| abstract
| - by David Wainio Within the cockpit of his Camelot BattleMech Lt. Colonel John Linna studied the main tactical display on a side screen as he listened to the comm chatter overlapping on four different frequencies. A powerful speech recognition program was printing out the reports’ line by line on a different screen, each line color coded for the frequency and prefaced with the identity of the vehicle commander or the radio designation for infantry units. But John rarely glanced at the dialog report. Tracking multiple conversations and screening out what was trivial while absorbing what was important was a special knack he had. He’d make an excellent communications specialist. However his talents for piloting a BattleMech and running a tactical engagement had elevated him to a higher role. He was directly commanding his BattleMech force while keeping tabs on the rest of the battle on and above the Emerald Island. John’s Warders had made planet fall hours earlier and been able to use surprise and deception to buy enough time to cut a line of defensive positions against the Yu-Shan pirate conventional forces before the pirates could form and attack. That battle was underway on the east side of the island’s river as the pirates attempted to take back the aerodrome runways and landing pads the Suomi Warders had used to assemble from. The west side of the river was going to be a different story. On this side lay the main pirate HQ up to the north wherein the majority of the enemy BattleMechs had been kept. With the northern bridge destroyed by Warder aerospace fighters, the pirates had to come down to about the middle of the island for a river crossing they could wade or jump. To the east the air elements were engaged over the airfield as the conventional forces slugged it out. Here on the west side of the island there were no tanks, helicopters or infantry. It would be an old fashioned, stand-up BattleMech engagement. The winner would control the river crossing and then likely the aerodrome after that. "Death Dancer reporting," a female voice came over the frequency shared by the BattleMechs. "Contact Alpha is still holding at one-point-five kilometers north - north east of Lady Killers lance." "This is the Duck," replied John. "Report received. I have them on my plot from the L-Ks. Stand by." John’s west river force consisted of a company of BattleMechs - twelve units plus his own serving as a command ‘Mech for a ‘lucky’ total of thirteen. He had three others - two of which were captured enemy units pressed into service and piloted by recently rescued ‘Warriors - on the east side of the river for defense of their DropShips. Nine of the thirteen John was personally commanding were equipped with the rare and expensive "C3" advanced computer system which linked through a custom-built command trailer referred to as Bifrost and networked those nine together to share sensor and targeting information. By looking at his master plotting screen, John could ‘see’ what the sensors of the four BattleMechs of Lady Killers lance saw. Death Dancer - the MechWarrior that had just reported in - was part of the light scout ‘Mech lance that had been put together by the Lt. Colonel’s sister Holly. Holly and her three ‘Warriors were an independent Free Lance that had hired on with John’s Warders for the mission so that Holly could seek revenge against the Yu-shan. But for all practical purposes they were part of his command for the battle. As those four units lacked the extra computer and communications gear, they had to report verbally or send vid shots via a special transmission. This particular time the scout lance was looking at something he already had on his plot. As the scouts had advanced then waited, advanced then waited such had not always been the case this morning. At the moment John’s war machine was standing in a small hollow between three hills. The only thing visible through his armored view port was the side of a hill but that didn’t matter to John. He was looking at a picture within his head rather than what was outside his cockpit. The pirates had split into two groups (tagged contacts Alpha and Bravo by Bifrost for tracking plotting purposes) with the northern one (Alpha) being the more numerous. Before the actual invasion of Warder ‘Mechs onto Yu-Shan an advance force of infantry had infiltrated the island. The troopers had scouted and cataloged the enemy, and John had a good estimate of the pirate ‘Mech types and numbers. Consisting of units lighter in mass but faster than most of his, the pirates had been hovering around the edge of firing range from the Warder lances. Chasing them was futile and perhaps what they hoped to bait him into trying. Only his scout lance could catch most of the foe. Should the scouts pursue as John knew his sister wanted to do then at the point of contact the pirates would be able to bring superior numbers to bare against her and her lance. Kohn shared her strong desire to seek out and smite his foes, but John knew that for the moment all he had to do was stay in position to block crossing the river. The fighting for the airfield was going the Warder’s way. If the pirate BattleMechs didn’t try to push through and assist their comrades attacking the landing field then eventually the fighting on that side would run down and John would be free to use his air assets to harass the remaining pirates until they were forced to quite the field. Repeated strafing by his fighters wouldn’t be as satisfying as personally blasting the pirate BattleMechs into scrap, but it would do the job. He was guessing, but he assumed that once the pirates finally decided that no one was going to chase them the second group (Bravo) would then make a run for the river. Almost all the known enemy ‘Mechs were accounted for at this point. There was an first generation model Raven ‘Mech with an earlier form of the electronic counter measure gear his own Camelot carried wandering around out there somewhere unaccounted for. While the early model Raven was considered a failure because its ECM gear took up too much mass at the expense of weapons and armor, it seemed that the equipment was effective. At the moment he had no idea where it might be. Alone it posed little threat however. From orbit the Warder’s carrier DropShip had managed to snap some images of the pirates leaving their base through a brief hole in the volcanic ash. The skies were clouded with the thick ash and smoke from an eruption on a different island. Thus John knew the Raven had left the base with the others. ECM can spoof radar but it doesn’t make a BattleMech invisible. However the stuff in the sky had thickened, preventing the DropShip or military satellite John’s forces had placed in orbit from getting any more vid images. Currently attempts to scan the surface were returning unreliable readings. The hot embers and high mineral content of the ash were disrupting both infrared and magnetic scans. The crew of the DropShip was still trying however. "MechCommander and Lance Leaders, be advised that the Suomi Phoenix had a low confidence scan of reactor emissions from section G 24 but has lost the contact," announced Captain Woods from the Bifrost control van on the master frequency. "Bifrost this is the Duck. Message received." By superimposing an arbitrary grid over the island landscape the Warders had created their own sectioning of the isle. G 24 happened to be about five klicks ahead of his current position and between his two combat lances. "Duck, this is Long Blade. We’ll check it out," radioed Holly Linna from her Jenner. She’d been itching for something to do other than just sit around "anchoring" the middle. John hesitated for a moment. He had a nagging feeling that the pirates were up to something. The enemy’s current deployment wasn’t horrible, but it didn’t make much sense to John either. These Yu-Shan pirates had defeated two other pirate bands to dominate this area of space. They might not be a professional military outfit but they weren’t slouches either. That middle ground had been left open for a reason. On the other hand sensors and radar could only tell you so much and when they failed there was only one way to know if a contact was actual or imagined, by going out and looking. "Roger Long Blade, make a recon run. Don’t engage if you find the enemy in numbers. It’s probably just the missing Raven but don’t take any chances." Holly rolled her eyes but managed to keep any trace of scorn or sarcasm out of her voice. Her brother treated them like rank amateurs. "Understood Duck. We’re moving in. Let’s kick it girls!" The four light BattleMechs surged forward, headed toward the designated sector. Holly elected to come in on the "right" side of the area as she faced it where there was a grove of tropical trees and a low hill line she could use for cover. A big chunk of G 24 was essentially a big open bowl ringed by hills. It would be a good place to hide if you were forwarding comm transmissions or taking passive sensor readings. Holly suspected what her brother did - that the Raven had set up camp there. She switched to the private frequency her lance monitored. "Switch to passive sensors, we’re going hunting," she ordered. With a little luck they could use the screening terrain to get close enough that a rush might catch the pirate ‘Mech flat footed in the open before it could escape the bowl. She was already savoring her first ‘Mech kill and her first taste of revenge against the Yu-Shan. John watched his sister’s lance slip off his tactical plot with a frown. "Mother Goose," he called on the line set aside for Aukland’s lance, "can you slide someone toward G 24 to keep them on the plot." "I’m on it," agreed Gracie with a frown. There was only one reason Holly’s Harridans would have dropped from her sensors like that. The ‘scout’ ‘Mech had stopped scouting and gone passive. Major Aukland had no doubt that John would surmise the same thing and marveled at his ability to keep from snapping at his sister about the breach of engagement rules. If it was her call, Gracie would be chewing Holly a new bung hole about now. As Gracie happened to be at the lead edge of her battle line, she elected herself to back up the scout lance. Her much slower Awesome turned and lumbered off toward the same coordinates. Holly’s group had taken off at high speed so it would be a few minutes before Gracie could pick them up again. But as long as those rookies didn’t rush into anything stupid they shouldn’t be able to get into too much trouble before she was in position to support them. "Katana, hold here with the rest of the lance," Goose added to her own combat team as she set off after Holly’s. Holly led her lance up the hill separating them from the reported contact position. Training behind, MechWarrior Yawni Bhati was scowling at her sensor readings. Her active sensors were deactivated as ordered. However most BattleMechs carried a number of passive systems that were ever alert for any sign of an enemy machine. " ‘Blade, I’m not picking anything up that make’s sense," Yawni warned into the comm line. Yawni’s Spider carried sensor equipment that differed little from the other three ‘Mechs. But Yawni herself had a talent for interpreting the raw data returns she posted to a side view panel that often clued her into a contact before the ‘Mech’s battle computer decided that enough information had been gathered to positively conclude that an enemy unit had been detected. The rest of her lance respected her ability with sensors, but both Leena and Holly were keyed up for battle and set on charging down into that bowl. "Well duh," snapped Leena Callahan from her cockpit as she made sure her weapons were all on line and charged, "that’s why they call them electronic counter measures." "He may have bugged out already," added Holly by way of trying to take the edge of Leena’s retort. Although privately, Holly shared Leena’s view. The Raven was an ECM equipped scouting design. It wasn’t supposed to show up on scanners when it was running passive. Sometimes Yawni spent a little too much time watching her sensor readings. "How about if I try a few active bands before we…" started Yawni. But her display suddenly lit up with a solid contact as something on the other side of the hill from them went active with it’s own radar based sensor equipment. "He made us ! He’s gonna bolt," exclaimed Holly as her own sensors picked up the new reactor and active radar emissions. If they could see him on sensors then he could see them. "Jump the hill and come down firing!" "Yeee-haawww," called out Leena as she soared over the hill ridge hot on Holly’s heels. The Bhati sisters were a few steps behind but moved to follow Holly’s order. Yawni could not figure out why her battle computer hadn’t placed an ID on such a close contact as she took several steps into the foliage then pushed her Spider into the sky on plumes of superheated plasma vented through her jump jets. She was getting a bad feeling about this whole thing. Holly and Leena both made good landings and rushed a few steps forward to find the bottom of the bowl empty. "You go left, I’ll take right," ordered Holly as they turned in opposite directions to visually search for their prey that might be climbing the rim out. Inra and Yawni came down a moment later to confirm what their lance mates had discovered. "There’s nothing down here," spat Leena bitterly. "But I’m reading active radar and a powered up reactor practically on top of us," Holly countered. "What ya got Flame?" Yawni had already switched her electronic warfare suite to active and was rapidly punching changes into her sensor controls. "It’s a very powerful broad spectrum targeting radar. I’ve never heard of a ‘Mech bothering to mount one with so many different modulations. With the bleed through I can’t tell where it’s coming from. The reactor contact has to be within eighty meters of us. That’s about it Long Blade. That search radar signal is interfering with a lot of my tracking sensors." "Confirmed," added Inra Bhati to her sister’s report. "I’m getting the same results." "Well what the hell?" groused Leena as she swept her Firefly’s torso back and forth seeking enemies that weren’t there. "This doesn’t make sense." John was monitoring Holly’s frequency and didn’t like the sound of what was going on. Gut instinct told him time was running out. "Harridan Lance, pull out now. Goose, close at best speed on them. I’m vectoring in to support you." "But we haven’t found anything yet," complained Holly just as Yawni sharply called out "Contact - Contact!" "Where?" demanded Leena. She wasn’t seeing anything either by eye or on her threat scope. "All I’ve got is fuzz Flame, talk to me!" exclaimed Holly as she spun in place trying to physically eyeball the phantom enemy that Yawni seemed to have discovered. "Its gotta be on the back side of those two hills to the north," answered Yawni. "I’m still not picking anything up!" Leena answered back in frustration although she did turn to face the direction Yawni had indicated the new contacts might be coming from. "Long Blade, retreat on the vector you entered from," John ordered again as his sister’s lance lost precious moments in confusion as Holly tried to decide what they were going to do. All four scout ‘Mechs had gone active now, allowing Goose to pick them up and relay their position to him. John also saw that Ranger had started sneaking toward the area from the other side where Lawman’s lance was being shadowed by a pirate lance. John hadn’t ordered that but presumably Lawman had given Ranger at least an unofficial okay to do so. Damn, this is exactly what he had wanted to avoid. Stringing out his two main fighting lances. John made an instant decision to form into three combat groups - if there was time. He, Frank and Gracie would become a three ‘Mech combat group to support the scout lance. "All right Ranger - go ahead and advance on G 24. Goose and I will form up with you there. Lawman, hold where you are. Katana, you do the same on your side. Long Blade, withdraw. I say again - withdraw on your entry vector." Frank ‘Ranger’ Parks grinned to himself as he confirmed the L.C.s order okaying what