Archive of Our Own

“...this might be a bad time to bring it up, but you do remember what the mission brief was, right?” A brief pause, before a squelch, and a long-suffering sigh was heard over the comms. Or at the very least, on the private comm channel that the two more experienced MechWarriors had opened up beforehand. A weary hand flicked the corresponding switches to broadcast his next words to his entire lance, and with a deep sigh, he spoke. “This is the last time I’m going to tell the two of you, so shut up and listen! Our objective today is to recon a few locations that we suspect house the group of bandits that have been raiding towns, looting villages- one of which, might I add, was your own goddamned village?!”  

Hearing some snickering over the private comm channel, the speaker shot a glare at the source of the laughter through his cockpit, and although he couldn’t see his lancemate's expression, he was definitely picturing it in his mind. Taking another deep breath to calm himself down, Tristan, the rather weary MechWarrior spoke in a calmer tone once more. “And once we find the bandit base...well, I don’t think I need to tell you what we’re gonna do, right?” Leaning back into his command couch, Tristan wished he could run a palm over his face, but as the bulky Neurohelmet resting on his shoulders restricted his movement rather severely, he settled for opening up the battlegrid to ensure his lance wasn’t straying too off course, while simultaneously flicking back to the private channel on his comms. “I swear, one of these days I’m going to shoot these dumbass locals instead of taking their jobs....” A shorter chuckle, followed by a rather mirthful, if still weary voice replied back. “If you did that, where would we get the C-Bills for our rides?”  

Another glare, punctuated by Tristan twisting his Mech’s torso to face his partner’s own Mech was Josh’s only reply. It was true, Josh was piloting a Rifleman IIC that he and Tristan had somehow managed to buy on the black market in some backwater system, and while yes, the price they’d paid was extremely steep, even for black market standards, the only other way the two of them would encounter Clan tech was to actually face those crazy bastards on the field, and although they were skilled, they’d heard horror stories of how Clan Mechs never seemed to overheat, and how they were able to shrug off hits that’d cripple or destroy any other Inner Sphere Mech, and fight on.... Tristan and Josh had decided that, until they could scrounge up enough cash, supplies, and nerve to face the Clans head on, they would stick to buying their sweet, sweet tech off of the black market, even if it left a rather sizable hole in their bank accounts.  

The unmistakable ping of something getting picked up on his sensors alerted Tristan, and he swallowed harshly before broadcasting his next words to the entire lance. “Alright, we’re a couple of clicks out from the first suspected location, and my sensors are telling me we’ve got company... Burgertime, Guano, you two take a look ahead, but do not engage any hostiles you spot. I say again, do not engage any hostiles, just move up, try and see what those bandits have, and report back, alright?” Shaking his head slightly at the callsigns of the local pilots, Tristan decided they weren’t much better than his or Josh’s own, being “Meme” and “Yumi” respectively... 

Dimly aware of the two greener pilot’s responses, Tristan watched as their Commando and Stinger BattleMechs broke formation to carry out his orders, and the two remaining pilots pushed their throttles to full in sync, following the trail of overturned trees that the smaller Mechs had left in their wake to try and break out of the thick foliage that they’d been trudging through for the better part of 30 minutes, all in the name of trying to catch the bandits off guard. 

While Tristan’s own Rifleman wasn’t as advanced as Josh’s Rifleman IIC was, he had certainly upgraded it with more advanced, if expensive Inner Sphere technology, to ensure that he could fulfill the role of a dedicated fire support Mech as well as, if not better than Josh. Twin RAC/5s with a whopping six tons of ammunition ensured that he could lay down a withering amount of fire.... if he managed to keep them unjammed, while CASE protected him from any ammo cookoffs or explosions. Three ER Medium Lasers meant that he would still be able to fight in the event both of his Autocannons jammed, and double heatsinks kept it relatively cool. To save weight for these upgrades, his Rifleman used a Light Engine, and while it was inferior to an XL Engine in terms of weight saving, Tristan found that XL Engines made Mechs far too fragile, and so the Light Engine was a neat compromise.  

“Shit shit SHIT! Lead, come in! We’ve got lots of company! We’re spotting a whole lance of Mechs, plus tank support, what do we do?!” The frantic cry from one of the rookie pilots set Tristan on edge, and through gritted teeth, barked out a reply to the panicking greenhorn. “Heard. Two of you, get back here NOW! We don’t need the two of you dying on us, don’t play the hero yet, you hear?” Thumbing the buttons on his joystick in a nervous tic, Tristan pondered if sending the two rookies ahead was a tactical blunder, before he bit down on his lip hard as the two light Mechs came close enough for his Mech’s DI to pick up on their status.  

