Iron Tigers
Current Status: Acamar, Federated Suns

Personal Log: Maj. D. Keith
Date: 3068-01-24
Situation:
Targets-of-Opportunity. Back at the Dragoon Academy, Captain Freidrich constantly drilled on hitting any target-of-opportunity whenever possible. "There's where you're going to get the best salvage and supplies," he said. Course, he also said, check the contract with an electron-microscope to see if you can get away with taking the ToO before you do it! Well, we're on Acamar. One part garrison duty, one part time off for good behavior (not that I.E. knows about our clandestine operations, or maybe they just don't care). Two-thirds of my team is scattered around the city while I'm sitting here in my 'Hawk guarding a building. Pirates are inbound and we've been called up to help the Fed Suns defend this world.

McCabe and Blix are going nuts finding everyone and getting them ready for the fight. Thought Blix was going to blow a fuse when Voss stumbled out of a hover-taxi swearing profusely and dragging a half-drunk MechWarrior who was singing German brewhaus songs. Obviously another one of Michael's attempts to piss off Rachelle. Damn kid is going to have to grow up sooner or later! Hm. Think I know who's going to washing my Black Hawk after the fight. Best way to cure overindulgance in alcohol: hard labor in a 'Mech bay while hung over.

Fortunately, we're only going to need him running security with Voss and McCabe's troopers. That oughta make Voss happy. But, that's Brenda's problem, not mine. I get to deal with Sonja and Frankie. I thought they were going to go AWOL on me tonight. Frankie had unpacked her motorcycle and the two of them were dressed to the hilt, ready for a night out on the town after pulling guard duty (man, can Frankie fill out that leather suit. Heh. Better not say that around Kaitlyn). When I got between them and the door, Sonja looked ready to cry, and Frankie looked ready to kill. Course, neither one of them wanted to say what they were really thinking in front of Raven or Brick--glad I had them in tow!

Lieutenant Tracy Raven. Graduate of the Robinson Battle Academy, recent casuality of the FedCom Civil War, and owner of our new Daimyo HQ vehicle. Her command and control team was hand-picked and trained to give us an edge with the most up to date battlefield intel possible. Tonight is going to be her trial run. With Sgt. Brick's Arrow IV's, Tracy's intel team, Frankie's Scorpion, Sonja's Lineholder, and my upgraded Black Hawk-KU, it's time to pull off a minor coup. Two dropships are inbound. Ex-Capellan pirates. They've got a Tramp jumpship in system. And I want it! A jumpship would give us that much more combat flexibility. No more relying on our employers for transit. No more being stuck to their shipping schedules. We could actually get some Lostech prospecting done during transit recharge times. I could also charge more for our services. And even do a little "for profit" shipping on the side. Ha ha! The girls will grumble something fierce until the battle starts, but they understand that opportunites like this come once or twice in your career, if you're lucky. Grumbling, I can deal with--so long as it doesn't lead to direct insubordination. It's missing these opportunities that I can't stomach. Eh, I'll slip them a little extra time off before we ship out.

Which brings me back to the pirates. In order to capture those dropships, we need to smash the pirate raiders. Capture both dropships. Load them up with infantry, and take the jumpship. Was racking my brain on how to pull this off until Raven, Blix and I met up with the local Fed Suns garrison commander. Turns out he's in the same boat as we are. People spread out over a large area with only enough BattleMech forces to guard the key areas of water, food, and military production. He could either take the jumpship or safeguard the civillians. A tramp jumpship won't balance the scales with the High Command when compared to dead civillians and a crippled planetary economy. But, that's where we come in. You could just see the Lyran-influenced glow in his eyes when I detailed my plan. In exchange for some suits of Fed Suns BattleArmor (and assistance in taking the ships), the Iron Tigers would smash the inbound pirates--and all three of us would split the spoils of war: I get the jumpship, Blix gets his pick of the dropships, and the Feddies get the two dropships left over. Don't know who was more surprised about that little deal: the Fed Suns commander or Blix! He hid it well, but I know that Blix was excited. His people helped Tyler and I find a home. Time to repay the favor for him and his.

Aftermath:
Personal Log: Maj. D. Keith
Date: 3068-01-25
It's amazing how a plan never survives contact with the enemy. These pirates were good! Every time we hammered them, they gave as good as they got and one would slip away. The Dervish pilot even got past Rachelle! Think that will even out the score between her and Michael. He comes back to town half-drunk, she gets left behind in a battle while he keeps up. Mental note: slip an extra 100 C-Bills to Voss -- good sharpshooting on that Hellspawn. Wonder how hard it would be to lure her away from Blix? Heh, like I don't have enough headaches at the moment. Oh well, at least the Maulers were able to pounce on that Dervish and kill it before it got close enough to the Dropships to cause trouble. Appears Blix's anti-'Mech training regimen is starting to bear fruit.

The last transmisson from Blix and the Fed Suns Strikeforce Commander was positive. Three dropships and a jumpship captured with only 10% casualties. Thank god no fatalities. Knew that sending Kym and her MASH team on an aerospace raid was risky, but the Feddies have held up their end of the bargain so far. Need to give their troopers a the best possible chance to make it home alive. They are capturing MY jumpship afterall. Wonder if the Feddies would be so forthcoming if they knew I was a Taurian? Still, when you're a garrison commander looking for a promotion, two combat dropships and help stopping a pirate raid in exchange for some old BattleArmor and help capturing a jumpship is a pretty good deal. Wonder if that Major will have his boss's job when the Colonel comes back from New Syrtis? Got the obligatory 'thank you for your help and congratulations on your victory' letter from the Planetary Legate--right after I got our marching orders from Interstellar Ops. Looks like my request for a little prospecting time in this region of space was approved. Now where did I leave those old data files...hm, well, will deal with that later. Right now, I need Raven to get up to that jumpship and start an inventory on the 'spoils of war'. Can't process company bonuses without that number. Well, better have Sargeant Johannsen put out some feelers for a jumpship crew otherwise we're not going anywhere. Only a few weeks before the rendevous with Tyler. Another part of the plan is achieved, time to start phase three. Here's hoping old George Hasek is in a good mood when my rep shows up!

[[[END OF FILE]]]

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