Chapter Twenty Four: Kingdom
Valexa, Federated Suns; December 30th,
"You know," Sheppard said to the rest of the crew that had gone out drinking with him. "It's nice to be on a garrison contract again."
"Hear hear." Lieutenant Packer agreed, raising his mug of beer in his massive paw of a hand. "Good booze, great pay, the company though.… eh, could be better." He smirked at the guys he was with.
"At least we're not the Colonel right now." Mendoza offered. "Last I saw him out of the office was three days ago. And even then he was working on the paperwork."
"I've got Peterson on it." Sheppard chimed in. "He's forcing a break right about now." He glanced down at his watch. "Ever since those three he had sorting paperwork for him quit he's been up to his ears in trying to keep up with everything." He took a deep swig of his beer. "Luckily, Hull usually listens to reason."
"Yeah," Paige agreed. "The Colonel is pretty good about that.
"Enough about work already!" Mckay yelled, already plastered. "We're here to Partay!"
"I thought you were on babysitting duty." Sheppard glared at Lamb who pretended to ignore him.
"I'll drive her back to base." Jenkins volunteered, he was the one who usually stayed sober anyway. "Not like I got much else to do but study for this engineer test." he offered.
"Sounds good Jenkins." Packer thanked him with a nod. "I'll cover her tab tonight and I'll help you get that lab time you asked for."
Valexa, Federated Suns; January 15th, 3006
"Alright people, now that you've gotten all of the partying and fun out of your system it's that time of year again." Colonel Hull said to the assembled battalion. "That's right, it's time for live fire exercises again." I paused. "This year, I will be proctoring while Sheppard and Peterson split the battalion in half."
"Oh, and before I forget." I stopped them before they dispersed to get moving to the land plots we had leased and set up with mock buildings and objectives. "Strider and Wardog will not be accessible to either side for this engagement. Ground forces only."
Sheppard and Peterson groaned, but came up to the parade ground stage. Our war games forces were all picked via a lottery based system. First you drew what equipment you had,then the staff was sorted into lots based on skill levels and training, and finally, you drew whether you were defending or attacking. While this didn't make things fair, it enabled us to get a feel for different scenarios that may happen in real life due to bad intel or any number of other things. This year, I had removed my Warhammer from the lottery and also taken the Messenger and our aerospace squadrons out of play. I had plans for them…
"Dammit!" Peterson cussed, he had gotten most of the Battlemech company barring the Marauder and Crab and had managed to grab Paige's non mechanized infantry company in support along with the artillery pieces. To make matters worse, even though his forces would probably be used better on the offensive, he was stuck defending the "fort" that the engineers had put up over the last couple of weeks.
Pushing aside his anger, he climbed into the Mongoose and triple checked to make sure everything was set to training mode. There had only ever been one accident during their live fire exercises and after what the Colonel did to her, it had never happened again.
This years exercises were scheduled to take almost a month, and the Colonel always made them interesting by adding in little surprises that he had planned in advance. Last years exercises had been conducted in a hurry because of how busy they were and had only lasted two days before they had to pack up and leave. This year, being denied access to their normal Air cover would make things interesting indeed.
February 5th 3006
"Sheppard!" Peterson laughed. "I got you good this time." He slapped the shoulder of his friend. "Any idea why the Colonel called the exercises off early?"
"Nope" Sheppard responded shaking his head. " But I'm sure if you wait, he'll be briefing us shortly."
"Listen up!" Colonel Hull called when the battalion had settled in. We have Capellan raiders burning into the system as we speak. From what the Argo and Messenger have picked up it looks like we have two battalions headed here to raid and they are three days out."
February 15th, 3006
"Colonel, we need to fall back." Lieutenant Lamb, the commander of 'Mech fireteam Carbine radioed in.
"That's a negative Lieutenant" I replied, "I need you there so Sheppard can come in with the heavies."
"Sir, Mckay and Rogers just punched out." She said as she fired a large laser at an Enforcer. "I'm down to a Lance here. I need something with more firepower to hold this line."
The comms went silent for a second as I put Dunham in command of coordinating and keeping the various companies updated and climbed into my Warhammer. Rushing through the startup process, I pushed at my fastest speed to help bail out the fireteam.
