Battletech IC #1: Outreach

[Northern Dominus]

Artemus
"Target DestroSHI!"

The thud of a slug hitting ferro-fibrous armor and crackling as some of the simulated plates started to crack. The fact that there was no blue light and resulting interference indicated that the shot was a ballistic one, and a big one at that. The only mech capable of that sort of shot had to be...

"Ronin to all lances. Hollander is destroyed, flowing to engage..."
His initial "fangs out" approach to directly engage the Dragon was ditched after he spied the Chimera moving to engage Bear. Priorities were priorities after all.

"... flowing to engage Chimera. Bear stay on target, for the time being but if the scouts manage take that Raven down then engage and maneuver at your discretion."

Throttling up to full speed and breaking directly towards the Chimera he observed what he could, noting positions and keeping a track on his gaugues and squinting at the snow on the sensors, trying to catch a glimpse of something that might give away the enemy's strategy.
With a bit of trepidation given James' demonstrated penchant for letting combat orders fly over his head completely, he toggled the comms to get him into position.

"Timberwolf get ready to screen that Dragon to the west, and if your TTS isn't fully operational by now at least ram and kick it into oblivion. Otherwise ungroup your missiles and fire in dumb mode if and when the ECM's come down."

The TTS and targeting computer did their best, but it was still semi-hazy and not the clearest shot. Once again, Artemus would have to do his best to use his Mark 20 eyeball to fill in the gaps that were missing. With the speed of the Chimera, the window for a good shot was dwindling, as well as irritated him to no end.

"Priest, Andromeda, I still have fuzz on my screens, what's your sitrep? Do you need re-enforcement to take that EW mech down?"

Still, in all of the fracas at least one lance was reliably doing things and creating an gloriously unholy mess.

"Gun Dragon, Warhound, keep the pressure up. See if you can circle towards Bitch and line up with her. Bitch I know it's tempting to get the fangs out but stow them as much as possible for now, focus on the larger heavy-hitters and leave the scouts. Over."

Hoping like hell that Jazz would at least see the reasoning in leaving the "bug" mechs and not pulling away valuable firepower from the primary thrust, Artemus lined up yet another gauss shot, grunting as he realized that the rounds were starting to run low. A quick check of mech positions however gave him a sudden quick-movement idea. It could work, but it depended on James playing ball so to speak...

"Ronin to Timberwolf, on my mark break behind me and engage that Chimera."

Leading the Chimera slightly, Artemus stopped his breathing for a moment while he squeezed the trigger. Once again the simulator slightly jerked and hummed as another simulated gauss rifle round left the barrel. Then he jerked the throttle to the right and called the maneuver through his comms

"Timberwolf break now!"

Before putting himself in a position to pass by the Dragon at a close angle. Knowing full well that he would be braving the AC5 and medium lasers, he remembered a tactical assessment from long ago that told him where a possible weak point might lie. Waiting until he knew the distance had closed sufficiently, Artemus then heeled the mech over and altered trajetory to pass by on the opposite side he originally angled for, twisting the torso in the process before unleashing a volley of medium pulse laser bolts. The bright lime-green stuttering bolts lashed out for a very specific target: the Dragon's hip, a weakness which had been brought up at one point and apparently took an AC-5 to jog.


Kat
The song remained the same for Warhound and Gun Dragon, and to Kat that was fine by her. The sweat on her brown matched the thumping in her neck. Simulated as the combat was it was enough to make up for the earlier boredom of the day. Mech handling skills, basic gunnery, all seemd frivilous, but this test made sense.

Apparently Warhound didn't like waiting either, because a massive report from the Cataphract signaled a large autocannon had been fired. Since they were that close, Kat decided to bring the Warhammer's own short range weaponry to bear.

First came an unguided salvo of SRM-6's aimed where Will's autocannon had impacted, followed by bursts of medium and small laser. However before she could empty her machine gun into the Grasshopper, movement caught her eye. The Quickdraw was moving to support the Grasshoper, and would shortly present a real problem unless dealt with, much bigger than the crippled Grasshopper in front of them.

Turning right to try and close some of the distance between the two heavy mechs and Jazz, Kat filled Will in.

"Gun Dragon to Warhound. Check right, incoming Quickdraw. If that Grasshopper isn't down momentarily stay on it, I'll deal with this one."

Living up to her word Kat selected the main weapons group as the Quickdraw closed. Doing her best to lead she fired off both PPC's again in an attempt to at least dissuade the Quickdraw from bearing down, if only momentarily

---

Artemus
Movement: Turn to intercept Chimera, break west for close pass on R side of dragon, switch side and close pass on L side of dragon
Action: Fire Light Gauss Rifle at Chimera, fire long burst from both medium pulse lasers at L hip of Dragon
Transmissions: Order James to screen for the Dragon, Order Bear to stay on track to deal with the Raven, request sitrep from scouts as to the status of attack on Raven, order Will and Kat to keep up the destruction, order Jazz to ignore the small mechs and concentrate on the bigger ones, order James to break behind him on his mark and engage the Chimera.

Kat
Movement: Forward towards grasshopper, circle right to flank Quickdraw
Action: Fire SRM-6, MLAS and SLAS at Grasshopper, fire 2x PPC at Quickdraw.
Transmissions: Inform Will of closing Quickdraw.

[SaintB]

Bear

And just like that the entire situation had devolved into a melee, there were no longer any battle lines to follow and instead friend and foe alike were mixed together in a chaotic swirl of simulated weapons and explosions - this was the true test of a 'Mechwarrior's worthiness. Dave was just closing in on range and finally launched the command to begin ECCM and hopefully jam that Raven up until it could be destroyed. He had watched it's left arm all but melt off under Preist's laser barrage, the Raven's ECM equipment was almost always stored in the left torso and another shot like that might destroy it, but he seemed intent on ramming it... also a viable tactic but generally one saved for a moment of desperation, was the situation that desperate yet? The team seemed to have the advantage now with the Hollander taken out and that Grasshopper just about gone but at the same time Priest knew what he was doing and Bear wouldn't really know what was what until it happened, and in the meantime he had a problem of his own.

The Hatchetman was too late to get Priest's little locust but now it was staring Bear's Hellspawn down as a potential target, and the Chimera was engaging him, approaching him at maximum speed and closing the distance, a shot from it's laser had already crisped the grass behind him earlier. He pressed on with his objective, nullify that ECM so that Bitch and Timberwolf could get their missiles effectively into the equation, the OpFor lacked any designated long range support now and effective LRM use would turn this into a decisive battle. He had to weigh in on his options on what to do next though. Individually, he could take either that Hatcheman or that Chimera down without much fuss; especially the Hatchetman, though it had slightly better close in firepower he could maneuver circles around that thing and take it from minimum missile range. The Chimera he could simply brawl into submission using his superior armor and a withering volley of pulse lasers, it could match him maneuver for maneuver in theory however but that depended on the pilot (and he didn't think many pilots were as good as him). But with the two combined against him, and his need to stay within range of the enemy Raven to jam its signal he was at a severe disadvantage as he would have to track three separate enemies at once and limit his maneuvering to remain within the ECM blanket, he'd have to prevent the Hatchetman from closing on him (that Hatchet would spell doom for anything under 70 tons quite quickly) and prevent the Chimera from getting behind him... while also keeping the Raven which was still very well armed from getting a shot in edgewise.

