LWDD-12

==Chapter 12 Lest we drown in the darkness...==
by Cannonshop
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November, 2769 - Else where in the SLDF
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"...they're your project, Aaron."  Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky finished reviewing the After-action reports from Eagle's Nest.  "I'm not impressed."
"They broke three heavily fortified positions in seventy two hours when Gaffney and LaGrave were saying it would take six weeks." General DeChevalier pointed out.
"At the cost of four thousand dead." Kerensky shook his head, "My god, what did they do? Run them across the minefields?  I know, I should've had Special Forces available for that operation, but we needed them for Apollo...this...it's..."
"It's dirty ugly war, Sir.  Ngo didn't 'run them across minefields', he used some innovative infiltration tactics. It's just that...well...it happens, Sir."  DeChevalier assured his superior, "With better seasoning they wouldn't have taken those casualties. I suspect, but these are insurgents and volunteers going against hardened regulars.  There were going to be high casualties."
"Fifteen thousand out of twenty on the ground wounded or killed." Kerensky noted.
"Saved us half a division of Star League Regulars, Sir...and six weeks on the timetable. It's an ugly trade, but they went in aware of it."
"I understand that part, Aaron." Kerensky laid the reports aside, "I also understand that they're running around with garbage equipment and no functional Battlemechs. The FitRep from the 83rd's CO says they don't speak English, and their internal discipline is something out of the damn dark ages."
"What should I do, Sir? They're providing their own equipment, their own transportation..." Aaron listed off the Kowloon Volunteer's assets.
"Fix the deficiencies in their equipment and get some trainers embedded with the little bastards." Kerensky decided, "They're going to fight on our side, they're going to learn to at least pretend to act like Star League troops."
"Where am I going to find trained 'Mechwarriors?" Aaron asked, "Especially ones who can communicate with them?"
"Just do it." Kerensky told him, "I mean, god, these casualties...they'll fight, and it's confirmed they've already got replacements en route?"
"More volunteers than slots, Sir."  Aaron confirmed, "Ngo's local training establishment takes about nine months. They've got a pipeline that can pump bodies in on a two-to-four week basis and he's rotating most of his wounded home to advise the incoming."
"Get a read on their 'soldier training' and get some of our walking wounded down there to filter for 'Mechwarrior candidates and a shake-and-bake course...and maybe some recruiters on the ground for OUR losses.  These guys want to kill Rim-worlds troops, we should help them along...but let Ngo know I want a solution to this casualty problem he's got. Rotating the wounded into training billets is a good base move, but he needs better retention. We don't need mass amounts of green infantry no matter HOW motivated."
"Yes Sir."
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