TWENTY FIVE
by RogueBaron
Jumpship Sphinx,
Quamutiik Orbit, Former FWL,
January 10, 3080
The world of Quamutiik was one giant perpetual iceberg that reflected nothing but pallor. Even the holographic image of the subzero sphere managed to illuminate the command center of the Jumpship Sphinx without normal light, so to investigate the surface of the planet, the captain had to dim the light, much to the chagrin of the ship crews. Some relieves on the surface showed massive hills and valley formations. Several mesas stretched thousands of miles long, hinting large bodies of water one time, before eternal winter took over the world.
To most eyes – including Evee's – Quamutiik was just a large white blob that hid nothing. But to some trained intelligence officers like Sayuri Miyagi, the icy world couldn't hide military equipment and Battlemechs' heat signatures. She had highlighted three areas that she thought looked suspicious. She was sure they were Adelis' encampments. They didn't look different from other places to Evee, but she was willing to follow Sayuri's pointers.
"Sayuri said this area was Adelis' logistic encampment," Charlotte Mickers pointed to the highlighted area at the northernmost area. "This one on the south-east was their artillery units, and the one on the south was the main army. They are about 50 kilometers apart, which is far enough to get overwhelmed by one strike, but close enough so their war machines can cover the distance in less than an hour. We don't know how strong they are. This image doesn't tell us the number of military units." She squinted over the large holographic image of the planet, obviously as clueless as Evee. "Can you see anything different?"
"Except from the white?" Evee replied halfheartedly. She turned to Parker, but he just shook his head in response. "We'll need recon before we make a move. The information from Sayuri was several weeks old. I'm not comfortable sending our troops based on this picture alone."
"Seconded," Charlotte concurred. "I can send two lances to investigate these areas."
"I have a helicopter pilot that can cover twice as much range as your lances," Evee stated. "Why don't I send her to reconnoiter the supposedly front-line base? She can get out of the vicinity quickly if things get out of hand. You send your lances to survey the logistic and artillery encampments."
"If you're sure your pilot can handle it," Charlotte answered. "I'll brief my troops. We'll drop off in six hours."
"Affirmative," Evee concluded. She followed Charlotte until she got out of the room, then turned to Tiger, Rocher, and Chilali, the remaining Cavaliers officers she handpicked from Tchamba. She hadn't seen much of them since pulling out of Pipedream, particularly because Parker didn't let anybody see her, and only let Hotaru tend her injuries. She only knew from Parker that the three of them played critical roles in saving her life. She found it hard to believe, since the last thing she remembered Tiger and Rocher was that immature brawl in the middle of her briefing. But if Parker said it happened that way, then it happened that way.
"You have performed exceptionally well during Pipedream campaign," Evee addressed them. "You saved my life, and the lives of dozens other warriors. I am forever indebted to you. When this war is over, I'll make it my business to guarantee your satisfaction working for the Ridinghood Cavaliers. But as for now, we still have a war to win, and I can only expect you to perform professionally, just like you demonstrated at Pipedream.
"We have reinforcements from Pipedream, and the Cavaliers is now officially company strength. Bashiel and Rianne will join Parker and me in the command lance. I'm promoting Tiger and Rocher to lance commanders, and I'm assigning the new members as your lance mates." Evee handed two stacks of folders to Tiger and Rocher, one stack for each newly-appointed lance commander. "Here are the dossiers of your subordinates. Study their strength and weaknesses, and use them to do your job. Congratulations, lance commanders. Make me proud."
"You bet I will," Rocher replied with his usual brashness. "Thank you, Ma'am."
"I appreciate the honor, Commander," Tiger followed suit. "I will not disappoint you."
"Good," Evee smirked. "Now, you are dismissed. Go manage your lances." As Tiger and Rocher went, she turned to Chilali. "Unfortunately I can't find reinforcement for you, Captain. So for now your service is only recon duty. But I will find some guys for you, so you can come back to your fire support duty."
"Appreciated, Ma'am," Chilali replied, a sigh of bitterness rang in Evee's ears, but there was so much she could do. "I supposed my next job is to recon the front liners, Ma'am?"
"Correct. I'll have the technician to upload the coordinate to your Yellow Jacket." She paused a moment, thinking of what she needed to say to the helicopter commander. "I know you are not trained in reconnaissance missions, but I don't have anybody else. I need to have an estimated number of their military assets. Do you think you can give it to me, Captain?"
"Certainly do, Ma'am. Just make sure you send me to the right coordinates this time. I hate dying."
"Done," Evee nodded. "Dismissed, Captain. Meet me at the hangar in six hours."
When Chilali left the room, Evee turned to Parker. "Have you met our new tech? What do you make of him?"
"From his dossier, he seems honest," Parker exhaled sharply. "But I won't trust him just yet. I don't want to lose our only pilot for an unknown reason. I'll upload the coordinates myself."
Evee remembered that Parker had some technical training before he met her, although it wasn't intensive, and Parker had not meddled with technical stuff for a long time. Evee felt slightly nervous about it. But this mission was critical, and it was better him than the new tech who she didn't know at all. "All right, you do that. Just make sure she can get it." She let out a long, exasperating sigh, then left the command center.
