Ch. 6 Dark Heart of the Swamp

[Tori]

"Let's see what he's got," Tori said to Sneaker with a nod. "We could use a lil non-conventional firepower out here."

Janxi's counter-suggestion intrigued the little cat. She nodded in approval. "Yeah, that makes more sense than riskin' aviators when we don't know what's out here wif us. Though one thing I'd add is an Eagle drone comin' in close behind the strike for extra intel and target damage assessment.

"Look Six, I ain't no rat expert, but if I was their skipper, here's how I'd do things... One, their scouts ain't reportin' back, so their skipper's gonna reckon we're wise to 'em. He'll strike the camp with the maximum force he thinks he needs to easily overwhelm whatever Tim's got, and I ain't sure exactly what that is cuz ain't no one told me. The rats'll move quick, cuz their skipper knows he ain't got the element of surprise no more, and will wanna catch us before we 'vacuate or set up a good de-fence.

"Them outlying homes, he ain't gonna send his main force for them, cuz it'll take too much time. I'm expectin' maybe a squad per sturcture, or maybe one to do 'em all. He needs most of his force to hit Tim's camp, and won't wanna waste no time on a detour.

"Last, rats do one thing above all, and that means a lot of females are going to be left behind with litters. They'll need guarding, and someone to provide food for them and juveniles. He'll have to split his force and leave near half or more behind to guard and gather. If we could hit them back there, it would slow down the main force. They'd have to double back n' defend the nest, provide care for survivors, and find new shelter. With the high water table and the storm a few days ago, they can't dig down, and any structures are gon be made outta wood, and minimally reinforced. Ideal tangos (targets) for plasma strikes.

"What I'm sayin' is along with Janx's plan. We evac the outlying houses and take out their S&D teams. A second team finds their main camp and coordinates that missile strike. Tim gets his people outta Dodge, and leaves behind some knock-knock jokes to slow the rats down. When they double back to their main camp, we could even launch another airstrike, or we could coordinate additional strikes, if possible, or harass if they decide to press on to the Marlin camp. Whatever happens, we're two moves ahead of the rats, and the swamp becomes a right inhospitable place for the whole foxin' rodent tribe."

[Janxi]

"Six? If manpower is an issue, I recon our team could take down the teams hittin' the outlying settlements en route to finding and lasing the rodent nest..." Janxi pulled off her own helmet and helped herself to some of Tori's catnip after stealing it from a pocket on her LBG, then passed it back after putting a dip under her lip.

"That'd mean Tim's team could concentrate on evac-ing the civvies."

[dakota]

" The missile strike might be the best idea, but I'm not sure about anyone hanging around to lase the horde. The locals know the swamps better, so maybe if we just slow them, we can outrun them and save the air strike for a last resort," Tim said," but the outlying settlements don't know whats coming."

Shep cleared the throat," Bosslady, I'm game for stickin' it to the rat's nest like Janxi says. Let's grab this Zapper and beat feet. We're burning daylight here." He pulled off a side satchel from his pack and tossed it to Tori, the top popping open to reveal fusion blocks and det sticks as it landed in her arms," Don't blow yourself up setting those, I'll set the rest."

Tim looked at Nike, " Martin is helping Rex get some of the others defenses rigged on the other side of the village. Can you round him up for Sam?"


* * * * * *

"Rooks rike rust a rarrel ro re." Rex said with a shrug as he finished arming the tripwire connected to the steel drum. What the rats wouldn't know is that the rusted drum was full of nails, jagged metal and glass that had been collected and sealed in before the explosives were attached.

The dog boy looked at Martin," Rood ring ro one relse rout rere, ris ronna rurt!" The Rottie dogboy grined," Rhree rore rand ris rides rone."

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Let's just hope the time-delay on the fuse works right." Martin sighed. That was the worst part about IEDs like these. They explode everywhere, but you can't set up barriers because it reroutes traffic. Best way to work is to have traffice all around them.

Then, he grinned. "Too bad they didn't take me up on my suggestion of cheese. Hard, pointy, stale cheese. Something about it not being something the rats would understand."

He hefted the remaining tripwire. "Same set up as the last one." He said, pointing out where it would be.

"I'll help with the barrels in a second." He added, as he layed the cord out to the new locations.

[Tori]

"Thanks fer sharin' yer fireworks," Tori said. "Me and Janx'll get good effect and shove em up the rats asses if we can, but right now, I got one more important thing I gotta do. I reckon wif Santiago stayin' behind, I'm team corpsman (medic). An' right now, I got TWO patients.

"Janx, I reckon Shep's meds are workin' cuz yew ain't mewin like a slut no more, but ya better sound off if ya got any side e-fects. We ain't got time for me to be dis-kreet, so sorry iffen, yer shy. Any headaches, moodiness, bleedin' spottin' or crampin?

"An' yew, Shep. Yer gettin an exam right foxin' now or so help me I'll declare you mission incapable an' unfit fer duty. As team medic, that's my call, not Six's. It's gon take all of a minute, so you ain't got that excuse. Siddown and remove yer helmet, or yer gettin evaced with Tim's pogues and civvies. That's an order, uh sir."

