FaRtaL Chpt 44

From a Ristar to a Lady
- Chapter 44 -

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Pressed to very edge

Yokoshiya Hills
Caripare, Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone
6th July, 3059

“Left flank is going to collapse in five minutes!” Star Captain Jolen Hoyt roared over the shared command channel while his Binary was probably collapsing around him, pressed against the full might of a Com Guards division.

“Neg! We are barely holding on the right ourselves!” Star Captain Avryl Showers shouted back. “Try to drag back further, but stay alive!”

Caripare’s official garrison was actually the 2nd Jaguar Guards, supplemented by a smattering of provisional garrison units. But after the shock of the initial SLDF attack, in-theater commander Mikhail Ward, Galaxy Commander of Beta Galaxy, had ordered all the raiding binaries to assist in the defense of their sector of Caripare, superseding the orders of saKhan Brandon Howell, who was still in the Homeworlds. Knowing that the strategic situation was dire, they had agreed to follow those orders.

Maybe we should not have listened, Avryl cursed as she fired her ER PPC, the bolt blasting away the arm of an approaching Venom, halting the momentum of the light lance trying to overrun her position. We are ill-prepared for a standup fight, and going up against overwhelming numbers like this is suicide.

The Spheroid numbers were staggering. The 2nd An Ting Legion, Com Guards’ 79th Division, 1st Fusiliers of Oriente, the 1st St. Ives Lancers, and even the Nova Cat units on Caripare who had seemingly defected to the Inner Sphere. The stream of enemy units seemed never ending.

We should have pulled back, used a mobile defense to try to get local superiority and capitalize on it, instead of trying to hold ourselves in place. Like this, we are just nails waiting for heavy hammers to smash us flat! “Mists, fall back to sector bravo-twelve. We need to give them something to think about.” Several PPC and laser blasts missed her Spirit Walker narrowly, and she hunched her 'mech over a bit to present a tighter targeting profile.

Her binary responded immediately to her orders, the mechs of her unit sliding away to one side, leaving the way clear for the 1st Fusiliers of Oriente to punch through to the rear of the 2nd Jaguar Guards, which were already heavily engaged against the 2nd An Ting and the 1st St. Ives Lancers.

Tempest Heavy 'Mech

As expected, the Inner Sphere units jumped at the opportunity, rushing forward to take advantage of what they perceived as the Jaguars breaking lines under the tremendous pressure. A company of the Free Worlds League unit charged through the gap, while the rest of the enemy battalion continued to pressure the Wild Whiskers, the other raiding binary next to hers.

The leading Hermes pranced through the hills, then explosions started wreathing its legs in dusty blooms. The light mech staggered, then collapsed to the ground. Another mech, a Tempest, suffered the same fate, crashing down as its leg actuators suffered crippling damage.

Strider Medium OmniMech

It was a trap. Avryl had ordered Larris to use his Strider’s LRM racks to lay down a Thunder minefield before the battle started in preparation for this eventuality, and it paid off handsomely. The shock of having several of their mechs suddenly encounter crippling leg damage stunned the Spheroids for a moment.

That was all the opening Avryl needed. “On them, Mists! Before the rest of their battalion can rally!” At this juncture, she would take all the cheap kills she could, and zellbrigen can be tossed out the airlock when they were fighting merely to survive.

Her Binary was battered but still numbering a full ten mechs, and it was a powerful force even if not quite up to the technological standards of a front-line omnimech binary. She fired her entire array of medium lasers at a Trebuchet, grunting in satisfaction as one seeking laser beam found an ammunition bin, an explosion bursting out of the torso, the majority of the mech saved only by the Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment that vented the explosion out the back of the mech. The sight of the medium mech falling to the ground, one side burning, was extremely gratifying.

Pence’s Banshee blasted an enemy Orion to shreds, its Gauss Rifle and ER PPCs punching through to the innards of the heavy mech before SRMs ripped into the vulnerable components, hitting the vulnerable XL engine and putting it down. Smoke billowed out of the holes, while Pence hunted for more targets.

Scorpion Medium QuadMech

Despite her mech’s lack of heavy weaponry, Camille teamed up with Gast to take on a Scorpion, her Owens’ smaller caliber weapons exploiting holes made by Gast’s Night Chanter, the quad mech finally fell, unable to stand with its gyro destroyed. Gast’s Night Chanter then shoved it into a depression in the ground, so that it could not rear up and fire its weapons except up into the sky.

