“All units of the Hokliss 34th report to mess hall, 15 minutes. All units of the Hokliss 34th report to mess hall, 15 minutes.”
It was a few weeks after the events on the hell planet, and Shaun could not believe how smoothly everything had been going. Alissa and he had moved into expanded quarters, Kenny had hooked up with Li Min, McGuire had joined up as a “special liaison,” and there had been no military conflicts until now. From the tone of the call Shaun was certain that that was about to change. He headed quickly to his quarters to grab a jacket, then to the mess hall as instructed.
Chairs had already been set up in four sections, one for each squad. Being a pilot he was on the first row, with pilots also in the second row, vehicle crews next, then support staff behind them. Alissa smiled as she entered and sat beside him, both all business in preparation for the worst.
It was something of a surprise to see not Theresa but William Calvert standing at the front of the room, obviously preparing the briefing. Shaun set his tablet on his lap, ready for whatever downloads the Major might send them. Then Calvert spoke.
“We have a situation. There has been an attack of at least a full company of Jugs with their support craft on the planet Verdancy, specifically on their capitol city of Drewsylvannia in the Northwestern quadrant. As far as we can tell, the attackers have gained full control of the city and cut off interstellar communications. Until we have achieved orbit, we will not have access to further data.”
Calvert tapped the screen set up behind him, and the image quickly glowed to life of a map showing a city and its surrounding environs. The city was on the edge of a lake or ocean, with some heavily wooded areas nearby, then a mixed terrain, then desert.
“We have reason to believe the attackers split their forces, some remaining in the city but others in the woods, the desert, and mixed terrain areas. We have no idea which squad would be the command group, but suspect it isn’t the squad in the city. City control is held easily with bantams and medium weight Jugs with lighter weaponry, so we will be sending Bronze squad there. Deployment of the other units will be determined once we have re-established contact with the local militia.
“For this mission Bronze and Silver squads will be assigned to Firecats, while Gold, Platinum and support crews will share the Icarus. This arrangement of shuttles should allow us to optimize dispersal. So: any questions?”
Alissa raised a hand. “Do we know anything about who the attackers are, or what their objective is?”
William nodded. “We have identified the attacking company as the Comancheros, an across the border bandit gang. We are fairly certain they are just trying to gain a foothold on this side of the border to have somewhere to flee from Cheung border patrols.
“If that is the case we must make sure to oust this group as quickly as possible. Should they maintain control of Verdancy and attack Cheung planets from there, the chance exists that this could provoke an international war. We really don’t want that.”
Shaun felt a chill run through him, but raised his hand next. “Is this a case where we might be able to appeal to Governor Strand for support?”
“Support has already been requested, but we have been ordered to address the situation as quickly as possible and not wait for backup. The longer the Comancheros have to dig in, the harder it will be to dig them out.”
William paused, looking around the room but seeing no more hands. “If that’s all the questions, then let’s get going. One hour to pack, then we’re off.”
Pilots and techs got up and left faster than Shaun could think about it, as Alissa approached the Major.
“Sir? I believe we have heard of the Comancheros. Are you aware of the possibility they might be armed with Whitefire missiles?”
Calvert granted her his full attention. “I had heard rumors they had a fire lance, but nothing to confirm this. Are you corroborating this based on your personal experience?”
Shaun and Kenny both approached to back her up. Shaun spoke up. “Please understand, sir, that that question can be very difficult to answer. In our tabletop game, we encountered the Comancheros and they used Whitefire. The consequences -- we will just say they were devastating. We would like to encourage you personally to take every precaution possible to deal with this.”
Calvert nodded. “I will make sure that all units are equipped with firefighting gear. Where it won’t interfere with normal missile loads, I’ll have Jugs armed with at least some fire suppressant missiles. Are there any other measures you would care to suggest?”
“Yes, sir.” Alissa paused and took a deep breath. “We would like for you personally to withdraw from the mission. Oversee it from the shuttle or whatever, but not out in the field.”
Now the Major looked surprised. “You’re not serious, are you? Do you two concur with her?”
Kenny sighed. “Yes, sir, we do. We can’t afford to lose you.”
