Starring: Barone Umberto Pepperoni (Graham)

Judas Storm (Phil M)

Sven Knobbly Krow (Rod)

Zeus Voyager Bond (PJ)

Ferdinand of Altringham (Kell)

Co-Starring: Turkey Creek Jack Johnson (Sukh)

Jacques Scarfe (Phil J)

Jennifer Penelope Jones (Rich)

It has been hard times for The Black Crows over the past four years. The ‘good’ contracts have been few and far between so the Units funds have been dwindling. When we last had dealings with The Black Crows things were looking good, over 18 Million C-Bills in the bank. But now they can barely put together Half a Million. They’ll take almost any job so long as the pay is good and full salvage rights are available.

The Narhals Raiders Special Recon Unit (The Black Omos - Drexel Warsaw, Yomat, …) have been fighting a losing battle against disbanding for the past 4 months during the Assault on Acamar as part of Operation Stiletto. Most of the group have joined the ranks of the dispossessed, and are desperate to get off the planet.

Duke Francis of Altringham has been contacted by his son Ferdinand to request being picked up. As a result, the Duke asked his cousin Barone Umberto to locate him and look after him. As luck would have it, the Baron’s unit (The Black Crows) is currently heading for Acamar on a one-month contract to assist in the final push of Operation Stiletto. Along with the fighting they take part in, the have agreed to take this opportunity to add another member to the unit and bring their total back up to Eight Mechwarriors.

The Krows Nest lands at the Military Starport near Huss (on Acamar) and are met by Commander Ishiori Takagi (Narhals Raiders). You are led to the main building complex for a briefing with Major Geraldine Tolly (Narhals Raiders strategic Liaison Officer). In the briefing room waits Ferdinand. Pleasantries are exchanged between Umberto and Ferdinand…….

‘Hello Uncle, good to see daddy came through’

‘Shut up Ferdinand. I’ll deal with you later!’ snapped the Baron.

With that, the briefing continued.

The Major says ‘ Your task is to move through a narrow mountain pass and attack the last rebel stronghold. There will be similar attacks by other units up through two other mountain passes. The aim is to meet at the stronghold simultaneously and overwhelm the defenders.’

‘What can you tell us about the Pass?’ inquired a thoughtful Storm.

‘We have guard units stationed at the pass entrance to stop them from escaping. Also our recon units have determined that mines have been placed at various places throughout the pass. The defending forces in the pass are expected to be light, with the bulk of the forces being held back near the fortress.’ Replied the Major.

‘Excellent’ said Umberto ‘When do we leave?’

‘Tomorrow, 0600. Assemble in the Mech yard where you will be shown to a waiting dropship. It will take you a landing zone near the pass entrance.’ With that, Major Tolly leaves the room.

Barone Umberto Pepperoni orders the group to thoroughly check all the systems on their Mechs to ensure that no malfunctions will occur during the battle.

Some personal equipment is purchased that evening but otherwise the night passes without incident.

The group assemble at 0600 and are loaded aboard the Dropship Schweinfurt. All Mechs are strapped in and the dropship blasts off for the one-hour flight the mountain pass. Final checks are carried out on the Mechs and then everybody waits.

The Schweinfurt lands heavily but no one suffers any damage. The Mechs are started up for departure:

Dervish (Zeus Voyager Bond) - Okay

Atlas (Sven Knobbly Krow) - Okay

Wraith (Barone Umberto) - Okay

Hatamoto Chi (Judas Storm) - Okay

Quickdraw (Ferdinand) - Okay

Mad Cat (Jennifer) - Fail

Thor (Turkey Creek Jack Johnson) - Fail

Berserker (Jacques Scarfe) - Fail

Screams of rage and anger can be heard from the Mad Cat as Jennifer frantically tries to restart the Mech. But no avail. The techs looked at the system computer and found that a disabling virus has been activated. They reckon it will take several hours to clear the system. The same is true for the other Mechs affected.

Umberto decides to leave the infected Mechs behind and continue on the mission with the remaining five Mechs. While they are away, work will continue to get the infection neutralised.

So the group moves cautiously through the low-lying ground leading to the mountain pass. A Hunter Light Tank and two Warrior VTOL’s were picked up on the sensors but well out of firing range. Umberto moves forward, scanning with his Beagle Probe and locates a Goblin Medium Tank. At this point the VTOL’s move in on Umberto (Wraith), fire and miss. The group advanced forward, checking for mines as they went. Umberto fired on one of the Warriors and sliced its nose off, which then went spinning into the ground in a fiery heap.

