Disclaimer: I own nothing from Battletech/MechWarrior. I own the hours of sleep lost when writing.
Fire and brimstone plagued the land, consuming those unlucky to escape the horsemen's wrath.
The azure sky and ocean were ashen, devoid of the once-present tranquility.
A young warrior stood at the capital's peak, looking down upon the former jewel as a lone figure stood behind her.
As if she sensed their presence, she turned to face them without fear.
After a period of silence, the figure spoke to her.
'It is such a quiet thing to fall.'
'But, far more terrible to admit it.'
May 7th, 3026
Rockwellawan
"Commander, I've got eyes on a pirate lance composed of a Shadow Hawk, Griffin, Firestarter, and a Panther escorting several APCs and transport trucks. Bearing 248."
"Roger, Dagger. Maintain distance and pursue."
"Wilco."
Commander Raymond Vallejo sat in his Atlas II as his left hand slowly moved the throttle forward to a steady pace, staying outside of radar range. The rest of his lance followed him, practicing good spacing by two hundred meters each. His mech followed through the designated nav points from the foothills, hiding his lance's presence. Dagger was tasked with scouting and reporting the location of the pirate clan's base for the rest of the lance.
Over a year has passed since the end of the Aurgian Civil War. Since then, Ursus Company has been contracting outside the Periphery. Upon their return trip, the Aurgian Coalition faced increased raids across their territories, with the latest attack on Sacromonte, the Reach's critical trading world.
'The Reach calls upon us again…'
Just then, Dagger's voice gained his attention. "Commander, I have eyes on the pirate base. Stand by for UAV feed."
"Copy." Raymond's left hand brought the throttle back to zero. The Atlas II halted, and the others followed suit as he pulled a hanging monitor from his right. The UAV hovered behind a medium-sized hill as Dagger increased the magnification. From the camera, Raymond could see a fortified makeshift base with turrets protecting the perimeter. Inside the compound was a vehicle bay and several cargo containers off to the side.
"Dagger, can you see what was inside those trucks?" The UAV began to move closer. As it did, he saw families exiting the vehicles and being shoved into the barracks by the guards.
"Shit." Raymond pushed the back monitor back into place and activated his comms link. "Darius."
The Argo's XO voice soon emitted. "What's up, commander?"
"Get me patched through Lieutenant Torres. There's a change in the situation."
"Roger," Darius said as he quickly established a secure link.
The officer's dark-toned face projected himself through his monitor. "Commander."
"Pirates captured the town residents and are holding them in the barracks. There is an escape route towards the eastern side of the compound. I suggest our lances commence a pincher maneuver in one hour and use the night to our advantage. You come from the south while my lance assaults the front door."
"Acknowledged. I'll inform my troops of the situation."
Vallejo started a timer and told Dagger to regroup.
'No mistakes.'
----------------------------------------
Swanson leaned back in a lawn chair on the wall's pathway with a bottle of bourbon he raided from the town's liquor store, looking out to the mountains and stars in celebration of a good day's raid. There was a good pool of young people to work in the mines or wherever the client wanted them. As for the others... He didn't need details, but he could combine two and two.
"To bounty and glory." He took a swig, gripping the bottle by the neck before shuddering.
Shortly after, one of his underlings walked up to his right. He was a younger man, probably in his 20s if Swanson had to care, with a scruffing beard and short brown hair. "Boss, a couple of the women and children are fighting back against some of our men. How do you want us to handle it?"
Swanson spun the bottle in his right hand, "Make sure your men let the women know who is in charge."
"As for the children?" The underling asked.
"Have them be witness," Swanson said with a dismissive hand wave.
There was a pregnant pause before the wooden stairs creaked.
The pirate leader sighed before taking a heavier swig, shrieks and yelling invading his eardrums.
The alcohol burned as it went down, causing him to close his eyes. He removed the bottle from his mouth and swallowed. His eyes returned to the snow-capped sharp peaks of the mountains and how they reminded him of his time in the Capellan Confederation. The chilling air flooded his cockpit as he fought off the Free Worlds League's Oriente Hussars. That was a day of infamy for him. He could still hear the Awesome's screeching PPCs and the Longbow's howling LRMs, haunting him as images of a glowing Centurion cockpit and red mist assaulted his mind.
