Masters of War

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Green laser bolts slashed down, illuminating the snow and lighting up a humanoid Spider in the first lance. The lasers burned through armor on the ’Mech’s torso and arms, wreathing it with greasy smoke. A secondary explosion blew structural parts out the right side of its chest. The lasers further melted both arms. The ’Mech staggered drunkenly, then reeled left and fell, crashing through the river’s ice.

  Hollis’ wingman cut a swath through the light ’Mechs; then came the next two pilots. They staggered their runs, both to escape the missiles and lasers coming from the heavy ’Mechs in the center, and to pick out fresh targets. Three more pairs of fighters made runs, killing half the light ’Mechs outright and crippling the rest. As nearly as Alaric could make out, only one was still operational—something called a Falcon—but its armor was in tatters and the pilot was withdrawing quickly.

  “Well done, Star Captain Hollis. You may stand down.”

  “We could maintain combat aero patrol.”

  “Head back to the ship, rearm. If we have intervention from the north, you will be free to launch along with Beta Star.”

  “Understood. Hollis out.”

  Alaric flipped over to the Demons’ communications channel. “I agree with your bargain, Colonel. You retire your light ’Mechs and I will retire my fighters.”

  “You bastard!” All he could see of Colton’s face was her blue eyes flashing from within her neurohelmet. “I will kill you for that.”

  Alaric wished she could see his smile. “Has it occurred to you, Colonel, that my unit now consists of fifty-five ’Mechs, which are pristine, are possessed of superior Clan technology, and effectively outnumber you three to one? You are in the open and your unit likely will not survive another two hours.”

  Her eyes widened. “What is your point?”

  “I will offer you another bargain. It will save two of your companies.”

  Wariness wove through her reply. “How?”

  “Your command lance will fight against me alone. If I win, I take possession of this district and your surviving ’Mechs may travel north to join the Djinns or Stormhammers. If I lose, you retain control of the district. I will declare it neutral.”

  “What if you die in the fight?”

  “The bargain will be supported by my subordinates.”

  Her eyes narrowed again. “How do I know you won’t cheat?”

  The same way I know you will. “It is not in my nature to cheat, Colonel. This is the bargain. You have a minute to decide.”

  “I’ll do it.” She laughed huskily. “Worst bargain you’ve ever made, Clanner.”

  * * *

  No one in the 279th Battle Cluster questioned what he was doing because he was just making formal what would have happened in a melee battle. To validate his skills as a MechWarrior, he would have faced a test in which three ’Mechs would have attacked him in sequence. Killing one or two would be enough to get him into a combat unit. Three would put him in a command position. Four and I can rightfully reclaim my rank.

  He stalked his Mad Cat forward and suffered under no illusions about the difficulty of the task ahead. Colton’s command lance consisted of a Blackjack, a Dervish , her Axman and a Caesar. The Blackjack and Caesar were best equipped to hurt him the most at range. He had no idea how good Colton and her pilots were, but the holo he’d seen of them had not impressed him overmuch. Still, to assume they were bad would put him in great danger, so he accepted they might be as good as he was. Then he set about planning his strategy.

  The Demons came on in a box formation, with the Blackjack and Caesar hanging back and the other two operating within their fire arcs. The Dervish and Axman both had jump jets, which would allow them to soar beyond his position. He’d find himself trapped in the middle of their killing box, and that was not a place he wanted to be.

  He waited as they advanced and slid his crosshairs over the Blackjack’s outline. Numbers scrolled down his holographic display as the stocky ’Mech moved toward him. Finally the golden dot in the center of the crosshairs blinked to life, and Alaric triggered his weapons.

  Two particle projection cannons spat azure beams at the small ’Mech, while a trio of pulse lasers unleashed a storm of angry red energy darts. Two of the lasers missed, but the other boiled away the armor on the ’Mech’s left flank. One of the PPCs likewise missed, carving a black furrow through the snow. Its companion hit, however, and slashed up the Blackjack ’s left leg. Armor sloughed off like dead flesh; then the blue beam stabbed into the hip joint and took the leg clean off. Even as the Blackjack fired back ineffectively, it tottered and slammed to the ground.

