D. R. T.

by James D. Long

McCloud smiled. "Let's just say I like to cover my bets."

  Rose smiled with her. "Lady, you only play when you know you can win." He watched for several minutes as the two objects on the screen came closer. Just as the crew member identified them as a pair of Overlord Class DropShips, however, the red light on the long-range scanner went off.

  "What have you got?" asked McCloud. Rose could feel the tension level rise appreciably in the room, but McCloud seemed as calm as ever.

  "Four inbound. From the thrust profile, they look like fighters," said the scanner operator.

  "Have they spotted us yet?" asked McCloud. Rose had forgotten the possibility that they would not know the Bristol was present in the system. A DropShip could afford to mount better sensors than a fighter, but the sensor information wasn't always as useful because the ship was so often likely to be on a preset course. In deep space, however, it could buy a ship time in an emergency and make a real difference.

  "No, not yet. Even with Clan tech, we've got a minute or two."

  "Come to two-three-three and decrease speed."

  Rose and McCloud stood and stared at the ISF pilot who had suddenly issued the command.

  "Wait just one damn minute, mister. I give the orders around here," bellowed McCloud.

  "We don't have time. We have to alter our course before they lock onto us. At our present heading, they'll vector back to the JumpShip."

  "That true?" asked McCloud.

  The scanner operator nodded. "They're closing on the two DropShips. At their present speed they'll have one highspeed pass on the DropShips, but by then they'll have seen the JumpShip."

  "Will they be able to attack both?" asked McCloud.

  The crew member hesitated. "I don't think so. They're coming in too fast, and the DropShips haven't made their final course change to the JumpShip. They'll have to take either or." The fighters had been accelerating constantly to catch up with the fleeing DropShips, but now their speed would be a hindrance during an actual attack. Moving at high velocity, the small ships didn't have the altitude thrusters necessary to change course quickly. By the time they came around for a second pass, the DropShip would be well out of the area. It sounded like the same thing was true for the JumpShip.

  "Bring us around," the ISF agent repeated to the pilot.

  "This is not our problem," insisted McCloud. "Whether we alter course or not, the fighters will still have a pass on the JumpShip."

  "Maybe not. If the DropShips know the fighters are chasing them, they'll alter course away from the JumpShip," said the ISF pilot.

  "That's suicide," said McCloud. "They'd never make it back to the JumpShip by the time it had to jump out."

  "They'd still do it rather than risk the JumpShip. Now bring the ship around."

  "Not a chance, mister," said McCloud. "Your heading will take us away from Wolcott. That could be fatal to us, even without engaging the Clans. By the time we're back on course, we might not have the fuel to make it to the planet."

  Rose didn't even remember the ISF pilot's name, but the man suddenly had a very large part in his future. The conversation was quickly going over his head, but there was no doubt who he would back. Moving slowly, he undid the clasp on the holster.

  The ISF agent carelessly waved McCloud's concerns away. "We're not as important as the JumpShip. That ship is one of only a handful equipped with lithium batteries. Its loss would be irreplaceable. If we have to sacrifice ourselves, so be it." As he spoke, the ISF pilot headed toward the pilot's chair. Rose knew now was the time to act. Moving toward the other man, he drew his laser with a single fluid motion.

  "Not so fast," he told the pilot, who stopped short as Rose leveled the laser at his stomach. "Back up to your station." Rose waited for the man to move, resisting the urge to get closer and force him to do it.'Having spent time on Luthien, he knew that all ISF agents, from assassins to waiters, were expert at hand-to-hand. Rose knew better than to come within arm's reach. The pilot faltered and Rose knew he'd won.

  "Back over there," said Rose, indicating the free chair. The pilot, who moments ago had waved away the possibility of death by slow suffocation, retreated from the certainty of death by laser.

  "You are usurping my command rights," complained the pilot.

  McCloud laughed. "And I thought this was my ship."

  "But this is my mission. I am here to make this very type of decision. That is why I'm on board."

  "Then consider this mutiny," said McCloud evenly.

