Author Topic: HPG Operations (Read 188 times)
Takiro
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HPG Operations
« on: January 08, 2009, 09:22:33 PM »
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Hey gang started to do some research for Clarion Call and stumbled into wider territory for Underworlds. The link below is what I started with asking for typical staff at an HPG.
http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,45789.0.htmlBut illuminating HPG operations from the outline of a station to its personnel all has implications for Fanbook 4 Underworlds. So comment if you'd like on HPG Operations! Wink
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Re: HPG Operations
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2009, 12:49:00 PM »
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Did you check in Wolves on the Border?
Somewhere in it, the 7th Kommando assaulted a HPG.
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In Turn they tested each Clan namesake in trial against the Ice Hellion's mettle. Each chased the Ice Hellion, hunting it down. All failed to match the predator's speed and grace. Khan Cage smiled and said, "And that is how we shall be."
The Remembrance (Clan Ice Hellion) Passage: 5, Verse 3, Lines 1 - 5
Takiro
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Re: HPG Operations
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2009, 03:58:20 PM »
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Wow, that is a novel a don't have. Embarrassed Could somebody help me out?
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"It is better to be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt."
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John Luther
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7th Commando's HPG raid
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2009, 06:42:36 PM »
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ComStar Compound, Cerant, An Ting
Galedon Military District, Draconis Combine
3 January 3028
"Malking' bugs!" the ComStar Acolyte muttered, slapping his neck at the sting. He scratched at the spot and cursed again.
"They're always bad this time of year, Seldes," his companion said. His grin at his friend's discomfort vanished when one stung him too. "Damn! They're big this year. If they get worse we'll need antiaircraft artillery."
"We'll need the artillery all right, but not for the bugs. The Dragoons won't take it lying down that ComStar has refused to let them send out messages. Mark me, Kent. They're gonna try something."
"What can they do? ComStar is neutral, protected by all the Successor States so it can serve them all. Even if the Dragoons weren't on Kurita's bad side, the Draconians would defend the compound. This guard duty is a waste of time. Standing out all night trying to look watchful. What a pain. We should be getting a good nights sleep. We've got nothing to worry about. Anybody who tries to get in will get caught at the wall. You've seen those Kurita volunteers, haven't you? Tough mothers. I wouldn't want to cross any of them would you?"
The answer was a ragged snore. Kent glanced over at his companion. Seldes had slumped against the archway, his head leaning against the lintel.
"Guess you're gonna get your sleep anyway." Kent stifled a yawn. "It's not a bad idea. Hope the Precentor don't catch ..." The rest of the thought went unspoken as his knees buckled and he crumpled to the ground.
A man-shaped shadow detached itself from the darkness and passed between the sleeping guards. It entered the building and joined the blacker darkness within. A few seconds later it was back in the archway, waving twice before it vanished again.
More shadows materialized from the night and crept after the first. All seemed to move with feline grace, except for one who stumbled over Kent's rifle. At the slight clatter, the othe shadows froze into immobility. They remained fixed a few seconds before resuming their progress. One hustled the clumsy shilouette-man through the archway. Two others took hold of the fallen Acolytes and dragged them into the building. A fourth scooped up the abandoned weapons, and brought up the rear.
The shadow men flitted through the outer building and across the inner courtyard, stopping for a short, hushed conference at an unguarded inner door. Moments later, all but two remained at the entrance, sheltered in darkness.
Those two, one slim and graceful and the other stocky and clumsy, penetrated deeper into the edifice. The two shapes moved silently on soft-soled boots through the darkened corridors. Near a cross-corridor, the taler figure stopped its gliding progress and motioned to the other to wait. The second figure shuffled to a halt and leaned against a doorway. The first slid around the corner, out of sight. No one was there to see the waiting black-clad tremble as he huddled against the dark wood of the door.
Without warning, the door on the opposite side of the hall opened, spilling light into the corridor. The man who opened it wore the elaborate robes of a ComStar Precentor. By the look on his face, he was almost as starled as the shadow he had surprised. His hand reached again for the knob, but the intruder's gun spoke in a series of stuttering coughs before the Precentor could take the first backward step.
