Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
18 June 3050
A massive Jade Falcon Aegis cruiser fired its retro-thrusters and pulled into orbit around the emerald green ball known as New Belfast. Ten sleek Clan aerospace fighters flew around it, in case the planet's defenders decided to take on the warship.
Star Colonel Dal Pryde stepped onto the bridge of the Frost Falcon. On the communications monitor, Joshua’s face could be seen.
"Greetings, fine Colonel." said Dal with an evil grin. "With what will to defend your world from the emerald talons of the Jade Falcons?"
"I have my militia, Clanner slime." said Joshua with bravado. "You'll not take this world like you have the others."
"We
shall see, Colonel." Dal Pryde turned to his communications officer.
"Begin the attack."
Two heavy Clan aerospace fighters roared over the Militia's base, chased by militia ships, as Joshua and his companions ran to the mechs. When they arrived, Chris caught up with his sister.
"You shouldn’t go, Lisa. You're still hurt."
"No, Chris, I’m going to fight." retorted Lisa. "They need everyone they can get.” She began to strip down to get into her cooling vest.
Two more fighters roared overhead, closer to the ground. "What the hell are those?" asked Chris.
"Do you recognize them, Daisaku?" asked Joshua as Lisa pulled on a pair of bikini shorts and headed for Gil-galad.
"Same fighters we saw on New Vision. The ones that firebombed our cities.”
"Yeah." Said Joshua quietly. “Now they’re gunning for us.” An explosion rocked the base as bombs detonated some distance away. He climbed up to the cockpit of Galileo.
Joshua shivered. The attack of a strafing aerospace fighter was something every mechwarrior feared. He marched his mech across the tarmac. "Marshall Steiner, are you there?" he said into his headset radio.
"Yes, Leftenant Messer. What is it?"
"I strongly recommend we move your command to a mobile location. They took us down quick on Chateau because they hit our headquarters within four hours of their initial drop. And get the mechs out of these hangers. We've got fighters hitting the base with high explosive bombs."
"Understood, thanks for the suggestions."
"MacLeod company," he said next, "join up with my lance. We have a reported planetfall 100 klicks northwest of the
Joshua punched up his tactical monitor. Now it was time to put their grand schemes into action.
"They’re holding them." Said Joshua as he and the rest of Lisa's company moved down from the base towards the eastern end of the pass. “Lisa, move your company to the fifth marker. An extra push might drive the Falcons back into the open ground."
“You don’t intend to pursue them into the open?” asked Daisaku.
“Neg. We make this like the ancient battle of
“They could still drop behind us.” said Daisaku. “And, if my history is right, didn’t the defenders at
“We’ll worry about that when it happens. Move out.”
New
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
18 June 3050
Pryde's forces pounded on the militia's positions, trying to crack through these Inner Sphere primitives' fortification. Pryde snarled. "These are no ordinary militia. They must have gotten reinforcements and did not inform us."
"Did you expect them all to be honorable?" answered a subordinate. "We cannot breech the pass without heavy losses. What is your order, Star Colonel?"
"We must lure them out. Withdraw."
Pryde turned his Summoner about. Behind him, a Kit Fox moved to his flank to cover him. Suddenly, a PPC bolt lashed out from the smoke, striking the smaller mech in the rear. The PPC bolt boiled away the armor and tore through the Kit Fox’s power plant. White hot plasma from its crippled engine ripped through the mech, finishing it.
“Leaving so soon?” taunted a voice over the radio. The smoke cleared briefly and Pryde got a look at the Kit Fox’s destroyer. It was an old Shadow Hawk battlemech, a smoking PPC over its right shoulder, twin laser barrels on its left arm, and the image of an astronomer on its breast.
Pryde let out his breath. "I am Star Colonel Dal Pryde, commander of the 2nd Falcon Jaegers cluster.” He barked. “I challenge the pilot of the Shadow Hawk labeled Galileo. In this solemn affair, let no man interfere."
"Bargained well and done, Star Colonel." Responded the Shadow Hawk pilot. Pryde drew in his breath in surprise at hearing a Clan idiom said to him by a spheroid. He now recognized the voice. It was the young militia commander he’d last seen on the viewscreen of the Frost Falcon.
The Shadow Hawk fired its jump jets and hurled upward from its position. Its PPC fired again, smashing hard into the center of the Summoner's chest. Armor plates flew off in all directions.
"He hits hard and accurately. And he uses Clan language and battle customs." Thought Pryde. Pryde triggered his heavy autocannon and short range missile launcher. The Shadow Hawk dodged both, but Pryde swirled his mech about to bring the last handful of shells and missiles into his foe's armor.
"Worthy foe, might I request your name?" asked Pryde.
“I am Kommandant Joshua Messer of the New Belfast Autonomous Militia,” Said Joshua boldly, “Recent graduate of the
"Well met, Leftenant Messer." Said Pryde. "You are a most skilled warrior, of a kind I've not encountered this invasion." Pryde triggered his PPC, sending a bolt of his own at Joshua's mech. It struck home, tearing through Joshua's thinner armor. "A recent graduate? He is nothing more than a child, even by their standards."
The Summoner was a potent design, a stock mech of the Jade Falcons. Pryde's normal mech, a Warhawk, was out due to extensive damage, inflicted in earlier battles. The Summoner carried three heavy weapons as its standard configuration. What those three weapons were varied, but Pryde currently piloted the Mu configuration, mounting an LB-10-X autocannon, PPC, and SRM-6 rack.
Despite being of the Clan's higher technology, it was not much more potent than the Shadow Hawk Joshua was piloting. Pryde knew the mech he was facing was not one of the primitive obsolete designs he'd encountered throughout this invasion. This mech was at least of Star League standard technology, another indication that its pilot was no ordinary spheroid.
