Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Five: The Slog
Al Na'ir, November 25th, 3032
"Tai-Sa deLetereau I am offering you and the 15th and 8th Dieron Regulars the chance of honorable surrender. You have fought well for the Draconis Combine, and I applaud you for it, but no more samurai and militia need to die for this fight." I said on the open channel that I had established early on for communications.
I simply rested my face in my hands and sighed as silence filled the airwaves. Once again, the enemy didn't even deign to respond. "Dammit." I muttered as I leaned back in the chair while looking at what was left to be done. The battle for Al Na'ir had turned into a real slog, we had been inflicting steady casualties, but the enemy just had more bodies to throw at us. And even with the hovercraft factories partially destroyed, the war machine for the combine had left them with hundreds of the damned things in warehouses waiting to be shipped along with enough spare parts to fight not only the campaign on Al Na'ir, but also wherever else they were needed.
"If we could just pin down the medium 'mechs from the 8th that had been harassing the 5th Avalon Hussars we could push and take out the 15th, but the two Tai-Sa had been more than competent and had been stonewalling us by anchoring defenses of fast moving machines with Assault lances and artillery in their cities on standby waiting for their own fire missions. I would have our people counterbarrage the artillery, but the smart fuckers had parked the artillery in areas with a large civilian populace, and I couldn't justify anything more than a commando raid to shut the guns down.
"Mathis," I grabbed the helmet off of my desk and gestured for the man to follow me as I walked. "What would you need to make sure that the artillery is gone?"
"Two days." The man said with a contemplative look on his face underneath his own suit of Mithril. "And a company of the Ducal Guard's infantry."
"What would you need to make sure that the Arty is gone and that as many of you come back as possible?" I rephrased the question.
"The same amount of troops, and a combined arms battalion on standby to pull us out if we're discovered." Mathis replied with a shrug.
"You'll have it," I replied. "Pull your teams together, I need that artillery gone."
"Copy that sir." Mathis responded and pulled in a couple of people to take his place as my close bodyguards. "I'll get it done Hull." Mathis said with what I was absolutely sure was a cocky smirk on his face.
"Just make sure that you come back." I told the insufferable bodyguard. "I need someone who can still pull my ass out of the fire sometimes."
"You got it boss." He said over his shoulder as he walked away. "You got it."
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One Day Later…
"Fucking ISF and DEST teams." I said as I looked over more paperwork. It seemed that Takashi and Indrahar were a pain in the ass even after they were dead. With them having assigned specific teams equipped with advanced ECM suites and 'mechs that were equipped with Null Sig technology to specific industiral worlds at the very minimum, with some individual 'mechs and units, like the one that David had taken out, having a Chameleon Light Polarization shield as well. I was certain that the radicals of Comstar had a hand in this, seeing as Rook and I had personally gone through all of the data that we had pulled from Luyten and Ross years ago. The problem was, while I knew that Comstar had found ways to give the Combine technology and extra machines, I didn't know how they had been maintaining said machines. Comstar hadn't been supplying anyone with new parts or machines since Thomas Marik took over.
"Maybe they found a Star League cache." I muttered to myself as I looked over the report before jolting up. "Where is General Baker?!" I asked as I stood up and grabbed my slate.
"He is double checking the readiness of the perimeter units." My Aid replied with a shrug. "We had reports of light skirmishing to the south, so he went to make sure that the north was still secured."
"Well, we better hope that I get there in time." I said as I sprinted for my Warhammer IIC that was always on standby, triggering the small jump jets in my Mithril to jump up to the cockpit before climbing in.
Plugging the connector into my Mithril, I synced up my neurohelmet and got ready to speak the codes that I used as well as the numeric keypad that I had added to my security feature. First I had to enter the numerical code in order to verify my access. There were two codes, one was for techs, and the second was a personal code, that was only known by me or my close family and friends. The second method of Authorization was with the Neurohelmet, it read my brainwaves and established that I was one of the authorized users. The third identification factor that I had was a voiceprint and pass phrase. I had rushed through the other ones, but if you said the passphrase wrong then you would have two minutes to correct it before the Warhammercompletely locked you out of the system until reset by one of the techs.
"Passphrase:" the computer's programmed voice asked.
"A hero need not speak. When he is gone, the world will speak for him." I said after catching my breath.
Then my Warhemmer completed its power up cycle and the powerful 400 XXL fusion engine thrummed underneath me as I immediately moved to the area where General Baker was supposed to be in.
"HQ." I said over comms. "This is Duke Hull, I need to know what 'mech General Baker pilots."
