Major Irisz Magyari: So tell me exactly what happened. Don't
leave anything out.
Corporal Martin Levesque: I... I'm not in any trouble, am I?
Magyari: I just need to know what happened,
that's all. These are my - our people we're talking about here. I need to know as much as I can.
Levesque: Okay. [Deep breath] M... I was escorting
Chief Technician Stanley and her crew back from the Union she was stripping down. My Centurion was leading
the column, with her Savior right behind me and a couple more trucks behind
that. They were all loaded down with parts taken from the ship.
Magyari: As was your assigned duty, yes.
Levesque: I had radioed ahead to signal when we
were leaving. Everything was going to plan, following the, um, ruins of the road
until we got past waypoint bravo.
Magyari: And then what happened?
Levesque: About five hundred meters south of Bravo
we passed by a ruined roadside stop. We had inspected the ruins in past and
each time find them to be clear. As we passed this time, however,, the column
was ambuhed by several squads of Battle Armour. The first squad leaped out of
the ruins and made an attack on my Centurion, crippling its
hip actuator.
Magyari: Why didn't you radio for help at that
point?
Levesque: I tried to, but my signal was being
jammed. They must have had an ECM unit just nearby and only only switched it on
once they launched the attack.
Magyari: Clearly they were well prepared for
this. They knew your route and how to cut off your communications. So what
happened next?
Levesque: The Battle Armour quickly swarmed
Stanley's Savior and the other trucks and forced them to surrender. I couldn't
fire at them without the risk of hitting our own people. They... They forced
them to drive off.
[Pause]
Magyari: You were supposed to have Sergeant
Tranh's Battle Armour squad riding on your 'Mech to prevent just this sort of
thing from happening.
[Pause]
Magyari: You have an OmniMech. There's no reason
why you couldn't have them with you.
Levesque: I am aware of that, Major. It's... [deep
breath] I figured that since the route had been clear so far, then we would be
fine without them. Sergeant Tranh was okay with the idea as well, and he and
his squad were going to use the time to inspect the site and see if there was anything
else that we could ni- er, salvage.
Magyari: I see. So the raiders made off with Stanley,
a dozen other members of her technical staff, their vehicles and over a hundred tons of
salvage.
Levesque: Um, yes.
Magyari: Right. We’ll…
figure out what to do about this. For now, you’re dismissed.
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