Where are those LRMs Coming From? - 3028
Deuce climbed out of his UrbanMech's cockpit,
and kicked the still-hot dud missile out of his tincan's shoulder joint. It
clanked on the concrete below as he jumped back into his seat, cycling his
"arm" through a quick range of motion test. Perfect. He slammed the
hatch shut, then got back on the horn as he patched himself back into the Mech's
systems.
"Jack, Deuce! I got my autocannon freed back up. How y'all doin' over
there?"
"Deuce, Jack, they're runnin' fer now. Meet back up at the silo."
Half an hour later, Deuce's Urbie waddled its awkward way into the center of
the damaged town, to the civil defense base. Two old Urbies, Deuce and Trey,
and Jack's Hatchetman, were all that was left of this urban garrison lance. The
blasted Dragons kept probing into the city, and it was only a spirited defense
by the local militia, by small fragmented units such as this one, that was
keeping the locals from eating rice and singing Kimigayo.
Deuce waddled into his bay, shut down his Mech, and climbed out. As the techs
quickly swarmed his Mech, trying to reload and patch it up before the next
attack came, Deuce looked at Trey. "What happened to Ace?"
The younger Mechwarrior just nodded to where the Enforcer was being hauled in
by a salvage truck, like a giant warrior on its shield. A tarp covered a
misshapen lump, what was left of its head.
"Damn..." Deuce looked around for Jack. The officer was looking at
the fallen Enforcer grimly. Deuce paused a moment, then asked what he had to.
"What're we gonna do, boss? The infantry can't hold forever."
"I know," Jack answered sharply, then sighed. "Sorry. Stress is
getting to me." He looked around, feeling slightly helpless. "It's
just us to support the defense in this sector. I'm told that we're making
headway in other sectors, but for the other units to roll the Dragons back,
we've got to keep holding them here."
Trey spoke up. Like Deuce, he was from the Outback, and his accent showed it.
"How're we gonna do that, boss? We ain't got no support ourselves. To shoot'em
we gotta get in front of'em, and every time we're comin' back more beat
up."
"I know that too." Jack's face was tight, his Avalon accent tighter.
"If we just had some LRM's, we could drop hell on the Dragons without them
ever seeing us. But..." he nodded to the corner, where a broken-down
Longbow sat awkwardly. It had been their support Mech, until its gyro had been
blown out.
Deuce was looking at the wrecked machine oddly. Something had clicked in his
head. "If we had LRM's...how much time we got?"
Jack looked at Deuce oddly. "Time?"
Deuce spun to face Jack. "Time. Til the next attack."
Jack considered the unexpected question. "Well, I don't know...the last
one took a while for them to regroup. I guess maybe a day, maybe more if
pressure got put..."
Deuce was grinning like a fool. "Then get on the horn to yer boss'n tell
the other sectors to put the pressure. I got me an idea."
Trey groaned. He knew all about Deuce's ideas. They were usually crazy, and
often dangerous.
Jack knew all about Deuce's ideas too. Like kicking an Urbie's jammed shoulder
free, they usually worked. "What's your idea?"
Deuce's grin grew wider as he turned to get the techs. "Yer gonna get yer LRM's."
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