  The Dervish launched two flights of long-range missiles, but they scattered harmlessly all around the Mad Cat. Colton managed to hit Alaric’s ’Mech with a large pulse laser, scouring armor from his right flank, and the Caesar used a medium pulse laser to evaporate armor on his ’Mech’s right arm. All their other shots missed, and he put it down to their shock at his having downed the Blackjack.

  Alaric kicked his ’Mech up to speed and cut north toward the river. This put the Caesar farthest from him and put him closest to Colton herself. Silver fire blossomed beneath her ’Mech’s flat feet. Her ’Mech rose on the jump jets and flew southwest, initiating a flanking maneuver. The other two ’Mechs continued on to the west, now forming a triangle with Colton’s ’Mech as the southern point.

  Having his ’Mech in full lope made him harder to hit but also made targeting more difficult for him. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to be calm, then swung his targeting reticule over the Caesar’s hulking form. He held it on target as his ’Mech rose and fell with its birdlike gait. Once the targeting dot pulsed gold, he fired.

  Blue PPC beams sizzled from each of the Mad Cat’s weapons pods. One ablated all the armor from the Caesar’s left flank while the other caressed the left leg, vaporizing two-thirds of the armor protecting it. Only one of the pulse lasers delivered its scarlet energy bolts on target, but did so devastatingly. They lanced through the armor over the ’Mech’s heart. The thermal image of the ’Mech went white, indicating damage to the engine shielding. Moreover, the Caesar shook, suggesting damage to the gyros.

  In that instance it really didn’t matter, however, because the pilot shot back. A PPC beam liquefied armor on the Mad Cat’s right side. It ran down over the leg in a steaming flood that melted snow. Then the gauss rifle in the Caesar’s right side flashed. A silver ball arced out and slammed hard into the Clan ’Mech. It shivered armor from the ’Mech’s right arm, but failed to fully penetrate it.

  Alaric jammed himself back against the command couch and leaned left, countering the impact. Can’t allow my ’Mech to go down. He fought against gravity and by sheer willpower kept the Mad Cat from stumbling.

  Now for the big kill.

  He slowed his ’Mech, then turned straight west before picking speed up again. Colton’s jump had taken her outside her weapons’ effective range, and the Dervish fired, but again scattered missiles and missed cleanly with the lasers. The Dervish’s pilot worried Alaric least of all, and he fully expected Colton to leap closer and bring her ’Mech’s hatchet to bear. It was a purely foolish tactic, but she’d so often bragged of killing Clanners that way, Alaric imagined she’d begun to believe her own rhetoric.

  The Caesar blasted away at the Mad Cat. The gauss rifle ball missed and skipped over the river’s ice. The PPC beam hit Alaric’s ’Mech square over the heart, dissolving armor but doing no other damage. Both pulse lasers laced red energy needles into the Mad Cat. One set stripped the last armor from the right arm, while the other nibbled at the armor on the left.

  Without thought Alaric covered the Caesar with his targeting crosshairs, then tightened up on the triggers. Both blue PPC beams plunged straight into the mercenary ’Mech’s chest, stripping the last of the armor from over its heart. Something exploded within the hellish lightning storm and the big ’Mech wavered. It staggered, then slowly toppled on its back. Seconds later the faceplate expl
oded and the pilot rose on a jet of flame, escaping the dead ’Mech.

  The Dervish pilot got his nerves partially under control and actually hit the Mad Cat with one barrage of missiles. He stripped the last of the armor from the ’Mech’s right flank and chipped away at armor on the left arm, but otherwise did no damage. Colton, coming in at Alaric’s back, sprayed green laser darts over his ’Mech’s left side, evaporating all the armor and burrowing into the torso. She did no further damage, but warning klaxons blared in the cockpit.

  “You’re mine.” Her voice burst over the radio, filling the airwaves with arrogant triumph.

  As you wish.

  Alaric curled his ’Mech back around and drove toward the Axman. He brought his weapons to bear and triggered everything. If this doesn’t work, she’ll pounce and use that hatchet.

