TBntG-3 Chpt 22

=The Bull and the Genie=
==Chapter 22 - Book III - The Clan Invasion==
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==Victor Meets the Occupation Zone==
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Victor dodged to the side, snapping off a shot from his AC/20, the rocket assisted projectile zipping down the field and surprising the little weapons carrier that had just tried to pot him with a PPC. The tracked vehicle came shuddering to a halt, smoke pouring from its damaged treads, and the crew bailed out, a small hovercraft zipping by and picking them up. 
 
He checked his ammunition. The heavy rounds were almost all there—the clan forces had tried to keep the fight at a longer range, so he was running low on RAP rounds.
 
They'd played their normal radio and audio of rude comments about people who might have suffered some contamination in their bloodlines, even offering to trade some Inner Sphere recruit DNA to improve their bloodnames, but where that was sometimes enough to bring out angry Smoke Jags and Jade Falcons…
 
Not here. They were deep in the OZ, launching a raid on a target that intelligence didn't think the local commander would surrender easily, even though it was lightly defended. 
 
Not when they were extracting what was evidently a harjel analog from the swamp by the factory. Up in orbit their corvettes and a Clan cruiser were fighting, throwing fighters at each other, but nobody was pushing to a decisive engagement. They needed their rides, and the Clans had become unexpectedly sensitive to losses among their big ships. 
 
<<"Push forward, but watch for their 'mechs. We know they have them.">> The CO ordered. 
 
"Understood." Victor glanced at his tactical display. His unit was moving forward, keeping their intervals good.
 
But where are their mechs? They'd landed clear of the city and factory, accepting a longer slog to avoid the dangers of an ambush, setting up artillery units in their rear, which right now were mostly keeping the Clan forces honest, since they had a LOT of anti-artillery laser AA setup over the harjel refinery. 
 
Other than that, it was light forces. Light BA and PA units, weapons carriers, a few tanks. All second line. And yet they knew there was a Clan force here.
 
Did they evacuate? No, that makes no sense. If they were going to do that, why not pull everyone and min—
 
"Command, this is Major Steiner-Davion. The scouts checked for minefields, confirm."
 
<<"Confirmed. What's your issue, Major?">> Colonel Nica asked. 
 
"They don't have enough to stop us. This is just wasting forces, and if they were trying to delay us, are you telling me that the Clans don't have mines? So they've been awful focused on keeping our air out of the area, even if it means they don't have it themselves."
 
(("Trap?")) Hohiro asked on his frequency. Victor and Hohiro weren't friends, not exactly, but he knew how to handle a unit. 
 
"Or bluff." 
 
<<"Maybe.">> Colonel Nica didn't say anything for a moment. <<"The swamp won't support mechs, that's why we're coming this way. It could be shelters in the forest… Hohiro, send your forces in, but be careful. If they're trying to spring a trap they'll want the mechs.">>
 
"Understood." 
 
<<"Victor, hold your unit in reserve.">>
 
(("Understood.")) Hohiro's forces were mostly medium Battlemechs, moving faster to Victor's and heavy and assault 'mechs, while Major Stearns forces were fast heavies. 
 
But something wasn't right. Victor watched as Hohiro's forces moved in, a scattering of fire greeting them. One mech took a shot from a Hetzer in a camouflaged shelter, losing an arm to it before its lance mates shattered the unlucky vehicle. More were firing, some of them pulling back from their shelters while others provided covering fire. Very professional, very not-clan, Victor thought as he continued running through his RAP, providing Hohiro with support. They were—
 
Suddenly a loud squeal hit his ears. Jamming. 
 
That's fine, we have laser—and there are the smoke rounds. Clan artillery, making its first appearance. Not a lot…
 
And they know this won't last. <("All units, general broadcast, prepare for ambush from…")> From the place we can't go. The place no mech can go. Victor turned his mech's head, using the superior sensors there to look at the swamp. Nothing but… "Second Company, reorient your units, prepare to receive an attack from the swamp!" Victor might be broken if he was wrong, the officer who panicked, but he knew he was right—And suddenly, flashes of artificial lighting stabbed through there, as his sensors started picking up mechs rising up. One stepped onto the edge of the swamp and even through the smoke the sensors reveal a flash of cermacrete where the war machine had knocked the mud away. 
 
How can they—oh, Son of a Bitch! They must have driven roads into the swamp, must have built cofferdams around them while they were making them, and then let them flood again! The mechs had been waiting for days for this opportunity. And then another unit, light armor, and artillery, was attacking Hohiro while the main force moved out of the swamp. Victor saw one' mech open up with a short-range Arrow bombardment, some modified design. Worse, there were at least two lances of Hunchbacks and where the hell were they making those? 
The forces fighting us know that we have RAP rounds for our heavy cannons. That's why they were doing this. To get us to expend it. Now they could close with Hunchbacks or fight at the range the Clans preferred. 
 
But someone had been eager. If they'd waited even a few more minutes, perhaps getting Hohiro more engaged, the trap would have been far more deadly. As it was, looking at the numbers, the fight wasn't hopeless… and then reports of artillery minefields came, landing in their rear.
 
Which makes it no question at all. They could fight them here, or they could fight them in a mine field.
 
<<"Victor and Stearns, hold that ambush force. Hohiro, withdraw behind them, and stand by to handle any penetrations. It'll take a while for our engineers to clear a withdrawal route.">> 
 
"We're not going for the factory?"
 
<<"Nope. Just got a flash from orbit. A Nightlord and a pair of destroyers just jumped in at the Nadir point, and are burning in. We can avoid them—but not if we spend the next few days clearing the factory.">>
 
Someone's getting yelled at. Whoever the commander was, he'd been spooked or eager, but it was plain now—get tied up in the factory, get hit from behind, while the cruiser got reinforcements that could drive off their own spaceborne forces. But they'd triggered the ambush early.
 
Kat was right, these aren't frontline Clan units. And when we get back, I'm going to have words for intelligence. Lightly defended my ass.
 
And with that, Victor got busy trying not to die.
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