In preparation for the upcoming castle, designated “The Motte”, Convoy Commander Dandridge reorganized the convoy into an offset I-formation with Crusader C362 serving as the offset limb of the convoy. The formation itself was reminiscent of the stack formation the convoy has employed up to this point, but rather than have all three Crusaders arranged in a single file line the middle Crusader would be positioned adjacently while the frontal and rear Crusaders would maintain their stack alignment. As per the practicality of the formation, a generous amount of space would be sustained between the two holdovers, affording the offset Crusader the ability to flit between the right and left sides of the formation as the situation demanded it.
Though seldom used, as it required a skilled pilot to execute the stratagem to a reliable standard, the offset I-formation's main purpose was to bolster the frontal and rear Crusaders while limiting the amount of contact the offsetting Crusader would have with enemy forces. The latter reason being the main catalyst behind Commander Dandridge’s decision as it afforded the convoy’s skilled deck officers the flexibility to roam the formation and doubled as a means to cover for the lack of proven manpower onboard C362. Namely the loss of Faust to injury and the presence of first-time field officers Esma and Brewer.
Further cementing Crusader C362 into this dynamic role was the considerations towards the captive it had acquired during the previous dust up. If by chance the party did seek to rescue or take advantage of the foreign presence onboard they would find it exceedingly difficult to time an approach for a target moving laterally. C362 could also just as easily reposition itself into a spot where either the frontal or rear Crusaders could provide assistance in stalling efforts made towards this objective. But for all its benefits the formation did have its shortcomings.
One distinct disadvantage that came with this formation was that it would slow the median speed of the convoy over the course of the stretch it was employed. An especially undesirable outcome for Galen Runs that prioritized haste above all else. But in the event the convoy did fall too far behind schedule, they could easily revert to a stack formation to make up time.
In a similar vein both Cloud Nine and the LCF would need to start considering the shelf life of the specimens being transported as the specialized crates could only maintain the necessary internal temperature for so long. Assuming the raiding party didn’t have a comparable accommodation prepared for the specimens, as thermosensitive cargo was quite rare, they would need to account for the amount of time it would take for them to get the raided cargo preserved in a suitable environment. Something that worked in favor of the LCF as it narrowed the window for which visits and approaches could take place.
Put simply Cloud Nine would need to throw everything it had at the convoy in the timeframe of the two castles to necessitate a profit. And with the “Gatehouse” offering the greatest strategic advantage, the preceding “Motte” would likely serve as a final litmus test for the party while it condensed its remaining forces in anticipation of a final confrontation.
Expecting this line of thinking the LCF would do its utmost to preserve all manner of resources, from ammunition to personnel. As such it had already been decided that Officer Faust Warren would sit out any form of confrontation taking place around the “Motte” to conserve energy and recover ahead of the final castle.
It should be noted that this level of discretion with respect to an individual Crusader’s crew often fell to that Crusader’s security representative as they possessed a better understanding of each individual's condition and readiness for action. The injury reports submitted by each respective CO serving more of a logistical purpose than a practical one. That’s not to say the CC didn’t have the right or authority to make personnel decisions based on said injury reports. However in some cases it could be interpreted as meddling in the eyes of the crews.
Nevertheless, in the case of the Galen Run enroute to Mennarouple’s Station Riga, such intervention on Lautnor Dandridge’s part would have been seen as sensible in light of the open discontent displayed by Crusader C274’s newly appointed security representative. But regrettably the commander remained ignorant of the growing defiance to his authority, owing to Officer Kircher Swarek’s hesitance to relay his misgivings about Rohner. Largely in fear they would expedite the splintering of the convoy’s unity heading into what was shaping up to be the most perilous stretch of the route.
Fortunately Crusader C362’s Jericka Katsurn had shed her own misgivings and alerted its own security representative of the tension onboard its sister Crusader. And while she too decided against raising any immediate alarms, Lux did advise the CO to send a text-based message to Station Riga. A message that both women had no way of knowing would take a back seat to the growing debacle at the station of arrival.
*
“Now that’s where you put a fucking castle.”
Lautnor had stepped out onto the front deck thinking he might not be able to make out the castle they’d christened the “Motte” from the bridge. But to his surprise along with the rest of the crews the area and topography had opened up considerably out of almost nowhere. The stone tree line having been pushed back to create what could best be described as a natural highway. A highway blanketed by the formidable silhouette of one of Lamella’s champions.
