On the brink of extinction
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Since the death of Mauler, the team hasn’t been on any missions. With only three members left, two mechs and just enough money to see them through maintenance/salaries for another month or two, it was looking like the end of this team. P.J. started to look for work elsewhere. No one stopped him – they couldn’t blame him…
It was Wolf that got the call. It was from an old friend of Mauler that was offering some patrol duties on a neighboring planet in the midst of a civil war. Wolf told him of Mauler’s death, but the offer stood. Having found no other work, P.J. decided to come along.

Tensile mounted up on his Dragonfly
Wolf led the pair out on his IceLord

Late into the afternoon, Tensile and Wolf enter the final sector of their patrol area
They entered the sector from the southwest corner. Wolf ran on the northern shore of the river while Tensile patrolled to the south.

They were almost midway through their sector, and still had no enemy contact. This was looking like a milk run. Up ahead, the river snaked through some hills. Both Wolf and Tensile climbed the hills, linking their scanners to get maximum coverage of the area. Still no sign of the enemy.

Wolf reaches the other side of his hill, only to realize it’s too steep to climb down. He would have to use his jump jets, something he never really liked doing. Igniting his jets, he guides his mech down the hill and barely manages to keep it standing on landing.

The river then turns north, essentially cutting right in front of Wolf. Muttering under his breath, he kicks in his jump jets again and floats over the river to the other side. This time he lands better.

Regrouping with Tensile, they turn and head towards the high hills and forests in the north east.

Tensile moves through some woods while Wolf climbs a small hill - they lose line of sight on each other and their shared scanner link goes down.

Clearing the trees, Tensile turned to try and regain a visual on Wolf - and almost misses the faint signal on his scanner - enemy Titan south of them hiding in the trees! His battle computer profiles the contact as a Beserker class Titan.

The Berserker wastes no time and opens fire with it's autocannon, tearing armor off Tensile's mech.
Cresting the hill, Wolf sees the explosion on Tensile as the shot hits home. Wolf turns and locates the Berserker mech. Starting his lock sequence, his scanners detect movement behind the Berserker.
A recon mech – Stinger class.

The Berserker fires again, hitting Tensile in the lower torso. Before he can return fire, the Berserker runs deeper into the treeline and out of sight. Tensile quickly links scanners with Wolf and reacquires the enemy mech. Its a weak link, and he loses it again as soon as he pushes his mech forward.

Seeing Wolf on the hill ahead, the Berserker fires a volley at him, which smashes harmlessly into the hillside. Wolf gets a good scan lock. The Berserker is almost at maximum range of his Cold Light guns, but he fires anyway - and is rewarded with a hit on its left arm.

Breaking through trees, the Berserker presses forward. Tensile spots him again and tries to lock him up one more time. The weapon lock is good. Tensile fires and hits the Berserker with his small lasers - his large laser slicing through thin air.
The Berserker shifts his target again - firing on Tensile. The earth erupts around Tensiles’ feet as autocannon slugs rip up the ground around him.

Wolf waits patiently as the Berserker tears through the trees - as soon as he clears them, Wolf fires both Cold Light guns - and missed! The Berserker starts to turn to face Tensile.
In the distance, the Stinger fires its autocannons, hitting Wolf in the torso.
The Berserker activates its jump jets. Tensile looks at his scanner - just a few more seconds to a scanner lock. He starts to back peddle away from the leaping Berserker.
Wolf's weapons recycled - he fires them quickly as the Berserker lifts into the air. One shot burns armor from the Berserkers arm, the other misses.
Wolf decides its time to close range. He pushes his mech into a run and descends the hill.

Tensile watches the scanner - good lock. He tracks his lasers upwards following the airborne enemy mech and fires. His large laser burns a hole in the mechs right arm. The Berserker continues his forward motion, firing its autocannon. More armor is torn away from Tensile's left torso.
Wolf tries to keep his weapons tracking the Berserker, ignoring the explosions as autocannon shots from the closing Stinger smash into the ground around him.

Tensile fires and hits with both lasers on the mechs legs! Undeterred, the Berserker kept coming!
Wolf continued his run down the hill, firing his cold light guns at the Berserker, cursing as both shots missed their mark.

The Berserker continued its jump past Tensile and landed behind him. Tensile realized that he would not be able to stop his backward motion in time. He swiveled his torso hoping to get a shot on the berserker first before he was in melee range.

The Berserker started to turn just as Tensile brought his mech to a stop. Tensile swiveled and fired his lasers, scoring hits on the Berserkers’ torso. Throwing out his arms, Tensile punched at the Berserker but failed to do any damage. He pushed his mech into a run, not wanting to go into a toe-to-toe slugfest with the heavier mech. The Berserker finished his turn and fired, hitting Tensile in the left torso.

Through the trees, the Stinger continued to make his approach.

Wolf brought his mech to a halt in some trees and lined up the Berserker for another shot. His first shot missed as the Berserker broke into a run, heading straight for Wolf. Wolf held his fire on the second weapon, waiting for the Berserker to close the range.

Tensile ran forward into cover and switched targets to the Stinger. His mech shook as he was hit again by the Berserker's autocannon.
Wolf shouted a warning to Tensile as he watched the Berserker come forward and stop - turning to face the back of Tensile! Wolf fired his second Cold Light gun, but missed again!

Tensile fired at the Stinger, but he hit the trees instead. The Stinger broke cover and fired on Tensile hitting him squarely in the centre torso. Tensile turned and started to run, now seeing the Berserker closing in from behind him.

Wolf fired and hit the Berserker in the right torso, just as the enemy mech took to the sky again!
The Stinger crashed through the trees covering Tensile and fired on him at point blank range. The shot rocked Tensiles’ mech. He grappled at the controls, but couldn't stop his mech from falling over. The Stinger kicked and ripped armor from Tensiles’ leg. From up in the sky, the Berserker rained down autocannon fire on the fallen Dragonfly mech. Tensile was smashed around in his cockpit as he fought to push his mech to it's feet. He arced his large laser and fired while still prone, hitting the Stinger in its leg.

Screaming into the com-link at Tensile to get up, Wolf fired on the Berserker and missed.
Heat level Yellow!

The Berserker landed, stumbled and fell! The Stinger fired on Tensile, damaging his shoulder. Tensile felt the controls go free in his hands as his mech crashed to the ground again.
The Berserker got to its feet. Then a new sound was heard - the sound of Chain Saws revving up. The Berserker swung its dual saws at Tensile, but failed to connect and do damage. The Stinger fired on Tensile again, shattering his right torso. Tensile struggled with the controls, and this time was able to keep his position.

Wolf fired his weapons, scoring hits on the Berserkers leg. The big mech lurched and seemed to be falling - but the enemy jock got his mech under control - damn!
Tensile got to his feet and punched the Stinger mech. Wolf watched in horror as Tensile swung his mech's foot at the Stinger - and missed. Losing his balance, Tensile fell again.

The Berserker didn't miss with the saws this time. In two swings he disabled Tensiles’ lower torso.
Tensile saw the engine alert flash on his board - light damage.
With only a small laser left - he fired on the Stinger and missed.
Tesnile ears ached from Wolf shouting in the com-link for him to eject.
"Affirmative".
He started the ejection sequence...

The Berserker jumped into the air again and fired on Tensile damaging his legs. Wolf fired on the Berserker and hit - Heat level Red!

Tensile ejected safely...

Wolf's weapons recycled - but he held fire - he was way too hot. Sweating in his cockpit, he rocked under the autocannon assault of both enemy mechs. He watched the heat level drop, drop, drop - then he fired. His shots tore into the Berserkers legs, tripping the big mech and sending it crashing to the ground.
The Berserker came quickly to its feet. Wolf watched, again unable to fire because of his heat level. The Stinger opened up and ripped more armor from Wolfs’ centre torso. Wolf returned fired on the Berserker. On his threat display, the right leg of the Berserker went red.

The Berserker started to run towards him, both saws revving loudly. Wanting no part of that, Wolf turned and pushed his mech into a run.

Autocannon shots flew around him as the Berserker and Stinger both fired volleys at him. Wolf closed the range and decided to fire despite his heat hovering just outside of warning range. His first shot missed the Berserker cleanly.
Heat level Yellow.
"Screw It" Wolf thought... and he fired his second Cold Light gun. The shot hit the Berserkers right leg, tearing the final structure support. The leg snapped and the Berserker collapsed to the ground!

Throttling down, Wolf switched his target to the now stationary Stinger mech.

Wolf threw his mech into reverse - just as autocannon fire from the Stinger ripped into the earth where he was just standing.
He stopped his mech and waited on the scan lock to come up, cooling down at the same time.
3 - 2 - 1 ... good scan lock!
He glanced at the heat - all good. Wolf triggered both weapons. Armor plating melted from the Stingers right arm.

The Stinger retaliated and hit Wolf in the centre torso. Wolf tracked his weapons over the enemy mech and fired again. This time, he scored a hit on the head!
The two mechs came to a halt, and began to just fire on each other. Autocannon slugs smashed into Wolf's arm and head, while his Cold Light guns burned more armor from the Stinger's torso and legs.

When the second shot hit Wolf in the head again, Wolf reflexively pushed his mech into reverse, seeking the cover of the trees behind him.
He tried for a better scan lock but failed. Reaching the trees, Wolf fired on the Stinger again, hitting him in the right torso. The Stinger fired but his shots smashed into the trees surrounding Wolf. The Stinger then throttled up and charged forward.

Wolf patiently waited... just outside of 300 metres, he fired ... and severed the Stinger's right leg!
The forward momentum carried the Stinger face down in front of Wolf.

Turning on his external microphone, Wolf demanded that they surrender.
In response, he saw both enemy mechs cockpits explode outwards as both jocks ejected from their crippled mechs.

Victory!

The Berserker was salvageable - so it was collected.

With the promise of more patrols, PJ has decided to stay on as long as he gets to see some action. The mechs have been reassigned to allow his participation.

PJ has taken the DragonFly
Tensile is now in the IceLord
Wolf has taken the Berserker.

One will Live.. One will die
Topic: ToS Chronicles

Wolf has received his new mech. Mauler hopes they can financially recover from the last mission quickly so as to get back into the campaign.

Wolf had little problem adapting to the heavier IceLord. With only three of them on patrol (no money to buy CYBEN a mech – so he was at the base), Tensile became the point man, running ahead of the two heavier mechs.

Running north, it was Tensile who spotted the enemy patrol. Quickly, he altered course and headed for a small forest to his left, while radioing the contacts to the rest of the group – A Wolverine and Thor (Light – 70 tons) and a Mosquito mech (Recon – 40 tons). The intervening mountains and hills meant he would lose sight of them very soon. Hopefully, Mauler and Wolf would be closer when they reappeared.