  One PPC beam missed wide, but the other scourged all but the last bit of armor from the arm with the hatchet. Had any of the pulse lasers hit that limb, it would have come off. Instead of compounding the damage done by the particle beam, the trio of pulse lasers poured energy into the armor on the Axman’s left arm and flank and the center of the chest. The third weapon found a flaw and punched through, damaging the heavy autocannon nestled in the ’Mech’s torso, but not before Colton fired back.

  The autocannon’s stream of slugs buzzed into the armor on the Mad Cat’s left flank. Had he still had the ’Mech’s back to Colton, that shot would have ripped his ’Mech in half. As it was, with him facing her, the shot only stripped away armor. With its last shell the weapon failed, locking up skyward with black smoke pouring from the muzzle. Colton’s other shots missed wildly, but her ’Mech’s right arm came back, prepared to use the hatchet.

  The Dervish again hit with missiles, this time shattering more armor on the Mad Cat’s back. Alaric held on tight, compensating for the weight shifts as the ’Mech shed armor. Trapped as he was between two ’Mechs, with armor stripped from several locations, he should have felt fear, but something else slipped into its place. It struck him that they could never defeat him because they were mortals, and unworthy.

  And I am a god.

  Time slowed. Alaric kicked the Mad Cat into reverse, driving back toward the Dervish. He swept his crosshairs over the Axman and kept them on target with an ease he had not yet known. The target lock indicator pulsed slowly, and he hit his triggers. Heat spiked through his cockpit, but every weapon hammered the mercenary’s ’Mech.

  One PPC and two of the pulse lasers savaged armor on the ’Mech torso and left leg, but it was the other two weapons that did the most damage. The PPC’s azure caress stripped the last of the armor from the ’Mech’s left arm, then gnawed away at actuators and the ferrotitanium bones. The pulse laser sent crimson bolts ripping through artificial muscle and devoured the last of the internal structures, amputating the arm easily. What was left of the tattered limb bounced on the tundra, raising steam in its wake.

  Whether surprised by his retreat beyond her hatchet’s range or shocked by the loss of her ’Mech’s heaviest weapon, Colton fired back utterly ineffectively. The lasers scattered red and green darts all around, stippling the tundra with little puddles of water. The Dervish brought missiles to bear, scoring armor on the Mad Cat’s right leg and left rear flank. A laser beam stabbed into the ’Mech’s left arm, but failed to breach the armor.

  Alaric glanced at an auxiliary monitor. The armor on his right flank was gone, and severely damaged on the left flank. Likewise the right arm was naked and yet the ’Mech’s firepower remained undiminished. I must finish this now.

  Alaric pivoted the ’Mech on its left foot, driving south on a course perpendicular from the direction his enemies were traveling. He flicked his thumbs down along the joysticks, splitting his crosshairs in two. He covered the Dervish with one, and Colton’s battered ’Mech with the other. Two dots burned to life and he gently stroked his triggers.

  The PPCs spat man-made lightning that hissed through the air and struck the Axman in the chest. The beams cored through the armor on the left flank and center of the chest, then ate into the internal support structures. Half-melted bits of metal bounced from within the cavity and the thermal outline broadened. Alaric could see clean through to the back of Colton’s ’Mech. The mercenary’s war machine staggered and began to fall backward.

  The pulse lasers tracked the Dervish even as the silvery fire of jump jets blossomed at its feet and back. One slagged armor over the ’Mech’s pristine chest, while the other two stripped most of the armor from the Dervish’s left leg. The loss of so much armor shifted the ’Mech’s center of balance. The ’Mech began to twist in the air. The machine’s arms flailed as the pilot tried to correct his flight, but he failed horribly and the ’Mech landed hard on its left leg. The limb jammed up into the hip with a scream of metal, and then the jump jet exploded and the ’Mech crashed onto its right side.

  Before her ’Mech went down, Colton did get off one shot. The medium laser played a red beam over the Mad Cat’s left flank. It melted the last of the armor there, leaving his ’Mech vulnerable. With one more exchange, she and her compatriot could do some serious damage. But do they want to face the fury I will unleash on them?

