5

I was a little apprehensive before my first jump mostly because I wondered if I was one of the happy few people that suffered from Transit Disorientation Syndrome (TDS). That would have sucked big time. Thankfully, I was a lucky (or normal) guy; I just suffered from a little disorientation for a few seconds after the jump.

Eight jumps and two boring months later, we arrived. Let me tell you that they are right, waiting in zero or minimal gravity, for the K-F drive to recharge is boring as Hell. However that changed just after we arrived in system when the alarm sounded as a JumpShip was detected near us!

The four Intrepids and the two Hammerheads scrambled, but strangely, no sign of activity was detected aboard the unknown ship that we had now identified as a Merchant and an attached Danais.

After boarding both, the marines informed us that they were deserted. The tech team that followed, reported that the DropShip had the drop collar fused and that the JumpShip not only had two helium seals ruptured but that several components had burned. Perhaps an electric discharge ? The K-F drive and the bridge appeared to be intact. I decided to let them behind us. If we won, we could get our hands on them.

Locating the Argo and the pirates was not as difficult as I had feared. Their base was the only place on the moon that had signals of activity and every infrared and energy readings found them quite easily. From orbit I could see the wreckage of the Argo – Yes! I found it! Boy, it was a real big DropShip, easily dwarfing the Jumbo or the Mule that was scattered nearby. However even from this afar it was easy to see that it was in bad shape and that there were several makeshift constructions in the area. I caught Vasseur looking at me with an intense stare. When I looked back, he looked away.

We landed at a safe distance as Vasseur didn't want to risk facing their potential Flak weapons. We first deployed the 'Mechs then the vehicles. Unlike the Black Eagle, the Jumbo was not a military DropShip designed to rapidly unload military forces, which meant we couldn't do a blitz raid on the pirates, another untold reason for landing at a safe distance.

I still drove the Eisenfaust having decided that the Marauder that I had initially planned to use would be put to better use in the hands of a more experienced 'MechWarrior. In the few training missions with all the 'Mechs the Revenants had, it had been easy to see that I was the less experienced of all our people and not by a small margin. For me it was positive as it meant that Vasseur had done a good job contracting experienced people.

Taking with us only the Hunters for some extra long range fire support along with the APCs, we departed in direction of the pirate base and our prize.

Near the pirate base, six 'Mechs opposed us; the biggest a Shadow Hawk, the other five lighter models (two Wasps, two Locusts and one Commando). So, no vehicles this time, another (happy) divergence.

One thing the pirates were not was a bunch of cowards ; even against such superior force, they came to fight and died well.

I was nervous. After all, it was my first battle, this time is for real and I could be killed. Noticing my hesitation, Vasseur told me to stay close to him (not a big problem since our 'Mechs had the same speed) and to fire on the same target.

Vasseur selected the Shadow Hawk as his target and hit him with the LRM-15 and Large Laser of his Thunderbolt. Following him as I had been instructed, I placed a shot in the Shadow Hawk with my AC/5, hitting it in the right torso, but my Large Laser missed. However before I could shoot again, dozens of LRM's fired by the Hunters landed on it right before the Warhammer piloted by Luis sent two well placed PPC shots in the already damaged torso of the Shadow Hawk, penetrating it and destroying its gyro, which brought the 'Mech to the ground and this fight to an end. Looking around, I could see that the only 'Mechs still standing were ours, the pirates were just piles of wreckage. The battle had ended so fast. Vasseur told me later that one thing that had helped us was that all the enemy 'Mechs were in bad shape. For example, the Shadow Hawk entered the battle with less than half its normal armor.

Approaching the base, we only needed to deal with two makeshift remote controlled turrets that were quickly destroyed from afar as they didn't even have long range weapons, just a pair of medium lasers and machine guns each. After that, Vasseur called the APC's in order for the infantry to secure the base while the 'Mechs made a security perimeter around it.

Our infantry had little difficulty and few losses in securing the base. Unlike the pirates, our infantry had the best Ablative/Flak Armor that you could buy in the Concordat and the NCO's were all veterans with plenty of experience in small scale CQC. They stormed the place, eliminating the majority of the pirates and capturing the few that surrendered fast enough or were caught after being put unconscious during the fight. They also found and released several slaves and the crews of several captured DropShips.

Combining the information obtained from the liberated slaves with the data 'extracted' from the pirates under a 'robust' interrogation (not a nice thing to do but they were pirates and the end justify the means), we could get a better picture of the pirate band. It was a medium one with a single JumpShip, an old Tramp, with all is docking points operational and loaded with two DropShip, a Leopard, modified to carry six Light 'Mechs and a Buccaneer. Apparently, the most capable of the pirates were gone in that JumpShip and would return in about two weeks. Last but not least, these pirates were following a standard procedure and we learned that they always exited hyperspace near the abandoned Merchant. Armed with that knowledge, Vasseur started the planning process to try to capture this new prey. 

Much different from the game.