Part 676: Snake Pit - Turn 4

Snake Pit 4

“Captain.”

“What do you have for me, Rapallino?” Captain Rose D’antonio leaned her ‘Mech forward, peering around the corner of the building she’d chosen to hide behind. She didn’t have a great view from here, but any further forward risked being spotted by Clan forces. One of the premier Scout ‘Mechs of the old Star League, the Mongoose was one of a select few BattleMechs capable of turning its head, giving its pilot an unparalleled field of view when the circle-vision strip was disabled.

Narinder Rapallino gestured with the all-too-human left hand of his Hitman, and flashed a couple of comm. frequencies her way. “I’ve been filtering out the Clan front line channels, and picked up something interesting. Take a listen. Start with the 97, then take a listen to the 30.”

Rose keyed in the frequency, making sure her receiver was set to listen-only. After a moment, she got a crackle.

“Contact, grid forty-seven. Moving west. Now moving south. Contact lost.” The speaker sounded young. Young and bored.

“Good report, Cadet,” an older voice replied. “In a real battle, you have to keep your eyes open even while maneuvering. Watch those corners, and try to take your patrol circuits a little faster each time. There is a lot of electronic noise tonight, so do not forget to cycle your ECM modes periodically. Failure to report contact when a Freebirth BattleMech moves through your Ay-Oh-Oh is a demerit, and I want perfect scores toni—”

Rose silenced the frequency, shaking her head in disbelief. The city was under direct attack and the Clans were running a baby’s first scout patrol exercise and filling their own airwaves with dozens of false contact reports. She rubbed the bridge of her nose with one hand, then mimed the gesture with the Mongoose—careful not to accidentally smash the `Mech’s multi-ton fist into her cockpit. Rapallino’s Hitman bobbed in an approximation of a nod.

“Hell,” she murmured, then keying in the second frequency.

“-ling you, Austėja, there is something strange going on,” a man complained gruffly. “They would not pull us off the front lines for something as shitty as training patrol.”

“Yes they would,” a young-sounding woman replied. All Clanners sounded young. As fiercely as they fought, to Rose they all sounded like inexperienced children. “You’re just upset that the Trueborn are hogging all the glory again. I’ll take you to that Tempura place you like after patrol, that’ll make you feel better.”

“Three contractions,” the first speaker replied. “You owe me Takoyaki.”

“Eat me, abtakha. Chander, what do you call a Nova Cat with a sense of humor?”

There was a momentary pause. “I do not know.”

“I don’t know either, I’ll tell you if I ever meet one.”

Another pause, a little longer than the first. “Two more contractions. Now you owe me sushi,” the speaker trailed off a a Clan BattleMech came around the corner of a building down the block. It was spindly, lanky even, like a robotic teenager. Its aircar-shaped head swiveled wildly as the pilot realized he was surrounded.









N/A





Map Link



Player Status:




Opposing Force Status:




Special Rules
Half-Blind – Enemy scout units are marked by blips, they are patrolling along set paths. If line of sight is established the players have 3 turns to destroy enemy scouts, or two turns to destroy enemy Star Commanders before reinforcements are summoned.



Primary Objectives
- Find and Destroy enemy command post (0/1)
- Evade or Destroy enemy scouts (0/3)

Secondary Objectives
- Destroy alerted enemies before they can call for assistance
- - Kit Fox C (2 turns remaining)
- - Parash (3 turns remaining (alerted via active probe))
- - Falcon (2 turns remaining)



This Turn's Betting Pool Points
Unknown #1
- Scintilla (30 ton guess) - 1 point
- Goatface (30 ton guess) - 1 point
- Farraday (30 ton guess) - 1 point
- TheParadigm (30 ton guess) - 1 point

Unknown #2
- Gun Jam (Parash) - 3 points
- TheParadigm (Parash) - 3 points
- jng2058 (Parash) - 3 points

Unknown #3
- Gun Jam (Kit Fox C) - 3 points
- Raverrn (Kit Fox C) - 3 points
- goatface (Kit Fox C) - 3 points


Leaderboard
- Gun Jam - 6 points
- TheParadigm - 4 points
- Goatface - 4 points
- Raverrn - 3 points
- jng2058 - 3 points
- Scintilla - 1 point
- Farraday - 1 point



Orders Due: Midnight Saturday!