She felt the disgusting sludge against the skin of her neck. Soon she would slide under. With her upraised hands, she worked off the gloves that were the symbol of her achievements with the Jade Falcon Clan. Studded with metal stars, they represented to Joanna her success in several combats. She did not want them to slide into the muck with her. Throwing them as well as she could, she watched them disappear into the darkness. But she heard them land. No splash accompanied their coming to rest, and so she knew that they would be retrieved by another warrior, perhaps used again by their new owner.
Resigned, she waited for her death. Which made the moment her feet landed on the upper surface of the 'Mech foot all the more startling. She felt the impact all through her body, even to the top of her head.
Suddenly she was not dead yet. But she was still neck-deep in muck, her arms flailing upward, rotten, odorous air seeming thicker just above the swamp surface, the suggestion of dangerous animals in every dark patch, her 'Mech disabled, a malfunctioning chief tech up in the cockpit, all communications gone. Death, she thought, might just have been better.
16
In a bizarre concatenation of circumstances, Kael Pershaw, Lanja, and Joanna were all in life-threatening danger simultaneously. Were an attentive god watching over his human minions, he or she might have been busy coordinating the fortunes of all three at once. Fortunately, Clan warriors did not have much use for gods and were, in fact, aware of only a few of those that were a part of human mythology. Those who speculated about gods generally concluded that a Clan warrior must rely on him or herself and not bother any god about anything.
Kael Pershaw's 'Mech was being rocked by a series of direct missile hits, most of them centered on the torso. With his thumb, he frantically pressed the enabling switch for the anti-missile system, but it was not working. The Wolf warrior on the other side apparently realized that and was shooting off a whole rack of SRMs at him.
With enemy Elementals swarming about his limbs as they tried to disable the 'Mech, and the awesome firepower being directed against him, only one response was possible. He must wade forward, all his weapons blasting away at once, hoping for a lucky series of hits.
What made matters worse was that the battle was being lost all around him. Every single Jade Falcon 'Mech was in serious jeopardy. The Jade Falcon Elementals had been pushed backward, behind the line of their 'Mechs.
Pershaw could not help wondering if the Elementals would have been pushed back so easily if Lanja were here.
* * *
Lanja was in the battle of her life. Had she been a normally constructed human being, she would be dead by now. Holding her head just barely above the stagnant water, she had managed to toss the tree puma off her body once, then turned around onto her back so that she faced it. It attacked again, its face coming so close that its foul breath seemed like some more pronounced extension of the swamp's putrescent odors.
The animal was small, which gave her some advantage because of her own great height. Somehow gaining leverage with her feet, she managed to hold the puma away from her. But she could not stop it from struggling and swiping at her with its paw, sometimes tearing skin. The strength she felt surging through the beast told her that it could wear her down. She had her own advantage, of course, for the beast had not been trained in battle skills. If she could just get to her laser pistol, she would let technology decide the issue. The only problem was that if she gave up her hold on the animal to reach for the weapon, it would get to her throat first.
* * *
Tension caused a new aching in Joanna's arms as she continued to hold them high. She did not know how long she could keep them there, but she emphatically did not want to let them fall into the muck.
She did not really know that she was now standing on her 'Mech's buried foot. For all she could tell, she was standing on a hidden rock or perhaps a muck animal. When whatever it was moved, she felt an irrational urge to draw up her legs. The muck would not allow any of her lower body to budge.
The thing jerked again, the movement pushing her forward. Her left arm dropped inadvertently, and before she could pull it out, sank into the muck. Another sudden move and the right arm nearly dropped. She felt herself slipping sideways, and might have slipped beneath the surface if the foot had not moved again and propelled her upward.
Now, her main problem, as the foot cleared the top of the scummy mud and the vines broke free, was to maintain her balance and keep from falling off. Especially when several of the vines came swinging past her, some of them hitting and stinging her face on their way.
* * *
The gods who might have been neglecting Kael Pershaw, Lanja, and Joanna might have been directing their attention at others. Not everyone was in jeopardy, after all. But no Clan warrior wanted to hear that some god was meddling in his life, in his achievements. Let the gods stay where they belonged, and if they would not, Clan warriors would bid against them in a battle to claim spiritual rights.
* * *
Most times, Dwillt Radick would have thrown out of his cockpit any god who had the bad judgment to appear there. At this moment, however, he might have been genial instead because of the chance it would give him to boast of his impending and impressive conquest of Kael Pershaw's Jade Falcons.
"Do not let up!" he shouted to his warriors.
Listening to this and Radick's other urgings, Craig Ward began to worry. If Radick had asked him, he would have admitted that Clan Wolf had the edge in this battle, but he was amazed at the tenacity of the Jade Falcons. His analysis showed that casualties were about the same on both sides. There was no superior strategy, tactics, or even firepower from Clan Wolf. Only attrition would give Radick the victory. And that, to Craig Ward, who was among the most fierce of warriors, would be a tainted triumph.
