A few minutes later Hap was in his Griffin, settled in his command couch, and had completed his 'mech's security startup process. He watched the monitors as the 'mech ran its startup diagnostics and system checks. The armor sensors looked like they had completed their startup, but they indicated multiple points of damage and cracks in the armor. Hap had seen the armor had been fixed, and he was even more impressed with the work on his hatch. It just seemed the armor sensors hadn't been reset. He'd have to wait for Brant to reset the system.
He glanced around at the other three 'mechs in his lance. Like his they were kneeled, and Tasja, Masja and Brant were working with his lancemates. They were performing all the last minute checks and final things that were required before a 'mech could take the field. Since they were one tech down, he'd have to wait his turn.
"All systems nominal, armor integrity is at 90%" said the female voice of the Griffin's internal systems. Hap brought up the armor sensors configuration menu as Brant jogged from Joker's Firestarter to Hap's Griffin.
"You good, Hap?" Brant asked breathlessly as he pulled himself up the 'mech's rope ladder and climbed onto the Griffin's shoulder. He fished a noteputer out of a satchel and handed the free end of one of the attached cables to Hap.
Hap plugged the cable into the diagnostic port, "I think the armor sensors need to be reset. Everything else looks good though. I appreciate the quick turn on the armor, and good work on the door hatch."
"Too easy, brother. Tasja filled the cracks, and I told her I'd reset the onboards, but we've had a busy night. As for the hatch it was a pretty clean break. You said the jump infantry used a paint gun to 'freeze' the lock?"
Hap nodded as Brant worked on his noteputer and then hit a few buttons of the armor display. "It never occurred to me to try and break a lock with the endothermic spray. Before I saw how it worked, I would have thought it was a clever idea, but she broke the connection arm between the release handle and the locking mechanism, so maybe not that clever."
"Well I held onto my side and she gave the outside handle a good kick. When I felt the mechanism give I was worried it was going to be hard to fix." Hap said.
"Naw, not hard at all. Our Compact friends had no problem coming up with a good piece of steel, and I cut it down, drilled it out, and bolted it on. Believe it or not, the Compact techs I talked to are really hoping we can help them finish this fight."
"Glad to hear they're ready to kick the Cappellans off their world, and I'm even more glad to help."
"I think these guys are just tired of being out in the field, and they can't go home until that fortress is either flattened or flies St. Ives flags, so however you guys do it. They're happy to help."
"Yeah, I can respect trying to get home. I think that's what I've been doing that since I shipped out to Klathandu."
"What are you talking about? You're with McFinnigan's and Sons, your home is wherever the family is." Brant gave him a playful punch on the shoulder before grabbing the data cable from the diagnostic system.
Brant sat down on the 'mech's shoulder. "Give the armor system a moment to reset." Brant said as he squinted trying to find the stars in spite of the light pollution from the stadium lights. "I do miss MacLeod's Land though. I haven't been back in a long time. Where's your home, Hap?"
Hap was watching Anastasia and Masja. Masja seemed to be trying to figure out something on her noteputer. She shook her head and passed it over to Anastasia. Anastasia began to quickly tap the keys. It looked to Hap like whatever modifications Anastasia had made to her sensors was causing problems with the diagnostic system and Anastasia was clearing the errors, and making sure they weren't serious. The two women were laughing as Anastasia worked. Even from this distance Hap was captivated by Anastasia's charms.
"Hap, buddy, you still there?" Brant asked.
"Yeah. I think my home is Hazelhurst now." Hap said as he watched Anastasia smile and hand Masja back her noteputer, "I've been away from everywhere else for so long I can't think of anywhere else it could be. Funny thing is, I've never been there."
"You know I met the Countess of Hazelhurst once."
"Yeah, I was there when she visited for my marriage to her daughter."
"Were you though? I heard that her personal assistant was some type of assassin and you saw the kill order for her and your wife and you thought it was a joke."
"I didn't see a kill order. I saw a weird ComStar memo, and her personal assistant tried to pass it off as a joke, and the countess told me not to worry about it. The Countess also told me she'd address it. Look I had a lot on my mind, and that woman, my mother-in-law, is charming but not someone you can really question."
"The woman I met was pretty charming. I'd consider moving to Hazelhurst, except it's in Davion space."
"It's pretty far from New Avalon." Hap said.
