Chapter 6

There had been no surprises when the shot up armor and heat sinks were removed. There had been no additional damage done to the Pride. The damage was repaired and the machine guns on the left arm were replaced. The problem they ran into there was with the feeder belts. They also replaced them and the ammunition fed the way it was supposed to do. She was ready when I reported to pick her up. I took her back up to my forward position and called Guns to let him know that I was again on the job. I watched as Astechs and Combat Engineers removed shot up Mechs from the field in front of me. They had been doing this for some time as the field was nearly clear. Even the large pieces that had been shot off were removed so that during later attacks the enemy infantry could not use them for shelter.

Except for watching them there was nothing going on that I needed to be alert for. However with them in the area I couldn't just set up my sensors and go to sleep. Their movement would set off the alarms so I had to stay awake and keep looking. Rather than do that I moved forward even more and moved a couple of the trees that had been knocked over so I had a bit of shelter and something to obscure my profile. Sitting down behind them I had my sensors sweep forward again and I could relax a bit while they kept track of any movement or large heat source.

By the time morning finally arrive there had still been no more attacks and the Thumpers were already in the process of being moved forward. Each battery had two additional vehicles that were assigned to shuttle shells from the storage bunker up to the guns. The way we had been going through ammo they were going to be needed. While ammo for artillery pieces wasn't cheap it was cheaper than BattleMechs. I pulled back to the Sniper position, reported in and went back to the same place I had used the day before and went to sleep. By early afternoon I was awake and went to check on what had happened while I was down.

"Nothing much to see Terry. The other two batteries moved. They've been called on once to take out a hardpoint and are about to move again. They have advanced about six klicks and all they've found is a couple of Mechs from last night that couldn't make it any further. They were turned over to Rachel and our lines have continued. We are about to move forward ourselves so that we can get in on any action. Now that you're awake you can saddle up and see what the front is like and where our best position will be," said Guns when he came in and found me going over the status boards and maps.

"Can do." That's all that I needed to say. When I went to find the Pride she wasn't where I had left her. Hoke had moved her and had flushed the cooling system and replaced the coolant.

"I didn't know how much work the coolant did night before last. I didn't want you to need it and all you had was gunk. She's ready for you, I even downloaded the new chips for the maps." Another reason Hoke was such a treasure, he anticipated the things I would need and took care of them ahead of time.

The terrain that we had to traverse was broken and full of ditches, gullies and hills. As I was only trying to catch up with those ahead I could move out but I could see where this terrain would have slowed the advance greatly. You wouldn't know what was over the next rise until you poked your head over it and if someone was waiting for you they would have a great shot. It took me nearly an hour to catch up with our forward party. During that time I passed the smoldering remains of tanks, both hover and tracked that had tried to ambush our advance. When I did catch up with them I asked how much further they were planning to move before they stopped for the night barring enemy intervention. With that information I could look around for a good place to set up the Snipers. Studying the map and looking over the ground I selected what I thought would be a protected area that still had a good field of fire. I relayed the location back to the Snipers and waited while they moved. Knowing I was looking for a forward base they were ready to move as soon as I gave them a location.

Within minutes the helos were there. As soon as the gun was down the crew were taking off the cables, offloading the ready ammo and had a command bunker ready. When they were through the helos left and returned to load up again with ammo. They would then wait until a firefight broke out before coming forward again. This removed them as front line targets and had them in place, loaded and ready to move when additional ammo was needed. We were set up less than two klicks from the new front. This time I made sure that the CEs had some holes prepared for me and the Pride.

After a meal and a short briefing I moved back up to the line and set up. There was little they could give us at briefing, we had been in contact with the enemy most of the day. Pushing them back, by-passing some hardpoints to be neutralized by the support units and moving forward. We were told of some enemy reinforcements that had gotten by the nadir drop point and were either enroute or had already grounded.

Where we had set up was an unusual formation. Two ridges came together and nearly formed a 'T'. The Snipers were set up nearly a kilometer south of the bar of the Tee with the long shank running away from us. I had again moved forward to the top of the bar and was in the observation post that had been dug for us. We were going to be in this position for a few days while waiting for the others to move up on either flank and for some of our own reinforcements to arrive and move forward.

It was nearly midnight when Guns called me to say that some of our forward sensors had picked up movements in front of our position. From all reports there seemed to be a lot of it and I was to be alert. If they were there they were beyond the scope of my sensors. I still had not picked up anything when those to the east of me began firing. The ridge running north from me was blocking whatever they were shooting at from my sight. I was set up on the west side of the long shank and the attack appeared to be coming on the east side. I alerted Guns that I was moving and to have the batteries ready to fire along the east side as soon as I could call targets.

There was no foxhole dug for me on that side so I had to do the best I could to keep out of sight. When I passed the ridge line I could see that the Snakes had finally decided to make an all out push. Frantically I marked and sent targets. Over the radios I called for all batteries to fire with HEAM rounds and keep them coming. I also called for any available reinforcements to head this way as this was the one we had been expecting for some time.

