WABS Chpt 42

Act 2 - Bargaining

With A Bared Sword

Chapter 42

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Part 1

The Fort, Northwind
Draconis March, Federated Commonwealth
20 October 3057

Kate had just barely got to sleep when the alarms went off. She had barely opened her eyes when the door to her room burst open and a pair of guards were inside and half-dragging her out of bed.

Fortunately she recognized them as members of the 1st Davion Royal Guards regiment, or it would have been more than a little alarming, particularly as both wore night-vision goggles and hadn’t bothered with little things like lights.

“Situation?” the blonde muttered, knowing this wouldn’t be good. The carpet was warm underfoot, but she’d rather have her boots. For that matter, more than the nightgown she wore would be nice. It was fairly modest, but not exactly warm.

“Multiple DropShips inbound,” the one on the right explained tersely. “Need to get to shelters.”

She didn’t bother to argue as they left her assigned room and headed for the stairs. Every building, including the VIP quarters for guests, had access to deep bunkers originally dug by the SLDF. Many served martial purposes, but they weren’t interlinked with those that would probably be filled shortly with dependents of the Highlanders.

It wasn’t until they were on the stairs that she recognized the particular tone and realized the rush wasn’t just understandable but not strictly necessary urgency. The alarms weren’t the relatively sedate warning of a distant threat, this was the rapid whoop of a threat they had only minutes to prepare for. “How far out?”

“Practically on top of us,” the other guard panted. “If they weren’t slowing…”

Kate’s mind was beginning to churn, the last vestiges of sleep gone. “Long range sensors are down,” she guessed. “This is an inside job - our bunker must be known.” Possibly sabotaged as well, but that was less likely.

Neither guard corrected her assumption, but from the way their grips on her elbows tightened, they hadn’t thought that through yet. Fair enough, they had probably just been given the mission of getting her to shelter with no time for more thinking.

“Get me to my ‘mech,” Kate demanded. “A moving target…”

“Right,” the one on the left agreed. Now that it had been voiced, they were smart enough to weigh the alternatives without being told. Then the pair of them hoisted her up off her feet and started to run down the hall. “Fox Thirty-Six,” the man continued, likely into his radio. “Need pick-up. Possible compromise of Jerusalem. Going with Bethlehem. Repeat, Bethlehem.”

The blonde was just along for the ride, but she knew Jerusalem was the code for the bunker, Bethlehem for the hangar where her ‘mech was stored.

The door at the end of the hall was flung open with someone careless of their strength, it crashed against the inside wall. The three of them were outside and the cold night air had barely kissed Kate’s skin before the men holding her threw her to one of the ape-like shapes waiting.

She screamed unashamedly as the trooper caught her in metal arms, spun and then burned his jumpjets - flinging himself and the princess across the open ground separating the residential areas from the hangars.

Objectively, Kate was aware that this was the fastest way to get her there. The Battle Armor was as fast as a car over short distances and, most importantly, it was already ready to go. It was still something she’d never rehearsed and even if someone had suggested it she would have been wanting to have more than one think layer of clothes between her and the battle armor.

The rest of the squad were behind the lead, but before the second bounding leap - the thrusters of the Battle Armor roaring louder than a ‘mech jump jets (they might be smaller, but right now they were far more immediate!) - they had caught up and then at the next they started to forge ahead. They were unburdened, of course, and more tactically they would sweep the hangar as best they could before she arrived. Kate could see, in brief glances, the three other squads of the platoon chasing after from where they had been on station around her quarters.

Lights were on all over the Fort, Highlanders rushing to get to their own ‘mechs or other applicable post. Kate prayed it was just the long-range radar and other sensors that had been sabotaged. It wouldn’t be easy to have caused more comprehensive damage, but even taking out those systems would have been hard enough…

The leading battle armor smashed into the maintenance door of the hangar without bothering to slow down - a ton of man and metal moving that fast was more than enough to compromise even the reasonably secured entrance and the trooper crashed through.

There was a shout from within and Kate remembered that while she had use of one end of the hangar, the regimental command lance of MacLeod’s Highlanders were using the other. A diplomatic incident wasn’t her first concern right now, but it wouldn’t help!

