Alpha Lance

Alpha Lance
Unit Information
Faction	Wolf's Dragoons
Personnel	4 Unnamed Pilots
Vehicles	Uziel, Catapult, Atlas, Uller
Command Information
Commanding Officer	Alpha 1
Parent Command	Icarus

"This is Alpha 1 -SOS - anybody out there?!" - Alpha Lance

Alpha Lance were a unit of four Battlemech pilots assigned to the Wolf's Dragoons Mercenary Group DropShip Icarus. They were minor characters in MechAssault.

Events of MechAssault

Alpha Lance consisted of four members: it's leader designated Alpha 1 who piloted an Uziel, an unnamed pilot who piloted a Catapult, a second unnamed pilot who piloted an Atlas - the Icarus' only Assault 'Mech, and a fourth pilot designated Alpha 4 who piloted the lance's Uller scout 'Mech.

Going Down Hard

In the year 3067, the Wolf's Dragoons were hired to invade the planet of Helios and sent the Icarus and it's 'Mechs ahead of the invasion force to covertly land on the planet and sabotage the planet's orbital defense grid to make way for the invasion. However the Icarus failed to touchdown on the planet unnoticed, being detected by a hostile 'Mech and fired upon with overcharged lasers. The Icarus' commanding officer Major Natalia Kerensky immediately accelerated the ships's descent and ordered all of her 'Mech pilots to hot drop before touchdown. All of Alpha Lance's pilots successfully jumped from the ship before touchdown and regrouped on the planet, however they landed outside of communications range of the Icarus and were left isolated and unable to coordinate with their comrades.

Enter Wasteland

After both of the Icarus' 'Mech lances successfully made planetfall, the Word of Blake forces immediately went about hunting down the scattered invaders before they could begin organized strikes against Blake operations on the planet. Adept Strader, the commander of all Word of Blake forces on Helios, personally took to the battlefield in his ultimate Ragnarok 'Mech to demonstrate it's power against the mercenary force. Although Alpha managed to survive in enemy territory for some time, eventually Strader and his Champion tracked down Alpha lance, and before engaging the mercenaries Strader staged the site of the battle so that he could transmit a video feed to the Icarus and let the ship's crew bare witness to the ensuing engagement, telling the mercenaries to "watch and learn". Strader and his Champion then chased Alpha Lance's scout Alpha 4 back to his comrades and unleashed a hail of unrelenting fire on the Dragoons, quickly destroying their 'Mechs one at a time as Alpha 1 desperately called for help. As Alpha's 'Mechs erupted in explosions, Strader taunted the Icarus' last survivors declaring that they were now completely alone in this world.

Gallery

Alpha Lance's destruction

References

1. According to the official BattleTech timeline, the Word of Blake Jihad began in December 3067, as featured in Lone Wolf, with the conflict on Helios taking place several months prior according to Foster's exposition during the intro of Lone Wolf.
2. The Icarus was hit by overcharged laser fire, identifiable by it's purple hue, consistent with the armaments of the ground-to-orbit guns and the Champion's Thor. The Icarus landed outside of the range of the orbital defense grid and no other Word of Blake Battlemechs encountered on Helios used overcharged lasers. If the Icarus had been hit repeatedly by a ground-to-orbit gun, the DropShip would have been obliterated whereas the Icarus escapes the engagement with minimal damage.
3. The weapons fire that Alpha and Bravo are hit with was consistent with the Champions signature overcharged lasers and the Gauss Rifles of Strader's Ragnarok. While Strader and the Champion are not seen on-screen fighting Alpha and Bravo, Strader states directly during the mission Dry Me Out that he was personally hunting the Dragoons and was responsible for destroying Bravo Lance.