Drop Zone Alpha,

Einstein, Deep Periphery,

6^th March 3068

 

In the cockpit of the Grasshopper, Frank was trying hard to relax, but the thought of impending combat against the most fearsome warriors humanity possessed made it impossible.

The previous day, after the batchall had been issued, they had greeted the news of the Falcons accepting the batchall with mixed feelings. Confidence, fear, despair, elation, all these emotions were experienced by the mercs as they tried to put together a plan to beat back the enemy.

The Falcons had bid among themselves for the honor (or shame) of facing the various mercenary commands. Due to the presence of the Dragoons, nobody doubted that the Falcons would be sending some of their very best up against the troops off the Nile.

And indeed, it was a veteran level trinary from the 12th Falcon Regulars that got the bid. Star Colonel Creed Mattlov had gone below the cutdown for the Nile by a star of mechs, which meant the Falcons had wanted two binaries to go up against the Dragoons, the Raiders and Captain Omo’s tank company.

The bid of just a trinary was still enough to give the mercs lots of problems. Composed of an assault star, a heavy star, and a light star, the trinary actually had firepower the equal of an average Inner Sphere battalion. The mercs’ plan would have to be perfect, and executed perfectly for them to have any chance of victory.

The three mercenary companies had split up in the forest surrounding the Star League base. The tank company, ill suited to a battle in the open, actually had a theoretical fighting chance in the dense forest, but Captain Omo was adamant that his tankers not engage the Falcons straight on, attacking only after the Falcons were already weakened. For this reason, they were held in reserve at the site of the base. The SRM carriers would be the most deadly machines of the tankers, able to fling almost 60 SRMs in ten seconds. Some of them were even equipped with inferno rounds, to make things hot for the Falcons.

The Dragoons and the Raiders had separated into their respective companies, each holding a position about ten miles north of the tankers, forming an inverted triangle with the tankers being the lowest point. The dropship, south of their positions, was not included in the bid and thus could not participate in the battle. The Falcons would be attacking from the north.

The plan was to force the Falcons to split their forces as well, confronting both Inner Sphere mech companies simultaneously. The force engaging the stronger Falcon column was instructed to fight a delaying action, so as to allow the other company to overcome the weaker force. The tank company was to be brought in once one of the Falcon groups was eliminated. The combined mercenary force could then take out the remaining Falcons.

In all brutal honesty, nobody expected the Falcons to succumb that easily, or the merc group unlucky enough to face the bulk of the Falcon forces to hold out long enough. No plan ever survives contact with the enemy, and this one, they felt but did not say out loud, was no exception.

“All units report.” Captain Vansen’s voice crackled over Frank’s neurohelmet.

“Alpha Two, present.”

“Alpha Three, present.”

“Alpha Four, present.” Since he was piloting a heavy, Frank was placed in the Command Lance as the fourth member, to make up for the loss of Marco Kluivert.

The Raiders were down to eleven mechs ready for action, since they were short a pilot. The Dragoons, without any backup pilots were even worse off, with only ten mechs taking to the field. The odds did not look good.

As the other company members reported in, Frank checked his systems one more time. He definitely did not want some important system to fail at a critical juncture later. Better be safe than sorry.

There was a short burst of static. “Guys, this is Gamma Three.” Kily’s voice broke in. “Picking up five contacts from the north, coming in fast. Hold on, confirming IFF.” A short pause. “Yup, it’s the Falcons alright. Looks like a medium, or a heavy star. Moving back now. You guys had better get ready, coz they’ll be on top of you in three minutes.”

“Everybody look sharp now!” Captain Vansen barked. “Advance forward at walking speed, try to get in as close as possible. The short ranges allowed in the forest should tip the odds a bit more to our side.”

The command and medium lances of the Raiders began to move from their previously still positions, like statues suddenly coming to life after millennia of standing. Brushing aside trees and other obstacles, the mechs looked every bit the ultimate weapons of war.

The Raiders advanced in two ranks, with the command lance, with their heavier mechs, in the front. The medium lance had instructions to try to get behind the Falcons as soon as possible once the command lance had engaged.

