O'Reilly was almost convinced that they could defeat the Coral Vipers before help arrived. The other members of the de facto war council managed to keep him in check, but Kurt worried that the platoon commander would strike out on his own if they did not plan something soon. Kurt forced all other considerations out of his mind – namely, Dana and the Marauder – and focused on a map of Capital City.

There were several targets the Davion forces had not attempted to tackle, and Kurt knew that one of them would have to be their next objective. As he looked over the map, his eyes kept wandering to the same location: the starport. It was alternately guarded by the Battlemaster and Atlas, each mech weighing in at 85 and 100 metric tons, respectively.

The planet only had one soldier from the Armed Forces of the Federated Sun, and that soldier was Leftenant Kurt Beckett. Everyone on the planet was his responsibility, and the Coral Vipers had already shown that they were willing to kill civilians. He had to do more than make the Vipers uncomfortable if the Night Paladins were to have any kind of hope at victory. Two militia platoons needed to do the impossible: bring down one of the two BattleMechs that defended the starport. He impatiently drummed his fingers against the map with no success. Kurt laughed as he discovered that poking a map could not destroy a mech.

"I never knew maps were so much fun," a friendly voice quipped. Dana sat down next to him and studied the map, conscious of the exact distance between them. She saw where his fingers indicated. "You want to blow up the starport?"

Kurt's eyes widened and he fell off the log that had served as a bench. He was aware of the amused gaze that followed him, but his mind was suddenly elsewhere.

His reaction was nearly as random as Dana's question. She felt obliged to explain. "I was just trying to figure out what you found so funny."

He was not really listening, his eyes closed. A vague plan started to coalesce. Her flippant remark was actually a potential course of action. They just needed something to cause a big enough boom, without too much collateral damage. Kurt sat up and gave Dana his full attention. "Are there any shuttles at the starport? Something that might have a fusion engine?"

"No shuttles." She closed her eyes. In her mind, Dana reviewed everything she could remember about the starport. Spare parts, ships, equipment. "The only fusion reactors in the area are on those merc BattleMechs."

"And the dropship," Kurt reminded her. His mind wandered from conventional military tactics to idle speculation. "I bet the dropship reactor can destroy an Atlas, if it overloaded at the right time. Too bad we can't get to it."

Dana furrowed her brow. "Not necessarily." Opening her eyes, she continued, "I used to work on that reactor. That means I know the system inside and out, including all the access codes."

Kurt remembered his last conversation with the two infantry captains. The destruction of a dropship would call a lot of attention. Even if neither the Battlemaster or the Atlas were damaged in the explosion, it might prove a suitable distraction to free those troops. "Come on," he ordered. "You're going to tell the others what you just told me."

With no thought towards last night's words of love, he gathered Eli and the militia officers for another discussion. O'Reilly was particularly enthusiastic to join in.

"What is this all about?" Captain Marcus demanded, once all were present.

At Kurt's urging, Dana repeated the information about the fusion reactor. The officers were thoughtful at the news, and

Marcus was the first to come up with a response. "How big an explosion are we talking about?" Dana supplied a rough estimate, measured in hundreds of meters. "How close do you have to be to do it?"

The tech took a moment to consider. They already had the equipment she needed for remote access. An encrypted radio signal could come from almost anywhere, line-of-sight be damned. The only problem was that the Vipers would quickly trace the signal. "If the transmitter is mounted on the back of a jeep, I can park right in front of the starport. You do have a jeep that can outrun the mechs, right?"

Jeeps were Marcus' department, along with the 5th Mobile Infantry. "My people can accommodate you," he assured her. "The real question is: what then? Even if the explosion disables one or both assault mechs, it won't be long before the Coral Vipers get them up and running."

"And they won't keep their heaviest firepower at the starport when the Paladins arrive," Eli pointed out. "Not when it really matters."

Everyone was thoughtful as they considered Eli's insight. The attack had to come before the Night Paladins. Kurt thought Captain O'Reilly's silence was conspicuous. He commented on it. "Captain, I'm surprised you haven't suggested attacking the prison."

The infantryman winked. "Just figuring out how to maximize damage, Leftenant." Though Kurt was technically of lower rank, militias always deferred to the AFFS. It was a strange position, but Kurt knew he was better trained and had a more thorough education than the local officer. "I bet we could take out that Crusader in the process, if we plan it right."

Kurt did not know if he should have been impressed, or insulted O'Reilly took it for granted that they would try and free the 1st and 2nd Light Infantry platoons. "What do you mean?"

Captain O'Reilly already had the basic workings of a plan. The best-case scenario meant three destroyed Coral Viper BattleMechs, and Capital City in the hands of the Federated Suns before reinforcements ever arrived. No one gathered expected the best-case to happen, but it was enough to convince them that O'Reilly's proposal was worth the risk.