First Conspiracy Base Camp
Oliver
Skye March, Federated Commonwealth
16 November 3053
The blood red sun of Oliver slowly sank below the sands. Joshua and Mechlanthon with their 10 elementals were already on the move. Traversing the canyon was easy; The Swords had already scouted this area in the months they’d been waiting on-world and thus knew where the ford was.
“Elemental Ivan, disengage and remove enemy sensor units.” ordered Joshua.
One of the elementals dropped off the handholds on Joshua’s mech and hit the ground running. Within a handful of minutes, he had removed the remote sensor units guarding the Conspiracy base.
“This mission reminds me of the one we did on Carlisle.” whispered Mechlanthon into his communicator. “Crippling an enemy by destroying their munitions.”
“It is a more effective strategy against the Inner Sphere, my friend. They do not have the option of changing pods to energy weapons. Besides, remember we are not just here to destroy munitions. We are also here to make our enemy blind and deaf.”
“Elemental Ivan, sir.” Reported the elemental. “You may proceed.”
“Good work.” Replied Joshua. He marched his Ryoken forward. “Distance to enemy base: 560 meters.” said his computer.
“Damn, we’re close. Close enough that a guard could hear our approach now.” Thought Joshua.
“Okay, guys, you know your targets. Go to work. Mechlanthon, with me.”
“Roger, General.”
Joshua powered his mech down to stand-by mode and disembarked. He pulled his jumpsuit on over his cooling vest. Mechlanthon joined him, tossing him a submachine gun.
“The command van is ours, quiaff?” queried Mechlanthon.
“You got it.” responded Joshua. “Explosives?”
“Right here.” said Mechlanthon, holding up a bag.
“Alright, let’s go.”
The two men quickly dashed across the dark encampment. There were a number of tents set up and the sounds of sleeping mechwarriors within could be heard. Some 100 meters away, a Huron Warrior was standing guard, slowly marching from one end of the base to the other. Compared to men on foot, the mech seemed to tower over everything. Another 300 meters beyond the guardian, the silent shut-down mechs of the 1st Conspiracy could be seen.
“I should have launched an all-out attack.” whispered Joshua. “They honestly must think we can’t reach them any easier than they can get to us.”
“Hindsight is 20-20, as your kind always says.”
“There’s the command van. You set up the charges. I’ll dispose of its occupants.”
The two men separated, Mechlanthon heading for the sides of the vehicle, Joshua for its rear entrance. Joshua climbed up the small set of stairs and opened the door slowly.
There were about fifteen people within, all wide awake and monitoring the various computer screens. Those screens were feeding them data from satellites, ground based sensors, and their own scout mechs. This vehicle was the eyes and ears of the Conspiracy regiment. Without it, Joshua could launch his ambush at any time, not just in the dead of night.
Joshua stepped inside slowly, his gun at the ready. He quickly checked the silencer on the weapon. When he was certain it was safe, he opened fire.
Five of the technicians were knocked out of their chair by the impact of the bullets. The rest, startled and surprised, jumped to their feet and reached for their sidearms. And three more dropped before they reached their feet. Then Joshua’s gun jammed.
“Oh, shit!” swore Joshua, instinctively grabbing for his sword. But he had not carried one since shattering Anduril in his bedroom all those months ago. He dove for the floor and rolled, just as the technicians opened fire themselves. A half dozen bullets flew over his back into the rear wall.
Joshua came up out of his roll and smashed his jammed gun into the first technician, catching him in the abdomen. As that one fell over, he swept kick another. He scooped up a fallen tech’s pistol and opened fire. The shot struck a third in the chest. Only four remained. Two rushed him and grabbed each one of his arms. The other two closed in to complete the tackle and bring Joshua down, but he used the two grappling him as leverage for a double kick. The blow connected with the faces of both charging techs, who staggered back. But it was a temporary relief. Although quick and skilled, Joshua was not that strong and could not break free of his captors’ grip. A quick punch to the face and Joshua blacked out.
When he awoke, he was sitting on a chair in the center courtyard of the camp, surrounded by the tents of the Conspiracy mechwarriors. He was guarded by a dozen or so infantry troops, as well as the technicians who had captured him. Ryan Steiner stood before him as well, along with a young woman.
