Near Periphery
7 July 3048
Joshua marched into the command center for the Wolverine Keshik with his neurohelmet under one arm. He was dressed in a mechwarrior jumpsuit, under which he was wearing his cooling vest and shorts. He set down his helmet on a table and snapped a quick salute to Khan Mizar.
Mizar returned the salute. Joshua looked behind him to see a radar scan of the planet and nearby space. On it he could see tiny burgundy blips representing Wolverine aerospace fighters. He could also see one large blue signal and four smaller blips approaching the planet from it at high speeds.
"What is going on, sir?"
Mizar’s grave look told Joshua a lot. "It seems we have been discovered, Star Captain. We have a Black Lion warship coming in at 1.5Gs from a nearby LaGrange point. Its IFF signal confirms it as a Jade Falcon warship."
"The other Clans." Said Joshua, fear gripping him. "But how?"
"We may be in their path of invasion." Said Star Colonel Mark Walking-Bear, a large Cherokee man and commander of the Minnesota Tribe cluster. "And just got unlucky."
"Then they don’t know who we are?"
"Perhaps not, but they did open fire with Killer Whale missiles from space. Orbital bombardment was never the custom of the Clans when more glorious battle was available. I think they do know.”
"What is the plan?"
"I have put all military forces on alert. Our aerospace fighters should be able to shoot down those missiles, which will force them to launch a ground strike with their BattleMechs. With luck, we will be able to repel that attack and drive off the Falcons. Long enough to get our crews to their ships and prepare the evacuation."
Joshua dreaded that thought, but he knew there was no choice. The Clans had discovered them. If they drove off this attack, then others would follow. The Wolverines had to flee once more. All the Wolverine jumpships and warships were floating, mothballed, in orbit outside the system’s third planet. Activating the ships would take several days, during which time the populace of the planet would be preparing to leave.
Joshua
looked intently at the radar screen as the Wolverine fighters made contact with
the missiles. Joshua knew Erik was up there, fighting among the fighters of the
Wolverine Keshik.
Erik moved his Hellcat II fighter in behind one of the missiles. He lined up his crosshairs on the missile and waited for the computer to inform him it had a good lock. He squeezed the trigger and his twin large lasers pulsed out, striking the missile and detonating its lethal cargo.
Dozens of missiles had been destroyed in this way, each one capable of causing massive damage to the cities far below. “They have to run out of ammo at some point.” He muttered to himself.
Immediately his computer warned him of weapons fire to his aft. He spun his fighter around to change vectors and he saw the tiny spec of a closing ship several kilometers away.
“Ah,
wondered when you guys were going to show up!” said Erik with glee. He
immediately set out in pursuit of his opponent. His radio came on with reports
that all the missiles had been destroyed. Now it was time to eliminate the next
wave of the Falcon attack, their aerospace fighters.
"Their aerospace screen has destroyed our initial attack." Reported Star Captain Dal. "Request permission to launch a surface attack. We will knock out their aerospace bases and prevent them from replacing the current screen. Once this batch runs out of fuel, we will have them."
"Very
well. Prepare to launch the Eyrie cluster. Have all mechwarriors report to the
dropships." Said Star Colonel Pryde. "It is so much more entertaining
this way, quiaff?"
Erik moved up behind one of the small Jade Falcon fighters and squeezed the triggers on his large lasers. The laser beams flashed out and tore off the wing of the Falcon ship. In the vacuum of space, that was not a lethal wound, but it did force the ship from the fight.
"These ships are monsters." Erik heard over his radio. He silently agreed. The Falcons had launched their lightest and fastest ships to escort the missiles to keep up with them. Erik had assumed they would be easy pickings, their light armor and armament handicapping them. Erik had instead found that these ships carried a pair of large lasers like his own ship, but they weighed in at half the weight of his ship.
"It seems our old nemesis have been improving on things." Said Erik.
"Cut the chatter. I am registering a new contact. Falcon dropships, three Union class. And new fighters." Said Erik’s commander.
"I took a fuel hit, Star Commander." Said Erik, watching his fuel levels drop into the red zone. A lucky strike from a Jade Falcon ship had punched a hole in his fuel tank. "Request permission to return to base. I do not have enough fuel to engage the new contacts."
"Permission granted. Head home."
Erik broke formation and headed for New Vision. He cut his thrusters and let his ship drift towards the planet at high speeds. Behind him, he could see the Wolverine fighters engage the dropships and their fighter escort. A batch of new ships was coming up from the surface: the fighters of the Minnesota Tribe were joining the fray.
"Be careful, my Indian friends. These Falcons have been busy. Their weapons hit hard and at longer ranges than our own."
"Thanks for the warning, Keshik Alpha-3. We’ll be careful."
Erik suddenly watched the
"This guy is mad!" thought Erik. "He must be pulling over 10 Gs of force to decelerate like that. No way he’ll hit the atmospheric envelope at the right angle."
Mad or not, that Falcon ship was now on his tail and it had slowed to speeds where it could engage him. Erik knew the pilot would have to wait a few seconds for the effects of his decel to wear off. Erik hit his thrusters and struck the atmosphere. The Falcon ship followed him in.
