Chapter 23 - Jade

We were on a simple movement from one location to another. There wasn't supposed to be any hostiles around for many klicks. The sun was shining and we were skirting a set of woods. It was a day made for poetry. Something about birds, sunshine and that stuff when charging out of the woods came tanks like I've never seen before. They didn't register on my MAGs and the IR reading was very weak. They turned their guns on us and opened fire. I would have thought that we were still out of range of them but they started to do great amounts of damage to us.

I was saddled up in the Warhammer for this ride. They were just in range of my PPCs so I returned the fire. My shots were hitting but they didn't seem to be doing much damage. Another one was covered by a flight of LRMs and again it didn't appear to be taking much damage. A Shadow Hawk walked a line of AC-5 shots across the front of a third and they bounced off! I had never seen tanks like these and they were murdering us.

I advanced and with each step triggered a Peep. I was hitting. I was doing damage but not much. It looked like no one was doing damage like they should. I yelled back to headquarters to alert them to what we'd encountered and to let them know that our weapons were doing little damage. I also inquired if this was some kind of training session as that's what it reminded me of. I was assured that my guns were on full power and that this was not a training scenario.

I finally blew the front track off the tank that I was dueling with and it slowed down. It didn't stop it only slowed down. "Aim for the tracks. At least it will slow them down." I yelled into the command circuit. Two of my men were down and others would be joining them soon if we couldn't stop them. There were only five of them yet they had taken on and were defeating this whole company. I also yelled for them to retreat but it did no good. The tanks kept coming and were as fast if not faster than we were. I wanted one of these tanks if for no other reason than to study it.

I took off a second track on the right side and the tank skewed to that side. I started to punch into the side armor. On most tanks the sides aren't as well protected as the front. It swung the two turrets around and continued to fire on me. When I again had a chance to look around I was the only one still standing and the other tanks were advancing on me. With deliberate shots they began to take me apart. First an arm was blown off and then a leg. As I struggled to get back up they took off the other arm then the other leg. Flat on my back I couldn't do anything. When I tried to punch out my ejection system malfunctioned and I couldn't even do that. The big one that I had been fighting limped forward and slowly depressed the muzzles of its big cannon. When the muzzles were lined up on the head of my Mech it fired and I woke up.

I was wringing wet. Me, my bedding, everything was wet. That was the fourth night in a row I had dreamed the same dream. I showered and cleaned up and went to the mess hall. It was nearly dawn so it wasn't unusual for us to be stumbling in at this time. I sat for a while over a cup of coffee until the cook signaled that he could feed me now. I got a tray and picked at the food and had a couple more cups of coffee. Finally I gave it up as a lost cause and left.

I beat the office staff into the Headquarters Building this morning. When he appeared for duty Sergeant Major Travis Mackey caught sight of me. He stuck his head in the door and said, "Mick, you look like hell. Didn't you sleep again last night?"

"Morning, Travis. I love you too. No, I didn't sleep. I feel like someone walked over me with a Mech. When he gets in would you ask Doc to step in here? The key word is ask. Ok?"

"Can do, Colonel. He should be in shortly. Anything I can get you in the meanwhile?"

"Yes, I would like some coffee when you get some made, please."

He left and returned a short time later with a fresh cup of coffee and a small thermos. He has a beat up old Silex that makes better coffee than any of the newer machines around. I thanked him and started to shuffle through some of the papers on my desk. I was trying to get caught up on the paperwork that had piled up while we were gone to Dindatari. Our new Regiment had several problems facing us but right now I couldn't concentrate on any of them.

J.J. rapped on the door. "You wanted to see me, Mick?"

"Yes, come in and shut the door please." J.J. Ravenhawk is not only the Executive Officer to Phantom Regiment, he is the chief Doctor for our outfit both medical and psychological, and he is in charge of most of the training for the whole Shadow Brigade. What you would call a VERY full plate!

When he had taken a seat I pointed to the thermos. "Some of Travis' coffee if you're interested. Cups and stuff are behind you there." As he fixed himself some coffee I framed my question in my head. "Doc, do you believe in dreams? I know it sounds crazy but I have this dream that's keeping me awake at night. I can't sleep, I can't concentrate at work. It's driving me batty. As the Regimental Commander I can't afford anything that'll interfere with the smooth working of this Regiment. If you can't help me then I'm going to be forced to see Zeke and step down for a while."