Seconds later, Kate was inside herself and her ride set her down as carefully as he could - two more guards forming close around her. She thought she might be in more danger of being crushed by them than she was of being shot, but a moment later the lead man heaved Loren Jaffray onto the floor in the middle of the hangar.

Kate had barely seen him before, although she had seen multiple pictures. He fit in well among the Highlanders, even adopting their customary kilt before she had arrived. For obvious reasons, Kate hadn’t sought him out but now that she saw him, he looked more like a professional soldier than the elite spy, assassin and saboteur that he must have been trained to be.

Right now, he seemed more frustrated than afraid. “You have to let me finish!”

“Finish what?” Kate demanded.

Jaffray stared at her for a moment and she realized that he was in the same position she was: taking her measure in person for the first time. “We need every ‘mech,” he pointed out sharply. “I was -”

“You were readying MacLeod’s own ‘mech,” the trooper still holding onto the commando snapped. He jerked his helmet slightly, perhaps trying to nod towards the Huron Warrior across the way from Kate’s Guillotine.

“Get me boots and a cooling vest,” she ordered a fifth trooper as the rest of the platoon filtered in.

“What are you doing!” a shout came up as Colonel MacLeod entered, flanked by two more Highlanders. “Your highness?” he added belatedly.

Kate shook her head. “Make this quick,” she ordered the trooper.

“Briefing said he was coded into the Gallowglas,” the man said shortly.

“Aye,” MacLeod confirmed. “It’s what I used ‘til I got my new ride.”

“Then what was Jaffray doing in the Huron Warrior’s cockpit?”

Huron Warrior Medium 'Mech

“...good question,” the colonel allowed. “And we have no time for questioning.”

Jaffray looked between them and there was something frantic on his face. “I… there’s a chance to stop this. Just let me finish!”

“Finish what?!” demanded one of the Highlanders.

“I can send abort codes.”

Kate and MacLeod exchanged looks. She figured that the man understood exactly what went through her mind: the only attack Jaffray could order off would be Capellans. Which meant, likely as not, that he was the inside man. “Do you trust him?” she asked simply as the cooling vest was provided. Kate slipped her arms into it and zipped it as the trooper offered the boots.

“I thought I could,” the Highland Colonel admitted, “I thought… May I?”

“All yours.” Kate shoved her feet into the boots and then the leader of the battle armor scooped her up once more. She didn’t scream as he leapt, jump jets flaring to lift them both to the level of the Guillotine’s cockpit.

The sound of a sidearm going off was very loud in the hangar. Kate got just a glimpse of the result as she scrambled inside, and broke with habit to clamp the canopy closed as soon as she was within. Loren Jaffray lay on the ferrocrete floor, blood beginning to pool beneath him as MacLeod and his companions made for their own ‘mechs. Very notably, the colonel was headed for the Gallowglas, not the gifted Huron Warrior.

She raced through the preparations, very conscious that time had been short to begin with. A wave of sound washed through the hangar as the main doors began to slide open, exposing them to the outside.

Hanse Davion’s voice wasn’t quite drowned out by the sounds of heavy-duty turrets opening fire. Clearly the sabotage hadn’t been all that wide-spread. '''{{“If you know yourself, then identify yourself, mechwarrior.”}}'''

Kate closed her eyes. This was it. This was for real. “Look behind,” she whispered. “Remember… remember thou art mortal. Remember that… that you must die!” God, what a morbid thing to say! What had she been thinking?

The lights failed to go green and as an explosion rocked the hangar, the young woman realized she must have either said something wrong, or was just too rattled to match the voiceprint. “Look behind! Remember thou art morta!” she half-shouted as the Highlanders began to march out. “Remember! You must die!”

Overlord Class Dropship landing with legs out

This time it worked, and her ‘mech lurched to life. Fingers already sweaty against the joysticks, Kate put it into motion, not concerned now with incidental damage. This time there were no training shots in her magazine, and the lasers were at full, killing power.

Union Class DropShip landing under fire

There were dropships in the air above them - two roughly spherical Unions and a larger Overlord that looked more like an egg. They were above easy range for most of Kate’s weapons and there were no markings on them. That wasn’t true of everything though and explosions marked where missiles were reaching up towards them. Some were detonating short though, indicating a refit with anti-missile turrets.

