Debauchery Worlds 44 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Southmonk

Debauchery Worlds

Chapter 44

-VB-

Alan Marris

Cylene, Draconis Combine

2981.12.25

When my fleet jumped into the system, we didn’t jump into the system at the zenith or nadir points of the local star. We also didn’t jump into any of the pirate points. 

No, we opened up a portal from another universe and came into the system at full speed no more than two hundred thousand kilometers from the surface of the planet. We didn’t expect anyone to be looking at our location, so there was minimal risk of our portal tech (which was really interdimensional tech) getting leaked to the Combine. It will happen sooner or later, but it wouldn’t for some time if I had any say in it.

By the time anyone on the planet found our twenty-four dropship fleet within an hour of landing on the planet, it would be too late. 

As for the target of our operation… Cylene II. 

It was a cold world with a population of seven million, which was less than David II when we first landed there. 

But it was a cold world that was right next to two other worlds and easily controllable compared to other more populated worlds. 

“Deploy all of the Bucaneer fighters,” I, or rather Clone “Admiral John ai Marris,” commanded from where he sat with other helmeted and visored clones on the bridge of the current flagship of our fleet, an Irotryoshka-class carrier The Reveler . 

And all four of my carriers started bleching out the fighters. 

But how did we do it so fast? 

Because they were unmanned and remotely operated. All of the pilots meant to pilot those fighters? They all trained using computers and immersion helmets. All of those pilots were investments that I did not want to lose. No, instead of being in the seat of their fighters, they sat safely inside the fighter operation rooms across the four carriers, each of which acted as network node with a radius of 300 kilometers. It wasn’t much, but with four carriers, we could cover tenth of North America. 

But the carriers didn’t need to cover that much area. Their purpose was to act as bases of operation and provide overwhelming firepower. 

“I want half of the fleet to be over the capital city and the other half over their main military installation within two hours. Go,” I said out loud for the benefit of the pilots who were networked to the command comm. “Pilots. Your job is to escort the carriers until stated otherwise.”

I received affirmative notifications from the sixteen wing commanders.

Unlike the Inner Sphere states which organized their ASF into wings of four like their battlemech lances, I chose to give each wing one more fighter, making it a wing of five. The reason for this was simple. I wanted my wings to come out on top just because of the fact that they had the enemy outnumbered. 

I wasn’t going to put an emphasis on some stupid honorable combat or excuses like testing the combat prowess of my pilots. No, I’m here to conduct a war of conquest. I wanted all of their mechs and fighters either scrapped by me or utterly destroyed as to not be a threat to me. 

The norms of the Third Succession War was no longer in effect.

Not after that nuke. 

---

The Christmas Invasion began with a jump onto a lagrange point close to Cylene II, the only inhabited planet in the Cylene System, with a fleet of twenty-four ships of the Marris Mercenary Company. This jump brought them within a hair’s breadth of the planet and they moved at full speed to surprise the defenders. 

The defenders, due to not having the necessary equipment on the planet to observe all lagrange points of the system, failed to detect the approaching invasion force until their thermal plumes were caught by accident. 

The surprised defenders - the Cylene Militia and the reformed 10th Dieron Regulars - immediately scrambled all of their aerospace fighters upon realizing that they would otherwise suffer heavy casualties on the ground should the invasion force successfully land with their twenty-four ships. From the ground, they were able to only see sixteen ships, and sent up all of their active aerospace fighters - a total of twelve Shilones and thirty-two Sabres - to slow them down.

What they did not realize was that the Marris Fleet had already launched their eighty  Bucaneer fighters from only their four Irotryoshka carriers. These were completely new design to the Inner Sphere. Equipped with two SRMs, one Large Rapidfire Autocannon, and two Medium Rapidfire Autocannons in a forty ton package, these new medium aerospace fighters were deadly against anything its size and smaller. Worse for the Draconis Combine for years to come, these medium aerospace fighters flew with the speed and maneuverability of a light aerospace fighter. 

By the time the Combine pilots realized that they were severely outnumbered, they had already entered the Marris Fleet’s combat range. 

The superior Bucaneers engaged the Combine ASF, and in the first engagement alone scored seven kills while suffering two losses. The swarm of high speed SRMs fired by the Bucaneers proved to be too much for the armor and flares of the Combine ASF, and eventually, the brief space battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the Marris Fleet, who suffered only eight losses compared to the Cylene’s thirty-nine. 

The rest of the Marris Fleet flew past the wreckages without even stopping to look for salvage and came flying over Cylene’s capital, Halcyon, and the largest military base, Cylene Militia Grounds Two. 

And that’s when they unveiled their second new technological implementation. 

The Dropper-class ultralight mechs. 

---

Heather Budenburg

Aboard Militarized Crawdad-class Red Bumblebee

Halcyon, Cylene, Draconis Combine

She took a deep breath in and then let it out slowly. 

This was her first deployment. 

The chance to prove to the company that she’s worth the money. That she didn’t deserve to be booted to the curve. 

She tilted her head up and looked across the “gantry.” She saw other mechs that were waiting for their deployment as well, but she saw their frames highlighted and names stated above their heads on her heads up display. Unlike most mechs she saw, these “Dropper” mechs were small and barely armored. They also had long feet with wheels, and each mech held a large shotgun.

Because, yes, mechs apparently had shotguns now. 

“[Alright, boys and girls!]” the voice of her demi-lance commander rung out. “[You know what our jobs are! We are go in and we take over the city! You shoot anything that moves and isn’t on your display! If your HUD goes down, then make sure to ping your ass on the comms! Remember, we get this done just like we practiced before and we’ll all get paid lots by the end of it!” 

There was a boom outside, and the Red Bumblebee shook. 

“{30 seconds until mechdrop.}”

Heather gulped. 

She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. 

She could do this. 

She trained for this! 

“[Stick to your partner at all times! Got it?!]”

“Yes, sir!” she replied along with others. 

The mech bay shook again, making her sway inside her pod. 

“{10 seconds until mechdrop.}”

She felt gravity pulling on her as the Red Bumblebee made quick turns and pulls even as it took on more attacks. 

And then the mech bay doors opened. 

“[Jump jump jump!]” 

Heather grimaced as she pushed her mech forward, and it responded fluidly as it took two steps before jumping off of the ship. 

Her eyes widened as she realized that she was at least five stories off the ground and nearly squealed but stopped when her Dropper’s landing jets activated briefly. She didn’t feel the inertia at all as she landed without breaking anything in the wide avenue  she’d been dropped off at. She briefly glanced at her mech’s status. Nothing wrong. 

She quickly rose up and looked around. Her demi-lance all landed safely, and her demi-lance commander in his own spindly, humanoid Dropper. 

“[Let’s move it, people! Our objective is marked on the map!]” As if on cue, a map blinked on in the corner of her vision showing a rough outline of the city she was in, her current position as marked in the center of the map, and the objective marked with her demi-lance’s callsign.

And aboard her pod in the mech operation room within the safety of the Red Bumblebee that was flying away from the center of the urban battle, Heather grinned as she remotely drove her mech forward on its wheels toward the city square she and her demi-lance needed to hold. 

And when an Urbanmech popped out from a street up ahead, she brought her shotgun up and fired. 

The cheap mech didn’t even get to fire its massive autocannon before her thick laser bolt burned through its reinforced glass windows and blasted the cockpit. It squealed before keeling forward from its forward momentum.

Heather grinned while Red Bumblebee achieved optimum altitude and position above Halcyon’s sky, leaving her safely away from the reach of any anti-air guns. Though she didn’t know, the Crawdad she was on was now escorted by a pair of Bucaneers.

All she could think about was how she could prove her worth.