Falcon Guard

by Robert Thurston

  "It is."

  Pershaw nodded, then turned toward the door, the half-mask side of his face toward Aidan. It was like watching a puppet moving without strings.

  At the door, Kael Pershaw said, "I hated you once, Aidan Pryde. Now I admire you, though I cannot say when one thing changed to another. Fight well on Tukayyid. These new orders are just right for you. They incorporate your fine skill at improvising. They even allow for the kind of overreaching so typical of you. I believe you will do well."

  Before Aidan could respond, Kael Pershaw had vanished through the doorway. He shuddered again. For all Pershaw's praise, any visit from him still felt like a visit from the lord of death.

  A few minutes later, Horse appeared with the news that the Falcon Guards were assembled and awaiting their commander in the 'Mech bay.

  Entering the bay, Aidan saw that the new Star Captain, Joanna, had been addressing the Guards. The eyes of many warriors showed excitement and anticipation, a shuffling of feet indicating their eagerness to mount their 'Mechs and begin immediately to meet the Com Guards in battle.

  Aidan took his place before them to give his troops their new orders. "You see, Khan Chistu believes again in the Falcon Guards. We must be worthy of that confidence. I once heard of some ancient Terran legends, stories in which a hero must redeem himself after failing in some way. In every legend the hero wins that redemption through valorous actions. Now the Falcon Guards have such an opportunity to redeem the disgrace of Twycross or to erase any stains in our codexes. And it is on the battlefields of Tukayyid that we will do so. Those of us who are here simply because we are older warriors can renew our youth. Those of us whose characters have made us seem unClanlike, chalcas, can show that we are, after all, of the Clan. I tell you now that we are ready. The Jade Falcons are ready and we are the best of the Jade Falcons, quiaff?"

  "Aff," the warriors shouted, almost in unison.

  Horse, standing near Aidan, leaned toward Joanna. "Did you notice?" he whispered. "He is all three categories of the warriors he mentioned. His must be one of the strangest codexes in Clan history. He has been accused of being chalcas. He is reaching the age when warriors are considered old and useless."

  Joanna, older than Aidan, an old warrior herself, sneered at Horse. "Shut up, warrior. Your commander is speaking."

  Hearing the affirmation from these eager warriors, Aidan decided to say no more. He had learned that when the bid was right, one need bid no further.

  The ceremony broke up after Joanna, acting as Lore-master for the unit, led them in some traditional Clan rituals. Aidan walked to the observation post from which he would supervise the descent of Trinary Alpha to the surface of Tukayyid, where its mission was to establish a secure landing zone so that the DropShip could transport the rest of the Falcon Guards to the battlefield.

  MechWarrior Diana touched his arm. "If so many of the Falcon Guards are here because they are aged, insubordinate, or misfit, then why am I here?" she asked. "I am young, loyal, a good Clan warrior. Why am I here?"

  Aidan nearly smiled at her. Perhaps it was her resemblance to Marthe, perhaps it was the sympathy he felt for her warrior style. Whatever it was, Aidan felt right about this young woman. It was not a sexual feeling, but much more like the bond between him and his old friend, Horse.

  "Why am I here?" she asked again.

  "Because I want you here," he said and walked away.

  Diana looked after him. Aidan could not know that she felt for him much the same as he did for her. In that instant all her doubts about him faded. Now she felt right about him. Diana felt right about her father.

  22

  In final assault orbit the Jade Falcon DropShip Raptor sped through the blackness of space. Aboard her, Star Colonel Aidan Pryde looked out the observation port and surveyed the planet where the fate of the Clans' return to the Inner Sphere would be decided, the planet Tukayyid.

  In the officer briefings he had learned that Tukayyid was primarily an agricultural world. Orbital recon sweeps displayed rich fields intricately patterned with varying crops, dense orchards of fruit trees, mountainsides covered with wild berries. Well, neither the Clans nor ComStar would lose the battle because of hunger, that was for certain.

