Battletech: A Time of War

[Richard Loh]

Lyran Commonwealth
Solaris VII
13 Aug 3025

Candice "Prime" Mai, a member of the St Ives Liao forces was dispatched on a secret mission by General MacArthur to recruit capable Mechwarriors to help liberate St Ives and throws off the shackles of the Capellan Confederation. Where else can she find the best pilots but the Game World known as Solaris VII, a place where Mechwarriors engage in combat every single week for money.

Joining the Crimson Voodoo, a newly minted member of the Solaris League of Independent Stables (SLIS), it is also the stable of galaxy wide renowned pilot Sakura "Saiyan" Tenno. When she was a rookie, her very first combat in a highly televised match was against Andrew Davion, a distant cousin of Hanse Davion. With her Mech nearly destroyed, Sakura disabled her ejection seat and with alarms blaring, she charged forward with her Mech and in a risky maneuver, she crushed the cockpit of the opposing Awesome thus ending the match, and Andrew's life. This was her claim to fame, and thus she remained in the Crimson Voodoo for the past 4 years.

Mr. Miyagi encouraged Sakura to show the new team member, Candice, around so that the lance can bond as a team. The other two members, Keanu "Ronin" Reeves and Scarlett "Ghost" Johansson quickly takes up the invitation and they rendezvoused at Kabuki, a wildly popular disco which is owned by the local Yakuza. Warnings of not tangling with the Yakuza fell on deaf ears and before long, the quartet was offered match fixes with the Mr. Saito, the local Yakuza leader. Almost threatened with bodily harm, the group managed to slink away with Candice seeming to accept the payment.

The original Team B members (Sakura, Keanu and Scarlett) beat a hasty retreat back to Mr Miyagi and informs him of the going ons and that Candice might be a risk to the stable's class rating of B-. Candice on venturing to another rundown pub met the Crimson Voodoo's next opponents, a low ranking stable known as the Ventilators. She tries to make a deal with them too and they offered a stripped down Enforcer if the Ventilators win.

Candice on returning, tries to convince Mr Miyagi to take the crooked path, but being an honourable man, he turns all talk of match fixing down.

After a day of training, Mr Miyagi brings the duo to a nice Japanese restaurant for sushi, while Keanu and Scarlett was up for hangar duty. Mr Miyagi was poisoned and two thugs attempted to slaughter the three of them, with the chilling words, "Hanse Davion sends his regards". Fighting them off, but not before Sakura was seriously hurt, the Crimson Voodoo begins a lockdown and security was enhanced. In the hospital, before Mr Miyagi passes away, he reveals to Sakura a secret which can be found in a monastery 50 miles to the northwest of the capital of Tigress.

With the company of Mechs in the Mechwarriors' hands, the lance decided to complete the SLIS games before they set off to discover Mr Miyagi's secret, but not before Sakura sends a message to Jim Raynor, leader of Raynor's Raiders, a new mercenary band to ask them to help extract the Crimson Voodoo. Jim says he will be there but will only be in Solaris after they complete their mission.

And Mr Miyagi is actually a good friend of Takeshi Kurita as evidenced by them seen in a picture. Fishing buddies to be exact.

(Transmission ends... 15 Aug 3025)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Federated Suns
Tigress
15 Aug 3025

The scene was set, a contract negotiation by Cassidy "K-Turn" with Halimah Yaacob who represents the Federated Suns. A back and fro-ing between the two teams eventually resulted in a very favourable contract for Raynor's Raiders.

Satisfied at the contract, Jim quickly dispatched the rest of his team in the Leopard-class dropship. Hoping to ambush the opposing forces, they shut down their Mechs at various points to set up an ambush. Initial jump by the enemy's Shadow Hawk almost hit Jim Raynor from above with an accidental Death From Attack (DFA) maneuver. Jim was lucky and managed to escape, but a subsequent salvo of attacks on Arkady's Shadow Hawk is not so lucky. A random critical hit caused an ammo explosion which resulted in a chain reaction that quickly ejected Arkady from his Mech. "There goes 4.6 million C-Bill", Jim laments.