On the other hand Bear liked a challenge and they so rarely came along, besides it wasn't like he was alone, there were 3 other friendly 'mechs in spitting distance and that would keep the enemies on their toes nearly as much as he had to be. It was all just a sim anyway so cut back and have some fun... he decided to challenge himself. "This is Bear I've closed in to ECCM range and am attempting to jam the signal. I'm also going to have to engage that Hatchetman; hes too close I have no choice."

Bear cut to half throttle slowing to about 43k/h and kept moving toward the Raven, but his torso twisted to the Hatchetman then picked his target and fired...

Actions
Move: Reach ECM range and cut to half throttle.
Incidental: Announce launching ECCM, Launch ECCM, Announce engaging target
Attack: Called shot for Hatchetman's Right Arm with 3x pulse lasers.

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

James quickly got himself into position with Artemus - Suddenly having to do a high-speed turn made his legs audibly groan, but they held without any apparent damage. "With you, Ronin." He transmitted as soon as he was in formation. That's when something else rang through his cockpit.

"System Reboot Completed."

"TimberWolf to all callsigns, I'm back in business. Get that ECM down ASAP so I can actually use these missiles properly." He sent out cheerfully, grinning viciously from ear to ear. That's when Artemus changed the plan.

Just before breaking to engage the Chimera, James snapped off five shots from his pulse lasers at the Dragon, aiming for the legs to try and fuck with the Heavy's mobility and give Artemus a bit more help. Immediately afterwards he focused entirely on the Chimera, noticing it trying to sandwich Dave between itself and the Hatchetman. Alone Bear's Hellspawn could take them, but together even the CO would have difficulty. Why not even the odds just a little?

Even with his lock-on mostly nullified by the ECM, James could still make use of his LRM's. Just had to aim 'em right...

"TimberWolf to Bear, incoming Alpha Strike involving dumbfire LRM's. Target: Chimera." He warned his CO, before squeezing the triggers and launching a five second barrage of missiles, pulse lasers, and machine guns, legs still charging at full speed towards the Chimera. Hopefully Bear would be able to stay out of the line of fire while dealing with the Hatchetman.

[SaintB]

Combat
Warhound's barrage hits the Grasshopper with devastating effects, the AC/20 round tears right through the center of its torso damaging the engine and gyro forcing the grasshopper to stagger and slump forward the medium lasers tear into the left and center destroying the enemy's torso mounted medium laser and finishing off the gyro. The Grasshopper falls face forward toward the ground as Kat's missiles impact the Grasshopper in multiple spots, combining with her lasers in finishing off the left torso and peppering the right arm and leg. Amazingly the 'mech is still 'alive' after all the punishment it received but laying prone and essentially helpless on the ground.

Bitch would likely be displeased with her hit indicator when it read indicated two total misses. Though her shots were true and well aimed the guidance system of the LRMs failed to track the two rapidly sprinting light 'mechs during their zig zag approach and either exploded in midair or hit the ground near their targets. (OOC: the difficulty for one was 10 and the other 11 (range, movement speed, etc) and I rolled two 9s)

The Raven is trying desperately to avoid a collision with Priests Locust and get a shot at him when suddenly... *CRASH* like a Free Safety Walter slams the entire mass of his 20 ton 'mech into the Raven from a starting distance of more than 200 meters! The Raven is hit diagonally on the left, the impact causes it to spin 180 degrees like a ballet dancer before crashing to the ground on its left side. Its pilot struggles to stand his demo 'mech back on its feet and the ECM field slowly fades away as the damage system begins to fail.

Walter's Locust does not get by without taking some licks of its own, the left arm is smashed into useless ruins from the impact with the Raven.

The Chimera takes a direct hit to the right arm from Ronin's Light Gauss rifle and keeps tracking on Bear but it staggers and then falls under the brutal hail of missiles Timberwolf launched from his Vulture. It's not difficult for the pilot to get the 'mech back on its feet but it certainly interfered with their plans.

Ronin's quick maneuvering throws the Dragon off target and the combination of laser and autocannon fire it launched misses wide but Ronin ends up shooting between his target's legs, the supporting laser and machine gun fire from Timberwolf is only effective at making the enemy pilot back off, creating distance between him and the two attackers.

As Dragon turns to fire on the Quickdraw her Warhammer takes a full volley from its LRM 10 just before firing her ER PPCs, the vibration knocks her shot off wide and the Quickdraw tries to close in to close range where it has a better chance.

Bear's focused fire has its intended effect, melting, warping, and then destroying the Hatchetman's right arm and namesake weapon, it returns fire with its AC/10 and the round nearly clips Bear's cockpit as it passes by.

Damage
Grasshopper takes 4 armor damage and 16 Damage to CT from AC/20
Double Critical
Grasshopper takes 1 hit to Fusion Engine and 1 hit to Gyro
Grasshopper takes 4 damage to LT from Md.Lsr.
Grasshopper takes 5 damage to CT from Md.Lsr.
Critical Hit
Grasshopper loses Gyro
Grasshopper takes 4 damage to LT, 2 armor damage to RA, and 4 armor damage to RL from SSRM6
Critical Hit
Left Torso is destroyed

Raven takes 2damage to LA, 10 armor damage and 3 damage to LT, and 5 armor damage to LL from crash.
Critical Hit
Left Arm is Destroyed
Raven loses ECM

Locust takes 1 armor damage and 3 damage to LA
Critical Hit
Left Arm is destroyed

Chimera takes 8 armor damage to RA from Lt. Gauss
Chimera takes 5 armor damage to LT, 5 armor damage to CT, 5 armor damage to RT, 5 armor damage to RL, and 1 armor damage to RA, from LRMs

Warhammer takes 5 armor damage to RA and 5 armor damage to LT from LRM 10

Hatchetman takes 9 armor damage and 7 damage to RA
Critical Hit
Right Arm Destroyed


EDIT: Skipped one completely.

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

James let out a satisfied whoop, as the ECM field cleared and the Chimera crashed to the ground. He stopped his Vulture and took aim at the downed Chimera's back, waited for the subtle hum of a lock, and let loose a full salvo of missiles at just beyond minimum range.

