As the interrogation of Sims continues – Colonel Vail radios in to inform the party that two Leopard-class dropships were coming out of the star’s radiation shadow and were twenty hours out from Persephone 3. The party scrambles to prepare for their arrival. Vail’s mech lance and Janks’ marines deploy around the landing strip in the event one of the dropships attempt to make a landing. Stella and Mitch in their Shivas and Becker commanding the Coyote engage the dropships and their fighter escorts.
While waiting for the action to come to the ground, Janks has a flashback.
A brief battle occurs in orbit – the four Stiletto fighters launched from the dropships are destroyed and the armed Leopard – the Dervish – is damaged, with its transit drives destroyed. Both dropships surrender and land at or near McTavish’s Hope.
Colonel Becker’s log, 3020, May 28th (cont)
And, of course, fate decides to make things more interesting. It seems they decided to come early, without warning the men on P3. Two Leopards incoming, just twenty hours out. One of them is likely the cargo ship; I assume they’re here to secure the food, and the other is flying escort.
We have four mechs and a couple of fighters. And the Coyote. Granted, two of the mechs are pretty damn impressive. In fact, considering the state of our equipment, I think most people would find even the smaller mechs pretty damn impressive.
Well, at least now there is no choice. In about a day, we will know if we can do this. If we are still a force to be reckoned with. The mechs are on the ground, ready and waiting, hiding in the lake. The smaller mechs impressed the locals to no end, the Atlas, well, at least now I’ve seen what it means to be ‘awestruck’. According to McTavish, the Atlas alone is enough to buy us an entire continent. Or more.
**
Colonel Becker’s log, 3020, May 29th
And just like that, it is over. The first battle, at least. There will be more. Though I am very tempted to try, I doubt I can convince Cooter to surrender. Though, granted, considering what we might be able to offer, we might actually be able to pull it off.
The danger is, of course, that he would want the Agamemnon. But then, who would not? In this time, from what I’ve seen, the Agamemnon, with her mechs and dropships, not to mention the data stored on her computers, might well be the single most valuable item in the known galaxy.
And then there is this other problem; the one that really bothers me. There were four, not three, trackers. The last one was in the supplies we brought back. Meaning we really need to get back as soon as possible. I really hope we still control the Agamemnon, that we won’t have to fight to take her back.
Addendum:
Of course, they shouldn’t have reached the Agamemnon just yet, even if they launched as soon as they got a fix on her. It has been about four days since we arrived with the supplies. It would take them a week, more or less. So if we hurry back, we might get there before they reach the ship.