Calvert stared at the three of them. “It is precisely because I lead this company that you can’t afford to lose me. If I stop leading, I am useless.”
Shaun ventured in. “Better to miss one mission than all missions after, Major. That’s what we’re trying to say.”
Calvert took a deep breath. “You lost me. In your game, we went up against the Comancheros, and you lost me. That’s what this is about, right?”
Shaun nodded. “In fact, it was even worse. You were severely crippled, even blinded, sir. But you survived.”
“And this was because the Comancheros carried Whitefire missiles?”
“Precisely.” Alissa sighed. “We have been given an opportunity to warn you, and that’s what we wanted to do. If we can change history, this is it.”
The Major reflected quietly. “You’re trying to offer me an out, rather than getting burned half to death in battle. But it means me abandoning my post. I can’t do that. I can’t even warn my squad, or they will behave unprofessionally in their efforts to protect me. At least I personally am warned: maybe that will be enough to avoid that result.”
“Don’t forget,” mentioned Shaun, “we are aware as well. We can take action to assist you. We can --”
“No, you can’t.” interrupted Calvert. “You are on a different squad, with different responsibilities. You cannot abandon your posts even to save me.”
“You know you are tying our hands, right?” Alissa exclaimed. “What if we are able to take down our opponents and still have time to come and assist?”
“If you completely disable the squad you encounter, then you are free to support whatever squad requires assistance. But you _must_ fully disable the squad opposing you first.”
Shaun nodded. “Okay. We can do that. Blitz the hell out of them, take control quick, and we’ll be on our way to assist you.”
“If you can do that, great. But if not -- well, “best laids plans of mice and men,” as they say…”
The Icarus was set at the gate, with two Firecats behind it. Because there was no telling what they would encounter on the other end, all Jugs were prepped and ready for immediate deployment. For Kenny, Leonard and Shaun this meant little as they were not equipped with jump jets for extravehicular activity, but the smaller Jugs were, and might be launched at a moment’s notice.
Shaun held his breath as the countdown dragged to its conclusion, and he felt the jump. Then there was the eerie silence at the other end, as they waited for any attack. The silence became prolonged, and Shaun began to breathe easier.
“Alright, folks, all three ships are through the gate, and we have encountered no resistance at this time. Prepare for atmospheric drop.”
Shaun braced himself for the virtual freefall of re-entry. It had not been nearly as bad on the Firecat as it was when they were ejected in pods, or now, going down in the spheroid shuttle. Yes, he was developing a definite preference for the aerodyne.
For a while he was shaken about in his chair, but finally the ship reached full atmosphere and the buffeting settled down. Now he was resting more comfortably for the rest of the drop.
“Landing in five minutes. Everyone prepare for rapid deployment.”
In a couple of minutes Shaun felt the resistance of the thrusters coming on and knew they were slowing in their descent, no longer falling like a rock. He was pressed deep into the cushions of the seat as the thrusters powered up higher and higher just before landing. And at last they were down. The hangar door opened and Shaun stepped out onto the charred ground where the shuttle had landed. Several other vehicles and Jugs joined him within seconds, splitting up quickly into four groups and leaving the hot zone.
“Gold squad: head count!” he called out, listening up as they sounded off. He found himself striding along with the back end of the pack, including Kenny as the slowest, then Leonard, Tommy and himself dropping back to keep Kenny company. The hovercraft and other five Jugs surged ahead, though all the service vehicles trailed behind.
“Gold scout three to Gold Leader. We have the opposition in sight. They are making use of the treeline for cover. We are steering clear: there is some good coverage in the rocks and hills here.”
Shaun replied. “Affirmative, Gold scout leader. Keep us informed.”
Gold had been assigned the mixed terrain area near the city. This would present many challenges and opportunities as far as taking cover and shooting into cover, as well as affecting their movement abilities. He would be greatly restricted by the fact that this Jug did not have jump jets.
The angle from which they were approaching offered lots of cover from rocky cliffs, and he sought an angle that would allow him to fire without overly exposing the Jug to enemy fire. Before he got there he heard the boom, crackle and thunder of cannon, PPCs and Gauss all going off. His lead Jugs had already engaged and were apparently taking heavy fire. He hurried towards the cliffs, now much more concerned with engaging the enemy than maintaining cover.
