Plot Summary

Started by Yskonyn, January 25, 2019, 09:28:32 AM

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Yskonyn

We will have a start date of 3019, just before the signed Accord between Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns.

We will play a Merc unit with nondescript heritage of personnel. That means we are a melting pot of various cultures and people. This will not only aid those new to the system to avoid advanced rules regarding personnel and interaction, but it also gives us the most room to personalize our forces. It needs to be fun afterall and I'd rather avoid random rolls for baseline stuff that dictates who we are.

We will play a Merc unit of approximately a battallion's worth of core units (ref picture below).
Each player commands a single Lance, sometimes with external units attached to make it 1 Lance + Platoon, Squadron, Fire Support or Lance attached.


Our starting world will be Galatea instead of Outreach. Outreach might be the Merc world to some of you, but in our campaign Wolf's Dragoons have not yet declared ownership of the planet, let alone liberated it as a free world. That time might come, if we survive as long.

So what's the galaxy like at this point?
We're in the final years of the era called Third Succession War; as intense war has raged on now for several centuries, many world (and their accompanying factories) lay in ruin. The advanced Tech of the Star League era has either been destroyed, their blueprints lost or VERY hard to come by at this point.
Because of this many forces are now fighting with less than fully equipped and maintained forces and many struggle to keep a resemblance of a fit fighting force. Prices of spare parts are rising exponentially on the free markets and of top of that, it becomes increasingly difficult to find any at all.
This will be the situation roughly until the Helm Data Core will be found in about 8 years from now, so we need to look after our stuff and we should try to get contracts that allow us to salvage the battlefield as much as we can.

In a about a year Archon Katrina Steiner and First Prince Hanse Davion will sign an accord known as the FedCom Accords.
This is basically the start of the Federated Commonwealth as well as the planning phase for the Fourth Succession War.

This will, once again, be a time where lots of money can be made as it will prove to be the biggest of the Succession Wars in hindsight!
We'll need to decide to which power (major or minor) we'll sell our ' services ', or if we're going to try to just scour on the fringes of the known galaxy.

For the Grogheads players each of you will start as a Lieutenant commanding your own Lance within the force.

Post your characters here: Characters Bio and Stats

Post your Lance's roll results here: Roll results
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Yskonyn

Cmdr. Usebius was born into a 'white collar family' in the Marian Hegemony out in the Periphery. Not exactly nobility, but nevertheless his family was rather wealthy with father working as a successful merchant in the region.
Usebius' youth was shaken up terribly when his parents got murdered as a result of alleged connections in the underworld going awry and criminals coming to settle a debt.

Whatever the cause of the attack was is not something Usebius knows, but from the day he lost his parents it was made very clear to him that the world he lives in requires one to be on his toes constantly. He learned to trust on his own instincts much quicker than other children of his age.

As an orphan he was taken into custody by a close relative. They struggled to keep him in check; Usebius often had bursts of was only could be described as 'going berserk', tearing up anything in his way and hurting anyone trying to calm him down.
When Usebius reached his teens he started to become less violent. As a child he had not felt he had enough skills to cope with the traumatic loss of his parents, but from the day he was taught to read he discovered great tales about love, tragedy, camaraderie and intrigue.
His narrow child brain opened up and finally his foster-parents were able to communicate with him in a rather normal fashion. They convinced him to go to High School to lay the foundation for a career worthy of his origins, but during his time at High School bursts of unchecked rage erupted again as Usebius learned the mean feats teens can pull off on eachother.

After he had almost decapitated one of his fellow students by tying him up on a large shaft from a industrial airco unit, he was expelled from High School and sent to a private school.
The rather militaristic way of running that place struck a chord with Usebius. Finally he had met people who knew what it meant to utilise Leadership and it was here that he was introduced to Mechwarriors. His ambition became to be accepted into Military Academy, go through Officer Training and ultimately become a Mechwarrior.
It turned out the private school had contacts within the recruitment office of the military. They wouldn't accept him right away. Instead he needed to show that he could restrain himself, grow a little sturdier and sensible.
He was given two years to accomplish acceptable grades and when he pulled it off was indeed accepted into Military Academy.

