Part 66: Combat Theater Vote 3 Results

Combat Theater Vote 4 Results:

Heimdall’s Operation Himinbjörg wins with 42 votes!
The ComGuards decide to wait for a more auspicious sign than a mere 40 votes!
The Goliath Scorpions thought they detected an Inner Sphere jumpship, but detected only 20 votes instead!
The Northwind Highlanders call for a Great Moot, but only 3 warriors remembered to bring their cabers!



Snow cracked his eyes open. He found the soft drumbeat of the flatbed train car beneath him almost hypnotic. Peaceful. The world passed by in a dreamlike quality. He stretched uncomfortably, unable to bring his arms to full-extension. He had to be careful not to press any buttons, so quietly settled back in to his command chair. He felt only a brief spark of resentment for his lancemates—he didn’t know any of them, by name or face; and they didn’t know him. It was unprofessional, perhaps, but he envied them.

Gulltoppr Lance was secreted in plain sight, on a quartet of flatbed railcars. They’d been bottled up for over forty hours now—an uncomfortable situation for any ‘Mechwarrior; but doubly so for Snow. His Assassin was the largest ‘Mech capable of making the journey. Another ‘Mech of the same tonnage would’ve been too large to disguise with a simple tarp—a small, humanoid Battlemech looked little different from an Industrial-, mining-, or Agromech. A big humanoid Battlemech was unmistakable, however—and his Assassin was already pushing the train’s tolerances.

It was also, he lamented quietly, horrifically uncomfortable. The Assassin was probably the most hated Battlemech in the Inner Sphere, and with good reason—the Cockpit was tiny and sat directly above the engine. Fighting in an Assassin for an extended period was, for most pilots, an impossibility. Dehydration alone could kill an Assassin’s pilot before a single weapon could be fired.

Snow ran his fingers through his hair, felt the weight of the neurohelmet sitting on his chest. It’d be a bear just to get it back on without popping the Assassin’s front hatch; but he’d manage. He’d gotten it off, he’d get it back on.

Silently, he checked his countdown timer as the train chugged away. Two hours to Tharkad City. Two hours and, one way or another, his discomfort would be a memory.



Gulltoppr Lance:
Rain – VLK-QA Valkyrie (g4 p4) (Dominus Caedis)
Sleet – COM-2D Commando (g4 p4) (Agent Interrobang)
Snow – ASN-21 Assassin (g4 p4) (wargames)
Hail – JVN-10N Javelin (g4 p4) (TildeATH)



Mission Objectives
1) [Unknown Target] Must Survive!
2) Avoid Unnecessary Collateral Damage!
3) Before [Unknown Time Limit], destroy [Unknown Objective] to draw out [Enemy Forces]!
4) Await Further Objectives!



New House Rules:
Death Before Capture: A player ‘Mech destroyed by any means other than a direct headshot will explode, dealing 20 damage to all adjacent hexes.