Tensile was able to get a scan lock on the Thor just before it disappeared from view. Initial scan showed two energy weapons and one cannon. Reaching his target area in the trees, he turned to face the direction of the oncoming patrol and waited.

Mauler was the first to reach and, being in a taller mech than Tensile, spotted the enemy mechs as they darted around hills. He too lost sight of them quickly as they kept moving, using the terrain to mask their approach. The Thor was too slow however, and Mauler was able to get off a snap shot at him, hitting it in its leg. The Thor changed direction and stepped out into view. Mauler started to refine his lock on the light mech.

The enemy recon mech (the Mosquito) came out of the hills as well. Tensile started his lock sequence on the Mosquito. Wolf reached the area and immediately fired his weapons at the Mosquito, scoring a hit. He too started to refine his lock. Not wanting to stay in the open as he was, Mauler threw his mech into reverse to try and back up into the trees behind him. The advancing Thor pilot halted his mech and opened fire on Mauler, hitting him with its energy weapons. Patiently, Mauler waited – and received a good lock. He returned fire and was disappointed to see only one of his autocannons find their mark on the Thors’ armor. The Thor returned fire with its cannon, ripping armor from Maulers’ right leg.

The Mosquito locked up Mauler as well and fired its meson guns, doing critical internal structure damage to Maulers’ mech. The Plasma Gun from the Thor cut into Maulers leg again, forcing him to keep his mech from falling over. Steadying his mech, he fired all four autocannons, shredding armor from the Thor.

Wolfs’ lock sequence came up good on the Mosquito. He fired his twin Cold Light guns – but missed! Tensiles’ lock attempt failed on the Mosquito. He fires anyway, hitting the Mosquito with his Large Laser. Just as he was starting the locking sequence again, the second enemy light titan stepped into view.

The Mosquito switched targets to Wolf and broke into a run. Wolf fired on the oncoming recon mech, hitting it in its centre torso. Pushing his mech into a run, Wolf charged forward. Meson shots flew around Wolf as the Mosquito fired all its’ guns, but missed. Tensile tried to give supporting fire for Wolf, but missed all his shots at the Mosquito!

Closing in on the Mosquito, Wolf fired one cold light gun, hitting its left arm. The arm jettisoned from the mech in a fireball as the ammo in the arm exploded! Thrown off balance, the Mosquito crashed into the ground. Still charging in, Wolf fired his second gun and tore armor of the Mosquitos’ leg. Tensile fired on the prone mech, hitting it in its head. The Mosquito tried to push itself off the ground, just as the charging IceLord of Wolf arrived. Wolf swung his right foot and kicked the down mech in the head, sending it sprawling to the ground again. Quickly shifting targets, he locked up the Wolverine and started to back away, leaving the injured mech for Tensile.

Wolfs’ savage attack on the Mosquito drew the attention of the other two enemy mechs. Both the Thor and Wolverine locked onto Wolf and fired on him, rocking his mech with the Plasma gun, cannons and meson shots. Wolf's IceLord suffered internal structure damage and heavy loss of armor under the onslaught. The Wolverine rushed in to close on Wolf and raked him with his VibraClaws.

The Mosquito pilot got his mech upright. Tensile tracks him and is about to fire when he sees the pilot eject! He switches his target to the Wolverine, hoping to help drive him off of Wolf.

Mauler fired on the stationary Thor, hitting him all over with his autocannons – Heat level Yellow.

Not to be distracted, the Thor remained stationary, relentlessly firing its weapons on Wolf. Mauler waited for all his weapons to recycle and let loose another autocannon volley shredding more armor from the Thors’ torso and arms. Still, the Thor remained in its spot, firing on Wolf.

Cursing in disbelief, Mauler was about to fire again when the alert came – Heat level Red.

Somehow able to keep his mech standing from the onslaught of the Thor, Wolf backed away from the Wolverine, fired, and scored hits with his Cold Light Guns. Shrugging off the hits, the Wolverine charged Wolf, sending them both crashing to the ground. The Wolverine was up first, slashing its vibraclaws into Wolfs’ armor.

Finally reaching the trees, Mauler gets a better scan of the Thor, which showed heavy armor loss on its left arm. Mindful of his heat, Mauler fires only his two smaller autocannons and was rewarded by seeing the scanner show the Thors’ centre torso go yellow. Wolf pushed his mech off the ground and fired both his weapons into the left leg of the Wolverine. The Wolverine staggered, but the pilot was able to keep his mech standing.

Wolf then pounded on the Wolverines’ torso with his fists. He throttled up into a run, narrowly dodging another swipe of the vibraclaws. He saw the flash of Tensiles’ large laser as it burnt into the Wolverines’ left torso. Running, Wolf swivelled his torso and fired on the Wolverine again, hitting him with one of his weapons. The Wolverine turned and fired on Wolf, doing more internal structure damage.

The Thor, still stationary in its position, fired relentlessly on Wolfs mech, eventually decimating its lower torso. With no gyro, Wolfs’ IceLord fell to the ground. The Wolverine ran over Wolf and began raking him with its vibraclaws, peeling armor from the IceLords torso.

Mauler and Tensile broke cover and ran forward, weapons blazing. The Wolverine ignored Tensiles’ laser fire as it was focused solely on Wolf. Maulers’ initial onslaught tore more armor from the Thors’ torso and finally got the Thor pilot to start retreating. Mauler then switched targets to the Wolverine and fired another barrage from his autocannons. Wolf looked up from his prone state and saw the Wolverine rocking under the impacts of the autocannon slugs, but still, the Wolverine pilot continued to hammer Wolf. Wolf brought his weapons up and fired on the Wolverins standing over him. His shots hit an arm and leg. Heat level yellow. His weapons recycled and he fired again. Both legs on the Wolverine were almost devoid of all armor now. Heat level red!

Meson gunfire crashed into Wolf as the Wolverine destroyed one cold light gun. Another shot ripped into the cockpit injuring Wolf! Wolf started the eject sequence… Tensile brought his mech to a halt and aimed at the Wolverine. His small laser missed, but the large laser tore out the last of the internal structure of its right leg. Unable to support its weight, the leg snapped and the Wolverine fell to the ground on top of Wolfs’ mech – just as Wolfs’ ejection sequence completed and he was hurled into the air…

Reaching the fallen Wolverine, Mauler fired with one autocannon which decimated the mechs other leg. Switching his target back to the retreating Thor, he threw his mech into reverse. He watched as Wolfs’ chute deployed, but Wolf looked – limp. He radioed to Wolf – no response. Wolfs’ body hit the ground hard and was covered by the chute.

Concerned for Wolf, Mauler didn’t see the Thor had stopped its’ retreat and was advancing again. It was Tensiles’ shouted warning into the headset that snapped him back to the fight. That, and the alarms going off as his threat indicator showed the Thor pilot had him locked him up solid. Laser fire smashed into the Bloodhounds head, injuring Mauler. The Thors’ autocannon belched once and armor was ripped from Maulers’ right arm. Reeling from the impact, Mauler triggered all of his autocannons, but his shots missed, tearing up the earth around the Thor.

Tensile pushed his mech into a run, turning to go around the fallen Wolverine. He locked up the Thor and fired his lasers, burning armor off its torso. Tensiles’ hands froze at the controls when he saw the Thors’ autocannon fire again, ripping the head from the Bloodhound! The Bloodhound seemed to freeze in midstride, then slowly fell over on its side.

Thump – thump – thump .. meson shots hitting into Tensiles’ right side from the fallen Wolverine! Ignoring it, Tensile fired on the now advancing Thor. Taking his laser fire in stride, the Thor charged into Tensile and sent them both crashing to the ground. Tensile got up first and fired his lasers into the standing Thor. He then swung his fists and pounded the heavier mech back into the ground. Seeing the Thor starting to rise again, Tensile fired his lasers and kicked and punched the heavier mech back into the ground again!

Thump – thump.. more meson shots hit. Tensile watched as the Thor began to stand again and decided it was time to leave. He throttled up his mech and ran. Turning and swivelling his mech, he braced himself for the Thors’ attack – which never came. Slowing his mech, he turned and faced the Thor – which was on the ground again! Tensile watched as the Thor started to rise, stand, but then would fall over again – Its’ Gyro must be damaged!

Tensile coolly walked his mech up a hill behind the Thor. He targeted the fallen Wolverine and hammered the mech with laser fire until the pilot decided it was time to eject. Switching to the Thor, he fired on it, doing more damage to its’ centre torso. The pilot gave up and ejected from his mech.

Victory! But at a huge price.

Mauler is dead. Instant kill from the head shot. Novice Level – 12 battles fought.

Wolf lived through the bad ejection – he was badly injured and unconscious.

Team still does not have enough money to but a new mech for Cyben, even with selling Maulers’ (damaged) Bloodhound.

Wolf is now the squad leader. He and Tensile will have to do well to bring this team back from the brink.

Attrition
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Their spirits dampened by their failure on the campaign, Mech Masters are sent back on routine patrols

Failing to secure the intel data from the IL, Mech Masters went back on patrol again. Having an uneventful patrol thus far, Mauler ordered the team to return to base. Moving westward towards base, Wolf leads the team between some hills. Cyben follows close behind him and Tensile starts to climb one hill, just to get a clearer view of the area.

Wolf trots out towards another hill – and sees an enemy recon mech in the distance – a Fang. Just as he was trying to get a lock, the Fang disappeared behind a hill.
Wolf warns the team of enemy contact. Tensile reaches the top of the hill he was climbing, and Mauler asked if he had a visual on the Fang.

“Negative… but I have visual contact to 2 mechs. Needler (Light) and a Banzai (recon)”

Great.

Mauler datalinks with Tensile and starts his lock sequence on the Needler.

Just as Tensile initiated his own lock sequence on the Banzai, he saw the telltale smoke trails of missiles inbound from the Needler. Most of the missiles flew harmlessly by, but a few impacted on his torso.
Tensile got a good lock on the Banzai and fires his only weapon that had the range – his large laser. It missed.
Expecting another volley of missiles at any moment, Tensile popped flares, hoping they would help fool the missile seekers.

The enemy Fang mech comes back into view, much closer to Wolf. Still following Wolf, Cyben starts to lock up the Fang.

Tracking the Needler, Tensile realized he was about to lose sight of it, as it’s current path would take it behind hills – but into the path of Wolf. He relayed this to Wolf, then switched his lock to the enemy Fang. With only a weapon lock, Tensile fired his large laser and was rewarded with a hit.