Pryde checked his mech's battle damage, and discovered that between this potent new foe and the pounding he'd received from the other militia mechs, his mech was in bad shape. He'd lost no critical systems, but that would not last long.
"I cannot be defeated by this whelp!" said Pryde. He noticed that his own forces had pulled back, firing only occasionally to keep militia forces from taking potshots at him. They did that infrequently, as if both sides were watching the spectacle of an honorable duel between warriors.
A missile spread flew out from Joshua's mech and spattered over the Summoner's thinned armor. A single missile smacked through the Summoner's right arm to crush the power coils of the PPC. Pryde snarled and responded with an autocannon burst. The shells tore through the thigh and then torso of the Shadow Hawk as he walked the gun up the side of the Inner Sphere mech. He watched the last bit of armor shear off of the Shadow Hawk, but witnessed no further internal damage other than some torn musculature.
"I cannot defeat him in this machine.” Thought Pryde at the revelation. “He is better than I am! I, a bloodnamed warrior of Clan Jade Falcon, cannot defeat this child of a mechwarrior." Thought Pryde. "This cannot be!" he roared out loud.
Twin lasers cut across the already battered chest of the Summoner, melting through and hitting the mech's sensitive balancing gyro. Pryde's mech lurched to one side as its sense of balance went off kilter. Pryde fired his autocannon again, following it up with an SRM spread. The autocannon shells struck home, but then the Shadow Hawk launched skyward on its jump jets. The missiles, ready to fire, stood down as its Streak targeting system failed to find its target.
Pryde leaned his mech back, hoping to catch Joshua in the air. The Shadow Hawk was too quick, flying over the head of the Summoner and landing behind him. "He has me!"
Joshua fired his PPC, but the intensity of the past few seconds had rattled him and his aim was off. Still the shot found a target, smashing into the already damaged right arm of the Summoner, blowing it off this time. Joshua recovered and pressed his advantage as Pryde tried to swing his mech about to bring its autocannon around. The twin lasers stabbed out from Joshua's mech's arm, cutting deep furrows into the Summoner's damaged breast. Pryde saw his engine shielding melt away and the heat of his mech increased as the radiation output of the fusion reactor lost its containing barrier. His mech was now dangerously close to meeting the same fate as the Kit Fox. He stepped back, knowing another strike on his mech's chest would be the end of him.
“This ends now.” Said Joshua. The lasers stabbed again. The next thing Pryde felt was being rocketed skyward by his auto-eject system as his mech exploded beneath him.
"What
manner of barbarian is this? I must know." Thought Pryde as his
parachute deployed. His opponent, although battered, now moved on to other
opponents.
Joshua marched his mech back to the fourth marker, twenty kilometers back down the pass. Lisa had ordered her company to regroup there. Joshua's daring duel with the Falcon leader had hopefully demoralized the enemy troops. Now it was time to let that simmer a bit.
"That was a daring move, Joshua." Commented Lisa. She had overheard his acceptance of Pryde’s challenge, broadcast as it was over a wide-beam channel. "You seem to understand these people. How they think, how they act."
“We’ve encountered them before. They are the ones who destroyed my home, remember?”
"Who are they?"
"Kerensky's armada, or the descendants thereof. You should have been able to guess that."
"But they do not resemble in any way the Star League army of old."
"No, no. They appear to have adopted new tactics and strategy,” feinted Joshua, “new military organization. They resemble what they once were very little."
"What will they do now?"
“Regroup. Reload. As will we.” He replied. “This isn’t over yet.”
Joshua's brought his Shadow Hawk to a halt. He opened the hatch and climbed out. The cold air bit at his skin. He noticed the dark clouds above and saw the first flakes of snow begin to fall.
"I thought this was summer." Commented Daisaku, who had already disembarked and was waiting for Joshua.
"Not all worlds adhere to the northern hemisphere seasonal pattern of old Terra." reminded Lisa. "Here on New Belfast, our planetary rotation makes our seasons roughly 2 to 3 weeks longer than on old Earth. This year, June marks the beginning of winter."
Daisaku took off his cooling vest and stood there in only his boxers. "Then, I fear we are all a bit underdressed for this weather."
Lisa laughed and stripped off her own cooling vest. She stood there only in a pair of bikini briefs, unashamed. Her bruises were still very evident on her exposed skin, but she still made a striking figure. She chuckled at Daisaku's occasional shivering. "Weakling." She said with teasing scorn.
“This from someone commenting earlier about not being outside naked.” Interjected Joshua. Lisa retorted with a playful slap.
Daisaku laughed at Joshua’s teasing of Lisa. "You know, I didn’t really need to know that. But call me what you will, I'm getting my jumpsuit." He walked back over to his Wolfhound.
“Not a bad idea.” Said Joshua, both to himself and to Lisa. “Not that I mind seeing you like this.”
“Very well, my love. I’m sure Daisaku appreciates the show.”
“I’m sure he does” Joshua turned serious for a moment. “How cold will it get?"
"Not much colder than 0° I would guess. It's too early for the really bitter cold." Said Lisa. "Why do you ask?"
"The militia, I hope, can fight in that bitter cold. We may have driven off the Falcons for the time being but we may remain under siege for a good while. We don’t know how long it will take for them to lose their nerve in this canyon."
"How determined will they be to claim us? Can we guess?"
“We don’t know for certain their ultimate goal.” Said Joshua. That was honest. Joshua had hunch he knew what the Falcons and the other Clans were really after in this invasion, but he couldn’t say for sure. “And their drive for whatever that is and New Belfast’s importance thereto will be the answer to that question. Still, it seems likely that a defeat will stain their honor, so they will be loath to have a loss even if this planet is not a vital strategic objective.
“It’s probably a good bet that it is.” Added Daisaku. “There is an old saying. An army fights on its stomach. They are far from home and establishing a close supply base is likely of vital priority to them. New
“In other words,” said Lisa, “We wait and see.” Daisaku walked away, leaving the couple alone.
