Chapter 31
May 21st, 3025
Northeast Paphos
Alshayra continent
Suk II
J.J. bounced against his restraints and most forms of common sense as his jeep bounced along the rocky terrain of the eastern half of Paphos forest. His detainment had been at a small suburb well-outside the city, and once he got his bearings, he immediately raced to where reports of the fighting broke out. Social media wasn't as prevalent since the thousand or so years since its inception, relying mainly on HPG transmission to get the word out to people across multiple star systems.
Some planets did have such media, however, and Suk II was one of them. Despite martial law, lots of curious bystanders and news reporters were still out in force. He checked his dat-phone in between big bumps:
"I see smoke from the nature preserve!"
"Tons of gunfire and lots of smoke at the south end of Paphos! Stay safe everyone!"
"They came out of the forest fire like dozens of armored giants from hell who didn't care about the heat and went east. If you live anywhere near K-5 at kilo-marker 350, get underground!"
"OK, who lit a match in Paphos? Don't the Dracs know that's off-limits?"
The last one made J.J. chuckle at the absurdity of warfare, sometimes. He knew if the Combine landed south of the capitol, Emily and her people would be hired to meet them, and a place like Paphos sounded right in their wheelhouse.
Now he just had to find them. Which wasn't going to be easy, but if the Legion forces had forced their hand by now, they likely wouldn't be in their deep cover, so it was still possible. If he could find some tracks the size of his own jeep, he could find them.
They likely had to be at least within a few clicks near wherever the 2nd Legion was. Nobody could make a whole regiment change direction with just one company, assuming she still had most of her equipment since Langley.
He knew the RoughRiders were on their way, and since there was fighting already happening, it had to be the Coyotes and/or the Militia holding them off. Before his capture, he had received news that the Militia had neutralized the guerilla raiders "with help" from mercenary forces. A photo from the camera showed a pair of Fire Javelins alongside a multitude of Militia tanks to showcase local strength over mercenary strength.
Anyone with two more more Fire Javs was most likely the Coyotes, so they were freed up for a new contract, like stalling the Legion. Hope they're okay.
That thought gave him pause for a sec. He'd worked with mercenaries before, but never this close. The last group didn't have much personality. The Coyotes were always trying to prank each other between missions, and they got J.J. a few times. Shaving cream in his toothpaste, bombing his rations with hot sauce. Generally lighthearted things that didn't affect performance much. Except he almost had to start the Langley mission with horrible gas. Hot sauce did that to him.
There wasn't a whole lot else to do while bobbing up and down on the terrain. He had at least a few dozen kilometers to go when he turned eastward, deep in the woods already. The white flag above the jeep had turned a reddish brown by now. Since he didn't take his ticket back to Rasalhague, the agents that caught him would surely be after him again. No doubt the men assigned to "escort" him back to the spaceport were still nursing a migraine or two.
If he went back to the Coyotes for good, they couldn't stay here. Not with all the espionage hullabaloo surrounding J.J. He wasn't even sure if they'd want that around him. It saddened him a little bit, and he wasn't sure how to react to that. He had some info about Alvarez that he needed to get to the Coyotes first, then they could decide what to do next. He still needed to deal with some of the Yakuza on-planet. Something he could bring back to his Warlord.
I guess I'll know by the time I get there.
Southeast Paphos Nature Preserve
Alshayra continent
Suk II
Well, that didn't work. Alarms were blaring from multiple places in Emily's cockpit. She reversed her speed and turned to the left, trying to shield herself with the good armor on her right.
"Contact!" She practically screamed it as her right side was rocked with ordinance and laser fire of all kinds. She heard her missile lock warning more as an afterthought, as the missiles had already hit from such a close range before her computer even recognized it.
"Copy, read about one company from your sensors, Dirk."
"Nope! At least two, maybe three down there! Get back behind the ridge and get some distance between you and them, now! Get back in the forest, Coyotes!"
Apparently, fire support 'mechs are on the bottom of the list when it came to electronics, she realized. Pearl probably had told her that at some point in their relationship, probably many times, but it didn't really strike her how inferior some mech's sensors were, relying more on their comrades for information and target locks.
Almost all the armor on her heaviest 'mech had been removed in about five seconds, which was incredibly disappointing. But if she had requested anyone else check over the ridge to get a better view, they would have been dead.
Just trust the sensors next time. It's not like you have a choice anymore. There was some metal from this area of the forest that was messing with all their sensors in the worst way, but apparently the Legion had the same problem and had their weapons trained on the entire ridgeline at this end of the forest as a precaution.
Shit. That's gonna cost us some time. Hopefully it'll cause them to march a little slower while they clear the metal field.
"Dirk, Clothesline."
"Go for Dirk."
"I've got visual for now, about two clicks east of you. Pull off there and I'll let you know when they see me." His Wolverine also had plenty of armor, but his head was on the top of his 'mech instead of directly in front of her Catapult's blimp-with-legs-and-ears shape, so less of him would be sky lined when he actually popped up for a look.
"Well shit. I just lost all my armor for nothing, then."
"Them's the breaks. Glad you're alive."
"Thanks."
Until their metal field debacle, the Coyotes had moderate success using a spotter and their abundance of LRM's from high ground to peck away at the slower 'mechs, but that was almost impossible here. This end of the forest gave way to the K-5 highway and they'd have a clear shot at the city once they passed.