Raynor's Raiders was unable to stop any of the opposing forces as ALL of them used their superior maneuverability to escape via the eastern edge which results in multiple dropship casualties as the lance was supposed to perform a perimeter defense. With no payment from the contract and a subsequent hit in reputation, Raynor decides to point the Raiders towards Solaris VII to answer a call to Sakura "Saiyan" Tenno.

She requested for the aid of a doctor which Jim promptly brought the whole team over. The Crimson Voodoo officially signed their company over to the Raiders just as the news that the Raiders had a catastrophic mission on Tigress. Sakura regretted the signing and demanded Jim to tell the truth. On query of the mission, Jim says: "Well, all of us survived, right? That's a testament to our skill!" which Sakura thought meant that the mission was a success.

A food poisoning incident from Suber~Eatz results in Arkady feeling worse for wear. With a map of the battlefield, the group made good plans for the next day's combat and with much excitement, they prepare to sleep and looks really prepared for most of the pilots' initial debut in Solaris VII.

(Transmission ends 18 Aug 3025)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Lyran Commonwealth
Solaris VII
18 Aug 3025

The match against the Ventilators was expected, an easy match. Within the first twenty seconds of the match, the assault lance focused fire on the enemy Victor almost crippling it. While the Victor wades into combat, the enemy Grand Dragon, piloted by a young lady, quickly punched out as the resultant ejection from a random PPC hit her ammo which causes a chain reaction within the Mech itself.

On seeing the Crimson Voodoo dispatching the enemies so quickly, the enemy Firestarter fled while the Stalker eventually surrendered. The match being faster than was expected, the Crimson Raiders now took the price money of 43,750 kroners. Hoping it is sufficient to cover the cost of repairs, the group disperses to hire more Mechwarriors and technicians. 

Dr. Kai is unhappy that he have to work the Mechs all by himself and thus hires a group of new technicians to help him. There are also two Mechwarriors who wishes to sign up. One is Nathan Weng, while the Kurita veteran is Takuya Fujiwara.

Promising them a fair pay, they made sure there are no Japanese amongst them for, by winning the Ventilators, they have offended the Solaris VII yakuza. True enough, as they stepped out of the BattleMech training simulator, a trio of submachine gun wielding yakuzas attempt to pepper the group with bullets. High reflexes by both Sakura and Candice is enough to put the enemy out of commission by three well placed shots.

Suspecting that they might be on the run very very soon, the group begins to buff up their defences and armaments, as well as to charter a Union class dropship to take them to Tigress again. Tigress now a hot zone from the skirmishes with the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery (DCMS), the group wonders how to infiltrate the airspace with their dropship without getting shot at. 

That is not an issue for now, as the group once more begins to repair their Mechs and try to finish off the next two League matches before fleeing the planet.

(Transmission ends... 19 Aug 3025)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Lyran Commonwealth
Solaris VII
22 Aug 3025

The battle begins in the Steiner Stadium for the second last match of the SLIS. With the opposition team, the Titans in a disadvantageous position, the Crimson Voodoo took potshots at the Titans, with massive walls rising out, giving the Crimson Voodoo an almost unfair advantage. 

Spotting for the team, Mordekai unleashed his particle projection cannons (PPCs) to deadly effect while the rest of the Voodoos rained fiery death via Long Range Missiles (LRMs). Taking shelter from the deadly bombardment, the Titans hugged the wall and after another exchange of rounds by Mordekai, and the Titans Hatchetman charging into the melee and almost getting destroyed, the Crimson Voodoo charged into the fray.

A violent charge by Prime (Candice Mai) left the pilot of the opposing forces dead by crushing it's cockpit. The Titans Atlas' pilot fell unconscious as he was continuously pummeled in the head, resulting in the pilot getting heavily injured as a result. That effectively reduced the Titans fighting force by almost half. Attempting a last ditch attempt to at least take down one of the Crimson Voodoo, the Banshee suffered some damage, but managed to avoid much serious damage and thus the Titans surrendered as a result.