“Are we even sure there’s one up there...?!”
One of C471’s deck officers craned his neck in an attempt to make out the supposed structure on top.
“Oh it’s there alright, cause here they come.”
They heard them before they could see them. The talking drums and their translators rallying the forces of Cloud Nine to battle. The convoy commander promptly looked out over the convoy’s formation from their position at the rear. Crusader C274 was a bit further out front than he would have liked, a consequence of its pilot being unfamiliar with Redcliffe’s body of work if he had to guess. It was for that very reason he’d briefly considered having Cade pilot C274 in lieu of serving in C362’s engine room. But Lautnor knew better than to mess with a winning formula. Much less the formula he’d be counting on to get them through this stretch of the route relatively unscathed.
“Sumi, do we have any eyes on the approaches?”
He’d directed his inquiry into the headset he wore while trying to think up countermeasures for the hampered visibility. These Crusaders, being older models, lacked built-in lights along the sides and the ones fixed to the front wouldn’t offer much of a solution. It was possible some of the storage compartments would have the tactical flashlights usually reserved for poor weather conditions but keeping that sort of equipment stocked fell to the engineers as part of their maintenance checks. Something they would have passed over in the rush of preparing a Crusader for a Galen Run.
“Still working on it, the SOA failed to mention anything about a small mountain eclipsing the sun.”
“We’re partially to blame for developing tunnel vision on the castles. But seeing as it’s temporary we’ll just have to wing it. No sense in scrambling over solutions to a fleeting problem.”
“I suggest you return to the bridge before hostilities open. Part of the reason we’re in the rear is so you can monitor and direct the convoy after all.”
Lautnor directed a thumbs up towards the bridge behind him and began descending the stairway in route to the back deck.
“If I were to bring up one point of contention it would be that Cloud Nine are the ones directing this production. We’re just identifying the beats and responding to them.”
As was the point of the I-formation, for the offset Crusader to watch and react to the movements of the various approaches. The raiding party’s leadership was well-aware of this and would attempt to limit the formation’s effectiveness by synchronizing multiple approaches from multiple sides. Leaving it up to the convoy to butcher that timing and sow chaos. In that regard the shadow cast by the motte might serve as beneficial.
“Enemy contingent spotted out front to the northwest, they’ll be running alongside us. Initial observations report a main force dividing into three distinct groups.”
“How much you want to bet the number increases?”
“Do we give the green light to engage or wait for a more definitive picture of their attack strategy?”
“Weapons free, shedding some ammunition here will be borderline therapeutic for the crews at this point. Best to have them settle in ahead of the upcoming siege.”
In nearly perfect conjunction with the CC’s go ahead, the deck officers onboard C274 began pounding the closest approach with abandon. The barrage forcing the approach to split prematurely to evade. The talking drums similarly adjusted on the fly and increased the rhythm of their drumbeats. Not long after the other two detachments broke into units of various sizes as well.
Sumiye made to cross to the other side of the bridge to get another angle with the binoculars only to bump right into Lautnor who’d materialized at some point. He wore a frown as he observed the movements of the raiding party, not the least bit concerned about the Head CO cradling her nose beside him.
“I wonder if the drum majors are watching from the rear as well...?”
“Unlikely, they wouldn’t be able to follow the course of the visit from so far back. And if they were hypothetically in the rear and tried to move up so they could see, they’d run the risk of entering our Crusader’s critical distance.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Lautnor tapped his piercing and flicked his gaze in the direction of the castle’s supposed location atop the motte. Meanwhile Sumiye continued to monitor the situation in front of them.
“C362 is on the move.”
The pair watched as the offset Crusader left its starting blocks on the right side of the convoy and skillfully weaved its way through the opening provided. This move wasn’t intended to force the approaches off their marks like the first visit but to herd the bulk of the forces to a preferred side of the convoy. And having the motte serve as a backdrop in such dim light conditions could have detrimental effects on the depth perception of the deck officers.
“Anything you’d like to contribute?”
“No, it’s better for them to act independently for now. Running to the CC each time for permission to act would defeat the whole purpose. Naturally we’ll leave the comms channel open in case we see something they don’t or vice versa.”
“Mmm, cross referencing the map and Officer Swarek’s numbers from the rangefinder, I’d say this highway ends in around three kilometers. Which gives the current visit a limited number of opportunities to make use of the motte and additional operating space.”
