Repost.
[Note: This is a chronicle of my gaming group as they play the Wolves invading from the ‘south’ of the Inner Sphere. This is connected to my Falcon’s Fall and Politics and War stories under the Star League Reborn titles. The speech immediately following served as my introduction to Clan ways for my PC’s. The stories here will follow the 12th Wolf Guards, the Pack Hunters, through the invasion and beyond. - AJB]
Chapter 1
Unnamed Star System
Periphery
1 December 3049
The commander ascended to the platform, resplendent in full Wolf Clan ceremonial regalia. Grey leather hugged her lithe frame. A full cloak hung from her shoulders, trimmed in the fur of a Strana Mechty wolf she had hunted herself. Her red hair was cut short in true warrior fashion. Ice blue eyes stared out at the crowd, the eyes of a wolf. A scar touched the corner of her left eye, dragging it down slightly, lending her an air of cruelty. She stared around the room at her subordinate commanders, gathered for a grand meeting. She is Star Colonel Laura Sword, commander of the Pack Hunters cluster of Clan Wolf.
“Trothkin, an historic day is before us. On this day we jump into the Inner Sphere, returning to the worlds we left behind so long ago. We return to restore the Star League which was sundered by the greedy house lords. The Great Father led the SLDF to the homeworlds, where we refined our skills and society, preparing ourselves for the day we would reclaim our birthright.
“Now we return to fulfill the Hidden Hope, to reclaim Terra, the origin of us all, and to become ilClan. To shape the destinies of all Clans for all time. We are in a race to claim the prize of Terra. We compete with the Ghost Bears, Jade Falcons and Smoke Jaguars. But we will not lose! We are Wolves! The blood of the Kerensky’s flows through our veins. Terra is our destiny. We will roll over the corrupt nations of the Inner Sphere and take our rightful place at the head of a restored Star League!”
The assembled unit commanders cheer and howl, imitating their Clan’s namesake. All are anxious to begin the battle to reclaim the Inner Sphere. As they continue to cheer the ship jumps.
High Orbit
Claybrooke, Free Worlds League
20 December 3049
The Star Colonel stood before the holotank and waited for the signal from the comm tech. “To the defenders of Claybrooke, I am Star Colonel Laura Sword, commander of the 12th Wolf Guards of Clan Wolf. With what paltry forces do you defend this world?” The batchall issued, Sword sat back to wait for a reply.
It was nearly twenty minutes later that a response finally came in. “Invading force, I am Colonel Kristen Marik of Kristen’s Krushers. I defend this planet on behalf of the Free Worlds League. I do not recognize which government you represent, but know I’ll defend this world with everything at my disposal.”
Sword grinned, a noticeably vicious expression. “Bargained well and done, Colonel Kristen. My forces will meet you on the field of battle shortly.
Murunga Hills, Claybrooke
The Union-C dropship Bloody Paw hovered many metres above the ground. Its bay doors opened and the trinary within began a quick drop to the surface below. The ‘Mechs formed up by stars, one star with elementals as well, and awaited their marching orders. The Bloody Paw lifted up and withdrew, leaving the ground forces to their fate.
Sitting in the cockpit of his Stormcrow, Star Captain Cadarn Sender checked the status of his unit. Seeing there was no damages to anyone left him very satisfied. “Scout star, proceed as planned. Do not exceed 10 km from my position and report all contacts.”
“As you command Star Captain,” replied Star Commander Brodie.
“Star Commander Cassandra,” Sender began after switching channels, “maintain position relative to me. Watch for enemy ‘Mechs.”
“Aff Star Captain, we obey.”
The ‘Mechs of the trinary had barely begun to move out when Sender’s sensors picked up the approach of a large body of ‘Mechs. A battalion if he read the numbers correctly. A grin of anticipation split Sender’s face. “Trinary forward! For the glory of the Clans!”
