| From: | "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Overhead Cover |
| Date: | Sun, 14 Dec 1997 01:56:56 +0000 |
>>>>>[I need to spend more time with this Shadowfox guy. He really knows
his stuff.
+++++begin trideo
Lynch enters the command APC at a run, seeing Lilith and Sasha standing
by the holomap. The radios are crackling on the external speakers, a
man's voice - breathless, scared, but not panicked.
"Beaver. I'm in the gully and heading north. Still hearing pursuit. You
mentioned backup?"
"Roger that, Beaver, just keep moving north and west away from the
road." Lilith replies, bringing up a detailed relief map of the area and
tracing the folds and ridges of the terrain. "You've got half a mile of
that to cover."
Two clicks in return. On the larger scale map, a small arrow marks the
downed pilot: a blue marker is closing in at over three hundred miles an
hour. Another is closer, but much slower.
"Jason, fire up the other terminal and talk Kitsune through to backup."
Lilith says without looking up. "Beaver took hits coming off target,
ejected when an engine caught fire. The Yemenis are searching for him,
one unit found him. Team Kitsune were closest, and they're half a mile
out now and closing fast. Spooky's working the area, breaking up the
patrols, but I've called them in on the Gomers closest to Beaver."
Lynch moves to the screens as she speaks, after a moment getting a
jumping, bouncing view from a helmet camera. A small group of soldiers,
moving along a ridge crest at breakneck speed.
"Kitsune, this is Psychopath. I have your signal, we have Spooky Two
inbound."
Two clicks in return, the running soldier not wasting breath on words.
Lynch pulls up the gunship's signal too.
"Wolf Den, this is Spooky Two, I have vehicles parked on the road. Two
trucks, two BTRs. Searching north and west.... I see running men on
foot. Heading northwest." The datalink engages and the smeary specks of
warmth are clear amidst the cold rock.
Lynch checks his displays. "Psycho. Confirm it's not Kitsune. They're
heading due east and they're a quarter-mile away.
"Leopard Lady." Lilith takes over the channel. "Beaver, drop smoke."
"Spooky Two, I have green smoke." The running camera picks up wisps of
emerald haze rising into the air ahead.
"Confirm... green." Beaver is gasping for breath and now he _does_ sound
terrified.
"Spooky Two, beginning our run." Faint smoke streaks lash down from the
sky: in Spooky's datalinked view, sparkling flashes mixed with larger
explosions walk along the gully, some of the running men falling.
Others merge onto Beaver. Two, three, half-a-dozen, surround him, if
only for safety from the orbiting death overhead. More are cut down as
they try.
Almost automatically, the frequency shifts to cut Beaver's emergency
radio out of the net.
"Lady, this is Spooky, they've got him. FUCK!" The gunship pilot's
frustration is tangible as the huddle move back along the gully. "Can we
take out their ride home? Snipe the bastards?"
"Negats, Spooky. Watch for reinforcements and kill any you see. Leave
the vehicles and Beaver alone." Lilith replies cooly.
Lynch keys his mike. "Kitsune, I put you almost on top of them. One
hundred ten yards at two nine five degrees."
"Roger that." a calm voice replies, breathless but confident - it sounds
like Shadowfox - and the group (four others, all carrying Alphas, all
dusty and tired-looking. slow to a walk, fanning out into a loose
diamond formation.
The leader moves up the slope, peers carefully over the top, sees the
tight group of Yemeni soldiers herding their prisoner along. "We have
seven Gomers with AKs. Scared, pretty raggedy-ass, ill-disciplined. We
can take them."
"Engage when ready." Lynch replies, as three others move up to join
Shadowfox: the last hanging behind, covering their backs against
unexpected visitors. A quiet exchange of hand signals passes between
them.
The Yemenis are nicely boxed in by the gully, and Team Kitsune shoulder
rifles and aim... after a long moment, all three open fire, fast aimed
single shots that knock the Yemenis flat within two seconds. At once two
are sprinting down, covered by the team leader: one Yemeni moans and
raises an arm, and gets a short burst in the chest for it. The pilot
picks himself up off the ground, looking bemused and delighted.
"We got Beaver back okay." Lynch says, as the Rebels grab the pilot in
question and rush him away. "Bounces back every time."
"Takes a licking and keeps on ticking... what is so funny?" Sasha asks,
genuinely puzzled, as Lynch and Lilith snort with laughter.
"It would take too long to explain." Lynch shakes his head.
"Psycho, this is Kitsune, Beaver is out and safe, all hostiles
neutralised. We'll RV at the vehicles and beat feet." Shadowfox says,
still unflappable.
+++++end trideo
After that they stole one of the BTRs and broke contact, leaving a
couple of dozen Yemenis milling around for Spooky to take out, and a
false trail pointing to a near-perfect ambush site which Akbar rushed a
platoon to. And Spooky slaughtered them too. Meanwhile Shadowfox and his
team beat feet back to their patrol area. Not sure what they're going to
do with Beaver, but as long as they don't kill and eat him we should be
okay.]<<<<<
-- Lynch <01:56:41/12-14-58>