“Raiders, this is Dragoon Lead.” Captain Sheik came in over the comms. “We’re facing a Falcon assault star, and it doesn’t look good right now. We’ll try to take them down as soon as possible. Hold on for as long as you can.”

“Dragoon Lead, this is Alpha Lead, we’re up against a medium star. Advise caution. We have no idea where the third star is. Crawler Lead, there might be a star on their way to you, watch out.” Crawler was the code for the tank company.

One star facing us, one star facing the Dragoons. Don’t tell me the third star is going to strike at Captain Omo’s troops? This doesn’t look good. Frank was getting more and more anxious by the second, as his Grasshopper ate up the ground with huge strides.

“Visual contact! Prepare to fire!” Captain Vansen ordered. The mercs could now see faint outlines of the clanners in the forest.

A Black Hawk, two Lokis, a Night Gyr, and a Black Lanner. All omnimechs, equipped with the very best in clan technology. Charging at the mercs with extreme ferocity, their green paint schemes melding in with their surroundings, the clan mechs looked a blur as they moved with frightening speed and grace in the dense forest.

“Fire at will! Concentrate on the Lokis first!” Instructions were not long in coming. Frank agreed with the choice of targets. Poorly armored compared to other clan heavies, a few well-placed shots should be able to disable them. The problem is that Lokis have a great deal of firepower as well, which makes taking them down without serious losses extremely difficult.

The mechs of Vansen’s Raiders all raised their arms, ready to strike the first blow against Clan Jade Falcon. It only took a command from Captain Vansen for the Raiders to initiate combat.

“All mechs! Fire!” He shouted.

The command lance fired first, as they were the closest to the approaching enemy. Captain Vansen’s Stalker unleashed its awesome firepower all at once against a Loki, in an attempt to destroy it before it could bring its own weaponry to bear. He was running a high risk of an engine shutdown, using an alpha strike attack, but he felt the odds were worth it.

At such short ranges, forced onto the combatants by the dense forest, many of the shots hit their target. The missiles swarmed all over the Loki, crushing armor in a series of explosions. A narc pod, seemingly harmless, attached itself to the Loki’s right leg, ready to sing its siren song for the missiles of the rest of the company. Laser beams, of the medium and large varieties, melted armor all over the Loki.

Liase was more cautious, firing only the short range weapons on her Battlemaster. Even so, a six pack salvo of SRMs backed up by four medium lasers was no laughing matter, as the Loki she was attacking was already reeling from the Stalker’s onslaught. Although not all the weapons hit, the attack further weakened the armor on the Loki, and laid open its internal structure. The Loki managed to stay on its feet, a testament to the skill of clan pilots.

Qing’s Marauder opened up with its two PPCs on the second Loki. Despite the short range, the PPCs both hit, puncturing armor on the torso and a leg. Qing did not fire any more weapons, afraid of the effects of overheating, especially in a heat hog like the Marauder.

Frank fired his Diplan lasers at the second Loki, melting yet more armor but failing to penetrate its internal structure. Pre-heating his jumpjets, he prepared to jump the Grasshopper behind the Falcon line, hopefully forcing the Falcons to split their attention long enough for the medium lance to get close.

The medium lance was still about fifty meters behind the line formed by the command lance when the Falcons retaliated with a vengeance.

Rushing forward, the Black Hawk unloaded on Frank’s Grasshopper while it was in mid-jump, its gauss rifle slamming into his centerline with enough force to make him bounce in his seat. Its small pulse laser and SRMs peppered his mech, shaking it up further. Frank had to concentrate hard to bring the mech back under control for a landing, and he was shaken by the ferocity and skill of the clan warrior.

The Night Gyr, arguably the most dangerous of the Falcon mechs, fired on the Battlemaster. Armed with a massive ultra class heavy autocannon, it spat out a storm of shells at the Battlemaster. There was a horrific tearing sound, as the legs of Liase’s mech were hammered relentlessly. After such a devastating strike, the bursts of missiles and lasers seemed almost an afterthought, as the Battlemaster crashed to the ground, unable to cope with the loss of so much armor.

