June 3030
St. Ives
Hap tried to follow the convoy brief. He thought he understood most of what was needed from the Coyote lance. They were going to escort a supply St. Ives Compact convoy several hundred kilometers to the Compact's Forward Operating Base. Most of it was along a highway, there would be one area where they'd have to turn off the road and ford a river because the Capellan partisans had destroyed a bridge. Generally, it looked like a straightforward escort mission.
The briefer was a young Sao-wei who apparently only spoke Chinese. The brief was being translated by a Lance Sergeant, or Si-ben-bing, who spoke some English, but Hap suspected Russian was his first language. It was moments like this that made him look forward to returning to a regular Federated Commonwealth line unit.
Hap wanted to pay attention, but he couldn't. The annoyance of a multilingual brief demanded too much mental energy, and Hap's mind kept drifting back to yesterday's events. They had returned to the embassy to meet with the Defense Attaché and that had been, as Anastasia described it, "a very negative interaction". Hap considered that a significant understatement. The Colonel was annoyed with them for wasting his time, and generally seemed to feel that Anastasia's career was based on undue influence from her noble mother. He seemed to hate her for it.
For Hap this highlighted the contrast of the nobility versus everyone else, but it wasn't something Hap had ever thought much about. Hap had grown up pretty far removed from nobility. When he went to Albion many of his classmates were nobility but he never really had a problem with them. Of course Hap had been a "middle-of-the-pack" student who always found a way to get his projects done and still had time for girls, games, and other amusements.
He didn't concern himself with politics, and generally wasn't competing with anyone to be the best. He did his work, and spent his free times with his friends. A couple of his friends were low ranking nobles, but it rarely mattered, at least for them. If anything their noble titles were something they'd joke about while they were watching a game or playing cards.
One of the guys would sometimes mention he was a baron to pick up girls, but his family's holdings were small and they weren't wealthy. He learned quickly most of the ladies were more interested in the fact he was in the MechWarrior program. Being a low-ranking noble wasn't a guarantee of much, but being a MechWarrior in a House Army meant a paycheck, and some general prestige.
Hap had seen the sycophant behavior that accompanied nobility, as well as how some nobles would use their title, or their parent's title, to get them special treatment. It was annoying but it didn't really impact Hap, at least not until he got close to Anastasia. Now he was part of the nobility, and Hap wasn't sure how he felt about it. As much as he now loathed Colonel Bruckner, Hap could at least sympathize with the idea of waking up one day and realizing that you owe your success to someone's influence rather than your own efforts and skill. That could certainly be hard on a man who prided himself on hard work.
Hap glanced over at Anastasia. She was carefully listening to the brief and taking notes on the small clipboard she'd attach to her kneeboard. She was smart, industrious, gorgeous, and when she put her mind to it she could even be charming. When those things failed her, her mother, the countess, would come in with her charisma, noble title, and a will like a 'mech's fist and would politely ruin things until she was satisifed. At least that was based on what Anastasia had told him, and what Hap had seen in the last year.
Hap shook his head, he had to focus. He took a deep breath of the cold morning air, and let it chill him. He shivered a little under his thin military coveralls. He was standing with Anastasia, Selene, and Brant, the 'mech tech that usually worked on Joker's Firestarter. Around them were the St. Ives Compact vehicle drivers, and they were all gathered around a map table made of a piece of plywood balanced on tires and ammo cans. They were receiving a nearly incomprehensible brief about an operation he didn't really want to conduct. Hap was trying hard to at least look like he was interested. He knew they needed to work with the Compact to earn a little money for the McFinnigans and to keep the suspicion off the MIIO agents as they tried to arrange for the mercenaries to move some sensitive cargo.
The Sao-wei clapped his hands and looked around the crowd expectantly. The Si-ben-bing flicked his cigarette, "You have questions?"
"I do." Anastasia said, "The Sao-wei mentioned the use of mines and improvised explosives being used along the route. Can you show us where those have occurred in the past or where they would most likely be employed?"