  The Raptor now moved from the sunlit day side to the shrouded night side of Tukayyid, the site of the Falcon Guards landing zone. Meteorological reports indicated that the ground temperature was pleasant, a comfortable 38 degrees C. Aidan could imagine himself standing on one of the rich fields, cooled by a gentle breeze and smelling the grain-scented air. Part of him thought it might be pleasant to shuck off the shell of war and find peace in a pastoral kind of life. Though he had not the slightest interest in the work of farming, the peacefulness of the image was what fed his fantasies of a life in which the machines of war would pass by overhead without touching his countryside.

  But Aidan could not remain long in mere daydreams. He knew how unsuited he would be to a pastoral existence. When he tried to imagine himself milking whatever creatures might need it on this planet, the image was so absurd that the longing for the quiet life deserted him like a stray animal striking out on its own.

  Almost at the same moment, Horse came up beside him. "The DropShip commander reports that the path-finding Trinary will begin launch operations in two minutes. Joanna's Trinary reports that they are secure in their pods and ready. Do you wish to oversee the drop?"

  "I will watch the descent of Joanna's Trinary, but she will have operational control of both the drop and the landing of the Raptor. Why do you smile, Horse?"

  "Your delegation of duties. I like it."

  "You get older, you learn."

  "You get older, you die, too. Either way, there is a mighty accomplishment."

  Aidan shook his head. "I should never have allowed you access to my books. You are showing a dangerous fondness for epigrammatic speech."

  While they spoke, a rumble began to reverberate through the floors of the DropShip as the fifteen BattleMechs of Joanna's Trinary were launched into space. He watched the ablative cocoons containing 'Mechs and their pilots descend from the Raptor and enter Tukayyid's atmosphere. The drop had a certain beauty to it, especially in the darkness. What little light there was reflected off the underside of the Raptor as its main engine continued to burn to allow it to follow the flashes of light that was Alpha Trinary. In fact, an uninformed observer on the ground might have mistaken the flashes for flickering stars instead of the potent Stars they actually were. More flashes came from the several squadrons of aerospace fighters that darted, it seemed, from point to point in a precise pattern—keeping a close guard on the descending pods. Within a minute's time Aidan had lost sight of the Trinary. Within ten Joanna reported.

  "Falcon Guard Trinary Alpha has landed, sir. Area is secured, and marker beacons are up. Your orders."

  Aidan could feel the Raptor buffet a bit as it entered the thick lower atmosphere of Tukayyid.

  "Star Captain Joanna, maintain security around the landing zone. After the Raptor has landed, your orders are to supervise the offloading of the Cluster. Assemble them in Sector VI-C, and I will join you there."

  "Yes, sir. Bravo and Charlie Stars, I want a three-kilometer security zone set up around the LZ. Bravo, prepare to assist in disembarking the incoming BattleMechs. I will transmit deployment patterns shortly."

  Knowing the landing was in good hands, Aidan ordered Horse to his 'Mech in the hold of the ship. Aidan walked alone to his machine.

  Entering the Raptor's 'Mech bay, Aidan approached his own 'Mech, his Timber Wolf. He slowly scrutinized the BattleMech, his attention falling for a moment on its large swooping-falcon insignia. He had ordered that the design be repainted to add an almost luminescent green to the fierce gaze of the falcon's eyes. Its lines had been streamlined, too, according to his orders. The silver paint on the sword the falcon held between its sharp-clawed talons was also designed to gleam. The same image had been duplicated in cloth patches on all the Falcon Guar
d uniforms.

  Aidan liked the falcon's new look. The legendary bird was revived, like the Falcon Guards themselves. He wanted every Com Guard warrior who went down to go with the falcon image in his mind. He wanted survivors to talk about the image as they limped off the battlefield. He wanted the image of the swooping falcon to represent the combat skills of the Falcon Guards. It was a large order, he knew, but he was more and more confident that the Falcon Guards would show their mettle in the battle that loomed so near.

  Aidan thought of how Marthe had called him the jade phoenix after his final Bloodright Trial. She had been trying to say that, like the mythical bird, Aidan kept falling into the fires of failure, then reemerging in strength, a new creature who soared high for a long while before falling again.