Being a lance commander was not foreign for Tiger Wong. It just felt unfamiliar because he hadn't held that position for almost 10 years. He was a Sang-wei when he left CCAF, and he led a lance of highly trained Mechwarriors during his campaign to Styk. Unfortunately the campaign gave him a bitter taste of working for CCAF, so he left and joined several mercenary units, never once led a lance until now.
Sitting alone in the mess hall, accompanied only by cereal bars from the vending machine, Tiger carefully reviewed the dossiers Evee gave him. The first one was from a veteran Mechwarrior named Ishe. He was a security guard for Peyong Industries before the company went down over scandals. He rode a nasty missile boat APL-2S Apollo. The next was a fairly young and inexperienced mechwarrior named Kato. His resume comprised only two years working with The Dreamers who, being underground guerrilla, rarely used Battlemechs. But somehow he could get himself an Omni Firestarter-C. The last one was a woman named Bobi. She was young but already packed five years of experience under her belt. She came in with a 65-ton Tempest.
From the 'mech composition, Tiger could see that Evee wanted him to succeed her as the fire support leader. The job was not attractive to him, but he had been holding that role since he started working for the Cavaliers. He got used to being a fire support. Besides, everybody would prefer to have Rocher to man the front line. Many favored Rocher's erratic combat maneuvers more than Tiger's precision shooting, and Tiger couldn't blame them. But deep down he missed being in the front line. It was where he trained to be and where he was good at.
The sound of bare feet pattering on the metal floor interrupted Tiger's daydream, and he was somewhat glad to see it was Hotaru. The last time they met was before Pipedream when she tended his wounds from the brawl with Rocher. They barely talked back then, mostly because Tiger was ashamed of the brawl. But he acknowledged her care and precision as a surgeon, and he felt she was not different too much from himself. They both valued quality in their work. And the fact that they were the only remaining ethnic Asians in the Cavaliers somehow connected him to her, even without words. He wished he had more time with her.
Hotaru gave him a courtesy smile then walked to the vending. She put in some C-bills but the machine refused to work. A quick "Nandayo? Dono yō ni sore wa kanō desuka?" escaped her lips, and she rapped the vending machine, hoping to get her money's worth. But the stubborn machine defied her, and in the end Hotaru gave up.
Tiger seized the opportunity. "I have extra bars if you'd like."
Hotaru gave him a quizzical look. "Are you not hungry, Tiger-san?"
"I have more than enough. I'll be honored to have your company."
Hotaru paused briefly, weighing the decision whether to join Tiger or just go back to her quarters. In the end, she chose the former, and walked toward the mess table. She took a chair and sit next to Tiger. "Domo arigato," she smiled and bowed politely. Then she saw Tiger's dossiers. "I heard that you got a promotion, Tiger-san. Omedetou gozaimasu! You work really hard and you deserve it."
"Xiexie ni," Tiger replied, comfortably using his Mandarin to counter to Hotaru's Japanese. "I'm just doing my job."
"It is more than a job. It is very noble of you to work with Rocher to help Evee, after what he said and did to you," Hotaru said carefully. "You impress me with your work ethic."
Tiger scoffed. "Rocher is a zhu tou, but he is still my comrade. Regardless what he said and done, I always know he has my back when I need him, and I will always have his back when he needs me. I should have acted professionally when I dealt with him, but sometimes my past gets the best of me."
Hotaru munched on the bar for a moment, then stated, "I rooted for you when you fought him."
That comment made Tiger laugh bitterly. "I appreciate it very much, Miss Hotaru. But I'm afraid you threw away your money on the wrong guy. I am a Capellan. I will always carry the sins of Sun Tzu Liao. Rocher, on the other hand, is a FedSun. No matter what he does, he will always be the good guy by the grace of Victor Steiner-Davion."
"I never see a person by somebody else's valor or stain, Tiger-san," Hotaru said compasionately. "Others may hold you responsible for what Sun Tzu did at Tikonov, or what your commander did at Styk, but not me. I saw you as a greater man than Rocher. That's why I wished you to win."
Hotaru's words made Tiger's ears red but his heart chilled at the same time. For such a young girl, she did have the words of an old wise woman. They made him feel little in her presence. He waited until Hotaru finished her cereal bar, then started another subject. "You earned a lot of respect from Parker and Evee yourself. You are the only one that was allowed to see Evee when she was recovering. That was a lot of honor."
"It has nothing to do with honor, Tiger-san. I am the only doctor on board. I'm not particularly experienced in tending injuries. It should've been Jomei's specialty." The mentioning of Jomei suddenly tore an old wound. Her eyes welled up, and her breath stuck in her throat. But she didn't want to cry in front of Tiger, so she quickly composed herself. "Gomen nasai, I shouldn't act this way. Sometimes my past gets the best of me too."
