Babylon Base, Marduk
Draconis March
Federated Suns
September 12, 3028
Bablyon Base was a hive of activity as preparations were made for the new arrivals. Two days ago identification codes had been received for a contingent of dropships burning toward the planet, and the base personnel were in a rush to see that everything was ready for inspection.
The incoming dropships were broadcasting Davion military ID codes that indicated a trio of Union-class dropships. The flight profiles analyzing the inbound ships confirmed the transponders, but there still had been no audio communications with the ships. Marduk's star had recently been through a period of increased activity and the flares and radiation emitted had been playing havoc with intrasystem communications for more than a week.
At the back of the busy aerospace command facility, Major Jericho Chiraq stood against the wall, trying to stay clear of the bustling workers. As a precaution, all outgoing flights were being re-routed well clear of the dropships' flight path, just in case they weren't Davion ships.
Less than a week ago, word had come through via Comstar. The Federated Suns had declared open war on the Capellan Confederation. At hid wedding reception on Terra, Prince Hanse had granted House Liao's holdings to his wife as a wedding gift. It was expected that House Liao's allies under the Treaty of Kapetyn, House Marik and House Kurita, would launch their own offensives into Davion and Steiner space to draw forces away from the Davion offensive.
With the war less than a month old, Chiraq considered it unlikely that the Draconis Combine would have been able to prepare and launch a force into Davion space so quickly.
~Still, If they have come in force, we've a quite serious problem on our hands.~ Chiraq told himself. He stepped passed a CommTech and looked at the large plot display of the space surrounding Marduk. The three dropships were highlighted in gold, but there was an area behind them that indicated the sensor shadow the dropships created.
~Anything could be hiding there.~ Chiraq looked at a smaller golden blip streaking toward the incoming ships. The designator attached to the symbol marked it as Alpha Flight, a quartet of Corsair aerospace fighters dispatched to get a visual lock on the dropships.
A door to the control room banged open as a Leftenant came running in, chest heaving from exertion. The man nearly knocked over a pair of Techs standing by a desk as he made his way to the Major.
"Sir," he began, but was cut off by one of the CommTechs.
"Major, Alpha flight is reporting in."
The Major nodded. "Put it on the speakers, Sergeant," he said. The tech switched over the speakers, and Alpha One's voice came over the radio.
"Sir," the Leftenant gasped again, but Major Chiraq held up his hand for silence. The transmission from Alpha Flight was garbled by the distance the recent solar activity, and it was hard to make out what the wingleader was saying.
"Babylon Base, this is Alpha One. We have the dropships in sight. We're commencing our flyby." The transmission was garbled, but intelligible enough to make out the basic message.
"Copy, Alpha flight. Have you had any contact with the dropships?" the CommTech asked.
"Negative, Babylon Base. They're not responding to hails. It's possible that their comms were knocked out by the recent solar activity. We're not even getting any responses to laser communications."
Major Chiraq felt a chill go down his spine at the thought. The wing leader was right; it might be possible that the dropships' comms had been damaged by the recent activity. Or there could be a more sinister purpose.
"Sir," the Leftenant tried again, having finally regained his breath and his composure.
The Major turned toward the Leftenant, allowing his flash of annoyance to pass. The Leftenant snapped a crisp salute and handed over a piece of flimsy. The Major took it and casually returned the salute. As he opened the flimsy, he saw that it bore the Davion crest at the top, followed closely by the Sandoval crest.
Chiraq's blood went cold as he read the communiqué. He was no longer aware of the reports flowing in from Alpha flight.
"Alpha one to Alpha three. You and Tyson bracket the lead ship left, Horn and I will take the right. Let's see who we're dealing with."
"Copy, Alpha one," came the response.
A moment later, the comm channel was flooded with an overflow of static that was nearly deafening.
"Alpha three to Alpha lead! Do you copy?"
The Comm Tech broke into the line again, his voice restrained and calm, but the anxiety on his face clearly visible. "Alpha three, report."
The call went unheeded when, a moment later, another wash of static filled the room. When the burst was gone, the Sergeant looked over his shoulder at Major Chiraq.
Chiraq crumpled the paper as he listened to the now empty comm channel. "Sergeant, keep trying to raise them," he said. "Captain," Chiraq directed at the duty commander, "Sound red alert. Scramble our aerospace assets and prepare for an attack run on the dropships."
The Captain nodded her compliance, then began issuing orders to the rest of her staff. Outside the room, the sirens of the base's address system began to whine, calling the Davion forces to their duty.
The message from Robinson had been quite clear. The Tenth Deneb had been delayed by equipment problems. Their dropships would not be leaving for several days yet, and wouldn't arrive at Marduk for some time to come. The destruction of Alpha flight only confirmed that the incoming dropships were hostile. Somehow, the Dragon had managed to get its forces prepared for an offensive in record time. Three dropships were visible on the sensors now, but there would be more. Those three were Union-class, and couldn't carry an entire regiment of battlemechs. The Combine couldn't hope to take Marduk with anything less.
~If we were at full strength, Chiraq told himself. As it is, we've got a training battalion and the planetary militia. With the rest of our forces and all of our dropships redeployed in support of the offensives into the Capellan Confederation, we're sitting ducks.~
As these thoughts raced through the Major's mind, a smile began to spread across his face.
"Leftenant, you're with me," Chiraq said, heading for the door. The Leftenant, still puzzled, followed in his wake.
