Síkság Province, Grid reference X445Y006

Falu Lapos Hegyi/Yeti Village.

Headquarters “B” Company 221st Combat Engineers.

Second Day of Ourtai Offensive

13:00 PM

Jemadar Praeg Twearii stood just shy of two meters tall. His nickname given to him by his troops was, 'The Bull.' His Shikari uniform was fairly bulging with muscles and it was with great difficulty he folded himself down into a standard Hegemonic Army camp stool.

Captain Tamari Kapoor had signaled a mid day break from her commanders meeting. She eyed him warily as he came in with two heaping plates of Goat stew and rice on mess tins. Watching him balance the two plates while folding himself onto the top of the narrow stool was in her mind almost worth the price of admission. Like most Shikari he had a mustache. Unlike most Shikari, he was almost a symbiotic creature in and of itself; His mustache looked like the horns of a buffalo waxed and shiny.

“Got to admit, it is sort of funny to see his mustache quiver in frustration like that.” She thought to herself as she tried to hide her amusement behind a sheaf of papers with inventories from the LST.

“It's got to be hard.”

Tamari almost missed what the good looking Jemadar with the Buffalo Horn mustache said.

“Excuse me. What's hard?”

“Riding herd on a bunch of bandicoots, bushwhackers, box wallah trolls, and upstanding and honorable Infantrymen.”

Tamari stared for a long couple of moments to see if he was serious. Praeg held her eyes as long as he could before he started chuckling under his breath.

Smiling her best smile, which was something she normally didn't do for anyone, “Like herding Cloud Tigers.”

Holding out a tin plate full of stew, “Here ma'am. I brought this for you. The folks over in supply told me they were fresh out of Nan, so we are going to have to chew our goat stew without.”

Taking her plate, she looked around quizzically for something to use for utensils.

“Oh! Here you go. One Hegemonic Army Issue Spoon, Infantry type one each. Next to our weapon you will never catch a Shikari Infantryman without one.” Praeg said, handing over one obviously well used but clean metal spoon.

She thanked him and took a bite of her meal. “Not bad. But after being with the Mongoose Battalion, if it isn't dripping in Ravi's Tears Hot Sauce, everything has sort of gone flat and bland.”

“Good thing I brought this little bottle with me. I have a hunter with me from Kamorta Island. Grows the hottest peppers in the 27th. Try a little dab or two on your mummified goat.”

Tamari took the offered little bottle with no label, opened it up and sprinkled a few drops over her meal. She took a bite, and within a microsecond her sinuses dilated open, dumping all the residual road dust from her trek day before.

It was all she could do to mutter,“Goddess!” while she was busy sneezing and wiping her nose. Uncharacteristically she found herself smiling at the large man sitting in front of her.

“Damn and blast! I can't be thinking these kinds of thoughts! I don't have time for this school girl kind of silliness...”

“Sita! Sita!”

“Yes Captain?” Sita replied with her patented grin fully in place, especially seeing the handsome Shikari doing everything he could to be on his best behavior.

“Would you be kind enough to bring us some of your world famous Engineering Chaa?”

Sita’s eyes lit up. “I was just making a brew. I’ll bring it out in a moment.”

Tamair eyed the handsome Shikari. “Oh! You are in for a treat. Her Chaa is known on several campaigns and is famous all throughout the Southern Garrisons.”

Luckily for Tamari, Gunny Sgt Chavram interrupted her meandering romantic thoughts.

“Maam, The power suit MI Wallahs are loaded up and are about to head out. We loaded as much ordinance as humanly possible in Sgt Nanadar’s ‘Farmer’s Daughter’ AFV as well. If she burps wrong or Goddess forbid farts, she and her crew will be orbiting the moon. Hebbar confirmed their mission parameters and we’ll have the rest of the teams meet up with Nandar tomorrow.”

“What in the innumerable hells is this stuff!” The handsome Jemadar shouted holding his cup of Chaa at arm's length like one would a Scorpion they found in the cuff of their pant leg.

“Engineering Chaa. We drink it all the time.” Tamari smiled sweetly at her Shikari Infantry commander, as she braced herself for the throat choking, heart attack special headed down to her tonsils. “It’s quite refreshing. But then again this is the weak stuff we brew up in the field. Can I have some more of that hot sauce?”

*****

Síkság Province, Grid reference X445Y006

Falu Lapos Hegyi/Yeti Village.

Headquarters “B” Company 221st Combat Engineers.

17:30 PM

Scrolling through her combat slate, Tamari reviewed her options and plans: Mortars-In final installation-Complete; Redoubts and Ravelin positions-Complete. Trenches and Sangars-Final stages of trenches being installed. Sangars completed in the morning. Communication lines-Ninety percent complete. Final comms check in two hours. AFV load out and Pre Combat Inspections for engineering/scout mission -Complete. (Awaiting Nautical night to roll out.) Sandbag machine & crew working-Complete.

