[center][color=fdc68a][h1]Chapter 2:
[u]Contact[/u][/h1][/color]
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[b][i]~Lamar IV, Glacial Valley~[/i][/b]

The cacophony of battle slowly coalesced into a musical melody that even the greatest of the classics couldn't match in Ulrik's opinion. As the brilliant blue and green rays of light filled his vision and explosions began to shake the ground beneath the feet of his 55 ton 'mech, he truly felt at home.

He pressed his thumb to the button on his joystick, and a blue beam cut across the battlefield, turning the turret of a J.Edgar into molten slag as the vehicle came to a sudden halt. Like little fireworks, the SRM-2 ammo began to cook off in the remains of the turret one-by-one, and the hatches on the hull flipped open as the crew began a hurried dismount from their doomed vehicle. It showed their desperation that they threw themselves on the muddy ground, and tried to crawl through the lines of fire from both friendlies and opposing forces. Then again, Ulrik understood: seconds later the J.Edgar exploded in a brilliant flash of light as the rest of the ammo exploded at once, and it painted the landscape in a brilliant orange light before sending the disfigured remains of the turret at least 60 feet in the air, and kicked up a dust cloud at least twice as tall in the forgiving gravity of the moon. 

A similar explosion rocked the canyon as Jaromir's laser found it's mark and detonated the Thumper's ammunition reserves, detonating it with such force that the shockwave threw up a cloud of dust and snow that managed to obscure even his view from the cockpit, and stuck to his armored glass as an off-white gunk until it started to melt in the heat of laser fire. [i][color=f7941d]"Great."[/color][/i] He acknowledged with the grumpiness of an apathetic veteran, and then let loose another volley of laser fire at the nearest goblin, this time leashing both his medium and large lasers. Missing it's center by just a foot, the shot nevertheless melted the links of the track together and managed to throw it completely off in the process. The Goblin came to a sudden and violent halt, it's guns falling silent as the rattled crew inside tried to regain their senses.

[b]Beep.[/b]

Just a heat warning, surely. The cockpit of a BattleMech was always loud with mechanical whirring and electronic beeps in the heat of combat.

[b]Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeep. "Incoming Long Range Fire"[/b]

That was definitely not a heat warning. Turning his attention to the sky, he managed to notice the bright orange streaks right as they reached the apex of their trajectory, and then violently adjusted course towards his 'mech. He loved the Centurion for it's rugged design and decent firepower for a Medium of it's size, but it's sluggish nature was a curse that he would carry with himself to the grave. Janking his joystick to the left, his feet pressed into the pedals like he was going to push them out of the cockpit, and he got the Centurion to change it's stride just in time for the LRM salvo to strike into the shielded right arm of his 'mech instead of his vulnerable cockpit.

He wasn't going to die today, not yet anyways. But he'd need a fresh coat of paint now that half a dozen charred impact marks covered the dented armor of his Centurion's right arm. Using the time between reloads of whatever carried the LRM to break line of sight with as many of the enemy units as possible, Ulrik examined his displays: the enemy mech pings from before had gotten closer, and with the help of the Ankhanne's own sensors, he finally had a good read on them.

[color=f7941d]"Hostile Light lance inbound from the East! They're pedaling fast, ETA 1 minute or less!"[/color] Aligning himself with the eastern wall to give even less of a shot for the approaching mechs, he stepped over the remains of a burnt-out Goblin that one of his Mechwarriors had taken care of previously, and continued the steady advance up the sloped glacier whilst keeping his eyes on the sensor. [color=f7941d]"Got confirmation from the Ankhanne. Two of them are Locusts, and one of them is a Jenner. Last one is unidentified, but the LRM fire suggests it's a Javelin variant. Run down these tanks, then focus fire on these new contacts: Zohra, stay on the west flank, just in case we get surprises. Overkill, Jaromir, join Karel and reinforce the flanks. Keep fast, that Javelin shouldn't have too much ammunition left." [/color]With that Ulrik let loose another salvo of laser fire, cutting a neat hole into the side of the goblin he had previously immobilised, leaving the incinerated hulk to spew fire and thick black smoke into the atmosphere as he kept his eyes peeled on the ridgeline: any second now, their right flank would meet the enemies, and he was much more worried about those mechs than the few remaining J.Edgars that still tried to put a dent in their ranks, but had a hard time hitting the mobile lance with their SRM-2s. Then, before long, the first beam of bright green laser cut across the dark sky and illuminated the glistening snow, and the head of the first Locust appeared as it ran full speed towards Karel's Mongoose, the rest of it's lance not far behind.

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[h3][color=fdc68a]Combat Info Panel[/color][/h3]
[table=bordered][row][cell]Enemy Mech:[/cell][cell]Distance (Hex):[/cell][cell]Difficulty To Hit:[/cell][cell]Other Modifiers:[/cell][/row]
[row][cell]LCT-1V[/cell][cell]2[/cell][cell]7[/cell][cell]+1 to hit from Valley[/cell][/row][row][cell]LCT-1E[/cell][cell]3[/cell][cell]6[/cell][cell]+1 to hit from Valley[/cell][/row][row][cell]JVN-10A[/cell][cell]11[/cell][cell]7[/cell][cell]Can't target from Valley[/cell][/row][row][cell]JR7-D[/cell][cell]3[/cell][cell]5[/cell][cell]+1 to hit from Valley[/cell][/row]
[/table]
One Hex is considered 30 meters, I gave distance in hexes to make it easy to see weapon distance on SARNA. Don't apply modifiers to hit or damage based on range, only check if you are in range or not. If you aren't in range, as long as you can move enough hexes in a turn to close the gap you can fire at the target. If you need that figured out, the formula is pretty simple: 

Hex (Speed) = KPH / 10.8

Post your rolls for shooting at the end of your post, feel free to use the site's own rolltable function. Don't worry about tracking heat, everyone here is basically an MWO veteran running Override :lol

Rest are in the pinned comment on Discord.

[@Letter Bee][@Psyker Landshark][@Forsythe][@AndyC][@Smike][@Abstract Proxy][@QJT][@Starlance]