reassigned to this base to help the group here,” I reply.
“What about travel and leave time? Will we be allowed to leave?” the soldier queries.
“That will be up to the commander here. We don’t have much time remaining until the fuel goes bad, so I can’t imagine you’ll get the chance to travel far. Unfortunately, what you see is kind of what you get,” I answer. “Any other questions?”
No one else raises their hand, although there is a bit of low murmuring as they talk amongst themselves. “Okay, if there’s nothing else, I’ll leave you to offload the 130. You can store and break down the equipment in the hangar here. Blue Team,” I say, introducing each member, “will be in charge. We’ll reassemble once we have a plan in place.”
Departing with Robert, Bri, Gonzalez, and Horace, we adjourn back to the room. Spreading the atlas and ground chart on the table, I mark the location where we found the marauders and detail the routes where we found the fresh tracks.
“Okay, let’s start this off. First, the number of vehicles in the lot indicate that there are potentially way more than the fifty that Jason mentioned. I would guess their numbers to actually be closer to a hundred. There could be more or less, as we didn’t see a single person, but we’ll assume that we are going into this outnumbered. Even though I’m sure we are better trained, that pretty much leaves out a direct assault. From what Jason said, we will also have to go with the assumption that we are both equally armed. With that in mind, I’m open to ideas,” I brief.
“We could set up an ambush or hit them at the building when they leave,” Horace suggests.
“If we set up either option, it seems to me that we’ll be out in the open with no exit. With an ambush, whether on the road or at the facility, we’ll have to leave any vehicles behind and proceed into position on foot. They’ll have vehicles that could outmaneuver us. Our asses will be hanging in the breeze,” Gonzalez responds. “And, they’ll see us coming a mile away, even if they don’t have spotters stationed around the area.”
“Sir, we could just forgo an attack and use the soldiers as protection for the people heading out to the farms. Seeing fifty armed soldiers would certainly cause them to hesitate,” Horace adds.
“I’m not arguing with that solution, but it seems to me that the situation would degenerate to a battle of attrition. It wouldn’t really take care of things, just change them temporarily,” Gonzalez states.
“I think you’re right about that. It might keep the fight going and who knows what it would lead to in terms of casualties. The scales would be tipped in the marauders' favor, as they could pick the time and place for an attack. They could set up ambushes along the way and we’d be stuck in a defensive role,” I comment.
“Sir, I feel I have to mention that there is the option where we don’t do anything. Tell Jason we looked at it and found it too risky. Load them up and deal with the bandits later, if at all,” Horace says. “I’m not saying it’s the best choice, but it is one.”
“That solution has been mentioned,” I say, looking at Gonzalez. “For now, let’s hash through this and see if we can come up with a plan that doesn’t have our certain deaths written all over it.”
Horace is right. But so is Gonzalez. We need to help Jason and the group of survivors, but perhaps the best help we can offer is to lift them out of here. I’d like nothing more than to take out the marauders. They could cause trouble and bring more harm for others down the road. There is the choice of just clearing out and leaving them for later. But, we’re here and we might as well give it our best look.
For more than an hour, we hash through plan after plan, discarding each one as being too risky for the soldiers on the ground. If we had a few Strykers or a Spooky, it would be a different story, but as we sit, we would
“What about travel and leave time? Will we be allowed to leave?” the soldier queries.
“That will be up to the commander here. We don’t have much time remaining until the fuel goes bad, so I can’t imagine you’ll get the chance to travel far. Unfortunately, what you see is kind of what you get,” I answer. “Any other questions?”
No one else raises their hand, although there is a bit of low murmuring as they talk amongst themselves. “Okay, if there’s nothing else, I’ll leave you to offload the 130. You can store and break down the equipment in the hangar here. Blue Team,” I say, introducing each member, “will be in charge. We’ll reassemble once we have a plan in place.”
Departing with Robert, Bri, Gonzalez, and Horace, we adjourn back to the room. Spreading the atlas and ground chart on the table, I mark the location where we found the marauders and detail the routes where we found the fresh tracks.
“Okay, let’s start this off. First, the number of vehicles in the lot indicate that there are potentially way more than the fifty that Jason mentioned. I would guess their numbers to actually be closer to a hundred. There could be more or less, as we didn’t see a single person, but we’ll assume that we are going into this outnumbered. Even though I’m sure we are better trained, that pretty much leaves out a direct assault. From what Jason said, we will also have to go with the assumption that we are both equally armed. With that in mind, I’m open to ideas,” I brief.
“We could set up an ambush or hit them at the building when they leave,” Horace suggests.
“If we set up either option, it seems to me that we’ll be out in the open with no exit. With an ambush, whether on the road or at the facility, we’ll have to leave any vehicles behind and proceed into position on foot. They’ll have vehicles that could outmaneuver us. Our asses will be hanging in the breeze,” Gonzalez responds. “And, they’ll see us coming a mile away, even if they don’t have spotters stationed around the area.”
“Sir, we could just forgo an attack and use the soldiers as protection for the people heading out to the farms. Seeing fifty armed soldiers would certainly cause them to hesitate,” Horace adds.
“I’m not arguing with that solution, but it seems to me that the situation would degenerate to a battle of attrition. It wouldn’t really take care of things, just change them temporarily,” Gonzalez states.
“I think you’re right about that. It might keep the fight going and who knows what it would lead to in terms of casualties. The scales would be tipped in the marauders' favor, as they could pick the time and place for an attack. They could set up ambushes along the way and we’d be stuck in a defensive role,” I comment.
“Sir, I feel I have to mention that there is the option where we don’t do anything. Tell Jason we looked at it and found it too risky. Load them up and deal with the bandits later, if at all,” Horace says. “I’m not saying it’s the best choice, but it is one.”
“That solution has been mentioned,” I say, looking at Gonzalez. “For now, let’s hash through this and see if we can come up with a plan that doesn’t have our certain deaths written all over it.”
Horace is right. But so is Gonzalez. We need to help Jason and the group of survivors, but perhaps the best help we can offer is to lift them out of here. I’d like nothing more than to take out the marauders. They could cause trouble and bring more harm for others down the road. There is the choice of just clearing out and leaving them for later. But, we’re here and we might as well give it our best look.
For more than an hour, we hash through plan after plan, discarding each one as being too risky for the soldiers on the ground. If we had a few Strykers or a Spooky, it would be a different story, but as we sit, we would
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