Battletech (private)

Players:
Electric Thunder (This is his FIMFiction name)
Dragon Soul
The_Pariah
Me

Rules:
You can die
Keep common sense
Have fun!

Overview:
The year is 3130, the Capellan Confederation has begun it's invasion of The Republic. As a group of mercenaries, you were hired by the Capellans to gather intel on a planet they suspected of housing something of great value to The Republic, a routine mission that should have taken only a few weeks at most; it didn't.

Present, 30 minutes before mission starts:

"Everyone know what to do and got their mechs sorted out?" Stream asked

Pariah ran a hand adoringly down the leg of his mech, the Revenant, a Catapult mech with a distinct green and gold colour scheme. He chuckled and nodded. "Standard plan boss, shouldn't take us very long. Me and Revenant are ready to deploy."

"It shouldn't, but things are always complicated when the stakes are high, this is more than likely going to be a top secret facility and we can't just waltz in there" Stream said as he climbed on top of his tank, The Titan. He had recently purchased a couple vlar 300-rating XL Fusion engines, and replaced the current engine with those two, though the difference of the engine block was negligible; it had an ICE engine in it before he upgraded it to fusion, and had not made any use of the extra space made available, until he got the two XLs. Most of the more obvious changes were hidden by the use of four separate tread 'pods' on each side to provide ample amounts of traction should one or more of the pods be damaged beyond use. Stream checked a couple systems inside before getting out, going to the intercom and saying "Stream to bay three, your squadrons ready?"

"Yeah, just got that shipment of new VTOLs too, nice armaments on them"

"I hope you like them, consider it an early christmas gift, Stream to bay two, report"

"Scouts are ready boss, just waiting on you"

"Good" Stream turned away from the intercom and said "All units are ready, in twenty five minutes, we'll be launching"

Dusk Hammer went through one last diagnostic's check on his Highlander, specifically the 734 variant built specifically to get up close and personal, and was meant more for urban combat. His brother, Torchlight, was relaxing nearby, his Locust-3M, named Dasher, ready to go. Getting shot at was something Torchlight tried to avoid whenever possible, but to keep his brother safe from long-range missiles or getting behind a 'Mech Dusk was taking on was a higher priority for him. If Dusk went down, he'd be screwed.

"Yo bro, you ready, or are we gonna have to leave without you?" Torchlight said to Dusk.

"Hey, I wanna make sure nothing's wrong with her before we drop. This thing isn't exactly new, and neither is your 'Mech," Dusk countered.

"Relax, you worry too much."

Dusk just rolled his eyes at that statement and went back to work. Torchlight then turned to Stream and said, "Dasher and I are ready sir. Hopefully Iron Head over there will be ready before tomorrow."

"Her name is Steel Head. And she'll be ready in a moment," Dusk said.

"Torchy, this dropship isn't in top condition either; found this thing about ten years ago with about half of it missing and the rest looking like swiss cheese" Stream said as he went back to checking all the systems on his Tank, then continued "that, and I'd like to see you try and not fall over when I trip that piece of glass with Titan" he smiled, knowing that his tank was capable of tripping over a locust. He made sure the design was short, making it very difficult for hostiles to hit his turret should he take cover, though this comes with the drawback of the body being very large, making it difficult for him to find a portion of something to actually take cover in.

Pariah chuckled as listened to their banter, running last minute system checks before nodding to himself. "Right, so we're ready to head out then? There's not much point prolonging it anymore than we have to." He pulled out a hip flask, gulping a few mouthfuls of the liquid inside before sighing happily.

"Just need to do a few more checks, running two engines at once is a bit complicated when your vehicle was originally designed for one" Stream said as he began running through a few more checks on the engines, making sure there was enough power in the batteries to begin the fusion process for both reactors, and that the tank will actually work with both engines running synchronously. This will be the first time the tank will have two engines in it, and stability is critical

Pariah shrugged, happy to let Stream do what he needed. Turning, he tapped his earpiece, switching to a private channel. "Silver. Is Harlequin running ok?"

Silver Star, his wife, sighed. "Well, assuming I can get te god-damn PPC online, he would be." Hanging upside down on her mech, she groaned. "I just don't understand what's wrong with it." She looked up at the Mad Cat, painted in a black, white and red. Hitting its right PPC with her wrench, she dropped to the ground and growled. "I guess I'm going into combat without all weapons."

"Is Silver ready?" Stream called out

"Haleequin's right PPC isn't functioning. She's not sure why, but apart from that they're battle-ready," he replied.

"And here come the complications..." Stream mumbled to himself before popping out of the top of the turret and saying "Alright, tell her to stick to other nearby units for protection, specifically the bigger 'mechs, like Steel Head here" Stream said, turning to Dusk.

"Noted. You hear that Silver?" He glanced at the Highlander.

She nodded as she made sure the other weapons were working. "Roger. I'll stick close by."

"Alright, now that that's taken care of, lets give this puppy a quick startup sequence, just to make sure all my checks are accurate" He disappeared back inside the tank and began starting it up, first connecting the batteries to the engines, then starting up the fusion reactors themselves, one at a time. The tank made a very loud humming noise for a few seconds before a deafening roar sounded, with Stream shouting "It worked!" as the noise died down to normal. Stream continued checking gauges and systems, saying "Reactor pressure... normal, Power consumption... normal, everything looks good" and climbed out as the engine sputtered and shut down.