“Well, well, well. It seems we have a most interesting infiltrator.” said the woman. “I’m curious as to why General Messer would grace us with his presence himself.”
“Why should I tell you?” said Joshua with a grin. He did a quick check of himself. He seemed uninjured, but also unarmed.
“Where are your buddies?” said the girl.
“Beating off in the bushes, why?” said Joshua mockingly.
She reached back to strike him when Steiner barked “Dinah! Don’t bother. He won’t tell us a damned thing.”
“Then let’s just kill him.” she said.
“You’re a charming one,” said Joshua sardonically. He looked to Duke Ryan. “Boy, you know how to pick them.”
“Ms. Phillips is an accomplished mechwarrior and my own personal LIC assassin. Charm isn’t in her job description. She made mince-meat of quite a number of your Star Swords already.” Steiner smiled as Joshua’s face hardened in anger. “Come now, General. I only did what I had to against your superior force. I would have thought I’d have gotten at least a small dose of respect from you for that. I used the sort of tactics you might when battling the Jade Falcons. You must realize that I’m forced to resort to such measures to defeat your Omnimechs.”
“Your dirty tricks will not win you this battle, Steiner. Nor this war.”
“Nor will yours. I’m not sure why you are here or what you and whatever allies you have with you hoped to accomplish by coming here.” Steiner drew his handgun and pointed it at Joshua. “But I can think of at least one thing that I can do now that will help my cause immensely.”
As if on cue, the munitions dump on the outside of the camp detonated at that very moment.
The blast knocked most of the guards off their feet; Steiner barely kept his balance. Joshua took to his feet and ran for cover. Dinah charged him. Joshua scooped up a stunned guards submachine gun and fired a single burst. Dinah pitched into the soil.
Joshua brought the gun up on the still dazed Ryan Steiner. “Now the tables are turned.” He taunted.
The Huron Warrior that had been standing guard moved behind Joshua. Feeling the ground shake as the massive mech shifted position, Joshua spun. In the darkness, he had failed to notice the motionless BattleMech. It had been towering over them the whole time. Steiner saw his chance and ran.
The Huron Warrior brought up its gauss rifle and aimed it at Joshua. Against a weapon of that power, Joshua stood no chance.
Something slammed into Joshua from behind a mere second before the gauss fired. The ground where Joshua had been standing exploded as the heavy gauss shell slammed into it at several thousand kilometers per hour. Joshua felt himself hurled through the air and then hitting the ground hard and rolling. When the world stopped spinning, he found himself several meters behind the Huron Warrior with Mechlanthon at his side.
“Dear God, not you too!” exclaimed Joshua. Mechlanthon was unconscious, but after a quick inspection, it was clear the Clansman was still alive. But being that close to a gauss shell impact had left Mechlanthon with many injuries.
Joshua picked up his friend and headed off into the darkness.
Star Swords Base Camp
Oliver
Skye March, Federated Commonwealth
17 November 3053
“What the hell happened?” asked Miranda as Joshua lowered Mechlanthon from the hand of his mech. “Medics!”
“The plan backfired.” Swore Joshua in anger. “I blew it. Got myself captured and nearly got Mechlanthon killed.” He slammed his fist against the side of Galileo III’s leg. “First Kelly, now Mechlanthon.”
“This wasn’t your fault.” Said Miranda.
“Wasn’t it?” questioned Joshua. “It’s time I remedied my many errors. Break camp. We return to the capital.”
Brigadier Corporation Factory
Oliver
Skye March, Federated Commonwealth
18 November 3053
Erik marched over to the tent where Daisaku was looking over topographical maps in preparation for a new assault on the 2nd Conspiracy forces lurking within the nearby mountains.
“Good morning, Erik.” Said Daisaku without looking up. “There’s no way I can figure it. If they come out, we trash them. If we go after them, they’ll trash us.”
“Mechlanthon’s been hurt.” Said Erik flatly.
“What? How?”
“Joshua led a commando raid into the 1st Conspiracy base camp last night. Something went wrong.”