“What am I missing that’s probably obvious?” Tamari started scrolling through inventory and equipment logs, looking for one more thing to add to the mix that might help her command survive a battle.

A small Yeti boy probably five years old ran into the Hetman's hall which had been converted to the Headquarters of the defense of Table Top Village and the LTF below. He had been running so hard his breath was high and hard in his throat making it difficult for him to speak, “Gyere muszáj! Gyere kérlek! Nagy nő küldött.” He said with his hand held high above his head with the palm facing down.

“What? What did he just say?” Tamari Kapoor asked her adopted family member and self assigned Yeti aide Maja-Kapoor. As the small child ran up and grabbed her arm and began tugging her towards the front door.

Maja-Kapoor replied, gathering up her newly acquired rifle, “He said, the big woman wants you to come. Come please. Big woman! I think he means Chief Warrant Officer Hebbar sent him.”

Hearing the name of their MI Chief the boy repeated over and over “Hebbar! Hebbar!”

Quickly Captain Tamari Kapoor, Maja-Kapoor and Sergeant Sita Chambial who was acting as her day shift bodyguard moved quickly towards the down slope Yeti home the MI detachment were using as their communications and the Fire Direction Command center for the few indirect weapons being rapidly emplaced throughout the village.

Two minutes later the trio of adults arrived at the FDC. With Tamari asking what the emergency was.

Hebbar drawled out, “We have multiple issues you need to know about to make an informed decision. First, we heard from the scouting party we sent out at 13:00. They have been establishing a LOS communication system along their axis of travel. Seems our ORM fellows have been busy. So sit down and look at the screen and you can see excerpts of what they have found.” Chief Hebbar said, as she pointed to a chair being vacated by one of her Technicians.

The Chief reached over and hit a button on the keyboard in front of Tamari. Pixelated and twitchy images sprang to life showing vast stretches of grass.

“What am I looking at Chief?”

“Footage from the small number of Dragonfly drones the LTF had in its inventory. Don't worry it gets better when they land and stop.”

A couple of micro-seconds later, the drones alighted on a large stalk of grass and the orientation of the view shifted to looking east along Highway One. There, using both sets of lanes, marching twenty soldiers wide was a sizable Atlantean group out in the open.

“By the Tiger's Balls of Durga they are bold bastards! Gods and Goddesses! I only wish I had access to a battery of 205mm! Or at the very least an air strike package of heavy movers.”

“Yes ma'am. The former SF soldier in me is just screaming for artillery.”

“Got any guesses on how many and how far away they are?

“If they are not diverted off the highway then they are a day and half away. And we guess there are over two thousand combat troops. But not too many support personnel. Notice how heavily laden down by their backpacks? And the fact they are pulling rubber tired wagons loaded with ammunition and we think rations? We are SWAGging it here (Scientific Wild Ass Guess Method) but it looks like they are carrying forty five to fifty kilo packs. That is a lot of weight to put on a soldier's back. Even if they are in good shape. Which also explains why they are sticking to the highway. They should be able to make 25 kilometers a day without killing their troops over the road, cross country? Maybe half of that.”

“Any estimation on how far they are from us?”

“As of this recording they were forty Kilometers out. Funny you should ask that...”

The drone feed rotated further to the right and perched atop a road marker sign sat another dragonfly drone. Tamari could read 45 Kilometers printed in reflective paint on the stone plinth.

“Any ideas on how to get them off the road?”

“Oh yeah your EOD technician Sergeant Nandar sent in a Situation Report, a few moments before I sent Muki to find you.” Punching another button, a new set of images loaded showing the ever cigar chomping NCO with her three assistants carrying what looked to be stacks and stacks of cafeteria food trays. As they walked along the road her assistants set them on the ground in a checkerboard fashion.

“It looks like they have emplaced at least two hundred of the damn things. What is she doing?”

“It was an old idea I heard of when the Atlanteans moved in during the Harran emergency. The students in the uprising didn't have mines to stop the Atlantean T-90 Tanks. So they stole the Cafeteria food trays, and placed them on the road in front of their advance. Of course they booby trapped a few with grenades. Took the Atlanteans hours and hours to clear their axis of advance.”

“So...”

“As you know that evil bitch you sent down the road was practically sitting on enough mines to levitate her engineering vehicle to the moon. She looks like she is placing enough anti-personnel and vehicular mines to stop a herd of Hathi in their tracks. Only I think she's mining the odd tray. Very random placement of her favorite 'goodies'.” Chief Warrant Officer Hebbar grinned from ear to ear in admiration of the devious nature of Tamari's EOD Tech Sergeant.

“Why is there no audio?”

“Because even audio vibrations can be hacked by a good enough intercept team. Takes them longer to decode the pulses in our laser system. Text is just another version of image. So we are keeping radio silence so to speak. And for the same reason we don't want the Atlanteans reading our mail here.”

