Malicious intent

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Her lasers shot out and hit the Wolverine in the left leg and in the chest, the leg hit vaporizing previously pristine armor. The coruscating beam that pierced the chest bored straight through the gap in the armor created by the Hunchback. Though scarlet light glowed in the dark interior of the Wolverine's chest, she couldn't see what she'd hit.

  Then smoke burst from the 'Mech's chest and it staggered. The Wolverine pilot tried to take a half-step backward, but the machine moved with none of the strength or grace it had previously shown. A convulsion shook it, then it stumbled backward, suddenly sitting down hard like a stunned child in the middle of some rough play. Then the 'Mech flopped onto its back and a smoky shroud closed over it.

  Gyro hit. Lisa nodded as her secondary monitor informed her that her guess was correct. In front of her the Hunchback climbed back to its feet. "Thanks for the save, Kodis."

  "Likewise, Precentor. With you at the head we're able to hold our own against these Lancers."

  "Right. Let's continue."

  "Roger." Kodis's Hunchback moved forward.

  Lisa waited a moment before following him. In her mind she replayed the way the Wolverine had remained upright after the Hunchback laid it open, and compared that with her weathering the earlier assault by the Wolverine. She knew full well that she should have gone down, but only plenty of experience and even more luck had kept her 'Mech on its feet.

  Lisa sighed. Evelena Haskell said she accepted the contract on Terra because she wanted time to train up the new troops she'd recruited. If the rest of her recruits are as good as that Wolverine pilot, I've got the solution to the mystery of why my people are doing so poorly. But that solution brings up another mystery—where's she doing her recruiting?

  "Evelena, if you've got some source for naturally talented pilots, I'd like to know where it is." Lisa stepped her Quickdraw forward. "With people like yours on our side the Clans will never get any closer to Terra than we decide to let them."

  16

  Tharkad City Tharkad

  District of Donegal, Lyran Alliance

  3 February 3058

  Tormano Liao had trouble deciding if anger or fear was the predominant emotion in General Nondi Steiner's voice. Whichever it was, it only came through in tiny bits. She seemed to have the same steel-willed control over her emotions that her sister, the original Katrina, had always shown. "I'm afraid," he told her calmly, "that Archon Katrina is unavailable and has requested no interruptions. Whatever you would say to her you can say to me."

  "Oh, I have every intention of saying it to you, Mandrinn Liao." The General's gray eyes narrowed suspiciously as her gaze darted around the white office. "I think I preferred the way this office used to be."

  Tormano opened his arms. "We all prefer things of the past to those of the future until we become used to them. What brings you here, General?"

  "Trouble. Big trouble." Nondi Steiner crossed to where a wide-screen holovid sat in the corner of the room, and fed a disk into it. "This came priority and encrypted with our most secret codes. It will take ComStar the better part of a month to crack it, if they can. Please, start it up."

  Tormano plucked the remote control from Katrina's desk—marveling at how she'd managed to have it and the viewer itself cast in white plastic—and brought the viewer to life with the punch of a button. A field of gray static sank beneath a wall of black. Color slowly bled into the picture, but the scene had obviously been shot at night. The only light came from the retro-rockets being fired by four huge Overlord Class DropShips. The ovoid ships settled gently to the ground, then their 'Mech bay doors opened and Battle-Mechs began to pour out of them.

  The camera panned upward and focused on the insignia splashed across the side of the ship. It depicted a green bird bearing a katana. Tormano felt his insides tighten. Jade Falcons.

  He looked over at Nondi. "Where?"

  "This holovid came from Engadine. The Twenty-second Skye Rangers are defending the world, but they're one of the units we've been using to house misfits and miscreants, so I don't expect much from them. The Ninth Lyran Regulars are on Main Street, which is only one jump away, and I'll move them over to help the Falcons."

  Tormano concentrated for a moment. Each Overlord could carry three dozen BattleMechs. That gave the Jade Falcons a force strength of, at the most, 144. The Twenty-second Skye Rangers Regiment would have an operational strength of approximately 120 'Mech's, but they had older equipment, making them roughly half as combat-worthy as the average Clanner. The Twenty-second Skye Rangers are dead.

