System: Inner End

In 3021, the planetary militia of Inner End purchased six Hetzer Wheeled Assault Guns to augment their all-infantry militia and turned to the Kilbourne Draconis March Militia for guidance on how to best use them. Leftenant Jean Gieschen was assigned cadre duty, charged with training the militia on the fundamentals of armor tactics, when a pirate band attacked.

Holding’s Horrors fielded a single lance of older light and medium BattleMechs, the largest being Holding’s VL-2T Vulcan. The Horrors simply strode through the militia infantry toward DropPort warehouses seeking plunder. With no communication from IEPM command (the Hetzers still lacked radios), Gieschen chose to attack. She ordered a broken-pattern advance covered by port buildings.

Commanding a force without active targeting or communication systems, Gieschen rode “unbuttoned” to direct her force by handheld radio. Unaware of the Hetzers, Holding’s lance did not realize their danger until the massed fire of six Crusher autocannons caught their leader in a withering crossfire. The Vulcan collapsed in fragments without firing a shot. The light ’Mechs used their speed and jump capabilities to flee the unseen enemy.