  "Comm, warn the JumpShip that they might have company," she continued. "Navigation, we're going in just the way we planned." McCloud turned back to the scanner. "The fighters are not a threat to us; we're out of their operational window. We can probably expect more before this is all over, though." Rose kept his eyes on the two ISF agents as McCloud fell silent. He assumed she was watching the scanner, but he didn't take his eyes off the ISF men to check.

  "The fighters should pick us up any second," said McCloud. Rose silently counted to ten, but McCloud offered no further information. "They're sticking to the two outbound ships."

  "Can you still see the JumpShip on the long-range scanner?" asked Rose.

  "No," said McCloud. "They're just out of range. Neither DropShip has made the final move toward the JumpShip, however, and their operational window is closing fast. Ahh, one is making the break."

  "What about the fighters?" asked Rose. Even though he was taking no part in the battle, Rose wanted to believe that neither DropShip would risk sacrificing itself and its entire crew in a single, high-speed attack on the JumpShip.

  "They're staying with the first ship," reported McCloud.

  "Looks like the second ship will make it to the JumpShip on time."

  "What about the first?" asked Rose.

  McCloud let out a long sigh. "Lost them. We're out of scanner range."

  Rose let the gun drop and silently slid it back into the holster. "Was there still time?" he asked, turning toward McCloud.

  She shrugged. "Probably. Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?" She tried to smile and mostly succeeded.

  "Nav, lay us our course. Prepare for first course correction per original flight plan."

  Rose left the bridge and went back to his cabin, failing completely to put the fate of the DropShip out of his mind.

  9

  DropShip Bristol, Wolcott Spaceport

  Wolcott System, Draconis Combine

  17 February 3057

  McCloud spent the next three days living on the bridge of the Bristol, but there were no other fighter encounters. Evidently their pirate point was well enough away from the main Clan body that it was only lightly patrolled. The two departing DropShips were either very unlucky, or else they had made some mistake that gave the Clan aerospace fighters a shot at them.

  The ISF agents meanwhile treated the crew of the DropShip and the Black Thorns like lepers, and the feeling was mutual. The agents decided there was nothing more they could do with the crew of the Bristol, so they continued to perform their duties side by side with the other crew members, confident of a day of reckoning when the ship finally arrived on Wolcott.

  By the time the Bristol reached the protective umbrella of the Wolcott-based Kurita aerospace fighters, Rose was sure McCloud was about to drop dead on her feet. The fighters under whose protection they entered were a squadron of Shilone mediums; as expected, the ISF crew immediately began to broadcast the events surrounding the Bristol's arrival insystem. Rose was halfway convinced that the planetary command would have a squad of armed BattleMechs on the tarmac to greet them as the DropShip touched down, but nothing out of the ordinary happened when they landed.

  As was customary when arriving at a new duty station, Rose walked his command out of the DropShip aboard their BattleMechs. The sight of a 'Mech was surely nothing unusual at the Wolcott Spaceport, but to Rose's intense satisfaction, the Black Thorns turned every head in the area. He smiled behind the faceplate of his neurohelmet. The Black Thorns might be small, bu
t they were well-equipped.

  Rose was in the lead in his Masakari, the OmniMech that had been the pick of the booty taken from the Jade Falcons fleeing Borghese. One reason the Clans were so deadly in combat was that they used modular weapons technology that allowed them to reconfigure their Omnis with new weapon arrays in less than two hours. Though the Masakari was a prize, the Black Thorns had not captured enough spare parts to vary his Masakari Prime to any other configuration.

  The Masakari was roughly humanoid in shape, but its shoulders were positioned well above the head, giving the eighty-five ton machine a hunchback appearance. The 'Mech's main weapons were twin PPCs mounted where it would otherwise have had hands, plus a long-range missile launcher able to fire ten missiles in under three seconds. The launcher was placed over the 'Mech's head, and Rose had almost had a heart attack when a missile flight went screaming over the cockpit during his initial test firing back on Borghese. By now he was used to the noise and smoke, but was still baffled about why the designers had put the launcher so close to the 'Mech's head.

