AN: Thank you all for bearing with me so far. Still keeping this story going so no worries about it being cancelled or put on hold. Anyway, here's chapter 6 for you.
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Outer Patrol Station, Zamas River Valley
15 kilometers east of Thermopylae Base
Marduk, Draconis Combine
February 2, 3059
Three days of combat alert was starting to take its edge on the nerves of the Stuart's Spartans personnel. Taylor 'Tribal' Jones and his mixed lance currently had patrol duty in the Zamas River Valley. 15 kilometers east of Thermopylae Base, the Zamas provided a natural boundary and choke point for traffic as it ran southward. Although at a lower level than usual for this time of year, the Zamas was still deep enough to limit traffic to a pair of bridges with a handful of other locations suitable to fording mechs across its width.
Over the centuries, the Zamas had carved a 3 kilometer wide depression that served as a flood plain. The jungle and marshes dominating both sides, continuing sporadically for another 10 kilometers to the east while the west bank was a hodge-podge of terrain that funneled any sane traffic along the road to the west towards Norse. The only break in the trees, grasses, and swamps came in the form of the giant farms that sat perched on the small bands of solid ground along the river's banks. These farms provided much of the food that sustained Thermopylae Base and the Norse Battlemechs facility, but they also created an environment that was ideal for the patrolling and monitoring of the river.
Tribal and his lancemate Hollie 'Flyer' Ransom were currently in their mechs and perched on a small rise of land about 100 meters west of the Zamas River bridges. Colton 'Storm' Jones and the unit's former chief tech Dani 'Green' Klecha were split up on mobile patrol to cover the few local fords north and south of the bridges. As had become standard, Tribal started to count down the minutes until they were relieved by Grogg and his assigned mix of mechs for their four hour shift. It was already 13:47hrs and Hoplon Lance was due to be relieved at 14:00hrs.
"Tribal! I've got contacts 2 kilometers out. Ground vehicles and at least a lance of mechs, but they're grouped too tightly for me to get a good read at this distance." came the shout from Flyer in her Firestarter.
"Shit" came the startled response as Tribal jerked back to alertness after almost nodding off in his Lineholder. "Hoplon Lance, immediate recall to the Zamas River bridges. I repeat, IMMEDIATE recall to the bridges; we have incoming." Switching frequencies, "Grogg, you had better be on your way. We have incoming at the bridge." Fumbling the switch over to Base-Command, "Thermopylae Base, this is Hoplon Lead. We have incoming ground vehicles and mechs at the Zamas River Bridges. Requesting confirmation of Orange Alert and mech assistance."
"Hoplon Lead, this is Thermopylae Command. Orange Alert confirmed. Spatha Patrol Alpha and Lightning Patrol Beta should arrive in 8 minutes. Scrambling base defenders as we speak. Expect Rain Lance and the remnants of Spatha and Lightning to arrive in 20 minutes. Lieutenant Witters will be arriving with Spatha to take charge of the situation. Do NOT let them cross the bridge and don't forget Orange Alert rules."
"Roger Command. We'll hold until reinforcements get here. Holpon Lead out." Looking out the side window of his cockpit, Tribal could see Green's Hunchback and Storm's Warhammer making their way back in from the north. Based on visual guesstimates, it'd be close which group arrived at the bridge first.
"Listen up Hoplons, we are on Orange Alert so we have to wait for them to fire before we can. Hollie, park your Firestarter in the middle of the northern bridge since the auxiliary. I'll park on the main southern bridge. Bro, you get the north bridge as well. Dani, you're with me. Grogg and his bunch will be here inside 8, so we just have to hold until then. Rest of the crew is at least 20 out." A chorus of 'roger' came over the comms to answer Tribal's orders. Throttling up, Tribal and Hollie parked on the bridges and awaited the slow moving column that was steadily growing closer.
Dani and Storm pulled up to their assigned spots mere moments before the column reached the far end of the bridges. The column consisted of 6 trucks, most likely filled with soldiers or police. Escorting the trucks were two lances of mechs, one in Police colors and one bearing the symbols and emblems of the New Baltimore garrison. Tribal wasn't worried much about the lance of police mechs (two Urban Mechs, a Jenner, and a Wolf Trap) since they were lighter and had limited firepower, but the lance of militia mechs more than equaled the firepower at his disposal. Lined up at the head of the column stood a 60 ton Grand Dragon, a 60 ton Rifleman, a 45 ton clan Shadow Cat, and a 50 ton Huron Warrior.
Stepping his Lineholder forward, Tribal keyed to a general frequency "This is Sergeant Taylor Jones of the Stuart's Spartans Mercenary Battalion. Who are you and what business do you have with the Spartans or with Norse Battlemechs?"
The Grand Dragon stepped forward, mimicking Tribal's motions. "This is Sergeant Gail Miller of the Marduk Militia. We are here upon request of the New Pontiac Police Department to serve a warrant for the arrest of Captain Jacob Olsen, Lieutenant Dan Kastor, and Lieutenant Leslie Witters, all of them from your unit. If you would be so kind as to move your lance aside, we will serve our warrants and be on our way back to New Pontiac."
Tribal found it very disturbing that Gail Miller was using her equivalent rank if she were in the Federated Suns Armed Forces rather than her official Draconis Combine rank. "Sergeant Miller, I'm afraid that I can not let you pass to serve your warrants. If you and your comrades would be willing to wait, I can have Lieutenant Witters here within 20 minutes to discuss this matter with you, although I can't guarantee Captain Olsen or Lieutenant Kastor."