Bright bursts of blood starred the man's robes, and his body jerked as he staggered back into the room under the force of the continued impacts. He tumbled backwards over a chair to land splayed on the floor. Slugs continued to tear into his body long after it had stopped moving on its own volition.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2009, 06:52:41 PM by CJvR » Report to moderator Logged
Takiro
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Re: HPG Operations
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2009, 07:50:04 PM »
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Hey thanks CJvR!
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Raid...
« Reply #5 on: January 09, 2009, 08:07:01 PM »
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The first shadow returned. Its head.covering hood had been removed, revealing the face of Anton Shadd. The commando leader's face was set in a mask of rage. His hand snaked out to slap the pudgy, black clad figure across its concealed face. The blow broke the paralysis that welded the man's gloved finger to the trigger of his weapon.
"Unity, Scott!" Shadd gritted out. His voice was low to keep it from carrying too far. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Tech Chief Scott gasped like a gaffed pisciform. His left hand came up and dragged the hood and Blackwell night goggles from his head. His face was pale and slicked with sweat. He gobbled air. It took two tries before he could find his voice. Imitating Shadd, he spoke in a whisper.
"He came through the door. I thought he was going to give the alarm."
"So you shot him!" Shadd's voice was full of disgust. "That was the Precentor. We needed him for the transmission codes."
"He surprised me. I thought he was going to give us away."
"You panicked."
"So what if I did?" Scott shot back. "I wasn't trained for this. Im a Tech, not a professional killer like you Sevens."
Shadd clenched his jaw, biting off a retort. Instead, he said, "I found the HPG control chamber. Let's go." Shadd closed the door on the carnage and returned the corridor to darkness. "Next time, leave any killing to the professionals."
Not a word passed between the two Dragoons on the short walk to their destination.
Smoke from the presence lamps hung in a greasy haze below the chamber's high, domed ceiling. The red-tinted glass filled the room with a ruddy glow, and incarnadine reflections glinted from shiny chrome and pale plastic hardware.
The Hyperulse Generator's bulky regulator equipment and horseshoe-shaped control board dominated the center of the room. Heavy, shielded cables emerged from the machinery and ran to the north wall, behind which was hidden the massive generator. Lesser communication devices, computer consoles, and data storage units lined the walls.
An open stairway led from the entrance to a catwalk that that circled the chamber three meters above the floor. The velvet-draped, high-backed chair was the Precentor's throne, positioned to give him a view of the action of his Acolytes as they preformed the transmission rituals.
Shadd checked for other entrances while Scott walked to the control consol and studdied the layout. The commando found a small door on the south wall. From the orbital photos of the compound that he studied, he knew it opened into the private garden of the Precentor's residence. There was little likelihood of disturbance from that quarter. The only other portals to the outside were shutted windows along the catwalk.
A rattling sound made Shadd swivel suddenly, his subgun at the ready. Seeing that the noise was only the Tech Chief removing a panel from the front of the control board, he relaxed. Scott was poking and prying at the exposed wiring and circuit boards in a desultory fashion.
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Raid...
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2009, 08:25:44 PM »
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"Come on, Scott. Every minute you wast fiddling with that thing means we're more likely to get caught."
"This isn't easy, Shadd. This malking machine's a patchwork. It's been crosswired eight ways to Sunday. There are patches on top of patches in the wiring. So many that I can't be sure what circuit is what. I don't think the Robes had any idea what they were doing."
"I don't want to hear it," Shadd growled. "You're supposed to be the communications wizard. Prove it!"
Scott grimaced but bent back to his work. His curses rose in a regular stream while Shadd busied himself checking the locks on the doors. At the back entrance, he was sliding a pair of file cabinets across the door when a subgun suddenly barked outside the chamber.
"Damn!" Shadd muttered. Somebody had slipped up, or else they'd found the Precentor's body. Either way, their penetration had been discovered.
An alarm began to sound as Shadd bolted up the stairs to the catwalk. He halted beside the window looking out over the inner court. The firing was coming from that direction. Careful to minimize his exposure, Shadd slid open the shutters.
Searchlights were sweeping the grounds. In their stark light, Shadd could see ComStar troopers and Kuritans trying to force their way across the courtyard. His team was laying down a withering fire with their silenced weapons. The sound of the attackers' guns and the hooting alarm completlt covered any sound those weapons were making. Shadd could not tell how many of his men were holding the entrance.