he was already doing. He was running passive himself at the moment but being C3 equipped rather than drop from his companion’s plots his Bushwhacker had remained on screen. The reaction in Holly’s cockpit was far different as she bristled at the retreat order her brother had just given her. What her lance should do was flank around to the left and…. "Incoming!" yelped Inra as a flight of missiles rose from behind the hills. "Evasive!" ordered Holly before Inra even finished her warning. The light ‘Mechs surged into motion but it took only a second and a half for the missiles to drop down on their target. Far too little time for the stationary scout ‘Mechs to get up to speed. As this first salvo was guided but indirect fire from behind the hillside, the pirates had chosen to concentrate all four missile flights on a single randomly chosen BattleMech. Leena had started a quick side step and was about to engage her jump jets for a short hop when her Firefly’s automated anti-missile system kicked in with a roaring buzz. The high speed gattling gun managed to knock down four of the incoming LRMs, but that wasn’t nearly enough as 70 warheads crashed down around her. Around half missed outright as they had been fired blind based on provided coordinates. Many struck true however, more than enough exploding against the scout machine to severely mangle the lightly armored BattleMech and send it crashing to the ground with smoke pouring out of several breaches. "Leena!" cried out Holly in dismay as she watched her friend’s 30 ton machine disappear in a hail of explosions. Mother Goose had closed enough to pick up the engagement area on her sensor equipment but was outside the jamming being directed down into the bowl area. Her readings were automatically updating to John’s tactical display. Thus both of the senior Warder MechWarriors saw that a seventy-ton Archer was parking itself on one hill overseeing the bowl area while a 50-ton Trebucket had appeared on a nearby hill. As the names implied, both designs were built for long range combat. In the case of both these fire support ‘Mechs, paired multi-tube long range missile systems were the primary weapons. John’s voice took on a commanding tone that would brook no further inaction. "Harridan Lance, Jump Out Now! Safe vector is at 97 degrees. Get behind that hill then rush that Trebucket. We’ll handle the Archer." He knew it wasn’t necessary for him to tell Ranger or Goose what to do. They would converge on the Archer pinning the pirate ‘Mech between them. He himself still had a good amount of real estate to cover. There was no hesitation at all between the Bhati sisters. Without even thinking they automatically responded to the Lt. Colonel’s commands and turned to the provided compass heading and lit their jump jets without knowing what was on the other side of the ridge line. Rather than comply as well, Holly took two steps toward Leena’s downed machine rather than head for cover before Leena’s cough filled voice came on the comms. "He’s right Holly. Get the hell out of here before they recycle and fire again. I’m okay." Holly bit her lip in frustration but forced herself to accept that both Leena and her brother were right. Staying would serve no purpose. She couldn’t protect Leena from getting fired upon nor did she have the armor or long ranged weaponry required to make a fight of it from the bowl’s floor. But maybe they’d try to target her fleeing Jenner and leave Leena alone. The Jenner was renown for its speed which Holly employed to race part way up the steep side of the depression hitting her jump jets so late that she barely cleared the first clump of trees. On the hills opposite of Major Aukland’s approach both the pirate Archer and Trebucket pilots attempted to gain useful locks on the fleeing Jenner but failed as the light ‘Mech slipped over the tree line and broke contact. The Trebucket pilot let loose with a few choice swear words as his radar told him the three scouts were grouping and angling toward him behind the screening foliage. "You’re on your own for a few minutes Jorge," radioed the Trebucket. "I need to reposition." "Damn it Keith, I’m tracking one of their big guns headed this way. We need to combine our firepower." "Tough shit Jorge. I’m not going to get swarmed by those Lights just to cover you. Besides, there’s more help standing by." Jorge scowled at the comm speaker then swept his gaze over the area outside his cockpit. Whatever that little ‘Mech they had just pounded was, it hadn’t registered as a known type with his battle computer. It wasn’t the first time that had happened. But the whatever-it-was seemed to be out of the fight. Of more concern was the other unidentified BattleMech coming his way. His aging battle computer had decided that the approaching unit was at least 70 tons. It seemed to Jorge that it was moving pretty fast for something that big. Just over 60 KPH. Electing to keep his position on the hilltop for the view he gained of the combat area, Jorge waited to see what would appear over the hill ridge across from his. When the distinctive kettle drum shoulders with their arm mounted armor baffles rose into view a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. It was an 80 ton Awesome and those monsters packed serious energy-based firepower. Ammo was in short supply for the pirates and he only had three more salvos for his LRM 20s. Lidia and the Commander better get their butts out of the bunker to lend a hand pretty damn quick. "Come on…come on," he coaxed his balking targeting computer. "Get the lock…." Gracie Aukland came up the hill ready to fire and facing the contact. Archers had become very rare these days but were built along the same lines as most LRM based ‘missile boats’. A pair of beefy missile launchers mounted on the shoulders and a couple of medium lasers. It was likely, thought Gracie, this one still had the original single style heat sinks. It was time to find out how good this scum bucket was with his target locks. She cleared enough of the hill for all three of her extended range large lasers to fire then slammed to a halt and fired, immediately starting to backpedal down the way she had just run. It was a tricky maneuver just dealing with the momentum issues much less firing at the same time. Yet she put all three beams on target without exposing anything higher than her ‘Mech’s waist. In the Archer Jorge spat a string of curses in Spanish as deep furrows were burned into his armor across the center and right side. It could have been worse; the standard Awesome carried three particle projection cannons rather than the large lasers this one carried. Obviously the one facing him had been modified. He couldn’t help but wonder what the other MechWarrior had done with the extra weight capacity gained from dropping the PPCs. His lock tone was warbling indicating partial success but his foe was already backing down behind the ridge. At the last moment before totally losing his chance Jorge let loose with one flight of 20 missiles. That conserved his heat levels and if he missed he wouldn’t have wasted as many missiles. The cursing continued as he definitely saw several of the LRMs explode in flight. It seemed that at least some of that Awesome’s saved weight had been used to install an anti-missile system. He darkly wondered what other surprises might be in store for him. Carefully he followed his target’s example and backed down his hill a bit to use it as cover as well. His targeting system was painting a target reticule over the Awesome’s current position on his HUD display but with a hill between them his locking radar couldn’t do its job. If he could tell when her next run up the hill was going to occur he might try to fire a salvo high into the air hoping to gain a lock while she was exposed before they came back down from their arc. "Madre de Dios!" Jorge yelped in surprise as several explosions raked his rear armor. His ARC-2R BattleMech mounted decent protection to the rear but it wouldn’t take much more damage to penetrate and wreak internal damage. He back-stepped the war machine in a tight arc to swing around while twisting the torso in an effort to face his new foe. A sleek and low slung Bushwacker was advancing on him from behind. He’s gotten so caught up in trying to guess when the Awesome might pop up again, he hadn’t been watching his rear. "The name’s Ranger you pirate ass-wipe," crackled an unfamiliar voice through Jorge’s speakers. "If you’re done picking your butt let’s party." Behind the armored canopy glass of the Bushwacker Frank Parks grinned to himself as he accelerated toward the Yu-Shan Archer. Going live on the frequency they knew the pirates to be using to taunt the idiot was against regs but Ranger just couldn’t help it. This yahoo was so stupid he deserved to be taunted. He’d been such a compliant target just standing there with his back to Frank that Parks hadn’t even bothered getting a targeting lock from his radar. He’d dumb fired his LRM 5 missile system at maximum range on a flat trajectory and scored four out of five hits on the stationary target. The Archer out massed his own machine by 15 tons but Ranger had already put this fight in the ‘win’ column for himself. The larger missile toting BattleMech had a tough hide but only a pair of medium lasers to fight with inside 180 meters. Ranger’s highly modded Bushwacker was well armed for close range combat and more maneuverable than his foe. He bore directly toward the Archer which was just finishing turning and was futilely trying to back up the hill to create missile distance. Ranger snorted at the backpedaling retreat, knowing that much more of that and the Archer would end up being Gracie’s kill with a back full of large lasers. The Bushwhacker rushed past the 180 meter mark before the pirate could lock and fire on him with those big missile packs on its shoulders. Although Frank liked to foster a reputation as a seat of the pants pilot that threw caution to the wind, in reality he was a skilled and calculating MechWarrior. He’d already grouped his weapons for maximum impact with an eye toward keeping his heat threshold from creeping above what his cooling system could flush. As the Bushwacker mounted extra heat sinks and a captured Clan pulse laser, it was a considerable amount of impact that Ranger had planned while staying inside that threshold. Jorge was continuing to curse, this time toward his antiquated targeting system. MechWarriors often lived or died by knowing the capabilities of an enemy ‘Mech but the one charging him was unfamiliar to him. He knew it was a new model that had been produced in limited numbers and could see that it had a small LRM pod over one shoulder and some form of energy weapon on the end of each arm. The low slung machine looked to be around 50 tons or so. He doubted it could carry too much firepower….. Then a veritable blizzard of pulsed laser fire showered his Archer’s torso from the Warder ‘Mech while the large beam of an extended range large laser boiled armor off the Archer’s hip. A third laser grazed his arm and Jorge was forced to concentrate on his controls rather than his shooting for a moment as the vaporizing armor shifted his machine’s mass. As he fired off his pair of medium lasers in return, he couldn’t believe what his damage display was telling him. His center torso armor was down to about a third and his right leg had lost a notable chunk of armor as well. Jorge had seen large pulse lasers before but whatever that guy was mounting must be amplified somehow. With a yelp he remembered the Awesome behind him. His back was probably exposed above the hill line again. "Commander, ayuda me por favor!" called a panicky Jorge. This was not going according to the plan. "Stand by," came the terse reply. Across the depression Gracie knew that Frank had engaged the Archer. She also knew that the pirates had decided to use this moment to attack en masse. She could hear Katana ordering the rest of Gracie’s lance into a triangle formation and see the combined sensor tracks from the other three Mechs of her lance. For a brief moment Gracie was tempted to take direct command of the Lady Killers from where she was. It flashed through her head that it was bad enough that Naoko had taken John from her. Now she was taking her lance away from her as well. But with a grimace Gracie reminded herself that it was just misplaced jealousy she was feeling. Gracie had chosen Naoko to be number two in her lance for good reasons and now was not the time to muddy the waters. Storm wasn’t seasoned enough for command while Cowgirl occasionally forgot to think like a team player. The Draconis Combine had taught Naoko to lead well even if reactionary commanders of her old unit had forced her away from the DC for the crime of being a woman. It was three on five over there but Naoko could handle it. There was the business of cleaning up loose ends here to be dealt with first. Stomping back up to the hill top Gracie snorted to herself. She could make out the top quarter of the pirate ‘Mech with it’s back now facing her. If this was an example of what these Yu-Shan had for MechWarriors then this shouldn’t be a very long battle. With nothing else showing nearby on her sensors, she came to a stop and zoomed in on the rear of the Archer. On the move there was always a bit of target drift as the various weapon systems were being bounced around inside the moving ‘Mech. Stationary she should get all her shots focused fairly close together. Her targeting reticule was just centering between the Archer’s ‘shoulder blades’ when a low rumble caught her attention. Whatever was causing the sound was powerful enough to vibrate up her ‘Mech’s frame and be heard inside her cockpit. Then suddenly the world seemed to drop away from her and her Awesome plunged downward. On the natural pit’s bottom Leena Calahan was hanging in her sideways angled cockpit within her prone FireFly. She still had power but that was about it. Her anti-missile system, main power coupling, main coolant pump, the LRM launcher, the sensor array, jump jets, and a bunch of secondary systems were all off line. Just after telling Holly to bug out a shower of sparks had announced the end of her comms. Experimentation had told her that one leg had seized with the knee partially bent. With the damage monitoring system itself damaged, she couldn’t tell what kind of armor or structural damage her Firefly had suffered but she doubted she would have wanted to know anyway. Then the rumbling vibrations shook her control cabin, making her think that a ground tremor must have happened. It seemed that perhaps the Bhati sister’s Battle Goddess was on the job after all as the shaking of her cockpit rattled life back into the communications system. Holly’s voice burst into her headset directing the Bhati sisters as the remaining three scout ‘Mechs engaged the heavier Trebucket. "Go get ‘em girls," Leena said to herself as she set about trying to stand her battered machine up again. There wasn’t anything she could see out her viewport at the moment and no one seemed to be shooting at her so it was past time to play possum. Lacking arms, the Firefly was a hand full to get upright. Doubly so with a partially functional leg. But using the extending rods built into the design for the sole purpose of standing one up from a fall Leena managed to get the badly mauled BattleMech upright. The torso still twisted, although she was looking at the world from a slightly skewed angle as one leg wouldn’t fully extend leaving the BattleMech lopsided. That’s when she saw what the rumbling vibrations had been. Explosives must have been buried around parts if this bowl. All the scalable slopes save one had been blasted away leaving sharp defiles. Jump capable ‘Mechs could hop out but others would only be able to leave the bowl with difficulty. Then she saw Mother Goose’s BattleMech ‘Granny’. Granny was laying on its back at the foot of one of newly created cliffs seemingly half buried in dirt and rubble. Four quick attempts on separate bands convinced Leena that while she could receive she could not transmit. She scowled at the communications panel. It was almost worse to be