"Yes." Said Joshua. He reached out to her and touched her arm. She shivered at his touch. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, the battle didn’t shake me up quite as much as I thought it would.”
"You're not yourself." Said Joshua seriously. “You aren’t normally this immodest.”
"No, I’m still here. Fighting against all the crazy emotions I’m feeling: fear, anger, shame, confusion." She sat down on the foot of Joshua's mech, careful to not sit on a jagged piece of damaged armor. "I don't think I could do this without you here. Just stay with me, hold me up when I need it.”
“Always.” Joshua promised. He looked up at the sky. "Night is falling. Tomorrow may be a difficult day. We should get some sleep." He moved behind her to open the locker in his mech's leg. He got out a blanket and some other camping materials.
"May I join you?" asked Lisa. “I’d rather not be alone in my mech tonight.”
“Of course. Climb up.”
New
Tamar March,
19 June 3050
Dal Pryde nursed his wounds as he sat down to plan his next move. His worst injury was not physical, but it was an insult to his pride. The Summoner was destroyed. He’d been beaten, by a novice academy graduate! Beaten by a spheroid!
"He fought like a Clansman, Colonel." Said David, one of Pryde's eyries. He was a trainee, a cadet whose role would begin once the world had been taken. He and his like would garrison the planet, leaving assault units like the 2nd Jaegers to move on to other conquests.
"That is part of what bothers me, Commander." Said Dal coldly. Another concern took him. He glanced about nervously. "You should not be so familiar with me, David." Scolded the older Clansman under his breath.
"No one is watching, father." David barely whispered the last word.
"Do not call me that. Never again will I lust over a woman, even if she is worthy of my seed. She that was your mother deserved none of the pleasure I gave her. And I certainly did not deserve to be saddled with the freebirth spawn of that night."
David ignored the scorn Pryde showed for him. "So what is your next step, Colonel?" he said without emotion. Pryde hated his son's stoic nature. David never seemed to get even remotely rattled whenever Dal berated him about his heritage.
When Pryde gave him no answer, David continued. "Yes, but being raised among the lower castes has its advantages. Your scorn for our miscreants and outcasts has made you forget them and their history.”
"Get to your point. I do not need a history lesson, especially of the likes of your kind."
“Oh, but I think you do, Colonel.” Said David boldly. “You have forgotten there are others who left our fellowship many generations ago. They may live among the Spheroids we know invade.”
“You speak of the Not-Named? Neg, they are dead. I earned my Bloodname for the slaughter of their world. My training cluster found their last colony and destroyed it two years ago."
“Again, you forget your history. Remember the names, names we’ve not spoken for two hundred years. What were the bloodlines of the Not-Named? Remember any of them? Hallis, McEvedy, Messer…”
Pryde looked at his son intently. “Are you daring to say that the one who bested me was a survivor of the Not-Named colony?”
“He knows of our traditions, Father. Put the pieces together. I somehow doubt you killed them all. You fled the system too quickly for that to be guaranteed.”
Pryde stopped and thought for a moment. "He said he had escaped our talons twice before. And it’s obvious we face more than just the planetary militia at this point. No doubt this Messer fled here from some other world we have recently struck. But that accounts for only one previous encounter, not two.” He paused. “The other, if you are right, was on New Vision.”
David nodded in sinister delight. He had bested his father at a battle of wits and was pleased with himself. And Dal too felt a surge of confidence, his wounded ego healing in the light of this new knowledge.
"So, they have made good on their vow to stand against us when we returned to the Inner Sphere. That much of the history I do remember.” Dal smiled and took to his feet. “Stand up, Star Commander David. We have much to prepare. A glorious future, for tomorrow we rid the universe of the last of the Not-Named and take this planet for our own. And you, you will fight by my side.”
New
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
19 June 3050
"
“Recommend you send someone who knows the area, Kommandant.”
“I know just the person.” Said Joshua, looking to his side. Lisa had not stirred despite the fact that Joshua was up, preparing for the battles ahead. He leaned over and touched her gently. "Hey, time to get up."
She murmured something and rolled up against him. Sleeping on the seat of a Battlemech was not very comfortable, but it was warmer than outside. Feeling her near him made Joshua forget all his duties for just a brief moment. He gave her a shake, still gentle and she stirred awake. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him smiling.
“I need your help.”
“What for?”
“I need you to lead a scouting party out and see what the Falcons are up to. I need someone who knows this territory.”
Lisa nodded. “I understand. I’ll assemble a team and leave immediately.” She stood up and opened the hatch on the mech’s cockpit.
“You be careful out there."
"Always." She said. She blew him a kiss and climbed down. Joshua brought his machine to stand-by mode, enjoying the purr of the fusion engine warming up. He glanced over his status monitors. He must have slept soundly indeed, because his ammo bays reported fully loaded and most of his armor had been patched. He had not once heard the techs outside as they performed those repairs.
Lisa made her way to Gil-Galad. She put on her own headset microphone and signaled her lance. Her mechwarriors,: Bedwyn Ymyr, Malcolm Kearney, and Marissa Delfois were all up and ready to go. They piloted old House Steiner staples: two COM-2D Commandos and a HCT-3F Hatchetman. All but the Hatchetman seemed to Lisa to be hundreds of years old, and might be.
Lisa received detailed orders from Joshua not much longer after she ordered her lance into formation. She pushed them forward, clearing the 20 kilometers to the 5th Marker in about twenty minutes. Beyond that, lay the huge Reynolds and MacLeod collective farms: thousands of square kilometers of open ground, now covered in a thin layer of snow.