  "You see," she had said, "the mythical phoenix had only one chance to rise from the flames; it seems that you, the jade phoenix, continually fall into the flames and reemerge. You failed in your Trial of Position, then were renewed as a freeborn who succeeded. You received poor and insulting assignments, then proved your worth in the Glory Station battle, then you became the phoenix again here in the Trial of Bloodright. Who knows how many times you can fly out from that mythic conflagration?"

  What would she say to his new jade phoenix revival?

  Perhaps Aidan would find out, for Marthe would be commanding one of the Jade Falcon Clusters on Tukayyid.

  With that thought in mind, he let the howdah carry him up to the Timber Wolfs cockpit, where he relieved the tech. Settling into the command couch, easing the neurohelmet onto his head, testing the controls, looking out the viewport at the darkened 'Mech bay and the rest of the silent Falcon Guard BattleMechs, Aidan felt as if everything in his life were right. No jinxed Timber Wolf could prevent another rise of the jade phoenix.

  23

  The Falcon Guards were deployed for an advance across a wide expanse of flatland free of the strange thorny grasses that covered much of Prezno Plain. Aidan was impressed, never in memory having seen a BattleMech mustering as clean-lined and militarily correct as this one. Though Summer Mandaka's death had been unfortunate and wasteful, it had given him the opportunity to reassign Joanna to the Cluster, something he had intended to do from the moment he took command of the Falcon Guards. The job she had accomplished in shaping up the Falcon Guards in so little time was probably just short of a miracle.

  After years as a warrior who sometimes forgot that he was not alone in the field, Aidan had finally learned that delegation was the key to command. The thought made him smile inwardly. The young Aidan would never have considered assigning someone else to conduct training. He would have done it himself—and likely have been less successful. Joanna, whose natural antipathy toward almost everyone she met kept her from becoming entangled in inconvenient alliances, could stir up experienced warriors with the same methods she had used to turn cadets into warriors.

  He recalled his own cadet days. Back then, how many times he would gladly have murdered Joanna in her sleep had he been given the chance. Joanna never let up or relented. And the cadets she rode the hardest and for whom she reserved her most priceless invective were the ones with the best chance of succeeding.

  The 'Mech Stars were lined up in two echelons, the advance guard and the main body. The mixed 'Mech and Elemental Trinary Delta was in front, dispersed as skirmishers. Next came the Stars of Trinary Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie, formed up as a column with the single Nova Star of Trinary Echo, whose remaining Elementals were arranged in Star formation on each of the column's flanks. To the rear of the main column was the one remaining Star of Trinary Alpha 'Mechs, commanded by Star Captain Joanna. With her were the four 'Mechs of Aidan's Falcon Guard Command. In the darkness of the plain, the Elementals were like tall stalks of grass rising around the feet of the assembled 'Mechs. All told, 60 BattleMechs and 150 Elementals waited for Aidan to give the order to advance.

  Their objective cities were Olalla and Humptulips, and they would begin their march toward them the moment the rest of the Jade Falcon Clusters and the command group had formed up. The Clan Command Center had planned a rather straightforward march to the Prezno River, where they expected to engage the Com Guards. Beyond the river were the two cities that would decide the battle, Olalla about twenty kilometers to the northeast, Humptulips a few kilometers northwest of the river.

  The operation looked simple enough on the battle charts and plans, the kind of direct engagement the Clans favored. Yet Aidan knew that the Inner Sphere forces had at times won battles against the Clans precisely because they were specialists at indirect engagement. They could employ the kind of sly, tricky strategies that Clan warriors scorned and therefore did not expect. Yet in the battle for Glory Station, Aidan had borrowed the same kind of hit-and-run tactics that Clan warriors usually considered dishonorable, and they had won the day. It may have been just such an improvisation that had persuaded Khan Chistu to give Aidan and the Falcon Guards free reign in the coming battle. Aidan's success with deceptive tactics, especially when the odds were hopelessly against him, was unusual among Clan commanders.

