Commander's office, House Davion Expeditionary Force company camp

"Captain Farrar! Lieutenant Hammond is back, sir, and Speyer's Hunchback's
with her, but they've both been shot up."

"Not good news, I expect, with the no-go order from their sector. Send her
in as soon as she's out of her 'Mech, if the medics will let her loose."


"Ruth. I'm guessing it didn't go so well - we knew you were falling
back. Tell me about it."

"Yes, Captain. We didn't see anything until we got near the target area,
but there was a Lance there already - "

"Who from?"

"Not really a Lance, actually. Two snakes, and two from some random
bandit outfit - no markings, but they had the same IFF. Each of 'em
had a Spider and a Valkyrie."

"Bloody hell, intel said 'two fifty-fives, Captain Farrar, and Kurita
definitely not hooked up with the local scum yet', and we get four
lights. They must've planned this out, too, there's no way they just
happened to turn up with the same 'Mechs. And a Hunchback's about as
much use against those four as a bloody JagerMech. I've half a mind to
take Starfist over to battalion HQ and stomp on their bloody shiny
staff cars."

"And get nerfed back to Lieutenant again... sir?"

"Yes, _thank_ you, Ruth. It was only a little bloody motorcycle that
time, and it's not like bloody Steiner military observers paint theirs
any bloody different. I'd have you on coolant duty for insubordination
and getting your nice shiny Crusader scratched if it weren't for that
little scrape on Epsilon Seven. Anyway, what happened?"

"At first they seemed pretty keen to play gunnery duel with the LRMs.
Those things are pretty fast, but I managed to get a hit on the bandit
Spider - guess he misjudged a jump and let me catch him in the open -
and some hits on the bandit Valkyrie. The snakes were playing it pretty
tight, staying back, letting the bandits take the hits, but I was still
giving as good as I got until one lousy missile hits me in the chest and
that FEED JAM light comes on. Far as I can make out, armour spalled off
on the inside and it severed the lines."

"Doesn't anything work around here? At least maybe the bandits'll think
twice about being Kurita's meatshield another time. What's Speyer doing
during this?"

"He's trotting around looking menacing with that big gun of his, but of
course they're just firing at me. I manage to blow an arm off the bandit
Valk, but it's the wrong one, and they hit me hard enough to knock me
off my feet, and then of course the Spiders close in, and one of 'em
gets behind Speyer and manages to score a head hit, so he's pretty
rattled - he's off getting a cut or two taped up."

"That where you got those bruises?"

"Yeah. Took the breath out of me, too, and the Spiders were one move
ahead of us after that. I was thinking about what you were saying about
having a long campaign ahead of us, and figured we'd better bug out."

"All right, Ruth. I can't pretend I'm overcome with joy, but you had the
wrong 'Mechs for the opposition, and I'm glad to see you back with both
'Mechs in pretty good shape. Think we've got spares for the LRM, too,
and HQ's got some sort of bloody crazy plan for giving the snakes a bad
day. Get me your written report, you know the deal - dismissed."

"Yes, Captain."