Strikers' Trap

Undisclosed Location
Irece Prefecture
Draconis Combine
Third Quarter, 3062

"Are you sure? I am really having my doubts over here." Myomer Tech Ryan Allen said.

"Of course I'm sure! Who do ya think you're talking to here?" shouted Head Tech Rocky Potts.

It had been a long afternoon for the two techs, working as fast as they could to provide a few short term upgrades to Ryan's 70 ton Infighter BattleMech. So far the only thing they had accomplished was getting each other angry. Ryan knew that the Mech's freshly replaced myomer musculature would do nothing in the way of improvements for the left arm's primary weapon, a melee-class mace. Unfortunately Rocky knew that this was just what his creation had been lacking, Clan tech myomer upgrades from the Strider's Strikers most recent salvage. Rocky had designed the Mech, based on a heavily modified Charger chassis, to contain his crowning achievement. That achievement was the ThunderClap-20. This weapon, containing an infrasonic cylinder source encased in circular magnetic housing, was what gave the Infighter its tenacious, close-combat superiority. The magnetic housing propelled the cylinder just above and below the speed of sound, producing hundreds of infrasonic waves that could vibrate through the stubbornest armor to harm the internals of any BattleMech. Ryan had volunteered to pilot the Mech in its test run 2 years ago, falling in love with the ThunderClap's sonic "booms". At the moment, the ThunderClap-20 was being ignored in hopes of upgrading other weapons the Infighter carried. "This is crazy. We know they are coming, why don't we send another damn lance?" Ryan complained. The commanders had decided that only 6 Mechs would engage the 2 Word of Blake lances now approaching the Strikers' dropship. "I don't know, but you betta be ready for them yourself, you hear?" Rocky jabbered. Exhaling noisly, Ryan opened his mouth to stutter out, "Yeah, yeah, yeah..."

Two hours later the Infigher was baking inside a metal storage bin, powered down and ready for a cold start at any moment. Ryan was nervous; he had always hated the anticipation of battle. The sun had been warming the storage bin for most of the afternoon, and Ryan was not enjoying the prolonged high temperatures. If he'd had his way, this battle would have been over with by now. But no, Lance Commander Sasha Breen of Clan Steel Viper (this mission's commander) was too tactical for that. She had decided the 6 mechs would set a trap for the Word of Blake lances as they entered the city. Stop it. The enemy would soon be in his reach...