Sunday 21 July 2013

Battletech: Plague Raid

"Unbelievable! There we were just taking our mechs down the street to a meeting with out client and some fool of a local mech-jock jumps right in front of Ranger while he's running down the street. So of course there's a collision and the local's Vulcan gets wrecked, but that's no reason for the local shit-heel mech jocks to start firing at us? What's a responsible Mech-Jock to do? I mean, we're in a city. Still, we have to defend ourselves. It's not like we wanted to get into a firefight in the middle of a crowded settlement. But we simply have to defend ourselves. It's the only reasonable thing to do...."- Snr. Lt. Lishka Andronova, Fox Hounds Mercenary Unit
Iqbal Industries

The Fox-Hounds deploy from an Iqbal Industries Leopard Class Drop-ship. With their jumpship parked at a pirate point between the planet and it's moon, they have just twelve hours to rescue their employer and evacuate to the drop point.


Lishka deploys in her Raven, Domino in one of the Javelin's, Vik in his beloved Valkyrie and Ranger in his modified Clint. Hoping for a repeat of an earlier success, they hope to extract the target without firing a shot, ensuring civilian casualties in the crowded cityscape are kept to a mnimum, The 'Hounds plan is for Lishka to move to the rendezvous point under cover of her Raven's ECM while the other three 'Mech lead the defending forces on a wild goose chase through the early morning city streets.



For only the second time in the Fox Hounds year-long existence, the plan does not survive contact with the enemy. So badly, in fact, that just thirty seconds into the engagement [two turns] the Fox Hounds adopt their "Go to Hell" plan: the last-ditch plan adopted when things go so catastrophically wrong, you hadn't made a specific plan for dealing with the eventuality concerned.



********************
Outworlds Alliance Locust

The Foxhounds Mechs make their way to the city limits without incident. Lishka's mag-scans detect the presence for four Outworld Alliance Mechs on a radnom patrol pattern. A Blackjack, a Vulcan, a Locust and an Urbanmech. A very formidable city-fighting force. 

Despite their ECM and their cautious approach, the four patrolling Outworlds Alliance Mechs quickly make visual contact with the Fox Hounds and issue the following challenge:

"Unidentified Battle Mechs, you are in violation of a class one Quarantine order. Power down and submit to decontamination and quarantine procedures immediately."


Under their ECM umbrella, only Lishka can hear the message. With a distinct feeling of dread creeping into her soul, Lishka suddenly understands why the streets are so deserted, without even a milk float or delivery van in sight. She quickly passes the message to the rest of the lance via tight-beam microwave laser.


"Oh...," muses Ranger. "So that last garbled bit of the translation probably read sicker by the day then?"


In keeping with their plan, the Fox Hounds do not reply. Briefly, the Fox Hounds consider bugging out. They hadn't hired on to break a quarantine order and risk spreading a plague. But they'd accepted a contract, even without the full details. They've never broken a contract, and they don't intend to. They'll just have to make damn sure to keep Iqbal and his family quarantined all the way to New Avalon and the NAIS. 

Lishka (the only one not yet visually spotted) quickly away from the group at speed while the others pound down the deserted streets as fast as they can in the vague direction of the target building, Iqbal industries Corporate Head Quarters.

Meanwhile, a Vulcan Mech jumps straight out in front of Ranger's running 'Mech and executes the the universal "halt" posture. Or at tries it's best iconsidering it doesn't have any hands to raise. Grinning like a lunatic, Ranger responds to the challenge (and keeps to the 'Hounds self-imposed rules of engagement) by charging his Clint into the Vulcan, knocking it to the tar-mac and very nearly destroying it, stripping most of it's torso locations down to the internal structure.



His triumphant laughter is short lived however.



Seconds later, the group receives an omega transmission from Lishka's Raven. The others watch in mingled astonishment and horror as their colleague's ejection seat shoots into the air atop a column of fire.