Daisaku put his head into his hands in frustration.
“You still think Josh has a death wish?” asked Erik.
“Lisa wasn’t here.” Said Daisaku. “And he led a commando raid into the enemy camp. That’s hardly the place for the strategic commander to be, even one as hands-on as Joshua.” Daisaku shook his head. “He’s my best friend. I love him to death, but God he is stupid sometimes. The whole mess with Lisa has blinded him to more important realities.”
“That may be so. He’s ordered us to withdraw to the capital.”
“Joshua’s ordering us to abandon the factory?”
“It would seem so.”
“He wouldn’t do that unless 1st battalion was in trouble.” Said Daisaku. “And Third’s the only unit left to bail them out.” Daisaku wrapped up the topo maps to return them to their storage case. “We’re leaving.”
---
The Swords had long since become famous for their ability to pack up and move across the surface of a planet in a matter of hours by use of their dropships. When Daisaku gave the evacuation order, every member of 3rd Battalion quickly but orderly made preparations to load their mechs onto the dropships and depart.
However, the Swords had only performed such an evacuation in an insecure area once before: Garrison. Mechs are never more vulnerable than when they are being loaded onto a dropship. There was also no way they could conceal their plans from the scouts of the 2nd Conspiracy. The instant Daisaku gave the order, he knew they would be attacked before the evacuation was complete.
A portable radar station was set up on a table at the foot of the massive Overlord-C dropship Stellar Glory. Daisaku oversaw the evacuation from that point, his Vixen standing a short few meters away and a technician beside him to watch the sensor feed.
“Sir, I’ve got a couple of blips every now and then, but nothing major so far.” Reported the technician roughly an hour into the evacuation.
“The mountains provide them with cover from the radar sweeps. Once they break into the open valley, we’ll know.”
The screen suddenly began to light up with contacts. “Sir, like now.”
Daisaku looked at the radar screen. “Yes, private, like now. Sound the alert.” He was on his feet running for his Vixen before the siren began to blare.
Kou Fairchild’s Vulture marched forward with several other mechs behind it. Daisaku had ordered a token force to be loaded last to hold the line against the coming Conspiracy attack. As his Vixen powered up, Daisaku moved in behind Kou.
“Good of you to join us, Kommandant.” Said Kou.
“Alright, give me report, people. How many we got?”
“Looks like the whole damn regiment, sir. I’ve got more contacts than I can count.”
“Just like Garrison.” Thought Daisaku with a chill. “Matthew and a lot of good warriors died doing what we’re about to attempt. Maybe I’m the one with a death wish.”
Daisaku checked his chronometer on his HUD. “Okay, we’ve got about five minutes until Erik can scramble air support. The dropship will provide cover for us with its guns, but even an Overlord-C won’t last long against an entire regiment.” He paused. “I don’t want them getting that close. Kou, distance from the lead elements of the enemy force.”
“2.6 kilometers and closing fast. Looks like light mechs, most of them are designs I don’t recognize.”
“They’ll try to break though or flank us and harry the camp. Let them go.”
“Sir?” asked Kou, curious as to Daisaku’s sudden contradiction of himself.
“The dropship should be able to handle them. It’s their big brothers that worry me. I don’t want anything heavier than 45 tons getting past us.”
“Roger that.”
Despite 24 hours of reprieve, the mechs of the 2nd Conspiracy had not been repaired and their pilots were likely to still be shaken by Daisaku’s terror tactics of the previous battle. Or at least, Daisaku, hoped so.
The twin twenty rack LRM launchers on Kou’s Vulture roared to life, lobbing their deadly ordinance at a Conspiracy Hunchback. The 50 ton mech packed quite a wallop with its single Class 20 autocannon. What the cannon had in power, it gave up in range and accuracy. The machine on which it was carried was woefully outclassed by the long range Vulture. Down went the Hunchback.
Daisaku locked onto a Conspiracy mech he did not recognize. Sleek in appearance, it looked to be a fast machine, probably low in firepower and armor. He fired his large pulse laser and watched as the beam tore an ugly furrow in the side of the mech. It paused to turn toward him and then return fire with a pulse laser of its own.