There was a forest near the eastern border of the Reynolds collective. Somewhere near there the Falcons had made planetfall. The large trees of the forest (redwoods by species) blocked sight from afar; not much else on this world of giant grain fields did. Lisa pulled her machine around the edge of the mountains and headed northward. As she passed the northern most line of militia forces, she spied O'Malley's Cataphract. She felt a twinge of fear, but pushed it to the back of her mind, reminding herself that O’Malley was safely locked away in a
Her lance made its way to the forest, covering the distance in little time. Concerned about enemy contact out here, outside their lines, Lisa nervously checked and rechecked her monitors. She likewise flipped the switch for her MASC system to test it, determined to ensure that all her systems were functioning normally if they ran into trouble. She heard the mech's actuators strain under the increased voltage and was content with the results. Too much of that and she could fry every joint in her mech's body. Despite the risk, the extra speed might be worth it.
Suddenly a PPC blast alerted her that something was up. It was a miss, but a close one, clearing over Gil-Galad’s head by mere meters. "Damn!" said Lisa. The Falcons were on the move and they had found her. She looked down at her monitors again. They registered 5 contacts, a perimeter patrol of some manner. "Guys, we've got five bogeys moving in our right flank. Let's pull back to the forest. We're not here to fight, just to find them.”
Lisa then realized that the Clan mechs were outpacing her lance. They would not make for the depths of the forest before the Clan mechs caught up to them. PPC and laser fire tore through the trees at their mechs.
"They're too fast for us, Hauptmann." Came a comment over the radio. Lisa didn’t bother to see from whom.
Another PPC blast connected with Lisa’s mech. The whole mech shook. "Damn! They hit hard!" thought Lisa to herself.
Lisa turned her mech to face their incoming opponents. Two of them were moving ahead of the rest, closing quickly with the Bedwyr's Hatchetman. She wasn’t about to abandon the Carlislian to die.
Lisa dropped her large laser and fired into the lead mech. The shot peeled away armor. She then turned and began to run at them, trying to use her speed to make her a harder target. The boxy mech fired his PPC, striking Gil-Galad’s leg.
"Damn, that shot just vaporized what was left of my leg armor. Another hit and I'm a goner." Said Lisa out loud.
A squat mech behind the first opened fire on her as well, sending autocannon fire through the air. Lisa yanked the control sticks hard, darting her mech behind a tree. Branches fell down onto the head of his mech as the cannon shells tore into the massive redwood's trunk, shaking loose anything in the massive tree that could be shaken loose.
"They're all firing at you, ma’am." Commented Malcolm. “They know who you are.”
Lisa glanced to her right, looking out the viewport of her mech to her mech’s right shoulder. Painted there was the tartan pattern of House MacLeod, designating her as a mech of the ruling family.
“They may know who I am, but do they know what I am?” Said Lisa defiantly. She saw her chance. "Get clear, guys. I'll hold them off long enough for you to escape."
"We're in this together, Hauptmann." Said Bedwyr. “We serve House MacLeod and you.” He moved his Hatchetman up behind an oblivious "Squatter" and cleaved downward with its hatchet. The massive hatchet clove through the mech’s thinly armored backside and crushed it gyroscope in a single blow. Unable to remain upright without its balance system, the 50 ton Clan mech crumpled to the earth.
Having one of their own so easily destroyed caused the Clanners to pay more heed to the other three Inner Sphere mechs. Short range missiles filled the air as the two Commandos cut loose with their launchers.
Lisa moved out, firing her lasers at the final mech of the enemy formation. It returned fire, relying on its PPC. It connected with Lisa’s right torso, blowing through the armor and damaging her jump jet controls. It continued to close.
"Hah! Mine will be the honor of slaying a MacLeod!" proclaimed the pilot over an open channel. All could hear him.
Lisa triggered a volley from her pulse lasers. They splattered against the upper body of her opponent. She then jumped upward, risking her damaged jump jets to reach out for a branch of the redwood. As wide around as a healthy aged oak tree, even this branch could not hold the 45 metric tons of her mech, but that was not her plan. It snapped off and Lisa dropped back down to earth, now with a sizable club in hand.
“Not so effective as your hatchet, Bedwyr, but it’ll do.” She said to herself. She opened a channel to the Falcon mech as it closed with her. “Come and get me, Falcon, if you desire my death so badly." She brought her mech up to a run and headed for a dense copse of cedar trees tucked beneath their larger cousins. Her opponent pursued, and quickly. Lisa clocked the mech at 80 kph.
Bedwyr was battling away with a 30 tonner. It was thinly armored, but its firepower was more than a match for the also thinly protected Hatchetman. An autocannon burst in the gut and the Hatchetman toppled, ripped clean in two. A spread of SRMs from Marissa's nearby Commando tore through what was left of the Clanner's rear armor and detonated an ammo store. The small mech seemed to blow apart, but protective blast panels kept the ammo explosion from completely destroying it. It was no longer in any shape to fight, and Marissa's lasers finished it.
The Clanners had now lost two and Lisa’s force only one. The odds were now even, save for the shear amount of damage that the enemy had inflicted on the Inner Sphere mechs. The tide would soon turn in the Clanner's favor.
Lisa’s pursuer tore through the cedars as Lisa raised the club to strike. Not expecting such an ambush, her opponent tried to brake to a halt in front of her mech. The oak-sized branch came down and shattered across the head of the Clan mech, but it was enough. The stout wood smashed in the viewport and if it didn’t kill the pilot, it took him out of the fight. Now three of the clan mechs lay defeated. Only two remained.
Another machine of the same design came in after it, looking for Lisa and his comrade. Taking advantage of the limited visibility, Lisa moved in for another close assault. He seemed to jump when Lisa closed within 10 meters of him. Lisa opened fire with her large pulse laser.
The laser connected with the boxy mech, tearing into a wound made earlier by one of Joshua's lancemates. She swung her left arm and rammed her mech’s armored fist into her foe's back. She fired that arm’s laser and watched the enemy mech twitch.