[Oblivion2]

William watched as the Grasshopper took more punishment than he figured such a 'Mech could ever take and fall to the ground, near crippled. Amazingly the 'Mech was still pilot able, if barely. Will ground his teeth together as the old memories came rushing back; of Katrina's force's showing no mercy to his wounded brothers, of armored feet crushing helpless pilots inside their cockpits.

Simulation or not, William had this man's life in his hands. With a frustrated scream he opened a general comm to the Grasshopper's pilot, "Your 'Mech is crippled and you have two choices. You can get up and keep fighting; which would be the end of you. Or you can eject and walk away. Choose quickly, there is not much time for you."

As if to emphasize his point, William locked onto the Grasshopper's torso and readied his AC/2's. he wouldn't miss.

[Northern Dominus]

Artemus
Even through the din of combat and a haze of frustration at every single shot missing the Dragon's hip actuators, a small change in noise and readouts got Artemus' attention. It was the sudden lifting of static from the earpieces in his neurohelmet and the fading from the scopes and sensors. Whatever Walter had done to bring the ECMs down, it had worked.
'Well then, now that all excuses are removed...'

Reversing the turn Artemus twisted the torso, lining up another shot while simultaneously checking the screens and readings of the simulated sensors, noting positions now that the ECM screens were down and who could potentially move where. As the simulator swayed back and forth in an odd fashion befitting a mech with torso twisting moving at 60-80 kph depending at the point of the turn his train of thought threw in a little caveat before the next round of orders.

'Contingency. Some of these people treat in-field orders as casual suggestions when it doesn't suit them, best have something to fall back on.'
Before hitting the toggle for the first adjustments.

"Ronin to Bitch, plot a course behind main battle lance and link up with Timberwolf. Now that ECMS are online you two would be most effective running a standoff-range orbit and firing salvos at will. Timberwolf do what you can to link up with your lance leader, over."

By the time he had finished transmitting orders/friendly suggestions to James and Jaz, his own turn had taken him into perfect position, as evidenced by the deedeedeedeebzzzzzzz of a missile lock.
With a slight smirk in the corner of his mouth he pulled the trigger and was rewarded with a slight jerk and a muffled roar as four SRM's left the tubes and headed straight for the Dragon. While technically an SRM-4 was ideal for finding gaps in armor and the Dragon had none, 4 missiles with HE warheads was nothing to sneeze at either.

As the missiles were in flight Artemus keyed up the comms again to ascertain more of the situation which he was just starting to see.

"Scout lance, what's your current status? Is Priest still combat viable? Andromeda do you have any intel to add? Given the situation and your engagement Bear I'll leave your engagement up to your discretion, just keep everyone posted, over."
Seeing that simply dancing around the Dragon firing at will wasn't going to get the mission concluded any faster, Artemus took stock of where the rest of the main battle lance was and what potentially could be done. Coming up with something on the fly he toggled the throttle and put the Bushwacker into full reverse while running through his weapons groups.
Settling on the pair of medium pulse lasers again, Artemus reversed the Bushwacker at full speed while bombarding the Dragon with sustained medium pulse laser fire while thumbing the comms transmit button yet again.

"Ronin to Warhound and Gun Dragon, maintain your position and engagement but watch your fire and prepare to engage new target, trying to drag that Dragon in front of your guns. What's your status? Over."
Only when the temperature gauge had spiked into the red zone did Artemus release the trigger, slapping the mechs travel into forward again. Turing and accelerating, Artemus made a beeline for the space in front of Warhound and Gun Dragon, jinking randomly to keep the Dragon's murderous autocannon from getting a bead on him easily while mentally wiling the mechwarrior to take the bait.
'Cmon, get angry and stupid, let those fangs come out so I can nail them to a plank...'

Kat
If one were privy to the interior of Kat's cockpit the moment the LRM-10s landed and threw off her PPC shot, it would have been hard to tell if the vocalization she made upon impact was profanity or simply a rage-bidden yell. In any event the most it seemed to do was enrage the woman behind the controls of the simulated Warhammer.

The only thing preventing her from breaking ranks and charging the Quickdraw directly was Artemus' query over the comms concerning his plan and their current situation.

'Is he insane? Dancing in front of...'
Then she remembered the earlier transmission, the hatchet and dagger approach, and saw a glimmer of opportunity there.

Tracking the Quickdraw with her reticule she hit her own comms transmit button and dolled out the information Artemus needed.. as well as a bit of her own initiative.

"Gun Dragon to Ronin, situation isn't critical but frustrating. That Grasshopper is crippled but the mechwarrior hasn't given in, and that Quickdraw wants to make a fight of it with me, probably knows I don't have the speed to keep pace.
I see where you're going with that plan, Warhound and I can take care of that little problem for you but it would be helpful if you could tie up that Quickdraw as well, go back to the plan we had earlier. Will watch for your arrival, over."

Still eyeballing the Quickdraw as it moved Kat tried Will again.

"Gun Dragon to Warhound, did you copy Ronin? Leave that Grasshopper, he's dead anyway, help me stagger this Quickdraw before Ronin gets here hot and fast with that Dragon in tow."

With that Kat pulled the trigger while leading the Quickdraw, this time determined to land both PPC's on target.

---

Artemus
Movement: Invert turn behind Dragon to 180 meters (SRM-4/MPLAS range), reverse, throttle fowrward and turn towards area in front of Warhammer and Catapracht while jinking randomly
Actions: Lock and fire SRM-4s, sustained 2xMPLAS fire to red zone
Transmissions: Order Jazz to move behind Main Battle Lance to link up with Timberwolf and start bombarding at max standoff range (450-630 meters) while moving, order Timberwolf to work towards Jazz if possible, request status update on Walter and Julius, give Bear discretion to engage at will, tell Will and Gun Dragon to watch their fire due to his crossing their guns at some point and dragging the Dragon with him.

Kat
Movement: Forward at max throttle
Actions: Track and fire 2xPPCs at Quickdraw
Transmissions: Confirm Artemus' plan, request he engage Quickdraw when crossing field of fire, query Will's comprehension and request additonal fire support against Quickdraw

[SaintB]

Dave's concentrated pulse laser fire chewed right through the arm of the Hatchetman and severed it from the rest of the 'mech. Now it was nothing more than an under armored, too slow, poorly armed excuse for a combat machine aka an ideal target. Bear put the pipper on the enemy and fired again, all three pulse lasers in a single grouping before hitting the jets and jumping backward as far as he could go just as he had strategized in his mind before even engaging. He switched to LRMs and attempted to paint a target lock as he moved backward through the air and fired a volley of missiles while he landed, he could feel the heat slowly begin to increase within the confines of his cockpit.