"He’d be mad to open fire during reentry." Said Erik, suddenly feeling the shudder caused by multiple autocannon shell strikes. "No surprises here."
Erik jerked his ship to the left, and felt heat wash into his cockpit as the air friction increased. The Falcon stayed with him, but his next shot missed. "I’ve got some bite too!" snapped Erik out-loud. He triggered his aft-mounted medium laser, scorching an ugly furrow across the nose of the enemy fighter.
Erik leveled out at 35000 meters. The Jade Falcon moved in behind him. "This guy is persistent. Keshik Alpha-3 to base. Falcon within the perimeter and he’s following me in."
"Base here. Engage target."
"Negative. Fuel situation critical. I need reinforcements."
Two huge flashes appeared on the Falcon fighter’s wings. Erik’s ship rocked out of control from the impacts, which ripped his right wing clean off. The Falcon ship roared past him, and came back around to finish off Erik’s all-but-destroyed fighter.
Erik
knew that if he ejected, the Falcon ship would shoot him out of his parachute.
But without his wing, he would never regain control of his ship. He cursed to
himself as he watched the ground hurl up towards him at near Mach speeds.
"Keshik Alpha-3 is gone." Reported the base. Joshua overheard it on his comm channel. "That’s our seventh ship from Alpha Star. We’re getting mauled!"
"Pull back the fighters. No sense leaving them up there to die!" thought Joshua, choking back the tears. One of his best friends was dead, one of the first casualties in this battle.
"Mech contacts reported in
"None to
Command ignored Joshua’s breech of protocol, but instead barked an order. "Wolveine Keshik command to all Trinaries. Make for
"Roger that, my Khan. ETA to
"We’ll make them pay, Joshua." Said Daisaku. "Erik’s death will not go unavenged."
"I don’t care about that. I want my friend back." Joshua paused, thinking of how that thought echoed his new sentiments about his father. "But now its time for us to make sure no one else but the Falcons suffer his fate."
New Vision colony
Near Periphery
7 July 3048
Joshua arrived a few hours later at the outskirts of
"By all the gods, what caused this?" said Isaac.
Joshua recognized the markings on the mechs as being from the 5th Wolverine Legion, nicknamed the Samurai. The mechs were easily identified by their Oriental-style markings. The garrison of the city of
"Star Captain," ordered Khan Mizar, who was leading the cluster. "Move your mechs into position around the Brian Cache. Reports from
"How do we know the Falcons have not already taken the city?"
"I have been in communication with the airfield commander. They have told us that the Samurai’s sacrifice has driven the Falcons back to repair and rearm. It will not be long however, before they return."
"Understood.
Trinary Alpha, move to urban formation delta and proceed to the Brian
cache."
Not far away, Mechlanthon wiped the sweat from his brow as his technicians refitted the weapons on his damaged mech, a design known to the Falcons as the Mongrel.
"It is cowardice to call in for reinforcements. We defeated the Not-named forces outside the city with ease. Waiting here has given them time to bring in reinforcements. Your foolishness has cost us a great victory." Snarled one of his Star Commanders.
"I am not pleased with having to call on Dal for help. But we require him to handle the reinforcments you speak of. We could not advance immediately into the city. Our ammunition was depleted and our mechs badly in need of armor repair. Entering the city without reload would have been foolish, because we know not if there are other enemy forces lying in wait within. Better to go in fully armed than unprepared."
"We are Jade Falcons, Star Captain. Our skills and vision will carry us through regardless of what freebirth ambush these renegades can conjure up."
"Watch your arrogance, Star Commander. It will get you in trouble someday."
"We are ready, Star Captain." Said a messenger, walking up to the pair.
"Order
all warriors to their mechs and signal Star Captain Dal. Tell him we are ready
to attack."
"I’ve got contacts. Looks like roughly two trinaries, one branching off towards us. The other, the one with a full 15 mechs, is going towards the airfield. We’ve got the rest, they’re coming into the city proper." Said Daisaku.
"Let’s see if the Falcons still use their old tac-com frequencies." Said Joshua. He switched his radio over to the frequency he had learned as a child, learning every detail of the Wolverine’s long rivalry with the Jade Falcons.
"Star Commander, I ORDER you and your men to desist at once." Barked a voice in anger. Off in the distance, Joshua watched a building explode into flames.
"They’re firing on the civilians. And they call us barbarians." Snarled Isaac.
"Then let’s make them pay. Move to this position." Said Joshua, indicating his orders with his computer. "When they move within 100 meters of that position, fire at will."
Joshua marched his Wendigo forward, moving it within an alley directly within the path of the advancing Falcon forces.
A Falcon mech cleared the edge of the alley, oblivious to Joshua’s presence. It paused to fire a barrage of machine gun fire into a nearby storefront. Joshua lined his crosshairs on the mech’s chest and opened fire.
The LB-X class 10 autocannon roared to life, hurling shells at point blank range into the Clan mech. Joshua walked the rounds up the mech’s torso into its head, ripping through the cockpit before his gun’s heat safeties turned it off. In the streets nearby, Joshua could hear the din of battle. It had begun.
