Prince of Havoc

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Samantha Clees, in her Nova, pumped more fire into the Black Knight she'd been fighting since the start. The majority of the laser fire came from the left-arm medium lasers, but finally one of the lasers on the right arm hit as well. The seven medium lasers sent a full phalanx of laser spears to skewer the Black Knight. They stripped the last of the armor from the right leg and burned away more over the left arm, but the key damage was done by those that struck the Black Knight in the chest. The left flank had all its support structures vaporized, sending the left arm tumbling to the ground, and fire against the midline pierced the armor and nailed the engine, causing the IR sensor profile of the 'Mech to glow.

  The Black Knight's pilot fought back valiantly, firing the weapons Clees had not yet destroyed. The PPC mounted in the right arm melted away the last of the armor on the Nova's left arm, then reduced the upper arm actuator to a bubbling, tarry mass. The large laser's verdant beam shriveled the last of the armor on the 'Mech's right arm, but the assault failed to put the Nova down. Arimas' battered Turkina targeted the Shootist that had killed a Black lanner. The large pulse lasers in the Turkina's left arm ablated armor over the 'Mech's centerline and right flank. The two medium lasers mounted in the left and right flanks flensed more armor off the Shootist's legs, while the pulse lasers rained darts over the 'Mech's head and centerline.

  The Shootist's pilot earned Marthe's respect when the 'Mech remained standing and returned Arimas' fire. The heavy autocannon and one pulse laser tore into the armor over the 'Mech's right leg, while the large laser lit up the Turkina's remaining arm, burning it clean off. The last laser nibbled away at the armor on the Turkina's right flank, scorching the only pristine patch on the 'Mech's body. and yet he does not go down! Marthe felt a shiver run through her. Arimas is truly a Jade Falcon.

  Marthe looked at the status display in her cockpit and shook her head. She had three untouched 'Mechs to the one unblemished Spartan on the ComStar side. Even if Arimas 'Mech was classed as destroyed—though it still had weapons to fire—she only had three 'Mechs down compared to the five ComStar had lost. And of those they have remaining, two are seriously damaged and three are in trouble.

  The outcome of the battle was not in doubt. Part of her wanted to press the attack and completely crush the ComStar light company, but another part of her saw no honor in doing that. Their objective was to take the lake from us, and their attack has been repulsed. Utterly destroying them would be what I would do with bandits, but these people are not bandits. While they are not Clan, they do know how to fight. a thin-lipped smile twisted her mouth. She keyed her radio to a frequency that allowed for a wide-beam broadcast. "ComStar, the battle is over. We will allow you to withdraw and will consider your honor intact."

  Static crackled through her helmet's speakers, then a weary voice replied to her. "I am Precentor Harvison. You've beaten us fairly and soundly. We will withdraw, and will consider your honor enhanced by your generosity."

  "Well bargained and done, Precentor." Marthe switched her radio over to her own tactical frequency. "Falcons, stand down. They are going home and we have successfully defended ours."

  12

  Wolf Clan Defensive Zone, Kawlm District

  Strana Mechty

  Kerensky Cluster, Clan Space

  23 April 3060

  Who is this impudent annoyance? Vlad's snarl echoed inside his neurohelmet as he watched the Stormcrow race past him and off toward his own staging area. His own secondary monitors showed the estimated damage to this Lancer 'Mech—the right arm was all but gone and that whole flank was ready to fall off. He started to turn his Timber Wolf to track the Stormcrow's flight, but as he did so the rest of the battlefield moved to the margins of his holographic display. as bad as the damage was to the Stormcrow, Vlad knew his Timber Wolf had been hurt too. Another shot from the autocannon could take his left leg off or crush the right side of his 'Mech and destroy that arm along with it. Unlike the Stormcrow, Vlad had no pristine side to present to the enemy. He tried to protect his right side, he exposed his left leg and vice versa. There was simply no easy solution to how to deal with the Stormcrow.

  "Damn you, Lincoln Osis, for losing Huntress and turning its treasures over to these vermin."

  Out on the battlefield things were going a bit worse than he had expected. His lighter 'Mechs were indeed faster than the Lancer machines, but the enemy's greater shielding meant they took a longer time to kill. While his 'Mechs' speed should have made them harder to hit, the Lancer pilots seemed to have been chosen for their marksmanship. He already had one Nova on the ground and several other enemy 'Mechs with damage. Most of the rest were holding their own, which was not quite good enough for him.