able to hear and not respond rather than be totally off line. Leena wiped at the blood dripping from her nose as she considered her options. Her three medium lasers were now operating on the secondary energy buss but showed green on the board. With the back up targeting program operational she could still aim them. But even if she managed to limp close enough to rejoin her lance a stiff wind could cripple her ‘Mech in the shape it was in now. She looked back toward the prone Awesome. That Aukland character had been a real hard case, but the Major had been fair minded and Leena had come to respect the officer’s combat skills even if she would never publicly admit it. The best thing to do was hobble over there to that Awesome and see if Mother Goose was all right. After only one halting step toward Granny the Awesome, Leena saw it start to move. It levered itself up in a motion quit similar to a groggy person pushing partly up to look around. "Swiftwind, can you hear me?" came Mother Goose’s voice over the comms. As the Firefly lacked arms to motion with, Leena tried bobbing her torso up and down in a motion that she hoped would look like a nod. "Can’t transmit huh? Okay, I’ll be on my feet in a moment then we can…watch it Swifty ! I’ve got two new contacts coming up behind you." Gracie saw an old model BJ-1 Blackjack appear at the top of the one remaining access down into the depression. The tall and thin ‘Mech had autocannons for arms backed up with a quad of medium lasers. It fired at the downed Awesome stitching a line of shells across Granny’s shoulder. Luckily the BJ-1 was armed with rapid firing but low damage small caliber cannons. Gracie knew Granny could take a lot of hits from those AC’s before things got dicey. Working the foot pedals she tried to kick the legs free but they were buried at odd angles. Her ‘Mech’s own weight and the soil had her pinned. Luckily help wasn’t very far away. She keyed her mic on the shared ‘Mech Command frequency. "Ranger, I’m pinned in a landslide. Swiftwind, - eject. You can’t do any good in the shape you’re in." Gracie continued to work the controls, trying to drag herself free enough to get her legs moving. "This Archer is more solid than I expected," replied Ranger. "I’ve just about got it down though. I’m trying to angle over your direction." Frank kept his throttle wide open as he fought to keep his Bushwhacker on a tight arc while the larger Archer tried to twist to follow him. The Archer was dripping endo-steel and armor in several places but the thing just wouldn’t go down. It’s sole remaining functional medium laser stabbed out at him again, burning a furrow into the ground behind him while Ranger kept a weary eye on his heat gauge. His Bushy was over gunned, capable of building up more heat through weapon fire than it could shed. The excess heat made the cockpit uncomfortable and even dangerously hot but the more telling effect was that the myomer fibers that served as the great machine’s muscles grew slack when over heated and a BattleMech would completely shut down if the core temperature got hot enough to threaten the containment equipment of the fusion plants that powered them. He had seen the two new blips appear, with one charging ahead. One moment nothing, the next two new contacts. Frank wasn’t sure how that could be but there was no denying it. Heat or no heat he needed to finish this pirate off and get to Gracie. The Archer had just fired so he chopped the throttles and zoomed his projection screen in on the Archer’s chest. It over reacted, then started to twist back to face him as his crosshairs washed across the image. A smoking gap appeared and he let loose with the ER large laser and clan large pulse laser, jabbing megajouls of energy deep into the Archer’s chest. Steam was pouring off his heat sinks as he tried to get the now sluggish machine moving again but his haste was unnecessary. The Archer’s pilot had suffered enough abuse and the escape pod blasted free, rising up into the ash darkened sky and conceding Ranger the victory. "Allright ! Splash that Archer. I’m closing in," called Frank. "Hang on Goose, I’m almost there," came John’s reply as well. He was much farther away but coming in quickly. "What the…I don’t have time for…" Gracie frowned in confusion as she continued to work her leg actuators in an effort to break free. John was talking to someone else - perhaps even himself - right at the end of his transmission. A glance at her threat scope told the story. He’d just stumbled across an enemy BattleMech between him and her. It was being marked as a Raven by his battle computer. Her C3 was picking up his sensor returns via Bifrost. Not much of a threat but it would slow him down if it decided to engage John. Then Gracie growled as she noticed Leena’s ‘Mech deliberately limping itself to be between her and the advancing Blackjack. "Damn it Leena I can see daylight through your left torso. Eject before you get yourself killed!" Leena ignored the order. What the hell. She could always claim total communications failure later. But Ranger was no where in sight and if the Major couldn’t get her ‘Mech on its feet in time that BJ could waltz right up and pop a few rounds straight into Granny’s cockpit. Leena had no illusions about defeating the advancing ‘Mech but she’d buy Gracie as much time as possible. A grim smile came to her lips as Leena saw that the Blackjack was circling around to one side while keeping itself facing her as if trying to determine if she was worth shooting at. Her Firefly must be looking pretty bad if the pirate was thinking of ignoring her. "This’ll make up your mind," Leena snorted to herself. Linking her three medium lasers she carefully aimed then fired. The heat spike was greater than she expected, sucking the breath out of her. Some of her heat sinks must be off line or maybe the engine was leaking extra heat into the system. Didn’t matter much either way. Losing mobility or her primary targeting systems to excess heat wasn’t an issue for her battered ‘Mech. She didn’t have either to lose. Her shots scored along its left side, burning long furrows into the armor. As expected, the BJ pilot decided to treat her as a threat at that point. Four medium lasers lanced out, three of them spearing deep into her tattered ‘Mech while the fourth literally passed completely through the gaping hole in her left torso without doing any additional damage. One hit nearly sheared the main support strut of her better leg while a second melted off most of the support structure of the left torso shell. The last burned deep inside the central torso, taking out some electrical wiring and damaging the gyroscope. Somehow she kept the Firefly on its feet but it nosed down and staggered off to one side like a drunken spacer. Vainly Leena struggled to get the machine turned around so she could try another shot at the enemy ‘Mech. "Atlas!" yelled Ranger’s voice into the comms. "It just came out of a bunker. I’m on it!" Leena’s blood ran cold. Atlas? What Atlas? Where? With her sensors shot up and the torso pitched forward all she could see was the ground at her feet as her ‘Mech swaggered about. "Ranger, do not engage. I repeat, do not engage." Although he hadn’t identified himself, Leena knew the voice to be Lt. Colonel Linna’s. "No choice Duck-man," came the calm reply of Ranger. "Goose is still down and has a bandit all over her. Swifty is stumbling around down there too. If I don’t keep that Atlas’s attention for a while they’re both dead meat." There was a slight pause. "Understood Ranger. I’ll be there as soon as I down this Raven. Good hunting." "I’m almost free," added Gracie as she glanced with concern at the red blips marking pirate ‘Mechs on her threat display. Leena kicked the underside of her main control board in frustration. With that fricking Blackjack somewhere nearby and a god forsaken Atlas roaming around she needed this hunk of junk back under control and she needed it now! Many kilometers away Lt. Naoko "Katana" Fujiwara had her two lance mates in an inverted V with herself and Cowgirl placed forward and Storm somewhat behind and between them. She’d been monitoring the developing situation where her Lance Leader had gone down but right now she had her own concerns. The five Yu-Shan ‘Mechs that had been shadowing them for many minutes just out of weapon range had suddenly formed and attacked. Katana had the lightest Mech in the group at 55 tons. Cowgirl’s brutish Orion tipped the scales at 75 tons while Storm’s rare Flashman BattleMech was 75 tons as well. Their enemies were almost all light ‘Mechs with one medium - a 40-ton Hermes II. In addition, most of the Yu-Shan ‘Mechs carried medium and short ranged weaponry. The pirate course of action seemed clear to Naoko. They would swarm in and try to use their speed to avoid getting hit while staying between the Warder ‘Mechs to make it trickier to target lest a missed shot hit a friendly. That’s why Naoko had pulled the three of them close together. This would remove the dead space between her lance mates. "Here they come," exclaimed an excited Keena Washington from her Orion. "I see them Cowgirl," replied Naoko calmly. She had slipped into her combat state of mind. The non-place she called the Void where human emotions were set aside and the mind focused solely on battle. "Ignore the front wave. Cowgirl fire on that Hermes, Storm at the Panther." As the two affirmatives came in Naoko set her sights on the Panther as well. Those two Yu-Shan BattleMechs had long range weapons and were staying back. It seemed their plan was to snipe at the Warder ‘Mechs once their close range armed brethren had engaged. Naoko’s Kintaro had one of its short range missile systems replaced with a second long range one. She lashed out with her large laser and paired LRM 5 missile systems a few moments before a crackling bolt of blue energy spat from the Panther and connected with Storm’s Flashman, blasting armor and sending a wash of excited particles crackling across the BattleMech’s exterior. Storm had to wait an extra few moments for the static caused by the PPC hit to clear then she returned the favor with her trio of large lasers. Armor ran in rivulets from the Panther from Storm’s return fire. At the controls of her Orion Keena waited for the Artemis IV targeting system to achieve full lock mode as weapon fire poured both into and out of their formation. Her own quarry spit some autocannon rounds at her. Most missed in a spray of kicked up dirt but a few hit near the foot. Her stout BattleMech, dubbed Starman by her technician brother, didn’t even rattle with the light hits. Promising herself that hombre was going to pay for messing up her paint job she thumbed the missile trigger and sent 20 LRMs streaking out. Keena was a more recent hire with the Warders, joining primarily because her brother had been impressed with the unit’s level of technology and the unit had bank, making it a solid home for her brother should something happen to her. Her brother had kept this jalopy running through some terrible times in some very ratty places and had never complained about where she had drug the two of them. Here he had found a home and to her surprise she had as well. Still, she didn’t share the hatred for these pirates that many of her fellow Warders had. It didn’t keep her from fighting any less hard however. When all was said and done she was a born scrapper that liked the thrill of combat. She’d never need any psychological incentives to go forth and kick ass in her beloved Orion. Guided by the infrared targeting laser of the Artemis system, almost three quarters of her missiles struck the hapless Hermes II. "Ouch, that’s gotta hurt," she grinned to herself in enjoyment as the impacts staggered the pirate’s machine. "Cowgirl, engage the closing ‘Mechs at will. Try to keep them off our backs as we finish off the long ranged foes." "That’s a rodger Katana," replied Cowgirl in delight. Now that was an order she could sink her teeth into. It would be just like one of those Pack Attack scenarios from the Games back home. One huge ‘Mech beset by a pack of smaller ones. She engaged her throttle, lumbering towards the enemy and wondering if any of them would be alarmed that she was going after them rather than falling back. She really hoped so. It was so much more fun when they tried to run. An ancient Wasp was leading the pack. As far as Keena was concerned the Wasp wasn’t a real BattleMech - it was a giant toy robot. It took a mid ranged shot at her with it’s one medium laser then engaged it’s jump jets to bound off to one side and avoid her fire. Yeah, like that was going to work snorted Cowgirl to herself. Keena’s second Artemis system locked on for her short range missile system. She let loose and four missiles corkscrewed out to impact across the Wasp. Still under control but raining down chunks of armor, her target cleared the top of it’s arc and started downward just as Cowgirl fired her set of medium laser weaponry. The Wasp’s light armor was stripped totally away anyplace a laser struck it. It came down hard, stumbling and losing all of it’s forward momentum. Cowgirl had been tracking the decent with her torso and just after it touched down Keena touched her third firing stud and hit the 20 ton enemy machine with her LBX autocannon. Multiple submunitions slammed into the Wasp, penetrating and exploding within to tear apart internal structural supports and destroying vital control systems. The Wasp crumpled in a hump and lay still as smoke poured from small internal fires started by the lasers. "Woohoo! Score one for the Cowgirl," Keena crowed as her attention flickered between her heat scale and her targeting sights as she selected a Firestarter as her next victim. "There goes the Panther," added Storm a moment later as the PPC armed pirate was cored by combined laser fire. It fell, then exploded as the fail-safes were unable to shut down the fusion reaction contained within it’s power plant fast enough following a large laser shot that had cored the center of the ‘Mech. Plasma energy jetted free and set off a number of internal explosions. Luckily for everyone in the general area fusion engines couldn’t go nuclear like a fission bomb. When a BattleMech power plant did suffer a breach the energy released was certainly deadly for anyone in the immediate vicinity. In this case it was a fancy funeral pyre as no other ‘Mechs were close enough to be effected. "Keep on that HER-2S Storm," replied Naoko without a trace of the elation carried in the voices of her lance mates. "I’m engaging the Javelin." Misty Florens moved her Flashman so she could keep a bead on the Hermes as ordered. Her heat had climbed enough to make the ‘Mech sluggish despite the ComStar heat sinks and she would have to wait a few moments before firing again. She watched the Firestarter wash flames over Cowgirl’s Orion at point blank range. That proved to not be such a smart idea as the flaming leg of the Orion lashed out through the oily smoke trail in a kick that sent the smaller BattleMech staggering back on a busted leg actuator. Katana’s Kintaro had squared off with the Javelin as they circled each other trading missiles and laser fire. Ranger’s comm about the Atlas came through as Misty was checking her heat level. Saying a silent prayer for her friends she centered the crosshairs and fired two of her three large lasers. Hang in there guys, she thought at Ranger and Mother Goose, we’ll be done here in another few minutes. Lawman was leading his lance on a running battle that was moving generally towards Ranger and Goose. His team wasn’t as heavy as the one Katana was currently leading but it did have better mobility. Nothing the enemy had topped 40 tons but these were good pilots that were making use of the tree groves for cover as the two lances engaged in a largely medium ranged firefight. "I got the Commando!" Jason suddenly called in elation as his re-engineered Centurion laid the smaller ‘Mech open with it’s heavy pulse laser. "Great shooting Racker," commed back Lawman. "But pull left of that tree grove so Sirocco can cover your flank from that Clint." "I see him Sir," came Basem’s voice. "Engaging." Autocanon