Chapter 11

Day and night hold little relevance on a dropship. With all illumination coming from artificial sources and possessing a virtually inexhaustible power supply in the form of the ship's reactor, there was no particularly good reason to ever have less than perfect light conditions in the often dangerous, industrial environment of a dropship. However, the crew were not inexhaustible, nor was there sufficient space or life support for most dropships to carry enough crew to run routine 24 hour operations. Therefore, thought the bridge was lit no different than usual, it was currently 'night' and most of the Warspite's crew were asleep in their bunks. A fact that wasn't making Melissa very happy right now. Roused from her bunk, she had been called to the bridge for an urgent meeting.

She opened the hatch to find the night watch quietly going about their duties while Gerald, Nick and her husband poured over one of the displays. "Captain." She greeted Gerald formally as she stepped onto the bridge. Though she held seniority by virtue of being second in command, it was still his ship and there were protocols to be obeyed.

"Evening Ma'am." Gerald returned the formal greeting.

"Sorry to wake you, but there have been developments." Melissa was surprised by the sound of Yurika's voice coming from the display terminal. On closer inspection, she saw there was a small hologram of the Furious' Captain projected next to the solar system map.

"That's ok, I was awake anyway." Melissa lied as walked over to join them. She still hadn't made up her mind about the younger Captain, she recognised a façade when she saw one and didn't know her well enough yet to know what was behind it. "What's happened?"

"We've got two new contacts." Gerald replied, gesturing at the projection of the solar system in front of him. "The Carrier class dropship has departed Mortiz's orbit and is accelerating towards us. They will be in a position to intercept us in 17 hours." Gerald manipulated the display to show the positions of the dropships relative to each other. "And we've picked up an EM Pulse from the nadir jump point. We can't say for certain. But we suspect it is at least a warship."

Melissa took a moment to think this over before replying. "I'm a ground officer Gerald. Explain what all that means."

"In short, we will only get one run at the planet and we'll be doing it without the Furious and her fighters. They will be dealing with the Carrier." Gerald replied grimly. "That makes the whole thing significantly more dangerous. Ignoring that we will be landing with barely any air support, the Carrier will be reporting all our movements. Surprise will be impossible."

"There's also another variable." Max added. "Our captives have been talking amongst themselves, they didn't know we had bugged their cells. We now know why there's no blood named warriors here, why the invasion has stopped. A Rasalhague pilot killed their leader and all the blood named warriors had to return to their home system to elect a replacement. That warship that just jumped in. That is likely those warriors returning to restart the invasion and we are possibly the only people in the Inner Sphere who know that. We must ensure a warning is sent."

"Which is why we have woken you Captain." Yurika interjected. "We have two paths ahead of us. Either we fight our way to the surface, take on a superior force that can see us coming and risk failing our mission or we break for deep space, shake off our pursuit and meet with our jump ship and carry the news home."

"We have to make a decision." Gerald added. "Within the hour it will be too late to evade that Carrier."

Melissa blinked blankly for a moment, blindsided by the gravity of the decision in front of her.

"Gibson is still incapacitated." Max said softly. "It's your company Melissa."

Melissa hesitated. She felt overwhelmed by the information she had just been given. Yesterday she had been in command of a mech company responsible for 11 other pilots, now she was being asked to decide the fate of nearly 500 men and women as well as success or failure of the entire mission. 'This is what you wanted' a small voice in the back of her head said.

"Yes it is." She whispered, so quietly that only Max heard. She ignored his questioning look and snapped back into commander mode. She turned to the hologram of Yurika. "Yurika, you have a shuttle, can it make it to our jumpship?"

The hologram shook its head. "We've ran the numbers. It doesn't carry enough fuel to get there quick enough."

"Ok." Melissa dismissed the thought immediately, she swung round to face Nick. "Any other options?"

"Only tactical variations." Nick replied with a sad shake of his head. "We either fight or we run."

"Right." Melissa, nodded her head as she stared at the tactical display with fierce concentration. "Opinions." She ordered without looking up. "Gerald."

"We came here to get information and we've got it." Gerald replied matter of factly. "I give us a 30% chance of survival if we attempt a landing. I vote withdraw."

"Noted." Melissa replied. "Yurika."

"I can take that Carrier." The determination in Yurika's voice impressed Melissa, that at least was not an act. "I say we fight."

"Max."

Max hesitated to respond, the way he always did when he didn't like what he had to say. "As much as I hate to say this. The mission is the most important thing here. We've achieved our primarily mission, but only if we withdraw now. This information needs to get back."

"Nick."

Nick started, not expecting his opinion to be asked. "I'm a Logandale Mechwarrior, we don't abandon our infantry." He said as if stating a self-evident fact.

Melissa didn't immediately say anything, but continued to stare at the display. The others remained silent, waiting for her to make the decision. At length, she straightened up.

"We fight." She stated simply. "Wake the other officers, form a planning group. I want a better than 30% chance of being alive in three days' time. Yurika we'll leave that Carrier class to you."

"Roger. Good luck." Yurika replied as the hologram winked out. Melissa turned Gerald. "Are you on board with this Captain."

He looked surprise. "This is an old ship Ma'am, lot of history in these bulkheads. We won't let you down."

"Good." Melissa replied. "Because this is going to be win or die." she warned grimly.

"We won't let you down." Gerald reaffirmed. "Six or Styx. We know the drill."