TBntG Chpt 23

==The Bull and the Genie- Chapter 23 - Ready...==
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
-----
===Keeping Tabs on the OpForce===
Proving Grounds - Brandis, Taurian Concordat
----
Mary gripped the edge of the desk, the pleasant dreams of her family far behind her. The small HQ van jumped over some rough terrain. The readouts were giving little information, and the jostling was terrible.
Exactly to be expected since the Opfor had managed to sneak behind their lines and hit the command post. 
Which was why they had a smaller, but more mobile "emergency command post" that normally was used to run a brigade, not a regiment.
"Swing over to grid 12," Mary barked out. "they're going for our artillery." Another lurch and she almost knocked herself silly against the ceiling. But they couldn't stop, not since the OPFORCE had dropped nearly a company of mechs on the site, and were now chasing them.
Which means they don't have all their 'Mechs elsewhere. The referees had ruled the headhunter force destroyed, but they were still sending in other units to chase her. 
Hank, you are aggressive…
Too aggressive. The displays were showing growing gaps in his units, commanders used to the more set piece battles of the line TDF regiments getting over enthusiastic.
"Fourth, I think they could use some of our Dragons."
"On it, Ma'am." 
Granted, we're winning, but we'll come out of it with a combat ineffective unit. I got too close to the front., she thought
But that was what practice was for. The big problem was that the new RCT wasn't supposed to do any one thing—it was supposed to do everything, and it was left to Mary to demonstrate that being good enough at all trades could compensate for being a master at no trade. Mary had spent sleepless nights going over official records of the various SLDF units, more recent histories of the Eridini Light Horse, everything she could find. 
Then there was the eternal flow of… gadgets. Some good, some not so good. 
And some… some would be a very unpleasant surprise to their enemies.
-----
===Artillery and Messages===
-----
The small craft, all two hundred tons, sat on the salt-flat, the ground cracking under it. It'd landed only a few minutes ago, and now the security team was emerging. Moments later, the twin barrels of the Long Toms emerged from the hatch, opening fire as the landing pads of the craft, creaked under the recoil.
"From landing to first shot, it's about eight minutes." The engineer nodded at the unit. "You need air superiority, but if you have it, you can move your artillery where you want it."
"If the weather agrees." Mary said. Not to mention the cost. Financial windfall or no, they weren't going to be able to replace their entire artillery force with this. 
But she'd take what she could get. The biggest problem with artillery is most pirates and raiders tried to avoid it. And you never had enough to emplacement it everywhere. 
Now Powered Armor, that'd be nice to have, but… Friends or no, that wasn't a secret they were going to unveil for the Lyrans. Hell, Mary and the rest of the command staff were the only ones who knew about it, mainly because they had more experience in combat operations and were helping with some of the simulations. But a bunch of guys who could laugh off light armor packing satchel charges would ruin just about anyone's day, and Mary regretted losing the chance to demonstrate that to some pirates. 
Which was also why Mary had suggested they start planning for an upgrade kit that would equip 'Mechs with machine guns. It might be technically a waste but there were too many ways to strip escorting infantry, even armored infantry, for Mary to be comfortable with "oh, you'll just stop them with your own guys." The minute they showed their own powered armor, everyone else would be working on it, so best to be ready for that. 
"Another nastygram, General." Hank said. Mary sighed, and looked at the letterhead informing her that the Bureau of Personnel would like to talk to her, probably yesterday. 
And I know why. I'm sending to many people back to their home units and the ones I'm keeping…
Were the ones with initiative, and that meant that she was keeping a large number of people that had been tagged for leadership. Their superior officers weren't happy. 
Well, I'm not happy, and maybe you could build that new academy you've been promising forever and solve our training bottleneck. "I will… speak with them, at their convenience." Mary said, as the thunder of another salvo sounded from the gun craft. Another thing to do, another waste of time. The calendar in her office, with the 'inform the Protector of your Unit Readiness" date marked out was her personal enemy, mocking her with every day passed.
-----
===Debriefing===
-----
"You didn't quite make it." Mary said to the assembled pilots. "That's why you don't have a battlemech. Right now." 
Everyone went rigid. 
Mary smiled. "The problem with a Battlemech can be summed up in two words: Its pilot. Pilots get hurt, pilots get killed, pilots get tired, and traditionally, that means either the 'mech is not fielded, or we try to keep it in the field with an injured pilot. Fortunately, we have a new plan. One approved by the Protector. You are now going to be the relief pilots for the Battlemechs of our force. When a primary pilot is injured, or is just too fatigued, you will replace him. In the mean time, they will teach you their skills, drilling you so that, presuming a satisfactory report at the end of this deployment, you will be reposted to a unit—one where you will be the primary mech pilot."
Everyone stared at her.
"Don't thank me. You'll earn it. Dismissed."
Yet a another problem sort of solved. She hadn't been able to get full pilots-those were all going for new production, but the ones who had just barely missed the wire were a different matter. Now, if they had to, they could run their battlemechs all night and day, and the team up between mentor and trainee would hopefully see everyone's skills improved.
-----
===Orbit===
-----
Sharon was a Loadmaster. That meant she was God. And inside here, she felt like it. The big 100,000 ton pod, was mostly hollow inside, save for networks of lines and braces. And nestled into those like bugs in a spider web were the smaller dropships. Confederates, Unions, the Dropships that would give the RCT mobility, but were just so much dead weight during transit. Now, they could be carried as cargo.