Krow (Atlas) and Storm (Hatamoto) fired at the Goblin and heavily damaged it. The remaining VTOL’s hit Umberto but only did minor damage. Bond (Dervish) and Ferdinand (Quickdraw) advanced and took out the Goblin. Umberto had moved across and now located a Manticore hidden in the woods. Storm fired at the remaining VTOL and destroyed the nose with a PPC strike. The VTOL crashed to the ground.

The Manticore fired at Bond and hit with a PPC. The Hunter Light tank remained out of range but didn’t move.

The group pressed forward. Scanning for mines on the way. Storm had a glitch on his sensors and they now seem to be a bit fuzzy round the edges.

Bond & Storm advanced through the centre to attack the Hunter. Umberto scouted the left. That left Krow and Ferdinand to take out the Manticore, which they duly did.

Bond & Storm hit the Hunter, but there was a rude surprise for Storm. A Hetzer Assault Gun, hiding in the woods, made an unexpected appearance close to Storms Mech. The AC20 fired and hit….almost. At the last second Storm managed to dodge the slugs heading straight for his Mech (Edge used to force a re-roll, which ended up being a miss). That was the only chance the Hetzer had as it was unceremoniously set upon by the group.

The Manticore was also destroyed by this time and the Hunter was making a dash for freedom.

Only one set of mines was found, by Storm, who suffered minor damage to his Mechs left leg.

The signs of the heavy snow were becoming more evident as they reached the mountain pass. It was still quite wide at this point, but by no means easy to cross. Continuing the cautious approach, the group soon detected a lone Hussar Light Mech on one of the mountain ridges. A couple of well-aimed shots at the Hussar quickly destroyed the Torso armour, soon followed by the telltale sound of an ammo explosion.

Umberto’s Beagle Probe located a Jenner hiding in a cave in the side of one of the mountains. Storm found another Mech hiding place, but not before it fired at him. The Vindicator opened up with everything at close range, and hit with everything. Unfortunately, Krow and his Atlas were close by. Both the Atlas & Hatamoto fired into the cave at point blank range causing moderate damage to the Vindicator. A brief but savage exchange of fire ensued, which resulted in the Vindicator being totally destroyed and the Hatamoto taking moderate damage. A shot narrowly missed finding a hole in the Centre Torso armour (another load of Edge used).

By now Umberto, Ferdinand and Bond were moving up the mountain pass.

Another Mech opened up from a cave hiding position, a Flashman. It fired at the Atlas, but only hit with one Large Laser. The group began to converge on the Flashman. Bond fired his LRM-10’s only to find them shot out of the sky by the AMS. However, the poor fortune didn’t last long. The Flashman was hit repeatedly and was eventually destroyed.

The mountain pass was starting to get very narrow and the snow was very deep (two to three metres deep) causing movement to become slow.

The way ahead looked clear on the scanners until Umberto’s Beagle Probe located a Phoenix Hawk hiding in yet another cave. Knowing it had been found, the Phoenix Hawk tried to escape. The attempt was useless and all that happened was it took on Bond & Ferdinand causing minor damage to both, but had its leg blown out from under it in the process.

A Javelin and Guillotine were also found hiding in caves.

The Javelin tried to make a break for freedom. It fired at Bond’s Dervish and then jumped over a high ridge. However, as it took to the air Krow got a target lock and fired with his Gauss Rifle and LRM-20. Both hit with disastrous consequences. The Left Torso was shattered and the Mech went spinning out of control into the mountainside.

With only the Guillotine left, it was just a matter of time before the pilot would surrender. At least that is what Krow kept saying over the Comms channel:

‘Your fellow Mechs have been destroyed, you’re completely surrounded. Give yourself up.’

Reply: …….. Static.

About a minute went by before someone decided to move in front of the cave and ‘take a look’. Storm was the one to go in. His sensors still playing up, Storm determined the Mech was still active and rather than wait to be blasted, shot first. Both PPC’s and SRM-6 Streak launchers hit. One of the missiles hit the Centre Torso and found a small hole in the armour. Seconds later there was an earth shattering explosion, and a massive cloud of fire and rock flew out of the cave. Although Judas Storm did his best to get out of the way, it was inevitable that some damage would be sustained. The Hatamoto was rocked by the blast but stayed on its feet.