“Hurry up, guys,” thought Daisaku. “There’s only eight of us against their dozens.” Daisaku pressed the mech’s throttle to the floor, picking up speed. The medium gave chase. Daisaku twisted his torso about to fire off a few shots at it as he ran, but his shots went wide.
Kou’s Vulture intervened, lashing out at the medium with its own lasers and cutting the mech down. “Next time, Daisaku, try not to pick on someone so much larger than you.” A PPC bolt cut past the Vulture to strike a Conspiracy light mech that had moved up on Kou’s flank. The shot had come from the dropship.
Daisaku ignored Kou’s suggestion and locked his crosshairs onto a Conspiracy Wolverine. The 55 ton machine’s left arm hung limply by its side, indicating damage that had gone unrepaired since the last battle. Daisaku cut into it with his ER medium lasers, keeping a careful eye on his heat levels.
Kou simply shook his head and began tracking a Conspiracy Marauder. The 75 ton Marik-constructed monster boasted twin large pulse lasers and an LB-X autocannon, a far better machine than the woefully overgunned Davion version. Replacing the Marauder’s traditional PPCs with the pulse lasers cut its range significantly, but in these close quarters that wouldn’t matter. The Marauder was easily the equal of Kou’s more advanced Omnimech.
Kou and his opponent matched pulse laser to pulse laser as their opening barrage. Kou’s shots cut across the Marauder’s bulky legs, while the Marauder slashed up the right torso of the Vulture. Kou darted to his left and tried to gain some distance on the larger machine, but the Marauder closed the distance again.
“This guy’s a real pest!” snapped Kou, “Let’s see how much he likes this!” Kou pressed down on the fire buttons for his twin LRM launchers, hurling 40 missiles at the enemy machine. The Conspiracy pilot was taken by surprise, obviously not a veteran of the Clan War, as he didn’t expect Kou to fire LRMs at such a close range. Any veteran of a battle against the Clans would have known that Clan LRMs armed in the launcher instead of having a timed delay like Inner Sphere LRMs, making them quite deadly at close ranges.
The missile volley had the effect Kou wanted. The Marauder was ravaged by the barrage and stepped back. Kou, ignoring his rising heat levels, flashed the Marauder with his lasers. The crimson beam pulsed through the weakened armor of the mech’s right leg and fused the knee joint. Although he’d not destroyed it, Kou had succeeded in slowing the big mech down. He turned to find another target.
Daisaku, meanwhile, had finished off the Wolverine, but found himself under fire from a Conspiracy fire lance of Archers, Trebuchets, and the new Apollo battlemech. Rather than wait to use their missile batteries on the parked dropship, the Conspiracy commander had ordered the long range missile mechs forward to blanket the handful of Swords defenders with fire. Daisaku’s command lance took the brunt of it, and as it was made up of light mechs, it could not long stand up to that much firepower.
Daisaku began to backpedal away from the fire lance, trying to get closer to the advancing Conspiracy machines to make their shots harder. Frustrated, he lashed out at one Trebuchet with his large pulse laser. By pure fortune, the laser burned through a weak point in the Treb’s armor and caught its missile ammunition. The mech exploded in a huge fireball, knocking the mechs to each side of it awry.
Valiant as they were, they were too few to tie up the Conspiracy onslaught. Fire poured down on the dropship. “We’re out of time, Kommandant. It’s now or never!” said Kou, running towards the open bay of the ship.
“Agreed.” Said Daisaku. “All troops board at once.” Daisaku backpedaled towards the ship, firing time and again at any mech that wandered too close. Although formidable, his large pulse laser was not enough to slow most mechs. More missile fire from the remaining fire mechs poured down on the light Vixen, shredding its armor. Daisaku, by his formidable skill, managed to keep his light mech upright through the onslaught.
“Come on, Daisaku!” yelled Kou, firing his LRMs to cover the light Vixen as it slowly made its way back. “You’re going to get yourself killed like this.”
