Mulvaney was rising slightly, trying to back up to keep Loren in front of her. I can't fight her using a normal attack. She's too foxy for that. If I want to take her down, I've got to do it in the water. I have to take us both down. Loren remembered his grandfather the day he had told the young Loren of his father's death. Corwin Jaffray had spoken of his own experiences fighting underwater and that the risks were great. Loren had since learned them firsthand, each time having to face down his fear anew. This time the fear was stronger than ever.
He began the rapid descent at the same time Mulvaney pushed the Marauder upward, the two BattleMechs colliding in mid-air over the deep waters of the Tilman River. As soon as they made contact Loren seized the Marauder II in a death hug, then cut off his jump jets totally. It was a bold move bordering on suicidal but did succeed in catching Mulvaney off guard. Her jump jets could support one 'Mech but never two. The two massive war machines dropped into the deep waters of the Tilman River with a thundering splash.
The combined impact first with Mulvaney and then the water tossed Loren's body to the limits of the seat restraints in his cockpit. The shoulder buckles dug deeply into his flesh and he thought for a moment that he might have dislocated his shoulder. The bubbling water and rush of mud and dirt outside his 'Mech cut visibility down to less than a meter. He was entwined with Mulvaney and the two of them were still dropping straight down, plunging toward the bottom of the river.
By the time they hit bottom, Mulvaney's Marauder II was on top of him, driving the Gallowglas like a stake into the deep mud and broken rocks of the river bottom. Warning lights on his secondary monitor told Loren that the landing had ruptured his 'Mech's right leg and that the jump jets there were registering as off-line. Damn, no quick way out of here even if I was able to get to standing.
Crushed between the bulk of the Marauder II and the river bottom, he tried to check his targeting and tracking systems but found them quirky, going on and off line and unable to get a lock. They'd landed in a deep chasm in the middle of the river, the steep walls around them only eight meters apart and at least twenty meters high. So that was how Mulvaney and her force had remained hidden so long. The steep drop-off to the river bottom was more than enough to cloak her forces. From the ledge up above they could simply walk out of the water.
With all his strength Loren worked the throttle, foot pedals, and joysticks of the Gallowglas, hoping to roll the Marauder II off of him. The temperature in the cockpit was stifling despite the cooling river all around him and he strained against the controls to get his 'Mech free. Mulvaney's bird-like Marauder punched wildly trying to stand upright, in the process digging several deep gouges into his torso armor and further entangling the two 'Mechs.
All Loren's efforts to free himself failed. Each time he managed to move, kick, or punch at Mulvaney he took damage himself. Is this what it was like for my father? Was he trapped like I am now? And a deeper thought tore at Jaffray as he struggled. Did he think of me?
He saw three possibilities. One was to continue this slow grinding wrestle on the river bottom until either he or Mulvaney managed to cripple the other or flood the other's cockpit. The second was to begin firing wildly at the Marauder entangled on top of him. His large lasers and medium pulse lasers could hardly miss at point blank range. But Mulvaney would be forced to respond in kind. While her PPCs were too close to use, she still carried more than enough of an arsenal to send him to a watery grave. She must be having the same thoughts because she's held her fire thus far as well. Neither of us wants to die here.
No, the first two options were not viable. Most reassuring, Loren felt that for the first time Mulvaney wanted him to live as well. He knew that they were two sides of the same coin, he and Chastity. Together they were honor. Each fulfilled it in their own way. She sought to honor what she believed was the true heritage of the Highlanders. Loren sought to fulfill the honor of succeeding in his mission for the Chancellor.
"Mulvaney, this is Jaffray," he said into his microphone. The audio system crackled from the interference and the powerful magnetic pull of the rock formations nearby.
"I was wondering how long it would take you to call," she replied cockily.
"We're both mired down here. If we work together we can get free."
"Agreed." Her tone of voice was flat. Loren could feel the anger and frustration in that single word.
Best to lower the tension—for now. "My congratulations on your ambush. You won this one." He tried to fill his voice with sincerity, like a knight of old saluting a fellow warrior.
