| Subject: Operation Cavalry Charge |
Author:
Josh
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Date Posted: 21:31:50 04/21/03 Mon
10 July 3061
Hollywood's Hotel California
Stewis, Deep Periphery
Richard Johanson walked into the briefing room, set his noteputer on the table, and sat down in a chair across from Sergeant Bill Markham and Charlie Hunsacker, the crew of Warrior Four. After initial greetings and congratulations, Johanson tapped the "record" icon on the noteputer's screen with his stylus and began the debriefing.
"Sergeant Markham, can you please tell me about the battle you and your gunner just returned from?”
“Yes sir, I can. The fight was amazing, I swear it was over in less than a minute. We were just completing the reloading and repair of our VTOLs when Bonzo, the copilot of one of the Karnovs and designated lookout for this laager, started yelling over the comlink that he had just spotted some incoming ‘Mechs. The other Karnov crews started packing up the supplies while Captain Hudson ordered 1st and 2nd platoons to load up and fan out to run interference for the Karnovs. Once we powered up and took off, Charlie and I noticed that there were actually two groups of ‘Mechs headed our way, one to our northwest and one directly north. Lt. Manning ordered 2nd platoon forward at flank speed, so we headed directly toward the closest group of ‘Mechs, while Captain Hudson kept his 1st platoon back for close-in support of the Karnovs.
“2nd platoon came nearly nose-to-nose with a Locust that must have covered 420 meters during our initial dash forward. Charlie started to lock up the Locust, but Lt. Manning ordered us to target the Catapult that was starting to move up. Since the Locust couldn’t hit us – we were about 200 meters or so away, the whole platoon opened up on the Cat and I think we chipped a bit of paint off of it.”
Johanson gave a slight smile at that, imagining four Warrior H8 attack VTOLs moving at full speed and opening up at long range on a Catapult. He knew from experience how hard it was to hit a target like those VTOLs, and knew that the Cat’s pilot had to have been at least a little worried despite the light damage he took in the opening salvo. “Please continue.”
Hunsacker picked up the narration at that point. “After we fired our LRMs, the L-T ordered us forward again. I the Locust was so close I was afraid we were going to be leaving ourselves open to attack, but that locust kept making a beeline towards the Karnovs who were still packing up. Unfortunately for him, his beeline intersecting with the Yellow Jackets’ Gauss slugs when Captain Hudson and his wingmate Sgt. Liu opened up with the hovering attack choppers’ guns. We didn’t get to see it crumple at that point, because Lt. Manning had managed to maneuver the whole platoon behind the Catapult and we all opened up on it again, this time from its rear. I’m not quite sure who managed to do it, but one of us managed to find a weak point and went internal on the Cat’s right leg, causing major damage to both its hip and its upper leg actuator.”
At this point, Sgt. Markham jumped back into the conversation excitedly. “That Catapult pilot was a gutsy guy, sir. Despite the damage to his leg, and the other relatively minor hits we had given him, he jumped that sucker back a full 120 meters. He stumbled a bit when he landed, but he kept that thing upright. It didn’t help him, much, though, when the L-T kept us all moving to keep the Cat’s back to us. By this time, we were close enough to start firing with our Streaks, and he started taking a lot of hits to his back armor. Charlie here hit the same location with both Streaks, knocking off a half-ton of armor without counting the three missiles that went into the Cat’s arm and knocked out the ‘Mech’s shoulder. Of course, by this point we had realized that the second group of ‘Mechs were firing on the same guys we were, and the Beserker decided to take a brief break from firing on them to target us. We all avoided being hit, but we heard a message from the Captain saying that a Raven had popped up pretty close to the Karnovs, which had finally finished packing up and started moving. We still didn’t know WHERE they were going to move to, but at least they weren’t sitting still on the ground any more.”
Johanson interrupted quickly, before Markham could continue with his spiel. The crew of Warrior Four were well-known among the unit for their literary aspirations, and Johanson was afraid they were starting to write their first book while they spoke. “According to Captain Hudson’s debrief, 1st platoon kept the Raven from being a major threat, thought it was a pest for about 20 to 30 seconds. Is that what you recall?”
“Yes sir. Charlie and me weren’t really paying much attention to that battle by now, because it was nearly a kilometer away from us at that point and the Archer had decided to start firing on us too. The incoming ‘Mechs, which turned out to be our guys, managed to regain the Berserker’s attention, and they corralled the Archer, Berserker, and the once-more jumped Catapult. That poor Cat pilot wasn’t quite as lucky this time, though, because when he landed, his right leg crumpled and the whole ‘Mech fell to the ground. With the Archer and Berserker having their backs to us and the Catapult on the ground, Lt. Manning decided this was a good time for us to move up for the kill. We unloaded on the Catapult again, shattering a lot of armor and rattling that guy’s cockpit, but not doing much appreciable damage. The Cat pilot started firing on the incoming ‘Mechs, one of which I finally recognized as Diona’s Specter. Once we confirmed that, we were able to establish communications and the Karnovs finally had a destination. Captain Hudson sent Lt. Thomas and the rest of 3rd Platoon back toward the base, while he was moving 1st platoon up to start firing on the Archer and the Berserker. The Thunderbolt, which we later learned was driven by Kendrick moved right on up to within 90 meters of the Berserker and took fire from all three of the ‘Mechs just before the Catapult managed to stand back up. That, as it turned out, was a mistake.” Markham’s grin was echoed by Hunsacker, who picked up the narration.
“2nd Platoon unloaded on the Catapult again, and this time we tore up his rear torsos and hit some MAJOR components, including his gyro, his engine, and most importantly, a partially-full ammo bin. That was the end of the Catapult, whose pilot managed to eject and was picked up by one of the Karnovs before he could get away. The Archer, meanwhile, starting booking for cover, since all five of our ‘Mechs had crested the hill and had lines-of-sight to him and the Berserker. The big Black Hawk, -KU, was it, piloted by the new guy managed to wander too close and the Berserker ran right up to it, firing all his weapons and getting that axe ready to inflict some major pain on him.”
They were interrupted by a knock on the door, so Johanson paused the recording and opened it up. “Hey, Dick! Good to see you again so soon!” enthused Zan “Hotshot” Dramada as he strolled into the room with a huge grin on his face. “Hollywood wants you to go ‘interview’ that prisoner we picked up from our assault on the base here. I told him he didn’t need to bother you, I could handle it, but his eyes got really wide and he said, ‘No, go get Johanson. You can finish debriefing the Warrior crew’, so here I am.” Hotshot continued to grin at the seated pilots while Johanson, who HATED to be called ‘Dick’, started out the door muttering something about Hotshot and how he probably would have scared the woman to death if he had gotten in to see her. As the door closed behind him, Johanson heard Hotshot say to Warrior Four’s crew, “So, guys, did you do any JAYWALKING while we were gone?”
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