Media appearance in the aftermath seems to reflect very well on Mordekai and Cassidy though the rest of the team, being highly hunted by their enemies wants to fade into the background. This weird appearance by the team seems to leave a rather mixed response to the Crimson Voodoo as a whole, though their reputations are still boosted overall. The group's prominence is increasing and that might get them invited to even more interesting matches on Solaris VII itself.

The Crimson Voodoo have about four days before the next combat in the Factory. Kai wants to recruit a medical team, while Candice and Jim wants to recruit an infantry squad. Jim's infantry squad, consisting of a few of his ex-Special Forces mates in the Federated Suns will be rendezvousing with the Raiders on Tigress itself. 

And so, it ends... the finals of the SLIS in four days and the group mostly while their time away, paranoid of attacks by vindictive yakuzas or from their enemies galore...

(Transmission ends... 26 Aug 3025)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Lyran Commonwealth
Solaris VII
26 Aug 3025

Three hours before the match starts, Kai spotted Jiro in the Mech hangar walking away. Knowing that nobody is supposed to be there at this time, a cursory glance at the Mechs realized that three Mechs have been sabotaged. Sounding the alarm, Kai shouted for somebody to grab Jiro.

It is at this time when Sakura is going for a jog that she spotted Jiro running away and giving chase, she pinned him down with her kungfu. While Kai is busy fixing the Mechs up as best as he could, Jiro was interrogated by the worst interrogators of all, the ex-Capellan soldiers, Arkady and Candice. As the prime interrogator, Candice has grown into a hardened, sadistic torturer who did not hesitate to cut off Jiro's fingers in an effort to get him to spill his beans. Even when he is unconscious, they wake him up with medical care and torture him again.

Revealing that the Yakuza is employing him, he mentioned that there is a bomb in the hangar bay. There seems to be a sleeper agent within the group, but he does not know who the other sleeper agent is. The time for the match nearing, the Mechwarriors have a competition to go to. 

After destroying most of the enemy Mechs, the group sped back by asking one of their fans to drive them back in his antique Mazda RX-8. The fan is a safe driver, so Candice took over and drove back like a mad woman. Arkady and Kai in the meantime, found 10 blocks of C8 planted near the ammunition bay. Realizing the resultant explosion could destroy most of their Mechs, they gave orders to move the Mechs out with the remaining Mechwarriors while Arkady, trained in demolitions attempts to defuse it.

Not a simple matter. An anti-tampering device, a simple mercury switch prevents them from shifting the bombs. Kai, being a resourceful engineer, re-routed some of the Mechs nuclear coolant and spray it on to the mercury, freezing it in place. Cutting the detonator out, Kai took the detonator and run, wanting to drop it in the middle and flee. They were expecting the detonator blast to be small, but alas... it is not a conventional detonator. 

The resultant blast radius is small, but Kai was caught right in it. With his frail body, the concussive force shatters his vital organs.

With Kai dead, the group's radio crackles to life.

"We are under attack! Takuya Fujiwara is attacking us with the Awesome!" The sleeper agent revealed, Scarlett and Nathan worked hand in hand to destroy the Awesome though Scarlett's Kintargo took massive damage. Takuya ejected and wanting to squish him, Scarlett and Nathan looked around but could find no trace of Takuya as he hid in the dense forest. Returning back, the Raiders took stock of their situation.

With Kai dead, they decided to space Jiro out by kicking him out of the airlock once the Union dropship has left Solaris. 

What of the chief engineer? Before they left, they went to seek the help of one of the greatest wizards on Solaris, a tech-head by the name of Arboghast. He is looking for supplies to repair his Phoenix Hawk LAM. One in which he cannot do by staying on Solaris VII itself. With the promise of giving him first dibs on new tech, the group departs Solaris VII and begins their journey to Tigress. 

Four contracts awaits them at Solaris VII's hiring hall.
A contract for assassination by House Liao, one as an objective raid on the capital of Tigress, one as an infiltration to retrieve information for House Davion and one as garrison duty, to protect the capital from offensive forces.

The Crimson Raiders accepted the infiltration and objective raid mission. The only thing remaining is negotiation for contract terms as the Union dropship hurtles through jump space. 

