Drumindon was a town settled primarily by people of Irish and Cornish descent, hailing from St John in the former Principality of Rasalhague. It was a mining town with the population largely pulling Chalk, Limestone, and Phosphate Minerals out of the downs that made up the ridge of hills that gave the town its name. The phosphates would go to the chemical plant in Kallinlaella just a few miles to the northwest to be turned into Cordite and fertilizer at the plant there as was some of the chalk. Meanwhile, the majority of the chalk was mixed into builder's putty, quicklime, and bricks right there in town, providing a valuable export along with the limestone for the purposes of building structures. It was an honest living for the people of the town.
It wasn't as lucrative as any of the Fighter Plants at Dolinagrod or the Tank Production line at Ingerborg, but it competed with the small arms factory at Větevřeky for profitability and actually outcompeted the terrace farms at Ziegenstadt. Granted Ziegenstadt produced a lot of the staple foods of the region, so profitability for them wasn't the same as profitability for the folk of Drumindon. Of course, Redjack Ryan took a large chunk of those profits as taxes, much larger than the Poniatowskis had. To Allan Doyle, that had meant his chances of making money in his family's brickwork had been hampered severely. Instead, he'd chosen to join Ryan's Rebels, doing a two-year stint with the Fourth Ryan's Rebels before being cashiered and sent to the Militia of Drumindon. It had been a good life, three square meals a day, plus any plunder that he could capture in any fight.
As Allan Doyle, now a Lieutenant in the Militia of the Groaning Peaks Region watched as the Poniatowski mechs advanced on Drumindon from the west, he very much wished he'd stayed in Drumindon instead of taking up a career as a tank commander. He still would have been in the path of this assault, but he wouldn't have been a priority target. He'd seen what those things could do, Major Sweeney in his Wasp, the only Battlemech on the Militia's side had been utterly destroyed at the outset of the attack by a single shot from a Gauss Rifle wielded by a Red-Painted Highlander from well outside the effective range of Major Sweeney's weapons. He prayed to anyone who would listen that he wouldn't get hit.
As he pulled his Scorpion Light Tank to back behind the cover of a copse of trees, retreating away from the attack, Allan gave a short prayer to Jesus and the Virgin Mary that the enemy hadn't seen him. Thankfully, it seemed some higher power had been looking down on him, as another group consisting of a tracked LRM Carrier and a trio of LRM Variant Scimitars, advanced and opened up on the advancing enemy Mechs. The LRM Missiles fired weren't done so well, and most of them missed as the Poniatowski Mechs dodged, with only two scoring glancing hits that broke off armor plating but did little else. The Poniatowski Mechs were out of the effective range of the targeting and tracking systems they had, after all, forcing the crews to fire them with manual calculations, which would have been a lot easier had they been professionals and even then, still likely would have been ineffective.
Retaliation from the Poniatowski Mechs was swift, abrupt, and terrible. Allan couldn't even hear the slugs as they were fired, but they had been. He watched as weapons out of a history book on the battles of the Amaris Coup spat forth accelerated ferro-nickel slugs that utterly destroyed the lance of Combat vehicles that had dared to challenge them, turning multi-ton war machines into explosions of flame and twisted metal. As Allan watched the destruction, he couldn't help but notice that the Poniatowski Targeting and Tracking Systems seemed to have no problems accurately firing from outside effective range.
"Pull back around the downs, this isn't a fight we're gonna win." Ordered Allan.
"We're gonna sit this one out?" Questioned his Gunner, Sergeant Alexander O'Rourke.
"Did you see the way they took out that lance like it was nothing? I'd bet most of the militia who saw that are gonna sit this one out." Intoned Allan.
"Aye sir, but what about Claire, Darragh, and Maeve?" Queried O'Rourke. He was talking about the other four Scorpions in their lance of combat Vehicles. Sergeants Darragh Coogen, Claire Penrose, and Maeve Downey. All three of them, plus their gunners were still advancing on the enemy, autocannons barking out, not that they hit anything with the range so far away. Allan could see O'Rourke's point and immediately got on the radio to comm over to the rest of his lance.
"I'm pulling back, this is a suicide mission. Join me or don't, but I'm not staying on the field." Commed Allan.
"Don't you dare!" Came the voice of Captain John Teague over the comms.
The man had been a former member of the first Ryan's Rebels who'd taken a piece of shrapnel to the head that had rendered him unable to use a Neurohelmet. Redjack Ryan had cashiered him out and placed him as a Captain of a Combat Vehicle Company in the Groaning Peaks Militia, where he could keep an eye on production and report things back to the capital for tax purposes. He also had the Company's sole Heavy Combat Vehicle, an ancient Manticore Heavy Tank that he'd named Old Scratch. Most of the men despised Teague, since he was a deeply unpleasant person to be around, and his opposition was likely what cinched the other three Sergeants and their gunners deciding to agree with Allan and pull back behind the downs.
"Feck off, Teague!" Spat Maeve as she watched yet another pair of Combat Vehicles, this time a quartet of Scimitars, go up in flames.
