MYSTERY MECHS
FROM BEYOND THE PERIPHERY INVADE!!! - Story at 11.
The sensationalism
surrounding the invasion of Poulsbo is partly attributable to the lax standards
of Poulsbo's media. Combining those lax media standards with Poulsbo's famed
violent seas and fishing industry has led to the Lyran saying, "A Poulsbo
Fish Story," to describe a tale that sounds highly exaggerated. While
public accounts of the "invasion" are very muddled for this reason,
the Lyran Alliance does have a major base (Bangor) on Poulsbo used to stage
raids into the FWL, and the LAAF units stationed there provided a somewhat more
credible account of the "invasion."
In 3066, a jumpship
appeared at the L5 pirate point of Poulsbo and its hulking moon. Aerospace
fighters deployed on a Leopard-CV from Bangor attempted to intercept the
jumpship while planet-based fighters maneuvered to meet the triplet of
dropships released by jumpship. After waiting (apparently to monitor the
dropships' progress), the jumpship turned and fled the Leopard-CV. This led
Bangor aerospace commanders to [crap] bricks because, apparently, the jumpship
was warship, though why it wouldn't fight a single, small dropship is
uncertain. The Leopard never got close enough to the jumpship to identify its
model.
The triplet of dropships
outmaneuvered the heavier interceptors, though a company of Seydlitzes were
able to harrass one dropship before being driven off by very accurate, heavy
weapons fire and 6 Star League-model Ironsides fighters. The dropships bore a
superficial resemblance to Unions dropships, though they demonstrated higher
acceleration.
The mystery dropships
deployed approximately 24 mechs, though the advanced drop cocoons used muddled
the picture considerably with various decoys and ECM. Based on reports of
"3-meter robots" and "Elementals" linked to most cattle
mutilation reports during the invasion, it is likely some of the
"decoys" and "chaff" that attended the mech drop were
actually battle armors.
The Mystery Mechs
deployed by the dropships lead the Bangor garrison on a merry chase for the
next four days. The pursuit was complicated by "Clan Elemental" raids
on dairy farms and local libraries, surprise groundstrikes by the Ironsides
fighters in no discernable pattern, and suborbital hops by the Unions that
redeployed the Mystery Mechs randomly (sometimes in the middle of a hop,
sometimes after landing, sometimes both). The Bangor garrison eventually
accounted for the destruction of 16 Mystery Mechs, but none of the Elementals
were ever caught. The dropships left Poulsbo after four days, though the Bangor
garrison and Poulsbo Bureau of Investigation were busy chasing down rumors of
additional cattle mutilations and rectal probings of farmers for the next 3
months. (In the post-invasion 'incidents,' the method of cattle mutilation was
markedly different than during the invasion, often directly attributable to
local makes of chainsaws or LAAF models of grenades swallowed by the cows, and
in several cases easily linked to local teens. The rectal probings also show
none of the signs of the invaders but rather every sign of drunken
experimentation and bad excuses.)
The raiding Mystery
Mechs were of a single model of light mech, a very nimble little goober that
annoyed the Lyran mechwarriors (in their heavy and assault mechs) to no end.
The mechs have a superficial resemblance to Panthers. In fact, various internal
structure features suggest they are derivatives of the Star League-era PNT-8Z
Panther rather than the modern PNT-9R and its successors.
The "Mystery
Mechs" are nearly twice as fast as the Panther, though, using a powerful
245 XL of indeterminate make. No manufacturer's numbers or ID was found on the
XL (or any other part), just cryptic 2D barcodes. Additional Lexington Lifters
jump jets gave a 180 meter jump capacity. The primary weapon is an almost exact
copy of the Star League-era Newhart Extended Range PPC showing several
refinements to the cooling jacket, a revised coolant feed through the shoulder
that appears unlikely to jam, and (again) a lack of identifying marks other
than the barcodes. The secondary weapon is a Star League-model Harvester SRM 4
rack (replaced by the Combine during the Succession wars with a Telos SRM 4),
with CASE protecting the ammo. Armor was somewhat heavier, particularly on the
limbs. Unsurprisingly, the heat sinks were double strength.
Every time the
"Mystery Mechs" were "headcapped" or badly damaged, a mix
of potent explosives and incendiaries detonated throughout the cockpit. This
obliterated (without fail) just about every useful piece of cockpit electronics
that might have told the Bangor garrison something useful. The only components
recovered with some regularity were targeting and tracking systems and
communications, both of which were nearly identical to Star League-era
components used by the PNT-8Z. Complicating the mystery was the complete lack
of identifying marks on the mechs. They were camo painted but lacked not only
unit insignia, but all traces of alphanumeric characters throughout the mechs.
Later investigations showed a complete lack of fingerprints anywhere in the
mechs, even behind access panels, and no discernible amount of human DNA in
those areas.
More baffling were DNA
results from remains found in the cockpit - THEY WEREN'T HUMAN!!!
While the Poulsbo public
ran around in a panic whipped on by tabloids hungry for sales (Aliens Invade
with Star League Mechs!!!), investigators (who also read the tabloids) acted on
a hunch about the cattle mutilations. The remains in the cockpits were, in fact,
entirely cow flesh based on DNA scans. In fact, several sets of remains were
matched to mutilated cows. Why anyone would stuff chunks of beef in a Star
League-era "Mechwarrior Combat Suit" and put it in the cockpit of a
mech was baffling, unless they were trying to convince investigators without
DNA scanning technology that the mechwarriors had been destroyed in the
suicidal cockpit explosion. With aliens filling the headlines and making great
sales, the big question that really baffled investigators never reached public
eye: If there was beef in the cockpit, where the heck were the mechwarriors? No
ejections had been observed on Battle ROMs before, during, or after cockpit
explosions.
The combat performance
of the Mystery Mechs was tempered by an on-again, off-again tactical ability.
The mechs were decently piloted, sometimes quite accurate, always fearless, but
also prone to making stupid mistakes that (most) green mechwarriors would not.
They would charge into close range of assault mechs at unpredictable moments,
retreat when they were winning in one battle then fight on fearlessly against
heavy odds the next, and some would cleverly use their superior manueverability
while others would stand still to shoot. The consensus was that the Mystery
Mechs' mechwarriors were green with excellent training and prone to beginner's
mistakes in their first real battles. There is also speculation of the use of
mind-altering substances by the Mystery Mechs' mechwarriors, given the
precedence seen in some Clans.
Aside from collateral
battle damage (in mostly isolated areas), some (usually repairable) wrecked
mechs, about 3 dozen mutilated cattle, and light furniture and doorway damage
in libraries, the "Invasion of Poulsbo" did no damage to Poulsbo.
Bangor was not directly targeted, the invaders never made a concerted attack on
the garrison forces except (the suspicion now is) to distract or screen the
garrison from cattle mutilation and library "invasion" actions by the
battle armor units. In fact, the Bangor commander reckons Poulsbo came out
ahead as 9 of the Mystery Mechs were salvageable when their cockpits were
replaced.
|
Code: |
|
|