Operation: Bright Tablet

The Games Begin

Denver's pov
       I leaned out the back of the chinook before looking at the trailing one that held the second half of my division along. I smirked it was showtime, Gates had taken the rainbow operators with her effectively doubling her forces size, their reactions would be slower, so would their potential routes, it made my ambushes easier to make sure happened. Once we touched town I got everyone lined up before I said "Our radio channel is 73.1. Sniper teams step forward" I watched my 3 sniper teams step forward and I said "I want you three to head southeast, south and south west. Do not engage just locate, get a track, watch them setting up a camp. Anything I can use to formulate an ambush, check?" They nodded and I said "get moving" I watched them disappear into the thick rainforest before I looked at the rest. "Did anyone see anywhere worth setting up a camp at over night?" I got nothing from the team before I said "let's get into the forest and find places to set up our camp. Basco lead us in" he nodded as I had Oxide walk up to me.
      I looked over as he said "Sir, what are you going to do when you find another division?" I answered as we walked "my target is Gates's, she has the most fighters which means she's hampered in maneuverability and reactivity. If we take her div out we can focus on bear's. Now I sent the snipers to find them and track them so I know what direction they're heading so we can head them off and set up a funnel." He nodded and we feel silent as we walked. We slowly made our way through the thick forest, about 3 hours later I heard Hunter, I figured she'd be the first one to find something "Hey boss, I got their tracks. They're heading north towards you, these are about 2 hours old, it looks like they're heading up valley 2f" I pulled my map and looked and saw we were at the head of valley 2f, I commented "well ain't that somthing, alright, Mg teams, 2 of you go down either side. The rest of you half go down the left ridge. The other with me on the right. Do not fire until I give the order." We split up and became prepping the ambush.
      I was the last in the line as I radioed and whispered "20 meters between each group of 4, Sniper teams work your way back to us and be prepared to hit fleeing targets" I got my green lights on my wrist mount from the others confirming my orders as I laid down and got my poncho mixed with natural foliage. We waited as I heard the relaxed talking growing louder up the valley, I smiled to myself and whispered to Archer "they don't know what they're walking into" he chuckled silently as I saw the massive force pushing through the brush, it cleared up infront of me as I heard crossroads "I've got eyes on the end of the group." I looked around and noticed the relaxed attitude of Gates's unit. Zero wasn't taking part in this war game so she didn't have him to ease her worry, she knows I like to attack on the first day and constantly harass after that. I went over her mental she must've known that I'd send scouts and she knows her force is bigger and more cumbersome so there's got to be a reason for her comfortableness.
      I decided to let her force pass and not give away our positions, about 20 minutes after her group passed I radioed "let's move, we're heading west. Sniper teams form up" I got asked by Basco "Why'd you let them pass?" I answered honestly "there wasn't a reason to attack, Gates was probably counting on it. We divisions leaders know the general direction of where the other divisions are inserted. Like I knew Gates was inserted to the southern end of the game area, and Bear is to the east. So why would Gates with her superior force march them directly in the direction of the division known for ambushes and guerrilla attacks?" He froze at the realization. Raider joined in on the conversation "her force didn't look like the full 80, I think she split them and sent one up one of the other valleys so if we did ambush her one of our flanks would be crushed" I nodded before saying "besides, we've got 2 weeks to widdle them down" as we continued walking. The three sniper teams rejoined us and we walked, I heard Hunter "so I didn't hear gunfire" I nodded and replied "smelt fishy"
      She nodded and said "we saw three trails split off, she must've hoped to encircle and crush us" I smirked and commented "Have to do more than that to outsmart me Gates, you know that" hunter laughed before asking "it's getting pretty late, I guess we're setting up camp soon?" I check my watch "I wanna get a bit more of a distance between us and Gates before we settle down" she nodded and we covered another 10 miles before I gave the order to start setting up camp. The team broke out their shovels and began cleaning the forest floor before we all picked a tree and huddled together to try to weather out the night. The next morning we moved around and I sent scouts to go and see what Gates was doing before I heard my radio crackle to life "They're moving west, they must've caught our trail." I sighed and ordered "let's go were moving south" I had my demo guy set paint mines around our area at the hope on of Gates men happened to step on it. We egressed quickly hoping to put more distance between our two groups, I wanted to engage but knew the longer it went on with them chasing our trail but getting no contact the more the exhaustion would set in.
