Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Eight: Invasion of Alpheratz(Night fight)
Midnight, March 22, 3036
"Come and get some!" Carter yelled over the open comms as another small wave of white-painted war machines charged what was left of her unit. "I've got enough armor and ammunition to put you into the dirt!"
The driver of Carter's Von Luckner pushed the Vox 225 Fusion engine to its maximum, sending the heavy tank rocketing forward towards the enemy Mechs and vehicles closing in. A flurry of missiles left the missile tubes on the turret at the same time that a Gauss rifle from a nearby Highlander impacted the first of the enemy Mechs, sending the medium-weight machine to the ground.
"Pick your targets wisely, this is probably the first wave of the night," Carter told the two battalions that were what remained of the 1st Marksman.
"Ma'am, we've got thirty minutes before the techs and engineers are done with what you asked for," an infantry officer relayed. "Requesting permission to redeploy and drop on these guys from above."
"That's a negative, Captain," Carter told the other officer. "I need those engineers and your infantry alive for the rest of the party. After all, there's no sense in spending all of our favors right now."
"Copy that, holding our party favors in reserve ma'am." The message came through punctuated by the sound of autocannon pinging among the wreckage of the Motherlode.
Carter's tank shuddered as a series of enemy missiles struck the front of it, the detonations shaking the tank but not phasing the crew, who proceeded to wheel around an enemy medium Mech and tear its rear armor to pieces before moving on.
"Where the hell is our CAS?!" The Highlander that was backing up Carter's tank asked as he got blasted with two PPCs from a duo of Griffin's. "I'm losing armor here!" He punched a hole in one Griffin's ammo bins with a Gauss round and watched it explode before turning and laying into the next Griffin with his trio of ER Medium Lasers and his six-pack of SRMs, causing its armor to melt off and the missiles to carve into the holes made by the lasers.
Then, the second Griffin stumbled, the PPC that was charging went off as it hit the ground and caused an explosion that blew off its arm.
"Get some!" The Highlander pilot crowed as he celebrated his two kills.
"Good work," Carter told the pilot. "But be wary, there are still more of them out there."
"Ma'am, we've got the spare fusion engines hooked up to the Motherlode'sweapons and sensors, we're running a systems check now," the infantry Captain reported as he shifted in place. "We are ready to open fire when given the command."
"Open up the heavens and let it rain down hellfire!" Carter ordered as the weapons on the Fortress powered on and began to lash out at nearby enemy Mechs and vehicles while the last of the Stinggunships started their strafing runs.
"They're falling back, Colonel! What are your orders?" One of the battalion majors asked via the comms systems.
"Let them go for now, and get salvage and recovery teams out there, we've got to repair and rearm before we push them further," Carter told what was left of the 1st Marksman.
March 23rd, 3036
"Your people did damn fine work out there, Colonel," Field Marshal Ran Felsner told the mercenary commander. "I'm sorry that your people paid the price for being the vanguard."
"We knew what was at stake," Carter stated. "Now we just want to put these assholes six feet into the ground."
"You're going to our second line," Felsner told Carter bluntly. "Until you can put a third battalion out we're going to need you to patch holes in our first line. So you'll be our QRF until further notice."
"Copy that sir," Carter's voice didn't show the relief that passed through her, but her eyes relayed the message. "We'll make sure that the gaps are filled in."
"Take care of your people, Carter. We'll handle making sure that these bastards pay," Felsner consoled the younger commanding officer.
"As long as we get called on to actually fight then I can accept that sir," Carter replied with a sad smile. "It'll take a couple of years to rebuild from this."
"It's never the machines that are hard to replace," Ran Felsner agreed. "It's the people that pilot them."
"I'll be assisting in the repair bay if you need to find me Field Marshal," Carter finally said as she stood up. "Have a good night."
March 24th, 3036
"This is Field Marshal Ran Felsner of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, I am offering the enemy forces in the city one last chance to surrender, should you choose to surrender than you will be given a fair and just trial, should you fail to surrender, you will be all be treated as terrorists and we will come into the city to root you out."
"I have a counter challenge," a confident voice rang out over the same communication channels. "I am Colonel Joshua Wolf of the Wolf's Dragoons, and I challenge whomever you choose as your champions to a duel for the fate of the planet and of the forces remaining. I will be bringing three lances of my elite MechWarriors, let us see what you will bring in comparison."
"Has Kerensky and the logistics personnel arrived yet?" Felsner turned to his aide-de-camp.
"Yessir, they made landfall six hours ago."
"Good, I need him and his bodyguards to report to me right away, if we're going to do this, then we're going to do it right," Felsner said as he considered the unit roster in front of him. "Let's coordinate with the Marksman and with the other units on planet, I've got an idea."
"Copy that sir, getting the other commanders on the horn now."
"You're a good man Charlie, keep up the good work," Felsner replied.
"Just don't tell Lucy that I'm running all of your errands again," the other man chuckled. "I'm not sure I can live through another dose of her "therapy".
"I'll see what I can do," Felsner replied. "Now let's get to work on destroying a terrorist organization, they won't shoot themselves after all."