The boxy mech pulled away, determined to put some distance between himself and Lisa’ Phoenix Hawk. It fled for open ground and a better tactical position. Missiles flew up from outside the trees to strike at its legs, a sign that at least one of the Commandos was still functional.
A flash of flame just beyond the edge of the cedars told Lisa that something had just gone up with a bang. She pushed her machine into a run chasing after the faster mech that had just fled from her. As she feared, the blast had been Malcolm's Commando. In cruel jest, his opponent stomped down on the cockpit of the flaming mech, but Lisa knew that the Irish militiaman was already dead before hand.
Now Lisa was between two Clan mechs and she was alone. Off to one side was the flaming ruin of Marissa's Commando. It too had become victim to an ammo detonation and, unlike the Clan mechs, had no CASE panels to prevent the blast from consuming the entire machine.
"So be it!" said Lisa with grim determination. She fired her pulse laser at the new opponent, Malcolm's killer. It was another one of the 30 tonners. Lisa's sensors seemed to register it rather hazily, so she guessed this machine carried some manner of sensor/counter-measure system like the old Guardian ECM/Beagle Probe combo of the Star League.
She slammed down on the MASC control and brought her machine to a run. More lasers lanced out, finding their mark on the smaller mech. She knew it was not built to take much punishment. It tried to fire back a paltry single heavy laser, but Lisa’s high speed spoiled his aim. She yanked on the sticks and sideswiped the damaged the light mech as he bolted past. The impact bowled over the 30 tonner and it did not get back up.
The boxy one was not ignoring her. It leveled its LRM launcher and fired a spread of 10 missiles at her. Lisa kicked off the MASC before it overloaded and thus could not dodge the shots as well. She felt the light missiles smack against her battered armor. Gil-Galad’s battle damage was growing critical, but she still had all her weapons. In fear and fury, Lisa charged the mech, firing away with her pulse lasers. The bolts tore through the mech’s center torso armor and ripped into engine shielding. The mech suddenly flared up on Lisa's IR sensors: Critical damage to the mech's engine shielding. Lisa was surprised; Her foe was in worse shape than she thought.
"You're not unbeatable!" she cried out, trying to bolster her own confidence. The instant the lasers came off cooldown, she fired them again as she charged in to point blank range. As before, she swung her fist around and smashed the mech across the torso. Her leg came up and crushed leg armor off of the Boxy's left leg.
It tried to pull away, but only succeeded in getting more armor ripped off as Lisa gripped onto a broken armor panel.
“Die already!” she cried out, firing her heavy pulse laser again. The blow was the final straw as the last of the mech’s engine shielding boiled away, White hot plasma consumed the mech and it crashed to the earth.
Lisa slumped in her seat from exhaustion. She had won.
"I've identified a Clan force closing on the pass from the southwest. I am moving to intercept."
“Negative. Hold your position. Don’t you dare move into open terrain.” Barked Joshua in reply.
"They are moving through a section of woods in Sector 21.” Retorted the defiant mechwarrior. “If we move quickly enough, we can catch them on the move inside those woods.”
“Neg, do not break ranks.” Snapped Joshua. He turned to Daisaku. “I’m barely holding this group together.”
“They’re eager for a fight.” Commented Daisaku.
“If they only knew what sort of fight was coming…” Joshua turned back to the table they had set up. On it were a number of topographic maps of the region, now marked in ink with positions of his forces and the known locations of the Jade Falcons. "When they hit us on Chateau, they made planetfall near our headquarters. Our fighters have not been able to keep control of the skies. So why have they not dropped another dropship on our heads?"
Daisaku shook his head. At that moment, the roar of fighters filled the their ears. "Another air-strike. Take cover!"
Militia fighters launched in pairs from the airstrip came up to intercept them as the Jade Falcon ships pounded the militia positions.
“Perhaps
they mean to pin us down while their mechs move into position.” said Daisaku,
poking his head up as the Clan fighters passed over. “Or worse…”
Back at the militia base, Marshall Sarah Steiner was taking stock of the battle.
“Forward positions reporting enemy contact, ma’am.” Reported her aide. “Enemy Mechs advancing under heavy air cover. We likewise have aerospace forces inbound. ETA less than a minute.”
The Clan fighters roared over the militia base at barely 50 meters above the ground, fully confident they would face minimal anti-aircraft fire from the battered headquarters. Among them were several large heavy fighters, 100 metric tons fully loaded. They were heavily armed, with an usual cargo. As they passed over, their wing pods released and the bomb-like shells split open at low altitude, each revealing within an armored soldier. The attack on the headquarters had begun in earnest.
"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" shouted the public address system. Red lights illuminated the rooms. Marshall Steiner drew her hand laser.
"Armored troopers, dozens of them on the base." Exclaimed the
Steiner activated her headset radio. "Wallace, move your mechs back into the command complex. We have armored troopers attacking the command center."
"Roger that,
“They’ve broken through.”
"Kommandant, we have forces moving in on both flanks. Another unit detected to the northeast, moving up on our position.”
"I see them. Ten on eight, huh?" said Joshua. “So be it. We make our stand here.”
Daisaku moved his Wolfhound forward, past a militia Commando to attack a Thunderbolt-like Clan mech, one very much like the one piloted by Pryde when Joshua defeated him. Outweighed by twice his own weight, Daisaku tore into the more advanced Clan mech with fury. Although the damage he inflicted was light, the sheer audacity of the attack caused the Clansman to falter. His aggression rallied the militia behind him.
Joshua quickly moved up behind his friend, attacking another Clan mech. The battle was joined.
"They’re throwing everything they have at us." Thought Joshua as he looked at his tactical monitors. Another contact entered the battlefield to the north, bringing the total number of enemies to 11. Off to his side, Daisaku continued to battle with his opponent without reprieve, but despite his courage and ferocity, he could not win. Autocannon rounds tore through his light mech's shell, smashing away at the last of its armor.
