New Belfast
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
20 June 3050
The egg-shaped Overlord class dropship blazed away with its heavy PPC cannon at the marauding Clan mechs. Underneath them a handful of mechs were boarding. Erik's fighter slid into its protective bay, well above the mechs below. Michelle's ship had proceeded him by a few seconds. No other fighters made it.
The heavy cover fire had given Joshua and company a corridor with which they could get to the dropships to load. Joshua's battered mech was loading. Lisa's would be next. The civilians had been taken aboard. Despite the heavy weapons fire about the loading zone, Lisa stood out in the open, looking about the battlefield.
The boarding ramp to the dropship came down. It was Joshua. "Lisa, we're about to launch. Get aboard before you get hurt."
She turned and looked at Joshua. "This is my home, Joshua. It's being taken away from me and there's not a damn thing I can do about it."
“There will be another time. Come. There’s no glory in dying here now.”
Lisa reluctantly headed up the gangplank as the dropship's engine roared to life.
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
20 June 3050
“God, what a mess.” Grumbled Robert O’Malley as he stepped out into the street, a free man. The chaos of the battle at the spaceport had driven most of the people of the city to flee for safety. Now unguarded, it had not proven too difficult for O’Malley to make his way out of the prison.
The city was in disarray, people fleeing the battle at the spaceport and heading for the port at the sea edge, hoping to get aboard whatever ship might take them from danger. O’Malley jumped forward and tackled one man who had tried to dash past him.
“What is going on?”
“The Jade Falcons have taken the city. Kommandant Messer ordered the militia to retreat. They lifted off not more than an hour ago.”
“Kommandant Messer? Joshua Messer?” demanded O’Malley.
“Yes, sir. Please let me go.”
O’Malley gave the man a hard shove and fumed at the
news. “That little runt stole not just my woman, but my command! I’ll have
his head! I swear it.”
Dropship Steiner Glory
Outbound, New Belfast
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
20 June 3050
“I’m sorry, Lisa.” Apologized Joshua.
“Stop it. Just stop it.” Snapped Lisa. “This wasn’t your fault. You didn’t fail us.” She paused. “We failed you. I saw your plans, your strategies. They would have worked, but we weren’t the ones to carry them out. We didn’t have the strength. The Falcon reserves were too deep. You didn’t fail.”
“New
“No, what matters is what you learn from this. What we learn from this.”
“You sound like Daisaku.” Said Joshua, annoyed.
“And that makes me less right?”
Joshua took her in hand. “No, I didn’t mean anything by that.”
“Stop looking for failure where there is none. The Falcons got more of a pounding here than anywhere else. They just outlasted us.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
“Our best estimates say that we destroyed 40-50 of their mechs and probably a dozen aerospace fighters. We wiped out almost a full battalion of their forces. Can you claim that on Chateau? On Icar? On anywhere?”
“It doesn’t change the fact that they took your home.”
Lisa shook her head. “I know that. But you said it yourself. There’ll be another time.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re one of them, aren’t you?” asked Lisa bluntly. “You’re a clanner. That’s how you know how they think. How they behave. How they fight. That’s it, isn’t it? That’s the big secret you’ve been hiding. They called you Not-Named. You’re one of them, a fugitive.”
“Exile would be the more proper term, Lisa.”
“So I’m right.”
“You are.” Said Joshua. “When Kerensky finally found worlds for his armada to settle, they took to fighting among themselves. His son, Nicholas, led a group of loyal soldiers away and transformed them into the Clans, reorganizing them, reforming them, creating from them the ultimate army with which to bring peace and order to the new society they had formed.
“But his vision was short-sighted. Nicholas was arrogant and power-hungry. Of the Clans, nineteen stood with Nicholas, but one questioned. One dared to ask if we had lost our way, forgotten what it meant to be the Star League. Tolerating no challenge to his rule of this new society, Nicholas provoked this Clan, the Wolverines, and forced a confrontation. War erupted once more, a war of genocide, of annihilation. The Wolverines fled the new Clan colonies, fled back toward the Inner Sphere. When we escaped, Nicholas ordered the Clans to hunt us, to destroy us down to the last man, woman, and child. But he never found us.
“For two hundred years, we eked out a life on our new home, a world we called New Vision. We honed our military skills, and made ready as best we could for the day we knew would come, the day the Clans returned to retake what they felt had been stolen from them: the Star League. A day when we would stand against them once more. But before that day came, a single warship, a scouting expedition from Clan Jade Falcon, stumbled upon New Vision and the Jade Falcons began anew the work the Clans had failed to finish two centuries earlier. The Clans had not been idle either. Two hundred years of selective breeding and technological advancement showed them the superior and they slaughtered our world, killing thousands. And they would have finished their work, had not a single jumpship from ComStar arrived.”
“Daniel’s pirate-hunting expedition?”
“The same. The Falcons, fearing detection, fled and Daniel and his comrades found what survivors they could and brought us safely back to the Inner Sphere. The rest of the story, you know, for you have been a part of it.”
“And now, the day you prepared for has come. The Clans have invaded the Inner Sphere.”
“Our mission has not changed. Here we are, fighting by your side, even if it is just a handful of us.” said Joshua. He looked at Lisa. “One way or another, we will make the Falcons pay for every inch of Lyran soil they take. And someday, we will return to this place and take back what they have stolen.”
Jade Falcon warship Emerald Hawk
Location Unknown
1 July 3050
Star Colonel Mechlanthon stepped aboard the bridge of the Emerald Hawk. Star Commodore Brian Thastus turned. "Welcome aboard, Star Colonel. How soon will your cluster be loaded?"
"By noon tomorrow. It is good to know that Khan Malthus has decided to bring us into the fight."
“It would seem that New Belfast proved more troublesome than expected. Pryde’s 2nd Jaegers got quite a pounding. The Khan saw fit to activate your unit to move against the Jaeger’s Fourth wave targets while they recover.”