Tiger had never lost a loved one before, but he wanted to return her favor, to make her feel better the way she made him feel better, so he wrapped his arms gently over his shoulder, just a gesture of solidarity. "We bring our own pain into this war, Miss Hotaru," he said carefully. "I don't know how to fix mine, let alone yours, but I will always be here when you need me, just like you're here for me when I need you."
There was considerable warmth Hotaru hadn't felt for months, so long that she almost forgot what it was like. Inside that cold, bitter Capellan warrior lied something fragile, and he was willing to share the burden with her. There they were, two strangers in a strange world, finding comfort in each other. She understood that Tiger couldn't possibly heal her loss of Jomei. That part was hers alone. But knowing she had somebody to share was a tremendous morale boost.
"I appreciate your courtesy, Tiger-san," Hotaru sighed as she snuggled up closer to him. "Have I ever said thank you for saving my life in Tchamba? Domo arigatou gozaimashita."
"Hěn yuànyì wèi nín xiàoláo," Tiger whispered his reply. He shifted in his chair, making himself as comfortable for Hotaru as possible to lean on, and just embraced the moment. Everything he needed to say had been said. For the rest of the night (or as long as Hotaru decided how long she would stay that way), it was just warmth.
Jumpship Sphinx,
Quamutiik Orbit, Former FWL,
January 12, 3080
The battleROMs from Chilali's Yellow Jacket and Charlotte's team provided much-needed insight of the situation down on the ground level. The artillery emplacement was only guarded with two lances of 'mechs, mostly mediums with a few heavies. Long Toms and Thumpers were scattered in the thick snow, concealed by white parkas that blended perfectly with the white environment. The compound was even less defended. They relied heavily on the location of the compound which was very difficult to reach by battlemechs.
The bulk army was a different story. The main buildings sat on top of several bunkers only visible from their heating units. Battlemechs and armored vehicles patrolled the vicinity in a very tight grid. A rough estimate put their strength between a battalion and a regiment. The central compound itself was barricaded with cascaded concrete walls with laser turrets on top.
The Ridinghood Cavaliers and the Striking Tigers gathered once again at the command center, trying to defile the enemy ranks. For a glance, the job seemed impossible. It was the perfect fortress with virtually impenetrable defenses. But history stated no fortress was impenetrable. No matter how strong a fortress was, there was always a weakness.
"Pretty tight defense, I should say," Charlotte said, zooming in and out of some locations to get detail views of interesting spots. "These walls are more than a foot thick. The only way to get around it is to follow the maze, but you'll be caught in the laser enfilades. By the time you reach the center, you'll have no armor left. You have no chance to beat the battalion."
"We need more men," Evee concurred. "This is not a job for two companies. We could strafe them from the air, but we don't have air assets." She leaned on her chair, feet up the table, chewing on her pen while observing the military compound. Her eyes widened as she suddenly spotted a window of opportunity. "Unless…"
"We can use their own guns to open the barricade," Parker tuned in, as if reading her mind. "We can seize the artillery emplacements without much trouble. They are only lightly guarded. Then we use the Long Toms and Thumpers to destroy the enfilades. If we concentrate on the turrets, we could probably clear up 50 percent of the barricades. Providing we still have ammunition for the cannons, we can strafe the center compound to weaken the defenders."
"But we don't know what's in the bunker, Sir," Tiger spoke up. "There may be civilians inside."
"Civilians, my ass!" Rocher snapped. "Anybody within a close proximity to a military unit is considered part of the unit. You should know that. You were at Styk."
Tiger didn't know why Rocher had to bring up Styk incident over and over again, even after they had settled their differences. But he didn't want to start another confrontation with the brash Davion. He remembered Hotaru and her kind, compassionate words, and he decided to act like he was supposed to.
"I would rather not shoot the bunkers," he said, fighting the urge to rip Rocher's throat. "We don't know what the situation is down there, and I don't want to regret my decision. I have been in these circumstances before, and I was at the wrong side of the battle. I don't want it to happen again."
Before Rocher could launch another tirade, Evee stepped in. "I understand your disposition, but we need that artillery. The enemy ground units outnumber us, and those are the ones we see on the surface. Without the artillery, our casualties will be insurmountable. We can't afford that kind of loss, not at this stage of war."
"When we seize the artillery units, we'll scout the main compound," Parker joined the fray. "If there are civilians in the bunkers, we'll take them out as much as we can. But I will not let my men to walk into enemy fire without a fighting chance. We'll use the artillery to bomb the ground units. That is non-negotiable."
Tiger realized it was a tough situation. The very reason he left Capellan Army was because they disregarded humanity, and it seemed as if history repeated itself. But if they didn't strafe the enemy ground units, a lot of good Mechwarriors would die, and the future of their campaign would be in jeopardy. Choosing between the deaths of unarmed civilians and the deaths of his comrades in arms might not be a big deal for others, but for Tiger, it was the very essence of being a Mechwarrior.
"Just promise me one thing, Commander," Tiger yielded. "You will regard human lives as much as you can. If there are civilians inside those bunkers, you will make it a priority to see they are not caught in our bombardment."
"You have my word," Parker nodded firmly. "But bear in mind that my men come first."