Wolf steps out of the tree line and spots the advancing Needler. Starting his lock sequence, he noted the positions of the enemy Fang, the Banzai… and a Club! This fourth enemy mech just crested the hill behind the Needler! Wolf radios in the new contact, and fires on the Needleer, but his shots went wide. Picking up speed, he was almost thrown off balance as the Needler fired a barrage of missiles at him, some exploding on his legs, torso and cockpit.

The enemy Fang fired on CYBEN as he ran past, hitting him in the arm. CYBEN swivelled his torso and fired on the run, hitting the enemy Fang in the legs.

Mauler tells Tensile to follow him as he closed on the enemy mechs. He enters the trees and spots the enemy Fang. Weapons lock achieved, Mauler fired his auto cannons. All four shots found their mark, and the enemy mech’s leg was reduced to twisted pile of metal. The mech listed to the side and fell to the ground.

Still trying to achieve a good scanner lock, Wolf kept his mech in a full run, trying to be a hard target to hit. He braced himself when his computer gave the alert – “Missile Launch detected”.
The Needler mech, although slower, was still following Wolf, and released another volley of missiles. Wolf’s mech rocked under the impact, and his attention was drawn immediately to the red alert showing heavy damage to his legs.

Still in the trees, Mauler watched as the missiles slammed into Wolf. Setting his sights on the Needler, Maulers’ autocannons barked again, with two of the four shots smashing into the torso of the Needler. Waiting for his weapons to recycle, Mauler lost visual contact to Wolf as the Needler launched it’s missiles again, filling the air with smoke. Most of them missed, but the few that hit caused more damage to Wolf’s leg. Wolf swivelled his torso and fired on the Needler, hitting him with the pulse laser.
Relentless, the Needler pressed its attack with another salvo of missiles. Wolf felt his mechs’ leg snap even before the alert came up. His TripWire toppled face first into the ground.

Tensile entered the forest behind Mauler, but was having difficulties getting through. Just as he caught a glimpse of the enemy Banzai mech, he loses sight again as the mech moves out of view. Hearing the call that Wolf is down, he pushed his mech harder to clear the trees.

CYBEN locked up the enemy Club and, ignoring machine gun fire from the approaching Banzai mech, he tracked his target for a few seconds then let loose with his autocannons, ripping armor off the Clubs’ torso.
Seeing the Banzai coming at him in a full charge, he pushed his mech into a run to avoid him.
“Missile Lock!”
The alert flashed on CYBENs’ board – the distinctive warble filling his headset.
“Missile Launch detected!”
CYBEN swivelled his torso and his cockpit view filled with the smoke trails of incoming missiles. CYBEN is thrown around in his seat as his mech rocks under the multiple explosions. As the smoke clears, he tries to reacquire his target. He saw the Club mech walk over to Wolfs’ fallen mech and open up on him at point blank range! Armor and internal parts explode under the assault. Ignoring the growing missile lock sound in his headset, CYBEN fires on the Club, hoping to drive him off of Wolf. His shots hit and is rewarded by seeing the Club’s leg show red on his scanner – heavy damage. CYBEN hears the rhythmic thump of machine gun shots hitting his armor as the Banzai fires on him.

Finally clearing the tree line, Tensile starts to lock up the enemy Banzai mech.

Mauler fires his two smaller autocannons, also trying to drive off the Club from Wolf. Seeing his heat level climbing, he doesn’t fire his two heavier weapons, but instead switches targets to the Banzai mech stalking CYBEN.
The Banzai mech pilot closed to point blank range of CYBEN and let loose with all its weapons. Being that close gave the machine gun shells more power, and CYBENs’ left hip actuator was shredded. Now slowed, CYBEN was unable to avoid the charging Needler...

In a frenzied run, the Needler barrelled into CYBEN, crashing its 70-ton frame into CYBENs’ 40-ton mech. Both mechs went down in a tangled heap.

Already locked onto the Banzai mech, Mauler and Tensile open fire hitting it. Ignoring the onslaught, the enemy recon mech fired on the now prone CYBEN. Slow to get up because of the hip damage, CYBEN was still down when the Needler got to its feet. Turning to face CYBEN, the Needler kicked and ripped CYBENs’ damaged leg clean off its torso.

Not waiting for weapons to recycle, both the Needler and Banzai pommel CYBEN with their fists and kicks. CYBENs’ other leg is destroyed – then his left arm is smashed – he starts the eject sequence... and ejects safely.

Seeing CYBEN eject, the Needler turned and started a run towards Mauler. Switching to target the oncoming mech, Mauler fires all his autocannons, tearing armor off its centre torso. No sooner had his shots hit, that the “Missile Launch” warning blared in his headset. The Needler filled the air with its missile volley, shredding trees around Mauler and shearing armor from his arms and torso.
Letting out a shout, Mauler pushed his mech into a run to meet the closing Needler. The sound of the two 70-tons mechs colliding in a headfirst charge deafened Mauler. Fighting his controls, he staggered back, and was able to keep his mech standing. The Needler mech also staggered away from the crash, but the pilot was also able to keep his mech upright. The booming sound of all four autocannons was heard as Mauler fired his weapons at point blank range. Gaping holes were seen in the centre torso of the Needler as the autocannon onslaught obliterated its armor.
“Heat level Critical!” screamed in Maulers’ ear.
No!

Thinking that Mauler may be vulnerable and off balance after the head-on collision with the Needler mech, the pilot of the Banzai mech charged. Mauler saw the charge and was able to avoid it. The Banzai mech clipped Mauler and lost his balance, and went sprawling face first into the dirt.

Tensile fired at the Banzai as it was charging, but missed both shots. Now prone, it made an easier target. Tensile fired again, hitting with both lasers. The Banzai mech pushed himself upright and, ignoring Mauler beside him, targets Tensile.

Having avoided the charge by the Banzai, Mauler sought to distance himself while his mech cooled down. He pushed into a run, just as he heard the Missile Launch warning again. A few missiles hit his torso, but others missed and hit the enemy Banzai!

It was then Mauler noticed that the enemy Club mech was still standing over Wolf, continually ripping into the downed TripWire. Mauler was about to order Wolf to eject, but saw the cockpit hatch exploding outwards as Wolf ejected to safety.
“Heat Level Critical” – “Ammo explosion imminent”
Dammit!
Mauler tried to reroute coolant to the ammo bays – too late! His mech shuddered as the remaining ammo in two autocannons exploded.
“Heat level critical”
With sweat burning his eyes, Mauler forced himself to concentrate on saving his last two ammo bays.
He swivelled his torso and saw laser fire hitting the Banzai mech again as Tensile pressed his attack. The Neeedler and Banzai ran off to chase Tensile. Mauler brought his mech to a halt, still desperately trying to cool down.

Seeing Maulers’ halted mech as easy prey, the enemy Club pilot targeted and fired on Mauler. Mauler gritted his teeth under the onslaught but kept his eyes on the heat level. Although tempted to target the Club, Mauler decides to keep his lock on the Needler and help Tensile. Turning to face them, he waited while his heat level slowly came down to safer levels, ignoring the attacks of the enemy Club.

Tensile was doing his best to keep both mechs occupied, having them chase him around. He fired on the Needler and scored hits in its head and lower torso. The Banzai mech kept peppering him with machine gun fire, and eventually damaged Tensiles’ jump ports. Tensile switches to target the Banzai and fired, hitting him in the cockpit and damaging the pilot! The Banzai mech stopped and collapsed to the ground!

Mauler couldn’t wait anymore. Tracking the Needler, he fired with his two remaining autocannons. Both shots tore into its’ lower torso, obliterating it. The Needler staggered like a drunken man and fell over.
“Heat Level Red”
Seeing the enemy Club closing fast, Mauler turned to brace for a charge. The Club pilot raced in closer – then jumped!
Mauler got his weapons locked onto the flying Club, but holds fire as he waits again for the heat level to come down...
The Club started its rapid descent on Mauler. Mauler shifted his stance and braced for impact.
BLAMMM!!
The enemy Club came crashing down on Mauler. Maulers’ ECM was destroyed and his torso took heavy damage. Mauler wrestled the controls, but could not keep his mech standing. He went down with the enemy Club.
Getting up quickly, Mauler looked and saw the Club at his feet with a mangled right leg!
Mauler emptied the last of his autocannon rounds into the prone mech, ripping off its other leg. Tensile came over, firing on it as well.
Stubborn to the last, the Club pilot continued to fire from the ground with its one remaining laser. Tensile fires again, destroying its left torso. Still, the enemy mech refused to give up, firing on Mauler with its laser.

“We offer a draw” was the voice that came over Maulers’ headset.

Remembering the glee that this Club had in ripping into Wolfs’ downed mech, Mauler ignored the call and continued to pound on it with his fists. The enemy pilot ejected. Tensile turned to lock the downed Needler, and saw the pilot eject there as well.

Victory! A costly one though.

Mauler and Wolf go up a level - NOVICE

The team fixed Mauler and Tensiles’ mechs.
They then sold CYBENs’ Fang mech and Wolfs’ TripWire mech.

The IceLord (70-ton) has been bought for Wolf.
Unfortunately there is no more money to get a mech for CYBEN so he will have to sit out the next mission.

Rebel Hunter
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Shameless Plug: I was given the honor of designing two camapigns for the last patch that was released for this game. Rebel Hunter is one of them. It's been awhile since I played it, so it will feel new to me - and the team.

Mech Masters arrived on Ryken IV eager to get into action. Assigned to Cmdr. Mandren, they were sent on patrols to stop the IL (Independent League) incursions. Just as these were getting too routine, Mandren called them into a briefing. Mech Masters has been chosen to accompany ShadowBane Team on securing an IL building housing critical intel data on the Rebels (the IL) that the Senate needed.

ShadowBane Team air-dropped into the area from dropship TROJAN. Video link was down, but the audio was still working. No sooner had they landed, they realized the LZ was hot. Minefields blew the legs off two mechs. ShadowBane Leader told his remaining recon mech pilot to continue towards the intel building and he turned to face an enemey Prowler and Dragonfly which came at them from the forest.

As Tensile had the only jump-equipped mech, Mauler, Wolf and CYBEN had booster rockets attached to their mechs to aid in the drop.
These would be ejected once on the ground. This meant a faster fall but the mechs would be harder to guide during the descent.
Mauler and Wolf drifted away from Tensile and CYBEN in the freefall, landing way to the west. Tensile controlled his mech through its jump jets and immediately saw the two enemy mechs chasing ShadowBane Leader. CYBEN landed hard behind some trees close to Tensile.

