“Status update Chief” Barked John Ringo.
Chief Craig Johnson glanced down at his monitor and quickly
scanned the information for any changes since the last time his frustrated
commander asked. “All the mechs maintenance checks are complete, we still do
not have our coordinates for our next battle and the ordnance resupply ship
still has not messaged us and is not on our scanners.”
John clinched his jaw shut tightly to keep the hot reply
boiling in his guts from escaping his mouth. It was not the Chief’s fault the
resupply ship was late. “Ok Chief, I think it is time I get out of your hair
and let you get on with your job. I will be in my office working on the never
ending pile of paper work. Let me know as soon as you have anything on that
missing ship.” John turned and started walking towards his office door.
“Yes Sir!” Replied Chief Johnson. The Chief was relieved to
have his officer out of sight so he could focus on fixing this messed up
situation. He hated to see the boss stressed out so he bent to work adjusting
the scanner settings in the hopes of finding any sign of that ship.
John walked passed his desk and over to the window in his
office that overlooks the launch bay. All the mechs look ready to go except for
all the ammo vaults still had the doors open waiting to feed those hungry mechs
their food of destruction and death. The techs busied themselves checking
everything again and again just to give themselves something to focus on while
they waited like everyone else for word on the needed ammo. The terminal on his
desk chimed indicating he had a message. John walked to his desk, sat down and
opened the message from command. They now knew where the next battle was going
to be. Planet AXT-64008 – A barren world with canyons and mesas covering the
designated combat area. Looking at the topographical map overlay, John started
putting together a very bold and risky battle plan.
There was a valley that ran along close to a mesa that had a
rock slide that was parallel and 143 meters from the lip of the valley. He
would load half his squad with missiles and sneak them in behind that rock
slide and have them power down. They would have programed in a fire pattern that
would blanket a section on the valley floor with everything they had. The rest
of his squad would only have 1/3 of the normal weapon load out and with the freed-up
tonnage load extra ECM gear. Normally you would use this equipment to jam the
enemy targeting computers but instead they would emit extra signals that would
make it look like all his squad was in that group. This would give the mechs
hiding behind that rock slide a better chance at their sneak attack but it made
it much easier for the bad guys to target them. John would carry every Big
Bertha his mech could mount. When the enemy was in the kill zone his squad
would halt and turn to face the enemy. John would fire on the canyon walls
behind the bad guys to trigger a landslide behind them. The rest of his team
would fire and evade while backing away from the enemy mechs and act like they
are panicking slightly. With what looks like a failed ambush attempt and
disorder in the ranks, the enemy should aggressively pursue them and not notice
in time the hail of death raining down from above. His com chimed and hit
mashed the accept button. “Yes?” He spoke in a firm tone.
“Sir we just made contact with the ordnance ship. They ran
into some Pirates and had to fight free of the action. They have minor damage
but will be able to dock with us and unload shortly.”
“Thanks for the good news Chief. Get yourself down to the
launch bay and get everyone ready to load up the mechs as fast as it comes of
the transport. I want to leave here in 30 minutes for our combat zone.” He hit
the end call button and made a few last notes and sent the combat plans to his
squad leaders. Now it was time to let his people do what they do best and get
down to the drop ship….
The ship’s bar was crammed full of Emerald Dragons and
HF:442 Infantry Regiment pilots. The battle had gone mostly to plan and the
Dragons were toasting their victory and the bravery of their HF counterparts.
The HF pilots were making aggressive use of the open bar and enjoying
themselves in the after-action party. John Ringo and Wayne Quesada were sitting
at a small table in the corner of the room trying to stay out of the line of
fire around the bar. John raised his glass in salute to the other officer. “Here
is to you and your group Wayne. Thanks for being good sports and we wish you
better luck in the next round.”
Submitted By John Ringo #899287