that in time of emergency your unit can draw upon if need be, but you will be charged for every single bullet at market rate."

 Several hours of briefings, looking at maps of the different areas, Colonel Mitchell was still waiting on the shoe to drop, but it never did. Finally with the briefings over, he left to return to the space port and see to his now arriving ships and their unloading.

[2ndAcr]

 October 9, 3053
 Chahar

 Colonel Mitchell entered the briefing room for the weekly commanders meeting with his officers. No one rose as he entered, as he did not stand on formality. Taking his seat, he laid the folders he carried on the table and took a sip of his coffee.

 "All right, let's get on with it folks." He finally said. "Capt Marshall, how are as Jared likes to say, our pups doing in their training?"

 "Sir, the pups are doing okay, they are not Clan Elementals for sure, but I can not fault them on that. We have had a few injuries, as you know, but nothing serious. They can move and jump the suits without killing themselves and 90% of time land on their feet. They are better at shooting than anything. End of the month I am planning to start them learning to ride our Omni Mechs." Capt Marshall was short and direct as always.

 "Good to hear, Jared, how goes the new Binary?"

 "Things are moving right along sir, the non Clan warriors are melding just fine. Picking the right people was the hardest thing we had to do. There are several better people but they also have a small issue with us of the Clans. I did not think it wise to put them in the new unit with mostly ex-Clan warriors. Capt Marshall has loaned me a point of Elementals to ride the new folks Omni Mechs so they can get used to it."

 "Great to hear, okay Master Tech Emil, let's hear your issues, I can see the wheels turning and the smoke coming from your ears."

 "Sir, as you know I have been with you from the beginning. We have made great strides to independence maintenence wise, but I still need more people. If our entire unit entered battle all at once we could easily be combat inneffecient for days. I need more spares of everything. Clan supplies are decent but could always be better. We still have spare weapons, even with our extensive modifications we have done, but that also made day to day maintenence a headache. The ex-Clan techs are god sends though.

 That being said, we are currently golden on maintenence, every single piece of equipment is purring like a kitten."

 "Well, that is a surprise to hear from you, with that sour look, I expected some bad news from you." Colonel Mitchell stated clearly shocked.

 "Okay Mike (the units Infantry Battalion commander), let's here it."

 "Sir, am I going to have control of the Battle Armor troops when they are released? I am the Infantry commander after all." He said, and clearly Capt Marshall did not like it.

 "No Mike, we have had this discussion before both in the meetings and in private. Once and for all, Capt Marshall will command the BA troopers. You have no experience at all.............." but before he could finish sirens went off, seconds later his comm unit chirped. "Colonel Mitchell?"

 "Whats going on"

 "Jumpships detected, multiple Dropships inbound.........it's the Steel Vipers, Batchall incoming sir, your needed in the comm center."

 "On my way." Turning to his assembled commanders, as he rose and headed for the door "Get your people ready, full combat loads, Jared your with me, let's see how serious the Vipers are."

[2ndAcr]

 October 10, 3053

 Under the guidance of Jared, Colonel Mitchell answered the Vipers Batchall. The Phantom raiders would face the entire Clan Cluster with 5 Companies of Mechs plus Phantom Command Lance and the new Binary. The loser would become Isolora of everything. The entire Phantom Raider Regiment for the Clan Cluster and her Dropships, an Overlord C, Broadsword, and a Sassanid. It seemed funny that zero Aerospace was bid.

 The Vipers were granted Safecon to land on one of the planets Maneuver areas, the largest one a good distance from civilians.

 The Vipers would field 50 Omni Mechs and 75 Elementals.

 

[Elmoth]

Hell of a battle in the horizon! Are you doing it all together or playing it in sub-games?

[2ndAcr]

 One big massive battle in MegaMek, using a 100x100 map.

[2ndAcr]

 14 October, 3053
 Chahar

 The smoke was still drifting over the battlefield. Almost a full company of Raiders had been destroyed, over 1/2 the surviving mechs would be out of action for possibly weeks. The Raiders had suffered 11 KIA and 19 WIA in the day long battle. The Raiders had won the fight and with it came a huge amount of salvage.

 Colonel Patterson had already been on the radio wanting a list of salvage so he could send it up the chain so the FedCom could claim their share. The captured Vipers belonged to the Raiders, but the Raiders only get to keep 40% of the bounty. He had already put the unit's bean counters to work figuring everything out. The captured Dropships could hugely offset things, but Colonel Mitchell was not sure the unit could maintain Clan Dropships properly.

