The Price of Glory

by William H. Keith

  Before he could trigger another salvo, however, Grayson was attacked from another direction. As laser bolts struck his right arm again, red lights on his console warned of damage and overheating. He spun his Marauder and faced two Marik heavies standing side by side—a Thunderbolt and a Rifleman.

  That Thunderbolt's heavy laser could do horrendous damage to any 'Mech it targeted, and so Grayson wasn't eager to tangle with the big machine. He backed up the Marauder quickly, leveling bolt after bolt at both enemy machines. They followed, laser bolts flashing wildly past Grayson's machine.

  The Thunderbolt looked familiar as Grayson brought the machine up on his main viewer, then magnified the image. The Thunderbolt's right arm laser showed a sharp crease across its surface, and it looked as though the main power connector cable had been cut. It was the same Thunderbolt with which he had tangled during that wild struggle for the DropShips in Cleft Valley! Its heavy laser had been disabled then, and there had been no time for the pilot to complete repairs! Grayson sharply swung his Marauder onto the attack, striking out toward the Thunderbolt's right flank to keep himself on the Mech's damaged side.

  Even with the right arm laser out of action, the Thunderbolt was still a formidable enemy. It mounted three medium lasers in its torso, as well as an SRM launcher, and the massive, sewer pipe-sized Delta Dart LRM-15 launcher angled across its left shoulder. Even damaged, the Thunderbolt would be a serious challenge for Grayson in his Marauder, and this Thunderbolt had a well-armed Rifleman backing it up.

  The three 'Mechs exchanged fire at 200 meters' range, laser and PPC bolts crossing and crisscrossing in the hazy air between them. Grayson tried to fire calmly and deliberately, but within seconds, he found himself snapping off shots as fast as his 'Mech could recycle the power sequence and wink the weapon ready lights green on his console. He saw the Thunderbolt stop moving, then shift the heavy long-range missile launcher to a new cant. Grayson paused, measuring the T-Bolt pilot's aim, then lunged hard to the right just as the enemy pilot fired. Fifteen warheads smashed into the rock and gravel where Grayson had been standing a moment before. He returned fire with a rapid left-right-left-right pattern of laser and particle fire. The Thunderbolt was struck full in its center torso three times, staggered by the explosions. The Rifleman laid down a heavy fire that forced Grayson to keep moving. Then autocannon fire was searing in from the left, catching the Rifleman in the side and causing damage to one of its arms.

  "Hello, Gray," he heard on his taccom. "Need help?"

  "I wouldn't mind it a bit, Lori. It's hot out here today!"

  Lori's autocannon fire drove the enemy Rifleman back thirty meters and left its right arm dangling, useless. The Thunderbolt remained where it had been. From the way it was standing, perhaps the 'Mech had shut itself down.

  Thunderbolts were notorious for so much heat buildup that their operational governors would shut down automatically to keep the excess heat from killing the 'Mech or its pilot.

  But Grayson was suspicious. The Thunderbolt's heavy laser was the main culprit in heat overloads, and this machine hadn't fired its heavy laser once during the fight so far. Of course, it could have overloaded from other sources . . .

  Reaching a quick decision, Grayson leveled another volley of laser and particle fire into the big Marik machine. The response was immediate; the Thunderbolt stumbled to the side, turning, trying to twist out of Grayson's murderous fire and to bring its torso lasers to bear. Lori opened fire from a different angle, her autocannon and laser tearing gaping craters in the Thunderbolt's side and leg, and opening the LRM launcher with a long, coolant-leaking gash.

  The Rifleman was firing, this time at Lori. Grayson spun his Marauder and opened fire on the Rifleman, scoring hits on its torso and on its undamaged arm. When Delmar Clay's Wolverine walked up, its autocannon spitting 60 mm shells in short, choppy bursts, the Rifleman pilot decided that three-to-one odds were too much, and began backing up. Grayson followed, pouring autocannon fire into the already cratered, smoking machine.

  The Rifleman pilot appeared to be in trouble. There was a jerkiness about his machine's movements that suggested he was having gyro trouble. Faced with three powerful BattleMechs, he could not turn and run, not with so little armor on a Rifleman's back. There was a fire burning now amid the wreckage of its right arm, and smoke was boiling from a hole low in its center torso. Green coolant fluid leaked from its left arm, and the tracking antenna over its cockpit was twisted and askew.

