Part 495: Behind Enemy Lines - Turn 13

Behind Enemy Lines: Tactical Update 13

“Argh, my arm!” Ballista roared, sweeping his Large Pulse Laser across the Sha-yu’s legs. The little machine jerked as its ferro-titanium bones glowed white hot and shattered the next time the machine’s leg struck the pavement. It collapsed, striking sparks from the roadway. Ballista thought about kicking it when his external pickups detected a deafening hum from the HPG. Most of his secondary monitors tracking external conditions hissed with static as the HPG transmitted. It was off schedule.

And a dead giveaway.

“Recover the Gauss Rifle if you can,” Hellhound started, but even he was silenced when the Jinggau’s Gauss Rifle tipped skyward. Ballista’s computer painted a silver streak on his primary display as the Jinggau’s shot caught the edge of the HPG’s heavily-armored transmitter. Although the dish itself was nearly eighteen tons of Battlemech-grade ceramet, the transmitter’s focusing mechanisms, targeting matrix, and power feeds were all exposed. The Gauss Rifle’s heavy nickel-iron shell skipped along the inside of the dish, striking sparks—or worse, eight meter arcs of raw electricity—from exposed and operating components. The HPG’s transmission ended in a flare of static as the transmitters overloaded and fused solid.

Bad howled, “Oh, those son’s of—the Capellans just took out one of the ComGuard!”

“We’ve got bigger problems,” Hellhound said, piping his main camera feed to the rest of the lance. The ovoid shape of a Union-ckass DropShip sporting a black-and-white paint scheme in a pattern that drove obsessive-compulsive types mad slipped from behind a nearby skyscraper from the general direction of the spaceport. The ship’s Captain was good, flying low enough that the massive plasma flare from the ship’s engines might’ve baked anyone unfortunate to be on an eighth-storey rooftop to death.

The vessel’s Mechbay door was wide open, and the stark white form of a Shadow Hawk loomed in the entry ready to jump free. Its hands gripped the ship’s bulkheads as the `Mech practically leaned out for a better look. Something moved behind it, but with the poor quality of Hellhound’s feed Ballista couldn’t identify what it was.








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

Maelstrom (Player)
- Generating Ghost Targets on Thunder (4 base + 2 ECM Tuning = 6): rolled 5, fails!



Shooting Phase
War Dog (Player)
- Torso-twists to threaten hex 1516!
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Sha Yu (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 3 enemy movement + 1 dusk + 2 minimum range = 11): rolled 4, miss!
- Fires Large Pulse Laser at Sha Yu (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 3 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 8, hit Left Arm (0/9 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Sha Yu (4 4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 3 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 10, hit Left Leg (0/10 structure remaining)! Leg blown off! `Mech destroyed!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Sha Yu (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 3 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 12, hit Right Torso (7/13 armor remaining)!
- Gains 21 heat, sinks 20!

Nightstar (Player)
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Penetrator (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 8, hit Left Torso (9/24 armor remaining)!
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Penetrator (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 3, miss!
- Fires ER PPC at Penetrator (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 11, hit Right Torso (14/24 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Penetrator (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 8): rolled 4, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Penetrator (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 8): rolled 7, miss!
- 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 10, hit Right Leg (1/30 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Large Laser at Thunder (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 7, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Thunder (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 10): rolled 9, miss!
- Gains 32 heat, sinks 34!

Cerberus (Player)
- Torso-twists to threaten hex 0716
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Thunder (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 6, miss!
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Thunder (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Thunder (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 10): rolled 8, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Thunder (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 10): rolled 10, hit Left Leg (24/30 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Thunder (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 10): rolled 3, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Thunder (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 10): rolled 2, miss!
- Gains 20 heat, sinks 30!

Sha-yu
- Torso-twists to threaten hex 1618!
- Fires ER Large Laser at War Dog (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 7, hit Left Leg (10/28 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Large Laser at War Dog (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 7, hit Right Arm (0/12 structure remaining)! Arm blown off!
- - Damage transfers to Right Torso (22/23 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Medium Laser at War Dog (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 9, hit Left Leg (5/28 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Medium Laser at War Dog (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 10, hit Left Leg (0/28 armor remaining)!
- Gains 36 heat, sinks 26!

Penetrator
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 9, hit Left Torso (18/32 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 9, hit Left Torso (12/32 armor remaining)!
- 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 9, hit Left Arm (25/32 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Nightstar (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 9, hit Left Leg (34/40 armor remaining)!
- Gains 26 heat, sinks 24!

Thunder
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Lightray (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 8, hit Right Arm (12/18 Armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Lightray (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 5, hit Right Torso (13/19 Armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Lightray (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 9, hit Right Torso (7/19 Armor remaining)!
- Fires Autocannon/20 at Lightray (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 8, hit Head (0/9 Armor, 0/3 structure remaining)! `Mech destroyed!
- Gains 21 heat, sinks 22!

Jinggau
- Fires Gauss Rifle at HPG (4 base+ 4 range + 3 movement - 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 10, hit! Focusing Mechanism damaged! Power systems damaged!
- Gains 26 heat, sinks 26!



End Phase
Penetrator
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (4 base + 1 massive damage = 5): rolled 6, succeeds!

War Dog (Player)
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (4 base + 1 massive damage = 5): rolled 9, succeeds!

Nightstar (Player)
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (4 base + 1 massive damage = 5): rolled 7, succeeds!








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 (1/1)
- Destroy the Capellan Checkpoint in hex 1418 (1/1)
- - Make it look like an accident (1/1)
- Avoid Antagonizing ComStar (succeeded!)

Vengeance Counter: 5

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 Saturday!