[I was playing via Skype, and as such I couldn't read the level indicators on the building hexes. It turns out that the building I thought was hiding me from the Locust was actually just a level one. My positioning in BT games is normally spot on so no one thought to question it. Ooops. The fast little Mech walks right up to my left side and unleashes an alpha strike from one hex away. Four SRM's and a Medium Laser hit later and I'm staring in horror at my record sheet. All three weapons hit my left torso location, stripping away all the armour and scoring a critical! With mingled horror and laughter, we watch as the fully loaded SRM ammo bin goes up! Lishka, our fearless leader, just got one-shotted by a bloody Locust! In all fairness though, the other critical hit location (the ECM) would have been just as bad. We'd never have been able to repair or replace it, and without it the Raven would have been so much junk anyway.]

Lishka Ejects



"That's it." Foa grumbles. "Weapons free."


The ensuing melee is a confused one. Trying to keep civilian casualties down as much as possible, the 'Hounds get in close and only fire when sure of their shots. Domino avenges the Raven by destroying the Locust with an point-blank alpha-strike of her very own [poetic justice: she hit with 11 out of 12 SRM's and caused an ammo explosion]. Ranger meanwhile tangles with the Black Jack, keeping it busy but taking major damage in the process.

With the Locust down and the surviving enemy Mechs either too slow or out of position to pursue her, Domino makes a break for the target building. 

****************

Lishka ran through the darkened streets, dodging from doorway to doorway, horrified by the number of yellow "quarantine" posters and fatality markers plastered to doors and windows. Not so far away she can hear the sound of pounding Mech feet. Dodging into an alley, she watches the Urban Mech plod down the street where she stood only moment ago, streams of tracer fire erupting from it's stubby auto-cannon. Steam rises from the surface of the over-heating machine. She notices an old mop handle out of the corner of her eye and briefly considers bluffing the pilot of the machine with an "inferno launcher" but dismisses it. That would be a stupid idea, she reckons.  The damn things were so new he might never even have heard of them. Besides, a satchel charge would be more threatening. Quickly, she searches through a nearby dumpster for a discarded satchel, school bag. Even a shopping bag. But she can't find any. Pity. Capturing a mech, even an Urbanmech, with a bit of rubbish would have been a real salve to her ego. Shrugging, she watches the Urbanmech ascent to the roof of a nearby building on jets of fire, and jogs on towards the target building.

[Yes, we actually considered doing this in game.]

"Urbanmech at hex 1720, heading north" she comms.


*****************************
Target Building
Domino reaches the target building without incident, disabling a handful of large laser turrets on the way. On the roof, a portly, coffee-skinned gentleman waves for her attention.

"Mr Iqbal I presume?" she issues via loudspeaker.

The portly gentleman steps onto the Javelins hand and, after being settled onto the Mech's shoulder, soon finds his way to the cock-pit. Below, an unmarked van pulls into the street, leaving the underground parking garage with all lights extinguished.

************

"That's it", Ranger exclaims, "we've got the package. Keep these guys busy Vike. I'm going to extract Lishka".

"No, no, you big lug." comes the Russian-accented rebuttal."Don't you realise there's a civilian driving that vehicle? Into a 'Mech brawl? In a crowded city? Have them rendevous with me at Hex 1194. I'm driving them out of here."

Ranger ignores her, "no Mech, no vote." is his reply (much to Lishka's fury! All the more so because she's still the boss -as she see's it- and partially because she still has another Mech back on Galatea. No way is she letting anyone imply that she is dispossessed!)

While Vike performs an altogether impressive display of holding off the Blackjack AND the damaged Urban Mech on his own [the Vulcan has long since withdrawn] Ranger tries to scoop up Lishka. However, she dodges his Mech's sweeping hand and dives into a building. Shortly thereafter, both she and the van arrive at the new rendevous point more or less simultaneously and Ranger gives up. Lishka pushes her way into the drivers seat. 

"Hi Kids. Who likes fair-ground rides?