  He started to snap orders, but the Stormcrow had executed a smart little turn and had come back, angling in on the Timber Wolfs right side. Vlad turned his 'Mech, putting his back to the rest of the battlefield, and settled his cross hairs on the smaller 'Mech. A dot pulsed in the center of them and Vlad hit his triggers.

  The LRM launchers spouted smoke and fire. The missiles wreathed the Stormcrow with explosions, blasting armor from its left arm, left flank, midline, and even pouring fire into the open rent on its right flank. Even as the Stormcrow fired back at the Timber Wolf, one of the two large lasers Vlad fired sliced into and through the right flank, collapsing it and spinning the arm off across the battlefield.

  Three of the Stormcrow's lasers fired before the 'Mech lost the limb. The scarlet beams sliced into the Timber Wolf's right arm and leg, with the third stabbing into the open right flank. It melted more support structures, and the wave of heat that coursed up into the cockpit told Vlad his engine had lost some of its shielding. The Stormcrow's autocannon let loose with another double burst. The first stripped almost every shred of armor from the Timber Wolf's left arm. The second one gouged into the armor on the 'Mech's centerline and burrowed through to score internal damage. The Timber Wolf shuddered and stumbled, then started to go down.

  Gyro hit! The Timber Wolf crashed down on its right arm and flopped over onto its belly. Vlad's body jerked against the restraining straps, and sparks shot through the cockpit. Panic jolted through him as he saw the Stormcrow loom up past the mound of earth the Timber Wolf's nose had pushed up when it fell. One clean shot to the cockpit and I die.

  He heard the whine of the Stormcrow's autocannon and felt it ripsaw through the armor over his 'Mech's spine. The grinding sound came from behind the cockpit, and the monitors reported severe damage to the Timber Wolf's skeletal structure. He braced for a second blast, but when none came, he saw his chance and tried to scramble the 'Mech to its feet. The damaged gyro defied him, and the Timber Wolf crashed down on its right flank.

  "I will not die in the mud like this!" Vlad reared back in his command console and all but willed the Timber Wolf upright. Dirt fell away from the cockpit canopy as the 'Mech righted itself, revealing a battered and smoking Stormcrow standing right before it. The Stormcrow's only remaining weapon, the autocannon, swung into line with the Timber Wolf, and Vlad brought his weapons to bear at the same time on his enemy.

  The large laser in the Timber Wolf's left arm seared armor on the Lancer 'Mech's right leg, while the companion medium laser burned armor from the midline. The right arm's large laser missed wide, passing through where the 'Mech's right flank would have been, while the red beam from the medium laser in that arm melted yet more armor from the Stormcrow's right leg.

  The autocannon's double burst slammed into the Timber Wolfs midline with enough force to tip the cockpit skyward. The depleted-uranium slugs ravaged the last of the forward, armor, then ripped away the rest of the internal support structures. Vlad heard the agonized shriek of tortured metal behind his cockpit, then all of his instruments went dead. Through the canopy he saw the sky, then the ground and the sky again, confirming visually what his guts had already told him: his cockpit had been blasted free and sent spinning through the air. Armor cracked and the cockpit canopy exploded outward when
it hit the ground the first time. The jarring impact drove Vlad deep into the padding of his command couch. He slammed against one of the couch's arms, crunching a rib, as the cockpit began to roll right, then it bounced a few more times and spun to a stop on its side in a grassy depression.

  Vlad hit the release on his restraining straps and dove out of the canopy opening. He scrambled away from the battered shell that had protected him, and clawed his way up a little incline. He tore off his neurohelmet and tossed it aside, then threw himself down on his belly to watch the battle. The cool grasses sent a chill through him, a chill amplified by what he saw.

  One of the Pillagers continued battering a Man O'War that had already lost its right arm and flank and whose left arm hung on by a thin thread of myomer fibers. Smoke pouring from the Man O' War's open right flank betokened engine damage. The Pillager had substantial armor damage, but Vlad could see no breaches in it.

