COMPLETED: Two Heads are Better than One (September, 3024 - December, 3024)

Two Heads are Better than One

Date: September, 3024
Employer: None
Contract Type: Objective Raid(s)
Contract Location: Broken Wheel, Federated Suns and Tortuga Prime, Tortuga Dominions
Command Rights: Full
Overhead: 0%
Salvage: 100%
Contract Length: None
Base Pay: None

St. John Teach, one of the new additions to the Scrappers has a proposition for Colonel Winnfield; "Sir, I just received word that me younger brother, William, has been captured by the AFFS and charged with piracy. Well, truth be told, he is a pirate, as I was not so long ago meself. They are holding him on a pissant little planet called Broken Wheel, clear on the outskirts of the Crucis March. So what's that got to do with the Scrappers you ask? Well, let me spin you a yarn."

"My father, Edward, was a Pirate Captain on Tortuga Prime for many a year. He was successful in-so-far as he wasn't killed or captured and stole enough to keep a small group of warriors from slitting his throat. He fell afoul of an up and coming Pirate name of Paula Trevaline, "Lady Death" as she is called today. He had to leave Tortuga and whelped William and meself on the outlying world of Morgan's Holdfast. William and me, we never got on too well. Don't rightly remember why, probably because we came from two different whores of Da's. Anyway, we went our seperate ways as soon as we were old enough. Da was a tough son of a bitch, but the Crimson Fever took him before his dotage anyway. Before he made his final Jump, so to speak, he summoned William and me to his deathbed. 'Boys, he said, I know I aint' been much of a father to ya, but well, tough shit, that's life. I have but one legacy to pass on to you but I won't let it split you two further apart. You're both greedy, deceitful sons of bitches,just like me. If you want to profit by my gift, you'll have to set aside your differences and work together. If'n you can't do that then neither of ya gets a damn thing'."

"So, to make a long story not quite as long, Da gave us each one half of a map. What's the map to you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Some time around the last half of the 27th Century, a dropship from somewhere or other, maybe bandits, maybe Star League, maybe who the fuck knows was shot down by the Pirates Aerospace fighters and crashed somewheres deep in the Jungle. Legend has it the survivors started a settlement in the Jungle around the dropship and lasted a few generations before dyin' off. Da says he found that dropship and it was full of riches. What riches exactly, he didn't say before he kicked it, but he claimed that using some of that wealth is what kept him from getting killed for so long, but he knew if word ever got out that he had found it he couldn't protect it from the larger groups of bandits. Well, then he kicked it. My brother and me never could reconcile long enough to search for it, always meant to but it just never happened. Anyway, now if he dies, no one will ever get those riches. So, will you help me free my brother? What's that you say? Where is my half of the map? Well, on me head of course, same as William"

Teach removes the colorful bandana that adorns his skull and there for all to see is a map tatooed on his bald scalp. He says his brother let his hair grow out so you'll have to shave his head of course.

The Scrapper's Exodus from Solaris and Jump to the far side of the Inner Sphere goes as planned. The administrative staff is sorry to see you go as they were stealing more office supplies than they could sell. One guy had built a spare bedroom on his house made entirely of paper clip boxes. Damn Accountants!

On to the pressing matter of rescuing William Teach from his captors.

Broken Wheel is a mostly rocky, high-gravity planet on the periphery border of the Crucis March. Teach is almost certainly being held in an AFFS Command Center and Detention Facility located on Cojan Mountain in the Sonoma Mountain Range (Hex 0603). The Sonoma Range is mostly surrounded by desert wadis, although the 1st Argyle Lancers Regimental Headquarters is located on a patch of arable land to the South-Southeast (Building Icon at Hex 0907).



Each Hex is approximately 1 Kilometer. For reference a light lance moves a little over a Kilometer a minute (or 10 turns in game terms) over open ground.

Your Dropship cannot land in the mountainous hexes, only in the arable or desert hexes. Your options are pretty much:

1. Land the dropship and move Mechs out on foot to the AFFS Command Center, Retrieve Teach and make your way back to the Dropship. Depending on how far you land away you may be met by the defenders of the Command Center away from the target, or possibly fast moving elements from the 1st Argyle Lancers Regimental HQ.

2. Assault Drop units on or near the AFFS Command Center, land the Dropship in a legal hex, attempt to rescue Teach and then rendezvous with the Dropship. Due to the higher-than-average Gravity of Broken Wheel (1.25 Terra), you will only be able to get a maximum of 4 Mechs out of the dropship in the drop window.

3. Land out in the open, kick in the door like you own the place and fight the entire 1st Argyle Lancers. Hell, they've only been around since before Kerensky left the Inner Sphere, how good can they be?

The Sonoma Mountains are a twisted maze of valleys and winding canyons. All units movement is reduced due to the high gravity so slower Mechs may be in serious trouble trying to maneuver through the mountains.

