I reckon in many ways the mechwarriors have the mentality of medieval knights, so while I'm sure that Roman takes the burden of command very seriously, the chance of getting medieval has it's appeal to him, even with all the risks for the overall war effort.
Indeed, that is basically how I have portrayed all MechWarriors in my stories. Roman is not a "let them come if they can" kind of commander, he's much more "let's see if they can stop me," or he was as a younger man and it is why he is respected. Unfortunately his pugnaciousness and past scandals did not win him many friends among the Estates General.
----
No Man's Land, part 2Roman’s Demi-CompanyAS7-Roman, CGR-S7, ZEU-6A, ZEU-6T, CP-11-A, GOL-6H
Agoh’s BinaryKodiak, 2 Hellbringers, 2 Arctic Cheetahs, 2 Pack Hunters, 3 Conjurer (1 B, 2 Prime), Star of Elementals
General Roman Steiner stretched out his shoulder within his cockpit before adjusting his neuro-helmet and throttling the reactor powering his AS7-RS2’s to full power. He looked over as the rest of his team assembled around them as the Ghost Bears approached at speed with Forrester’s Kodiak in the lead. His Atlas’ Death’s Head faced toward the shaped monocular cowled head of the Cyclops beside him as they both raised handheld missile launchers that look pulled off the Zeuses in his formation.
“You ready Aaron?”Fifteen missile warheads emerged from the cylinder.
"Toepoppers, locked and loaded. You got another dispersion plan or paint by numbers?”
“The Clans lack subtlety, go ahead and fill the chokepoints we spotted before. They may have the same mass as us, but I think Agoh is none to fond of me.”
“I wonder where you’d get that impression General.”Dozens of missiles filled the skies each spreading out multitudes of mines the size of large ration cans that spiked themselves into the dirt. The bombardment continued until that ammunition was depleted. They switched to smoke concealing Kurtz’s Charger and Carmine’s Goliath in the woods to their flank, the others steeled themselves for the incoming Ghost Bears about to break through dense white smoke…and come into range.
Explosions could be heard as the opening wave blinded by the dense white smoke blundered into minefields. When they cleared the smoke using their jump jets Aaron tagged one of them in mid-flight with his Cyclops’ Gauss Rifle. Its hyper accelerated ovoid round left a magnesium bright flash and sonic boom in its wake that sent the Pack Hunter and Elementals riding upon it into an uncontrolled crash.
Laser Pulses, Particle Beams, and every type of Missile struck across the machines who had misjudged their distance while engulfed in smoke. Slowed by damage and facing a Lance of Assault Mechs they attempted to escape into the nearby woods. One of them was sent skyward by an upper cut from the Charger’s mace and another ablated away by the Goliath’s Heavy PPC.
Kurtz cleared the woods his Battlemech tapping the mace into his Mech’s other hand like the brutal Gladiator he had one been.
“And I’m not even warmed up yet.” Carmine’s Goliath towered over the pines like some wild beast sending forth its needle like missiles toward fleeing Arctic Cheetahs and evasive Elementals.
White smoke dissipated revealing the Star Colonel’s Kodiak in its pristine glory, bear’s jaws and six arms were painted around the shoulders as if the Warrior were some Tribal Champion of yore.
“Perhaps you are not so respectable General Steiner, to hide behind smoke and deceptive weapons.”
“I would like to be the first to apologize for rarely living up to other’s expectations Star Colonel Forrester. Now we have the duels you desired, Six verses Six, all that remains is to see who is the superior MechWarrior.”Agoh’s formation waited just outside weapon’s range but within visual range.
“The Forrester Bloodhouse has been with Clan Ghost Bear since its founding. I am of Trueborn of its thirtieth generation.”
“I believe I am of the twentieth generation of House Steiner, and we have been MechWarriors for a much longer time than your Clan has existed.
You are about to find out why we have endured so long.”
Opposite him the Kodiak bared its menacing claws like some gigantic mechanical predator.
“Or I will take this opportunity to win my Clan a great victory by defeating one of our enemy’s Champions.”
“You are the one that has not moved toward me Agoh. Might you be afraid of what we are capable of?”
“I am a Trueborn Warrior of Clan Ghost Bear, there is nothing I fear within or outside my Battlemech.”
“Then you will have no opportunity to learn from your mistakes.”The twenty Delta Dart missiles built into his Crusader-K like arms loaded as Roman’s HUD marked targets for them. They descended from the hill in unison a mobile wall of sharpened steel and flinted jaws. Astoundingly for the Clanners they strode over their own depleted minefields to maintain formation and momentum, seamlessly rotating the lead element as one received damage.
Agoh’s Conjurers jumped around the flanks firing off their Series 44h Pulse Lasers in mid-air while attempting to evade the incoming fire. While precise and powerful the dense armoring of the Lyran Battlemechs sputtered beneath the scorching laser pulses but did not yield. They were in fact ignored in favor of other foes. Under the withering assault the more heavily armed Hellbringers walked backward trading fire with their four PPCs as their armor melted away exposing structure that too was slagged and left burning upon darkened earth pockmarked with craters and smelling of white phosphorous and crude oil.
Their unit might have been enough for a LCAF line unit staffed with peacocked dandies in the biggest mech but there was nothing general issue with Roman’s Companions. Each mech has received the latest upgrades available to the industrial superpower. Ton for ton they had more firepower and armor than almost any Battlemech in the Inner Sphere could muster, piloted by hardened veterans willing to take the blows and deliver them in kind with fear.
One of the Conjurer’s strayed to close only to get its right side and most of its weapons utterly obliterated by Carmine and Aaron’s firepower. What was once a fearsome Ghost Bear Binary eroded away to dust and blackened debris under the onslaught. Roman and Agoh closed upon one another within the carnage drawing them into striking range. At such a range he switched his LRM launchers to deadfire warheads that had traded their range and accuracy for more explosive payload. Explosions erupted across both mech’s chests causing damage that would killer lesser machines.
Roman was not fool, he knew each of the Kodiak’s crushing claws could rip apart the Death’s Head he now occupied. His Atlas, a BattleMech commissioned by Aleksandr Kerensky himself, was emblematic of the Lyran Commonwealth itself. Like the Atlas or Akuma, the Kodiak was a weapon of intimidation. It looked scary but it was just a modified Banshee and not even the 3S, that was scary. He was not afraid, but the Clans should be. They felt they should rule the Inner Sphere and he was about to prove how wrong they were.
The Ghost Bear made his final move, it was clear to Roman that Agoh’s mech despite its durability was reaching its limit and he let the machine come within arm’s reach. A final volley of weapons fire opened more holes in both Battlemechs exposing the critical structure and rippling myomer musculature beneath.
With a final motion Roman counter-punched a claw with his mech’s right arm letting the other slip across and tear into his mech’s upraised left shoulder. His left fist though had crushed the armor on what would have been the Kodiak’s forehead with a hammer-fist, one of the only types of strike that could bypass the pauldron like weapons bays. Agoh’s Mech fell to his left to land on the ground and dragging the claw across the Atlas’ left side in the process.
“That one was for Sarah.”With their Commander KO’d and with little effect on their targets the Clans withdrew but demanded their MechWarriors back. Roman rolled the Kodiak with his mech’s feet,
“Take them and spread the word, then get off my planet.”
