Chapter Fifteen: A Shift in Perspective
"Alright, we have our orders, the Captain is going to run distraction with the rest of Rifle Lance while we make our way stealthily to the Union that they dropped with and if all goes well, will seize it and any and all assets that may be on board. Any question?" Peterson asked his platoon.
"Yeah LT, how does the Captain expect us to take a Dropship with just a platoon of Infantry." Corporal Dunham asked.
"Well Corporal, the Captain trusts me to decide if we can actually take the ship or not. We just have to get in position and if we can't take it we radio in and let Rifle Lance come in and pin down the dropship in the hopes that it surrenders." Lieutenant Peterson responded.
"You heard the man Ladies, now move like you got a purpose!" Staff Sergeant Packer screamed at the platoon to board the Armored trucks that they had purchased for this reason.
Lieutenant Sheppard was grateful to be in the cockpit of a 'Mech again. It had been a couple of years since he had been able to pilot one and the fact that he was in a Mongoose in pristine condition made him feel a bit giddy. Corporal Lamb was in the Crab and Private McKay was in the Griffin. The Captain had drawn out the two medium 'Mechs the pirates had dropped with while leaving the armored assets for them to deal with.
The Pirate union had put out a trio of LRM boats a Manticore, a pair of Harassers, and a lance of Condors according to his sensors. "Mckay and Lamb, focus fire on the Manticore while I deal with any of the small fry that try and flank us." He told them over laser comms while making sure his primary arm switch was on.
"This is Lamb, drawing fire from the heavy, Mckay, see if you can snipe at it while I get in close." Corporal Erika Lamb said as she dodged PPC fire while maneuvering into range of her Large Lasers.
"Careful, those PPC's will punch a hole in your 'Mech if you're not careful." Mckay warned as she locked on with her LRM's and threw some man made Lightning along with her missiles at the Heavy tank.
"Roger that," Lamb responded as she fired both large lasers at the maximum range available. "It's taking damage, I'm working my way in to Medium Laser range."
While the two Mediums focused on taking out the larger threat to them, Sheppard killed a Harraser with his brace of Medium lasers and turned to flurry his small laser at a Condor while his mediums recharged. Pouring his Mediums back into the point where he landed his small Laser, he dropped the Condor, watching it spin out as he dodged SRM fire from the remaining Harraser. He just had to keep the rest of these vehicles busy until his lancemates were done with the Manticore. "I need that Heavy down ASAP," He commanded while nearly throwing his Gyro out of balance with a rapid turn at 120 KPH. Skidding to a stop, he turned and finished the remaining Harasser before accelerating rapidly on one of the Condors.
"Manticore is down Sheppard, on our way." Lamb responded as the Manticore stopped firing and moving. Turning her Crab, she moved to assist Sheppard.
"Sheppard! I need you and the rest of the lance to flank the tanks now!" The Captain ordered over encrypted comms. "Those LRM boats are going to shred me if they can share targeting data with the two 'Mechs over here."
With the two mediums with him they made short work of the remaining Condors and moved to flank the LRM boats. "Understood Sir, we're closing in on them now, ETA two mikes." Sheppard responded as he slowed down to the average speed of his lancemates. After a couple of minutes, they were in the maximum range of the Griffins engagement zone. "Mckay, if you have a shot; take it." Sheppard Commanded while moving up to over 100KPH. "I'm moving inside of their minimum range."
Both Lamb and Mckay's 'Mechs had more range than Sheppard's Mongoose, that just meant that they were able to take out the LRM carriers before they could tear into the Captain. "Target destroyed." Both Mckay and Lamb said in unison as they mission killed two separate LRM boats. "Moving to engage the other two."
"They're oblivious," Staff Sergeant Packer said to LT Peterson while they observed the valley that the Union had landed in with a set of binoculars. "I know that pirates aren't typically this stupid. But we may as well take advantage while we can."
Lieutenant Peterson nodded and gestured to the platoon to move through the valley as quietly as possible. Carefully using the trees as concealment from the mark I eyeball, they made their way through the lax perimeter that had been set by the pirates. When they got within around five hundred meters or so they affixed suppressors to their weapons and took out the snipers and sentries. As soon as they fired, they began a dead sprint into the opened cargo bay of the Union.
"Close the docking bay." Peterson called while holding a cargo worker at gunpoint. "Yes sir." One of the platoon members moved to the controls. "Fireteam's one and two, clear the rest of the dropship and take the bridge. Move quickly." Paterson commanded. "Packer, take Fireteam three and make sure that the pirate infantry outside can't get in through any of the common entryways."
"Roger that LT." Packer replied. "Jenkins, Mendez, Move your asses, we've got pirates to kill." Fireteam Three moved to another bay and cleared out all resistance in their path while Lieutenant Paterson made his way to the bridge.
When he reached the bridge, Peterson saw that Fireteam one had the bridge crew under gunpoint and zip tied in the corner. "Rifle actual, this is Sniper actual come in." Peterson used his encryption key to access the Comms they were using via the Unions Communications array. "This is Rifle Lead go ahead Sniper." The Captain replied.
"We have seize enemy assets and have POW's and salvage. Please advise." Peterson comm'd the Captain. "Sniper Actual," The Captain responded. "You have command, I'll trust your decision."
After the broadcast was finished, Peterson turned and looked at the Bridge. "Rook! Get in here and access these systems!" Peterson called their main tech to the bridge. "I want everything that they had to be stored on a separate drive so we don't lose any data."
"Roger that LT." PFC Nathan Rook replied. "Accessing system now and retrieving logs. I'll get what I can and give it to command."
Blaze looked at his Squadron. "We have a contract and some Birds," He held up his hand to head off Chopper. "It's only a temporary contract and we don't have the funds to salvage our birds after paying off the debts that we owed." Blaze sighed. "I'm thinking after we complete this contract and see if we can get hired on permanently. It'll let us stay together and if I'm reading his character right he'll pay us pretty damn well."
"Well, the pay will always be better than the Outworlds Alliance paid us." Chopper replied with his typical sarcasm.
"What birds does he have?" Edge asked, her concern showing. "If he only has Lucifers, we're not accepting."
"Agreed." Swordsman said while nodding at Archer who was thumbing through the contract. "How does the temporary contract look?"
"Well, it looks like your standard contract with a couple of additions." Archer replied. "It's got a pay markup because of the short notice so it'll pay a little better than we first expected, and it also lists the birds they've got. Looks like two Thunderbird TRB-D36's two Lightning LTN-G15's and two Chipewa CHP-W5's. So a decent Squadron along with us needing to provide the crew for the Leopard CV that they've got."
"So, we in agreement to take the short term contract for now with the hopes of making it a long term contract?" Blaze asked his officers. With the assent of his command staff, he went to go make a few phone calls.
Authors note: I just realized that I forgot to update my Rate/Rank structure with the Aerospace wing. I'll fix and replace the current rate/rank structure with that when I get it typed up. Until then, See if you can figure out where I pulled the Aerospace pilots from. Also, just figured out how to insert horizontal lines! I'll be going back and editing to show perspective shifts later today! Also, let me know if y'all want me to get rid of the different POV's. I like them but if y'all don't want the perspective shifts then just tell me and I'll play it straight