A Conspiracy Warhammer finally lost its patience with the single Swords mech that remained to hold them off. It lashed out at the Vixen with both PPCs. The blows connected, blasting the right arm from the Vixen and knocking it to the ground.
“No!” cried Kou, marching his mech forward and back down the ramp to the ship. His LRMs were empty, but he still had his twin large and medium lasers.
“Kou, get out of here.” Snapped Daisaku.
“Not without you, sir. Now get aboard. I’ll hold them.”
The Vixen came to its feet and took off running for the dropship. Smoke poured out of several holes in the side of the ship and Daisaku was not certain they could even take off. Kou fired several bursts at the Warhammer with his pulse lasers, and then turned to follow Daisaku.
“Hayakusora to Stellar Glory!” called Daisaku as he stepped onto the loading ramp. “Begin launch sequence now.”
“Aye, sir!” Red and white flames began to pour from the dropship’s powerful engines.
“Come on, Kou! We’re leaving, with or without you.”
The Vulture dashed up the ramp just as the ship began to lift off. It half-ran half-tossed itself into the bay as the dropship launched. Daisaku struggled to move his ship to one of the secure moorings, lest its 30 ton bulk be tossed around by the inertia of launch. Kou did the same.
Outside, Erik’s fighters finally arrived on the battlefield. Too late for anything except to cover the dropship’s take-off, Erik ordered the ships to strafe the enemy mechs. The Conspiracy mechs scattered to avoid the fighters.
“Stellar Glory, you’re all clear.” Said Erik. “See you at the capital.”
Outside Oliver City
Oliver
Skye March, Federated Commonwealth
18 November 3053
“We don’t have reliable data on their strength, sir. Third battalion abandoned the Brigadier factory two hours ago.” Said an aide to Duke Ryan Steiner as the mechs of the 1st Conspiracy drew to a halt just short of the outskirts of the city. The large steel barriers that protected the city from the driving winds stood like the walls of a medieval castle to Steiner’s besieging knights.
Steiner looked out over the city from the palm of his “ride,” a new Grand Titan battlemech. He scanned the city’s outskirts for signs of the Star Sword forces, but found none.
“Where are they?” he muttered out loud. “Surely, they didn’t withdraw within the sand barriers. Those protective shields would trap them within the city like rats. Messer always likes to keep his forces mobile. A city like that is a deathtrap.”
“We might have bypassed him somehow and he’s now on our flanks.” Suggested the aide reluctantly.
“Without scouts or air cover, we have no way of knowing where he might be.”
“Order Delta Company forward to occupy the city. If the Swords are around, let’s see if they try to intercept them.”
“As you wish, my lord Duke.”
---
Joshua received word that Daisaku and Erik had uprooted 3rd battalion from the Brigadier plant. After hearing of the viscious battle they had fought as they withdrew, Joshua revised his orders and asked them to ground their dropship at the oddly named Ocean Point, a small city roughly 125 kilometers south of Oliver City. It would buy them time to repair and rest. Joshua himself intended to move 1st Battalion there, but not before giving Steiner another hard lesson.
Twelve mechs from the Conspiracy main force broke off and headed towards the gates of the city at high speed. The rust sand in this area was particularly fine and loose, so the advancing mechs kicked up huge clouds of it as they ran. That same loose dust served to conceal the mechs and vehicles of the Swords forces only a mere kilometer away. Joshua had ordered the mechs and tanks to literally bury themselves within the dunes.
“With this iron rich sand, his MAD sensors are useless. Since we are motionless, seismic sensors won’t detect anything either. He is more blind than he realizes.” Thought Joshua. He flipped on the switch to his comm system. “Hold position. No point wasting this ambush on a single company. He knows we are here, but he doesn’t know where. He is trying to flush us out. Wait for my signal.”
Delta Company entered the city without incident. Joshua had figured Steiner would find the abandoned city curious and would send such a scout team ahead. The sand had masked his concealed forced perfectly. As for Delta Company, once the ambush was sprung, the elementals of the Swords cluster would deal with them to keep them from hitting the rear of the Swords line.
Mike Koren was at the lead of the Sword mech force, along with Ryan and Amanda. He ran the plan through his head. “Pretty devious.” He thought. “Whatever doubts we may have had, Joshua has predicted Steiner’s moves down to the letter. Now let’s just hope this works.”
