My ride night got rescheduled to Thursday but I should still be home by 9:30. If not I hereby authorize another Trump Card to grab my .mul and play for me till I get there.
Delta Lance Post-Op Debriefing Lance XO Skwisgaar's journal log We're now deeply embedded in the Martillo family forces. After clearing grid J5 of enemy Goretti forces we moved south and found the desert empty. The Martillos radioed in position on a Goretti supply camp to our northwest, in the mountains of grid J4, so we hightailed it that way to try to get in the action. Entering the grid we crested a smaller rise and found that the Goretti's not only had the supply camp we were looking for but a company of mechs that we weren't. That's how it goes though. And that's why Major Sullivan pays us the big bucks (har har). Martillo had a couple mechs in the area that had found the camp and they joined us in the assault. The mountain terrain was not ideal for our preferred tactics but we figured we could make it work using the narrow valleys for chokepoints and keeping ourselves grouped together. Lars' KGC could definitely make short work of anything that came into sight even if it took him a year to get into position. Lance and I had the jets to move around and find the enemies and Lojtnant Otack could pinpoint them from a mile away even though we wouldn't get that kind of view. Plus if they got real close I had a 5 ton high five waiting for their heads. Came in over a hilltop from the east and saw a large crag in front of us with valleys to the north and south. Sensors picked up some mech movement in the northern valley and we spotted some turrets on the north side past the crag. The Martillo Hunchback came with us while the Wolverine stayed on the southern side to keep watch on things down that way. We moved toward the north valley to get into position to intercept the Goretti forces and it didn't take long for them to oblige. We happily set up a kill corridor and a Centurion popped around the corner all by himself. Poor fool didn't have a prayer. First volley took off his arm and half the rest of his mech too. Guy must have blacked out because it never even tried to get back up but didn't eject either. The Hunchback got trigger happy and finished him off. Our Wolverine reported a Goretti Vindicator way across the southern valley and they traded fire for a while. We stayed north to see what else we could see. A Blackjack hopped up on the southern ridgeline but was pretty far away and another Centurion peeked around the north into our corridor. This time Lance was all over it - didn't want the Martillo getting any more credit for our work - and blew it apart with a single volley that set off its LRM ammo and tore it apart. 2 up, 2 down, just that quickly. We'd barely even had our armor scratched. continued below......
We decided to work our way north around the edge of the mountain and see what those turrets were guarding. 2 PPC and an AC20 - must be pretty important, possibly our target camp. Lars crippled one of the PPC turrets from long range. A Goretti Wolverine joined the Blackjack in harrying our Martillo friend who decided they were quite good on their own and didn't want to stick with us. Oh well, more power to them. Lance finished off the crippled PPC turret while Lars started working on the other. Otack and I were mostly maneuvering around trying to see what was around us and get shots but the mountain peaks and hills made spotting difficult. The Wolverine and Blackjack played more peekaboo with our Martillo friends and were joined by a Whitworth but they seemed to be just trading armor shots for now. Lars and Lance continued pounding the turrets while we held position but then the Gorettis started showing up in force. A Hunchback and another Centurion, both equipped with AC20s, came into view but were outside of their effective range. Not ours though. Otack and I concentrated on the Hunchback while Lars and Lance focused the Centurion and both took enough heavy fire to be knocked back on their butts. The Blackjack started getting brave and taking shots north towards us. The Whitworth had snuck along the crag next to us as well and was joined by an Enforcer. By now the Gorettis had established a pretty decent firing line along the high ground and we had to start moving our position back towards the northeast where we could get some better cover. We traded blows heavily and both side lost a lot of armor in the firefight. The Martillo Hunchback took big hits from the Enforcer that damaged its engine and gyro. The pilot ejected, knowing he couldn't do anything else in this fight. We continued to slug it out and finally caught a break when Lars popped the Goretti Hunchback's AC20 ammo while I took down the Enforcer with LRMs. The Goretti Wolverine popped around a corner right in front of Otack and was blasted in the gyro and sent to the ground. Like the first Centurion it never ejected or tried to move again. That's when things started to turn back in the Goretti favor. After losing 3 mechs together they brought up a new surprise - mechanized infantry. A full platton was waiting when I jetted over a low rise and quite a few managed to hit me. Not only that but they were using mounted heavy lasers, much better equipment than the lasrifles we're used to seeing infantry equipped with. Lance blew the arm off the Goretti Blackjack but in the meantime the Whitworth managed to line up a lucky shot on Otack's Warhammer's head. It didn't penetrated the armor but an SRM hit hard enough that Otack lost concioussness and his mech went down. Suddenly we went from outnumbered but up on weaponry to outnumbered and down a teammate. continued below.....
