Part 485: Behind Enemy Lines - Turn 3

Behind Enemy Lines: Tactical Update 3

At a glance, the Wyvern didn’t seem like much of a technological marvel. It was slow and overgunned, carrying a mix of largely short-ranged weapons. A pocket-heavy without the range to guarantee its own safety, a medium too slow for combat outside cities or winding canyons. It was an ambusher, a nasty surprise for any other light or medium `Mech that blundered in range but ill-suited to engage anything larger than itself in anything resembling a fair fight.

The Wyvern didn’t seem like much of a technological marvel, but a technological marvel it was. The most humanoid BattleMech ever created, it could replicate the full range of human motion with almost perfect accuracy. Its impossibly human movements made experienced and rookie pilots alike find the Wyvern almost instinctively easy to pilot. It was so easy a ride that the Wyvern had long ago developed the reputation as a machine that ruined Mechwarriors forever: Of the few warriors who willingly chose to pilot a Wyvern, virtually none was willing to pilot anything else ever again.

It was perfectly suited to its most infamous role: riot duty. Where another BattleMech would often react too slowly to respond to human-sized threats as the pilot struggled to translate what he or she wanted into something his or her machine would be capable of, the Wyvern’s body simply moved to match its pilots whims. It was one of the most intimidating BattleMechs for an infantryman to face for this reason and one other: while stationary it was often overlooked, in motion the Wyvern slipped so deeply into the uncanny valley that it could make observers feel distinctly uncomfortable. From the way the machine’s head twisted and turned as the pilot looked about and the way the entire machine seemed to twist to track a target without the aid of a turret-like torso actuator to the machine’s uncanny ability to stoop, crouch, slouch, and even crawl if the pilot thought it necessary, a Wyvern was often simply too dangerous for even the best-trained infantry to engage.

Its rarity, sluggishness, and reputation as a ‘crutch’ for talentless pilots made the Wyvern one of the most disdained machines in the Inner Sphere, so when Mechwarrior Trevisano’s Gauss Rifle swung in line with the little medium `Mech’s center mass he was taken completely by surprise when the Wyvern simply slouched forward then nearly dropped to one knee to duck under his crosshairs with a fluid grace he’d never seen before. His slug missed by more than a meter, vanishing somewhere into the dark city streets behind the far too human Capellan `Mech.

A cold sweat broke out on his forehead as the Capellan machine recovered at a speed he couldn’t match and casually slipped behind the mirror-tinted transplex glass domes the Abadan natives favored. Its arm curled into an insulting hand-gesture—a motion that would’ve taken weeks of practice to make the War Dog do half as well—and vanished like a forty-five ton ballerina exiting stage left.








Movement Phase
Sha-yu
- Activates Stealth Armor!



Shooting Phase
War Dog (Player)
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Wyvern (4 base + 4 range + 1 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 low light = 11): rolled 4, miss!
- Gains 3 heat, sinks 20!

Nightstar (Player)
- Holds fire!
- Gains 1 heat, sinks 28!

Maelstrom (Player)
- Torso-twists to threaten hex 1008!
- Fires ER PPC at building hex 0616 (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement - 4 target movement + 1 low light = 5): rolled 10, hit (5/15 CF remaining)!
- Fires ER Large Laser at building hex 0616 (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement - 4 target movement + 1 low light = 5): rolled 10, hit (0/15 CF remaining)! Hex collapses!
- Gains 29 heat, sinks 34!

Cerberus (Player)
- Holds fire!
- Gains 2 heat, sinks 30!

Sha-yu
- Gains 12 heat, sinks 26!








Player Status:




Opposing Force Status:




Neutral Status




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

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

Vengeance Counter: 1



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 Saturday!