Changing his vector thrust, Tensile started floating forward over the trees trying to secure a good lock.
Mauler and Wolf regrouped and started moving east towards the rest of the group when Mauler was hit by a Gauss rifle shot. He looked to his right and saw a recon Unicorn mech standing in the treeline. Locking him up, he then saw another recon mech step out of the trees - a Zealot.
Tensiles’ remaining energy for jump jets was running low - he would have to set down and allow them to recharge. Working the controls, he began his descent.
Watching the mechs ahead of him, he saw ShadowBane Leader fire at the Prowler hitting his torso. Already badly damaged, the enemy pilot ejected.
ShadowBane Leaders' roar of triumph was cut short as the enemy Dragonfly let loose with its lasers, smashing the cockpit and killing ShadowBane Leader!
Now without a pilot, his mech stumbled forward and crashed into the ground.

With perfect precision, Tensile landed. CYBEN came running up behind him, but both lost sight of the Dragonfly. They angled east to clear the intervening trees.

Mauler fired all his cannons hitting the Unicorn with both his smaller weapons. Ignoring incoming fire from the Zealot, he radioed Wolf to lock on to the Unicorn, and rushed forward to close the range. Wolf locked up the unicorn and fired - miss.
Mauler gets a scan lock and fires all his weapons, tearing armor off the enemy mechs' centre torso and legs. Thrown off balance, the Unicorn stumbled but kept upright. It fired back with it's Gauss rifle at Wolf, but missed.
Wolf kicks his mech into a run and charges the Unicorn, seeing another Gauss round and machine gun fire tear up the ground all around him. Mauler continued forward, still ignoring the Zealot that was firing on him.

With a loud crash, Wolf barrels into the Unicorn. The Unicorn is lifted off its feet and falls to the ground. Wolf's right torso took the brunt of the hit, and crumpled. Wolf fought the controls but failed to keep his mech standing - he fell over to the ground.
Mauler halted his advance, aiming and firing on the prone Unicorn. His barrage ripped both legs off the Unicorn’s torso.
Wolf rose to his feet and tried to scan lock the Zealot.... but then saw the alerts -
Pulse Laser -- Destroyed; Scanner --- Destroyed.
Great. Now he'll have to attack with manual controls, with only his EM Pulse and VibraClaws.
Mauler switched targets to the Zealot and was turning to face him when the Zealot fired his meson cannon, doing critical damage to his leg. Mauler cursed as his movements were now slowed considerably.

Regaining sight and lock on the enemy Dragonfly, Tensile and CYBEN rushed to close the distance. Tensile refines his lock, and sees another enemy mech reported on his scanner - Light mech - near the target buildings way to the south. He quickly checked and saw the remaining recon mech from ShadowBane's group almost reaching the buildings.. He radioed to the ShadowBane pilot - but too late. Over the commlink he heard the sounds of cannon fire hitting armor and the pilot shouting he was under attack.
The enemy Dragonfly fired on Tensile - both lasers hit his right leg. Temporarily distracted trying to warn the recon mech pilot, Tensile stumbled under the hits and fell, crashing cockpit first into the ground.
CYBENs' scan lock returns near perfect. Firing his twin autocannons, he scores hits on the Dragonfly torso. That got the Dragonfly's attention. Switching targets, he fired back at CYBEN hitting him with the large laser. With the enemy DragonFly distracted, Tensile pushed his mech off the ground and started to re-acquire the enemy mech.

Mauler charged the Zealot hitting the enemy mech. Stumbling backwards, the Zealot pilot keeps standing, but Mauler falls as his damaged leg fails him. Dazed, the Zealot fired at Mauler but missed repeatedly, allowing Mauler to stand up. Mauler fires all weapons at point blank range and hits, tearing chunks of armor off the Zealot...
Heat level RED!
With no scanner, Wolf charged into the Zealot - and again the Zealot pilot keeps his mech upright as Wolf falls to the ground!!
Ignoring Wolf, the Zealot fired on Mauler again, doing critical damage to one of his Autocannons. As Wolf was trying to rise, the Zealot switched to target him and fired damaging Wolf's VibraClaws.
Ignoring the heat, Mauler fired his autocannons.
He fired the damaged one first and heard the grating sound as the round jammed in the gun! The autoloader recycled and ejected the dud ammo.
Mauler fired the second autocannon/4 - and destroys the Zealots' right torso .... the pilot keeps his mech standing..
Mauler fired the first autocannon/12 - and destroys the Zealots' left torso ... spinning the other way, the Zealot pilot grappled with his controls and still kept his mech upright!
Mauler fired his second autocannon/12 - and blows the Zealot's Left Leg off! The mech finally falls to the ground!

Hearing the sound of distant fighting and the sporadic shouting from the ShadowBane mech pilot, Tensile and CYBEN continued to trade shots with the enemy DragonFly. The DragonFly pilot kicked in his jumpjets and flew over CYBEN, heading for the cover of the trees. Tensile fires his lasers and hits the airborne mech. It wobbles, but stays flying forward.
CYBEN tracked it as it passed over him and let loose another barrage from his autocannons. The right torso of the DragonFly was blown away, and the mech pitched over and fell crashing hard into the ground. Tensile waited for his lasers to recycle - then destroyed the lower torso of the Dragonfly as it was trying to stand up. It went down again - crippled.

Over the radio they heard the cry as the ShadowBane recon pilot ejected...

Tensile started to run towards the last known area of the recon pilot, and spotted a Comm building -and an armor bay!
He radioed the coordinates to the rest of the team. Mauler gave the order for everyone to rendezvous at the armor bay.
Being in a slower mech and with a damaged leg, Mauler quickly fell behind as Wolf trotted off towards the armor bay.

Mauler almost jumped out of his seat when he felt the repeated thump on his armor of machine gun fire. Another mech? But where?
Scanners showed no new contacts - just the downed Zealot and Unicorn...
He swivelled his torso so he could look in the direction of the prone Unicorn - and saw the muzzle flashes as the Unicorn fired on him.
Lying on its centre torso, it had propped itself up and twisted it's torso to bring a set of machine guns to bear.
Mauler tried to ignore him, but when the next burst hits him in his damaged leg and the alerts came up on his panel, he targeted the Unicorn and fired his two largest autocannons.
The shots smashed into its weaker rear armor and ruptured its engine. The Unicorn vanished in the ensuing explosion. The shockwave rocked Mauler's Bloodhound. Fighting the dizziness and the weakened leg, he somehow manages to keep his mech from falling.

Tensile reaches the Comm building and connects through the universal port, and pulls down a map of the area. He then moves over to the armor bay and walks up to the repair platform.
"Automated Armor repair systems active... Please set your mech to maintenance mode."
His repair work is finished just as Mauler and Wolf arrive. They both go in and repair some of the lost armor on their scarred mechs.
Wolf wishes they had time to get his Pulse laser or Scanner repaired, not looking forward to whatever was ahead without those.

The downloaded map shows that high hills and mountains to the south surround the target buildings. There were two passes leading to them.
Mauler and CYBEN went to the west towards one entrance, while Tensile and Wolf paired up to go to the entrance directly south.

CYBEN gets to the entrance first and spots a lone Light Mech - a Leopard. He immediately locks it up and starts firing, hitting the mech. The Leopard returns fire with his cannons and missiles, most of them hitting CYBEN. The Leopard starts to run towards CYBEN, closing the range.

Tensile and Wolf reach their entrance and spot the target buildings - and the Penetrator light mech guarding them. Turning to face them, it locks up Wolf and fires it lasers, burning armor off his legs and arms.

The Leopard charges into the trees, tearing them down as it rushed towards CYBEN. CYBEN calmly watched and, just as the Leopard was about to break out of the trees, he pushed his mech into a run and moved past him. The Leopard continued out of the trees into the open - and into the waiting guns of Mauler. Still with internal damage to his leg, Mauler was too far back for the Leopard to see him while he was charging through the forest. Out in the open, the enemy pilot realized he was now the meat in the autocannon sandwich.

CYBEN turned and swivelled his torso firing his autocannons, just as Mauler opened up with all four of his.
Again, Mauler heard the grating noise as another round jammed and cleared from his damaged autocannon.
The Leopard twisted and buckled under the onslaught but held it's ground. CYBEN's scanner showed the Leopards right arm and left leg showing heavy damage - seems the ShadowBane pilot had got in some good hits before going down....

Then the call came on the commlink from Tensile - Wolf was down!

Tensile had hit the Light mech and drew the wrath of it's lasers as it tore into his right torso - disabling it, the large laser.. and his scanner!
With no scanner of his own, Wolf was missing his shots with the EM Pulse. Frustrated, he pushed his mech into a run, trying to close to use his VibraClaws. The Penetrator re-assessed the threat and targeted Wolf. With pinpoint accuracy, he hit Wolf repeatedly with his lasers. Each hit forced Wolf to compensate on his controls as he was determined to keep his charge going.
The final volley of lasers, however, was too much for his skills. Wolf stumbled and his controls went free in his hands as he lost all balance and his mech fell to the ground.

Mauler ordered CYBEN to go to Wolf's aid while he closed on the wounded Leopard. CYBEN quickly broke through the trees and got weapons lock on the Penetrator. Without trying for a scan lock, he fired - and hit. The Penetrator took a step forward and halted.
Tensile fired his small laser. Energy rippled in the space where his laser impacted the transparent energy shield surrounding the mech. Damn!! It had a shield generator!

The Penetrator re-targeted Tensile and fired, missing him.

Mauler closed the range on the Leopard. Just as he fired, he stepped down awkwardly on his bad leg. The sudden jolt and instinctive recovery was enough to throw off his aim - all of his shots missed. The Leopard pilot noticed the stumble and rushed into melee range firing off a salvo of missiles. The missiles peppered Mauler's armor and he again had to fight to keep his mech standing as the Leopards autocannons found their mark. Through the sparks, smoke and concentrating on keeping his mech upright, Mauler never saw the kick that came... that crunched into his already weakened leg. His mech buckled as the leg took more damage. It held together, but Mauler failed to stay standing and he fell to the ground.
The Leopard kicked again, destroying his torso and autocannon. He fired on Mauler as he tried to rise - and the leg finally snapped.

Wolf rose to his feet, just as Mauler gave the command to retreat. With his entire board lit up with alerts, Wolf turned his mech and started to run. Tensile turned to follow, firing again on the Penetrator, and again hitting his shields.
The Penetrator fired on Tensile once, twice - all lasers finding their target.
Tensile's mech skidded to the right and fell. CYBEN ran past the Penetrator firing on him. Ignoring CYBEN, the Penetrator walked over to Tensile and fired into his mech, destroying his lower torso. Tensile initiated the eject sequence...

