Of course, the wind came from the cooling fans in Danai's cockpit, but for the time being she could pretend she was in the open air. Once the missiles and lasers started firing, she'd be happy to let go of her fantasy and enjoy the shelter of her armored surroundings.
The landing had been easy. The two companies and Danai's command lance had hit land only ten kilometers away from the small city of Wen Ho, and the planet's defenders had decided not to venture too far out of the city's protection. A quick march, less than twenty minutes, brought them to the suburbs with no sign of resistance. Buildings here were long and low, seldom rising beyond three stories, with broad, flat roofs that often stuck out five meters or more beyond the walls. Danai could understand why the militia wasn't making a stand here—few structures rose high enough to offer a 'Mech any real shelter. If this was going to be a street fight, the locals might as well choose a place with some buildings they could hide behind.
She understood why they weren't here, but she wished they were. She felt impatient. Her fingers wouldn't stay settled on her control sticks, and she kept shifting them, moving to new grips and occasionally rubbing them against the sticks to relieve her itchy palms. Her feet were fidgety too. She hadn't been in Yen-lo-wang for too long. She'd spent all that time on the ground of New Hessen looking for it, only to find Caleb and . . .
When Danai's eyes refocused, she saw she was about to run into a house. She quickly veered right, back onto the road, and took a series of controlled breaths to get her heartbeat under control. Clearly, reminiscence was a danger. She needed to stay focused on the present.
She took a minute to touch base with Harris Yun back on her command DropShip, where he had been tracking a large JumpShip that had entered the Aldebaran system only a day or so after Danai's battalion. The initial impression had been troubling—the ship was a big one. Star Lord-class—but the IFF signal said it was just a merchant vessel. If so, it might turn around, or at least stay in place, while events in the planetary system resolved themselves. But six DropShips had detached and were heading toward Aldebaran with an apparent strong sense of purpose. They were still claiming to be merchants, but Danai had trouble taking their IFF signature seriously.
"Have our friends decided they'd be better off turning around yet?" Danai asked Yun.
"Naw. They're coming to greet vou in person, looks like."
"Great," Danai sighed. "Keep an eye on them. Once we're convinced they're hostile, don't engage them orbitally—you don't have the firepower for that. We'll do the fighting down here. Keep yourself in good enough shape to go fetch us a new planetary government once we've taken care of this place."
"You got it, Sao-shao."
While she talked to Yun, the rest of her command lance had jogged ahead of her. Bell was directly in front, loping along in his large but fast Yu Huang. Few machines could compete with Yen-lo-wang in Danai's eyes, but Bell's was one of them. Bigger than her machine, reasonably fast and with a set of weapons that packed a punch from almost any range, it was an impressive piece of work. It didn't have Yen-lo-wang's ax, though, or its impressive appearance, so Danai was grateful to put a few points into her 'Mech's column. Still, if Bell ever got put out of commission while his machine was in working order, she might need to take it out for a test drive.
Sandra, in her Marauder II, was left and a little forward of Danai; Clara's Tian-Zong held a parallel position on the right. Danai happened to be looking at Sandra, getting a visual fix on her position a few blocks over, when she saw a blue flash, followed by smoke rising from a spot on her elevated right shoulder. Danai squinted and thought she saw armor running down from the wound. Sandra had been hit.
Danai readied her weapons. If smoke would help conceal her in this battle, then smoke was what she'd make.
Zi-jin Cheng, Sian
Capellan Confederation
The message had traveled quickly, in the inimitable fashion of bad news. Erde had already watched the message several times, but she'd known what she'd needed to do after the first viewing.
She had hoped to go home. She'd spent too much time away, too much time with Capellans and politicians and others who at best had very vague understandings of what it meant to enjoy life. Not that her fellow Ca- nopians were perfect in that regard—some mistook the pursuit of simple pleasure for a well-lived life—but by and large they were more enjoyable company than the people she'd been surrounding herself with for too long. She had lived many years, traveled to many, many places and she still hadn't found one that appealed to her as much as her home. And, as there likely weren't too many years left to her (how could there be?), she was anxious to spend as much time on Canopus IV as possible.