Configured almost solely with short-range weapons, nobody could accuse the Night Gyr A useless at close combat. Meanwhile, its unique laser heat sinks struggled to vent the heat it had built up, in a series of dazzling light displays.

The Falcons seemed to be holding to their code of zellbrigen, with each clanner engaging one opponent, and the Black Lanner did not act any differently, firing its fearsome array of six ER medium lasers at Qing’s Marauder. The shots mostly blazed onto the Marauder’s arms, severely damaging them.

The two Loki’s, freed from the rules of engagement by the mercenaries’ combined fire on them, ganged up on the Stalker. PPCs, lasers, missiles and gauss rounds slammed into the massive Stalker, wreathing it in equally large explosions.

As the explosions died away, the Stalker emerged with its armor scarred, but looking relatively intact otherwise. Then the mercs noticed something.

There was a big hole where the cockpit should be. The mech swayed on its feet for a while, then collapsed onto the ground, unable to balance itself without a living brain to control it.

“Captain Vansen’s down!” Someone screamed over the comms. “Let’s get out of here!”

“No!” Frank rebutted as he grimly lined up a shot on the Black Hawk that had fired on him. “If we pull back now, the Falcons are going to wipe out the Dragoons! We’ve got to hold them!” Firing his large laser, he hit the Black Hawk’s torso.

“Dammit!” Kily exclaimed as he missed one of the Lokis with his missiles, attacking together with the rest of the recon lance from the western flank as they swung out and back in quickly from the rear of the Raider’s formation. Their firepower could hardly make a dent in the Falcon formation, though, and the Falcons continued to press into the mercs’ formation. The battle was fast turning into a close quarters melee. Under normal circumstances, that would have given the mercs a slight advantage, but the Falcons had apparently configured their mechs for just the occasion, and were gaining the upper hand.

The mechs of the medium lance bore in straight against the clan omnimechs. The Hunchback fired its own heavy autocannon at a Loki, tearing into its internals and shearing off an arm, depriving it of a PPC.

Tim Fowler, having taken over the Enforcer III, fired both his Mydron autocannon and the Blazefire large laser at the same Loki, hoping to bring it down once and for all. The laser blast went awry, hitting a nearby tree, while the autocannon rounds tore into the Loki’s legs, crippling critical actuators and reducing the omnimech to a hobbling gait.

Kahn in his Centurion cut loose with his own autocannon and lasers, as he tried to bring down the battered Loki. Unfortunately, the autocannon missed, and the lasers only nibbled away more of the omnimech’s internals.

Frank faced off against the Black Hawk, which had seemed to pick him out as its opponent for this battle. Exchanging volleys of furious fire with the clanner, he was trying to get within the minimum effective range of the Black Hawk’s deadly gauss rifle. It had already taken a heavy toll on his armor, and he was anxious to put a stop to it. However, the faster and more maneuverable Black Hawk was able to keep the Grasshopper at a respectable distance for its main gun.

Meanwhile, the battle raged in the forest, as the limping, battered Loki simply refused to die, despite all of the mercenaries’ attempts. The narc pod had been shot off when the armor on the leg had been completely destroyed. The omnimech now looked like a heap of twisted metal and wires, not at all the pinnacle of human war technology it formerly was.

“Help! Arrgghhh!” A cry from Deris Kaine, as her Hunchback was torn apart by the sheer fury of the less damaged Loki’s assault, its missiles tearing into the mech’s right torso and setting off the ammunition stores for the autocannon. The Hunchback lit up as internal explosions from within burst out in gouts of bright flame.

The ensuing explosion also flung the Loki onto the ground, where it laid motionless.

Tired of the recon lances’ feeble attempts to turn the tide, the Night Gyr turned towards the Jenner, intent on swatting it out of action. Just as the Jenner jumped in for another stinging blow with its weapons, the Night Gyr fired its large laser. Impacting right in the center of the Jenner, the effects were immediate. Crumpling the weak frontal armor of the light mech, the undissipated electromagnetic energy went on to shatter the Jenner’s gyro into a million pieces.

