WotH Chpt 8

==War on the Horizon - Chapter 8 ==
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===Boarding Action===
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"Clear!" Echoed through the room as Paige's Marines swept the ship room by room. 
 
"Captain Paige, we are clear in our sector," the Lieutenant in command of this group broadcast. "Permission to move forward into the next sector."
 
"That's a negative, Lieutenant," Paige responded. "Hold your position and bunker down, we're hoping to flush some of the pirates your way."
 
"Copy that, ma'am." The Lieutenant replied before turning to his platoon Sergeant. 
 
"Sergeant, I want these positions readied to be the Anvil to the Captain's hammer."
 
"Roger LT," The Sergeant said as he began barking orders. "Does it look like we're on vacation to you?! He screamed at one Marine who was leaning against a wall instead of being on alert. "Get your ass moving and prepare to engage the enemy!" 
 
"Aye, sir!" The fireteams of Marines began shifting things around to get good fire positions, concealment, and cover arranged in time. 
"Hope you're ready," the marines heard over their comms. "because the party's coming to you."
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===Interception===
"Sir, we've got a handful of starfighters closing in on our cruisers," the pilot of the Gozanti that I was on reported. "And while we've got more guns on this thing since the refits, we're still going to be outnumbered here."
 
"You're the pilot here," I replied. "Do what you need to."
 
"Wardog squadron, this is Black Flag, we have enemy ASF on approach and we're busy handling the enemy cruisers. We'd appreciate a save right now."
 
"This is Blaze. We're kinda busy at the moment, but I can split off a trio of ASF to help engage them."
 
"I'll take what I can get." the pilot replied. 
 
"This is Chopper, moving to rescue our slow movers now," a new voice came over the comms. 
 
"That you, Motormouth?" The Gozanti pilot asked. "You owe me a drink if I'm recalling everything correctly."
 
"We'll have to call it even after this," Chopper chuckled. "Now, you've got six bogeys on your six, we can handle three or four of 'em, but we'll need supporting fire from your guns."
 
"You've got it," The Gozanti pilot turned to me. "Hey Colonel, you wanna hop on a gun?"
 
"Where do you need me?" I asked. 
 
"Take the hatch back there and you should have one of the turbolaser turrets that we haven't replaced yet, the controls from there should be similar to your mech."
 
"Got it," I replied as I unstrapped myself and seated myself behind the turbolaser. "God we've got to replace these things," I muttered as I looked at how open my position was. "We did up armor these things. Right?"
 
"Yes, sir." the pilot replied. "It's double layered with mech cockpit glass and the transparisteel that these guys use. And that's before we get to the deflector shields."
"I'm trusting you on this one," I said as I began spinning the turret, catching sight of one of the enemy starfighters. "Bogey at our three, I'm engaging."
 
Spinning the turret, I began tracking and firing the turbolaser, the targeting computer feeling extremely slow and clunky compared to my battlemechs. 
 
The enemy fighter began evasive maneuvers, trying to dodge my shots and that of the ASF that were chasing it. 
 
"Fox two!" Chopper's voice sounded in the comms, a flurry of LRMs hitting the enemy starfighters and sending it spiraling into my guns, scattering shrapnel all over the ships as we moved past. 
 
"Scratch one," I reported. "Thanks for the assist, Chopper."
 
"Don't thank me yet," the man laughed." We've still got three more to take out."
 
"I'll pin them down, you finish them off," I said as the Gozanti shook a bit from enemy fire. 
 
"You got it, Colonel," Chopper responded as he peeled off, heading for the other starfighters. "I'll force them into your line of fire."
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===Fire Fight===
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"Medic!" A marine screamed as he pulled his battle buddy back to where the corpsman was stitching marines back together. 
 
"Set him down here and get back on that line!" The medic ordered, his visor shining menacingly in the emergency lighting of the Lucrehulk. 
 
The marine just nodded and got back to his firing position where he began firing in short controlled bursts. 
 
"I want somebody to take out that MG!" The LT said as he began laying down fire, another pirate falling to his accurate fire. 
 
"Belay that order, Lieutenant," Paige's voice echoed for a moment. "We've got it taken care of."
 
An explosion sounded in the next room before gunfire echoed in the halls while intermittent blaster fire began to die off. 
 
"That was the last of them," Paige reported. "Get the wounded back to the Archon's Favor. We'll begin dealing with the bodies."
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===Equal Opportunity Soldier===
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"Yeehaw!" I yelled as the Gozanti spun and began moving at the enemy cruiser that the ASF had come from. "Stay on 'em, they're not getting away from this. 
"Open a hole and we'll finish them off," Chopper said. "We've still got some ammo for the guns."
 
"You heard the man," I said as I began firing the turret at the cruiser. "Light the sons of birches up!" 
 
The turrets of the Gozanti began firing at the enemy cruiser, its deflectors flashing and then falling under the coordinated fire. 
 
"Nice!" Chopper cheered as he and his two wingmen moved in, a spread of SRMs, PPCs, and Autocannons hitting the ship's hull, opening up a hole and punching through, causing secondary detonations that finished the cruiser off. 
 
"I don't think there will be much salvage from that one," I chuckled. "But nice job out there folks."
 
"It's good you have you in the void with us, Colonel," Chopper chuckled. "We were worried you'd be a ground pounder for life."
 
"I'm an equal opportunity soldier," I laughed. "I like to go anywhere that there might be action."
 
"Alright, we're about bingo on fuel and are low on ammo. We'll rearm on the Leopards and be back for more support as needed," Chopper relayed. 
 
"Copy that," I said as I climbed back into the ship proper. "We've got it from here."
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===Cost of Victory===
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"How many wounded do we have?" I asked Captain Paige as I sat down on the bridge of the captured Lucrehulk. 
 
"We have about two dozen casualties in total," Paige reported. "Three KIA and we've got another three that are going to have to be medically retired unless they choose to get some prosthetic replacements."
 
"That'll be up to them," I sighed. "I'll get to work on the letters and payouts for their families. Assuming they're actually here with us that is."
 
"Well, the Lucrehulk is secure, and there's a handful of ships in the hanger too," Paige reported. "We haven't had time to inventory the loot that they had stored aboard either."
 
"We'll sort all of that out when we get back to Beloria," I said. "Now let's get this ship moving back to base."
 
"I'll get on it," Felicia said with a smile. "Got our work cut out for us if we want to make this thing usable for our long-term plans though."
 
"That's all things for later," I replied. "For now, let's get back home."
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Chapter 8