"Yeah, we're not dying for some bastard what's brought this on himself!" Agreed Darragh.
"There will be dire consequences for you if you do this! Your families will be sold to the Dracs as Prison Labor, I'll see to it personally!" Snarled Teague.
"It's over John. This fight was over before it began." Retorted Claire.
As the three other Scorpions of Allan's Lance suddenly reversed course, withdrawing back around the ridge of the downs, Teague started to swear up a storm over the comms units, calling them traitors, mutineers, and a whole slew of worse things. Allan didn't care, nor did any of his other Lancemates. They pulled back around to sit out the rest of the fight. It didn't take more than an hour to wind down, the Groaning Peaks Militia wasn't inclined to fight too hard against people who wouldn't mistreat them like the Dracs or other Pirate bands would. The Poniatowskis were just reasserting their rights over Butte Hold at any rate.
He did take extreme, albeit somewhat selfish, delight at Captain Teague's assault on the advancing Mechs in his Manticore. Medium Laser, PPC Cannon, and SRM Launchers firing full out and failing to hit the large, but surprisingly nimble, assault mechs. He scored a brief hit on a Red-Painted Highlander with his medium laser that scorched the shoulder armor of the mech but left it utterly unharmed beyond the carbon scoring, after which the Red-Painted Highlander put a burst of rounds from an Ultra-Autocannon through the Manticore. Old Scratch brewed up in a gigantic fireball and that was that. Five minutes later, the militia was surrendering.
Allan and his lance mates were among them when they did. . .
XXXX
I'd taken out the Lone Mech early on, which had apparently been the commander of the Local Militia. Apparently, most of the officers here had done a stint in one of the Ryan's Rebels Regiments, though only one of the three Captains and the Major had been a part of the non-local Regiments for Hardcore Pirates, I'd apparently killed both over the course of the two-hour battle for Drumindon. Hence the quick surrender. I was a bit surprised that the locals had managed to find a Manticore somewhere and put it into service, but it hadn't been enough to do anything. Even having a tank designed to fight Battlemechs hadn't done much to stop our assault, it had only been one tank, after all.
I was getting reports from our other strike forces throughout the day. Colonel Lindqvist had taken Ingerborg and moved to assist Colonel Sapowski in taking Dolinagrod, meanwhile, Colonel Kelly had seized both Větevřeky and Ziegenstadt. Now it was time for us to take Kallinlaella. As I and Colonel Frankowski led the First Baronial Guards toward Kallinlaella, I checked in with Colonel El-Fadil and Colonel Inha who were waiting in ambush to hit the First Ryan's Rebels, along with Aerospace Forces from the Yonker Oasis as they traveled to counterattack us. Everything seemed in place and ready to go, the Mobile Long Tom Guntrucks had been repaired, or at least as many of them as we could put back into service, and our ambush remained undetected.
Focusing on the rest of my operation for the day, I saw that the Militia must have been alerted to our attacks, as it was later in the day. There were more mechs here, a trio of Clints, a Wasp, a Griffin, a Grasshopper, and two Riflemen in varying states of repair. I could see why, as Kallinlaella had a number of critically important factories making components for the production of various aircraft, combat vehicles, and other equipment. Chemicals, Armor Plating, and Focusing Lenses for lasers, it was a major manufacturing center for such a sparsely populated area. There was a lot of money here that needed safeguarding.
Unfortunately, a hodgepodge mix of two lances of Battlemechs wasn't going to be the defense on which my wave broke. I sighted down on one of the Riflemen and fired, the ferro-nickel slug of my Gauss Rifle penetrating the cockpit to kill the Mechwarrior inside in a brutal, if lucky, kill. With that, the fight began in earnest, as the Griffin let out salvos of LRM Fire that forced us to dodge behind cover. I ducked behind a hillside covered in trees as the LRM fire came down. It wasn't too accurate at this range, not like our shots would be, but it didn't need to be for saturation fire. All around us, dust and splinters were thrown up as the Griffin was joined by a quartet of LRM Carriers in trying to bombard our advancing Mech Forces into dust.
Fortunately, the Mechs weren't the only threat the Enemy had to contend with, and soon, two of their LRM Carriers were hit by PPC Fire from our LRM-Four Hovertanks as the Combat Vehicles engaged. As the fire slackened off, I hit my jump jets and fired a spray of Ultra-Autocannon Rounds at the Griffin as I soared over the blasted crest of the hilltop I'd been using as cover. The armor-piercing rounds I was using put a number of holes in the Griffin, with one hitting the Non-CASE Ammunition Storage for the LRM Launcher and causing an explosion. As I landed, I was attacked by one of the Enemy Riflemen, Standard Autocannon Rounds spanging off my Ferro-Fibrous armor and staggering my Mech as I landed.