Shadd called down to Scott. "You've just been put on a deadline, wizard."
"It had better not be a short one," Scott replied. His voice echoed out of the cabinet where he had stuck his head.
Returning his attention to the courtyard, Shadd spotted a trio of Draconians moving along the far colonnade, well on their way to achieving a flanking position. From the angle, Shadd could tell that the Snakes were out of line-of-sight from the entrance his men guarded. He swung into the window, fired a burst at the runners, and ducked back as soon as he lifted the finger from the trigger.
When no slugs came searching for him, he knew that the flash suppressor on his Ceres Arms Ranger had done its job. None of the enemy had marked his position. He risked a look to check the results of his fire. Two of the runners had dropped, sprawling. The third was skittering back the way he had come. The defence of the entrance was secure for a while longer.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2009, 08:35:56 PM by CJvR » Report to moderator Logged
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Re: HPG Operations
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2009, 09:12:06 PM »
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Scott's shout of triump brought Shadd around in time to see lights ficker, then stabilize into a steady glow along the control boards of the Hyper-Pulse Generator. A whine began that climbed in a steady tone befor dropping into a steady hum.
"It's ready," the Tech Chief announced with satisfaction.
"What about the codes?"
"Bypassed them."
"Then send the message. Exactly as the Colonel gave it to us. Not a word out of place."
"I'm not a novice, Shadd," Scott grumbed, turning to the keyboard.
With the lull in the fighting outside, Shadd listened to the clack of the keys that seemed to mark time like the ticking of some ancient clock. But time was in short supply. Every passing moment reduced the strike force's chance of escaping from the compound.
The crackling roar of a plasma flamer echoed across the courtyard announcing the renewal of combat.
Shadd looked out the window to see the upper body of a BattleMech visible above the roof of the outer building. Silhouetted in the predawn light, the machine resembled a headless scarecrow. Shadd recognized the shape as that of Vulcan, a fearsome antipersonnel 'Mech.
When the machine's right arm flamer belched a second burst of plasma, the backflash lit its torso. Shadd recognized the symbol that decorated the 'Mech's left chest as the black dragon of house Kurita. So, the Snakes had raised the ante.
The Vulcan's plasma burst scorched everything it did not set aflame. Screams came from the entryway. Good men were dying.
Kurita soldiers came boiling from the outer building. Nothing slowed them as they rushed across the courtyard. No gunfire. No grenades. His men at the entrance to the generator building were dead. Shadd hoped that some had been able to retreat deeper into the building and take up a new defensive position where the 'Mech couldn't reach them. If they had, the Snakes wouldn't winkel them out easily. The commandos would trade their lives for time.
The lights on the HPG consol dimmed briefly with the power surge as the generator sent its interstellar pulse into space. Shadd found the Tech Chief grinning in pleasure, oblivious to his surroundings. Shadd could do nothing but shake his head.
The commando leader keyed his comm unit. "Muhammad to base."
The response was immediate. "Go ahead, Muhammad" said Jaime Wolf.
"It's a Snake nest here. 'Mechs too. Don't expect us home."
"Success?"
"The word is out, Colonel. Get the people out, too."
"You will be rememberd in the halls."
Shadd cut the circuit. The men of the Seventh Kommando lived and died in darkness and deception. Rememberd in the halls, the Colonel had said. He couldn't ask for more. Clicking a fresh magazine into the Ranger, he walked to the door to await the assault.
From Wolves on the border by Robert N. Charrette.
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Re: HPG Operations
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2009, 12:51:55 PM »
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Thanks CJvR.
Mine is in Spanish, not much help.
And if I remember well, you had another description of a HPG when some guys sent a message to the Bounty Hunter.
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In Turn they tested each Clan namesake in trial against the Ice Hellion's mettle. Each chased the Ice Hellion, hunting it down. All failed to match the predator's speed and grace. Khan Cage smiled and said, "And that is how we shall be."
The Remembrance (Clan Ice Hellion) Passage: 5, Verse 3, Lines 1 - 5
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Topic: HPG Operations (Read 3707 times)