Strat-2 Chpt-10

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==Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 2Chapter 10 - Let's take a walk right out there along the beach==
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===Prepping for a Planetary Assault===
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They would need…
…to move 140 kilometers unobserved across scrubland, against an opposition on high ground. The enemy doubtless had vehicles that could cover that in a few minutes, and the risk that the enemy had VTOL support, or worse, was pretty high.
The largest problem, was keeping everyone's position in the formation loose enough to avoid 'one hit wipeouts' if the enemy had artillery assets and spotters, while tight enough to ensure mutual supporting fire when, not if, the enemy detected their approach and actually did something about it.
They were stripping the cupboards for this, with some supplementary help because each of the three commands brought ground assets.
Enough to have a full Snow Raven style 'Star' of Protomechs (25), The ten "Rovers" Tanks were SR 'Scorpion IIC' models-a quikcell chassis modified with a reduced turret and expanded hull, running on a used fusion engine, modified to carry either a point or squad of battlesuits in relative comfort.
Proper Clan forces would laugh at the layout, but this wasn't going into a trial against Clan forces.
"Seron is going to be quite put out you jumped this off without him." Trina observed
"He'll get over it." Amanda mused. "Saddle up people, sun's almost down, scouts out first, form up by column."
<Just remember, Amanda, we can do everything right, and it can still go wrong.> Desmond cautioned.
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===Panic on the Ground===
"They Took...
…Our Jumpships!!" Lord Major Elwood Innslee wanted to scream, but he held it in. "They took our JumpShips, they're going to be coming to take more!"
Telescopes hidden outside of the compound took images, and the images were on display, composited with imagery from the mothballed space station in orbit. 
"I can do many things, sir, but shitting out more fighters isn't one of them. Everything we've got is being put back together, but it's going to take time to get those fighters ready to fly. Most of them have been living as spare parts sources for the Harvest Fleet for decades. We're short of parts, what we aren't short of we're having to figure out how to make fit on airframes not designed to use them."
Elwood groaned, then, "I guess we have to beat them on the ground then." 
He dismissed his chief of aviation, "Get what you can ready as soon as you can. They landed somewhere to the east, and I doubt it was far enough to give you days to finish."
Most of the fusion powered tanks had had their fusion engines stripped to support the BattleMech forces used in Harvest operations, the conversion of some to ICE had worked…kind of. A man on a bicycle can outrun the three Rhino class assault vehicles, tanks that needed a tanker-truck to follow them.
The Alacorn VII Assault Tanks were hopeless, gutted to provide parts to keep the 'mech units operating, their main guns either wired into fixed bunker installations, or supplied to other commands as spares for Highlanders, Excaliburs, and so on. 
"We have 'mechs," he mused, then smiled. "And they don't."
For defenses, a company and a half of maintained BattleMechs, with full ammunition loadouts, might be enough to support the Infantry battalion.
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===Interview conducted by a Bear===
"...a GROUND attack? Have they…
…lost their minds?" Seron looked up from studying the latest information dispatch.
"Pardon?"
The scoff was from a recently arrived officer, a Star Colonel from Rasalhague, Thorsen.
"I asked, if your…'colleagues' have lost their minds, they sent away half their ground force personnel and from what I gather, all of at least a third of their ship crewmen with this 'prize fleet' and are now launching a surface action against a fortified installation. Have they… is Roberts insane?"
Seron chuckled, and waved his hand, "For a given value, she is as sane as anyone operating in the unincorporated zones thus far, Star Commander. I admit to being a bit put-out that she decided this while I was away, but the plan is relatively solid for this far into what amounts to a deployment zone. Our operation on Devil's Breath had less forethought and planning… welcome to the wastes. I take it you were brought along with, by the 'B' crews taking the prizes back to Quatre Belle, quiaff?"
"Aff, I am here on Grand Council business to have a… look… at your operations."
"Caught us on a good day then," Seron said with a chuckle. "I am… Star Commander Seron of the Raven Watch, Privateer branch, you may use 'Mister' for the purposes of this interview, or for interviews of most of our native personnel."
"So… you answered my inquiry with conditionals."
"Because insane conditions merit a different standard of sanity." Seron said easily. "Most of the Unincorporated areas have small, vestigial or remnant habitations, but some worlds have sufficient people on them. In between those are bandits, pirates, lunatics, criminals, and those whom are… not a good fit for normally established & incorporated society. Our organization is growing, but it is by no means a juggernaut either in terms of numbers, or support. Thus, a relative view of sanity applies, at least until we can pave the way for order, law, and progress."
"This is supposed to be a worthy use of resources, quineg?"
"Wrong. It is, you see, those bandits, pirates and sundry riff-raff are a drain on resources, one that gets worse over time." Seron explained as if to a child (a child in sibko, but still…), "We have uncovered a significant Bandit Caste organization out here, one that has access to. They make use of Star League equipment and property, one that has nearly established as much hold as a legitimate interstellar government. This is because for three and a half centuries, more or less, there has been nothing like law or law enforcement to quell them… you have visited the planet below, quiaff?"
"Not yet." 
"Well, while the drives charge we are all more or less stuck here. It is worth a visit." Seron said grimly. "The work must be done. Someone must do it, until Amanda Roberts started doing it, nobody was. The proof is on the surface of this world, and on the surfaces of every world the Privateer force has liberated so far, in a generation or two, they will all be up to at least Clan Homeworlds standards of safety and development, if not reaching up to the levels of safety and development we have encouraged in the Incorporated portions of the Raven alliance… But you start where you stand, if you want a better more prosperous future for your clan. I believe that was one of Tseng's arguments, quiaff?"
"Aff," the visitor nodded. "WE would be using REAL warriors for this."
Seron Gazed at his visitor skeptically, frowned, then smiled viciously.
"You have a surplus of warriors who can go months between battles? Who can spend weeks to months in transit, to fight for tiny colonies that are barely inhabited?" Seron cocked an eyebrow. "Warriors willing to risk their lives for missions that have little to no glory? Are things that peaceful with the Draconis Combine?"
Thorsen winced, "Neg."
"Exactly. Waiting for 'true warriors' to be available would see not a quarter the gains made with mixing Solahma candidates, washouts, and volunteers has. The training bases at Northsun and Joan's Post scrape out the worst of what is available and firm up the rest with local militias when we can find them. This lets us do our duty with a minimum of resource outlay using equipment that would either be sent to degrade in storage, or to the recycler. The task would have been the duty of Solahma back in the Homeworlds, and the gear provided reflects that lower status, even if the occasional mission is… higher risk than is normally the case for Warrior Caste units." Seron half reclined in the interview chair, "Are we now on the same page, quiaff?"
"Why the Watch though??"
"Because most of the jobs out here are gathering intelligence and conducting civil affairs. Its just as most of the actual combat in our line of work is… unconventional… in nature and execution. The bulk of those duties are really traditionally Clan Watch duties, round pegs, round holes… and because technically, the Privateer fleet falls under Outworlds, not Snow Raven, purview. The budget is approved by the Parliament and the letter of marque is signed by the President. We keep them on task, and prevent them from going bandit, while assuring that the Clan gains from their successes and learns from their defeats."
He laid his hands on the table between them, "AND, Star Commander Thorsen, it keeps potential bandit caste from turning bandit-they have a path to promotion that would not exist without this agency. Believe me, we are channeling the most promising down the path of Legitimate Service, instead of into a situation where our charges. Additionally, our warriors must deal with these talented, dissatisfied criminals. In a sense, we are removing future problems with the use of future, and sometimes, current ones."
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