“Excellent.” Mechlanthon had been pleased that his earlier dishonor was about to be erased. It felt all the better knowing that it came due to Pryde’s failure.
"Star Commander Oliver, status report?"
Juan Miranda, now well hidden behind his mistaken identity, saluted. "We now have approximately 36 fresh Omnifighters aboard, 20 of which belong to Star Colonel Mechlanthon's cluster. Our dropships will hold over 200 BattleMechs, 150 of which will be Omnimechs. Of those, 55 Omnis are Star Colonel Mechlanthon's cluster."
"And Elemental armor?"
"300 suits plus the Star Colonel's own 75 elemental troops."
"It appears we are quite full then. The
Juan Miranda entered his quarters and immediately tapped into the ship's central computer. He downloaded the jump coordinates for their arrival in the Waldorf system. He reached under his bed and drew out his black box FTL transmitter. With it, he could transmit the information he had obtained back home to the Commonwealth. He typed in the information and pressed the transmit button. Juan prayed and thanked God that the transmissions he sent were undetectable, or at least, not by his technology.
"Now, we turn the tide of battle against you, Clan Jade Falcon."
Alyina
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
2 July 3050
Erik flipped back the protective mask as he finished welding a piece of armor onto his fighter's nose. He looked behind him to see Joshua.
"How bad is it?"
"Surprisingly, not as bad as it looks. I've lost a lot of armor, but my avionics are still 87% functional. No weapons lost. A few minor repairs and she'll be good as new."
"You're really fond of his ship, aren't you?"
"Are things any different with your mech?"
"No, not really." Said Joshua, musing.
"How is it?"
"Pretty bad, but repairable. She'll be down longer than yours, I'm afraid."
"Hopefully, we'll not be put back into action just yet."
"Why are you down here?" asked Joshua. "The techs can do these repairs better than you."
Erik slapped the freshly applied armor plate. "It's just armor repair. It doesn't take a genius to weld metal plates onto something. And these guys could use some help." Erik frowned. "Is there a problem?"
"No," said Joshua. "Just that Daisaku was wanting to get us all together in the Station tavern for some refreshments. We've not seen you in several months, Erik. With the battle and all, we've not much time to spend together."
"True. Is Lisa coming?"
"She was invited, but she's rather down about New Belfast. Losing her home was rough on her."
"Been there. Done that." said Erik flippantly, trying to hide the gravity of his inner feelings. "It was not a fate I would have wished on my worst enemy, let alone the lover of one of my best friends." Erik set aside the torch. In the zero-gravity of the repair bay, they simply floated beside the fighter. Erik clamped them to the side of the fighter with magnets to keep them from floating about randomly. "Lead on."
Daisaku was already there when they arrived. The bar was on the station's gravity deck, a spinning disk attached to the side of the station's superstructure. The rotation gave the deck the illusion of gravity. The rest of the station and the docked jumpship were in zero-gravity.
"Lisa didn't come." Said Joshua. "She wanted some time alone."
“Hard to blame her. She's been through a lot." Said Daisaku. "Lost her home. Assaulted by O'Malley."
"Assaulted?" said Erik. In the rush of things, news of Lisa's rape had not reached him. "Who's O'Malley?"
"The former commander of the New Belfast militia.” Said Joshua flatly. “After what he did, he was arrested and awaiting court-martial. I guess he didn't make it off-world."
"Good. The man was scum." Said Daisaku. It was obvious that he too was angry about what had happened.
"What exactly happened, if I may ask?"
“It’s a touchy subject, Erik. I’d rather you didn’t.”
Erik thought for a second. “He didn’t…force himself on her, did he?”
Joshua sat their stoically. Daisaku looked away. Their response gave Erik all the answer he needed.
“My God. No wonder she’s torn up.”
"Apparently, Lisa and O’Malley became involved, and he was the jealous type. When I arrived on-world with the 10th Donegal, he took it badly and apparently wasn’t all that stable to begin with."
“And you? How are you doing with all this?”
“I want to kill him.” Said Joshua flatly. “But thankfully, the Jade Falcons have probably already done that.” Joshua chuckled. “I suppose even they have their virtues.”
New Belfast
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
3 July 3050
“Star Colonel,” reported a guard with a bit of urgency. “We have captured an intruder near the base perimeter.”
“These curious spheroids are becoming a nuisance.” Said Dal Pryde, not looking up from his charts. “Dispose of him as you see fit.”
“He’s demanded to see you, sir. Says he is the militia commander.”
At that, Pryde stood up abruptly. “What did you say?” he said. “Bring him to me at once!”
“So he didn’t escape after all, but sacrificed himself for the others.” Said David. “How noble of him. But why not just shoot him and be done with it?”
“He may know of others. Besides, am I not due a bit of pleasure at drawing out his painful demise?”
The guard returned, dragging with him a rather disheveled Robert O’Malley.
“This is not the militia commander.” Said Pryde with anger and disappointment.
“I was, until that upstart came along.” Retorted O’Malley.
“Messer?”
“The same.”
“And who would you be?”
“I am Robert O’Malley. I was deposed from my position prior to your arrival. I came here to offer my help.”
“And what makes you think I either want or need your assistance?”
“You need me more than you know, Colonel. First off, you’ve got a populace who’s going to be very unhappy at your arrival. I was a leader of these people; I served under their ruling duke. I’m known and respected. I can help you pacify them, keep them under control. And I know the man who trapped you here.”
“Trapped? What makes you think I am trapped here?”
“I got a pretty good look at your arsenal as I was brought to you. Looks like Messer and his troops…”
“…who were your troops at one time, assuming you are not lying to me.”
“Either way, looks like they shot you up pretty good. Add to that all the stories I’ve been hearing about how the militia outmaneuvered and outfought you at nearly every turn.”
“And yet it is we, the Jade Falcons, who now control this planet. Strange for it to be so, if we had been so badly beaten.”