For a moment he realized he was out of the range of the Raven's ECM bubble but within a second another realization had dawned on him, he decided to report the good news: "This is Bear to all call-signs; Priest got that Raven good, the ECM field is down, I repeat the ECM is now neutralized! This is our battle to lose ladies and gentlemen."

He noticed Ronin, ever the strategist didn't waste a second in adapting to the situation, calmly delegating tasks to the company as if he was the Colonel instead of Bear, definitely an officer candidate. His orders came up shortly "Given the situation and your engagement Bear I'll leave your engagement up to your discretion, just keep everyone posted, over."

His reply was snappy, "Roger that Ronin, this Hatchetman is as good as salvage I just need a few seconds to make them realize it."

His target would be a rather simple kill now, especially with that Chimera now being chewed up and spit out by Timberwolf, but you didn't win battles by taking the easy kills you had to make taking care of your guys the top priority.

He quickly switched comms, "Good hit Walter, whats your status? Need a shield to help you get out of here?"

Actions
Attack: Hatchetman with 3 Md. Pls.
Move: Jump Jet max distance
Attack: Hatchetman LRM 15
Incidental: Confirm orders, Check on Priest.

[Occupied Deutschland]

Walther bounced hard despite all his preparation for the crash, and he felt the straps on the simulator jerk against his shoulders. It was not comfortable in the slightest.

But that discomfort was nothing compared to the drunken shift in equilibrium Walther had to adjust to in seconds in order to keep his now unbalanced mech on its feet. The arm might not weigh much but it still provided a lot of balance to his mech, with only one of them he felt like he had to physically shift himself to stay upright.

Fighting the loss of balance, Walther managed to keep his mech standing and then take stock of the situation for a split second.

The other mechs were still posing a threat to the rest of the unit, but the Hatchetman that had been trying to intercept him had been caught itself in Bear’s sights, leaving him apparently free and clear. Walther next turned his attention back to the Raven below him on the ground. The ECM had been knocked out in his hit, but the mech itself could still theoretically pose a threat.
Walther hesitated.

Artemus’s transmission gave his mind the excuse it needed to avoid the decision he otherwise would have had to make. It gave him a justification for not crushing the Raven’s cockpit.

"Scout lance, what's your current status? Is Priest still combat viable? Andromeda do you have any intel to add? Given the situation and your engagement Bear I'll leave your engagement up to your discretion, just keep everyone posted, over."

“Still combat viable, Ronin, but by no means combat effective. Heat’s too high.” Walther explained quickly, taking a few shaky steps in his mech away from the downed Raven. He was still trying to recover his balance completely and didn’t want to risk going any faster until he did.

“Priest is withdrawing for now. Andromeda’s current status is unknown.” Walther said as he squinted at the jumble of icons that showed up past the heat-induced fuzz on his radar screen. He couldn’t pick out Andromeda for the life of him.

He quickly switched comms, "Good hit Walter, whats your status? Need a shield to help you get out of here?"

Walther nodded as he increased his speed slightly and began to withdraw from the battle. He’d done what needed done, the ECM field was down. Time for him to bug out and let the frontline mechs handle the fighting.

“I’m breathing and I can move, but I’m more beat-up than an Arena fighter after a survival round. If you could keep that Hatchetman occupied, I think I can bug out of here before the rest of these clowns can catch on--Andromeda may need support however, I currently have no eyes on him.” Walther said, scanning his radar once again to note the enemy positions as well he could and try to locate the other scout amidst the clutter. He couldn’t actually withdraw the way he’d come, but the way to the enemy base was clear for him at the moment. He could head for it and avoid the melee the rest of his team was engaged in. “I’ll make my way east here and make sure they don’t have any nasty surprises lurking in reserve.”

Of course, if the enemy had anything left he’d be an easy target to pick off but…well, what was he gonna do?

“Scouts don’t get no respect.” Walther muttered as he slowly began to increase his speed to distance himself from the battlefield and begin to approach the enemy base.

“Andromeda, what’s your situation? I’m withdrawing, but Bear is still available for fire support as needed.”


ACTIONS:
Movement: ‘Retreat’ from battlefield towards enemy base at 60 kph.
Transmission: Confirm actions to Bear & Artemus, Check status on Andromeda.
Speech: Complain to self like typical old fart.

[Ularn]

"What the actual fuck!?" Jaz roared as her missiles sliced down inneffectively among the dust kicked up by the two scout 'mechs.
At least the rest of the team seemed to be faring better. The cloud of ECM static around the meat grinder had just collapsed. On the other hand, Storm's latest instructions were less than helpful. Jaz was rapidly nearing the conclusion that despite his earlier competence as a leader, Ronin just did not have a clue how to use support 'mechs. No other explanation could be given for why he scattered the support lance all over the map to begin with and then tried to put it back together after walking into an ambush so obvious Jaz never thought he needed warned about it. And no other explanation could be given for why he now somehow expected her to ignore this pair of insects and give them free reign to run around pegging her. Scout 'mechs or no, the damage would mount up if they were left unchecked.
This was why you didn't leave the support unprotected. Without Bear and TimberWolf, Jaz had at least expected to have Warhound and Dragon between her and the enemy. Storm had buggered all of those as options and she was on her own.
"Bitch to Ronin, that's a negative," she spat gunning her own 'mech up to the top speed it could manage and heading through the trees in the same direction as her pursuers, "I can't focus on helping you so long as these two bastards're on my tail. Don't like it? Shoulda given me some actual fucking protection out here!"
With the last word she launched herself into the air on jump jets once more, bursting out of the tree canopy like a juggernaut. Realising what had gone wrong with her first defensive effort, Jaz had worked out how to compensate for the atrocious speed advantage of the Locust and Flea. By matching their direction and speed so far as possible, then kicking in the jumpjets for an extra boost, she had effectively cut their relative speed, even for the Locust, to only around fifty kilometres an hour. As she sailed through the air at something like sixty-five or even seventy kilometres an hour, Jaz's missiles spilled forth their fury again with one pod directed first at the Flea and then another at the Locust now below her.
It was an extremely tricky manoeuvre and while she managed the fly-and-fire part of it admirably, the extended jump would leave her open to fire for a split second if anything was looking in the right place. Further, sticking the landing at that speed was going to be tough. There was every chance she might clip a tree trunk as she crashed back through the canopy and be sent sprawling. If that worked though, she was still determined to shut Storm up for at least ten seconds and ought to have at least enough time to launch another salvo in the meat grinder's direction regardless of whether this barrage had any effect on her antagonisers.

---

Jasmine
Movement: Sprinted forward at max speed and activated jumpjets, aiming to keep fairly low but gain a speed boost.
Actions: Fired one LRM-20 at the Flea and one at the Locust, both while airborne.
Transmissions: Advised Ronin of her situation again.

