WABS Chpt 55

Act 3 - Depression

With A Bared Sword

Chapter 55

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Coventry Military Academy, Coventry
Donegal March, Federated Commonwealth
10 March 3058

Coventry Military Academy was always going to be a target for the Jade Falcons. There were many places they could attack but there were only so many that mattered in military terms. Every planetary campaign centered around key objectives that let one side or the other replenish, repair or direct their forces. If you held none of those points then it didn't really matter what percentage of the population or surface you controlled: "Your ability to sustain forces in the field was too limited to have a chance at conventional victory."

Unconventional victory these days meant pulling the bulk of your forces out, leaving a few to act as guerillas and hoping you could return. Victor had read about the days where unconventional meant bringing out the weapons of mass destruction to deny the enemy any value in their prize. He didn't want to go back to those days and hoped the new Khan of the Jade Falcons felt similarly.

The fact that the Jade Falcons' Warships hadn't approached Coventry and were defending their JumpShips suggested that the answer was yes.

Visigoth Medium OmniFighter in combat

That didn't mean that the Falcons weren't being aggressive though. Victor backed Prometheus away from academy headquarters building, the Dire Wolf's torso tilted as far back as he could get it, bringing the weapons to bear on the inbound 'mechs.

He'd just about got the crosshairs over a descending Fire Falcon when a warning of targeting lock forced him to twist, taking the shots from a strafing Visigoth on the heavy armored cowl that wrapped around his 'mech's vitals. Molten scars decorated the Dire Wolf's chest already - the OmniFighter's lasers added more but his own lasers were enough of a threat that the Visgoth had to twist evasively and the autocannon's submunitions wasted themselves wrecking the immaculate lawn of the academy's quad.

Crusader Heavy 'Mech

"Victor!" LRMs from Galen Cox's Crusader arched up and chased the Visigoth off, nibbling away at its rear armor but not finishing the Jade Falcon off. "We need to get out of here."

"I'm backing up as fast as I can." the Archon-Prince shot back.

"Take it on the rear armor and run!" his aide snapped. "We've extracted everything we can."

Likely landing zones had been picketed, with reaction forces from the Tenth Lyran and Fourteenth Donegal Guards ready to respond if the Jade Falcons came down near the academy. No one had seriously thought that the Clanners would come down directly on top of the campus, but that was exactly what they were doing, Elementals and OmniMechs spilling out of DropShips several kilometers outside the reach of anti-aircraft batteries.

Victor checked his tactical display and saw that the bulk of the Coventry DMM forces were already pulling back. Drawn down for picketing forces, only about half the March Militia were concentrated, which was why he'd held them back at the academy as a reserve force. Bolstered by raw cadets from the final year, they might have tipped the balance if another force was being pressed hard but on their own they wouldn't be able to hold the academy against what seemed like a full galaxy.

Elemental Battle Armor

Galen was right. The prince wheeled his assault 'mech around - taking the time to unleash its guns on a Kit Fox that was being a bit too bold in trying to push on their position without waiting for support. The Elementals around the OmniMech's feet scattered as Victor's lasers chewed through the light 'mechs thin armor. One arm was blow clean off the Jade Falcon 'mech by impacts of the heavy autocannon and the MechWarrior inside, deprived of half his firepower, wisely backed away towards the core of the landing.

"How bad is it?" Victor demanded, forcing Prometheus up to the maximum speed its legs could deliver.

Dire Wolf Assault OmniMech

His aide was backing up almost as fast as the Dire Wolf could run forwards, he only spun to join the retreat once Victor was past him. "Could be worse. Most of our support staff made it to the transports."

Something inside the Archon-Prince relaxed at learning that. The Inner Sphere had reached the point of being able to replace hardware like the repair bays, even if it was rarely cheap or easy (and never both). Replacing skilled technicians and other specialists was still a challenge - not enough schools, and sparing the people who both had those skills and the knack of passing them on from frontline duty without compromising battlefield needs was a delicate balance.

"That's good. And material?" He could see heavier Jade Falcon forces in the distance. The bulk of the landing had been around the 'mech hangars and the warehouses. There had been enough warning that the troops had been geared up and not caught at rest, but the stockpiles prepared for operations on this side of the Cross-Divide mountains were much harder to move.

"We had enough time to torch the computers and the paperwork." Galen offered.

Nova Medium OmniMech

"That gives me a warm, happy feeling," the Archon-Prince conceded and twisted to bring his guns around against a star of Jade Falcons moving to intercept them.