fire from the Clint ripped up the area around Basem but his Grand Dragon had already moved out of the way. Sven checked the radar display and moved himself to keep the enemy Assassin from being able to slip around behind his two young charges without being threatened by his own Lancelot. Lawman was proud of the way the three of them had laid down covering fire and maneuvered as a team to systematically check the enemy movements and wear the pirates down while taking comparatively little damage. But it was all taking too long. Sven looked at his plot again. John was closer to Ranger and Goose than he or Naoko. But could he get there in time and could a single 55 ton ‘Mech have enough firepower to make a difference? John ground his teeth in frustration as only two of his shots hit the Raven. The enemy pilot couldn’t seem to hit the broad side of a barn but had an uncanny ability to make a sudden direction change just before John fired. Their circling and zigzagging battle had taken twice as long as John had expected. He dodged return fire himself with a quick touch of his jump jets as he was picking up Ranger’s call. Sending a lone Bushwacker up against an Atlas was just shy of a suicide mission in tight quarters. But John couldn’t see any other way to give Gracie a fighting chance. And if anyone could pull it off, Ranger was the man. "That’s it, we’re done playing tag my friend," spat John as he keyed in a command that de-activated a special suppression circuit. His Camelot was essentially a custom built war machine from the work shops of Solaris. Built as a prototype for a line of BattleMechs he had hoped to sell and get into production, his had a number of features that would likely not be built into a production run for cost and technical reasons. The advanced C3 computer master was one of them. What most ‘Mech jocks referred to as triple strength myomer was another. The main reason BattleMechs slowed and became more ponderous when over heated was the bundles of myomer fibers that literally served as the muscle and sinew of a BattleMech. The incredible material expanded and contracted based on electrical charges. Higher amperage currents gave you greater motion. Attach thick bundles of the material to the type of power a small fusion plant kicked out and you had plenty of strength to animate a ‘Mech. But heat myomer up and you affect it’s elasticity. The hotter it gets, the slacker it becomes. Triple strength myomer was a modified material that actually gained strength when heated - up to a point. A BattleMech running in the right heat range and equipped with the new myomer could move faster and strike harder rather than grow slower and more cumbersome. Admittedly, the pilot and other systems within the BattleMech had to deal with the long exposure to elevated heat levels but the trade off was often worth it assuming one had the funds to install the stuff in the first place. Run a given electrical signal through triple strength myomer and it behaved like the standard stuff. John had just disengaged the circuit that produced that signal. Although John’s ‘Mech could shed most of the heat his movement and firing built up, he had been heavy on the trigger trying to finish off the Raven as quickly as possible. Having only minimum cooling to save weight, the Raven had managed to elevate it’s heat levels as well as it sought to kill off the unaided foe it had discovered. Both Mechs were now carrying some excess heat and had lost a step or two in their twisting and spiraling duel. John fired his extended range PPC into the ground just to spike his temperature level. Teeth clinched against the surge of hot air within his cabin he pivoted towards the Raven and sprang towards it with much greater speed than the enemy pilot could have expected. It tried to backpedal but John was just too fast now. One of the Camelot’s fists came crashing down into the Raven’s shoulder, smashing the laser mount and crushing the main cross support that held the upper right ‘shoulder’ section in place. With the smaller ‘Mech firmly in his grasp John followed up with a kick that destroyed the knee joint of the chicken walker Raven. He pulled back a step and as the Raven struggled to stay balanced gave it one final punch. He’d been aiming for the cockpit but missed low and caved in the central torso just beneath the pilot area. With part of the main cross bracing destroyed already, the entire torso crumpled and cut off the main power conduits while pinching the gyro housing. Seeing that the pirate BattleMech was out of commission John immediately lost any further interest in it and sprinted away leaving the crumpled Raven behind. Beset by the trio of fast moving Warder ‘Mechs, Keith fired a quick blast from the last two working lasers of his Trebuchet and then slammed his hand against the arm rest in frustration as the jumping enemy ‘Mech fell out of sight behind a tree clump. His BattleMech was still holding together but had suffered a large amount of damage from the three scout BattleMechs that had been unmercifully hounding him with strafing attacks. When he’d ditched out on Jorge he’d tried running off to the north. His 50 ton ‘Mech had pretty good speed and by cutting his active radar he’d planned to slip away. Despite the supposed honor that had been shown to him by his induction into Zou’s command lance to replace the warrior he had killed when Keith’s Scarlet Hand pirates had been defeated by the Yu-Shan, Keith did not think of himself as being Yu-Shan nor did he owe them any loyalty. Sure, they’d let him live. But that was mainly because they’d needed him and his BattleMech. The Yu-Shan had managed to lose half their operational ‘Mechs fighting the other pirates and had ‘adopted’ those that would serve into their organization. The practice of taking on pirates from a defeated outfit wasn’t uncommon. But Keith had only been an outlaw because of his brother. With Wayne dead there wasn’t any reason to continue in the trade. Keith had been hoping to find a way off this stupid mud ball at first opportunity. Not that he expected his dislike of the Yu-Shan and their megalomaniac commander to buy him any slack with these invading Warders. Whoever had paid them to drop on this rock was paying them to kill pirates. What colors a pirate MechWarrior flagged wouldn’t matter one whit. Even out here near Circinus space the Warders had a rep as a pirate chasing outfit. Yu-Shan or Scarlet Hand, it would be all the same to these mercs come payday. Keith figured that if he could manage to get away and hide out, then assuming the Yu-Shan got trashed by these Warders he could try to steal a boat and make it to the city. From there he could hop that monthly flight off this planet. There was always someone out there willing to hire a capable MechWarrior. But these three damn Warder scout ‘Mechs were not cooperating with his plan. Didn’t they have anything better to do than chase one retreating ‘Mech? The rest of these fool Yu-Shan had engaged the mercenaries. You’d think the mercs would have fallen back to support their fellow mercenaries. The humanoid shaped ‘Mech with the head that resembled a rodent crossed his path at high speed firing a pulse laser at him. He didn’t even bother to fire at it. So far he hadn’t been able to hit that one at all. The pilot had an unnerving ability to step out of his sights right as he was pulling the trigger. In less than four seconds it had crossed between tree groves and was out of sight again. Keith tried to ignore it because every time it passed and fired it’s buddies would following in it’s wake from a different direction. He spotted the Jenner coming in down a hill from his left and slightly behind him. She’d tried that angle twice already, he was ready for the third attempt to slip into his rear quarter. Digging a heel into the soft soil he cranked the Trebuchet around and fired his lasers at the same time she fired hers. He’d hit that one a few times already and yelled in fierce triumph as one of his shots cored the right torso and ignited the SRM ammo stored there. As the explosions started he checked his own damage and discovered that he’d almost been taken out as well. One of his LRM launchers was out of commission and he had a breach in his central torso. But so far there was no sign of engine or gryo trouble. He started the command cycle to expel his few remaining LRM rounds so he wouldn’t suffer the same fate as the Jenner and looked up to enjoy it’s demise. "Awww crap," he sighed in resignation. The Jenner had been around for a long time and was well known for it’s penchant for destroying itself by suffering internal ammo explosions. While this one had lost it’s right side, some sort of luck or new technology that contained ammunition blasts had saved the machine from total destruction. It was staggering unsteadily but it was still on it’s feet. Motion caught his eye and he realized that the rodent head machine was bearing down on him. Frantically he tried to slip to the side and buy time for his medium lasers to recharge - which they did just in time for him to miss again. But while he was busy shooting he hadn’t been putting much thought into his piloting. He realized that she intended to ram him too late to do anything about it. The Falcon clipped him leg to leg with enough force to shake teeth in both cockpits and shatter most of the Falcon’s leg armor and damage the knee actuators. It half spun and skipped away, retaining it’s feet. Keith’s already battered legs weren’t up to impact of the collision and his left leg collapsed causing him to lose control. The pirate ‘Mech slammed down on it’s back in a shower of dirt. Keith was shaking his head trying to clear the ringing from his ears when he saw a moving spot against the ash coating the sky. It was growing rapidly and fear pumped through Keith’s veins as he recognized the Spider arcing down on it’s jump jets towards his immobilized Trebuchet. The chest, his mind pleaded in panic, please aim for the chest and not my cockpit. The Spider came down as requested, smashing into the chest area feet first and causing serious damage to the Trebuchet in a collision similar to driving a hover jeep into a brick wall at 70 kph. Falling to one side, the Spider caught itself on it’s arms and softened it’s own fall. Shaken but undeterred, the pilot within immediately surged the light ‘Mech back to it’s feet. But the battle with the larger machine was over. The Trebuchet was running automated shut down procedures activated by the massive damage to the main systems housed in the central torso. In the Jenner Holly worked her sore shoulder in a circular motion and rubbed between her eyes trying to ease her headache with the other hand. The ammo explosion had caused a feedback surge through the neurohelmet that had felt like an electric knife being plunged into her brain. The cellular ammo storage system that had been upgraded unto her Jenner had forced most of the explosion of her own missile outward through the back allowing the core of the BattleMech to survive intact. Through watery eyes she could see that Leena’s ambush had been revenged. Holly had tried repeatedly during the running fight to raise Leena on the comms but had failed. But the younger Linna had been able to hear Mother Goose telling Leena to punch out. Hopefully Swiftwind had finally bailed. But the current comm. Traffic about Atlases and down ‘Mechs didn’t sound good. Inra was thinking the same thing. "Go Long Blade. Flame and I will catch up when we can." "We both have damaged legs," added Yawni. "We’ll only slow you down." Holly’s ‘Mech was pretty trashed above the waist including having lost almost a third off it’s mass one side. But her important core components remained unharmed in the central torso section. Most importantly, her ‘Mech’s legs were fine. "Stay together and make your best speed. I’m outta here," decided Holly. Gracie Aukland had managed to get her Awesome into a sitting position by the time the pirate Blackjack had closed on her. The Blackjack’s pilot had made the same assumption the Archer pilot had - that the Awesome was bearing it’s famed standard weaponry of three PPC cannons. That meant that inside 60 meters was the best place to be. Any MechWarrior knew that PPC energy blasts didn’t fully bond together for a short distance, giving the powerful weapon a minimum range for true effectiveness. The sitting ‘Mech would have a few medium lasers to fire but that wouldn’t be enough to stop the Blackjack from moving up to point blank range and letting loose into the Awesome’s cockpit. Bang. One dead Awesome. What the Blackjack pilot didn’t know was that Mother Goose wasn’t planning on being an easy kill. Rather she was planning on doing the killing. Gracie had divined the pirate’s plan. The extra ten seconds the Blackjack had spent blasting Leena had given Gracie enough time to struggle up just far enough to use her full weapon compliment including the torso mounted ones. "Surprise," hissed Gracie as she centered her targeting orb on the middle of the advancing pirate and triggered an alpha strike. At that range there was very little weapon drift as every weapon Granny mounted was fired at once. The combined attack struck across the midline of the Blackjack. A trio of medium lasers added their energy to the three large lasers while six short range missiles flared out to explode within the huge gaping wounds the lasers had burned into the armor. Secondary explosions flared within the pirate’s machine as capacitors popped and electrical systems shorted out. As if stunned by the assault the Blackjack just stood there, rock still. Dark oily smoke combined with green coolant steam was now pouring from numerous gaping chest wounds. Then suddenly the right knee buckled and the leg collapsed sending the now dead Mech crashing heavily on to its side. The alpha strike had maxed out and surpassed Gracie’s cooling system. She managed to manually flush the reserve for the reactor core quick enough to avoid a shut down but it would take a few moments for the heat sinks to carry off the excess heat that had been absorbed by the myomer that muscled her great steed. They slacked, slouching the Awesome’s shoulders together a bit and drawing the legs in towards the torso in an unusual fashion. Gracie felt the almost imperceptible shift of balance through the neurohelmet connection that linked her sense of balance to the BattleMech’s gyro and sensor systems. With renewed hope and vigor she started working at freeing Granny’s legs from the rubble even before all the heat had been sluiced away by the cooling system. All BattleMechs are formidable appearing, even the lightest 20 tonner. Ranger’s 55 ton Bushwacker with it’s sleek fighter-jet nose section and arms ending in the barrels for heavy laser weaponry was an ominous sight to have bearing down on you. But for sheer panic inspiring visage nothing had ever surpassed the 100 ton Atlas and it’s leering death head set atop wide shoulders and balled battle fists that could rip light ‘Mechs in half. And that’s before taking into account the many weapon and missile ports spread about the broad body of the assault class Atlas. The Atlas had been designed to visually inspire fear in those that beheld it, and as Frank looked up at it from his cockpit he couldn’t help but have a quick flash of doubt. But it was only a quick flash. He was taking that bad boy down for two very good reasons. The first was his unit mates. Mother Goose and Swiftwind were sitting ducks in that bowl. If he let this ‘Mech walk over the rim both pilots would be as good as dead. The second reason was that he was the Ranger-Man and the Ranger hunted down pirates. Not even a pirate leader could bring him down. For assuredly this Zou guy would be locked in the cockpit of that monster. Cocky, but not totally foolhardy, Ranger rushed in to one side trying to cut around the Atlas faster than it could turn to track him. It looked like this model mounted both a huge autocannon and a big LRM system. If he could keep the Atlas turning in place, he could potentially avoid both of the heavy weapons leaving it with only medium lasers on the arms and maybe the hip mounted SRM system to shoot