As soon as the rounds arrived I adjusted their range and then shifted to the next closest target. From the initial picture it looked like two Battalions or more moving towards us. The BattleMechs that we had on the line were putting up a valiant fight but they were outclassed and out gunned. The artillery was helping but it was not enough to stop them. I was soon under fire and had to return fire, try to shift to a better location and still call in the targets for the artillery. After nearly a half hour of attacking the Kuritan forces achieved something that all commanders dread, they punched a hole in the line that was facing them and began to pour their forces through the break that had been created.

Using an All channels push I called in the break, gave its location and then called for all the artillery to concentrate their fire along that break. It wouldn't be enough to stop the advancing Mechs but it should be able to slow them down and at least do some damage to them so that any forces moving towards them would not be facing fresh opponents.

I shifted as well and opened fire on any Mech that came in range of my guns. Instead of just rolling up the sides after they had achieved their breakout they streamed through and headed for the rear areas. They didn't stop to engage me but did return fire as they kept going to get into our rear area and cause as much havoc as they could. With the break in the line many of the enemy Mechs shifted from the fight they were engaged in and tried to make it through the break also. This allowed some of our Mechs to shift slightly and form a gauntlet for them to run. We each pecked away at the enemy so that by the time they arrived to face those coming to assist us they were badly shot up. By themselves none of the pecks did much but taken all together they spelled the end to several of the large monsters. That was the main problem. We had Mediums and the lower end of our Heavy Mechs up on the line while the Kuritans were sending their top end Heavies and Assaults against us. In an ambush a P. Hawk might be able to take out a Marauder but in a stand up fight it is plain suicide. What saved us was that they were ignoring us for the most part to get into the rear area. This allowed us to do the pecking I spoke of and to make it count as much as possible.

Our large Heavies and Assaults finally arrived and took up the fight. They worked in teams and concentrated their fire on one Mech at a time. This was our advantage. The Kuritans fought as individuals even if they moved as a unit. We moved AND fought as a unit which allowed us to put down one Mech and then switch to the next one while they were singly trying to fight us off.

Less than an hour after we had announced the break in our lines the Snakes that were able to disengage were limping back and once again running the gauntlet to get back to their own side of the line. Now they were damaged from all the pecking we had done to them during their first pass through the break as well as what they had received from our big boys and still they had to try to force their way back. Not many of them made it.

With enemy again in front of me I had the artillery back on target and fired at the targets myself when they came within my range. The others had shifted as much as their positions and battle damage would allow and did the same. Less than a third of the BattleMechs that charged through the break limped back to their lines. While we didn't know at this time what the attack had cost us we did know that the Snakes had been forced to pay a dear price for the damage they did to us.

With the return of the shot up penetration force the others withdrew as well. Not all of the attacking Mechs had been able to take part in the penetration. Some had stayed behind and kept the rest of the Mechs on the line so busy that they couldn't turn in and attack from the rear while our Assault force hit the penetration force head on. It was the job of the remaining attackers also to keep the breech open so that the force could withdraw if necessary or to funnel additional BattleMechs through. They had done their job and now they were retiring with the remnants of the penetration force.

With them on the retreat I called for a cease fire for the artillery and ask for medics and Techs to be sent forward immediately. At this time we still didn't know what kind of force we had on the line. Chewed up as badly as we had been if anyone was left they were lucky.

"Terry? Terry? SGT. WARD! Are you ok?"

"Sorry Guns, I must have drifted off for a moment. I think I'm ok. I don't think anything major was hit or at least that's what my read outs say. I got punched a few times and have a lot of red lights but I don't think any of it got in. I think my secondary systems have it covered. Don't worry about me, there are many that are a lot worse off than I am. Take care of them first."

"Negatory. I need you to spot for me tomorrow. Get back here and let the Techs check over your mount. As soon as it is ready for another battle then we will worry about the others. You and the Pride have priority."

So I limped back to the field repair center that they had set up and let Hoke look at the mess that I had made of his nice, neat BattleMech.

"You both look like drek," he said as I climbed down from the Pride. I had been rattled around a bit and was bloody as well as tired and sweaty.

"Hoke the left leg is dragging. I don't know if it's the hip, knee or the ankle. The sensors for the left side are out and all the read out shows is red for the whole side. Everything worked so the secondaries kicked in. The lasers are fine, I don't know about the machine guns, I didn't use them. We got hot a few times and I'm very glad you flushed and changed the coolant. I don't think there's anything serious wrong, it's just armor as far as I know. I fell once though and landed on the right side so you might want to check it as well as you can for now and later we'll go over it more thoroughly." I was trying to let him know what had happened to us while he lead me out of the way and into a shelter where I could rest.

Several hours later I woke up and it was light outside. They were still working on the Pride. They hadn't started to replace the armor on either leg so there had to be more damage than I initially thought. As I staggered out of the tent and over to the cradle Hoke spotted and intercepted me before I could get in the way.