"I can't take all the credit. Marshal Bradford thought this would grind your pursuit to a halt. But enough small talk, Major. We work together to get free, then we settle this like warriors."
Loren ignored her challenge. Marshal Bradford? That had to be Harrison Bradford, commander of the Third Royals. Part of being a Death Commando was to study one's foe and Loren knew all the names and postings of the Federated Commonwealth's general officers. "What do we do first?" he asked, adjusting the sensors to compensate for the distortion from the ledge.
"Let's get standing and then go to the surface. I've already spent two hours under water waiting for you to arrive. And I've got to admit I have no desire to see the results of a cockpit hit under these conditions, if you catch my drift."
"I do. I wouldn't look forward to a cockpit rupture down here either, but I assure you it wouldn't be me who took the hit."
"Don't get too bold, Loren. I have no intention of losing to you in combat again. If anyone was to die down here, it would be you."
Loren bit his lower lip. Perhaps this is how my father perished. Maybe it's better to battle to the end than cooperate with a foe, no matter what the risks. He wanted to tell her off, rebut her challenge, but knew it would not end the matter. There was never merit in pressing a bad position, and she did outgun him considerably. This is not how it's going to end, not for this Jaffray. "Let's can this macho crapola. We work together for now. If you want to settle this, let's do it on the surface where the odds are even."
"Fine. You stay still and I'll direct," Mulvaney replied. Her Marauder stirred up the mud and muck on the river bottom as she strained to rise, this time not having to fight resistance from Loren's Gallowglas.
"Raise your right arm at the shoulder, keep the elbow straight," she ordered. Loren complied and heard a scraping as her left arm pulled free from behind his 'Mech's back. "Now lift your right leg slightly and move it to the outside at the knee." Again Loren complied silently and Mulvaney's 'Mech finally rose to its feet, though it was nearly impossible to see.
Loren once again began the struggle to get the Gallowglas upright, and found the effort much less strenuous without Mulvaney crashed on top of him. His 'Mech also rose to its feet and faced her. In the dim light and the swirling mud of the current the Marauder II looked like some sort of mythical sea monster. It was perfectly framed by the high walls of the deep chasm into which they'd plunged.
Loren's secondary sensors flared bright red warnings as he squared off against her. Power readings showed energy being charged to her PPCs. She was not waiting to reach the surface. She was going to fire any moment. He reached up to charge his medium pulse lasers, praying that they would cycle before she fired. Then he began to throttle the Gallowglas back, fighting the dark unseen current. At this range her PPCs will be useless unless she kills the field inhibitors. He'd let her get the upper hand, but it was too late to regret the mistake.
"You caused all of this, just as I knew you would." She lifted her massive PPCs, aimed and fired them at the high chasm walls. Loren struggled to turn the Gallowglas so he could move out of the chasm. Again, too late. Chastity triggered the weapons, sending azure beams stabbing into the walls of the underwater chasm. The water in the particle stream vaporized in a wave of hot jetting steam and bubbles that rocked Jaffray in his seat and battered the Gallowglas as it continued to fight the current. Two milliseconds later the rocks exploded on both sides of L
oren's 'Mech, sending boulders and close to a ton of debris down onto his machine. He tried to move but found himself tightly wedged in. It would take several precious minutes to get free. In the meantime he was a perfect target.
"Damn it, Chastity! What in the name of hell are you doing?" Determined not to go down without a fight, Loren raised his PPC and locked his crosshairs onto Mulvaney as she back away. Too close! He fired but the shot went wide. The charged particles hitting the cool water lit up the river bottom like the noonday sun. But only for an instant. A heartbeat passed and blackness surrounded him once more.
"This will have to end now. A matter on the surface requires my attention," Mulvaney said coldly. "You can die here and put an end to your line now, or you can try and follow me. Either way, you'll never be a Highlander ... not as long as I live."
Her message ended in a deadening hiss of static as she started the climb out of the deep underwater valley toward the surface. Loren barely heard her last words. "I want you to know that I could finish you once and for all right now. So, consider this repayment for our fight at The Pub, Jaffray. Next time you choose the place and I'll choose the time. But know this, I can and have beaten you."