But now she knew that would have to wait.
One of the doors to her private chambers opened soundlessly, and a servant in a shiny black silk jacket and matching pants slipped into the room. He stood quietly by the door, his head slightly bowed, waiting for Erde to issue a command or dismiss him.
They did this every hour on the hour. It hadn't taken much investigating for Erde to discover that Daoshen had so ordered, and it also didn't take much to discern that she could do little to stop it. The servants would look out for her well-being whether she wanted them to or not.
At first she had believed the servants were acting as spies for Daoshen, but as time passed she considered that idea increasingly unlikely. Surely Daoshen would realize that she'd quickly identify the servants as his eyes and ears, and that she'd make sure not to say or do anything in their presence that would provide them with a single interesting report. Since Daoshen should know the servants were not likely to come away with anything of value, he would not waste manpower on so trivial a task.
Another possibility was that the servants were there to check on her health, an hourly inquiry to see if she had stopped breathing. Concern for her well-being didn't seem to be part of Daoshen's nature; concern about having a dead body lying in his guest rooms seemed more in character. So now. whenever the servants entered, Erde made a show of looking lively to ensure they knew she was alive and well. Except, of course, when she was asleep. Erde didn't know, nor did she want to know, what they did to check on her health during the nighttime.
She said nothing, showed no emotion while the servant was present. She did not allow herself to look the least bit sad, even though the message from Danai had left her heart in pieces. Her regret at having to stay on Sian, the heavy burden of the tasks she now had in front of her—none of these appeared in her actions, her bearing, her face.
Her mind, though, was actively plotting. She needed to reestablish some sort of relationship with Daoshen. In recent weeks she'd been content to keep her distance, to let Daoshen and Ilsa take care of governing while she planned her trip home. But if she meant to help Danai— and Danai needed help, not just because of what happened on New Hessen, but because of what Erde believed was certain to come—she needed to be in closer communication with the chancellor.
She needed a pretext. Something positive. No complaints, like relating tales of the nonstop harassment of Canopian pleasure circuses when they passed through Capellan space. She had to pay a call on Daoshen to compliment him on something he'd recently done. And her discussion could have nothing to do with Danai, since bringing up that topic at the beginning of what she intended to be a series of conversations would only invite suspicion of her motives.
Sadly, finding reasons to complain to Daoshen was much easier than finding reasons to compliment him. But she found it. eventually, after scanning Capellan and Canopian news and the high volume of correspondence that always found her, no matter where in the Inner Sphere she placed herself. It was a simple matter, a trade agreement that would allow a greater flow of meat products from the Canopian world of New Abilene to the Capellan world of Joppa. Normally it wouldn't be worth noticing except that a close friend of Erde's had just invested in cattle futures, and this agreement would make her retirement much easier.
Daoshen, of course,
would maintain that he had made the agreement for the good of the Confederation, and he had little interest in whether friends of his family benefited from his nation's actions. It wasn't much of a pretext, but it was enough to let Erde talk to Daoshen— which, for the time being, was all she needed.
9
Wen Ho, Aldebaran
Republic of the Sphere
24 November 3135
Yen-lo-wang stomped forward, nearly at a run, into a broad plaza. Ferrocrete at her feet, nothing but a few benches and an eight-meter-tall statue for half a block. Black steel-and-glass buildings rose on all sides of her, but for this moment she was free of their confines. She had room to swing her right arm.
She rotated her right control stick in a pattern she'd deployed dozens, maybe hundreds, of times. She knew each position she had to hit like numbers on a clock dial—six, four, then threetwoonetwelveeleven. Then down, hard, to seven-thirty.
