Part 496: Behind Enemy Lines - Turn 14

Behind Enemy Lines: Tactical Update 14

Qing Long barely felt her Shadow Hawk’s feet alight on the upper curve of the HPG’s colossal transmission disc. The massive, myomer-supported actuators that supported and moved the eighteen-ton monstrosity were capable of supporting far more than just the weight of the dish itself, yet the sudden addition of another fifty-five tons was far beyond the load stress an HPG was designed to withstand. The actuators beneath her groaned and whined as they struggled to keep the dish aligned, but the metallic pop of snapping myomer was music to the test pilot’s ears.

Her method had neutralized the HPG far more efficiently than the insane snap-shot of the distant Jinggau. Even she had to admit, that pilot had reacted well to the changing situation, but if Qing and the rest of her unit had been allowed to take the field the enemy would have never achieved such a run-away success. Even now the idiot nobles in the Prefectorate Guard were paying dearly for not begging for their help from the outset.

The Penetrator teetered and fell, its cockpit a burning wreck. Even some of the best equipment the Confederation could field was no match for the determination of the House Marik guerillas. Her face stretched into something a casual onlooker might’ve described as a smile, provided they were half-blind and drunk at the time. Qing broadcast, her machine encrypting and distorting her voice and broadcasting in a squelch that lasted a fraction of a second.

“This may be a good fight after all.”

“They are brazen,” Xuan Wu replied, his voice rendered flat, metallic, and genderless by the same process that stripped the personality from Qing’s own transmissions. “What is the expression? Their skin is itchy.”

“Qing Long, you are monitor,” Zhu Que broadcast, drawing an involuntary hiss of rage as Qing Long sucked air past her teeth. “Help us remind ComStar why their decision to ally themselves with House Marik was a mistake, then stay in the rear as our reserve/observer while we save the last of the two-fifties. Let us give these guerillas a glimmer of hope by engaging them with even numbers.”

“I will comply,” Qing broadcast, glad her transmitter stripped the fury from her voice. Still, she’d been invited to help finish off the ComGuard, and that was some consolation. The blinding flash of Bai Hu’s overcharged PPC crossed the distance between his machine and the Grim Reaper as he tried to deny her even that. She spun, her over-tuned machine responding almost more quickly than she could think. Her shoulder-mounted pulse-laser swung in line with the Grim Reaper and right on past as the powerful myomer bundles overcorrected. It was one of the few flaws she could find in her machine, the responsiveness was so high it could easily throw off even an elite pilot’s aim.

She took a breath and held it as though stilling her own body would help the machine’s targeting computer, waited an extra half-second as her weapon corrected, and put her shot squarely into the hole Bai Hu had bored through the Grim Reaper’s back. The machine flashed on thermals, its heat spiking as her laser shredded the heat sinks that made up the outer layer of the machine’s engine shielding. A moment later its heat spiked further as Zhu Que shot it in the chest with her plasma rifle.








Movement Phase
War Dog (Player)
- Generating Ghost Targets on Nightstar (4 base + 2 ECM Tuning = 6): rolled 6, succeeds! MOS: 0!

Maelstrom (Player)
- Generating Ghost Targets on Thunder (4 base + 2 ECM Tuning = 6): rolled 6, succeeds! MOS: 0!
- Must pass a piloting test to grab arm (4 base + 2 difficulty = 6): rolled 8, succeeds!



Shooting Phase
War Dog (Player)
- Fires Large Pulse Laser at Penetrator (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 8): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Penetrator (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 10): rolled 11, hit Left Leg (14/26 armor remaining)!
- Fires One-Shot Streak SRM-2 at Penetrator (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 10): rolled 7, fails to lock-on!
- Fires One-Shot Streak SRM-2 at Penetrator (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 10): rolled 6, fails to lock-on!
- Gains 16 heat, sinks 20!

Nightstar (Player)
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Penetrator (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk + 1 minimum range = 8): rolled 7, miss!
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Penetrator (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk + 1 minimum range = 8): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires ER PPC at Penetrator (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 8, hit Head (0/9 armor, 2/3 structure remaining)! Crit!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Penetrator (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 2, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Penetrator (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 6, hit Right Leg (20/26 armor remaining)!
- Gains 27 heat, sinks 28!

Maelstrom (Player)
- Fires ER PPC at Thunder (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires ER Large Laser at Thunder (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 6, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Thunder (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 6, miss!
- Gains 32 heat, sinks 34!

Cerberus (Player)
- Torso-twists to threaten hex 0716
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Thunder (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 9, hit Center Torso (19/34 armor remaining)!
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Thunder (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 9, hit Right Torso (8/23 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Thunder (4 base + 4 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 9): rolled 8, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Thunder (4 base + 4 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 9): rolled 8, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Thunder (4 base + 4 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 9): rolled 4, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Thunder (4 base + 4 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 9): rolled 9, hit Center Torso (13/34 armor remaining)!
- Gains 20 heat, sinks 30!

