Mission #4: Primer

"So long as no harm comes to my family,

   I will be a loyal servant of the Jaguars."

That was the justification Kumiko told herself as she got out of bed each day.  It was the driving force behind her performing duties, which in a different light would be seen as aiding the enemy.  She was relatively sure the Jaguars had not made the connection between herself and the Matsuzaka cattle ranch that was on Port Arthur.  She figured it wouldn't matter much if they had figured it out anyway, with the clanners disdain for freebirths and lack of understanding about family units.

So each day Bondswoman Kumiko would report to Mechwarrior Joba, be ridiculed for 10 to 15 minutes, then proceed to service his battlemech.  She figured the constant barrage of insults and reprimands from Joba was just way of dealing with the fact he was a substandard clan warrior.  He was lazy for a clanner, and was physically out of shape compared with his fellow mechwarriors.  The fact he was still piloting a battlemech was testament to how strained the Jaguar forces were after years warfare.

Things were about to change for Kumiko.  Last night after completing her duties she went to the mess to grab a bite to eat.  Normally she just gets her meal and returns to her quarters, however she overheard a mechwarrior talking about a recent mission he had been on.  She grabbed her food and snagged a seat within ear shot of the rambeling solahma mechwarrior.

"Rickey knows when it is time to beat feet, then it was time to beat feet, so that is what Rickey did.  Do not be calling Rickey a coward, Rickey has been around long enough to know the difference.  Things went bad at those cattle farms.  Rickey had run into that Inner sphere unit before.  They did a number on us when we were hunting down those stray mechs behind our lines.  That Raven got away, but we nailed a Catapult.  Anyway, Rickey was told it was going to be a cakewalk mission, just destroy the two cattle farms and farmhouses.  Rickey heard something about the ranchers had betrayed the Jaguar, Rickey does not know for sure, and Rickey is too old to care.  At the farms that inner sphere unit took out all of our tank support, but not before the tanks had destroyed the farmhouses and cattle barns.  Rickey was dueling with a Phoenix Hawk of theirs, took out half the weapons on it too.  But the rest of their force was flanking us from the other farmstead, so Rickey thought it was time to go.  Do you know how fast I can get that Spider going? Damn fast!  They had no chance of catching Rickey.  Do not look at me like that., Rickey did not call the order to withdraw.  That was Cano, but he made the right call."  Mechwarrior Rickey stated as he nodded his head in the direction of Star Commander Cano who had just entered the mess.  Cano glared at the group now looking in his direction including Kumiko, who was a little paler than normal.  Kumiko left her meal, got up and went straight to her quarters.

  She hadn't gotten much sleep, she was busy coming up with a plan.  She knew that the Jaguars had struck her childhood home, and she was no longer honor bound to them.  She came up with a plan to escape and hopefully join up with this inner sphere unit that Mechwarrior Rickey had been talking about.

It did not take much convincing for her to get  Joba to let her bring his Hunchback IIC to the firing range in order to work out a bug she had discovered with the targeting computers.  She slated the "test" at 6pm that evening when many of the Jaguar mechwarriors would be sitting down to dinner.  More importantly that sun would be setting and she could use the darkness to aid in her escape.  She hoped she would have the secluded firing range to herself, but that was not the case.  Star Captain Gerigh was on the range with his Mad Cat.  The Mad Cat Torso twisted ever so briefly to see who was coming to the range.  "I reserved the range for myself, explain yourself Joba!" Kumiko heard over the comms as she was passing behind the Star Captain's mech as if to head toward the next firing station.

  Knowing she may not get another chance as good as this, she made a snap decision.  Her reply was a full volley from both of the Ultra AC20's into the rear of the Mad Cat.  She snapped the left leg of the Heavy mech off at the hip causing it to fall over.  She then began to sprint the Hunchback IIC for the perimeter.  Just as she reached the treeline something hit her leg hard.  The Star Captain had propped himself up and shot an ER Large laser at his attacker.  Kumiko maneuvered deeper into the forest and escaped further fire from the downed Mad Cat.  However the damage was done.  She was showing that both Jump Jets in the right leg of the Hunchback IIC were not functioning.  Gerigh must have hit the leg in just the right spot severing the controls to those jets.

  "That will make things difficult."  Kumiko thought to herself.  But she quickly re-focused her effort to push the Huchback IIC through the forest as fast as possible.  She figured she may have an hours head start, before the clanners sent figure out what had happened and went out looking for her.  Hopefully she would make contact with that Inner Sphere unit and link up with them before the Jags found her.