As his eyes swayed lightly, he noticed a dark shadow in the middle, dividing the landscape. He could barely make out the shape before a pair of red lights began to glow at the heart of the mountain—flashes of yellow and blue highlighting the white skull.
The howling became louder and louder before impacting against one of the shredder turrets, the shockwave knocking him off his chair. Yelling and ammo cook-off pierced his ears as he stumbled to get back up. As the searchlights scanned, he noticed the prowling bear emblem on the right side of Atlas's chest and furrowed his eyebrows.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
As another round of explosions rocked the base, Swanson hurried down the stairs and rushed to the barracks. No one was going to ruin his bounty. Not if he can help it.
----------------------------------------
"Remember your RoE and avoid firing into the base itself. I want a clean and smooth OP." He ordered.
"Roger." Replied his lance.
His cockpit polarized from Trickshot's Warhammer as the PPCs struck an LRM turret as he switched comm channels. "Anvil has been their assault. We'll engage the returning patrol as your lance collapses on top of the base."
"Affirmative," Torres said before the channel closed.
Swapping back to the lance channel, Raymond hailed Firecracker. "Firecracker, have your Archer focus on the remaining turrets. We'll push forward and take the heat off you."
"You got it!"
The Atlas II's gyro buzzed as it rotated right. His index finger pulled the trigger while his fingers pressed two side buttons. The goliath unleashed its LB-10X's slug munition, SRM-6, and medium pulse lasers onto the enemy Shadow Hawk's right leg. The autocannon and lasers struck true while the missiles clashed with the trees behind. The Shadow Hawk retaliated with a burst of its AC/5 and SRM-2. Both struck his center torso, but he remained steady. He unleashed another salvo as Dagger joined him with his bombardment. The leg popped, causing the Shadow Hawk to fall and allowing the two mercs to finish the remaining leg.
The Atlas II rocked to the right as a PPC round scorched his left shoulder. Activating thermal vision, he saw the Panther's heat signature hiding amongst the treeline over 600 meters away.
"Save that for salvage and focus on the Panther," Raymond ordered.
The Grasshopper activated its jump jets and soared as his radar picked up a fast-moving blip dashing towards Firecracker. The entrance's two medium laser turrets opened on Atlas II's left shoulder. Quickly performing a multi-target maneuver, the mech's left arm swung wide and retaliated with its ER Large Lasers onto the left turret while the left torso fired its barrage of twenty long-range missiles. Beams of dark blue and deafening warheads turned both turrets into slag.
"Commander, this is Torres. My lance has begun its assault. Turns out these bandits are a little more prepared than I thought. SRM carriers and tanks poured out on our side of the base. We'll make short work of them!"
"Understood, Lieutenant."
He quickly turned his mech 180 degrees and moved toward the Firestarter. Firecracker's body shone as a sheen of sweat glazed her skin. Her Archer was swatting at the light mech but missed each attack. "My goose is getting cooked, Commander!" She yelled, her right eye squinting as sweat entered.
Raymond swapped the LB 10-X to cluster mode and tracked the Firestarter with his reticle. A volley of 90mm pellets and pulse lasers struck the light mech's right arm as it rounded Firecracker's right side. The limb flew and skidded several meters away, knocking up dirt and dust. The Firestarter began to divert towards him, giving Firecracker time to recover.
'Perfect.' He thought as his heat gauge climbed. Attacks from the flamers and medium lasers were futile to the Atlas's double heat sinks and ferro-fibrous armor as it circled. In his desperate attempt, the pirate was unaware till the last second of the approaching Archer's gut punch, knocking him onto the ground.
"Ah, excellent timing. He was going to put a dent into me,"
"Har har har, commander." Firecracker sarcastically replied as her mech's right arm shook the non-existent pain away.
Ray smirked as he heard Dagger through his ears, "Commander, the Panther is taken care of."
"Copy. Torres, my lance has finished up on our side. How are you holding up?"
"Just finished mopping up the stragglers. We'll converge on the base once my ground troops arrive. Until then, have your lance provide overwatch. ETA is thirty minutes. Torres out."