Although he had the second headset on, Lautnor had intentionally set it to receive from the home channel. Meaning his Head CO was the only one in his ear and on his lips for the time being. This owed to his desire to have C362 operating independently but he also didn’t want to crowd the group channel with unnecessary crosstalk nor come off as intrusive to the chatter between COs. In general Convoy Commanders were split on the appropriate level of involvement when it came to visits.
Lautnor had taken a more active role during the first one and while things had turned out favorably in the end his decision making had left something to be desired. And he wasn’t the type to scramble for chances to redeem himself. Because the worse thing field service personnel could do was drag baggage from one visit to another.
“Based on the time of day we should escape the shadows in a minute or so.”
Alas the commander’s attention resolutely remained elsewhere.
“What do you suppose the chances are they’re capable of directing from all the way up there?”
Sumiye hummed in thought for a moment, thought it was entirely possible she was buying time to juggle the multiple voices in her ears.
“Slim under the current conditions. Plus an argument could be made that resources would be better utilized on the ground taking part in the raid attempt, not up there trying to distinguish between birds and party members.”
“And miss a chance to live up to their namesake.”
The head CO rolled her eyes before having her attention drawn outside the bridge by the sound of rifle fire. Nothing a quick glance out one of the side windows couldn’t solve.
“So far so good, a bulk of the detachments were routed left.”
But the update appeared lost on the CC who’d strolled over to the entrance of the bridge and stuck his arm outside the door, much the same way one would check for rain. Confused Sumiye came over as well and while she was at it set the headset that had fallen around Lautnor’s neck back onto his head.
“It’s a bit warm don’t you think...”
The CO mimicked her commander’s movement to see if she could feel any obvious temperature abnormalities.
“Shouldn’t be. Limestone is a natural insulator, and we’re temporarily cut off from direct exposure to the sun.”
But the CC didn’t relent in his probe in the slightest, convinced something was amiss.
“Curious...”
*
“Points!”
A brief sense of panic gripped Esma upon realizing she wasn’t in the immediate vicinity of a tether point. Fortunately reason won the short-lived power struggle and the brunette made the sensible decision of moving closer to the center of the back deck before hunkering down. And while safely removed from the threat of being ejected from the Crusader, the sensation of the surface beneath her lurching still stirred the butterflies in her stomach.
“Try and get in the habit of relaying the callout Es, you never know whose ass you’re unknowingly saving.”
Unlike Esma Lux had hardly moved from what should have been a far more precarious position along the right-side railing. Seemingly having staved off disaster by planting her foot against it while continuing to look down sights at the approaching enemy.
“Apologies. I didn’t want to give any of the butterflies an escape route. To my understanding they serve as an important indicator for the fight-or-flight response.”
“Yeah huh...”
Lux jogged across the deck to the left side and peered out over the railing. She motioned with her hand for Esma to follow suit. The rookie complied but stopped short of crossing the railing’s threshold, prompting Lux to pull her the rest of the way.
“Time to break in that rifle.”
The rookie swallowed as she tried to look anywhere but down.
“See the group being headed by the onyx bachelor?”
Esma followed Lux’s finger to the batch in question as she wasn’t familiar with the various bike makes employed by raiding parties.
“I think so...”
“Your homework is to take out two of them. I’d recommend one on each pass.”
As daunting as the task seemed for a novice like her, Esma had to believe there was some rhyme or reason behind the assignment of those targets in particular. Something about the caliber of their riding skill or perhaps the execution of their formation. Both facets of field service well beyond her current level of understanding. She threw away the possibility of it being distance related as there were plenty of what she’d consider closer and more viable options.
“Not to be semantic, but when you say take them out...”
“Aim for the gaps in the bike chassis, the tires are too thick. It would honestly be easier if you just shot the riders themselves but I know your still iffy about bloodshed.”
“You make it sound like I have some flippant reason for being on the fence.”
Lux brought her rifle up and assumed a firing position, quickly settling on a target and shooting despite being mid-conversation. Something that added an unexpected level of credibility to her teaching points.
“Try to follow your targets without fixating on them. The shadows will give you some leeway but they’ll take advantage of deck officers numb to their surroundings.”
“Bachelor, chassis, shadows...I think I got it.”
“Hop in the turret bay when you’re done, I’ll meet you there.”
On that note Lux took off running and gunning down the length of the back deck, her speed consistent with someone aiming to utilize the shortcut to the front deck. A feat Esma would have gladly watched come to fruition if she weren’t wary of taking her eyes off her target pool. Speaking of which...had the group grown in number?