Night Chatter Medium OmniMech

Within a minute of furious combat, her Binary had torn the damaged Inner Sphere company apart.

“Mist Actual, this is Whisker Actual. More 'mechs inbound! We can’t hold here!” Star Captain Khistri Weaver announced. “I’m pulling back to bravo-fourteen. See if you can take a piece out of them!” The remnants of the Wild Whiskers fell back at an angle while maintaining unit cohesion, a testament to their training and discipline under overwhelming fire.

It was a variation of the classic leapfrog retreat, withdrawing and enticing an enemy into a direct pursuit, exposing their vulnerable flanks. However, it required highly skilled and disciplined troops to execute.

Thankfully, the Jaguar’s Mists amply fulfilled those requirements.

The Spheroids knew Avryl’s Binary was there to threaten their flank, yet they came on anyway, a reinforced company chasing the remaining Whiskers in an attempt to inflict crippling damage to their rear while the odds were good.

That did not mean all of them ignored the Mists. A whole lance of heavy mechs split off to stop gap her Binary. Avryl did not know whether to feel insulted or glad at the opportunity.

“Crush them all!” She put Saber Knight into a run at the enemy 'mechs, and placed her targeting crosshairs over the lead mech, a sturdy Goliath that was advancing bravely. She fired her particle cannon, followed by some of her lasers. The burst of burning energy shaved off armour from its right leg, while only one of her lasers hit, burning away some armour from its tough left torso.

It replied with its substantial array of weapons, a gauss slug smashing into her centerline, the armor there more memory than actual protection, while its missiles flew over her 'mech only to be swatted away by the last of the flechettes from Erlin’s Blackjack’s anti-missile system. Meanwhile, Erlin planted his feet squarely on the ground and fired back with his full arsenal, his gauss rifle and extended-range lasers stabbing deep into the Goliath’s massive body, making the mech shudder with critical hits on its engine and gyro.

“They really want our attention.” She barked harsh laughter over the comms channel. “Give it to them!”

Goliath Assault 'Mech

Banshee Assault 'Mech

The Goliath stopped its charge, and stood its ground while its lancemates twisted when her unit threw its entire weight of fire at them. One Ostsol fell to the ground, its torso carved away, while an Archer stood off, launching off salvos of missiles at Pence’s Banshee, barely hurting the assault 'mech even as the Banshee pummeled it into scrap.

Her Saber Knight closed in on the Goliath, her mouth open in a snarl as her left hand moved the left joystick in ‘detached’ mode, thrusting the sword forward viciously straight at the cockpit of the quad walker. Sparks screamed along metal armour as the blade slammed home, and the enemy mech seemed to suddenly lose power. Avryl worked the foot pedals, shifting her mech so that she could withdraw the blade from the fallen Goliath. It fell over just as the blade tip cleared the ruined cockpit. She imagined red blood on the blade of the sword.

The rapid destruction of the heavy lance rocked the Fusiliers back on their heels, the company pursuing the Whiskers quickly reversing course to avoid getting caught between two enemy forces. In fact, the entire Fusilier force stopped their advance to reorganize from their losses before pushing forward again.

That bought us some time, but the left flank might be gone already. “Move to sector delta twelve,” Avryl ordered, and despite their exhaustion and damage, her binary swung into action. “If any Slash Slicers or Burr Furners are still alive, we get them out. If they are all dead, we buy time, quiaff?”

“Aff!”

She checked her mech’s status. There was no internal damage yet, but the armor was already in tatters on most locations. The rest of her Binary told the same tale - most of their armor was non-existent, and some had internal damage, but nothing critical was hit… yet. Combat Loss Groupings was going to take its inevitable toll soon.

In return, her binary alone had destroyed or crippled almost two companies of enemy mechs. But it was not enough.

It was never going to be enough.

Avryl switched channels to the 2nd Jaguar Guards command channel, contacting the de facto overall commander of the on-planet Smoke Jaguar forces.

“Jaguar Actual, this is Mist Actual. We have inflicted heavy casualties on the right flank, but their next push will break through.” Please let us withdraw. We can yet serve the clan in retreat.