--------
Star Command Cassandra stalked forward in her Timber Wolf, eagerly scanning for targets. She was fresh from the sibko and anxious for her first real taste of combat. She dispatched Warrior Vek in his Linebacker to scout ahead. The ‘Mech moved at nearly 100 kph and packed a decent array as weapons, as well as carrying a point of elementals. He would surely find something, something that the rest of the Nova could kill. Warriors Atrius and Gabriel moved up to flank her, in an Ebon Jaguar and Orion IIC respectively. Osiris brought up the rear in his Warhawk. Attached to each ‘Mech was a point of elementals, all itching for combat.
“Star Commander, I have spotted 12 ‘Mechs closing on your position. Composition is evenly split between medium and heavy weight machines. I am moving in to attack,” came Vek’s voice over the com system.
“Neg Vek, return to the nova. We will take them on together.”
“As ordered Star Commander,” came his disappointed reply.
In short order the Linebacker had rejoined the nova. Inside her ‘Mech Cassandra grinned savagely. Finally, a taste of real combat against the so-called warriors of the Inner Sphere. Her Nova advanced, eager to engage.
Soon her sensors detected the incoming ‘Mechs. She tagged several designs common in the Star League; Warhammers, Awesomes, even an Orion. Cassandra locked onto the Orion first. “Nova, engage targets at will. The Orion is mine.” That said she triggered a blast from both PPCs. The dual blasts meted tons of armour from the venerable machine. The Orion lurched but stayed on its feet, a testimony to the skill of its pilot. Cassandra launched a full flight of LRMs at the Orion, causing more armour to shatter and fall off.
Finally closing to its own weapons range, the Orion launched its own flight of LRMs. Cassandra’s Timber Wolf rocked under the detonations but a quick glance at her displays showed minimal damage. Targeting the centre torso and its already weakened armour, two more PPC blasts burned away most of the remaining armour. A quick follow-up with her medium lasers and the Orion was down for the count.
A sudden explosion rocked her Timber Wolf. Swinging her torso, Cassandra spotted the culprit, a Awesome. Letting loose a wolf-like snarl, she launched herself into battle.
---------------
Charging forward, Atrius couldn’t help but revel in the joy of combat. Having only recently regained his warrior status, battle was like a salve to his wounded soul. He pushed his custom Ebon Jaguar full tilt into battle, preferring to get up close with his opponents. He chose a Centurion and cut loose with twin large lasers. One beam missed, but the other scored a direct hit across his opponents cockpit. The Centurion swayed, the pilot clearly dazzled but not out of the fight yet.
The Centurion opened up with its autocannon, the rounds chewing armour off Atrius’ ‘Mech, but failed to penetrate to the vulnerable interior. Having closed to range, Atrius launched a full spread of streak SRMs. All 24 missiles impacted the spheroid machine, causing horrendous amounts of damage. He spied a breech in the armour and carefully lined up a shot with his medium lasers. Squeezing the trigger, Atrius was gratified three of the four lasers exploit the breech. The Centurion quaked under the impact then blew apart as its ammunition detonated. Atrius was at first surprised, but then remembered he was dealing with inferior spheroid technology. The only thing that made up for the ease of taking them down was sheer numbers.
------------------
Gabriel watched the charge of the Krusher forces and couldn’t help but admire their courage. Even facing an unknown foe they fought on... and these were mercenaries. What would happen when facing House regulars? But those were thoughts for another time.
Gabriel and Osiris were providing fire support for the rest of the nova. Both warriors aimed their weapons at heavy ‘Mechs, for the glory and to make things easier for the rest of the unit. Gabriel chose a Warhammer as his first target, being familiar with the IIC version of the venerable ‘Mech. He fired his gauss rifle, then followed up with paired large lasers. The effect was devastating, rocking the merc back on their feet and blasting the shoulder mounted SRM clear off. The merc recovered and dumped their ammo before returning fire with both PPCs. Only one hit, but that was enough to inflict some serious damage.