Grim Reaper (Allied)
- Fires LRM-20 at Thunder (3 base + 2 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 11, 12 missiles hit Right Leg (0/30 armor, 11/15 structure remaining (Crit!), Right Leg (6/15 structure remaining Crit!), Left Arm (15/22 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Large Laser at Thunder (3 base + 2 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 4, miss!
- Gains heat 28, sinks 20!

Penetrator
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 7, hit Left Torso (6/32 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 8, hit Left Leg (28/40 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 8, hit Right Torso (26/32 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 7, hit Right Arm (16/32 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 5, hit Left Torso (0/32 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 3, miss!
- Gains 26 heat, sinks 24!

Thunder
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 6, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 7, hit Right Leg (34/40 armor remaining)! TAC!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 8, hit Right Arm (10/32 armor remaining)!
- Fires Autocannon/20 at Lightray (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 10, hit Right Arm (0/32 armor, 6/10 structure remaining)! Crit!
- Gains 21 heat, sinks 22!

Jinggau
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Maelstrom (4 base+ 0 range + 1 movement + 3 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 7, miss!
- Gains 2 heat, sinks 26!

Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White ACE!)
- Fires Heavy PPC at Grim Reaper (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 10, hit Rear Center Torso (0/10 armor, 13/18 structure remaining)! Crit!
- Gains 19 heat, sinks 26!

Shadow Hawk Zhu Que (Red ACE!)
- Fires Plasma Rifle at Grim Reaper (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 10, hit Center Torso (16/26 armor remaining)! Target gains 4 heat!
- Fires Medium X-Pulse Laser at Grim Reaper (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires Medium X-Pulse Laser at Grim Reaper (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 4, miss!
- Gains 25 heat, sinks 26!

Shadow Hawk Xuan Wu (Black ACE!)
- Holds fire!
- Gains 3 heat, sinks 30!

Shadow Hawk Tengshe (Green ACE!)
- Fires Medium X-Pulse Laser at Grim Reaper (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 7, hit Rear Right Torso (2/8 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium X-Pulse Laser at Grim Reaper (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 7, hit Left Arm (12/18 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium X-Pulse Laser at Grim Reaper (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 6, hit Rear Right Torso (0/8 armor, 9/13 structure remaining)! Crit!
- Gains 22 heat, sinks 26!

Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (Blue ACE!)
- Fires Large X-Pulse Laser at Grim Reaper (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 8, hit Rear Center Torso (4/18 structure remaining)! TAC!
- Gains 19 heat, sinks 26!



End Phase
Penetrator
- Critical chance in Head! 2 critical hits sustained!
- - Cockpit hit! `Mech destroyed!
- - Sensors hit!

Thunder
- Critical chance in Right Leg! No critical hit sustained!
- Critical chance in Right Leg! 2 critical hits sustained!
- - Hip Actuator hit!
- - Lower Leg Actuator hit!
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (5 base + 1 massive damage + 2 hip damage + 1 lower leg actuator damage = 9): rolled 5, failed!
- - Suffers 7 damage in the fall to Rear Right Torso (2/7 armor remaining), Right Leg (4/15 structure remaining)!
- Critical chance in Right Leg! No critical hit sustained!
- Must pass a piloting test to avoid pilot damage (5 base + 1 massive damage + 2 hip damage + 1 lower leg actuator damage + 2 avoiding damage = 11): rolled 5, failed!
- Must pass a 3+ consciousness test: rolled 6, succeeded!

Nightstar (Player)
- Through-armor critical chance in Right Leg! No critical hit sustained!
- Critical chance in Right Arm! No critical hit sustained!
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (5 base + 1 massive damage = 6): rolled 12, succeeds!

Grim Reaper (Allied)
- Critical chance in Center Torso! No critical hit sustained!
- Critical chance in Right Torso! No critical hit sustained!
- Through-armor critical chance in Center Torso! 1 critical hit sustained!
- - Engine hit!
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (4 base + 1 massive damage = 5): rolled 7, succeeds!



Next Turn’s Movement Phase
Thunder
- Must pass a piloting test to stand carefully (5 base + 2 hip damage + 1 lower leg actuator damage - 2 careful stand = 6): rolled 9, succeeds!








Player Status:




Allied Status




Opposing Force Status:




Mission Objective:
- Protect Carlos Marik (0/1)

Secondary Objectives:
- Damage but don’t destroy the Civillian `Mechbay in hex 0517 (1/1)
- Destroy the Capellan Checkpoint in hex 1418 (1/1)
- - Make it look like an accident (1/1)
- Avoid Antagonizing ComStar (succeeded!)
- Rescue the ComGuard, if possible (0/1)

Vengeance Counter: 6

Message Counter: Transmission Complete?



Special Rules:
Dusk – This mission takes place at dusk, applying a +1 penalty to-hit. This penalty may worsen if the mission lasts long enough for night to fall.

Escort Mission – This mission has a mobile objective that must be defended.



Orders Due: Midnight Tuesday!