  "Might not sending in the Ninth Lyrans be seen as throwing good troops after bad?"

  Nondi Steiner thought a moment before nodding. "It might, but we've got to make a strong response to this aggression. Clan JumpShips and DropShips have showed up at Willunga, Neerabup, and Bucklands. That's a solid thirty-three light-year penetration of our border."

  "Agreed, but that's barely more than one jump from theirs." Tormano would have dismissed the attack as border raiding—it was common enough on both the Clan border and down in the Chaos March that he knew the signs well. Even so, the double-jump required to hit Bucklands made him hesitate. A JumpShip equipped with lithium-fusion batteries could make two jumps before needing to recharge the Kearny-Fuchida jump coils. With the initial jump going into the Lyran Alliance, the second jump could be reserved for a quick retreat if things looked inhospitable.

  At Bucklands that second jump had been sacrificed to move deeper, which could mean the Clans intended to attack the world no matter what the opposition. "Bucklands is undefended?"

  Nondi nodded. "For all intents and purposes. We have a veteran's group there who've fitted machine guns onto AgroMechs, but the Falcons will sweep that resistance aside in seconds. Neerabup has a militia regiment to defend it. Willunga, like Bucklands, has no troops stationed there. The Seventh Crucis Lancers are on Winter and can be moved to contest any of those worlds, but it will take two jumps and about as many weeks for them to arrive."

  Tormano sat at the desk and used the integrated keyboard to call up a holographic map of the Inner Sphere. The initial Clan assault had entered the Inner Sphere at the top of the circle and then gone on to carve a decent-sized wedge out of it—if the map were seen as a clock face the wedge would run roughly from eleven to two. This new probe came in at ten o'clock. If more than a raid, it could be the preface of a renewed assault that would carve another sliver from the Lyran Alliance.

  He typed in a command that expanded the map and isolated the Alliance. He further focused the map down onto the block of worlds that ran from Engadine to the Jade Falcon border, then down to the truce line. It ended at Coventry and Arc-Royal—two worlds well known throughout the Alliance. Coventry was home to one of the larger 'Mech-production facilities in the Inner Sphere and the Coventry Military Academy. The Kell Hounds made their home on Arc-Royal. Either world would be an inviting target for Clan aggression.

  Tormano also noticed that the line from Engadine to Coventry, if continued past the truce line, skewered Tharkad rather neatly. Would they be so bold? A shiver started down his spine, then he shook himself. "Treating this as anything more than a border raid at this point is borrowing trouble."

  "But we must still deal with it."

  "Agreed." Tormano looked through the projected map at Katrina's grand-aunt. "You will be moving the Seventh Crucis Lancers to Bucklands, I assume."

  "Hitting the Clans at their least defensible point is standard doctrine, yes. Bucklands also allows the Lancers to support Trentham, if the Clans shift their attack to that system. In coming from Winter they'll stop at Trentham first, then move to Bucklands." Nondi hesitated. "But dealing with this initial probe isn't the main problem we have here. Deciding how to react in case the Falcons mean to go further is."

  She moved to the right, removing herself from the map's image. "The people of the Lyran Alliance are strong and dedicated to their nation, but we can't rely for help on Victor's military anymore. A renewed effort by t
he Clans against the Lyran Alliance could spark a panic that would make us unable to deal effectively with the threat."

  Tormano smiled and pressed his hands together, fingertip to fingertip. "Even the suggestion of a new invasion could have devastating effects." The merest hint of weakness might prompt Victor to move against the Alliance under the guise of safeguarding its people. Looking from the map to Nondi Steiner, Tormano could sense that she feared the loss of the Alliance's independence in just such a scenario. She knows she would be relieved of command of the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces—and she fears failing at her duties more than she fears personal disgrace.

  Nondi's smile came as a weak imitation of his. "Katrina would think to calm the situation by making a speech telling our people we have nothing to fear."

  "Making meters out of microns, if this proves to be a raid."

