Warship True Vision,

Nadir Jump Point, Avon System

Smoke Jaguar/Nova Cat Occupation Zone

03^th January, 3052

 

“Here is the final briefing before we jump into the Luthien system.” Descartin said as he activated the holo-projector in their small ready room. His expression was taut with excitement, which Deserk was sure was shared by all the warriors of the Trinary.

A map of the planetary surface, complete with natural features like forests, factories, fortifications and the like appeared in the projection. Deserk stared at the map. Any fight through the tangle of fixed defenses to get to the Imperial City would be a hard and arduous affair.

“As all of you have no doubt seen, their defenses are formidable. As a result, our Khans have suggested to the Jaguars that we should drop directly into the city streets of Imperial City and secure it with our elementals, and force the enemy to come to us for a change.”

Descartin snorted derisively. “Of course the stupid Jaguars disagreed. In the end, the final plan calls for us to land at the Tairakana Plains, and then advance through the defending battle lines towards Imperial City.”

“Sorry, Star Captain, but that is foolish.” Star Commander Sazur commented. “That would allow the Draconis Combine to have all the defensive advantages, while we are reduced to striking at hard points.”

“Yes, “ Descartin nodded, clearly agreeing with Sazur, “but we do not question our orders.”

Deserk looked around at the new faces in their trinary, and he thought about where following their orders on Avon had gotten them. They had to bring in replacements from the garrison cluster brought to Avon to bring the Trinary back up to full strength, and though Descartin had tried his best, the newcomers still needed more time to adapt to the unit, and allow the unit to adapt to them as well.

“And in case you are wondering about the defending strength, there are some new updates.” Descartin paused for effect. “Before, we already knew that Luthien was garrisoned by a substantial force of mechs. The Otomo, an elite bodyguard regiment. The Genyosha, which defeated the Jaguars on Wolcott, two regiments strong. The 2^nd Legion of Vega. Disgraced in the eyes of many, but a potent force. The 1^st Sword of Light, the Pillar of Ivory, composed of some of their most fanatical warriors. Given these defenders, we will be able to crush them, with sheer numbers if nothing else.”

Descartin bent down, leaning on the holo-projector control panel. “Victory is not so certain now. Comstar has just given us warning of additional forces reinforcing the Combine defenders.”

His eyes seemed to glow in the dark as he continued, “They are the Wolf Dragoons and Kell Hound mercenary units.” Gasps arose throughout the room.

Deserk was as taken aback as anyone else. “How is that possible?” He asked. The Wolf Dragoons were formerly clan, sent by the clans to ascertain the strength of the various Houses of the Inner Sphere. However, they had spent so much time in the Inner Sphere that they had become corrupted by its ways, and had refused to return to the clans after their mission was accomplished. Throughout the invasion so far, they had not opposed any of the clans, yet it seemed they had finally chosen to bid themselves into the battle for Luthien.

Descartin ignored Deserk’s question. “Reports place the Dragoons at five regiments, with at least two more special force battalions. The Kell Hounds are two regiments in strength, and we know very little of them save that they were one of the better units that opposed the Wolves in the initial waves of our return. For them to have survived those battles at all means that they would not be easy foes.”

Deserk raised his hand. “So where did they come from? I recall Yoshino saying that the Combine did not hire much mercenaries, and had a particular feud against these two units.”

Descartin shrugged. “I have no idea. Given the complex politics of the Inner Sphere, I guess anything is possible, quiaff?”

“Aff.” Yoshino had been a helpful source of information with regards to Combine tactics and practices. They had already compiled several reports for Star Colonel Thadeus Nostra using the information gathered. But still, Deserk had his doubts. “But what are our chances now of taking Luthien?”

“I cannot say I am sure, but I would estimate it to be about fifty percent. Sixty-forty in our favor if our luck holds, and the other way round if their luck holds.”

Deserk did not like the sound of that, and from the murmurs of the other members of the trinary, they did not either. We will be lucky if we can even get to the city gates! He thought.

Descartin was speaking firmly. “Our trinary will be spearheading the brunt of any assault, heavy losses are expected. But I want to make one thing clear to everybody. I know that many of you are disappointed at the recent fiasco on Avon. But take note. We still won, and we will not lose as long as our cause is just, our skills honed, and our mechs ready.”

“We will not fail.” He said again for emphasis.

“Seyla!” The trinary shouted.

 

Dropship Seeing Things,

Planetary Approach, Luthien System

Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine

04^th January, 3052

 

Descartin shifted uneasily in his seat as the dropship shook violently, rattling his Timber Wolf like a bead in a can. I hope we can land safely, his thoughts ran, as he looked at the splotches of red spots swarming all over the blue dots on his radar feed from the dropship’s sensors.