There were no markings on the DropShips, nothing to identify them. But battlemechs were spilling from their hatches, black with jade-green trim barely visible in the brief flashes of light from explosions.

It was a paint-scheme that Kate Steiner-Davion knew all too well. She had seen thousands of portrayals of her father’s infamous battle in defense of NAIS. Probably almost as many of the battle of Kathil, where her cousin Morgan had founded his infamous Uhlan regiment.

Loren Jaffray’s comrades had come to Northwind, and they had not come alone. Or at least she hoped not, as smaller shapes resembling her own guards dropped around the ‘mechs.

There were fifty or sixty battlemechs, and the best estimate she’d seen of the Death Commandos was somewhere around a battalion and a half. If the battle armor were also manned by Commandos then they might be far more numerous than reports claimed.

A ping marked someone trying to contact her and Kate hit the accept key without thinking about it.

“I have a spare slot in m’ command lance,” MacLeod offered tersely. “Your ‘mech isnae fast enough to get clear if they send their lights or mediums after you.”

Kate was very glad that she had ordered her Guillotine repainted from the previous gaudy colors of the Davion Guards. The dark green of the NAIS Cadet Cadres was a polite nod to her additional security, but it would blend in much better with the Highlanders. “Gladly.” Being alone on the battlefield was a death sentence, if her teachers had taught her anything.

“Tactical channel six, we’ll tightbeam y’ the codes.”

She set the comms channel correctly with one hand as the Guillotine strode after her new comrades. Battle Armor scurried to try to keep up, the troopers likely also preparing for what was almost a first. Certainly for them, the Inner Sphere hadn’t had battle armor for long and its few uses so far had been against Clan Elemental Infantry for the most part. Kate wasn’t prepared to say that there had been no purely Inner Sphere clashes between battle armor, but this was the first for either of the two battalions on their side.

The codes came through and her battle computer processed them automatically, one of the multi-function displays updating its map with data on Highlander deployments and estimated positions of the enemy. Normally, fighting in a base like the Fort, the built in sensors should have been enough to make those estimates highly accurate, but there were spreading areas of uncertainty that Kate suspected were the result of deliberate targeting of sensors or communication nodes.

More and more Highlander icons were popping to life as ‘mechs went active… but as Kate watched, one of them disappeared.

First blood had been scored, and not by the Northwind Highlanders.

“Can you get us any support?” MacLeod demanded brusquely.

Kate reached for the comm panel. “I’ll see what I can do.” She switched channels. “General Sanchez?”

For a wonder, there was no jamming. “I’m aware of the situation,” he said, sounding out of breath. “We’re scrambling our ‘mechs onto dropships now, but it’ll be an hour.” That would be a near-eternity in battle… but it was also exceptionally fast, only possible because the Cadre had been prepared for such an eventuality. “Our cavalry are on their way from dropships, but that will be perhaps ten minutes.”

“I’ll nae turn it down,” the Highlander said when Kate relayed those facts. “‘Tis a tight spot we’re in.”

Kate’s jaw tightened as the markers for two more Highlander ‘mechs dropped off the display. “I’ll follow your lead.”

There were no battle lines - the Highlanders were spilling out of their hangars, incomplete lances and companies depending on who had reached their cockpits. The Death Commandos were spreading out, something she could track more or less by the gaps in sensor data. MacLeod’s Highlanders had numbers on their side, but not all of them were mounted up and unless those numbers could be brought to bear.

“Make best speed, lassie,” MacLeod ordered and his Gallowglas began to run through the scattered building. A Crab sprinted ahead, acting as scout for them. Kate could keep up with the Gallowglas - a new design from the Dragoon’s factories on Outreach - and the Vindicator that filled out their incomplete lance fell in behind her. “We’ll link up wi’ Mulvaney’s battalion, she’s taking losses so she must be in contact wi’ the Chancellor’s pets.”

There was a seething anger under the old mechwarrior’s words that assuaged some of Kate’s nerves - and dragged her attention from wondering if the Crab had been built at the old Cosara factory here on Northwind. It had provided parts for years, but if it was building new ‘mechs… Well, it would not surprise her if the Highlanders had kept that a secret. Battlemech factories were highly prized and she would not have been surprised if part MacLeod’s insistence on their rights to privacy within their own bases and facilities was to hide how much or little capacity they had. A mercenary command that could replaces its own losses was a power in its own right, just look at the Wolf Dragoons on Outreach!

