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| Mount Sokol |
I think the nicest thing that I
can say about the Kamenez campaign is that it's over.
Okay, that’s not entirely true. The Royals
being destroyed as a unit is a nice bonus, although given the circumstances
that caused it to happen, it's a bit of a mixed blessing.
The fall of Pelzer's fortress was
a bloody battle, but all things being considered, it could have gone a lot
worse. We had a lot of 'Mechs battered to within an inch of their lives. My own
Mad Cat was near-naked, and it was not the only one that was torn up. It's
amazing that we didn't lose anyone, but again, there were a lot of things going
for us.
Pelzer's army was down to its last
gasps. His personal guard represented the only 'Mech force he had left under
his control, and they lacked the skills, equipment and coordination to
effectively stop us. Don't get me wrong, they were no pushovers, but they also were
clearly basing their strategy on having the Carnivores or Incinerators (or the
Royals) supporting them or, at least, having done more damage to us.
They were supported by both a
contingent of tanks as well as turrets that were built into the mountain. As
crazy as it sounds, it seems that Pelzer's base of operations was a hidden SLDF
facility built into an extinct volcano (I look back at that and it reads like
something from one of Sonya Brie's crap novels. The lives we lead) that he had
reactivated. It certainly goes a long way to explaining why nobody was able to
actually find him.
Fortunately, we were able to break
up their forces a little with judicious use of artillery, both from Captain
Dae-Hoon and the ship. That was enough to keep the turrets under control,
although Perez's Mexicans also did their fair share through taking the turrets
out from within. That was enough to force them to retreat into the tunnels, and
we followed them in.
They did their best to slow us
down, staging ambushes with some of the units that had retreated from the
surface. They hurt a little but ultimately didn't slow us down as much as
they'd hoped and definitely weren't able to stop them. We managed to beat our
way to the main chamber of the fortress where we confronted Pelzer himself.
That turned out to be somewhat anticlimactic.
Pelzer was riding in a Defiance, which should have been a threat. Rather, it
crumpled rather quickly under attack from myself and Takahashi. When it went
down, the rest of his force surrendered (although by that point his forces
largely consisted of a few battered light 'Mechs). We took Pelzer prisoner,
along with his second and co-conspirator, Major Helga van Strakken.
From here, it’s in the Lyrans' hands. There
are still a few stray 'Mechs and vehicles on the loose, but they don't represent
an organised threat. (For that matter, there are still a few of the Royals
unaccounted for as well). Their leaders are captured and their base of
operations is in our hands, and they have no reserves to fall back on. Save for
some clean-up, we're finished here.
There are still a lot of
unanswered questions that need to be dealt with. We don't know why the Royals
switched teams, but 'money' is always a good answer. We also have no idea who
killed Royale or why, and there's still no good leads on that one. I could question
Lee and Carrie over the issue, but I doubt they could add anything to the
matter.
Unfortunately, we also have our
own problems to deal with. One of the artillery rounds landed perilously close
to a battle armour team by accident. Maria was understandably unhappy and now
the pair are all but at each other's throats. Given that Maria was also one of
the people on my side after I took over the unit, I have to wonder if there's
more to this then just a one-off incident.
In the meantime, however, it’s down to the minutiae of filling
in forms, filing reports and lodging salvage claims. The life of a mercenary
commander is many things, but “glamorous” is rarely one of them. And
while I’d love to take a break
once we’re away from here,
reality, as allways, dictates otherwise.
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