Mercenary's Star

by William H. Keith

  "We'll bury them in the jungle," he said quietly. "If we can't identify them then, well... that will be another we owe Nagumo for."

  Khaled nodded.

  Grayson turned to Ramage. "O.K., orders. When your people have gone over the area thoroughly—and I mean thoroughly—call them together. First off, deactivate all the anti-personnel traps and mines you can identify. We don't want our people forgetting where they are and blundering into them when they're out for a stroll. Next, I want...let's say two-thirds of the anti- ‘Mech mines left in place, including all those off toward the south perimeter, and on the approaches to the island."

  Khaled's eyes lighted. "You want their patrols to assume we have not returned," he said.

  "Right. And if they do, the remaining mines will have been moved."

  Ramage grinned. "That ought to surprise them...unless they have their own detectors out."

  "I'm hoping they'll be too busy for that Next, I want to set up a camp, a small one, just a few tents and lean-tos." He pointed north, past the ruin of the machine shop. "Let's put it over merc. Detail a watch to keep the place looking lived in. No fires yet...not until they're sure we're here. But have the stuff ready to make one. And plant a bunch of the mines you move in that area."

  "Ah! So when Nagumo's ‘Mechs come to check on someone living here again..."

  "They walk into their own surprise. Correct. Make sure you get good people for that detail, though. They'll have to be ready to move quick. They'll be volunteers, of course."

  Ramage nodded.

  "O.K. I don't see any reason to stay here. If the caves check out, we'll use that as a place to keep our ‘Mechs out of sight, and it'll be a good place for ammo trucks and supplies to rendezvous with us."

  "Are you putting ‘Mech facilities in down there?"

  "Some." He scowled. "We're short on Techs."

  "Most of them were here when the Dracos came."

  'Two of the rebel MechWarriors are pretty fair Techs, though. Olin Sonovarro and Vikki Traxen both worked with machinery and electronics before they opted for the outdoor life. Davis McCall may be an even better Tech than he is a MechWarrior. It's a wonder he didn't choose it in the first place. The money's certainly better."

  "Unless you were crazy enough to sign on with a mercenary unit fighting a rebellion on a jungle planet"

  "Yeah, well...Anyway, I may transfer them to the Tech department until we can scare up some more." "

  Ramage rocked back on his heels, his thumbs hooked into his belt He paused, locking as though he were smelling the air, before he answered. "We're going to need all our Warriors pretty damn soon, Captain."

  "I'm well aware of it, Ram. But first we're going to need Techs. McCall told me the other night that it wouldn't take too long to rig a couple of repair cradles down in those caves. Some of the bracing and mounting brackets for blocks and tackle are still in place."

  "So? That's good news."

  "Right, because it means we'll be able to re-arm our ‘Mechs right here, and not have to traipse clear back to Westlee to do it. McCall thinks we may be able to do some minor repair work here, too. Armor plate patches, circuit replacement, that sort of thing."

  "Won't be too difficult," Ramage agreed, "if we can get the parts."

  "Oh, we'll get the parts," Grayson said. "Governor General Nagumo will provide us with all the parts we need. I'm counting on him to provide us with some new BattleMechs, too."

  Ramage lifted an eyebrow. "Getting cocky in your old age?"

  "Nope. Getting tired of being shoved around by Nagumo, though. With this place back in operation as a base, we'll be able to shove him around for a change."

  * * * *

  Sergeant Rodney Pallonby tilted his Phoenix Hawk's head, scanning the horizon through the cockpit screen. The land northeast of Regis was a terrain of low and rolling hills capped by patches of light woods. Visibility here wasn't as bad as over the Rim in the jungle, but there were places that were ideal for ambushes. Not that an ambush was likely with this convoy, but the Verthandian rebels had done some crazy things in recent weeks. An attack certainly wasn't out of the question.

  He canted the Phoenix Hawk's head down to check the column of prisoners. There were fifty of them, all women, ragged and dirty and held in single file by lengths of rope draped from neck to neck for the column's length. Draco soldiers, some in the black of officers, others in the dull orange and brown of a line regiment, walked in columns to either side.

