18/12/3049. Day 25, 03:00

An anonymous tip was phoned in regarding the missing sensor-scans of the prototype battlemechs developed by the Hellstrom’s Hellions, reporting them to be at East Seventeen Logging Camp. Layne-Lars Kinnesson investigated the message and determined it had been ‘spoken’ by a children’s speak-and-spell (an educational toy), which had been run through a voice-modulator (also a toy). The recorded message was constructed and sent using a prepaid mobile phone.

18/12/3049. Day 25, 06:00

Lt. Samara Hellstrom was briefed and decided to mobilise her lance. This required requisitioning Jacques Dubois back from the ministrations of Professor Anna Morozov.

18/12/3049. Day 25, 09:00

The lance arrived in the target zone at East Seventeen Logging Camp, and Lt. Samara Hellstrom sent Ruin Dmitar forward on foot to do reconnaissance. Ruin Dmitar easily evaded the attention of the logging teams and discovered the camp had five Crosscut-S3 Forestrymech’s assigned to it. One was for Foreman Grant, the other four were for a lance of cadets doing intermediate level mech piloting training.

Ruin Dmitar then discovered that Cadet Allen had been bushwhacked and stashed in a storage area, raising the question of who was piloting his assigned mech for the training exercise?

18/12/3049. Day 25, 11:00

Ruin Dmitar returned to his mech and the lance advanced on the base. Foreman Grant challenged them, saying he’d told other cadets that morning not to do manoeuvres in his work zone. Lt. Samara Hellstrom pulled rank and commanded the cadets to line up for inspection, knowing one cadet was an impostor.

Layne-Lars Kinnesson detected four approaching battlemechs, the same four hunter-killer units that had ambushed the Hellstrom’s Hellions earlier.

During the fighting Layne-Lars Kinnesson used indirect LRM fire and electronic warfare to support her lancemates. Ruin Dmitar operated as a sniper, and scored a lucky head-shot against the main enemy threat, the Whitworth missile carrier. The shot hit the cockpit and killed the pilot, but leaving the rest of the battlemech undamaged. Lt. Samara Hellstrom and Jacques Dubois used the ‘close and burn’ tactic to great effect, isolating and eliminating the two enemy Clint mechs. The lead mech, an Assassin, escaped.

The impostor was subdued by the three remaining cadets in a brutal Crosscut chainsaw gang-brawl.

18/12/3049. Day 25, 12:00

Two heavily damaged Clint battlemechs and a virtually intact Whitworth battlemech were salvaged, the downed Crosscut was returned to East Seventeen Logging Camp for repairs. The Assassin escaped with damage to its left arm.

The survivors were Clint pilots Julius Hoffman and Olaf Keller, and the impostor posing as Cadet Allen, Adel Weiss. Adel Weiss was the son of the deceased Whitworth pilot Elli Weiss.

18/12/3049. Day 25, 14:00

Military police arrived at East Seventeen Logging Camp to take the prisoners.

During interrogation the survivors revealed information. They belonged to a mercenary outfit named Scholz Streikende, and the pilot of the assassin was Henrik Scholz, leader of the mercenary force.

Scholz Streikende had been contracted by Kommandant Esra Leandros to take Lt. Samara Hellstrom dead or alive. They all described her as ‘the traitor’ but did not elaborate why. The mercenaries claimed the contract was sanctioned by the Lyran armed forces.

Lt. Samara Hellstrom did not know who Kommandant Esra Leandros was.

The captured members of Scholz Streikende claimed (in separate interviews) that their leader was contacted and given a specific place but not specific time (only the day) that the Hellstrom’s Hellions would be. Possibly this was an attempt by the group with the mech design data to throw off pursuit.

Adel Weiss swore vengeance against Ruin Dmitar for murdering his mother.

The captives were taken to the base’s brig, however their legal status is in question. The mercenaries are not authorised to operate on Strata however their target Lt. Samara Hellstrom was not a citizen of the planet or the Federated Suns. And their contract’s validity is in question, but not dismissed. Though he strongly objects to their actions, Hpt. Kommandant Dieter Herrman has been directed to treat the mercenaries as Lyran citizens and attempt to secure their release through legal channels.