She immediately takes not of how sick and pale the family looks, and very much hope's it's due to fear rather than disease. Even so, she resigns herself to a long period in Quarantine, and takes off down the road at break-neck speeds while Vike, Domino and Ranger cover their escape.

Plain sailing from here on in.

******************
Death of a Javelin

"Sweet Christ what was that!" exclaims the family chauffeur, a huge explosion lighting up the sky  a hundred metres or so to their left." For a moment, Lishka can't answer. She's too buys listening to the angry shouts in her com-bead. In a quiet voice, she mutters back to him

"That was daddy's ride!"

Not far away, Domino, with a fat man buckledon her lap, shoots into the air in her ejector seat, straining not only from the G's, but from the added weight of the fat man on her lap, magnified several times from gravity's pull.

Suddenly, it looks like Ranger might get to rescue someone after all.

****************************
Outworlds Alliance Urban Mech 13
Lishka yells into her mic:

"Ranger, you're on extraction duty. Vik, kill that bloody Urbanmech. Don't worry about us. You're just attracting fire to us. I don't want any stray shots hitting us, so just keep away!"

Slamming the accelerator pedal to the floor, she takes corners at insane speeds, driving with all the skill of a professional racer. Street-lights whiz by, and from behind her she can hear the sounds of retching, smell the foul taint of vomit in the air.

Suddenly, streaks of tracer light up the air either side of the civilian model van. Impacts shake the back end of the vehicle, and she nearly loses it, skidding as she takes a corner..

"Those f***king sons of B**** are shooting at us! That bloody Urbanmech is trying to kill us. Toast the b******".

****************
Several hundred metres away, Vik disengages from the Blackjack, launching himself into the air on a bed of jump-flames. He immediately switches fire to the murderous Urban-mech on the roof-top, his missiles peppering across it's chest. But it's the last of his ammunition. Now he's down to his medium laser alone. Not far away, the Urbanmech ignores him, sending round after round of autocannon fire towards the fleeing van with it's precious, vulnerable human cargo.

Releasing a berserker roar, Vike leaps atop the Urbanmech's roof! Too late the other pilot see's the danger, trying to turn his ponderous Mech to face the Foxhounds Valkyrie. With a casual gesture that belies the pilots, triumphant rage, Vike's pushes the murderous bastard and his machine off the building's roof, to tumble brokenly to the street three stories below.

As the red-smear across his vision clears, Vike hear's Rangers relieved shout through the comm, "I've got Iqbal in the cockpit with me. Dom's fine too. Crazy little Marik b***h is strapping herself to my Mech's left leg!"

***************

Relieved, Lishka takes another corner and sees a long, straight highway in front of her. A quick glance in the mirror and she knows she's in the clear. She grin's wildly.

"We're clear boys. Just a long straight at high speeds and we're home free. Disengage and oh F***K!"

Desperately, she wrenches the steering wheel, cutting down a side street while the long, deadly hull of a Rommel tank swings onto the highway from an off-ramp.

"Jesus boys, they've got tanks now! Frikking tanks!"

The 2nd Alliance Armoured has arrived.

[3 of them, in fact. All in nice, heavy tanks: a Rommel, a Patton and a Von Luckner!]

*****************

Battle Rages over the City


Once again, Vik is forced to switch fire. He's managed to damage the Urbanmech sufficiently to force it's withdrawl from the field, helped in no small part by a few well placed shots from Ranger's large laser. But with Domino strapped to his Mech's leg and their employer in his cockpit, the other pilot is understandably reluctant to expose his Mech to further fire.

While Ranger performs the bug-out boogie, Vik loos for the Blackjack. He knows it's around here somewhere, but these damaged buildings and twisted re-bar are playing havoc with his mag-scans. But it was here, and it was hunting Lishka and the kids.