"Mulvaney!" Loren cried, but she was already gone. He scanned the bottom of the river and located a way up, a slow and audacious climb. It took a fully twenty minutes for Loren to finally get his Gallowglas to the surface of the Tilman. All during the climb Loren ruminated over what had just occurred far beneath the surface of the Tilman. What he'd thought was going to be a life and death struggle had turned out to be nothing of the sort. Mulvaney had simply toyed with him to prove that she could.
Reaching the surface he looked around at what was left of the battle zone. The renegade Highlander Mauler stood knee-deep in the river, bent over at a right angle like a broken toy soldier. The 'Mech's arm lasers were gone and its torso was horribly battered. The pilot was still alive, slowly climbing down the leg ladder into the arms of Huff's infantry. The rest of MacLeod's forces were fanned out all across the Tilman, but the fighting was long over. Fuller's Security Lance was hard to find, but Loren spotted it through the cloud of smoke that had been three Galleon and two Pegasus vehicles.
"Command Security Four reporting," Loren transmitted as he and the Gallowglas made their way toward his lancemates. Moving forward he saw that the whole lance had taken damage. Some, like Frutchey, had apparently suffered more than others. But all he could think was, I did it. Where my father failed, I survived. This time at least, history did not repeat itself.
"Where in the name of Aleksandr Kerensky have you been?" Lieutenant Fuller demanded, as much from concern as irritation.
"Mulvaney and I had an encounter at the bottom of the river. She left me pinned down there. What happened up here?"
"The Consul Guard reinforcements did some heavy damage after you left. We pulled into the clearing with Huff's force, and discovered it was mined. Huff's 'Mech has all but lost its right leg, and two of his lance lost their 'Mechs. Mulvaney crawled out of the river and caught us off guard. Hell, we thought you were dead. She arrived just in time to lead them out of here. I wanted to pursue, but Major Huff said that without intelligence feed from our satellites we'd be risking running into another ambush."
"Damnation," Loren said as he looked around at the battered hulks in the clearing where the mines of Mulvaney's trap had been set. Both were light 'Mechs, but everything from the waist down was missing. The mines were a good trick on her part. Destroy the BattleMechs but let the MechWarriors live. She had honored her code and word.
"You were gone for some time," Fuller asked slowly. "What happened?"
"We 'negotiated.' She let me know that she could beat me if she wanted to," Loren said slowly.
"Let me make sure that my gyro's still balanced. You two collide in mid-air in the middle of an ambush, drop to the bottom of a river while a battle rages above you, and you talk?"
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
*'She said that the next time I could call the shots." And she's right. Next time we meet it will be on my terms. "And something else. She mentioned a name."
"What name?"
"Marshal Bradford. And unless something has changed in the past few days, that means we're facing the veteran forces of Victor Davion's Third Royals Regimental Combat Team as well as those NAIS troops that hit us last night."
"A full RCT, here, on Northwind?"
Loren watched as one of the burning Galleons spewed a cloud of dark black smoke into the bright morning sky. "Probably not yet, but one thing's for sure, before long it's going to get pretty interesting around here."
24
Federated Commonwealth Consulate Building Tara, Northwind
Draconis March, Federated Commonwealth
4 October 3057
Consul Drake Burns nervously read through the morning's diplomatic messages at his desk as he had done dozens of times before. With MacLeod's Highlanders off in pursuit of his Consul Guards he felt safe and secure in the neutrality of Tara. The families of the Northwind Highlander regiments had, for the most part, avoided trouble and confrontation. Sleep had been hard to come by for the Planetary Consul, though. He had always envisioned his posting to Northwind as a kind of pastoral vacation. Now it had become a nightmare of revolution and possible retaliation. Burns knew that he would not be able to sleep until MacLeod and his people had finally submitted to Prince Victor's rule, and that seemed like years away.
The briefings of the status of the war did nothing to ease his state of mind. The secession by the former Lyran Commonwealth was literally breaking the spine of most of the Federated Commonwealth garrison units posted there. Many units were splitting apart, while others chose to fight for one side or the other. These conflicts would eventually peter out, but in the process the Federated Commonwealth was fragmenting.
