Dragoons 1.1
Since the warriors, of Clan Wolf, hadn't brought a full lance with them ... well Henry wasn't surprised this took the form of individual combat, simulated of course. "What are we looking at?" Henry asked peering over the display. He really would have expected Marauder II assault battlemechs but was disappointed... though that was probably to the cadet's benefit.
"Two Medium mechs, sir. Two 55 Tonners. Hoplite and Wolverine."
The Wolverine was a 6R nothing special there. The Hoplite had been lost to the Inner Sphere, and its presence was probably nothing. Maybe he'd misunderstood, or overestimated the dislike of anything Wolverine. Not that Henry particularly cared, he might have to ask his own Clan Hells Horse personnel, but that would be waiting until after the Dragoons left. Henry made a mental note as he looked at the rotating holographic profiles to ask about the Hoplite as well.
No los tech.
Not that he'd been really expecting any. "Alright carry on." This would be a simulated fight. Don Juan destined for the seventh crucis lancers was chomping at the bit at least as much as Justin was, and to be fair the two Dragoons seemed eager for the match as well. Sakhara had after all been founded and had trained SLDF officers in the distant era.
Henry moved away from his two men in their khakis and stepped towards Alexandria. "They're going to do something rash."
"Most likely yes," He replied. "But its two on two. I like the 4 Bravo, but its a ranged platform through and through, built for fighting at range. It would make sense to get up close. "He replied... not voicing his suspicion that the 4B might well have been outfitted by the clans to reflect their ideas of how gentlemanly warfare between warriors should be conducted. If he were being honest the Combine would probably liked it quite well for their own duels, and the culture that had developed around those niceties.
"The machine was extinct until the dragoons returned."
He nodded, "Yes that's right, I don't see much wrong with it," A clan model would be absurdly dangerous with their missiles... but the 4B was just an introtech machine he'd seen the readouts, and certainly the simmunitions were configured to act in accordance with the accepted ranges. "Let the boys have their fun Lex. If they acquit themselves well, all the better." If they didn't, they'd be a lesson for the other cadets, and hopefully a lesson to the boys.
"Something is bothering you about the Dragoon's visit." It wasn't a question.
He shook his head, "Just something Coleridge said, don't think they'll be satisfied if they can beat the boys up. Don't particularly want them starting trouble with my men either."
"Some kind of clan scuffle?"
"I don't know how well Wolf and Horse are getting on," He replied, "But I suspect that its just a rivalry but its a distraction I don't think anyone needs." More so than she realized. Nothing he had said was actually wrong, but he glanced over the deep red sands of the desert field. If he kept his assault cluster out of sight people were going to mention it because that was unusual. The RAC presence with their heavy armor had become ubiquitous the cadets thought they were a bit queer in custom but they were used to the presence of the tankers.
Really that there were only two was enough that he wasn't especially worried about the combine showing up. He'd rely on his men regardless of their origins... and then he'd deal with the consequences if it came to that... even if that meant Jaime Wolf showing up at his damned doorstep afterwards... he just wanted more time, though he wasn't quite sure if more time would give him any better ideas.
There was a click of an ornate golden pocket watch, a ridiculous absurd piece of art, "Well, I'd say we should begin."
The vice chancellor nodded to the old instructor who was holding the watch. Coleridge had been the most outspoken in support of things like this, demonstrations to attempt to show the quality of cadets and their abilities but he wouldn't have done that without support. Not that he had to do much in the way of finagling to manage this, the Vice Chancellor had all the pull he needed just from his post, but likely with everything that had happened since Henry had come onboard and with all the effort put into the school Coleridge and his supporters of alumni statesmen and the truth was he expected those communications were made much easier by the jumpship circuit which carried news readily from New Avalon... but also those men wanted the cadets to show their worth to the Dragoons.
Henry watched the officiator of the exercise move to a lectern with microphones galore and that transmitted to both the four machines waiting, and boomed throughout the dug out observation space from which the class were gathered. Henry tuned out the formalities, they were irrelevant to him and he had more important things to concern himself with.
The Wolverine was a superlative medium mech, perhaps not perfect but a reliable and well rounded machine, "its the inverse of the Trebuchet Centurion pairing." Alexandria observed. She was referencing in contrast to the trebuchet the missile boat involved on the Dragoon side, the 4B Hoplite carried an LRM 15 but mounted a smaller 220 series DAV Fusion Engine. It was slower than its escort... though on the other hand it also mounted a Magna Hellstar PPC. The Wolverine carried a heavier 275, the ubiquitous across the inner sphere core tek model rugged and reliable and capable of pushing the 55 tonner farther and faster than the other mechs on the field.
That mobility wouldn't necessarily do it much good, "I don't think that's part of the plan, the Wolverine could split off from the Hoplite," It could, it had that ability, but for what good ...not much that Henry could see in the comparatively limited space of the pretend battlefield. Close enough that Henry wouldn't have been surprised if Diaz and Allard both had agreed to move aggressively into close quarters space.
Mitchell reached him as the dust began to kick up. No indication of Zellbringen then as the Wolverine jumped, and the Hoplite slathered a volley of paint laden simmunition missiles towards the cadets starting point as the two mechs began to move apart. The experimental centurion pilot nodded, "Shouldn't expect a long fight, not enough room, and too many machines involved." And not the right personalities for there to be a stalk around.
"No longer than the matches on New Avalon," He agreed to his his test pilot. As he had attempted to repeatedly beat into their skulls, an official called a simulated PPC hit from the Hellstar the hoplite carried. In real battle, where both 'teams' had had to advance to contact with the enemy the Hoplite only about four hundred meters distant would have been shooting long before this, though it had connected solidly on Justin, the Cataphract's large laser was still in range to return fire. In a protracted firefight, which the three of them, including Alexandria, were in agreement this was unlikely to be the seventy tonner would run hot if Justin wasn't careful... but no Zellbringen Don Juan had thrown his own machine forward and was rushing the faster Wolverine.
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Notes: For Reference I use this I hope this link doesn't frag:
https://www.wolfsdragoons.com/downl...iles - some good stuff/4SW_Wolfs_Dragoons.pdf.