The light mech, in the middle of its jump, plowed into the ground, sending up soil and dust on its crash path through the forest before a thick clump of trees stopped its landing sequence.

Down to eight mechs, and not having taken out any of the clan mechs, the mercs are in trouble, and they knew it. Worse yet, the clanners knew it too.

And our command structure has all gone to hell! Frank’s mind screamed to him. We can’t stand here slugging it out with them any longer, we don’t have the firepower.

Then an idea came to Frank. It was a long shot, and Captain Omo would probably hate him for it, but it was the last, best chance they have. If the Raiders could not stop the clanners, it was doubtful that the tankers could, on their own.

We need firepower, and nothing beats a company of SRM carriers at pointblank range!

“Everyone! Pull back to the base! Fire as you move!” Frank realized his words sounded very similar to what a mechwarrior corporal had yelled to his makeshift command, years ago and parsecs away.

Slowly, almost painfully, the surviving members of the Raiders pulled back. Liase’s Battlemaster staggered back to its feet, laying down covering fire with its medium lasers and SRMs. The recon lance simply dashed back at top speed.

“Kily! Get to the tankers first and tell them to dig in and hide their tanks near the base! We’re going in fast! And we really need their firepower!”

“Wilco, buddy! Watch your six!”

As the mercs pulled back, they were thankful the Falcons did not pursue. The clanners were waiting for the fallen Loki to regain its feet before they continued to pursuit. The mercs limped away, trying to get more distance between them and the clanners in order to vent their excess heat and to affect some quick repairs or rerouting of critical systems.

 

Star Commander Riso was proud of his command. They had taken down three of the Inner Sphere surat freebirths without losing a single omnimech. Even Mechwarrior Trulow’s much damaged Hellbringer was still standing after the immense pounding, and able to fight. She had acquitted herself well, despite the odds.

Of course, his Night Gyr had also played a key part, almost crippling the Battlemaster and destroying the lightweight Jenner. It had not been damaged throughout the entire battle so far, and Riso intended to keep it that way.

Waiting for Mechwarrior Derlon to steady his Hellbringer after his fall, Riso was much anxious to crush the mercenaries completely. It seemed that they did not even need the Star Captain’s plan of having the light star hit the mercs on their rear flank ten minutes after battle was joined to achieve victory. His star alone was sufficient, and after the Raiders, they could then go on to destroy the Dragoons, who had escaped them on Coventry.

As his starmates assembled around him, Star Commander Riso throttled his mech up to top speed, eager for glory.

 

Kily Gonzalez had never been so scared in his life, especially when he saw a single blast from the clan omnimech destroy Lieutenant Jenny’s mech. He had heard of the power that clan technology commands, but seeing it close up was an entirely different matter. PPCs that can totally tear through a mech’s head, autocannons that never seemed to stop firing, missile packs with unerring accuracy. He was beginning to understand why many of the veterans on Solaris who had fought in the initial clan invasion called it ‘hell’.

When Frank told the Raiders to disengage, Kily was only too happy to comply. He was even happier when Frank wanted him to go on ahead to warn the tankers. Anything to get away from the clans!

As he neared the Star League base where the tankers were held in reserve, he quickly opened a line to Captain Omo.

“Sir, this is Kily! Captain Vansen’s dead, and we’re getting our butts kicked! The rest of the Raiders are pulling back. Frank wants you to push your tanks forward into hidden positions amonst the trees. Says that’s the only chance we have! If we can’t beat the clanners here, they’ll come after you next! There’s no way your tanks can standalone against those omnis. They’re bloody tough!”

“What! The clanners are headed this way! Damn you useless mechwarriors! All right, I’ll do as you say, but the Raiders are going to owe me big time after this!” Captain Omo harumphed.

“Whatever you say, sir!” Kily was ecstatic. The tankers are going to help!

The eight slow, but heavily armed SRM carriers of the tankers moved out first, followed by four Brutus tanks, the command unit of Captain Omo’s company.

