Shao XI system
Planet Taoshe

Raven 2, Captain Talikan

Talikan’s soldiers were obviously smoked, he could see in the way they walked and moved. Speaking had become a un-needed function amongst the company and after a 17km patrol through the night, he doubted any of them could pass information effectively. 
	His Battalion commanders liked to do these types mission drills frequently and most of the time without warning, today was no different. This Full Profile Mission or FPM in Army speak started as a mass parachute op at night. The drill itself was routine the company had done this many times but what made this odd was what they carried. They jumped with Full packs and combat loads: Sleeping kit, rations for 5 days, water, armor paint, 5 pounds of C12 explosives each and a minimum of 2500 rounds, 5000 rounds for Automatic gunners. At least 90-100 pounds of essential gear per man, not counting specialized weapons, rockets and larger weapons. In short, today was meant to suck. Shortly after landing on the ground, Talikan received a message from his battalion commander to patrol to a certain point and lay in ambush, they would receive further instructions at their lay up position. So Captain Talikan took his 34 soldiers and walked through the mountainous terrain of Taoshe. 
	
“ Raven 2 actual, Nest” he heard from his secure communication line. All Mk-3L powered armor suits have integrated company and platoon comms, but long range communications required additional gear. A rounded square radio laid in his pack allowed him to communicate with his leadership in orbit. “ Raven 2 actual, send it…..” he quickly answered, “ Aggressor force will enter your battle space between the hours of 07 and 09, you will destroy this force.” Just as this message was passed 5 light trucks came into view, cresting over the hill to their 2 o-clock. Talikan’s company was set up on the opposite side of the mountain valley, on the edge of the tree-line. He split his company into three platoons and spread them out on line right on the tree-line ,his 4 person command squad lay just behind his front line. Each platoon was dug in and camouflaged, camo nets lay draped over machine guns and each hole was naturally camouflaged. Five men in each platoon became his weapons teams, they manned the machine guns and mortars that were dug in each hole. The remaining five were his assault force they were spread along the tree line with a couple yards between each man, everyone had painted their armor for camouflage. All of his soldiers maintained light and IR discipline, there were no IR range finders, lasers or any infrared signature given off by his company. Even to the trained eye looking through night vision, his company looked like a series of bushes and unintelligible blobs on the hillside, and the aggressor force was certainly trained. 
	
Without informing his company, the battalion C.O enlisted their sister company to play the role of the aggressor force, this added to the realism and the difficulty. Essentially they were fighting a mirror image of eachother, same tech, weapons, training and strength, this would be a good fight. The trucks maintained good light and IR discipline as well, they moved almost silently down the worn trail and up to the structures. Had he gotten here five minutes later he might of missed their insert and would certainly have a harder time locating their camouflaged vehicles and troops. Luckily here was all 34 of them in the open without any cover. He was sure his snipers had already ranged every doorway, window and alley, this information was quickly passed to his mortar men. All Captain Talikan had to do now was launch the attack. 
	
Talikan pulled the magazine from his FS-01 and inspected the paint rounds inside. Non-lethal/high speed marking round were in every rifle and machine gun, they had the same ballistic trajectory as normal lethal rounds but shot a marking round. They hurt if you got hit between the armor, bruises and lacerations were common, it was desirable to take the round to the plate. They carried more kinetic energy then normal rounds and would certainly take and soldier off his feet when hit. Grenades and mortars were replaced by something the Army called “force rounds”. They were old non-lethal riot control shells that blew everything within a 15ft radius away, usually resulting with soldiers flying through the air before landing on the ground in a heap or hitting something, again injuries were common in training. In a real time mission, his company would not be assaulting village. Raven 2 was the recon company to Raven 1, Raven 1 being the main combat force. However the battalion commander wanted to see we could do, usually they would be supported with a company of Marines and all the Naval and Air support they wished. Today however it was just recon company Vs recon company.
	
Talikan pushed the magazine back into the weapon and increased the magnification on his faceplate, the aggressor force was just starting to dismount from their vehicles. For this attack to work, he would need to take out most of their number during the first 3-5 seconds. “ Mortars, target the trucks…” he spoke through his company comm channel. He waited a few seconds as they dialed in their ranges before tolling the radio twice, this was the universal signal to begin.