The 1st Oberon Guards, Oberon Strikers was one of the most effective scout/strike units in the Confederation. It had been nearly fifteen years since the Ryan-Morgraine union and the military buildup continued on both sides. When contact was lost with the planet Manaringaine in the Elysian Fields (one of the Oberon Confederation's protectorates), the Strikers were dispatched to investigate and determine if the pirates at Butte Hold were the culprits.

There was no contact with the planet when the jumpship arrived at one of the pirate jump points, nor were there any enemy ships dedected. However, upon arriving at the planet, the dropship was ambushed by a squadron of fighters, using designs nobody had ever seen before. They made quick work of the ship, but not before the ship's captain was able to drop the command lance and strike lance before losing control of the dropship. You listened to their death cries on the comm and felt the explosion as the ship (and your ride home) disintegrated in the atmosphere.

Upon landing on the surface, you realized that this situation had gotten terribly out of hand. Whoever did this had a lot of firepower and the only thought that crossed your mind was survival. After hooking up with the rest of your lancemates, it was determined that the best way to survive this encounter was to meet up with the command lance at the predetermined rendezvous point at Hanson's Hills. Along the way, you got a reading on your sensors..

Anders "Rook" Svensson eyed the wreckage below him. Earlier thoughts of his lost comrades had been hastily scattered by the long-range laser attack that just missed his Panther. Oddly enough, his own targeting system informed him that the bandit mech was not yet close enough to generate a firing solution for the Panther's Lord's Light PPC. Nor was it able to identify the 'mech that was in his sights, even before it had been shot to pieces.

Rook had been the first one to spot the bandit, but it was Maverick and 2046-LM who first exchanged fire with the enemy at range. The valleys and plateaus of the canyon region made it difficult to keep track of where the target was, and while Rook was trying to catch up to his lancemates, the enemy 'mech played tag with Lazarus, Maverick and 2046-LM.

The fire from Rook's lancemates drove the bandit into Rook's sights -- and as soon as his crosshairs settled on the back of the enemy, Rook pulled the trigger, catching the bandit in a crossfire with Lazarus and Maverick. The spike of heat picked up from the enemy mech hinted at an engine breach, while its right arm was cut away with the kind of surgical precision that also saw its shoulder ripped to pieces. The engagement, though not over, was decided in that moment.

The charred remains of the enemy mech continued to smolder as thoughts crossed your mind: Who are these people? What are these 'Mechs? Why are they here? This strangely designed light 'Mech was more powerful than even the Wolverine, and had it not been alone, the outcome of this battle could've been very much different.

It was clear now that you were not dealing with any bandit raiders. The sophistication of their machines and their numbers indiciated something much more horrifying: Invasion. Your primary mission still needed to be completed: Meet up with the command lance at Hanson's lake, which was now within sensor range.

You were able to pick up the signals from the command lance. They all seemed to be accounted for but before you could make contact with them, all hell broke loose on the comm channels..

"Scratch one xeno," Rook said, savagely pleased with the way the last enemy mech collapsed, its core gutted by the salvo from the Oberon mechs. The latest fight had gone awry from the beginning, when Paul Tweed's Warhammer fell to a withering torrent of fire. Things didn't get any better when 2046-LM and Maverick, coming to the aid of the command lance, had misread the terrain and ended up jumping out of the woods and plunging into the middle of a lake.

"So what happens now?"

"Who the hell are these creatures?" screamed Kraemer as she tore off her neurohelmet. "What kind of beef do they have with us?"

Rand surveyed the charred remains of Paul's Warhammer, which had been in pristine condition only minutes before. Memories of his long time friend flashed through his mind as he replied. "I have no idea where they came from, but I know where I want to send them."

He paused for a moment to recollect his thoughts. "Okay ladies, listen up. We're going to have to get off of this rock and warn the boys at home about this invasion force rolling through the Elysian Fields."

"Hell, if they rolled through here as easily as they I thought they did, then they'll probably walk through Oberon whether we warn them or not!" replied Jackson, eyeing the only enemy mech left standing. "I say we take what we can from here, and make our way into the Inner Sphere. With this amazing hardware, we could buy ourselves out of this mess!"

Rand spat on the ground and murmmered silently. "And how do you propose we get off this worthless lump of a rock?"

Jackson stared at his prize and didn't reply. "You know, there might be enough parts around here to get this boy back up and running."

"Chances are that you'll end up shooting yourself in the foot if you do." quipped Kraemer. "Isn't that why you pilot an Archer? So that there's a chance that you won't hit yourself?"

"Settle down kids!" shouted Rand as he placed himself in between his two remaining lancemates. There's no point fighting amongst ourselves. Paul's gone and we're down to three in our lance. Add the strike lance and we're up to seven, but with the firepower and accuracy that we've seen from fighting these xenos, I'm not sure if any of those mechs can stand up long in a fight."

"I'm not trying to dis the scout lance. All I'm saying is that we need more firepower. Either that or a place to get ourselves fixed up. Now I know a place.."

Static cracked in the air. A faint message could be heard on the battle channel. Straining your ears, you could barely pick out the message..

"Thi.. sss.. Oberon Con.. Anyone hear me? I'm un.. strange creatures are.. need assistance. Ple.. Anyone hea.."

Rand was already in action before anyone else was able to register the message. "I've got a fix on the signal. It's about ten clicks north of us, in the direction that the dropship went down. Hell, I didn't think there were any survivors, but we'll need to find out quick or there won't be!"

"Strike lance, get down there and provide whatever support you can. There's no way my lance can get there in time and we need to clean up here.. to give Paul a proper resting place. We'll catch you as soon as we can. Report back when you find out anything."

"Thanks for all your help," Ellis said as he came astride the rest of your 'mechs. "I have no idea who these guys were but they were hounding me ever since I landed."