  Showing little emotion, the women plodded forward in line, heads bowed, wrists bound behind their backs. Pallonby decided that the events of the past twenty hours had probably short-circuited whatever emotions they might have felt The battle at Regis University had left hundreds dead and many hundreds more prisoner in the rubble-choked University courtyard. For most of the day following the battle, the Governor General's personal Guard had been identifying ringleaders of the conspiracy that had infested the Loyalist Verthandian government. The shootings had gone on all day and through much of the night, leaving the corpses piled high in the streets outside the University.

  All of the men who were left, and most of the women, had been chained together and marched off toward the south earlier that morning. The men would be employed in the mines at the desert's edge, mines run under Kurita supervision. Nagumo himself had picked out women, saying that they would be lifted off world in a Kurita freighter, transported to another Combine world as hostages for the behavior of the rest. Pallonby wondered if it wasn't more likely that they were bound for joyhouses on Luthien or elsewhere across Kurita's domain. Women such as these would bring good prices from the right buyers, and someone like Nagumo would be certain to have those connections...

  Pallonby brought the Phoenix Hawk's head around sharply. A warning had gone off on his Magnetic Anomaly Detector. A MAD reading of that strength could mean a BattleMech, moving swiftly.

  "Denik," he said into his command circuit. "Phillips, Hoch-stater! Did you guys get a flash on your MADs? Oh-seven-five degrees or so..."

  The other three ‘Mechs in the column paused in their march, scanners searching. Pallonby nervously fingered his Hawk's controls. If there were rebel ‘Mechs out there, it could be a nasty fight His force consisted of two Phoenix Hawks, a Wasp, and a Stinger. That was plenty of firepower to manage a column of prisoners and to keep rebel ground troops from making a try at a rescue, but not much good if it came to a knock-down, drag-out brawl with rebel ‘Mechs.

  His orders had suggested that he be alert for rebel ambushes, though they also expressed the official opinion that the rebels would not chance it. After all, if rebel ‘Mechs attacked the column, fifty helpless women—the object of the rescue—would be trapped square in the middle of the firefight. The ropes and halters would assure that the women would not be able to scatter and hide. No rebel ‘Mech commander would risk slaughtering them.

  "I've got movement at one-oh-three," Phillips reported. A newcomer to the unit, Phillips was the brash, young Wasp pilot at the point. He was turning now, his laser held high toward the trees to the right. Pallonby turned, too. The low, scraggly growth cloaked a hillside half a kilometer away.

  "Denik," Pallonby snapped. "Check it out."

  "Acknowledged." The other Phoenix Hawk moved toward the slope, its Harmon heavy laser at the ready.

  The Shadow Hawk seemed to rise out of nowhere, materializing from the trees a few meters to one side of Denik's machine. Pallonby shouted warning, but Denik was already pivoting his machine, his laser coming into line. The rebel ‘Mech bounded forward, stepping inside the Phoenix Hawk's reach. The armor shield mounted high on the Shadow Hawk's left shoulder smashed into the lighter machine, and its left arm snapped across and clamped onto the PhoenixHawk's heavy laser.

  Pallonby brought his own heavy laser up for a shot, but Denik's ‘Mech and the attacking rebel's machine were too closely intertwined now. He set his Phoenix Hawk in motion, sprinting forward, watching for an opening.

  The laser b
olt caught him unaware, striking his ‘Mech in the back, low on the right side of the torso. That single shot penetrated the relatively thin armor there, savaging power cable bundles and lighting his control panel with baleful red eyes. A second shot caught him an instant later in the right leg, scattering armor fragments in smoking arcs. He spun, seeking his attacker. A Stinger and a Locust were there, fifty meters away. The Stinger fired and the bolt caught Pallonby's ‘Mech in the front torso, scorching metal and blistering paint. The Locust crouched slightly and spat a bolt of coherent light from the medium laser slung underneath its flat cockpit. It took Pallonby a moment to realize that the bolt was not aimed at him but had been directed at Hochstater's Stinger.

  For a few rapid heartbeats, he stood paralyzed, wondering at which target to direct his own fire, but the initiative was lost when another laser bolt struck his Phoenix Hawk squarely in the back, enlarging the hole already burned through its thin armor. More red lights flashed. His jump jet circuits were gone, or so the warning indicators claimed He elected not to test the matter, but threw his machine into a lurching roll across me ground, seeking cover.