This was the dream life of Usebius. Physical training, technical education, weapons training, he absolutely loved it all and every minute of it.
After he graduated from basic training he continued for advanced training and was transfered to a Naval unit.
There he received his Zero-G training and Mech training.
When graduating with flying colours he once again took a seat in training; this time for Officer Development.

He served as an Officer for one Tour of Duty and was then asked if he would fancy a spot within the Special Operations branch of the military. He accepted and was trained as a Covert Ops operative.

This turned out to be a life changing decision;
Johan Sebastien O'Reilly, the Imperator of the Marian Hegemony, dealt with Mercenary units on a regular basis.
With Usebius now operating in several clandestine sorties he, too, came into contact with a wide variety of Mercs.
The stories these men told about the established Lords, Ladies, Monarchs, Imperators, etc opened his eyes to the true free life of a soldier. Why be ordered around like a pet to do the bidding of some Lord. Who is he anyway? Has he earned the right to be telling people what to do, let alone be ruling over an entire nation?
Why not be your own Lord. Choose who to work for and who to ignore!

By now Usebius held a compromising position within the Hegemony's military. He had access to sensitive intel. He had access to many of the higher ups within the military chain of command.
There was no chance the military would let him go just like that.
It would require cunning to let loose the chains of the military and 'defect' to the Mercenary life.
With his new found brothers a daring sortie was undertaken where Usebius tried to gather several of his men loyal to his vision and to take their military equipment with them to forge their own path of destiny.
They were able to pull it off, but naturally the Marian Hegemony will not stand by idly and report have been received that the faction had sent out search parties to find him and apprehend him. Usebius has been officially declared an enemy of the state.

Still, Goodwill has finally found his true self; a pragmatic man with little patience for the whims of some Nobleman. He values trust, camaraderie, honour and strength as main attributes in people. He cares little for the whiney and weak.
If you show you're a no-nonsense person who sees things as they are, you'll likely get along with Usebius.

While still on the run, our fledgeling Merc outfit went to the most obvious place to look for a way to get those C-Bills rolling; Galatea. They knew it was only going to be a short while before the Marian officials would have pinpointed their location, so the Grogheads needed to hurry up and not be too picky about their first contract.

After the officers have debated for a little short than an hour the Grogheads decide getting off Galatea has priority for now, but a short and fairly light task would best fit the outfit's aspirations to have some time to get stockpiles and resources up to snuff, test their machines on the field without too much threat and generate some cash in the process.

Ascella it is. We're going to assist the Lyrans in gaining some intel for one of their new projects. We'll be operating with a Liason.
Remember: this mission is just to buy us some time at this point and perhaps reduce a little heat from the officials here at Galatea. Our 'disbanding' didn't sat very well with our previous peers, so keep your eyes peeled for any 'Shadows'.



4 jumps. 70 days to get there, then 1 month fighting. The Lyrans have arranged transport for us.
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Yskonyn

The gang arrived on Ascella without incident and took several weeks to prepare.
Meanwhile the liason officer linked up and started to brief Goodwill and his officers.
It was to be a short Recon gig. Lyran brass wants to know how well the outer perimeter of a certain production facility is being guarded before they commit they own forces.
We get 40% salvage rights, the liason officer will drop with us and we need to make it short and snappy.
The Lyran Mech will be stripped of markings to prevent the Draconis' crews identifying who is testing them. It has to look like a local warband is out for blood, rather than one of the Houses.

The Grogheads don't receive any more intel than that, but for a short gig the pay and the salvage might be worth it.

Alpha Lance drops first with Command Lance following a little later.
The area is dark and rough, with an elevated ridge on the right flank, but some barren trees and rough flats in the center and right flank.
The moonless night makes spotting things visually quite difficult to the gang is reliant on their sensors.

Lt. Taupeaffe is mission lead and orders his Lance to quickly gain the high ground. When they approach the northern side of the ridge they start to pick up sensor contacts.

It turns out a Firestarter comes out to play first, but a quick decisive move of Taupeaffe and Mai lock it in and after a short fierce fight the legs of the hostile Mech are shot to pieces and the Mechwarrior piloting it ejects.
Mai picks her up as a POW.

The morale of the rest quickly falters and they disengage to fight another day, making the retreat and rendevous of Alpha and Command Lance an easy one.

The gang was able to salvage the Firestarter without legs and a badly damaged Saladin Assault Hover.
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."