Battle on the Thames River

Well, we lucked out this time.

When our scouts reported heavy Wobblie presence in our sector, everybody was placed on high alert. We got even more spooked when some of our recon units got smashed, and one lance of stragglers from a raid disappeared without a trace. For a while, it looked bad.

Old Man Jackson quickly pulled units from all over, even strpping some neighboring sectors of their defences so we can protect the Legion project better. Well, the other COs were unhappy, but it ain't exactly their ass on the line.

As a rookie, I was posted to one of the experimental Legionaires, because we couldn't afford to put our best jockeys in prototypes that hadn't really been tested in battle yet. Everybody was edgy for the week before the actual attack, though we didn't know when the hammer would fall.

When sensors five klicks out blared out the presence of incoming mechs, we scrambled. The old man knew what he was doing. We had plenty of tanks and mechs, and we outnumbered the toaster-worshippers pretty badly. Still, I can't forget the way the Blakists moved their mechs. The tech boys said they found bits of metal in some of the pilots after the battle, and there was some kind of weird tech that enabled them to con their mechs with style.

Not that it helped them any. They came in straight at us, and we shot back with everything we had, including the kitchen sink. They lost a Hussar right away, and we soon got into a slinging match. It was a bit close for a while, but their CO misjudged the distance, from what the other jocks say. We could hit them, and that meant we could kill them.

I even got my first kill.

It was a crazyMongoose that dashed into our backfield. It was sliding like a snake, and none of us could hit it. My Legionaire was hunkered down, trying to avoid making myself a target, but it came straight at me. Seems like they were out to shutdown the project.

I can't remember exactly what I did, but I think I just pointed the RAC in the Mongoose's direction and let 'er rip. The next thing I knew, the Marshal himself was on the comms to congratulate me.

The rest of the battle was a bit of a blur after that. The Blakists realized they were badly outgunned, and three damn Wraiths went in to thrash the project buildings. They did a fair bit of damage, but we stopped them. Just barely. Their King Crabs came in, and we whapped them silly. Stupid robes don't know that you don't charge into a bunch of gauss rifles.

For some reason, they pulled back after we headshotted their Vanquisher. Seemed like they lost any stomach for a fight, seeing that we still had more than a company left on the field. But two Wraiths, and two of the stealth mechs, managed to escape, and from all accounts, one of those Wraiths held one of their COs. Their other CO, in the Legacy, got captured. He's now a guest of the MIIO boys.

Heard they're dragging some choice intel out of him. Good. It's payback time.

Cadet Reggie Evans, New Avalon
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It was a decisive victory for the FedSuns. Considering the mistakes made by the Wobblies early on, it could have been much worse.

The exact nature of Part Two: Riposte, will depend on the overall situation and the collated scores of all Vengeance Gambit events. This time, however, I will be building the units, basing them on the survivors of Part One, and taking into account preexisting damage.

Riposte will be held in October, on the 15th or 22nd, Sunday. Pls make time for that day, preferably till 11pm.

Until then, we'll run simple lance on lance games to amuse ourselves.

For what's it worth, the Wobblies are all taking a beating. Our scores here were about 1000(FS) to 500(Wob). Some places had scores of 1000(FS) to 40(Wob).

Sheesh.