Ryan moved his Grand Marauder out behind a squat Thunderbolt-like heavy mech and opened fire with both his PPCs and his autocannon into the mech’s back. The shots tore clean through the mech, causing it to explode and crash into a nearby building. On block over, Daisaku’s Mongoose jumped a Falcon light mech, ripping through its thin armor with his medium lasers.
Matt and Isaac were having must less luck with their foes. Matt’s Claymore launched a gauss rifle shell at his target, but his aim was off and it struck a nearby building rather than the mech. That caused the enemy mech to turn around. Looking like the love child of an old Catapult and Marauder, this mech opened up with its own weapons.
Isaac, likewise, had problems. He ambushed a mech similar to the one Ryan had, but one of his War Mattock’s autocannons jammed on the first shot. Hit, but only slightly damaged, the Falcon mech turned on him and opened fire with a withering barrage of laser weapons. Only the War Mattock’s heavy armor saved him from destruction.
Joshua moved to assist his two troubled friends, as did Ryan. Joshua paused only briefly to see how Daisaku was doing. The heavily damaged light mech Daisaku had been fighting turned to face its opponent. It fired one shot at Daisaku, but the weapon it fired astounded everyone.
"No mech of that size has a gauss rifle." Exclaimed Joshua. The gauss shell struck home on the Mongoose. The light mech was never meant to take a hit of that magnitude, and the shot took off the Wolverine mech’s leg at the hip. Daisaku crashed over onto his back.
"NO!!!" screamed Joshua as he saw the Falcon move in for the kill. He dropped his autocannon crosshairs onto the advancing enemy and fired. The cannon shells tore through what was left of the light mech’s armor and struck an ammo storage bay. Specially designed blast panels prevented the explosion from completely destroying the mech, but it was in no shape to fight now. Joshua didn’t stop. He fired his heavy laser next. It drilled through the hole made by the ammo blast, turning the mech’s control gyro to scrap metal.
"Daisaku, answer me!" demanded Joshua over his com-link.
There was no answer. Joshua moved his mech forward. Just down the street a few blocks, a Wolverine Black Knight was dueling with another of the boxy medium mechs, almost identical to the one Joshua had first killed.
The Falcon pilot was relentless, firing bolt after bolt from its PPC into the Black Knight. Although both outgunned and outweighed, the Falcon pilot kept at it. "Either he’s incredibly brave or just another drooling fanatic." Off in the distance, Joshua saw the flash of a ammunition explosion. He glanced over at his unit-status board, an abbreviated version of the vital-signs monitor he’d had in his Trial. That mech had been Isaac.
Joshua felt no grief or remorse. What he felt now was fear. They were fighting their best. Their ambush was flawless. How could they be losing? Joshua moved to protect Daisaku’s fallen mech, in the hopes that he was only unconscious within and not dead.
The Falcon mech fired a batch of LRM missiles, which pounded away the last of the Black Knight’s engine shielding. The Knight’s engine’s safeties kicked in, and it shutdown. The Falcon warrior shoved the mech carcass aside. It tottered and then began to fall right towards Daisaku’s Mongoose.
Joshua slammed on the accelerator, but his Wendigo was not fast enough. The 75-ton Black Knight landed right on top of the Mongoose, crushing it into the pavement.
Joshua paused, looking down at the pile of twisted metal that once contained one of his best friends. He looked up and noticed the Falcon pilot had not yet opened fire on him. He was waiting. But why?
"I presume the Mongoose was piloted by a close friend." Said the Falcon pilot over the radio. "I will give you a few moments to grieve before we begin our duel."
"Why would do this thing?" asked Joshua.
"Because you are a worthy foe. As was the pilot of the Black Knight, and as was your friend in the Mongoose. He deserves the honor. You all do."
"You are not like the others."
"I am a warrior, not a murderer."
"What is your name?"
"I am Star Captain Mechlanthon of the Gyrfalcon Eyrie cluster."
"Very well. I am Star Captain Joshua of the Wolverine Keshik. I hereby invoke the ritual of zellbrigen and challenge Star Captain Mechlanthon to a duel of warriors. In this solemn matter, let none interfere."
"Well bargained and done, Star Captain." Said Mechlanthon. "It seems not all the rumors I have heard of your kind are true." He raised his PPC and fired.
Joshua jerked his mech to one side and triggered his two missle systems. Two SRMs and five LRMs splattered over the armor of Mechlanthon’s mech. Only now did Joshua take assessment of his opponent’s condition. His boxy mech was in poor condition, no doubt from his battle with the Black Knight.
Joshua locked the barrels of his LB-10-X into place and fired a cluster round into Mechlanthon’s mech. The Falcon seemed unfazed, but Joshua knew he’d hit at least a couple internal systems with that hit.
Six SRMs came streaming out at Joshua. Joshua tried to dodge the barrage, but watched with dismay as the missiles tracked to follow him, slamming into his mech’s side and back. "So they’ve developed the Streak system for the six rack." Thought Joshua to himself. "They certainly have been busy developing new technologies."
Joshua shifted his mind from technical analysis back to the battle at hand, only to discover that those SRMs had penetrated his rear armor and damaged his autocannon. Joshua swore; Without that, he had no real way of inflicting heavy damage.