“Daisaku, get out of there.” Thought Joshua to himself. He realized that Daisaku had taken his bold statement about making a stand to heart. His aggression may have been inspiring at first, but now it looked suicidal.
Still, Daisaku’s skill was seeing him through as he landed shot after shot on the much larger mech. Joshua dropped down his PPC reticule and fired, add his own strength to that of his friend. The Thunderbolt-like mech turned to face its new threat, raking an autocannon burst across Joshua’s Shadow Hawk.
But it was not enough. The Clan mechs were simply too powerful. Off to his side, he saw two of the militia machines collapse in flames. His radio blared to life as panic broke down what little discipline the militia mechwarriors had. It would soon be rout.
“Clear the channels!” barked Joshua. “Leftenant, begin a fighting withdrawal toward the fourth marker. Move!” he barked.
Then the Thunderbolt-like mech opened up yet again, this time on Daisaku. His battered machine absorbed shell after shell, its leg snapping off at the hip. There was a flash as Daisaku ejected from his crippled machine. Now the Thunderbolt turned to Joshua.
Suddenly, a pulse laser lashed out from within the smoke and haze of the battle, striking the backside of the Thunderbolt-like mech. It penetrated deep into the bowels of the damaged machine and touched off its ammunition stores. Saved from total destruction by CASE panels, it still was too badly damaged to fight on.
Lisa’s Phoenix Hawk emerged from the haze. She had been the new contact Joshua had detected earlier. Her arrival threw the Clan mechs into disarray. They had not expected an attack to the rear and most maneuvered to face a new threat. It was just the opening Joshua needed.
“All units, continue retreat. Lisa, fall in.” barked Joshua. “God, I’m glad to see you.”
“That’s another one you owe me, my love.” She said confidently.
The Clan mechs quickly recovered from their mistake, but it gave Joshua and the survivors of Lisa’s company time to widen the distance between themselves and the Clan group.
Another one of the fast boxy mechs that Lisa had fought earlier quickly closed the gap, breaking ranks with his comrades to charge the withdrawing militia. “Oh, no, you don’t.” said Lisa, firing her pulse laser. It melted an ugly furrow up the mech's abdomen. Joshua fired his PPC and it cored through, melting into Boxy's gyro system. Unable to keep its balance at its high speed, it toppled and rolled end over end across the canyon floor, exploding in a shower of parts.
“Kill the Not-Named!” came an order across an open channel from the Jade Falcons. “He pilots a Shadow Hawk with twin lasers on its arm.” It was a familiar voice: Pryde.
“How do they know!?” thought Joshua in shock and terror. The Clan mechs now focused their attention on Joshua’s machine. Lisa moved her machine in between his and the advancing Clanners.
“I’ll hold them off, Joshua.” She didn’t know what the whole “Not-Named” thing was about, but she knew they had described Galileo.
“No, we’re in this together.”
Now only two Clan mechs remained of the initial force Joshua had encountered, another Thunderbolt-type mech and a Warhammer look-alike. They opened up on the survivors of Lisa’s company, for the time being ignoring Joshua to go after his comrades.
Joshua dropped his reticule on the Warhammer-like mech. What he had seen of its capabilities so far was that it copied the Warhammer quite closely, including its flawed light armor. His PPC launched bolt into its legs and sure enough, ripped through its already damaged armor.
Lisa fired her pulse lasers into the Thunderbolt like machine, aided by PPC blasts from a militia Marauder. Deciding the Marauder was a greater threat, the Thunderbolt turned its attention on it and withered it with a full barrage of PPC and autocannon fire. The Marauder went down in fire and smoke. It now moved in on Lisa.
"No!" snarled Joshua. "I am of the Not-named! Fight me, Falcon!"
That got his attention and the Thunderbolt turned to face Galileo. Lisa took advantage of the distraction and her laser pulsed another blast, tearing through the aft armor on the mech. Joshua's PPC smashed the Warbolt near the head, taking off its shoulder-mounted missile launcher.
"You will not escape us again, cursed one!" snarled the Falcon in the Warhammer look-alike, pressing his attack.
“Oh?” said Joshua with a taunting voice. He stabbed a pair of lasers at the Warhammer-like machine, sheering its already damaged leg off at the knee. The mech pitched forward into the dirt.
Joshua turned back to the Thunderbolt like machine. Lisa's twin lasers fired, boring another hole in the rear of the Clan mech. Despite the damage she inflicted, it continued to ignore her to advance on Joshua. Autocannon rounds and PPC fired at Galileo. Some missed, but others hit and hit hard. Galileo would not take much more. Already, its armor was gone from most every location, and now his weapons were being knocked out.
Lisa fired again, her heavy pulse laser this time. It sliced across the machine’s arm, taking it off above the elbow. That cost the heavy mech its autocannon. Reduced to its PPC alone, the pilot decided that retreat was in order. He fired his jump jets and made for the canyon wall.
Joshua chose not to pursue, but the fleeing pilot took one last shot at Joshua. It was a clean miss. Joshua lined up his reticule again and fired his PPC and his surviving laser at the retreating mech. His shot struck home, melting one of the mech’s jump jet ports shut. Off balance, the mech careened into the canyon wall and exploded.
“Let’s get out of here.” Said Lisa.
“Not without our survivors. Daisaku’s down there. And there may be others.”
“He is flesh and blood like the rest of us and pilots a primitive machine.” Retorted Pryde. “He can be beaten.”
“We have broken their defenses and their command center has been destroyed. Let us finish this.”
“No, not yet. We should pause, rearm, repair.” Said Pryde. “He is still dangerous and he leads this rabble. I will, as you say, not underestimate him again. We’ll continue our advance in twelve hours.”
The bulk of the Clan force had moved into the canyon. At the 3rd Marker, they halted their advance to rearm and repair. Beyond them, a single battalion stood against them. The sun was setting over the
Joshua led what was left of his force back to the new militia line at the 2nd marker. The Clans were now dangerously close to the capital city. Grim news awaited them. Clan armored infantry had struck their headquarters and there had been no response from Marshall Steiner.