Star Colonel Kevon Wimmer’s reply was almost immediate. “Aff, I understand.” He sounded breathless, as though trying hard to suck air into his lungs. “Try to get as many warriors and 'mechs out.” Pause. “Withdraw through the Trevorton Mountains behind the Yokoshiya Hills. I have a surprise for these Spheroid surats.” Another pause, followed by several loud thumping sounds. “Sending coordinates to you, follow the nav points.”

Her eyes lit up. “Aff, complying!” She sent the coordinates to Khristi, knowing that her fellow officer would understand the plan. In the meantime, her binary was nearing the left flank.

The other two raiding binaries were supposed to be holding the line against the onslaught of the Com Guards. Despite the earlier report, they seemed to be faring well, even with the artillery raining down and peppering their positions while Com Guard 'mechs and tanks sniped at a distance. The Smoke Jaguars held their positions stolidly, but it was clear from the movement of their mechs that they wanted out.

The only good thing about this cautious approach, for the Smoke Jaguars, was that it would take a long time for the Spheroids to flush them out. But seeing as the Spheroid forces had the sheer weight of numbers on their side, time was probably not something they were concerned with.

“I thought the flank was about to go?” Avryl stopped her binary at a safe enough distance from where the artillery shells were falling.

Marauder IIC Assault 'Mech

“Well, they decided to pull back and let their artillery cut us down one chunk of armor at a time,” Star Captain Drigin Corbett replied drily from his battered Marauder IIC. “Probably wanted to reduce their own losses. Otherwise they would have stomped us flat already, and damn their own losses. They are Spheroids, what did you expect?”

He managed to sound indignant, admiring, and annoyed at the same time. “All they really did since then was to deafen my eardrums.” Indeed, much of the artillery was falling around the Jaguar mechs, with few shells inflicting substantive damage, but the two binaries were already battered and could not last much longer.

“Star Colonel Wimmer wants us to withdraw, so we need not waste ourselves any more on this lost battle.” She informed them quickly. “Good thing they stood off, we have a better chance of escaping with fewer losses.”

Avryl realised she spoke too soon, when Camille shouted, “Star Captain, enemy company approaching from charlie-ten!” A pause. “Freebirth, they are 1st Davion Guards, War Pigs!”

Hauptmann Finn and his War Pigs again! She cursed vehemently. This was the third time her binary faced off against Finn’s War Pigs. First on Bicester, where they gave the Spheroids a bloody nose, then on Tanh Linh, where the War Pigs chased them off, and now again on Caripare.

The Jaguar’s Mists would not be able to hold against such elite opposition, not as battered as they are. Furthermore, a quick glance at the overall status of her unit indicated that they were almost out of ammunition as well, greatly reducing their combat effectiveness.

“Fighting withdrawal, stagger by star,” ordered Avryl. “Pence, your Star goes first.”

“Aff, Star Captain,” he replied tersely.

She switched channels to the other two Star Captains. “Drigin, Jolen, pull your binaries out behind me. Sending you the nav points.” They did not reply, but their movements showed that they were complying with her orders.

“Star Captain, they are almost on top of us.” Camille warned. “Company specs identical to Tanh Linh… I hope you still have some tricks up your sleeves!”

“Neg, I am plain out of tricks,” Avryl admitted. She noted with dismay that some of the Slash Slicers were moving more slowly than expected. Jolen’s Avatar was clearly hobbled, dragging one leg behind it laboriously. At this rate, the War Pigs would engage them before her binary could cover their retreat.

Avatar Heavy OmniMech

She had to gamble again. She opened up the open comms channel, even as she moved her battered Spirit Walker forward, her Command Star following.

“Hauptmann Finn, been a while since Tanh Linh. Missed me? You should have brought flowers.” Avryl almost gagged as she spoke, but she just needed to rile him up. She briefly thought about mentioning their little adventure, but decided it was not worth the resulting questions from others.

“Sorry, Star Captain. No flowers. I prefer dark chocolate.” Finn Rason replied almost immediately, his tone sardonic and mocking. “You can find out what they taste like after this. I’ll be sure to send you some.”

“In your dreams, freebirth!” She snarled, firing her particle cannon at its extreme range at the nearest target, a Stealth that was leading a light lance on a wide flanking movement. The particle beam missed, and the Stealth continued charging at an angle. Well, it was worth a shot, especially after Bicester when she took down a Victor at such extreme ranges.