Joshua triggered his laser, tearing a gash across Mechlanthon’s right leg. The leg stiffened and Joshua knew he’d taken out an actuator or fused a joint. "You cannot win, Star Captain. Your mech has sustained too much battle damage already."
"You underestimate the tenacity of the Jade Falcons, friend Wolverine."
Joshua was momentarily shocked by that comment. To have another Clansmen refer to his Clan by name and not as "Not-named" was an unorthodox gesture. Mechlanthon took advantage of Joshua’s momentary pause to fire his PPC.
The PPC struck dead center in Joshua’s Wendigo, blasting away the last of his armor in his chest. Joshua was dismayed by the sheer amount of damage inflicted by the blast. "They’ve increased the power on their particle cannons. No wonder he was able to best the Black Knight."
Joshua responded with another laser blast, ignoring the heat as it washed through his cockpit. Mechlanthon triggered his LRM launcher as the laser cut through the Streak SRM rack, setting off the ammunition bay behind it. The LRMs tore into Joshua’s mech and likewise struck home on his autocannon ammo. The two mechs erupted into flames. Joshua’s auto-eject sequence activated, blasting him through the roof of his mech just microseconds before he was consumed by the fireball his mech had become.
Joshua’s parachute deployed and he landed safely about a block behind the two destroyed mechs. Outside of his cockpit, the noise of battle was deafening. Joshua saw civilians running in terror, only to be cut down by a Falcon mech or by one of several "micro-mechs," man-sized robots that Joshua presumed were some manner of power armor.
Joshua checked his weapons, his blaster pistol and sword were still in place at his side. He knew what he had to do. The battle was lost. He had to keep the Falcons from gaining any spoils this day. He drew his pistol and ran towards the large fortress that was the Wolverine’s Brian cache.
New Vision
Near Periphery
8 July 3048
“So, where have you been?” said Javier, his face, chest, and arms heavily bandaged from his burns.
“Some business I had to take care of.” Said Gwen quietly. “We need to talk.”
“No good ever came of those words.” Said Javier flatly.
“I’ve been…” Gwen began when a huge explosion shook the entire hospital.
“What the hell?” said Javier, getting up from his bed. They both moved to the window.
“I saw the cluster mobilizing on the outskirts of the city earlier. I thought it was just drills.” Said Gwen, fear in her voice. Outside the window of the hospital, they could both see the city ablaze. Strange BattleMechs in green and gold paint schemes were marching down the street, setting fire to the buildings with inferno rockets and shooting down helpless civilians with their guns.
“My God, who are they?” said Gwen.
“Jade Falcons. The Clans have found us. We must evacuate the city. Get my things! Quickly.”
Gwen responded, rushing to the closet to get Javier some street clothes. Outside in the hallway, they could hear the panic as the hospital staff and the other patients fled the building in droves.
They heard a scream from down the hall and the rattle of machine gun fire. She ducked as the heavy shells came through the walls and tore into their room. The window behind her shattered and waves of heat filled the room, making the hospital room feel like a mech cockpit. Wind began to blow the air inside the hospital out the window, as the raging inferno sucked up all the available oxygen it could find.
A massive beetle-like robot filled the doorway, point its stubby machine gun into the room to fire. Gwen grabbed her blaster pistol and fired, landing plasma bolt after plasma bolt into the monster. It had not been expecting armed resistance and it stepped back for a second.
Javier flipped over his bed for cover as the robot reentered the room and fired. Its machine gun tore through the air over their heads as Gwen opened up as well. Her blaster bolts seemed to dissipate around the beast, as if its armor was designed to repel energy weapons. She aimed at the face mask and fired one last shot as the robot brought its gun down to aim at her level. Her shot struck home, shattering the glass. The monster staggered back, but did not appear to be killed.
Gwen jumped out of cover and ran up to the mini-mech. At point blank range, she stuffed the pistol into its now-open faceplate and fired bolt after bolt. Her weapon’s power cell ran dry after only a few shots, but the robot fell over, this time quite dead. She tossed the useless pistol aside.
“My God, Gwen, when did you get so fierce?”
“No time for that. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
They made for the door. The hallway was filled with the corpses of the dead. Together they dashed for the stairway. As they reached it, they heard the tell-tale sounds of machine gun fire once again.
New Vision system
Near Periphery
8 July 3048
"That’s confirmed, sir. I’m reading large explosions on the planet’s surface and in orbit. There’s some sort of battle going on down there."
Daniel looked at the Precentor as the adept read the sensor report. His commanding officer and the Draconis Combine commander and a few subordinates were also present.
"Those aren’t our pirates." Said the DC commander.
"No, some other force has intervened." Said Daniel’s
“Agreed.” Said the DC commander.
"There is a civilian colony down there that probably requires our assistance." Said the Precentor. “We should probably intervene.”
“We are a single battalion and we’re hearing reports of warship class weapons detonating on the surface.”
“And who, pray tell, would be capable of that sort of firepower?” argued the Precentor. “Whoever they are, they are a threat to all our nations.”
“Sir, with respect, the Precentor is right. We need to know more.” Said Daniel.
