The heat buildup from firing both PPCs and the inferno rockets ignited the autocannon ammo stored in the Marauder. A series of explosions bulged the armor on the 'Mech's left side, then burst outward in a jet of silver flame. The blast spun the Marauder around, tossing it through a building like a ragdoll. Its flaming corpse ignited yet another fire in Yare's corporate township.
Jackal lance moved its four Commandos up to block the roadway, but the next Liao 'Mech scornfully ignored their threat. Heedless of the damage done as their SRM volleys peppered its hide, the hunched-over Cataphract raced forward, battering the two central Commandos aside and bursting free of the Davion lines. Behind it followed an entire heavy lance.
Craon stepped his Hunchback into the breach and let fly with the shoulder-mounted autocannon. The heavy gun vomited a stream of metal that blasted armor from the Cataphract's left leg, but failed to cripple or stop the 'Mech's headlong charge. Swatting the Hunchback aside, the Cataphract continued its race to the top of the hill. The blow crushed the Hunchback's cockpit.
"No! Robert!" A burning rushed up from Andrew's stomach to his throat as he saw the Hunchback crumple. He raised both of the Marauder's arms, directing them toward the Cataphract's back, but the Liao 'Mech slipped over the horizon before the computer would give him a lock.
Andrew slapped a button on his command console, opening a channel to all Davion defenders. "They're through our lines. Move it if you're able and harass them. They can't get to the plant! Morgan, do you copy?"
Andrew looked up as four strobing explosions lit the horizon. For half a second, he thought the Cataphract had managed to destroy the generating station, but then he saw the 'Mech appear again at the top of the hill. Staggering backward, then twisting around like a drunken sailor, the Cataphract careened down the street it had conquered just moments before. As it rolled down the hill, bits and pieces of it littered the ground behind. Finally, the 'Mech came to rest against Craon's Hunchback.
Over the open radio channel, a militiaman's hushed voice filled Andrew's neurohelmet. "Whatever the hell it was that did that, I hope it's on our side."
40
Kathil
Capellan March, Federated Suns
7 September 3029
Curtains of oily smoke twisted and parted enough to let the flames glint from the 'Mech's skullface. The tall, broad-shouldered Battle-Mech looked to Andrew for all the world like the Grim Reaper himself had ascended from Hell to gather souls.
The autocannon muzzle over the Atlas's right hip swiveled down, targeting an advancing Liao Warhammer. Flame flashed from the gun as it sent a sizzling stream of metal at its victim. The projectiles tracked up the 'Mech's right arm like a tailor slicing open a seam. The armor protecting the Warhammer's arm dropped away in a tattered ribbon.
The Liao Warhammer triggered both its PPCs. Twin azure bolts raked their needle-sharp tendrils over the Atlas's broad chest, clawing away sheets of ceramic armor. One bolt lingered for half a second on a spot over the Atlas's heart, exploiting a weakness. The giant 'Mech staggered, but never even came close to toppling.
Andrew smiled openly. "Thank God you showed up, Morgan. Hellion lance, flame that Warhammer Demon and Archer lances, walk your LRMs down the main street. Cat lance, if you're done, get down here. Gorgon, Jackal, Fox, and Bullseye, targets of opportunity! This ends now!"
Andrew marched his Marauder forward. A Liao Centurion, fire trailing from the muzzle of its right-arm autocannon, reeled beneath the impact of an SRM volley. It staggered right into Andrew's sights, so he dropped the crosshairs onto it, flashing the PPC in his right arm to life. The blue particle beam stabbed deep into the 'Mech's right elbow, vaporizing the last of the protective armor, then melted the joint. The pilot, suddenly aware of Andrew's Marauder, lurched his 'Mech off into a sidestreet.
As ordered, Demon and Archer lances launched volley after volley of LRMs onto the main street, concentrating on the knot of Liao 'Mechs toward the middle. A birdlike Catapult sent two LRM volleys arcing back toward its tormentors, but that did nothing to squelch the long-range fire. In fact, the next barrage wreathed the Catapult in fire, crushing its armor and dropping it to the ground.