"Not far enough" Brant said as the armor system completed its self-check and showed the Griffin's armor completely intact. Brant got back to his feet and grabbed the hatch, "Everything checks out, you good to go?"
"Good to go" Hap said as he gave Brant a thumbs up. He took one more glance at Anastasia and her Valkyrie and noticed Selene sitting at the 'mech's feet looking up at her. "Hey, can you take care of Selene? She got a hold of Joker's ration and is going to need some water."
"Oh yeah, the Coyote is the only one of you I actually like. Joker's not nearly as funny as he thinks he is, Mags is borderline psychotic, you're a commissioned officer in the Armed Forces Federated Suns, and you know the only thing worse than all of that?"
"Being a noble and an officer in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns?"
"Being a noble and an officer in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns. Right." Brant repeated and almost completed for Hap.
"Well, thanks for taking care of Selene, and on that note. I'll see you after the op."
Brant nodded, "Bring them all back. You know, for the sake of the coyote. She seems pretty attached to you guys, probably because she's too stupid to know any better."
"Thanks Brant." Hap said as Brant closed the hatch. Hap was glad to hear the reassuring sounds of the locking mechanism. In a moment Brant disappeared down the rope ladder. After about half a minute Hap could see him standing on the ground and motioning at him to reel in the rope ladder and stand-up his 'mech.
Hap keyed his mic as he brought his 'mech from a kneeling position to standing. "Alright Coyotes form up on me. Coyote 2-"
"I'll activate the electronic counter measure once we're away from the Compact forces. I don't want to interfere with their systems." Anastasia said.
"Banshee 1, this is Coyote 1. We're about to cross the wire."
"Coyote 1, this is Banshee 1. Good copy. I'm proceeding to low orbit. When you have that A2 system down, let me know and I'll come and join the fun."
"Acknowledge Banshee 1. Standby."
"I probably should have asked this before now, but what happens if our little science experiment doesn't work." Joker asked.
"Destroy the generator for the anti-air system, call down air support, and hope there is enough salvage to rebuild our lance." Hap said, and then added, "and yeah you should have asked before now."
"You don't sound too confident, there boss." Joker said.
"No one has given us a straight answer on what we're up against here, but it's potentially some real heavy metal." Hap said. "If the ECM doesn't pan out, we're going to be in for the fight our life. It's not that I doubt the ECM work, but you asked the question."
"We'll be fine Hefe. The plan is solid and the Professor always comes through."
"Thank you." Anastasia said.
"Sorry darlin'." Hap started to stay.
"No, I feel the same way." Anastasia replied. "But I'm still confident we can accomplish our objective."
"Then let's get this over with. Form up into a wedge." Hap Said. "Coyote 2 get in the center. How close do we need to be for your modified sensors to cover all of us? Can they cover all of us?"
"Yes to the later question, and to the former, for the Electronic Counter Measure or ECM to work you need to be within 30-50 meters."
The lance drew close together in a tight wedge as they exited the Compact's base area. After a hundred meters Anastasia came on the radio net, "I'm activating the ECM system now."
There was a moment where Anastasia's 'mech disappeared off Hap's sensors, and then the terrain clutter of hills and trees and rivers disappeared from his sensors. It reminded Hap of how sterile his sensors looked when he was in a large open desert.
It sounded like Joker was trying to talk on the radio but there was high interference and he was garbled. "Hey, Prof…my sensors…lot of…nothin'…" There was a loud pop, and then "I thought only your systems would be unable to target shit." Joker's voice quality got better as he talked.
"Standby." Anastasia said. Her voice sounded robotic and clipped.
Hap watched as the background clutter of the terrain came back on to his sensors. Every few steps it would disappear for a moment, but it would return just as quickly. Everything looked almost normal.
"Your systems should now be functioning within acceptable operating parameters." Anastasia said. "My radio is on a very tight beam, so my voice may sound under sampled and synthetic."
"I thought maybe you were giving up pretending you're not a robot." Joker said.
"Let's keep chatter to a minimum" Hap said as he directed his lance into a dry river bed that led to a deep ravine just at the foot of the hill that the fortress was built on. This was the release point that Zhang had indicated they should use. Hap glanced around and had to take a few steps back just to see the top of the Fortress.
