“Of course, Company Leader Sung.”
He nodded. “Dismissed.”
She paused, as if trying to word her next statement carefully. “I will see that MechWarrior McDaniels is sent to you at once.”
A good way to bring the subject back up without seeming too persistent. Aris relented slightly, hoping she would see it as a gesture of good will. “Thank you. I have heard good reports from Raven Clearwater and others. I thought a personal note of praise was in order.”
“Yes. Of course.” Terry Chan nodded once and backed away respectfully, then turned and walked briskly for the treeline.
Aris sighed. He doubted that he’d solved the problem, but he’d gotten her thinking and maybe that would correct her attitude for now. In the meantime, Tarrahause lay ahead of him and he had better start devoting more time to the enemy than he was to these petty struggles. He picked up a rock and side-armed it out into the river, watching as it skipped across the flat surface and finally sank from sight.
It only occurred to him then how much he had sounded like Ty Wu Non when giving Terry Chan her dressing-down. He wasn’t sure if he liked that.
11
Tarrahause Bridge, She Shan Hills
Tarrahause District, Kaifeng
Sarna Supremacy, Chaos March
20 July 3058
Three kilometers upriver from Tarrahause, the Jinxiang straightened into roughly an east-west course as it cut through the She Shan, or Serpent, Hills. On the north bank the thin line of rolling hills turned to follow the river west for more than two kilometers, their green-shrouded, rolling peaks and valley reminding travelers of the way a serpent moved across the ground. On the south bank the hills trailed off south and then southeast in a sort of atrophied Z formation. A causeway-type bridge crossed the Jinxiang, raised just high enough for barges to pass beneath. The river flowed swiftly, restricted to less than two hundred meters by the framing hills, making the bridge the safest path for BattleMechs to cross.
And a good spot for an ambush.
Strapped into the command couch of his BJ2-0 Blackjack, Major Karl Bartlett raised binoculars to his eyes. Peering through his cockpit viewscreen and an opening left in the camouflage, he scanned the southern bank for ’Mech activity. Major Bartlett commanded Third Company of the Kaifeng SMM. All twelve of his ’Mechs currently stood behind carefully constructed blinds on the north bank, running at low power and waiting in ambush for House Hiritsu. His spotters up in the She Shan Hills had reported the invaders within two kilometers. And Jacob’s Juggernauts had picked up the Capellan trail and would soon be pressuring them from behind. It couldn’t be long now, he thought. Then maybe I’ll show Cyndi Fallon how to properly stop an invasion.
Leftenant General Cynthia Fallon had assigned Third Company to Tarrahause three days before, in anticipation of the House Hiritsu assault. She had also dispatched the mercenaries into the outlying regions, to soften up the invaders and keep them unbalanced. Her strategy demanded a series of limited engagements.
“Cut into their numbers,” she’d said. “Always let them withdraw. We don’t force an all-or-nothing confrontation until Sarna can reinforce us.” From the way she was talking, it sounded like Sarna troops wouldn’t be arriving anytime soon, which was strange. And then this morning Fallon had also passed along a list of primary targets, by ’Mech design.
Bartlett hated having his tactics dictated to him, and to tell him which BattleMechs he should and should not target was especially galling. In the heat of combat a Mech-Warrior shouldn’t have to question whether an enemy ’Mech was on some list or not. Battle was fast and furious, and trying to micromanage was a recipe for disaster.
But Fallon was playing this cautious—scared was Bartlett’s word for it—concerned about facing Capellan Warrior House troops. She wanted to keep her intelligence sources happy and the information rolling in, all the while trying to buy time. As far as Bartlett was concerned, you exploited every opening an enemy gave you. Which was exactly what he planned to do and the general’s orders be damned. It was hard to court-martial a hero.
Movement caught his attention, and Bartlett refocused his binoculars. Across the Jinxiang and very near the southern head of the bridge, approximately a company of BattleMechs had emerged from the light jungle that bordered the southern riverbank. The ’Mechs trailed vines and branches and were plastered with large, wet leaves. The left torso of each was painted black with a pattern that looked like a piece of the night sky. A radiant white katana was set over the left breast, its curved length like a crescent moon.