The stand-in security officer wasn’t sure if she should welcome this development or not. True, it might have given her more potential targets, but it simultaneously increased the odds of facing retaliation. So much for hoping any action she took went unnoticed. No, she could still pull it off. Just had to target someone closer to the rear.
Esma ended up settling on a thinner looking bike model riding ahead of the rearmost party member. She had multiple reasons for doing this. The first being that if she missed, which wasn’t as much of an if as a when, the shot had a real chance of connecting with the raider trailing behind them instead. As for the second, she was inclined to believe that a thinner bike model prioritized speed and handling. Therefore, it stood to reason that applying defensive measures such as armor or plating to the bike would be counter intuitive to the advantages it posed by way of increasing the cumulative weight. And an untouched chassis could be penetrated by rifle fire. If she were to extrapolate on Lux’s advice that is.
Esma began by crouching behind the railing, both to sure up her balance on the moving surface and provide peace of mind by creating some form of cover. Naturally the next step was confirming that the safety was off for the umpteenth time. Leaving only the most difficult steps for her, aiming and pulling the trigger.
In truth shotty aim was by no means an insurmountable hurdle for her to overcome. In fact, in terms of accuracy, Esma had consistently scored in the middle of the pack during her Federation training courses. Her current misgivings owing to the neglect of her marksmanship training more than anything else. The consequence of naively believing that as a graduated member of the Communications Division there’d be no need for her pick up a rifle again.
With all these factors weighing on her mind, her finger somehow finally found the trigger. But even that step only served to propagate more of the aimless minutiae in her head. Things such as how much force her finger would need to apply to the trigger to set off the firing mechanism, or whether the timing on the coils was set to its default and struggling mightly to remember how one was to check. Safe to say Esma was putting on an absolute clinic in the art of procrastination. Such was the faith of any individual inundated with homework.
But the reward for ‘Final thought before discharging a rifle in active service for the first time’ went in a direction she couldn’t have anticipated.
I’m sweating a lot right now.
Perhaps it was because that thought had brought Esma’s awareness into the current moment, but her shot, albeit vulgar, managed to connect with the unsuspecting raider’s single sided swingarm. A main component of rear suspension in offroad vehicles. And while it didn’t cause crippling damage, it still proved enough to jostle the party member out of position. Setting off a chain reaction of raiders leaving their lines to avoid collision.
It was amid this panic that the command Crusader in the rear joined the fray and shattered whatever remained of the approach’s configuration. A success even in the absence of bodies as it stonewalled what was quietly developing into a full-fledged approach with intent to board.
For her part Esma watched this progression with a frown, not because her shot didn’t render a more adverse effect to the bike’s condition, but because she wasn’t sure if this contributed to her final count. Luckily the threat of losing track of the group reaffirmed her priorities and she shot up to follow easier. An exceedingly difficult task due to the attending darkness that had swallowed them whole and its continued refusal to capitulate.
As she moved around the turret bay Esma was given another look at the massive outcropping. There was no doubt commencing the visit at the foot of the motte had been a sound strategy. But it wouldn’t be long until the sun resumed its post and exposed the machinations of the raiding party. At which time the convoy would gain the upper hand and look to put a quick end to this visit so they could focus on the next. And one would expect they’d be brimming with confidence after coming out the other side of consecutive clashes with wins. Did Cloud Nine’s leadership lack a firm grasp on the merits of momentum heading into the final castle?
Speaking of castles, Esma could finally make out the small one atop the motte now that they’d created some distance. As advertised it was quite humble in both size and appearance, but for her the more pressing takeaway was how sheer the face of the motte was from the front. She had to believe the opposite side possessed a much more gradual incline or means to ascend to the top. Which begged the question whether any party members were up there at all. The time necessary to shuttle from one site to the other surely being much too cumbersome to affect. Perhaps knowledge of the castle’s existence was the only weapon Cloud Nine had required. Yet another method to tax the collective nerves of the convoy.
Recognizing the irony in her current train of thought, Esma let her musings on the subject fade along with the motte in the distance. Her more immediate concern, to relocate the bachelor running point in the gunner position if she was recalling her terminology correctly. Unfortunately the bike she was on the lookout for was dark in color. As such it would be difficult to distinguish it in the shadows, but with her paltry knowledge of bike models the interim security officer didn’t have much of a choice.
“Wait—why are we still inside a shadow...!?”