The aftermath of Weldry had a big effect on Lady Arano. She realized that the struggle against the Directorate was about more than just symbols; it was a desperate struggle against a ruthless, authoritarian regime that was casual with torture and democide. As such she decided that the Argo would serve the Restoration better in action.
The Argo was one of two prototypes of a "mobile space station" created by the Star League (The closest thing the Battletech universe has to the Old Republic. It lasted from 2571-2765. Presently, in my game, it is 3026) over 200 years ago. This particular Argo crashed on the moon Axylus and ended up being used as the base for the pirate Grim Sybil (the other was dismantled for parts) but after the mission to raise it again Lady Arano had intended to keep it as her flagship; a symbol of prosperity to come. After Weldry she gave it to us, preferring to solidify our relationship and turn us into more of an assault force for the Restoration than a simple mercenary band. (We can still, of course, take mercenary jobs.)
As you can see it is a bit of a fixer-upper. Dr. Farah Murad got it off of Axylus, a miracle feat after being a derelict for 200 plus years, and High Lady Arano assigned the engineer to our crew, freeing Yang up to concentrate only on Mechs. It is spacious and features the ability to be expanded with improved facilities; including multiple Mech bays, expanded crew quarters, recreational areas, an improved med-bay, training modules, and the ability to improve the power and drive systems to decrease travel time (personally I need the travel time for repairs and recovery!) The Argo cannot go atmospheric, so I still have to make payments on the Leopard, but the smaller dropship can dock with the Argo so that's good.
Hysteria ended up being sidelined for about three months due to injuries suffered at the Icebox and the Blackjack was totaledagain. Lady Arano paid us over 1.5 million for the prison break so I ordered it repaired (it is, after all, Riana's ancestral Mech) but when repairs were complete I stripped it and put it into storage. It was time for Hysteria to graduate to a new Mech, one with better armor. After the battle I managed to salvage the complete chassis of the Heavy-Class Jagermech so I set about making a new Mech for our intrepid leader. Due to her habit of acting as a bullet sponge (since she cannot actually die in combat) I took my treasured AC/20++ Kali Yama (the only piece of equipment from the Blackjack to survive) and put it on one arm, keeping the AC/5 on the other, and installed multiple ammo sources. That's all for weaponry. The rest is armor. TONS of armor. I plan to buy some heavy Jump Jets to help with mobility but, for now, I mean for the Jagermech to be a literal tank. I had a few repairs to make so I needed a little time and some more money (despite the fact that, at nearly 7 million, I am doing better financially than I ever have.) I found a mission on Herotitus to assassinate a Canopian spy; with a 22 day travel time that means that by the time I get there I should be shiny to take the mission.
The A.O. is badlands, so I'll need to watch my heat dispersion. I set down with Glitch in her Vindicator, Big Sly in the Shadowhawk, Vamp in the Centurion, and Jester in the Jenner running scout. I've only ever done one assassinate mission and the target gave me a hell of a time so I was hoping this one might be different, maybe in a ground vehicle due to the one and a half rating. No such luck. For all intents and purposes the target was expecting me; not two rounds after my arrival a semi-circle of enemy Mechs closed in around me. A Locust wandered too close and received a rough welcome from Glitch's PPC and Big Sly's AC/5. The still left me with 3 enemies; a pesky Panther and its persistent PPC, a flanking Centurion, and a Shadowhawk, sitting at range and peppering me with missiles. It wasn't long before Glitch was forced to flee her perch and seek cover and Jester was driven into hiding after taking some internal damage from the Panther/Shadowhawk combo. I noticed that I was also taking long range missile fire from an as-yet unseen unit; my target. I was hoping he was in a vehicle!
I had maneuvered my Centurion around to intercept the flanking Centurion, all behind cover of a big rock that originally served as Glitch's perch. She now fled the Centurion as Big Sly tried to single-handedly handle the Panther/S-hawk combo with poor results. He was shedding armor like a snake skin as Vamp polished off the enemy Cent but now there was a problem: Vamps over-armored Cent had no Jump Jets. Big Sly was going to have to hold the line until Vamp could walk back around the big rock. Before he could make it there the enemy S-hawk punched through Sly's armor and into the critical systems within. Firing his Jump Jets Sly fled behind the big rock just as Vamp rounded the corner. He was looking to take some heavy damage from the Panther's PPC until Jenner broke from cover with an Alpha Strike and took off the Panther's right arm. What remained couldn't stand against the Cent's AC/5. With only the enemy Shadowhawk remaining the team all emerged from cover and laid him down. All that remained now was to find our elusive target.
We eventually found the target, hiding in a ravine in an Umbra Shadowhawk just firing oodles of missiles at us. Vamp made the approach, his armor able to take the pounding, while Jester flanked to the south and kept a Sensor Lock on him. Both Glitch and Sly, neither able to take much more of a pounding, moved to a bluff in the northwest, mounted it, and started hammering the target long distance. A target that just so happened to be armored like a turtle. He took an incredible pounding, to the point that even with a lame leg and using his Jump Jets to maneuver, he was still standing. Finally we got a warning from Darius that he was making a break for it. I had to take him down now. Jester approached, unleashing an Alpha Strike in the Jenner D. Then both Glitch and Sly hit him with another one from on high. This was enough to ruin his stability and cause him to fall in the river, which opened up his damaged CT to a Called Shot from Vamp's last round of AC/5. It was enough and the target was finally down.
It was a rough one. Both Sly and Glitch are out for a month on injury, but other than some structural damage on the Jenner the rest were only minor repairs. So, overall , not that bad but here's the thing: this was supposed to be a milk run. It had a difficulty rating of 1 when I took it, rose to 1 1/2 by the time I arrived, and behaved like a 2! Right now I plan to shop a little, perhaps pick up another high quality weapon, and then probably take a job from another system, giving me time to make repairs. Once Hysteria is back I will probably move ahead with the next Restoration mission. Director Espinosa and his daughter Victoria have made this personal and I don't think I can stomach their Directorate much longer.
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