Wakako Zako had the headphones plugged into the console in the secondary seat.
Her eyes tracking the monitors in front of her.
One showed what Turbo was seeing.
The other was seeing the map that depicted all friendly and all identified enemy units on it.
The second one was synced with the dropships and jumpships above that were then transmitted to the ASF heading in.
"Resupply. Yellow. Point 34-98. Red Smoke!" She called into the headset. Ignoring the Battlemech jolting forwards, backwards and sideways, the her internal organs jolting with it.
"Confirmed Wacko. Supply Yellow sent. 1 Minute Delivery." The voice of the jumpship above her head answer.
"Confirmed." She answered, eyes tracking the battlefield while on the third screen was a list of the different data points that she was jotting down.
1st Lance was out of ammunition, the drop would land right behind them.
If things went well, they would be able to open the packaging with their battlemech hands and replace the ammunition.
Since ammunition came in the form a self-contained cassette that was fully expanded with each pull of the trigger, it wasn't an issue to resupply multiple without issue.
A case full of cassettes was pulled out, the rear torso unlatched, the old cassette was pulled out, the new one inserted, then the torso rear closed again.
If all went well, it would take a few seconds to bring the Battlemechs back into the fight.
"They're resisting hard! Need some close air support down here!" The voice of another lance came in and she pencilled it in.
The right screen obligingly updated.
The middle screen… hmm… ah, on the left side. That was where they were. She adjusted the screen and began to read the coordinates.
"Red Lance, I need more information. Where is the enemy, disposition." She called out, keying in to their channels.
"Good to hear from you Wacko. 400 metres front, Light Mechs. Lance. Dug in. Need something heavy to dig them out." He replied to her.
"Calling it in, send me the corrections when you need them." She answered as her hands opened up a second concurrent channel up to the Jumpship above.
Her eyes tracked the coordinates of Red Lance and then subtracted 400 metres from the grid square in the south direction.
"Wacko. Close Air Support Mission, Bombs, Heavy Load. Coordinates as follows, 31-104. Target is Lance, Dug In Battlemechs." She called up to the sky above while patching in Red Lance leader to listen in.
"Confirmed Wacko. CAS Bomb mission 34-104 inbound. Heavy load. Sit tight, we're on the way. 5 Minutes." The jumpship operator sent the information back.
She ignored another jolt as the Battlemech tried dancing backwards.
"Block those Infernos! If they hit the infantry we will lose all of our fire support!"
A glance down indicated that there was a Light Lance trying to push Turbo back.
She ignored it since he looked like it had it all covered given the number disparity with the motorised infantry backing him up. There were at least 15 AC/5s in play after all, the infantry had brought their heavy guns… or regular guns. She wasn't sure about the specifics.
They were going to make mincemeat of the enemy, that wasn't a problem.
She was more concerned about the push emerging on the right flank.
They weren't succeeding in pushing down the centre so the Sun Zhang units were trying to do a big encircling movement to break through.
She plugged in the link to the jumpship above again.
Her job never ended.
+Break+
"Captain! Mechanical Check Cleared!"
Captain Evensdottir woke with a start.
Ah, that was annoying.
She dozed off again.
She didn't know how many supply missions she had been on so far… but it was probably too many if she was falling asleep in her cockpit.
The 200 ton Chindwin was meant for short trips between jumpships and forces on the ground, but, well, not this short.
She took in a deep breath and sat upright.
"Okay. Running checks." She said into the microphone before noticing that she wasn't transmitting.
Right.
"Running checks." She said when it was actually on.
"Copy that, your mission is to target coordinates 31-104 from map 391. Confirm."
Evensdottir nodded, fingers flicking through the terminal.
"Confirm, coordinates 31-104, map 391." She said, locking in the coordinates for the Chindwin's computer to calculate the perfect time to release her cargo.
"Mission. Demolition. Enemy Lance, Light Battlemechs. You're departing in 2 minutes." Mission Control commanded and she nodded.
"Confirmed. 2 minute departure." She said.
"Safe Zone. Block 121. Don't stray."
"Confirmed, Block 121. Safe." Was the reply as her fingers set the parameters of the flight to Block 121.
Her fingers then ran through the checks for the engine, the flaps, the armour, the cargo distribution, everything that she could.