As they hastily prepared their tanks at what Captain Omo hoped would be enfilade positions behind where the clanners would engage the remaining Raiders, Kily nervously used the hands on his Commando to help, brushing up leaves and moving tree trunks in such a way that the Jade Falcons would be unable to detect the tanks.

Not soon after, the mechs of the Raiders limped in, led by Frank’s battered Grasshopper.

“Heads up, people! Clanners coming in right behind us! ETA three minutes!” Frank announced as he parked his mech next to a tree.

“Young man, you better hope that this plan of yours works!” Captain Omo said, “And in any case, you guys owe us a big one, if we get out of this alive!”

“No problem!” Frank replied with a forced confidence he did not feel.

“Here they come!” Pash Balaji reported from his Wasp after a few tense minutes.

The Falcons came on stolidly in a rush, not even pausing as they went into knife fight ranges, their weapons blazing a furious storm against the mercenaries.

Here goes nothing. It’s now or never. Frank thought to himself as he pushed his mech forward, with all guns blazing. The Raiders were all doing the same, trying to remove enough armor off the omnimechs for the tankers to exploit.

The Falcons did not just stand there getting pounded. They returned fire, murderous and effective. Choosing the same targets as before, they looked to continue the zellbrigen.

The Black Hawk fired its gauss rifle at Frank again, this time hitting the Grasshopper’s center torso and removing exactly half the armor on that location. Glancing at his screen, Frank was not encouraged by the readings on his BDU (Battle Damage Unit). The Grasshopper had lost more than half of its armor, and although the armor on all locations had not been completely destroyed, it was only a matter of time before a shot went internal.

Exchanging fire with the clanners, the rest of the Raiders were giving as good as they got. The Centurion finally connected with a series of hits to the wrecked Loki, coring its center and killing the mech. While it crashed to the hard earth, the other Loki attacked, blasting away the Centurion’s left arm with a gauss rifle and missiles, which also went on to tear away more of the protection on the mech’s left flank.

Placing his crosshairs over the previously undamaged Night Gyr as he spotted an opportunity for a good shot, since the Black Hawk had moved out of his sights, Frank fired all his weapons, even the LRMs, which were practically useless at close range. Amazingly, while three of his lasers missed, the missiles all hit, impacting onto the head of the clan mech, cracking parts of the cockpit glass.

As the heat in the Grasshopper spiked, Frank found himself greedily sucking air. Looking around him, the sight confirmed what he already knew: the Falcons were now fully engrossed in their battle with the Raiders. It was the perfect time for the tankers to strike.

It all happened at once, as the tankers fired from their hidden positions. With each SRM carrier firing 54 SRMs at point-blank range, there was no way the clan warriors could have avoided the massive barrage.

The Black Hawk was literally blasted off its feet as more than fifty missiles impacted all over it. When the explosions ended, the Black Hawk was still standing, but with both arms missing and only bare bones with bits of myomer muscle for its legs. It begun to hobble away from the revealed tanks, clearly wary of the damage they could inflict.

The surviving Loki staggered, and then blew apart as the SRMs found its internal missile stores. Even though its CASE system limited the damage from the ammunition explosion, enough SRMs went into its engine, killing the mech.

The Black Lanner managed to evade most of the missiles aimed at it, utilizing its superior speed to simply slip in between the missile swarms. Even so, the ones that hit were more than enough to reduce its armor to tatters. It too started to back away.

 

Star Commander Riso was furious. The stravag scum had hidden tanks in the forest, and unleashed them against his star just when victory was within his grasp. The Night Gyr shuddered as missiles slammed against its armor, barely under his control.

Riso was just about to fire his weapons at a group of SRM carriers clustered together when he noticed that the latest salvo of missiles flying towards at him burst into hot flames as the wayward ones hit the trees of the forest.

Infernos missiles! His mind warned him just as the missiles on target hit his mech.

As the hot, burning napalm eagerly ate into the space of oxygen in the cockpit through the cracks and holes in the cockpit glass, Star Commander Riso was instantly burned alive. He barely had time to scream.

