Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Nine: Proving Ground
Al Na’ir, October 3rd, 3032
“Just remember that we’re here to support the 5th Avalon Hussars people.” Major Sandoval said to her Battalion. “So watch your sectors, follow orders and let’s go home alive and in one piece.”
“Yes Ma’am,” David Hull-Kerensky replied as he moved with the rest of his fireteam to their nav point.
“We’ve got three lances of fast movers incoming!” Corporal Scooter reported as they lit up on his Sensors and triggered his IFF.
“Looks like mixed Jenners, a couple of Dragons and some Hovercraft.” David said, “Make sure that you focus your fire on the Saladins, those AC/20s are lethal if they manage to pair up and hit you with them.”
“Copy that,” Scooter replied as he fired the ER Large Lasers that his Royal Crab had equipped at one of the Dragons, melting the armor off at extreme ranges.
“Begin pulling back to the rest of the battalion.” David ordered, “We’ll need the extra firepower to handle a full mixed company.”
“Pulling back now.” Scooter replied as he continued firing his ER Large Lasers at the Dragon that was leading the pack.”
David triggered his own ER Large Lasers as the enemy company came into range, backed up by the Von Luckner’s Gauss rifle and the Brutus LRMs, completely killing two Jenners and causing a Hovercraft to spin out of control.
The pair of Dragon ‘Mechs opened fire as soon as they entered range, the LRMs and AC/5s scattering across the fireteam as they continued to fall back in good order.
“The Hovercraft are closing in!” The Toro pilot said as he moved backwards as fast as his Mech could handle. “Looks like two Saladins, they’ll be in range in around 30 seconds, watch out for their flybys, they’ll try to boom and zoom.”
“A pair of AC/20s will rip your mech apart,” David told the Toro pilot, “Let one of the heavier units take the brunt of the attack.”
“Aye sir, pulling back behind you.” The Toro pilot replied as David stepped forward instead of pulling back, once the first of the Saladin duo entered his range, he opened fire, making sure to use cluster ammunition in his LB 10-X in order to shred the armor on the front of the fast moving hovercraft. David had nearly dropped the machine but between the two of them he only managed to strip the armor off of them before they opened fire in sync at his Crockett. Rocking back, he turned to open fire, but the hovercraft had already exited his range, and he couldn’t expose his rear to the Dragons, Jenners, and the remaining hovercraft without being shredded by enemy fire.
“Jackson,” David commed the Toro pilot. “I’m putting you on making sure that the Saladins are finished off, you’ve got the range, and they should be low enough on armor that your Large Pulse Laser should be able to finish them off.”
“Copy that sir, thanks for taking that fire for me.” Jackson replied. “I’ll keep an eye on the fast moving Demolishers.”
“You’re a good woman.” David told the Toro pilot before tuning into the command channel. “This is David Kerensky, I need air support on my location, we’ve got a mixed company bearing on our location.”
“I’m moving our Stings to assist.” Major Sandoval responded, “ETA is two Mikes.”
“Copy that Major.” David responded, “We’ll hold them off until the CAS gets here.”
“Take out the Dragons.” David ordered the Brutus and Von Luckner crews. “Coordinate fire with Scooter and end them before they get close.”
“Yes sir,” The two combat vehicles continued to roll backwards while launching LRMs and getting ready to fire their main weapons. “Consider the heavies gone.” The Von Luckner fired a brace of LRMs several seconds before they fired their Gauss Rifle at the closest Dragon, timing it so that the flurry of missiles and the Gauss Round struck at the same time, sending the heavy mech careening into the ground as it lost its balance temporarily. Meanwhile, the Brutus linked its computers up with Scooters Crab and fired its own set of LRMs before also using its twin clantech Large Pulse lasers to destroy armor at ranges that were typically reserved for PPCs, this caused the Dragon pilot to flinch back into the lasers Scooters Crab, where a lucky headshot ended the unlucky samurai’s life.
“Scratch one.” Scooter reported as they heard the sound of massive fusion engines gracing the battlefield. “The CAS has arrived!”
“I didn’t know you made housecalls, Foehammer!” Scooter said to the lead Sting crew.
“You know our motto, we deliver!” the pilot responded with a wide grin and laughter in her voice as the gunship made quick work of the hovercraft and remaining ‘mechs.”But you’ll have to handle the cleanup.”
“We can take it from here.” David replied as he moved his Crockett forward. “We lost track of a couple of Saladins, we need to make sure that they don’t hit us from behind while we hold this area down.”