“Enemy in front and behind.” Muttered Joshua ruefully at the news. Lisa came up behind him.
Forgetting military protocol for a second, Joshua swept her up into his arms. “God, I thought I’d lost you out there.”
“We got jumped by another scouting party from the Falcon side.” She explained. “Took out three of our mechs. Two of our pilots. I managed to defeat the last of their machines, recovered our lost pilot, and then made my way back to you. How are you?”
"Alive. My mech, on the other hand....."
"I can see that." said Lisa. "And Daisaku?"
“Shaken up, but alright.”
“If the reports are true and the
He looked at her with a pained look. He did not want to answer that question. “We’ve held them as best we could. I’m not sure we can hold them much longer. It seems we’re down to less than a battalion here and at the 1st marker. Our focus for right now should be to evacuate the ruling family as soon as possible.” He paused. “And then ourselves.”
“We’ll take care of the MacLeods.” Said Bedwyr, Lisa’s lancemate.
Joshua nodded his assent. “Fetch Daisaku. He will aid you.”
“Yes, sir.”
"Is all lost?" asked Lisa tearful after her subordinate was out of earshot.
"Our troops are exhausted, outflanked, and outgunned." Said Joshua with exhaustion. “We can’t hold them. For all our planning, all our hope, New Belfast fell just as quickly as any other world. I failed you, Lisa, and I’m sorry.”
New Belfast
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
20 June 3050
Joshua awoke early the next day, well before dawn. Snow was falling outside, covering the mechs standing vigil with a light dusting. His stomach growled and he drew out a ration bar to chew on. The tough pseudo-food tasted like rubber and leather combined, but it made his grumbling digestive system happy if not his tongue.
He went over to the temporary command center and joined the two exhausted radar techs there. They remained glued to the screens, making no notice that their commanding officer was even behind them. Radar detected no mechs within 50 kilometers.
“So far, so good.” He said. “We might have enough breathing room to get ourselves out of here after all.” The techs nodded and Joshua headed back to his tent.
He climbed inside and finished off the ration bar. Lisa was still sleeping. Joshua took a moment to watch her quietly. She was sleeping soundly or so it seemed. Joshua recognized her sleep as the deep dreamless restless sleep of one too troubled to want to deal with reality. He couldn’t blame her. He took the edge of the blanket and pulled it down to her waist. Her bruises had begun to heal, but they remained a grim reminder of all that she had undergone of late. And now, as if the hell O’Malley had visited on her was not bad enough, her very home was soon to be lost. All that she knew, all that she loved.
He gave her a mild shake on the shoulder and she awoke with a start. "It's morning." He said flatly.
“Already?” she grumbled.
“Well, sort of. It’s about 4am. The sun is not yet up.”
Lisa sat up and stretched as best she could inside the confined tent.
"What's new?"
"Nothing really. No Clan mechs anywhere nearby. They are taking their time…”
A cry of alarm went up from the radar techs across the way. The sentry mechs quickly picked up speed to prepare for battle.
“What’s going on?” shouted Daisaku as he stirred awake from his tent.
"Fighters!" exclaimed one of techs. "Closing fast.”
“Another bombing run?” wondered Joshua aloud as he scanned the dark sky. Two clan aerospace fighters roared overhead, only a few dozen meters over the tops of the mountains. Moving at several times the speed of sound, their sonic booms shook the ground.
"What are they doing?" asked Joshua, running back over to the radar station. “They made no attacks.”
More contacts appeared, coming up over the mountain from the glacial lake to the south. “There’s another group. FC IFF codes confirmed. They’re some of ours.”
"I thought all our ships were down. Who are they?" asked Lisa, "Militia survivors that we overlooked?"
“I don’t know.”
“I’ve got something on an open channel, sir.” Said one of the other techs. Joshua took the offered radio.
"Tiger leader to militia commander, whoever you are. If you can hear this, please respond." The voice was familiar.
"Tiger leader, this is Brevet Kommandant Joshua Messer of the New Belfast militia. Who are you and where did you come from?"
“Joshua! My God, is that really you? It’s Erik. We’re the 21st Flying Tigers, on retreat from Icar where we had a bit of trouble with some green birdies.”
"Erik? You pirate! What the hell are you doing here?"
"When we saw the planet under siege, we decided to join the party."
“Not much of a party left. How many are you?"
"Two squadrons. We had to scuttle our dropship in orbit. It can’t enter atmosphere. Once we’re rid of these pests, we could use a place to land."
“How
much room do you need?” asked Joshua.
A few minutes later, Erik brought his fighter to a halt, landing on the surface of the major highway than ran the length of the canyon.
Lisa was the first to greet him, giving him a enthusiastic hug. “God, it’s good to see you.”
“Glad I‘m here. I missed you guys.”
“You still have your jumpship?” asked Joshua.
“Good to see you too.” Said Erik sarcastically. “Yeah, it’s at LaGrange point L-2. But we now lack a dropship. Ours was too badly damaged to continue, so we abandoned it. It should be burning up on re-entry shortly.”
“Still you're the best news that we've gotten all week." said Daisaku.
"How long have they been here? The Jade Falcons, that is."
“Two days.”
“Sounds about right. They ripped through everything they’ve come across. Like a force of nature, they are. I take it you’re not doing any better here than you did on Chateau.”
“Heard about that did you?”
“As I said, force of nature. Your story is no different than every other one I’ve heard. This has happened so fast that Central Command hasn’t even reacted yet, except to shuffle around shattered survivors from world to world in a desperate attempt to slow the Falcons down. And it’s not just the Falcons. The Wolves also are hitting worlds closer to the Rasalhague border.”
“So, more than one Clan. This is even worse than I thought.”