"Duke Hull, General Baker currently pilots a stock Marauder." The comms officer back at the HQ briefed me. "And you might want to hurry sir, we lost contact with the General and the command lance while you were getting into your 'mech."
"Dammit." I breathed out as the rest of the QRF that was always on standby fell in line behind and beside me. The QRF was led by Nadia Winson, and she had two other Clan warriors with her. "Winson, I need you, Mackenzie, and Viola to make sure that the rest of the QRF is covered, we've got a potential enemy lance equipped with Null Sig and CLPS, I've got a VTOL with an active probe prepping for takeoff, but it might get hairy if we get ambushed.
"Aff, we will comply." Winson replied as her Gargoyle easily matched the pace set by me and my Warhammer.
"ETA is five Mikes," I said as I looked at the maps that we had been given. "It's a heavily wooded area, so make sure that you don't leave your back exposed to the enemy." I told the two Avalon Hussars that were a part of the QRF.
"Copy that sir." The two pilots replied. The Champion and Crab that they were piloting being a common sight among the AFFS currently. The two Mechs complimented each other well, and were excellent workhorse machines.
We continued moving as fast as we safely could through the heavily wooded area, eventually slowing down as we entered an area with extreme ECM.
"Maintain visuals on all friendly units." Winson commanded her QRF. "We don't need any enemy forces picking us off one by one."
"Wilco." I replied, subordinating myself under her authority given she was in charge of the QRF. "Be aware, long range Comms are cut off until my ECCM can cut through."
"Understood." Winson replied, as she signaled for us to begin to slow down. There were burned trees, and places where trees had been snapped like twigs.
"I've got a Swordsman over here." I reported as I moved to the side in order to check it out, "It's down, no ejection, but no cockpit breach either."
"Ditto." the Crab pilot reported. "I've got a downed Gladiator over here with the same thing."
"That's two of the four 'mechs that were in the command lance." I muttered to myself as we continued on.
"Got a Catapult here." Mackenzie said as she stomped her Timber Wolf over to rejoin the fireteam. "No sign of ejection, and no cockpit breach. The 'mech doesn't have legs anymore though."
"Contact!" The Crab pilot said in a panicked tone. "I've got Contact!" the Medium 'Mech began to fire its lasers into the trees.
"Soldier, get your act together!" I snapped, moving my Warhammer closer to the allied 'mech.
"You've got enemy powered armor on you, we need to get out of the trees." I said, backing my Warhammer up and out of the trees as fast as I could.
"Get em off of me! Get em off!" The Crabpilot screamed as he panicked, firing his lasers and eventually coming to a stop as a puff of smoke erupted from the rear hatch of his Crab.
"Winson," I said as the rest of the fireteam fell back to a central location. "I recommend that we move back to HQ and come back with anti-infantry, this is not a good environment to engage this kind of foe in."
"I agree." She said as she began backing her Gargoyle towards the HQ.
"You're just going to leave the General out here?" The Champion pilot asked incredulously. "You can't do that!" The heavy 'mech broke off from the rest of us as he pushed forward. "The 'mechwarrior in the Champion began to move at flank speed, tearing through trees and eventually turning around. "I found General Baker's 'mech." He said. "It's heavily damaged, but there's clearly not been an ejection."
While the Champion was off doing his own stunts, the rest of us had been grouped up in a way that we wouldn't get hammered by any potential enemy Powered armor.
"My ECCM is through." I reported to Winson as the static began to clear up. "This is Duke Hull, we need immediate support, we've got enemy powered armor in the vicinity, and suspect enemy null sig is out here."
"Copy that Duke Hull." The comms officer replied. "We've got a Sting and a company of Mithril on standby."
"We are moving to an open position so we don't get hit from a place where we cannot see." Winson began to take over. "I need some combat vehicle support as well, I suspect the enemy numbers are greater than we fear."
"Wilco." The Comms officer replied. "I'll send a company of combat vehicles your way."
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Meanwhile, the Champion pilot was still locked in the ECM and growing steadily more paranoid as he looked General Baker's Marauder, trying to see if he could find any sign of his CO.
Then, he felt a thud behind him, and spinning around, he saw an Exterminatoruncloak right in front of him. The AFFS pilot tried to aim manually, but his 'mech refused to even see the enemy standing in front if him.
"I need backup here!" He yelled, trying to get the attention of the rest of the QRF, but they weren't able to hear him. The mechwarrior, now slightly panicking, began to go through override procedures and was about to manually trigger his LB-10X at the enemy when his Cockpit was bored through by a series of lasers.
Author's note: An Alternate title for this chapter could be, "Bad Guys Get Lucky Too" Either way, it's not exactly a Niceway to end a chapter, but Cliffhangers are necessary sometimes...