"Checks complete, we're ready for launch." She told Mission Control.
She sat back into her sat and got herself ready for the shock of the launch.
"3, 2, 1."
And then she was off.
The booster system that literally dragged her Chindwin out of the hangar and shoved it into the void left her with a kick to her system.
Eyes pressed back in their sockets and fingers clutching at her controls, Evensdottir could only hold on.
Then, the acceleration was over and her own thrusters activated.
The flight pattern was opened in front of her eyes.
The safe space that she could fly that wasn't being embargoed by flak.
In other words, the only grid square that within dozens of kilometres that was safe enough for her to fly through, at least until 15,000 metres. From there she was going to need to at least try and fly evasively.
Well, try… going straight down at maximum velocity was good enough, speed was evasion with how fast she would be going.
The Close Air Patrol would be on station to handle the leakers from the depleted Sun Zhang Academy Cadre air wings.
"Breaching Atmo." She said to Mission Control as Chindwin angled itself down and then… boosted straight down.
"Armour damage within expected parameters."
The armour began to slowly ablate away, the Chindwin's heatsinks coping with the injection of heat as well as they could.
"Through atmosphere."
The heat levels reduced and armour was fine, ish.
Eyes narrowing, she hummed.
Well then.
Time to kick some ass then she supposed.
Moving out of the safe zone once she was past 15,000 metres, the Chindwin boosted at an angle to reach the target zone.
There were potential Sun Zhang ASF in the air, but CAP was keeping them quiet. The AA en-route between their dropships and their isolated Mech Regiment meant they couldn't fly low or high safely. They had to fly through the middle layer of the atmosphere and thus make themselves key targets.
Adjusting course slightly, she followed the trajectory map in front of her eyes.
Following, following, pull the sticks back for upward trajectory… and there we go.
The sudden jerking of 50 tons of explosives being released out the cargo bay was enough to send the Chindwin vertically up 500 metres.
"Bombs away." She said, boosting her way back up to orbit, turning back to the safe zone.
+Break+
Wakako felt the explosives as they landed.
50 tons of bombs had a way of rearranging the landscape.
"Good hits! Good hits! We're pushing through, let's kill us some Dracs boys!" The Lance leader shouted and Wakako turned that channel off.
She was getting more calls for support.
"Keep up the fight! The pocket is closing!"
Wakako felt herself grinning.
Oh, finally. They were finally going to close the pocket.
Once that was done, they would be able to actually relax.
Just a little.
"Keep up the fire! Don't let them push you back, don't let them dig in!" Turbo shouted into his microphone.
Wakako meanwhile was sorting out the different calls for support, ranking them from highest priority to the least.
"We're the slowest unit here boys. That means the Dracs are going to go for one big push to finish this. Dig in and get yourself ready. Wacko, get me my supplies, we're going to need them!"
Seeing her acknowledgement, Wakako was on the line to the jumpships above.
"Resupply Yellow, Blue, Indigo, coordinates 45-125." She said into her microphone.
"Confirm Wacko, resupply inbound."
"Wacko, CAS Cab requested. Inbound major push, my location." She called a second time.
"Confirmed Wacko, you have priority over CAB assets. Hold the line."
She hummed. Okay, that wasn't so bad.
She could do this.
She could do this.
She could do this.
"Here they come! Jenners! Watch for SRMs! Keep that Inferno gel off the autocannons!" The roar of the unit's major caused Wakako to perk her head up.
The Battlemech jerked its way forward.
Oh no.
This was how her last pilot died.
But... She couldn't say anything could she?
Fuck fuck fuck.
Then there was no space for thinking.
A wave of fire spread over the cockpit and she couldn't see anything except bright orange and blue.
Then came the impacts on the armour that sent a shudder through her body as ppc and laser rent armour from structure.
Then the heat became much more real, hot, so very hot.
…
Arm, she couldn't feel her arm.
What has just happened?
What?
Her eyes adjusted to the sudden gloom and she could see Turbo leaning forward in his seat, head hanging down, arms slack.
The Battlemech was still standing, it's default movestate had been returned once signals from the pilot ceased.
He wasn't responsive.
He wasn't responsive.
"They're pushing! Where is my air support? We can't do this with just two Lances!"