* * *
Aidan had turned his 'Mech to check on the status of the other warriors and their machines. If not for that he would never have seen the activity behind them.
"Horse, something is going on back there. It looks like a fight."
"Probably just two swamp animals having fun," Horse replied.
"No, it does not look like that. I would swear that one of the fighters is human. I have to go back there, check it out. It could be Joanna, separated from her 'Mech and coming after us."
"If it is her, there is no need to go back."
"Horse, we are Clan. We cannot let one of us die."
"I hear the words, Commander. I'm just not sure about them."
Aidan ordered the others to stay where they were. He descended from his Summoner and came down onto relatively firm soil. It squished a bit with moisture when he walked on it, but he could walk on it. There was a clear path of firm ground, nearly up to where the fight was taking place.
As he neared, he saw that the battle involved a tree puma. Knowing that, he took his laser pistol out and made sure it was on full charge.
* * *
Whatever the god's participation, often things just worked out. Lovers came together, families were reunited, good governments ousted bad governments. People in jeopardy found themselves, astonishingly, rescued. And occasionally one or two of them were grateful.
* * *
Kael Pershaw was only half-lucky. His automatic ejection mechanism got him out of his BattleMech before it fell. It did not explode, nor did it go down in pieces, but it was now clearly inoperative. As his ejection seat reached ground, five of his Elementals immediately surrounded him, fending off personal attacks from Clan Wolf Elementals. In a battle for a bloodline, capturing or killing the holder of the gene heritage would end the conflict, and so it was essential that Pershaw be kept alive and out of enemy hands.
When he walked back through his lines, he saw fallen BattleMechs all around him. His had not been the only one. Stepping over the dead warriors, he recognized among them the freebirth MechWarrior named Nis.
* * *
Joanna did slide off the foot, but only after Nomad had laboriously succeede
d in making it take a step onto normal terrain, or at least what passed for normal terrain in this repulsive swamp. She fell to the ground. As she got up and brushed herself off, she looked up at Nomad, who was rather frantically gesturing for her to climb back up to the cockpit.
He could wait. She had to retrieve the gloves. When she found them, after skirting the pool of muck, she also found another of the reptilian creatures inspecting them, its mouth tentatively nibbling at a finger. Cursing silently, she picked up the laser pistol, which was still lying nearby, and blew the reptile's head off.
* * *
Aidan's well-aimed shot could have gone awry as Lanja managed to push the animal sideways, but it did not. The fire from his laser pistol entered the tree puma's brain, first going through its ear, transforming it into tiny fur and hide missiles. The animal went slack, its weight falling on Lanja, pushing her back into the water. Her head vanished beneath the water's surface, then her body, then the puma on top of it.
Aidan rushed to her. Reaching into the water, he found the puma's neck and yanked hard. The animal was heavy, damn heavy. But the water gave Aidan enough leverage to lift the animal off Lanja. It was too heavy to lift out of the water, but with a gigantic heave, he managed to fling it aside. Lanja did not reappear above the surface of the water. Wading in further, he reached down and paddled his hand around for her. At first he thought he had lost her. In the darkness he could not go underwater to look for her. He would not see anything.
Suddenly something bobbed up a few meters away. It was Lanja, on her stomach, her head still in the water. He swam to her, brought her head up, then dragged her back to the water's edge. He lay her down on the firm soil and started breathing into her mouth.
With a violent thrust upward, she started breathing again. Mustering all of his strength, Aidan grasped the massive woman's shoulder and then pulled and pushed and shoved until he had Lanja on her belly. Then he pounded on her muscular back to get the water out of her lungs. With 2.3 meters of her to handle, none of this was an easy task.
Nor was it easy to carry her back to the 'Mech. She had tried to walk on her own, but collapsed after a single step, passing out for a moment. By the time they reached the 'Mech, however, she was fully conscious again, insisting that Aidan put her down. Horse stood by Aidan's 'Mech, waiting for them. Aidan started to explain what had happened, but Lanja interrupted.
"The battle is not going well," she said. "Your units are badly needed, which is the message Kael Pershaw ordered me to relay to you."
Then she explained in precise detail what had occurred before she had started on her mission. Horse noted that the battle must still be raging, judging by the distant sounds of warfare and the way the night sky seemed light gray instead of deep blue.
Turning back to Lanja, he gestured to several cuts on her face and neck. "Those cuts are bad," he said.
"That does not matter," Lanja told him. Nevertheless, Horse quickly got out the medkit and started working on her.
"I am using bloodpetals," Horse said. "They will suck out any infections, then accelerate the healing of the cuts."
Lanja did not seem to be listening to Horse's comments. She turned to speak to Aidan, urgency in her voice: "If you continue on your present course, you are likely to come out just behind the Clan Wolf forces. That is, if my calculations are correct. We know how easily data can become distorted by the conditions of this place."
"Knowing we will emerge behind Clan Wolf could be a strategic advantage," Aidan commented. "But we are only eight. That would not be enough for an ambush, quineg?
