Neveron: The Battle Never Ends

This is a tale set in Neveron. A MMORPG set in the Battletech universe. Epoch's BRs are related to Neveron. This game is free, and located at www.neveron.com. You build an empire, fight wars, research technologies, and fight in gladiator style arenas. This story describes me, the emperor of the empire known as the Dark Fire Mercenaries. I did not start this war, for a merc contract, I did it for land, glory, and enemy infrastructure. Infra is buildings that give you cash, which I needed. Also, winning wars and taking land makes people very happy, and happy people make more money. The attack started with me purchasing a dropzone near my enemy. He is the Black Ice Outpost 1. My assault force consisted of 4 hovertanks known as Pegasuses. These were fast, light tanks that mounted Medium Lasers and Short-Range Missiles. It also included a Mongoose Light Mech. This was a very fast, lightly armored, laser mounting mech. It had 4 Medium Lasers. The rest of the force was some Stiletto Anti-Infantry Tanks, some Scorpion Light Tanks, and a Vedette Autocannon 20 variant. The Scorpion is slow, with a small, long range gun. The Stilettos are fast, with very small, short-range guns. The Vedette is kinda slow, with a very big, short range gun. This is how it went.

Captain Searo Jr. sat in his PEG-X1, stunned at the news. The MON-67 mech had been lost, the pilot, Nitryll, affectionately called Strider, had been killed in the explosion. The light tanks hadn't fared any better, all were destroyed. Only his elite lance of Peggies remained. He sent a closed comm message back to his dad, the emperor. Captain Searo Sr. had remained at home in the capital city of Fichall. He also radioed to the other men, telling them to keep patrolling the area. Suddenly, a Phoenix Hawk 45 ton Medium Mech popped up on sensors. It was like a big, mean, Wolfhound. 1 Large Laser, 2 Mediums, and this variant may have Machine Guns as well.He relayed the message to his lance to strafe around the mech, peppering it with shots, hoping that their high speed would make them hard to hit. They kept this up, and the mech continued to miss. It's armor became thin, and sparks shot out of several places. He noticed the a Pegasus was lagging behind, it's armor scarred. It had been injured in a previous fight. Suddenly the mech hit it with a Laser, smashing the already damaged armor and causing the hover engine to go supernova. The crew didn't feel anything, Searo hoped. With blood pumping in his ears, he launched another volley of precious Short Range Missile Ammo, or SRM. This hit home, and the mech finally died. Flushed with victory, Searo sent a comms to his dad, and asked him to come on up for some fun. Searo Sr.'s WLF-1 Wolfhound was en route.

3 Nev-days later...

A giant, cumbersome Landing Craft, or LC, set down in the tiny city. The city was oddly named Paradise, although it looked rather forsaken to Captain Searo "Ace" Ficha Sr. His small, nimble mech was loaded with lasers, but it clanked down the exit ramp and he greeted his son and the other 2 hovertanks. Now he had a lance to throw at the enemy. They attacked the bustling metropolis of Producta Moeem the next day. It was far from lightly defended. Searo's radar showed that 8-9 light tanks, a few heavy tanks, and some very light mechs were present. He shouted into the commlink, "Alright boys, keep moving, their gunners aren't near as good as ours." The "Whizkid" or Searo Jr. followed his advice, and cranked the throttle up to 100%. The hoverlift fans whined as he skimmed over the rough terrain. Suddenly, a Behemoth tank came into view. The Whizkid cursed, that thing had more weaponry than their entire force. It was dubbed a Semi-Mobile turret, due to it's pathetic movement. He could run circles around it, but it had over 15 assorted weapons. Searo Sr. or "Ace" as he was known, picked up several Striker Light Missile Tanks, a Hunter Support tank, and some Saracen Hover tanks. A Locust Light Mech came into view as well. A few good hits should bring it down... The PEGs were moving constantly, their gunners systematically picking off light tanks. Their honed skills let them zero in on lightly shielded electronics and fuel systems, and when they hit those spots, the enemy tanks exploded quickly. So far they had massacred many Scorpions and Strikers. The Behemoth was inching along, throwing out massive amounts of missiles and lasers. "Ace"s mech had taken a lot of punishment. All of the light tanks had focused on it, and he had accidentally moved in front of one of the Behemoth's salvos. When his read-out told him that all armor was gone from the torso section, he had to pull out. He radioed a good luck to the tanks, and ran to the border, where he made it back to the rural town of Paradise. It didn't look good for the three Pegasi. More light tanks had poured in, and the Behemoth was spewing missiles at everything that moved. They kept hammering the Behemoth with their Medium Lasers and Short Range Missiles. Finally, a missile scored a hit on the turret, locking it into place. This came at a steep cost, 2 tanks were severely injured, one with Whizkid in it, and the other's hoverlift was destroyed. It sat there, spinning it's turret, firing the Laser at random targets. Whizkid made a dash for Paradise, but a stray shot fried his Airlift too. He was immobile, right on the border. He continued firing at the Behemoth, but it easily outmatched his light tank. Searo Jr.'s Pegasus took hit after hit, and finally it shut down. Searo and crew bailed out, and made it to Paradise where they were lifted back to Dark Fire Mercenary HQ. Then the battered Peg self-destructed, the remaining SRM shots spiralling into the air. Then the next Pegasus exploded, this time the crew wasn't so lucky. The 3rd and final tank was desperate, it ran for the border, but every enemy had targeted it. Shots slammed into the last tank, and it suffered Turret Failures, and Hoverlift failures too. The crew cursed, and waited for the enemy to take their tank apart.