Adding to the politics was the fact that Sun-Tzu Liao had transmitted an announcement that he was granting Northwind the same independent status as he had for the Wolf Dragoons' world of Outreach. It was a blatant attempt to incite trouble, that much Burns knew for sure. But one way or another Northwind was now the center of many forces pulling at it in different directions. The only good thing was that MacLeod wouldn't get word of Liao's pronouncement immediately.
So deep in these thoughts, Burns never heard Lepeta enter the office until the door closed behind him. Stephen Lepeta was Drew Catelli's aide and was fdling in while Catelli was off fighting MacLeod. While Drake Burns disliked the Colonel, he found something downright eerie about Lepeta, something dark and brooding. The Consul feared him more than anyone else on staff, but Catelli had always managed to keep Burns from dismissing him.
Some of what Burns found so disturbing in Lepeta was his pale, emotionless expression. Some was his choice of clothing, which always included a long black riding coat. The fact that Lepeta worked directiy for Colonel Catelli was the worst part, for the man obviously had neither respect nor regard for Burns but total loyalty to Catelli.
"Good morning, Consul," Lepeta said in his dull monotone.
"Mr. Lepeta, in the future please knock before entering my office," Burns snapped, irritated by the man's stealthy ways.
"It won't happen again," Lepeta replied coldly. "I assume that you've looked over the dispatches this morning?"
"I reviewed them prior to your arrival this morning. The war is not going well for Prince Victor. Both Marik and Liao are hitting our worlds with overwhelming force. Some of our units are holding out well for now, but it's only a matter of time,"
"Indeed. I am trying to have more faith than you and Colonel Catelli. And what is the word from the field? Has our esteemed Colonel managed to evade Colonel MacLeod yet?"
Lepeta seemed almost bored with his duty of reporting. "According to the message from the field that we decoded just a few minutes ago, the expected reinforcements will be arriving in-system today. Colonel Catelli is confident his task force will reach The Castle this after
noon, according to plan. Colonel MacLeod's force is still in pursuit and will not engage our people until after they reach The Castle, far too late to interfere with our plans."
"Excellent! The reinforcements, these Third Royals, where will they be deployed?"
"The force will land here at the spaceport as soon as the breakout from The Castle begins. Once they secure Tara they will deploy to destroy the Highlanders."
Burns' face immediately flushed beet red. "Here, in Tara? You must be mistaken, Lepeta. We've promised Colonel MacLeod and his Highlanders that Tara will remain neutral. Landing that RCT here is a direct violation of that agreement. Is Marshal Bradford aware that such an action will only invite a response from the Highlanders? Perhaps I'd better speak to him directly."
Lepeta nodded slightly, his head bowed slightly and his shoulders slouching. "Marshal Bradford has told Colonel Catelli that he wants his troops garrisoned within Tara. I think it's safe to say that by the time the Third Royals begin their landing on Northwind, the situation in Tara will demand that they land here. By then the Highlanders will already have broken the agreement to treat the city as neutral, and Marshal Bradford will be forced to order the Davion forces to hold Tara for its own protection."
"What are you talking about?" Burns demanded hotly. "Have you learned of some plot or trick on the part of the Highlanders? Are we in some sort of danger? Does Catelli know something I don't?" Drake Burns knew that Drew Catelli had once been a member of MHO, the Federated Commonwealth's intelligence corps. The thought that he might be withholding information was not a new one, but that didn't make the Consul any less nervous.
Lepeta pulled the Sunburst pulse laser pistol from a hidden fold of his long riding jacket and leveled it at Consul Burns. Drake Burns stared back, his mouth dropping open in disbelief. In that instant Lepeta pulled the trigger slowly and smoothly, sending three bursts of laser light squarely into the forehead of the Planetary Consul. Burns' body was flung back against the leather chair. It slumped there lifelessly to one side without the man ever fully understanding the plot in which he'd become a mere pawn.
Highlander Gambit Page 21