House Hiritsu.
Bartlett counted eleven BattleMechs. That confirmed what he knew of the company under Aris Sung. Then he saw the Wraith that supposedly belonged to the Capellan company leader striding toward the bridge. Soon now. Bartlett switched an auxiliary monitor to weapons availability, checking his ’Mech’s configuration for the twentieth time. His Blackjack was one of two Inner Sphere OmniMechs in service with the Kaifeng SMM battalion, assigned to them for testing when the unit was still part of the Federated Commonwealth. Bartlett was extremely proud of it, though still a bit uncomfortable with the modular weapons pods.
With two 80mm LB-X autocannons for arms, he could hit the middle of the bridge with either normal or special cluster ammunition. A very handy capability, which he would use to its fullest capabilities. He tied both autocannons into his Target Interlock Circuit, so his main trigger would fire both weapons simultaneously.
“Come to me,” he whispered.
* * *
The bridge was narrow but heavily reinforced. Aris hated it from the moment he saw it. They would only be able to cross single file, and forward ’Mechs would clutter up the fire lanes of those behind. He assigned Terry Chan and her Fire Lance to the lead, wanting the heavier ’Mechs across first in order to establish a solid presence on the far bank as soon as possible. He led Forward Lance—now down to three medium BattleMechs since the loss of Justin Loup—onto the structure next. Raven Clearwater and her Support Lance of mediums brought up the rear. Aris was halfway across when Chan’s Cataphract set its massive metal foot on the northern bank.
Then his sensors screamed a shrill warning as four BattleMechs suddenly broke from the jungle three-quarters of a kilometer to the north and began to close on the bridge, weapons firing.
Aris’ Wraith rocked under the impact of autocannon cluster munitions, a few of the fragments striking his cockpit and jostling him hard against the command couch’s restraining straps. Fortunately the Wraith’s design absorbed much of the impact, leaving Aris with only a slight ringing in his ears. A ringing that was quickly drowned out by rapid, pulsing tones warning of a missile lock on his machine. Through his viewscreen, Aris could see the trails of white smoke arcing out from the long-range missile pack of a Shadow Hawk.
It took him less than a second to react. Pinned to the bridge, there wasn’t much he could do to maneuver. His own lance blocked any rearward movement. Yan Lu’s 70-ton Thunder had paused at the head of the bridge to fire off its heavy autocannon, giving Aris only a scant seventy-five meters or so in front of him. Not enough to evade missiles. He could step off the side of the bridge, taking cover in the Jinxiang but abandoning his company. Unacceptable.
Aris slammed his feet down hard on the Wraith’s pedals. So hard that he shoved the rod that normally pivoted forward or back to control direction of movement and speed down to the floor, where it hit a limit switch. The BattleMech’s computer overrode the normal throttle commands and shunted plasma from the fusion engine through to the jump jets in the Wraith’s back.
The 55-ton ’Mech rose into the air on fiery plumes, jumping out of the missiles’ path and arcing toward the north bank and battle. While still in the air, Aris snapped off a quick shot from his large pulse laser. He was rewarded with a solid hit against the Shadow Hawk’s right torso. Armor melted and ran under the scarlet beam. Not enough to penetrate, but Aris hoped that it would give the mercenary something to think abou
t.
He didn’t realize his error until after the Wraith landed on the northern bank. Aris had assumed the enemy warriors were mercenary. The four ’Mechs were of medium weight—his computer had tagged them as a Blackjack, two Lineholders, and the Shadow Hawk. He had a fair idea of the enemy’s full strength on Kaifeng, and it made sense to him that this would be an auxiliary lance of the mere company they’d already met, held in reserve in case the initial assault failed. Both were painted the dark and light greens of jungle camouflage, and it was a division of troops that Aris might have made under similar circumstances.
The enemy Blackjack changed his mind.
Blackjacks were 45-ton machines with a very distinctive outline. Turret-style shoulders and torso, and two large lasers in place of the usual blocky arms. This ’Mech was larger and possessed a blocky, compact outline. The large-bore barrels on each arm could only be 80mm autocannon.