10 nevdays later...

Dark circles were under Captain Ficha Sr.'s eyes. He hadn't slept for a while. For a moment there, he had almost lost his son... No, he wouldn't dwell on that. He was the sole remaining offensive unit Dark Fire had left, and he would take it to the enemy. Shortly after the assault failed, he had taken off from Paradise in a LC, and landed in Alpha Post. Alpha post was an Allied repair bay. He had never been there before, but the technicians looked very efficient in the large facility. Mech arms and legs lined the walls, and there were several large warehouses full of ammo. He looked at White Fang, it was battle-scarred and pockmarked from the Behemoth. The techs swarmed it, and he heard the sizzle of welding and melting iron. He was escorted to sleeping quarters to wait while the mech was repaired. He slept like a log, and when he awoke he was cheerful and bright. This would be the day they would conquer Black Ice. A tech rushed to him, the tech looked grim. "What's wrong? Is White Fang ok?" The tech hesitated, and then spoke, "Well, during the repair process an armor plate overheated, and White Fang suffered a severe meltdown in the right torso region. All armor had to be stripped from there, but we can repair it in a day or two." Searo was furious, his ally paid these techs good money for god's sake. He stormed back into his room and sent a comm to his ally telling him to fire some of those incompetent techs. He wished that Dark Fire had enough researchers to figure out how to build a repair bay. Stupid budget cuts.

One nev-day later...

Finally! White Fang looked good as new. The mech was ready to kick some can. He admired the new layer of black and red paint, and he grinned at the decals of flames on the Large Laser. He climbed into the cockpit, and clanked into the waiting LC. He was en route to Paradise, pardon the pun. A few hours later, he noticed something was wrong. Paradise had enemy troops in it, the LC swerved away and landed him in a barren wasteland, several kilos from Paradise. He cursed, and sprinted across the empty desert. His sensors indicated enemies in the next zone, he was ready for em. He crossed the zone boundary and quickly picked up the enemy Drillson Heavy Hover tank. He knew these were semi-fast, and they packed a ton of weapons. He kept running, and tried to keep up with the Drillson. He squeezed off Large Laser shots when possible, the Drillson rarely scored LRM shots on him. Finally, it turned, and he swerved to the right to cut it off. This brought him into Medium Laser range, and he shot 2 along with his LL. The LL and an ML smashed into the tank, no major damage though. He kept up the chase, and continued sprinting through woods and over hills, even mountains. He kept shooting, hoping his mech wouldn't overheat. A LL melted the Drillson's armor, and ignited some ammo. Suddenly, the Drillson exploded in a blinding flash. Searo smiled, and checked damage readouts. He had taken some armor damage, but no internal electronics were missing. He decided to hit the next zone. That Drillson had cost at least 25 million dollars, and he had killed it with no losses. Once again he stepped over the boundary line, he was nearing Paradise. This zone was a mesa, high in the clouds and covered in thick forests. He managed to pick up a Behemoth. He couldn't tell if this was the same one, or a different one. It's armor was new though. He sprinted towards it, trying to stay out of range of most of it's weapons, but still getting close enough to snipe at it with his Large Laser. SRMs thudded into the ground next to him. Too close! He pulled back a little and continued melting the frontal armor of the Behemoth. He hit its tread, and it got even slower, if possible. It had been spitting LRMs at him like crazy, but the gunner was obviously cross-eyed. Nothing hit him, and he never missed a shot. He started to wear the smoking wall of armor down, and the frontal area was at 30%. The Behemoth exploded in a massive fireball. Searo felt the shockwave and heat from far away. He wondered what in the heck had just happened. His only guess was that the scorched armor had ignited the fuel or the ammo, causing the tank to explode. Lucky, he guessed. Searo the attacked Paradise, and his sensors picked up a single INF unit. It quickly ran away from the mech. He attacked Producta, again. The light tanks had doubled in number, and another Locust was there. He melted a Saracen's hoverlift, and took shots at the locust and the scorpions on his trail. He hid in some woods, and then ducked behind a large building, squeezing off Lasers. The Scorpions autocannons kept firing, but the gunners were definitely blind. The Locust was getting luckier, so he made a break for Paradise. He kept running, trying to shield his right side, which was missing all armor, and all but 2 points of internal electronics. He kept shooting the locust. He blew a hole in it's middle, scorched it's chest, and blasted it's arm off. It still had it's Medium Laser, but it's Machine Guns had been disabled. Somehow it continued to stand, and it ran up to him, and kicked him. The mech was jarred violently, and he heard the servos whine as they tried to balance. His head banged into a monitor, but he kept hold of consciousness. He fought the controls, and kept the mech upright. Running, running, always running. His lip bled, and a tooth was very loose. His hand was wet, blood was dripping onto it from a gash in his forehead. He would be ok. He rotated the torso while running, and kept shooting the Locust until he reached the border. He steered his mech clumsily up the LC ramp, and passed out. He awoke in Fichall, the capital and HQ of Dark Fire. He saw White Fang in the Mech Garage next to his mansion. Being emperor had it's privileges. But what about Black Ice? His son burst into the room. "What the hell is going on son?" "Dad, calm down, you suffered a concussion." "I know that! Give me some intel, we are in a war for God's sake!" Searo Jr. frowned, and he said slowly, "Well, the LC pilot dropped you off at Alpha Post, we were going to hold you there until you recovered, and then send you back to fight, but something went wrong." Emperor Searo interrupted, "WHAT HAPPENED?" Whizkid quickly replied, "A level 4 empire took our dropzone, and all the other zones we had in that area. We are pulling out, and ending the campaign." Searo nodded, and then fell back asleep.

