Naero's War: The Citation Series 2: The High Crusade by Mason Elliott

on the Alpha Quadrant.
    Om cut in. Scanning and communications are greatly reduced, N. Fixer waves have spread out over this section of jungle and pursued the visual signs of enemy unit passage. Three Ejjai hunter-killer teams, thirty-five kilometers, heading in a northwest direction on these headings. Combat armor and energy weapons. They are also posting small pockets of troops around them in a defensive perimeter pattern. These small groups of Ejjai have cloaking tek after their own fashion.
    Most likely scout/sniper teams on the outer perimeter of their base, Om. Good work; you and the fixers have located the outskirts of their base.
    Naero notified her recon team. “If we pop them too soon, they won’t report in, and the enemy base or bases will know something’s wrong and have advance warning. The bulk of them might be able to slip away before we can wipe them all-out.”
    “Copy that,” Sergeant Valmont said. “So, we paint them on the combat grid map and bypass them. They’ll get theirs later from the other units, when the main show starts up.”
    “Leave no stone unpulverized,” Corporal Scott added. “Fox, Borelli–paint the enemy scouts and snipers with your fixers and relay their positions up the fixer chain that we established on the way in.”
    “Affirmative,” they both said.
    “Squad 2, move out,” Naero said over their close link. “We mark all of the enemy positions, numbers, and makeup on the way in. Watch for any additional secposts. Locate the primary targets, and paint them on the short combat grid.”
    Up close, on the ground, the Ejjai were easy to track. So what if scanners didn’t work?
    The slashers left a trail of death in their wake. They killed and ate anything that moved. Leftovers went into the spinning, processing blades of the meatships. No waste.
    The enemy kept their scouts and listening posts in concentric rings, two klicks apart. With the enemy on the move, the rings would fall back at times, following the path of death that the main camp carved through the jungle every day or two.
    In the event that one perimeter ring was attacked or did not report in on time, the entire battle group could alert the rest and close in for defense, or scatter in several directions to vanish and escape, and link up somewhere else at pre-arranged rally points.
    Bravo had seen this pattern of operation before, yet without coms and scans, the situation was that much more complicated.
    “Got a buried gravtank,” Pfc Steiner noted.
    “Ejjai gunship completely concealed up in a huge vine and tree complex,” Pfc Aztec noted. “The slashers exposed their position by dumping their waste down the trees, thinking no one would notice.”
    Pfc Konrad cut in. “Don’t let the slashers empty a latrine catch on you, kids. You’ll never get that stench out of your filters.”
    “Quiet, you goons,” Valmont ordered.
    Pfc Archer called out, “Two slasher listening post at these points, halfway up the leeward hillside among the rocks.”
    “Another three enemy sniper team, hidden in this group of trees, mark these points,” Jackson added.
    “Heads up,” Naero warned. “Our first forward infantry defensive line…complete with hardpoints and autogun emplacements. Enemy troops dug in. They must be protecting something further in.”
    “Copy that,” Sergeant Ramsey stated. “What are those positions, N? Say again?”
    “Here’s the feed again, Milt. Don’t blink next time. Off our two o’clock position, east by southeast. We’ve got vehicle movement and engine noise, half a klick in.”
    “Got it. Copy that,” Valmont said. “Let’s swing in and check it out. Stay on approach, just under the tree canopy, ten meters off the deck, rearward triangle assault pattern. Fifteen meters between fireteams. Team 2 take point behind our MCL. One left and three right. Everyone glacier in, quiet and cool.”
    Naero led them in, three hours before sunset, as they painted everything they could on the