******************


Not far away, Lishka shook her head to clear it of the budgies singing in orbit around it. She craned her neck over her shoulder, looking at the wife and kids in the back seats through the corner of one eye while keeping the other fixed firmly on the road. She didn't have time to ask if they were all-right. She'd barely avoided that third tank, and clipped the side of a tree in the process. She'd lost the mirror then, it's shattered glass speckling her face with small cuts. She could feel the blood beading on her skin even now. Still, better the rear-view mirror than the windshield.

"Hold on!" She stamped her foot to the floor again, las-fire and tracers lighting up the night around her, and the car raced off towards the welcoming darkness of the forest ahead.

"We're in the woods. We're in the woods. Bug out, bug out! Objective complete!"

Behind her and to her left, half-a-mile away, Ranger lumbered into the woods, Vike's Valkyrie marching backwards alongside, trading fire with the crippled enemy Mechs and slow moving tanks all the way to the dropsite.

She should have felt elated, but instead, she just felt troubled. 

They'd lost two Mechs, including her precious, irreplaceable Raven, and "rescued" a diseased family from a Quarantine zone. Was keeping faith with the contract worth placing the whole Inner Sphere at risk? What would this do the Fox Hound's good name?

Goat Fell Adventure

Doug, the DM from the Battletech campaign, had a real life adventure earlier today climbing Goat Fell on the Isle of Arran in temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius. Yes, Scotland is hotter than Kolkutta India today. Here is the tale of his adventures, as posted on facebook and in his own words:

Goat Fell
Climbed Goat Fell on the isle of Arran today - walked about 9 miles in a blazing sunshine, 7 of which were up a very steep hill. It was an interesting little adventure so I decided to keep a journal of the events:

Hour #1 - have arrived on the island after a hearty breakfast of bacon rolls and coffee. Walking along the Fisherman's Path to Castle Brodick and spirits are high. No sign of any fishermen. Slightly disappointed.

Hour #2 - Walking through some coniferous woods up from the coast. Passed a lurid pink bistro, a beauty salon and a boutique on the path. Vaguely wondering what sort of fishermen are around here anyway. Reached the mountain path and the sun is beating down now. Fending off horseflies so large, I feel like King Kong being assaulted by bi-planes.

Hour #3 - SO HOT. Have lost a third of my body weight to water loss and only survived by sucking moisture from my own beard like some sort of hirsute Fremen stillsuit. Still, the broken ground means I am walking without rhythm, so no wormsign. WHY IS THIS MOUNTAIN COVERED IN BOULDERS? You have to clamber over an obstacle course just to travel about six feet. The peak is in sight.

Hour #3 continued - NEARLY DIED - lost m balance on top of a giant boulder and only survived by windmilling my arms with the walking sticks so I fell forward to safety rather than plummeted like some sort of chubby, bearded lemming to my death.

Hour #3 continued again - AT THE TRIG POINT - I did it. How the hell did I manage that? Clearly this beer gut is some sort of camel hump because it is a SUN DRENCHED INFERNO UP HERE and I haven't died of dehydration. That rock looks very comfortable. I SLEEP NOW.

Hour #4 - Tottering down from the summit like some sort of decrepit mountain goat on crutches. Still roasting to death. I think I see a valkyrie come to take me to valhalla. Or it might be a seagull.

Hour #5 - it was a Seagull. :( Still trapped on this blazing mountain side of doom. Mordor is a freaking picnic next to this. Tried yelling 'the eagles ar coming!' but to no avail. Deeply disappointed in Gandalf.

Hour #6 - Am in a pub, with a pint of Arran Ale and STILL ALIVE. Cannot believe this. Clearly I am immortal. Or a solar powered kryptonian. Or something. My feet bloody hurt.

