Fragments Gallery
Reavers: Command
Freya paced in the portable command center that belonged to the defenders in the Reaver practice sessions. This was her fourth command to date, she hadn't lost one yet and she didn't plan to today. Of course she was nervous. She went over the plan in her mind again and once more found no flaw. This should work. Of course this time Vengeance had command of the Reavers, he wasn't one to trifle with. Not to mention he had both Sellsword and Renegade on his side. This fight promised to be a bit trickier, but it shouldn't be anything her team couldn't handle.
"Commander!" called out Sloth from his place at one of the control panels, "They're beginning their drop."
"Can someone confirm their drop pattern and target zone?" she responded as she stopped pacing and moved up to stand in front of a large screen in the center of the room. Currently the screen displayed a map of the area with markers indicating the locations of her troops. At the moment the blue dots were arrayed around the key defensive areas around several sectors where she assumed the Reavers would make their drop. If she were right and the mechs moved in where she thought they would this would be easy. If they dropped somewhere else… it would make things a bit harder.
"Looks like a Hunter drop pattern from the visuals Commander," called Seeker, "but they're jamming our signal so the computers can't give us a precise analysis, just like last time."
"Give me those visuals up here," said Freya gesturing to the screen, "We need to figure out where they're going."
"Onscreen now," called Nereid as video flickered up on the screen.
The video, originating from the helmet camera of one of her soldiers, flickered as the Reavers passed overhead. Something about the scene caught Freya's attention.
"Seeker, in the briefing you said there would be six total Reavers taking part in the practice today, is that right?"
"Yes Commander, the report we received from Stickler said we would be facing six Reavers with single pilots."
"Only five Reavers dropped in… where is the other one?" She turned to Scarecrow, another student soldier under her command, "Contact the squad leaders. I want that final Reaver found now."
"Yes Commander," said Scarecrow as he turned his attention to the screen in front of him.
"Now who can track those Reavers using their trajectory? Nereid? Good, get on that. I need to know where they're going."
Freya fidgeted for a moment before moving to the window. Somewhere out there Vengeance was beginning his play.
"Commander!" exclaimed Nereid, "From the trajectory they should be landing in sector eight or nine."
"Excellent!" Freya grinned, "I wasn't so far off after all. Pull sectors three to six off and move them to flank Vengeance before he gets too far. Also give the other Squad leaders the heads up that we'll see action soon. Also get a scout on them, they should start moving soon but we need to know their locations and if they separate. Scarecrow, any word on that last Reaver?"
"None of the squad leaders have heard anything Commander," replied Scarecrow, a frown covering his face, "It's odd, someone should have seen something."
"Thanks Scarecrow… it is odd," agreed Freya, "We'll worry about it later, for now just let the leaders know that we may have a rogue Reaver to worry about."
"Yes Commander."
Freya returned her attention to the window as she considered her next move. They'd landed in one of the sectors beside the one she had predicted, so close enough to not wreck her plans. Her prediction had been based off of the centrally located open terrain which offered little to no cover against the Reavers, so she had arrayed her forces around that area.
In order for Vengeance to beat her he had to either incapacitate all of her fighters in the field or he had to take the command center. So the easiest way for him to win would be for him to find the command center… as always. With that in mind she had moved command to sector twenty-two, a heavily wooded area to the far north of the drop zone she had predicted. After the move she had deployed most of her troops to the south of the predicted drop zone. She knew the Reavers would scan for movement on the drop, once they hit ground the computers would relay the information gathered to the pilots, and what the pilots would see were enemy soldiers deployed to the south. Of course the command center was shielded so it would not show up on the Reaver's sweep. It should look like her soldiers were protecting the command center… in the south.
"Commander, scouts have located the Reavers, they have all separated and are starting to sweep south," said Seeker, coming to stand by the window with Freya, "Our squads are also in place to flank them. What are our orders?"
"Let's get started then, continue with the plan we discussed earlier," Freya replied as she turned away from the window, "We've another fight to win.