Daniel’s CO nodded. “Yeah, let’s go, but we’d best have no illusions about what we might face down there: Star League lostech. And not some relic stashed in an old cave, but an active forced armed with technology long lost to us.”
“Not to all of us.” reminded the Precentor. “But you’re right. We must be cautious. Ready the dropship for launch.”
New Vision orbit
Near Periphery
8 July 3048
"Report!" barked Star Colonel Marthe Pryde. "What have you discovered?"
"I have a dropship inbound to the colony below. Its IFF transponder indicates that it is a ship from ComStar, the Inner Sphere communications organization."
"Their Explorer Corps again. They discovered our homeworlds, now they come here. Can we destroy them?"
"An attack would be unwise." Said Star Captain Isaac, the ship’s skipper. "We would intercept their dropship first, and it would no doubt have time to signal their jumpship. ComStar jumpships, like our own warships, carry HPG generators. The Inner Sphere would be alerted to our presence."
"We cannot allow that. Order all forces up from the surface."
"That will take several hours." Said the technician.
"We have the time. ETA on the ComStar dropship?"
"48 hours, Star Colonel."
"What is the status of our forces?"
"We have destroyed two of the cities with orbital bombardment. Of the other two, one has been set ablaze by our mech forces and is burning fiercely. You can even see the fire from here in orbit. In the last city, Star Captains Mechlanthon and Dal have encountered heavy resistance and are currently still engaged."
"Order the withdrawal of Star Captain Oliver’s force from
"Orders are being transmitted now."
New Vision
Near Periphery
9 July 3048
Midnight had passed when Joshua reached the Brian cache. He had managed to evade the Falcon mini-mechs in the darkness. The massive fortress was empty, all its defenders drawn off to fight the losing battle against the Falcons.
Joshua walked inside the main complex to enter a huge empty room. This staging area was large enough for mechs to pass through, as that was what the cache primarily contained. All the mechs the Wolverines had brought with them were within, over five galaxies worth, minus those used by the 4 clusters or destroyed beyond repair in the many Martial Olympics. A grand prize for any victor.
Joshua walked over to the only feature on the far wall of the massive room, save the massive ferro-fibrous doors of the cache itself. Joshua placed his hand on the control box.
"Please identify." Said the computer.
"Star Captain Joshua of the Messer bloodline."
"DNA identification positive. Input command:"
Before Joshua could say anything, a Claymore battlemech crashed though the lighter outer doors to the cache. It startled Joshua nearly to death. The mech’s head had been crushed, and Joshua recognized the markings on the mech. It was Matthew’s.
No man could have survived inside that cockpit, and Joshua felt grief grip his heart. His friends, his home, everything he had ever known was gone; utterly destroyed. Forgetting for the moment what he came here for, he dropped to his knees and wept.
Motion near the massive hole caused by the wrecked Claymore drew Joshua’s attention. Instinct overrode emotion and he ran over to the mech wreckage to hide. Coming within the cache’s outer chamber was a man wearing an emerald green jumpsuit. He was blond and tall, his face covered with ash and a little blood. He was a Jade Falcon warrior, on foot, armed with only a pistol.
Joshua stepped out of his hiding place and struck the man from behind. The Falcon crumpled to his knees and Joshua raised his blaster to kill him. One shot at point blank range would be all that was needed. But the man turned and looked at him. There were tears there on that face.
"Not for you?" asked Joshua, and the Falcon shook his head. There was blood on his hands. When he spoke, Joshua recognized his voice.
"There was a child. I found her, lying in the gutter, still alive. An elemental had shot her, and I watched her life slip away. What manner of enemy was this child? What danger did she pose to the Jade Falcons that we had to kill her? What harm had she ever done to us?"
Joshua lowered his gun, his own grief returning. "You really aren’t at all like them, are you?"
"Do what you must." Said Mechlanthon.
"Go." Choked out Joshua. "Leave this place. But never forget what was done here. May you be more merciful in the future."
"I owe you a debt of honor." Said Mechlanthon, standing. "I deserve no less than death for the butchery my men and Clansmen have done this day."
"Go!" ordered Joshua. "Repay your debt by returning honor to your Clan. They need it."
With that, Mechlanthon left. Joshua moved back over to the control panel.
"Seal the cache!" he barked at the console, still awaiting his order.
Joshua heard the massive endo-steel girders slide into place. Once in place, they would lock the doors shut, a lock that only a Wolverine could open.
As he
heard the mechanism grow quiet, his head filled with images of savagery and
horror. Unable to handle his emotions any longer, his resolve broke and he
swooned, collapsing in a heap before the massive doors of the Wolverine’s Brian
cache.
He awoke many hours later to find himself covered in a blanket. Nearby, a small cook fire was burning with a pot of soup on it. He was still inside the staging area of the cache. Outside, he could smell the stench of burnt wood and metal. They had firebombed the city. He stood up and looked out. Many of the buildings still stood, but their forms were burnt black. There was no sign of life anywhere.
Despair filled Joshua’s heart again. Suddenly, he noticed motion off to one side. He drew his blaster and pointed it towards the motion. A human figure emerged, wearing a tattered Wolverine jumpsuit. He recognized her instantly, and seeing her was the first joyful sight Joshua had experienced what felt like an eternity.