ADDENDUM - I'm on the beach and paddling with an ice cream yay

Thursday 18 July 2013

Fox Hounds: Incoming Message

After the success of their previous mission, the Fox Hounds are inundated with Job Offers. One, a riot control mission, they turn down immediately in fear of tarnishing their hard won image as principled mercenaries. The second is a little more troubling. By which the Fox Hounds mean, "morally ambigous":

Contract Registry: OA-OC-01-01 
Unit Assigned: Fox Hounds
Working for the: Iqbal Exports
In the: Outworlds Alliance
To complete the following: Extraction
System: Quantraine
Forces Recommended: 1 Lance
Contract Duration: 2 Months (30 Days in REAL TIME)
Employer Contact: Rashiq Iqbal
Jump/Drop Fees: 0 WP
Pay Rate: 125 WP
Support: None
Salvage Rights: None
Command: Independent


Your objective is to extract Iqbal Exports CEO Rashiq Iqbal and his famliy and escort them to New Avalon in the Federated Suns. Iqbal and his family will be barricaded inside the main Iqbal Exports administrative building in the city of Calah on the southern continent of Alrashen.

An Iqbal Exports contracted jumpship Mukhtar Bey will enter the system via a pirate jump point and dropship Rafiq will deliver you to the dropsite. Be advised that once deployed you will have a 12 hour window to extract the primary and return to the dropship before the Mukhtar Bey is intercepted by AMC forces. A signal flare on the roof will indicate the correct building.

Quantraine is patrolled by elements of the 2nd Armoured Division of the Alliance Armoured Corps and the Quantraine Planetary Militia. 

25WP - FSAF intelligence dossier on 2nd Armoured Division and Quantraine

System Data:
X:Y Coordinates 455.27:206.68
Note: X and Y are coordinates (light years on XY plane) relative to Terra at (0, 0)
Spectral class: G4
Recharge station: Zenith

Geophysical Planetary Data:

System position 4th
Jump point distance 7.98
Highest native life Avian

Local Infrastructure:
Ruler: Neil Avellar
Population: 4,500
HPG Class: D 

Image


Comstar <error>niqué 99874nr35-<error>-01-10-3026

In <error> are we forged.
-From Collected Short Sayings of <error>, Edition XXII, ComStar <error>, 3015


CLARIFICATION: 
Concerned by the possibility that they are being tricked into a kidnapping run, the Fox Hounds send a message directly to the extraction target. They receive the following responce:

Of course I'm willing, you <idiots> <what> am I <hiring> you for? Myself, my wife and two <others>. My family will be in <a> hover <vehicle> located in the basement of the <building>. I will <wait> on the roof and require <error> <error> a 'mech. Please <come> as soon as possible. My <situation> is very <bad> <error> and getting <worse> by <the> <day>

Comstar <error>niqué 99874nr35-<error>-01-10-3026

In <error> are we forged.
-From Collected Short Sayings of <error>, Edition XXII, ComStar <error>, 3015

<error> encrypted message


"Of course I'm willing, you <error> <error> am I <error> you for? Myself, my wife and two <error>. My family will be in <error> hover <error> located in the basement of the <error>. I will <error> on the roof and require <error> <error> a 'mech. Please <error> as soon as possible. My <error> is very <error> <error> and getting <error> by <error> <error>


Which they interpret as meaning:

"Of course I'm willing, you <error> <error> am I <error> you for? Myself, my wife and two <error>. My family will be in <error> hover <error> located in the basement of the <error>. I will <error> on the roof and require <error> <error> a 'mech. Please <error> as soon as possible. My <error> is very <error> <error> and getting <error> by <error> <error>"

MESSAGE TERMINATED

Of course, they are very, very wrong. 

News Update

Not long after departure, the following News Message is broadcast:

+++++++++OUTWORLDS ALLIANCE CLOSES BORDERS+++++++++

ISN reporters have learned that the Outworlds Alliance periphery state has placed several of its border worlds under an interdcition and is restricting all traffic into and out of the systems. According to reports, elements of the Alliance Air Wings are enforcing the blockade at system jump points while the 1st and 2nd Armoured divisions have been dispatched to enforce martial law on the ground. 

Alas, for the FoxHounds, they are already underway and do not receive the message.....

