Solace & Taproots

3.4

They got partway across the bridge, in convoy with the hunchbacked mini AT-AT, when Sam glanced at another display and pulled a pair of headphones on (wiping them hastily with her sleeve as a near afterthought). "Holy shit Sarge, I think I've got their entire comms net back here." She listened for a few seconds, hand on one side of the headphones. "Yeah. Definitely."

Ronnie's voice came over speakers inside the cabin. "Can you route us to flank them?"

Sam tapped and poked for bit. "Yup. Babe, route coming up on your display now."

Rebecca glanced down and saw the touch panel in the center of the dash switch to a map view, with a plotted line going the rest of the way across the bridge, then swinging to the north by a few blocks. She found herself having to suppress an urge to hum The Wallflower's "One Headlight" as she drove, and she was grateful for the powerful assisted steering with her still-healing upper arm. "I could get used to this."

The fastest Sam could manage out of her new four-legged toy was about 20 to 25 mph in an awkward canter, which gave them ample time for plotting their next few moves. Everyone agreed Sam should prioritize the 'hardest' targets like other armored vehicles or mechs, while Ronnie would go for any force multipliers like command elements or crewed weapons. Rebecca groused about not being useful in the coming fight, wondering aloud if they should have brought others with them so she could dismount and find high ground. Ronnie replied that the fight at the encamped convoy had been going on long enough they needed to "deliver a fast, forceful, and loud strike to pull attention off the hard pressed defenders", that the time for subtle precision was past.

Sam took a more personal tack: "Remy, sweetheart, look what kind of shape you're in and the crazy shitstorm their 'diversion' was. I've been shot at enough for the month and would really really like us all to be in something bulletproof if we're wading into that clusterfuck ahead. Plus, hopefully all you have to do is sit there and look pretty while I play video games and Sarge goes to town with a real-life BFG. I'd say we're all playing to our talents here." Her flirtatious smirk was practically audible, and so was Ronnie's long-suffering derision in her sigh through the speakers... but the familiarity of both brought a hint of normalcy back and helped settle Rebecca's jangled nerves.

As they passed due north of the fight, Sam turned the robot southwards at its plodding pace. Rebecca accelerated for the next two blocks, and then made a right, planning another ahead to converge from two directions. Sam found this a little disorienting, as she'd originally been watching the captured robot through the windshield as they drove. She muttered about always having preferred third person view in video games as she refocused on the screen in front of her and tried to ignore her peripheral vision and inner ear. At least whoever designed the bot had invested in some decent image stabilization, she was pretty sure any more conflicting positional signals to her brain would make her puke.

She swallowed hard and pushed herself to speak up just as they made the last turn. "Okay, I see what looks like a small ammo distribution point at an open-backed Humvee up ahead and... ooh, light enhancement, one sec. Four guards."

"Have they noticed us yet?" Ronnie's boots creaked as she tightened her stance in the turret.

"They've looked over at the mech and then back at the fighting to the south, Sarge."

"Beautiful. Let's try not to blow up any good loot. Take your toy south and get eyes, hopefully they'll just assume you're reinforcements. Bex, hold here like we're waiting for the bot to clear the intersection."

The mech plodded along, while Rebecca slowed at an idle. "Ronnie... these guys aren't shooting at anyone. Should we give them the chance to turn, like Seb? Or run?"