----------------------------------------
Raymond stood in the center of the base, holding onto his neuro helmet as he watched the Coalition troops consolidate the pirates into a corner before looking towards Lieutenant Torres, talking to a sergeant. The officer was of average height with a military crew cut and dark brown skin, a few shades away from Vallejo's. The sergeant was dismissed with a salute before the lieutenant walked towards him. As he did, the mercenary noticed the disappointed look on his face. The young officer tried to hide it, but Ray could see right through it.
"Commander Vallejo. You and your lance did excellent work. I can see why High Lady Arano put her faith in you." He said.
"Well, years of experience will do that to a person," Raymond said as he lit a cigar. He puffed for several seconds before inhaling. "What's the status of the civilians?" He exhaled, the cigar never leaving his mouth.
The officer's face began to soften before returning to a more stern look as he saw the children clinging to their parents as the medics conducted their examinations. "A few of them took some beatings and are being tended to by the medics, but the rest are going to be okay. Physically, anyway."
"However, we missed something." Raymond deduced.
Torres turned his face back to the mercenary before nodding. "Yeah, the monster behind this. What we learned from these payasos is that their leader escaped."
"That's… certainly a word to use."
The lieutenant chuckled. "I would say worse, but there are children nearby."
Vallejo nodded before he patted his shoulder. "You'll get them, Torres. You and your men did good work today. Pirates are scum, but they're also some of the most short-sighted. They slip up somewhere."
A voice rang through his earpiece. "Commander, this is Sumire. I'm bringing the Leopard 300 meters away from your lance's position. ETA ten minutes."
Vallejo pressed his right ear. "Copy that, Sumire." The mercenary looked back at Torres, getting an approving nod. He walked back to his mech, smirkingly. Along the way, he noticed the children's grip on their parents' clothing loosened as they watched him leave. He gave a two-finger salute before climbing his kneeling mech's retractable ladder. He reactivated the fusion reactor inside the retinal cockpit and lightly squashed his cigar before sliding his helmet on.
"Alright, let's move to extract at Nav Point Hotel. I'll take point."
The townsfolk watched as the 100-ton goliath's eyes glowed red as it stood up and lumbered north towards the mountains.
----------------------------------------
A/N: Into the wild, I set you, my pretty! After getting into the tabletop scene and reading the novels, I've been cooking this up for a while. I only played the MechWarrior and MechAssault games, so I didn't understand how the mechs were handled in literature. I know in the tabletop, it's all up in the air with your dice rolls, so I sought guidance. I was initially going to do a story centered on Clan Star Adder after the Wars of Reaving, but writing clanners was challenging. So, I decided to write a mercenary story, especially after reading the House Arano sourcebook and re-reading Primordial-wielder's story, Dragon of the Reach. I loved how they handled the characters and the politics of a post-restoration Aurigan Reach in their fic. Check out their story here :https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13236357/1/Dragon-of-the-Reach
Speaking of the sourcebook, boy, was I sad at the Reach's fate. Four years of war, and the Magistry does them dirty. However, I was also intrigued by it and the amount of room CGL gave for writers. It allows us super nerds to write our fan stories! With that said, I took some creativity into account in this story. First one is the Altas II. The deception of it in HBS' Battletech always bothered me. It never sat well with me that they chose the mech model and loadout of the regular Atlas and just gave it Ferro and double heat sinks before calling it a day. Not when they have made concept art of a proper Atlas II in their art book. But, hey, I get it. The devs probably ran out of time and did what they had to do. Plus, PGI's design for the Atlas is still pretty bangin' to this day, so I'll let it slide. For this story, I changed it back to its original design, the AS-7-D-H. I also got the minis with the updated mold from Iron Wind Metals and CGL's Star League Command Lance force pack and fell in love. Low key preferred the more "square" (?) look for the shoulders you see in his art piece of Devlin Stone's Atlas fighting Alaric Ward's Savage Wolf (I will not call that thing a Mad Cat, for I am trueborn!).
The second change is the post-war setting. The sourcebook gave me some ideas to work with. Since we don't truly know what happened after the Civil War, I can add a mystery element to the usual stompy robot action and political drama. It is up to the commander to figure out what happened and try to make things right.
If he can, that is...
Please leave me your feedback.