Crab Medium 'Mech

“Contact left!” the mechwarrior in the Crab shouted, turning his low-slung medium ‘mech in that direction. The fifty-ton machine skidded on the road surface, slowing just before a flight of LRMs would have showered it.

Kate backtracked the missiles to the hulking shape of a Crusader that emerged from the shadows, the covers raised from its missile launchers. More missiles rushed from behind it, a Dervish in the same dark colors joining the fray. This time the Crab was less fortunate and she saw armor peel away under the barrage of LRMs.

Crusader Heavy 'Mech

“Fire in passant!” growled MacLeod, which took Kate a moment to parse. The heavy Gallowglas raised the gun-shaped ER PPC in its right arm - not unlike that of the Battlemaster her dad had piloted - but the colonel’s first shot missed as the Crusader ducked slightly. Undaunted, the Highlander kept his torso turning and the twin large lasers were more accurate, scoring a fiery line across the chest of the heavy Capellan ‘mech.

Kate brought up her own lasers - the range was poor for her right arm’s medium lasers so she opened up with the larger models in her chest. The Death Commando ‘mech stepped forwards sharply and twin beams of coherent light slashed through the building behind it. There was no time to worry about the property damage - she adjusted her aim and fired the extended range laser in her left arm. This hit home, carving into the plating over one of the Crusader’s bulky missile launchers.

Vindicator Medium 'Mech

The flash of the Vindicator firing on the Dervish was visible but Kate had no attention left to spare, one eye on MacLeod to stay behind the other heavy ‘mech, the other on the Crusader.

The colonel barked: “Keep movin’,” as the Crab backpedalled, turning to face the attackers, its own large lasers both missing. “There’s got to be at least two more of them!”

That made sense, the Death Commandos operated in lances of four ‘mechs, like everyone else in the Successor States’ militaries, a doctrine handed down from the Star League Defense Force.

Both Death Commandos closed in, looking for the sweet spot where they were close enough to use their short-range missiles and lasers, without being too close for the long-range missiles that were their main arsenal. Most concerningly, they both targeted Kate.

She yelled and fired her jump-jets as alarms warned her that missiles were inbound. It was the textbook response, but the lasers bit into the armored hide of her Guillotine before she could lift off, doing enough damage that she bobbled and cut the jump short, almost crashing into the back of MacLeod’s Gallowglass.

The error proved fortunate, for the bulk of the LRMs had been aimed high and only a few pattered off the shoulders of her ‘mech. That was small consolation when the SRMs tracked unerringly and explosions engulfed her for a moment. Streak missiles, she realized. It was no surprise that the Death Commandos had upgraded.

MacLeod twisted to cover Kate as she struggled to stay upright. He was able to add his own pulse lasers now and they bit into the Crusader, staying close to the center of mass, while one of his large lasers connected with a shin, shaving away more plating.

Another wave of LRMs arched up and over the Death Commandos, tracking in on Kate and she didn’t even try to return fire, eyeballing the salvo and dodging her ‘mech back - successfully avoiding them.

Longbow Assault 'Mech

“Longbow back behind them,” one of the Highlanders warned and Kate grimaced. That was a larger ‘mech than anything in the lance. While size wasn’t everything, the Longbow would have as many missiles as the Crusader and Dervish combined.

“Keep going, your highness!” came a shout and the platoon of Battle Armor caught up, the sixteen of them using their jump-jets to close in on the Death Commandos.

It was a threat the Capellans had to honor, but they continued to fire at Kate as they re-orientated - LRMs raining down on her and on Colonel MacLeod, who was trying to block some of their lines of sight.

The Crab and Vindicator maintained their crossfire on the Death Commando ‘mechs until the battle armor - those who successfully ran the gauntlet of lasers and SRMs to get to grips - swarmed over the two ‘mechs in sight.

“Move!” ordered MacLeod and the Highlanders broke contact with Kate in their midst. “I think they knew who you were.”

“I put that together,” she replied, checking her armor state. Fortunately there had been no penetrations but there was damage all across the front of the Guillotine.