The Ocelot, with a dire break in its relatively thin upper right leg, had nowhere to go. The pilot had stayed in too long, possibly hoping for mercy, but Danai refused to let up as long as his weapons were still functioning. The enemy 'Mech's shoulder laser could still fire, though mostly in random blasts.
The Ocelot's pilot finally ejected as the dark gray blade of Yen-lo-wang's ax buried itself deep in the torso.
Danai found the crunch and scream of metal deeply satisfying. The blow nearly shattered the Ocelot's entire left arm, and no more energy came from the shoulder gun.
Danai yanked her ax out of the Ocelot's corpse and stood above it, striking a victorious pose as if surrounded by the cameras of Solaris VII. Normally the battlefield was no place for that sort of posturing, but this fight, which had been a rout from almost the first moment, was about over.
"Command lance, check in," Danai said. "Anyone need help?"
Clara's only reply was a short bark that might have been a laugh. Apparently she hadn't seen much that her Tian-Zong couldn't handle on its own.
"Good hell, could they send out a 'Mech bigger than forty tons?" Bell said over the comm. "I feel like a high school bully beating on kindergarteners."
"How do you think I feel?" Sandra asked, her voice good-natured. Her disposition was always at its most pleasant right after a victory—her customary arrogance dropped away, as if she felt no need to verbally prove her superiority because the fighting had done that for her. "I should've walked into the city on my knees. Would've made for a fairer fight."
The mental image of the backward-jointed Marauder II trying to scoot along on its backside made Danai smile. "All right. Sorry there weren't enough challenges for everyone. Any losses to report?"
"I think I chipped a nail." Bell said somberly.
"Besides that."
"One of Kuang Nu Company's Blades is hobbled," Clara reported. "Pilot's fine, the thing could probably move if we needed to retreat, but that doesn't seem likely."
"Field repairable?" Danai asked.
"The pilot thinks so. Crew's on its way."
"Fine. He can catch up to us when he's able. Leave a few groundpounders with him, but not too many—I don't think they're in danger of being overwhelmed."
Bell laughed. "Right now, I could stand downtown with a hold-out pistol and not be in danger of being overwhelmed."
"Let's move on. then. Might as well do another city while the night is young—assuming everyone's up for that?"
Her sensor showed the three other 'Mechs of the command lance already jogging north toward Daipan. That was answer enough for her.
* * *
It was dark. All dark, until they came. No cars were out driving. No lights shone from within the buildings past which the 'Mechs strode. Even the streetlights were off. The only light came from the reddish moon above and the sweeping spotlight beams on the invading 'Mechs. The spotlights' glow glided over the tops of houses, down long, straight streets and through the tight spaces between buildings. Grass went from black to green to black as the lights stayed in motion, taking color with them wherever they went.
The city had heard about Wen Ho's recent fate and had taken the short time available to get ready. Their unity, Danai thought, was impressive. They would make good Capellan citizens.
"Slow it up," she said to all units. "They know we're coming and they've planned for us. Be alert for an ambush."
She looked at the city map on her secondary screen, evaluating her position. Following Sandra's tactics, her command lance had split, with Sandra and herself on the left while Bell and Clara stayed on the right. They were all at the backs of the lines, a position Danai was loathe to assume, but she knew the demands of leadership sometimes meant having to stay away from the front. For a time, at least.
"Okay, fly the Kites," she said. "Probes on. Don't get farther than three kilometers away from the main force."
"Roger, starting our scan now," said Kay Cheung, leader of the battalion's Kite reconnaissance company.
Danai kept her pace at a solid walk as the Kites did their work. While she had a moment, she checked in with Yun back on her DropShip.
"Yun, give me a report on the incoming DropShips."
"Still coming."
"Still reading as merchants?"
"Yup."
"Have they sent a message to you, saying. 'We mean you no harm?' "
"Not yet."
"Have they sent anything?"
"Not yet."