“With respect, Colonel, you and I both know how narrow your victory really was. The dozens of mauled BattleMechs out on that tarmac give testimony to that. If Messer’s reserves had been just a little deeper, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and you know it.”
Pryde conceded in his own mind that O’Malley was right, but wasn’t about to admit it verbally.
“So what do you want?”
“I want what you want. I want that pinhead Messer’s head on a platter. He nearly beat you, a little punk right out of academy, and I’m sure that smarts. You, a warrior of a vastly superior people.” Said O’Malley, goading Pryde. “And me, well let’s just say that he stole my command, my prestige, my honor, and something else….something very precious to me. For where I’m sitting, I think we have common cause.”
“Again, what makes you think I either need or want your help?”
“Because
you won’t catch him without me.”
Tharkad
Donegal March, Federated Commonwealth
9 July 3050
Hanse Davion reached out and took his wife's hand. Justin Xiang-Allard looked over the "fax" again.
"What can we do with it, Minister?" asked Archon Melissa Steiner, ruler of the
"It's a small convoy, but it does contain a warship. We've not been able to construct craft of that technology level for some time. Its firepower will make short work of an assault force of dropships."
"What about fighters? Star League warships were notorious for their lack of anti-aircraft defense."
"Hard to say. This particular design was not employed by the League. It's new, and the Clans may have corrected that flaw."
Hanse sat back and thought. He looked at Melissa. "It's your decision."
"Is the Shadow class ready yet?" she asked Justin.
"Not yet." Justin nodded in understanding. The Shadow was a new stealth capable dropship designed for raiding. Unfortunately, the prototype had yet to undergo testing and would not be ready for deployment by the time of the convoy's arrival.
"We do have a captured Clan jumpship however. Perhaps we can use it to confuse the Clansman."
"Who captured the jumpship?"
"The 21st Flying Tigers captured it trying to escape Icar. Last I heard, it was used to evacuate the 10th Donegal Guard survivors from New Belfast."
"Can we get a company of marines to Waldorf in time?" asked Hanse.
"Certainly."
"I want some fighters there. Are the 21st battle ready?"
"Sadly no. At last word, there were only two survivors."
“Who commands the 10th Donegal?”
“Command has fallen to a young Kommandant. Joshua Messer.” Said Justin. “Hey, isn’t he…”
“Yeah, one of those periphery exiles that was at NAMA last year. Well, he seems to know a bit about these people. Let’s see how he does. Send him the orders and some reinforcements. We’re taking that ship.”
Alyina
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
3 August 3050
An Invader class jumpship materialized less than 100 kilometers off of the massive refueling station. It drifted alongside the much smaller Hunter jumpship the 21st Flying Tigers had hijacked from the Jade Falcons. Two small shuttles flew out from the station to the Hunter.
The Overlord dropship of the New Belfast militia detached and waited for the shuttles to drift over and dock with the Hunter. It would not be going on this mission.
Aboard the lead shuttle, Lisa, Daisaku, and Joshua sat with eager anticipation. Joshua had received his orders. He was to use the ships provided with their complement of marines and fighters with his men in an attempt to capture a Clan warship. He had thought better of telling most of the unit, given their already low morale. Lisa and Daisaku knew, as did Erik. His fighter flew escort a few kilometers away, waiting to dock with the Invader.
"Look what that Invader's got strapped to her." said Daisaku. On the ship was a Vengeance fighter carrier, a Monarch class transport, and a Leopard CV fighter carrier. The Leopard was detaching. It would take the place of the Overlord on the docking ring of the Hunter.
"No doubt carrying six S-7c shuttles for boarding ops." Said Lisa in reference to the Leopard. "Each one can carry 3 platoons of infantry."
"Giving us a total of 18 platoons of troops. Roughly 400 men." Said Joshua. “More than enough to overwhelm the crew of that warship.”
"It's going to be cramped." Lamented Daisaku.
“Only once the operation commences. The Monarch will give us somewhat more comfortable quarters until them.” Said Joshua.
"So we'll be well rested, and there are a lot of us." Said Daisaku, assessing their strengths.
"Never mind who our help is." Said Lisa. "Notice the markings on those ships. The Vengeance is in the royal blue and gold colors of the Lyran Royal Guards. The troops are Lohengrin commandos, Lyran anti-terrorist squads."
"It still seems a big gamble. Using the Hunter's IFF codes will only fool them for a few seconds."
"If this Juan Miranda completes his half of the deal, we shouldn't have that much trouble. He's supposed to have some plan for keeping the ship's crew distracted."
Joshua gave Lisa an incredulous look. "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." He quoted. "We'd best prepare for the worst. He's alone in an enemy ship. At any point, he could be discovered and we'd never know."
"When are you going to brief the troops?" asked Daisaku to Joshua.
"I can't keep them in the dark forever. I guess I'll tell them before we jump to Waldorf."
"Go to the last minute. Good idea." said Daisaku.
"I'm worried most about their armored infantry." said Daisaku. "They've proven easy to outsmart, but tough to kill in a straight up fight."
"That armor is not completely impervious to small arms fire, but the kind of weapons that can penetrate them are not the sort we want on board a pressurized warship in outer space. Still, they have their weak points as we’ve learned. Best we remind our Lohengrin friends to fire at the faceplate. That glass may be armored, but it’s not nearly as thick as the rest of them. But we'll worry about them when the time comes." said Joshua, pulling his sword up to his side. "Soon, we will deal the Jade Falcons a long overdue defeat."
Butler
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone,
12th September 3050
Activity aboard the Emerald Hawk was amazingly agitated. Juan noticed it immediately after the Commodore received some sort of transmission from Twycross. Apparently, the F-C had begun a counter-offensive to retake their worlds and the Clans were enraged that their foe did not just lie down and die at their whim.
Juan smiled with smug mockery towards the foe he pretended to be a member of. He quietly moved to the bondsman quarters and knocked on the door where Kelly was.