As the dust settled, it could be seen that a massive crevice now appeared where the Cave was. There was now sign of the Guillotine, other than a few plates of metal scattered about.

The group gathered themselves for the final push through the pass. No more surprises were found apart from the mines that Bond stumbled across. His Dervish took minor damage to its Right Leg.

Oh, there was one more surprise in store, but this was to come from within the group…….

Ferdinand was feeling pleased that his Mech had survived so decided to down a double brandy from his flask. However, earlier in the day He had taken a drug replacement pill (supplied by Umberto) to help him cope with his addiction. The two do not mix well. After a couple of minutes Ferdinand started to feel extremely happy and carefree. He began jumping off ahead of the group. Suddenly he read an unknown sensor echo on his scanners, from behind. Not wanting to turn and face the enemy, Ferdinand simultaneously fired the Quickdraw’s two rear firing Medium Lasers and calmly spoke on the comms ‘Enemy to the rear’.

Almost instantly Bond saw two bright flashes of light from the rear of the Quickdraw and then two laser beams narrowly missed him.

‘Shit, what are you doing?!’

‘Enemy to the rear, open fire’ Ferdinand stated.

Krow decided to lock his Gauss Rifle onto the Quickdraw, ready to fire if the need arose. Umberto was furious:

‘Hold your Fire immediately and stop your Mech!!’

‘But, But … Oh, it must have been a sensor glitch’ Replied Ferdinand, but he was not slowing down.

Umberto raced after him, using the Wraith’s speed to catch up with Quickdraw.

‘Stop this instant!!’

Eventually Ferdinand stopped his Mech.

‘What the Hell do you think you are doing? Power down and get out of your Mech, NOW!!’ blasted Umberto.

Ferdinand replied rather sheepishly ‘Urh, Okay Sir’.

Once on the ground Umberto could immediately pinpoint the problem. Ferdinand had been drinking as the distinct smell of brandy was noticeable on his breath.

‘Give me the bottle. If I ever catch you drinking on duty again you’ll be sent back home. In little pieces. Clear!’ Umberto was furious with Ferdinand.

At this point Krow picked up an emergency transmission from the Dropship Schweinfurt:

‘Dropship Schweinfurt to the Black Crows, to anybody, we need assistance. We are under attack by Rebels. Have been boarded’

‘What! Who’s attacked? How many are there?’ Krow replied.

‘About a dozen vehicles of various types. Seems like they had someone on the inside. Never saw them on the scanners. Get back here quickly, we need help!’ Frantic pleas from the Dropship Communications Officer.

Everyone is informed.

‘Shit, lets get moving’ Umberto says. He contacts HQ and they inform him that the other two attack lanes have got through and can take on the fortress. You are clear to go after the rebels.

The group tries to get back to the dropship, but after 10 minutes (half way) the Schweinfurt calls them to say that the rebels have left with supplies and hostages including … Jacques Scarfe, Jennifer Penelope Jones and Turkey Creek Jack Johnson.

The rebels have headed into the mountains through a pass only suitable for tracked vehicles. HQ sends out a Badger D Tracked transport for the group to use. They follow the rebels all the way through the mountains. Eventually they arrive at a river that runs underground very close to the Fortress.

The cavern is too small for the vehicle so they go on foot. After a while the roof lowers and reaches the river. The only option is to swim underwater. Good job you all have respirators. What’s that, no respirator Ferdinand? They all practice there synchronised swimming, some better than others. All of them get through without panicking.

They appear in an underground cavern with one tunnel leading away. A laser trip line was detected by Bond and then Krow spotted a Radar Sensor further down the tunnel. Umberto goes over to disable the trip line and then realises that they could all just step over it (Doh!). He disables it anyway.

A discussion ensued as to the best way of disabling the Radar sensor. It was finally agreed that Storm would sneak down the tunnel in his Electronic sneak suit and disable it. As they reached this conclusion Bond drew his Laser Pistol and fired. The Sensor was hit and destroyed.

‘Can we move on now?’ He said sarcastically.

The tunnel went round a bend and as Krow and Umberto turned the corner a hail of bullets engulfed them. Umberto wasn’t hit but Krow was winded slightly. They had spotted an LMG mounted above the door. A discussion ensued concluding with Storm loading his missile launcher. Everybody dove for cover (round the bend). The missile arced its way down the corridor and slammed into the door. The LMG was destroyed and a large hole appeared in the door.