The blue dots represented friendly aerospace forces from the Nova Cats and the Smoke Jaguars, trying to hold back the horde of enemy fighters from reaching the important mech transports. From what Descartin could see, it was like trying to swat aside a swarm of bees with a palm, completely ineffectual.

They had been attacked once by space based combat wings when they had just jumped into a pirate point near Luthien, it had not been so bad at the time, and they had been able to pass through relatively unscathed. Then had come 15 hours of peaceful transit, until they had come within range of aerospace forces based on Luthien itself.

He grimaced as the ship shuddered again. He could swear he heard the twisting of metal somewhere from the sides of the mech bay, further exacerbated by some intense shouting from the muffled communications feed from the bridge of the Seeing Things. Descartin thought he could make out the words “crippled”, “engines”, and “cut them loose”.

He tried to ignore the gadflies in his stomach. The worst part of it for a born warrior was that his ultimate fate was in the hands of others, and not his own. Descartin was sure he was not the only one feeling nervous. No matter how much they had been conditioned to trust their fellow clan warriors, none of them could ever disregard the fact that they were not in charge of their destinies in such situations.

Stretching his neck several times to each side as he sought to release some of the build up tension in his shoulders, Descartin ran another systems check on his mech. Better safe than sorry, and it was not like he could do anything much anyway.

“Star Captain,” His comms crackled, as the dropship captain said, “We are entering Luthien’s atmosphere, and should be grounding in ten minutes time. Please get ready to move out.”

“Aff.” Descartin replied. He switched over to the trinary feed.

“Third Assault Trinary, we are grounding in ten minutes. Move out as quickly as possible. I do not want any sitting targets. Time is of the essence if we are to push through the Combine defenders.” He did not bother to hear the replies of his troops. He trusted his Star Commanders enough that they would make sure of that.

The next few minutes passed by quickly, and the intense shaking of the approach run was replaced by a calm silence. In some ways, the silence was even more ominous than the roar of the space battle outside, akin to the cold stillness of a plain before a lightning storm.

Descartin could feel their rate of descent slowing even before the dropship captain could inform him of their landing, since their descent virtually decreased the overall acceleration due to gravity on his body. He checked his systems for the umpteenth time, hoping that this would not turn into a compulsive habit in the future.

There was a abrupt thump as the dropship’s legs sank firmly into the ground, and Descartin knew immediately from his suddenly increased weight that they had landed.

The bay doors pulled open almost immediately, and Descartin pushed his throttle forward. As the commander, it was his duty to be the first out into any hostile combat situation.

“Star Captain, we read several vehicles around our landing site. Eliminate them.” Star Colonel Nostra ordered.

“Aff, Star Colonel.” Descartin’s Timber Wolf sprinted out of the mech bays into the open plains.

His first view of Luthien was rather disappointing. He realized he had been expecting a nice clean environment much like Avon, but Luthien was far different. Though it was still night, the reddish tinge in the sky attested to the smog present in the atmosphere.

The ground was muddy even before his mechs had began to move over it, and he could see signs of severe soil erosion in several places as strobing lights from the dropships illuminated their surroundings. The thatchy grass grew in clumps here and there, clinging to survival in the dark, oily earth. Descartin began to understand why Luthien was called the “Black Pearl”.

Two Skulkers were racing towards the Seeing Things, and Descartin moved his Timber Wolf on an intercept course. He charged his PPC capacitors, ready for battle.

The Combine vehicles stopped in their tracks as Descartin led his mech forward, as though stunned at his approach. Descartin knew better. The stravag freebirths were trying to gain as much information about the mechs marching out of the dropship holds before fleeing.

They will not escape, Descartin swore as he fired at the nearest Skulker. The PPC bolts slashed through the night, two streaks of lightning in the dark. The Skulker exploded as the shots slammed home, setting off its fuel stores. The night was brightened by the burning wreck of the destroyed vehicle, and the light from the fire was thrown out to about a hundred meter radius. One tire spun lazily round the burning ruins for several seconds, before settling onto the ground almost resignedly.

The second Skulker seemed to realize that staying in place was a suicidal move, and started reversing at full speed.

The Timber Wolf continued running forward, as Descartin sighted in on the fleeing Skulker with his PPCs. Two bolts of lightning struck out again, but only one hit. However, Descartin knew he had gotten lucky when the Skulker simply stopped in place, the crew probably killed by a lucky hit to their compartment.

All around him, he could see clan mechs chasing down Inner Sphere vehicles, as the landing zone became one huge hide-and-seek arena.