It opened almost immediately. "Where is the bondswoman Kelly?" he demanded.
"She is working on D deck." said one of her fellow bondswomen.
Juan turned and departed quickly. There wasn't much time. The ship would be done refueling in less than two hours. Then they would jump to Waldorf into the waiting arms of an F-C boarding party.
Juan paused by a door as he headed for D deck. He pulled out a keycard and entered a room marked "Personnel Armory."
The room was empty, so Juan proceeded to help himself to a pair of pulse laser pistols and several extra power packs. He tucked them under his uniform jacket and quickly exited.
Deck D was the flight deck where the Nightlord class stored most of its own complement of 20 aerospace fighters. Juan stepped onto the flight deck and walked under a nearby Visigoth medium Omnifighter. Kelly, who was busy welding a landing skid on the next ship over stopped and looked back.
"Star Commander, do you require something?" said the deck officer as he walked up to Juan.
"I need the services of this bondswoman." Demanded Juan. The deck officer was a technician, so he was obligated by some social constraint to follow Juan's order without question.
"Bondswoman, come here." said the deck officer. "Go with this officer and do whatever he requires of you. Your duties here are finished."
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you." said Juan curtly to the tech.
Juan led Kelly out of the fighter bay and handed her one of the lasers and a few power packs. "Here, we're jumping in less than two hours. We have to hurry."
"The environmental controls are on F deck."
"I know." said Juan, entering the nearest elevator. "Get me inside them, and then you go and get the bondsmen ready."
"Just pray no one finds out what is going on before the attack begins."
"Don't remind me. There won't be a crew shift for another four hours, so I don't think we have anything to worry about."
"That depends on whether the security panel on the bridge doesn't register the environmental change."
The elevator door opened and their disembarked onto F deck. The environmental station was at the end of the hall. They headed over to the door.
Juan ran his keycard through it and stepped inside.
"Can I help......" said one of the crewmen inside. One blast of Juan's laser silenced him.
"Hey!" said the other. Kelly fired, running a pulsating laser beam across his chest. He pinwheeled back into the wall.
"No problem." said Juan. "I'll reduce the oxygen levels in the atmosphere by 30%, at 2.5% per 10 minutes. That ought to get everyone a bit light-headed, and it should be subtle enough to not be detected." Juan grabbed the two bodies and threw them into a nearby storage closet.
"I hope this works. I'm heading up to the bondsmen quarters."
Juan handed her an oxygen mask. "So do I. If it doesn't, we're both dead."
Juan set the computer on automatic and then encrypted the command sequence. That would prevent anyone from easily or quickly resetting everything back to normal. He grabbed his laser and headed for the elevator.
He disembarked on Deck M, where the Battlemech and Elemental armor storage bays were located. He needed to lock those armored suits out or the giant elemental armored soldiers would make short work of any boarders.
Juan locked each storage bay in turn, and encrypted the lock as he had the environmental controls. He realized that if he died, no one, including the Inner Sphere boarders, would be able to get through his lock-outs without a lot of work. "Better stay alive then."
At the last elemental bay, he walked inside instead of locking the door. Inside was a single technician, who died in a flash of laser fire. Juan walked over to a suit and slid into it. The suit's legs clamped shut on his legs, making a tight fit on his body. It did so next on his torso and arms. He decided against putting on the helmet, figuring he did not want to be confused with an actual Jade Falcon elemental.
Juan powered up the suit and checked the controls. The trigger systems on the mech-sized laser and on the anti-personnel weapons were awkward, but Juan had spend some time making himself familiar with them. That had been on a "book knowledge" basis only though, as it would have aroused suspicion for him to be mingling about with elementals and their equipment.
He leveled the laser at the closed door and waited. When the intruder alarms went off, the ship's elementals would be scrambled to repel them.
Kelly waited for the time to tick down. Fifteen minutes before the jump was to begin, she knocked on the door to her quarters, as if to make a request of the guard. When he opened the door, she shot him with her laser. Seeing this, her fellow bondswomen jumped to their feet. She gathered them together and they stormed the nearby male quarters. With 30 some former mechwarriors in tow, she headed for the ship's armory.
Waldorf
Jade Falcon Occupation Zone,
12 September 3050
Joshua watched from the cabin of the boarding shuttle as the Invader class's contact on the radar transformed into a Clan jumpship. "IFF transponders are transmitting properly." Reported Lisa.
The Leopard CV class had moved to a position approximately 500 kilometers from where the Nightlord was meant to jump-in. Joshua had a burst of fear when he thought about what would happen if the Clan ship jumped in on top of them.
The tension level aboard the ship was very high. If Miranda hadn't succeeded in distracting the ship's crew somehow, this would be the shortest offensive of all time. A few shots from the warship's naval weapons would turn every
Everyone was dead quiet, as if aboard an old submarine preparing to sneak attack. This in spite of the fact that in space silence was pointless. It only added to more of Joshua's apprehension.
"Two minutes." said Joshua.
Daisaku let out his breath. The weapon he nursed at his side was the Wolverine laser blaster he'd recovered from New Vision and used on Chateau. Joshua carried an identical weapon, plus his sword. Daisaku had added a Skywalker plasma stun baton as his melee weapon. It was so named because the baton's long plasma generator resembled a “light saber” from an ancient film. Joshua smiled at his friend's sense of nostalgia. He was also pleased that there was at least one other person in the Inner Sphere who knew of that film, a sign that the cultural degradation of the Inner Sphere was not total.
"You nervous?" asked Daisaku.
"You kidding me?" said Joshua sardonically.
"Yeah, me too."
Suddenly, the Leopard opened its bay doors, exposing the shuttle to the blackness of space. Joshua looked out towards the stars, knowing that something was about to happen.
The dropship suddenly shook as a huge metallic form materialized above them, the shaking caused by the space-time distortion of a hyperspace jump. Joshua's jaw dropped when he saw how huge the Clan warship was. It was over a kilometer in length with four Clan dropships attached. It must have massed over a million metric tons. Lining its surface were about a dozen smaller bay doors, probably for fighters or mechs.