Hellion lance turned the Warhammer into a torch, but lost one of its 'Mechs in a fireball as a Liao Thunderbolt blasted it with laser fire. In turn, Gorgon lance's UrbanMechs ripped the Thunderbolt's armor to shreds with autocannon fire. Morgan's Atlas finished the Warhammer with another autocannon burst, knocking the 'Mech over.
The Ostsol broke toward the right, dashing down a darkened side street. From the flaming battle higher up on the hill, a 'Mech arced into the sky, then descended on the larger 'Mech. In the firelight, Andrew recognized the humanoid machine as a Hatchet-man. At least one person from Cat Lance is alive!
The Hatchetman landed, then wrapped both hands around the hilt of the warclub that gave the 'Mech its name. Despite the damage taken when the Ostsol triggered its two rear-arc lasers, the Hatchetman raised the hatchet and brought it down on the Ostsol's head. The titanium blade sheathed a depleted uranium core and sliced through the Ostsol's cockpit like a sharp knife. The Ostsol's momentum slammed it into a low building, tripped it, and dumped its corpse on a row of tract housing.
Realizing the battle was lost, the remaining Liao Cataphract threw itself into Jackal lance. It battered the smaller Commandos with its arms, knocking them aside, then tried to stomp them into scrap metal. Despite the terrifying sight of this gargantuan war machine clubbing them, the militia pilots released flights of SRMs, blasting armor from the Cataphract's thick hide. They fought their way free of its embrace, retreated far enough to give them range for their missiles, then let fly again.
The Cataphract was lunging forward to trap one of the Commandos when autocannon fire goosed it. The UrbanMech that the Ostsol had all but destroyed had no mobility, but its gun still worked and the Cataphract had obligingly impaled itself on the pilot's sights. The autocannon shells stripped all the armor from the Cataphract's rear. The tremor-filled sidestep in the Liao 'Mech's advance suggested to Andrew that one of the large 'Mech's gyros had been blown to bits in the attack.
Morgan's Atlas blazed away with its autocannon, capitalizing on the work already done by the UrbanMech. As the Atlas's salvo blew everything inside the Cataphract to titanium dust, Andrew turned both his PPCs on the Liao Thunderbolt. Waves of heat washed over him as the twin particle beams blasted away sheets of armor from the Thunderbolt's chest and flank.
The Thunderbolt turned to face its attacker, but before it could bring up the large laser on its right arm, several LRM flights pummeled it. The missiles shaved layer after layer of armor from the Liao war machine. The blasts rent gaping holes in armor, exposing titanium skeletons and purple myomer muscles to the withering autocannon fire from Gorgon lance. Thigh muscles exploded into gobs of pseudo-flesh. Top-heavy, the 'Mech fell over backward.
Streams of tracers from autocannons and the red flash of lasers swept over the battlefield. Flights of LRMs sowed more fire along the main street, filling the township with thunder and debris. Fires burned hot and high into the night sky.
Slowly, gradually, the weapons-fire died as the defenders realized that no Liao 'Mechs were firing back. Andrew looked out over the battlefield at the twisted hulks of metal and melted shards of armor. Occasionally, a round of autocannon ammo would cook off, exploding with a pop and scattering more armor chaff around. Aside from that and the flames, nothing else moved on the main street.
Andrew looked up at Craon's fallen Hunchback. We've won, but what a price we paid for victory! Then he looked toward the Atlas standing tall on top of the hill. It's just like Morgan said. We had no choice.
* * *
Andrew slumped in the doorway to Morgan's makeshift office. "Redburn reporting, sir."
Morgan Hasek-Davion waved Andrew into the room and to a chair between Gerry de Velez and Alanna Damu. Concern creased his brow. "How's Craon?"
Andrew sighed heavily. "We got him out of the Hunchback, but he was
in pretty bad shape." Andrew shook his head. "The doctors think he'll live:—most of him at least. Left arm, both legs. He'll never pilot a 'Mech again."
Suddenly, unbidden and unwelcome, thoughts of Justin Xiang came into Andrew's mind. We all thought he was done, too, when his left forearm got shot off. The Federated Suns gave him a new arm, then he betrayed us. Justin must have had something to do with this assault—he's the one who got Craon so ripped up. What a waste! Andrew's fist slammed down on the arm of the chair.
Morgan's head came up. "What?"