Deserk’s vulture-like Mad Dog came up beside him. “What do you want us to do?”

“Sweep around from grid 7865 to 7234, and then to 7805 with your star. Destroy all Skulkers. The rest of us will stay behind to defend the dropships.”

“Aff. Moving out now.” The Mad Dog sprinted off with its starmates as they carried out his instructions.

Descartin contacted Nostra, “Star Colonel, I have sent my trinary on a combat patrol of our landing zone. What do you wish us to do next?”

“Star Captain, several of our dropships have suffered malfunctions, so instead of their troops dropping to provide a forward screen, they are grounding in the landing zone. This will delay our advance, so I want you to prepare for aerospace and artillery attacks.”

“So we wait?”

“Aff. You wait.”

Descartin hunkered his Timber Wolf in the shadow of an Overlord-C, the chicken legs of the omnimech telescoping down as he waited for further orders. Reports came in of scouts penetrating their perimeter and sneaking away successfully. Although there were no real enemy attacks so far, the tension in the landing zone seemed to increase with each transmission of enemy sightings.

Come on, come on, Descartin repeated the words like a mantra as he waited for his orders. Deserk’s star soon returned from their sweep, with reports of several vehicle kills. None escaped on their side, at least those they were able to detect.

Without warning, the brightening sky was suddenly filled with explosions.

“Enemy fighters!” Came the cry over the combat frequencies. “Incoming!” The dropships threw up a wall of flak and laser fire, seeking to dissuade the Draconis Combine fighters from making their strafing runs.

Descartin shouted to his men, “Cover the dropships! Move it!”

The trinary sprang into action. LBX autocannons covered the sky as they all scanned the skies for fighters. Descartin could see twisting exhaust trails of the fighters in the battle as they fought for supremacy in the skies. Somewhere up there was Khan Severen Leroux, in his Scytha omnifighter.

“Watch nine o’clock!” Somebody yelled. The trinary swung around in time to see two Slayers making their runs, two tiny specks angling down from the aerobattle towards them.

“Forget about zellbrigen!” He had enough of dueling rules. Facing so many enemies, they had too much to lose. “Fire on my command!” Descartin made a quick estimate of the time it would take for the fighters to approach their firing range, and realized that they were approaching too fast for a immediate fire command. “Amend previous order! Fire on three!” The Slayers, once small dots, were now quite visible to their eyes.

“Mark!” Descartin started to sprint his Timber Wolf right for the two fighters, in a head on confrontation. “Two!”

His star followed him, while the other two stars moved right and left respectively to catch the Slayers in a crossfire. “One!”

The Slayers screamed down at them.

“Fire!”

The two Slayers literally broke apart under the furious assault before they even had time to fire their own autocannons and lasers. The mess of burning metal and high strength plastics that were once cutting edge fighters crashed into the ground behind them.

Scratch two fighters, Descartin twisted his mech’s torso around to scan for further air attacks. A beeping tone on his console alerted him to another message from Star Colonel Nostra.

Nostra got straight to the point. “Star Captain, the enemy fighters are pulling back momentarily. All our forces have landed, and the Jaguars are already moving onto the Tairakana Plains. All Nova Cat clusters are advancing behind them. Our orders are to act as a reserve for the Jaguars, and push through if the assault should stall. Understand, quiaff?”

“Aff!”

“Good. Proceed to grid 8043 for linkup with the rest of the cluster.”

Descartin switched back to the trinary channel. “Listen up, Third Assault. We are going to move for the Tairakana Plains with the rest of the Galaxy. Stay in line, and move together.”

The long snaking line of omnimechs heading out for battle from the landing zone was indeed impressive. Descartin and his trinary fell in line, the footfalls of their mechs sending up a moving tremor in the ground as they marched.

“Worried?” Deserk asked.

“Always.” Descartin kept his eyes fixed on the horizon. Even though the air attacks had stopped, and there were more than a hundred clan mechs in around him, he wanted to stay alert.

“I have a very bad feeling about this.”

“You are not the only one. Let us keep our eyes open. It is not as if we do not know what is coming at us, quiaff?”

A series of explosions interrupted their conversation.

“What happened?” Descartin quickly toggled to receive all transmissions.

A Jaguar warrior was making a quick report. “Filthy freebirths rigged up some mechs armed with explosives! Then they detonated the minefield around us! We have lost almost two binaries in their honorless ambush!”

Descartin decided he had heard enough. “Everybody watch out. The freebirths are using traps. Try to stay away from enemy units and engage at long range. Do not close in!”