[SaintB]

Combat
Timberwolf fires a full volley of missiles into the Chimera as it tries to stand and more than half of them impact with the 'mech chewing through the rear armor on the right and center torso and smashing up the right arm; the hapless Chimera falls back to the ground this time leaking coolant from the right arm and obvious damage dealt to its engine and gyro.

The downed pilot in the Grasshopper struggles for a moment before realizing he lacks the skill to stand his 'mech back up. He surrenders to Warhound by shutting down.

Ronin's clever flank maneuver almost puts him behind the Dragon but the pilot throttles into reverse and turns his torso just in time to protect himself from being shot from behind but making the 'mechs left side a nice easy target for Ronin's SRM and Pulse laser assault though two missiles fail to track. The Dragon returns fire missing with the autocannon but strafing the center and right torso of Ronin's Bushwhacker. When Ronin turns and runs the Dragon's pilot hesitates for a second and then charges after him.

The Quickdraw launches a second volley of missiles at Dragon's Warhammer as she fires her PPCs, it scores a few hits but takes a direct hit to the center and right torso for all it's trouble - Dragon hits the sweet spot between the right and center torso with one of her PPCs and bypasses the armor to score a direct hit on the engine and the Quickdraw staggers than falls to one knee.

Two of Bear's pulse lasers strike the Hatchetman's torso ripping across right and center, it returns fire missing with a laser shot but squarely strikes his right arm with an AC/10 as he lands, the shock from the hit causes Bear's missile shot to go wild.

The enemy Flea and Locust slow their speed as they prepare to enter the forest, just as Bitch opens up on them with her LRMS, the two hapless 'bugs' are caught in hail of explosives raining down from above but her landing isn't exactly pleasant....

The Raven totters to its feet.

Damage
Chimera takes 4 armor damage and 6 damage to CT (rear), 4 armor damage and 1 damage to RT (rear), 1 armor damage and 4 damage to RA, 8 armor damage to LA from LRMs
Critical Hits
RA - Chimera Loses Double Heat Sink
CT - Chimera takes Gyro hit, Chimera takes Engine hit

Dragon takes 2 armor damage to LA, and 2 armor damage to LT from SRMs
Dragon takes 6 armor damage to LA, and 6 armor damage to LT from Md. Pulse

Bushwhacker takes 3 armor damage to CT, and 2 armor damage to RT from Md. Laser

Quickdraw takes 10 damage to CT from ERPPC
Quickdraw takes 10 armor damage to RT from ERPPC
Critical Hit
Quickdraw takes 1 engine hit

Warhammer takes 3 armor damage to RL, and 3 armor damage to LL from LRM10

Hatchetman takes 5 armor damage to RT, and 7 armor damage to CT from x2Md.Pulse

Hellspawn takes 10 armor damage to RA from AC/10

Flea takes 7 armor damage and 3 damage to CT and 2 armor damage to RL from LRM 20
Critical Hit
1 Gyro Hit

Enemy Locust takes 5 armor damage to RA, 5 armor damage to RT, and 2 armor damage from LRM 20

Catapult takes 3 armor damage to RL, and 4 armor damage to LL from bad landing.

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

James approached the Chimera steadily, no hint of emotion or malicious intent on his face. He was just doing what was necessary for victory.

He stopped, surveying his prey, then lifted the right leg of the Vulture and smashed it down towards the foe's cockpit.

[Ularn]

Jaz was actually pretty happy with the landing. She was still upright, and armour was there to be broken. What she had really feared was damage to the leg actuators or that she would lose valuable seconds struggling to her feet again. As it was, she spent just a moment regaining her bearings after driving two deep trenches with her feet, then turned back towards the melee outside the base. She picked the first two targets to get a lock and loosed a pod at each.
Maybe Storm'll quit whining for a minute now, she hoped and turned her attention back to the two scouts once more while throttling her Catapult back into a steady trot through the trees once more, maintaining some distance between them and her while keeping them firmly in her tac screen.

[Northern Dominus]

Artemus
If Jaz was expecting a screaming reply to her latest transmissions, she wasn't getting it. In fact she wasn't going to get much of anything from that point on. At the moment Artemus had more pressing things to keep track of than a rogue lance leader, chief among them was the upcoming maneuver.

Still jinking the Bushwacker left and right while running at full speed towards the Warhammer and Cataphract he flipped the comms toggle, checking to make sure that the Dragon was indeed still following him.

"Ronin to Battle Lance, eta in front of your mechs approximately 30 seconds. Would appreciate you shooting the straggler behind my mech and not my Bushwacker, over."
Taking a look at his screens the task now was to keep things from devolving into an unorganized melee while maintaining aggression and initiative. That of course depended on everyone else at least attempting to work together.

Facilitating his own end of the plan, Artemus swung the left arm of the Bushwacker out and torso twisted, putting the reticule over the pipper the targeting computer threw up to compensate for movement, simulated atmospheric conditions and other variables and fired off a quick burst at the Dragon. There was no real intent to do damge in that shot however, just to enrage and focus the mechwarrior's attention onto him.
As he re-set the torso and arm and jinked yet again to throw off any potential autocannon shot the Dragon's mechwarrior might have been plotting Artemus had to wonder
'Am I falling into old Serpent habits? Gotta keep on top of that...'

Contact James then Bear and order them to link up due to Bitch being off the reservation
After yet another feint move Artemus toggled his communications system and opened a direct channel to James alone. With at least one support element going off the rails he could only hope that James was in a more compliant move, unaware that he had just executed a simulated enemy.

"Ronin to Timberwolf. Once you've polished off that Chimera I need you to link up with Bear and re-enforce him. Your lance leader has gone off on her own bug hunt and we need your LRM cover more than ever. You and Bear can watch each other's backs as you fire salvos from standoff range, just get to it ASAP."
Not to leave Bear in the dark either, Ronin fired up the direct channel to Bear to give him a heads up.

"Ronin to Bear, got a status report if you're able? I'm sending Timberwolf your way once he's done with the Chimera and I want you two providing mobile standoff LRM cover as soon as possible. Consider yourself temporarily in charge until Bitch gets back from her personal bug hunt, over."
It wasn't the most gallant thing to do, but at that moment Bitch had essentially deprived the entire company of her mech's firepower because a pair of scout mechs had tickled her medulla oblongata for far too long. In effect the draw-off had worked, but Ronin wasn't about to sacrifice any more firepower in an effort to extricate Bitch from her self-inflicted predicament, and if she wanted to complain he knew damn well where the volume control for the comms was located.

The 30 second figure he had stated as approximate was turning out to be the low end of the estimate with the amount of jinking and feinting he was performing to keep the pursuing Dragon from achieving some sort of track with the AC/10. Between jinks and feints he gave the scout element new orders.