"Brilliant. Are we combat-dropping, or landing normally? I don't mind either way." Pariah walked back to his mech, ready to climb in. "Though I suppose we can't combat drop your tank..."

Torchlight just shrugged his shoulders at Stream's jab at his 'Mech. True, it's a practically a piece of glass, but it's my piece of glass.

As soon as he heard that one of the pilots would be staying near Dusk for protection, he knew the perfect thing to get on Dusk's nerves. "Don't worry Silver, Dusk will take care of you like he does his teddy bear."

"I was twelve when I last slept with that teddy bear. Besides, at least I'm not the one who used to have a blow-up doll."

"Hey! I was young and experimenting at the time," Torchlight said. Though it was true he had gotten rid of that blasted doll, mostly in favor of actual mares, he knew for a fact Dusk still had that bear.

"And you never stopped experimenting, brother. You lost as soon as you mentioned that teddy bear," Dusk said. He soon got the satisfaction of seeing his brother give up on the subject. He then said, "Still, you can count on me to keep you covered Silver. And... done. She's ready to go."

She giggled and ran some final checks. "Well, I'm ready to go to... I might make sure the cougar's ready, in case I need a back up." Running off, she returned moments later. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Excellent, everyone's ready to go" Stream said before turning to Pariah, saying "It's a normal landing, combat drop with this would mean that A: the tank would be stuck in a ditch about as high as me, and B: if the tank survived it would take a lot of effort to pull it out of the dirt, and it's only about twice my height" Stream replied, not too particularly interested in his new toy having to be pulled out of the dirt on it's first mission because in an error of his judgement. Getting out of his tank, he began fiddling with the treads, making sure they all fit right...

1 minute before drop
Stream looked down at his watch, turned to the intercom and said "Stream to bridge, patch this into the entire system"

"On it boss... done"

"All units, prepare for drop in one minute" Stream's voice echoed across the entire vessel as crews began running to their stations, soon the other bays reported in

"This is bay three, all VTOLs are ready for deployment with an aerospace fighter escort

"Bay two, all units reporting in and accounted for, we're good to go"

"This is the bridge, all systems are go here" Turning away from the intercom, Stream said "Alright everyone, get to your mechs and have them ready to go down the ramp, our group will be covering the area south of the drop zone"

"Roger." Pariah scrambled up the ladder, flicking switches quickly as his mech came to life. He spun it a full circle, walking to the exit ramp as he waited for drop.

Silver spun, racing back to her mech, climbing into it and readying it for the landing.

Stream climbed into his tank and began starting it up, another, equally loud roar filled the room as the engines came to life, before settling down to a loud hum. He moved his tank behind Pariah's mech, and waited for everyone else

Silver piloted the Harlequin in next to Pariah, careful not to step on Stream's tank. The solid thump of the Mad Cat's strides ceased as she stopped, the thrum of the fusion drives filling the otherwise empty room.

Dusk got to his 'Mech, got it running and walked it beside Stream's tank, right behind Silver. He would've preferred being in front of her, but he'd manage.

Torchlight moved his 'Mech up near the front so he could quickly scout around as soon as the ramp dropped. Well, that was assuming there'd be no immediate resistance.

As the ship hit the ground, the mechs shifted slightly; their gyros compensating for the aggressive landing of the Conquistador. When the door opened, the outside world was a very large jungle, trees towering over the lance. Stream waited for Pariah to move out of his way before rolling down the ramp, his vehicle sinking slightly from the weight and the soft jungle ground. He brought up his TACMAP and said "Sigma Lance, we're moving out"

"Rodger, Omega lead is headed north"

"Confirmed, Alpha squad heading east"

"Copy that, Beta squad heading west"

"All copy, Sigma lance, follow me"

The Revenant bounded forward, the mech light enough that it didn't sink too much into the soft earth. Tracking left and right, the Harlequin followed, the heavier tread of the mech leaving definite impressions in the ground. "Copy that leader." Both Pariah and Silver's voices echoed over the link.

The tank quickly got up to speed, keeping pace with the Revenant, but in the mud the tank was having to fight both it's immense weight and the give of the ground, making it's engines work harder than they would otherwise. The tank moved through the brush and trees until it gave way to hard rock, moving to the first waypoint on their patrol. Stream slowed down his tank until it stopped a few meters from a cliffside and got out, taking a pair of binoculars with him. At the cliffside, he scanned down below until he said "there you are..." having found what he was looking for. In his sights was a small compound a few klicks away, and by the looks of it not very heavily guarded, a couple mechs, some fighters and a few gunships, along with a large squadron of tanks kept the compound secure; enough to deter anyone who wants a peek but certainly not enough for 4 big mechs and an assault tank.

The Dasher rushed out as soon as the doors opened, and since it was the fastest of them, he got to the waypoint first, and was already marking targets for everybody.

Steel Head had a little more trouble with the mud, but was able to keep up with everyone else. He soon joined everyone else on the cliff.