"Our warrants permit us to cross into this district, although I will wait for Lieutenant Witters to arrive and surrender herself. Afterwards we will collect our other two prisoners" came an exasperated reply.
All of the sudden, Tribal's comms. clicked on and a message on a tight-beam transmission came through. "Tribal, it's Grogg. Do not reply to this message. I'm here with Nex, Beers, and Hawk. We're passive and hiding in the copse of trees 800 meters to the left rear of your position. If things go to shit, know we're waiting." With that, the comm. relay cut out.
Tribal let out a sigh of relief. With Grogg, Nex, Beers, and Hawk on station, that meant that Hoplon Lance now had some serious firepower backing it in the form of Grogg's 65 ton Cestus, Nex's 70 ton Gallowglas, Beers' 40 ton Cicada, and Hawk's 30 ton Hermes. Through his rearview cameras, Tribal thought he might have seen a glimpse of Arcturos' Cataphract a few moments later, but he wasn't sure.
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A little over ten minutes after Grogg's transmission, Rommy crested the far hill in her 100 ton Berserker and was flanked by Bravo's 20 ton Fireball and Frog's 25 ton Dart. Walking her mech down to the bridges, Rommy halted on the small crest that Tribal had occupied not half an hour before.
"This is Lieutenant Witters. There was something you wanted to discuss with me Sergeant Miller?"
"Yes Lieutenant, there is. I have a warrant here for your arrest regarding the order to fire upon civilians in New Pontiac on December 30. I ask of you to surrender yourself peacefully so that we won't have to resort to the use of force to apprehend you, Jacob Olsen, or Dan Kastor" replied Miller.
Rommy snorted into her microphone. "You want me to surrender to you, an AWOL member of the Marduk Militia, based on a warrant issued by someone with no jurisdiction over the Spartans on a matter that was self defense? Is this some sort of twisted joke? Am I on Candid Camera?"
"I assure you this is no joke Lieutenant. Just as I assure you that the New Baltimore garrison is not AWOL, we were just ordered by the higher authorities to relocate to a more needy area. Now I ask you to shut down your battlemech and climb out of your cockpit."
"Sorry sweet-checks, but that's not going to happen today" came a sarcastic, sugar-laden comment from Rommy. "If you want to arrest me, you are going to have to blast my mech out from under me and pry my cold fingers off of my controls. Bring it on."
The two lances of mechs began to move across the main span while the trucks disgorged infantry and lowered their canvas tops to reveal autocannon. Tribal and Dani stood their ground on the main span as Storm and Hollie fell back for a better angle. The Grand Dragon tried to shoulder aside Tribal, rattling him around the cockpit, but his mech stood its ground…even as the Shadow Cat, Jenner, and Urban Mechs leapt over his position. Trying to knock aside Tribal's Lineholder again with the same result, Sergeant Miller's Grand Dragon lashed out with its PPC and trio of medium lasers, burning away over a ton of armor. Unbalanced by the sudden loss of mass, Tribal's mech leaned over hard in an attempt to keep its footing, only to be brushed aside and onto its back as Sergeant Miller almost literally ran him over.
Seeing Tribal fired on and knocked to the ground, all hell broke loose from the Spartan mechs. Dani turned her Hunchback and fired and alpha-strike at the police Wolf Trap, sheering off it's left leg at the femur just as a pair of PPC blasts from Storm's Warhammer struck the same mech in the high torso, sending the mech skidding along the bridge. A blast from Rommy's PPC and two large pulse lasers sliced through one Urban Mech, forcing it to shut down before the reactor overloaded and blew. A hail of missiles, lasers, PPC, and gauss rounds struck the Militia/Police mechs as Grogg's Spatha Lance emerged from the woods in its entirety.
Returned fire from the rogue Militia force was very feeble after the display of firepower and the arrival of Grogg's heavy lance, which weighed almost as much as their entire force. The pilots of the Rifleman and Shadow Cat shut down their mechs and popped their cockpit canopies as a sign of surrender.
Ignoring her comrades, Sergeant Miller unleashed her weapons at Rommy's Berserker, burning off armor and paint, but causing no serious damage. What she got in return was Rommy accelerating her mech forward and boosting up to over 80 kph as she engaged her mech's MASC system. Rushing towards the Grand Dragon, Rommy extended her mech's arm and took a page out of Mobius' book, clothes-lining Miller's mech at a closing speed of over 120 kph. The impact jarred the Berserker and spun it slightly, but the arm had caught the Grand Dragon just below the cockpit and sent the mech flying back to the ground. Looking up at the sky and Rommy's PPC aimed directly at her cockpit, Miller shut down her mech and held her hands up in surrender.
"Base Command, this is Rommy. Send the salvage teams and tech crews to the Zamas Bridge. We're going to need another 7 mech pilots down here" called Rommy as she watched the infantry pile into their trucks across the river and flee without firing a shot.
"Roger Lieutenant. Salvage crews are on the way and should be there inside 30 minutes. We caught that all on camera from infantry outpost O4. Nice work out there Spartans…Base crew is treating all mech pilots down there to a few drinks at their earliest convenience. Thermopylae Base out."
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AN: was intending to make this a bit longer, but t'was a good breaking point so we're going to end this chapter here. Hope that everyone had as much fun reading it as I did writing. R&R.
