Chapter Fourteen: "War, War Never Changes

Chapter Fourteen: "War, War Never Changes…"

"Sheppard! I need you and the rest of the lance to flank the tanks now!" I ordered over my comms as I sniped at the Cicada charging me with one of my PPC's. "Those LRM boats are going to shred me if they can share targeting data with the two 'Mechs over here." I nailed the second 'Mech a Blackjack with a PPC close to the cockpit and made it back off for a minute.

"Understood sir." Lieutenant Sheppard responded, "We're closing in on them now ETA two mikes."

Lieutenant Sheppard piloted the Mongoose and was in charge of the rest of the lance while I was running distraction. Being in a Warhammer and the heaviest 'Mech on this planet made me the target that the two pirates here were trying to hit and so I was running distraction while my infantry tried to make for and capture the union that the pirates had landed in.

Crouching to avoid a couple of AC/2 shots that were aimed at me, I turned and laid into the Cicada that had finally gotten into close range with my SRM's and lasers. Shredding the legs to pieces, I watched as the pilot of the Cicada ejected rather than stay and fight. Which left me with the Blackjack still sniping at me. Armor pocketed from tangling with this half lance all day, I moved up to my max running speed to try and close the distance with the Medium 'Mech.

"Rifle actual, This is Sniper actual come in come in." I heard over my comms while Running after the Blackjack that was attempting to get away.

"This is Rifle lead go ahead Sniper." I responded while alternating PPC fire at the stupid Blackjack.

"We have seized enemy Assets and have POW's and salvage. Please advise." I stopped moving to duck behind a hill to avoid the Blackjack's sniping and popped back up just in time to nail the cockpit with both of my PPC's. "Sniper actual, you have command, I'll trust your decision." I responded as I moved forward to make sure that the Blackjack was down for the count.

"This is Captain Mark of the Marksman Mercenary company to all pirates," I broadcast on all frequencies. "Lay down your arms and surrender, we have seized your dropship and taken out your armor and 'Mech assets. You will be treated according to the Ares Conventions. Refuse and we will give no mercy."

Unfortunately, the pirates refused to surrender and the LRM boats that I had wanted to take as salvage ended up being blown to smithereens by the remaining three 'Mechs of my lance. "Sheppard, Peterson Sitrep?" I commed over as I marked the downed Cicada and Blackjack 'Mechs on my computer for salvage to come and collect. "This is Peterson, we seized the enemy dropship and all of the equipment on board. We captured most of the crew and have taken minimal casualties." Lieutenant Peterson responded. "This is Sheppard, all armored forces have surrendered or been destroyed, we are escorting the armor that surrendered to Lieutenant Peterson's forces now."

"Roger that, I've marked down the Blackjack and Cicada's for salvage operations." I broadcast in reply. "On my way to the Rendevous point now."

Shifting my Warhammer back up to a jog, I made my way to the captured dropship.

"It's simple Cornet, I'll trade you the Union and the 'Mechs for a Leopard CV and a squadron of Aerospace fighters to go with it." I said to the Liaison we had been assigned by the Concordat.

The Cornet argued with me for a bit until I pulled up the contract that I had with the Concordat. The contract stated that we had full salvage rights on anything that we fought. As long as no Concordat forces were a part of any action, we were able to lay claim to anything that we had fought on the battlefield.

"Let me talk to my CO and I'll see what I can do." The Cornet finally sighed and went to go make a phone call. I would like to keep the Union, but for now I needed Aerospace assets and I needed them ASAP.

"Alright, my CO is on the way and will handle negotiations with you directly." The Cornet responded as he packed up his briefcase. "Regardless of our difference, thanks for dealing with that scum." He shook my hand firmly. "You did really good work out there."

While waiting on the Colonel that was in charge of the Armored/Infantry I pulled up the intel that we had pulled from the dropships computers. We had a rough location of the pirates, some sort of unnamed moon in an out of the way system. These pirates had hit Burton for the electronics because they had intelligence that the regular 'Mech forces would be rotating out for training purposes.

Then, a young officer walked in. I stood to shake his hand. "I'm Colonel Thomas Calderon, and I hear you're a stickler in regards to negotiations." He said as an introduction and smiled to indicate that he was joking a little bit. "Now what's this I hear about you wanting to trade the Union for something?" he asked while taking a seat across the table from me."

Personal Journal July 5th​ 3002:

I managed to talk Colonel Calderon into a good trade for the Union and the 'Mechs. And we discovered that the Marksman actually worked really well together. Turns out my cross training idea had worked, and now I had air assets to throw into the mix and would be hunting down the pirate band that sent this Union after Burton's electronics stores. My techs had pulled the location of an as of yet unnamed moon out of the Union and the name and IFF of the Tramp Jumpship that the pirates had been using. If we managed to catch them by surprise I had small craft and Marines ready for boarding operations. The New contract that I had negotiated meant that we would have to take a Taurian Liaison with us and we would have to waive any bounties in exchange for keeping all of the Salvage. While my officers were confused about this at first, they would soon understand why I preferred more Salvage over a bigger paycheck. Also, because we didn't have any Aerospace pilots yet, I had to run a quick search. There had recently been a Mercenary Aerospace Squadron that hadn't been able to afford their upkeep and had disbanded. After calling their CO I managed to hire him and his old Squadron on short term contracts just for this hunting trip