"Dear God....."
"The word is go." Said the boarding shuttle pilot. "Fire thrusters. Begin the attack."
"Yes, sir."
The shuttle fired its thrusters and roared towards the massive warship. The pilot opened fire with its twin PPCs, melting armor off of the bottom of the ship. Around them, countless fighters raced to attack the ship and distract it from the shuttles. Some distance behind it materialized two other ships, smaller transport ships. Joshua recognized them as Carrack class transports, an old Star League warship dedicated to cargo shipping.
"She's heavily armored.” Observed Joshua. “We'll never blast through her hull. Look for an airlock. Pray she doesn't fire on us while we look." The shuttle was running alongside the warship, less than 100 meters from its surface.
“Yes, sir,” said the pilot. “I suspect, she'll have her hands full with those." He was referring to the swirling fighters. Joshua noticed some of the bay doors were opening to reveal fighter launch bays.
"Proceed, Leftenant." said Joshua to the pilot. "Let's get ready, guys."
Instead, they found two Clan jumpships. As the Nightlord moved in to close range with the jumpships, radar detected three dropships: Inner Sphere ships. Ambush!
Within seconds, the sky was full of Inner Sphere fighters. The low amount of oxygen in the Emerald Hawk's atmosphere made the jump ten times as disorienting. Half the bridge crew was staggering about, trying to repel the enemy attack.
"We have been sabotaged." said the Star Commodore. "There is a traitor among us."
Star Colonel Mechlanthon staggered to the Commodore's side and hit his intercom. "Impossible. All pilots to your fighters. I repeat, all pilots to your fighters." The dizziness overcame him and collapsed at the base of the control panel. He did not pass out, but was too giddy to stand.
The storage bay door opened. "This one is unlocked!" exclaimed the lead elemental. Juan triggered the laser as he stepped inside. The laser bolt burned through him and struck the two behind him. All three men were vaporized.
Juan marched the armor suit out into the hallway. Rather than run from him, the elementals jumped him. Juan smashed one against the wall with his left arm. Juan was amazed at his strength, because the casual swat echoed with the sound of breaking ribs.
One managed to grab the lip of his suit, right where the helmet would have attached. Juan brought the left arm around again and triggered his secondary anti-personnel weapon, the elemental’s battle claw. The steel prongs ripped through the man's abdomen. Disemboweled, he let go and Juan tossed him aside.
The rest of the elementals at the other doors were turning towards him. Juan decided that discretion was the better part of valor here, and he ran. He was surprised again at how light the suit seemed, because he lost no noticeable running speed wearing it.
He got in the elevator and closed the doors behind him. The lead elemental grabbed the two doors and tried to hold them open by brute strength, but he couldn't. They slammed shut on his fingers. Juan winced, knowing that injury probably hurt more than a real battle wound, if just from sheer humiliation.
He got off on D deck, at the very top of the artificial gravity well. The top three decks were in zero-G, including the bridge. Not far away, an airlock door was opening: The boarders!
It dawned on Juan a split second after he saw who it was that they were going to register him as an enemy. He catapulted himself off the floor and landed inside the small side corridor. Bullets and lasers tore into the wall behind where he used to be standing.
Juan caught his breath and stood up, thanking God for his quick mind and reflexes. The two lead commandos ran around the corner and trained their weapons on Juan. Juan raised his laser in surrender.
"Don't shoot. I'm Juan Miranda."
"That's no normal armored soldier!" claimed the lead male, a young man with long blond hair. "All clear. He's one of ours."
"Welcome aboard, Leftenant....."
"Joshua Messer. Kommandant, New Belfast militia. Where is the bridge?"
"Up three levels. You'll have to secure main engineering or your trip is all for naught."
"We've got several squads down there."
"How many are there?"
"About 350 marines. Lohengrin." Said Lisa.
Juan smiled. "We've got a group of prisoners about. They're on our side. We triggered a mutiny before you showed up."
"I'll relay word." Said the commando leader, who was standing behind Lisa.
"The ship's still not reacting fully to the attack." Commented Joshua suspiciously.
"I've sealed off their elemental armor storage bays, save one. There's about 50 suits in each. My diversion worked better than expected, but it won't for much longer. Those elementals'll be active within a few minutes."
"We need to take the bridge before they get up here." said Joshua.
"Let's go." Said Juan. "This way." He walked back over to the elevator. "If they followed any standard anti-boarding defense, that bridge'll be sealed off from us. We'll have to blast our way through." He sent the elevator car down to another level and then forced open the doors with his left arm.
"Those armor suits are nice."
"Strong enough to repel a PPC hit, did you know that?"
"No wonder our small arms never did anything to them?"
"Granted, there's not much left after that hit, but….."
Inside the elevator shaft was zero-G, as it was in the center of the ship and immune to the rotation of the grav-deck. Joshua stepped out into it and paused to look down. He was thankful that the ship was stationary. It was a very long way down. If it accelerated, then the false gravity that created would cause him to fall the full kilometer to the bottom. Joshua pushed off and floated up the 10 meters to the bridge bulkhead.
"I can rewire the control system and get aboard that way.."
"Are you certain? They do use a good bit of advanced technology." said Juan. "We may have to EVA to get inside."
"Trust me." Joshua messed around with the circuitry. "I'm not that unfamiliar with this."
"How?"
Lisa grabbed Juan's arm. "Just trust him. He does know what he's doing. Leftenant, get your troops up there." The Lohengrin commandos launched themselves into the gravity-less shaft and floated up to where Joshua was.
Juan came next, followed by Lisa. "Let me go first. They'll be hard pressed to deal with me."
The commandos parted and let Juan come up. Juan used the suits jump-jets to fly up the shaft. He looked at Lisa, who had grabbed on.
"I do assume you're trained in zero-G maneuvering."
