fanfic_name = Gotterdammerung
chapter = Chapter XII
author = Cicero Phelps
dedicate = Madam Admiral Carla, Jo, and all my friends who love this arc I started. Thanks for your support.
Rating = AP15
Type = Angst
fanfic = Chapter XII
The air in a cargo plane's carrying compartment is always cold, Claudia decided; no matter how many layers of clothing and thermals she could wear, it always got chilly right before a drop. For the umpteenth time, she triple checked her harness, her holsters, and the compartments where her equipment lay; maps, sensors, ammunition, rations, canteen, radio. All of it was arranged so she could find them by touch at a moment's notice.
She looked at her watch and then at Kim, who stood trembling beside her. "Look, honey, this is gonna be just fine. Relax and do exactly what I tell you, and you'll come back in one piece."
"Yes, Ma'am," she replied, nervously.
"Sammie, you girls know your jobs, right?"
"Yes, Ma'am," she said. "We drop at opposite ends of the DZ, and co-ordinate movements and perimeter by radio."
"Indeed. And what we do is this; we'll drop in a U-shaped formation in the rear of the enemy troops, advance forward, and then close up gradually and take them out from behind. Take care not to overshoot; we've got friendlies beyond the enemy position. Fire only when you've got a confirmed target lock."
The girls saluted, and Claudia turned to address the troops. "You all know your duty; I won't presume to tell it to you. This is a standard approach, encircle, and extract mission, so be careful. If you hear an order from either Lieutenant Young or Lieutenant Porter, you will obey it as surely as you would an order from me, is that understood?"
She saw them salute and nod as a group, so she continued. "Our goal is to make sure that the cargo gets retrieved, and to extract the pilots. I want our medics on standby as soon as we hit the ground; there may already be some casualties when we hit, and we need you ready to go as soon as possible. Treat the pilots as fast as you can, and have stretchers ready on standby. We drop in Z minus 30. Good luck, everyone."
The doors opened, and Claudia led the drop-chute parade out of the cargo plane's rear compartment. It had always been her philosophy that the men should land on the ground with an officer there to lead them; it would calm them, keep them steady, and make sure they could commit to the task at hand. Her XO would be a welcome addition, as well; Major Charles West was a career military officer, much like his father had been, and his grandfather before him. Still a youthful 30 years old, his sandy hair graying ever so slightly at the temples and the black patch covering his left eye were the only signs that he was anything but a young man in uniform. Well, his medals, too. His dress uniform, when he appeared in it on formal occasions, bespoke of nothing but stellar accomplishments in the ranks, with many citations for valor and courage standing rank-and-file on its left breast.
A fellow cadet of Claudia's, he was a well-rounded officer who knew how to get down in the dirt and fight like the Devil possessed him, an attribute that endeared him to the rank and file. He had the distinction of being the only officer on any side of the GCW to have earned his rank through field promotions that had started out as a mere cadet. It was unusual in that his promotions stuck; most of the brevetted commanders were demoted again after the conflict ended. He knew what infantry could and could not do, what machines were capable of and what their limits were. Thus, it was Charlie West, her old friend from the cadet corps, which Claudia turned to for advice and to be her XO for the mission at hand.
The wind was soft and steady, but not harsh enough to smash 'chutes and send the force hither and yon. She used her headset scanner to gauge the enemy's position, and she saw that her force was coming down on the outskirts of a cluster of vacationer's cabins. They had approximately one-half mile between themselves and the enemy encircling the cargo pilots. Charlie suggested landing behind the cluster, then using the cabins as shelter as the force advanced. She agreed, but didn't want to be the one who had to repay the people who had timeshares there.
She landed, as planned, smack dab in the middle of the line, which spread one hundred yards in each direction. Charlie landed next to her, with Kim anchoring the left flank and Sammie the right. "Squad leaders, advance in leapfrog formation. Even numbers, on the bounce.NOW!"
The advance became a game of leapfrog, with the even numbers rushing forward a predetermined number of paces, then the odd numbers making up the ground they lost and advancing an equal amount of territory forward. They advanced in such fashion for a while, until Claudia got a frantic hiss from Kim over her headset. "Bo Peep to Mother Goose, come in Mother Goose, over."
"Bo Peep, this is Mother Goose, what's the situation, honey?"
"Several big, bad wolves coming upon my foremost skirmishers, we've spotted a few hornets and a viper pit. Over."
'Hornets' was slang for machine guns, and 'viper pit' for a mortar emplacement. It seemed odd to Claudia that Howe would send such an assortment of weaponry to surround and capture ten pilots and their crews, plus the cargo inside. "Any signs of trolls in the area?"
"Nothing, Mother Goose."
"Come in, Mother Goose, this is Mairzy Doats."
"And dozey doats," Kim added dryly.
"Oh, be quiet, Bo Peep. We've got several wolves headed in our direction, with orders to seek and kill.." The sound of an assault rifle opened up. "We are engaging. Repeat, Mother Goose, we are engaging. Thirty wolves, against my thirty men."
"Mother Goose to Bo Peep and Mairzy Doats. Engage wolves at point-blank range, repeat, engage at point blank range. Leave nothing to chance, and be careful for your mates on either side of you."
As those words escaped her lips, a horrific thunder came charging out of the forest surrounding them, one that terrified them and shocked them into inaction. Claudia looked to her left, and a large IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) came out of the foliage. It had thick armor, eight turret-mounted machine guns, and flamers fore and aft. "Cooper, I need a TOW up here, right now!"
A Marine appeared at her left side, targeted the vehicle with his missile, and let it fly. The IFV had no chance; it was discharging all eight guns at once, but managed to miss the incoming projectile, which nailed it amidships and left a large crater on the forest floor.
"I need a status report," Claudia was screaming through the din. She saw Charlie lead a cluster of troops forward, in the direction that the vehicle had come from, and she shuddered. "Bo Peep, Mairzy, what's going on?"
"Bo Peep here; we captured their hornets and turned them against the former occupants. The viper pit is harder to get at; we've lost five men trying to gain it. Watch out, this viper spits real good."
Even as Kim radioed her warning, Claudia heard the whistle of an incoming round. "Hit the deck!" she screamed, diving for cover among the downed trees and debris littering the forest floor.
"Mairzy reporting in," Sammie was saying. "The fighting here seems to be over; we captured a few prisoners, and they're saying we're engaged with a larger force than we previously thought."
"How much larger?"
"Mother Goose, we seem to have hit giant's castle. Over."
Claudia stuttered. That meant they had hit the rebel stronghold, the main headquarters. So, all she had to throw against the combined might of Maistroff and Howe, were her seventy warriors, versus their 20,000, not counting on the mecha and artillery they could mount against her. "Mother Goose calling Bird Dog, come in, please, over."
"Bird dog here, Mother Goose. Over."
"We've found the giant's castle, Bird Dog. What Shall we do next?"
"I'm in position to climb the beanstalk, Mother Goose. Give the word, and we can steal the Giant's gold."
"Negative, Bird Dog. We need to radio for help before we try that. Stay in the dog house, we'll try again later."
She hit the all-hands frequency. "All troops, stand your ground, take defensive measures. Set your Claymores, post sentries. We're calling Mama Bird for help on this one."
State = Continuará/To Be Continue
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email = Lightsaber01ATHotmail.com