[CHAPTER 7 – "Controlling the Angles": Eaton: April, 3061]

It was actually cold. Dropships always pulsed with heat like mammoth creatures, even in the empty void of space they were often far too warm. The stale recirculated air was oppressive and hellish. But this air was cold and fresh, with a bite that stung the sinuses.

I sat up in my bunk and switched on the dim amber lights, revealing the room again just as I'd left it. A quick check to my chrono revealed that I had slept nearly nine hours. I swung my feet over the side and pulled on a fresh shirt as I shivered in the chill air. Why is it so blasted cold in here?

To warm up, I started exercising a bit and lost myself in the routine of it all. Many pushups later, a bead of sweat trickled off my forehead and fell to the floor. Ah, hell. That's enough for now. Maybe they have a real weight machine around here somewhere?

I staggered to my small aluminum sink and washed up. I even got enough hot water to shave and was soon feeling very good, even with the room as frigid as it was. I pulled on my armor and gear and checked my pistols carefully. Maybe I won't have to use these today?

Opening the hatch, I stepped out and glanced side to side before pulling a cigarette and lighting up. It was even colder in the corridor, but I only noticed it on my exposed arms and face. Deciding that breakfast could wait, and hearing no major activity in my area, I headed to the lift and descended to the mech bay.

The doors opened and harsh bright light met my eyes. Squinting and raising a hand, I stepped into the bay. The main mech doors were wide open, and it was very brisk and very bright outside. The arctic sun burned down brightly. No snow adorned the hellish landscape, which was jagged and blasted and devoid of moisture.

As my eyes adjusted I scanned the bay for activity. The techs had moved a lot of the salvage outside, but still had the bay littered with projects. I caught sight of the chief tech, Johann Burg, and decided to go introduce myself. He was accompanied by two of the Alpha lance techs and giving some directions regarding what looked to be the arm of a Thunderbolt. Whether the arm had come from Kellie's damaged Thunderbolt or the raider we had destroyed, I couldn't be sure.

He was a tall man, taller than me by several inches, and his hair was mostly gray, but he looked to be in fine shape for his age. His leathery, worn face was seamed with wrinkles and framed with a beard. He looked out of the side of his eye at me as I approached.

"Good morning Leftenant. What a fine time you have picked to stop by," he quipped, with a sly smile.
"How's that?"

In answer, he handed me a two-handed plasma cutter, and the grin on his face grew wider.

"This arm is mostly scrap, but we need the armor plating, and with you here, we can get it done twice as fast." Without giving me time to respond, he turned and mounted the armorer, a multi-ton tracked vehicle with a magnetic crane, and set the magnetic stabilizers onto the floor of the dropship.

I looked at the cutter in bewilderment. Mech repair was not my forte. Another tech was beside me then, a man about my height, with red hair, a huge red moustache, a lot of muscles, and a big grin.

"There's nothin' to it lad. Besides, if you don't help, your mech will be the last he fixes."

I put the cutter down and shook the man's hand.

"I'm Vance."
"Lonn. Listen, the armor plating is very structured on these newer Thunderbolts. Practically the perfect mech to practice your cutting skills on. Come on."

He had a slight accent, but he was easy to understand. We climbed atop the limb and he taught me how to fire up the cutter and showed me the armor lines. While donning some goggles and a blast suit he continued to ramble about the armor. Things started to get technical but it was actually interesting work, and soon we were peeling off the armor in a reusable fashion. We got the first piece cut and Johann hoisted it off with the crane.

I like methodical tasks, and Lonn's constant chatter about the plating, the myomers and actuators made it quite interesting. I had worked up a good sweat between the lifting and the blast suit and after about thirty minutes we jumped off and watched Johann flip the arm so we could finish with the back quarter. It was more than a ton of armor easily we had salvaged, but with the armor stripped off I could see why the arm was not usable. The shoulder joint was blasted to fragments, and the entire upper arm myomer bundle melted. The 'bone' of the mech, a wrapped metal honeycomb-like structure, was blasted to pieces as well. I was taking a closer look at the actual weave of the metal in the bone when Johann came up beside me.

"Alright Vance. Here's the problem: We've got seven techs, and me, down here total. We've got nine heavily damaged mechs, two of them near useless, and that means about a week's worth of hard work, even considering the thirty-hour days this planet has."

I didn't like where this was going.