"Ronin to Priest, I have zero track or confirmation from Andromeda but you can't stay in place. Move to the perhiphiary of the combat zone and keep an eye on things for us. If you have weapons left to take a pot-shot with engage at your discretion but don't get bogged down in some sort of slugfest with any enemy mechs, over."
No sooner had he let go of the transmit toggle did the two heavy mechs loom over a simulated rise. Ronin barely had enough time to flip the comms channel switch and re-mash the transmit toggle in any sort of time before crossing in front of their guns.

"Ronin to battle lance; cutting across your guns from the left, will engage Quickdraw and try and keep it in front of all of our guns along with the Dragon, over."

True to his word as Ronin raced in front of the Warhammer and Cataphract he targeted the Quickdraw, his own mech barreling at 86kph in another close-flanking move.

Having already selected the light gauss rifle again the difficult on-the-move shot was made much easier with the targeting computer, the hardware compensating for multiple axes of mech movement, velocity, simulated air temp and pressure, and a myriad of other factors that meant all Artemus had to do was put the reticule over the lead-calculated pipper and pull the trigger.

Once again the simulated weapon thrummed, barked, and the mech jerked slightly as another simulated tungsten slug left the barrel at hypersonic speeds towards the Quickdraw.
However rather than trying the same trick again with a different mech, Artemus instead heaved the Bushwacker into a turn and twisted the torso, circling in ever so slightly. Angling in such a way that the Quickdraw would have to break towards its compatriot Dragon he selected the SRM-4s again, intending to exploit any gaps in the armor that the Quickdraw already and keeping it in a rather vulnerable position.

Kat

Kat's trigger finger had just started to stretch out when Artemus' transmission cut in over the comms. Grumbling under her breath, she failed to clip any of the irritation in her voice when she replied.

"Copy that Ronin, will keep Quickdraw interested."
However, she somewhat regretted the sarcasm afterwords. True, the constant movement and shifting seemed a bit overly complex but it was a tactic she understood on some level but couldn't get through to the part of her brain that wanted to smash the Quickdraw into tiny little pieces.

Checking their respective positions, she concluded that it would help everyone to give Artemus a better angle to pass in front of them, and duly informed Warhound of the adjustment.
"Gun Dragon to Warhound, did you copy Ronin's latest transmission? Let's give him a hand, turn left 15 degrees and throttle back to about 50kph, over."

While waiting for his response, Kat baited the Quickdraw by twisting the torso of her Warhammer and firing a medium laser at its torso, more to get the mechwarriors' attention than do any critical damge.
Engaging in her own bit of subterfuge Kat kept the torso pointed at the Quickdraw while she worked out the upcoming series of shots with Warhound.

"Remember that Dragon will be moving very quickly in front of us so don't try and cut it's head off, just aim for the thickest part, over."
By that point Artemus had transmitted his proximity and Kat subsequently swiveled the torso back to the left to track the incoming Dragon. True to form first Artemus' Bushwacker streaked passed, followed by the barrel-chested profile of a Dragon.

Kat wasn't sure if there was a moment of hesitation on the Dragon's part. She wasn't sure if the mechwarrior behind the sim controls was that dogged or that oblivious. All she knew was that the instant she pulled the trigger and twin blue-white bolts of energy lanced out of the muzzles of her PPC's she realized just how close the Dragon was to field inhibitor range, meaning there were a lot of particles hitting that mech.

---

Artemus
Movement: Full-speed run away from Dragon jinking and feinting to avoid autocannon fire, pass in front of Will and Kat's mechs, feint close strafe to torso twist and circle on Quickdraw.
Action: Short baiting MPLAS burst at Dragon, Light Gauss shot at Quickdraw
Transmissions: Inform battle lance of eta till close pass, order James to link up with Bear and work with him, tell bear that James is joining him and to move to standoff range and use LRMs as support when possible, order Priest to scout at edge of combat zone and take potshots if possible but not to engage heavily, call close pass in front of battle lance

Kat
Movement: 15 degree left turn, throttle back to 50kph
Action: 1x MLAS Shot at Quickdraw, 2xPPC shot at Dragon
Transmissions: Confirm Ronin's ETA, tell will to turn with her and throttle back.

[Occupied Deutschland]

“Copy all, Ronin.” Walther responded simply as he continued falling back from the locus of the battlefield. Even as he withdrew, Walther kept his head tilting back and forth, scanning the area. All appearances were that the enemy force had shot their wad in an attempt to overwhelm Artemus and the rest of the good guys before there was any chance to organize and counter their charge.

Walther was briefly sidetracked by that expression. ‘Shot their wad’. He didn’t have any idea what it meant. He remembered reading it in some ancient book as an expression one of the main character’s had used, but Walther had never had the spare time to hunt down the origin.

Shaking away the errant thought, Walther focused back on the enemy forces. It seemed like they had been hoping that the element of surprise combined with the Raven’s jamming capabilities would let them close up on the support lance and knock it out before help could arrive. Artemus’s quick thinking and the premature knockout of the Raven’s jamming seemed to have put a dent in that plan, although it was being somewhat successful in the case of Bitch…Though mainly because she was letting it.

There was no doubt about it, though. Artemus’s quick adjustments had certainly eased the conflict, and the simulator seemed to be very impressed by the man’s tactics with all the successful, heavy hits it was reading as being landed on the Opfor mech’s. So far, things had been fairly smooth for the good guys.

Whether it would remain such depended on whether the Opfor had any surprises left or had the wherewithal to turn the tables somehow with what they had currently in play. It didn’t seem like they could but Walther had seen longer odds overcome before, both inside and outside of mech battles.

Walther slowed and began to pace around the battlefield as he searched his scope and the visual surroundings for any enemy mech’s and Andromeda. He glanced down at his heat readings and pursed his lips. They were low enough he might be able to get away with firing one of the small lasers but…

No, better to wait and cool off a little more. Wait until he could use the only semi-‘big’ gun on his mech without going into immediate automatic shutdown.


ACTIONS:
Movement: Begin circling battlefield at leisurely pace
Action: None (dissipate heat)

[SaintB]

Artemus
"Ronin to Bear, got a status report if you're able? I'm sending Timberwolf your way once he's done with the Chimera and I want you two providing mobile standoff LRM cover as soon as possible. Consider yourself temporarily in charge until Bitch gets back from her personal bug hunt, over."

"This is Bear, roger that! Status Report - The Hatchetman's torso armor is in bad shape; mine's taken a bit of a ding to the right arm but it's only armor damage. That Raven is still alive - passed through my field of vision but I can't see it any longer. When I finish this guy James and I will flow to the outskirts and provide support."

Bear locked on with the LRMs and fired then rushed forward opening up with the pulse lasers once more. With his attack run finished he once again fired the jets in reverse to land just outside of laser range, while keeping track of his target the best he could he made a quick check for the Raven and hailed James.