Before you had time to reply, he already began to explain. "We were the last lance to be dropped out of the dropship before it went out of control. I was lucky to make it down alive.My lance commander got stuck in the drop bay, and the other two were blown out of the sky by the fighters. I was able to find cover in the forest from their strafing runs but these critters found me."

Ellis popped his hatch and took a good, long look at the remains of one of the enemy units. "I have no idea who these guys were, but they were jumping at me and swarming me like some giant toads from hell." He paused to spit out of his cockpit. "I was able to get away from them and into the open, but the missiles were useless at close range, and I eventually ran out of ammo. You guys came in a proverbial nick of time."

"Anyway, we should get the heck out of here before more of these creatures arrive. Did anyone else survive? What's the plan?"

"Well lookie here, they brought back a present!" shouted Rand as he sauntered over to your group. He gave the Catapult a once over and pointed to a spot on the armor. "I notice that there's a nice hole here. Did they get a lucky shot?"

"Yeah, the engine shielding took a hit, but it'll still function." replied Ellis as he climbed out of the cockpit.

"Sexy! Glad to see that you're alive. Kraemer's going to be happy to see you. I think she was starting to worry that Jackson would end up being the last man in the Inner Sphere."

"Wouldn't that be a hoot," injected Jackson as he joined the group. His sour frown from before was replaced with beaming smile. "We've got a few presents of our own to show you guys."

Rand motioned you all to follow him and explained on the way. "We were going through the wreckage to see what we could salvage, and we found something. Or should I say, someone? It seems like these guys aren't that alien after all. They're human, or at least they look human, and they seem to speak the same language. There was one guy who was unconcious when we found him, the others were smoked. Boy oh boy was it an interesting experience when he came to."

"But the best part," Jackson added with increasing excitement, "is that one of their 'mechs IS salvagable! We could put it back together again with a bit of work."

"And that's the plan," continued Rand, getting irritated by the constant inturruption. "As I was saying before, I know a repair facility near here. I think the 'Mech it Lube wanted to buy the place out before they found out that there was virtually no business on this planet and let it go. It doesn't have the best facilities, but it should be enough to get us patched up and get this hunk of junk back together again."

By then you had arrived at the salvagable 'mech under which the prisoner was sitting. Kraemer wandered over and greeted you all. "Sexy! You're alive!"

"Am I ever glad to be! You're a sight for sore eyes." Ellis replied as he gave her a bearhug.

"Did anyone else survive?" she asked.

"I saw the dropship go down, but I can't say for sure."

"We probably should check. There might be something we can salvage, if we're lucky." Rand added.

Kramer decided to change the subject. "Hey boys, I've got news for you. Seems like this POW is willing to fight for us, from what I could gather. Seeing as we have a possible extra 'mech we could use all the firepower we could get."

"But can we trust him?" asked Rand rhetorically.

"I say we put a bullet in his head." offered Jackson.

"I say we put some insurance into his 'mech and let him loose. We've got more to lose not using him. From the way things are now, we're pretty much dead already." The others nodded in agreement.

"Okay, here's the plan. I'll add Sexy to complete my command lance. Our two lances will head to the repair bay and get fixed up. Once we do that, we'll split into two lances. One lance will head to the dropship crash zone and see if there's anything left there we can use. The other group will head to the communications facility and see if we can contact the jumpship. With luck we can pass along the message and get reinforcements."

"And if we're unlucky?" Jackson asked.

"Then we find our own way off this rock." he repiled. "Scout lance, head off first to the repair bay, I'll give you the coordinates. We'll bring up the rear, and drag along anything salvagable that's not nailed down. Let's go."

Your lance quickly lead the way to the repair bay, hoping to get to the facility before sundown. The terrain was heavilly wooded, which slowed down the command lance, and caused your scout lance to reduce their speed to compensate. As night fell, there was a crackle over the battlenet.

"To any friendly units, this is repair bay alpha requesting assistance."

"Ahh great." you heard Rand mutter before he responded to the hail.

"This is Captain Julius Rand of the the 1st Oberon guards. (What's left of them at least.) We are approximately fifteen minutes from your position. How can we be of assistance?"

"Captain Rand! This is Albert Fink. I'm glad to hear that you're still alive. We heard that your dropship was shot down, and had feared the worst."

"Well, we're here now. What do you need help with?"

"Our facility was attacked by an enemy force just recently. I guess they had found out that there was a mech repair bay out here in the boonies. What they didn't know was the amount of firepower we had in our hidden turrets. They walked in and started making threats or something, so we opened up on them."

"Okay, so what do you need us for?" asked Rand.

"Well, one of the 'mechs got away. We hit him hard but he had turned to one side and managed to stay standing. He fled as quickly as his chicken legs would take him" Fink chuckled, "That's a pun by the way."

"I'm glad you find this all funny." replied Rand. "I'm assuming that you want us to hunt this 'mech down?"

"Yes." answered Fink. "We were able to cripple that 'mech, and we're currently scrambling most communications, but once he gets out of our jamming radius he'll likely warn the others and we'll lose our element of suprise. Not to mention the fact that we'll probably get overwhelmed."

"Fine, where's is this fleeing 'mech headed?"

Fink pauses for a moment. "He's heading right towards you. Good hunting Captain."

Rand switched back to the internal communications. "Well, you heard it girls. It seems like we'll have to earn our pay to get our 'mechs fixed here. It shouldn't be a tough battle from the sounds of it, but night's falling, and there are plenty of places to hide in this forest. We'll need to make sure that this guy diesn't slip by us."