"I'd love to see the reaction of someone if we just dropped out with these." The dropship captain said.
"You mean, going to sleep for a week?" Sharon gestured at a Union being slowly moved into it's position, linkages being secured. Sure a jumpship only accelerated very, very slowly, but these were big ships. "Better than a week to get them all out and checked over, for movement, not combat." According to scuttlebutt, they were actually going to be renting, or borrowing, or some such BS, jumpcollars once they got to their destination, but in the meantime, nobody minded not having to worry about finding a dozen or so dropship collars for every unit.
Now she had to do other things. Ammunition, toilet paper, everything a unit needed, and she didn't care if TharkadCo had stores on every world. No unit under her care was going to have to go begging from the neighbors.
-----
===Meanwhile in the Lyran News...===
-----
Lyran News Hour, 3025
The cheery tune filled the studio as Seymour Wilkes took center stage. "We're only a month from 3025, and things are moving rapidly! Better relations between the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns have caused no lack of indigestion for the Combine serpent, but today we're talking about something else. The Taurian Concordat, mostly known for high quality water purifiers and consumer equipment, is transferring no less than a full regimental combat team to assist with anti-piracy operations on our frontiers. In addition to being a first for our two nations, this is the furthest any Concordat unit has ever deployed." He gestured to a few men and women behind him. "So for discussions about this, we'll have our blue-ribbon panel. First of all, James Grearson, former commander of the 42nd Assault Company, will tell us what we're getting." 
"Not much, at least in combat power. The 1st RCT(M) isn't so much a medium formation as it is light formation. The Taurians have put their faith in light and medium mechs, as well as a smaller number of heavy mechs—mostly license built Dragons." 
"A Kuritan design."
"Yes, although the Taurians have modified it. The autocannon has been replaced by a large laser and some variants also sport SRM racks. It's clearly a fast battlemech, but…" he shrugged. "Fast doesn't help if you don't have enough fire and staying power." 
"Why would they add a large laser?", asks Seymour
"Well, if the idea is for a fast mech. They need more firepower than the AC gives them, as well as less in the way of ammo dependency. I'd choose a PPC, but evidently there was some worry among the Taurians that the minimum range for the PPC might be a problem."
"You know, I'd disagree, with respect." The woman next to Grearson sported scars on her face, one eye covered with a patch. "The RCTs aren't intended for line of battle. They're intended to seek out inferior forces, or evade superior forces. Our observers were quite impressed by the skill they showed in bringing combined arms together to form a fast, responsive service. For that, speed is important."
"Because of their poor showing in Tortuga. Wouldn't you agree, Janna?" Wilkes said. "We know the Bulls destroyed the majority of the pirate forces, but survivors were harder to pin down. I think it took them, what over six months?" He paused, and looked at his audience. "But let's ask the 99 kronar question. Why? The Concordat isn't allied to us, in fact they've made it plain they don't want to be allied to any Inner Sphere power, and the agreement, explicitly restricts their actions to antipiracy. So why?"
"First of all, it shows the Inner Sphere that they're no longer a local power." Janna gestured at the big screen behind them, showing a Taurian IFV in a drill, infantry bailing from it as the cannon fired at something out of sight. "A single RCT isn't a threat to any major nation, but it's something that until now, only the great houses could pull off. And I think it's a warning to any possible invaders—the Taurians are now confident in their ability to deploy forces far from their logistics net, something they never could do before. Secondly, well, the Taurians hate pirates. Honing their skills by hurting pirates isn't something that they'd turn down."
"It's a bit of risk though isn't it?" Wilkes turned to the screen and called up a map. "While their relations with the Magistracy and Arugian Coalition are doing well, the decisions to join in on the construction of new industries in Detroit and Mechdur, including what is rumored to be a light BattleMech facility, puts them at risk of Capellan aggression, to say nothing of their colonial ambitions in Tortuga."
"Sure, but it's also a warning." Grearson said. "They are not allied with us, but they clearly could ally with us, and at this point. Well, the latest intelligence claims that that TDF may have as many as 18 or twenty regiments—and given their oversized TOE. That's closer to 24 regiments, and if you include their standard RCTs the Capellans would have their hands very full, and they have a fox on the other side—which is probably why none of the other powers have protested this arrangement. As long as the TDF keeps purchasing Dragons from the Kuritans and machine equipment from the Free Worlds League, they're happy to let sleeping Bulls lay."
"Do you think they'll ever ally with us?" Wilke's asked. The third member of his panel, a quiet, older man who had been silent shook his head. "No. For one thing, the Taurians… Their hatred of the Davions isn't far short of how the people of Skye feel about the Dracs. It's been easing in recent years, but it will be a long, long time before they feel confident in any alliance that includes New Avalon. More importantly, I think people need to understand that the Periphery mainly wants to be left alone. The Taurians will trade with us, they may even help us with piracy, but ultimately, no Taurian has ever looked to Terra or the Court of the Star League with anything but disdain, and they have no interest in getting involved in conflicts that have their basis in fighting over who rules the Star League."
"Well, I can say that whatever their opinion, the pirates on our border will look forward to a very poor day indeed!" Wilkes turned to the audience. "Now for our other issue—closer relations with the Federated Suns—investment opportunity or economic disaster in the making?" With that everyone leaned forward, seeing that the puff-piece was finished and now they were getting to the real meat of the show.
----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
23