Watching all this on her primary screen, which squeezed together the details of the scene to give a wider survey of it, Diana saw an Elemental break away from the pontoon cable that was his assignment. Shucking off his body armor with remarkable quickness, the now-naked Elemental ran toward the river bank. She saw that it was the Elemental she knew, Star Commander Selima.
* * *
Selima had studied the bridge-building with a scholar's detachment. It was just this curiosity about how anybody did anything that had helped him rise rapidly through the Elemental ranks to officer status.
When the disaster on the bridge occurred, Selima did not take time to think. That was not in his nature. A Clansman needed help. Warrior or tech, it did not matter. He let go the cable.
He ran toward the riverbank, the slight breeze off the river acting like a cooling vest on his skin. When almost there, he saw the engineer's grasp on the cable slip as the bridge piece shifted. The man slipped further down the cable and nearly fell off. The fall slid him away from the outstretched hands of would-be rescuers on the bridge itself.
It was just as Selima reached the riverbank that the man lost his grip on the bridge cable for the final time. Screaming, he fell into the chasm, landing first on the side of a pontoon, then falling away into the frenzied waters.
Selima dived into the river, his long body arched into a perfect swan dive. He entered the water with the smoothness of an athlete. Remaining underwater, he swam easily for several meters before surfacing near the pontoons. The people on the bridge gestured and pointed toward the spot where the engineer was last seen, his head emerging above water for the third time.
With quick strokes, Selima swam to that area, then dove underwater again. Using his keen eyesight, he scanned the area all around, up and down. He immediately spotted the drowning man, sinking downward, his body slack. The breath Selima had been holding all this time began to press painfully against his lungs, begging for release. As he let out just a bit, the bubbles tickled the skin of his face as they danced upward.
Fighting the underwater current with his tremendous strength, Selima reached the drowning man with swift, even strokes. Irrational resistance from the victim would be no problem for he was now unconscious. Grabbing him under the shoulders and holding one hand over the man's nose and mouth to reduce the swallowing of water, Selima used his powerful right arm to stroke upward toward the surface. Letting out his own breath shallowly, he felt the river try to push him back. But he overcame its resistance as easily as he might overcome an enemy infantryman.
When Selima finally broke surface and pushed the victim into the air, other Elementals on the shore cast a cable out to him. He grabbed it and let his comrades pull them to shore. The engineer did not seem to be breathing. Reaching the shore, Selima yelled to the others to bring him his battle suit.
As he pulled the engineer onto the bank, he saw the man's face turning blue while his body remained limp. Once they were both out of the water and up the bank, Selima told one of the Elementals from his Star to hold wide the opening of the suit. Lifting the body from the bank, he virtually dunked the engineer into the Elemental armor. Immediately the battle suit's medical diagnostic system began to operate, diagnosing the problem and pumping stimulants into the engineer. It was only moments before the man's body jerked suddenly and he began to breathe. Selima glanced up at an engineer officer who had just arrived at the scene.
"Works a bit quicker than mouth to mouth, quiaff?" Selima said.
* * *
"An attractive rescue," said Kael Pershaw unexpectedly.
Aidan was beginning to hate the way the voice erupted out of nowhere, just when he was concentrating on something else. Clan warriors were trained to react to sudden events, but nothing in any training or any manual prepared a warrior for a disembodied voice in the cockpit of his 'Mech.
"Are you sure? What if the Elemental had drowned? Was the life of a mere engineer worth the risk? The bridge will be built no matter how many engineers are sacrificed to its construction. But the life of that Elemental could mean the difference between victory or defeat in battle."
Kael Pershaw made a sound that might have been laughter, might have been scorn. From what he knew of Pershaw, Aidan opted for scorn. "I merely said the rescue was attractive," Pershaw said evenly. "I did not say it was necessary. Still, it shows the courage you have instilled in your Falcon Guards, and that is worth something to your codex. I checked the codex of this Elemental, by the way. His name is Selima. He can always be counted on to risk his life, even in such trivial situations as this. He is not like other Elementals, except in his wonderful fighting skills. In all other ways—his gentleness, his foolish risks—he is unlike most of his kind. In the same way a certain Clan warrior I know is not like other Clan warriors."