(Transmission ends... 01 Sep 3025)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Lyran Commonwealth
Solaris VII
01 Sep 3025

Sakura Tenno tries to negotiate contract terms with the Recruiting Hall but her introvert nature shows and she withdraws very quickly from the negotiations.

After exiting the jump, the Union dropship disengages from the jumpship and begins a slow burn towards Tigress. On the way, they were hailed by a few Davion dropships assaulting a Liao warship. This is illegal! Wanting to board their dropship due to protocol X-765, the Raiders dropship accelerates and charges full speed for Tigress. The Davion dropships deployed a few aerospace fighters to pursue but lost the dropship in the atmosphere. 

The dropship, Red October, landed in the temperate forests after getting into contact with the Vanderberg Aces. Gideon suggested that they check out the Davion base as all communications have been cut off.

Arriving at the base, the recon team found that the Davion base was infiltrated by a single person who looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger. He alone wiped out the entire base, but not before scanning the Davion plans to provide a distraction for the infiltration team. All the Davion Mechs are missing too. As the recon team moves from the base, a Long Tom was fired at the base, devastating it and almost took Arkady out too, except his superior driving skills saved his arse.

The contract for Davion has been changed to eliminate whomever it is that dealt such a horrendous blow to the Davion base and if possible, to get such technology for Davion too.

The Raiders decided to pile up on to a hoverbus and drives themselves all the way in to rendezvous with Jim Raynor's Special Forces buddies. Hopefully, with the proper equipment, they might be able to see if it is really the Kuritans who are behind this. 

After much consideration, the plan is for the hoverbus to be at the security checkpoint and there will be a Mech fire team to fire at the security checkpoint. With explosions as distractions, the hoverbus can then drive through with such a distraction without getting their papers checked.

Will the Mechs get into the firing position on time? We will find out in the next session!

(Transmission ends... 09 Sep 3025)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Capellan Confederation
Tigress
09 Sep 3025

With the main aces in the hoverbus, Jim Raynor suggested dispatching all five pilots out on the field. Not expecting Mech resistance, they were almost caught unprepared when they spied half a company of BattleMechs stationed on the road to the capital, Laurella. Almost destroying the enemy Wasp in one salvo, the Raiders faced multiple salvos of LRM fire and a firefight ensued, with the destruction of an enemy Shadow Hawk through the head. 

Ghost ejected as her Kintaro took a severe beating. Fleeing into the forest, Fabio covered her escape with a flamer and she managed to make her way back to an earlier pre-arranged rendezvous point. 

Firing salvos of LRMs around the checkpoint to make the guards think they are under attack, they waved a convoy of ground vehicles through and Arkady wisely drove in their midst to avoid arousing suspicion.

They were to rendezvous with the Special Ops troops in The Emirates, a high class hotel. Setting off the fire alarm, the entire hotel's population congregated at the front foyer of the hotel to give the place a good scan to make sure it's a false alarm. Sneaking up, the aces realized that they were too late. The SpecOps team was half decimated and they saw the T-101 threw Burke, their contact, down the window. A single blow from the intruder which devastated the Davion base almost took Cassidy out and they fled for good measure. They realized that laser weapons are more efficient against this Terminator unit but still they flee for a random punch can easily send any of the aces to meet their makers.

Fleeing into the foyer, the hotel's security team was caught unprepared as the T-101 charged into their midst and taking advantage of the confusion, the aces fled, but not before Zohan remembered that he saw some movement in one of the soldier. Sneaking back up, they retrieved him and they carefully drive him to a body chop shop called Melissa. 

With both thigh bones shattered, the aces decides to leave the unconscious SpecOps soldier there while they decide on their next course of action.

(Transmission ends... 10 Sep 3025)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Capellan Confederation
Tigress
10 Sep 3025

Tychus reveals that the SpecOps emergency rendezvous point is in a canyon two miles to the west of Tigress. Realizing that they will be unable to climb down the canyon with their limited skills, the Raiders wanted to commandeer jump capable Mechs to jump into the canyon. 

There is a Mech repair facility in the northwest of Tigress and casing the place, they wanted to steal engineers' uniforms and it is here that they saw a Tai-sho walking out of the facility. Young, beautiful, and driving the latest Nissan Fairlady 750Z, they wanted to stalk her and replace her with Sakura as they look quite similar in build.