Jolen and some of his stragglers joined in, their weapons lashing out to try to keep the Spheroids at bay, but the damage they had already taken greatly reduced their combat effectiveness.

The light lance led by the Stealth easily encircled Jolen’s stragglers on one flank, placing themselves in a deadly enfilade position. Meanwhile, the other two lances of the War Pigs utilized concentrated fire on the targets within their reach, autocannons and particle beams blasting apart one Jaguar mech at a time. One of the trailing mechs, a crippled Grand Dragon, went down, both legs shot off.

Blackjack Medium OmniMech

Avryl marched her Spirit Walker closer, trying to buy time for Jolen and his remaining units. Erlin’s Blackjack-O and Gast’s Night Chanter stood to each side of her Spirit Walker, their weapons blazing away. They had to make the enemy recoil! Meanwhile, Camille tried to draw the light lance out of position with baiting runs from her Owens, but to no avail, the War Pigs were too disciplined. Larris’ Strider was already out of LRM ammunition, and withdrawing from the battle.

Rifleman Heavy 'Mech

One of her particle beams caught Finn’s Rifleman on the torso, flaying off much of the armour there. The heavy mech paused, as if affronted by the act. Then all four of the gun barrels on its arms shifted in her direction.

At that moment, the entirety of the War Pigs seemed to focus on her. Lasers, autocannons, and missiles pounded her mech mercilessly, she was thrown around violently in her cockpit, and the armour display on her HUD seemed to turn completely red in an instant. Warning klaxons blared, Betty bitched about damaged components, and heat surged into her cockpit with the loss of reactor shielding.

Through it all, she somehow managed to keep her Saber Knight upright, but only just. It cost her several precious moments, and then she looked up, right into the Rifleman’s guns, which aimed straight at her, at her cockpit.

She swore she could see the glow from within the gun barrels, and was prepared to die when Jolen suddenly interposed his wrecked Avatar in front of her, his mech shaking as he absorbed the shots meant for her.

“Star Captain Showers, retreat. I and my warriors will hold them off. We cannot run far anyway.” Two more of his Slicers formed up beside him, looking just as battered. They would not last long, but they did not have to.

She did not argue, and turned the Spirit Walker into a stumbling run. Her Command Star trailed her, all of them twisting back occasionally to fire off a shot in support. But it was far too little to make any difference.

Saber Knight crested a hill, and before descending it, Avryl took one last look behind her. Finn’s Rifleman had already advanced up to Jolen’s Avatar, now a shambling wreck on the ground, but still moving. In most circumstances, the mech on the ground would have powered down and signalled surrender, but Jolen kept shifting about, trying to angle his mech to fire off a few more shots.

He would not get that chance. The Rifleman marched right up beside the struggling Avatar. It raised a foot and then stomped it down viciously on Jolen’s Avatar, crushing the cockpit. Dust and sand billowed up from the impact, and the Avatar finally laid still.

Jolen was certainly dead.

Avryl gave the Rifleman a final glare, even though she knew that Jolen had not given Finn a choice. This was war at its rawest, all blood and fury, no quarter given nor asked for. She had done the same herself before. War to the knife, and knife to the hilt. And she expected Finn to do no less either.

It was their duty as mechwarriors.

With that thought in mind, she followed the rest of her battered binary into the temporary refuge of the Trevorton Mountains.

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Thoughts of Yesterday, disturbing things Today

Kalinska Estate, Inman
Kilbourne PDZ, Woodbine Operational Area
Federation Suns
12th October, 3061
2200 hours (1400 hrs on local 28 hr cycle)

“What is eating you?” asked Hawise as she lounged in Anastasia’s room. “You have this weird look ever since our last round in the simulator.”

Anastasia paused in the midst of absent-mindedly rearranging the cosmetics on her vanity. “Is it that obvious?”

All throughout the past ten months, the fact that she and Finn had tried to kill each other, almost did so, and had killed the other’s comrades, had never really struck home - she had been too caught up in her own unique circumstances to think about the matter. But now it had finally been driven home, and she was confused.

Hawise rolled her eyes. “Kit, it really is that obvious.”

Anastaisa sighed. “When you pointed the Rifleman’s weapons at me in the simulator fight, I recalled Finn doing the same thing back on Caripare. If not for the intervention of another warrior, he could have killed me back then. Yet here I am, his fiancee, with my memories of those brutal days of war. Many of the clan’s warriors died at his hands. And I, too, have killed many.”