“Contact!” Yegro shouted from his Ice Ferret. “Four companies, at sector 4! Jaguars are pushing against them, but they are taking heavy losses. Do we assist?”

Star Colonel Nostra cut in. “449^th Assault Cluster, head for sector 4 immediately. We are to assist the Jaguars in breaking through the defensive lines. Opposition is the 1^st Sword of Light and the Otomo. Destroy them.”

The Star Colonel’s grey Executioner led the way as the entire cluster charged towards the Combine lines. Descartin followed close behind in his Timber Wolf, the trinary in a wedge formation behind him. Other trinaries flanked them, all racing towards the Combine defenders.

Descartin could see flashes of laser beams and missile contrails between the gray colored Jaguar mechs and the mechs of the Combine, the flat black mechs being the Otomo and the flat red painted ones from the 1^st Sword. It was already early morning, and the grassy ground shimmered lightly as they ran over.

He settled his crosshairs onto an enemy Hatamoto-Chi, watching as the range dropped enough for him to use his ER PPCs. He fired the moment the crosshairs turned red, signifying a lock.

The Hatamoto-Chi, which looked like a man in armor, staggered from the impact of the particle bolts as they crashed into its torso. The assault mech turned around in time to receive another volley of missiles from Deserk’s Mad Dog. The mech toppled to the ground.

A badly mangled Jaguar Stormcrow ran up and caved the head of the Hatamoto-Chi in with a flurry of kicks, before it was blown away by a Battlemaster at point blank range. The Battlemaster was in turn wreathed in energy beams and missiles from the front mechs of the Nova Cat cluster.

Descartin slowed his Timber Wolf down to a steady walk, since there were now more than enough targets for the picking. He managed to spy a 1^st Sword Archer aiming its missiles at him. As the Archer fired its racks, Descartin triggered his jump jets, flying to his left in an attempt to shake the missiles.

As the LRMs sent up gouts of soil on the area he had just vacated, Descartin fired back with his PPCs. One lightning bolt missed, but the other whipped into the Archer’s left leg. He could feel the temperature in the cockpit rising as the heat sinks struggled to remove the heat buildup.

Better not waste my anti-missile ammo, Descartin thought as he moved the Timber Wolf closer to the Archer. If I can just get into its minimum range..

Descartin spotted the trap in time as a black Hunchback suddenly appeared behind the cropping of rock it had been hiding behind on his right. The sight of the AC/20 on the Hunchback sent up an panicked feeling in his stomach. Descartin swallowed hard.

He decided on the Hunchback being the more immediate threat, and walked towards the Archer while he torso twisted the Timber Wolf  to its right to keep his weapons on the Hunchback. He fired his array of medium lasers, seeking to get the first shot off, and hopefully disrupt the Hunchback’s targeting before it could cream him with its autocannon.

The medium lasers all hit, melting armor off the Hunchback’s arms, legs, and torso. The hits disrupted the Hunchback’s own aim, and its autocannon missed. However, the lasers on its arms flashed out at the Timber Wolf, and one of them hit, nibbling away armor on Descartin’s right arm.

The Archer did not even bother to fire its LRMs, but ran in closer to the Timber Wolf. Descartin could not figure out why, even as he squared off with the Hunchback.

He fired his medium lasers again, punching holes into the Hunchback as it tried to bring its autocannon to bear. One arm from the Hunchback was sheared off this time, while the mech fell to the ground from the loss of the limb in a shower of sparks.

Then the Archer stepped in with both battle fists swinging. Descartin caught the movement out from one corner of his eye, and he could only brace himself as the punches hit home. Both blows smashed into the left torso, and his head was sent ringing with the impact as his neurohelmet slammed into one side of his cockpit.

He swung the left arm of the Timber Wolf up as he twisted the torso back to face the front. The Archer stepped back to avoid the impromptu uppercut, then fired its LRMs at point blank range.

The missiles all hit, but due to the extremely short distance between the mechs, the arming mechanisms of the missiles did not activate the explosives, reducing them to mere projectiles that could only crush a few armor plates on the clan omnimech with their kinetic energy. It was also the short distance that prevented the anti missile system on the Timber Wolf from shooting the missiles down.

Descartin waited for the heat from the firing of his medium lasers to subside before he triggered all of his weapons except for one ER PPC. The particle blast from his left arm weapons pod sliced into the Archer’s right torso, followed by two medium laser blasts into the same location. He sucked in air greedily as hot air from below him bellowed out into the cockpit.

Almost before he knew it, the Archer blew up in his face as its ammunition went off. The Timber Wolf tottered back, Descartin working his pedals as he tried to stay upright from the force of the Archer’s death.

