Star Colonel Uljin DeLuca was livid. The deployment orders for the assault on Blantleff had come down from command, with Fer-De-Lance Galaxy ready for action. 6 Clusters would take part in the action, with DeLuca’s 93rd Assault Cluster dropping within the first days of the invasion. For most commanders, that would be viewed as a glorious task. But it was where he was dropping that made the Star Colonel mad.
He kicked a filing cabinet with full force, deforming its side before jumping on top of his desk, squatting down and giving a rapacious look to his officers. Farda adjusted her hair extensions nervously. Uljin liked her, aggressive and always ready to do what needs to be done. Star Captain Rhode had the blank look he always has on his face unless he was in the middle of a fight. At that point, he turned into a real monster. He knew his boys and girls were all like him, except maybe the new girl.
She was not part of the clan, a foreigner pushed into Steel Viper service from Kerensky knows where. Tall, blonde, with animal ears and an annoyed look on her face at all times. Kanna Ogata was not someone he would have had joined the 93rd. She looked too uptight, not someone who enjoyed the fight. The animal ears were not cyberimplants, either. A result of genecrafting, likely from the Republican military experimental programs. She had done a great job on New St.Andrews, he heard and needed a Star Captain commission in a unit on the front. It had fallen on Uljin to have her tag along because Jerom had bought it in a trial of possession against the Spirits 3 months ago.
But that was not what was important now. Old Man Cochraine had the gall to have the 93rd drop day one, but not on one of the key planetary objectives. Uljin started yelling: “FUCKIN’ MILITIAS! The old fart is sendin’ us to blow up glorified weekend warriors! I can understan’ why he would launch his own Steel Coil after the Legion warehouses, but the KERENSKY DAMNED 111th gettin’ to drop at the capital? While we are stuck playing BABYSITTER in the farmlands? This ain’t no way to treat us!”
Every single warrior in the room heard the voice of Hema Grimani in the training sims in their head: “No contractions. None of us are freeborn scum here.” Well, maybe not Star Captain Ogata, as Uljin did not know where she had trained. The Star Colonel still continued: “We’ve got our work cut out for us, of course! The militia plebs down there tried to play a bidding war with us. I told ‘em we’d only drop with a trinary.” The tall figure of Rhode piped up, in a neutral tone: “So which one of us is going, Star Colonel?” Still squatting on the office desk, DeLuca smiled and cackled for a second : “Yeah, only one Trinary, as I bid against them. We got two binaries too, don’t we? The new girl and Pox will drop on the side of my Trinary on day one while we scour the fuckin’ countryside of the militia filth.”
Star Captain Pox looked confused by the statement and replied: “My Land-Air-Mechs and VTOLs, Star Colonel? I thought we were going to be kept in reserve, since the whole thing is experimental.” Farda coughed and continued: “I mean, it also is against the bid you made to drop with more…” Uljin stood up, towering over his officers on the desk and gave a dirty look to the woman who had just spoken: “The Big Boss said we are winnin’ this damn invasion, girl. We’re not here to play by the rules. We’re not here to play nice with the locals. We come in, we beat the everlovin’ shit out of those Marian slavers and get their farms and mineral supplies on Blantleff. This is not a case of playin’ the good Clan. We’re leavin’ this to the Blood Spirits and the fuckin’ traitors hidin’ on Terra.”
“The plan is simple”, continued Uljin turning on a holographic projector. “I land my trinary near the militia headquarters in the Eastern Farmlands. They have two mixed companies there that they bid against me and that recon tells me are basically equipped with upgraded Succession War relics and tanks. I don’t expect it to be much of a problem. Pox, you and your flyers stay in the air at first and you flank any reinforcement they bring in. We know they’re going to cheat, so we’re just pre-empting the damn thing.” Pox nodded, pensively. The new experimental LAM and bioroid VTOL units were a risk Uljin had been willing to take, and the Aerospace pilot was happy to even be included in his plans.
Uljin zoomed in the orbital map to another region of farmland: “New girl! I got a good deal for you. The militia we are striking has a second unit hiding around these farms there. Bunch of rambunctious assholes from the Lothian League apparently has them on their toes last couple months, raiding and liberating slaves. I want them gone before they can turn around and flank my own unit. We’re not gettin’ outmanoeuvered by a bunch of farmers in upgunned farm equipment.”
Uljin dropped down on the side of the desk: “Once we are done with these assholes, we’re movin’ down south. I got reports that an unidentified unit is hiding on Blantleff, and it’s not Scaredy-Deer”, a nickname the Star Colonel used commonly for the commander of the 61st Assault Cluster, Marianne Running-Elk, “that will be able to flush them out on the second drop schedule.” Star Captain Farda slowly asked: “Any idea who that unit is, sir? We have the militias and parts of the 1st Legion on the planet, but there was no other units in the Watch briefing.”
A sly smile crossed the red-headed Star Colonel face: “The Watch is not my source of intel on this one. The Burrocks told me there was movement on the Marik front. Tamarind and the Marian got into it a few years back, but they got really friendly with each other recently. All sorts of weapons sold left and right, and rumor that mercenaries would be on loan to the Hegemony. I suppose that this is what we will see once we are done with our objectives.” Uljin wanted a real fight, something he could sink his fangs in and come out covered in glory. The militia might not give that to him, but his pirate friends had given him something even the Galaxy Commander did not know. He hoped that this would be enough.