“Captain Corey has already been drawing more than her share of fire,” he continued, revealing that he had been balancing fighting this skirmish with also tracking what was going on across his regiment.

Kate belatedly checked her map and saw that the Highlanders were forming a more cohesive force, little clusters spreading out to contain the landing. Stragglers were still emerging from hangars, but she could now make out companies operating.

She tried to match up the outlines on the map with the actual facilities as the four ‘mechs ran through the Fort. The spread of Death Commando sightings, now including their own clash, was spreading more in one direction than the others… “Is it just me or are they pushing towards the shelters?” Kate said cautiously.

MacLeod muttered something she was fairly sure that she wasn’t supposed to hear. “They might be.”

The bunkers housing the Highlander’s families and - if she had used them, Kate - were intended to hold out against collateral damage but if Battlemechs focused their attention on them, it wouldn’t take more than a few minutes to penetrate them.

“Two for one,” the colonel continued grimly, “They get you if you were taking shelter there. And even if you’re not, Liao gets their revenge on us by attacking our families.”

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Part 2

They reached Mulvaney’s position without being intercepted, MacLeod snarling orders the entire time, shifting forces to slow the Death Commandos’ advance. The damage done to the Fort was mounting, and Kate had to remind herself that - like NAIS - what was on the surface was mostly superficial. Residential blocks and administration buildings could be rebuilt - the people who usually occupied them were in shelter. Hangars were an only slightly greater loss, the same technicians who worked in them could rebuild them. And the turrets being wrecked as the battle raged were doing as intended.

Despite all of that, only there were only five confirmed kills of Death Commandos by the time MacLeod’s command lance reached Major Mulvaney’s battalion, emerging from between a pair of warehouses to find a quartet of black-painted ‘mechs tearing into the three survivors of a lance of tartan-trimmed Highlanders.

The largest of the four Capellans wheeled as they emerged, shifting from giving fire support to its companions. The hash of jamming that squealed across all bands like the bagpipes of the Northwinders explained something of how the Death Commanders were countering friendly sensors - although Kate had to wonder why anyone would put ECM into an Awesome.

McDonald’s Vindicator - Kate had learned his name only in passing as they traveled - caught all four PPCs squarely and the much smaller ‘mech twitched and shook under the impacts. Whether it was the bleedover of electromagnetic energy or the kinetic impacts that savaged the Vindicator’s chest she was unclear, but the medium ‘mech went down immediately.

Seven large lasers repaid the injury as Kate and her two companions opened up on the assault ‘mech with their full armament, McLeod’s PPC only barely behind them.

Slab-like plates of armor shattered under the impact, but they absorbed the hits and the eighty-ton war machine took only a single step backwards under the impact.

Kate saw the Awesome turn towards her and guessed that she would be prioritized. Already at the back, she side-stepped her Guillotine backwards and it crashed through the brick wall of the warehouse.

The corner of the building collapsed, parts of the roof crashing down on her cockpit and on the goods she was trampling… but the debris soaked up the bulk of the fury being directed at her.

Four PPCs, that’s a new variant, she thought and jabbed her extended range large laser out like a lance. The heat of firing was manageable for her, but the Awesome wasn’t glowing on thermals the way it should be if it was using that many PPCs. It must have an augmented cooling system like her own.

Or like MacLeod’s Gallowglas. The colonel advanced, firing furiously, and Hogan clung to his flank, the Crab dwarfed by the two much larger war machines.

Kate charged after them. The Awesome couldn’t possibly be using extended range PPCs. If it were, the heat of two full barrages would have built up too much heat for it to be still firing. That meant that it would have the usual vulnerability of ‘mechs armed with the weapons: that the particle beams were incoherent and of limited effect at point-blank range.

That was not a problem suffered with the lasers that she and the Highlanders were using. Even so, it took time for them to close in and the Death Commando continued back away, lengthening the distance that needed to be crossed.

He was stagger-firing the PPCs now, evidently needing to manage his heat. One shot zeroed in on the Guillotine and tore through the armor of her right arm, penetrating into the myomer fibers that moved the limb.

A second shot went wild as a shot from MacLeod’s own PPC tore across the arm being fired from, digging a gouge into the armor and causing the limb to shake as the myomers twitched uncontrollably under the electromagnetic discharge.