Sao-wei took a long drag on his cigarette as he nodded. He spoke to the Sao-wei in Chinese and everyone laughed. The Sao-wei was using a bayonet as a pointer. He motion starting at the Forward operating base, and moved all the way to the point on the map where they were currently standing.
The Si-ben-bing chuckled, "Sao-wei would like our most honored-"
"Thank you Si-ben-bing Chorkoff, I believe I understand the Sao-wei's answer." Anastasia said.
The Sao-wei asked if there were any further questions and this time no one asked any. He gave a few more closing comments and Si-ben-bing explained that they would be departing in 30 minutes. As the crowd dispersed Anastasia walked up to the map and made a few last minute notes. Hap and Selene followed her. Brant looked down at his clipboard and wrote a few things.
"Professor, since I lost the bet, and have to drive. You mind if we compare notes?" Brant asked.
"Not at all." Anastasia said as she looked over the map, "What part do you have questions about?"
"Everything."
"Standard convoy rules." Hap said, "Keep 30 meters between you and the next vehicle. Standard speed is 60 kph, if you fall behind speed up to 85 kph to catch up. If we're attacked, do a herringbone, where you turn out in the opposite direction of the guy in front of you."
Anastasia gave Hap a questioning look, "That might be the standard for convoy operations for the RDM Militia, but that isn't what the Sao-wei just briefed. The Distance between vehicles was 20 meters. In case of attack, fight through or drive through and continue the mission. However, Harold was correct about the speeds."
Brant nodded as he wrote down a few notes, "20 meters distance, 85kph catch-up speed, if attacked fight through."
"Sorry Brant, I guess I misheard." Hap said.
"I was having the same problem." Brant said as he finished his notes, "Crazy trying to hear a Chinese brief in Russian and expecting to learn anything."
"It wasn't quite that bad." Anastasia said as she studied the map.
"What are you looking for on the map?" Brant asked
"Likely areas for an attack, choke points, hard turns that make for a good L shaped ambush. This pass here looks like somewhere I'd consider trying an ambush, and there's also the river crossing."
"Given the Sao-wei's response to your question I suspect the Capellans are going for the element of surprise and creating ambushes where you'd least expect them." Hap said. He looked at the river, it looked wide, but their 'mechs could use their jump jets to cross it. "Of course the river crossing is a pretty easy ambush to setup, sorta hard not to try something there."
"I presume you have some plan to mitigate the risk." Anastasia said.
"I'll put you and Joker on the far side and Mags and I secure the other. We'll form up in a square and that will give us LRMs on either side of the river. Hardly requires extensive planning. Figured we'd just make it up as we went along once the enemy shows up."
Anastasia nodded as she wrote down a grid quadrant. "Perhaps, but it's best to have a plan, my love, because if you fail to plan-."
"You plan to fail." Hap finished. "Brant, you gotta plan?"
"Yeah, I'm just going to do what the guy in front of me does, that's how I got through tech school."
"Sounds like a good plan." Hap agreed
"Until that vehicle is destroyed." Anastasia said
"Then I'll do something else." Brant said.
"Sounds like my kind of plan." Hap said.
"That's hardly a plan." Anastasia gave Hap a reproachful look, "and you need to get your head in the game."
Hap nodded, "Brant what are we bringing on the convoy, aside from the vehicle you're driving?"
"Uh, me, Masja and Tasja" Brant fished around his jacket pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper, "Here's the list of supplies Roweyna told me to bring. It's mostly armor, and missiles though."
Hap glanced down at the hand written note listing out armor patches, crates of LRM and SRM reloads, a few medium lasers, and heat sinks. "This should do, but just three techs for four 'mechs?"
"Everyone else is trying to overhaul the Phaidin. Roweyna told me to tell you, 'don't let all yer lance get shot up, or ye'll be fixin' yer 'mech yer-own-damn-self'." Brant gave a passible imitation of the McFinnigans thick Irish brogue.
"Always sage advice from our legal counsel." Hap said.
"I'm just pleased to hear they are fixing the Phaidin's electrical system. The previous state of the wiring bordered on creating a death trap." Anastasia said as she tucked her pencil into the loops on her knee board.