Modular! The word screamed out in Aris’ mind as he glanced at his tactical display. The proof was painted right next to the red triangle that designated an enemy ’Mech. Not a BJ-2, as he’d thought. A BJ2-0. Omni-Mech. One of the Inner Sphere versions of the advanced technology of the invading Clans.
The presence of this machine did not match the profile of the mercenaries they’d engaged back at Port Terminal 12, those ’Mechs had a more standard design and technology. Not even House Hiritsu had been assigned Omnis yet, though the Warrior House’s TO&E did list a good percentage of topnotch ’Mech designs that were virtually hot off the drawing board.
Riding out a few laser hits, Aris punched up a video image of the Blackjack on his primary monitor and increased the magnification. There was the clinching evidence, emblazoned across the upper right leg. Three four-pointed stars arranged in a lopsided triangle against a red shield—the emblem of the Sarna Supremacy.
Lance Leader Chan obviously came to the same conclusion as Aris. He could make out the frustration and anger in her voice even over the commline. “Aris, these are SMM troops!” The way her transmissions bled over those of other Hiritsu warriors trying to communicate told Aris she wasn’t using her private channel to him. “You walked us into an ambush. I warned you—”
Aris couldn’t let that kind of insubordination pass unchallenged. Not over general frequencies. He cut her off. “Lance Leader Chan, you will restrain yourself right now!”
He pivoted the Wraith to the right and raced out from the river bank at an oblique angle to the enemy ’Mechs, relying on his greater speed as defense. If he could worry the enemy flank, his heavier machines near the bridgehead would have an easier time rolling over the SMM lance. The Hiritsu warriors still held the advantage. “Concentrate fire on that Blackjack,” he ordered. The Omni had to be the lance commander. “Support and Forward Lances move across at best speed. Fire Lance move forward and engage.”
A half-dozen LRMs peppered the Wraith’s right thigh, while autocannon fire and at least another dozen missiles streaked by in near misses. Aris pivoted again, this time to the left, now racing in to directly intercept the Shadow Hawk. He had placed the Hawk between him and the rest of the Kaifeng ’Mechs, and now he hoped to move inside the effective range of its long-range missiles before they could cycle again.
At two hundred meters he fired off his large pulse and pair of mediums, the scarlet beams all tracking in on their target and shaving more of the Hawk’s protective armor off its leg and right torso. A wave of heat washed over Aris, the result of his BattleMech’s fusion engine spiking hard in order to provide enough energy to power all three weapons at once. The heat wash stole moisture from his eyes and mouth, and drew sweat all across his body. Aris blinked away the momentary blur to his vision, and then licked salty residue from his lips. Another shot into the Shadow Hawk’s right torso and he’d be chewing away at its internal structure. The place where its missile ammunition was stored. Aris grinned, already envisioning the kill.
More warning screams from his sensors and several hard jolts to his Wraith’s right side left Aris fighting for control of his ’Mech and wondering what the hell had just happened. He wrestled with the control sticks, trying to use his arms for leverage, while the neurohelmet all MechWarriors wore transmitted signals from his inner ear to the heavy gyroscope located in his Wraith’s torso. He managed to avoid a fall, while a quick glance to his damage schematic told him that he’d lost roughly a ton and a half of armor from his right side. No breeches, but a few red areas told him that several spots were close to it.
The HUD was alive with enemy ’Mechs. His computer painted another four red triangles on the tactical screen. Then another four. Aris swung around to put his back to the river and rocked back on the throttles, walking his Wraith backward from the threat. The ground where he’d just stood was now pocked and scorched and smoking from missed shots. He suddenly felt very lucky that he’d lost only the armor he did.
Two lances of Kaifeng BattleMechs poured from the jungle. As Aris watched through the viewscreen, missile-carrying BattleMechs like the Shadow Hawk and a newly arrived Orion launched a wave of missiles that arced out and fell onto the bridge. Those with direct-fire weapons leveled them in his direction. Aris slammed down on his throttles again. Forgotten was the Shadow Hawk and its weakened right torso. Right now he only wanted to put as much distance as possible between his Wraith and the attacking SMM company before their concentrated fire left his machine a burned-out husk.