at him with. Similarly, as he had done to the Archer, he would wear it down. Of course this ‘Mech had a lot more armor plating to melt through than the Archer had. "Stand down and I’ll spare your life," Ranger ordered sternly on the pirate’s comm frequency as he let loose with his Clan pulse laser and burned a chunk of armor off the Atlas’s left side to back up his bravado. He’d gone to that side for his pass as the AC20 was mounted on the right torso. Avoiding that big gun and those huge fists were necessary for the Bushwacker’s survival. "You die this day insolent dog," spat back a sinister tone. Ranger couldn’t help but grin to himself as he slipped a little sidestep into his gate to be a harder target. That was about what he would say if driving an Atlas when taunted by something half it’s size. Well, a bit more flippant and jaunty sounding perhaps. A medium laser flashed by in front of his armored canopy, narrowly missing his machine. But he saw several missiles flashing in that were slipping out of his sight behind him but they looked like they were going to hit. The shock wave from a couple of explosions lightly pushed at his ‘Mech but the armor indicator didn’t change from the 70% the duel with the Archer had left. He was running in a circle now with his torso cranked over to face his target. The broad back of the Atlas lay before him and he opened up with his two medium pulse lasers and was satisfied to see almost a ton’s worth of armor vaporized or melted to run in rivulets. Frank realized that the pirate wasn’t even trying to turn with him and swore to himself as twin lasers lanced out from rear mounted locations to slash armor from an arm and leg. He’d forgotten that most Atlas models had rear firing weapons. Still, he should get off his own medium laser before losing the arc…but his finger paused over the firing stud as he realized that his heat was wonky. Frank was an expert at riding his heat levels right at the edge. For some reason he wasn’t shedding heat as fast as he should. Punching up the rear view camera that he almost never used he could see that his butt was in flames. Damn! Those must have been Inferno SRMs. Who’d have expected that! Most MechWarriors wouldn’t carry the incendiary missiles for fear that a critical hit that slipped through the armor might set them off. On the other hand, if you were going to risk carrying them then packing them behind the kind of armor an Atlas carries was the way to do it. The flaming jell wouldn’t do any extra harm to his Bushwacker’s hide. But it would continue to heat up the myomer under the armor in that section, increasing the total heat his sinks would be working to flush from his mount. If he over heated enough to slow down that would become a very bad thing. And speaking of bad things, the Atlas was starting to twist but to the right. His own momentum was going to carry him out from behind the enemy machine. That was the autocannon side being brought around after him. The safest move would be to crank hard to the right as well and try to beat the turn while seeking cover. So Frank did the opposite and plunged hard left cutting even closer to the Atlas. He swore he could count the bolts on the Atlas’s leg armor as he raced by but the ploy worked. The enemy pilot had been leaning back in anticipation of shooting at a fleeing target that was headed up the hill behind him. Instead Frank flashed past under the cannon’s arc of fire before the pirate could react and punch the trigger. The enemy pilot continued with his shuffling turn. The situation was essentially the same as Frank was running into the turn, but now he was moving on an arc taking him farther out and at a speed that wouldn’t let him cut in closer to try the same stunt. Besides, he hadn’t been able to fire at the pirate and he had to keep pounding it every chance he got. He decided to risk the cannon and ran straight out a bit before cutting to the side to put a little more distance between them and make the cannon shot harder. Frank’s large pulse and ER large lasers flashed coherent destruction at the huge foe, raking more armor from the chest but failing to slow or even rock the beast. A medium laser struck back just behind the canopy seal actually turning the interior wall of his cockpit cherry red and warping the corner fitting. Then Ranger was slammed sideways in his seat as the huge shells of the giant cannon shredded his ‘Mech’s right arm, shattering the armor and leaving the structural bracing bent and twisted as strands of severed myomer flailed from the savaged limb like streamers. Having its own heat issues to worry about, the Atlas withheld further fire but lurched into reverse allowing it to twist to keep the Bushwacker before it. Torn by indecision, Frank wasted a few precious seconds trying to decide what to do. Even though he had only taken light damage chasing around that Archer, any hit by that heavy cannon was going to penetrate his armor. But if he faded back to longer range the harder to dodge LRMs that Atlas packed were going to rain down on him. Figuring that at least LRMs tended to spread their damage about he veered off and started up the hill to his right so he could shoot down on the Atlas. To his delight, Frank discovered that the clan pulse laser was still operational despite the damage to the arm on that side. He cut across the ridge line and lined up his shot, missing with the ER Large but burning armor off the arm of the monster below with the large pulse laser. His heat levels were just starting to drop like they should as the burning jell expended itself. As expected, his computer recognized the lock on of targeting radar and a flight of long range missiles came his way. He used a last second dodge that helped avoid a few but more than two dozen of the deadly birds struck true. The armor damage was bad but not critically dangerous. However a few had struck along the canopy area where the laser hit had weakened much of the armor. The explosions literally blew the main canopy section free and sent a small amount of shrapnel tearing through the small cockpit slashing at exposed systems. Frank’s vision was blurred and he was disoriented as he tried to get his ‘Mech over the hill ridge and out of the line of fire by memory of the terrain but mistakenly turning down hill then stumbling as he picked up unexpected speed. His ears were ringing so loudly he couldn’t tell if anyone was talking on the comms or not. But at the moment it really didn’t matter. Amazingly his HUD projection was working, throwing its imaging and data onto a thin sheet of clear plastic that had a number of holes in it but was still in place before Frank. He couldn’t really make put any details it held but looking dead ahead even with blurred vision he could see that the Atlas loomed directly ahead of him. It was facing him dead center and probably lining up to finish him off. Caution was a moot point now so Frank took a snap shot with everything he had hoping for a lucky crit that might get a weapon barrel or maybe rock the cockpit that rode behind the right "eye" of the death head atop the Atlas’s shoulders. His small LRM launcher failed to fire, a victim of the missile hits, but the rest of his laser weaponry clawed armor from all across the enemy machine. The Bushwacker slowed as Frank juggled the main controls and the coolant activation toggles as he tried to keep the ‘Mech from shutting down. Then he was violently shoved backwards as the pirate’s autocannon rounds crashed into his ‘Mech dead center while the pair of medium lasers sliced away the damaged arm and blew out an ankle actuator. From high in the Atlas Zou watched the smaller ‘Mech buck wildly under his assault and get pushed back off its chicken legs as if an invisible hand had reached out and shoved it. The Bushwacker was a remarkably tough machine for its size and Zou held the enemy pilot in high esteem for the pirate commander knew the crippled enemy ‘Mech had already taken out a foe 15 tons heavier than itself before attacking his Atlas. Despite the extreme damage it had absorbed, even now Zou could see that it was struggling back onto its feet. Zou pushed his throttle wide open and ran at the enemy Mech. His ammunition was limited and while he wanted to score as many kills as possible before he himself was taken down he had to conserve his shots. Tan Zou knew that the battle for his island had been lost. His ground forces were being repulsed at the airfield and his Mech force had been too light and too old to stop the well-equipped Warders. This bowl area had been one of three prepared trap positions. Zou had hoped to use it then fall back to another one and take a decent number of Warder ‘Mechs with him while he bought Master Ong as much escape time as possible. However the trap had been semi-bungled by his people when they engaged the insignificant scout lance. Then he had suffered a delay when the underground bunker’s Star League era door machinery had chosen this moment to malfunction. Zou had been forced to pound his way out thus he had not been able to stay with Lidia and her Blackjack. That coward Keith’s abandonment of the trap hadn’t helped either. Still, he had an Atlas under his control. And among the Kings of the Battlefield nothing this side of the Clan truce line reigned over a field of battle like the Atlas. He would cause much carnage with this great killer. When he moved on to frolic with the demons of the afterlife, he would not be alone. Several Warder MechWarriors would be there with him. The Bushwacker managed to regain its feet in a cloud of green steam as the pilot within took the desperate tactic of flushing his coolant. On Zou’s thermal scans the enemy machine was white hot from all the heat it was carrying. It must have suffered an engine hit Zou decided. Tracers lashed out from the smaller 'Mech as Zou raised an arm, the large caliber machine gun bullets bouncing harmlessly off his legs as he swept the fist around and crushed in the right side of the Bushwacker and sent it crashing back onto its side. He paused for a moment over his kill, zooming in his camera view to inspect it for any sign of life. That’s when he noticed that the canopy section of the cockpit had been blown free. Judging by the burns and rents around the edges of the open space and the immobile form laying strapped into the seat he judged the pilot finished. Turning about he throttled the Atlas up to its bone jarring if slow run speed up the path the Blackjack had recently trod. He came to the rim of the depression to find a light ‘Mech staggering around the middle of the large open depression while a much larger foe was kneeling on one knee with the other leg lodged in some rubble. Lidia’s Blackjack lay face up near the trapped Awesome. That certainly explained why Lidia had not responded to his comm calls. He regretted the loss of his pirate warrior. Lidia had been one of his most trustworthy and ruthless pilots. Zou took a quick sweep with his long range radar. Three airborne vehicles were at the edge of his detection threshold. Three Warder ‘Mechs were somewhat southwest of him but not close enough to be a threat for a while. Locking his LRM targeting system on the hapless Awesome he fired off a salvo of twenty missiles then churned down into the bowl to finish off the two enemy ‘Mechs. Gracie was cussing the frozen foot actuators of her right limb when she saw the Atlas come over the rise. She knew through the C3 link that Ranger was down and hoped that he was okay. She knew that his telemetry data had ceased moments ago but only Woods in Bifrost and John in his Camelot had lifesign readings. But she could see that Ranger had chewed up that Atlas’s armor quite good. She ignored John’s and Osmo’s calls for her to punch out. Ranger had taken on that assault ‘Mech solo to buy her time to get up and fight. He didn’t run and neither would she. Granny wasn’t up but she could still fight. The Atlas turned and centered on her, bringing its shoulder mounted missile system on target. Just as the missiles flared to life in a billow of exhaust smoke, she fired her trio of large lasers. She scored along an arm and one flank, further melting away the protective armor of the pirate leader but still he came on. There wasn’t time to examine her hits as she had to twist away and hunch down against the missiles about to hit. The AMS knocked down two of the LRMs but ran dry, the gattling barrels spinning futilely with no more ammunition in its bin. Despite the Awesome’s mass, she was still rattled in the cockpit as the explosions rained around her. The spread of hits failed to penetrate her armor anywhere, but she did lose one of her arm mounted medium lasers as the focusing barrel was crimped shut by armor buckling into it. Despite the pounding she’d taken Gracie howled triumphantly as the rumbling subsided. Several of the warheads had exploded into the ground around her, freeing her at last. Checking the Atlas’s progress as she levered Granny to her feet she saw that the bastard was headed toward Leena. "Swiftwind…eject! Eject! He’s gunning for you!" Leena could hear Mother Goose’s frantic call and was yelling "I’m trying, I’m trying" as she yanked on a set of ejection handles. Even the hot-tempered Leena knew better than to face down an Atlas in such a crippled state. But the system refused to initiate. Her view of the ground became engulfed in flames as the inferno SRMs burst about the Firefly and she could smell smoke in the air filtration system. With her comms down no one could hear her scream as the Atlas’s autocannon broke the little scout ‘Mech in half letting the fire rush within the doomed machine. "You’re going down you bastard," swore Gracie as she hobbled toward the Atlas on her frozen ankle. Zou moved around the burning wreck of the Firefly, using it for partial cover as he let his machine cool. He lobbed a salvo of infernos at the Awesome which mostly missed while she vaporized more armor off an arm and both legs with laser shots. Seeing that for once he had the greater mobility, he charged forward to take advantage of the recharge time of her main weapons to close the gap between them. Gracie saw him coming but with one leg being almost inoperable couldn’t do anything to keep the distance open. She let loose with her secondary weapons, aiming for the skull face of the Atlas and peppering it with her own SRMs as well as two medium lasers. Some of the SRMs hit the head but the lasers were low. Huge gouts of flame sprouted from the pirate’s autocannon as it spat heavy armor piercing shells at her. Granny shook violently as the rounds ripped up the already damaged left side, causing several breaches. Using every ounce of skill she possessed, Gracie kept the ‘Mech’s feet under her despite the damaged leg and even brought up her left arm in a counter strike that caught the descending fist of the Atlas as it took advantage of her precarious balance to step up next to her. Armor plates shattered and sprayed out in dangerous shards as the two titans slammed their arms together. Both pilots were shaken about in their seats as the vibrations ran down the limbs. Gracie recovered a hair faster and slammed her other arm around low, crushing the Atlas’s hip mounted SRM launcher and destroying a considerable amount of armor. Zou retaliated by feigning another heavy overhand punch which Gracie expertly shifted away from. But the punch never materialized as Zou lashed out with a foot instead, smashing the Awesome’s balky leg and sending it down on one knee. Gracie swung an arm up and fired the two lasers mounted on it directly into the weakened spot she had just made on it’s hip and burned into the interior structure damaging the actuator assemblies and burning away myomer bundles that controlled the hip linkage. She sensed more that saw the fist that was chopping down at her cockpit in response to her attack and twisted her torso just enough to interject the tall shield like armor baffle mounted on the shoulder. It deflected much of the force of the blow but gave way under the assault. Crashing concussive force knocked Gracie unconscious as the fist slammed into the side of her cockpit after being partially deflected. Zou