‘They definitely know we’re here now!’ someone was heard to shout.

Moving swiftly, the group enters a room with benches, lockers and cubicles. Cameras are spotted over the door and the other exit. These are swiftly dealt with. Umberto gets to work on the door lock while the others search the room. They find Parkas, snow shoes, diving gear and respirators. Ferdinand takes a respirator for himself and Umberto.

Umberto fiddles with the door lock, getting to open eventually.

‘Right, I’ll open the door you two fire at anything that moves’ says Umberto to Krow and Ferdinand.

The door opens, a hint of movement is seen and all hell lets loose. Well, almost. Krow fires at a guard crouching behind a desk and nearly severs his hand off. Return fire is taken but no one is hit.

Umberto decides to fire a flash grenade into the room and closes the door. After 5 seconds the group rush in. One guard is bleeding to death and the other is unconscious. This room contains two computer terminals, a narrow corridor with two doors and another door near the groups’ entry point.

‘Who knows anything about computers?’

‘I do’ says Storm and Ferdinand.

‘Right, get to work on these terminals. Show me a layout of this fortress. And get access to the camera system.’

‘Yes Boss’

Ferdinand and Storm get to work. Storm gains access to the terminal with a bit of trouble whilst Ferdinand makes it look easy. He gains access to the cameras and then finds a map of the fortress. Meanwhile, Storms’ terminal has shutdown and won’t let him back in.

One of the cameras shows guards on the floor above setting up a Heavy Machine Gun. The arc of fire covers the stairs from the level the group are on. They have also determined that the hostages are being held in the Dungeon, below them.

‘How about we fire a missile up the stairs and into the room where the Big gun is?’

‘Great, but don’t fuck it up’

So Storm loads an Inferno round into the launcher and moves to the stairwell. He fires and there is a loud whoosh indicates the missile has fired okay. The others, watching on the camera, see the missile hit the ceiling and explode. Flame and shrapnel covers the entire room. Screams are easily heard from the stairwell and the room quickly fills with smoke.

‘That will keep them busy for a while’ says Ferdinand.

‘Okay, Ferdinand and Zeus stay here and keep an eye on the monitors, the rest of you follow me’ orders Umberto as he heads down the stairs to the cells.

They emerge in an access room with two doors. The door to the left is opened and they enter an interrogation room but no one is here.

The other is locked and Umberto gets to work, slowly. After a few attempts the door opens. Krow can see two guards and opens fire at the nearest hitting him in the arm. They return fire and miss.

Storm and Krow move to better positions to fire and a small firefight ensues. Umberto, Krow and Storm take on the three guards for a while. One drops quickly, then another appears through the door on the far side of the room. Krow gets hit and is just winded, he hits one of the guards in the leg but the guard remains standing.

More shots are exchanged, another guard goes down, but not the one Krow was shooting at. He keeps getting hit but refuses to die.

‘Enough of this, take cover’ Umberto says, fires a few grenades into the room and closes the door. Muffled explosions are heard and then silence.

They open the door to find the guards either dead or unconscious.

The door to the cells is hanging on its hinges.

Shouts of ‘Keep the noise down, I’m trying to sleep’ and ‘Smoking that much will kill you one day’ emanate from the cells.

The group find all the hostages and manage to release them without too much difficulty. All are agreed that it is time to leave.

The group manages to get back to the river without further incident and all get back to the Badger Transport.

Shortly after returning to the dropship the group are informed that the rebel forces outside the fortress have been destroyed and the fortress captured.

The Black Crows met the Narhals Raiders Liaison Officer Major Geraldine Tolly. They were thanked for helping out during the final phase of Operation Stiletto. You are given the contract completion payment and allowed to depart for your next mission (whatever that may be).

The group has a discussion about what equipment is needed to repair the Mechs. After a heated debate it was determined that Six tons of Inner Sphere Ferro Fibrous Armour, Three tons of Clan Ferro Fibrous Armour and One ton of Gauss Rifle Ammunition is required. Now where to buy it from.

Umberto checks the Operation Quartermaster in Huss and is given a price of 420,000 C-Bills. A Quick check with the suppliers on Outreach showed that the equipment could be bought for only 360,000 C-Bills.

"Shit, we’ll be screwed if we buy this. Is there anything we can sell?" stated Umberto.

"Urh, we have some ER PPC’s that are just taking up space" Krow responded.

"How many have we got?"

"Six"

"How many do we need?"