4 nev-days later...

Captain Ficha Sr. awoke in a small cot. He was glad the war was over...wait, this wasn't where he went to bed at. "Where the hell am I?" Whizkid jumped up from a sleeping bag on the floor. "We are in Cenarius, a small village on the outskirts of the empire." "What are we doing here?" Whizkid replied, "During the night paratroopers with jumpjets landed in the empty zone next to Fichall, our HQ. A mixed company of mechs and tanks was shuttled in from some other empire. They stormed Fichall, and destroyed White Fang. We evacuated the city. Your concussion was worse than expected, and you were unconscious the whole time. Luckily, when we arrived here, a small clinic treated a minor case of brain swelling." Searo was crushed. Their last military unit destroyed. Fichall in ruins. "I'm sending a comms to Savage. Bring Major Rik Dalaran in." Rik was an advisor to the Ficha line. He was also the treasurer and Co-Construction Supervisor. His younger brother, Jyte, had grown up with Searo Sr. and was given the honorary rank of Captain. He knew Rik had a 50-million reserve fund for extreme emergencies. Now to write that message to Savage. Savage was just that, savage. He was a war-happy, and energetic faction leader loaded with cash. He was the Emperor of Kuin, and the Faction Leader of the Kizo faction. Dark Fire Mercs were in Kizo. He checked the map readout, Steel Dragons had taken Fichall. A level 7! This empire was many times larger than Dark Fire. He couldn't have defended Fichall before his force was killed. He also wrote a comms to send to the Orion Raiders. Jack Orion led them, and he was neighbors with Searo. He prayed that Orion would be interested in their plight, afterall, they had been neighbors ever since Orion was started. The Orion Raiders were a level 8 empire, but they had a different name and emperor befor Jack. He had maintained a Diplomatic Relations treaty with Searo ever since the beginning. Rik arrived, and handed Searo a 50 million dollar nev-dollar chip. Searo grinned wickedly. "What are you gonna blow that on now, young Searo?" Rik was an Alfred-like figure to Searo, but he still hated being called young. "What do you think old man? I'm getting me a new mech."

1 nev-month later...

At last! Orion had finally responded after waiting for an entire Nev-month. Savage had nearly burst with anticipation. He wanted a fight, and Steel Dragons was a good target. Searo warned him off, and said Orion would come through. The shiny new PHX-1D had arrived the day he bought it. He christened it, the "Arisen." Very symbolic that his mech was named after a bird that rose from the ashes after death. Orion had agreed to retake Fichall. He attacked very quickly, taking a few casualties. Jack made Searo promise not to attack Black Ice anymore, and the war was over. Searo was glad, and they held a massive celebration in Fichall when it was recaptured. He noticed, angrily, that his personal wine-store was missing some excellent 3199 bottles. He relaxed in his chair, and watched the bustle of citizens in Fichall. Life was good, again.

This is a true story, set in Neveron, at www.neveron.com. Join the war!

-Pr0be