Plot Thickens:

To make matters worse, while the Fox Hounds are still in transit to the Jump Point, Comstar forwards the following message to Foa:

Comstar Communiqué 99874nr35-SLCOM-01-15-3026

Illuminate the darkness.
-From Collected Short Sayings of Blessed Blake, Edition XXII, ComStar Press, 3015

Start encrypted message

MESSAGE FOR FOA GURDEL. KINKAID II UNDER ASSAULT BY OBERON CONFEDERATE FORCES. PDF OVERWHELMED. PIRATE RAIDERS TAKING STOCKPILES AND SLAVES. HAVE POWERED DOWN THE GARAGE SO THEY DON'T FIND IT. PLEASE ASSIST.

MASTER TECH DOUG CHAFFEE

<Attached is grainy battle rom footage showing mechs and dropships bearing the image of a horned red skull>

Monday 15 July 2013

Battletech Campaign: Inner Sphere News

Got an excellent game in va Skype last week. Very tense all the way. I'll put the battle report up over the course of the next few nights, but for the time being here is more Inner Sphere News.

INNER SPHERE NEWS FLASH JANUARY 10th 3026

+++++++++FEDERATED SUNS ANNOUNCES WAR GAMES+++++++++

First Prince Hanse Davion announced today that an undisclosed number of troops would be involved in a set of wargame exercises dubbed Operation Galahad. The operation is set to begin next month and will involve large numbers of troops in both the Draconis and Capellan marches. The Prince went on to say that he hoped the operation would cast aside the current way of military thinking in the inner sphere. In response DCMS and CCAF regiments have been placed on high alert along the Federated Suns borders.

+++++++++OUTWORLDS ALLIANCE CLOSES BORDERS+++++++++

ISN reporters have learned that the Outworlds Alliance periphery state has placed several of its border worlds under an interdcition and is restricting all traffic into and out of the systems. According to reports, elements of the Alliance Air Wings are enforcing the blockade at system jump points while the 1st and 2nd Armoured divisions have been dispatched to enforce martial law on the ground. 

+++++++++COVENTRY METAL WORKS UNVEILS NEW MISSILE PROTOTYPE+++++++++

Coventry Metal Works has announced a new munition for it's range of SRM launchers - the Inferno. The new Inferno missiles surpass traditional incendiary munitions, combining flammable chemicals with an adhesive compound to shower their targets with a burning gel. This gel is designed to increase a 'Mech's heat levels to the point where the DI computer shuts down the 'Mech's Fusion Engine and is also extremely effective against ground vehicles and infantry. CEO Simon Grantrel has stated that the new round will go through rigorous field testing before general release but that it should be available by the summer.

+++++++++HUSSARS DEFEND CALLOWAY IV+++++++++

Calloway IV became platform for a surprise raid on the 1st Regulan Hussars. Despite high casulaties, Colonel Tomaso Kinchuhara commented on his units “swift and efficient” actions against McCarron's Armored Cavalry, who carried out the raid. The storage facility for a consignment of Pitban 230 Fusion engines came under attack during nightfall at approx. 0130hours. Archibald McCarron was unavailable for comment and is believed to be seriously injured.

Sunday 14 July 2013

Dark Eldar Wych/Photo Dump For Dakka

I'm going to be using this post to stick up photographs for my Dakka Dakka account.



Test Miniature











Wednesday 3 July 2013

Black Barracudas: Mission Report

I've updated the Black Barracudas campaign page (link under the banner) with the mission and contract details and provided a link back to this mission report.

Mission Report

by Tim Stables
(Kraken in the campaign)

Rahne. A horrible little planet without adequate water or growing seasons. Major dust storms, the works. Severe weather conditions, partly from the massive moon and from the planet's one sea, continuously arise on the planet. It has four seasons: Storm, Calm, Cold, and Melting. "Of the four, Melting is the most dangerous, as temperatures rise above 100 degrees Celsius." Each of these seasons last for 21 days. 

The current season is Melting (Dust Storms will add +2 to all ranged targeting difficulties. Current season is 'Melting' - battlemechs will generate an additional 2 heat per turn.) 

