Roadside, Clan Jade Falcon Occupation Zone
11 December 3068, 5.22 AM
Another hit rocked his Mech, and suddenly, half a dozen
red lights flashed on, warning Jason that his Mech had sustained massive critical damage.
Things looked pretty hopeless now. Most of his weapons systems were out, and his heat was
so high that even if he were to fire his remaining weapons he would roast himself. His
engine was badly damaged, so his Mech was not going to cool off either. And to top it off,
his leg was severly mauled, so making it back to the dropship was out of the question too.
No, this was one mission Hauptman Jason Tyrell would not be coming back from. With grim
determination, Jason moved what was left of his Mech behind the cliff side of a large
hill. At least that would shield him from the fire of the two Jade Falcon executioners for
a while. But he knew he was only delaying the inevitable. Seconds seemed to last for hours
as he piloted his Flashman deeper and deeper into the Mesa. Then suddenly, with no warning
at all, the sand before him rose up, and with a thundering sound an enemy Executioner
landed right in front of him, only 200 metres away. To Jason, it looked almost like the
famous Falcon itself had landed to finally take its defenseless prey. This is it, Jason
thought to himself, this is were it ends. With that, he broke his Mech into a run, and
charged straight for the enemy Mech. If he was going to go down, at least he might be able
to take one with him. ... 150 metres .... 120 metres .... 80 metres ... 50 metres .... But
as the Executioners massive Gauss-rifle started to rise, Jason knew he was not going to
make it ... 30 metres .... As the Gauss rifle finished its movement, it came to an end
with the barrel pointed straight at Jason's cockpit .......
....................................................................................................................
It is often said that just before you die, you see your
life flash before your eyes. For Jason, this was the case. In a blurr he saw
everything he had done which had led him to this desperate situation. His childhood and
early mechwarrior training flashed past, as did memories of skirmishes against the
Draconis Combine and several Pirate units. For Jason, it was like watching a film in
fast-forward, but after a while, the film seemed to slow down to a normal pace, and the
events of the past month started playing out for him ....
"Greetings Hauptman Tyrell, welcome to my office,
please be seated." General Varney's office was spartan for a man of his position. A
wooden desk with chairs, a computer terminal and several holo-paintings was all there was
in this otherwise large room. To Jason, it looked a bit out of place. But then again, so
did the General himself: a short and obese man, which made Jason wonder how he could ever
have been a Mechwarrior at all. "Thank you General, I must say I am kinda surprised
you asked to see
me. It does not happen often that a General asks to see a Hauptman." Jason sat down
on the other side of the desk, facing Varney. "True, true, but considering you are
one of the best pilots we have, it is not that rare either. Let me come straight to the
point, we need you for a mission, a highly classified and important one. And we need a
special mechwarrior such as yourself to pull it off"
Warning bells went off inside Jasons head. Although he was a good mechwarrior, he was
certainly not one of the best they had. If they really needed such a highly-skilled
mechwarrior, there were better choices in the Lyran Alliance. The fact that they asked him
probably meant the risk factor was very high. After all, who would miss a mere Hauptmann.
Certainly not Varney. "I had not heard we were preparing for any mission, sir"
Jason replied. Keeping his doubts to himself. "We lost contact with one of the Lyran
planets on the border of the Jade Falcon Occupation zone a day after the truce was
ended." Varney went on "And have gotten no reports of it since. LA intelligence
beliefs the planet might have been overrun by Jade Falcon forces before they were able to
send a message out, but are unwilling to act without further info. To that effect, they
want me to put together a few units to recon some of the Jade Falcon planets on the
border. Because the Clans have superiour technology to ours, including surveillance
equipment, I have decided the recons have the most chance of succeeding if they are done
by one man teams." One man teams !! Jason did not like the idea of doing a recon
behind enemy lines, the dangers were very high in such missions. But to be completely
alone was even worse then he had imagined. "Hauptman Tyrell, I have selected you to
do a recon on Roadside, you will be dropped deep within the Mesa surrounding the planets
main city. As you know, the planet Roadside used to be part of the Lyran Alliance, so we
have very reliable info that will help you in your mission. There is a data core not far
from the city. That will be your
target. Move in, download the datacore and move out before the defenders are able to
scramble up some mechs to stop you. Mission codename will be Spy City. Any questions
?" Tons of them ! Jason thought to himself, but he would be able to
handle that later, when he recieved a full and detailed mission briefing. For a moment,
Jason thought about declining a mission, but when the General invited you alone, there was
really no way to decline without ending your carreer right then and there. Jason really
had no choice.
"None, sir."
"Good, report to briefing room 2 for a full mission briefing. That is it for now,
dismissed ... and good luck".
The next couple of weeks had been exhausting, now matter
how much work Jason did to prepare, it seemed there was always more. It was a wonder they
managed to get it all done in time. Then there was the long wait, and dropships and
jumpships brought him to his target planet: Roadside.
The mission started off well, his drop had gone perfect,
and under the cover of the night he had started to make his way towards the Data Core. At
precisly 5.10 AM, he had reached the Data Core and was ready to start downloading. Then
the entire operation went to hell ... As soon as he started downloading the data, an
internal security alarm went off. He had recieved several hacking and code breaking
programs to prevent this from happening, but they failed completely. Even worse, it seemed
Clan Jade Falcon was prepared for any raids or recons on the Data Core, cause no sooner
did the alarm go off or two Mechs powered up, only 500 metres away from Jasons Flashman.
He had just had time to download the core before they started firing. A barrage of laser
fire raked his mech as he started turning. He had the info, now all he had to do was make
it back to the dropship. With his computer
systems free again, he made a target scan of the two enemy Mechs. Two executioners ...
damn. Not only did the Executioner severly outmass his Mech, both in armor and weapons. It
also mounted jumpjets, which made the Mech highly manouverable. On this planet of cliffs
and mountains, it would be very hard for Jason to get away. He made a quick dash for one
of the hills, hoping the speed with throw off his opponents aim. But no such luck, all the
rumours about the Clan Pilots and their fabled Mech handling skill were true, and Jason
was forced to watch in awe and terror as they scored hit after hit on his Flashman. Unless
some sort of miracle happened, Jason was not going to make it back to the Dropship.
.......................................................................................................................
20 metres .... With a deafening sound, the Executioner
fired its Gaus rifle straight into Jasons cockpit. The so hoped-for miracle had not
happened, and there ... and that fatefull day, Hauptmann Jason Tyrell died. Killed in
Action .....
- MechWarrior Wight Pryde