  Directly behind Rose came Antioch Bell in his Banshee. The Banshee was a common design, but Bell's was completely outfitted with new technology that gave it a new profile and upgraded capabilities. As the commander's bodyguard, Bell stayed near Rose, but not close enough to hinder Rose's movement. On the battlefield Bell would be responsible for watching Rose's back and keeping him protected while Rose looked after the rest of the unit. Bell had already saved Rose's life once, and the veterans in the unit knew he would risk his life to do the same again.

  Next off the DropShip were a pair of Mad Cats, two more captured Jade Falcon OmniMechs that were perfect duplicates. Though the 'Mech weighed seventy-five tons, its long, ostrich-like legs easily kept pace with 'Mechs half its weight because of power supplied by the Clan extra-light fusion engine. The compact body of the Mad Cat sported two overly long arms, each ending in a heavy weapon mount instead of a hand. Each mount carried a Clan-built extended-range large laser and extended-range medium laser wrapped in a special sheath designed to wick away some of the tremendous heat created when firing the weapons. Mounted on each shoulder was a twenty-rack long-range missile launcher, which were nearly identical to the ones on the Catapult. Esmeralda piloted the first Mad Cat and kept a watchful eye on her partner, Jamshid. Although this was the first time he had actually piloted the 'Mech, he was handling the Omni with finesse.

  Badicus O'Shea, Hawg, and Ajax appeared from a second cargo door and moved around the DropShip to join the leading Black Thorns. O'Shea was at the controls of Esmeralda's Warhammer, which seemed to actually strut under the big man's control. That's great for the grandstand, thought Rose, but let's hope that's as far as it goes. O'Shea had never handled such a large 'Mech, and Rose wondered if the additional firepower might go to his head. He decided that a quick and private chat was in order once they got settled. Hawg and Ajax followed O'Shea in a Battlemaster and a Raven, respectively.

  The Raven looked more like a child's toy than a war machine when sandwiched between the two other 'Mechs. In contrast to its companions, the Raven was built for reconnaissance missions rather than slugfests, which gave it something of a fragile appearance. The job of recon pilot was one of the most dangerous on the battlefields of the Inner Sphere. The pilot had to get close enough to identify the enemy, but be able to get away before being destroyed. Rose knew Ajax was as good, maybe better, than any other recon pilot he'd ever seen.

  Riannon was at the head of the final group of 'Mechs coming from the ship's other cargo bays. She tried to take the lead in her Phoenix Hawk, but the recruits had never worked together before and they looked more like a mob than a formation as they joined the rest of the Thorns. Rose could hear Ria trying to give orders, but tactics and battlefield direction weren't really her strong suit. After silently watching several failed attempts to establish order, Rose turned the group over to Esmeralda and asked Riannon to monitor the comm channels.

  Esmeralda, assisted by O'Shea, whipped the recruits into something of a line in short order. That was her specialty. Esmeralda had been the leader of O'Shea's old lance on the Solaris game world where she and Rose had first met. She had even been Rose's commander in one of the 'Mech duels he had fought there. During his time on Solaris, Rose had discovered that Esmeralda was not only a shrewd tactician but an excellent leader. Once the Black Thorns got to Borghese, she'd also shown herself to be a good teacher. Esmeralda had been responsible for training the local militia during their contract, a task she had handled without supervision.

  Ria was the unit's communications specialist and executive officer. Although new to combat, she was a logistical genius. Her ability to juggle several things at one time kept the unit supplied when at base and informed when in the field. She also looked after the coundess details necessary for running the Black Thorns and keeping them combat-ready. Despite his years of experience, Rose knew he couldn't have done half as well.

  Each of the other members were also called upon to perform as necessary, depending on the duty. All were required to learn about BattleMechs and field repairs, and each MechWarrior was tutored in several skills by others. It was not unusual for student and teacher roles to be reversed several times in the course of the day's duties.