"Bear to Timberwolf what's your status on the Chimera and can you see that Raven anywhere? If I recall correctly that thing still has a couple lasers it could use if it flanks us."

As a precaution Bear reached up and flipped a switch on his console, reactivating his ECM's primary mode which would make him vanish from the enemy HUD in a few seconds time... whatever advantage you can get.

[Oblivion2]

Will had dileberately disobeyed Gun Dragon's first command to leave the 'Hopper be. But he had put so much effort into the thing that he would rather have taken insubordination charges rather than leave an enemy 'Mech waiting at their flanks. His patience was rewarded when the enemy 'mech chose to shut down instead of trying to get back up. "Good choice." Warhound said to himself before opening comms to Gun Dragon.

Before he could say anything however she immediately ordered him to shift left fifteen degrees and set throttle to fifty. "Roger that ma'am," Will said over the Comms, "Throttling to 50 KPH and left 15 degrees." He kicked his pedals hard left and brought the throttle up to fifty when he saw Artemis come streaming by in his Bushwhacker, followed closely by the hostile Dragon.

Kat lit the bastard up hot with her PPC's nearly within minimum range and as his vision cleared from the stream of particles leaving the Warhammer, William bellowed a roar of fury and unleashed all the fury of his autocannons and lasers upon the Dragon before twisting his torso to the left in order to prevent a reprisal attack.

He opened his comms yet again, "One nothing for me Gun Dragon, that all you got?"

[Strykla]

Andromeda had been skirting the sidelines for a while; Milky Way had so far sustained only minor damage from sprinting over uneven terrain; it had not even been shot at. He felt it was time for that to change.

"Priest, Priest, this is Andromeda. I am engaged and attacking hostile Raven, break." With that radio procedure out of the way(it was amazing how much he had remembered over the years); Andromeda twisted the torso thirty degrees to the right, facing towards the Raven and set to go past it at a quick jog. The left side had been blown to hell; perhaps, with one good shot, he'd bring it down. "Request status on chicks, over!"

He switched to his targeting radar; he no longer could see where friendlies were. The Raven was a good several kilometers away, certainly not in visual distance, but within shooting distance soon of his lasers and perhaps a long shot for the King David. He threw down a thermal scope; the exhaust plume from the wounded mech was visible.

[SaintB]

Combat

Timberwolf's Vulture strides up to the Chimera as it's pilot tries to stand up, after successfully planting it's foot on the enemy 'mechs head it pushes down crushing the cockpit and destroying the 'mech.

Bitch targets the nearest two enemies (Dragon, and Quickdraw) and fires a single missile pod at each. The shot toward the Dragon arcs perfectly and swarms down toward the enemy 'mech striking with all 20 missiles in the left arm and torso. Her Quickdraw volley does not fair are well and is instead almost totally absorbed by the trunk of a very large, very old, and now very dead tree, the few stray missiles that survive are too damaged by impacting branches to track a target. Her pursuers have gotten closer, to within range of the Locusts medium laser and it fires at her from the ridge down below but hits nothing but the forest canopy above her 'mechs head.

The Dragon draws a bead on Ronin's Bushwhacker and is prepared to fire it's AC/5 and LRMs into the rear of his torso but it's shots are scattered when the 'mech is mercilessly pounded by the LRM 20. Unfortunately for the 'mech and its pilot that was only the start of the massive storm of attacks launched against it. One of Dragon's PPC blasts lances past but the other strikes a leg and Warhound's AC/2 shots fly past wide and medium lasers miss but a 20 round hits it directly in the center torso. With all the weapon impacts on the 'mech while running it is almost inevitable that it should fall and it does, smashing hard into the ground arm first and plowing a furrow 30 meters long before it comes to a halt trailing pieces of its left arm behind it.

The Quickdraw rotates its torso to track Ronin just as he fires his gauss and takes a hit in the arm, as it come off it's knee the 'mech returns fire with two medium lasers scoring glancing hits on the right arm.

Bear's non-stop volley of missiles and pulse lasers takes it's toll on the Hatchetman, peeling most of the armor off the torso and revealing the AC/10 that takes up most of its right side, another burst from his pulse lasers strikes the weapon and neutralizes it. The Hatchetman's pilot is trapped between a rock and a hard place now, if he retreats he is open to LRM fire but if he advances he has to deal with the pulse lasers and a more maneuverable better armored opponent. He chooses retreat and fires his jump jets, carrying himself backward 120 meters and facing away from his attacker, throttling up the most speed it can manage.

Damage

Chimera takes 9 armor damage and 3 damage to head from BEING STEPPED ON.
Killshot (Deathsteap?)

Dragon takes 10 armor damage to LT and 10 armor damage to LA from LRM 20
Dragon takes 10armor damage to RL from PPC
Dragon takes 20 armor damage to CT from AC/20
Dragon takes 7 damage to LA from fall
Critical Hit
LA - Dragon loses hand actuator

Quickdraw takes 8 armor damage to RA from Lt. Gauss

Bushwhacker takes 4 armor damage to LA from Md. Laser

Hatchetman takes 5 armor damage to RT and 4 armor damage to LT from LRM 15
Hatchetman takes 2 armor damage and 6 damage to RT, 5 armor damage to CT, 5 armor damage to LT from 3x Md.Pls.
Critical Hit
RT - Hatchetman loses AC/10


Heat Levels
Bear - 9 (+1 to hit, -12k/h max speed)
Timberwolf - 0
Bitch - 5 (-12k/h max speed)
Ronin - 0
Dragon - 2
Priest - 0
Warhound - 0
Andromeda - 0

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

"Target eliminated." James broadcasted over the comms, rather darkly. He stepped off of the Chimera and began scanning the battlefield.

"TimberWolf to Ronin, orders acknowledged." He sent back in response. "Moving to link with Bear now. Stay safe out there, friend."

He turned towards the CO and began moving in his direction. "TimberWolf to Bear, I've got no visual on the Raven but can assist you with the Hatchetman, if you want." He checked over his systems and heat levels, slightly surprised that what heat he had incurred had already dissipated.

[Occupied Deutschland]

Walther scanned the battlefield for a moment, trying to get a picture of what was going on. The enemy force was definitely at a disadvantage now, and it was beginning to become wide enough that it looked less and less likely that they could recover with what they had.

The Hatchetman was on the run, and if he hurried he might be able to intercept it and harass it. Walther considered the idea for a moment. As damaged as it was, the mech could still pose a bit of a threat to his Locust, and now that it looked as if the simulated battle was nearing its end, Walther was less willing to take chances. Walther glanced at the downed Dragon for a moment, but quickly nixed the idea of doing anything to it for a much less discernible reason.