"You’re awake." Said the girl with surprise. "I was hoping to find some food before you came to." It was his sister, Marta.
Joshua scooped her up and held her tightly, causing her to drop the bag of canned goods she’d found. She held him in return.
"I thought you were gone. I thought all of you were."
"I hijacked a car and was en route to here when they destroyed
"Did you find any others?"
"I haven’t begun any search for survivors. I found you lying unconscious and then set out in search of food."
"Where are the Falcons?"
"They withdrew, and in quite a hurry from the looks of it."
"You don’t know how glad I am to see you." Joshua said, running his hand across her face as if in disbelief.
Marta took his hand. "There’s not much hope, Joshua, of finding any others. They bombarded
"Any of the warriors?"
"The Falcons took no prisoners."
"So they’re all gone. You and I are all that remain."
"There’s still some hope that some civilians survived. If you could, surely there are others."
Joshua slumped back to the ground, a new reality sinking in. "Gwen is gone. She’s gone too.”
Marta
said nothing as her brother sank back into his despair.
Some hours later, Joshua shook himself out of his stupor. “I’ll grieve later. Right now, we need to think about survival and about the narrow possibility of finding others.”
"I’ll try to heat up some of this soup and then we’ll set out looking for others. There’s still hope."
The day passed with no luck. As darkness fell, Joshua stirred another cooking fire. Soup and canned meat had been the order of the day, and Joshua figured it would remain so for a while. New Vision’s indigenous life included a number of fish and reptiles that could be eaten for food, but that required hunting and fishing skills that Joshua and his companion had yet to develop.
Marta sat nearby, holding a metal cup full of soup. She reached over and checked Joshua’s blaster.
"Power cells. We must remember to get power cells." She said.
"Hopefully, we won’t need that."
"It won’t be long before the dracosaurs come snooping around the city."
A dracosaur was New Vision’s largest predator species. A large 5 to 7 meter tall reptile, it was similar to Earth’s dinosaurs. It’s twin horns and nasty disposition had given it the name "dragon lizard." Although they normally didn’t prey on humans (they feared BattleMechs,) they were known to get curious when the mechs weren’t around.
"They aren’t usually a problem. They’re mean enough, but they’re also easily frightened. Loud noise, laser light, and mechs all send them running."
"And how many of those things can we easily produce to defend ourselves." She brandished the laser. "You’ve only got one charge pack."
Joshua chuckled. "Remember Smaug?"
Marta smiled. "That mean old draco that liked to mill around our training grounds. It was so old, it didn’t care anymore. It came after Daisaku’s Chameleon one time, remember?"
"Yeah, but he outran it. We named him Smaug because it liked to collect shiny things. Remember it running off with autocannon shell casings?"
"I remember. That beast was messed in the head. Too bad you had to kill it."
"It attacked my Wendigo. I’d never seen a draco do that, they always ran from mechs. Not old Smaug. I guess it got tired of running away from mechs, so it came after mine. It scared the hell out of me. It couldn’t do anything to me, there was no way it could even scratch my armor. But I was only 12 years old and a dinosaur that was as tall as your mech could do a lot to scare you."
"I never knew it came after you."
"Father forbid me to speak of it. Didn’t want the rest of the sibko to know how cowardly I had been with it. That’s when he gave the order to kill it."
"So that’s why he ordered your sibko to hunt it down. I though it was just a bizarre means of teaching the arts of chivalry. Like living history or literature. A valiant band of knights going to slay a dragon."
"It certainly wasn’t to protect us if he sent us after it armed with nothing but swords and guns. I thought it would kill us all, but instead it kind of just gave up the ghost on us. We stuck it a few times and it died. No one was even hurt."
"I guess it figured that was its time. No sense fighting it."
"Defeated the sense of adventure we were all feeling when we set out on that hunt. When we actually found him, we felt a lot less adventurous."
"It must have been sick or hurt when you killed it."
"Those were the days. That was six years ago. Before I met Gwen, before father and I really had our falling out.” Joshua paused. “I wish that had never happened.” He looked at his sister. "Are you angry with me for what I did?"
"Yes, but I understand your motives. He was different with me, as you’ll recall. I never received the cold hard military harshness that he gave you. I saw the other side of him." She paused. "Do you still hate him now that he’s gone?"
"No. No, I don’t hate him. Crazy as it sounds I wish he was still here. I’ve had nothing but regrets since the day he died. I got my revenge and it’s left me cold.”
New Vision
Near Periphery
10 July 3048
Joshua awoke the next morning with a chill. Marta was up and about and was planning their scouting of the city; a large map was spread out before them. Joshua slid out of his sleeping bag.
"Good morning, Mr. Joshua. Nice of you to join the world of the living." Said Marta.
"So what’s the plan for today?"
"I was going to set out for this building.” Said Marta, pointing at the map. “I know there’s some weapons stored there that we can use if we run into hostile wildlife. We’ve scouted out the city out to this perimeter. I suggest that we each take these three nine-block squares and look for survivors. Also, look for functional vehicles and fuel. Once we search this city dry, we going to want to head for
"Roger that. Some of the cars in lower levels of parking garages may have survived the firebombing. There seems to be one in my area."