  "Precisely."

  "You would prefer a total news blackout from the affected worlds until we have dealt with the situation?"

  Steiner nodded, then crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you think you can convince Katrina that handling this situation with discretion is the best way to go?"

  "I think I can say, without fear of contradiction, that you will encounter no opposition from Archon Katrina in this matter." He poked a finger at the holographic block of worlds in possible jeopardy. "I do want the troops in this area put on some sort of alert. If things do progress further, we'll want to be able to respond."

  "Alerts will make sense for the troops on the border with the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone—they already function on a nearly constant alert basis." Steiner's face darkened. "Notifying the Kell Hounds, on the other hand, might be premature."

  Tormano kept his surprise from his face. Morgan Kell had always been known as a staunch Steiner loyalist, nearly as fanatical in his defense of Steiner interests as Nondi herself. The General apparently viewed Morgan Kell's forming the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon as an act ranking him right up there with the late Ryan Steiner in terms of being hostile. She has a blind spot that could hurt us.

  "I would hope, General Steiner, that events prove you right. As it is, I think Morgan Kell will have his hands full with his ARDC duties. This could, after all, be a feint to draw troops from our border with the Falcons."

  "My thoughts precisely." Steiner nodded toward the map. "The other troops inside your block will step up training. If the attack continues, we'll need to bring up all the troops we can to oppose the Falcons."

  "I will open negotiations with several mercenary units and review troop-shifting plans." Tormano smiled at her. "I think, General Steiner, the Falcons will soon regret their audacity."

  * * *

  The Dales Coventry

  District of Donegal, Lyran Alliance

  Doc Trevena could feel the noose tightening around him. He keyed his radio and sent a tight-beam message out to Leftenant Isobel Murdoch. "Head's up, Bel, they're coming."

  "Then why are we sitting, Doc?"

  "To see if they deal with the surprise of flushing us any better than they have before."

  "Roger. I'll break north."

  "I'm out west. Rendezvous at 325, 43, one hour."

  "Wilco, out."

  Doc smiled. She'll give them a good run. Murdoch's Hunchback moved into Doc's forward firing arc as she prepared to leave the little valley and head north. He shifted his scanners over to magres and caught a hint of metal moving to the west. They're getting better.

  It had been readily apparent to Doc that he needed to fortify his people with some solid survival skills before he started working on anything tricky, like tactics. One rule in 'Mech combat was that a fast-moving 'Mech was a tough target to hit. Luckily for his company, the light 'Mechs they'd been assigned were among the fastest available.

  Of course, a fast-moving 'Mech wasn't an overly reliable gunnery platform. While he needed his people to be able to move quickly, he also wanted them able to hit whatever they shot at. No light 'Mech carried sufficient firepower to bring down a heavy or assault 'Mech, but a lance of them could certainly hurt one of the large machines. If his lances could hit without getting hit back, they might be able to discourage pursuit and even turn a formation by harrying it endlessly.

  Out in the region known to the locals as the Dales—the lightly forested foothills of the Schwartzswerter Mountains north-northwest of Coventry's largest city, Port St. William—Doc had put his people through a month's worth of hide-and-seek exercises. As per their agreement, Quartermaster Leftenant Copley had funneled software and hard-ward upgrades to Two Company first, improving the unit's equipment to the level of most LAAF line units. That boosted the outfit's proficiency somewhat, but they needed a lot more than just what technology could give them.

  The progress they'd made had increased sharply after Doc had won Leftenant Murdoch from Hauptmann Wells in a poker game. He'd put up K2.000 against her transfer on a night when he'd folded in the face of Wells's previous bluffs. Murdoch hadn't wanted to come over to Two Company, but Doc managed to talk her into it by letting her meet his people, then telling her that she was all that stood between them and death. Giving her a slice of his private retirement fund cinched the deal, and since that time she'd pushed Two Company to the limits of their abilities and beyond.

  Catching another blip on his holographic display, Doc started his Centurion heading west. The 'Mech's huge feet churned up the turf and squashed shrubs. He used its enormous arms to bat aside trees, then to keep the 'Mech's balance as he started it up a green hillside. Reaching the crest, he cut to the right and swept the autocannon built into the Centurion's right forearm from left to right.