“Wow! Close one!” Alissa’s voice popped up.
“Sounds like we got a heavy squad. Back off if you have to: we’ll try flanking them.” Shaun tried to keep the tension out of his voice, as he did each time Alissa was hot in the middle of battle.
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Rounding the corner of the rocky cliff, Shaun sighted off of a PPC blast coming from the woods across the field. He fired his railgun, cannon and long-range laser as quickly as possible. The PPC snuffed out suddenly, much to his satisfaction. Then he cringed at the sudden onslaught of long range missiles flying towards the cliffs at various points, including his position. He stepped back towards the shelter of the cliffs but the spread of the missiles was too wide, and he became caught in the deluge. It was rather like having a package of lit firecrackers being thrown at him, what with the spattered explosions of missiles going off against the Jug.
But the moment the missiles cleared Shaun lined up another trio of shots, this time at the location from which he had seen the most missiles rise. A loud explosion suggested he had struck an ammo block, and that the pilot had paid the price for riding a missile boat.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the Eagle Claw jumping behind the enemy line. He called out on the radio. “Everyone, be careful about crossfire. We’ve got ‘em surrounded, let’s not have any friendly fire incidents.”
“What, you worried about ‘lil ol’ me?” Alissa teased. “Don’t worry: I’ll stay up high, out of the line of fire.”
“I won’t,” rejoined Michael. “Can hardly rip their guts out at long distance. I’ll try to stay behind ‘em so youse will hit them first.”
A flash of staticy light announced Li Min’s entrance into the fray as she thoroughly electrified some poor Comanchero. Other blasts suggested that the enemy squad had been thoroughly surrounded and would soon be completely incapacitated.
“Doing good! Take ‘em all down: nothing left standing!”
Shaun surged forward, checking quickly for enemy units to attack. One fired missiles at him; he responded in kind with rail gun, cannon and laser.
Very shortly all enemy Jugs were down on the ground, and a support hovercraft had arrived to pick up the prisoners. “So much for this squad of Comancheros,” commented Shaun: “Now: let’s see what’s going on in the forest portion of the grid.”
He called ahead on the frequency for the other squad.
“Platinum squad, this is Gold squad. Our opponents are fully subdued, and we are on our way to you. Please advise your status.”
The reply came back quickly. “Gold squad, if you are available, please assist. They are using Whitefire missiles: we are under heavy fire, literally.”
As he looked in the direction of the forest, he could see black smoke rising in a thick cloud over the trees. “On our way.”
He immediately broke into a run, switching his frequency back to gold. “No holding back, now. Any help fast is better than a bunch of help late.”
He was soon passed up by all four of the fast Jugs in the squad, charging across the open field, then jumping over the rougher terrain. He aimed his Jug for an opening between the cliffs, seriously ruminating on the advantages of jump jets. At this point he, Leonard, Tommy and Kenny were stragglers trying to catch up.
Switching back to Platinum, he overheard the somewhat panicked calls from that squad.
“Platinum four to Platinum leader: they’ve got me! My Jug is on fire! Falling back, now!”
“Plat leader to Plat five: please assist Plat four. Douse ‘em, fast!”
“Plat six, taking fire, please assist -- “
“Plat seven taking fire, please assist -- “
Still listening in, Shaun switched to transmit to his own team. “Gold leader to Gold four and five: assist the Platinum support units with fire suppression missiles.”
He got two responses of “Roger!” as he continued tromping forward. He considered how little help he would be in fire suppression, considering he had no missiles to fire. But of course he could blast the enemy before they fired more Whitefires, so that counted for something.
“Gold leader, this is gold four and five: we are on sight and suppressing fires. Gold one, two and three are on the offensive.”
Now Shaun breathed easier. “Good show! The rest of the squad is coming!”
Then came the call he had been dreading. “Platinum leader to squad, I am under heavy fire. Withdrawing at once.”