"You know from what I seen the Phaidin's setup isn't all that unique. I mean the wire-up is unique to the Phaidin, but centuries of jury-rigging jury-rigs is pretty common." Brant said.
"That's not something to joke about." Anastasia said. "A Dropship's electric systems should be life-cycled or restored to factory specifications every 25,000 operational hours or 5 years."
Brant looked like he was about to say something, but Hap gave Brant a warning shake of his head. Hap put his arm around Anastasia as he led them back to the 'mechs. Selene followed at their heels. "Brant, you mind adding a Coyote to your inventory?"
"No problem boss, as long as you don't mind if I just open up the window and let her stick out and enjoy the wind though."
Anastasia looked down at her coyote, "She'll appreciate that."
They found the rest of the lance at the foot of Hap's Griffin. They were sitting at an ad hoc table, similar to the map table, it was made of ammunition and ration crates and dunnage. Hap could see they had a standard deck of cards, and as Hap approached he suspected they were playing Spades.
"Yeah, you think your five is so great? How about this seven hearts. Yeah! You'll take that just like your mother took it last night." Joker slammed the card down so hard it made the ad hoc table bounce and caused the pile of L-bills to scatter. It was now obvious to Hap they were playing Spades, and Joker was losing badly.
At the table with Joker were two members of the Compact's forces. From their uniforms they looked like tankers. They exchanged looks and spoke to each other quietly in Chinese. One of them looked at Joker, "You gave my mother a seven of hearts? Why would she want a card? You make no sense."
The other tanker member put a nine of hearts on Joker's card, "You still think the seven is so great?"
Mags sat across from Joker. She had her coveralls zipped down to her waist exposing her black sports-style bra. She had her cards neatly stacked in front of her and was smoking a cigar. She was trying, with some success, to blow smoke rings as she casually took the top card of her hand, flipped it over to reveal a Jack of Hearts and neatly tossed it on to the cards in the middle of the table. Without saying a word she swept the cards away from the center and pulled the next card off her stack, revealing a low diamond card. She tossed the card into the center of the table.
The tanker to her left put a higher diamond on top and then Joker slammed the two of spades onto the table, "That's right fools! A two of spades card. How do you like that? I got no diamonds so suck on my two spades."
The tanker to Joker's left shook his head as he tossed out a five of Diamonds. Joker swept the cards up and put out the three of hearts.
Anastasia took her cooling vest and moved behind Hap so she could use him to give her a little bit of modesty as she took off her coveralls and put on her cooling vest. Hap thought it was a little unnecessary since her cooling vest barely covered more than the undergarments, but he understood she didn't want anyone staring at her while she had to bend over or awkwardly take off and put on clothes. Hap reached behind him and held onto Anastasia's coverall collar to help her get out of it without wriggling and shaking..
Selene sat down in front of Mags and waited as she blew another smoke ring. Mags dug into a pocket of her coveralls and pulled out a piece of meat jerky. She ripped a piece of jerky off and tossed it to the coyote. Selene easily caught the piece of dried meat as Mags turned over a ten of spades from her card stack, and took the remaining cards. She revealed the Jack of spades and the Compact soldiers cursed as they each surrendered a spade card.
A whistle blew and someone with a hand-held PA system began to speak loudly in Chinese. Both of the tankers stood up. "We must go." The other tanker started flipping his cards, "Quickly, show hands." Mags nodded as she flipped cards and laid them out flat. Both men groaned as Mags revealed the Queen, King and Ace of spades. She smoked for a moment, "That wins us all the bids we need." She reached for the pile of L-Bills that was in the center of the table.
The tanker on the right looked at her hand and seemed to try to figure out if there was any way she could be wrong.
"Don't spend our money." The other tanker said.
"Yes. We'll play again tonight, and reclaim what is ours, and take what is yours." His crewmate added.
Mags nodded as she took the L-bills, folded them and tucked them in to her bra. "Sure, just bring more money," She took a long drag from the cigar, and blew a long stream of smoke, "and more cigars."