The Leopard turned away from Mauler and started to move towards the rest of the group. Swivelling on the ground, Mauler was able to bring one small autocannon up and tried to aim at the Leopard's weakened left leg. He fired.. and missed! The shot ripped the ground beside the mechs' feet. The Leopard pilot stopped and turned. He fired a salvo into Mauler, destroying the autocannon and blowing off his left arm. Mauler initiated his eject sequence....

CYBEN and Wolf exited the area. Mauler ejected safely from his mech. Tensile ejected and was badly damaged - but functional.

Tensile and Mauler were rescued - the IL group evacuated the buildings long before the Senate troops arrived, taking all intel data with them.

Mission failure.

Milk Run
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Doing well is one thing. Beating up on clearly inferior teams is another. This team lives for a challenge!

Having beaten of the attack on the training ground, Mauler received word from the contractor that he wanted the team to take over a building to the east - which they believe is a forward HQ for the attacking force. There seems to be great emphasis on the fact that all that was needed was a Titan presence on the building compound and any resistance faced would be squashed.

This made Wolf a little uneasy.

The team loaded up - CYBEN in his new Fang Mech - and headed out.

Entering the area, Wolf, CYBEN and Tensile trotted ahead of the slower BloodHound mech piloted by Mauler.
No sooner had they emerged from some trees that they spotted the buildings in the distance - and 3 enemy recon mechs (2 Enigmas and 1 Dart) spread out in front.

Quickly evaluating the landscape, Wolf told Tensile to follow CYBEN forward into a valley using the trees as cover. Wolf then turned east and headed for more cover to the edge of the same valley.
The cover was nice, but there really wasn't much choice as everywhere else was ringed with quicksand.

CYBEN got weapons lock on the approaching Dart, but his scanner lock failed. Grunting in frustration, he fired his twin autocannons, both slugs chewing up the ground in front of the approaching mech. Tensile got weapons lock on the Dart and he slowed his mech to a halt to concentrate on gaining a good scanner lock.

Mauler finally broke through the main band of trees but stopped his mech just at the forest's edge.
He too locked up the Dart. Even without a scan lock, Mauler was impressed to see how easily he could track the oncoming Dart with reasonable accuracy.
He fired a salvo from all four autocannons. Two missed - Two hit. The lower torso of the Dart crumpled and the mech stumbled, but the pilot was able to keep his momentum going and retained his footing. Mauler started to refine his lock.

Wolf locked onto the Enigma to the far east of the group, got a good scanner lock and fired. His EM Pulse laser temporarily seized the mech's shoulder and his Pulse Laser melted armor from its right leg.

The enemy Dart closed on CYBEN and fired off a salvo of missiles, tearing into his armor. Still not fully accustomed to his new mech, CYBEN decided against standing his ground and entering any form of melee. He pushed his mech forward into a run... and cursed as his scan lock failed again.

Ignoring the missile fire from the approaching second Enigma, Tensile looked at his scanner with approval as he got a green scan on the Dart. He let his weapons track the Dart for a few seconds - then fired. The small laser hit the mech on its arm. The Large Laser smashed into the mechs cockpit! The enemy mech froze as if it had run into a brick wall and fell over!

Mauler smiled as his scan came up green, just as the mech fell to the ground. Now prone, even at that great distance, it was almost like shooting fish in a barrel. All four autocannons barked, and the Dart's lower torso was smashed into scrap.

Running towards the oncoming Enigma, Wolf almost missed the blip on his scanner - another mech detected moving through the forest far to the east! He quickly reported it to Mauler and got confirmation that he had also seen it. Seconds later, Mauler reported it to be a Light mech. It was trying to make its way through the trees and, depending on how good the pilot was, would take some time to reach.
Mauler saw CYBEN slowing his mech, and told him to keep running towards the HQ building.
Mauler then ordered Tensile to cover CYBEN and keep that second Enigma off him.

"Affirmative"

Watching for some last minute dodge by the Enigma, Wolf charged in. The Enigma froze like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. Wolf barrelled into the Enigma, sending both mechs crashing into the ground. Wolf rose effortlessly to his feet and saw the Enigma pilot slow to get up. He hammered the mech with his Pulse and EM Pulse lasers, and stripped armor from the rising mech with his VibraClaws. The Enigma finally got up and started firing at point blank range with its missiles, while pounding on Wolf with its fists.

CYBEN ran past the Dart, and was hit with a Meson shot by the downed mech. Ignoring it, he continued his run to the HQ building.

The second Enigma locked up the running Fang mech and fired volley after volley of missiles at him. CYBEN saw missile trails fly past his mech and felt the impact as a few scored hits on his arms and rear torso.

Tensile completed his target switch to the Enigma and opened up with his lasers.
Mauler completed his lock at the same time and fired his autocannon volley. The Enigma's right torso was crippled. Slowly, it turned to face Tensile and fired its meson gun. The shot hit Tensile squarely in the centre torso. As designed, the meson shot penetrated the armor cleanly, seeking more vulnerable equipment to destroy. It found the engine. Tensile saw the alert flash on his panel reporting light engine damage. More heat build-up occurred in the damaged engine, causing his mech's temperature to rise.
Tensile quickly popped flares - just in time! Missiles corkscrewed from the Enigma but were spoofed by the flares and went harmlessly flying past Tensile.

Almost in a perfect coordinated strike, both Tensile and Mauler unleashed a volley on the Enigma, completely decimating it's centre torso. The mech swayed on its feet, then fell face first to the ground.

Mauler checked and found that the enemy Light mech seemed to be having trouble navigating through the forest. Wolf was locked in what seemed like a giant mech fist fight with the other Enigma. Mauler locked up the Light mech and told Tensile to help Wolf.

CYBEN radioed in - he had reached the HQ compound. Turning on his external speakers, he demanded that they surrender.

Almost immediately, they received the confirmation - the enemy had surrendered. The Enigma broke off from Wolf and the Light mech just stayed at its location in the forest.

Wolf opened up a comm link to Mauler - "Something's not right. These guys seem way too inexperienced"
Mauler agreed.

Later, when the contractor had his people comb the building for intel, Mauler found out that this was a rival training school. The mechs and pilots stationed there were completely green rookies that were just learning to pilot their mechs let alone fight!

After discussing this with the team, they decided that maybe it was time to leave.
Fighting school students wasn't what they wanted to be doing.

Collecting their pay, they stayed only as long as it took D.A.Y.E.S to finish his maintenance work on the mechs, repairing the light damage they had - his engine hit was the most serious damage they had.

While waiting on the repairs, Mauler scanned for available posts and settled on a contract which would have them going to a planet called Ryken IV. Attached to the military of the planets’ ruling Senate, they would be hired on to help quell a growing rebel uprising.

============
OK!!...

Basically the team will be going on to do one of the campaigns i wrote for this game - Rebel Hunter.
It was designed for a slightly lower level of pilots, but does get increasingly harder. It was meant to take a "just turned" GREEN squad up to a "just turned" NOVICE squad. All in preparation for the next campaign i wrote - Hold Out.

Tonnage-wise, the team just makes the minimum requirements of the campaign - so maybe i will do a random patrol hoping for more money (or salvage!) to get Wolf's mech upgraded to the IceLord.

Wolf and Mauler looks to be about one good mission away from levelling up again - which puts them in a higher bracket for this campaign. However, due to lack of money for bigger mechs and CYBEN still being a rookie, that may be balanced out... Also, the next step up in mechs for Mauler would mean using a new type of Pilot skill - one which is woefully poor right now. Wolf is a little better but still not as good as he is for the current class of mechs.

Further into the Campaign
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Bolstered by their recent victory, the team is in high spirits. Things are finally looking up.


After celebrating the recent arena victory, the contractor asked Mauler if his team could watch his training grounds, as he had to go out on business and was worried that rival teams may try to attack while he was away.

Mauler accepted, thinking this would be easy money - a simple garrison duty against attackers that may never come.

Having only three mechs now, Mauler, Wolf and Tensile went on patrol.
The training ground stood atop a hill which had good tree cover. Two rivers ran around its base and on the far side of the eastern river, were lots of quicksand. Any enemy coming from that direction wouldn't get very close...

Tensile was at the highest point on the hill in trees, facing west, when he saw the first two enemy mechs. 1 recon (40 Ton Wasp) and 1 Light (70 Ton Spider). The Spider ran north out of view behind some hills, but the Wasp came sprinting forward. Mauler started to slowly climb to higher ground to support Tensile, when Wolf radioed in that he spotted an enemy recon mech coming from the east. Mauler decided to lock up the new threat and attempted a scan lock, still climbing the hill. The lock was successful, revealing it to be a Pike recon mech with dual LRM launchers.
Hmm.. the quicksand won't slow this mech down...

The Wasp was fast. By the time Tensile had a weapons lock, it was close to the river. It sprinted forward right up to the river's edge, then jumped!

Mauler reached the top of the hill and switched targets to the Wasp, just as Tensile finished a good scan lock on the jumping recon mech.
Firing his lasers, the Wasp shook in the sky and fell to the ground! Wasting no time, Mauler opened up with his autocannons and tore holes in the Wasp's thin armor. The Wasp pilot pushed his mech upright and moved towards the river again - but it was unstable... Staggering, the Wasp lurched to one side and fell to the ground again!

The Spider came into view and targeted Tensile. Running to close the range, the Spider mech fired and hit Tensile with his laser and meson gun, missing with the autocannon. Ignoring the new threat, Tensile waited on his lasers to recycle and fired on the prone Wasp again - destroying its right arm!
Mauler fired as well, ripping both legs off the prone mech. The Wasp pilot ejected from his crippled mech.

Mauler switched to the Spider and fired on it, missing completely. Cursing, he began to refine his lock.

Wolf had gotten his weapons lock but was patiently refining it as the Pike's Long Range Missiles crashed into his mech. 3 secs. 2 secs.. 1 sec.. got it!! Pushing his mech into a run, Wolf trotted forward to close the range. His EM Pulse hit a few times messing up the approaching mechs' hip and foot. The Pike continued walking forward, sending wave after wave of missiles towards Wolf.

The Spider reached the river and jumped, seeing cannon fire from Mauler smash into the ground where it just left. It arced out over the river - and was hit by both lasers from Tensile. Thrown off balance, the pilot tried to keep the mech airborne but failed! The 70 ton mech came down with a huge splash in the river. Ignoring the damage, the Spider stood up and walked out of the river to the other side. This took it out of sight of Mauler, but right up under the cliff where Tensile was.

Mauler turned his mech and ran towards Tensile, switching targets to the Pike.