“Lieutenant Kerensky, I’m diverting two companies of Infantry to your position, Captain Kent will be acting CO of your area.” Major Sandoval’s voice broke in over the command circuit.
“Copy that ma’am.” David replied, “We’ll hold down the fort until they arrive.”
Al Na’ir, October 5th, 3032
“Duke Hull,” Leftnant General Baker the CO of the rebuilt 5th Avalon Hussars greeted me. “I’m damn glad to see some assistance here.”
“Happy to help, General.” I replied. “Where do you need us?”
“I need your fast units to help pin down the hovercraft, the 15th Dieron don’t engage until the militia units and the 8th Dieron Regulars have whittled our armor down, and then they’re only doing pinpricks, a ‘mech here, a combat vehicle there, but we’re slowly bleeding to death here.”
“And you’re mainly an Assault Regiment right?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, “I heard you got assigned a battalion of combat vehicles though.”
“The Dropship containing most of our Combat vehicles was brought down by enemy ASFs on entry, and we tied in taking out ASF assets, there’s not much left but conventional fighters on Al Na’ir, but they did enough damage on our way down that there’s not way we’re lifting off of this rock without your help.”
“Damn, they’ve really been tearing into you.” I said as I reviewed the reports that he showed me.
“Yes sir, that’s why I’m glad that you’re here, I’m no fool, I know your track record and I need the kind of miracles that you and your people produce on the battlefield here.”
“No promises,” I looked up with a grin, “We used up most of our miracles on Luthien and New Samarkand.” I then lost my smile as I looked over the holographic table of the battlefield. “I do have a lot of Artillery with me though, both conventional and Arrow IV systems, along with enough ammunition to make it rain for days on them.”
“If you can pin down the fast movers then we’ll be able to do something about the two battlemech regiments, but until then my unit is going to be stuck on the defensive.” The General shrugged, “We just don’t have the faster units to pin down the hovercraft.”
“We’ll handle the hovercraft, but I want you to start getting set up to drop the hammer on the 15th Dieron Regulars once we take the hovercraft out.” I said as I looked over the map. “Give me two days to get a better picture of the local topography and I’ll have a trap set up after that.”
–
–
“Natasha, we’re probably going to have to use us as bait in order to get them to push like we want.” I said as I looked at the data we had on the forces we brought with us and the data collected on the enemies on the planet. “They’re going to be ticked off and rearing to avenge their Coordinator, we can use that against them for now.”
“And we bring the best fights to ourselves.” Natasha joked with a hint of seriousness in her voice. “I love this plan!” She then pointed at the map. “You need to make sure we pick the right location for this, if we get overwhelmed then it will be hard to pull back from some areas.”
“We’ve got the mapping data, now to just pick the right place.” I agreed. “Location is indeed everything after all.”
“This Canyon may work,” Natasha said. “Yvonne, Mathis, come check and make sure that we are not making a mistake here.”
“The Canyon is an interesting choice.” Mathis said as he surveyed the maps. “I’d be careful of this area though, if it looks like a perfect area to lay a trap then they may have already done so.”
“Indeed.” Yvonne replied. “I would actually recommend this area.” She pointed out an area that Natasha and I had discarded as being too open previously. “I believe that this area will work better, you can hide several units in the river and as long as they are powered off then you can time the enemy approach properly, by simulating fleeing across the river we can trap them between two sets of forces and destroy the majority of the enemy hovercraft.”
“I like that plan,” I said, turning to Natasha. “Let’s start the implementation process.”
“We are the anvil.” Natasha agreed, “But who will be the hammer?”
“I figure a mix of the 3rd Kentares Guards and the 5th Avalon Hussars, the Hussars need the win, and the 3rd Kentares need to be blooded.”
“I hate to say it boss,” Mathis chimed in. “But it’ll almost have to be Mithril infantry and ‘Mechs doing the ambushing and locking down, none of our combat vehicles are rated for the water like that, but our ‘mechs and powered armor are.”
“We’ll pitch the idea to Baker and Frost in the morning.” I said as I yawned. “We should get some rack time though, I don’t trust that these guys aren’t being sneaky, the generals here aren’t fighting like traditional Dracs, and that seriously worries me.”
“Agreed.” Everyone around me said at once.
“We’ll have our patrols on high alert.” Mathis said, “And we’ve got several units assisting in the 3rd Kentares with guard duty due to the importance of the succession after all.”
“Good to hear.” I nodded at Mathis. “I’m going to hit the sack and get that briefing ready eary tomorrow morning.”
“Get some rest, boss,” Mathis replied. “We’ve got you covered.”