  The Rifleman took another step backward, stumbled, and fell. With one arm damaged and the other gone, its pilot was having obvious difficulty getting the machine on its feet again. Abruptly, the damaged Rifleman worked its way into a seated position. Then the cockpit armor folded back. In a flash of light and a trail of smoke, the Rifleman pilot was gone, ejected, his 'Mech abandoned on the field.

  With the fall of the Marik Rifleman, the fight seemed to go out of the Marik force. The Marik 'Mechs began to withdraw back down the valley in a ragged line. They had lost the Warhammer that had entered the valley in the lead, as well as one Phoenix Hawk and the Rifleman. Khaled had accounted for an enemy Stinger, in a darting rapid-fire and highly unbalanced duel, and Sharyl and Bear together had destroyed another Stinger and a Shadow Hawk.

  None of the Gray Death 'Mechs had been destroyed, but all had been hit several times, suffering considerable battle damage. Sharyl's Shadow Hawk had been especially mauled, as had Koga's Archer. Grayson ordered both 'Mech pilots to take their machines back to the central underground facility's main depot, where Gray Death Techs were already going through the Star League supplies in search of equipment to maintain the regiment's combat machines in the coming battle. The hope was that they could patch damaged 'Mechs as Grayson sent them in, and then get them back out in the field in time for the next encounter.

  Both pilots had protested the order, claiming that their 'Mechs could still move and fight. They had accepted Grayson's command, though, when he pointed toward the south and told them he didn't want to hear any more about it. "You get your 'Mechs spread all over the landscape in pieces, and you won't be one damn bit of good to me," he said. "Rejoin the unit when you've completed repairs!"

  The two damaged 'Mechs had made their way through Drango toward the southeast, as villagers began to emerge from their homes, wide-eyed and wondering. The other six 'Mechs had made their way quickly northwest. Grayson's armor and infantry forces had split up, some moving with his 'Mech lance, some following the Archer and the Shadow Hawk.

  * * *

  Hours later, a lone Marik Wasp made its way back up the pass toward Drango. Its pilot was one of the survivors of the 4th Light Assault Group, and her orders were to observe the Gray Death's salvage operations among the five shattered BattleMech hulks the 4th had left behind. She found three of the lost Marik pilots walking back toward camp, but there was no sign of the Gray Death forces. A Boomerang pilot circling high overhead was able to report that the enemy had not withdrawn back down the pass toward the Vermillion plain, but that he could not tell where they had gone.

  It was as though the mountains had swallowed them.

  * * *

  Captain Chu Shi-Lin was commander of the Marik 7th Light Assault Group, and he was not pleased with his orders. Elements now making up the 7th had been roughly handled several months before at Yalin Station, and now mustered only nine BattleMechs. Of those nine, his heaviest was a Thunderbolt, and he had two Shadow Hawks and a Wolverine. All the rest were light 'Mechs— twenty tonners. Isomoru's Wolverine and Kelly's Shadow Hawk both still carried damage from Yalin Station besides. Spare parts had been hard to come by, as had the experienced Techs necessary to mend the damaged machines. Chu's unit had been on garrison duty for most of the time since, and he considered it folly to deploy the 7th, completely unsupported, far from the main body of the Marik Army.

  During his briefing early that morning, Langsdorf had explained to Chu that his mission was more than a mere diversion. The mountain trail known as L
ee's Pass offered both opportunity and danger to the Marik forces. It was narrow, rugged, and twisting. In places, Chu's 'Mech force would have to use its arms and legs to climb or descend like multi-ton mountaineers. In most places, they would have to travel line-ahead, single-file, and there were endless blind turns and pockets where parts of the column would be out of sight of their comrades.

  If the Marik forces ignored the pass, the renegade mercenaries might be able to slip through Lee's Pass and escape to the north, or turn south and strike the Marik encampment. On the other hand, if Carlyle ignored the pass, a small, light, and fast-moving Marik 'Mech force might slip through and emerge on the Vermillion Plains while Carlyle was bogged down in combat elsewhere. And even Chu's damaged force could pose a threat to the grounded DropShips on the plains beyond.