The Spider swivelled its torso and fired on Tensile igniting the forest! The heat began to rise in Tensiles’ mech. Standing on a cliff edge, Tensile had to turn his mech almost 180 degrees to get down the slope. By the time he exited the burning trees, his heat was in the red and approaching critical!
The Spider ran up the hill to another set of trees and fired on the retreating Tensile as he went down the hill - heading to the river to cool his mech off.

Wolf slowed his mech to a walk and proceeded to cross the river. His Pulse laser was hitting the Pike, but he wanted to get closer to use his VibraClaw, as the Pike was just staying at range and peppering him with missiles. Crossing the river, he pushed his mech into a run and saw another volley of missiles leave the Pike.... and go straight for Tensile! The missiles smashed into the Dragonfly shearing armour off his left torso and arm.
Reaching the river, Tensile waited as his heat started to come down. He ignored the pelting by the Spider, until he saw the critical alert on his left torso - he couldn't take much more on that side.
Swivelling his mech, he was about to fire on the Spider - then hesitated. He quickly readjusted his lock, and fired his lasers at the trees themselves, causing them to burn around the Spider!!
"Turnabout is fair play"

Wolf coaxed as much speed as he could from his TripWire and, taking a page out of the book of his lost team-mate Kull, charged his mech straight into the Pike. Wolf was thrown against his seat restraints as the two mechs collided. Ignoring the wail of alerts as his centre torso armour was mangled, Wolf fought his controls to keep his mech standing. Looking around, he saw the Pike was down!!

The Spider left the burning woods and fired on Tensile. Tensile saw the flash as his cockpit was hit and he took damage. Everything went out of focus as he tried to assess his position. His heat was ok now - ahead of him was quicksand but he was too disoriented to try and walk through that. He activated his jump jets to jump out of the river.
Bad move. Leaving the water threw his mech off balance. Normally, he may have been able to do that jump successfully - but injured.... he lost control and went splashing down into the river.

Mauler was pushing his Bloodhound to its limits trying to get to the other side of the hill to reacquire the Spider. He was almost there when Tensile set the forest ahead of him on fire, forcing him to run around through more trees, slowing him down. He took snapshots on the downed Pike, hitting it a few times with his smaller autocannons.
Finally, he crested the hill and saw the Spider just below him, facing a downed Tensile.
Switching targets, he fired too quickly with his autocannons - not aiming properly - and missed with all shots but one. His autocannon 12 smashed into the lower torso of the Spider causing it to lurch forward. The pilot did well and kept his mech upright. Once he was stable, he turned to face Mauler...

Still dazed, Tensile tried to get to his feet, but fell again. Taking his time, he tried to get up into a crouch.. but no good. He was just not able to keep focus on his piloting - and his DragonFly splashed into the water again. He decided to wait until his self-repair kicked in before trying again.

Wolf looked down at the Pike at his feet as it was trying to stand. Firing his EM Pulse, he hit it's hand, causing the mech to topple again. He fired his pulse laser into its right torso, and began to rake his VibraClaws across its armour. Again the Pike tried to stand and again Wolf sent it crashing to the ground. Tearing at the floundering mech, Wolf smashed the cockpit with his vibraclaws and could now see the pilot......
The pilot decided he had enough - and ejected!

Tensile's head cleared and he was finally able to get to his feet. He saw the Spider now firing up the hill at Mauler and then saw it go crashing to the ground as Mauler alpha striked with all four cannons, decimating the remains of the Spider's lower torso. The Spider's cockpit hatch blew away as the pilot ejected...

Victory!!

The contractor was happy with the teams results. The money gained has allowed the team to purchase a Fang recon mech for CYBEN.
Now they hope to get enough soon to give Wolf a new mech.

During the debrief, Mauler asked Wolf why he didn't use the flare launchers on his TripWire to confuse the LRM's of the Pike. Wolf's face reddened with embarrassment as he HAD forgotten to use them, but he answered: "Maybe the same reason you haven't used your ECM suite on your Bloodhound to thwart enemy scans on you". Tensile and CYBEN sat quietly watching the two men glared at each other.
Later on, Mauler was seen in his mechs' cockpit, no doubt familiarising himself with the onboard ECM equipment...

Mech Stomp
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Mauler once again wants to take on the same campaign that the team failed early on in it's career, wanting to provethat Mech MAsters is ready for a long term campaign.


Wolf's face went white when Mauler told him he had secured the same campaign for the team - the same one that ended in a debacle.
CYBEN was new... and had no mech.. the team would be going in one pilot short...

Mauler smiled and told him to relax.. “we are ready.. it's only an arena match... and the team needs the publicity of this match to help secure better missions”. Wolf walked off shaking his head.


Deployed, the team moved to the hill in front of them. Having already been here before, they had an idea what the terrain was like.
Tensile went up the hill while Mauler and Wolf hugged the tree line.

The enemy light titan Cutthroat came into view. Everyone locked up the Cutthroat and starting firing on it. Sadly, most shots missed as the Cutthroat came running at full speed to the shallow river that separated it from the team.

Then two enemy recon titans were spotted moving into trees. A missile toting Porcupine and a TripWire!
Tensile lost lock on the Cutthroat and tried to target the TripWire. He didn't even try to refine the lock - just fired with his large laser. The shot missed the mech, but started a fire in the trees. Both enemy recon titans scrambled to leave the burning woods.

The Cutthroat continued to dodge incoming fire from Mauler and Wolf. Walking into the river, he opened fire on Wolf with his Gauss weapons. Wolf rocked under the impact. Mauler fired his autocannon/12 throwing the Cutthroat off balance and sent him splashing into the water.
Mauler was able to score hits on the centre torso of the Cutthroat as it was trying to stand up.

The enemy TripWire stepped into the river following the Porcupine and fired on Mauler. Mauler let out a sigh of relief as the EM pulse resonated harmlessly past his BloodHound. Having seen how effective that weapon is used by Wolf, he didn't want to be hit by it!

Switching targets, he fired on the TripWire and was rewarded with hits from all weapons. Even at that distance, he could tell the TripWire's Centre Torso was mangled from the autocannon barrage.

The Cutthroat got to its feet and came across the river - both Gauss cannons firing. Wolf again recoiled as both left and right torso lost armor. Wolf immediately threw his titan into reverse.

The Porcupine came across the river and unloaded all missiles at Tensile. A few missiles hit, but most of them flew harmlessly by.
Wolf retreated further into the forest, breaking contact with the Cutthroat. Good news for Wolf - bad news for Tensile. Losing sight of Wolf, the Cutthroat locked up the nearest mech - Tensile's Dragonfly.
Running off the hill to close range on the Porcupine, Tensile felt his controls go free in his hands as Gauss slugs tore into his torso and legs. Losing its balance, the DragonFly skidded and fell.

Mauler re-targeted the Cutthroat and continued to hammer it with autocannon fire. The Porcupine closed on the fallen DragonFly, hitting it with volleys of missiles. Prone, Tensile brought up his small laser and fired, hitting the Porcupine. Waiting for the weapon to recycle, he started to push his mech up off the ground.

Having lost sight of the Cutthroat, Wolf targeted the enemy TripWire. He fired his pulse laser and hit the already damaged centre torso. The remaining internal structure caved in and the enemy titan fell over.

Tensile got his DragonFly standing as the Cutthroat was slowly making it's way up the hill to get to him with it's Power Axe. Tensile pushed his mech into a run, firing both lasers and hitting the Porcupine.

Mauler waited patiently on all four autocannons to recycle. When he saw all green lights, he squeezed the trigger... and completely obliterated the Cuthroats' centre torso!

The Porcupine made a valiant attempt to fight, but the pilot's nerve broke and he ejected after repeated hits from Tensile and Mauler.


Victory!


D.A.Y.E.S. has made a level -- GREEN

The team has repaired all titans. There is just enough money to purchase a titan for CYBEN. Mauler and Wolf are discussing if they should buy it now, or wait another mission. They need CYBEN to get up to speed with his skills and teamwork - but buying the Titan now would leave the team with very little money.

A New Breed
Topic: ToS Chronicles
GYZMOTECH is approached again to find a replacement for Kull...

After some negotiations, Mauler was able to sign on a new recruit from GYZMOTech.
A Cyborg named P.J.
Code Name: CYBEN.
Unlike Kull, CYBEN has no use for hand-to-hand combat. He is a skilled ranged fighter, almost equal in skill with cannons or lasers. Talking it over with Wolf, they decide to purchase a WrathChild titan for CYBEN. With it's pulse laser and Neutron gun (which affects most pilots), the plan was to have Wolf with his EM Pulse work with CYBEN as a team - shut down the mech - shut down the pilot. Sounds good in theory...

The patrol mission they got this time was in an environment that the team has never been to before. Pools of acid ran like rivers, and the heat level was higher than normal. What could be worth fighting for in a place like this? - was Mauler's thoughts.
No matter; money is money - and his team needed it now.

Deployed to the east, CYBEN and Wolf paired up immediately and trotted forward. Tensile hung back a bit using the little cover that was available. Mauler moved up beside Tensile and started up a gentle slope.... contact... 2 enemy recon mechs darting behind a mountain. Then a third recon shows up. Then a light mech. Too far for visual id, Mauler quickly tries to lock and scan, but they're gone behind the mountain before the scan is complete.

CYBEN and Wolf stop short of a river of Acid, just in time to see all four enemy titans emerge from the hills on the other side. One enemy recon titan ignited his jump jets and started to jump across the river. The other three marched unflinchingly into the acid bath and proceeded to cross.

Tensile was the first to get a good lock - he targeted the first recon mech wading through the acid - an Enigma mech - and fired - hit.
The mech stumbled and fell - completely submerged in the acid.
Mauler, who was also locking the same mech smiled - but cursed as he lost sight of the mech.
Switching his target, he picked the Light titan - an Atilla. His initial scan attempt failed.

CYBEN and Wolf targeted the airborne titan - a Pest. Both of them however failed to get scan lock. They fired anyways, missing completely.

Mauler fires on the Atilla and scores a hit even without the lock. No return fire so far from any of the enemy mechs. Seems they are concentrating on getting across that acid river - or taking their time to refine their scan locks.
Out of the depths of the acid, the Enigma mech rose to its feet and walked out onto the other side. Wolf immediately turned and ran towards the nearest cover on a small hill, and was about to order CYBEN to start retreating away from the oncoming mechs, but noticed CYBEN had already thrown his WrathChild into reverse.

