The Deep Raid of 2987
In 2987 a massive fleet from the Lyran Commonwealth made its presence known to the Free Worlds League with the sacking of Ling, destroying the crucial mech facilities and stealing vital information. This attack became a wide swept hit-and-run raiding campaign within FWL's borders, plaguing all planets in the vicinity with numerous raids, some with intended targets while others were meant merely as decoys. The Hearth Guard had only recently returned from their latest garrison request on nearby Callison when news of the attack arrived. With the threat of redeployment running high, all training exercises were reorganized, including those of the Psycho Spiders, around preparing for defense of any of the nearby systems should their assistance be called upon.
As luck, or to some, lack thereof, would have it, the group would not have to wait long or travel far. In the middle of the second week of restructured exercises and under Captain Carson's own eyes, three dropships had begun to make their landing on the planet. Assembling his already deployed troops and recommitting them to the front line, the captain managed to surprise the Lyran raiding party, hitting them as the exited the ships and even destroying one of the dropships. What was once meant to be a show of overwhelming firepower to raid and escape quickly turned into a slug fest with both sides losing much in the process. In the end, the Dragoons had had to expend heavy aerial ordinance to create enough space for the Hearth Guard to make a retreat. Captain Carson was one among many that did not make the return trip. In the following two weeks of fighting the Dragoons maintained the edge in kills, but outnumbers and outgunned, had been pressed back to fighting just outside their fortress. Hearth Guard’s strength now numbered just nine mechs, while the Psycho Spiders had faired relatively better, having only to cannibalize one of its number in order to provide spare parts for the other three mechs.