 

Frank was elated. The Falcons had been shattered by the sudden assault of the tank company. The Loki and Night Gyr had fallen, leaving only the Black Lanner and the Black Hawk to deal with the eight remaining mechs of the Raiders and the twelve untouched vehicles of the tankers. The battle was clearly over.

Confidently moving the Grasshopper to finish off the Black Hawk, there was a sudden scream from a tanker.

“There’re clan mechs behind me! Argghh!”

An explosion erupted, from the positions of the tankers. Several other tanks also went up in explosions as laser beams and missiles swung in at their positions from nowhere.

Not exactly nowhere, Frank realized with a shock as he caught sight of more clan mechs moving amongst the trees. They were not shown on his radar.

ECM. They have ECM, jamming our sensors. This must be the light star that was missing! Damn it! Things were not looking good.

In their initial assault, the newcomers had managed to take out five tanks. Looking at the mechs, coming into full view, Frank started to worry again.

There was a Ryoken, a Fenris, supported by a pair of Cougars, and a Puma armed with what seemed to be dual PPCs. The odds had shifted firmly back to the Clan Jade Falcon.

“Crawlers! Move back! Don’t go head to head with the clanners!” Captain Omo was frantically issuing new orders to his troops. Understandably so, as he had lost five SRM carriers in just the light star’s first attack.

Realizing that none of the Raiders had any idea of their next move, Frank decided to take charge again. With their command structure wiped out, he supposed that somebody giving instructions was better than nobody.

“Raiders, move forward! We’ve got to take some of the heat off the tanks! Recon lance, harass the Black Lanner and the Black Hawk, just keep them away from the tanks and us, don’t worry about kills. The rest of you, concentrate on the Ryoken and the Fenris!” The Ryoken probably has the commander, Frank thought. Have to make them flinch, convince them to pull back.

Jumping his battered Grasshopper into the action, Frank managed to intercept a series of laser blasts from the Fenris meant for a SRM carrier that was backing up. The Grasshopper shuddered, and Frank tried to ignore the growing unease in his belly. The mech could not take much more punishment before suffering critical damage. He really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Liase’s Battlemaster waded in, firing its full arsenal at the nearest omni, the Cougar. Caution had been thrown out the window, and it was all or nothing for the battered force. The Cougar shook off the hits, and continued to advance on the tanks.

Qing’s Marauder went at the Ryoken, firing its full array of PPCs, lasers and autocannon. The shots that hit managed to throw off the aim of the Ryoken, just as it was getting ready to fire at Frank’s Grasshopper. That earned Frank a moment’s respite from the clan omnimech’s fury.

The Raiders’ Centurion and Enforcer III ganged up on the Fenris, their autocannons punching into the clan mech’s armor, gouging deep holes in a series of pockmark explosions.

Frank fired his lasers at the Ryoken, the large laser flensing more armor off its center torso, while the two mediums that hit nibbled away at the protection on the arms and legs.

The clanners, having noticed that the mechs and not the tanks were hurting them, simply switched targets. The difference this time was they did not adhere to their dueling rules, using combined fire to destroy their opponents as quickly as possible.

The four large pulse lasers of the Cougars spat out a rapid stream of green darts into Kahn’s Centurion, destroying all the remaining armor on its torso. Kahn was not deterred, however, and closed in on the Fenris. Before he could advance any further, two PPC bolts from the Puma plunged into the legs of his mech, the impact clubbing the Centurion face forward into the ground.

The Ryoken fired its double-barreled lasers on each arm at the Enforcer III, severely damaging the arms, which contain the majority of the Enforcer’s armament. The mech looked to have lost its balance for a while, before Tim apparently wrenched it back under control.

The Fenris targeted Frank’s Grasshopper, a storm of laser beams scarring the already abused armor on his mech. The large laser actually went into the internals in his torso, though no critical damage was done.

Frank thought desperately, my luck is not going to last much longer. But at least we’re holding our own. For now. Must get the tankers back into the action. We need their added punch!

“Crawler Lead! Get your tanks back here! We’ll draw their fire as long as possible, but we can’t take much more of this.” Frank was almost begging for help now.