"Let me see, ……… One for the Berserker"

"Right we’ll sell five and keep one spare"

So Umberto checks on the re-sale value of Five ER PPC’s. The Huss Quartermaster will pay 600,000 C-Bills for them whilst on Outreach they can be sold for 700,000 C-Bills.

Whilst the final preparations were ongoing for departure Captain Tagaki contacts the group.

"A friend of mine wishes to book passage off Acamar and to be taken to Capolla. Would you be so kind to help out? He is willing to pay for the inconvenience"

"Well, I don’t know. We’re heading for Outreach, so it means a detour and a delay in getting to there. What’s the guys name?"

"Kort Kasyga. He’s no trouble, I can vouch for him. Helped me out of few holes in the past."

"Oh, okay. Tell him to be at the dropship by 1600 Hours."

"Thanks. He has some belongings to ship as well, but as I said He’ll pay for transport."

Kort Kasyga arrives at the dropship at 1530 Hours together with Six crates. The crates are marked as Machinery Parts, property of Terra Firma Machine Company.

"Kort Kasyga, Terra Firma Salesman. Thanks for giving me a ride"

"Barone Umberto Pepperoni, Commander of the Black Crows. This is Sven Knobbly Krow, Owner of the Dropship Krows Nest."

"Hi. Now, about payment. How does 25,000 sound?"

"Urh, fine. Lets get your cargo on board and get underway"

The gear is stowed and the Dropship blasts off into orbit. En-route to the Jumpship Krow and a few others are curious about the contents of the crates. Krow, Ferdinand, Zeus and Umberto confront Kort, whilst Storm checks out the data on the Terra Firma Company.

"Hey Kort, what’s in the crates?"

"Exactly what is says, Machine parts"

"Yeah, right. Open up the crates"

"What! There’s nothing to see"

"Do it now!" Krow ordered, pointing a pistol at Kort.

"Well, okay"

Kort opens up one of the crates and shows them the machine parts. They include parts for medical equipment, industrial machines and the like. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Now the other crates!"

"If you insist, but this is pointless"

"I’ll tell you if it’s pointless. Just do it!" Umberto joins in now.

The other crates are the same. However, Umberto notices that Kort is very particular in how he moves the equipment around within each crate, never showing what is under the surface.

Umberto removes his Laser Pistol from its holster and pokes it into the small of Kort’s back.

"Now show us what else is in these crates"

"Urh, what, okay, if you insist"

What is revealed, initially, are twenty TK Assault Rifles in sealed bags. As time passes more equipment is revealed. Enough to supply a small army. The weapons list that were hidden reads:

Grand Mauler Gauss Cannon x3

Hellbore Assault Laser x2

Minolta 9000 Rifle System x10

Starfire ER Laser Rifle x6

Gunther MP-20 SMG x20

Combat Shotgun x3

TK Assault Rifle x20

Light TAG x2

Ablative Vest x10

Assault Rifle Ammo 200 Clips

MP-20 Ammo 200 Clips

Shotgun Ammo 60 Clips

Gauss Cannon Ammo 60 Clips

Minolta Ammo 100 Clips

Military Power Pack (HC) x9

Satchel Power Pack (HC) x4

Everybody is stunned by what has been found. With a few guns trained on Kort they argue about what to do with the weapons and Kort.

"I say we kill him and keep the weapons" – Krow

"How about we take some of the shipment and let him go with the rest?" – Ferdinand

"Even more radical, we let him go with all his gear.." – Umberto

"What!!!" – All

"..For a price!" – Umberto

"I still say we should kill him" – Krow

"You won’t want to do that, you may never live long enough to profit from it" – Kort

"Shut up!"

More ‘discussions’ ensued and by now Zeus was getting bored, so he left.

Threats and more threats were mentioned quite loudly about what to do with Kort.

"I can see that you are all reasonable men." Kort interrupted, "I would like to make you an offer. What would you say to me giving you an extra 50,000 to forget about me and my cargo."

"What’s to stop the customs men from picking us up when you go through the checkpoint?"

"I can smooth things over with customs so that they do not check the crates for illegal items and therefore you won’t get questioned. Do we have a deal?"

Murmur, murmur, grunt, huff.

"Okay, we’ll accept your offer"

The rest of the journey to Capolla is uneventful. Kort Kasyga and his cargo are dropped off at the Starport and the Krows Nest leaves for Outreach.

The Black Crows are back….