Andrew shivered. "Sorry. I was just remembering how the NAIS fixed Justin Xiang up with an arm that let him pilot a 'Mech." He looked up hopefully at Morgan. "You don't suppose they could do that for Craon, do you?"
Morgan shook his head. "I don't know, but I've already made arrangements for him to be transferred there as soon as he has been stabilized." Morgan glanced down at a sheet of paper on his desk. "Andy, what's the status of First Battalion?"
Andrew leaned back in the chair. "Out of thirty-nine 'Mechs, I've got eighteen operational. I lost four pilots—including Craon. De Molay died when his Jenner exploded. The other two casualties were kids in the militia." Andrew looked helplessly at his hands. "I never even learned their names."
De Velez cleared his throat. "Todd Aiken and Barbara Hardy."
Andrew patted de Velez on the arm. "Thanks." He glanced over at Alanna. "How did your people fare?"
Alanna's voice was low and quiet. "The Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers were not as tough as the Death Commandos. I lost a dozen 'Mechs, mostly lights in the militia. Unfortunately, I also lost eight pilots, including two who survived Sarna. The Rangers hit my right flank hard, causing most of the damage. We stopped their advance, then rolled up their left flank, forcing them back into the minefield we'd laid out."
Morgan smiled broadly. "A half-dozen of the Rangers surrendered, and the crews of their Union Class DropShips turned them over to us in return for repatriation in Tikonov. I told them we'd do that if they'd perform one service for us."
Andrew frowned as a reckless light began to shine in Morgan's eyes. "What... ? What is it?"
Morgan leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "We learned of this assault because one of our agents in the Liao capital managed to get word of it out to us. His life will be in jeopardy when Maximilian Liao learns the raid failed. The second half of our mission is to go to Sian and pull this agent out."
Andrew looked at Morgan as though he'd gone mad. "We've got little more than a battalion here, Highness. We won't stand a chance in hell of raiding the Liao homeworld. They'll blast us even before we get into the atmosphere. It can't be done."
Morgan, his red-gold hair falling down over the shoulders of his black jumpsuit, disagreed with a shake of the head. "I have some equipment being transferred over from my DropShip to one of the Liao craft. We'll head back in their DropShips, repairing our 'Mechs as we go. We'll even use their command circuit to make the trip. They'll know the mission was a bust on Sian— I'm sure ComStar will report such to Liao—but they'll welcome us with open arms."
Andrew frowned. "Max Liao's more likely to blow us up because we failed to destroy Kathil. How do you expect to make him welcome us home?"
A bit of the predator seeped into Morgan's smile. "The same way we'll convince the JumpShip captains to carry us along the route. We'll tell them we're the Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers and that on Kathil we managed to capture Hanse Davion's heir—Morgan Hasek-Davion."
41
New Avalon
Cruris March, Federated Suns
10 September 3029
Pushing herself away from the data terminal, Riva Allard yawned and stretched. My eyes are killing me. She glanced at her chronometer. Oh, God, three-thirty in the morning already. I thought time was supposed to fly when you were having fun, not sorting through all this library data. If I go home to sleep, I'll only get a couple of hours before I have to head back to teach that early class.
"Bet you could use some of this coffee."
Riva whirled at the sound of a voice behind her. Kym Sorenson, a large, steaming cup of coffee in either hand, smiled at Riva. Gratefully accepting one of the plasterine mugs, Riva breathed in the rich aroma. "This is great, Kym. If I didn't owe you a favor, I do now. And if you owe me any, forget them."
Kym grinned. "Sorry to startle you."
Riva shrugged and sipped some of the hot brew. As a scientist, she knew the coffee had not yet achieved a physical effect on her, but Riva felt the warm liquid revitalizing her tired body. "At this hour, anything will make you jumpy. The guards are supposed to keep everyone out of this area. I think there are some experiments over in Lab 13J that could be fairly destructive if they were let loose."
Kym nodded distractedly as she looked around the lab. Four rows of slate-topped lab tables ran the length of the room. On the far wall, over a sink, a peg-rack had been filled with test tubes and beakers. Workbenches with countless devices, from scanning positron microscopes to bipolar spectral digitizers, lined the long wall facing her and took up space on the exterior wall as well. Strange symbols and equations written in various colors of chalk covered the blackboard over toward the right. "So this is Dr. Banzai's home away from home, eh? Almost looks normal." She glanced down at a watermelon clamped in a tensometer. "Why is this watermelon ... ?"