  "Regis Command!" he bawled into his radio transmitter. "This is Escort Two-Four! We are five kilometers north of Regis and under attack! Do you hear me, Regis? We are..."

  The second rebel Stinger had been hiding on the other side of the column, waiting for its chance. It advanced now. With it came half a dozen hovercraft, lightly armored affairs mounting lasers and autocannons. A score of shells slewed from one chattering gun into the back of Phillips' Wasp, and the light BattleMech staggered and went down, arms flailing.

  Pallonby switched back to his combat frequency. Whether or not Regis had heard him, he couldn't know. He had more immediate concerns at the moment.

  "Hochstater! Watch behind you! Phillips is down!"

  Hochstater's Stinger spun, firing wildly, hitting nothing. Pallonby glanced back toward the prisoner column. Where it should have been he saw nothing but tall weeds. The women must have thrown themselves flat as soon as the firing started Pallonby realized now that the appearance of the Shadow Hawk had drawn his own ‘Mechs far enough away from the column that the prisoners had not been in the line of fire.

  When laser bolts seared the air close by his ‘Mech's head, he rolled to one side and then came up firing. The hovercraft were closer now, their weapons concentrating on his Phoenix Hawk and on Hochstater's Stinger. He could see rebel soldiers, too, advancing on foot to lead away small groups of his former prisoners. As he watched, several Kurita foot soldiers broke and ran from the line of advancing rebels. Machine gun fire from the rebel Stinger and the swift-moving hovercraft cut them down.

  On the hillside, Denik's Phoenix Hawk had been crushed by its heavier opponent. With one large laser and a pair of Harmon medium lasers, a Phoenix Hawk should have outgunned the heavier Shadow Hawk at close-ranged because the Shadow Hawk's autocannons and LRM launchers were only effective at relatively long range. As close-up weapons, it had only a single medium laser and a pair of SRM tubes. This particular Shadow Hawk had managed to overcome its disadvantage by grappling with the Phoenix Hawk so closely that it couldn't use its arm-mounted lasers. After it had bashed in the ‘Mech's head with one steel fist, that same Shadow Hawk now turned its autocannon and LRM tubes on Pallonby's own Phoenix Hawk.

  29

  Grayson's Shadow Hawk stepped across the broken body of his opponent and strode down the slope toward where the second enemy Phoenix Hawk stood with its arms raised in ungainly surrender. Smoke wreathed its torso from the pair of jagged wounds Lori and Nadine Cheka had planted in its back. Khaled's Stinger closed in from the far side of the shallow valley as hovercraft grounded to pick up the liberated prisoners.

  "Looks like they're all safe," Ramage was saying through Grayson's command circuit. "No casualties among the women!"

  "Great," Grayson said, relieved. They had planned the assault to draw the Kurita BattleMech escorts away from their prisoners, but stray rounds—or a vengeful Kurita soldier—could have had nightmarish consequences. The keys to making the attack a success were doing it with speed and decisiveness. "What about our people?"

  "A couple wounded in the firefight with the foot soldiers. We were lucky."

  "I won't argue that." Grayson turned his attention back to the enemy ‘Mechs. The Wasp was out of the fight for the moment, but didn't seem badly damaged. The Kurita Stinger had halted and put up its own hands when the Phoenix Hawk had called it quits. Ramage's anti-Mech commandos were now dropping from their hovercraft alongside the pair of Kurita 20-tonners. Grayson saw the Stinger's head split apart and the Kurita pilot wiggle out of the tight cockpit under the threat of Ramage's guns and satchel charges.

  He opened a combat frequency. "Strike Two, this is Strike Leader. Operation complete."

  A reply sounded in his earpiece. "Strike Leader, this is Two. Your target yelled for help, like you thought. It’s leaving the city at a trot"

  Grayson turned his ‘Mech and looked south. Regis was a low sprawl across the horizon, with the University Towers stabbing up into an overcast gray-green sky. Two-and-a-half kilometers was ninety seconds for a trotting ‘Mech. His infantry was still spread out across the valley, leading former prisoners and captured Kurita soldiers to empty hovercraft waiting among the trees. There were also the captured ‘Mechs to think about

  "I copy, Two. What are they? Can you take them?"

