FuH Chapter 15

=Fighting Uphill - Chapter 15=
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==* I Call Dibs! *==
===Reunion===
31st July, 3013
FWDS Loyalty, Helm
Free Worlds League
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"George!"
"Michael! You're here!"
Two brothers, separated by the Marik civil war because they had each chosen to follow different leaders, were meeting again for the first time in years. The combined armies of Liao, Duncan, and former Janos partisans had a lot of mechs that needed repairing before the Donnegal Guards landed the next day, and by sheer coincidence, the brothers' mechs were being patched up at the same time in the same Dropship.
"I thought you'd joined Anton Marik's forces?" George asked.
"I did, but Anton's gone crazy." Michael replied grimly. "He seems to think everyone is out to get him and sees any kind of failure as treason. Those 'advisors' from the Draconis Combine are only encouraging him to think that way. Anton outright told us before we left for Helm that our families would be executed for treason if we didn't secure the Star League cache for him."
"Wait." George said, realizing what that meant. "So Jennifer and the kids..."
"...are probably dead by now." Michael said angrily. "Or they will be soon. If I thought that Anton would have let them live if we at least made a clearly good faith attempt to secure the cache and failed, I probably would have fought to the death instead of defecting to Janos' side when it was clear we were losing." Michael sighed sadly. "Not that there are many of us left. Kuritan bastards used us to soften up the Lyrans for them and they still lost!"
"Dang, and I thought we had it bad." another mechwarrior who had been listening in nearby said. "I'm Sophie Bryant, by the way. I was with Janos. He was an alright commander, but those Steiner allies of his? Always thought they were better than us and looking down on us just because we're stuck in a civil war and they're not. Their Leutnant-General is the worst though, always calling us lazy and unreliable just because we don't want to shoot our own countryman!"
"Huh. Candace Liao is nothing like that." George said. "She's actually pretty decent as far as a foreign general goes."
"Really?" Michael asked. "I heard that she's some diabolical seductress leading Duncan around by his dick. Of course, that's Anton's propaganda..."
"And Janos'." Sophie added. "On the other hand, Duncan really impressed me out on the field there. Probably prevented us from inflicting a total blood bath on each other. And you say Candace is a good general?"
"I dunno about good. I said 'decent'." George told them. "She's been very mindful of our not wanting to shoot each other without even asking us. Hell, Candace didn't even want to send Duncan up against you guys; scuttlebutt says that he had to argue her into it."
"So Duncan is not only a decent leader, he's also not a total Liao puppet either." Michael said, impressed.
"So is Candace not really a seductress?" Sophie asked.
"I don't know." Michael said with a shrug. "Duncan's clearly infatuated with her but, no one's sure if she feels the same way about him. Three, four years ago when she first took charge, I would have said she didn't. Now?" He shrugged again. "I don't know. All I know is that Candace is way better than the guy she replaced. She's done right by us and at least seems to know what she's doing."
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===Dealing with Walking DropShips===
1st August, 3013
CCDS Celestial Throne, Helm
Free Worlds League
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"I don't know what to do!" Candace said, aghast as she watched the remote video feed of Lyran Great Tortoises plodding their way towards her positions.
Candace was holding a meeting with Duncan and the expedition's regimental commanders. The Donegal Guards had landed a fair distance away, far enough that Candace felt that she had enough time to hold an in-person meeting to review and discuss the first scouting reports as they came in and Candace's scouts had reported... this.
"You don't?" Duncan said, surprised. When it came to battlefield strategy and tactics, Candace had always seemed to know what to do, certainly more than Duncan had if their exercises together on Oriente was anything to go by. As a result, Duncan had never seen Candace like this before. "But aren't there tactics for fighting grounded Dropships like these Great Tortoises?"
"Yes, and they all emphasize fighting ground forces away from the Dropship Landing Zones (LZ) so that you don't get shot at by the Dropships while fighting regular ground forces." Candace replied, citing tactics she had learned at the Capellan War College but had never implemented herself. "You only engage grounded Dropships after dealing with their ground forces or if you can ensure the ground forces are too busy elsewhere to stop you. That can't be done here because these Great Tortoises are moving with the Donegal Guard's ground force."
"So we just fight a conventional battle with these Great Tortoises in the Lyran formation." Duncan said. "We can do that and win, right?"