"Like most of our plans I do not expect this one to survive contact with the enemy... That being said, Home of the Brave will land on 0401. We will approach from a vector that takes the ship over both the Argyle Lancers HQ and the detention center. Durring the approach we will be dumping the sewage tanks and any other miscellanious and useless crap available to make it look like we have suffered damage in transit. Among that which falls from the ship will be Alpha Company's Command Lance, with any luck they will land on top of the detention center, extract our man, and haul ass to the LZ at 0401. Once the ship makes planet fall both Apha Heavy and Bravo Command will be on ready five status. If the LZ is hot they are to deploy and keep a path clear for Alpha Command to come home."

"Remember this is a high stakes smash and grab, we want to get our man and get out. We don't want a prolonged engagement and we can't afford any causualties."

Once all personel and equipment was aboard the Scrappers dropship, the unit blasted off and rendezvoused with the Jumpship to head for the Tortuga Dominions. En route, William begrudgingly shaved the hair from his head so that the unit could get it's first look at the treasure map of Edward Teach. It first appears that the ancient dropship is located deep within the jungles of Tortuga Prime next to an active volcano. It is later determined that the 'volcano' is actually a particularly pussulant pimple on the head of William Teach, but the jungle part appears to be legitimate.

Once in system the Dropship begins the long burn to the planet. With plenty of time to study the high orbit photographs of the planet surface, it is determined that the closest possible drop zone to the alleged location of the target is over 20 km away. As the Scrapper's Overlord gets closer to the surface of Tortuga Prime, the infared sensors detect a large force that can only be vehicles equipped with Fusion Engines moving into the sector of Jungle where the target should be. When questioned, William Teach shamefacedly admits, "Oh, uhh, I probably should have mentioned that I might have, sort of, told Paula Trevaline about the dropship...it's not like I had a choice! She was going to cut off my balls and feed them to her pet Gronk! Don't worry though, she doesn't know exactly where it is of course."

St. John smacks his brother soundly on his newly-bald head and exclaims, "You idiot, she doesn't have to know exactly where it is if she can follow us in!"

Decision time for the Scrappers:

You will need to split your forces between those that are going into the Jungle to secure the ancient dropship and those that are going to defend your own.

Only Jump Capable Mechs have a chance to navigate the thick Jungle under combat conditions. (If you win all you could concievably move non-Jump Capable Mechs through but it will take some time and require on-the-ground scouting).

Options as the GM sees them (I'm sure you will come up with something other than this as usual...):

1. Land the dropship and deploy Jump Capable mechs to enter the Jungle and find the target dropship while the rest defend your Overlord:

The battle for the ancient dropship will have your forces arrive on the board at the same time as the enemy.

2. Assault Drop directly near the site of the target dropship:

You will have some time to examine the dropship, if it exists, as well as the surrounding terrain before the Pirate forces arrive. Any non-Jump Capable Mechs that deploy in an Assault Drop will not be able to retreat off the board if things go poorly. If they do they will be considered destroyed and the Pilots captured. In addition, no more than 8 Mechs will be able to deploy in an Assault Drop. Your own dropship will still have to land in the clear LZ 20 km away. Leaving it undefended is your choice but probably not a wise one.

"Hopefully our jungle simulation has you all comfortable with what we are about to run into. Just like I thought we will have to run through the weeds to get our treasure chest. Thanks to a certain loose lipped skinhead wannabe we will have some company when we reach the loot.

The following units will make an assault drop on the site. Each of these will have a second mechwarrior with them to deliver to the dropship site in the hope that we can activate some of the mechs inside.
1. Colonel Jules "Scooby" Winnfield - PXH-SL Phoenix Hawk w/ William Teach
2. Captain Alexander Ghent - GRF-1S Griffin w/ Sgt. Gail Sommers
3. MW Rollo Timase - TBT-5J Trebuchet w/ MW Bruce Winters
4. MW Sansen Dvirk - VND-1R Vindicator w/ Alphonse "Disco" Garibaldi

Once the Home of the Brave lands these units will deploy and head into the jungle to the downed ship. They will help secure the site once they arrive.
1. Sgt. Yusef Al-Akbar - GHR-5H Grasshopper
2. Lieutenant Kai Chambers - CPLT-C1 Catapult
3. Sgt. St. John Teach - VND-1R Vindicator
4. MW Marissa Milano - VND-1R Vindicator

Everyone else will deploy to hold the LZ.

Okay people lets get ready to do what we gotta do."

"Alright William, tell me about this Paula Trevaline bitch. Who is she, how does she operate and what type of force are we looking at here?"

*** Another related conversation ***

*** Yet another related conversation ***

William Teach can tell you that Paula "Lady Death" Trevaline began her rule in 3015. Trevaline's rule is absolute and tyrannical, the worst in a long line of despots. She is know to pilot a heavily modified Marauder. Her personal troops number about a regiment, although many are often away Pirating. In addition she can coerce, cajole and blackmail several companies more worth of forces from her subordinate Captains.