With Otack a sitting duck we knew we needed to kick it into gear and help protect him. I had managed to work in close to the AC20 Centurion but kept taking a pounding from the infantry platoon behind me. The Whitworth continued to unload on Otack's Warhammer and was joined by the Blackjack who got lucky hits on Otack's PPC and leg actuators. Lars blasted away another infantry platoon with his LBXs. I mean they just vanished. Lance responded to the Whitworth's aggression with a savage gauss shot that tore its arm clean off. I hit the Centurtion hard with a brace of laser fire and then bashed it with my hatchet after it went down to the ground. At this point Otack shook himself back awake and tried to move himself around to where he could help us out. With the leg damage he couldn't get the mech stood up but he managed to lever it up using the arm with the damaged PPC and renewed fire from his prone position. 2 more infantry platoons rolled into the fight but we were focused on avenging Otack. Lance continued savaging the Whitworth that had taken Otack down and Lars finished it off with a PPC blast while thinning down another platoon with LBX fire. I was able to start bracketing the Vindicator and landed some good hits with both LRMs and lasers. Otack blasted the downed Wolverine next to him into oblivion causing an ammo explosion that not only damaged him a bit but finished off the infantry platoon Lars had targeted. Our southern Martillo Wolverine reported two Urbanmechs coming towards him and another was coming through the northern valley as well. That made it a full company of mechs that were facing us, half of which were done for by now. We all combined fire and blasted the Blackjack for another big bunch of damage and I took another hatchet swing at the last Centurion, cracking through its back and into its engine. Then I chopped it again and lit off its LRM ammo. Wanted to make sure the bastard stayed down. The Blackjack took a misstep trying to get away and fell off the crag taking big damage. While Lars was focused on the northern Urbanmech the Vindicator got a lucky shot on one of Lars feet, hobbling the actuator and slowing down our already ponderous assault mech. Lars' fire knocked the Urbie down and it wouldn't get back up again. The Blackjack pilot ejected since he would never be able to get his ride back upright and fighting. The two remaining infantry platoons were down to only a few men each and started retreating but in the process got the last laugh by finishing off the damage to my right arm, blowing off the arm and my beloved axe. I was so mad I actually couldn't see. I fired with Lance at the Urbanmech on the ground and while I think most of my shots missed his went true and tore through its engine. The Goretti infantry fled before I could exact my revenge. And that left the northern side pretty well cleared out except for an AC20 turret that we'd managed to stay out of range from. The Martillo Wolverine and its two Urbanmech friends were still dancing around in the south and we knew there was still a communications truck out there somewhere we needed to find. continued below.......
With Otack's mech crippled and unable to help clearing the area he ejected and started the trek back towards recovery forces. As Lars and Lance fired towards the AC20 turret the Vindicator reappeared over the central crag from the south and I concentrated on finishing it off. At this point we got a strange report from our remaining Martillo friend. The Wolverine had fallen from the high perch on which it had been firing on the Urbanmechs in the south. While it was on the ground one of the Urbanmechs closed in and blew its SRM ammo, destroying the Wolverine. But in the process the fireball breached the Urbanmechs center torso and destroyed its engine taking it out of the battle along with its prey. Not very often you see that happen. Lance destroyed the last turret while the Vindicator and I continued to slug it out. Lars started hobbling south towards the last Urbanmech, knowing he probably wouldn't get there by the time Lance and I got down sweeping the northern valley and moving that way ourselves. Finally the Vindicator got hit hard enough to fall over towards Lars' KGC and the three of us finally killed it with a concentrated barrage. Lance and I moved onto the the central crag to get a high vantage point while Lars hobbled his way south along the eastern valley. As Lance and I continued south we ran into the Urbanmech and blasted it. The pilot ejected before anything blew apart. We moved west and finally found the communications truck we'd been looking for - along with another AC20 turret. Before we could disable it the damn thing got a lucky shot through my right torso armor and into my LRM ammo blowing off my whole right torso. Luckily this Axman had CASE equipped or I probably wouldn't be here writing this report. Lance quickly finished it off and we captured the truck. Martillo techs should be working on reading its encryption keys now. Mission accomplished, wasn't perfect but it could have been much worse too. We should be back in mostly decent fighting shape before too long, even though my Axman will be missing its signature weapon systems. In the end though we should get a good payout from the salvage and hopefully this truck will help speed things along on our end. Now if that crazy Morgana can keep up her end of the bargain...........
Nicely written up good sir. Though, the ammo explosion on the Wolverine caused a cascading failure, which is what killed the infantry. Or so I recollect. Gogo Delta engine explosions!
@ ghizmo: Stable quirk added to victor All XP awarded for your first mission of Turn 02 (including bonus xp for testing game feature)
nah. (oh noes! bruises!) sack up, soldier! you are going to have to try harder than that if you want sick leave.
How bad is the Hamburgler Skwi? Think she is repairable? Magnus, can I get my Griffin dropped into the field?
Haven't looked yet. Riding tonight but I'll check it out when I get home later. EDIT: Oh yeah I put MekHQ on my work comp! Oh no, the dreaded save file error!