The Awesome came to a halt outside of a clearing in the woods. "The command lance will set up camp here. There's no point having all of us search through the bush. If the reports are correct and this mech took a full salvo from one or two of those defensive turrets, then this guy's got some armor. I doubt your scout lance will be able to take it down. Sexy and Jackson will stay here. You can spot for them and call in some indirect fire from their LRMs. We don't have too many salvos left, so use them sparingly. Kraemer and I will stay with these guys to make sure nobody sneaks up on us and make a last ditch effort to stop this.. alien from escaping."

Rand took a long breath before continuing.

"It's too bad we lost Paul. His searchlight would've come in handy. Anyway, head into the forest and flush this guy out. But stay out of trouble. Especially you 2046-LM. You're ready to fall apart and I know how fond you are of jumping into water. Remember that you may need to get close before you can spot the enemy. Don't take any unneccesary chances. Keep moving. Even if you get caught with your pants down, it'll make it harder for this guy to hit you. We'll be here to provide support."

With that, your lance entered the forest..

Rook switches his Panther's optics to light amp, and watches grainy images of his lancemates' 'mechs dissapear into the vegetation. The temperature gauge in his cockpit climbs another notch as he throttles the Panther up and falls into his regular rear guard position. Brushing limbs out of his path, he notes to himself that the darkness, combined with the dense foliage, would spoil the firing lanes for the Panther's main gun that he depended on in order to cover his lancemates.

"Hey guys," Rook says over the lance's comm channel, breaking the rhythmic sound of the footfalls, "The Captain called them aliens again, but didn't Jackson say that he saw a human pilot? Who do you think they are? Where did they come from, and what do they want, anyways?"

A warning siren in the Panther's cockpit went off, and the control board lit up like a Christmas tree. Rook struggled to keep the 35-ton machine upright, but the sudden loss of his 'mech's left side had left him too unbalanced. With the all the grace of a bowling ball, the Panther crushed several smaller trees before finally coming to rest on the hillside.

Fully expecting the enemy 'mech to finish him off, Rook was surprised and relieved that the anticipated attack never happened. Upon examining his vid monitors, he noticed the hole through the bandit's back, and the azure arcs of electricity told him what had just happened.

"Good save, Cap," Rook thanked the company leader as his Panther struggle back to its feet, "This 'mech just wasn't made for holding the line."

The azure beam cut through the rear of the enemy 'mech. Smoke and shrapnel exploded out of the newly formed hole in the 'mech's armor indicating a serious hit to the engine shielding and gyro. You watched as the heavy 'mech toppled to the ground.

"Damned lucky," Rand muttered. "He had us beat. I was lucky that one of my shots hit him where it hurts."

"Good shot captain," replied Jackson as he let his Archer cool down. "Another minute and he would've been out of our sights. How could a mech that big move so fast? I've only seen a Charger get up and go like that, and nobody ever wants to pilot a Charger."

"Well, I guess we'll have to find out what's going on here." added Kraemer. "I think the pilot survived the hit. I can see the cockpit opening. He doesn't look very happy."

"Probably something to do with being outnumbered, out gunned, and still nearly making it past us. But taken down by a freak hit." chuckled Ellis.

"He could complain to the barrel of my PPC." Rand retorted. "Let's go get this place cleaned up and head into the repair bay. We got some fixing up to do."

Rand eyed Rook's badly damaged Panther. "Yeah, lots of fixing up."

Fink's voice crackled over the comm. "Thanks for taking care of the trash captain."

"It was our pleasure," replied Rand. "We needed to kick some arse after what they did to us."

"Come on in and we'll take a look at your 'mechs."

"We've also got some salvage you guys might be interested in," interjected Jackson. "Some of it's in pretty good condition. I'm not sure if we could use it though."

"Well, they left quite a mess on our front lawn, so we've got lots of pieces to play around with here too. Bring in what you've got and we'll see what sort of picture we can put together."

Within the hour, your entire unit had entered the compound and the technicians began to look over your 'mechs. The repair bay seemed to be split into three sections. One to house the technicians, a warehouse to hold the 'mechs, and a third building to house all of the equipment. The third one seemed out of place somehow.

The warehouse also had a number of other 'mechs stored there. Most are about medium weight, and none look like they've seen battle in a long time. A tall eldery man wandered up to your group wiping some grease off of his hands with a dirty towel. His discheveled hair and grimy face matched his laid back attitude as he sauntered over to your group. The day's events didn't seem to have phased him one bit. The nametag on his coveralls indicated his name and position: Albert Fink - head technician.

"They don't look that bad." Fink said. "Give us a day or so and we'll have most of these 'mechs patched up. Well, that Panther will take a bit longer. We've got plenty of techies to help though, so it shouldn't take long. What really interests me are these alien 'mechs that you've got. Some of the technology is.. They're nothing like I've ever seen before, and I've seen my fair share of 'mechs."

"Out in ass end of the periphery?" questioned Jackson.

"Hey, I wasn't always out here. Capeesh? I spent most of my time on Solaris dealing with every type of 'mech imaginable in every type of configuration and condition. I just came out here to retire."

Fink noticed a few of you staring at the pristine 'mechs. "Oh, yeah those. We've been collecting them. They were confiscated when the Fields became a pacifist state and haven't seen battle since. Considering our current situation, I think it's time to take them out of mothballs, don't you think?"

Ellis eagerly nodded, "any extra bit of firepower will help against these invaders."

"We've had a number of refugees show up at our front door ever since these aliens attacked. Most are farmers, merchants, children.. but there are a few ex-mechwarriors amogst them. You may want to interview a few to see if any are interested in helping out. We've got four fully functioning 'mechs ready to go, and enough parts to get another one or two up and running soon."

"Sounds like a good idea", commented Rand as he looked around at the chaos in the warehouse. "We need to head to the local communcations facility and contact our jumpship. We'll need a ride off of this rock, and I don't think we can fit everyone on."