"Alright, we're in position, and we've got ten minutes before the Compact will be at their release point." Hap said, "Coyote 2 and 4, now is the time for you to move up the hill, remain undetected and destroy the generator for the Air Defense system." As he spoke he felt his heart race, he tried to ignore it and not let himself panic.
"Acknowledge." Anastasia's voice still had a flat synthetic quality.
"Cee Hefe." Mags replied.
Anastasia's Valkyrie and Mags Jenner started to move away from Hap's Griffin and Joker's Firestarter. After a few steps the Valkyrie and Jenner disappeared from Hap's sensors. In the morning gloom Hap could see the head and shoulders of the mechs' silhouettes, but they were blind to his Griffin's sensors. His lancemates 'mechs disappeared as they turned the corner and started climbing the draw.
"This looks like a pretty good spot." Joker said, "You could probably hide a whole company down here."
"Yeah. The Compact probably used this area to muster their forces when they attacked the fortress" Hap said. His sense of nervousness started to increase.
"Probably means it's a TRP for their artillery." Joker laughed for a moment, "Suddenly I'm not sure this is a great place to wait around."
"Agreed, but we need to stick to the plan" Hap said
"I thought your deal was improvising." Joker said.
"This is Anastasia's plan, and for it to work, we have to follow it." Hap said as he watched the seconds pass on his watch. Time seemed to slow down as he waited. He glanced up constantly trying to guess where Anastasia and Mags were. He closely watched his sensors hoping to see an anomaly that would indicate where Anastasia and Mags were. He glanced again at his watch. Only a few minutes had passed.
Suddenly Mags Jenner rocketed into view. She spun her 'mech around and fired lasers and missiles as she disappeared behind the terrain. Hap glanced down to see the Jenner's blue indicator appear and then disappear on his tactical display.
"We encountered a vehicle patrol." Anastasia reported. "We've neutralized a Skulker and a Scorpion light tank."
As she spoke the lights around the fortress lit up and spot lights began to search the open fields and tree line near the fortress. One immediately shone directly on the generators.
The light for the Compact channel began to flash. Hap studied the point he had seen Mags on the holo map and tried to mentally calculate how far the tank and wheeled vehicle would have traveled in the few minutes before the Coyotes were supposed to be at the release point.
Hap turned his radio to the Compact channel. "This is McFinnigan-"
"Mercenary, why have you initiated your attack on the fortress early." Zhang snapped, "Was it not made clear-"
"Zhang, recall how we asked for the patrol routes, and you pretended not to have them? Then you said you'd give them to us, but then you didn't? Well we got to our release point early, and I sent out part of my lance to screen and they ran into an enemy patrol. The funny thing is, it looks like they would have met us at the release point if we arrived when you ordered us to be here, or they'd be in the perfect position to ambush us once we initiated an assault on the fortress."
"What are you saying, mercenary?"
"I'm saying after this operation we're going to have a talk and I'm going to figure out if you're just incompetent, or if you just ordered us into an ambush."
"You had better watch your tone, Mercenary or I'll-" As Zhang spoke A Marauder and a Cataphract emerged from the fortress. Anastasia and Mags were now in the open and sprinting up the hill. Hap could see the PPCs and Autocannon tracer fire sailing past the Valkyrie and Jenner.
"We'll talk post mission Zhang." Hap said as he switched back to McFinnigan radio net.
"What the hell is that thing next to the MAD-3R?" Joker asked.
Hap could see his targeting computer was trying to make sense of multiple mix of 'mechs.
"That's a Cataphract. Its chassis is a marauder, the left arm comes from a shadow hawk, and I think the internals come from Phoenix Hawk."
"Are you kidding?"
"He is not." Anastasia said, as she spoke an AC salvo struck the ground just in front of her and a PPC bolt passed narrowly between the Jenner and Valkyrie. "Mags, I suggest we jump, turn sixty degrees for a few hundred meters."
"Cee." Mags groaned. As both 'mech's lifted into the air and barrage of PPC bolts and autocannon rounds passed harmlessly below them. They hit the ground and turned almost in unison and continued to run as another barrage of particles and auto cannon slugs missed them.
"I don't want to jinx this, but I think this just might work." Joker said. As he spoke a Charger came bursting out of the fortress, moved past the Marauder and Cataphract and sprinted toward the generator.