5 days later
       I heard a massive exchange of fire probably 700 meters behind us, I smirked it seemed my plan worked. In her hunger to eliminate her biggest threat, she forgot about Bear's force, the force that hadn't forgot about her. I ordered my group to set up a massive L ambush, they wordlessly set about setting up positions and melting them into the surrounding forest. I knew bear's force would lose, Bear is a heavy handed straight forward leader. They fight until they win or lose, he wouldn't try to break contact. His division is a proud one, they pride themselves on their ability to hold a gunfight and not lose ground but Gates has the force advantage, hers is larger and it's harder to keep track of all of them. I heard the gunfight end and heard the thunderous echo of footsteps growing louder, I smirked as my theory played out infront of me. I whispered on comms "be prepared, when they hit the tree with the red logging tape engage" I saw Gates's ragged looking division walking on the trail.
      They looked exhausted, Gates must be pushing them really hard trying to catch up to us. Little did she know, she's been on our heels for the last 3 days, just like we wanted. I saw she had the rainbow operators at the front of her column, I saw Ash hit the mark and I yelled my order "Open fire!" As our weapons barked to life and I saw 13 of the enemies drop as they were hit. The others looked around in confusion as our rounds tore them apart, they couldn't figure out where we were so they fell back on training and just returned fire. After about 4 minutes of engaging the enemy and causing harsh losses the initial shock of them taking casualties and not being able to find the origin of the ambush started to wear off causing me to radio "All units, break contact. Scatter and rally at RV Onyx." As we stood and took off into the deep forest. I had Raider, Hunter, Oxide and Hardy with me as we ran into the thickest part of the forest and continued to move quickly, I smiled to myself when I heard the yell of rage from Gates.
       We continued our escape as Gates yelled in rage "I'll get you Denver! You can't hide forever!" I chuckled as we fled. After about 45 minutes of putting distance between us and Gates we started moving to RV Onyx. I heard Hunter ask "So what's the plan now?" I replied by asking "you saw how tired her troops were, I think it's time we keep them on edge. Wear em down just that much more, I'll have different squads attack throughout the night, they won't get any rest. While the squads are assaulting on a rotation, I'll bring our main force around to the north and set up an ambush. The last team that's attacking will give their position away and in her hunger for a retaliatory strike she'll chase them, I'll have them push into the gorge and have our main force on the ridge. It'll be a massacre" Raider commented "Sometimes I forget just how serious of a leader you can be" I smirked victoriously as Oxide said "We're almost at Onyx, 2 hours to dark" I pulled up my map and looked between the different areas I had marked as potential RON sites.
      I looked at the one closest to Onyx, I radioed "All units, positions?" I got various answers but the one that caught my attention was Basco's it didn't sounds like his voice. I unkeyed my mic and said "Basco's team is gone" Raider asked "how do you know?" I said "listen" before radioing "Basco, eta?" It took whoever it was about 45 seconds to replied "uh, 5 mikes?" I let my radio go cold and said "Basco wouldn't have to think about it, he's straight laced but he's always aware of his position" hunter said "Think Gates managed to send a detachment that caught them en route?" I thought about it and replied "no, I think Bear is throwing something new in the works and he was a small team still out here. Bear will want to catch me off guard, Gates is a task unit commander. She keeps her forces together so they can play off each other, I'm a much more small unit focused commander. Bear is the straight forward hit it until it's rubble commander, if he wants to beat either of us he has to do something new" hunter sighed before Oxide said "That gunfight ended too fast for it being Gates wiping out Bear's unit. Bear is always hard to beat in fights like that especially since he assaults through your lines."
      I thought about it, and said "I think Bear is trying his hand at maneuver warfare" I smiled at that new challenge. Hunter said "I can send Frenchman to go and track down bears force. We can hit them and then harass Gates" I said "no, we stick with our plan. Gates is gonna be more aggressive than Bear. She has the number advantage and she's comfortable pushing our unit. Bear is trying something new, he'll be unsure. He won't find his footing and will be hesitant to attack. We deal with Gates first, with Gates's unit down Bear will fancy his chances thinking Gates will have inflicted heavy losses to our team" Oxide asked "how are you so sure of that?" I answered "you'll see, it's just a hunch. While we ambush Gates I'll have groups to the rear of our ambush line to make sure Bear doesn't try to wipe us out" he sighed as Raider said "we're here" we crouched on the outskirts of the small clearing as the rest of the teams filtered in. I watched which ones arrived and my theory was correct, Basco's was no where to be seen. I ordered "everyone to the secondary channel, 84.9"