Riva shook her head. "Don't ask. Some of his aides told me that to touch the watermelon was trouble. The doctor has lots of things going on here that can get someone hurt if they don't know what they're for. So I just confine myself to this data terminal and my little workbench over in the corner." She picked up her coffee cup and took another sip. "So, what prompts this mission of mercy?"
Kym shrugged nonchalantly, but Riva saw the haunted look in her eyes anyway. It's been a month since Morgan left, and she's not heard anything. I know she doesn't get along with her family. .. That's got to leave her feeling incredibly alone.
"I couldn't sleep and I saw the lab lights from my apartment ..." Kym hesitated as if remembering an evening spent more pleasantly. "I just hate sitting around waiting to hear that something has happened to Morgan." She looked into Riva's blue eyes. "You've got brothers in the military ... How can you stand it?"
Riva winced helplessly. "First off, I'm not as attached to my brothers as you are to Morgan. Uh, that sounds bad, doesn't it? I'm not close in the same sense ..." As Riva struggled for words, a thrumming, loud vibration began to shake the building. The test tubes in the drying rack rattled against the pegs.
Anger flashed over Riva's face. She shouted to be heard over the roar. "Another of those damned freighters bringing broken 'Mechs from the front for the guys in the weapons lab to analyze." She crossed to the window beside Kym and looked out as the DropShip's ion engines lit up the large commons area between the civilian research center and the military academy portion of the school. "What does that idiot think he's doing? He's supposed to land on the other side of the campus."
Hovering twenty meters above the ground, the Overlord Class DropShip opened its drop pod doors. BattleMechs, tall and dark and emblazoned with the Liao Death Commando insignia, dropped to the ground. Bile bubbled up in Riva's throat, but before she could turn and say anything to Kym, an explosion on the roof of the research center knocked her down.
"What in hell?" Riva shook her head to clear it. The NAIS is under attack by Liao! That's impossible.
Riva tried to get up from the floor, but Kym pressed her back down with her left hand. Kym's right hand pulled up her own trouser leg to reveal a Foxfire needle pistol strapped to her ankle. She drew it and snapped the action back to fill the breech with ballistic plastic needles.
She looked down at Riva. "Stay here. I'll check things out."
Riva shook her head. "No way. I go with you."
Kym narrowed her eyes, giving Riva a cold blue stare. "Riva, I have training in things like this." She hesitated, then smiled weakly. "I work for your father. I'm one of his operatives."
She dialed the pulse duration regulator down to make the pulses last longer when she shot the pistol. "If the guys outside left guys on the roof, this’ll burn through any armor they might be wearing." Riva looked up at Kym hopefully. "Partners?"
Kym looked reluctant, but agreed when she heard the heavy thump of commandos dropping through the roof to the level above the lab. She nodded, then led Riva back to the corner of the room "What are they after?"
Riva shrugged. "They're Liao. They just want to trash the place."
Kym shook her head. "Think, Riva. If they wanted to destroy the NAIS, they would have dropped the 'Mechs onto the roof and let them blast their way through the building."
Riva shot a quick glance at her data terminal. "The library core ... Hell, the memory core for the whole NAIS!"
"Where?"
Riva pointed toward the floor. "The basement."
Gunfire erupted in the hallway outside the lab as security guards heading up met commandos on their way down. The door to the lab disintegrated in a cloud of glass shards and wooden splinters as the body of one guard flew through it. Bullets ripped an uneven line across the chalkboard as a Death Commando fired blindly into the room before entering.
Just as the Commando framed himself in the doorway, both Kym and Riva popped up from their hiding place. Kym triggered two bursts of needles. One glanced from the warrior's plasteel breastplate, but the second burst through the opening at his armpit. As he spun with the impact, Riva's laser pulsed a stream of ruby-red energy darts at him. Two ricocheted from the breastplate, but one of those hit the warrior under the jaw. The third bolt burned through the center of his chestplate, knocking him back into the hallway.
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