Part 505: Laager - Turn 1

Laager: Tactical Update 1

The Psalm of Silence’s warning klaxons rang loud and long, startling Adept Kernoff awake. For the past few days his unit had spent several long and grueling days on a twelve-hours-on, twelve-hours-off schedule that always left two BattleMechs at full combat readiness. It was the type of schedule that would’ve shredded the morale of a regular house unit, but Kernoff wouldn’t suffer any but true believers in his command. They bore the strain without complaint simply because Kernoff—and by extension the blessed Blake himself—deemed it necessary.

The knife-faced man rose, his features so sharp they were almost alien. He’d never been strong, physically, not taking to muscle the way many soldiers did. The ascetic lifestyle of a ComStar acolyte was more akin to an ancient Terran monk’s than any modern military, and yet their faith—Kernoff’s faith—could see him through any physical hardship. He grabbed a high-density protein bar from the bedside table, biting into the foul-tasting thing and swallowing it down as he listened for the telltale. After sounding for fully a thirty seconds the Klaxon cut off and started again three times, then fell silent.

For a moment Alexander Kernoff’s vision went red with rage. The enemy was fifteen minutes out—they had advanced scouting teams in the field and should’ve had at least an hour’s notice if not more. That told him either the infantry patrols had been wiped out before they could transmit, or they’d run off. They hadn’t had enough infantry to secure the wall regardless, but the first warning shouldn’t have come from one of the close-in scouting teams. Kernoff wrote them off, mentally. If any member of the long ranged scouting teams survived they were either martyrs or cowards but either way they were no longer ComStar personnel.

He threw on his cooling vest in a rush—Abadan was too distant and exposed to risk any of the Star League-era cooling suits, but the vest suited Kernoff just fine. They still had the Star League’s light-weight neurohelmets and that alone gave them an edge over pilots relying on the bulky, eight-kilo bucket hats the successor states employed. He strode confidently to the slab-like foot of his massive BattleMaster and waited for one of the technical crews to wheel over a scissor lift. One of the Mechbay’s doors ground open with a shriek as Acolyte Arakiel walked her Viking towards the exit. Its stubby, underslung small laser mounts twisted back and forth as she ran her machine through a couple of pre-battle checks. Without real arms or hands to speak of those same small lasers could be used as a crude set of manipulators in a pinch. They weren’t sturdy—but they were sturdy enough.

Kernoff stepped into his machine’s cockpit without a word, the technician and his lift forgotten as it began to retract. If the tech were smart he’d already be rolling clear, Kernoff wouldn’t hesitate to kick the two-ton lift aside if it was still blocking his way by the time he completed his own checklist. His machine blatted at him, waiting for his access phrase.

His hands quivered in anticipation as he quoted, “To see others suffer does one good, to make others suffer even more: this is a hard saying but an ancient, mighty, human, all-too-human principle: Without cruelty there is no festival.”






PTN's note: All enemies enter the field with a +2 move mod



Player Status:




Allied Status




Opposing Force Status:




Mission Objective:
- Hurt them (0/3)
- - Hurt them more (0/6)
- - - Teach them the Word (0/9)

Secondary Objectives:
- Defend the Turret Control Tower (0/1)
- Defend the Administration Building (0/1)
- Keep enemy `Mechs out of the `Mechbay (0/1)



Special Rules:
Construction Zones – Unless the hex states otherwise, all construction zones count as light woods.

Reload Point – ComStar’s technicians are very motivated and have six tons of LRM reloads available. They can reload 2 tons of LRM ammo per turn spent inside the Mechbay. The Legacy isn’t built for quick reloads, but the technicians may be able to supply it with one additional ton of gauss rifle ammo. If only one `Mech is in the Mechbay the technicians will also replace damaged armor plates, restoring the armor on all damaged sections up to the nearest multiple of 5. If a section is already at a multiple of five, its armor cannot be restored.

Hidden Assets – The light autocannon turrets are currently in low-power standby mode. ComStar has always maintained up rumors that the power grid supporting them is incomplete or somehow insufficient to power them. They will not open fire until at least two players request their activation on the same turn. This deception may be detected by enemy units with a Beagle Active Probe.



Orders Due: Midnight Saturday!



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