“Sir,” Major Gett of the Armored Company queried, “how long until the rest of the invasion force gets on shore with us? If we’re the beachhead, I assume that they’ll be right on our tails ready to drive us back into the water.”
Archer cast a glance at one of the visitors. “Major, this is a two part operation. First part is us hitting and taking Portsmouth. Phase two is best left to our guest. It is my pleasure to introduce Kai Allard. Most of you are, I believe, familiar with his exploits on Solaris a while back.” General Christifori waved his hand to the officer who gave him a slow nod/bow in response. The officers turned to the stranger that had been standing with them and gave him looks of acknowledgement and respect. Kai’s reputation had easily preceded him.
“Thank you General Christifori,” Kai said in response, scanning the officers. “The Outland Legion never looked quite this good.” The officers laughed at his words. “To answer your question, Major Gett, we will be following with the rest of the invasion force four hours after your initial landing.”
“Four hours?” barked back Captain Kraff. “Holy freaking crudstunk, might as well be four months. Those bloody damned troops that Katherine has at her disposal are going to hit us with everything they have. Landing in Portsmouth will be like kicking a beehive. They’ll come from everywhere to pummel us back into the sea. General, sir, you have gone out of your way in the past to piss her off. She’s going to want your ass on her wall—sir.”
Kai nodded. “True enough. In fact, we’re counting on that.”
“Sir?”
“This is a two part operation, as General Christifori has pointed out. The first phase is the Avengers leading an assault force into Portsmouth and gaining the full attention of the defenders on Avalon Island. The second part is a deception campaign that started several weeks ago. The Avengers are not the main blow of the invasion, but a carefully crafted diversion. In the eyes of our enemy, you are the spearpoint. We’re sending enough disinformation now to the other troops to convince them that no one other than General Christifori would be leading the initial landings.”
“We’re bait?” the usually reserved Thomas Sherwood asked, his eyes unblinking as he spoke.
Allard nodded. “In essence, yes.”
“Crud,” Kraff added. “I like the sound of the word ‘diversion’ a hell of a lot better than ‘bait.’”
“Regardless,” Archer cut in, knowing that the commentary would wear on for hours if he let it. “From what I’ve been told, an intelligence operation has been running to paint our force, specifically me, as the leader of the invasion. Most military people would assume the assault would come somewhere along the Portsmouth coastline. Katherine’s defense is concentrating there. They are going to be convinced that I’m the key leader in the field. They will throw everything they have at us. They will attempt to shatter our beachhead.
“Don’t kid yourselves, boys and girls; this is the reality of this mission. We are going to be the biggest damn target on Avalon Island. Katherine is going to come at us, at me, full force. She’ll want my testicles on a platter. For four hours, we will draw their fire, suck them in, let them think we’re a full-blown invasion. Then the real invasion force will hit the other side of Avalon Island.”
Kai jumped in. “We know that Katherine will respond to the real invasion, but it will buy us the time to establish the real beachhead and to set up the kind of defenses that are going to be necessary for a campaign of this type.”
Captain Kraff shuffled the cigar to the other side of his mouth. “Don’t get this wrong, sir, but what happens to us while you all pitch your tents and settle in?”
“You’ll be extracted. DropShips and naval transports will come in, pull the Avengers out. Portsmouth would be nice to have, but is not necessary for the final operation. The beachhead on the other side of the island is what is critical.”
Captain Joey Lynn Fraser of the White Tigers spoke up. “We’re just one regiment. It won’t take those people long to know how big we are. Once they figure out that it’s just one regiment, they’ll know it’s a diversion, sir.”
Kai waved his hand in the air. “Under normal circumstances, you’re right. However, we have a few little surprises. First, we have these MA generators. Magnetic Anomalies. They are small and generate signals as if they are moving BattleMechs. The signals on long range sensors appear as several lances of ’Mechs of varying size. Properly placed and moved by infantry, they can confuse an enemy into detecting a significantly larger force.”
Archer spoke up as well. “We are also going to have some comm units with us. They will generate simulated combat communication traffic. From the sound of it, combined with some of the jamming units we’ll deploy, and you’d swear that you’re facing five or six regiments worth of troops. On top of that, our positions will be urban in nature. Without a clear line of sight, it will be difficult for even an eyewitness to tell just how big the force is.” He paused. Most of his officers nodded their heads. Given the right circumstances, the plan had a good chance of working. Battle, however, often altered circumstances dramatically.
“How do we know that Katherine’s people will take the bait?” Katya Chaffee asked.