"I attended NAMA. What do you think?"
"Are you ready?” said Joshua, “I'm opening the door."
The bulkhead slid open, much to the surprise of the bridge occupants. Inside, two elementals in armor guarded the bridge crew at all times. Juan knew they would be the greatest threat.
Sure enough, they were right there. The lead one fired his laser, striking Juan dead on in the chest. Juan closed his eyes to prevent being blinded by the laser, but was fortunate that the beam did not penetrate the armor suit he was wearing. Juan returned fire, careful not to shoot any control panels.
The Lohengrin commandos darted inside with Joshua and Lisa, firing laser rifles and sub-sonic submachine guns designed for action in pressurized environments. Beyond the bridge was a huge panoramic glass window that gave them a full view out into the stars. The warship was firing on the jumpships with its naval gauss rifles. The gauss shells glowed, resembling meteors, as they hurled into the fragile jumpships' hulls. Aerospace fighters were still flying about playing tag with the Emerald Hawk's anti-aircraft batteries and with Clan fighters launched to engage them.
The Hunter exploded as a final gauss strike split the captured ship in two. Unable to escape, the Invader suffered the same fate less than 10 seconds later. Joshua knew now it was all or nothing. There would be no retreat with their jumpships destroyed.
Daisaku drew his plasma baton and attacked the bridge crew, fighting to subdue rather than kill.
The elementals were a different story. Juan killed one with his laser, and the Lohengrin swarmed the other. Lisa and Joshua, however, were jumped from behind by someone hiding against the wall.
Their ambusher knocked Lisa away, and concentrated on Joshua. Joshua took a hard punch in the face.
The ambusher drew back to land another blow when he suddenly stopped. Joshua was dazed and angry, and drew his sword, ramming the hilt into the man's gut. He doubled over and Joshua brought the hilt down again on the back of his neck. The ambusher slumped over.
The Lohengrin had ripped off the second elemental's helmet and killed him. The commando leader floated over to Lisa. "The bridge is secure."
"Tend to the wounded, both Clan and our own." She turned to Joshua. "What do know about these ships?"
"If you think I can fly this thing, you're full of it." Joshua drifted over to the navigational station. The navigator floated unconscious at his post, a victim of Daisaku's stun baton. The monitor had but one message: Navigational database deleted.
"Damn, we'll have to upload navigational data from somewhere before we can even escape."
"With our jumpships destroyed, we've no place to get that."
"We’ll figure something out."
Joshua's ambusher shook his head as he came around. He looked up at Juan.
"Star Commander Oliver, you were the traitor." Said Mechlanthon. “I should have known.”
"I am not Star Commander Oliver. Whoever he was, he was killed on Here. I am Hauptmann Juan Miranda of the Federated Commonwealth. Sorry to disappoint you, Star Colonel."
"Boarding party commander, this is Leftenant Kelly Perrens. Your commando team and my mutineers have secured the engine room."
"Roger that, Leftenant. Good work." She turned to Joshua. "Can you use their communication's equipment."
"Sure can." Responded Daisaku Hayakusora, who floated into the comm officer's seat. "What would you like me to do?"
"Order the Clan ships to return to the fighter bays. Tell them we've repelled the boarders."
"Can do. What about our ships?"
"Transmit on different frequency for them to stand by, after the Clan ships are aboard."
"Roger."
"We did it." said Lisa with a relieved grin.
"We're not out of the woods yet." said Daisaku. "Those two Carrack's could be trouble. And this ship was no doubt anticipating a rendezvous."
“Those two Carrack’s could be our ticket out of here. Order them to upload their navigational charts into our system. Tell them we deleted ours as standard procedure to avoid them falling into enemy hands.”
“Roger that.”
"Kommandant," signaled Juan. "If I read this correctly, we still have charge for one more jump. All we need is navigational information and we can be on our way."
Joshua nodded. "A Lithium-fusion system. Used during the Star League era as a battery system for jumpships. They can store power for several jumps." Joshua turned towards the shackled and guarded Clan prisoners for the first time, and noticed the one who had ambushed him.
"You!" exclaimed Joshua in surprise.
Mechlanthon did not respond, but hung his head in shame. He had been defeated again, and once more he found himself at the mercy of a Not-named. He shook with dread. The Nova Cat's vision had been true: the Wolverines were here to avenge themselves on the Clans.
Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
1 October 3050
Joshua marched onto the storage deck of one of the dropships. A skeleton jumpship crew from the recently recaptured planet of Twycross had been pulled aboard to help smooth the transition between owners. That left Daisaku and Lisa and the other members of the commando team to deal with the job of determining just what they had stolen. A crew from the Wolf's Dragoons mercenary unit was also present, for reasons unknown. They had merely shown up to assist.
Daisaku was chuckling to himself beside Joshua. "Those poor Carrack crews never knew what happened. Out of nowhere, we suddenly jump, leaving them completely in the dark as to why."
"And they'll never know."
"All told we've got 200 BattleMechs aboard." Reported Juan as he walked over to Joshua. "I've been briefing Lisa on their capabilities. There's even a new designs aboard that I'd not seen on the field." He pointed over to a large silver mech. "The Falcon's call it a Grendel."
"I've seen this one before, on New Belfast. Falcons seem to use it for anti-personnel duties."
"Prince Victor transmitted all the information they've accumulated on the Clan's capabilities. ComStar's given most of the mechs official code names now, which is what we'll probably be using from now on."
"That's cool. Most of our nicknames were kinda stupid." Said Daisaku casually. "Warbolt, Boxy, etc."
“They served their purpose.” Said Joshua.
Joshua looked over the hanger deck and spied a gaunt mech. He'd seen it several times before, even fought it once. "What are this one's capabilities?"
"Oh, that one. The Clan's call it the Stormcrow. ComStar's given it the designation Ryoken, because apparently it was first seen in the Draconis Combine. Pretty nasty. It runs at over 90 kph and carries a good 10 tons of advanced ferro-fibrous armor, equates to about 12 tons of our normal armor. These designs employ some sort of modular weapons system. It has over 20 tons of empty space to mount whatever weaponry configuration you want."