Memories of the slaughter on Tanh Linh reappeared in her mind, when her binary blasted through the conventional regiments arrayed against them in a desperate attempt to hit the supply depots. She lowered her head. “Was what I did wrong? These memories resurface to haunt me.”

“All of us, we were soldiers.” Hawise pointed out. “We all knew what the risks were, what could happen to us. He did not engage in any dishonorable behavior, quineg?”

“Neg.” Anastasia shook her head. “Well, other than not adhering to zellbrigen during battle, but that is something we all succumbed to, in the end.”

Hawise chuckled. “I did not adhere to zellbrigen myself on Hoard, yet you do not seem to hold it against me.”

“That is… different.”

“How is it different?” asked Hawise. “Simply because I am of the clans and he is not? I killed your comrades too, on Hoard.”

“Tikern and his cohorts were stravag bullies,” Anastasia stated flatly. “They were my comrades, but not my friends. Honestly speaking, I was more upset about failing the mission back then.”

“Oh…” Hawise was silent for a moment, then said, “I think I know what the problem is. Your head knows that Finn did nothing wrong, he was a warrior doing his duty, and that is something we all understand on an intellectual level. But,” she laid a hand gently on Anastasia’s hand, “your heart says different. Unlike me, he killed people you knew and maybe cared about. You have yet to come to terms with that loss.”

“Will that feeling ever go away?” Anastasia asked quietly.

“No easy answers to your question, unfortunately.” Hawise patted her hand. “You just have to take it one day at a time. Give your heart time to heal. Everything I have seen so far tells me Finn Rason is pretty decent for a Spheroid. And,” her eyes twinkled mischievously, “he is rich and handsome, so that counts in his favor, quiaff?”

Anastasia grunted disapprovingly at the flippant comment. Before she could reply, however, Luisa peeked through the door. “My lady! Viscount Rason is back! His dropship just landed about two hours ago.”

Hawise grinned. “And he is bound to be here soon. I had better make myself scarce.” She walked over to the door, where Luisa had pushed it open for her to exit. “Just one last thing. You… him, me… we were all doing our duty, caught up in something greater than ourselves, beyond our control. I don’t think anybody was really wrong, at least at our level. It was just the way things turned out.” She walked off, leaving behind an extremely confused Luisa.

“What did Lady Hawise mean?” asked the maid. “What duty?”

“Oh, Luisa, it’s nothing.” Anastasia reassured her. “I need to change into something a bit more presentable, especially if Viscount Rason is coming here. Help me out?”

“My pleasure!”

Anastasia had just finished changing when another maid informed them that Finn had indeed arrived at the estate, as expected.

“The drawing room, please,” Anastasia instructed even as she headed for it. The maid scurried off.

She was already seated with the tea set neatly arrayed on the table when Finn walked in, clad in his usual uniform. Up til that point, Anastasia was still struggling to reconcile her emotions with her thoughts. She rose to greet him with a curtsey, and despite her troubled feelings, her eyes drank in the sight of him. He has lost weight… was the fighting that intense? Judging from the intensity of his gaze, he was doing the same to her.

“You’ve gotten thin,” they said simultaneously. Then they realized what just happened, and they both blushed.

Finn was the first to respond. “Uhm, how are you, my lady? I’m sorry I didn’t contact you the moment I landed, but don’t you think it was a bit cruel not to reply to any of the messages I’ve sent you? I sent one a month ago, and another two weeks ago.”

She stared at him. “I didn’t? I didn’t even receive any messages.” She sighed. “But there was news of the local HPG core undergoing repairs after a Word of Blake software worm got through their firewalls.”

He sighed as well, “So much for Comstar’s reliability. And at a bad time too. Did you know how much I looked forward to hearing from you?”

Anastasia felt flustered. “I’m sorry, I could have sent a message on one of the JumpShips to Winfield.”

“Nothing for you to be sorry about.” He raised a hand to her face. “I hurried back to you as fast as I could. I’ve kept you waiting for me for far too long.”

At that moment, all that Anastasia could remember was staring down the barrels of his Rifleman, and the sight of his Rifleman stomping on Jolen’s Avatar. Without thinking, she flinched away from him.

He lowered his hand. “Did something happen while I was away?”