"Okay," whispered Fink. "Let me tell you a secret. Before the civil war, when Kerensky and the SLDF tried to pacify the periphery states, they brought along with them some mobile repair facilities to maintain and repair 'mechs out in the field. During the civil war, the SLDF occupied the Rim Worlds Republic and used it as a staging ground to retake the Terran Hegemony. Now, out here in the 'ass end' of space, one of these repair facilities was damaged and couldn't be moved. But since they needed to attack quickly, they left the stuff here, to be picked up later. As you can remember from history, they never came back to pick up the pieces."

You saw the look of astonishment on Rand's face. "Are you saying.."

"The building that you see off to the right there, where we hold all of the equipment? That's the old mobile repair facility. We built the residences and warehouse afterwards. The building can convert and move, but we need a very large fusion reactor to power it."

"Let me guess," injected Jackson "a 'mech's fusion reactor ain't big enough."

"Or we would've left a long time ago. No, we need something much bigger. Something that can be used to power a medium to large dropship. Which are pretty hard to come by in these parts. We can modify the power output to match what we need and then we'll be mobile again!"

"The dropship." you said in unison.

"If we're lucky, the fusion reactor may have survived the impact." Ellis adds. "It's fairly deep in the ship."

"Yes, but we don't have time to hunt for a fusion reactor AND send a message back home." commented Rand. He rubbed his chin for a moment. "Okay, you said that there might be some mechwarriors among the refugees?"

Fink nodded.

"Fine, we'll need them. What we'll do is split into two groups. Half of us will head to the dropship and see if we can salvage the fusion reactor, amongst other things, from the wreckage. The other half will head to the communications relay and contact the jumpship. Since Jackson's our best tech in the group, he'll head the Dropship mission. Kraemer will provide support. As I have the command codes, I will head to the communcations facility with Sexy as backup. Now the rest of you will have to split yourselves up into two groups. We've got a few extra 'mechs we can use here, so choose four to come with me, and four to go with Jackson. We'll launch as soon as we can. Dismissed."

Gabriel Chen smiled with pleasure as Captain Rand gave him the news. He had been cast from his family and his homeworld when his academy performance had only warranted a posting to a reserve regiment instead of a more prestigious unit, like the Capellan Hussars. Now, almost a decade later, he was back in the cockpit of a battlemech, and he relished the opportunity.

The DRG-1S Dragon carried less firepower than the Cataphract, but its superior handling was welcome to Gabriel on the impromptu training ground set up by the Oberon soldiers. Although rusty and inexperienced, his performance was adequate enough to be selected as part of the Captain's own lance. He learned that his interviewer and training assessor, Anders Svensson, would be part of a different lance, tasked with recovering parts from a downed dropship, once his battered 'mech was repaired.

Maison was born as a mute; he had spent his last two decades traveling between planets painting and drawing for Mechs and other battle scenes. His involvement in this area and several battles has given him experiences in piloting some of the mechs that he came across. He has decided to take part in the battle to expand some of his artistic vision for mechs illustrations and paintings. He had dreamt of developing his own brand of arts in violence, chaos and hopefully some mechanical gore.

He'll be taking the Dervish and will be joining the communication relay team.

As for 2046-LM, since he was originally purchased by the company and genetically engineered his attributes to cope with the Phoenix Hawk, he will be piloting the Phoenix Hawk and head for the drop ship mission.

Roy could hardly believe his luck; the day that he had barely dared to dream of had come. A chance to pilot a 'mech and fend off an aggressive, faceless enemy, to become a hero and perhaps a full time Mechwarrior! How often had he wondered of what could have been had his unit not been disbanded, his master wrongfully disgraced (and consequently banished), and him, as a lowly second apprentice mechwarrior, forced to move in with his uncle and aunt on this backwater remote world, far from glory and adventure.

The techs laughed and quipped unhelpful pointers as he washed and wiped the armor on the Jenner, but they fell on deaf ears. The excitement of having his very own battletech was more than enough to drown out their banter. Mr. Lazarius Lounge was gracious enough to lend him his, a light mech to be sure but a capable machine with excellent speed. Roy looked forward to his first mission, a run to the communications relay.

"So, this is our crew." huffed Rand. "I feel like I'm on a babysitting mission."

A quick jab in the ribs from Ellis reminded the captain that his men were listening. "As the captain was saying, welcome to the Oberon Guards."

A quick cough from Rand caught Ellis's attention, and he fell silent to let him speak. "Our numbers are a little thin right now due to battle losses, but we've come through in worse situations than this."

"Not to my knowledge," whispered Ellis to nobody in particular. But he was kept silent by Rand's glance.

"Our mission will be to reach the communications facility, commandeer it if we have to, and send a message out to get reinforcements and get us off of this planet. From what I've been told, it doesn't seem heavily guarded. In fact, I don't think we've had any contact with the communications facility since the attack."

He looked over to Fink, watching over the group from a side table, who nodded in agreement.

"So we're not quite sure what we're up against. Be prepared for anything. Maverick will take point, while Sexy and I will guard the rear. The rest of you kids, make sure you don't go running off and get yourselves killed. This is hostile territory now. You heard the holovids. These Wolves - whoever they are - have claimed this planet as theirs, so we'll have to keep ourselves hidden. Don't draw too much attention to yourselves."

"We leave within the hour. Dismissed."

Ellis stood at the top of a cliff, overlooking a forested valley and some mountainous terrain. He gave a long, low whistle when he looked through the binoculars. "It's like they dropped a big rock on them," he said to describe the damage on the communications facility. "That amount of damage cannot have been made by 'mechs."

"Look a bit to the east," Rand replied. "It seems like they also hit the power plant, or near to it."