"Neg," Lanja replied.
"Then we need a diversion."
"A diversion?"
"Yes. Can you get us close enough to Glory Station to establish a commlink?"
"Of course. There is a rise in a clearing about ten kilometers from here. From there, I should be able to establish both voice and digital secure link with Cluster headquarters."
She waved Horse away, even though he was still working on her wounds. Her gesture indicated that was all the medication she would accept right now.
"All right, then," Aidan said. "We will go on foot. Horse, bring the Star as close to the Wolf lines as you can without leaving the swamp. Have one of the extra pilots from Joanna's Trinary pilot my 'Mech there. I will join you there."
He turned to Lanja. "Let us go. And, Lanja, you will have to intervene for me. Because of this"—he pointed to his dark band—"Kael Pershaw does not have to talk to me. Even without this, he might not want to take advice from a freeborn."
Lanja thought that was true enough, but chose not to say it. She had a sense that Jorge might be the solution to what might otherwise be certain defeat.
17
Joanna wondered if Nomad's meddling with the neurohelmet had severely damaged it. Even though he had reconnected it, the helmet now felt exactly as when she had first been fitted for one so many years ago. There was a kind of throbbing dizziness in her head, a sense that, even though the 'Mech was apparently functioning normally, it was actually walking around in a daze.
She wondered if he had sabotaged the device. It would not be beyond his capabilities.
She took a deep breath. The air scrubbers were not working, and the smell of vomit hung in the air. Nomad's pain had become so intense that he had thrown up after completing the great effort of operating the 'Mech's foot. He had managed to clean up most of it, but the smell was taking its time. He had seen no point in trying to air out the cockpit. Not only were the air scrubbers down, but the air outside was even worse than this smell.
After sulking for a while, Nomad had fallen asleep again on the passenger seat. The sulking was because Joanna did not thank him properly for saving her life.
"It is your duty to rescue your commanding officer," she told him. "It is not some act of generosity that endows you with special qualities. You are still the same worthless sub-caster you always were. I will commend you properly in my report. That is all the gratitude that a Clansman deserves."
"Have it your way, Captain," he muttered.
"Look, Nomad, if it satisfies you to know, I am content that I will have more opportunity to serve the Clan. For that, I realize you are responsible. I respect those who perform their duty, so I respect you for doing it. Does that make you happier?"
"I'm not even sure I understood it."
She was glad that he slept now. His incessant footnoting of her every word was getting on her nerves. She had no idea where they were, could not use a single instrument of her control panel to find out, and had to—as the saying went—walk blind. They could use nothing in the swamp for a guiding mark. Every part of the place seemed to look almost exactly like every other part.
Something in the neurohelmet was giving her a headache. She shut her eyes and for a moment seemed to see a fully operational cockpit. She was knocked back to reality when the 'Mech stepped into a small pond, and she had to switch her concentration to navigating through water. The pain in her head grew even stronger when the 'Mech tripped over something and careened against a thick tree. She thought she sensed something rattling around in the compartment beneath the cockpit, but then decided it must be just her imagination or the malfunction in the neurohelmet.
Joanna was sure they were traveling in a circle, as so often happened to 'Mechs without sensors in unknown areas. There was no sense of what was behind or in front of her, to the right or the left. She might as well stand still as continue this blundering search.
She stopped the 'Mech and ate some rations she had stored away. She could not get much down, the cockpit odors not being conducive to a heavy appetite. Looking out the viewport, she saw she was facing a clump of tall trees, trees that seemed to stretch above the canopy. Their branches and leaves were in sporadic motion, as if animals were jumping from branch to branch, perhaps excited by the intruder in their midst. She had heard that some animals lived their entire lives in the upper areas of swamps, jungles, forests, never coming down to ground le
vel. The ground must be a wondrous land, something few of their kind ever saw. For Clan warriors the Inner Sphere was such a wondrous place of mythology. Generations ago, the ancestors of the Clan had left there to seek a new home among the distant stars. They were not even Clans then. Since that time, warriors of every generation hoped to be part of the invasion of the Inner Sphere when the Khans decided that the Clans possessed sufficient military strength to accomplish their goals.
She stopped thinking of Clan things when a head suddenly appeared, peering through leaves in one of the trees. Though she realized it was some kind of animal, it was like nothing she had seen before. The thing was monstrous, horny-headed, with a thick snout and sharp teeth that overhung its lower lips.
She hated looking at it so much that she aimed her left-arm PPC and shot it out of the tree. Watching it fall, Joanna felt a sense of satisfaction. It had been like defeating a monster in a nightmare.
She traveled on.
As she walked over a particularly malevolent-looking bunch of shrubs and creepers, her commlink suddenly, with a warning crackle, came back on. Though she immediately began to send out a vocal signal, she was surprised when a response came back within a minute. "I hear you, Star Captain Joanna," the voice said. She recognized it as belonging to one of the freebirth filth in Aidan's unit.
Bloodname Page 12