looked down in triumph at his still kneeling foe as he backed off a step. While the cockpit area was still intact, the Awesome was no longer attempting to move. The pilot must be incapacitated he realized. It was time to make that condition permanent. He lay his targeting reticule over the armored view ports of the immobile Awesome. Warning lights flared to life as his Atlas bucked slightly from an internal explosion. He’d been struck from behind, the damaged armor in his rear being burned through. "Leave the lady alone, we’re not done yet," coughed the same voice that had earlier ordered his surrender. Zou was startled as he spun his ponderous mount about to face the new attack. It was the Bushwacker pilot. That should not be possible. But it was. Trailing smoke and spewing flames the ‘Mech he had thought vanquished was limping down the escarpment. "Your tenacity is commendable but you only delay the inevitable," growled Zou. "Says you," came the grunted reply. A single ER large laser lanced out again, but this time it missed. There had been a day when Zou would have honored such defiance and bravery by sparing the enemy warrior. That had been before a petty noble had destroyed his honor and his life. Master Ong’s Triad had found him after his revenge on the lordling and Zou had taken up their ways. Enemies are to be destroyed, not spared. Zou locked his LRMs on the Bushwacker and fired, watching in satisfaction as they pounded the machine into the ground. Just to make sure he triggered a second flight at the smoldering wreckage then turned his attention back to the Awesome. It was starting to stir again and he gave the prone ‘Mech a kick that caught it in the chest just under the "chin." He started around the now prone ‘Mech to where he could get an angle on the cockpit. It was almost a waste to kill such warriors as these. But it was his duty to demonstrate that to defy the Triad was to earn death. A blue-white shaft of energy slammed into his left arm, making Zou’s display flicker as the Atlas’s dampers fought the surge of electrons caused when a PPC blast struck. "Stand down or be destroyed," ordered a new voice over Zou’s comms. John Linna had slipped into long range for his Enhanced Range PPC undetected through his electronic counter measure gear. He was closing fast, but would not be able to stop the Atlas from attacking Gracie again if that’s what the pirate decided to do. Rather than being daunted by the great power the assault ‘Mech wielded, his greatest fear was that if the pirate leader reasoned the Awesome’s pilot was unusually important to him the Yu-Shan MechWarrior would elect to finish off Gracie rather than engage him. Thus his best hope was to keep the pirates attention focused on self - preservation John reasoned. The pirate leader scanned the area. There were contacts closing in but none that would arrive soon nor any in range to be shooting at him. Then motion and burning jump jets caught his attention and the elegant form of John Linna’s Camelot rose into view once again as it came down near the bowl’s rim. Now Zou could get a faint radar return. He gave thanks to his ancestors that his master’s main enemy had been delivered into his hands. Only one person piloted a BattleMech like that one - the mercenary commander John Linna. "Ah, you finally cease to hide behind your warriors. Prepare to die John Linna," gloated Zou as he back peddled away from the fallen Awesome to make sure it didn’t trip up his own feet. The now battered Atlas was not moving well. His hip damage must be more extensive than the computer was reporting. Still, all weapons but his SRM launcher were operating fine. As the green and black Warder command ‘Mech moved along the rim seeking a good spot to come down Zou gained a missile lock and let loose with his LRM20 system. The twenty missiles waged a silent battle to acquire positive locks against the Camelot’s ECM equipment that waxed and waned in eye blinks. The final result was moot however as John was well aware of this particular Atlas’s armaments by now and had anticipated the attack. He had stayed out of the bowl so he could cut down outside it and use the ridge line as a shield against the long range missiles, causing most of them to explode against the dirt and rocks as they tried to home in on his moving ‘Mech. The shower of debris was still rained down as John turned his BattleMech uphill to slow his momentum and fired his jump jets yet again to drop down into the kill zone below. "It is good of you to join your fallen comrades," taunted Zou as he worked at keeping his front facing the Warder pilot. "They will enjoy your company in the afterlife." "Haven’t you read my press materials?" asked John as he laid into the Atlas with his three ER medium lasers. "I’m unkillable." "Everyone can be killed," spat Zou. To accent his point he fired a carefully aimed burst of autocannon fire. John had seen the cannon’s barrel shifting aim and had moved just enough to catch the shells along his arm rather than in the side. John rode out the hits as his arm was heavily damaged and slammed his throttle forward. He had Zou in position with the Atlas’s torso twisted fully to one side. During his approach to the bowl John had watched the entire affair unfold via the transmission of the two C3 equipped Warder ‘Mechs. His heart had ached as he watched his friends get taken down but all the time his mind was tabulating the information and forming a battle plan. While the cannon was reloading a fresh clip John started moving around to the pirate’s left side so that it would need to shuffle in place to keep him in it’s sights. His eyes searched the left hip as he closed in slightly, then spotting the mangled SRM launcher he had been looking for he sprinted in. Zou knew he had been out-positioned for the moment as he had rotated to torso lock to fire the big autocannon. He was just starting to counter rotate the other way hoping to combine a right turn and right torso twist to get his better armored side around before the smaller ‘Mech could fire again when he realized that Linna was charging right at him. Many pilots might scoff at the idea of ramming a 55 ton machine into a 100 ton one, but Zou knew his battered left hip was vulnerable to the type of damage such a collision would result in. He set himself to swipe a massive arm at just the right moment, planning a shuffle step to one side to force the mercenary ‘Mech off to one side with heavy damage. "Come to me," taunted Zou as he watched the Camelot’s approach intently, gauging the closing rate. Within the charging ‘Mech John was bathed in sweat from the elevated heat levels he had been keeping his machine at to maintain the triple strength myomer enhancements. He too was intently gauging the closing rate, his hands firmly locked on the control yokes for his battle fists while he concentrated intently on the feel of balance his neurohelmet relayed to him. His feet poised over the pedals that would send the order to change gate when the moment came. Zou committed to his physical attack just an instant before the Warder ‘Mech suddenly dug in it’s heels and weaved slightly to the left. The physics involved would not allow the Camelot to skid to a halt before reaching the long limbed Atlas, but the Warder ‘Mech slowed enough that Zou’s heavy strike passed centimeters in front of Linna. John’s own attack struck home as he came to a halt amid a billowing cloud of dust and kicked up dirt as a fist slammed into the SRM rack and sheared it away. The boxy launcher spun away training sparks as both pilots raced to bring their mounts back under full balance. As Zou’s torso came back up from the heavy swing he’d made he snapped off a point blank shot with his AC20 at his green and black foe. However John was already lifting on his jump jets and the huge rounds found nothing but air and superheated jet plasma where a BattleMech had stood and instant before. John’s jump was almost straight back, and he stumbled a bit as he made a blind landing. The Atlas had only a pair of medium lasers ready to fire as he regained his feet and John ignored them entirely as he carefully targeted his next shot. With the reticule centered over the gaping hole where the launcher had once been he fired and watched in grim satisfaction as the PPC bolt slammed home on target and the wash of energy crawled about the leg and hip to be followed by a gout of flame. Zou shouted in alarm as the internal explosion klaxon sounded within his control cabin. The infernos had been ignited by the PPC hit. Flames were starting to flare from his hip and leg and the heat being generated would force his ‘Mech to shut down in a matter of moments. His foe started to his left again, firing lasers into his heavily damaged side as Zou tried vainly to track the elusive target. The Atlas’s computer warned him that the heat levels were critical and shut down was immanent. Zou was to be robbed of his chance to kill John Linna as well. Perhaps the man was some sort of demon. "It’s over," commed John as he fired his ER medium lasers into the wallowing Atlas’s back for emphasis. "It all ends here." Zou had planned on fighting to the bitter end. But his BattleMech was going to shut down before he was done fighting. That left escaping to force the Warders to look for him the best option to prolong the time he bought for his master Steven Ong to make good his escape. "You have no idea how wrong you are," growled Zou as he activated his escape pod. An armored door was blasted off the Atlas’s domed head as a section of the command pod flew clear on small rockets. "Until we meet again John Linna," Tan Zou called into the comms as he listed clear. "Track that pod!" John ordered onto the Bifrost command frequency. "get a medivac unit to my location ASAP. I’m going E-V to render aid." "I’ve got Ranger," added Sven as his Lancelot finally approached the area. He, Racker and Sirocco had destroyed two and driven off the remaining two pirates that had engaged them. "Roger that Lawman," agreed John. He could see that the rest of his forces were only a minute or two away. "Sirocco, you and Racker watch the west flank. Katana, spread your lance out to the east. Bifrost, you have MechCommand. Have Death Dancer and Flame link up with Katana’s group." Under Naoko’s command the Lady Killers had destroyed all but one of their attackers who had fled away trailing flames at high speed. Other than some lost armor they had suffered no damage in their engagement. They were much further away from the bowl than the Steel Posse lance however. "Understood," confirmed Captain Woods from the Bifrost trailer at the aerodrome. He would coordinate the BattleMechs should the three remaining pirate ‘Mechs attempt to attack again. "VTOLs will be on your coordinates in five." John was already out of his seat and pulling open the storage locker that held his rescue equipment. He’d always carried some, but after the encounter with the NovaCat Captain on Coleson’s Orb John had ordered more complete emergency equipment stored within all Warder ‘Mechs. As his hatch was cycling he ditched his nuerohelm and donned the heavy gloves from the box and slipped the shoulder strap of the medkit over his shoulder then grabbed the pry bar and emergency cutter. Snapping the access line to the harness he had already been wearing, John used the electronic winch to lower himself down to the ground from the Camelot’s command cabin then ran toward Gracie’s ‘Mech. He saw his sister’s Jenner come whooshing down into the bowl on it’s jets and turn toward the charred mass of the Firefly. From his quick glance at it the wreckage he doubted that much could be left of Leena Calahan. The buckled and ruptured armor plates of the Awesome made easy climbing, although John had to be careful not to touch the jagged surface with anything other than heavy gloves or combat boots. He discovered that the main hatch was already sprung, but he had to lean on the pry bar with all his adrenaline inspired strength to force it open. The control cabin was tipped upward from where the hatch entrance now was, forcing John to reach inside and hoist himself within. The first thing he noticed was the trail of blood that ran from the opening he had entered up to a prone form laying pressed in the corner of the wall and floor. "Dear God no…" he breathed as he first glimpsed her. But before he could really contemplate her being dead he saw her arm move as she tried to look back toward the sounds in her hatch. The short barreled combat shotgun Gracie had taken to carrying as a cockpit ‘sidearm’ wavered in his general direction even though she couldn’t turn enough to see what was behind her. "Whoa Gracie, ease up. It’s John." The shotgun clattered down across the pitched angle of the floor as she released it with a relieved sob. "I’m pinned…my leg….hurts so bad…." She managed to gasp out. Climbing over the mangled frame of her seat John found that the secondary control panel had been forced sideways pinning Gracie to the floor. She must have scrambled from or been knocked out of her seat at the last instant which was a good thing as a bracing spar had fell and crushed the command couch. Then he sucked in his breath as he realized that a jagged piece of bracing had pierced through her foot. That was the source of all the blood. The pressure from the consul must have slowed the blood loss but he had no idea how much more she could lose and survive. "Your foot’s messed up really bad," he explained as he dug through the medkit. "I have to tie it off first then I’ll get some jungle juice into you." "Jungle Juice" was the slang term the Warder soldiers used for a concoction of sedatives and pain killers issued to each medkit for dire injuries. It came ready to go in single dose syringes. "I’m good. Do it," she replied through clinched teeth. He cranked the tourniquet tight, his heart crying in anguish at the hissing exhale of agony that escaped Gracie’s determination not to scream or yell with the pain. As quickly as he could safely manage he stabbed the injector into a main artery in her leg. Her panting eased as the drugs started to shut down her pain receptors. "Yes, you’re doing fine Dear. You’ll be okay. Lay still while I see if I can cut you free," instructed John. Gracie felt herself going numb, which was a blessed relief from the agony that had been shooting up her leg and spine for what had seemed like an eternity. Actually, now she was starting to feel kind of light. Like she might float away. A detached part of her mind noted that the jungle juice was some bonzo powerful stuff. "What happened to tha’ Atlas?" she slurred. "Hmm?" asked a distracted John as he was examining the shattered consul section. He thought that if he cut the two bent attachment points he could probably lever it so the entire unit would fall away from her. "The Atlas," she pressed again as her head started to swim. "I thought I saw Ranger again…even though…." "Easy Gracie, just relax and let yourself drift to sleep. Frank got the Atlas. Took it from behind then got a shot into it’s SRM magazine just before I got here. Does this hurt?" He was probing her leg above the ankle to see if he could start to work yet. "Ranger Danger’s still up then…gooood," she drawled. "Tell ‘im I owe ‘im. Doessswha’ ‘urt?" He paused to look at her face. Her eyes had closed and she seemed relaxed now. Blood from a cut on her forehead and the trail left by tears of pain tracked down soot on her cheeks from the smoke that had overwhelmed the air filters. The heavy neurohelmet she still wore was dimpled in two places from impacts and the attachment points dangled loose leads where the electronic connections had been ripped away. It was a weary and damaged item of war that somehow now looked out of place on a weary, injured woman. Looking at her like this he felt…he felt… he didn’t know what he was feeling. "The Medivac chopper is setting down now," came a voice in John’s headset. John keyed the attached mic. "I’m about to cut Major Aukland loose. She’ll need plasma and a limb pouch. The non-severed type. Lawman and Long Blade will advise on the other downed pilots. And somebody get on that Blackjack, there may still be an enemy pilot