"The Colonel hasn't ordered it yet, but we're gonna need additional help if we want to be operational quickly." Sales pitch. I was a lance commander, not a tech. Still, knowing the machine inside and out means I'd be that much more effective. I took a drag as I pondered what this meant for my career. High level officers didn't get their hands dirty, but company commanders who were personal with their men certainly did from time to time. Was picking up a welding torch going to set a ceiling on my career? Possibly.

"Did you manage to salvage Cadence's TAG gear from the Locust?" Johann grimaced and shook his head.

"There wasn't much left of that thing. Good thing Diane ejected."

"Damn. Not that we can spot for the Arrow anymore, but I wish they hadn't co-oped that TAG. Tell you what, if I get to pick what we mount on the Raven in place of the TAG, I'll have one mechwarrior down here round the clock till repairs are complete."

Johann nodded and we shook on it. Then he headed for the loader. I waved to Lonn and headed for the ramp. He wasn't joking about the state of the mechs. It looked like Kith's LAM was fully repaired, and Cadence's Raven was pristine, but the others were all beat up. Paula's Catapult was in good shape, but only had two Arrow IV missiles remaining. Not combat ready. We had to hope they didn't find us this time.

As I made it to the ramp I flicked my cigarette butt over the side and inhaled the arctic air deeply. Thin but fresh. We were sitting at the base of a lonely plateau accented by wind-carved rock. I hadn't seen any greenery since our first drop near the Governor's estate. What a barren planet. I felt a chill coming on as the sweat evaporated and I decided to head back into the ship.

I headed to the mess hall and was happy to discover hot food awaiting me there. I frowned at the dozen or so civilians talking loudly about the poor quality of the food and pushed past them to get a meal. They quieted and one of them eyed me curiously. I ignored them, then suddenly realized they were probably the Governor's family. I sat with my back to them. As I sat and ate the intercom came to life and I recognized the Colonel's voice.

"All mechwarriors and essential personnel report to the briefing room at 1215 hours. I repeat…"

I stood and started making my way to the briefing room, smoking another cigarette hurriedly. I ran into Cadence and greeted him with a nod, which was returned, and we walked into the room and took our seats. The Colonel was there of course, and looked up from the holomap as he greeted us.

"Good morning gentlemen."

The others began filing in then. Alicia and Kith first, then Alpha lance and Kurato, who was probably the only one besides me who looked alert. He was clad entirely in black and carrying various electronic surveilance gear and had a rifle slung on his back. Not just recon leader, also an active scout, I noted. Captain Siampa and my Bravo mechwarriors came in next and finally Echo lance arrived. The Colonel dimmed the lights and started the briefing. I tried to catch Sara's eye but she was speaking with Kellie.

"Good morning folks. As you know we've relocated to the Arctic circle and are now conducting repairs. Johann has informed me that two mechs are repaired now but much work remains. Complicating our task is the tight deadline on our contracts and our shortage of dropship fuel. We can't afford many more of these inter-planetary hops and our objectives are now far from here."

"The detailed analysis of comm intercepts and recon data has now given us a clearer picture of what is going on here on Eaton. A man calling himself the Baron hired two lances of mercenaries to lead the resistance he has mustered, and we know little about the background of the unit, but we do now know mech composition and a little about the pilots. They've fought the clans, or have somehow gained clan tech and are very well equipped. We know that the two mercenary lances have a Warhammer, a clan Viper, an Atlas, a Ryoken, a Marauder, two heavier mechs of undetermined type and they had a Vulture, which was destroyed before we came on planet. We also know for certain that they have a Union class dropship or better on planet."

Now the murmurs around the table were growing louder, and interspersed quite liberally with curses. Sara looked at me and rolled her eyes, elicting a smirk from me, but before I could make a response Captain Alvaria took the floor.

"The Governor's family and I have spoken recently, and they expressed that they recalled the Governor and Duke conferring about this unit, and that they were staging their raids very close to Koch City. So their dropship, if it hasn't moved, will be near there." The Colonel nodded and continued.

"Correct, but we suspect it was moved to bring that last raid against us. Now it could be anywhere. However, our real question for the moment is who is in command of the resistance? With their leader so nicely decapitated, the mercenaries could have just taken their money and run, unless someone else is now paying them. In that case, the question is who, and frankly, we have no idea."

