ALJ Chpt 101

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==Chapter 101 - A Long Journey==
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18 August 2788
Terra (ComStar)
"The raids are fully completed. We pulled the Royal Locust lines from Bergen Industries on New Earth and recovered thousands of tons of SLDF material. From Caph, we pulled two Royal Shadow Hawk lines, two Alacorn VI lines, one Exterminator line plus thousands of tons of material." Major General Lauren Hayes said
"I also received a report that the 112th Royal Hussar's raided Carver and removed a Pillager line, a Victor line and one Ironside line. Where is that equipment?" Jerome Blake asked
"The 112th Royal Hussar did not return from their operation. I can only assume that they went rogue on us after the Caph operation." Major General Hayes replied
"I should relieve you for this, Hayes." Jerome Blake said starting to catch on to what she had done.
"You could, but you won't. The troops follow me, not you. I gave my word that I would stay behind and help you. But you are deviating a little too far for my comfort levels. Those that are gone are no threat to us, so they stay gone. They are to be left alone and that is final. There are limits to what my word and conscious will tolerate. Today starts a new era, we will protect Terra, but no more adventures. My troops do not leave the Terran system. When the fighting winds down we start demobilizing except for a small command to keep Terra safe. Leave those that left alone Jerome, they wanted no part of this course you started down and I let them go. I am serious, leave them alone." Major General Lauren Hayes said firmly
Jerome Blake was taken back by the sound of her voice, it was like steel. "Very well, today wipes the slate clean. Protect Terra. Those that have left will survive or fall on their own with no interference from me or Comstar."
"I will keep Terra safe on that you have my word." Major General Lauren Hayes said
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Imbrial III (Federated Suns)
General Samuel Mitchell looked over the prepared positions that his engineers had worked hard to construct and camouflage, they were good, but he also did not line the twelve kilometers of open ground to the next defensive line. He also did not like the utterly obvious defensive position. For a defensive stand, the planet sucked. Vast plains with scant forest cover, at least around the capitol and largest city, was great for maneuver warfare but without air superiority it totally sucked. He turned as he heard someone come up beside him.
"How long do you think Davion is going to keep us here?" Colonel Harold Tanaka asked
"Tell you the truth, I am hoping like hell he sends regular AFFS troops to take over from us. This is no place to fight a defensive fight. Even if we stood strong without air cover we are sitting ducks. Even if we pulled back and went urban warfare on them they could just bomb us from the air or worse orbital fire." General Mitchell replied
"When the DCMS shows up you still want me to stay down in that damned mine?" Colonel Tanaka asked
"No changes there. Your my ace in the hole. Hopefully they will think my troops are just militia or AFFS regular conventional forces and think we are easy pickings. But that is going to change the moment I unleash all my artillery on them. Best I can hope for is to cause enough confusion that they charge at full speed to get under my guns and then my tanks can pound them. My Alacorn's are my fist so I have assigned two platoons of Pollux ADA to each Battalion to provide them with as much anti aircraft defense as I can. If they try to flank me or I need to fall back, that is where you come in. From that mine complex your only about 5 minutes away, but out of sight and safe from whatever they might throw at us from the air." General Mitchell said
"Any word on the rest of the fleet?" Colonel Tanaka asked
"Left Mackolla a week ago. I told them to not push things and recharge normally. Four Tracker Carriers loaded with 36 fighters each and lots of Alamos to back up Second Chance. The factories are coming online and starting to manufacture what we need at last." General Mitchell said
"That could make for a very unpleasant surprise for the DCMS, you going to call them in to hit the invasion force?" Colonel Tanaka asked
"I don't know, that is not really my specialty. That is my sister's area of expertise. I don't like the idea of having them face real warships, she has said that Second Chance is good, but against a real warship they are outgunned big time. Though this deployment has sure given me an eye opening to our shortcomings." General Mitchell said
"What shortcomings? Granted I only have two Battlemech Battalions here, we are still a very formidable force." Colonel Tanaka replied
"Yes we are, in certain aspects. We are thinking like we did in the SLDF, well that is dead. It really hit me when we got here, I cannot count on secure flanks or call for help and have another Division show up. Defensively, my 322nd can put up one hell of a fight, but unlike an Infantry Division we lack the Battlemechs to counter the enemies in open field battle. I have had time to really analyze this over the last few weeks and we are going to have to change with the times. When we get back, after this is all over, we are going to have to reorganize to become more nimble. It takes too much shipping to move a full Division, which we do not have." General Mitchell said
"You going to disband the 322nd?" Colonel Tanaka asked
"Not on your life. But I realize that there are two tasks a unit like the 322nd excels in, defensive or heavy assault. Not open ground fighting, not rapid advances, but we can do a slow steady grind forward on an objective. I am confident in our ability to take down most Battlemech units if they try to take us on face to face, but they could outmaneuver us too easily. They can cross ground we cannot, jump obstacles or just wade thru it if it is water. But this is for the future, we have to survive this deployment first." General Mitchell said
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