Then a third took out the searchlight mounted above the Guillotine’s cockpit…

Awesome Assault 'Mech

Hogan speared the Awesome just above the waist with both large lasers and this time even the legendarily thick armor of the eighty ton BattleMech wasn’t enough. Kate saw fluid leaking from the side of its chest, coolant fluid escaping before valves could isolate that part of the system.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the other three Death Commandos trying to turn upon her. A Vindicator, a Raven and one of the Confederation’s new Snake medium ‘mechs. But the Blackjack and the pair of Vindicators in Highlander colors poured on the fire, forcing the Capellans to keep their best armor and therefore their main weapons pointed at the defenders.

A few sub-munitions from the Snake’s autocannon rattled off of the Guillotine and then she was close enough to engage the Awesome with everything she had.

The medium lasers barely grazed the ‘mech, the penetration may have thrown the right arm’s control off, but her lasers skewered the massive target and she saw one of the PPCs cut to pieces before her SRM launcher spat out four missiles that spiraled towards the Awesome. Only one hit, the warheads’ tracking heads affected by the heavier ‘mech’s electronic countermeasures.

MacLeod and Hogan had added their own medium lasers too - heedless of heat, they stripped away more and more protection from the Awesome.

Perhaps realizing he had to cut down their numerical advantage, the Death Commando shifted fire to Hogan and his three remaining PPCs fired at near optimum range. The sizzling beams of energy crackled across the range connecting them and Kate saw that all three crashed into the Crab’s right leg, just below the knee.

The leg was severed outright and the needle-nosed ‘mech almost impaled itself on the ground, Hogan barely managing to avoid smashing the cockpit first into the ferrocrete.

With a gaelic warcry, MacLeod fired his jump jets and the Gallowglas hurled itself skywards, trying for that most infamous of Battlemech close quarters tactics, one that had earned its nickname ‘the Highlander burial’ from the man’s own regiment (or so they had boasted at a regimental dinner, just three days ago. Kate had some reservations about the claim).

The Death Commando wasn’t caught by the tactic though. He side-stepped and MacLeod landed heavily, ‘mech already staggering before a sweep of one of the long barrelled PPCs smashed into the back of the seventy-tonner and drove it to its knees.

Kate fired again, sparing only the extended range heat in order to reduce the broiling heat of her cockpit. Beam after beam of coherent light stabbed into the Awesome, but none of them seemed to find the titan’s vitals.

The Death Commando turned back towards her from the fallen Highlander colonel but before it could try to use its PPCs at this range - chancy but potentially enough against her already damaged armor - Kate was in arm’s length, the extended range laser of the left arm held horizontal like a lance.

The muzzle of the laser crashed through the cockpit glass of the Awesome and presumably the man inside. The end of her right arm twisted and then snapped as the assault ‘mech fell backwards, taking half the extended range laser with it.

Kate gasped for breath and then her Guillotine staggered as the Snake broke free of the battle, having brought down the Vindicator facing it. Cannon roared and the impacts against her ‘mech’s right side shook the princess against her restraints. She dropped the heavy ‘mech to one knee rather than fall entirely, bracing with the damaged arm as more Streak SRMs descended, pummeling her.

Beside her, MacLeod reared up, Gallowglas’ weapons ripping into the rear of the enemy Vindicator before it could turn. The gyro was shattered by the salvo and the Death Commando’s mech fell like a puppet off its strings. That freed up its opponent to join the fight, but either the Awesome’s jamming was still in effect or the Raven’s own suite was the one blocking the comms for the Highlander chose to join his lancemate in hammering the lightest ‘mech present.

It made tactical sense, reducing the battle to a pair of two-on-one engagements, but Kate would have selfishly preferred the Highlander to help her, or at least his own colonel!

The Snake wove through her fire and MacLeod’s - their lasers lighting up the battlefield but doing little damage to the smaller and more agile ‘mech. The autocannon that made up its right arm smashed hard into the Gallowglas and it followed up with more SRMs. Four of the six tubes launched and every one of them crashed against the Highlander, whose cursing was almost drowned out by the jamming even at this range.

