"We think that Sender is going to try to hurt the locals. Intelligence reports a build-up near critical infrastructure. We're going in to sort the issue out. Maybe this time we'll catch that slippery shiteweasel Sender and send him to the afterlife he so craves."
Tom's voice was hard. Sender had shown himself to be an adherent of the worst of the Jade Falcon's doctrines that saw anyone but their own as not really human. No Full Throttle Lemming would ever do that.
Later, he sat in the cockpit of his Devastator and waited. Scanners showed the approach of a force of mechs and infantry.
"Right, Lemmings, here they come. Remember to take out the infantry first and protect the water plant. Once the saboteur units are down, we'll take those mechs apart and grab that sweet, sweet salvage."
He flipped the speakers on his mech to external and music blared out.
"This one's for you, Sender."
With the Jade Falcon force coming at the plant from the Lemmings' left flank, Tom could see that it would be a race to intercept them. It was also clear that the Lemmings would struggle to stay focused on the infantry with mech targets available.
"Brickyard, Goldfish, you're with me. We're going after the chicken mechas. Ironwood, you're moving in on the right flank. Call if you need fire support, but I hope you don't. We're going to have our work cut out for us here. The rest of you are with Ironwood. Take out the infantry now. Bonus beers are on me if they fail to sabotage anything."
There was a cheer from the others at the thought of free beer. Then they got stuck in. Combat vehicle turbines were cranked up to the max to get to the plant first. Tom really hoped that they would survive long enough against the infantry to prevent the planned sabotage as he watched the hover vehicles kick up rooster sprays crossing the river.
"Alf, Howler, Cherry, follow me in. We're going down the middle. Juggler, Goose, Migraine, swing round the right and cut in from there. I got two hotspots on your route in. Both teams, aim to meet up at the far end of the plant," Turi "Ironwood" Skogen had a clear plan for clearing the plant.
Suddenly there was an explosion.
"Dammit, Ironwood, the area's boobytrapped. I've got leg actuator damage," Alf cursed.
Meanwhile, Headcase, Goldfish and Brickyard were moving into position to take on the oncoming Jade Falcon mechas and coming under fire.
"Shit, bastard's blown my leg out," Tom swore. A lucky shot had trashed the Devastator's right leg and now it was limping along at half speed.
The other two were having better luck as missiles rained down on the oncoming Baboon and Locust IIC, but it was getting hot for all of them.
Ironwood's troop were making quick work of the enemy infantry, although Migraine's Savannah Master had holes in its armour by the time they were down. The saboteurs had boobytrapped the plant in advance of their work and she had tripped one of the traps.
Despite this, and despite Howler's Wolfhound having its armour slagged, they worked together quickly and systematically to identify the enemy infantry and neutralise them.
Tom's troop neutralised the enemy light mechs and turned their attention to the remaining Summoner and Marauder IIC.
Seeing the plight of his infantry, the enemy commander detailed a Rifleman IIC to head into the plant and deal with Ironwood's troop. Its autocannons chattered at high speed and Alf's Wasp was crushed under the weight of the fire. Alf did not punch out of his mecha.
With almost all the saboteurs found and dispatched, Ironwood detailed her troop to surround the Rifleman.
"Kill that muddy funster! Revenge for Alf!"
The combined fire of all the vehicles and mechs left the hostile mecha a smoking wreck and they moved on to take out the last of the saboteur crews. As Migraine's Savannah Master moved into position with the two J. Edgar Light Hovertanks, the saboteurs opened up on her vehicle and the engine blew out even as the fire from Ironwood's troop cut down every last saboteur.
"Aaargh, if I only had one more ..." Migraine's last words left the others wondering.
On the other flank, the Summoner and the Marauder IIC were concentrating their fire on Tom's Devastator. It was a massive machine of mayhem but its armour could still only withstand so much.
"Headcase, punching out."
Next second, Tom felt a massive g-force that nearly caused him to pass out. As he rose into the air, he saw his Devastator crumple to the floor. And as he floated back down, he got a view of the Lemmings working as a team to bring down one hostile after the other. Despite the pain of the ejection, he felt like a proud father.
With Tom's Devastator down, Goldfish and Brickyard were left to finish off the enemy commander's Summoner, while the Marauder IIC sought to get behind them. They tag-teamed it in a deadly dance that saw each pilot hopping behind the other until the Marauder pilot sought cover behind cliffs, only for all the remaining Lemmings to mass near it. With his machine crippled, the Falcon pilot punched out.
"A toast to our fallen," Tom's eyes were blackened and he ached, but he was grateful to be alive, "Alf and Migraine will be missed. Remember their names and that of Finn when we chase down the last of these scumsucking chickens. Tonight we celebrate saving the whole plant, but tomorrow we find out where the rest of the psycho chickens are and we cut their heads off"
The assembled Lemmings drank deeply.
This scenario was characterised by the hostile force rolling way more double 6s than is acceptable. The number of non-penetrating critical hits was utterly ridiculous. It also saw me burning edge tokens like they grew on trees. The only reason Tom survived the destruction of his Devastator was because I used an edge token to reroll a critical hit that would otherwise have seen bits of Tom Skalle all over the battlefield and the Devastator an unrecoverable wreck.
Regrettably, neither Alf nor Migraine had that luxury and they died in the cockpits of their machines. It was an expensive scenario in terms of maintenance costs because of all the critical hits.
Also, I forgot to take photos, because I was too busy having fun. Sorry.