Shrugging it off, Gabriel continued to close, choosing to launch a flight of LRMs. The missiles peppered the surface of the Warhammer, chewing away at armour, but failing to cause any breeches. The enemy warrior began backing away, hoping to keep Gabriel at range. The pilot fired their PPCs again, risking the heat curve in an attempt to down the Clan warrior. He failed. Gabriel targeted his gauss rifle along with the large lasers and fired. The effect was immediate. The Warhammer’s leg blew clear off and the machine toppled to the ground. Gabriel then turned and began looking for another target.
--------------------
Star Colonel Sword marched her Executioner forward. She had already downed several Wasps and a Zeus. Now she was looking for a challenge. She found it when one of her officers reported locating the command lance for the Krusher regiment. Anticipation lit up Sword’s eyes as she angled towards the coordinates. Surely this Colonel Kristen would be a worthy foe.
Cresting a hill she finally came upon her target as they were finishing off a Summoner. Laura’s rage boiled over and she charged the three ‘Mechs, weapons blazing. The medium Whitworth blew apart as LB autocannon shells devoured what remained of its armour. The two remaining ‘Mechs, an Awesome and Phoenix Hawk, split and attacked her from two sides. Her Executioner shook under the repeated impacts, but took relatively little damage. Laura targeted the Phoenix Hawk first, and launched a spread of SRMs as well as the LB10X. Both sets of weapons connected, blowing off an arm and massive amounts of armour. The Phoenix Hawk jumped in closer and fired off its paired medium lasers. Laura ignored the attack and close-lined the smaller ‘Mech as it ran past. The impact damaged her arm, but put the Phoenix Hawk down where it was swarmed by elementals.
Now Laura faced only the Awesome, which looked to have been heavily modified. Laura outweighed it by 15 tons, and outclassed it technologically, so she was unconcerned. Instead she launched another flight of SRMs, which the pilot managed to avoid. Incensed, Laura locked on and triggered an alpha strike. While some of the weapons missed, enough connected to destroy the left arm and ravage the torso, significantly cutting down the Awesome’s weapons.
The Awesome pilot countered with a full spread as well. Autocannon, PPC and medium lasers all struck at Laura’s ‘Mech, ripping into the armour and disabling her SRMs. Not a great loss the Star Colonel’s opinion. She countered with yet another burst from her autocannon to devastating effect. Armour shattered all along the Awesome’s centre and right torso, bursting heat sinks and exposing other vulnerable systems. With extreme precision, she fired her medium lasers and cored the engine. The Awesome quaked, and then erupted in a sphere of golden fire. Once the explosion faded, there was nothing left to mark the existence of the Awesome or its pilot.
----------------------
Bloody Paw, after action briefing
Conversation was muted but constant amongst the survivors of Aggressor nova. Gabriel was laughing boisterously with the elemental leader, MacKinley, while Atrius looked on, his visage pale. Atrius’ ‘Mech had been blown out from under him and he had lost a leg in the ejection. He had somehow convinced the medtech to allow him to attend the meeting. Osiris sat stoically in a corner, quietly observing his fellow warriors. Cassandra entered and quickly moved to the front of the room.
“Warriors, thanks to our actions we have taken Claybrooke for Clan Wolf.” She stopped as she heard mumble from the back. “What was that Warrior Gabriel?”
“I said some of us helped more than others.” He glanced pointedly at both Cassandra and Atrius.
“That is your opinion freebirth and you are welcome to it. My concern is that the unit did not work together and because of this, several elementals were killed and MechWarrior Atrius was severely wounded.” Gabriel visibly bristled at the slur, but relaxed after Atrius laid a calming hand on his shoulder.
“Yet overall we performed well. Our objectives were met and our losses were not extreme. Garrison troops are being moved into position, so we will soon be able to move on to our next target.”
“And what would that be Star Commander?” asked Point Commander MacKinley.
“A world of some importance apparently,” explained Cassandra. “Our next target is Andurien.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here endeth part one. As always thoughts/comments/verbal abuse are welcome.
AJB.
