caught a hint of irritation in
his voice, ‘However, your OC demanded that drop troopers take part, and so
therefore I have had to alter my plan to accommodate you.’
I
didn’t know why Major Ruckheim and his conscripts didn’t fully appreciate our
presence. We had lost a life, but still we had come to help them. I decided to
cast the thought from my mind, remembering that I would be working closely with
them for the remainder of my time on New Earth.
‘Your
platoon will move out with our first platoon by Light Support Vehicle,’ the
major continued, ‘Once in location you are to provide protection to the south
and west. You will have LSVs assigned to you for the duration of the operation,
and so in the event of contact you are to act as a mobile reserve.’
The
boss nodded, ‘Understood,’ he said in German, ‘What are our air assets?’
‘No
change. Your dropships will remain nearby on call, and the two saucers will
remain in over watch. Between them and the orbital weapons platform we should
have a constant live feed from above of any developments within the city.
Electronic Warfare will also be looking out for any malicious data
communication and will attempt to block it if necessary.’
A
few troopers fidgeted nervously. ‘ Malicious data’ could turn our own
weapons against us, and had already cost one of their screws his life.
‘Where
will you be during this?’
‘I
will locate myself with first platoon,’ the major replied, ‘The main effort
lies with their target, which we believe to be a NELA commander, hence the
reason you have been tasked to provide them with protection, rather than the
platoon going to the second target. If the enemy respond to our activity, I
believe that it will be there.’
Johnno
raised an arm, ‘Who is the target? Have you got a description?’
The
major paused to read the translation on his datapad and finally shook his head,
‘No. The enemy net traffic is extremely sophisticated, so very little
information could be taken from it. We are lucky that we even have the
locations.’
‘Can’t
we just get the police to do the arrests?’
‘No,
the Nieuwe Poort police are not aware of this operation.’
‘Why
not?’
‘They
just aren’t.’
Johnno
nodded. Fair enough, I thought, we didn’t need to fully understand the
intelligence aspect of our operation, so long as it didn’t affect us on the
ground. All we needed to know was - there they are, so go get them .
‘Anything
else?’
Silence.
We were happy. The commanders quickly downloaded the target locations onto
their datapads and marked up their paper maps, and I did likewise. The map
contained within the datapad I wore on my wrist was better than anything that
could be printed onto paper, but it was vulnerable to hacking and could easily
be scrambled. We used both, and never relied solely upon one or the other.
‘Konny,
Andy,’ Johnno called us into a corner of the cave once we were finished, ‘What
was that all about earlier?’
Konny
shrugged.
‘It
was nothing,’ I said, ‘Just a misunderstanding.’
Johnno
shook his head, disappointed with us both, ‘Konny, everyone’s upset, mate, but
you need to pull yourself together. It’s not Andy’s fault that Gaz got it, and
we need him right now more than ever.’
He
looked to me, ‘And you need to calm down, mate, you’ve only just got here and
you’re already close to swinging punches. The blokes are scared as it is,
you’ll only make things worse.’
He
was right and I knew it, ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t
be sorry, Andy. Just think next time.’
‘We’re
squared, Johnno, mate,’ Konny said, ‘No dramas.’
Johnno
didn’t look entirely confident that the issue was resolved, but we didn’t have
the time, ‘Screw the nut, lads,’ he warned before calling out to the boss, ‘How
long have we got?’
‘One
minute,’ the platoon commander answered, ‘Get them upstairs again, kit on.’
There
was no rest for the
his voice, ‘However, your OC demanded that drop troopers take part, and so
therefore I have had to alter my plan to accommodate you.’
I
didn’t know why Major Ruckheim and his conscripts didn’t fully appreciate our
presence. We had lost a life, but still we had come to help them. I decided to
cast the thought from my mind, remembering that I would be working closely with
them for the remainder of my time on New Earth.
‘Your
platoon will move out with our first platoon by Light Support Vehicle,’ the
major continued, ‘Once in location you are to provide protection to the south
and west. You will have LSVs assigned to you for the duration of the operation,
and so in the event of contact you are to act as a mobile reserve.’
The
boss nodded, ‘Understood,’ he said in German, ‘What are our air assets?’
‘No
change. Your dropships will remain nearby on call, and the two saucers will
remain in over watch. Between them and the orbital weapons platform we should
have a constant live feed from above of any developments within the city.
Electronic Warfare will also be looking out for any malicious data
communication and will attempt to block it if necessary.’
A
few troopers fidgeted nervously. ‘ Malicious data’ could turn our own
weapons against us, and had already cost one of their screws his life.
‘Where
will you be during this?’
‘I
will locate myself with first platoon,’ the major replied, ‘The main effort
lies with their target, which we believe to be a NELA commander, hence the
reason you have been tasked to provide them with protection, rather than the
platoon going to the second target. If the enemy respond to our activity, I
believe that it will be there.’
Johnno
raised an arm, ‘Who is the target? Have you got a description?’
The
major paused to read the translation on his datapad and finally shook his head,
‘No. The enemy net traffic is extremely sophisticated, so very little
information could be taken from it. We are lucky that we even have the
locations.’
‘Can’t
we just get the police to do the arrests?’
‘No,
the Nieuwe Poort police are not aware of this operation.’
‘Why
not?’
‘They
just aren’t.’
Johnno
nodded. Fair enough, I thought, we didn’t need to fully understand the
intelligence aspect of our operation, so long as it didn’t affect us on the
ground. All we needed to know was - there they are, so go get them .
‘Anything
else?’
Silence.
We were happy. The commanders quickly downloaded the target locations onto
their datapads and marked up their paper maps, and I did likewise. The map
contained within the datapad I wore on my wrist was better than anything that
could be printed onto paper, but it was vulnerable to hacking and could easily
be scrambled. We used both, and never relied solely upon one or the other.
‘Konny,
Andy,’ Johnno called us into a corner of the cave once we were finished, ‘What
was that all about earlier?’
Konny
shrugged.
‘It
was nothing,’ I said, ‘Just a misunderstanding.’
Johnno
shook his head, disappointed with us both, ‘Konny, everyone’s upset, mate, but
you need to pull yourself together. It’s not Andy’s fault that Gaz got it, and
we need him right now more than ever.’
He
looked to me, ‘And you need to calm down, mate, you’ve only just got here and
you’re already close to swinging punches. The blokes are scared as it is,
you’ll only make things worse.’
He
was right and I knew it, ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t
be sorry, Andy. Just think next time.’
‘We’re
squared, Johnno, mate,’ Konny said, ‘No dramas.’
Johnno
didn’t look entirely confident that the issue was resolved, but we didn’t have
the time, ‘Screw the nut, lads,’ he warned before calling out to the boss, ‘How
long have we got?’
‘One
minute,’ the platoon commander answered, ‘Get them upstairs again, kit on.’
There
was no rest for the
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