  Chu was not so optimistic about his orders. "That pass looks like the perfect place for an ambush," he had said, apparently not caring whether Langsdorf heard him or not. "A perfect opportunity to throw away nine good BattleMechs!" It was an unusual outburst for Chu, a phlegmatic man not usually given to questioning orders.

  Outburst aside, he was a soldier, whether or not he wanted any part of Lee's Pass—soldier enough to salute Langsdorf, return to his Shadow Hawk, and form up his troops.

  By the time Chu and his men had reached the mouth of Lee's Pass, they could hear the sound of gunfire to the southeast. Captain Maranov and the 4th L.A.G., it seemed, had jumped ahead of schedule and run into trouble at Drango. It might mean that Lee's Pass was unopposed, but Chu was taking nothing for granted.

  "O.K., troops," he had said. "Single file. We don't have much choice."

  And so they had started to climb.

  * * *

  The Gray Death BattleMechs made use of the old Star League tunnels, first to reach Drango Gap, and then to sprint rapidly northwest to emerge at Lee's Pass. Following the paths plotted by the computer map, Grayson had led his 'Mechs along dark and echoing passageways beneath the mountains, emerging on the surface among the rocks and crevasses along the surface passes.

  It appeared that the Star League facility had once been accessible by numerous routes from the surface. Drango had apparently been some sort of transport center whose surface connected with the underground warrens, though the purpose of it all had long since been forgotten. The villagers were now ignorant of the complex around and beneath them, except for vague legends of strange goings-ons and of supernatural creatures that inhabited secret haunts within the Nagayan Mountains.

  The underground passageways had allowed the Gray Death to deploy into Drango Gap early that morning so that they could be seen there in force well before Maranov’s force could race across the pass. As Maranov's force had withdrawn, they had used the passageways again to withdraw from the field, leaving the Marik observers completely mystified about where the mercenary 'Mechs and armor could have gone. Sharyl and Koga had been able to follow one branch of the tunnels south from Drango to the central depot, and Techs were already hard at work among the Star League gantries and hoists trying to get the two 'Mechs ready for battle again.

  Meanwhile, a single long, winding passageway reaching to the northeast had allowed the Gray Death to reach Lee's Pass ahead of Captain Chu. Grayson had already deployed a force of tanks and armored hover vehicles there, a precaution against a middle-of-the-night movement through the pass in a Marik attempt to flank Grayson's force. Lee's Pass was divided by a razor-backed ridge that marked the highest point in the pass in its course across the mountains. The Gray Death's armor was deployed hull-down behind this ridge, with only their gun turrets exposed. Grayson's 'Mech force arrived behind the ridge only moments before Chu's BattleMechs came into view down the valley.

  "Well, Sergeant Burns, how's it going?" Grayson said through his Marauder's external speakers when he caught sight of the dirty, ragged figure directing operations among the infantry from the open, top-deck hatch of his Pegasus armored hovercraft.

  "No sweat, Colonel!" Burns had to cup his hands to his mouth and shout up at Grayson to be heard over the keening of the vehicles around him. "We've spotted a column coming this way, mostly light 'Mechs. There's no room to deploy around 'em, so we sit here and let 'em come to us."

  "I leave it to you, then, Sergeant. I will hold my 'Mechs in reserve until you need me."

  A defensive battle was always preferable to an offensive one, at least in terms of minimizing battle damage and casualties. Burns's troops were deployed across the entire width of the narrow pass, dug into shallow foxholes or trenches, or sheltered behind hastily erected barriers of rock and scrap metal. Vehicles, mostly lightly armed transports had been dug in as well, though in such a way that they could easily back out of their entrenchments and maneuver, should the enemy manage a breakthrough. Volunteers made their way precariously along both valley walls, with man-portable missile launchers strapped to their backs. Though the regiment had exhausted its supply of inferno warheads during the raid on the mobile headquarters, they had a number of short-range missiles for their launchers, and the rocky walls of the pass provided ideal sites for firing from ambush into the enemy's flanks. Grayson kept his six 'Mechs out of sight and out of the line of fire behind the ridge that Burns defended.

  Chu's force came around a bend in the valley trail and started the climb toward the ridge. Burns waited until the leading Shadow Hawk was ninety meters down the slope, then gave the command to fire.