A burst of autocannon fire past his cockpit brought his attention to the Hunchback firing from the ground, propping itself on one arm to shoot at him. Before he could attack it, Sazur’s Executioner finished it off with a volley of large laser beams and gauss rifle slugs.

All around him, Descartin could see the Combine mechs falling back as they were punished by superior clan technology. In contrast, the Nova Cats had suffered little damage. To add insult to injury, clan fighters were strafing the 1^st Sword as they regrouped, preventing them from putting up any significant resistance.

His comms crackled. “This is Star Colonel Nostra. All Nova Cats, hold your ground. Let the Jaguars take the attack again. We stay in reserve, and help them only when their attack falters.”

“Aff, Star Colonel.” Truth to tell, Descartin wanted nothing better than to continue the assault. Leaving the responsibility to the Jaguars was the logical decision, though, since that meant they would be the ones bearing the brunt of the defending forces. But not the honorable one.

Descartin gritted his teeth. There would be more than enough opportunities for glory. So far, they had only encountered about three of the Inner Sphere regiments. There are still more than five regiments left to fight. Most importantly, the dezgra Wolf Dragoons have not showed up yet.

“Star Colonel, enemy forces have appeared on both sides of the Jaguar spearhead. Shall we assist?” Somebody from 1^st Assault Trinary asked.

“Neg.” The reply came. “But move up in case the Jaguars cannot handle it. No point interfering now. They might not appreciate our help.”

Descartin thought he could hear a sardonic grin in Nostra’s voice, which brought to him just how much both clans had riding on the outcome of this contest, not just against the Inner Sphere, but also against each other.

“Those are Genyosha mechs,” Deserk told him after a while, as they approached the southern flank of the spearhead. “They are supposed to be even better than the Sword of Light.”

“I guess they are.” Descartin uttered in awe as the cluster crested a hill to behold a terrible sight.

The ash gray heavy mechs of the Genyosha had trampled all over the screening Jaguar forces, inflicting heavy casualties. The ground was scattered with broken and shattered Jaguar omnimechs, while the Combine mechs were already pulling away, out of range of the Nova Cats.

“Star Colonel, do we pursue?” Descartin asked.

“Neg. Hold this course and advance to the front. The attack here has drawn away some of the Jaguars, and their advance is in danger of stopping. Do the same thing as we did before. Break the defending lines.”

Before following the rest of the cluster to the front, Descartin took one more look at the battlefield where the Genyosha had so easily defeated the Jaguars, and forced down a twinge of unease. Stravag, clan omnimechs are not supposed to fall so easily.

Within two minutes, the cluster had surged into the 1^st Sword, which had again established a second defensive line. Descartin noted the battered state of the Jaguar mechs as they fell back to give the Cats room to attack.

His Timber Wolf led a flanking charge against a company of 1^st Sword mechs, slashing around as the rest of the cluster advanced headlong into the defenders. One of the first opponents he saw was an assault class Crockett. A Star League machine, he decided it would doubtless give him a tough fight.

Or not, Descartin muttered to himself in surprise as he fired his ER PPCs, both shots slashing into the right torso. The Crockett exploded, even before firing a single shot.

One more down, he told himself as the Inner Sphere company fell back in shock. His trinary bore in with a vengeance, using superior clan technology and skill, together with combined fire to take down the 1^st Sword company.

Descartin teamed up with Deserk against an alien looking Marauder. The Inner Sphere mech fought back desperately, but all Descartin suffered was a PPC hit to his right leg before his PPCs and Deserk’s lasers vaporized the mech.

The Combine defenders fell back yet again, as the Nova Cats led the way through this time. Descartin triggered his jump jets over a small hill, catching a glimpse of more mechs moving amongst the trees in the Waseda Hills about three kilometers away as he reached the apex of his jump.

“More mechs in front, Star Colonel.” Descartin reported. “Do we engage?”

“Go ahead.” Star Colonel Nostra ordered. “We will push ahead now. The Jaguars will be our reserve this time. Be wary of traps.”

Descartin nodded to himself. It was sound advice, and he kept his eyes open.

His trinary moved ahead cautiously towards the hills, sweeping the area before them with their weapons. It was just past noon, and the light from the sun’s primary was trying to cut through the gray clouds perennially over the area around the Imperial City. The terrain just before the hills was clear, and then leading to the rolling slopes that the locals named Waseda Hills.

Descartin did not know why, but the unease in his stomach grew as they neared the hills. He knew there was something very wrong about the entire situation, but he could not place it exactly.

Then he narrowed his eyes, as he saw the red and black Archer right in the middle of their path.