  The Pillager's two Gauss rifle slugs shattered the armor over the Man O' War's left leg, then ripped away the myomer fibers covering the thigh. The large laser mounted in the Pillager's right arm amputated the Clan 'Mech's left arm, then melted away some of the flank structures and further crumbled the shielding on the fusion reactor at its heart. Then three of the Pillager's four medium lasers speared the Clan 'Mech with ruby shafts. One that pierced the midline conjured a brilliant explosion. Golden fire jetted out both ruined flanks, and the pilot ejected nanoseconds before the reactor's explosion consumed the cockpit.

  Vlad felt the detonation ripple through the ground and into his chest. That 'Mech gone without his foe going down. He failed, as did I.

  Elsewhere, smoking 'Mechs on both sides stalked over the battlefield. The Stormcrow that had killed his Timber Wolf targeted the second Wolf Man O' War. The 'Mech had already been hammered in its duel with a Pillager, so when the Stormcrow's double shot hit it in the legs, egg-shell thin armor vaporized, allowing the projectiles to gnaw through the myomer muscles. The shells clipped one leg off at the knee and wrenched the other one so severely around in the socket that the Man O' War spun around, then crashed down on its back.

  Even before it went down, though, the Man O' War's pilot clipped off a shot with a PPC that struck the Pillager in the head. In an eyeblink all the armor evaporated, then the cockpit exploded. Trailing smoke from where the head had been, the Pillager toppled over onto its back.

  One of the Lancer Cataphracts was down, along with a second Pillager, two of the Blackjacks, and one of the Ravens. The Fenrises and Novas fell back to regroup, warily staying away from the Stormcrow, the remaining Pillager, and the Blackjacks. By using their superior speed the black Clan Wolf 'Mechs could make grazing attacks against the larger Inner Shere 'Mechs, but picking them apart would take a long time.

  Conversely, the Lancers arrayed themselves so their fields of fire overlapped, allowing them to concentrate their attacks on a single target. Any Wolf 'Mech that ventured too close faced a withering mixture of beams and Gauss rifle projectiles that could reduce it to slag and rubble in a heartbeat. Because the Lancer 'Mechs were so slow, any move to scatter the Wolves would leave the attacking 'Mech vulnerable to the sort of slashing attacks the Wolves wanted to employ.

  Vlad stood and raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. He watched a couple of charges at the Lancers start, then stop abruptly. The Inner Sphere 'Mechs remained grouped together in good order and moved around in a circle that kept them firmly in the center of the battlefield. The Wolves were able to circle around them, but any aggression or mistake by either party would end up a disaster for the group that made that first move.

  One of the Fenrises broke off and ran over to where Vlad stood. The humanoid 'Mech dropped to one knee, and the pilot keyed an external speaker. "My Khan, we are at a standoff."

  Vlad nodded slowly. "So it would appear."

  "The freebirth scum have offered us a truce. They say we have not lost the field, but neither do we command it. They offer a draw." The disdain in the pilot's voice warred with an undertone of frustration. "Give the order and we will attack and shatter them."

  Muscles bunched at the corners of Vlad's jaw. Part of him wanted to issue that order and have his warriors blast the Lancers from the field. He wanted no trace left of these Lancers, and he knew his people would go to any lengths to destroy them, even if it meant the attacks were suicidal. Bravery here would guarantee a warrior's genetic material entering the Clan breeding program, giving her or him all the immortality anyone was entitled to.

  Vlad inhaled, planning on issuing that order, but he stopped. His fury with the Lancers was really his anger at himself. The force he had assembled would have been appropriate for battle against an enemy who held the Clans in awe. Had his warriors been facing troops from Rasalhague or the Lyran Alliance, they would have picked them apart. Those Inner Sphere troops had seen the Clans in action before and knew to fear them.

  But these St. Ives Lancers, they do not know the Wolves. They had certainly faced the Clans before, but in the form of the Smoke Jaguars. The Lancers had never been broken by the Clans. Of the Clans all they knew was victory. Here they had met a force they out-gunned and out-massed, and they were offering a draw. and a draw it is. Vlad looked up toward the Fenris' cockpit. "Tell their commander a draw is acceptable. And convey my compliments to the Stormcrow pilot."

  "Are you certain, my Khan, quineg?"

