Chapter 5

Dirk and I were split up. We each went into a Scout

Lance for the two new Lances of Shadow. The first thing we did was to start to familiarize the others with the area. That didn't take long and as we were doing that we were beginning to become acquainted with each other.

Mack Flannery was the Captain of Shadow. He rode around in a Catapult which is a 65 ton missile launcher. Its main weapons are two LRM-15s which can turn out a lot of missiles. Lt. Randy Larson was the Executive Officer and his ride was an 60 ton Ostsol. Zeke Jones was the only other Line Officer and he rode two mechs. When he wasn't in his Phoenix Hawk he used a Phoenix Hawk LAM. (For those few of you who are not familiar with a LAM, it's a Land Air Mech. It both flies and marches upright like a normal Mech. It's not as fast as an Aerospace Fighter but it's faster than any normal Mech. It's not as well armed and armored as some of the normal Mechs and with the conversion mechanism it's very delicate but it's a hell of a Mech!) I'd done some training in the simulators on LAMs but this was the first time I had seen one in actual combat. There's a second LAM in Shadow. Gregor Karuska, Shadow's mechanical and computer genius had developed another LAM, not a Wasp or Stinger LAM but one different from either, he called it a Dragonfly. J. J. Ravenhawk was the Doctor for Shadow. His mount was a Shadow Hawk. He's also an officer but not a line officer. He had modified the Shadow Hawk somewhat. Like me he had pulled the SRM pod and replaced it with two more jump jets and another ton of AC-5 ammo. He had replaced the LRM pod with another medium laser, another heat sink and more armor. He had the habit of firing that cannon like Dirk did his twos and needed the extra ammo.

Half way through our tour I got a surprise. I hadn't been paying any attention to the price of my shares and when I started checking I was floored. I had purchased my shares at c10 each. They had split three for one and were now up to c60 each! If I sold out today I would have c72 megacredits and could retire and be setup for life. Whoever heard of a rich Mech Pilot? So I put Dad to work.

I sold off two thirds of the shares and transferred most of the money home. I had him check out and purchase a Mule Dropship. He found one that looked in worse shape than it was and with his contacts hired a crew and a repair bay. Three months and c6 megacredits later it was in nearly new condition. He then purchased 10 LRM-20s and loaded it with as much freight as he could find that was headed towards the Periphery and sent it towards me. So I now owned a little over half of a Dropship and was c25 megacredits in debt!

First Sgt. Milton Jacobs, a P. Hawk driver, was the leader of the Scout Lance to which I was assigned. A Commando and a Spider were the other two Mechs making up our Lance. Towards the end of our tour we were out on practice maneuvers when jamming started on our radios. Jones and Karuska went airborne to see if they could spot the problem. We were being invaded! There were two Union Dropships inbound for our position and it looked like at least two more headed for Martine's position. It was suddenly 'get serious' time, folks.

To get to us from where they were landing it would be necessary to come through one of two passes. There were the only passes that Mechs could use for several hundred klicks. We covered one of them and Major Martine's group had the other one covered. Captain Flannery set watchers at the pass with land line communications that couldn't be jammed. The rest of us were in a concealed location so we could move up when needed. One of the few large bodies of water on the planet was situated near our pass. Flannery concealed himself in that lake leaving only an antenna exposed. He was going to give the attack order when it was time.

Experienced fighters expect an ambush when they are approaching, entering into or leaving a pass. They entered spaced out and moving in Lances. The other two Lances covering while the one moved.

We had artillery support for this engagement and had them open up. We used a diminishing barrage starting from the rear of the enemy company and moving forward. This would drive them to one side of the pass and we would have them bottled up or at least that was the plan. It didn't work.

The first Lance nearly made it through before the artillery got close to them. It did mangle a Wasp and did armor damage to an Archer but it didn't drive them like we had expected.

The Archer spotted Flannery somehow and opened up on him. LRMs swarmed all around him. Either he took some major hits or had been knocked unconscious because he either ejected or was ejected by his auto system. The problem was that he was ejected right into the path of the artillery barrage and we never saw anything of him again. We did find the cockpit seat and a red mist over the area but nothing large enough to identify. This was later of course. Then we were still waiting for him to give the attack order. It was necessary for the Fire Lance to open up on the first enemy Lance as they were about to be walked on. They finished off the injured Wasp and a second Wasp as well as tagging the Archer a few more times, still only armor though. The fourth in the Lance, a Locust got in too close and lost a leg. The Archer then withdrew. We also allowed the Mech pilots to withdraw but were still waiting when the all clear was given. That's when we found out how badly we had been stung.

Flannery was dead and Jones was down. His LAM had sustained serious damage and he had crashed landed when his jump jets didn't work properly. That made Lt. Larson as the Executive Officer the senior person so he took command. He took First Sergeant Jacobs with him and left me with the rest of the Lance. He went back to find out what was going on. He had any of the Mechs who had either taken damage or had expended LRMs, SRMs or cannon ammo back to rearm. It turned out that Jones was still mobile and had returned to have his wing replaced.

It is times like this that you really appreciate your Mech techs. Jones belonged to some obscure religion that had migrated from Earth that allowed its followers to have multiple wives. Rachel, one of them was in charge of our Mech techs. They swarmed over Jones' LAM, opening inspection panels before he had come to a complete stop. They dropped the mangled wing and had the replacement ready in just minutes. In less than a half hour they had accomplished a normally two hour job. Everything was not 100% but it could fly and it could fight and that was the main thing. Within an hour all the Mechs were repaired back to fighting condition and rearmed. Once again it proved that the cheapest investment you can make is to have the best Mech techs you can hire, kidnap, coerce, enslave or shanghai!

While they were doing this Jones contacted Lt. Larson who had arrived back at the rear area. Jones informed him of the situation as he had seen it from the air. Only one Dropship had come down near us. There looked to be three at the other pass being covered by Martine's Marauders.

By cranking the optics as high as they would go I watched our opponents. It was now time for the big boys. I saw a Marauder, a Rifleman, a Hunchback, a Warhammer, a Blackjack, a Phoenix Hawk, a Griffin and last but not least and living up to its name, an Awesome. A Stinger and an Ostroc came out with them but were left behind to guard the Dropship.

The Archer they had sent against us before was staying behind to guard the Dropships also while they came through the pass, through us and through anything else that got in their way. When they left the ship headed for us I contacted base and informed them of what was headed our way and that I was extremely lonely and wanted a lot of company real fast. Larson laughed and said they were on their way.