Dogs of War Part 2
The tanks the enemy were using were cheap, then again even fusion powered tanks weren't that expensive. They were an inexpensive option, and for a cash strapped opponent like the Capellans they were great. They were an option that would be overlooked by Lyran High Command in favor of the Battlemechs, and ASF... but an AC 10 while not the most impressive weapon was still an AC 10. Two of them while heavy approximated the firepower of an assault auto cannon with greater range...
If you massed enough of them they became very unpleasant very quickly. The problem was that went both ways. All modern weapons regardless of the chassis that mounted them performed within a set range of tolerances. An AC 5 on a 'mech was an AC 5, the same was true of lasers on tanks.
The holographic images flickered as the footage refreshed. Red threat fields in different shades provided approximate ranges, yellow fields estimated active and passive sensor ranges. The problem for the enemy, was going to be they weren't the only ones with tanks.
Odin wasn't prepared to rush out onto an offensive, but he also wasn't scared of the enemy The tanks present were something to treat with respect, and he would just as well prefer they come to him, then they would attack. The Big MAC had a reputation though, if they were here then this was going to be bad. So more than anything he would trust Schmitt and her highlanders to organize the defense... and if the opportunity presented itself they would make the enemy regret coming to Alpha Centauri.
"They're starting to move."
Technically the enemy had already started their advance... but now... they were closing into to where the battle would be drawn.
He looked at the icons... he had expected a Combine attack, and had built his forces accordingly... which was why the MAC were currently moving directly to where they would cross the lines of control imposed by the over watching fire from his Wolves of Mibu. Would they engage there? Would this become a matter of artillery? Or would they pass by the infantry, miss them from where they were dug in?
That would be a mistake... it would have been a mistake even if they had just been equipped with support ppcs. A few hundred meters, and nothing changed. The dug in infantry held their fire and waited for the order, or some indication that they had been made.
... because while AC 5s, and AC 10s, and Assault auto cannons were all plentiful in the Inner Sphere... well they were not the only weapons that Odin was limited to. He had rejected... or maybe declined to expend BV or C-Bills on things like chemical lasers or other weapons that might potentially be considered 'retrotech' and not 'properly' LosTech... or at least for the time being things like Binary Laser cannons... which made the infantry with their man portable plasma rifles something of an exception.
It might have been something of a gamble, but given they were infantry weapons he frankly doubted it. Not when they'd be supported by normal, standard weapons in turrets, and of course when it came to it the core of his mech and armored forces at home. Odin contemplated the contents of the Centaur Castle, but no, there was nothing to indicate the invaders knew anything about that... everything about how they were massed suggested their targets were the factories which were to be the productive lifeblood of his little fiefdom, and from what he intended to build up his position at court.
This was about money then. If they expected salvage then most likely any of his supposedly 'LosTech' mechs might have surely came into play but he doubted that was the priority either. Not enough to launch a raid on this world in this kind of force.
One of the automatic tracking and control systems on a turret achieved resolution, locked and fired onto a hostile Commando. The mech was merely unlikely as the man made lighting hit, a split second later the other turrets across the approach started to rise and fire. Some aimed for mechs, others opened fire on the lead most vehicles.
They might have waited a little longer, but it was amazing to him that the mercenaries had advanced this deep this quickly. Burton's bastards... no that wasn't it, Barton, Barton that was the man's name had opened with an aggressive offense, and the sudden appearance of in placed defenses didn't stop his lead elements from attempting to push forward into close range.
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Tanya Schmitt contemplated her personal holographic display. 2
nd Regiment McCarron's Armored Cavalry had attempted to run down the coastal highway as fast they could... that would need to be something addressed later, maybe task dedicated airpower to service such concerns... perhaps just have the bridges mined, but the strike against their first ring of defenses had started so she had dutifully carried out the start of the counter attack.
They had massed Commandos and Hunchbacks much as they had done against the Free World's League... it was just this time they weren't the invaders... but the invaders were still committed to a frontal attack... McCarron's people would start hitting the their tag and large laser equippped light vehicles outermost onions soon.
The idea was to light them up and subject them to mobile and fleeting attacks on their flanks. The scorpions could only push up to eighty four kph, and they were tracked if they had been hover vehicles they could have sent them out over the sea, and the coastal waterways to finesse this... but there was no sense complaining about it. Given their proximity to the water it probably wasn't the worst idea to suggest it.
She issued a series of commands via shortcut keys. It occurred to here the enemy might not even realize what they were taking fire from. The Crossbow were only intended after all as a cheap fire support mech to support the Wolverines. The sixty tonners were nothing special on paper... the only change in paper design were replacing the LRM 10s for LRM 5 launchers, but they still remained in the hands. All of the weapons had been replaced from their 25
th century versions with current production iterations but for all intents and purposes the Crossbows were RetroTech designs. Two medium lasers, and a torso mounted PPC. They were there to pad out their mech numbers and protect the Wolverines that were the lighter half of the mech regiments command component.
The heavier component were waiting, backed up and supported by Star League era tanks with gauss rifles. In a defensive scenario like this, less technologically complicated non fusion powered tanks were not as much of a liability in terms of operations. Defending fixed positions with militia in tanks was a feasible standby.
Her expression creased as the Wolves began to close the pocket. Their signals relaying into her data-feed as tag equipped vehicles painted the enemy tanks which would bottleneck the enemy. If the enemy didn't destroy those units then it would only be a matter of time until the Thor, and Chapparals opened fired into boxed in enemy.
One of the feeds started detecting the thermal blooms as concealed infantry teams opened fire on the enemy rear. They, the dogs of war, weren't immediately clear on waht was happening... that was good, because they were about to start taking fire from one side and then massed fire from the front, she reached up to the complex console of the cockpit and watched as the Gauss Rifle came alive its capacitors charging and becoming lethal.
The Highlander stepped forward into the graying morning across the Sargasso filled seas that dominated the coasts off of the continental archipelago. "Cut their comms." She ordered, which wasn't strictly accurate as the bagpipes swelled over the lines, and Orions began to move to support Highlander assault mechs alongside Black Knights with dark blue check badges on their shoulders.