They’d taken quite the beating, by the looks of it, but their armor and speed had helped them to escape with no internal damage, and Tristan breathed a sigh of relief before addressing the scouts once more. “What kind of Mechs did you see? Did you see their model, loadouts, how fast they were going, anything? And ‘tank support’ is kinda vague, rookie, we gotta work on your communication skills after this!” Breaking through a rookie pilot’s panic with dry humour was a tried-and-true tactic, and it wasn’t long before one of them spoke up, sounding much calmer, but still rather tense as he spoke. “W-we got shot at by a bunch of things at once, but I think I saw a couple of Urbies? The AC/20 version too.... a-and a pretty huge mech too!” “Yeah, and there were 3 or 4 tanks as well? They were moving pretty fast, so I don’t think they had that many guns on em!”  

Resisting the urge to sigh over the comms, Tristan supposed that their descriptions were passable, and while the thought of those bandits using Urbanmechs to raid villages was rather cute, he frowned at the mention of a ‘huge mech’, and knew that Josh was feeling the same trepidation as well. “Copy that, stay at max speed and try to kite them towards us! We’re about to clear the treeline, ETA 15 seconds!” With Josh taking the responsibility of guiding the two light Mechs out of danger, Tristan took what little time they had left before they made contact to double check that his weapons were grouped in his preferred order and to take a deep, calming breath, trying to brace himself for the impending battle.

As his Mech emerged from the treeline, Tristan gave the surroundings a quick once-over with his eyes, and a split second later, his DI had analyzed the surroundings, signified by targets popping up on his HUD. “Well, at least those rookies gave us some decent intel….” Muttering mostly to himself, Tristan heard a grunt of acknowledgment from Josh, as he gave a quick run-down of the target readings. Two Savannah Masters , light hovercraft mainly used for scouting….which was why Tristan let out a confused noise as he spotted said hovercraft making a beeline for him and Josh, before shrugging as much as the Neurohelm allowed him to, spinning up his RACs before letting loose a burst of shells at the lead scout craft.

The first few shots missed by a narrow margin, landing short and kicking up dirt and grass in front of his target, but the beauty of the RACs was that Tristan could simply ‘walk’ his guns onto his target, and his shots soon found their mark, puncturing the hovercraft and causing it to skid out, the autocannon shells most likely damaged the craft’s propulsion mechanisms. However, something was off about that craft, it was moving far too slowly…. Before Tristan could voice his concerns, the overturned Savannah Master was engulfed in a ball of fire, and a chill ran down Tristan’s spine as he realized just how desperate, or crazy these bandits were…

“Josh! It’s a suicide bomber, take it out, now!” Shouting over his comms, Tristan focused his sights on the remaining hovercraft, which was now swerving erratically, its pilot no doubt knowing that their ploy was revealed, and was trying to prevent the two Mechwarriors from getting a clean shot. Just as Tristan was about to unleash another burst onto the craft, the unmistakable sound of twin Gauss Rifles launching their slugs filled his ears, and the remaining Savannah Master was sporting two new, rather large holes in its front, courtesy of Josh and his Rifleman IIC . “Christ…a little overkill, no?” “Oh, I’m sorry, would you rather limp to the EVAC point with one functioning leg?”

Letting out a chuckle at his partner’s remark, Tristan marked a new waypoint on his battlegrid, before pushing his Mech as fast as it could go, eager to lay eyes on the bandit base, and the supposed ‘large mech’ the two rookies had spotted. Their mechs were still showing up on his HUD, battered, but still alive, and waiting about half a click from the bandit base. Urging his Mech on, Tristan intended to link up with the two lighter Mechs, but was cut off by a familiar alarm blaring in his ears. 

“Warning, Missile lock detected.” 

Tristan’s eyes widened as he spotted a swarm of missiles heading his way, and desperately twisted his Mech’s torso to the left, hoping to splash the damage onto his arms. Gritting his teeth as the force of the LRMs rocked his Mech, it’s Gyro thankfully up to the task of keeping him stable, and he heard a curse from Josh, followed by his Gauss Rifles going off, returning fire at the ambushing units. 

“Targets spotted, Quickdraw and a Trebuchet !” “Heard that, focus on the Trebuchet !” Working in tandem to take apart the fragile, but threatening Mech, the barrage of shells from Tristan’s twin RACs managed to puncture its side torso, which had its structure already exposed thanks to the solid slugs from Josh’s Gauss Rifles.

Tristan focused his fire onto the Trebuchet , and soon the unrelenting fire from his RACs had managed to set off an ammo bin, causing the fire support mech to drop to the ground, its pilot either unconscious or killed from the explosion. Easing off the trigger for a brief moment to cool off his guns, Tristan’s Mech twisted to face the Quickdraw , which had been firing off its LRMs while trying to close the distance. Now that it was in range, though, the pirate let loose all his weapons at Tristan’s Rifleman in an impressive alpha strike, and though the pilot twisted his torso to prevent the damage from being concentrated into his center, his Rifleman wasn’t designed as a brawler, and the damage readout on his HUD reflected that- most of his armor was gone, and his left and right arms were looking especially barren.