"I don't know." Candace answered. "If it was just the Lyran ground forces or just the Tortoises in isolation, I'd give it an even shot of us taking them, especially with Janos' Marik Militia added to our forces. But those Great Tortoises are obviously loaded down with artillery and might just tip the balance of power the other way."
"I refuse to believe that we've come all this way just to be kicked out when we have everything in our grasp." Duncan said stubbornly. "Leaving aside the ten thousand mechs in the cache itself along with everything else the Star League squirreled away here, Helm is a Free Worlds League planet and I refuse to let the Lyrans have it without at least putting up a good fight."
"I agree." Candace said, "I'd hate to throw a lot of our people's lives away for nothing but symbolism."
"Senior General, if I may?" Jaime said, standing up. 
"You have an idea, Colonel Wolf?" Candace asked. "Right now, I'm open to suggestions."
"Yes, Senior General." Jaime said. "For all that the Lyrans put a Dropship on legs, the Great Tortoise is clearly still a Dropship. That means it can be taken down like a Dropship. Use enough artillery or even just regular mechs and they can be taken down."
"But, Colonel, your typical assault Dropship usually has three to five times the armor of an equivalent transport Dropship." Candace pointed out. "In fact, they can theoretically have ten times as much armor or more. And we don't know how much armor these Great Tortoises are carrying."
"No, but given the amount of guns we can see these Great Tortoises are carrying, I'm willing to bet a battalion of good heavy mechs will be able to take one down." Jaime told her. "Certainly a mech regiment will be able to. And Senior Colonel?" Jaime smiled a very predatory looking smile. "The Dragoons have four regiments of mostly heavy mechs here on Helm that are still relatively fresh. This is the kind of fight we Dragoons live for."
"You're volunteering to take down the Great Tortoises?" Candace asked, turning Jaime's suggestion over in her head. "I have no doubt you can do it, except there's a Lyran army between you and them. If you focus on the Tortoises, the Lyran's conventional mechs will tear you to pieces. If you concentrate on their conventional mechs first, the Tortoises will tear you to pieces. I don't think it's actually possible to fit enough mechs in the required space to fight both and still win, at least not without packing your mechs in so densely that they'd be efficiently torn apart by area effect artillery fire."
"Oh, I have no intention of fighting my way through the Lyrans' conventional mechs to reach the Tortoises." Jaime told her. "According to your own scouts, most of the Lyran conventional forces are covering their front and flanks, but their rear is almost empty except for a few scouting pickets. The Dragoons can go in from behind and nail the Tortoises without having to fight the Lyran's conventional mechs first."
"But what's stopping the Lyrans from shifting their forces to cover their rear when they see you coming?" Duncan asked. "They will see you coming after all given how tall those Tortoises are."
"How are you going to get around to their rear?" Candace asked. "Those Tortoises might be able to only walk at barely ten kph, but you'd still have to flank so wide that the Donegal Guards will get here before you finish getting around them."
"As for the second, we have Dropships of our own." Jaime answered. "As for the first... well, someone else is going to have to hold the Lyrans' attention on their front."
"You're talking about a coordinated strike of widely separated forces." Duncan said. "Didn't you personally tell me that kind of thing was very hard to pull off? Especially for neophyte field commanders such as myself?"
"Actually, it may not be as hard as you think, Duncan." Candace said thoughtfully. "We don't have to commit our main body until the Dragoons are actually ready to strike, and we can prep the ground before hand with a hit and run harassment campaign by fast units – classic Capellan tactics – so that the Lyrans will keep everything forward before the Dragoons land behind them. And I just happen to have this excellent and rare battle computer that just excels at helping me coordinate widely separated forces. I think... I think we might be able to do this."
"Excellent!" Duncan said, happy that Candace thought they had a chance of success. "If, you'll allow me to borrow your mech, Candy, I will lead our forces to victory!"
"Excuse me?" Candace replied, offended.
"Well, obviously, since your front line forces were heavily damaged and are still undergoing repairs while mine got off lightly and are mostly repaired back up, the FWLM will be doing the bulk of the fighting and I have to be the one leading them in the field." Duncan told her reasonably. "If the Grand Tortoises lift off and try to hit our base camps, your regiments while still heavily damaged and still being repaired, still have enough firepower to shoot them out of the sky. And that doesn't even include the firepower our own Dropships will add."