inside it." Using the vibrosaw of the multipurpose emergency tool John severed the two connection points then shifted around and braced himself and lifted with all his might. At first he thought it wasn’t going to budge but then with a groan of fatigued metal it flipped over and crashed away. After that he carefully cut loose the metal piercing her foot, discovering that the damage was worse than he had thought. The foot had been crushed by something first - probably the moving consul - before getting speared. John wasn’t a doctor but he’d seen far too many wounds and injuries in his time. He couldn’t see how the foot could possibly be saved. Scrambling back around her, John first unhooked, then gently removed Gracie’s helmet. She surprised him by opening her eyes and peering at him. "Howz me foot?" she slurred dreamily. "It’s a mess," he admitted. "Figgered," she sighed. Her eyes drifted closed again. "Been long time …senz you call me tha’…" she added. "Called you what?" "Dear," she smiled. "Lieutenant Colonel Sir?" asked a young man’s voice. John turned to the hatchway. A med-tech was there pushing something towards him. "Can you pull the back board in Sir?" asked the medic. "Of course," replied John as he grabbed it. Another medic climbed in and the three of them carefully got her strapped to the board for transport. A special medical bag was slipped up to her knee and inflated to preserve and protect her foot injuries. John helped them wrestle the board out the hatch to waiting hands where she was placed on a quad wheeled mini transport. As it rolled off towards the nearby VTOL one of the medics was already starting a plasma transfusion. John stood on the hatch rim and surveyed the depression. Lawman’s slim Lancelot was hunched near the smoking ruins of Ranger’s Bushwacker between two hills as a medical team was pulling up to the trashed ‘Mech. He could see his sister’s Jenner across from him. It had taken severe damage but nothing that seemed to have affected critical systems as she had piloted it back to check her friend. He wondered if the rest of her lance had linked up but assumed they were all right or Osmo would have reported it to him. He could see his sister’s back as she stood rooted in place staring at the flames of Leena’s BattleMech. Or rather the charred bulk that had once been a BattleMech. Two VTOLs had set down in the bowl among the BattleMechs, while a third had set off chasing the escape pod of the Atlas. John noticed that a squad of his troopers was climbing up onto the Blackjack. His gaze swept back along the BattleMech he was perched upon. "You took a hell of a beating old girl," he told it as he surveyed the damage to Granny. "But you brought her back alive." A black anger started to roil deep within him as he turned his gaze back towards the burning ‘Mechs, threatening to break though his emotional control. So much carnage here. And the toll in human lives was far worse on the defense line to the east where his infantry and armor had been rather than here where only a handful of pilots had clashed. And what was it all for? Not love or honor or patriotic duty or freedom. But because a group of subhuman slime wanted to steal and raid and kidnap. Even before his parents had been killed John had never understood the raider bands that used stolen ‘Mechs and armor to terrorize and steal. What was the damn point? They could sell the stupid ‘Mechs and armor they already had for millions of C-Bills and go retire to some exotic resort planet like Carver V. Why did they terrorize and destroy the lives of others? Unsure how long he’d been standing there, John shook his head to clear it of non mission thoughts. This wasn’t over yet. There where still a few loose ‘Mechs to clean up and the main pirate HQ to destroy. And that Atlas pilot to find. Maybe he’d finally get the answers to tell him who had been behind this whole thing. These pirates were just the body. The head still had to be found and chopped off. Clamoring down to the ground he managed to add another small burn to his left arm from the hot armor plating but ignored it. Sven’s huge form was walking in his direction. John set off to meet him, but as they closed the question about Ranger’s status died on John’s lips. He could tell by Sven’s face that Frank hadn’t survived his second attack on the Atlas. "What’s this?" asked John as Sven’s big fist was offered to him. A bit of light chain was visible hanging from it. Lawman turned his hand over and opened it. It was an antique red lion coin with a thin chain strung through a hole in the center. Frank’s lifeblood was still wet on it as well as having stained Sven’s hand red. The forefathers of the Suomi Warders had nailed the red coins to a memorial post to mark their fallen comrades. To this day the Warders honored that tradition, using red metal discs and saving the rare actual coins for those that earned the highest Warder award. Conspicuous bravery and action in the direct defense of a civilian or fellow Warder that resulted in the sacrifice of the soldier’s life. "I was with him on leave when he found this at a street faire. He tried to buy it but the stall keeper gave it to him when he found out we were with the Warders. So Frank bought the most expensive thing the guy had and gave it away to a pretty girl he picked at random ten minutes later. Frank kept the coin as a good luck piece. He told me he’d either live to be an old man and pass it on to some other deserving ‘Warrior that was almost as good as he had been or he’d earn it in action." John reached out and gently closed Sven’s big hand around the coin. "I wish it could have been the first. But he saved Gracie. You hold onto it Sven." The big man hesitated, then swallowed hard and nodded. "Guess I better mount up." "I…still have something to do," sighed John. "As soon as you’re on line take over as MechCommander from Captain Woods." "Roger," Sven nodded in a quiet tone. He took a few steps then paused. He looked to where the medic team was recovering Ranger’s body and then back to the Lt. colonel. "John, I…." "I know," sighed John quietly. "I’m sorry too Sven. He was a good man. And you’ve got two other good men over there that need you right now." Sven nodded slowly. Then he turned to hike back to his Lancelot. John Walked over to where his sister was still watching the burning wreckage of Leena’s ‘Mech. "I never realized what she meant to me until now," Holly said almost as much to herself as to her brother as he stepped up next to her. "I know what you mean," he agreed. The odd tone in his voice was enough to make her glance at him in curiosity but whatever special meaning he might have meant was locked behind an impassive face. "She’s dead and it’s my fault isn’t it?" asked Holly after a few more heart beats. "Partially," he agreed, his tone tinged with anger. Holly snorted then looked away. She’d expected him to try to console her, not agree with her. She hadn’t really figured out what made him tick. She wasn’t sure she really wanted to know. "Part mine too," he added after a pause. His face remained neutral but the smoldering anger was still detectable in his tone. "Sergeant Cascade warned me that her team hadn’t been able to see what was inside the secondary mechbay at the pirate HQ. I made the assumption that if they had anything big the pilots would occasionally stomp it around to show the other pirates the proper pecking order. Obviously I was wrong. They kept an entire heavy lance concealed from us. You had the bad luck of stumbling into it. Which was good luck for the unit as a whole. We could have lost even more ‘Mechs if they’d trapped one of the non jumping lances. One death to avert many. It’s considered a good trade when analysts study the records years later. Not so good for the dead warrior of course. "I should have been more cautious in my planning. You should have followed orders better. She should have bugged out when she had the chance and was given the order. We’re alive and she’s dead. Frank’s dead. A whole bunch of people are dead on the other side of the river. When you’re an officer it’s often someone else that pays for your mistakes. Sometimes they pay even when you don’t make a mistake." She turned to look out across the battlefield as his words sunk in and new doors started to open in her mind. "Sorry about Ranger. How is Mother Goose?" "Gracie’s hurt bad. But she’ll probably live," he informed her tonelessly as the emotion drained from his voice. "And it’s partially your fault," observed Holly. John turned his gaze from the burning ‘Mech to lock eyes with his sister. He just nodded in agreement. "Command sucks doesn’t it," she sighed quietly. It was not a question or taunt. It was a new realization on her part. "Sure can," he agreed. "And right now my place is with my lance and yours is back in charge of this mess," she sighed heavily. "That’s the way I see it. There will be time to remember later. Time to make peace." "If we can," she added darkly. "If we can," he agreed. "What’s next then?" "We do what I promised you we’d do," he replied as the fire slipped back into his voice and his eyes. "We level anything with pirates inside it and find out who killed mom and dad." She just stared at him for a moment, their eyes locked searching for a connection between them of some sort. Then without another word Holly set off towards her ‘Mech. There were so many conflicted emotions swirling around in her head that the net result was sort of an empty numbness. It was the first thing to replace the burning need for revenge and her perpetual anger for a long, long time. Holly preferred the anger to the numbness. She wondered what it was that her brother felt. He’d had people die on his orders before. It was a new experience for her. John watched his sister walk off confident that he had just witnessed some sort of change in her, but unsure what it was. For a brief moment there had been that closeness, the understanding on a subconscious level, that he had with his brother. There had been a few rare times when he and Holly had been on the same wavelength. Visiting General Harrisburg; at their parent’s graves; at his ex-wife’s cell in prison. But the moments were few and far between. Mostly they warily circled each other like a pair of boxers waiting to see if the other was going to make some sort of jab. One of the VTOLs churned into the sky carrying it’s light payload of one dead and one wounded. There wasn’t anything left of Leena to take back. John finally turned toward his own BattleMech, being stopped halfway there by a trooper who was holding Gracie’s shotgun. The private wanted to know what he should do with it. John glanced at the retreating ‘copter then reached out his hand. "I’ll take it for now." As he passed near the second VTOL he saw that the Blackjack pilot was under guard next to the fuselage. He altered his path and headed over there. The troopers stood to attention at his approach and he realized what unit he was looking at. They were from First Platoon. John was pretty damn sure he’d told Cascade to stay with the DropShips and rest her squads. He filed it away as something to check out later as he sized up the pirate MechWarrior. Her hands were bound in front of her but other than being a little dirty she looked none the worse for wear after having a ‘Mech shot out from under her. He didn’t like the sanguine grin she wore. He pointed at the downed Atlas. "I take it that was the Yu-Shan’s commander?" he snapped. She shrugged. "I don’t have to tell you nothing but my name and rank. I know my Ares Convention rights." John was in no mood for smart ass pirates and tired of controlling his temper. "Ares Conventions?" he growled. "I’ve got a news flash for you about your Ares Conventions." Her eyes widen in alarm as the blood speckled mercenary officer lurched forward and slammed her back against the helicopter. The shotgun he was carrying slammed hard against her ribcage knocking the breathe out of her. "This planet doesn’t officially exist and I don’t work for anyone that is a signature to the Ares Conventions. So the way I see it you’re shit out of luck lady. Your friends made the law of this place the gun and the BattleMech. And right now all the guns and ‘Mechs are mine. So if your smug grin makes me decide to drop you down a shaft and fill it in with rocks that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Because at this moment, on this planet, I am the law. Do we have an understanding now?" Bluster and bluff was a common occurrence in the life of a pirate MechWarrior. Lidia was sure that neither was present here. This very angry man held her life completely in his hands. Hands stained red with drying blood she couldn’t help but notice. A quick glance out of the side of her eyes told her that the troopers had no intention of interfering. "Yes," she gasped, worried anything more she might add would set him off again. He eased back a bit and let her feet drop back to the ground. "Was that the Yu-Shan leader?" "Yes. That was Master Zou," she answered. "Who’s the second in command?" "Uh…me," she admitted with a flinch. "Who’s been bankrolling this outfit." "I don’t know…honest! We’ve worked for a bunch of different people when we weren’t raiding on our own. Zou’s friend the Councilor goes out and finds us contacts." "Where is this Councilor?" "Last time I saw him he was back at the main base," she supplied. John eyed her carefully, gauging if she was telling him the truth or just making stuff up. His gut said she was telling the truth. "In a little while you’re going to have a chat with an interesting friend of mine named Captain Woods. He’s very good at extracting information and will have some questions for you. I suggest you remember our little talk here and cooperate with him." She dry swallowed nervously and nodded. He let go of her and stomped off towards his ‘Mech as she glanced around at the soldiers guarding her. It seemed to Lidia that they were disappointed their commander didn’t order her dropped down a shaft or something. She resolved to carefully comply with any of their orders until this Captain Woods took charge of her. Sealed back in his ‘Mech John listened to Osmo’s update and scanned the preliminary battle reports. For the moment the fighting was pretty much over. They still had to attack the HQ, but other than the static defenses only a small number of infantry should be left. His heavy armor lances had faired extremely well along the northern defense line so he ordered some of them to come guard the area of the BattleMech engagements along with two undamaged ‘Mechs so he could take everyone else back in for repairs. John told Osmo about the pirate exec from the Blackjack and relayed what little he knew about this Councilor guy. "And get me an update on Zou’s ejection pod," John added to his orders as he turned his Camelot back towards the aerodrome. Zou’s pod crashed through the trees and came to a jarring stop at an odd angle. He extracted himself from the seat, making sure he had the package for John Linna, then started limping down the slope. He’d purposely burned towards the three prize camps his prisoners used to be held within on the chance that something useful might have been left behind. He couldn’t imagine that the Warders would have bothered to garrison the now empty camps. Eventually Linna’s troops would run him down. In the meantime he planned to keep them busy searching for him far south of where Master Ong would be securing his own escape. He was generally familiar with the area and made his way to the edge of a rice patty clearing where he could splash some water on his face. He could see the wire fence of what he had come to think of as the Pleasure Camp and decided to go look about inside. Then he spun around pulling his laser pistol as he heard the sound of a snapping twig behind him. He peered into the foliage but didn’t see anything. "Who’s there? Come out now," he demanded. There was some movement and then one of the girls from the camp stepped into view. "Tasha?" he asked in confusion. What was she doing out in the tree line? Zou had assumed from earlier reports that the Warders had cleared the camps. Then another woman slipped