“Yes, yes, I know! I just need to reorganize for a while back there. We’re coming in now. That make you feel better?” The reply was quick and terse. Captain Omo knew what the situation was, and the importance of his company.

The Raiders traded another series of shots with the Falcons. Many of the Falcons’ hits were now destroying internal structure on many of the mechs, the armor having been shot off earlier.

Kahn managed to get his Centurion up and marching towards the Fenris, which had stood its ground, hoping to destroy the approaching mech before it could get into close combat range. The Fenris fired all its weapons, all hitting the center of the Centurion.

Its middle section on fire, the Centurion collapsed onto the ground.

The Cougars now sought to bring down Frank’s Grasshopper, bringing their dual pulse lasers to bear. The few remaining pieces of armor were blasted off, and then everything went internal. Frank saw smoke begin to bellow out from in front of the cockpit, and he knew that the engine had been breached. Heat sinks were lost, and actuators were destroyed as the laser darts did their work. The Grasshopper was dying.

The Puma fired only one PPC this time, hindered by heat built up earlier. Aided by its advanced targeting computer, the single shot still did quite a lot of damage, shearing off the Enforcer III’s right arm. The undamaged omni moved in for the kill.

The Ryoken split its attention, firing at both the Battlemaster and the Marauder. All its shots hit, a mark of true skill from the clan pilot. The Battlemaster was left with a bad limp, while the Marauder lost only more armor.

The Raiders did significantly less damage, only scoring more ferro-fibrous armor on the clan mechs, although they did manage to cripple the Fenris, damaging its engine and gyro after laying open its torso.

The Brutus tanks opened fire as they rolled in, pouring laser blasts into the Fenris and the Ryoken; these two are the heaviest omnis left facing the bulk of the mercs. Lasers and SRMs poured out of weapons ports, shedding armor as they hit.

The SRM carriers moved to the east flank of the battle, trying to outflank the clanners, and hopefully force them back.

The clanners did not flinch, even though the tanks were considerably fresher than the battered Raiders. The Fenris dashed forward, giving the nearest Brutus tank a series of kicks to its front, in addition to a serious fusillade of laser fire. The tank was there one moment, and the next it was a blossoming fireball, with the Fenris moving quickly away.

The Cougars and the Puma now attacked the tanks, judging them to be the more immediate threat. This left Frank very relieved, as his Grasshopper simply could not withstand another salvo.

Firing their entire weapons complements of paired lasers and missile racks, the Cougars pummeled the tanks. One of the tanks locked up, its treads damaged. The other seemed to swerve dangerously for a while before slowing down to a stop as well.

The Puma fired two blue arcs at the last tank, the excited atomic particles shoving aside armor to try to get into the soft interior of the vehicle. The tank lost only armor, and resumed its advance.

But Frank now noticed a certain hesitancy in the tank’s movement. It took him a moment to realize that the tank that was destroyed was Omo’s.

A fell mood suddenly descended on Frank. He began to feel a terrible rage within him, a strange bloodlust that he was unwilling to quench. He simply did not care anymore about his survival. He roared out a challenge to the Falcons, and then jumped his Grasshopper forward. If the Falcons wanted a fight, he would gladly give them one, a battle to remember for the rest of their lives.

His vision focused into narrow slits, showing only the clan enemy mechs in front of him. He was dimly aware of the remaining rational part of his mind trying to reclaim the rest, but he did not, could not, care.

He heard somebody say, “Frank! What are you doing?”

Another voice penetrated his consciousness. “Get back here! They’ll tear that tin can apart!”

Startled by his actions, the other Raiders tried to calm him down, get him back into their lines. It was suicide to charge the clans.

Frank paid them no heed. He had never felt this way in his life before; time seemingly slowed down before his eyes. Landing beside the Fenris, he turned to fire a full laser barrage into the omni, blowing away one of its legs. The Fenris collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, the pilot ejecting from his fallen mech.

The Ryoken loomed large before him, and he kicked out with the Grasshopper. Despite the damaged leg actuators, he just managed to connect solidly, crushing leg armor on the Ryoken, and causing it to fall down on its back.