 As he stood watching recovery efforts, his radio chirped. Lifting the mike and depressing the button "Yes, what is it?"

 "Sir, we have the full accounting of what we have when you are ready."

 "On my way, I assume Colonel Patterson has been drooling over the list already?"

 "He sure has, he has had one FedCom accountant with each survey team and in here sir."

 "I be he did, I will be at Headquarters in 4 hours."

 With that, he turned and waved to his Command Lance to mount up. Once everyone checked in he turned and began limping his wounded Mech back to base.

[2ndAcr]

 October 14, 3053
 Chahar

 After arriving back at base, he left his wounded Mech in it's repair gantry with Master Tech Emil having a major hissy fit at all the damage the unit took and grabbed a ground car for the drive to HQ.

 Arriving, he headed for his office where he tiredly collapsed in his chair and buzzed the bean counters. "Bring me the list so I can decide what we keep and what the FedCom gets please."

 15 Minutes later, he had a think binder on his desk. Opening it, he started to read.
 1 Overlord C with crew
 1 Broadsword with crew
 1 Sassanid with crew
 
 Repairable Omni-Mechs (former Viper)
 Vulture 5
 Loki 4
 Gargoyle 3
 Thor 4
 Daishi 3
 MadCat 5
 Gladiator 2
 Ryoken 4
 Battle Cobra 3

 The list broke down the amount of salvage qualtiy Mechs, supplies, how many Elemental suits could be repaired and returned to service.

 He was too tired to think straight, so he closed the folder. Tomorrow he would have to make his choices but he needed counsel.
 

[Iron Grenadier]

No Crossbow's survived? Those and the Battle Cobra's should be pretty easy to maintain.

[2ndAcr]

 They had 3 Crossbows, every single one, and I mean every single one had a cascade engine failure, one took out like a full star of elementals. Think it was the first mech we killed too.

[2ndAcr]

 Okay, my unit already has a modified Union that carries a Binary Nova (10 Mech, 10 BA), I am thinking about expanding that by buying and modifying an Overlord to carry 30 Mechs, 30 BA, 6 Aerospace.

 I can then have a Cluster that has:
 2 SuperNova Trinary
 1 Binary Nova
 1 Aerospace Squadron

 With my current Omni's plus the new ex-Viper Omni I can fill the 2 SuperNova Trinaries with 5/8 Mechs and the Binary Nova with 6/9 and 8/12 Mechs. 40 Omni Mechs and 200 BA is a potent force. I only have enough Elemental suits for a Trinary and the Binary. One BA Trinary will have to be IS Standard suits. Cargo on the 2 Dropships will be 732 tons on the Overlord and 574 tons on the Union. Oh and I would have to purchase a Jumpship for this unit to be fully self contained.

 Thoughts?

[2ndAcr]

 Decided to go another route.

 October 15, 3053
 Chahar

  Arriving back in his office, Colonel Mitchell found a very irritated looking Master Tech Emil awaiting his arrival. Colonel Mitchell waved Emil in as he walked past. "What has you so irritated this morning Emil?"

 "Well, I spent all night cataloging all the damage to our units, all the repairs needed on the new Viper equipment........" Colonel Mitchell held interrupted Emil.

 "Hold off any repairs on the new equipment Chief. I do not want to repair anything we give to the FedCom's, plus I have my doubts about our long term ability to maintain so much Clan Tech equipment and Mechs."

 "Well yes sir, there is some doubt in my head as well, but we did score a good amount, plus we have 48 Clan trained Mech Techs we just added plus an additional 10 Clan trained BA Techs. It is not so much maintaining the equipment, it is getting our hands on the supplies needed long term."

 "I know Emil, that worries me, I have a meeting in a couple hours with Colonel Patterson. I have an idea that might take the strain off both of us concerning all these Omni Mechs we now have. I see no need in fielding a full Battalion of the things if they are going to cause either of us to have a stress induced heart attack over them. We will be culling a few Mechs out of the bounty, how many and which I don't know yet. So hold off repairs until I call you, no sense wasting time, money and supplies on stuff we might let go."

 "Okay sir, hold off on repairs and full bore salvage operations on the new stuff until further notice, got it. I am curious as to what you have in mind though."

 "Not yet Emil, but I assume you have a list of the easiest and cheapest to repair Mechs handy?"

 "Got it right here sir" Emil said holding up the folder he held.

 "Good, give it to me and give me some time to look it over. I will call you once my meeting is over. Get some sleep, call me when you are rested, I need to put the finishing touches on my plan."