Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Three: Militia Madness
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Three: Militia Madness
Haynesville, June 30th, 3035
"Alright, this should be deep enough into the tunnels to avoid notice," Lieutenant Dan told the rest of the militia soldiers. "Let's get our supplies sorted out and our sleeping arrangements finished."
"Yessir," the militiamen and women responded as they dismounted their combat vehicles and 'mechs.
"Alright, I want every single 'mech that has hands to begin moving the trailers with Ordnance over to this area," Sergeant Smith ordered.
"I want the Scorpions to back up their trailers over to this area," Dan ordered. "Our food supplies need to be stored in a safe location, away from the munitions."
"You don't like your steaks well done LT?" One of the soldiers asked with a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Medium-rare is the only way to eat a steak," Dan yelled back. "And if anyone suggests different then they can go play bomb-maker with Exciter."
All of the soldiers chuckled and then got back to work, setting up tents and sleeping areas first before hooking up portable heaters to one of the mech's fusion reactors.
"We should be deep enough underground that the fusion reactor won't be detected," the lead Astech told them as they hooked everything up.
"Remember that we're going to have to head to the surface in shifts," Dan cautioned. "From here on out we only leave to gather intel or launch a raid."
July 2nd, 3035
"What do you have for me Exciter?" Dan asked the Lyran as he cooked up some more explosives.
"I just finished putting together an ANFO and homemade Napalm bomb," Exciter responded. "I've rigged a delayed charge to it using some of our shaped charges."
"I think I know how we're going to put this to use," Dan grinned before moving to pat the Lyran on the back.
"Don't touch me, this mixture is sensitive," Victor cautioned. "I would rather not have us burned alive due to a mistake."
"Agreed," Dan began to back out of the restricted area. "I'll let you get back to making bombs then."
July 4th, 3035
"I'm not sure this is a good idea LT," the pilot of the Warrior VTOL cautioned. "We only have the one IFF."
"If this works, then our infiltration team will be stealing more than the one IFF," Dan responded with a calming smile. "We're just running the distraction here." The Lieutenant climbed into the copilot's seat. "Now, let's see how panicked we can make these bastards."
The VTOL climbed into the air while sticking low to the ground, just because they were going to be using an enemy IFF didn't mean they wanted to be detected too soon.
"Base, this is Warrior Sierra Gulf One, we've taken some moderate rotor damage from the enemy militia units, and are requesting permission to land for repairs."
"Sierra Gulf One, you're early on your check-in, you weren't supposed to be back from your patrol for another hour."
"Base, we came back early because of the damage, we can run the confirmation package if necessary, but we've got smoke coming from our rotors."
"We see you Sierra Gulf One, come in for repairs."
"Thanks, base, we're going to coast in now."
"Ready?" The pilot asked Lieutenant Dan.
"Ready," Dan nodded as he flicked the switch to make their simulated problem go away. "We're ready to drop the bombs now."
"Ready boss," the one crewmate in the rear spoke up. "I'm opening the doors now."
The side doors opened, and the man that was strapped in threw the homemade napalm bombs out of the doors when he was instructed to.
"Detonating, let's get out of here," Dan said as he clicked the detonator and watched as flames spread throughout the enemy facility.
July 5th, 3035
"You're late!" The Word of Blake Battalion Commander screamed at Captain James Daughtery of the Wolf's Dragoons. "While you were busy landing yesterday the militia killed more of my people and destroyed more of my equipment!"
"No, I arrived exactly at the time that I specified that I would," the Captain replied before glaring the other man into submission. "Let me be perfectly clear, I am not here to help you in any way. I am here to finish off the militia that you seem to be having problems with, and then to prepare for an assault from the Davion forces that will be moving to retake the worlds that we managed to take from them." James calmly sat in his chair. "I am not in your chain of command, and I will refuse to render assistance in its entirety should you speak to me like that again. Am I clear Colonel?"
"Very clear," the other man responded with fear evident in his voice.
"Now, I need information on all of the engagements that you have had with these units so far," Daughtery said. "If you will provide me with those then I will be on my way."
"Here, just take them and go," the Word of Blake Colonel said while holding out a bunch of file folders.
"Thank you for your cooperation," Daughtery replied as he took the files. "I will let you know when we've finished the militia units off."
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"Well, these blokes are clever," Daughtery said as he moved his Archer into the trees. "It looks like they have more forces than they started with."
"What do you mean?" The lone WoB Mechwarrior accompanying them asked.
"They are using Industrialmechs," Daughtery responded. "Those trees over there have partial cuts in them where the person missed their target or went too far when they cut through the mechs."
"We did lose an entire company in this forest," the lone Mechwarrior responded. "But we managed to find pieces to six of them."
"Then you gift-wrapped six mechs and handed them over to the enemy," Daughtery said. "I need a current map of the area and a list of all of the attacks that have happened over the last few months."
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"Despite how much people try to make things seem random, they cannot fix certain things," Daughtery explained. "If you are operating out of a base then there will be signs that we can trace. Now, where did all of the attacks take place?"
The WoB Mechwarrior pointed to various places on the map where the attacks had taken place.
"Alright, I will have some of my people do an analysis and we'll move out tomorrow," Daughtery rolled up the map. "We will deal with the militia soon."