With some tracking, based on her vehicle number, Arkady is able to ascertain that she is Ozawa Tenno, a young Captain. 21 years old, she seems to have seen a meteoric rise through the ranks and this made Sakura suspects that Ozawa is her younger sister. 

As Arkady and Sakura were casing the repair facility, Candice and Mordekai spotted a series of abandoned buildings which were seemingly guarded by covert Kurita soldiers. A coordinated team effort by the Raiders revealed that the building housed a Panther. "A lousy Mech", Candice thought, and the Mech powered up. Lousy or not, it's more than enough to kick the asses of any humans stupid enough to face it and they fled, like any sane person would do.

Thinking that each of the building concealed a Mech, they wanted to make a beeline for the next abandoned building, but it's obvious that not all buildings contained Mechs.

Within these two weeks, Arkady managed to con a local property agent to show him the available apartments in the squalid slum Ozawa calls home. Knowing where she lives, Sakura decides to confront Ozawa before her bloodthirsty companions kill her. Convincing her that they should talk, Sakura revealed the location of the monastery to Tigress. And Sakura wants Ozawa to test their DNA, absolutely convinced that she is without a doubt, her sister, as they have both been indoctrinated into the 666th Sword of Light, and Ozawa has been there for ten years, hence garnering her the rank of Tai-Sho at such a young age.

Agreeing to meet the next day at Diver City, the equivalent of their main shopping street, Ozawa confirms that they indeed share the same DNA. Torn between her loyalty to the DCMS and her new found sister, Ozawa did the only honourable thing. She challenged Sakura to single Mech combat. If Sakura wins, Ozawa will aid Sakura in infiltrating the headquarters of Kurita High Command.

Ozawa escorted Sakura out on Friday morning to prepare for the duel on Saturday. The duel is slated to begin at 1200 hours on Saturday, 25 Sep 3025. Taking the opportunity to pick up the SpecOps team as well as get to the monastery, Sakura brought a trio of jump capable Mechs. 

In the meantime, the remaining Raiders in Tigress reports of a bustle of activity at the headquarters. There seems to be major import of technological equipment, with it's source unknown.

Picking up the SpecOps team, enroute to the monastery, Tian'An Shi, Jim reported three separate convoys heading in to Tigress, escorted by two Kintaros and two Dragons each. Thinking that the convoy must hold something important, Sakura suggested sending in the SpecOps team but got berated for it, as true tactical operations operate a lot differently than what is seen in vidgames. A SpecOps girl, Nova, might be able to get in successfully, but without much information, her help will be rather limited.

Radioing back to the Vanderburg Aces, they suggested doing a massive combat drop with the Aces' Phoenix Hawks, Jenners making the journey on foot, while the Battlemasters and the Raider's own Mechs drop in from the Union dropship. With possibly a treasure on their hands, the Raiders will never let his opportunity go wasted and hence, preparations for the drop begins...

(Transmission ends... 24 Sep 3025)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Capellan Confederation
Tigress
24 Sep 3025

Dropping a task force on the lead convoy, the combined forces laid waste to the defenders of the convoy while capturing the lead truck but not before losing the Mercury Kai in a round of concentrated fire from the defenders.

The second group retreated into the forest to attempt to hide, but a quick check reveals the group's hiding position and a short battle later, they captured the second group.

The last of them holes up in the monastery, where it is heavily guarded. Cutting their losses, the task force from the Blazing Aces and the Crimson Raiders retreated.

The next day, Sakura met up with Ozawa Tenno for a duel and many tense exchanges later, Sakura got lucky with a critical hit, destroying Ozawa's LRM ammo which resulted in her ejecting from her Atlas. In accords with the duel, Ozawa decides to help Sakura, but without any dishonourable actions to her unit. 

Trying to convince Sho-sho Yamamoto that his wife is in danger and being tracked by the ISF, the group decided to put on an act, in which Sakura pretends to be the wife, while Mordekai is the ISF agent in charge of ferreting out traitors of the Combine. After many takes, by which the first Dropship carrying the lostech has departed, they got the tape and wants to find Sho-sho Yamamoto in his office, with Sakura pretending to be Ozawa. 