"Yeah, it looks like the plant's okay, but the power connection's severed. We'll need to get it fixed before we can even think about using the relay, and even then we don't know how much damage it took from that attack."

Rand tried to look at the bright side. "At least there doesn't seem to be any enemy activity. Mind you, it's not like there seems to be much here to defend."

"Au contrare" countered Ellis. "I see some dust in the distance. Let's see.."

Adjusting his field binoculars to their highest setting, he was able to pick out images of a convoy of vehicles. Rand, who was also now looking at the same target, commented first.

"I think one of those vehicles is an engineering truck of some sort. Looks like someone wants to come and fix this place up."

"No complaints here cap'. But I'm pretty sure they won't share it with us will they?"

"No, because I doubt that they're friendlies. Round up the rest of the unit."

Within minutes, the rest of the strike team had assembled and Rand began barking orders.

"Okay kids, listen up. It seems as if the communications facility has been hit, but we're in luck. Someone's bringing in some techs to fix up the place to be as good as new, but I doubt they'll let us waltz in and use it once they're done. You know this means of course." Rand brought up a holo projector showing the topography of the area. "This convoy of vehicles will have to pass through this valley here and over a bridge here to make it to the site. These are perfect ambush points for us, and since they probably don't think there's any resistance left, they might not be on full alert."

Rand took out his pointer and stabbed at the bridge. "Sexy and I will cover the bridge. It's the last chance we'll get at capturing the enemy convoy, and our two 'mechs will be needed to make sure that nobody passes." he then slid the pointer over to the valley.

"The rest of you will need to attack the convoy in the valley. They will think that it's a raid and try their best to make it to the facility. Even if they get by you, they'll have to go through us, in which case, they'll have you guys to their back and us to their front. Take out the escorts and do not destroy the equipment trucks. Heck, I don't trust your skills, so don't even think of firing on them."

"But most importantly," he said, as he tapped the valley again "Don't let them turn back. We don't want them to escape. You know what they'll do if they know our numbers and disposition. Everybody got it? Good. Gains and Chen will start on the west side of the canyon edge, while Maison and Maverick will start on the east. Sexy and I will work on expanding a ditch further down the valley before heading to the bridge. Hopefully our handiwork will slow them down enough to make it easier for you guys to ambush them. Deploy a further to the north, as they'll have to double back from the ditch. They can get around it, but make sure that you guys are there when they do. Dismissed."

The impromptu lance had never really established a line of defence, being split up from the very beginning, and Gaines paid the price for their mistakes as he bravely held his ground to impede the enemy convoy. For a moment, it looked like Gaines would be able to intercept the last escort vehicle, but after they traded laser shots, black plumes of smoke billowed from the Jenner's cockpit, and the machine stopped moving.

"Gaines! Punch out!" Gabriel yelled into his comm system, but it was too late for the farmboy.

"I need to get out of there," Gaines thought to himself as he slammed down on the throttle, running the Jenner out of range as quickly as possible. He had taken extensive damage, his whole right side destroyed and replaced by a haze of flame, smoke and spark, exposing fragile mechanisms to the elements. The shock of another thundering volley of tank fire had shaken him up, both physically and mentally, leaving his head ringing.

Even as he tried to find another route to the remaining bandits, the mortal fear of death engulfed him. Sweat leaked from every pore, and yet he shook as if chilled. A garbled voice on the commlink pointed out that one final vehicle was making a run for it, and he was the last thing between it and freedom. Unsure of his ability, but sure of his duty, he maneuvered directly into its path.

"Here goes.. everything." He fired his remaining two lasers, and one hit home. But it wasn't enough; the little craft answered with a surprising amount of fire. Roy's screen went dark. Alarms throughout the cockpit blared and complained. He raised his arms over his face as instruments exploded about him. Roy Gaines' last sensation was of being crushed and burned simultaneously; his Jenner had taken a fatal hit to the cockpit.

Roy Gaines, novice Mechwarrior, died in battle February 5, 3049 - Manaringaine, Elysian Fields.

You watched as the three remaining vehicles sped off towards the bridge. Knowing full well what lay in front of them. Captain Rand and Sexy Ellis will have a very easy time corralling those vehicles. But the cost was high. Roy Gaines, Lounge's chosen apprentice, gave up his life in a last ditch effort to halt the fleeing hovercraft.

You hope Rand will give them their just desserts..

"Damn," Rand muttered as he looked at the remains of Gaines's Jenner. "I guess I shouldn't get a job as a babysitter."

"Don't be too hard on yourself cap'." Ellis said "He did a good job."

"Yeah. At least we got a tank out of this, and some of these enemy engineers."

Rand turned to look at the communications building, which was now humming with power.

"It didn't take long to convince them to patch it up for us."

"It's too bad none of them were 'mech technicians." mused Ellis "They would've been able to tell us how some of their 'mechs work."

"But at least they know their tanks," added Rand as he looked at the Ku Assault Tank being repaired in the distance. "It'll help."

"I still don't understand though," Ellis said as he peered through his binoculars "What they meant about 'bondage' or 'bondo' or whatever they said."

"I guess they didn't get the joke when I told them that I wasn't into that sort of stuff," chuckled Rand as he kicked at a piece of scrap metal "But as close as I can guess, they seem to be working for us now. The tank crew seems to be all for it, although they couldn't look any less happy. Might explain why those mechwarriors we caught earlier weren't as violent as I would've expected."

"Yes, it is something to keep in mind."

"Okay, they should have the communications array back up and running by now. All we needed was to get that message out, and get the heck out of here. I don't want to be around when they send in the calvalry. Let's hope the jumpship's still there."

With that, Rand turned back towards the facility and walked off.

Rand smiled as the screen flickered to life. "Sure took their time to respond." he muttered under his breath.