Duncan also didn't mention that his own personal mech was still down for repairs after what Janos' armor piercing rounds had done to its internals. That would be... impolitic. Candace knew about it already anyway, but best not to bring that up.
"I don't mean that, Duncan." Candace said stiffly. "I mean I intend to pilot my own mech, thank you very much."
"Candy, you're still injured from the last battle." Duncan said gently, trying to placate his betrothed. "You're in no condition to fight."
"I'm only bruised and shaken, Duncan." Candace said stubbornly. "I haven't been turned into a bed ridden invalid."
Jaime looked off to the side, and saw that the FWLM officers present were closely watching the interplay between the two young royals.
"You're walking with a limp." Duncan pointed out. "Last I saw, piloting a mech still required the use of your legs too."
"Duncan, do you even know how to use a Tacticom B-2000 battle computer?" Candace asked, clearly changing her line of attack.
"Well, no..." Duncan admitted.
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"I can't believe I let you talk me into being a passenger in my own mech." Candace grumbled from the rear jump seat as she studied the the large holographic map of the evolving battle. The Cyclops had originally been designed as a command mech, so there was plenty of room for her behind the pilot's chair.
"Look at it this way, my love, we finally get to fight side by side together, just as I've always dreamed since the day we met." Duncan said cheerfully from the pilot's seat as he easily maneuvered his beloved's Cyclops over Helm's rolling terrain. "Closer than I ever dreamed too."
"Hmm." Candace said non-noncommittally. "I'll admit it's so much easier to manage everyone when I don't have to split my attention with watching where I'm going and defending myself as well." Candace keyed her radio. "Company Seven, medium heavy Lyran lance out of position and isolated just northwest of you. Go take care of it please. Company Nine, go..."
"See? This is the perfect partnership." Duncan told Candace when she was finished with the latest batch of movement orders. "You've always been better tactics than I, and I..." Duncan turned and fired the Cyclops' Gauss Rifle at a Lyran Commando that had somehow snuck into their rear; he nailed the Commando right in the leg, and the light mech went down. "...have always been the better shot."
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"I suppose this is nice." Candace admitted as Duncan pushed the Cyclops into a run. '{'"Void Lance Six, move in and assist Company Three."} A deluge of Arrow artillery missiles called in by the Commando blasted the spot where they had been just seconds ago. "Yes, this very nice." Candace added with relief as Duncan slowed back down to a walk.
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Michael jinked his running Phoenix Hawk to the left, narrowly avoiding the kill zone of a string of exploding artillery shells that blew up along his former path. Another shell blew up behind him, but still out of kill range. A reasonably fast mech on the move was difficult for long ranged artillery fire to hit simply because by the time the artillery shots arrived, the mech would no longer be where they had been aiming at.
Michael fired both of his large lasers at the artillery spotter, an eight ton Zeus, one of the mechs that his ad hoc company had managed to lure away from the Lyran main body. It was a tough mech, but it had been isolated from its lance mates, and Michael had at least three other mechs helping him. One of Michael's lasers missed. The other burned a short line up the Zeus' right torso. The Zeus fired a volley of LRMs not at Michael, but at his brother George's Shadow Hawk as he jump jetted his way out of more artillery strikes while firing his own LRMs back.
The Zeus weathered the assault from the Marik mechs, not seemingly at all bothered the torrent of fire they were throwing at it. It raised its PPC arm up... and then stiffened when something behind it exploded. The Zeus's fusion signature went out instantly, and the assault mech toppled over with a smoking hole in its back, revealing a Capellan Vindicator had standing right behind it with a still steaming PPC arm of its own.
"Thanks." Michael told the Capellan over the radio, waving a salute with one of his Phoenix Hawk's arms. He still didn't know how he felt about Capellans in general, but this guy at least seemed all right... at least as long as they were fighting on the same side.
"You're welcome." the Capellan replied, saluting back with its other arm. The Capellan Vindicator vanished back into invisibility as it finished venting waste heat and its void signature system was re-enabled.
Definitely nice to have these guys on his side, Michael thought. But Michael also made a mental note to get an active probe for his mech. These Capellans may be okay, but it would be nice to know when they were around.
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