She sighed. "Okay. At this point we have to assume they're reinforcements and they're coming for us. I want you to keep a read on their location and send me an ongoing estimate of their probable landing spot. Or spots."
"Yes, Sao-shao."
"They approach you, you move back. I don't think they'll pursue—the real game's down here."
"I'll keep you posted," Yun said.
"Okay." Danai switched to her command channel. "Sandra, reinforcements are coming. Probably a full regiment's worth. We'll need to be ready for them."
"Yes, Sao-shao. I'll get some options together."
"Thanks." Danai wished she could do more about the likely approaching threat, but for now she had a force in front of her to worry about. She settled herself in to wait for word from the Kites.
It didn't take long.
"Got 'em," Cheung said. "Moving south, concave formation. Line looks like it's eight kilometers long."
"Numbers?"
"Low, from what I'm seeing. We've got the upper hand there."
The Kites were more than a kilometer in front of her now. That meant she had a little more than five—maybe five and a half—kilometers before the armies met. A few minutes, at best, before the firing started.
She couldn't see the enemy on her radar, but she could see it all in her head. The cluster of buildings downtown, the arc of the Aldebaran militia moving ahead, the line of her units. And she knew exactly what to do. Sandra had already laid out the basics of the battle plan. Now Danai laid down the particulars based on the info from the Kites.
Her words came with the speed of autocannon rounds. "Artillery, stop. Lay down fire the moment you get a chance. Sang-wei Parks, take Kuang Nu Company west. Sang-wei Bell, take Rang Yu Company east. Five kilometers, both of you. Outflank the enemy, then collapse. Armor companies, split up. two with Kuang Nu, two with Rang Yu. Infantry, advance in the middle. Sang- wei Sung and I will support you."
A simple plan. Artillery to soften them up, slow their approach, the wings collapse on the arc, then Danai and Sandra smash the center. Should be short work.
It wasn't long before the thundering behind her let her know the artillery had begun firing.
"Kites, come on back," she ordered, though she guessed Cheung had already turned them around. "Drop back and keep an eye on things. Watch the skies particularly, in case they bring in some aeros." The fact that she had no aero support of her own made an aerial attack by the defenders a particular worry, but she didn't think they'd drop many bombs on their own city.
She continued stomping forward, firing a sin
gle heavy laser blast to get Yen-lo-wang's heat up. She didn't think she'd hit anything significant, but the shock value of the large beam flying through enemy lines was usually enough to cause a little unrest among her opponents.
Seeing a Clan weapon on a Capellan 'Mech was a distraction, to say the least. Danai could still remember the day she'd had it installed, sitting in front of what looked like a junkyard on a planet deep in the Periphery, watching one tech mount the weapon on Yen-lo-wang's shoulder while another applied new armor to cover the scars she'd earned in the fight to obtain that weapon. Good times.
The laser discharge had another purpose besides intimidation—heat. It got her triple-strength myomer working, and she started sliding through the air like a hard wind was blowing at her back. She had to keep herself from getting too far ahead of her battalion's central group, including Sandra's plodding Marauder. She slowed down, deactivating a heat sink to make sure the slow pace didn't reduce her heat too much. She needed to be ready to run when the time came.
She pressed forward for a few blocks, then saw the first holes in the ferrocrete and broken windows in the surrounding buildings, traces of artillery shots that had fallen short. It was time to get serious.
She saw units on her sensor now, the top of the Republican arc moving down toward her. Nothing showed up on her HUD, though—the street ahead of her was empty. She dashed left a block, turned (working hard to keep Yen-lo-wang balanced on the slick ferrocrete), took a quick laser shot, then watched to see where it hit. Nothing. All the enemy units shifted when she did, staying out of her sight. Cowards.
She stood still for a moment, feeling her machine cool while she let the rest of her group catch up to her. She'd let them herd the militia troops to a spot where she could take some nice clean shots.
A slight tremor, growing heavier each second, told her that Sandra was coming near.
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