The camera angle spun around one more time back down the road the scouting mission had come from. Just in time to see both former MI Shikari Security Vehicles with their dual 14mm heavy machine guns begin firing over the top of the EOD team and down range into the grass on either side of the highway.

“Apparently the Atlanteans have their scouts out as well. They are using those one man hover sleds to skim over the top of the grass. They move too fast to be accurate but they usually have Wasp drones on board to catch what the human might miss. So I expect Sergeant Nandar's time at the kill zone is about up.”

“Let me get this straight. If I understand you properly, we are looking at roughly a day, maybe a little more from having what looks to be two, maybe three Imperial Lances march into our Area of Operation?”

“Yes ma'am. That about sums it up. With one exception. I know for a fact they are going to head straight to this place.”

With her right eyebrow bending in an arch, Tamari Kapoor turned away from the monitor and looked her Military Intelligence Officer in the face, “Oh and how do you know that for a fact?”

Pointing to a set of Atlantean made field radios, which were sitting on a shelf obviously on with their dials illuminated in an off blue color. “Because of them. We cracked the signal code on their radios. Part of the document haul we gathered from those Atlanteans you were so thoughtful to put a stream of bullets into carried their code and change of frequency books. We have been reading their mail as it were.”

“OK. Good karma coming our way. But how do you know for a fact they are coming this way?”

“Because they have an agent or agents down at the 'Curry House of Horror' below us. And they sent out a coded message about thirty minutes ago, which we were able to decode. The message said, 'One Captain Tamari Kapoor' was now at the LTF, that's how!”

Winds of rage and icy fear ran up and down Tamari's spine. For a microsecond it felt like fear was going to win. “For the love of all things sacred. Why am I continually being hunted?” Tamari wailed silently inside, but then a blast furnace of anger, anger from her heart and from the core of her soul flared brighter than a gas fire atop a refinery cracking tower.

“Those fuzzy faced, chicken humping bastards! I'll crucify the lot of em! I'll...”

“Don't worry ma'am. I kept two of my powered Shikaris behind for security reasons. I sent the cousins Sanjit down there along with a squad of Infantry Jemadar Tewari provided along with one of my interrogators.

As if on cue a burst from a large caliber machine gun could be heard echoing from the curry house below the edge of the village. “Ah that would be them. I told them to make an entrance and make it noticeable.”

Another burst of noise, followed by several sharp barking explosions. “And that I think will be the end of that.” Chief Warrant Officer Hebbar said as she cocked her head to one side like a large lethal hunting hound listening to the sounds of her pack as it took its prey down.

*****

The scary little Havildar with the bristling mustache and swagger stick, looked at his six Sepoys standing outside the 'Curry Shack' where two Powered Suit Shikari MI security types had just dragged three bodies out to lay them in front of the gas pumps leaving behind three bloody trails leading back into the interior of the restaurant.

“I never liked em. World comes crashing to an end. Pictures of dead people, units being attacked, civilians murdered and even the odd ORM sniping. Not once did they beat feet up the hill and ask for protection! And that was the worst Reoti accent I have ever heard. No wonder everyone from the LTF got sick. Assholes have been deliberately poisoning us. Serves em right.”

“Boys get me three poles, communication wire and find me paper to write on. Now hop to it damn it! Or I swear by the third eye of Shiva as my witness I will have you all doing double time up and down the LTF all fucking all day and night in full kit!”

The Shikari powered suits had built in sensor pods, which had recorded the incident. Two men and one woman had reached for Atlantean 8mm burp guns hidden under the counter tops. This action had been relayed to Chief Warrant Officer Hebbar and Captain Kapoor as the video feed showed their demise.

Havildar Hal walked over to one of the imposing two meter tall suits and whacked one in the guts with his swagger stick. “Hey you inside the tin can! Can you understand the words coming out of my mouth? I want you to relay a message for me with your suit sensors to the Captain?”

Shikari Sanjit #1 turned to look at the attack dog of a man and nodded his head, using his tongue switch turned on his external speakers. “Yes Havildar I can.”

“Good! Turn it on and so I can talk to them.”

A sensor mast unfolded from behind the suit's back and like a thin insect wing with a round bulbous pod attached, swiveled around to look at the NCO.

“They can see me?”

“Captain Tamari Kapoor's voice echoed loudly from the external speakers, “Yes Havildar Hal I can see you.”

“Right this is about to get personal ma'am. Can you see these worthless sacks of leaking protoplasm? They are dead. I want permission to use them as a warning for anyone who comes this way.”

Tamari could see Sepoys running on the double with several wooden poles in their hands. She instantly knew what the Havildar wanted to do. Her conscience twinged for about a nano-second. Then she remembered the truck with her adopted Yeti-Kapoor clansmen taking a RPG to the cab.

“Go for it. Screw with the Mongoose you sometimes get a pole shoved up your ass!”

For the first time she saw the Havildar smile from ear to ear. It was frightening. “My thoughts exactly Ma’am!”