The Home of the Brave enters the atmosphere of Tortuga Prime with the correct drop vector to position the Assault Drop (We will have to wait for the results of the drop for when we play but for now we are assuming that all Mech and Pilots at least survive the drop). After the designated Mechs are safely away the Overlord Dropship maneuvers to land in the closest possible LZ, 20km from the target zone. It takes you some time to locate the ancient dropship (none of the characters dropped has the Perception skill) as the 200+ years in the jungle have taken their toll on the hull of the once mighty spacecraft. Eventually you notice a strange, symmetrical hill that has no large plant life growing from it and surmise that it is actually the hull of the sunken dropship. It takes even longer to locate an entrance to the dropship (again, no Perception skill). Once the extra Mechwarriors penetrate the hull, your video feed works passably well, only cutting out occasionally due to interference. The dropship bears the markings of the Star League Explorer Corps.

It is apparent from the condition of the interior that this craft was used for living quarters of the survivors of the crash for some time, maybe generations. All of the food and water supplies have long run dry, as has the leftover fuel from the engines and internal power supply. Many crates of supplies that would be useful to a refugee settlement have been broken open and used up (small arms, medical supplies, survey and communications gear, agricultural tools and machines, etc.). In fact, after learning of this the members of the unit outside can make out what must have once been cultivated fields used by the survivors, barely visible after the Jungle has reclaimed them. There were obviously several Lances worth of Mechs originally stored in the dropship, many have been removed (presumably by Edward Teach). Three Mechs remain in their drop stations, although they were never properly mothballed, and so cannot possibly be activated in time to respond to the approaching Pirates. An additional two Mechs are contained in some sort of protective, experimental bubble. Captain Ghent, using his Star League Era data scanner, can figure out how to access the cocoons and get the Mechs up and running. They appear to be highly advanced prototype Mechs that none of you has even heard of existing before today.

The three standard Mechs are a GLT-3N Guillotine, a DV-SL Dervish and a CLNT-SL Clint. The two unknown Mechs appear to be a Catapult variant and a Shadow Hawk variant. The Catapult appears to have some kind of advanced missile system that has a longer range than SRMs but carries a bigger payload than standard LRM launchers, as well as what you deduce as SRM streak launchers. The Shadow Hawk has some sort of Autocannon capable of an extremely high rate-of-fire.

GM NOTE: The tricky part here will be the limitations of MegaMek. If you choose to activate the experimental Mechs they will be on-line in turn 10 of the battle (would have been 5, but again, no Perception skill). I do not know if they will be able to deploy on the dropship, given our past trouble with late deployment of mechs only being allowed at the edges. The Assault drop rules may allow you to deploy anywhere, but then you will have to roll to land. So, either way it is not ideal and I have to think on what would be appropriate.

The, by far, biggest prize located deep in the holds of the Star League Dropship are crate upon crate of precious metals stored in bar form. A quick estimation is that they must be worth xxxx C-Bills (Approximately 10 wealth points). Getting it all out will be time consuming labor, and you will most certainly have to win the field from all of the currently approaching Pirate forces. Even then, depending on what you have left afterward, and what the Pirates decide to do, you may not be able to get it all without fighting again.

At this time, the Home of the Brave reports that they Pirate forces have split, approximately a company of units are headed toward the Home of the Brave, and slightly less than that are headed toward the Star League Dropship. You will have to decide if the reinforcement lance, lead by Lieutenant Chambers, is going to proceed to the target Dropship (and arrive on turn 12) or retreat to the Home of the Brave and bolster the defenses there (they will deploy on turn 2).

Eric,

Rollo Timase has Perception +2.

Too late now, the rolls have been made and the maps are done. To resolve this I am updating his file in the Unit Personalities and that's how it's gonna be from now on.

"Lieutenant Chambers, this is Scooby, abort your appoach to the DS, return at once to the LZ and support the rest of the unit against the incomming enemy. Alpha Command is on its own. Good luck fellas."

After successfully holding of 2 advances by the Tortuga Pirates, the Scrappers are just about ready to load up their valuable booty and escape the system. While supervising the loading of the cargo the bridge of "The Home of the Brave" radios Colonel Winnfield with some bad news. Two lances of Pirate Mechs are moving toward the Scrappers' LZ. Worse yet, they are escorting 2 'Long Tom' artillery guns. If the 'Long Toms' get within range they will be able to blast the dropship before it reaches high atmosphere. The Scrappers must dispatch some units to take out the guns, or at least slow them down long enough to prevent them acquiring range on the dropship. Worse still is that the approach of the 2 lances is being overwatched by additional artillery pieces. It is going to be hot and heavy in there, slow moving Mechs will be cannon fodder, literally!