The next few minutes passed like hours. Then, the mechs of the 1st Conspiracy began to advance. “They have been given the all-clear.” Said Joshua. “Just a few meters more and we hit them.”
Mike wondered how well Joshua could see, since the iron rich sand that so effectively hid the Swords mechs also scrambled their sensors as well. He flipped his sensors over to seismic, the only mode in which they worked without problems. The monitor showed the plodding footsteps of the enemy mechs, their slow pace revealing their caution. “Steiner knows something’s up. The capital left abandoned is too good to be true.”
Mike watched as the bulk of the units moved into the center of the three concentrations of Sword forces. Crossfire triangulation would make this battle a costly one for the Conspiracy indeed. “Now!” Mike heard Joshua say.
Mike began flipping switches like mad, bringing his mech up from stand-by to full power mode. The fusion engine behind him began to hum more loudly and Mike smiled as his weapons came online.
On the sensor monitor, the Conspiracy mechs had stopped. They had detected the power ups.
“Stopping is not what you want to do right now.” Said Mike out loud, bursting out from his hiding place. Beside him Ryan and Amanda burst out, guns blazing. Mike ordered his targeting computer to lock onto the nearest Conspiracy mech, an Orion heavy mech.
Red beams flashed out from the Black Hawk’s right arm, followed up by six SRMs from the left arm launcher, Mike’s usual one-two punch. The Orion, doubly surprised by the Swords ambush and then again by Mike appearing on his rear, made no effort to dodge the attack. The lasers, linked by the powerful targeting computer, all connected with the mech’s right leg. They bored through the armor like a high speed drill, setting the myomer muscle underneath aflame. The Orion twisted as the SRMs splashed across its armor, a less concentrated but still potent hit.
Behind him, a Hellhound opened up on the mech beyond the Orion, another heavy, this time a Guillotine. The Hellhound’s large laser slashed across the Guillotine’s right arm, while SRM fire from the Hellhound smashed into the enemy mech’s upper torso and head. Its pilot stunned or dead, the mech toppled over, still nearly intact, but now out of the fight.
Mike began moving around the Orion, trying to avoid the stray shots from the star of ambushing mechs directly opposite his new position. The first barrage had done its job, killing or crippling nearly a third of Steiner’s force. Now the fight would degenerate into a close quarters slugging match, the kind of fight the Swords’ 1st Battalion excelled in.
Mike took pause to notice the state of panic and confusion in the enemy force. Joshua’s plan was working brilliantly.
“Ready for some more?” Mike taunted as he fired his lasers again at the Orion. The lethal accuracy of his targeting computer allowed Mike to focus his attack on the same crippled leg. Unable to handle a second hit of that magnitude, the leg snapped off at the knee, sending the mech head first into the sand. As the crippled machine struggled to stand up, Mike dashed forward, his mech taking a grazing hit from a Swords laser shot, and swung a vicious kick into the head of the Orion. The mech dropped, its cockpit caved in, and did not get back up.
“That was for Kelly and Mechlanthon, you son of a bitch!” snarled Mike, fury rushing up from the pit of his soul.
Without pause, Mike turned to lock onto another Marik heavy, a new machine he didn’t recognize, but had heard called a “Tempest” by radio signals from the Conspiracy forces. The Tempest noticed his interest and fired, a gauss rifle and large pulse laser in tandem.
Surprised at the potent firepower of his opponent, Mike jerked his mech to the left, but was unable to dodge either the gauss slug or pulsating beams of the laser. The gauss shell struck his left shoulder, the impact twisting his mech unexpectedly. The laser cut a jagged scar across his right side.
“I’m not through yet, you bastard!” Mike adjusting his controls to compensate for the wild jarring it was taking. He fired his lasers, not waiting for the heat they generated earlier to subside. Mike broke into a heavy sweat as the temperature of his cockpit began to rise. He wiped his slippery hands on his shorts and smiled with satisfaction as the lasers burned several ugly scars across the chest of the enemy mech.