Shaun gritted his teeth, feeling so helpless. Even if he got there he would not be able to do anything but fight off additional attacks, and the same was true for both Alissa and Kenny.
“Gold leader to gold four and five: please assist Platinum leader asap.”
Now he was close enough to see the flames through the trees: flames moving as the Jugs moved, setting yet more of the woods ablaze. He hurried to the edge of the woods, peering through the trees for the telltale smoke plumes of flying missiles, and upon seeing some, fired into the woods. He was safe from causing a friendly fire incident thanks to his tracking systems pinpointing the locations of all his fellow Company members.
His targeting system confirmed two hits, and he continued charging forward. Usually he would have hung back, but the woods created such an obstacle to his sight that he did not have much choice. Of course, this put him in range for the short range whitefire missiles, but how was he to avoid that?
At least his targeting system could make out the locations of the enemy Jugs, so he did his best to reach a medium range that was good for him but lousy for short range missiles. As the opportunity presented he would fire into the woods and cross his fingers.
Then an enemy Jug with obvious long range missile racks stepped out of the woods a distance away. His systems warned of the lock-on, and he stepped forward at once to lumber for the trees, trying to avoid the fiery rain.
But the shot was too well spread; he was struck as well as a large area around him, all lighting up in flames. His viewscreen was awash in fire, so he could no longer see anything except via his sensors.
Still, he could hear the sounds of railguns, PPCs and missiles all apparently firing at once, and the sound of something (probably the rail gun shell) hitting with a bang on his opponent. And suddenly there was another splatter of missiles on his Jug and he could see the flames extinguished and a grey-white foam take their place. Alarms that had started to go off shut down, and temperature gages that had just soared began to drop. Still, he could feel the heat radiating off his canopy and knew better than to reach out to touch it.
“Thanks, Leonard and Tommy! Er, Gold six and nine! Let’s get to Platinum leader!”
“Platinum leader! Platinum leader! Please assist! They’ve got me pinned! I’m in trouble!”
The dense woods made it impossible to see more than a few meters ahead, but Shaun’s HUD showed him exactly where Calvert was at, and that three enemy Jugs had him engaged from different directions. There was nowhere for him to turn.
Shaun lumbered forward as fast as he could make the Jug move, lining up a shot through the trees on one of the enemy targets as he went. He got a partial lock, crossed his fingers and fired. Two of his three shots scored, and better yet, the Jug he struck apparently turned away from Calvert and was now coming his way.
He was hoping to draw someone away and relieve the pressure on Calvert, so this was just fine with him. He targeted and fired once more: the enemy Jug evidently did not have any long-range weaponry and was trying to close distance to be able to fire. It was falling right into Shaun’s trap by charging: he lined up another three shots that fired and hit.
Just ahead of him, the woods blossomed into flame. Apparently the enemy Jug had fired even though out of range, just for the purpose of throwing up a wall of flame between them. That interfered with Shaun’s optical and infrared sensors, but magnetic and vibration sensors worked just fine. Then vibration winked out. Had the Jug fallen, or just stopped in its tracks?
Shaun hesitated, not knowing if it would be safe to push through the undergrowth that had been saturated by the whitefire. Would the accelerant stick to the Jug as he passed through, or stay in the trees? Only one way to find out…
He stepped forward into the white-hot blaze and kept moving until he was through the splashed area, now into woods that were singed and smoky but not on fire. In moments he came across the downed Rasputin lying on its back, gaping holes in its armor where he had struck it repeatedly. Not willing to allow this fiery opponent to recover, Shaun aimed carefully for the exposed ammo bin and fired. A fireball consumed the downed Jug, and Shaun did not see an ejection for the pilot. He hesitated for a moment, but Calvert’s life took priority, and he quickly charged on.
He had not heard any more from Platinum leader. That was not good. There was a good chance that Calvert’s radio had been knocked out. He had Calvert’s location pinpointed, and lumbered in that direction. He was glad to see other fellow company members closing in.
“Gold four: we found Platinum leader, dousing him now. Doesn’t look good, he’s on fire all over, and I think he’s going down.”
“Silver leader here. Kicked this squad’s asses, on our way. Douse’em good, please!”