"All right, Kael Pershaw, you have made your clever point. Is that why we are speaking again?"
"Neg. My purpose at present is to give you new orders. Cancel that. Certainly I cannot give you orders. I may only suggest possible modes of action that might conceivably assist the Clan cause, then implore you to accept them."
"You are getting doddering in your old age, Kael Pershaw." The reference to Pershaw's age was a calculated insult, and the gruff sound that filled the cockpit told Aidan the barb had hit its mark. "Tell me now what you expect from us. The Falcon Guards will serve the Clan."
"Those are the words that send shudders up a warrior's spine. An old warrior's spine. Aidan Pryde, you and the Falcon Guards will be joined by Marthe Pryde's unit at a point four kilometers from where you now stand. The engineers at Plough Bridge have had too many disasters, and we are abandoning that bridge. The combined unit, under your command, will proceed to Olalla. Your mission is to take the city for Clan Jade Falcon by any means possible. We are concentrating our efforts on that city only. Once it is ours, we will mount an assault on Humptulips. Any questions, Aidan Pryde?"
"How does the battle for Tukayyid proceed elsewhere?"
"Better for you not to know. Clan Wolf will be dropping down soon, if that is any indication." It was. The other Clans had hoped to be victorious on Tukayyid before the despised Clan Wolf could enter the fray.
"When are the Falcon Guards to leave Robyn's Crossing for Olalla?"
"Immediately. Robyn's Crossing is not under imminent threat. Soon the end of the bridge will be close enough to the other shore for the 'Mechs equipped with jump jets to use it as a way over, much like your Operation Skipping Stone. The supply depot is already one-third built, and the bridge will soon be completed. It will not be long before the bridge and supply depot are well-defended by the Fifth and Ninth Falcon Clusters. Your troops will attempt to lay siege at Olalla. Reinforcements will arrive within hours. I suggest you organize your Falcon Guards, re-arm yourselves with the first supplies brought in for the new depot, and get on the move."
Again the voice went away abruptly. Aidan first scanned the area to test whether Kael Pershaw's evaluation was accurate, and not just misty words from a Specter. Then he informed Star Captains Joanna and Jula Huddock that the Falcon Guards would be moving out immediately.
* * *
MechWarrior Diana nearly shouted with glee at the new orders. Visions of glory at Olalla invaded her mind. She tried to shake them, but she was a Clan warrior, and a Jade Falcon one at that—a proud member of Pryde's Pride. How could she not dream of glory?
34
If Olalla had not been one of the two predetermined Jade Falcon objectives, according to the agreement between ComStar and the ilKhan, no self-respecting military outfit would have wanted it as a target. Surrounded by hills and laid out in an ugly, patternless sprawl across a pallid stretch of Prezno Plain, it displayed no purpose. According to intelligence reports, Olalla was a marketplace for harvested crops. Indeed, it possessed a number of areas that no doubt served as large open-air markets when the planet was not under invasion. But the buildings around these areas were gray and dull-looking, their windows dirty, the roo
f shingles hanging at odd angles. Few streets were paved, and Olalla looked old and somehow unfinished.
Like me as a warrior, thought Star Commander Jula Huddock, gazing down from a hill onto Olalla. She would never speak such a thought aloud, however. Jula Huddock rarely talked at all. If addressed by a superior officer, she responded in crisp military style. When she needed to communicate with subordinate warriors or techs, she did so efficiently, wasting no words, in a series of short sentences.
Other warriors said that Jula Huddock spoke best with her weapons. She rarely wasted a shot or used a missile ineffectively. Even age had not diminished her abilities. Upon taking command of the Falcon Guards, Aidan had been impressed by her codex, enough to wonder briefly if the Clans were wise to relegate old warriors to lesser roles. In a way, Jula Huddock's assignment to the Guards had prolonged her career as a warrior. On the verge of reassignment to a training unit on Ironhold, she had been reclaimed for real combat when older warriors had been recruited to fill out the slots in the Falcon Guards.