Fortunately, the Quickdraw was far too focused on Tristan to notice that Josh had managed to flank it, and with the Quickdraw’s attention elsewhere, it was child’s play for Josh to send two slugs into the heavy Mech’s back, destroying its gyro and causing it to fall face first into the ground. “Thanks for the save. Looks like you’re taking point now, hmm?” A dry chuckle was Josh’s reply, and Tristan fell in behind Josh’s Mech, letting him hopefully soak up whatever damage came their way next. “Where the hell did those two rookies go….Burger, Guano, how’re you two holding-” “CONTACT! BIG MECH, A VICTOR !”

Shit.

“Alright, shit, try and kite the bastard towards us! Keep running at full speed, don’t bother shooting at him, you hear me?” “R-ROGER! Let’s get outta he-” The panicked transmission was cut off with the squeal of a dying radio, and Tristan winced as his Mech’s onboard computer announced the loss of the Commando , and Burgertime along with it. “G-Guano here! B-Burgertime is down! W-what do I do, lead?” “Stick to the plan, lead it towards us as best you can!”

Tuning out the rookie’s panicked response, Tristan urged his Mech onwards, not bothering to stick behind Josh’s own Mech, as the two of them were both sprinting towards their rookie lancemate in a desperate attempt to save him. Bursting through yet another cluster of trees, the two pilots were greeted with the sight of Guano in his Commando quite literally running circles around the pirate Victor, and as Guano dodged yet another AC/20 shell from the Victor, Josh and Tristan’s Mech’s trained their guns onto the Assault Mech, before splitting up, Josh breaking left, and Tristan right, forcing the Victor to focus on each of them separately, and hopefully expose his rear to either of them, or even Guano, in the process.

“Take the bait, you damned pirate…” Muttering to himself, Tristan spun up his RAC/5s once more, before letting out a sustained burst at the pirate Victor , and simultaneously, it was hit with the twin Gauss Rifles of Josh’s Rifleman IIC , causing said pirate to nearly topple over from the sudden blows, but through skillful piloting, or just sheer stubbornness, the pirate refused to topple over, righting himself in his Mech before training his aim onto Tristan’s battered Rifleman…

Pulling back on the throttle, and leaning his Mech as far backwards as he dared, Tristan stopped his Mech dead in its tracks, and a fraction of a second later, a shell the size of his cockpit whistled harmlessly by. Unfortunately, the pirate had anticipated this, and immediately followed up with his twin Medium Lasers and an SRM4 launcher, which stripped away what armor remained in the Rifleman ’s left arm. To further add insult to injury, the pirate must have had inferno rounds in his SRM launcher, as Tristan’s Mech was screaming about the rising heat levels, which forced a swear out of the pilot as he struggled to turn and face the Victor , his Mech’s myomers straining to work under the excess heat.

Unfortunately for the pirate, he wouldn’t be able to use this to his advantage, as the back armor of his Mech was flayed open by Josh’s Clan-spec Heavy Medium Lasers, and to prevent any potential critical hits, turned to face the Clan Mech, ready to brawl…. Only to be met with two simultaneous Gauss slugs to his cockpit, piercing the relatively thin armor and reducing the pirate to a fine mist. The Victor , with its pilot dead and DI all but vaporized, crumpled to the ground in a heap, causing Tristan to slump back in his command couch in relief.

“Damn….you’ve got to stop using me as bait, dude..” “Oh hush, look on the bright side! We got an intact Victor!” The realization that they’d be able to walk away from this seemingly mundane mission with a near-intact Assault Mech, among their other payment and salvage, forced a smile onto Tristan’s face, and he chuckled as Josh lead the way to the pirate base, fully intent on razing it to the ground…. But the two of them were met with a rather pleasant surprise in the form of Guano’s Commando standing over the ruins of what used to resemble a base!

“...Hot damn, rookie, you did this on your own?” Josh’s surprised remark was met with a simple “Yep!” from Guano, and as Tristan scanned the ruins, he noted the burnt-out chassis of two Urbanmechs , no doubt Guano’s handiwork, and the veteran pilot couldn’t help but be impressed with the local Mechwarrior’s aptitude, and he knew for certain that Josh felt the same way.

A satisfied smile seemed to plaster itself onto Tristan’s face, and as he radioed his company’s pilot to bring their Leopard down, along with their salvage teams, he heard Josh striking up a conversation with the pilot of the Commando , trying to find the best angle to recruit him from.

Shaking his head at his own thought that this mission would be a routine one, Tristan locked his Mech’s actuators into place, ensuring that it wouldn’t fall over as he took off his Neurohelmet to wipe the sweat that had accumulated during the intense brawl. Reaching into a footlocker that he had by his command couch, the pilot took a swig from a canteen full of water, smiling at the reassuring sight of the Leopard touching down.

“Best job I ever had….”