“I am Hauptmann Michael Koren, veteran of the Clan War. I recognize the challenge of the pilot of the mech called Tempest. Who has the honor of being my opponent?” said Mike, anger and elation combining into the somewhat out-of-character zellbringen call. “I’m not a Clanner. Why did I just say that?”
The Tempest pilot had no idea what Mike was saying, so did not respond verbally. Instead, he launched a six pack of SRMs at him. Mike, embarrassed by his outburst and more determined than ever to take down the Tempest, darted to the side. “Not twice you won’t.”
Mike switched his feet to the center pedals, firing his jump jets. The Black Hawk launched into the air as the Tempest fired again, its shots passing through the spot where Mike had been standing. “Hah!” he mocked, cutting the jets to land hard behind his opponent. The lasers flashed again, making the cockpit unbearable, and struck home on the back torso of the Tempest. The weaker rear armor of the enemy mech boiled away under the mighty blow. Rather than follow up with the SRMs, Mike swung a hard left punch into the hole the lasers had made. The fist came out decorated with tubes, wires, and other assorted parts from the interior of the enemy mech. He swung another kick, knocking the legs out from under the Tempest.
Beaten, the pilot ejected. Mike lined up his lasers for one final shot at the escaping pilot when another mech struck his from the side, throwing off his aim.
“That’s enough, Mike!” yelled the pilot of that mech. Mike looked to see it was Ryan’s Mad Cat. “You’re not a murderer, Mike. Let him go. Get control of yourself.”
Mike let his anger bleed off as the temperature in his cockpit returned to reasonable levels. “I’m sorry, sir. I lost control.”
“I know how you feel. But it’s not worth it, killing a man in cold blood. It’s not worth it.”
“The enemy is withdrawing. We won.” Said Joshua. “Damage report, all units.”
Mike let out his breath and calmed himself as he listened to the reports. The Conspiracy got three of their mechs and double that in tanks, but had lost nearly twenty of their own.
“Now what, General?” asked Ryan.
“We make for Ocean Point to rendezvous with Third Battalion.”
“We mauled them better than we expected, sir. We can hold the city.” Suggested Mike.
“I will not risk a battle so close to our command center again.” Explained Joshua. “We risk communications, our wounded, and our means of retreat. We are withdrawing to re-establish a new command center at Ocean Point. There we will decide our options.”
Despite his elation at the victory, Mike knew Joshua was right. The Swords were still too few in number to hold off another concentrated attack. With their wounded recuperating less than two kilometers from the ambush site, an enemy overrun of their positions could be catastrophic. They had driven off the Conspiracy for now, but they would soon reinforce and be back.
“Alright, let’s get ready to pack up and leave.” Mike heard Ryan order. “Jones, you coordinate the evacuation of the wounded…..”
Ocean Point
Oliver
Skye March, Federated Commonwealth
19 November 3053
Erik scowled at the battle reports he’d received. So far, the Swords had done nothing but give ground to their opponents. Despite that, the new 1st Conspiracy regiment was in little condition to pursue their opponents. First Battalion, even understrength, had left little more than a battalion of the virgin Conspiracy unit battleworthy after fleeing the capital.
“We could have held the capital if they’d allowed us to ground there instead of here.” Grumbled Erik silently. “Why rendezvous here?”
Joshua stood silently nearby, looking out over the assembled Battlemechs, many of which were undergoing repair and refit after the battle outside Oliver City. Daisaku and Ryan sat nearby looking over battle maps.
“The decision needs to be made.” Said Joshua. He looked at Daisaku. “You were right. I should never have brought us here.”
“You’re about to order a full retreat?” interrupted Erik in shock.
“I am. This is not our battle. It should never have been. Kelly and countless others have paid for my short-sightedness with their lives. Mechlanthon lies in a bed hooked up to a machine that helps him breathe for the same reason.”
“But we are winning.” Retorted Erik. “The Conspiracy forces have been badly mauled in nearly every major confrontation between our forces and theirs.”
“That mauling has come at too high a cost. Beyond our own losses, they virtually annihilated the NAIS cadre. Would they have received such merciless treatment if they had stood alone against the Conspiracy? Or was our presence here and the need to shock us into error and misstep the reason they died?”