"A modular weapons system? Explains all the different variations we saw."
"I want one." Said Joshua with a greedy smile.
"You'll probably get it. Prince Victor is coming aboard in two hours. He says there's been no reports of another world being invaded since Planting was hit by the Wolves about three weeks ago."
“We know about the Wolves and the Falcons. Any word of other Clans in this invasion?"
"Well, the Falcons and the Wolves are the only ones to have attacked us. But there are rumored to be two others, striking in Rasalhague and the Combine. I do not know their names."
Joshua nodded. Daisaku paced. "Widowmaker and Smoke Jaguar?"
"Ghost Bears and Nova Cats maybe?" offered Joshua in return. "Could be any of them."
Juan looked at the two in amazement. "You're not telling me everything. How do you two know all this stuff?"
"We have dealt with these people before, let's say.” Said Joshua evasively. “Daisaku and I were born in the Periphery and were driven from our home by the Clans several years ago."
"Some sort of prelude to this invasion?"
"We suspect so." Joshua turned. "I wonder what Victor's coming aboard for."
"Have you met the Prince?"
"Just once, briefly. I just hope Victor doesn't come aboard with news that we're going to be shipped off to other units again."
"I don't believe so. I think his father has something special planned for these mechs, and I think we're all to be a part of it."
"Now that intrigues me." Said Joshua. He turned to depart.
The small dropshuttle pulled aboard the Emerald Hawk's flight deck. Out stepped both Prince Victor Ian Steiner-Davion and another man in a Wolf's Dragoons uniform. Joshua and Daisaku had been joined by Lisa and Erik. Juan and Kelly were also there. They all greeted the visitors as they set food on the flight deck. Following the two officials down the ramp were none other than Kou Fairchild, Ryan Smith, and Matthew Jiwe. Also with the group was Marta, Joshua's sister.
"Marta, what are you doing here?" said Joshua, scooping up his sister.
"I had to see if my brother was alright."
"I'm fine." He replied. “Welcome aboard.”
"Victor arranged for me to get some time off from NAIS to come visit you for a while."
"Then I owe you one, highness."
Victor gave Joshua a scolding look. "Sorry," apologized Joshua. "I’d forgotten. Hauptmann Steiner-Davion."
"Victor will do."
“And I recall scolding you about how improper that was. And seeing as I’m higher rank…”
“Don’t let it go to your head, Kommandant.”
“Either way, welcome aboard.”
“Thank you, Kommandant.”
Joshua turned to his friends. "Guys, you made it?"
"Of course, what did you expect?" said Matt. He looked at Juan. "Nice to see you made it as well, Hauptmann."
"You might say I've had a most interesting experience."
"We've read all about it." said Ryan. "Prince Victor here was kind enough to bring us along for the reunion."
Victor turned towards Joshua. "We've assembled most of the survivors of the units the Clans destroyed. That includes your friends from the 8th Arcturan Guard and other units."
"Gentlemen," said the Dragoons officer, pausing when he saw Lisa. "...and lady, we have much to discuss. Shall we?"
Victor brought them all, sans Marta, into the main conference room off of the bridge. Like the bridge, it was in zero-G. He sat down at the head of the table and handed a package to Joshua. The chairs were designed so that one could sit in them comfortably and still be secure enough to not float out of them.
"Those are your new orders, Kommandant. Please open them." said Victor.
Joshua opened the package and read it. His face changed from one of curiosity to utter shock. "Is this for real?" he said, setting them down. They did not stay that way, but floated away from the table.
"Yes, General. They are." Said the Dragoons officer.
"My apologizes. This gentleman is Colonel MacKenzie Wolf, second in command of Wolf's Dragoons."
"General?" queried Erik Iolair. “Another promotion?”
"As of 1400 hours, 1 October 3050," said Victor. "Brevet Kommandant Joshua Messer is granted the rank of Hauptmann General and is given the command of the 1st Independent Defense Regiment, an ad hoc unit made up of survivors from the Clan War."
"What!?" said everyone at the table except the two visitors.
"I don't understand." said Joshua. "Why is Prince Davion giving me such a huge promotion? What's the catch?"
"As I said, this unit is to be made up of the survivors of all the units destroyed by the Clans, plus a handful of elite officers chosen by my father himself. You will be equipped with the Clan mechs you have stolen and given the Emerald Hawk as your flagship."
"I still don't get it." protested Lisa. "This is unbelievably unorthodox."
Victor glared at her impatiently. “Lady Lisa, you and your friends have proven themselves to my father. We now know that it will take unorthodox strategies to defeat these Clans. You have all been given that opportunity. You will operate independently, answering only to the Archon or the First Prince.”
“There’s a catch.” Said Joshua. “And that is I have to turn a group of burned out low morale troops into a fighting force capable of taking on the Clans on equal terms. Not an easy task."
"My father has faith in your abilities. You’ll have complete control, as I said, independent of AFFC jurisdiction. You are essentially the equivalent of a mercenary group, but all pension and pay programs for your troops will remain intact as though they never left the AFFC. And Hauptmann Miranda will stay on as the Intelligence Liaison officer."
"We have complete control?"
"Yes," said Victor. "Congratulations, General."
"Then I'd like to submit my first formal requests as commander of this unit."
"Name them."
"There are two other classmates of ours that I feel would serve exemplary in this unit as part of my command staff. But they are currently serving in other units elsewhere."
"Give me their names and current station and I'll complete their transfer material. You have another?"
“First Independent Defense Regiment?”
"Don’t care for the name, do you?" smiled Victor. “It is rather boring. You have complete control, General. You don't have to clear a simple ascetic change like that with me."
"How about the Star Swords?" asked Joshua, looking back at his troops.
"What?" asked Juan.