Once they came across, the four enemy mechs ran past Wolf and opened up on CYBEN, forcing him to retreat even further. CYBEN scored two hits on the Atilla, one with the Neutron Gun - no effect. Wolf grimaced as his now third scan lock attempt failed – he checked his computer for signs of possible jamming. He opened fire with his weapons and scored a hit with the pulse laser on the Pest.
The four mechs, having driven CYBEN back, then turned to face Wolf. Wolf had a flash of panic as he realized the position he was in. Behind him was the acid river, and in front in a semicircle came the four enemy titans. One after the other they peppered Wolf with laser fire and missiles. Wolf's TripWire shook and recoiled, but he was able to keep the mech standing.

Mauler's lock came up green on the Atilla - his scan showed two power axes - not good. He opened up with his autocannons and scored hits - but it didn't deter the mech. Tensile started to move forward, firing his lasers at the Pest and Enigma.

Turning north, Wolf tried to get away from the net closing in on him, but the Atilla caught him. One power axe swooped down and missed. The other dug into his right leg. Again, Wolf was able to keep his feet.
CYBEN failed his lock attempt, but started heading back towards Wolf, firing his weapons at the Pest. Pulse Laser – hit. Neutron gun - miss.
The Pest and Enigma turned to face CYBEN and Tensile. Wolf broke away from the Atilla and headed for some cover. Mauler switched his target to the Pest, knowing Wolf should be able to out run the heavier Atilla.
Firing on the Pest, Mauler blew away both left and right torso. The resulting explosions rocked the recon mech. Mauler's smile disappeared as the Pest emerged from the smoke still on it's feet - unbelievable.

”Heat level Red” - both Mauler and Tensile were now hearing the alerts in their cockpit.

The Enigma scored critical hits on CYBEN destroying his Heat sinks. CYBEN's heat started to climb just from movement.

Mauler checked quickly to see where Wolf had reached. Wolf was just about to enter cover - good. Then he saw it - smoke trails from the hill behind Wolf.
Staying close to the Atilla, the enemy Firefly let loose it's missile salvo into the back of Wolf’s retreating TripWire. Wolf's right torso disintegrated and the mech stumbled but did not go down. The Attila turned and fired its laser weapons, hitting Wolf in the leg. The left leg twisted and crumpled sending Wolf to the ground.

This was bad. Mauler got on the comm line and ordered CYBEN to retreat from the battlefield. Tensile started manoeuvring with the Pest and Enigma, drawing their fire. Mauler pushed his mech into a run and closed the range on the Atilla.

Cyben hadn't moved even 600yds when the alert came - "Heat level Critical". With no choice, CYBEN stopped his mech and patiently waited for the heat to go down.

Tensile continued his dance with the two enemy recon mechs, his firing impaired by his heat level.
Mauler too could not fire all weapons, as his heat was too high. This gave the Atilla and Firefly the time to close in on the fallen Wolf. Standing over him, they began to pound on his mech.
Not to be beaten, Wolf swung his only functioning weapon from his prone position - his pulse laser - and fired on the Firefly - hit - weapon recycle - hit. Mauler opened up with one autocannon, hitting the firefly in the left torso. That was enough for the Firefly - he ran off into cover leaving Wolf.
The Atilla dropped the power axes again... and again - Wolf's pulse laser was destroyed. He took laser fire to the cockpit. Lower torso destroyed. Wolf started the eject sequence...

CYBEN tried to move again - but had to stop shortly after as his heat level hit critical.

Wolf's cockpit exploded outwards as the eject sequence completed. Wolf landed hard, but radioed in that he was ok. Bleeding, he crawled off to cover.

Mauler switched his target to the Pest, which was still chasing Tensile. Tensile's armour was holding, but the two enemy mechs were wearing him down. Mauler ordered Tensile to start after CYBEN and leave the battlefield. Mauler fired both of his smaller autocannons and scored one hit.

"Heat level Red" - screamed in Mauler's ears - he pushed his mech into a run to follow Tensile.... and was thrown sideways as the remaining ammo in one of his auto-cannons exploded from the heat build-up!
Struggling with the controls, he kept the 70 ton titan on its feet. His fingers danced over the control pad as he rerouted more coolant to the arms and torso where the remaining ammo was stored - narrowly averting more explosions (here he had a 29% and 28% chance to save against two more and made them!!)

CYBEN slowly pushed his mech forward and was finally able to leave the battlefield.

Tensile and Mauler ran through what cover they could find. Tensile took a critical hit to his hip, slowing him down. The three enemy recon titans were closing fast. Behind them, the 70 ton Atilla could be seen coming with the Power Axes swinging at it's side...

Mauler radioed Tensile and told him to turn left. Once they made the turn, they both swivelled their torso's and fired on the run at the approaching recon mechs. Tensile hit the Pest squarely in the cockpit with his large laser, then the right leg with his small laser. The Pest slowed to a halt and the pilot ejected!
Mauler looked and saw his heat level had come down considerably (as he was just running and hadn't fired in awhile). He smiled and let loose with the three autocannons... The Enigma's right leg disappeared under the onslaught and the mech smashed face first into the ground.
"Heat level red"

The Firefly let loose it's missiles and tore off more of Tensiles’ armor. Mauler slowed to turn and face the Firefly, trying to buy some time for Tensile. The Atilla opened up with its lasers on Mauler, hitting him.
Still a good distance from the edge of the battlefield, Mauler sized up his chances against the two remaining mechs...

Then over the broadcast channel a voice - a female voice was heard...
"This is Prowler on the Atilla mech. I offer we cease hostilities and allow both sides to recover their wounded pilots and damaged mechs"

Tesnsile's DragonFly had a wounded leg, and holes showing in his armor. Mauler's heat was in the red and one autocannon offline.
The steady warble of a missile lock from the Firefly buzzed in his headset...

"Agreed"

A Draw!!!

Yes, the AI can offer draws... sadly the human player can't.. lol
Once offered, you get a choice of "OK", "NEVER" or "Not Yet".


The damage to Wolf's TripWire was so much; the team's budget could not repair all mechs.
Wolf's mech was repaired as much as possible, but had armor missing on his left and right torso.
After some discussion, it was agreed to sell CYBEN's WrathChild to finish the repairs on Wolf's TripWire. CYBEN would have to sit out the next mission. Money is needed.

Mauler contemplates a campaign once again.... but will have to re-evaluate the team tactics. Wolf getting cut off like that was not good.

Mech Masters in Mourning
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Still trying to build the teams' skills, Mech Masters continue to do random patrols. The danger in this game with those is that any outcome is permanent...

After taking some practice runs in his new Mech - the BloodHound - Mauler secured another patrol mission for the team.

They head off, Wolf in his TripWire, Kull in his Prowler and D.A.Y.E.S in his DragonFly.

Seeking the nearest hill, Mauler pushes his mech into a run. Of course he falls behind as his mech fails to keep up with the faster recon mechs of his teammates.

Cresting a low rise, Wolf makes contact. 3 enemy recon mechs (Pack Hunter, Zealot, Duellist) and one Light mech (Zombie). Kull rounds the base of the hill and locks up the Pack Hunter. Wolf locks the Zealot, but loses him as he moves into trees. Wolf switches to the Pack Hunter.
Tensile, hidden in a forest behind a hill, datalinks with Wolf and starts the long scan lock on the Duellist. Mauler finally climbs the hill and locks up the Zombie.

Zombie takes a long range shot at Kull and misses. The Duellist and Pack Hunter charge straight for Wolf, dodging fire from Wolf and Kull. Eight seconds to lock for the hidden Tensile, Wolf is hit by laser fire. Wolf's mech stumbles but he keeps his footing. The Zombie switches target to Wolf and hits him with a Black Ray gun. Again, Wolf has to use all his skill to keep his mech on it's feet. Tensile loses the datalink to Wolf!

Mauler takes a few long-range shots at the Zombie, and hits. The Zombie mech breaks into a run and Mauler loses sight of it. Mauler starts to run off the hill to try and reacquire the Zombie.

The Pack Hunter is now on Wolf - smashing him with laser fire and raking him with Vibra Claws. Not a rookie pilot anymore, Wolf steadies his mech and keeps it standing. Wolf swipes with his claws and misses, then throws his mech into reverse, firing his pulse laser and EM Pulse - both miss.

Kull starts to climb the hill, firing his small laser on the Pack Hunter and hitting. Tensile comes out of the trees to help - locks up the Pack Hunter and fires – but also misses.

Wolf is rocked again by the Pack Hunter assault. He almost goes down. The Zombie opens up on him and Wolf again fights the mech to stay on it's feet. Zombie hits with the Meson gun - critical - Gyro damaged! Wolf finally breaks away from the Pack Hunter, turns his mech and pushes it into a run.
With a damaged Gyro, he can't survive another assault like that...

Kull fails his scan lock attempt on the Pack hunter, but charges him anyway, smashing his mech into the side of the Pack Hunter.
Both mechs stay standing. Kull swings his Power Axes. One swipe - Left Leg - Red. Second Swipe - Head - Red.

Mauler comes off the hill and locks the pack hunter and fires. Both Autocannon 4 slugs tear into the centre torso. The first Autocannon 12 shell smashes the left torso of the Pack hunter dropping him to the ground. The second Autocannon 12 slug rips the Pack Hunters' head clean off!

The Zombie closes in on the hill, in trees, and fires on Kull hitting his cockpit! Kull’s vision begins to blur as he is racked with pain.
The Duellist charges up the hill and with his twin Chain Saws rakes Kull across the torso and leg - Still dazed from the head hit, Kull fails to keep his mech upright and goes down.

Tensile climbs the hill as well, firing on the advancing Zombie. Mauler switches targets to the Duellist and fires his AutoCannons, severly damaging the right leg of the Duellist.
Kull gets up to one knee just as the Duellist digs into him again with a ChainSaw. Kull fights his controls and pushes his mech upright and makes a wild swing with his Power Axes - Head Hit! Bleeding and dazed, the Duellist pilot ejects!

Tensile tries to ignite the trees the Zombie is in, but fails. Seeing the Light mech smashing through the trees to get to him, Tensile runs down the hill. Kull turns and faces the Light titan and follows Tensile. Both of them pass the Light titan, so now he is on the hill and they are in the trees. In passing, the Zombie hits Kull - smashing one Power Axe into uselessness.

