“Well, that’s a Star League problem.” Frederick felt his lips curl into a smile, and he lightly smacked Hickson on the shoulder. “Small arms, spare armor plating… we only have three dropships so there are some hard limits.”
Some aircraft… although, honestly, I don’t think those are serviceable.” Hickson shrugged. “Which as bad news isn’t that bad, but it’s going to break some of the lads’ hearts.” “There’s more than we can take with us,” the slightly younger officer reported. Max snorted slightly but Fredrick shook his head. “Would you like the good news or the bad news?” Frederick had drawn lots among the company commanders for who got first shot at exploring the contents and Hickson was the lucky devil. “There are, sir.” Captain Timothy Hickson of Charlie Company saluted as he approached. And there must be other chambers beyond.” “I believe that’s an early-model Orion,” he answered, pointing at one of the dust-covered machines. It wasn’t a ‘Mech hangar - the ceiling was too low - but Frederick could decipher and order to what he was seeing.
“What are we looking at?” asked Max, looking at the shadowy shapes lying in the first cavernous vault. That would make carting away the contents relatively easy.
Battletech heavy metal fell off truck free#
He’d brought four companies, leaving all of Second Battalion and a company each of the other two battalions in order to present a threadbare pretense that the Regulars were still on Wyatt.Įven SAFE - the Free Worlds League’ intelligence service - would have seen through that, but having deduced that half the regiment was missing, he figured they’d probably be too proud of that discovery to do more than warn inhabited worlds in raiding range that they might encounter the Seventh.įorty ‘Mechs, working in shifts, could do an astounding amount of work and thus, not only was the ramp leading down into the old bunkers now cleared, there was also a wide roadway from the entrance to their dropships. That hadn’t been enough to save the inhabitants from the shockwaves or heat of a nuclear detonation, but it at least made it stand out among the other ruins.Ĭlearing it had required careful work by the company of combat engineers Frederick had recruited for the raid, supported by the Seventh Lyran Regulars BattleMechs, with their ability to move tons of debris with comparative ease. The barracks building had survived the centuries fairly well - unlike much of the above-ground city it had been built to SLDF specifications, meaning that the years hadn’t done much to wear them down. The Captain-General during the early First Succession War had been easily offended, he’d probably taken New Dallas’ refusal to accept the questionable benefits of joining the Free Worlds League the way a debutante took being turned down for a dance.īeing more used to the cooling vest part of the precautions, Frederick himself was having a better time than Max as they entered the vault that had been uncovered in the ruins. In hindsight, that probably shouldn’t have surprised him. The residual radiation was worse than Frederick had expected - probably evidence of the Mariks using particularly dirty nukes. However, the Geiger counters made it clear that rad-suits were needed for the men on the ground. On a scale between comfort and jumpships, the cooling vest and rad-suits being worn for the salvage work were about a three out of ten in Fredrick’s estimation of his new secretary’s discomfort. The older man had declined though, stating that he didn’t like to medicate for anything that didn’t actually require that. Dropships taking off and landing had him white-knuckled, and actual jumps made him so nervous that out of simple sympathy, the more experienced traveler had offered him a sedative usually reserved for those with Transit Disorientation Syndrome. He didn’t say anything about it, but he tensed up if someone even drove at speeds he considered ‘too fast’. Max, Frederick had noted, did not like jump-travel. Caddo City, New Dallas Free Worlds League 8 November 3007
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