An elderly man appeared on the screen, decked in a crumpled military uniform. There were lines of stress that made him look even older, and his unkept hair and stubble accentuated his tired face. His voice sounded more fearful than weary however.

"Captain Rand, this is Captain Lewis of the jumpship Baryium. We've recieved your mission report and request for evac but.."

Lewis looked away from the recorder for a moment before continuing.

"We were planning to head back home after we lost contact with your dropship. A merchant jumpship that was at the the Nadir jump point with us at Oberon IV, ahh the Progressive, somehow managed to jump out here with us a day after you made planetfall. We hung around long enough to hook up with them, and they gave us the news: Oberon IV was invaded by an unknown force and fell within days. I repeat, Oberon has fallen. The crew of the Progressive decided to run for it, and hoped that we'd be able to support them. Apparently we're what's left of the Oberon forces."

He took a long breath before continuing.

"So to answer your question, we don't have any dropships to send your way. The Progressive has a mule class dropship but it's basically unarmed. There's no way they'll be able to bring it into an enemy occupied planet without a guarantee of safety.. and profit."

"Damned pirates," Rand commented with a smirk.

"We're open to suggestions, but we're not going to stay here long. We're virtually unarmed out here and it's only a matter of time before we get hunted down. Hopefully you'll be able to find a way out because frankly, we're hosed. I don't even know where we can go. Baryium out."

Rand stared at the blank screen for a while and repeated Lewis's words. "Oberon has fallen."

He shook his head and composed a reply to the jumpship.

---

Ellis was outside keeping guard when Rand finally came out of the communications room. "What's the news cap'?"

"They're sending us a dropship." replied Rand.

"That's great news! I can't wait to get off this rock."

"There is one problem."

"One problem?" Ellis repeated.

"I'll explain on the way, but we'll need all the firepower we can muster. Our work here is done, let's head back to the repair facility and regroup with the rest of our forces. Hopefully their mission is more successful than ours."

"They've been out for a while now." Kramer noted. "No word since they left."

"Radio silence hon," answered Jackson. "You don't want them telling the whole world that we're on it do ya?"

"Sure as hell don't think any of them would want you around." she replied.

Jackson ignored the last comment and looked over at the table where the pilots for this mission waited for their orders.

"So only Maverick's gone with the captain huh?" said Jackson as he scratched his head. "Do you guys not trust me or something?"

"I sure don't," Kraemer added, "So what's the plan, O fearless leader?"

Jackson switched hands and proceeds to scratch the other side of his scalp. "Well, pretty simple really. We go and check out the dropship, determine if there's anything we can salvage. Take everything we can, and split."

"And what if something goes wrong?"

"What if? What IF? Hon, you're tempting fate if you're wondering what if something will happen. Something will definitely happen!"

"And you'll be hiding behind a ridge shooting off your LRMs hoping that you hit something, that isn't a friendly?" remarked Kraemer.

"Look here now. I'm the one commanding this mission, and I'll be the one making the insults!" Jackson threw back angrilly.

Before either could respond, 2046-LM stepped in, "So, what are the mission parameters?"

"Oh yes, the mission. Well, the techies here have gratiously allowed us to borrow a number of their salvage vehicles. We'll need them if we plan on carting away the fusion engine from our downed dropship. We've got extra carrying capacity for any salvage we might come across, or any of our own 'mechs that get damaged." He paused to rap his knuckles against the table, grimacing slightly from striking too hard on the hard plastic, before continuing.

"We should be expecting quite a bit of company however. We've been here a couple of days now, and the enemy would've scoured the place already. Finding survivors is nigh impossible, but hopefully they've been too busy trying to take over the planet to be able to sift through the wreckage."

"We'll take it slow and easy. We don't want to stir up a hornet's nest when we get there. We'll split into two units. Kraemer will take point along with Ice Man and 2046-LM, while I'll head up the rear along with Laz and Rook."

"In the rear again.." muttered Kraemer.

"Did you say something?" Jackson asked.

"Nothing."

"Good, because we'll be moving out soon. Suit up and let's get this done."

"Someone left the home fires burning." Jackson commented to himself when he noticed the pillars of smoke in the distance. "Looks like we found the crash zone."

He flipped a switch to open the internal com channel and began to address the rest of the unit. "All units, it seems as if we've found the dropship. There aren't any cities or buildings in the area, so the only thing that could make that much smoke must be our quarry." Jackson began to enter in the coordinates into the navigational computer but paused for a moment as something crossed his mind. "Wait a minute.."

"And here we are without any marshmallows." interrupted Kraemer as she replied over the comm. "What stray thought decided to take residence in that void that you call a brain?" she asked Jackson.

"Something's wrong," he replied. "It's been a few days since we landed here. There's no way there should still be fires burning this badly from the crash. Not to mention the fact that you never make any jokes."

"Well, the stars must be aligned today because you never make any useful observations."

Jackson didn't immediately reply, although you can imagine him glaring at Kraemer's Marauder during the long silence.

"Definitely something wrong." continued Jackson. "Throttle up boys, it seems as if we might be going in hot!"

Jackson ascended a ridge near the crash to get a better view of the area. With his sensor's set to maximum magnification, he began surveying the site. It didn't take long to find out what was happening.

"Seems like we're a little late." he said as he stared at the smoldering piles that dotted the field. "There isn't much going on anymore." One lone 'mech was fighting against a handful of other 'mechs. The single 'mech was obviously of alien design, and although outnumbered, it was holding it's own against the other units.

Kraemer let out a low whistle. "Five on one. I wouldn't like those odds. This guy has guts."

