Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Preparations 2

"Alright, try it now!" Natalia called into the comm, a little frustrated.

There was a moment's hesitation and then a loud whoosh came from the Spitting Cobra's two rocket packs. They were firing in unison. This made Natalia very happy.

"Excellent!" Ari replied through the comm, "great work Natty."

"Thank you Mendelbaum," Natty smiled tightly to herself. The Spit's fire control system was rather cantankerous, and it took her a few hours to get the two rocket packs to talk to each other through the gear's neural net. Still, she noted that Kain would no longer be pestering her about linking the two rocket packs. That was something.

"Alright, I'm ready to try the designator," Sam's voice was eager in the Iguana.

"Copy that," Avatanya and Josephina were ready with the first guided shell for the caravan's heavy mortar, captured long ago in the final battle with the New Baja Gang.

"Oh man, it feels weird using this mortar," Sam rambled a bit. It was true. The two heavy mortars of the New Baja Gang had caused much havoc for the Regulators back in Baja. This would be the first time the weapon would be fired since its capture. "Target designated. Fire when ready."

Josephina and Avatanya nodded to each other, gently lifting the large shell into the breech of the mortar. Most mortars were fed from the muzzle, but this weapon was so large that it had a breech. Lifting a 45kg shell over your shoulders was deemed impractical by the Paxton team that designed the mortar so long ago. The two women backed away from the mortar and hid behind a low wall. The shell had been modified to hold a guidance chip and deploy fins for terminal guidance. Tampering with artillery was never a good idea. Josephina held the remote trigger.

"Firing!"

The mortar kicked down with a loud thump.

"Hey, guys, any day now. This is getting ... whoah." Sam stopped talking when the round impacted with a loud explosion.

"Well?" Avatanya asked.

"Hmm."

"Well?"

"What was I aiming for again?" Sam asked, "because, it's not here. Neither is the shack that used to be next to it. The designator works."

**********

Kain looked at his visitors with the skeptical look fathers tended to reserve for their children's more peculiar requests.

"Aww..." Tessa and Karin whined in unison, "but everyone else is busy! It's so boring! C'mon Kain, we can help!"

"I just think it's better if you stayed here with Peter, Ellen and the Imashen, just in case we need to get moving quickly," he replied.

"But...but..." Karin recovered first, "but we're better at it than anyone else in the whole caravan!"

That elicited a raised eyebrow from Kain, "really now?"

Both teenagers nodded solemnly.

Kain hit a button and spoke into a mic, "hey, Gade, what's the range on those R/C units you're putting into the trucks?"

There was a pause for a moment. Kain kept his eyes on the datapad he had been looking over until Gade replied.

"About 2km, give or take."

"And how many trucks do we have?"

"Three ramp trucks, and..." Gade paused as he checked with the rest of the crew working on the trucks, "a half dozen flyers."

"Thanks Gade. Your pilots should be there in about five minutes," Kain flipped the comm off and turned to the two girls, "under no circumstances are you to talk to any of the mercs unless there's an emergency. Once all the trucks are deployed, you are to take a jeep back to the caravan and wait with Ellen. If your position comes under fire, keep your heads down, crawl back to the jeep, and meet Ellen at the caravan. Wear medium flak. Take your sidearms. Do not use them unless you absolutely have to. Are we clear?"

"Crystal!" replied Tessa sharply. Karin nodded.

"Go."

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Hermes 72 - Heavy Gear RPG - Most artwork Copyright 2002 Dream Pod 9, Inc.