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Yuri Front splitting off, taking with it the source of 60 percent of its revenues.  Altoona, not wanting to encourage any separatist movements that could spill over to its own territory, supported Mountain Home, and the Federation supported both governments.  The Yuri Front was declared a terrorist organization with the Federation citing a riot that had broken out during in a clash between the Mountain Home constabulary and Yuri Front protestors.
    With help from the FCDC, most of the Front members had been rounded up and incarcerated, but a small force of about 100 die-hard militants had seized the 200-year-old Temple of Light, which had historical significance to both Mountain Home and Altoona.  The temple was on top of Mt. Hollyoak, a small, but prominent hill that gave it full coverage of the narrow Gypsy Pass, the crossroads and main route from the mines to both governments’ economic zones.  By emplacing five bunkers in the hill below the temple, the Front effectively controlled the pass, and neither government had the force to evict the small, dug-in force.
    The Federation had the force, of course. One small frigate could easily take out the bunkers.  The presence of the temple did pose some limitations, though. A tungsicle or the frigate’s kinetic cannons could destroy the entire hill, taking the temple with it.  But a frigate’s muon cannon could be surgically employed to neutralize each bunker in turn.
    However, this also gave the Federation a unique opportunity to test the Marines’ new assault battalions.  A regular infantry battalion, with air and armor support, should easily be able to take out five bunkers, but the powers that be wanted to see how an assault battalion would fare.  It was a relatively easy target, but one that could have a sharp bite if the battalion screwed up.
    Frankly, Ryck was surprised things had gotten this far.  Once the separatists knew they faced a Marine battalion, Ryck thought they would have surrendered.  On Juris 2, 3/7 had a similar mission handed to them, but as soon as the Black Devils landed, their potential opponents immediately gave up.  Evidently, the Yuri Front was made of sterner stuff.
    Sterner, but stupider.
    Ryck didn’t want to kill some simple separatists.  They were not a threat to the Federation as a whole nor to the citizens of Mountain Home or Altoona.  But his orders were to secure the temple and the hill, and if the separatists fired on his Marines, that was their mistake.  Ryck not feeling fear before a battle may not be a Darwinian survival trait, but taking on the Marines was more of a suicidal trait, one that could only end up with one outcome.
    Ryck felt good as he walked forward in his PICS.  He’d taken Rick Ashton’s advice and deep-sixed the Armadillo-C.  Well, that wasn’t accurate.  The Armadillo was still with them, it just followed in trace with only the crew inside.  His Alpha Command was in their PICS where they could better fight the battle.  The PICS had just about the same C4 capabilities as the Armadillo-C was supposed to have, and the PICS’ C4 actually worked.  The only area in which the Armadillo-C was significantly upgraded was in the supporting arms, and Ryck had considered putting Captain Quezon, his fire support coordinator in the C, but in the end, he decided that the better mobility a PICS offered outweighed the more robust comms gear in the C.
    Thirty meters to his right, the Beserker smashed through a small, crooked tree that had managed to eke its way through the dry soil and take root.  The Berserker was the Number 3 Davis in Lieutenant Chris “Dunderdunk” Browne’s First Platoon.  Sergeant Andreas Bergstrøm , one of the craziest Marines in the battalion, was the tank commander, and the “Dunderdunk Thunder,” as the platoon had taken to referring to itself, was spearheading the fixing force.  Ryck had thought that Captain Proctor Christophe would have kept his command tank near the battalion