We not only had out first engagement with the QLF today,
but it was also the first time that the newcomers had seen actual combat as a
lance. I’m going to say now that I was impressed, especially given the
circumstances they found themselves in and the aftermath.
As per our agreement with the Hamilton Planetary Guard,
we’d been running patrols around the perimeter of Kazan City, probing the regions
were QLF forces were known to prowl. It’s a ‘show of force’ kind of thing,
designed to impress the rebels with our ‘Mechs and discourage them from making
any moves. So far, it had seemed to work; we’d had fleeting contacts and the
like, but the QLF definitely didn’t want to pick a fight.
However, we were also following up leads, just in the
off-chance that something turned up. As much as the Planetary Guard wanted us
to stand around and look good, I could tell that Roxana really wanted a solid victory.
Well, I think we delivered one. And as I go over both the
report and the BattleROMs, it makes for a rather interesting picture.
A PG scout reported a Karnov VTOL passing by, so the Assault
lance (Nearest unit is the slowest, of course) were sent to investigate. What
they found was surprising; the Karnov had put down in the ruins of an old
village, and was surrounded by QLF armour. A mix of Zhukov, Scorpion and
Striker tanks, as well as a pair of converted AgroMechs all were present, and were
willing to openly engage our ‘Mechs rather than flee.
Takahashi rather quickly took command of the situation,
figuring that whatever was on the Karnov was important enough for them to want
to protect it. Several well-placed shots from Lee’s Vulture managed to disable it, although it turned out that it wasn’t
going anywhere. It had apparently landed with mechanical problems, and wouldn’t
have been able to take off again, hence the aggressive moves by the QLF armour.
While the Assault Lance (with a squad of Battle Armour
riding along with them) were massively out-numbered, the difference in both equipment
and training became rather quickly clear. The three of them were well-coordinated,
moving aggressively to use their mobility and the terrain to their advantage,
while picking off targets.
Conversely, the QLF forces were disorganised and couldn’t
decide if they were advancing, holding their ground or guarding the Karnov
directly. The result was that their forces were strung out all over the place,
allowing themselves to be picked off one-by-one. The Zhukovs ended up being
unable to use their firepower effectively, putting more shots into the hills
then our forces, while the Strikers stuck close to the Karnov (and when one
decided to move it instead skidded in the ruins and disabled itself)
The AgroMechs almost weren’t a factor; one lost its
sensors early, and the other lost its weapon arm, rendering them near-useless.
The Battle Armour tried to bring it down, albeit with limited success. Not that
it mattered; with half their units damaged, crippled or immobilised, the
surviving QLF forces surrendering when the Assault Lance moved to block their
retreats. Only one damaged Scorpion got away in the end, with very little
damage to the lance.
(The sole exception was Lee; while he was busy mowing
down infantry with his pulse lasers, a few of them put man-portable SRMs into
his head and knocked him out. His injuries were minor, but that’s about the
limit of the damage taken)
Speaking of, I’ll admit that there was one thing that definitely
didn’t sit well with me. Lee made very effective use of inferno SRMs to roast a
Scorpion and torch a couple of other vehicles. Now while I can appreciate the pragmatism
of it, I’m not sure if I actually like it. It’s a messy way to die, yes, but
then this is a messy business. Either way, I just hope that footage doesn’t
make it onto the news to show the people how we’re ‘protecting’ them.
That aside, there was one other prize which the QLF
tankers were so desperate to defend. It turns out that the Karnov’s ‘cargo’ was
Zafar bin Muhammad Serakhis himself, the leader of the QLF and now our prisoner.
We may just have wrapped this job up without even trying.
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