One of the Clints took the opening to try and rush me with its Medium Laser, but I had one of those too, and was quicker on the draw than he was. My Laser Fire lanced into his right leg, slicing through the exposed actuators there and causing the Clint to topple over, the beam from his laser going harmlessly wide. I finished him with a short burst of Ultra-Autocannon Rounds while he was prone, but found myself backpedaling back behind the cover of the hill to avoid Autocannon fire from the two Riflemen that had moved to try and get me in a crossfire. I managed to stay just ahead of the rounds, ducking back behind cover with only superficial damage to my armor.
The Riflemen couldn't pursue thanks to Colonel Frankowski and the Rampages hitting them from the side, but the wasp did, and it caught a face full of Ultra-Autocannon Rounds to the head and torso for its trouble, brewing up in a large explosion that I just barely escaped from with my Jump Jets. Before we knew it, the Militia was surrendering, along with the remaining Clints, Riflemen, and Grasshopper. Apparently, the Mech Lances were part of a Mercenary Command called the Sons of the Bastards, an offshoot of the Bastards Battalion Mercenary Command that had served the Lyrans during the Second Succession War before getting thrown into the Third and thrashed during battles against the Dracs.
Their Commander, Black Jim Mulligan, had taken a company from the Bastards and two others from other Shattered Commands and put together a combined arms Battalion to take contracts in the Periphery, where they'd thought there wouldn't be any peer opponents to deal with. They'd contracted with Redjack Ryan, who'd sent them as an advanced force earlier in the day to stall the assault on the Groaning Peaks while he organized a counterattack.
"Most of the Battalion is in Dolingrod, stiffening the spines of the Militia there." Informed the ranking officer among the captured Mercenaries, Lieutenant Rebecca Irons, the Rifleman Pilot who'd hit me with her Autocannon in the fight.
"They're facing two regiments now. Who knows how many they'll be facing tomorrow? You might want to call your commander and tell him to surrender." I insisted.
"It won't work. Redjack Ryan and Agnar Haggerty are gonna be heading this way with two regiments of their own, plus Meriadoc's Malcontents. Ryan's been spending millions of C-bills to bring in Mercenaries. It's us, Meriadoc's Malcontents, Monk's Marauders, and the Insect Brigade. You're gonna be facing a tidal wave of metal for a counterattack." Refused Lieutenant Irons.
With a frown, I realized that we could be facing a unified response from the remaining Regiments of Ryan's Rebels, plus a Combined Arms Battalion from Meriadoc's Malcontents, a Combined Arms Regiment from Monk's Marauders, and a Combined Arms Square Brigade from the Insect Brigade. All told I'd be up against a little over seven regiments when the counterattack finally came in thanks to Redjack Ryan spending hoarded C-Bills that he'd gotten illicitly to hire mercenaries. The thought made my blood boil, but I couldn't indulge in my anger right now. I had to modify my plans on the fly.
"Call the Colonels, all of them. Tell them we need to concentrate our forces here, that includes Colonels Kadlec and Oivio. Have them have the fleet take over Logistics if they have to, but we need everyone to get here as soon as they can." I ordered.
"What about the ambush?" Asked Colonel Frankowski.
"Pull Colonels El-Fadil and Inha back to here, but have the Guntrucks and Aerospace Fighters still launch a reduced attack. The Object now is to soften them up before they reach us. In the meantime, we need to do whatever we can to fortify Kallinlaella." I commanded.
As it would turn out, we had five days to get ourselves in order. Apparently, Redjack Ryan was throwing everything he could at us in an attempt to break our invasion here. We planned, fortified, and concentrated our forces, waiting for the inevitable to happen. On day five, I received word that the Aerospace Fighters and Gun Trucks had launched their ambush. They'd done enough damage to force Meriadoc's Malcontents to withdraw, along with a regiment of the Insect Brigade, but had been driven off after an hour of skirmishing and raiding. We would still be facing a full Six Regiments of enemy troops.
They would arrive three hours later and the Second Battle of Kallinlaella would begin in earnest. . .
XXXX
AN: So yeah, turns out that a lifetime of piracy allows for a shitload of C-Bills to be stockpiled for a rainy day. Redjack Ryan spent that money on Mercenaries to bolster his forces. He did know war was coming, since he was the one who provoked it by sneaking a suitcase nuke into New Ålborg, along with giving unacceptable terms for peace. Of course, the fact that those C-Bills were spent on Mercenaries and not, say, the people of Butte Hold or any of his subordinates has engendered a certain amount of ire in certain people, which is why you got so many surrenders after a token battle so far. This coming battle isn't going to be a token one, though.
As to the Mercenary Commands themselves, only one of them, the Sons of the Bastards, is an original Mercenary Company, though it's an offshoot of a Canon Mercenary Company. The others are all cannon, with the Insect Brigade and Meriadoc's Malcontents being the main Lyran forces at Kandis during the Ronin War in canon. That means that if they get destroyed here, they won't be present at Kandis against the First Shin Legion, which may have implications for the Ronin War down the line. Monk's Marauders isn't nearly as interesting, only being referenced once in the book that explained away the inconsistencies between the Cartoon they made and the Tabletop. If it's destroyed here, nobody will care.
At any rate, the next chapter will be the Second Battle of Kallinlaella.
Stay tuned. . .