  All alone, a transport hovercraft stands no chance at all against even a light BattleMech. Though the vehicle is more maneuverable than a 'Mech, a 'Mech's heavier armor can defend it almost indefinitely against the few light weapons a hovercraft can carry. Indefinitely, that is, in battlefield terms, where an eternity is measured in seconds. In Lee's Pass, the hovercraft's single advantage did not exist. There was absolutely no room to maneuver at all, the principal reason why Grayson did not deploy any of his heavier armor there in the first place.

  What Burns's force did have was the ability to mass the firepower of ten lightly armed transports against the enemy 'Mechs approaching one at a time. Even light lasers can cause considerable damage when ten of them fire side by side at a single target.

  * * *

  Beams of coherent light interlaced with one another as they swept across the enemy commander's Shadow Hawk. Intolerably brilliant points of light appeared across the Hawk's front armor. No single shot penetrated the big 'Mech's armor, but the Shadow Hawk was staggered by the onslaught.

  The Wolverine traveling behind the Shadow Hawk pressed forward, sweeping around the Hawk to the left. The defenders' laser fire shifted, catching this attacker in its deadly web. Short-range missiles were now arcing down from the sides of the pass, or stabbing up from hidden shelters at the foot of the ridge. The Marik attackers found themselves in a tangled trap of interlocking fire and hurtling missiles. Explosions smashed and thundered among the 'Mechs in the center of the column, as the lead 'Mechs froze in place, unable to back up or to proceed.

  The Shadow Hawk dropped its autocannon down across its left shoulder and pivoted, white fire flickering at the cannon's muzzle. Spent casing flew among the rocks at its feet as it panned slowly across the landscape, sweeping the ridgetop with fire and death.

  Another salvo of laser fire swept across the Shadow Hawk. Its left arm hung limply now, the myomer connectors at the shoulder visibly torn and burned where they were exposed through a blackened gash in the 'Mech's armor. A missile struck the 'Mech's leg with a flash of light, and a meter-wide plate of metal, the Shadow Hawk's left knee shield, went spinning off among the rocks, leaving a visible gap at the machine's sensitive knee joint. Yet it stood its ground, blasting at its half-seen attackers with autofire mayhem.

  Grayson listened to Burns' voice over the taccom frequency. "We're not going to hold them much longer, Colonel," he said. His voice sounded raw, as though burned by the hot smoke that hung heavy in the air above the ridge. He was shouting, his words punctuated by the staccato thumps and crashes of exp
loding shells. "I think they're deploying for a rush, and there's no way we can hold them if they come through!"

  "You don't have to hold them, Burns," Grayson replied. "Be ready to step aside as we come up the reverse slope." He was watching out of his combat screens, which displayed the chaos in the other side of the valley. One of Burns's troopers had set aside his rifle for the far more important weapon of a remote camera. That camera was patched into Grayson's Marauder, allowing him a view of the battle.

  "You got it, Colonel. Watch it . . . they're starting to move!"

  Grayson had already positioned the 'Mechs with him in a line that stretched across the valley. His heaviest 'Mechs—his own Marauder, Khaled's Warhammer, and Bear's Crusader—were in the center. Lori's Shadow Hawk and McCall's Rifleman were on the left. Clay's Wolverine on the right.

  "They're on their way, Colonel!" Burns said moments later. "I'm pulling out. The lead Marik Shadow Hawk is thirty meters from the crest of the ridge."

  "I see it," Grayson said. He was counting 'Mechs as the camera view panned across the smoke-filled canyon. Shadow Hawk . . . Thunderbolt . . . Wolverine . . . lots of Wasps and Stingers . . . "Tell your man with the camera he can pull out, too."

  But the Marik BattleMech line moved faster than Grayson or Burns expected. There was a sudden rush, and then the Shadow Hawk was striding across the top of the ridge, its laser chopping into fleeing Gray Death soldiers as it came. The sky behind the Hawk was filled with flying forms. Several of the Wasps and Stingers had fired their jump jets, and were sailing over the heads of their comrades and landing along the ridgetop in billowing clouds of steam and smoke.

  Grayson's monitor lit up with a blinding flash and went dead, and he knew that the soldier carrying the camera had not been able to get away in time. The Gray Death still held one advantage, but that advantage would last, Grayson knew, for an instant only.