Assuming Shep complies, Tori would conduct a very brief, but shockingly gentle exam, checking the wound site where Autumn conducted the psychic surgery, taking Shep's temperature and measuring his pulse rate and blood pressure. She looked down his throat and in his ears and nose. "Any pains or headaches? If so, where is it on a scale of 1-10 and where? Yew still on pain meds? If so, what kind, how many and how often? Any feelin's of weakness, diziness or fatigue? You noticed any blood or other discharge around yer wound? Any blood or unusual color in yer urine or stool?" She was being thorough, but didn't mind embarrassing Shep either with some personal questions. Still, she was as gentle as could be with the XO and her partner in crime, and was interested in their continued wellness. Other than a little delight in personal questions, the little shagcat had an extraordinary bedside manner, and showed a new side. She genuinely cared everyone could not just perform their duties, but tried to ensure all felt well physically and mentally.

If Shep had a low grade fever he would get a light, broad spectrum anti-biotic. Mild pains, he'd get a fairly mild painkiller, maybe some acetomenophen plus codine. If the wound site showed any signs of redness, infection or swelling, he'd get an anti-biotic shot. Assuming no high fever, cardiac arrhythmia, problems with blood pressure, drugs or with the wound site with a severe infection, Tori would sign him off.

"Alright, if we neck deep in rat shit then, I'll check ya out again in two days. Stay hydrated with clean water, and if you have any problems, don't be a tough guy. Sing out and I'll treat ya in the field to keep ya as mission ready as I can. Any fatigue, ask for a break. Better to take 5 in the field to catch yer breath, then drop and force the rest of us to hump yew along on a litter til we end up back in tha real world."

She looked at everyone else. "The rest of ya got any medical problems? Out here in the ass-water, remember, even a paper cut or a blister can get a nasty infection, so don't be shy. Anyone feeling tired, feverish? Unexplained aches, pains or chills? Open wounds? Stomach cramps? Trench foot? Anyone got the runs or constipated? Alright. Keep yer hard covers on to keep bugs off of ya or use mosquito netting with sof' covers. Make sure ye're all well hydrated with safe water. An' all looks five-by-five. I think we're ready to get oscar mike."

Tori divvied up the explosives with Janxi, taking a little delight at embarrassing the big cat with medical questions. Then, she looked over to Six.

"Alright, sick call's over, and all's well. Six? I concur with Tim, I reckon we oughta warn and defend the outlying hooches, then infiltrate and demolish tha enemy encampment. Assuming no one else gots nothin' for sick call, medically, we're five by five, and yer shagcat element? We're chompin at tha bit to kill us some rats. Hooya, Janxi?" She said the battle cry at a conversational tone. CS servicemen used their branch's war cry at times to make a statement an interrogative, sort of like how those in Iron Heart used "Eh," for the same purpose.

"I recommend Eve, if possible, to beat it to the outlying hooches, then we better hump it on the ingress to the rat nest, sir. Team's ready. Say the word, Sir."

First aid: [dice=100]needs a 65 (general diagnosis and treatment)
Paramedic, if needed [dice=100] needs 30 (advanced treatment)[rand=11905921124206031029919239661828196598297740061961752686795055745]

[Janxi]

Janxi purred as Tori shared explosives, but her ears quickly flattened and her tail swished in annoyance as Nurse Tori took charge. She listened to the little cat's inquisition, and while she knew her partner was right to check, she still hated personal questions.

"No, T-Bag, I'm five-by-five," she said frostily. "As for other symptoms, nuttin' a combat jack wouldn't cure..." Her tail swished a little quicker from side to side, but she got over it quickly enough as she listened to T's interrogation of Shep. At least she was equal opportunity with her humiliation.

Lil Cat's talk moved from gynecology to raiding. Janxi's ears plucked up. "Yeah, take down the raid to the outliers, then move on to schwack the rat nest. And ooh-rah, T. I'm down with smokin' some rats. Concur with Doc Shagcat. Boat to the outside, then hump to ratcamp. And I'm bettin' five cans of nip, right foxin' now, that I smoke more rats than Tori. You gonna call it for us, Shep?"

[lwcoyote]

Nike nods to Tim, and moves off towards the other side of the village, keeping her weapon on hand; never know when the rats might show up afterall! As she jogs, the mutant coyote eyes the village that had become home, feeling a little regretful that it was being abandoned.

[dakota]

" I'm fine." Shep grumbled to Tori," Santiago patched me up good. Haven't taken anything except for the headaches you and Janxi give me," he smirked. " Not sure about a counter offensive. I'm all for taking risks, but this is different. We're talking over 100 to 1 if we're lucky. Mebbe if we had a squad of Hellfires to rip things up. Bosslady has last say though."

* * * * *

" Re rot ro reese. Rids rate rit rall roo reeks rago." Rex replied as he prepped the next barrel. " Ru roh, rear rums Rikey." He pointed at the coyote dog boy.

Nike found Martin and Rex easily by following the big dog boys scent, and saw them setting the perimeter antipersonnel IEDs Tim had schemed up if they ever had to pull out.