Coventry Metal Works sensor relay required a garrison [The Black Barracudas] to keep the site secure while the Skye Rangers took point and guarded the courier with the Prototype Hunchback Scans on board. It came to light that the Gryphons were planning a raid. 

Kraken Mech, "Charybdis" a CLNT-2-3T "Clint"
The Black Barracudas set up a perimeter around the relay station and straight away picked up the 4 blips of the enemy lance, each mech coming from a different angle. Splinter and Gannicus kicked their mechs into gear and raced towards the first attacker, picking him up on the scanners through the storms as a Wasp WSP-1A. We would later discover there were two Wasp WSP-1A. Goryo and Kraken did the same, discovering a Wolverine and Stinger. The Wasps and Stinger were running havoc in these conditions and kept pounding the Relay Station before darting off for cover and to cool down. The ‘Cudas struggled to hit anything and realised that the only way they’re going to cause damage is by getting close and start throwing punches and kicks. Kraken, in frustration, kicked his Jump Jets into gear and attempted a Death From Above on the closest Wasp. Obviously, due to the conditions, he missed, and he ended up face down in the dirt. 

Each mech began exchanging blows with lasers and fists… Kraken, recovering from his fall, approached the Wolverine with bravado, but after missing with both punches, took a blow to the chest causing his AC ammo to explode and critically damaging his Clint ‘Charybdis’ CLNT-2-3T. He had no option but to bug out. 

Running hot, Splinter and Gannicus made short work of one of the Wasps and made the Stinger run for the hills. The Wolverine was targeted next and the pilot was soon forced to eject. With quick thinking and desperation, as the relay station would fall with another salvo, Goryo hailed the last Wasp pilot, making him withdraw from the field, failing his mission to destroy the building, but he had his life. The ‘Cudas were successful. They captured the Wolverine pilot and recovered the Critically Damaged Wasp, a good addition to their forces. 

Kraken, upon finding his lance mates had caught the Wolverine pilot, who turned out to be Colonel Martha Zuritas, strode into her cell and floored the officer with a blow to the stomach. His lance mates quickly pulled him off so as not to risk their chances of ransoming the Colonel. 
Col. Zuritas' Wolverine
Contract written by (I believe) Dougal Cochrane.

 Contract Details:
Contract Registry: LC-OC-01-02
Unit Assigned: COMPLETED
Working for the: Coventry Metal Works
In the: Lyran Commonwealth
To complete the following: Garrison
System: Rahne
Forces Recommended: 1 Lance
Contract Duration: 1 Month (15 Days in REAL TIME)
Employer Contact: Coventry Metal Works CEO Simon Grantrel
Jump/Drop Fees: 75 WP
Pay Rate: 200 WP
Support: None
Salvage Rights: Low
Command: Independent


Kali Yama ain't letting us get away lightly with the Hunchback scans you secured for us. We're transferring the data back to Coventry via courier rather than trusting Comstar with it. Trouble is, it looks like we were spotted when we passed through the Solaris system and our courier may get hit at the staging point on Rahne.

Rahne's a real eyesore of a planet - dust storms and rock - most folk live underground in mining colonies. Normally we'd never set foot on it but word over the HPG is a Jumpship carrying a couple FWLM Leopard dropships and a swarm of aerotech glued to its belly passed through Solaris a short while ago. Chances are it's the Gryphons planning a quick raid. So now we've got a short window to get deeper into the LC where they can't follow us. We're transferring fusion bottles from Rahne up to the Jump Ship Pequod using the courier drop ship which should speed up the recharge time considerably. Unfortunately, we're almost blind during the dust storms and we're totally reliant on a nearby sensor relay to keep the site secure. The Skye Rangers have loaned us a heavy lance to guard the courier, but we'll need the sensor station guarded as well. Lose that and we'll be utterly blind and vulnerable to aerospace assault.

Can I count on you to keep the sensors uplink alive?