“You’d quit the field of battle after only 4 days?”
Joshua looked at Erik. “This isn’t our mission.” He repeated. “What are we fighting for here?”
“All that rhetoric about how this is a blow for justice against these traitors, that we’re fighting and bleeding for this desperately needed alliance, doesn’t it mean anything? You said those words yourself.”
“It was just a justification for coming after Lisa.” Admitted Joshua.
“Our work isn’t finished. Duke Ryan still has his second regiment nearly intact back at the Brigadier factory.”
“My mind is made up. We are leaving.”
“I could relieve you of command for dereliction of duty.” Threatened Erik. “And I am sorely tempted. Whatever your reasons for coming here, they became irrelevant when Prince Victor gave us his orders. If you pull us out now, you not only betray us but him. We still have a job to do and if you won’t do it, I will.”
“Dereliction of duty?” queried Joshua. “That’s Spheroid talk. If you want command of the Swords, then you will do it as a Wolverine.” His voice rose as his temper grew. “Challenge me properly and be done with it!”
“You have no sword, Joshua.”
“A minor inconvenience. Make your challenge!” Joshua stared intently at his friend. Erik’s hand had moved to his belt, where rested his sword, but he did not draw it. Seconds passed, with neither man breaking the stare at the other.
“I once pledged,” said Erik, “to myself that I would never draw steel against you again.” His hand moved away and he sat down. “As your wife once reminded us, we are brothers and I will not forget that again. What you are doing is wrong, it is a mistake, but I will not challenge. I will not draw your blood against that pledge.”
“What I am doing is not wrong.” Said Joshua. “I made a mistake in coming here. Daisaku tried to remind me of what our purpose and mission is meant to be, but I didn’t listen. It took seeing Mechlanthon’s broken body to remind me of how wrong I have been. I would not have you own those mistakes for me, Erik, by continuing this struggle and over what? This rock? This planet? Enough blood has been spilled for it already. Enough machines of war lie broken upon its fields. This battle is over.”
“The Joshua I once knew would not have given up so easily.”
“The Joshua you once knew is gone.”
Outbound
Oliver
Conspiracy Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
20 November 3053
Mechlanthon’s eyes fluttered open to gaze upon the grey and white walls of a starship infirmary. He tried to raise his head to get a better look at his surroundings, but pain forced him back down.
“At least that confirms that I am, in fact, still alive.” He thought to himself.
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you.” Said a voice: Joshua. Mechlanthon turned his head to the side to look upon his commanding officer.
“We are not on Oliver any longer.” Said Mechlanthon.
“Good to see your injuries have not robbed you of your powers of observation. Yes, we evacuated the planet a few hours ago. We are now outbound to the jump point.”
“We were defeated?”
“Neg. We simply left.”
“That makes no sense, Joshua.”
“There are times, my friend, when the price of victory is too high.”
“Is this…because of me?”
“In part. You nearly died to save my life. It was not worth it.”
“You…” said Mechlanthon through gritted teeth. The pain was very intense. “You are the Khan of Clan Wolverine. You lead your people to defeat the Clans and restore the Star League as it should be. That makes you worth it.”
“Not to me.” Said Joshua. “Others would take up my cause. We have seen that already. I’m not a superhero. No Messiah come to save the world. I can barely keep my own life in order. I am a fool who pretends at being a hero. Nothing more.” Joshua stood up. “Get some rest. It is good to see you awake.”
“Joshua, you do not understand your own significance.” Said Mechlanthon sadly.
“You’re right, Mechlanthon. I don’t. I brought us here for my own selfishness, and people died for it. Good people. I’m a blind fool who takes for granted the loyalty of others. I cheated on my wife with a woman I once loved. The whole time I thought that Lisa’ll never know. But she did and she left me. And dense as I am, I didn’t get it. Now blood is on my hands because I took people’s loyalty to me for granted again.”
Joshua headed to the door.
“They will come to forgive you, Joshua. They all will. Lisa too. But can you forgive yourself?”
End of Part II
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