  A Kurita staff car appeared from between two of the spaceport buildings. As Rose watched them approach, Ria informed him that the staff car contained their duty officer. Whoever rode in back would officially welcome the Black Thorns to Wolcott. Without waiting for Rose to contact him, the driver picked up the pace and headed for the main gates of the port. There was little Rose could do but signal the rest of the team to follow.

  The car led Rose and the rest of the Thorns out of the spaceport to a billet provided as part of their contract. The facility was just over twenty kilometers away from the port, on the edge of one of Wolcott's many swamps. Their new home had once been a manufacturing center, but the interior had been destroyed during the fighting for the planet. Rather than rebuild on a world behind enemy lines, the owners had simply moved on to a fresh start elsewhere.

  The compound was secured by a steel mesh fence. There was also a three-story watch tower in one corner, but it had obviously not seen use since the place had been converted to military use. Dominating the compound was a huge warehouse. Though it had once encompassed more than thirty acres under one roof, almost half the structure had been destroyed and subsequently carried away. There were no walls, but the roof seemed solid and was well supported by red iron I-beams. It would shelter the 'Mechs and their pilots from the worst of any weather.

  Along the north side of the warehouse were the remains of the factory complex. Entering the compound, Rose could only guess what might have been produced here before the Clan invaders reduced the factory to a pile of twisted rubble. Most of the structure remained where it had fallen six years before, forgotten or ignored by the people using the compound.

  Next to the remains of the factory, in the northeastern corner of the compound, was the barracks. Built on the site of the factory's former offices, the gray ferrocrete structures were as dull and lifeless as every barracks Rose had ever seen. Function over form had always been the rule of the military, and the Thorns' new home was no exception.

  As they had still not finalized the lance assignments, Rose led them into the compound and to the warehouse without orders. The compound had apparently been used for a company billet before, as 'Mech bays had been marked on the floor, providing a clear system for quartering the 'Mechs. Rose took the 1-1 position. Bell took the 1-3 position, leaving the 1-2 position for Ria when she arrived. As the leader of the second lance, Esmeralda took the 2-1 position. Positions 2-2 and 2-3 were quickly filled by O'Shea and Hawg, respectively. Ajax settled into 3-1, and the recruits finally came to rest in the nearest open bay. As 'Mechs were powered down and secured, the pilots began gathering at the feet of Ria's Phoenix Hawk, where Rose and Bell were talking.

  Rose let the entire company a
ssemble, taking his time and chatting with each pilot as he or she appeared. Although the initial assembly had not gone as expected, each Black Thorn had quickly fallen into line and the trip to the compound had been efficient, if not always perfect.

  "Not bad at all, people," said Rose as Ria climbed down from her 'Mech to join them. "We've still got some work to do, but at least we didn't embarrass ourselves or the unit on the way here." There were murmured laughs from some pilots who knew that they had indeed embarrassed themselves.

  "We're going to have a busy couple of days, but since everybody is nice and rested after all that free time in space, the hard work should be just the thing to whip us into shape." There were groans all around. From the time they'd boarded the DropShip, most of the veteran members had been working nonstop on everything from 'Mech repair and maintenance to tactical drills and simulator practice. Rose knew the recruits had worked just as hard, but perhaps without the same sense of direction.

  "First order of business is to secure the compound. Ajax, take two volunteers and start on that. It needs to be done by nightfall. You'll have to wait to store your gear, but you'll get first pick of the bunks. Looks like you'll be up late tonight."

  Ajax smiled softly and nodded. Glancing around at the assembled Thorns, he pointed to Yuri and Kitten. "I'll take these two to help me."

  "Ahh, we do love volunteers," said O'Shea.

  Rose smiled at the ancient military joke, then went on. "Ria, take two and set up the command post. You can store your gear first, but we need to be up and operational as soon as possible." Riannon nodded and selected Leeza and Greta.

  "Antioch," continued Rose, "I'd like for you and Jamshid to set up quarters for the DropShip crew. After the fiasco on Borghese, I don't want them unprotected." There were grim nods from all the veterans. The Thorns had been much closer to the spaceport on Borghese, but they'd still arrived too late to prevent the Bristol from being hijacked. Rose was determined not to let anything like that happen again.