Twin beams of man made lightning lanced out from the 'mech and struck a Zeus square in the chest. Armor bubbled and melted off, giving way to the internal structure and revealing the 'mech's reactor. The excess energy ripped through the engine shielding, exposing the fusion reaction for a brief moment before dissipating into the planet's atmosphere. The now lifeless husk of the Zeus toppled over in a smoldering heap. Leaving but four enemies standing in it's way.

"And a nice machine," continued Jackson. "Let's get down there and see what we can find out before it's all over."

He lead his Archer down the ridge, taking the battle out of view. Within minutes, your unit is at the clearing where the battle was taking place, but it was all over by that point. The lone enemy mech was now a charred pile of rubble with four survivors overlooking the scene. The heavilly damaged 'mechs still had most of their decals visible, and the insignia was recognized by all within your group.

"Ryan's Rebels" Jackson muttered under his breath. A part of him had wished that the alien had finished off these pirates.

"They look pretty beat up," noted Kraemer "But they're still assault 'mechs."

"We can take them," Jackson replied.

"This is probably not a good time to pick a fight."

"I'm not going to go and pick a fight."

"Sure you won't." Kraemer said sarcastically.

Jackson brought his Archer out onto the field before addressing the pirates. "This is Will Jackson of the 1st Oberon Guards. Our ship crash landed here and we will be retrieving some equipment from our dropship that we need for our unit. As you can see, this planet seems to be under the control of a strong military force and fighting amongst ourselves will not help us in our situation. I am willing to let you and your men have what's left of it once we're done with it. There is no need of conflict or bloodshed."

"Well, that's the first time I've ever seen you cordial Jackson," commented Kraemer over the internal comms. "I'm actually impressed."

A husky voice replied over the pirate's comm. "This is Arthur Dent. We found this hunk of junk and we fought long and hard to get a piece of this ship. As a show of good will, we'll let you and your cronies have what's left of it after we're done with it."

"Well, you see, that's a bit of a problem. We need something on that ship, and I don't think you guys will take care of it while you're tromping around in there"

"Well that's too bad isn't it? But as the saying goes, 'Finder's keepers'. Besides, we were here first."

"I'm sorry, but that's not acceptable. Besides, I don't think you guys are in any position to bargain. It looks like your unit was decimated when you tried to take the ship by force. Let me guess, you guys thought three on one odds were even? Or was it because they were medium mechs and you thought you could walk over them?"

"Jackson!" hissed Kraemer over the internal network. "You're going to egg them on too much."

"Relax!" he replied. "They may be heavy, but they're hurting. See that Victor over there? Missing a right arm won't make it very dangerous. And that Battlemaster probably shouldn't have turned his back on the enemy. They're hurting and we know it."

"Yeah, but back them into a corner and they'll fight, and we can afford too many battles in our situation!" Kraemer replied before signing off.

"So you don't think we can take on the likes of you?" Dent asked.

Before Jackson could reply, the Atlas unleashed a salvo of LRMs towards Jackson's Archer. "Oh crap.." was all he was able to get out as he tried to move his 'mech out of range of their weapons. The Stalker next to Dent unleashed it's own salvo of missiles, and they rained down on Jackson as he hastilly retreated.

"Jackson!" Kraemer shouted out.

"I'm fine!" he replied. "The missiles missed me, but they sure as heck woke me up." He looked up at the other pirate 'mechs and noticed that they were walking towards the group. He turned his Archer to face the approaching 'mechs and flipped the safety trigger.

"It seems as if a battle is inevitable." he commented, as he let loose with a barrage of LRMs.

Sweat ran down his face as Jackson watched the Atlas get back on it's feet. "This guy just ain't staying down!" he said over the comm as he continued to target the pirate. He fired his medium lasers again at the stumbling Atlas before it even had time to finish righting itself.

The enemy had time to respond by unleashing a salvo of missiles and lasers not only at Jackson's Archer, but also at Ice Man's Hatchetman, which was attempting to land on him.

The attack did little to halt the onslaught. A volley of lasers from Kraemer's damaged Marauder ravaged the enemy 'mech, causing it to stumble backwards and fall again. "And stay down!" she commanded.

But the massive Atlas struggled to rise back to it's feet again. Jackson's Archer followed Kraemer to kick and beat down on the fallen 'mech, while the remaining units closed in to join in the carnage.

Ice Man's Hatchetman crashed down on the prone 'mech, crushing armor and forcing the Atlas to slide through the forest. Unfortunately the stress was too much for Ice Man's 'mech as it's left leg collapsed during impact. The Hatchetman fell into the hex it landed in and lay there motionless for a while.

"This is a forgone conclusion Dent!", exclaimed Jackson "why don't you just give it up?"

The pirate's only response was to attempt to rise again, but the damage to the 'mech's structure was too great, and Dent was unable to prevent his unit from crashing back to the ground.

Like a pack of hungry wolves, all six Oberon units bore down on the helpless Atlas in an orgy of destruction.

Goaded on by 2046-LM's taunts and shouts, they continued to unload their weapons on the prone 'mech, with Dent eventually being knocked unconcious by the continued barrage.

The Atlas, however, was still functioning.

"OH COME ON!!" Lounge screamed, as they began to kick their immobile enemy. Kraemer's Marauder was finally able to crack open the 'mech's chest, exposing the reactor and destroying the fusion engine.

With a final coup de gras, Lounge crushed the Atlas's head with his Griffin's foot, making sure that Dent would bother then no more.

They stood around the remains for a moment before Jackson stated the obvious: "Man, there's nothing left!"

Rook sifted through the dropship debris, the powerful arms of the Panther moving aside tonnes of charred and twisted steel with little difficulty. With the last obstruction cleared, he could see his objective, the dropship medical bay. It looked structurally sound, so he popped the hatch on his 'mech and began to descend into the wreckage below.

