Sawed-off 'Mech Mayhem

[DeJaVu]

This week we focus on one of the deadly new particle projector cannon models coming out of the Draconis Combine, the snub-nose PPC. The snubbie, as it has been called, is one of the new PPC variants developed in the opening years of the Word of Blake's Jihad.
Although originally a Star League concept, the snub-nose has come into its own since its modern redevelopment. Combined with advances in packet cohesion, the snubbie is a devastating weapon at close ranges but suffers from reduced performance at greater ranges. The DCMS has deployed the weapon on a number of 'Mechs, and we were lucky enough to recover this report of a Kurita Phoenix Hawk in action against Word of Blake elements on Dieron.

"We were on patrol one night, a squad of us with a rebuilt Battle Hawk for an escort. A lone Kurita Phoenix Hawk appeared out of the background hash and charged right in. We unloaded from the APC and spread out, trusting our Purifier's camouflage to cover our movements. The Battle Hawk went to flank and cut away, trying to draw the intruder's attention until we could close. The PXH fired from extreme range, a PPC shot that sort of 'fizzled' before it hit the APC. I took it as a malfunction and called for a charge.

The Phoenix Hawk let us close before he fired again, this time at the Battle Hawk. The 'Mech jock had gotten his confidence, trusting in the malfunctioning PPC to cut the PXH's firepower down to where the light 'Mech could face it. It was probably just a Snake with his honor in a bunch. The two 'Mechs traded fire, lasers against lasers, until the Battle Hawk closed in. Then the Kuritan's PPC came up again, sparkling in the twilight before he fired.

And then he fired… and the Battle Hawk was so close… we barely got away. The 'Mech jock didn't, although Blake knows he tried.