Chapter 8

April 17, 3025

Continent of Gimli, deep jungle

Suk II

"Any disagreements? Let me know now, 'cause it's a loooong walk back if we get cold feet when we get there." Emily stood up and crossed her arms at her friends from across the crude map table they assembled out of wood. Their largest bivouac, nicknamed Camp Bow Wow, was starting to go from the stone age to a half-decent looking camp, since they haven't been patrolled that deeply yet. They even rigged up a rope and pulley system with some heavy vines and wooden platforms to do stand-up 'mech repairs. However, the longer they sat there, the more time the RoughRiders had to find them.

"Frankly I'd go along just to turn around for the privilege of my feet being cold during the whole trip back." Pearl's "Flock" lance had drawn the short straw to stay behind and guard the bivouacs, and to generally keep any nearby patrols from getting too interested in getting much deeper into their jungle. It didn't hurt the decision that half her lancemates struggled with long marches in uneven ground.

Needless to say, that made Nymph and her Urbie practically jump out of her seat to come along on this one. She'd been out of almost every fight for almost six weeks and was getting ancy. She even volunteered to tow the Saladin behind her. "You know, just in case," she said. Kang had suggested they get her a little Sal-shaped balloon instead, which got everyone laughing the night before.

"I'm not the biggest fan of this idea, but I agree we have to get a little more ambitious." Kang, their official XO, still gave the other two in the group with the lowest ranks equal weight to their opinions when it came to these meetings pre-op. He trusted them all with his life. "Either we sit around, and their recon patrols eventually triangulate where we are based on the vegetation we've cut through, meaning we get overrun sooner than later, or we keep them on the back foot like we were originally getting paid to do.

Danek spoke up next, doing his usual thoughtful head scratch. "My biggest concern is if we don't catch a convoy leaving the plant, we won't really have much to tow the water back ourselves. And if we do happen to bag a 'mech, I highly doubt they'll have any flatbed hovers conveniently waiting around for us to take."

The Coyote's overall success in the last month and a half wasn't entirely their own. It was part of the overall strategy to keep the RoughRiders occupied and on-planet while…whatever that was way beyond their pay grade was going on. Maybe here, maybe on another planet. Who knew.

Their limited number of mines just to create a go any further and it's going to get real bad kind of warning sign was already on the verge of being exhausted. Hansen's men certainly didn't enjoy sweating their asses off any more than Emily's did, but they were pros, and the Coyotes were beginning to spend their precious real estate around the thirty to forty thousand square kilometers of jungle creating a shroud that was almost impenetrable by most remaining satellites or radar.

So, to keep them out of the jungle and reacting to her, Emily had proposed a raid on one of the southernmost water treatment plants. Almost on the northern edge of the jungle, near a river and bordering a highway, a smaller plant that likely had a half-decent garrison and a faster response time for reinforcements than the previous fights would be a good intel-gathering mission, too.

Silent until now, their Combine Liaison, Sho-Sa Jin Junnosuke, cleared his throat. "Based on intel, you're looking at anywhere from a medium to a mixed medium/heavy lance, with infantry forming an early warning perimeter, probably more concentrated to the south. We haven't seen any sign of using mines, but they have had plenty of time to make physical barriers all around the plant. I would not try to walk across the river. One of our other groups up north lost a Javelin to some kind of tripwire in the water. This plant hasn't been hit yet, so they're likely bored out of their minds, and frustrated they're not in the fighting." His English being exceptionally good, and his name being rather easy to pronounce as simply "Captain JJ," were probably the two biggest contributors to him getting assigned as liaison. Mildly impressed with the Coyotes, though slightly irritated at a mid-contract re-branding that added a lot of paperwork to his day, he allowed them to do their thing.

He did, however, have a knack for finger-waving as a form of a warning, which annoyed most of the group to no end. Which he went ahead and did now. "It is far more important to your contract that you do not take any needless losses, however. Simply showing up and firing a few salvos and making sure everyone is visible long enough to be recorded for intel should do the job." To that, they each silently nodded at each other. By now they've shown the same 'mechs over and over, so it was getting pretty clear how large their forces actually were down here. If they were to lose any of them, or several, it would open up many doors elsewhere. Their numbers were their strength.

Emily turned to face him. "Frankly I'd rather raid both the plant and at least show some skin at the nearby mining district to really get their attention, but we're not getting paid extra for that. Unless…?" She smiled at J.J., who simply shook his head.

"This will do fine. You are getting paid monthly, so no extra risks are necessary. I will come with you in my Panther, and I will make my shot count. I also need to observe how committed Hansen's men are defending to the south." This would be his first mission with them not watching from the ground floor. He must be getting bored too, hanging out with the techs in the rear most of the time, Emily thought. Most Combine liaison officers are generally instructed to conserve themselves. It was easier to gauge successes/failures of a unit without their help. She at least appreciated his help working on maintenance to pass the time.

"OK then, we leave in the morning. Tell 'Zol to bring about a half-dozen techs for some emergency rigging work on whatever vehicles we can capture. Should be about four days round-trip, plus upwards of one day waiting for a convoy to leave with some hydro. Oh, and tell everyone to bring their leashes for towing."