“Thunders on the bridge,” someone called over the communications net. “Say again, Thunder mines on the bridge.”
Aris had just reached the apex of his jump and was beginning to angle for a landing near the northern head of the bridge. He cursed as the news registered. Thunders were special LRM munitions. They detonated over ground, dropping hundreds of small bomblets that effectively mined an area. As the Hawk and the Orion launched a new wave of missiles, he knew that those, too, would fall on the bridge. They were trying to cut off escape.
Fire Lance was falling back now under the threat of facing an entire company. Aris’ Forward Lance was clustered up along the northern run of the bridge. Raven Clearwater and her people were still spread out over the entire bridge span. And the longer we sit here, the better their chances of sealing us in. Aris bit down on his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. It was the second time in as many days that he would be ordering a retreat. But he could recognize a losing scenario when he saw it. The Kaifeng commander had stolen the initiative, and Aris was not about to gamble the lives of House Hiritsu warriors to satisfy his own personal desire for glory. He’d already lost one of his. He wouldn’t lost another.
Aris opened a general line to the company. “Fall back. Repeat, fall back to southern bank. Jumping ’Mechs take to the air. Everyone else watch the Thunders as best you can. Fire Lance break off now. Yan Lu, take rear guard. You’ll have to walk backward in order to keep your good armor toward them.”
Yan’s Thunder had the best armor of any of Aris’ BattleMechs. It could sustain hits from Thunder munitions better than anyone else. And the machine’s autocannon would keep the SMM ’Mechs from following too closely.
His defense laid as best he could, Aris pivoted his Wraith and ran to the edge of the riverbank. At a stretch, the ’Mech could jump just over two hundred meters. It’s gonna be close, he thought, triggering his jump jets for the third time this battle and angling for the far shore.
He never made it.
Rising steadily into the air, Aris looked out the viewscreen as his people crossed back to the southern shore.
“Once we’re across, we blow the bridge,” he said. That would force the Kaifeng troops to follow with jump-capable machines only, or else have half their ’Mechs wade over, making them easy targets for his warriors.
“Lance Leader Clearwater, establish a defensive perimeter on the south bank.” That was the last command he was able to give. From the fighting on the north bank, a blue-white PPC beam of particles and energy reached out after his ’Mech and caught him a hundred meter
s from shore. The PPC fire cored into his rear right torso, the weak rear armor disintegrating as the beam carved away at the endo-steel of his internal skeleton. It also ruined two of his three jump jets mounted in that location.
Fifty-five tons of metal and myomer fly about as well as anyone might expect. Suddenly losing half its capability, in the middle of a jump, was more than a match for the Wraith’s gyro. The ’Mech pitched over violently to the right, unable to regain its balance. Aris fought the controls the entire way, but there was no correcting it.
The Wraith skimmed low over the bridge, barely missing Richard Smith’s Vindicator, and then slammed into the river fifty meters downstream of the bridge. The impact threw Aris forward, his restraining straps digging into his shoulders and abdomen, and then bounced him repeatedly against the back of his command couch.
Sometime before the Wraith hit the bottom of the river, Aris Sung finally blacked out.
12
Jinxiang River
Tarrahause District, Kaifeng
Sarna Supremacy, Chaos March
20 July 3058
Aris entered quietly through the open window. He cut himself free of the rappelling line and stepped down onto the hardwood floor. His target, one Captain James Luange, sat at his desk just steps away, his back to the window. Aris kept his breathing light and forced himself not to swallow against the dryness in his mouth. A swallow could be heard. From inside the right cuff of his tight-fitting sweater he pulled a length of thin wire, a metal peg the size of his finger fastened to one end and a metal ring on the other. By slipping the peg through the ring he formed the garrote into its deadly loop. Now all he had to do was throw the loop over the victim’s neck and pull tight on the peg. Aris had already killed this man exactly this way once before.
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