Peregrine

[Scooterman]

Love the Ying/Yang on the rotor head.......

B)  

[cthulhu77]

Planet Yuggoth, Inner Sphere Domains


Zueratis III Outpost, 1340 hours, December 25, 3052


The Jade Falcon warriors were stomping around outside the hut, he could hear the short and severe language being flung about, directed mostly at his fellow pilots. Those who fought in the 'mechs seemed to think themselves as better than the men and women that served as support units.
"Elite, my arse", Ian thought to himself. He knew how the battles were planned, and how much a part of them his new strike force would count in the future strategies. He was no freebirth moron, doomed to wipe grease off of mech struts and serve as a weapons loader, or even worse, as a repair bay technician...he was a pilot of the newest and meanest flying weapon in the Falcon arsenal, and one of the few that could look at a Daishi onscreen and just chuckle.
"I'd like to see a Timberwolf clanner say that", he muttered under his breath. The genetically bread mechwarriors gave him the creeps most of the time, though they had the same sense of battle lust that he did too, and in their cups, could be quite fun to bander stories about. The violent raids on T'Kuyhleh, the upset of the Draconis Combine, the horrible failure to take Terra fast enough...he had cut his teeth on the knee of his birth-father listening to these tales.
On the wall hung a digital map of the battlefield, where red crosses marked the fallen, and the green lines told of the fight to come tomorrow.

His line was in neon blue, a fencing thrust straight into the heart of the Terrans.

He would not fail.


The engines were warming up, Ian could here the soft thrumming  through the thin walls of his hotshack.  He sat up, and in a lotus position, began reciting the names of his clan father's, from initial conception to completion of his line, residing in him solely now...his other broden killed in the reprisal and reconciliation wars with Clan Wolf.  
  The boot soles knocked mud up against his siding, from the genetically perfect Elemental Warriors, running towards their suits...they were to be the bait for the revenge that burned in Ian's heart.
  To kill Mechs. That is what he lived for...ate, slept, and breathed.

 1355 hours:
  Sitting in the cockpit, Ian breathed through his wide nostrils, and concentrated on the viewscreen displayed on the windshield ahead.  
  Static. "We have heavy mechs down at Navpoint Gamma, repeat, at least two full lances of heavy and assault mechs are down and taking up position!"  The radio voice was muted, but he could hear the panic.
  Ian snorted, "More mechs, more dead terrans, so what."
The intercom crackled again, "Flight One, Flight Two, Flight Three, Flight Four, Flight Five, Flight Six, Flight Seven, Flight Nine...cleared for takeoff."

  48 modified Peregrine attack rotowings lifted off in unison...Flight Eight hung back in case a sneak attack by enemy units, or if one flight had mechanical failure.
  " Or freebirth failure..." thought Ian...some of his co-pilots were not of clan warrior descent, and he did not trust them, or talk to them, " Vermin."

   Freed of the heavy ground skid, the Peregrine lifted off into the auburn sky, the heavy Headhunter missile weighing it down, but manageable nonetheless.  He pushed on the collective and the nose went down, increasing air speed over the massive rotors turning above...then, flicking a thumb switch,  the jets came on, the blades stopped whirling, and locked into a fixed  right angle...the jets powered up even more, and the "wings" carried him higher and higher, and faster...towards the target.

[cthulhu77]

[cthulhu77]

The yells came faster, and louder, over his positronic helmet phones...."bandits at three, shi...no four o'clock...hitting us from both sides...they must have guidance!"

  "Madcat spotted on the treeline...looks like a command vehicle...no, wait...there's a ..."   the comlink  sputtered and died off.

   Ian watched as the blips of friends and foe disappeared from the HUD...they were being jammed by something strong, something really strong.  Could the Terrans have found a way to block their imaging?  No way...they were freebirths all, not capable of such advancement.
  The rotorblade slung low over the hillside, meters above rocks and shrubs, blazing along at over 200 kph.

   In the distance, he saw it...there were two inner sphere mechs, midweight, guarding it...sure enough, it was a Clan Cyclops...it must have been captured by the Terrans from the weaklings of Wolf.  Ian snorted.

  The other Peregrines targeted their missiles at the guarding star, blazes of fire lit the sky as they launched, and turned back towards the base...

  Ian hovered for a minute, making sure that the missiles hit the enemy...when the first of the Orion's went up in a blaze, he placed his sight over the Terran  Omnimech...there were two sharp beeps, letting him know that the huge HeadHunter missile under his belly was tracking the target...with a quick zoom, he refined the Cyclops's head...that was where the danger was...that damned  spinning dome.

  Three more beeps, and Ian  jammed down the launch button...the Peregrine rocketed skyward, free'd  of it's deadly cargo, and he had to hold down the collective tightly to keep the craft stable, wanting to visually track the target.

   A massive explosion rocked the Omnimech, followed by more and more bursts of energy from the supporting LightHorse Assault Team...with their jammer gone , their heavy mechs obliterated....the Terrans stood no chance of winning this conflict.
 
    Ian was pleased, and scarred his arm for another kill mark. The only good Terran was a dead Terran.  

[Brian da Basher]

Wow Greg what a beuaty and a killer backstory to boot! I'm in awe of your talent!

Brian da Basher

[anthonyp]

By the Great Father!  Though it be a second line Crusader helicopter, it is still a powerful and deadly weapon that would strike fear into all enemies!

They may be lesser warriors, helicopter pilots are still warriors, True-born or Freebirth.

Well done, Crusader!  Well done!

By the way, the Warden cause is the one true path to Kerensky's enlightenment.  Join the Warden Way!

(Holy, wow... I haven't channeled Battletech like that in YEARS!    )

 

EDIT:  Greg, you ever thought about posting that at Starshipmodeler.com?  They'd get a huge kick out of it.

[cthulhu77]

By the Great Father!  Though it be a second line Crusader helicopter, it is still a powerful and deadly weapon that would strike fear into all enemies!

They may be lesser warriors, helicopter pilots are still warriors, True-born or Freebirth.

Well done, Crusader!  Well done!

By the way, the Warden cause is the one true path to Kerensky's enlightenment.  Join the Warden Way!

(Holy, wow... I haven't channeled Battletech like that in YEARS!    )

 

EDIT:  Greg, you ever thought about posting that at Starshipmodeler.com?  They'd get a huge kick out of it.

Thanks !  Over at SM, I have usually caught too much attitude, and don't go there much.

[anthonyp]

Yeah, they can be, um, elitist (at best) at times (hell, most times the posters AND the mods bug the crap outta me with their attitudes), but there's enough Battletech and Mechwarrior fans there that'd appreciate what you built.