Unconsciously I frowned and thought on the idea. Who indeed? If I were the mercs, I'd have grabbed all the salvage I could from the resistance and taken to the skies. What compelled them to stay on planet against a larger mech force?

"And we still have at least six known resistance mechs, with possibly more in the woodwork. If the enemy is doing anything besides guarding the airfields and firebases they have control of, then they are spread very, very thin. With the Duke's personal bodyguard lance and his mixed armor group defending the capital, we can be fairly certain the enemy won't try anything there. So now we've got numerical superiority, but they have the technical edge and we don't know where they are or their motivations for fighting. The Governor and Duke have offered an additional contract, a search and destroy on the enemy mercenaries, it's very good pay and could end this war, but the resistance will be heavy. Additionally, we still need to destroy or capture that firebase, so I'm sending Kurato on a recon mission. Once our mechs are repaired we start the search for these mercs. Until then stay on station and ready. Any questions?"

Everyone had a few, and we broke down the specs and detail on the enemy lance in further detail, what carried what, how fast could they move, and so forth. Soon though the briefing was over and we were dismissed. Instead of leaving the room though we all stayed and continued to speculate on the mercenaries, the rebels, and our chances against them. One by one people trickled out until it was me, Solaria, Cadence, Terrance, and Sara lounging around the room. Terrance was bringing up maps and technical specs as we talked about them via the main console.

"See… here," he pointed to the rocky jungle area southeast of the capital, and close to the Governor's mansion, "this is where I'd hide my ride. In the trees." Sara cut in, reaching her arm out to trace paths on the holomap, the light playing over her skin.

"And notice how most of the strikes they've made have been within a neat circle of that area as well. Less than 150 kilometers in radius."

"But," interrupted Cadence, "they also just as easily could be located here," at this he pointed northeast of Koch City, to an especially rugged patch of desert and mountains, "and this would also put them within easy operational range of the vehicle fake and mech hit on us yesterday."

We all were silent a bit. Either one was just as likely. I shrugged and spoke up.

"Well, we aren't doing anything until our mechs are repaired, so it's a moot point. That reminds me, I promised Johann there'd be one Bravo mechwarrior down in the bay helping with repairs round the clock. Which one of you is up for first shift?"

Solaria looked at me in disbelief and Sara chuckled. Apparently this was something that happened often enough that she saw it coming ahead of time. Cadence stood up.

"I'm on it."

With that he left the room and as the door swung shut behind him I looked at Sara.

"Do does Johann pull this on all the new recruits?"

"Sure does, but not just the new recruits. Most of us like working on our mechs anyways, but he makes it a point to get the new guys in on the work. Idle mechwarriors can be dangerous you know."

I laughed. We prepared to exit the room but Terrance stayed behind, waving us on with an absent-minded motion as he focused on the maps still before him. I was a little uncertain of what to do with myself, fulfilling Sara's statement regarding idle mechwarriors and finally decided on finding some exercise equipment or weights.

Nearly half-an-hour later I knew the dropship inside and out, though I had nearly gotten lost a few times, and had found an isometric machine. So I started going through a lifting routine I had done many times at the academy. My muscle memory was good and I was feeling the burn only in the background as I thought about the missions still remaining for us to complete. Find the mercs, kill them, destroy or capture the firebase, and end the resistance. There were many ways to go about it, but none open to me without my mech. Most likely, Kurato was out doing the recon we needed anyways with his team of scouts.

I finished up and headed down to the bay door for a smoke. I noticed Cadence hard at work with Lonn, Johann, and a trio of other techs and also noted the absence of the light hovercraft and all-terrain cycles the scouts owned. Standing in the bay door feeling the crisp air I searched for tracks but really couldn't find any. After a few minutes I realized that there was a faint hovercraft track, but no cycle tracks.

I shrugged and came inside again. How can you get bored in a combat zone?

I spent the next five days mostly sleeping and working on the mechs. I tried to find time to talk with Sara, but she was nowhere to be found, so I usually ended up in the simulator with Cadence or Solaria. Zanshin and I spent some of our free time on the weight machine or practicing hand-to-hand combat. He was eager to see his mech repaired and get back into the fight, but both Cadence and Solaria seemed reluctant. Not everyone enjoys their first fight out of the academy I guess. I wasn't enjoying the fight, but the pay was racking up nicely…