"Turbo's down, Wacko's probably gone with him. We're on our own here!"
Shit, that was another pilot she had lost. She wondered how many more would die by the time today ended.
But.
But she had a job to do.
Her left arm didn't want to move.
Her console... Had a piece of shrapnel through it so large that it would have cut her in half if she had been just a little forward.
There was no calling that CAS support without a screen to provide coordinates.
Her headphones still beeped reassuringly. At least she had contact with the jumpships still.
Okay.
She could work with this.
Her left arm.
Ah.
"Counter attack! Push them back, use this chance! We can't let them keep the initiative!"
Her right arm moved to her chest and pressed the disengage.
The straps came apart.
She fell to the ground if the cockpit, her eyes watering from the pain in her knees.
Okay, at the back was the emergency kit and in it were the flares.
She could do this.
"Colonel, we're getting pushed back. Requesting support. We won't be able to hold the pocket closed. Air support is gone, none of mine can contact the jumpships."
"I've committed my reserves, hold the line Major. Keep the pocket closed or all the casualties we've suffered so far will be for nothing. Hold to the last man and the last bullet if you need to."
"Sir."
Staggering to her feet, she made her way, swaying like a new blood in the rumble seat of a Battlemech for hours after returning to stable land, she reached the emergency box.
Right hand pulling open the lid, she saw it.
Blue flare, yellow flare. There were more but they wouldn't fit in the few pockets she had.
At least without a working left arm to manoeuvre them in.
Then she was climbing the ladder to get up onto the hatch leading outside.
Her arms slowly pulled her way up.
The right arm pulling, the left jammed into the ladders legs to keep her there.
Okay.
She could do this.
Ignore the pain.
Ignore the instinctive feeling of wanting to pull away from that which causes you pain.
You can do this.
The hatch was above her head now.
Okay
A pull and a turn.
It opened.
Okay.
"Hold! Hold damn you!"
"Wacko to Air Command. Standby for direction." She said, grunting through the pain.
One hand brought up the blue flare, angling it at 45 degrees for maximum distance. With a twist of the base and a hiss and a pop the flare was out. Looking so incredibly bright on this very decidedly depressing day.
Then came the yellow.
A twist and it was out. It was out but it went further than the blue. Seriously?
She growled.
Eyeballs scanning the area and then she came to a conclusion. This would have to be danger close.
"CAS Cab to engage all forces south of blue yellow flares. Engage all targets in my position south of blue yellow flares. South direction is Yellow. Confirm?"
"Confirm, yellow is south. We'll clear the ground for you Wacko."
Her eyes went upwards.
Ah.
Dozens of Eagles were coming down... And was that a giant Eagle? It flapped its wings so gracefully.
Oh, look at that, the giant bugs were being eaten by the Eagles.
Oh, that was good.
Her arms ran out of strength and she dropped to the cockpit again the hatch slamming shut behind her.
+Break+
Evensdottir growled.
It looked like things were escalating.
A big finale was coming she figured.
Especially since she was heading in now not as a transporter or bomber... But as CAP.
Seriously.
Her small craft with its small lasers was CAP.
Seeing the Kohima Dropship to her right, she shook her head.
Thousands of tons of explosives.
There wasn't going to be much after it was through was there?
"Bombing run commencing. You sure about this direction?" The captain of the Dropship asked.
"Confirming. Yellow and blue flares, moving blue to yellow. Engage and destroy anything south of the yellow flare." Mission Control repeated the last instruction.
"Confirming. Bombs ready for dropping."
There was a pause.
"Dropping.
And so it went, the cargo doors opening underneath the Dropship, the bombs releasing row by row to fall in a continuous rain that lasted for 30 seconds
Underneath that which one could have called a forest in a reminiscing sort of way was now in the process of being turned into primordial earth once again.
Green and woody Browns being churned together into a muddy brown. The violent ejections of mud and debris into the air transforming everything in that kilometre by kilometre chunk of forest into fine mist, mud, and debris.
If she had some bombs in her cargo bay she could have helped... Maybe put some bombs just outside the perimeter. Put a bit of imperfection into that square of mud.
"Good hits. Good hits." The spotter craft said with a chuckle as they spectated the most thorough demolishing of an enemy force since... Well, forever.
Surely there couldn't be anything left down there?