  The autocannon whined almost deafeningly as it spat out under-powered marker shells. They exploded against the armor of a Locust, covering the green and black plates with a reddish-orange dye. The Centurion's scanners picked up on the stains and translated them into damage on the Locust's computer image on the secondary monitor. The damage was minimal, but for a lightly armored Locust minimal damage could be substantial. In this case the shot blew through the armor on the 'Mech's right torso and tore up most of the support structures there. In actual combat the hit would have all but crippled the Locust, so the onboard computer would hobble it accordingly for the exercise.

  Despite Doc's popping into the middle of their formation, Two Company's- Second Lance didn't panic. The Valkyrie and Jenner both missed him with medium laser shots, but they also had to shoot past the two Locusts blocking the path to his Centurion. The Locusts were luckier, both hitting with their medium lasers and three of their four small lasers, burning armor from over a half-dozen places on his larger 'Mech.

  More important to Doc than their marksmanship—he'd congratulate both Eagan and Nugent on it at the debriefing—was the unit's reaction to his attack. All four light 'Mechs shifted away from his line of attack and turned to be able to fire into his rear quarter. The Locusts moved forward and out toward the flanks, prepared to pace him on either side. If he turned to bring his forward weapons to bear on one, the other had a clean shot at his weaker rear armor.

  Doc cut to his right and brought the Centurion around toward Eagan's damaged Locust. He dropped the targeting cross hairs onto the other 'Mech's oudine and got a red dot pulsing in the heart of the gold cross. Hitting the thumb button and first trigger, he blasted away at the 'Mech with both his autocannon and medium laser.

  And missed cleanly. Damn, they're getting hard to hit.

  The lance fired back and fared little better than he had, though Regina Walford's Jenner hit him twice with her medium laser—once in the back and another time in the head. The head shot depleted enough armor from his cockpit that another medium laser shot could kill him outright. .

  Doc kicked the Centurion to its full speed. Going full out he could beat John Lindsey's Valkyrie in a race. The Jenner and Locusts were faster than his 'Mech, but if they chased after him, they'd leave the Valkyrie behind. He noticed that Lindsey had pulled his 'Mech up short, forcing his lance-mates
to decide if they were going to abandon him or turn back well before they needed to make that decision.

  He nudged the targeting cross hairs beyond the golden lines marking the forward arc of his weapons and swung it onto the form of Eagan's Locust. The Centurion's back-mounted laser stabbed a red beam into the center of the small 'Mech's torso. The computer showed armor dissolving, but the Locust continued on. By choosing to stay on the Centurion's right side, Reggie Eagan kept Doc from taking a clean shot at her damaged right flank—which was exactly the sort of fatal mistake she'd made only two weeks before.

  The Jenner hit with one of its medium lasers and damaged the rear armor on the Centurion's left flank. Eagan hit with one of her Locust's small lasers, vaporizing armor on the 'Mech's left leg. Percy Nugent missed entirely with his spray lasers, and Doc smiled. Almost away.

  Then the Valkyrie let fly with its weapons. Now that Lindsey was no longer moving, his ability to hit a target improved appreciably. The long-range missiles the Valkyrie packed in its left torso launched, and the computer resolved their impact on the Centurion. Doc winced as armor evaporated over the spine and right flank of his 'Mech. Then the Valkyrie's pulse laser chewed through the last bit of armor on the right flank, touching off the LRMs stored in the Centurion's chest.

  Had this been actual combat, the missile explosion would have torn the Centurion apart from within. Doc knew without question that he'd never have had enough time to eject from the damaged 'Mech. There wouldn't have been enough of me left to stain a slide in a pathologist's lab.

  The computer, sensing the 'Mech's destruction, brought the Centurion to a stop, then shut down.

  Sitting there in the darkened 'Mech cockpit, watching one lance of his company assemble before him, Doc smiled. I haven't taught them everything, but I've taught them something.