Shaun arrived in time to see the Warlord on the ground, steam and smoke rising from its armor. Still he had heard no more on Calvert’s radio.
“Gold leader. Somebody get him the hell out of there!”
The Tiger knelt, and he could see Michael climbing out from his cockpit. First he slung two cylinders to the ground, then climbed down himself. In moments he was hauling the extinguishers over to the Warlord and spraying down the outside of the cockpit.
“Not good,” Michael broadcast: “Cockpit was breached. Won’t know damage or injury till we get that open.”
Shaun sank to his knees, desperate to get out and help. He was sick with the foreknowledge of what they were sure to find. But what could he do? He had no magic cure for third degree burns, no specialized medical training to deal with this situation. All he would be able to do would be stand around in the way.
He switched frequencies and thumbed the mike. “Gold leader to support. We need medics, now, at our location in the woods. HC’s won’t make it in: send tracked MASH unit at once.”
At the Warlord Shaun could see that Michael had pried open the hatch, and quickly sprayed the extinguisher inside. Then he swore over the comms before dropping down into the cockpit. “Gold five: this doesn’t look good. I think he’s still alive, but just barely. Better get medics now.”
At the edge of his tactical map Shaun could see circles representing ground vehicles approaching. Any of them would have a hard time getting through the woods. He walked over to the fallen Warlord and began blazing a trail, smashing down small and medium-sized trees to get them out of the way. A wheeled vehicle or hovercraft would still find it impassable, but a tracked vehicle could get through now. He continued to the edge of the woods, from where he could see the vehicles approaching, He returned the way he came, crushing stumps and tossing logs to the side, making sure that the route was now clear.
At the Warlord he could see they had managed to extricate Calvert from the cockpit. Michael was with him, and had covered his worst wounds with temporary wraps, knowing the MASH unit was on its way. But what Shaun saw was enough to confirm his fears. It was highly unlikely that William would ever walk or see again.
Alissa and Kenny had also arrived, standing as silent sentinels above the tragedy unfolding on the ground. They weren’t speaking on the radio; there was really nothing to say. Then Tommy broke in.
“I heard you three are some kind of time travellers. Did you know about this? Couldn’t ya do something about it?”
Shaun sighed. “We tried. We knew about the Whitefires, we knew he might get injured just like this, we warned him, asked him to stay back. He gave out suppression missiles to everyone who could take them, but he refused to abandon his position. He’s the Major: not like we could force him to stand down.”
It took Tommy a minute to answer. “That’s a bitch and a half, isn’t it? Knowing what’s coming, not being able to change it. Time travel sounded cool, until that.”
Shaun had to agree. “In many ways this has been a blast. We could only imagine piloting giant robots into battle, blowing things up and making a positive difference for people. I don’t think we took into account the possibilities of injuries and loss of life, but -- how do you? I think everyone believes they’re immortal, nobody figures they can die, and it makes death seem unreal.”
Tommy assented. “Well, you got that one right. Until ya see friends of yours stretched out on the ground and know they’re never movin’ again, it don’t quite hit home. But when it does, ya gotta keep it in perspective. Ya can’t let it eat you up, knowing you’ve been doin’ the same to others. Out in the field it’s you dead or them, and if you’re thinkin’ about it instead of takin’ care of business, it’s gonna be you.”
Shaun considered. “Cold, but true.”
By now the MASH tracker had reached the scene, and six techs had jumped out and carried Calvert into the vehicle. With the horror of Calvert’s mangled frame no longer visible, Shaun shook off his reverie and cleared his throat.
“Gold Squad, accompany the MASH unit back to recovery point.”
“Silver squad: assist in apprehension of any prisoners. If they’re dumb enough to try to escape, you are authorized to use lethal force.”
That was Theresa, and Shaun could tell she was obviously very upset. No wonder: but was that authorization going to lead to violation of some time of wartime code? He was glad that callout had been to Silver squad and not to his own people.
The MASH unit moved slowly through the rough corridor Shaun had broken down, taking care not to jostle William in transit. Shaun was able to keep up easily. They made good progress to the landing zone, where the Firecat was waiting.