  "Did I sound uncertain, Star Captain?" The Khan snorted angrily. "That pilot reminded me of something that will save our Clan. Killing him or the rest of you in a futile fight will not change that fact. Relay the message now." a light breeze came up, swirling the smoke rising from broken 'Mechs. Vlad caught the scent of burning plastics mixed with grass smoke and wrinkled his nose against it. The faceplate on the most recently downed Man O' War popped up and a pilot climbed out. She started trotting toward him, then slowed to a walk as she looked about and saw she was no longer in the middle of a battlefield.

  The Fenris pilot spoke. "Message sent and reply received, my Khan. The Stormcrow's pilot offers you his compliments as well."

  "Who is he?"

  "He is Kai Allard-Liao."

  Vlad nodded slowly. He dimly recalled the name from the invasion. This Kai had evaded a Jade Falcon garrison force, then worked with them to defeat ComStar forces on that world. By all accounts he would have made a splendid bondsman, but the Jade Falcons accepted him as an ally instead.

  "For them he won a planet." Vlad smiled. "For us, he provides salvation." He gazed at the smoking Stormcrow and allowed himself a laugh. "And if he knew that, he'd come here and finish the job he left undone on the battlefield."

  13

  Coldrill Valley, Neegdye District

  Strana Mechty

  Kerensky Cluster, Clan Space

  23 April 3060

  Khan Karianna Schmitt's joy at seeing a Combine No-Dachi pitch forward into the muddy stream at the ravine bottom died as the Kingfisher to her left fell backward. Sheer surprise at that outcome ate up her elation, then outrage devoured her surprise. The Combine 'Mechs had been attacked honorably, with one of the Blood Spirits engaging each, yet three of the enemy had turned their weapons on a single foe. Such a cowardly act made her blood run cold, crystallizing a desire to see all those before her dead.

  She knew, however, her outrage was not simply born of the Combine's craven action. She would have expected no less from people who had banded together to create a sham Star League in the vain hopes it would scare the Clans into repudiating their mission to retake the Inner Sphere. The Combine troops had clearly debased themselves—even on Strana Mechty she had heard of how common criminals and anyone else who could pilot a 'Mech had been made into warriors. Ganging up on one target really should have been expected.

  What fueled her cold fury was the fact that they had not chosen her as their initial target. Jason Keller, the fallen Kingfisher's pilot, was a competent warrior, but he was nothing in comparison to her. And while she realized it was irrational to exp
ect the Combine to recognize that she, the Blood Spirits' supreme commander, had deigned to fight against them, she was determined they would pay for the effrontery of not spotting her immediately as their most deadly enemy.

  Back to the west, the Battle Cobra and Akuma exchanged fire. Again one of the Battle Cobra's PPCs failed to hit its target, incinerating another tree. The blue beam that did hit mauled the armor on the larger 'Mech's right leg. Despite a cascade of smoking armor plates hissing as they dropped into the stream, the Akuma's leg had plenty of protection left on it.

  The gray Akuma attacked the Battle Cobra with every weapons system it had save the PPC. A medium pulse laser stippled the Battle Cobra's chest with a half-dozen ruby needles. The red beam from the laser built into the right arm likewise scored the armor over the Clan 'Mech's chest. A burst from the Akuma's autocannon shattered the last of the brittle arinor on the right flank, raining fragments down to the ground. The MRMs finished the last of the armor on the 'Mech's right arm and ripped away at the myomer muscles they exposed. Others nailed the Battle Cobra's left hip and flank, reducing armor to a glittering hail of dust.

  The Akuma's SRMs finished what the other weapons had begun. Black smoke curled up through great cracks in the armor over the 'Mech's heart. The last of the armor on the left arm fell away, and an exploding SRM blasted armor from the Battle Cobra's cockpit area. Finally one of the missiles snapped the 'Mech's right arm off, whirling its blackened skeleton and the sparking remnant of a PPC back out of sights across the ravine the Crossbow rained fire down on the No-Dachi climbing up the hill toward it. The Crossbow's SRMs all locked on target and gouged armor from the No-Dachi's arm, legs, and especially the already damaged right flank. A spray of LRMs flaked armor off the left flank and midline, but failed to open any holes. The twin pulse lasers raked armor away from the 'Mech's right arm and pierced the right flank, melting cross-members of the No-Dachi's frame.