A pair of older Novas were just a bit too far behind the Black Lanners that made up the majority of the Star. The new mediums were faster and a more capable commander would have reined in the trio to hit as a consolidated force - or reconfigured the Novas with longer range weapons. As it was, their massed lasers weren't inside effective range yet and Victor's larger and longer ranged weapons peeled away armor over one of the Black Lanner's missile launchers.

Black Lanner Medium OmniMech in combat

The explosion as one of his pulse lasers bit through the ammo bin didn't destroy the 'mech, but it ripped the left side to shreds and left the arm hanging slack, neutralizing those weapons too. The heat signature suggested that the Black Lanner's reactor shielding was also damaged and it fell back.

Galen was pelting another of the Black Lanners with LRMs, dealing more damage than the Jade Falcon was doing in return with its smaller launcher and large laser. The configuration had a balanced loadout with good short-range firepower but the MechWarrior wasn't able to score hits reliably with them yet as Galen wove evasively, using little hops from his jump jets to confuse the Jade Falcon warrior.

Ostsol Heavy 'Mech

The third Black Lanner was taking fire from an Ostsol of the DMM. Victor was pleased to see that the relatively inexperienced MechWarriors of the March Militia were following orders and respecting the Clan's preference for single combat. There was a time and place to use weight of numbers but right now this wasn't the moment - every moment the Jade Falcons were target-fixating would let the rest of the force escape.

It was hard luck for the Ostsol's pilot, who wasn't doing anything like as well as Galen, but if it meant that the faster 'mech wasn't punching past the 'mechs to tear through the APCs and trucks carrying support staff away, then it was a trade Victor would accept.

The rest of the DMM lance with them were also taking the opportunity to pull back and most of them were small and fast enough that they were increasing the distance between them and the two Novas.

Unfortunately, Victor wasn't that fast. His Dire Wolf was larger than anything else on the field right now. The Black Lanner he'd fired at was pulling back, clearly realizing he was out of his league, but the Novas would be on top of him soon.

"Angel Six," he called, switching to the tactical channel. "This is Firestorm Actual. What's your situation?"

(<"Firestorm Actual, we have all guns on the move but we are not in range to support you at this time,">) the commander of the Tenth Lyran Guards' artillery company reported sharply. Their batteries were made up of small but fast moving Thumper artillery vehicles - not much range or firepower, but readily redeployable. (<"Five minutes before we reach an effective firing position.">)

"Understood," Victor turned slightly, preparing to face the Novas with his best armor. Galen would be tied up with the Black Lanner for a moment or two yet. "Once you're in range of the academy, I need you to flatten the hangars. If you have the chance after that, hit the munitions stores and other warehouses but keep your guns safe. The repair bays in the hangar are the only thing worth risking them for."

There would be repair bays in the Jade Falcon DropShips as well, but the Clans' OmniMechs were already easy enough to maintain in the field. Handing them additional facilities would only exacerbate their advantage. Besides that… well, the munitions weren't compatible between Inner Sphere and Clan standards without a lot of work, so that was secondary and shooting at armor that wasn't even on a 'mech yet would be the textbook definition of pointless.

In theory, Victor thought, it would be nice to identify which warehouses stored myomers, actuators and other parts that the Jade Falcons could use and level them, but to do that he'd need to consult the paperwork that was hopefully burning behind him or the technicians scattered around the retreating DMM… then coordinate all that with the artillery… no, that wasn't happening.

The pair of Novas split up to catch him in a bracketing maneuver. Given the withering amount of fire that their huge number of medium lasers could generate, that could cause Victor significant problems.

"Warriors of the Jade Falcons," he called via his loudspeakers - not wanting to risk a radio transmission that might reach someone more senior. "I am the victor of Twycross, a veteran of battles against your Clan and the Nova Cats. I challenge you for the right of free passage out of this combat zone!"

The Jade Falcons kept moving apart, but neither fired as they crossed the maximum effective range of their lasers. (("Why should we accept such a challenge?")) one replied via his own loudspeakers. (("We have already won this battle."))

"For this objective, yes," Victor agreed.

"Victor," Galen snapped, "No."

Fortunately his aide's voice was coming through his earphones and wouldn't be audible to the Jade Falcons. Even better, neither seemed to have identified who the 'victor of Twycross was'. "And since this particular battlefield is won already, all that remains for you to fight for is glory." He spread the arms of his Dire Wolf. "I offer the two of you the chance at that, against my own chance to fight another day."

"I swear, I will punch you out again if I have… have to!" shouted Galen, the pause forced on him as the Black Lanner hammered him with its SRMs.