Having gotten some breathing room, Wolf slowly turns his damaged mech, hoping to give supporting fire on the Zombie. Just as he finishes his turn, the Zealot comes out of the forested area it had disappeared into earlier.
Standing under 600yds away, Wolf quickly switches his target...
Seeing the damage on Wolf, Mauler makes the decision to target the Zealot, hoping Kull and Tensile can handle the Zombie. Mauler opens up on the Zealot and hits. Then the warning went off in Mauler’s mech - "Heat Level Yellow"

The Zombie turned to face Tensile and Kull who were now in the trees, using the cover to buy them time to refine their lock. Not having any of that, the Zombie fires all it's weapons wildly into the forest - IGNITING it!!
Kull uses his superior scouting ability to quickly leave the burning trees and charges up the hill - smashing his recon mech into the Zombie. Not much damage is done, but Kull retains his footing while sending the Zombie crashing to the ground!
Not as skilled as Kull, Tensile takes longer to clear the forest fire. As he finally steps out alarms are going off in his cockpit - "Heat level Red!"

Mauler is sweating in his cockpit - he has the heat level pegged in the red, which is messing up his target locks, and threatening an ammo explosion that would surely kill him. His scanners shows the enemy Zealot recon mech full Red on it's entire body from his continued autocannon assault, but the damn mech refused to go down. Wolf fails two lock attempts, but scores important hits with the EM pulse, temporarily shutting down the Zealot's battle computer.

With a cold calm only possible by an Android, Tensile waits patiently for his heat to go down, watching as Kull swings his one functioning Power Axe into the fallen Zombie. The Zombie shrugs off the attack and gets to its feet and in a flurry of punches and weapon fire, destroys Kull right leg!
Falling, Kull takes damage to his cockpit again.
The Zombie kicks Kull, destroying his right torso.

Mauler screams for Kull to eject as he sees the Zombie set itself for another onslaught...
Kull starts the ejection sequence...
Tensile starts firing his lasers, driving his heat back up into the red....
Mauler switches his target to the Zombie and fires, squinting against the sweat running into his eyes.
Wolf continues to fire on the Zealot.

The ejection sequence completes and the hatch blows off and Kull is shot from his mech - but crashes into the Zombie towering over him.
Mauler calls out to Kull – there is no response.

With a bloodcurdling scream, Mauler opens up with all four autocannons on the Zombie, cursing the Heat alarms.
"Heat level Red!" .. "Heat level Critical!"

Three slugs smashed into the torso area of the Zombie, but the pilot kept his mech from falling. The fourth Autocannon slug shot into its lower torso destroying it and the fragile Gyro it houses. With it's main form of stability gone, the Zombie teetered and fell.

Still trying to get Kull on the communicator, Mauler allowed his heat to slowly go down, as Tensile turned his DragonFly to face the remaining recon mech - the Zealot. He triggered both lasers at the Zealot.
Small laser - Hits Zealot in the right torso.
Large laser - destroys the right arm. Thrown off balance by the arm's explosion, the Zealot falls to the ground, destroying both legs in the fall.

Victory! Or was it?

Kull died in the ejection.

Salvage - The Zombie Light mech.

Repair costs were too high even for D.A.Y.E.S. repair skill.
Using his business skills, Wolf was able to sell the Zombie for a decent price.
All four mechs have been repaired.
D.A.Y.E.S could possibly level up on the next mission.

Mauler wonders if he should not have told Kull to eject... maybe...
The team now considers selling Kull's old mech and selling Wolf's mech - use the money and buy a Light mech for Wolf.
However, Mauler's leadership bonus and the teams budding fame could help them get a talented rookie to replace Kull though, so maybe they will keep the mechs.
Decisions, decisions.

Kull's Revenge
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Being the "melee" mech of the group, Kull has been charging in, smashing his way through the enemy. Unfortunately, so far, it has led to his mech being beaten and battered. That is - until now..

Being the humble and wise leader, Mauler agreed that Wolf would be the point man on the next mission to feed data back to the team. Ok, ok - Wolf had some "choice" words for Mauler's ineptness on the last mission and stated he would be on point.

No one argued.


Team deploys and start to take a look at their surroundings. Relatively open area broken up by some low hills and a few trees. A heavy forest is south of the teams starting location.

Wolf steps up on a low rise where he immediately spots two enemy recon mechs. His position was perfect, as he had a complete view of the area between the team's position and the enemy mechs.

Wolf goes into a crouch and begins his lock sequence. Tensile and Kull move up onto a hill with trees for cover, and begin locking targets as well. Mauler ambled off for some cover, but broke line of sight.
Muttering to himself, he requests the datalink feed from Wolf - gets it, and starts locking targets.

The two enemy recon titans start running at full speed towards Wolf. At extreme range they open up. Large laser fire hits Wolf, while gunfire tears up the ground around him. Unflinching, Wolf locks the first mech, and then begins lock on the second.
On the hill, Kull and Tensile also complete successful lock on attempts. Mauler still refining his lock through the datalink with Wolf.

The recon mechs were getting closer now. They entered some trees, were still visible, but now were obscured from direct attacks. Wolf starts getting hit more frequently. He checks and sees Mauler has almost completed his locking sequence through the datalink.
Wolf completes his lock of the second recon mech, then stands and opens fire. EM Pulse misses, but his Pulse laser scores a hit.

As the recon mechs run past the hill with Kull and Tensile, the third recon mech comes into view at the far end of the map - a Unicorn - recon mech with machine guns and a Gauss Rifle.

Mauler completes his lock on successfully. Radioing Kull, he orders him into battle. Mauler then breaks cover to get a visual on his locked mech.
Kull starts to run off the hill – but then spots the fourth recon mech in the heavy forest just south of his position!!! A Dart - with short-range missiles, no doubt trying to get to the same hill he was on to give supporting fire.
Kull radios in this new contact and turns towards him, smashing trees out of the way, power axes ready.

Mauler, Tensile and Wolf target the same recon mech and batter him.
The two charging recon mechs both target Mauler and continue to burn his armor with laser fire. Now that Mauler has a lock, Wolf begins to manoeuvre. The Unicorn gets into range and slaps Wolf with a Gauss Rifle shot. Wolf remains focused on his target - which is now in melee range to Mauler - and fires his Pulse laser. The enemy mech stumbles and falls.

Mauler tracks his weapons over the fallen mech, slowing it down to rest over the mech's damaged lower torso (At this point, Mauler, because of his level gain and the enemy mech prone, has a 96% chance to hit.. He can now do CALLED SHOTS!! ).
He fires both autocannons and obliterates the mechs lower torso. Switching his target to the second mech he turns to face him.

Tensile comes down the hill and gives supporting fire to Mauler, targeting the same mech he is. Wolf switches his target to the Unicorn and temporarily slows him down by freezing his hip with an EM Pulse hit.

The Dart in the forest sees Kull coming and manoeuvres to stay away from him. He breaks into a small clearing in the forest and loses sight to Kull, as Kull is cutting his way out of the forest. Kull stops and, guessing where the missile launching mech would like to go, changes direction to try and head him off.

The recon enemy mech targets the advancing Mauler and hits him with every laser he had. Rocking under the assault, Mauler loses control of his mech and falls to the ground. Mauler tries to push his titan upright but is slammed back into the ground by a slug from the Gauss Rifle. Tensile starts a run from the hill, cycling his lasers as fast as possible, but is missing most shots. Wolf continues to fire on the Unicorn, but also misses most attempts.

Just as Kull is breaking out of one area of trees - the Dart reappears in front of him!! An evil smile comes to Kull's lips as he goes for a charging run. The Dart sees Kull and jumps!! Kull arrives under the enemy mech and fires his small laser. He hits - but does minimal damage.
The enemy mech then cuts his jump jets and falls on top of Kull!
Death from above!!
Kull fights his controls, feels his mechs legs buckle - but he stays standing!!! He took damage to his head and arms, and one Power Axe was bent but still functional. The Dart didn't fare so well. It lost it's balance and crashed to the ground at the feet of Kull. The grinding sounds of the Power axe could be heard from afar as Kull began to beat on the Dart's armor. Kull's small laser recycled and he fired.
He misses but IGNITES the forest - with both of them in it!
Kull is oblivious and continues to pound on the enemy mech. Eventually he hears the warning alarm of the rising heat level and runs out of the burning trees. The enemy mech gets up and follows shortly after.
HEAT LEVEL RED is all Kull hears from his battle computer. Switching off the volume, he turns and faces the Dart.

The Dart fires a volley from his short-range missile rack, peppering Kull all over. Big Mistake. That volley drove the Dart's heat into Critical. AMMO EXPLOSION!!! The Dart's Centre Torso completely disintegrated from the explosion, and he falls to the ground.


Mauler finally regains his footing and tries to run, but once again is floored by a well-placed Gauss Rifle hit. He falls and his titan's right leg snaps. Dazed and hurt, Mauler tries to start the eject sequence. He ejects safely.

The enemy recon turns to face Wolf and charges towards him spewing laser fire. Hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. Wolf breaks lock to the Unicorn and reacquires this charging mech. Tensile manoeuvres to go around a small lake, firing on the mech. Kull clears the forest and locks up the Unicorn who is stationary, aiming his Gauss Rifle again.

Wolf kicks his mech into reverse and fires his EM Pulse. TORSO HIT!! The EM pulse shot shuts down the recon mechs’ engine and it collapses on the ground.
Tensile stops, aims – fires – hit – fires - hit.
The enemy mech slowly gets to his feet after restarting his engine and continues his charge towards Wolf.
Wolf, still moving in reverse, waits patiently as his EM pulse laser recyles. He hits the mech in the leg with his pulse laser, but he keeps coming. EM Pulse ready. He fires and.. ENGINE SHUTSDOWN again!! Tensile moves closer to the downed mech only to be greeted by a Gauss Rifle shot from the Unicorn.
Tensile's right torso is destroyed - taking his large laser with it.

Kull completes his charge on the Unicorn, taking both of them crashing to the ground.
They both get up but after three swings, the Power Axes cut through the right torso and cleaved a leg off the Unicorn. It falls to the ground and shortly after the pilot ejects.

The enemy recon slowly gets to his feet, but his hammered down again by Wolf's Pulse laser. Kull races over and in one swoop he destroys the mechs lower torso. The pilot ejects.

VICTORY!!

As Mauler and Wolf have maxed out some skills, they chose to save most of their XP. Once they have enough they will spend it on raising their attributes, which will in turn raise the maximum values their skills can go to.

Although Kull had a phenomenal mission, his close combat skills are still not at their peak - so he spent all of his combat xp on improving his melee skills.

Also, Mauler's mech - the Fang - was repaired and sold. Using Wolf's improved business skills, the team has now purchased their first Light mech - a 70 tonne mech called BloodHound. 2 Autocannon/4 and 2 AutoCannon/12. It has improved scanners and battle computer and even has ECM. Mauler is smiling.

Money is tight now though - just enough to cover the salaries for the team. The next mission is a must win to get money rolling in again - and hopefully not spend it all on repairs.