  It was time to join his Cluster. Leaning slightly toward his headphone, and shaping its flexible metal cord to draw the mike closer to his mouth, he radioed Joanna. "Relieving you, Star Captain," he said.

  "Sir, your transmission was disrupted. Some kind of static. Adjust. Repeat."

  Aidan touched the microphone. Twisting the head, he tightened it. "Any better, Star Captain?"

  "Aff. No glitches."

  "I am taking command of the Guards."

  "Roger, Star Colonel."

  Aidan began his Timber Wolf moving forward. Was he mistaken, or did he detect a small, almost infinitesimal, delay in the response of the 'Mech's right leg when he depressed the right-foot pedal to turn the 'Mech toward the command lineup? Probably his imagination, he thought.

  Coming up beside Joanna and her Mad Dog, he ordered everyone to review the terrain between here and the Prezno River on their primary screens. When he punched up his own data, however, the logistical charts came onscreen instead.

  "Is something wrong, Star Colonel?" Joanna asked.

  "I must have entered the wrong code." He punched the code once more. "There, that is better."

  As he instructed his Cluster on the terrain, reviewing combat opportunities and ambush threats, the entire left side of the primary-screen image flashed on and off in an irregular rhythm. The distortion did not interfere with his briefing, but it made him uneasy.

  After the briefing, Aidan began a normal checkoff on all controls. Nothing unusual until he pressed the button to display his armor status on his secondary screen. What he saw made Aidan draw in his breath so sharply that Joanna must have heard him over the commline.

  "Is everything all right, Star Colonel?" Joanna asked again.

  "Everything except that my display is saying that most of my torso armor has been blasted away. Red spots all over the chest and flashing. I may be down before we proceed from muster. Let me check again." When he touched the button once more, the onscreen information showed the proper prebattle armor configurations. "All right. My 'Mech is still functional, after all."

  "It is that Timber Wolf. " Horse broke in. "The jinx. I told you about it."

  "What is wrong with the commander's Timber Wolf?" Joanna asked.

  Aidan did not let Horse explain about the legends attached to this 'Mech that had changed pilots so many times in recent years.

  "That is all superstition," he said abruptly. "And this is no time for talk of tales and legends. Any 'Mech can have a glitch or two, and these are probably not even glitches. I am a bit eager for battle, that is all. My fingers hurry too much. The techs have checked out this 'Mech without finding anything wrong. It will be fine once we get into battle. Now, let us check the internal-damage screen."

  As the rest of the checkoff went without a hitch, Aidan wondered if there was something to what Horse said about the bad luck this BattleMech could bring. On the
other hand, how could it bring him luck any worse than he had already experienced in his career as a Clan warrior? Its defects, if they could be called that, were merely mechanical. No MechWarrior worth his salt was fazed by mechanical defects. In a BattleMech, the pilot had either an alternate control or configuration for any malfunctioning unit.

  It was foolishness to attribute the Timber Wolfs mechanical oddities to some eerie expression of the 'Mech's personality. 'Mechs had only what their pilots gave them. And, Aidan vowed, he would get this one under control if it killed him. Then he shuddered at his own thought. What a weird idea—as if a 'Mech could turn on its pilot. He had to purge such superstitions. There was no point to them, especially with an important battle waiting to be fought.

  24

  The city of Olalla, or at least those parts of it for which Aidan had been able to obtain intelligence, wavered on his main screen. This time it was not a 'Mech deficiency; the image was wavering on the screens of all the Falcon Guard pilots. The data was insufficient, creating gaps that in turn made the image unsteady. Pieces of the city seemed to want to close with other sections, as if the computer denied the missing parts. The projection for Humptulips was even less informative.

  All briefings complete, the Falcon Guards could only sit and wait for the operation to begin. The last Drop-Ships had deposited their valuable cargo onto Prezno Plain, and all battle Clusters were assembled. Even the night seemed in readiness, darker than before. Yet the command to move did not come.