As always, she was ready to do her best in the coming battle.
But where was the battle? In front of the Falcon Guards was an unsightly little city that seemed abandoned and unimportant. No ComStar 'Mechs were about, no evidence of any firepower in service to Olalla. Scanners detected no BattleMech activity in the surrounding area.
Jula Huddock tensed, awaiting the moment when the order would come to fire, launch, jump, or die.
* * *
"Do you think they are ceding Olalla to us?" Aidan asked Horse.
"Why? Because we demolished their forces at the bridge? Not likely."
"Remember," Joanna said, "the Com Guards are in the habit of attacking from ambush. Maybe they are concealed down there."
"I see no building big enough to hide a 'Mech," Marthe said. "And the buildings look too old to be recent camouflage."
"I agree," Aidan said. "What is your view, Jula Huddock?"
"I sense danger, but do not know why."
"MechWarrior Diana?"
There was a delay as Diana reacted with surprise at being addressed at all. Her being a new warrior and a freeborn, why would anyone want her opinion?
"Perhaps we should go in and take a look around," she said.
"That may be just what they want us to do," Horse commented. "Especially if Star Captain Joanna is right about the possibility of ambush."
"I am surprised to hear you agree with me, MechWarrior Horse. We were such enemies once."
"In a situation like this, the past is prologue."
"An interesting phrase. A freeborn phrase?"
"In a way."
Only Aidan would know that Horse was quoting from one of the books in their secret library.
"I believe it would be a mistake for the entire unit to enter Olalla. One Star will go on ahead, while the rest of us cover their advance. Volunteers?"
The commline was in commotion as all the Star commanders volunteered.
"Sir?" It was the soft voice of Jula Huddock after the voices of the rest had died down.
"Yes, Star Captain?"
"I recommend my Star be chosen. We are the only intact Star in all the Falcon Guard Trinaries. All others lost BattleMechs to combat, the breakwater, the jump across the Prezno. We are the only Star that still has five BattleMechs functional."
This might have been the most anyone had ever heard Jula Huddock speak at one time. Aidan realized for the first time that the woman had a beautiful voice, deep and with an earthy sound to it. It went so well with the worldly knowledge in her eyes.
"Well-bargained and done, Star Commander Jula Huddock. Proceed."
"Gladly. Alpha Heavy, forward echelon right, twenty meters apart."
Jula Huddock's Executioner led the way toward the city. She was followed, in order, by the 'Mechs of MechWarriors Alyn, Lan, Eleny, and Crocco. They made a pretty picture, Aidan thought, as each 'Mech in the diagonal line kept an even distance from the others. Joanna had trained all the Falcon Guards well in all aspects of Clan warrior discipline, and her skill showed continually in everything the Guards did.
All around them the landscape was darkening. The sun had just about disappeared behind the distant mountains, and lengthening shadows slowly erased the finer details of the landscape. The dull-colored city of Olalla lost even more definition and became an odd blend of grays and browns.
Where had the ComStar forces gone?
* * *
As Jula Huddock and her Star crossed into the city, she was more certain than ever that Olalla had never been meant for a defense. It was designed all wrong. It did not even possess city walls. It was an open city, accessible from all directions.
Up close the buildings of Olalla were no better-looking than from a distance. If anything, they looked worse. Even through the Executioner's small viewport, one could see the architectural decay of the place. Buildings were chipped, peeled, or full of jagged holes. Broken glass, rubble, and other debris littered the streets. Had anybody ever lived in Olalla?
* * *
"Something is wrong down there," Kael Pershaw announced abruptly.
"We realize that, Kael Pershaw," Aidan said.
"No. I mean something specific. I have just checked some old records of Olalla with the conformations down there. They do not jibe."
