Hobbit » 11 фев 2009, 21:56
BUCCANEER
Buccaneer
Type/Model: Buccaneer BCN-5W
Mass: 55 tons
Chassis: Standard
Power Plant: 275 VOX XL Fusion
Walking Speed: 54.4 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: Waterly Heavy Lifters
Jump Capacity: 210 meters
Armor Type: Kallon FWL Special Light Ferro-Fibrous
Armament: 1 Ceres Arms Crusher Plasma Rifle
3 Ceres Arms Model 8 Heavy Machine Guns
1 Improved C3 CPU
1 Hellespont Array Assembly
Manufacturer: Gibson Federated BattleMechs
Primary Factory: Gibson / FWL (GFBM)
Communications System: EasyTalk-2
Targeting & Tracking System: Instatrac Mark XIII
I’ve never been fond of ’Mechs with hatchets. The first time I saw a Buccaneer I sneered at it with the same derision I reserved for the Scarabus and the Hatchetman, and then I put it out of my mind. Sure, it was fast and the axe looked nice and sharp, but it was stuck on the ground and with all those lasers it would light up the field like a Christmas Tree. So when I saw one last month, I barely gave it a second look.
Until it jumped over the roadway I was on and blew a shack to flaming wreckage with some kind of gun that made a PPC look like a cigarette lighter. Then I was hooked, and I did a little digging.
Sherry filled me in with the details. They were in an off-world file, so she might get in some trouble for that, but we all take chances these days. Somehow the Word has gotten a hold of a the specs for those new plasma rifles that Ceres Metals is making for the Capellans. You remember, there were reports of them in the Capellan March right before George Hasek got taken out. The Word has taken these weapons and redone the Buccaneer into an even more deadly city fighter than it was before.
Replacing the lasers and the short-range missiles is a ’Mech-killing Crusher plasma rifle. I’ve seen the test data on this, people. It will beat on a ’Mech's armor like tide on the shores. I’m sure they’ll come up with some stupid “strength and power of Blake” slogan for it, but take it from me—it’s nasty. They’ve put a group of heavy machine guns in the chest to support, I guess to help it in the city. The plasma rifle to blast big holes and the machine guns to shoot whatever comes out. Test data shows these weapons are surprisingly accurate, though, which makes me suspect they’ve got one of those new array assemblies in it. I guess when you’re ROM and you don’t care about things like copyright, patents, or common decency, you can get whatever you want.
There is a bit of good news. To give their new Buccaneer that jump capacity, they had to slow it down on the ground. It should be a little easier to hit than the standard Buccaneer, and while the armor is nothing to sneer at, the ’Mech does have that large, inviting extra-light engine to shoot at. As long as our boys and girls shoot straight, there’s a chance.
Since I first found one I’ve been doing some further digging. There are dozens of these new-model machines, if not hundreds. I’ve seen the manifests. I’ve seen the maintenance logs. A big shipment just went out to—get this—the Magistracy. What is the Word doing in the backwaters of the Periphery? And if they can hide this many Buccaneers, what else are they hiding? Maybe this is worse than it looks. Maybe we should give Blocher the benefit of a doubt?
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Hobbit 11 фев 2009, 21:57, всего редактировалось 1 раз.