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***
Unfortunately, or maybe it was rather fortunate, the little get-together broke up soon after it started. We couldn't all just sit around and yap. The army-types had subordinates to scream at and us Samurai had to... not really do much that was pressing, actually.
"Hey," I said to Gomorrah as she squeezed her way out of the Fury. "Do you think we're going to be staying here for long?"
"Probably not," she replied. "We'll likely have to fly ahead of the army. None of the vehicles they are using look particularly fast. Though it might be wise to keep pace with them. For moral support, if nothing else."
"You think they might get ambushed on the way?" I asked.
"It would take a brave person to ambush a half battalion's worth of soldiers supported by tanks and armoured cars," Gomorrah said. "Or someone particularly stupid. It is entirely possible that the antithesis will pop up and attack, but the Trans-Canadian is reporting relatively low numbers between here and Quebec."
I hummed. Better to be close, then. Plus flying slow like that could be foisted off to the autopilot, which made my life easier. "Alright. Now we've just got to wait for the army to get their shit together," I said.
I turned and glanced over the field. In their defence, they really weren't fucking around. Two dozen trucks had pulled out and were parking themselves in a rough line next to the open field. Soldiers were forming lines of their own behind them, each one carrying a heavy bag on their back and a smaller rucksack in hand. They had guns on slings and at the front of each group was a... sergeant? Yeah, something like that. Some person who was checking them all over then tapping them on the back before they jumped in.
APCs were parking up on the other side, and more troops were being loaded into those. Though they couldn't carry half as many. My shinier eye zoomed in, and I was able to make out the 77th patch on those loading into the APCs. So, the recon company got the cooler ride and the rest got the tarp-topped trucks?
Sucked to suck, I suppose.
We were getting a lot of looks, which I supposed was only fair. A bunch of samurai plus the Bastion and Gomorrah's Fury, it all stood out quite a bit. I waved, and a few soldiers waved back, which set off the sergeants something fierce. Oops?
"Well, at least they seem happy to see us," I said.
"They'll be getting combat pay for what might just be a day-trip. If they're lucky, we'll arrive in Quebec city and they'll have nothing to do but cool their boots and earn more credits and hour than usual. Or if they're less lucky, they get to finally put their skills to use. This is the same group that helped us with the Big gun project and Saint JEEErome. Some of them probably came out of that with some commendations, and I'm pretty sure there was a minor campaign medal of some sort handed out."
Oh, shiny medals. Yeah, I could see why people wouldn't mind risking their asses if it came with a small piece of metal at the end. Or were modern medals all digital? I hoped not, that would be lame. Poor dictators couldn't have a strip of tinsel across their front if it was all digitized, could they?
"Catherine?" Gomorrah asked.
"Huh? Sorry, I let my mind wander a bit there." I gestured vaguely at my head. "Got a lot going on up there."
"I'm sure," Gomorrah said, though I noticed a fair bit of doubt in her voice. "It looks like they're nearly halfway done with the loading."
It did look that way. A few tanks were moved around, though most of them--all of those with threads, at least--were loaded onto the back of long-trailered semis. The wheeled tanked--whatever those were called--could probably just keep up, and the mobile bases were already rumbling ahead of the forming convoy.
"Alright, I'm gonna gather up the rest. See you in Quebec?"
"Keep your comms on," Gomorrah replied with a nod before returning to her car.
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I had an idle thought, wondering if she needed to use the washroom, but I dismissed it. It'd probably injure her religious sensitivity if I asked. Walking off towards the others, I clapped my hands for attention. "Alright! We're almost ready to head back out. Say good-bye to the soldiers and... where's Shy?"
Hedgehog was there, leaning up against my ship, and Princess and Knight were both standing not too far off, but there was no sign of Shy at all.
"I think... um. Actually, I don't know," Princess said.
I frowned, looking around as if the woman would just pop out from behind cover and peek-a-boo me, but no. "Myalis, where is she at?" I asked.
She returned to the ship about two minutes into your conversation with the Lieutenant Colonel.
"Really? I didn't notice her leaving," I said.
It's almost as if she specializes in stealth.
"Fair enough," I muttered before raising my voice. "We're heading out in five! Get in the Bastion or you can ride with the soldiers in one of those very comfortable-looking trucks of theirs. But I wouldn't bet on those things having heating or cooling, and I won't gamble with the smell of ripe soldiers either."
"We're coming!" Princess said.
Hedgehog gave me a quick, manly nod, then stepped into the ship. So, with a shrug for no one in particular, I followed them in, pulling the level to close the hatch once I was inside. I made a quick double-check of everything, in case anything had moved around while we flew over, but my mechs both seemed pretty firmly anchored in place.
I moved up to the front, sat down, buckled in, then told local air-traffic that I'd be taking off. They rather politely asked that I give them a couple of minutes to clear the air of drones and such, and I figured I could be nice and cooperative for once, so I did just that.
Once we took off and were in the air, I set us to circling the base while watching things below getting organized. The army was moving quickly, and soon the convoy had formed up. I got a call from someone down below saying that they were off, and then watched as some of the trucks started to file out of the base.
They were escorted by a small squad of police cars with their sirens on, which was fair. The convoy as a whole had a few 'wide load' kind of trucks in it, and I bet they had enough firepower to ignore the average traffic law.
A quick count showed three semis loaded with tanks, two more with smaller vehicles, then another two which might have been carrying supplies or something. Then a mobile base, big and lumbering and slow and setting the pace at a crawl, at least for now. I imagined they'd pick up some speed once out of the city.
Behind that, were a dozen troop transporters, then nearly as many APCs, with the second mobile base trailing behind with a few more smaller utility vehicles.
It wasn't exactly the biggest troop movement there was, but it was still an impressive amount of steel and guns and troops, all moving along at a respectable pace.
I still kind of worried that it wouldn't be enough. Sure, it was a lot of guys with guns, and tanks, and mobile firepower, but the antithesis' whole gimmick was overwhelming numbers, and this many troopers wasn't nearly enough to quell a city's worth of unrest.
Ah well, screw it. We'd make up the difference, and if we needed to call back for reinforcements, then that was always an option.
It took a solid two hours to get out of New Montreal. It seemed like some things were pretty much constant, no matter how many guns one had; traffic, and the shitty state of the bridges in and out of the city.
I was actually a little worried when all of the trucks started to cross one of the older bridges. I gave it even odds of breaking apart in a cloud of rust as they drove past.
The moment we were out of the city, the pace picked up. There were fewer stops and turns to make, so even the bigger mobile bases could put the pedal down and gain some proper speed. At the rate we were going it was only going to take a solid three hours to reach Quebec.
Joy.
I started to poke at the auto-pilot, then stood up. I'd go and see if I couldn't find out where Shy was hiding, then... I don't know, play road games or something. It'd be funny to see Hedgehog's reaction to road songs designed by little orphan shits specifically to drive people mad.
***
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