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While you do have questions, especially around the whole problem of transporting the scientists, you know better than to interrupt again. The Soviet military is many things, but tolerant of people who ask too many questions it is not. You are expected to listen, trust that your commanding officers know what they are doing, and follow your orders to the best of your ability. While the Americans may say that the best way to respond to an officer asking you to jump is to ask them how high they want you to jump, the Soviet response is to simply jump until the officer is satisfied.
And if the officer in charge made a mistake? Well that’s why it paid to be resourceful.
Thankfully, some of the other officers were able to ask a couple of your questions, and a couple more that you hadn’t thought about. If the first platoon absorbed too many casualties, they would call in reinforcements from whichever elements of the second or third platoon were available. If neither could spare the manpower, then a four-man team from the security detachment could be provided, but that was considered a last resort, as they were meant to provide security for the vehicles after everyone had dismounted. Meanwhile, the command and medical evacuation LCVs were both atmospherically sealed, and would be used as taxis to transport the scientists back to Buran. The captured scientists could use back-entry suits similar to yours to make the trips across the lunar surface, but it was hoped that the base had a rover bay that could be sealed and pressurized, which could then function as an airlock for vehicles.
But it’s Major Petrov that asks the most important question.
“Commander, if I may.” He starts, taking a differential tone. “This operation was already dangerous enough with our current equipment. But now that we’re being asked to also take on these additional missions I feel that it may be more than our current equipment allows us to undertake. Are we to be provided with extra equipment?”
“I’m glad that you asked, major.” The colonel says, before taking out three pictures from the folder, showing pieces of equipment. “The best engineers and scientists in the Soviet Union have labored to create equipment that will give us the edge during this operation. There’s not enough of each class of equipment for all of you, but there is enough of each to furnish a single platoon.”
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