Reaching a decision, Walther shifted his mech slightly towards the Hatchetman and stopped. No need to take unnecessary risks, it was still deadly enough to pose a serious threat to him. Walther would prefer not being taken out by a nearly-downed enemy mech moments before it was destroyed by a teammate.

Intent on harassing the Hatchetman though, Walther stabbed his medium laser at the back of the enemy mech.

ACTIONS:
Movement: Come to a halt.
Action: Fire medium laser at Hatchetman.

[Northern Dominus]

Artemus
The hiss and crackling of laser impacts on the simulated Bushwacker's torso vaguely registered with Artemus. There was no klaxxon warning of imminent heat shutdown or critical damage, and therefore it didn't intrude into his thought process and categorizing of task priorities.

Incidentally, priority one asserted itself with another round of deedeedeedeebzzzzzz... fortelling another SRM-4 lock-on. A squeeze of the trigger was rewarded with a simulator jerk and vibration accompanied with roaring fire and smoke as four SRM's left their tubes within nanoseconds of each other and streaked towards the Quickdraw.

Artemus however wasn't waiting for impact at that moment, having switched back over to the grouped medium pulse lasers, throttled forward slightly, put the reticule over the targeting computer's lead pipper, and pressed the trigger again. As the bright chartreuse bolts lashed out with angry barking chirps towards the Quickdraw, Artemus toggled the comms switch to the company-wide frequency, his words accompanied by the laser choir in the backround.

"Ronin to all lance elements, anyone who's engaged in combat stay engaged but try and push them in front of main battle lance, mech grinder is set.
Exception goes to you Priest. If possible break away and start engaging those offline laser turrets while keeping an eye on things.
Gun Dragon, Warhound, you know what to do.

Now's the time to press as hard as possible, over!"

The heat was quickly becoming more and more intense and the instruments were starting to fuzz, but Ronin had every intention of pushing the ambient heat right up to the limit and matching the Quickdraw move for move, forcing it back into the murderous arc in front of the two heavy mechs behind it.

Kat
Earlier the constant stream of orders from Artemus was starting to wear on Kat, but the situation had played into her liking rather handily. Not much movement to string out the mechs, no confusing routes, just move forward like an ancient vid monster and crush all before her.

Checking their relative positions, Kat took a quick look at the sensors to check where everyone might be coming from if it were possible to push them in front of their position, then hit the comms transmit button to telegraph her adjustments to Will.
"Gun Dragon to Warhound, throttle back a bit more to 10 kph and give everyone room to..."

Just then the Dragon which had been chasing Ronin and which had fallen victim to missile PPC an autocannon fire fell from the onslaught, and the fangs came out all the way.

"...move and Alpha strike that Dragon first, over!

Following up on her own order Kat flipped a panel over a button on the right joystick, pressed it down then pulled the trigger. The cacouphany of thunderous cracks, wooshing roars, barking chirps and staccato snapping was only dwarfed by the massive show of white blue PPC streams, chartreuse and scarlet lasers, yellow-orange SRM-6 flames obscured by smoke, and convoys of MG tracer fire all lancing at the Dragon. Instantly the heat spiked, warning alerts blared and the heat spiked, but for the moment Kat was zeroed in on the Dragon, willing every simulated shot to punch through the armor and hit something vital

---

Artemus
Movement:Throttle forward slowly 9-15kph
Action: Fire SRM-4, sustained 2xMPLAS burst
Transmissions: Order most mechs engaged in combat to continue and to push them towards Main Battle Lance position, order Walter to continue scouting and destroy facility laser turrets.

Kat
Movement:Throttle back to 10 kph
Action:Alpha Strike (fire 2xPPCs, 2x MLAS, 2xSLAS, 1xSRM-6, 2xMG) at Dragon
Transmissions: Suggest Warhound throttle back to 10kph then Alpha Strike at Dragon.

[SaintB]

All the jetting and shooting at the Hatchetman had built up significant waste heat, enough to start messing with the engine and targeting instruments and make Dave feel kind of toasty in his command chair, he decided he'd let his engine cool a bit and followed the Hatchetman just out of range of it's remaining laser but not firing any weapons so that his heat sinks could do their work.

"TimberWolf to Bear, I've got no visual on the Raven but can assist you with the Hatchetman, if you want."

He considered a moment before answering and luckily a blip appeared on Bear's scope once Andromeda got a good read on the Raven, he switched to a direct comm: "Bear to Timberwolf; I can handle the Hatchetman, how about you either find a position were we can get a good field of fire on those remaining OpFor or see if Andromeda could use a hand with that Raven?"

"Ronin to all lance elements, anyone who's engaged in combat stay engaged but try and push them in front of main battle lance, mech grinder is set.
Exception goes to you Priest. If possible break away and start engaging those offline laser turrets while keeping an eye on things. Gun Dragon, Warhound, you know what to do. Now's the time to press as hard as possible, over!"

Bear felt the need to jump in and give Ronin a Chance to below some of that order, "Bear to Ronin, the mission calls for doing as little damage to the facility as possible. I don't know how happy our client would be if we destroyed those turrets needlessly."

In truth he knew exactly how the client would feel (since for all intents and purposes that was himself) and the client wouldn't like that they ignored the details of the mission.

[Hardened Pyrokinetics]

"Understood, Bear." James responded, taking his Vulture in a wide left turn towards Julius. "TimberWolf to Andromeda, need any help with the Raven?"

That's when Bear suggested they maybe not slag the turrets. "While I agree that the client might not appreciate us blasting the things, we should still keep an eye on them just in case OpFor gets them online." He took a deep breath. "Sir, if this were an actual mission and not a simulation, we wouldn't know if those things were actually operational or not and if OpFor was planning to catch us unawares. Better to be safe than sorry, and aren't these simulations meant to see how we handle combat situations? Using knowledge that we, realistically, wouldn't know is cheating and not an accurate measure of our capabilities."

[Northern Dominus]

Artemus
As the gauges and screens started to fuzz and the heat started to go from oppressive to blinding, Artemus' brain registered a faint voice from somewhere. It was most likely the comms, although for the moment he couldn't be sure why it was so faint given the various stresses at that particular moment.

"Bear to Ronin, the mission calls for doing as little damage to the facility as possible. I don't know how happy our client would be if we destroyed those turrets needlessly."

Almost automatically Artemus flipped the toggle to the company-frequency. If he were less burdened at the moment he would have mentally chastised himself. That would have to come later. As it was his transmission was broken up by semi-pants, shakes of the head, and itermittent waste-heat induced static.

"Ronin to company, everyone belay...firing orders on turrets... continue scout...repeat cont... Priest... over!"

---

Artemus
Transmissions: Order company to not fire on facility turrets, order Priest to continue scouting.