(("We accept!")) called the Jade Falcon and as Victor had hoped, one of them backed away to leave the other to fight him alone. The odds were still not ideal, but he'd cut the odds against himself in half.

"Just keep that second Black Lanner off me," the Archon-Prince ordered as he saw the Ostsol's canopy erupt, marking the ejection of the MechWarrior.

The first Nova opened fire, cycling its lasers to maintain a barrage rather than going for a full alpha. The latter would have been preferable for Victor, since he'd managed to skip the Dire Wolf to one side as the Jade Falcon fired, so he'd have not been hit by most of the shots. As it was, the clanner was able to respond and track laser fire across the right leg and up the side of Prometheus.

However, to get those shots in, the Nova had closed into the reach of Victor's heavy autocannon and he had always been good with those. The Dragoon-built autocannon could maintain a fair higher rate of fire than anything yet matched by Inner Sphere engineers. The stream of shells shredded the armor plating across the left flank and center chest of the smaller 'mech.

Victor braced himself and then fired the SRMs.

It was extreme range for the SRMs and the Archon-Prince wasn't too surprised to see the Nova fire its jump jets to avoid their contrails. The missiles were notorious for the damage they could do to the internals of a 'mech or tank once there was an armor breach. It was the smart play… but it was predictable and that was why Victor had kept his finger on the trigger of his lasers.

The Nova did have some ability to adjust its path through the air, but much less than it did on the ground. Most MechWarriors simply aimed at a destination and accepted the risk. Victor tracked the arc and fired all three pulse lasers.

One stream of pulses went too low, another bit into the left arm of the 'mech… and the last tore through the remaining armor under the nose of the Nova and dug into where Victor knew the 'mechs gyro was located.

The fifty ton 'mech landed, both the bird-like legs flexing to absorb the impact… and then it staggered like a drunken spacer and fell flat on its back.

Apparently undaunted, the MechWarrior tried to struggle up, using one arm as a brace so he could swing the other to bear but this left it with such a limited arc of fire that Victor was able to side step and only one laser bit home. A light went red and Victor grimaced as he realized that the shot had finally burned through the plating over one of the extended range lasers and the weapon was out of action. Hopefully the damage wasn't too severe or he would need to replace it.

In theory there were plenty on the planet, the problem was that they were in Jade Falcon hands. All the spares he'd brought with him were in the storehouses he'd just ordered leveled.

Another salvo from his pulse lasers ripped through the other side of the Nova and severed the shoulder being used to support it. Helpless and rattled as the OmniMech fell for the second time, the MechWarrior inside shouted in wordless frustration, voice amplified by the loudspeakers that were still on.

There was an explosion of silvery fire and out of the corner of his eye, Victor saw Galen's current adversary fall. The second Black Lanner closed in on the battered Crusader without hesitation but the Archon-Prince had problems of his own as the other Nova took this as his turn to join the fight.

This one had learned from the earlier Falcon's errors and stayed close to the ground, weaving from side to side and using his jump jets in brief bursts to clear obstacles along the edge of the campus or to render his path less predictable.

Backpedalling, Victor fired his lasers, feeling the temperature rise. The myomer bundles that moved the limbs of his 'mech were less effective as they grew warmer and the sluggish movements added to the challenge posed by this MechWarrior's skill. The beams of energy slashed back and forth, only catching the Nova glancing blows as the MechWarrior closed in.

Like the earlier MechWarrior, this one was managing his heat carefully - evidently aware that overheating and leaving himself vulnerable would be a fatal error. One or two lasers at a time, the Jade Falcon was chipping away at Victor's armor protection. Certainly, he was taking damage in return but the outline of Prometheus on the damage display was red and orange as minor penetrations grew more common.

The Archon-Prince turned to the autocannon, both to disrupt the pattern of the fight and to let himself cool off. The massive weapon roared, but the sound turned into a stutter and the burst of fire was cut short. It was no satisfaction to find that the shells hit home, because Victor knew without looking that either through battle damage or bad luck the loading mechanism of the gun had jammed up.

There was no time to play around with trying to fix that. Victor spun the Dire Wolf on its heel, moving to keep the ejection hatch for his ammo bin shielded from the more nimble Nova.

The Jade Falcon saw the opening and jumped for it - racing forward with all the speed the Nova could bring to bear, at an angle that kept Victor from using his torso-mounted lasers that were now the bulk of his firepower. His only option was to track with the one arm-mounted laser left to him.

Instead Victor folded one leg of the Dire Wolf below him, dropping the assault 'mech to a half-crouch, and kicked with the other leg.