But not before it had blown away the Grasshopper’s right arm, removing the large laser that was the Grasshopper’s most important weapon. With his mech unbalanced by the loss of the arm, Frank had to struggle with his controls for a while to remain upright. His efforts were in vain, however.

The remaining mechs of the clan star all concentrated fire on the Grasshopper, intent on punishing the audacious mech that had dared to jump into their midst and cause so much havoc.

Frank tried his best to keep the Grasshopper moving, but it was a lost cause. Laser and PPC blasts went into the Grasshopper. The mech began to shake violently from under him as Frank was wrenched out of his berserk state. He took one look at his status screens.

Help! He did not even have time to cry as he felt the mech topple over.

Frank blacked out as the Grasshopper crashed to the ground.

 

Unknown to Frank, his actions had given the mercs one last chance to shift the odds. The remaining mechs concentrated their fire on the three light omnis on their feet. In addition, the surviving SRM carriers also went in with moving walls of SRMs.

The Cougars were savaged by the attack, losing weapon pods and actuators as they tried to maneuver back. A PPC blast from Qing’s Marauder laid open the cockpit of the Puma, followed up by several missiles that shattered it. The omni remained standing, but bereft of a pilot to guide it, it was not going anywhere.

All of a sudden, it was over, the Cougars turning around and running away from the battlefield. The Ryoken stood up and tried to back away, but was destroyed when the mercs all combined fire on it.

An eerie silence settled over the forest. The mercs had beaten back Clan Jade Falcon.

 

Frank woke up to an enormous headache, with the anxious faces of Kily and Deserk staring at him as he tried to push himself from the bed he was lying in.

“Well, did we win?” He asked as he sat up.

“Huh, he goes berserk in the middle of a fight, takes on two omnis at once, gets clobbered flat, snoozes for the better part of a day, wakes up, and the first thing he asks for is whether we won. No concern at all for his fellow mercs.” Kily was grinning ruefully as he said this.

Frank rubbed his forehead slowly, trying to ease the pain. “Sorry. Just got too caught up in the battle, you know. So, what happened?”

“In a way, you could say we won, but the price was too high. As usual.” Deserk sounded like a defeated man. ”Your Raiders beat back the Falcons, but you had only seven mechs left. Same for the tankers, only six tanks left, and two of them are ready for the salvage yards. The crews of the destroyed tanks were all dead.”

“We’ve lost Captain Vansen, Deris and Lieutenant Jenny. Kahn’s all right, he’s in the sickbay too. But we’re pretty beat up now.”

“Deserk, what about the Dragoons? Since we were facing two stars, that means you had to fight the assault star.”

“Even with two to one odds, it was a difficult battle. They had configured their mechs for close combat, and they were ready for us. We used hit and run tactics to minimize our losses, but their weapons still hurt us. We’ve lost five mechs of our own, and four mechwarriors. Captain Sheik’s Gunslinger was destroyed, and she was hurt grieviously. She’s in critical condition now. All of us were hoping you could do something to help.”

“What? I don’t think I’m in any condition to help, but I’ll try my best. Where is she?” Frank asked as he eased himself off the bed, gingerly placing pressure on his legs, confirming that he was able to walk before standing totally on his own.

“In the ICU.”

“The other mercs on-planet?” Frank had moved over to the intensive care unit and was studying the readouts. His head hurt like hell, but a life was at stake.

“Reports still coming in. But things do not look good. We were one of only a few groups to survive relatively intact. Some units have already been wiped out. But the Falcons have also been hurt. The trinary that fought us has only six mechs left. We may only have twelve mechs left, but the tech crews assure me some of the omnis left on the field are recoverable. They’re working on it now.”

Frank whistled. Clan mechs would definitely be an asset to the beleaguered mercs. Then a thought struck him. “Deserk, if Captain Sheik is WIA, Captains Vansen and Omo, and who knows who else is dead, who’s in charge now?”

Deserk glanced at Kily once, and then deadpanned. “You are.”