Draconis March
Federated Suns
September 12, 3028
Bablyon Base was a hive of activity as preparations were made for the new arrivals. Two days ago identification codes had been received for a contingent of dropships burning toward the planet, and the base personnel were in a rush to see that everything was ready for inspection.
The incoming dropships were broadcasting Davion military ID codes that indicated a trio of Union-class dropships. The flight profiles analyzing the inbound ships confirmed the transponders, but there still had been no audio communications with the ships. Marduk's star had recently been through a period of increased activity and the flares and radiation emitted had been playing havoc with intrasystem communications for more than a week.
At the back of the busy aerospace command facility, Major Jericho Chiraq stood against the wall, trying to stay clear of the bustling workers. As a precaution, all outgoing flights were being re-routed well clear of the dropships' flight path, just in case they weren't Davion ships.
Less than a week ago, word had come through via Comstar. The Federated Suns had declared open war on the Capellan Confederation. At hid wedding reception on Terra, Prince Hanse had granted House Liao's holdings to his wife as a wedding gift. It was expected that House Liao's allies under the Treaty of Kapetyn, House Marik and House Kurita, would launch their own offensives into Davion and Steiner space to draw forces away from the Davion offensive.
With the war less than a month old, Chiraq considered it unlikely that the Draconis Combine would have been able to prepare and launch a force into Davion space so quickly.
~Still, If they have come in force, we've a quite serious problem on our hands.~ Chiraq told himself. He stepped passed a CommTech and looked at the large plot display of the space surrounding Marduk. The three dropships were highlighted in gold, but there was an area behind them that indicated the sensor shadow the dropships created.
~Anything could be hiding there.~ Chiraq looked at a smaller golden blip streaking toward the incoming ships. The designator attached to the symbol marked it as Alpha Flight, a quartet of Corsair aerospace fighters dispatched to get a visual lock on the dropships.
A door to the control room banged open as a Leftenant came running in, chest heaving from exertion. The man nearly knocked over a pair of Techs standing by a desk as he made his way to the Major.
"Sir," he began, but was cut off by one of the CommTechs.
"Major, Alpha flight is reporting in."
The Major nodded. "Put it on the speakers, Sergeant," he said. The tech switched over the speakers, and Alpha One's voice came over the radio.
"Sir," the Leftenant gasped again, but Major Chiraq held up his hand for silence. The transmission from Alpha Flight was garbled by the distance the recent solar activity, and it was hard to make out what the wingleader was saying.
"Babylon Base, this is Alpha One. We have the dropships in sight. We're commencing our flyby." The transmission was garbled, but intelligible enough to make out the basic message.
"Copy, Alpha flight. Have you had any contact with the dropships?" the CommTech asked.
"Negative, Babylon Base. They're not responding to hails. It's possible that their comms were knocked out by the recent solar activity. We're not even getting any responses to laser communications."
Major Chiraq felt a chill go down his spine at the thought. The wing leader was right; it might be possible that the dropships' comms had been damaged by the recent activity. Or there could be a more sinister purpose.
"Sir," the Leftenant tried again, having finally regained his breath and his composure.
The Major turned toward the Leftenant, allowing his flash of annoyance to pass. The Leftenant snapped a crisp salute and handed over a piece of flimsy. The Major took it and casually returned the salute. As he opened the flimsy, he saw that it bore the Davion crest at the top, followed closely by the Sandoval crest.
Chiraq's blood went cold as he read the communiqué. He was no longer aware of the reports flowing in from Alpha flight.
"Alpha one to Alpha three. You and Tyson bracket the lead ship left, Horn and I will take the right. Let's see who we're dealing with."
"Copy, Alpha one," came the response.
A moment later, the comm channel was flooded with an overflow of static that was nearly deafening.
"Alpha three to Alpha lead! Do you copy?"
The Comm Tech broke into the line again, his voice restrained and calm, but the anxiety on his face clearly visible. "Alpha three, report."
The call went unheeded when, a moment later, another wash of static filled the room. When the burst was gone, the Sergeant looked over his shoulder at Major Chiraq.
Chiraq crumpled the paper as he listened to the now empty comm channel. "Sergeant, keep trying to raise them," he said. "Captain," Chiraq directed at the duty commander, "Sound red alert. Scramble our aerospace assets and prepare for an attack run on the dropships."
The Captain nodded her compliance, then began issuing orders to the rest of her staff. Outside the room, the sirens of the base's address system began to whine, calling the Davion forces to their duty.
The message from Robinson had been quite clear. The Tenth Deneb had been delayed by equipment problems. Their dropships would not be leaving for several days yet, and wouldn't arrive at Marduk for some time to come. The destruction of Alpha flight only confirmed that the incoming dropships were hostile. Somehow, the Dragon had managed to get its forces prepared for an offensive in record time. Three dropships were visible on the sensors now, but there would be more. Those three were Union-class, and couldn't carry an entire regiment of battlemechs. The Combine couldn't hope to take Marduk with anything less.
~If we were at full strength, Chiraq told himself. As it is, we've got a training battalion and the planetary militia. With the rest of our forces and all of our dropships redeployed in support of the offensives into the Capellan Confederation, we're sitting ducks.~
As these thoughts raced through the Major's mind, a smile began to spread across his face.
"Leftenant, you're with me," Chiraq said, heading for the door. The Leftenant, still puzzled, followed in his wake.