[Tori]

"Sorry Shep. That ain't gonna do. Yer gettin a check-up or I'll sedate ya and leave ya behind. Six kin shoot me or court martial me later, and I'll live wif it. It ain't personal, and it ain't due to no lack of trust. But looky here. You got checked out and certified by docs who missed yer shrapnel, blood loss an' yer infection. If we didn't have Autumn, you'd be buried in this here swamp. But we ain't got Autumn no more, so if ya get real bad again, well, I cain't do what she done. She done a right good job on you, but this here's some rough country. I wanna make sure that ain't gonna happen again.

"Yew know as well as I do that regs say team corpsman's got discretion on healf 'n safety, and this here's healf 'n safety. Meanin', wif all due respek, if you don't submit to yer exam right now, I could put ya on report back at Pinnacle. Now I ain't gon' do that, cuz you're gon' realize a minute of your time to ensure yer healf' is a lot better than fallin' down sick wif a fever when we gots 100 rats fer every one of us runnin' us down from our six. You sabby?"

Tori's ears perked and her tail and whiskers switched. "Six, yew kin stand me down on lotsa stuff, but this one I'm right firm on. And yew know it too. Do tha right thing fer Shep and do tha right thing fer yer team. It's yer life too I'm lookin' out fer, too."

She looked back over at Shep and proceeded with the exam, if permitted. "I've been thinkin' 'bout them odds, too, and I think I got somefin we kin use. Listen up... Rats are nocturnal and notoriously lazy, shiftless and good fer nuttin. If we locate their nest during the day, guards will be posted, but will probably be snoozin', eatin, shootin' dice and doin' anythin' but guardin. The rest'll be snoozin'. I think me and Janx kin git down and plant tha explosives on a timer, and get out while avoidin' detection. You, Sneaker and Capt'n Sam can provide sniper cover wif lasers. They got good range and them rats won't hear a shot to alarm 'em.

"But I'm puttin the cart b'fore the horse again. On Six's order, I reckon we outta save them people and ambush tha rats raiden' them." Her gaze again fell on Sam for further instructions or authorization to proceed with the plan.

[Renekin Skywalker]

(Ri rererve rat reast ra rorp'ral ror runderranding Rex...)

"Yeah. See, that' the kind of detail people neglect. Eat all the cheese, and you can't use it as an offensive weapon." Martin replied.

He turned for a second, to see Nike, then returned his attention to not blowing them up by accident. "Nike." he called out, knowing she could hear him. "Did Tim send you to help us finish up? Are we on that short a schedule?"

[Janxi]

Janxi almost got on Tori for riding shep about his health, but realized she was probably right. Losing Shep again at the critical part of the mission would be a disaster. She turned instead to Tim.

"Look, uh, sir. I donno yer rank er nuttin, so I'm jus gon keep callin ya Tim. I really appreciate them fireworks, but I gots one more thing I'm gon ask fer. These here rats ain't got much armor, so stuff like lasers is overkill. You got some extry personal-scale weapons like shotguns, rifles or SMG's? Tha'd help us save some e-clips. If ya got some e-clips yew kin spare, or charge ours, I reckon we could use 'em."

The big cat removed the current e-clip from her rifle and replaced it with a fresh one. Her supply was beginning to dwindle. Stretching it with SDC weapons or adding a few more would not be a bad idea, especially if Shep was right, and this was going to be a 100:1 battle.

[Mierin]

Sam shakes her head at the situation in general. "Shep, shut up and let Tori examine you. The faster it's done, the faster we can get moving." Sam's tone of voice is calm, but it's clear she won't hear any arguments from Shep on the matter.

Sam pauses and says, "Let's start the evacuation ASAP. I think an ambush is too risky right now, especially if we are outnumber 100 to 1. We need to focus on getting the people out."

[dakota]

" It's Captain Fraser, but you already have one of those, so Tim is fine." Sam's brother replied. " They'll have armor when they come. We've seen this before, the sappers ditch most of their gear to get in close, including armor, so they can move quickly. Take your Eclips to that shed over there," he pointed to a makeshift building not much bigger than an outhouse with a chain saw handle built onto the side," there's a makeshift eclip charger inside The old saw on the outside turns the crank on the generator to charge the units batteries. When the light turns green, they're fully charged. Afraid what weapons we have are distributed, that's why we keep what we take in skirmishes."

Shep looked at Sam with a scowl, then walked aside a bit and sat on his helmet so he was low enough for Tori, " Come on furball, squish the melon so we can get moving." He sputtered. " And you can put me on report. I've re-upped twice, you think that's much of a threat, Tori?"

[lwcoyote]

Nike raises her hand, offering a half-wave to Martin. "Very short.. rats will be here right soon." she barks out. Picking up the pace a little, she makes her way over to where he and the others are. "There seems to be a lot of discussion about what we're doing, so I dunno what the plan is yet exactly. Are you ready to bug out?"

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Just this one and the other to place. Rex, we'll need to double-time it." Martin says.

Holding out the bundle of trip-wire, he says, "Nike, can you lay out the trip wire for this barrel? I'm going to help Rex move that last two. When they're moved, put out wires for them. I'll come back and rig them up. Sound good?"