"Dunham, see if our Spotters managed to range the Lancers' Dropships yet." I commanded as I rushed through the trees. "Rifle lead, we may need to spring our trap early."
"Roger that Marksman actual." Sheppard responded. "Rifle, trigger is pulled."
I rounded a hill to see Mckay's Griffin slumped over with it's fist embedded in the cockpit of an Enforcer and Roger's Shadow Hawk was leaning against a tree with it missing its left torso.
I snapped off both PPC's at an Enforcer, hitting it's shoulder and causing it's autocannon to miss it's intended target. Lamb and Maverick focused fire with me and we dropped the Enforcer before backing away. I fired both PPC's at an Archer this time. Nearly taking the pilot out and drawing most of the ire that this company had.
"Marksman actual and Carbine, Watch your fire." Sheppard called. Coming out of the woods on passive sensors with the rest of the battalion hot on his heels. The Lancer's were pinched between both of our forces. But they fought until there was only a lance left before surrendering.
After the aftermath of the battle, my Warhammer was missing a PPC, I was out of SRM's, and we were down both Pegasus hovercraft, one Vedette medium tank, and a full fireteam of 'mechs was out of commission. While we had been running distraction on the 'Mech forces in our area, Peterson and the infantry had gotten the dropsite of the Lancers ranged and sited with the Ballista Artillery we had. They had managed to get the drop on about half of their dropships and the rest had powered down and surrendered rather than get crippled from artillery at range.
March 10th, 3006
It was strange, losing so much and yet being grateful for it. We utterly dismantled the battalion of Blackwind Lancers that had dropped in to raid Valexa. But we had lost all of our Armor barring our Maxims and the Artillery. Most of our 'Mechs were in various states of disrepair and some of them might even be scrapped entirely. Mckay had punched out but would be laid up in the Argo on medical leave until spinal compression and a concussion went away. Rogers had to have his left leg and arm in a cast after his ejection seat threw him into a tree. I had over 50% casualties In the armored company alone.
The infantry companies had made it out with the least amount of casualties and would be handling most of the patrol duties. The infantry had made it out the most intact because we had mostly used them for scouting for the artillery and ensuring the POW's didn't try to escape.
Whereas the militia had been wiped out almost to a man fighting Marion's Highlanders and had only managed to take out a company before they lifted off with the spoils of war we had managed to take out and take prisoner a good portion of what the Lancers had landed with.
March 24th, 3006
"It was a good plan Mark." Sheppard said, the command staff all sitting down in the room we had claimed. "If we had thought it was bad then we would have told you." He shrugged "We did better than most regular units would have done in our place and that's something to be proud of."
"Their lives were spent sir." Captain Rose said with a sad smile on her face. "Not wasted." Her company had taken the majority of the losses over the past two months.
"We're going to have to pull some people from the training Cadre." Peterson advised. "And we need heavier machines. While what we had worked well with pirates, we're gonna need heavier machines and more of them if we're going to take on house units like this on the regular."
"I put together a wish list Colonel." Rose said. "I'll have it on your desk in a couple of days." She paused. "After the funerals that is."
I just nodded. Having been taking notes the entire time. "I'm gonna need a list of improvements from all of you the day after tomorrow." I said. "We're going to be stepping up our game in training, recruitment, and in materials."
"Are we heading to Avalon?" A couple of the staff asked and I shook my head. "We wouldn't be able to explain where the equipment came from." I sighed. "We're stuck doing it the old fashioned way for now."
"Alright then." Sheppard said. "I expect full debriefs on my desk before you turn your improvements and wish lists in to the Colonel." He looked at each of the assembled senior officers including me. "I expect all of you to get at least eight hours of sleep and eat a solid breakfast before the funerals in the morning." He said sternly, the usual humor gone from his face.
"Yes sir," The senior officers said and then they dispersed to head to their quarters and go to sleep.
Authors note: I'm pretty sure pbthhhht is asleep right now wherever he is. So once again, expect some minor changes as we go. Also, my laptop is about to head into the shop tomorrow and so I'll be stealing my wifes computer to write everything