"What are you saying? That this is not Olalla? It is at the exact coordinates provided by—"
"The coordinates are fine. But ComStar is up to something. The pre-invasion holos that I have of Olalla show a well-kept, architecturally sound village. The buildings should be pristine, and some of them with more storeys than those you see below. The city's streets are organized in a grid pattern, not the haphazard pathways you see. The marketplace areas were landscaped in green grass, with many colorful booths permanently set up. That is what I mean when I say this is not Olalla. Olalla is gone."
"How can that be?"
"I am not certain, but I suspect that before our arrival insystem, the old city was razed or somehow moved, evacuated with its citizenry. This motley collection of buildings was substituted for the original. The marketplaces were altered. Aidan Pryde, this Olalla is a false city. It is designed to lure you in. Do not, I repeat, do not commit your entire force to Olalla. Wait."
Kael Pershaw's last word was clipped, as if he had flipped his sign-off toggle while still speaking. Aidan went on the general commline and passed on Pershaw's information to the other Jade Falcons. "Does it make sense to any of you?" he asked.
"Yes," Diana said. "Remember the first ambush, when MechWarrior Faulk lost his leg? The Com Guards came out of the orchard, from under the ground."
"But why do we not detect their presence? At this range Alpha Heavy's sensors should have picked up something," Horse said.
"Perhaps ComStar has been able to mask their presence so that sensors cannot pick them up," Marthe suggested. "Something that rejects scan waves or sends false information back with them. There are technological precedents for—"
"We must get Alpha Heavy out of there!" Joanna said, just as the ComStar assault began in Olalla.
* * *
Jula Huddock had sensed anomalies even before Aidan and the others began to discuss them. The buildings looked thrown-together and never lived in. There were traces of old foundations peeking out from the fake constructions. When viewed up close, everything about Olalla seemed fraudulent, jerrybuilt.
Later, Aidan would realize that Alpha Heavy's early presence may have saved the rest of the Cluster. The ComStar forces had certainly intended to ambush all of them. They would have waited until the Guards were comfortably in Olalla or close enough to it, and then sprung their trap. But in monitoring communications between the Jade Falcon warriors, the ComStar commander saw that the opportunity for an ambush had passed, so he ordered an all-out attack instead.
"Jula Huddock!" Joanna yelled over the commline. "Withdraw your Star at once!"
But the warning came too late for Alpha Heavy. Large metal p
ortals hidden underneath a hastily laid, thin layer of soil suddenly sprang open in each market area. The dirt went flying in all directions, creating a dark cloud from which emerged the first ComStar BattleMechs, leaping out of the underground vaults with their jump jets aglow. Close on their heels were the heavier 'Mechs, clomping out of the vault with their weapons firing and missiles launching. As the sudden strike engulfed Alpha Heavy, Jula Huddock realized how wrong she had been to think Olalla offered no form of camouflage. The barrenness of the marketplace had deceived her, even though she knew that the last area that should look barren was a marketplace originally designed for the sale of fresh crops.
Just then, a cluster of SRMs exploded against MechWarrior Lan's Mad Dog, followed by intense laser fire that sent the 'Mech reeling backward before it fell. Lan ejected but was picked off by autocannon fire.
The rest of Alpha Heavy was soon surrounded by attacking ComStar 'Mechs, with no retreat route. They fought fiercely and well. Three ComStar BattleMechs fell almost simultaneously, then another pair, as Jula Huddock and the others fired rapidly. But one by one the Falcon Guard 'Mechs were destroyed. First MechWarrior Eleny's Hellbringer, then the Summoners of Mech-Warriors Crocco and Alyn.
Finally it was just Jula Huddock's Executioner. She stood her ground, firing sharply, efficiently, and calmly at the mass of ComStar BattleMechs coming at her. Then she became aware that the Jade Falcons outside the town were launching LRMs, which exploded distantly and sent bits of ComStar 'Mechs into the air.
Jula Huddock merely kept on firing, with no let-up. First one ComStar machine went down, then another. When the end came, Jula Huddock knew it was all over. But first she had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy 'Mech begin to explode just as its last missile salvo made its fatal strike against her Executioner.
Falcon Guard Page 19