"We’ll meet back here at noon.
Joshua’s scouting of the city turned up nothing, save one unpleasant discovery. The damage to the buildings was extensive, and sometimes not obvious. He was nearly crushed in a cave-in while exploring one building. Although the Falcons were gone, the city still contained a number of dangers.
They re-met for lunch. Marta bore disturbing news.
"It seems the Falcons left in a hurry. I spotted one of those armored soldiers in this area, alive and active."
"Do you think there are more of them?"
"I would guess so." She said.
"Did you find the power cells?"
"Right here. But I don’t know what good it will do. That armor seems to be pretty thick."
"It’s either fight or let them kill us. They’re here to conduct genocide on us, if you haven’t noticed?" Joshua’s sarcasm lightened his grim demeanor somewhat.
"Isn’t there anyone alive?" he yelled, heedless of who could hear. His frustration and fear were unbearable.
He sat down and tried to reign in his feelings. His sense of loss was only overshadowed slightly by the sense that he was totally alone. For a brief moment, an image of Gwen crossed his mind and his heart sank further.
"The last thing I want to find is her corpse among the masses." He said to himself. "But, somehow, I know I eventually will."
Joshua hoisted himself to his feet and set off for a large recreation center a block distant. The rec center was a massive structure designed for the civilian castes to keep them entertained. It contained an indoor swimming pool, basketball and tennis courts, an amphitheater, a film theater, and a video game arcade. Many of its facilities were below ground, out of reach of the lethal napalm bombs the Jade Falcons had dropped on the city.
Joshua forced his way through the front door, which had been almost fused shut by the intense heat of a nearby bomb impact. The building was in disarray inside, which Joshua expected for the upper floors. He walked over to the amphitheater. He found the roof of that room had been blasted through; Joshua figured it to be gauss rifle shots. The room was littered with burnt and blackened corpses.
"Well, some people tried to hide in here." Joshua muttered to himself, ignoring the stench of burnt flesh. "Too obvious a target for the Falcon fighters. The lower levels were a better bet." He shook his head, wondering if these people weren’t surplus, the ones they couldn’t fit downstairs. The thought gave him some hope and he turned and headed for the basement.
The door from the stairs to the lower level had been torn from its hinges. The walls were littered with bullet holes, and the floors lined with bodies. Unlike those above, these appeared to have died of gunshot wounds and the stench of spoiled blood was overwhelming. The work, no doubt, of one of the Falcon’s micro-mech foot soldiers.
"When they couldn’t bomb them, they sent those armored troopers in to kill them. Damn them." Swore Joshua. He turned to leave, trying to keep the sight of the hallway of corpses from making him swoon. He only made it as far as the upper level of the center before the emotional strain overcame him and he collapsed in a heap.
A low groaning roar awakened him. Joshua checked his watch. It was nearly 9pm, well after their planned return back to the cache.
The low roar occurred again. "A draco." he muttered. "It sounds sick. That’s not a normal growl for one of them."
Joshua grabbed his laser. He marched out to the front door and saw outside a dracosaur lying on its side. It groaned again, and then lay still.
Joshua went out to look at the beast. It was dead, wounded by machine gun fire. The wounds were fresh, apparently they had been inflicted within the last several minutes. Joshua glanced skyward and saw what he feared he would see: The vapor trail of a descended dropship. The Falcons had returned to finish the job.
Throwing caution to the wind, he ran back the dozen blocks or so to the Brian cache. Standing outside the cache was an intact BattleMech, a Black Knight. Blazoned on its chest was an insignia bearing a fist within a sunburst, a marking similar to the old House Steiner emblem, but otherwise unrecognizable.
"Garrison force, I’ll bet. Using mechs of our technology level rather than those monstrosities we fought two days ago." Joshua thought to himself . He raised his weapon and prepared to enter the outer chamber of the cache.
Standing beside the control panel was a man in his mid-twenties. As predicted, the security system would not unlock the cache for him.
"Damn!" swore the man, his voice tainted with an unusual accent, quite different from both the natives of New Vision and from the Jade Falcon invaders.
"Stop right there!" ordered Joshua. "Back away from the panel and turn around."
The man swore again, this time in a different language, one Joshua recognized as Gaelic. He turned. His uniform was nothing like the one he’d seen on Mechlanthon, who wore an emerald green mono-color uniform. This one was a dark green and blue camouflage jumpsuit.
"Who are you?"
"Leftenant Daniel O’Brian. AFFC serial……."
"I don’t need the old name, rank, and serial number BS. Who sent you? Are you a Falcon?"
"What’s a Falcon? I’m a member of an anti-pirate expeditionary force that came down here to investigate this planet?"
"And to loot our world, no doubt. You’re Inner Sphere, not Clan."
"Clan?"
"Never mind. You’ll not get inside, so don’t bother trying."
"How do you know?"
"It’s some sort of DNA scanner," said Joshua, feigning ignorance. “I’ve already tried. I don’t have the right code.” He lied.
“I suppose we could always blast the door open.”
“They were built to withstand nuclear bombardment. Anything that can pierce that will also destroy whatever is inside.”