"Wait, you guys didn't see my hand." Joker held up a few low club and heart cards. "I know you chumps weren't ready for this."
The men paused a moment to look at Joker and shook their heads, "Maybe you should find a new partner before tonight." One of the men told Mags.
Anastasia stepped out from behind Hap as she swept her braid on to the outside of her vest, "Are you certain that is what you want? Given how effective she was with an incompetent partner, imagine the outcome if her partner didn't have the wits and behavior of a donkey."
The men exchanged looks. One said, "See you both tonight."
The other tanker added, "Be sure to bring money."
Mags slipped out of the top of her coveralls and slipped her arms into her cooling vest, "Got all my money in a safe place." Mags said as she provocatively adjusted her bra before zipping up her cooling vest. "Pretty sure, I'll just be adding to it tonight."
The men gave her a dismissive wave as they walked toward a Striker Light Tank.
"Hey professor, stop calling me donkey brains. I know you're too smart to see it or understand, but this act of mine, it's all part of me and Mags hustle."
"Mags and my hustle." Anastasia corrected as she put on her pistol belt, and adjusted the holster's thigh straps and her kneeboard holder. Joker rolled his eyes at having his grammar corrected.
"We all get that you're acting like a jackass while Mags coolly takes their money, and they're too off balanced and annoyed by your antics to pay Mags enough attention to stop her." Hap said as he took off his own coveralls and put on his vest.
"Exactly this is me helping you perpetuate your moronic attempts at deception and misdirection." Anastasia added as she picked up Hap's neurohelmet and handed it to him.
"So you're helping me with my act?" Joker said as he donned his cooling vest.
"I wouldn't call it an act, but yes, that was me helping," Anastasia paused before adding, "Mags."
"Alright, let me explain what we're doing and then we'll load up." Hap said before Anastasia and Joker started really bickering.
"What's the plan, hefe?"
"We'll be protecting the Compact's convoy as they move along the main highway to their Forward Operating Base. The FOB is a couple hundred kilometers away, so this will likely take all day. Convoy speed is 60 kph." Hap said as both Mags and Joker cursed.
"Can't be helped, not everything in the convoy can go fast." Hap said as Mags offered Joker one of the cigars she had won during the spades game, and both of them nodded as Hap spoke.
Hap continued, "Once we get to the FOB we'll fall under the Operational Control or OPCON of the Compact's commander in the field. We'll receive new orders from there. The escort route looks pretty routine except we have a river crossing. Anastasia will send the location when we get in our 'mechs."
"When we get to the river Joker and Anastasia will jump across the river and establish security on the far side while the convoy crosses, Mags and I will stay on the side of the river with the vehicles while they prepare to cross. We'll form up in a square and face out. Joker you face Northwest, Anastasia Northeast, Mags you'll look Southeast and I'll take the Southwest piece. All our 'mechs can swivel at the torso so we'll establish a 360 perimeter and we'll have LRMs on either side of the river so we should be able to react quickly to an attack from any direction."
"Right." Joker said, "What's our order for the escort?"
"Joker, take point." Hap answered, "Anastasia and I will be near the center and close to our supply vehicle, Mags hang back in the rear." Hap looked at her," You're fast enough to catch up to any point we might get attacked."
Mags nodded.
"Your fire power is also sufficient to dissuade any one that would attempt to penetrate our formation from the rear." Anastasia added.
"Yeah, and Mags hates penetration from the rear." Joker said.
"Everyone does." Hap said quickly before Anastasia or Mags could respond. "Get to your 'mechs-"
"Some people like it." Joker interrupted.
"Are you 'some people'? Are you trying to tell us something?" Mags asked as Anastasia tried not to laugh.
"You know Professor, you shouldn't look down on something before you try it."
"I'm not going to give you the pleasure of asking you to clarify what you're implying. It sounds unpleasant, and it's counter to what we're trying to do right now."
Mags gave Anastasia a hard look and raised her eyebrow as she continued smoking.
"What are you trying to do right now?" Joker asked.
"Trying to escort a convoy" Hap said, "Keep up, Joker, and everyone get in your 'mechs."