It was not a move his technician would appreciate, the torsion on the ankle and hips of the 'mech raised new warning lights, but it brought Prometheus around faster than the Jade Falcon anticipated. If Victor had really been ejecting his ammunition then it would have been dangerous to do this - normally one locked the torso while dumping ammo, rather than risking having munitions rocked and bounce in the process which would be a recipe for disaster.

Instead, the feint did what it was intended to… and the Jade Falcon found himself facing the full frontal firepower of the Prometheus at optimal range,

Victor opened fire with everything he had left and the lasers tore shreds of armor off the torso of the narrow OmniMech like a banana being peeled. The result was a perfect target for the SRMs and explosions tore deep into the reactor shielding, and almost breached the cockpit.

Knowing it would be his last shot, the Jade Falcon fired everything they had. Twelve medium lasers reached out and raked at the Prometheus… but only three of them connected as the other lasers slashed over the crouching assault 'mech.

Having braced for major damage, Victor was almost as surprised as they must be, but as the glare faded, he saw that the cockpit must have taken more damage than he thought. The Jade Falcon within might be alive, but he could see some of the consoles inside. Most likely one of the targeting systems had been taken out.

The heat almost visibly radiating from the Nova made it clear there wouldn't be a second such salvo immediately and Victor deliberately pointed the muzzle of his remaining extended range laser at the cockpit. He was tempted to pull the trigger, kill the warrior within before he became more dangerous.

But that would invite similar behavior by the Jade Falcons. And besides that… it was not the sort of MechWarrior, the sort of man, that Victor Steiner-Davion wanted to ever become. "I suggest that you eject," he advised.

The Falcon reached out and grabbed the handles, a moment later they were rocketed up and out of their cockpit., seat dropping away as they reached full height and a parachute bloomed to slow their descent.

Victor turned to check on Galen and saw the blackened shape of his Crusader still sparring with the Black Lanner.

Before he could move to support his friend, more 'mechs arrived, in the off-olive green of the Jade Falcons.

"Cease fire," a woman's voice boomed out from the loudspeakers of the Summoner at the head of the quintet.

The Black Lanner ceased to fire and backed away, but there was a reluctance to the move.

"You," the woman called. "You bargained for hegira?"

Victor opened his visor and wiped his face with one gloved hand. "The right to retreat," he replied. "I do not know your ways enough to say if that is hegira. I have no intention of ceding this world, only of this current battlefield. I see no point in either side bleeding more when it is clear who will hold this ground tomorrow."

Summoner Heavy OmniMech

"Not exactly hegira then." The Summoner had a bit of a swagger as it advanced. "You fought on Twycross, but I think you are not the same warrior who defeated the Falcon Guards."

"Only a comrade of his," the Archon-Prince admitted. "It is my honor to have fought with him."

The woman paused and then halted crisply. She was experienced, he thought. Much more so than the warriors he had just fought. "Brian is of my bloodhouse's get," she said after a moment. "This will be a valuable lesson for him. And above all, you are the victor in your trial. It would be dishonorable of me to deny you that. I grant six hours for you and forces under your command to withdraw… However -"

There was an explosion in the distance, then more followed. The familiar sound of artillery strikes hitting home.

"I demand that you do withdraw," the Jade Falcon continued evenly, "Cease that barrage."

"Angel Six," he ordered. "This is Firestorm Actual. Cease fire and withdraw. We're getting out of here. Acknowledge?"

"Acknowledged, Firestorm. Ceasing fire, we'll see you at the rally point."

Another wave of explosions crashed into the academy's hangars and Victor saw one collapse. "I think those shells must have been in the air," he said apologetically.

"Do me the favor of not leaving Coventry," the woman told him. "You will be a prized target for my warriors, Firestorm."

"We will see who leaves first," the Archon-Prince assured her and raised his Dire Wolf back to its full height before turning to march after his troops.

A tight beam from Galen lit up his comm-suite and he saw his friend's neurohelmeted face on a side monitor. Victor checked his loudspeakers were off before admitting: "I know, that was reckless."

"Did you see who that was?" the man said instead.

"Who, that woman?"

"I guess you didn't see the side of her cockpit from your angle." Galen told him. "There was a bar and a star under the glass. Unless I'm totally wrong…"

"A Khan," Victor confirmed. "One of the Jade Falcon's leaders."

"Do not," the older man warned, "even consider going back to challenge her. Were you dropped on your head as a child?!"

"Well, I did get punched in the face once…" Victor said and laughed as Galen spluttered.

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