Rook made a mental note to thank the technicians at the mech-it-lube. In addition to rebuilding his 'mech's right side, they had loaded new calibration data into his Panther's targeting subsystem. The decapitated Stalker on the battlefield stood as proof of its effectiveness. The Stalker was the first 'mech to be downed, and after that, the odds quickly mounted against the pirates.

Touching down inside the dropship, Rook began to examine the room for medical supplies that could be salvaged. Iceman had been hurt fairly seriously after engaging in physical combat with a Victor and then an Atlas. He had been fortunate, considering the four-to-one odds by weight. The Hatchetman was built for that sort of in-fighting, and had dispatched the Victor with one well-placed blow.

The Battlemaster was the third 'mech to fall, between Lazarus' long-range bombardment and 2046-LM's superior mobility. Things had almost gone awry for the clone soldier when the same gyro problem that caused his Phoenix Hawk to land in a lake earlier ended up disorienting the pilot so that the machine's back was turned to the 85-ton assault 'mech.

The Atlas had been a tough nut to crack, taking all the punishment that the reinforced Oberon lance could dish out, and then some more. In the end, there was nothing left of it that could be saved.

Kelly Butcher's long locks of red hair spilled down to her shoulders as she removed her neurohelmet. She threw the helmet at the ground, frustrated with herself, and cursed her luck. Her Battlemaster, despite it's damage, should've been able to take down at least one of the Oberon 'mechs. They were lighter than her and didn't have as much firepower or armor. However, she made one mistake that cost her her kill and ride.

She was lucky to be alive however. After being ejected from her exploding 'mech, she could easily have been crushed by 2046-LM's Pheonix Hawk when he walked his 'mech over to her position. Weaponless, she stood there ready to meet her doom when the unthinkable happened: He picked her up and carried her back to the dropship.

Still, it was her luck that got her into this mess. Her company had ambushed the 'mechs guarding the dropship crash zone and with more than double their number, should've taken them out easily. But the invaders fought back with such ferocity and tenacity that they obliterated two-thirds of her unit before being silenced. Their second mistake was to attack the Oberon Guards and now her entire unit was destroyed, her Battlemaster was reduced to an unsalvagable mess, and on top of that she was captured by some 'Mech jock who claims that he's a clone. "What a freak." she muttered to herself as she turned to look at him.

2046-LM was staring at her with a look of utter astonishment. "What are you looking at?" She barked as she began to unbuckle her cooling vest.

"A very beautiful woman," Jackson replied as he walked into the tent with Kraemer "Ain't too many of them in these parts." He added, making sure not to catch his companion's gaze.

Before Kraemer was able to retort, Butcher quickly started peppering Jackson with questions and demands.

"Who are you guys? What are you doing here? What are you going to do to me? Who are these invading 'mechs?"

Jackson raised his hands to fend off further questions. "Woah, woah.. now slow down here little lady. I don't recall being captured by the enemy, do you?" he asked the rest of the group, now augmented by Lounge and Svensson's entrance. Noticing that the newcomers were also staring at Butcher, he decided to continue. "Since you're OUR prisoner, I believe that we should be the ones asking the qeustions. Now who are YOU? What are YOU doing here, and what information do YOU have on these invaders?"

Butcher replied calmly, after crossing her arms over her chest, "And what if I don't answer?"

"Well, then. That would be unfortunate for you. I'm pretty sure my boys here can find ways to enjoy themselves." He motioned to the pilots, who were all a little transfixed on the prisoner. "But I know most of these answers already. What we would really like to know is the location of your dropship. As you can see, our ride's a little busted up, and it would be very kind of you if you guys could give us a lift."

Kelly laughed outloud and spat back, "Then what? You guys 'borrow' our dropship indefinitely? And what would you do with me once you get your hands on the ship? I may be pirate, but I'm not stupid. Everybody's the same out in these parts, but I ain't selling out my dropship."

"I you haven't noticed yet little girl, we're facing something much bigger than our little petty differences. If we don't get a ride off this rock, then we're dead. If you don't get guards for your dropship (since I'm assuming that we aced all your 'mechs), then they're just as good as dead too. You have very little choice in the matter."

"So we come back to my original question: What if I don't answer?" she asked again, keeping her back against one of the tent walls.

Before Jackson could reply, Ice Man stumbled into the tent looking clearly exausted and wet with prespiration. "Is it always tradition to give the rookies all of the manual labour?" he demanded from Jackson as he caught his breath.

"Well, I didn't tell you to take laps around the battlezone, where were you running from?"

Ice Man waved away the question as he took another breath. "There was a message. One of the pirate 'mechs still had a working cockpit and was still receiving transmissions."

This caught everyone's attention as they all turned to look at the recruit.

"Apparently their dropship is under attack and they're asking for assistance."

Kelly's face went pale at the news and she slowly collapsed to the ground.

Jackson took no notice as he began heading towards the entrance. "I take it that they also sent coordinates?"

"Yes."

"How far is it?"

"Not far, a few clicks away. I'm surprised that we didn't see it when we were scoping out the area."

"We hid in a deep valley." Butcher mumbled softly "It's hard to spot, which is why we chose that area. Unfortunately, it's difficult to defend."

"And now she speaks!" Jackson declared. "Unfortunately our manpower is also a little on the low side. Kraemer's Marauder is in no condition to fight, and Ice Man's Hatchetman is out of commision. I'm needed here and we'll need at least one 'mech for defence, so that leaves Lounge, 2046-LM, and Svensson."

Jackson rubbed his chin before continuing.

"Ice Man, take one of the VTOLs with you. You can act as a spotter for the rest of the unit. Stay out of trouble and take the girl with you as well. She might actually come in handy if this battle. Now get out of here, we don't have any time to waste!"