BY: Gladiator
Edwards,
Wallart and the rest of the ground pounders soon boarded the Dragoons’
jumpship and were bound for Solaris. The
flight into the system aboard the jumpship was routine. There was only one short delay in transit.
They were far off course from their predetermined jump point into the
Solaris system, whereby it took several more days to reach the planet than
expected. Navigational computers
receiving data from the Kearny-Fuchida powerplant noticed an 8% power drain from
an unknown source. The magnetic field of the local star was fluctuating greatly
and it was probably due to that...or so Jamie Wolf told them.
The Colonel seemed on the verge of alluding to something in conversation,
but noticeably always stopped prematurely.
No one could complain though....
Wolf’s
Dragoons had set them up with ornate accommodations. A far cry from the standard living area for which they were
accustomed during interstellar travel. The
Monolith class jump vessel carried 9 dropships, and the crew was very curious as
to their confinement to quarters. It would surly be an awesome spectacle to explore the
Dragoons' combat regiments contained within the other ships. Military secretiveness prevailed unfortunately, and the men
(and woman) of their squad spent their down time researching technical readouts
and weapons schematics in an attempt to muster a cardinal array of Battlemechs
for use in the games.
The
guidelines for their first encounter were simple. Gross tonnage would have to be less than 500 and the
utilization of 4 lances would be allowed. The
mech weight would be spread from as little as five 100-ton behemoths or 16
smaller units. Each team would be
different, making for very interesting confrontations.
They needed to be prepared for anything.
Wallart
was maintaining his Atlas as the primary backbone of their side.
Its quiet faceless grin symbolized unity among their troops, and
subconsciously mauled an enemy's moral when engaged at close range.
Brandishing the legendary AutoCannon 20 in one hand and a retrofitted
Gauss Rifle in the other. The Kong
mech was now truly bad ass and the would-be King on the battlefield.
The mech also boasted an armor rating of over 300 - very heavy in
comparison to others in its class - It would take a lot of punishment to bring
down this beast. To top it off, an
LRM 20 pod was also mounted. With
its new assortment of weapons, the Atlas weight tipped the scales at 100 tons
and would be a force to reckon with. Pity
the fool to be anywhere in proximity - long, or especially at short range
combat.
On
the other side of the scale was Storm. He
scanned over the allotment of mech classes presented in front of him.
His famed Locust was not an option, there were however a multitude of
smaller mechs to choose from. His
skills were in the area of reconnaissance, using speed and maneuverability in
lieu of piloting the larger Battlemechs. He
narrowed his choices down to one, a 35 ton Ostscout.
Void of any weapons, its advantages were a lightning quick top speed of
130kph and could jump over 250 meters. The
scout's purpose was for what he liked best - targeting enemy mechs for eminent
destruction by his teammates. Its
only function was to act as a spotter using its Garret Mole Target Acquisition
Gear, or TAG for short.
The
Oscout would be working in close conjunction with the new Catapult that replaced
the group's Hunchback, which could only be salvaged for spare parts.
The Catapult had no close range weapons and would exclusively stay behind
the front line mechs. It mounted
two Arrow IV missile systems. When
the TAG from the Oscout acquired a target, the missile batteries would home in
and nothing would stop their fiery devastation.
Farrow’s
Archer was also modified with the Artemis IV Fire Control System.
This would greatly improve the accuracy of the standard LRM20 racks.
Also added was a Narc missile beacon.
Once deployed, it would emit a signal allowing the other lance mechs
targeting systems to home in on the beacon...unfortunate for enemy mechs,
allowing future missile impacts to be persistently more accurate. Also added were more efficient heat sinks, capable of
dissipating heat at twice the normal amount.
The Archer’s long range weapons in addition to the Catapults and the
potent combination of the Oscout gave their side a lethal ballistic attack.
Edwards'
Battlemaster, and Victor's Phoenix Hawk were still pretty much standard issue.
They were both outfitted with some of the new double heat sinks and
upgrades to the Large lasers aboard the Hawk and Particle Projection Cannon on
the Battlemaster changed to the Extended Range models.
Last
but certainly not least was the Annihilator, a mech unique to the Dragoons.
Another monstrous 100-ton mech primarily utilized for close range duels.
The war machine was built around two main gun pods.
With the Wasat Aggressor Type 5 targeting and tracking system the
Annihilator lived up to its name by its ability to fire on multiple targets
simultaneously. Blistering with 4
LB-10 Autocannons and 4 medium pulse lasers, the Annihilator packed short-range
firepower unmatched by the other mechs. The
LB-X was also fitted to carry special cluster munitions.
When fired they acted like duel sawed off double-barreled shotguns...
peppering the enemy with fragments over a wide range.... and making it a most
gruesome adversary at Close Encounters.
Wallart
scanned over the tactical displays on the mechs chosen by his team.
Atlas
100 tons
Catapult
65 tons
Archer
70 tons
Battlemaster
85 tons
Phoenix
Hawk 45 tons
Oscout
35 tons
Annihilator
100 tons
They
were ready.
All
they needed now, was a name.
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