into view. And another. And another. He realized that they had formed a semi-circle around him. And that they all had rocks or branches or pieces of junk metal in hand. "Now ladies," he warned as he waved the pistol back and forth, "I suggest you do as you are told." "Never again," said an older woman who’s name escaped him at the moment. Then the first rock came in, striking him in the head and dazing him. More followed in a brief stone and metal blizzard that was followed by a human wave of screaming females seeking blood. Sergeant Cascade hopped from the open doorway of the Redhawk VTOL into the knee deep water of the rice field. The gunners had spotted movement near the tree line only a few hundred meters from where the escape pod had set down. She took her four troopers towards the trees in a squat walk to reduce their outline while with her laser rifle remained pointed towards the trees. With a hand motioned she signaled her fire team to fan out a bit and then advanced out of the water. "Uh Sarge, I think you better look at this," called Jenkins over the helmet comm. from one end of the line. As she started moving down to see what was up she heard Bronski chime in as well. "Dah-amn," he said stretching the short word out into two syllables. "I never saw nothing like this before." Cascade hustled her step a little more and found that she couldn’t agree with Bronski. She had seen something like this before. Back when she was around fourteen on a planet far, far from here. The recently pulped remains of what they assumed to have been a MechWarrior by the shreds of coolant vest left laying about was spread about the embankment area near a culvert. "What the hell did that Sarge?" Jenkins asked nervously as he scanned all around them for some sort of dangerous predator they had somehow managed to not encounter in the weeks they had already spent on the island. She nudged the torso section with her foot. "Rocks. Sticks. Fists. Probably finger nails and teeth too." Bronski whistled in amazement. He’d heard of the term ‘torn limb from limb’ before but it was quite a different thing to see the literal thing. Cascade stowed her rifle away. "Search the … remains… for anything useful. And try to find something with a finger or toe print and bag it. Captain Woods will want it for identification." Leaving her team to the grizzly task she took a few steps towards the trees. Switching her helmet mic to parabolic mode she slowly swept it across the greenery. Then she powered down the helmet and took it off entirely and spread her hands wide to show they were empty. "I am Sergeant Cascade with the Suomi Warders. We have defeated the Yu-Shan forces and secured the area. We mean you no harm and I give you my personal guarantee of safe passage. You must come out now. You cannot stay behind when we leave the planet." Slowly a striking woman that looked to be in her mid-forties slipped from behind a tree. Here and there other women showed themselves. Some were in their late teens. All had red stained limbs and clothing and clutched something to throw or strike with. The oldest woman carried a recently acquired laser pistol. Sammi Cascade could see that at least one of them had a laser shot wound. She heard the unmistakable clinking of gear as her team dropped it’s search activities and raised it’s weapons. Sammi waved her hand behind her, palm down. "Easy boys, there’s not going to be any shooting. Put them down." She turned her attention to what looked to be the group leader. "You must be the group that ran off from the camp last night. It’s all over now. Come with us on the helicopter and we’ll bring you back to the other freed hostages. We’ll take you all back to the Inner Sphere. You can go wherever you want to go after that." As she talked Sammi slowly approached the one with the laser pistol. Sammi kept her hands up away from her own weapons. "That’s close enough," spat the leader as she gestured with the pistol. "Think it through," replied Sammi as she took another step closer. "Your friend with the laser wound needs medical aid. Besides, do you really want to live here? Stay here close to that?" Sammi gestured back at the camp. "Let us take you home." Sammi took the last few steps towards the other woman and slowly closed her hands over the laser pistol. The other frowned but released it to Sammi’s grip. The Sergeant checked the charge and focusing barrel then slipped the safety on. "It’s better to carry it safed," Sammi commented as she flipped it around and offered the pistol back butt first. Wilma Dearing’s eyes widen but she accepted the weapon back. "You’re going to let me keep it?" she asked in surprise. Cascade shrugged. "Why not. I’ve got plenty of my own guns. Besides, I’d say you more than paid for it. I’m going to have my medic check your wounded person okay?" "Lisa," supplied Dearing. "Her name is Lisa Tanga. My name is Wilma Dearing." Sammi nodded and pointed at one of her team to check Lisa’s wound. "And what do we have here?" A girl of around sixteen or seventeen was holding a thick, sharpened stick defiantly before her. Sammi could read the challenge in the youngster’s eyes. It was the same look she herself had once had on a different backwoods Periphery world long ago. The girl grunted and jabbed the air with her stick when the Sergeant took a step towards her. Sammi glanced at Wilma. "She can’t talk," explained Wilma. "Or at least we don’t think she can. Came to the camp that way about five months ago. None of us ever figured her out but we know she understands us. Mostly she ignores us or maybe doesn’t always understand. She’d scrap with anyone though. Some of those … scum… liked it rough. We call her Wildcat and she’ll answer to it. We couldn’t just leave her there in that … place. So we took her with us. I don’t know why she’s still here instead of bolting already though." Sammi looked at the bloody stick and the deadly intent in the girl’s eyes. "I know why," sighed the Sergeant. The girl had been waiting to see if any pirates came looking for their leader. She was after more blood. "Look Wildcat, the only pirates left are in their HQ behind tall walls. We’ll get them soon. You don’t need the stick anymore. How about letting me have it?" Sammi started to reach for it but Wildcat’s change in stance told the sergeant that the girl would attack before giving up her makeshift weapon. "Tell you what Wildcat. How about a trade? You give me the stick and I’ll give you my knife." Cascade unclipped the nylon sheath that held her combat knife and offered it to the girl handle first. Wildcat edged closer carefully, distrustful of the offer but drawn by the real blade. She snatched it from Cascade’s hand and jumped back, dropping the sharp stick in the process. Sammi slowly stepped forward and collected the stick, slipping it into a pocket of her combat pants. She hoped that the knife would give the girl a measure of security and enough trust to follow her into the helicopter. "Now, how about if we take a ride in the VTOL?" Sammi asked the girl. Sammi pointed at the grounded helicopter in case the girl didn’t know what a Vertical Take Off and Landing vehicle was. The girl’s eyes flicked to the ‘copter but returned to Cascade and focused intently on the insignia patch on her armored breastplate. It was the standard shield framing a sword wielding Lion of the Warders but done in black on green for field exercises rather than the blue on a white background. She carefully made sounds that were definitely a question of two syllables but all Cascade could make of it was a "w" sound and a hard "K" sound. "I’m afraid I don’t understand," replied Sammi. The girl rapped a fist against her chest to indicate herself and uttered sounds that were a statement about herself. Four syllables with the hard K’s around an "N" sound. Then she stepped forward and touched Sammi’s Warder patch with her finger and asked the same two syllable question. Sammi stared at the girl trying to puzzle out the question. She looked mildly familiar, like Sammi had seen a close member of the girl’s family or something. And there was something about her stance and the jut of her head tugging at the back of her mind. Then in a flash of inspiration Samantha Cascade realized what the girl had announced and what she was asking. "You’re from Clan Nova Cat," Sammi stated firmly. "And you want to know my Clan." The girl nodded, making a sound that was basically "aaa". Sammi knew from her short encounter with the Nova Cats that they used "Aff" for yes. "The Blue Lions," Sammi improvised. "The Suomi Warders are the military part of the Blue Lion Clan. Lieutenant Colonel Linna is our Khan." A surprised and expectant hush had fallen over the gathered group. None of those present had heard of any Clan adolescents or children being seen before. Some had thought that the Clans didn’t have children; that their warriors emerged from birthing tanks fully grown. "Well that explains a couple of things," exclaimed Wilma into the silence. "But now what? It’s not like you can just send her home." Sammi’s mind raced through the things she had learned about the Clans. "Actually, maybe there is a way." She turned back to ‘Wildcat’. "Are you warrior caste?" She got the Aff sound again. "Did you finish your training?" What Cascade assumed to be a negative response came this time. "Did someone take you away before you had the chance?" Affirmative response. Cascade shook her head at the audacity of this Zou guy. He’d managed to get his hands on the ultimate in human trophies. A Clan youngster. And eventually he’d paid for his folly in spades judging by the bloody stick Sammi had traded her knife for. "Then I claim you as bondsman," Sammi stated. Wildcat jumped back and brandished the knife with a violent negative sound. The other Warder troopers snapped their guns up to cover the girl but the Sergeant waved them off. "Put the guns down guys. My fault. I didn’t think it all the way through. I haven’t defeated her in combat yet so I can’t claim her as bondsman. That sound about right to you?" ‘Wildcat’ nodded, keeping the knife in a low ready position. "Well, let’s take care of that then." Sammi unbuckled her breastplate and slipped it off then shucked her two arm guards as well as the leg protectors. The Nova Cat’s eyes widen at the sight of the small leather bag Sammi wore on a leather thong around her neck. It was a medicine bag from Sammi’s later upbringing among the Amerind tribe of Suomi. But the Nova Cat youngster didn’t know that. To her it looked like a vineer, a special pouch a Nova Cat warrior carried mementos of great events within. For the first time since she had been taken by derzga Bandit Caste warriors almost a year ago cadet warrior Nikki felt a glimmer of hope that she had finally encountered non barbarians. Sammi waved off the offer of a knife from Bronski and edged closer to the Nova Cat youngster. Nikki knew immediately that she was facing a trained combatant. This Inner Sphere woman was not very large - in fact Nikki was taller and heavier - but the muscle tone Nikki could see under the other’s T-shirt spoke of someone who worked out regularly. The infantry woman’s movements were sure and precise. Her eyes spoke of many battles won. The Clanner threw a few fiented attacks to try to draw the Sergeant out and to test her speed and skill. For her part, Cascade responded by moving only the fractional amount required to make sure the swipes missed. Nikki was now sure that this is what her dreams had meant. Her dreams had said she must be defeated by some other type of hunting cat - a greatly skilled one - to gain her freedom. Until now Nikki had assumed that some sort of wild animal was destined to kill her and by causing her death free her from the unfathomable captivity she had been held in. Now it seemed that her fate was not to become a meal. Still, the dream had heavily conveyed the skill aspect of her foe. Nikki would do her level best to kill this Sergeant that carried a vineer around her neck. Without giving any warning the gathered women saw, Nikki struck. She moved just as she had been taught to do by her Kit Master, pouncing unexpected to make the kill. One instant her blade was headed directly for her opponent’s throat and the next it was cleaving through thin air and the Blue Lion warrior was beside her as if by magic. A grip like a vise seized her outstretched hand and then in a dizzying blur of motion she was unable to follow Nikki found herself slammed down onto her back with her own knife at her throat. "Do you yield and accept being my bondsman now?" asked the warrior woman casually. She wasn’t even breathing hard from the effort. Nikki made her Aff sound and the Sergeant let her up. Using the knife Cascade cut a length off her boot lace and used it as a cord to tie around the Nova Cat’s wrist. "Well, this ought to be interesting," opined Bronski in amusement. "What’s that?" Cascade wanted to know. "How you’re going to explain your Bondsman there to the Lieutenant Colonel," he grinned. "Well for starters," she quipped, "I’m going to tell him how boarding the VTOLs rather than staying at the DropShips was your idea." Bronski made a sour face but was interrupted by Jenkins. "Sarge…it’s for the L-C," he announced as he offered the envelope to Cascade. "It was by the body pieces." Sammi took the blood splattered envelope from him. It was clearly marked with the name "John Linna" on it and seemed to have a several flat pieces of plastic within. "Then we better deliver it. Everyone on the VTOL." Steven Ong slipped out his window and rappelled down to the ground. He then yanked the rope so that it pulled free a special knot and passed around the pillar to fall down next to him. Then coiled it up to remove any evidence someone had left through the window. He regretted the dead man he had left in his bed chamber. Yang had been an excellent cook. He had also been exactly Ong’s size and of a similar appearance. As he slipped away he stopped for one quick glance back at the main building. This had been a good set up in many ways, but he had already decided he would not usurp another pirate band to use as a new operational base. They required far too much maintenance and attention while returning a poor gain for the resources necessary to operate a pirate outfit. In the future he would stay away from any work that required a small gang of any sort and concentrate on his spying and assassination opportunities. Carrying his escape and evade satchel, Steven disappeared into the rough terrain of the northern island. Linna’s troops would come take the main base pretty soon. By night fall at the latest. Ong planned to be well away from the area before that happened. Hopefully Tan Zou would be able to make the rendezvous point. The radio chatter had indicated that Zou had managed to eject after maiming a number of Warder ‘Mechs. Regrettably, like his other agents Zou had been unable to kill John Linna. Linna’s continued survival was not an entirely bad thing however. Both on Zou’s person in case he got killed - for Zou would not let himself be captured alive - and in the base was evidence that would point Linna at the person that had betrayed both the mercenary leader and the Triad leader. Chairman Miller of Rold Investments, now their common enemy. Hopefully even if Miller had cut a deal with Linna and supplied the location of this planet, John Linna would reconsider the arrangement once he knew that Miller was the architect behind the Starcade attack. Then with any luck John Linna would pursue his grievance against Miller with the same vigor and force Linna had shown in the destruction of Ong’s pet pirates. If not then Steven would deal with Miller himself. As a professional it galled Steven to set up a kill without getting paid for it. But if Linna didn’t take care of it then Ong would make an exception in the Chairman’s case. But that was months if not more than a year down the road. Right now he had to make sure that none of John’s Warders accidentally stumbled across him. It would soon be over for the Yu-Shan pirates. But the score between Steven, John, and Chairman Miller was yet to be settled.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)