“You know a good bit about these things, don’t you?” said Daniel, turning towards Joshua.
“Yeah, what’s your point?”
“I think you know how to get inside.” With lightning speed, he lunged at Joshua. Joshua was caught off guard as Daniel tackled him, his blaster flying off to the side.
Daniel quickly went back to his feet and swung a kick at the still prone Joshua. But by now, Joshua was no longer surprised. He caught Daniel’s foot midstroke and shoved backwards. Daniel toppled over backwards. With lightning reflexes, he drew his sword and pointed it at Daniel’s throat.
“We’ll have no more of that.”
“Nice moves for a kid. So what are you going to do now?”
“Freeze!” came a voice from behind. “Drop that sword.” The order was reinforced by the sound of a rifle bolt sliding back.
“Friend of yours?” said Joshua, relaxing and dropping his blade.
“Yep.” Said Daniel regaining his feet. “Look, we’re not your enemies. As I said, we’re part of an anti-pirate expeditionary force. When we jumped in-system, we detected explosions on the planet’s surface. Warship class weapons and we came to investigate. Looks like we were too late. Have you found any other survivors?”
"No, just corpses."
"Well, I have good news for you then. We found some others, including the girl who directed us here. Marta."
“My sister. So now what? Am I your prisoner?”
“No, but you people have been through hell and worse. You would probably do well to come back to our dropship for medical treatment. That’s where the others are.” Daniel turned to the soldier behind Joshua, who still had his rifle trained on the young Wolverine.
“Stand down, Sergeant. Hard to fault the young man for being a bit suspicious.”
“You hit me first.” Retorted Joshua.
“So what exactly happened here?” said Daniel, changing the subject.
“In a word, genocide.”
"Who would do this?" said Daniel.
"I don’t know." Lied Joshua.
"It wasn’t McIntyre’s Corsairs. They had nothing akin to the warship weapons we detected…" Daniel shook his head. “Only one force in all the universe might still have warships from the Star League era. Kerensky’s survivors, the old Star League army that fled the Inner Sphere 200 years ago. That’s who it was, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t know.” Repeated Joshua. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to be taken back to your dropship to see the others you’ve found. We’ve searched this city over with no luck."
"Most of these we found outside the city, most of them mechwarriors who’s mechs managed to flee from whomever destroyed the city. A few others, one warrior we found trapped inside a downed mech. An aerospace pilot wandering aimlessly in the plains just short of the irradiated zone of one of the other cities."
"But no civilians."
"None so far, we’re still looking. Come. I’ll take you to them."
Before Daniel had taken one step, the entrance to the cache was filled with the monstrous form of a mini-mech. The sergeant spun around, but wasn’t fast enough. The monster’s metal claw crashed down on his head and he slumped to the floor. Daniel drew his handgun and fired as well, the heavy slugs ricocheting off of the armor.
"What the hell is that thing?" snarled Daniel in fear.
“One of them.” Said Joshua. He dove for his blaster.
The mini-mech was not undamaged. It’s right arm had been ripped off, and its left arm anti-personnel machine gun appeared to be out of ammo. The massive backpack Joshua had seen on some was absent as well. Unable to fire any weapon, it had only its claw, but that was weapon enough.
Joshua stood up and fired the blaster into the wounded beast, with no more affect than Daniel’s bullets. Heedless of his own danger, he stood his ground as the monster approached. Daniel ran around behind it and jumped on its back.
"What are you doing?" screamed Joshua, moving closer to the beast, afraid to fire for fear of hitting him.
Daniel tried to fire into the helmet of the beast at point-blank range. The bolt ricocheted, striking him and knocking him off of the beast. It turned to shred him with its claw.
"NO!" screamed Joshua. Seeing the Jade Falcon monstrosity about kill yet again, he went berserk. He fired bolt after bolt into the back of the robot until his gun went dry. Despite his failure to harm the machine before, this attack seemed to have an effect. As if angered, it turned to face him. Joshua tossed his gun aside and picked up his sword. Daniel jumped back to his feet, only to have the beast swat him aside with its arm.
Joshua moved in. The armored soldier swung its claw. Joshua brought his blade up to parry, but the sheer strength of the machine knocked his blade from his hand. The impact was so great that it even knocked Joshua from his feet. He slid across the floor, coming to rest against the far wall. Pain wracked through his shoulders, and he knew that both were dislocated.
Daniel leaped onto the back of the machine again, this time grabbing for the small latches at the base of its head. Off came the helmet (and Daniel with it,) exposing the head of a gigantic human within. This was no automaton, but an armored soldier.
Joshua slumped unconscious, as the giant moved in for the kill. It raised its claw to finish him when a gun spoke once. An ugly red fissure appeared in the giant’s head and blood gushed forth. It tipped over and collapsed with an echoing thud.
Daniel began to walk towards Joshua, his body wracked with agony. He went two steps before collapsing. Joshua came to only a few seconds later. He managed to bring himself to his feet and used the hard walls of the cache to reset one of his shoulders.
With his good arm, he hoisted Daniel up and began to drag him out of the cache. Their destination was the dropship. Joshua had seen its vapor trail and could guess at its landing site. He knew there, they would find help.
Next Chapter