With terrible deception and after much trouble, they bluffed their way past the guards at the guardhouse and barging in, they found T-101 impersonating the dead Yamamoto and they overheard that the Dropships should drop the bio-medical lostech at New Home, a planet in the Terran Hegemony.

Picking up part of T-101, a leg and half of the head, they discovered a tracking signal originating from it. Aldrich wants to study it, and the group has half of the Lostech. They want to bring it to New Avalon for sale, but on the first jump, while recharging the jumpship's battery, they heard that Luthien is offering 50 million C-bills for it's recovery.

The news also reports that there are talks between the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth that when Melissa Steiner be of age, Prince Hanse Davion will marry her. On the other hand, the Concord of Kepteyn has been brokered by Primus Julian Tiepolo in which the remaining three houses will co-operate under one banner.

(Transmission ends... 03 Oct 3025)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Federated Suns
Unknown planet
03 Oct 3025

Making multiple jumps to New Avalon, the group could not see any openings for mercenary contracts and no Mechwarriors and medical team are willing to join them. Finally ditching the bio-medical devices for the New Avalon Institute of Science, the Raiders scoot off to Danais, in the Free Worlds League. 

Mid-jump, they were pulled off to an unidentified system where a derelict lies floating above a volcanic planet. Sending a drone in with the spec op guys, they see that the entire supercarrier, the SLDF Isshin-Maru have Mech size corridors and within lay a lance of King Crabs, plus what looks like a Raven before they lost contact with the drone.

There are destroyed Mechs which seem to have been destroyed by giant claws and signs of acid. Whatever it was, the Mechs on the Isshin-Maru put up a fight but there was no trace of any destroyed enemies. Fearing trouble, the Raiders quickly convinces the Jumpship to get the hell away from that place.

All in all, nine months have passed since leaving Tigress. The Third Succession War have ended, Katrina Steiner has been murdered and Maximilian Liao has been incarcerated into a mental hospital. Frederick Steiner has called off the wedding between Melissa Steiner and Hanse Davion as he is now the Regent as Melissa is still 16 years old and is therefore underaged. The incarceration of Chancellor Liao prompted Candice to contact St Ives and they feel that the time to strike is now. Leaving a token force consisting of Steve, Nathan and a newly pregnant Scarlett, the rest of the Raiders take off into space once again...

And it is this moment, that Cranston Snord's Irregulars makes their presence known...

(Transmission ends 28 Jun 3026)

==========

[Richard Loh]

Free Worlds League
Danais
28 Jun 3026

With only three Mechs remaining on Danais, with the heaviest being a Trebuchet, the Raiders tries to hold off the Cranston Snord's Irregulars as much as possible. Outclassed, outskilled, and out-weighed, the Raiders took a severe beating but still they persisted until Nathan Weng punched out as his Jenner was destroyed in a concentrated salvo.

Steven punched the comms to Scarlett. "No matter what you do, do not turn back!" he lamented. Expecting a valiant last stand, the Irregulars instead received a surrender plea from Steven. "Stop your hostilities! In return, you can get to keep this Trebuchet!". Expecting him to keep his word, the Warhammer and Thunderbolt thundered past Steven to their objective, to loot the artworks from the noble's estate. Instead, Steven fled as quickly as possible, all honour gone from him. Suspecting that he learned such dishonourable tactics from the Coup card game Steven played before, the remaining Irregulars, the father and daughter pair of Cranston and Rhonda Snord attempted to take the Trebuchet out.

Proving especially resilient, the Trebuchet and the Blackjack eventually made their way out to the dropship and with their own Leopard class dropship, they fled to Terra and selling off the Trebuchet, the pair decides to retire from a dangerous mercenary life, until possibly when their kid is born!

The Leopard-class dropship and the Blackjack is now remaining on Terra, awaiting for the Crimson Raiders to come retrieve it. Until next time, when the Crimson Raiders will plan their takeover of the planet, St. Ives.