  Clay's voice replied with expressionless calm. "Two lances, Captain. I make it a Phoenix Hawk and a couple of Shadow Hawks, two Wasps, an Archer, what I think is a Centurion, and a Warhammer.

  That was not good. The Strike Two ambush force consisted of both of Grayson's heavies—the Rifleman and the Wolverine—plus the main body of the rebel ‘Mechs. Montido's 55-ton Dervish stiffened the unit, but most of the force consisted of Wasps and Stingers. Grayson had insisted that the AgroMechs be left out of it this time. The enemy lances were on the light side, but the Archer and the Warhammer were both 70-tonners and out of the ambushers' league. There was also the danger that ‘Mechs would strike from the Kurita DropShip, a few kilometers to the northeast

  McCall's voice broke in. "Captain, if we can nae takit these Sassenach, we'd best all look for a new callin'."

  "We can take them, Lieutenant. We're in position, and they haven't spotted us yet."

  Unless they'd picked up the radio chatter, of course. Strike Two was using directional microwave antennae locked into a receiver set up on Basin Rim, which then shunted their transmissions to Grayson's Shadow Hawk by a short-ranged relay. It was very possible that the enemy might tap in, however.

  "We'll stay put, Two." he said. “Take them."

  The ambush force lost two rebel Stingers, one shot to pieces by the combined fire of the enemy Warhammer and Archer when it tried to change position, and the other smashed by the enemy Centurion. Neither rebel pilot was able to eject before his ‘Mech was destroyed. Relatively little damage was scored on the Kurita relief column: Clay's Wolverine claimed a Wasp, McCall's Rifleman chopped the Phoenix Hawk into scrap, and one of the Kurita Shadow Hawks was limping heavily as it retreated back into Regis.

  The battle had an importance that far outweighed the casualties on either side. The relief column fought with its outgunned ambushers for the better part of twenty minutes before deciding that Escort Two-Four was beyond help from them—and who knew what other surprises those wooded hills north of Regis held? The Kurita forces could have summoned more ‘Mechs from Regis. At what risk, though, when the scope of the ambush was not known? The Kurita lances elected to play it safe by withdrawing back to the shelter of Regis. The wreckage of the two rebel Stingers and the two Kurita ‘Mechs was left where it was. There was too much danger that a sudden sortie would trap any Techs or warriors working to salvage the BattleMech hulks.

  In exchange, Grayson's forces had captured a Stinger and a Phoenix Hawk intact and were able to haul off the wrecked Wasp and Phoenix Hawk as well. The Wasp was a real prize.
A lucky shot had severed a primary driver link in the ‘Mech's lightly armored spine and cut its power supply to its legs and arms, but the damage would be easy to repair. The Phoenix Hawk needed a new head. If they couldn't find one, its carcass would still provide spare parts for dozens of light rebel ‘Mechs.

  All in all, it was a highly successful raid, not to mention the fifty Verthandians rescued before they could be led aboard the grounded Kurita DropShip awaiting them.

  Shortly after they reached their Fox Island camp, Lori brought Grayson the startling news that one of the rescued women was Sue Ellen Klein.

  * * * *

  Rescued and rescuers had rendezvoused back at the Fox Island caves after the battle, pausing only to let a band of rebel AgroMechs race north with the Kurita prisoners in tow, a diversion that might keep the Dracos away from Fox Island for awhile. Grayson knew that they would be visiting Fox Island again, and soon. The longer he could put that visit off, the better prepared they would be to receive it.

  As for Sue Ellen, Grayson barely recognized her. She was gaunt, with a haggard expression and a dullness in her eyes that twisted at Grayson's soul. He found her sitting on a log before a smoldering campfire, staring into the flames.

  "Sue Ellen? It's me. Captain Carlyle. Are you O.K.?"

  She refused to meet his eyes.

  He extended a hand to her. "Can I get you anything? Coffee? No? Are you hurt? Sick?"

  It took some minutes before she could speak. When she did, her voice was detached, so soft that Grayson had to lean forward to hear. "How did you escape?" she said.

  "What do you mean?" he murmured.

  "I...I wanted you dead. And apparently I told them something they could use. Something...something about a man named...Ericksson."