Gibson was waiting for the other shoe to drop. While he found no particular fault in Nick's theory, he found it inconceivable that Clan Wolf would simply allow them to slip away unmolested. By all rights the sky should be already be full of omnifighters while omnimechs pounded the Commando's convoy into dirt. Yet, the sky was clear and no contacts registered on the long range passive sensors as the long convoy of vehicles and mechs wounds it way up the valley road. It was suspiciously too easy.

The clear and sunny sky wasn't doing anything to improve Gibson's mood, a morning fog, a rain storm, anything that might offer some concealment would have been welcome, but instead visibility was perfect making the convoy all the more vulnerable. A daylight move had been the worst case scenario as far as relocating the camp went, but the situation had offered few alternatives. There hadn't been enough hours or darkness after the attack to get clear of the local area. They could have laid up at day break but they would have been far too close to the old camp and have made it trivial for any follow up forces to find them. The only other option would have been to call for pick up and abandon the campaign, but he hadn't been willing to admit defeat just yet, not least because he still lacked clear answers about what the Clans were doing and what Comstar had to do with it.

The convoy continued its slow progress, held up by the single road and the wheeled vehicles which struggled with the rutted surface. Gibson's Rider Lance formed the close escort, while Jenny's Eagle and Nick's Shadow formed a screen in front and to the left. Melissa had taken Sword, Stalker and Hawk to escort the second convoy carrying the wounded to the evac point to await pick up by the Warspite. Uncharacteristically, second thoughts plagued Gibson. There was still time to order a complete withdraw he knew, still time to avoid the big risk he was currently taking. He opened a laser line to Max.

"Max, quick sanity check. Is this going to work?"

Cocooned in the cockpit of his Awesome, Max double checked that the line was private before relying. "If Nick's right, I give us decent odds. If he's wrong…well let's hope he's not wrong." Max left unsaid that they had already had this conversation before the convoy had set off, before they had committed to this course of action. "You ok Sam?"

"No, we're moving too slowly." Gibson replied with frustration and concern evident in his voice. "We're supposed to be a good 20km further up this track than we are." Ahead of them the convey slowed to a halt again as one of the vehicles bogged down into the mud. Gibson's frown deepened as Rider Lance's Archer lumbered over to push it clear.

"This worked a lot better on paper admittedly." Max commented flatly.

"It worked a lot better when we tested it on Maestu." Gibson half growled. He forced himself to relax. "At this rate if we get contacted by anything bigger than a star we won't be able to get the convoy clear."

"The technicians are already riding in the infantry's APCs. If we had to abandon the wheeled vehicles we'd only be losing material." Max replied. He'd insisted on including that particular contingency as part of the plan over the objections of just about everyone else.

"We'd lose a lot of material if we ditch the vehicles. Never mind all the support equipment needed to keep the mechs operational." Gibson sounded thoughtful, trying to reason out a better solution than the ones he had on hand. The convoy was moving again now, though the pace was still infuriatingly slow.

"Which we'd lose anyway if the convoy is overrun. I think your right, plan B isn't workable. If we get attacked we need to move onto plan C." Max phrased that carefully, Gibson was a 3rd Succession War veteran, abandoning salvage went heavily against the grain. "Besides we already dispatched all the Clan tech salvage with Melissa. We wouldn't be losing anything we couldn't replace once we're back on a friendly planet."

For a time Gibson didn't reply. "Your right." He sounded resigned. "I don't like it but your right." He sighed loudly. "Should have just gone straight for evac. Would have saved more kit."

"Hindsight and all that. Still time to make the call." Max prompted.

"Not much." Gibson replied as a small red dot appeared on his radar screen. He flicked over to the radio. "This is Rider Leader. Enemy fighters at 10 o clock high." Decision already made he didn't hesitate further. "Plan C, repeat plan C. Jenny take the lead, Nick grab what you can off the vehicles then set them on fire. Malcom get the drivers in your APCs and follow Jenny, Rider Lance will cover. Max what's Yurika's eta?"

There was a noticeable pause before Max replied. "Should be soon." He transmitted on the open frequency before switching back to the private laser line to Gibson. "We haven't received any communications since we broke camp. None of our mobile kit can receive or transmit on the right frequencies. If she's on time we'll have support inside the half hour. But, if she's been delayed or run into opposition." He paused. "We might be on our own here."

Gibson sat in stony silence in his cockpit as he digested that bit of information. The number of enemy omnifighters flying towards them continued to grow, there was at least 22 of them now with the first due overhead any minute. The 3 mechs left in Rider lances would be poor defence against such a force.

"Well looks like someone is finally taking us seriously." Gibson said with dark humour. "Let's hope Yurika got her invitation."

"Aye." Max replied as he brought his Awesome's PPCs online. "And let's hope she's not running fashionably late."