  The Dervish pilot answered by ejecting from his ’Mech. For a heartbeat Alaric considered tracking the command couch as it leaped away and burning the man from the sky. His ’Mech could have regained its feet and continued fighting, had the pilot not punched out.

  Cowardice should not be rewarded with life, but then, neither should stupidity.

  He turned his attention to Colton’s stricken Axman and covered it with both crosshairs.

  “Would you care to capitulate now, Colonel Colton?” Alaric allowed a hint of contempt to slip provocatively into his voice. “I would allow you to get your ’Mech on its feet again.”

  On the auxiliary monitor he saw her eyes squeeze tight shut.

  Are those tears?

  “No, Star Captain, you win. Our bargain remains.” She shook her head. “I almost had you.”

  “There is no almost in warfare, Colonel. There is only victory or its absence. You did not want to beat me, you wished to humiliate me. You failed. Take that as a lesson.”

  Her eyes opened and she stared hatred at him from the monitor. “What will you do with me? Make me a bondswoman?”

  Alaric, unable to help himself, laughed aloud.

  “How dare you laugh at me?”

  “How dare you presume to be worthy of joining a Clan?” He reached over and slipped the bond cord from his own wrist. “I want nothing more to do with you, Colonel, so you are free to go with the rest of your people. Join the Djinns. You have left your pride and honor here. Come back and you will leave your blood.”

  29

  Makonato, Nusakan

  Former Prefecture IX, Republic of the Sphere

  12 March 3137

  Verena hugged the parka more tightly around herself, but did not pull up the fur-lined hood. The wind numbed her face and sank needles into her cheeks, but she pretended not to notice. She smiled carefully as she stepped from the hovercar, then shucked off a mitten and offered Alaric her hand. “Pleased to see you again, Star Colonel, is it now?”

  Alaric shook her hand warmly, holding it for a second or two longer than necessary. “The pleasure is all mine. Yes, I am now a Star colonel. The khan accepted my destruction of four ’Mechs as a rank test.”

  So that was what happened! “Congratulations on your victory. You won your rank, and I won quite a prize. Twenty-eight ’Mechs is not something many would have given up easily.”

  Alaric shrugged. “It was greed on my part.”

  “Greed?”

  “I wish to fight a pitched battle, as they were fought in the days of the invasion, Clusters against regiments.”

  “I suppose that will depend on the nature of our negotiations.”

  “Indeed, it will. Please, come with me.”

  Verena fell into step with Alaric as the Wolf led the way into what
had been the Demon’s headquarters. His explanation of why he’d taken on Colton’s command lance rang true for her, but had been completely at odds with the media speculation. Sensor data from the various ’Mechs present at the fight had been widely disseminated, and Aynn Colton herself had sold her version of the story for a significant amount of money.

  According to her spin on it, she and her lancemates had not been defeated. They had, instead, engaged in a calculated charade to make the Clanners overconfident. Moreover, the Demons had provided valuable data concerning the strengths of the invaders, all of which would make repulsing them so much easier.

  While her explanation clearly defied logic and belied the holovid evidence, it got wide play in the planetary media and on GIN. Verena understood her employer’s using that version of events because it heightened the drama of the conflict and doubtlessly drew many viewers. While war has long been cast in terms of good versus evil, until the invention of mass media that distinction wasn’t made in real time, and those spreading stories could lie without fear of contradiction. While every MechWarrior watching the battle—even in its most favorably edited version—knew Colton and her lancemates were thoroughly thrashed, the general public was jubilant at the spin that suggested the defeat was part of a larger plan for victory.

  Kennerly had summed it up best. “What Colton’s saying is the equivalent of a guy saying he let a dog maul him to tire the dog’s jaws. It doesn’t wash with anyone who’s got enough neurons to form a synapse.”

  Alaric led her into the ’Mech bay and Kennerly trailed silently in their wake. Even though Verena knew Alaric’s purpose in taking her through the hangar, she could not help but be impressed. They passed between ranks upon ranks of pristine Clan ’Mechs, standing tall and ready for combat. Alaric had brought the entire Cluster, so if she fielded every ’Mech she could scrounge on the planet, she’d outnumber him, but only barely match him in firepower.