Battle Technology recently received a broken-up transmission. Internal evidence makes it certain that it comes from TekTeam, a mercenary repair and supply unit, and that they were subcontracted by the Federated Commonwealth to resupply Snord's Irregulars behind Jade Falcon lines. No clue to the location of the base is given. The initial portion of the transmission was scrambled past retrieving, so we begin the story as the unit finds itself in serious trouble. We had just entered the Black Nebula system, jumping into the coordinates given us by Rhonda Snord's liaison officer, when we found that we weren't alone. There was an unidentified Invader Class JumpShip also in the system, not as close to Camelot Command as we were. Had our supply run to 'Clan Snord' had been compromised? Were we in a trap? "Incoming JumpShip, identify yourself. This is Camelot Command. " "This is the TekTearn ship Lorelei's Hope, under contract to resupply you. What's going on here?" "We are under attack from a unit of the Jade Falcons. Expect company soon. They won't want to see those supplies reach us." Our cargo holds were full of badly needed supplies. We were already readying the heavily laden Mammoth class DropShip that was carried as our fourth attachment. Before we were hired, two small FedCom JumpShips had gone missing. Our first run had been turned back by the Jade Falcons; we had barely escaped. These supplies just had to make it through. Our fighters were already launching as the Clan batchall came in, the challenge to combat. Within a few minutes, a pair of large OmniFighters were detected approaching at high speed. We turned towards Camelot Command, limping along at our maximum speed, a small fraction of the acceleration of the approaching OmniFighters. Our escorting fighters fired salvo after salvo at the Clanners, but they just shrugged them off with their heavy armor, intent on taking our DropShip. When the two Kirghiz class Omnifighters neared the Lorelei's Hope, they turned and decelerated until they had nearly matched speeds with us. As they approached, we opened up with every weapon that we had. We had upgraded our on board weapons since our first encounter with the Jade Falcons. We hoped this would be a great shock to our attackers, indeed one of the Kirghiz was blown in half almost immediately. As our guns concentrated on the other OmniFighter, it delivered its payload. In stead of hearing the pounding of explosions, we heard a number of thumping sounds throughout the length of the hull. Gunnery reported success; the second Kirghiz was crippled, soaring away with its power out. But what had it left behind? We turned our attention to the hull-mounted video sensors. At least two dozen Elementals had attached themselves to our hull with magnetic grapples. These Elementals differed in appearance from any we had seen before. Now we knew how the other ships had been lost. The question now was how were going to keep from being captured ourselves. First, we launched all of our attached DropShips with the exception of the Confederate. We had to get the supplies through. The lance of BattleMechs from the Confederate strapped on magnetic hull shoes and sallied out to attack the Elementals on our ship's hull. Techs scrambled to analyze the Elementals' weapons configuration. Our drive section was too well shielded for entry; one group of Elementals had begun to move forward on the hull towards the command section. Another group had entered the Lorelei's Hope through holes in the cargo section made by demolition charges. To face them we had a couple of platoons of infantry, armed with light weapons. The rest of the crew remained in reserve in the forward sections of the hull. Tech analysis came in. The Elementals were armed with weapons for use against personnel such as machine guns and flamers. The Jade Falcons wanted to keep our K-F drive intact. So did we; it was our only means of getting home. The crew in the drive sections were sealed behind thick bulkheads. They were directed to stay there; we would keep this section out of battle as long as we could. Our own used of explosives against the Clanners was severely restricted. We began to set up barricades in the corridors while looking for a means of quickly neutralizing the Elementals. One of the corridors that the Elementals were using to advance ran next to the spare liquid helium storage tanks. One of the crew suggested sealing off a section of the corridor, then using the JumpShip's central security system to flood the corridor with liquid helium after the Elementals had entered. We set up the trap, racing against the advancing boarding force. Five of the Elementals entered our surprise corridor. The helium flooded down on them; they struggled to exit the corridor, but failed as one by one their systems froze up. Five down. That left about fifteen Elementals fighting against our BattleMechs on the hull, and another five identified inside the JumpShip. The only weapons on board that we could use effectively were a number of manpack PPCs stored in the ship's armory along with their associated waldoes. Their fields of fire had to be severely restricted to avoid damaging vital ships' systems. One was set on each of the two remaining avenues of approach to the bridge. The crew's quarters were to be the final stand against the invaders. The BattleMechs which destroyed the Elementals on the JumpShip's hull had received heavy damage, though not as heavy as if the Elementals had been armed with their normal SRMs. To make matters worse, there had been sighting of additional OmniFighters approaching at long range. These were smaller ships, but any Elementals they could land would finish us. "Camelot Command, this is the JumpShip Lorelei's Hope. Can you give us any aid?" "We've got our hands full ourselves. We'll send what we can, but it'll take some time to get to you. Your best bet is to use the system drive to get under our guns." JumpShips can't land, but we could dock at the base. Their huge Star League docking bay had enough fire power to deter those remaining OmniFighters while we off loaded our remaining cargo. Lorelei's Hope raced toward Camelot Command while the members of her crew and Elementals of Clan Jade Falcon died within her. The remaining Point of Elementals rushed into a hailstorm of gas and stun grenades, bullets, laser and PPC fire, all carefully angled toward internal walls. We were able to stop them, at the cost of a platoon of infantry and a dozen of the ship's crew. The other OmniFighters, Bashirs, were fended off by our escort fighters and the relief from Camelot Command until we arrived to their point where Snord's guns could give us cover. Once our supplies had been delivered, including tons of vital ammunition, the tide of battle changed. We joined with the superbly-trained Rhonda Snord's Irregulars to repel the remainder of the Jade Falcon raiding force. Our share of the salvage from the raid included five quick-frozen Elemental suits. We should be able to repair them to put in use against their former units. Our share of the cost includes the attention of the Jade Falcons. They have found reason to desire the destruction of Lorelei's Hope as well as the rest of our unit, TekTeam. Their bids will probably be larger at our next encounter. We will have to ready ourselves for whatever the Clanners plan to throw at us. Back to BattleTechnology 21 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com