After that, the Coyotes would have to limit themselves to hit-and-run operations in their rear, vs. twice as many 'mechs their size, plus four times as many much heavier than that. And mostly in the open.
Unless I gave them a reason to…turn around?
"Mother Hen, Dirk here."
"Go Dirk.
"What are the odds of us taking on an Overlord? Do some of that crazy 'Ring analysis for me."
A heartbeat pause. "Not terrible, if there were only one of them. Two? We're all probably dead inside of sixty seconds. And they have air cover. Don't even think about it."
"What if we didn't give them the angle to use all their weapons?"
Another pause. If it were anyone but Emily, Pearl would have told her to shut up by now. Being the girlfriend of a former Nagelring student had its perks. "Add another minute, but same result. I see what you're getting at, though. If you get right next to it, you only have to deal with a handful of guns, but we'll get shredded by both of them and their local security before we get there, and by then we won't have enough firepower and we'll be pinned to that one spot. Don't do it, Dirk."
"What about their supply lines?"
Clothesline cut in before she could answer. "Wait one, ladies. We have three companies pushing into us, mostly the slower mediums. What's the call?"
"See if we can draw them back into the forest for now. They'll have to come scoop these guys up eventually. Anything to buy more time."
They both acknowledged. Since they were down a lance commander, Emily opted to simply put the remaining 'mechs into her lance for now. It was an unusual mix as it was, and a little large, but Nymph seemed to be doing okay directing general traffic of a reinforced lance while Dirk handled the higher-grade stuff.
"West…" It sounded like Ifrit was in awe, and the rumble reached her neurohelmet as a new sun dawned in the wrong direction for this planet. Between the trees, the normally bright blue sky of a late spring morning went a yellowish white. "The dropships are lifting off. Can't tell if they're coming our way yet." But Emily knew the answer. It felt like the Drac commander was reading her goddamn mind.
The Legion had no reason to keep their dropships parked where they were, with little-to-no local security, so within seconds the rumbling began to get louder, as numerous aerofighters zoomed overhead at a breakneck speed. A short burst of sonic booms went off in her ears and she fumbled for the volume on her external speakers.
I'm so glad they seem to be fit for precision strikes and not carpet bombing a forest in spite of us, she silently thanked nobody in particular.
No doubt their own forces felt those blasts, but they were likely ready for it themselves. And Emily felt like there was more than just three companies coming to clear them out.
"Everyone back into Pahpos, triple-time! Get the hell out of here, now!" She turned her Cat away from the clearing and began a loping run, dodging left of a large tree almost as wide as her 'mech was long. "Don't stop! They might be sending their whole main battalion into here!"
The heavy branches shook around them like a hurricane. Most of them held on, but several smaller branches went into Emily's cockpit glass and bounced off. The Overlords must have been passing directly over them now, or so it felt.
After several kilometers of a straight sprint, some of the radar contacts became more readable directly behind her. She was almost at top speed, which was incredibly risky for such a large 'mech in such a large forest. She needed distance between them, and losing one a set of LRM launchers mounted in her 'mech's very large and boxy "ears" was the least of her problems right now.
At least the damn things don't arm until after launch.
"New countacts, bearing oone, four, five. Twou-thousahnd meters." Despite Nymph's Mongoose being almost a half a click in front of her, she had a better understanding of what was behind Emily due to the far superior electronics than hers. And her Russian accent became very thick in times of stress, such as this.
"How many?" Emily asked. That put the lead 'mech no less than a click and a half behind her, and they could overtake her Cat within one minute at this rate. The only good thing Emily had going for her was she knew some of this forest better than they did.
"Approuximately oune coumpany, Majour. Moustly mediam to heaveh." It's their main battalion. We couldn't make them go any deeper, could we? It'd really slow them down. They probably would have to double back to rejoin their lights—her analysis was interrupted loudly as one of her Cat's ears scraped across the bottom of a huge low-hanging branch from a tree that seemed to twist up, to the side, and back down. She was jerked downward slightly as the 'mech took too much of a step and grazed it. Her damage readout showed just a tiny armor loss, but it was enough to break her concentration.
"They've stopped. Range increasing." Her accent seemed to wash away with relief. "Do we continue, Dirk?"
"Affirmative. Coyotes, set course for waypoint Dingo. Let's get our bearings and try this again. They obviously didn't want to risk the dropships while moving them, but they still don't seem to know our full strength in here. Let's keep them guessing." She slowed down her Cat once she felt she was at least three-times their max range and checked a blinking message on her damage readout.
Top row of right-arm LRM launcher contains three jammed tubes. "Well…shit." One of the few places I have any armor left, and there's a bigass dent in it. Stupid walking cycle of this Cat I'm not used to yet!
"What was that, Dirk?" Pearl answered up on a private channel, unaware what she was swearing about.
"Oh sorry, Hen. I banged up something and have a few launch tubes out, but nothing critical."
"Oh."
"Anyway, let's get out of here. That was a total wash and we almost lost our only heavy. We'll try again in a few hours once they've calmed down. Maybe they'll leave some 'mechs at their next LZ we can bait out." She wanted to keep in the spirit of the contract as much as possible without getting her people killed, but she needed to accomplish something more…productive.
But she wasn't sure if she could find that fine line between contributing to the upcoming slugfest between the RoughRiders and the Legion without getting everyone killed.