Unable to meet his gaze, she said, “No… nothing.”

“Is that so?” He looked at Anastasia. Her face was pale and withdrawn. “The expression on your face suggests otherwise. You look rather weary.” He hastened to add, “My lady, if there is anything I can do to…”

“Was the pirate problem settled?” She cut in hurriedly, trying hard not to let him go down that line of conversation.

Finn stared at her for a moment. He knew what she was trying to do, changing the subject, and she knew it too. He finally said, “Yes, the whole thing was a bit of a setup, but we managed to resolve it satisfactorily.”

“What exactly happened?”

“The intel Clifton’s Rangers got was accurate, but it was actually leaked by a rival pirate group. A local noble on Abbeville was in cahoots with them. They launched a raid, and we reached in time to stop them.”

“What did you do to the noble?” asked Anastasia, though she already suspected the answer.

“I executed him and those in his household who were complicit in the crime. No trial there, I’m afraid.”

It took her a moment to remember that the ‘trial’ he referred to was the long drawn out legal processes used on more developed worlds in the Inner Sphere, instead of the clan version which usually involved a contest of some sort.

“I see. And then…”

Finn replied quickly, as though knowing she would ask, “His family would be under house arrest, and his heir warded under their liege-lord’s stewardship until she reaches her majority.” In other words, the child was a hostage of sorts.

She nodded slowly. Given the circumstances, this was actually a very appropriate level of punishment. In the Smoke Jaguars, they would be much more punitive. Hard labour followed by execution was normal for non-warrior castes who broke the laws of the clans. And in the Occupation Zone, she had heard of far worse fates levied on those who refused to accept the Smoke Jaguars as their rulers. If the crimes were serious enough, not even their families were spared.

If she was in Finn’s position, she would have done the same. Or perhaps even worse. So who was she to judge him?

Finn sighed. “You don’t seem at all happy to see me.”

“Huh?” She was shaken out of her thoughts.

His voice was grim. “Are you afraid of me too? Of what I did, executing people? Is that why you’re looking at me like that?”

She stared back up at him, her mind suddenly blank as she struggled to think through the morass of conflicting emotions. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. But…” she admitted quietly, “I’m not entirely sure myself. It’s just…”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “Would you mind leaving me be for today? I don’t really feel like talking to anyone at the moment.”

Finn looked down at her, his face impassive, and she hated pushing him away like this, but she really felt trapped, unable to speak.

He sighed quietly, deflated and defeated. “As you wish.” He stepped away, headed towards the door.

“I’m glad to see you’ve returned safely,” said Anastasia as he reached the door, and she realised belatedly that she truly meant it, yet she still did not know what to do with her mixed-up feelings.

She could hear the creak of the door as he opened it and walked through, leaving her alone in the drawing room with her thoughts and emotions.

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In chronological order of Past Events

The Following is the Chronological Order encounters with Anastasia's Past self & her would be rival and future life fiancee during the epic of 3059's Operation BULL DOG supplied by the Author.

1. First encounter on Bicester
2. Adventure in uncharted (sort of) system near Baruun Urt
3. Battle on Tanh Linh during Bulldog Wave 1
4. Battle on Caripare during Bulldog Wave 2
5. Battle on Yamarovka during SJ counterattack

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• Author's Chapter Note

  Anybody spotted the callback to an earlier chapter? Avryl/Anastasia didn’t forget, and actually knew what Finn liked. But of course, she still couldn’t be sure if he was just taunting her back then.
  
  The part about the Jaguars withdrawing through the Trevorton Mountains was canon. From TRO 3058 Upgrade, the writeup for the Salamander Battle Armor:
  
  “Rear guard action fell to a mixed Nova which included a Star of new Salamanders. Star Commander Tomas positioned her Star across the enemy’s path in the heavily forested piedmont of the Trevorton Mountains. Setting forest fires which both concealed the movements of the escaping Jaguars and funneled the Inner Sphere pursuers into a narrow valley, the Salamanders hid themselves in the walls of flame. Using their Inferno rounds and flamers to good effect, Tomas and her Star destroyed three light scout Mechs before heavier BattleMechs flushed them from cover. Though only two Salamanders survived to rejoin their Nova, the Inner Sphere forces delayed over four hours making sure there were no more waiting in ambush before following. This delay allowed nearly a Trinary of the Second Jaguars to escape.”

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