"The elite bodyguard regiment of Alexander Kerensky, wasn't that their name?" asked Kelly.
"It was."
"Why that name?" asked Juan. “We’re hardly heirs to those soldiers to left the Inner Sphere so long ago.” Victor looked curious as well.
“Some of them are.” Said MacKenzie. “Direct blood descendants of Kerensky’s own bodyguards.” He paused, looking at Joshua. “Am I not correct?”
“I’m not sure how you know that, but yes. We are. Some of you don’t know this. Some of you do. Myself, Daisaku, Erik, and all the others that were recovered from the Periphery world of New Vision, we are Clansmen. We are descendants of Kerensky’s soldiers who fled the Inner Sphere nearly three hundred years ago. Some of us can lay claim to bloodlines that reach back to the original Star Swords.”
“But you fight with us, not with the other Clans?” said Victor.
“That was always our intention.” Explained Joshua. “We are exiles, fugitives, hated and hunted by the other Clans because we dared to question what we had become. And we have pledged ourselves to stand against our fellow Clans if they ever dared to threaten the worlds of the old Star League. Now they have done so, and so here we are. In that sense, we are truly heirs of the old Star Swords, for their creed was to defend the Star League from all who would threaten it. The Inner Sphere is what remains of the old Star League, and the Clans most certainly threaten it."
“Did my father know all this?”
“He knew some. But he had to learn to trust us, to believe us and believe in us, and it seems that he has.”
Victor nodded in approval. "Well, if that's all the official business. I'd like to take a tour."
"I think we can arrange that. Lisa?" said Joshua with a sly smile.
Lisa shook her head in amused dread. "You wouldn’t?"
"Oh, come now, Lady MacLeod. Was I that bad company?" teased Victor.
"Ok I'm lost again." Said Erik.
"She was my date at a military ball on Tharkad about four years ago." Explained Victor. "She did not have a good time."
"Most would have through that a great honor." Said Juan to Lisa.
"Neither Lisa nor myself made much of it." said Victor.
"Well, I guess I've been drafted. Come this way." Lisa got up and left.
The room emptied except for MacKenzie and Joshua. Joshua looked at the older man. MacKenzie was about 50 or so, roughly the same age as Joshua's father.
"I keep asking myself why are you and your technicians here. Now you reveal knowledge of our greatest secret. What’s the story, Colonel?”
MacKenzie nodded. "I was five years old when I first visited New Vision, but I remember the journey. I remember your grandfather and how he met with my father and they worked out the deal." Joshua was stunned.
“The supply runs. It was you. The Dragoons.”
“Yes, your father when he came to lead your people brought those to an end, but there were many among your people who remember us. And we remember you. When Clan Wolf sent the Dragoons to the Inner Sphere to scout it in preparation for the coming invasion, we chanced upon your colony by accident. We had been sent also to prepare the Inner Sphere for that invasion, because Clan Wolf had long since abandoned the idea of recreating the Star League by conquest. Although first contact was very tense; We knew who your people were and they knew who we were; we managed to establish a dialogue. Once we knew that we shared the same mission, we began to cooperate.
"Your Wolverines had no more knowledge of the Inner Sphere than we did. So we made a trade agreement, we would exchange all information we gained for equipment from your Brian caches. You also formed a sister unit to our own Dragoons, which you sent into the Inner Sphere with us. We made a number of supply runs, the last being in 3019. We traveled out after the Fourth War, but a new Wolverine Khan had ascended: your father William. He wanted nothing to do with us, so when we arrived we were turned away with threats. He also cut off your own scouting party, forbidding them from ever returning."
"Grandfather was always more open to new ideas than my father was. You knew them, Patrick Laidir and William Messer. You knew them both? And you knew who I was?”
"It was an educated guess. My father used our intelligence resources to uncover information on you and your companions. He reasoned that you must be Wolverines, and that the invasion was at hand. It caught us off guard. Father went to Hanse Davion and argued that you and your associates held the key to defeating the Clans. That added to your own statements to the Prince and your successes, finally persuaded him. He agreed to form a new anti-Clan regiment, and to place you at its command."
"Why do this for us?"
"We are comrades in arms, General. Our mission is the same: defeat the Clans."
Joshua nodded. "Still seems implausible that your meeting, my statements, and some near misses with some new strategies were enough to convince the First Prince of the Federated Suns to entrust an entire mech regiment to a bunch of ‘kids’ right out of the academy."
“You underestimate him and yourself. You are no child, Joshua. You are a warrior of Clan Wolverine. And the Prince knows more than he lets on. He had recovered a great deal of data from New Vision when he rescued you. He knew the Clans were out there, but he underestimated their threat. And he knew you were part of them. Knowing those two things made my father's arguments hit home."
"Who is the sister unit, the one made up of Wolverines?"
"
"So my friends and I are not the only ones. Not the only survivors that is."
"No. Neither are Cranston Snord's men the only other Wolverines in the Inner Sphere. There are believed to be several other New Vision survivors besides yourself that either ComStar or the Draconis Combine recovered. And it is possible, given your survival, that others may still remain on New Vision. We have been unable to confirm any of these, I'm afraid. More pressing matters have occupied our time."
"So the mission does not rely on me alone."
MacKenzie nodded. "It never did, General. Did your grandfather never tell you of the secret allies within the Inner Sphere?"
"He died before I was born. Father never spoke of it. He was an isolationist. He wanted no outside contact. But I did know. I chanced upon my grandfather's journal one day when I visited my grandmother. I read of the secret allies, but he never mentioned who they were."
"Now you know."
"So what do your Dragoons want from us?"
MacKenzie smiled. "That remains to be seen. The ilKhan of the Clans was killed in a freak accident. That is why the Clans have halted their invasion. It will resume soon enough. When it does, we may call on that debt. It is a small one, so do not fear overmuch on it."
"So how long do we have until they return?"
"No more than a year. You have a lot of work to do in that time."
End
of Part One
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