Kate had a better idea of the Snake’s movements now and this time she managed to hit it with both her medium lasers, carving the Capellan crest off the right side of its chest. Her sensors couldn’t tell her how hard it was hit, but she doubted that there was much protection left there - what intelligence had been gathered on the design said that it was not the most heavily armed ‘mech.

MacLeod also landed hits from both his pulse lasers, which scored damage across the hips and thighs, and his ER PPC which came close to hitting the cockpit. Indeed, he might have finished the fight there and then if the Snake hadn’t flung up its left arm in time, shielding the mechwarrior inside at the low cost of major damage to a limb that carried no weapons.

A warning went up from Kate’s sensors and she glanced aside at the tactical display. Despite all the interference, her Guillotine was still able to pick up and decipher what was going on behind her - away from the Raven’s formidable electronic warfare capabilities.

“Battle Armor behind her!” she warned MacLeod.

His response was immediate: “Advance!”

They had both been battered, there was every chance that if anti-mech infantry swarmed them they would find weak spots to exploit. And clad in battle armor it would take multiple shots to stop any one of the Capellan infantry - except perhaps shots from the colonel’s ER PPC.

Advancing brought them closer to the Snake and it shifted fire, this time firing cluster rounds from its autocannon - and all six SRMs fired.

The impacts were scattered all across the Guillotine, one of the sub-munitions detonating against the armorglass of Kate’s canopy, rocking her against her restraints. Fortunately the explosion only cracked the glass, rather than breaching it, but it was all Kate could do to stay upright. Her return went wildly off target… and to make matters worse, the parade ground where they were fighting was rocked by an explosion as the Highlander’s Blackjack exploded in a fireball under the fire of the Raven - an impressive feat by the mechwarrior in the light ‘mech, but for her part Kate had no intention of praising them.

The battle armor forces were closing in rapidly and Kate forced the Guillotine back on course, raising the left arm of the ‘mech to shield herself from cockpit hits as best she could.

“Look out!” roared MacLeod as the Snake took off like a rocket, jump jets hurling it into an arc that Kate saw too late would lead to it descending upon her.

The blonde tried to stop, but she had too much momentum. Tried to shoot it down but her medium lasers barely clipped the Snake and the torso mounted weapons could not elevate high enough… She thought to use her own jump jets but it was too late -

Lightning smashed into the rear armor of the Snake, outlining it in actinic blues and then thunder hammered into it.

More than forty tons of battlemech smashed down and hit the Guillotine off-center and lower than had been planned, the right side of the Snake exploding as the ammunition stored inside detonated. Knocked flat on its back, Kate’s ‘mech would have taken the brunt but cellular storage vented the worst of the fury out of the Snake’s rear.

It was still more than enough to gut the reactor, and the ‘mech sprawled on top of Kate’s, pinning her in place.

Marauder II Assault 'Mech in combat

She was working the controls, trying to push the wreck off her when a shadow loomed over her. The hunched over menace of a Marauder II assault ‘mech, larger and even more formidable than the Awesome she and MacLeod had felled.

And it had tartan trim along its flank.

“Be off with you,” Major Chastity Mulvaney demanded and her ‘mech’s guns spoke again. The twin ER PPCs slashed over Kate and in the direction of the oncoming battle armor. Then her autocannon - the thunder from earlier - spoke sharply.

The Capellans thought better of continuing their advance, a decision perhaps forced on them as the Raven found itself delimbed by the fire of a Panther and a Wolfhound.

With the death of the light mech, the jamming lifted and Kate could see the broader picture.

The battle raged on, but the Highlanders were coalescing into a contiguous wall across the Fort, blocking the Death Commandos from their families. And behind the dark blot of Capellan forces, royal blue icons marked hover cav elements from the NAIS Cadre, sweeping in to threaten the Death Commando’s chance of retreat to where their dropships had now grounded themselves.

“If they are wise,” MacLeod murmured, pulling his Gallowglas upright, “they will retreat.”

Mulvaney kicked the wreck of the Snake off Kate’s mech and stepped back to let her rise.

Her ‘mech was a mess, she thought. But she was alive. “Their orders may be do or die.” Kate warned.

It was the Northwind major who closed out that topic of conversation: “Then they will die.” Mulvaney said with the same certainty as if she was commenting that Tara’s misty climate could be a bit damp.

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