“What’s your tactical situation, if I may ask?”
“We’ve set up a series of defensive lines up and down this canyon. The Falcons have breeched all but the last two. Right now, we have enough forces to hold our current positions for a little while yet, hopefully long enough for us to complete an evacuation. Unfortunately, we know they’ve landed forced behind us, mostly commando teams and battle armored infantry.”
“So how can we help?” asked Erik.
"Those Clan paratroops have taken the capital city at the far end of that canyon, including our way out of here. Clan mech forces control this end. Our mechs are in the middle."
"So what do you need?"
“We need the spaceport back. The Falcons have been landing their ships there for the past twelve hours. Once they’re fueled up and ready to go, they’ll pound our positions to cover their mech advance from the north. We need that spaceport and the dropships stowed there.”
“An aerospace squadron isn’t exactly capable of that.”
“No, but you can pin down the Clan mechs to the north and give us enough breathing room to move our battalion into position to hit the Spaceport.”
Erik saluted somewhat lackadaisically. “I’ll see what I can do.”
"Erik." Called Joshua as his friend turned to leave. Erik turned around.
"Your timing is impeccable. Thanks for saving our ass."
"It’s not saved yet. Thank me when we’re off this rock."
"Still, it's good to see you again. Don't get yourself killed out there."
"I've been running from these monsters for light years. They'll not get me here."
David shrugged, without answers. Pryde's glare made him shrink. "Find them." Snarled the older Clansman. "Find them and destroy them!"
"As you wish." Said David with a crisp salute. He turned to leave and a klaxon went off.
"What?" cried Pryde. He bolted past David, leaving his tent. The klaxon roared, and Pryde could hear the roar of aerospace fighters in the distance.
"Air raid!" he snarled. "Get our ships in the air!"
But it was too late. The Falcon air support had already moved south to the MacLeod City Spaceport, at least 200 km and several minutes away. Pryde’s mech forces were unsupported and vulnerable to Erik’s attack. Pryde cursed his shortsightedness as the first ship, Erik’s own Stingray roared in for a strafing run. Pulse lasers flashed from its wings, turning snow to steam and tearing through a line of parked Clan mechs. A single Kit Fox exploded, knocking Pryde off his feet and showering the camp with debris.
A Stormcrow marched forward and filled the air with heavy autocannon shells. At least there are anti-aircraft mechs about, Pryde mused. He kept his head down as the strafing fighters continued their passes, blasting apart mechs, tents, anything they could hit. Two patrolling Bashkir fighters came down to intercept the strafers, but a single air patrol point would do little to slow down the bombardment.
"Sir, we have report that the militia battalion is withdrawing southward." Said a subordinate as he helped the Colonel to his feet.
“They are not withdrawing. They are advancing. Advancing on our fighter base and the elemental binary that defends it.” Pryde snarled. “They are making a break for it and we cannot stop them.”
“We're off to get the MacLeods. Wish us luck."
It was not long before the Clans finally managed to launch their own fighters. Erik broke off his strafing attack to engage the Clan fighters, hoping he’d bought his friends below the time they needed.
"Thirty minutes isn't much time." Said Daisaku.
“It’ll
have to do. Erik can’t hold out up there forever and the Jade Falcon mechs will
soon be on our heels.”
The outside of the castle was guarded by five of the battle armored soldiers with more likely inside. Stealth would have to be the order of the day. There was no way for two dispossessed mechwarriors and a platoon of infantry to defeat them otherwise. “Alright,” said Daisaku as the APC pulled to a stop. “We’re on foot from here. Make for the cliff side edge.”
Daisaku had studied the castle layout and with Lisa’s aid and had learned of a few other ways inside the walls. With the sun just now starting to rise, they still had the advantage of darkness, but not for much longer.
The pair led the troops to the seawall. Far below them, the ocean crashed against the cliffs. No one would expect an attack from this direction. The commandos toss their grapples over the side and began to climb. Their entry went unnoticed.
They quietly moved to the courtyard. A handful of militia infantry, or rather what was left of them, lay about the courtyard. The Clans had not bothered to bury the dead. Also present was one of the armored troopers the Clans used, apparently taken down by a lucky rocket hit.
"Be careful, those guys are nasty." said Daisaku. "He probably took out these infantrymen alone."
"I’ll take half the platton and go for the Duke and his wife. You find Chris and Marian.” Ordered Daisaku. “Lisa said they’d probably hide in stables. That way.” He pointed.
“Yes, sir. Squads 3 & 4 with
Daisaku darted up the stone steps to the upper level of the castle. He headed inside and made for the main audience chamber, his squads covering behind him. Before he reached it, he heard marching footsteps. He darted into an alcove and ordered his men silently to take cover. Then he waited.
One of the armored troopers led the way, his ponderous footsteps making the stone hallways shake. Behind his were Lisa’s parents. Two more guards, these merely in jumpsuits and carrying rifles, took up the rear. Daisaku pressed himself further into the alcove, hoping to avoid detection.
The group passed by without incident. As the Duke and his wife passed his position, he cried out “NOW!” Daisaku dove out, tackling the couple and bringing them down to group as automatic rifle fire filled the hallway. The two guards in the back were cut down immediately.
The armored soldier was not so easy, but even he could not stand up to that much concentrated small arms fire. He staggered a bit, then pitched forward, his viewplate and his head behind it no doubt shattered by a dozen rifle hits.
“Rifle rounds seem to be a bit more effective that submachine guns.” Muttered Daisaku to no one in particular. “Bedwyr, we’ve got the Duke and Duchess.” He said into his headset microphone.
“I have Lord Christopher and Lady Marian also. They were right where Lisa said they were.”
“We ran into a bit of trouble, but we’re moving out. Meet us at the APC and let’s get out of here. Joshua’s waiting.”
Next Chapter
No comments:
Post a Comment