The Black Dragon Society had long been regarded as a paper tiger by the various agencies of the Draconis Combine. An outgrowth of the extreme nationalist sentiments encouraged by generations of Kurita rulers, the Black Dragon Society reached its peak during the rule of Takashi Kurita, and served well in helping the people of the Combine withstand the attacks on their sovereignty in the age of the Federated Commonwealth.

However, Theodore’s military, social, and economic reforms, which had been even more crucial in strengthening the Combine, came to the fore after the Annihilation of the Smoke Jaguars. The Black Dragons were offended by his policies, and sought various ways to undermine the Coordinator’s authority.

From assassination attempts on the Kuritas and Victor Davion, to provoking the war against the Ghost Bears, the Black Dragons have grown in strength and influence after the events of 3062, when the Draconis March waged its own private war against the Combine.

On one hand, the incident steered many observers into the Black Dragon camp, for they blamed Theodore’s policy of non-aggression for the debacle. On the other hand, the Combine’s eventual success served equally well in promoting the Black Dragons’ ends, showing the strength of the Dragon against the disorganized Federated Suns.

In 3068, they would finally pull out all the stops to depose of Theodore and his reign.

-Lurking Beasts of the Draconis Combine, Gus Michaels

 

 

Imperial City, Luthien

Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine

20^th August 3068

Descartin was walking down the stairs for breakfast when an excited shout came from the living room. Following that was an exchange of loud talking between several voices, which he could recognize as belonging to Koji Tanaka and Atasushi Yanagisawa.

“What is going on?” Descartin asked as he entered the living room. The two men were sitting on the family sized sofa and staring intently at the holovid in a corner, while munching on their breakfast. “Koji, did Maeko not say something about eating on the sofa?” Descartin folded his arms in irritation.

The two of them did not even turn to look at him. “This is important. Big news!” Koji said as he increased the volume on the holovid.

The sounds from the holovid set became discernable words to Descartin, spoken by a woman. “Early this morning, rogue elements of the Federated Suns military launched an attack on the capital city of the Federated Suns. Massive damage has been wrecked on the city, and even the New Avalon Institute of Science was not spared from their suicidal assault.”

Intrigued, Descartin sat down beside Koji, who shifted to allow enough room for Descartin to squeeze in on the sofa. He picked up a piece of bread from the platter before them, and started to eat while watching the holovid.

The image on the holovid was showing the wreckage of several battlemechs in the background, before shifting to a night scene with several mechs engaged in combat.

The female voice continued. “The 1^st Davion Guards defended their capital bravely, and eventually triumphed, but not before suffering heavy losses. Here are some footage caught by our crews during this night of deadly battle.”

Descartin nearly choked on his food when he saw a familiar black Night Gyr facing down an Enforcer, blasting away with lasers and ATMs, its special laser heat sinks flaring as they struggled to dispose of the heat buildup.

“What’s wrong, Winters-san?” Atasushi asked.

Descartin stared as he watched the Night Gyr force the enemy mechs into a retreat, then join up with a Davion Falconer in a sprint for parts unknown. The commentary was back on and bragging about the bravery of the Davion mechs in defeating their enemies. Obviously, it was a wholesale recording from New Avalon.

“I know that Night Gyr,” Descartin said softly after he had gotten his choking under control. He thought of Frank, his sworn brother after that ceremony on Outreach. Was he all right? Descartin took his vows very seriously, and if Frank had been hurt, somebody was going to pay.

He stood up from the sofa. “I need to go.”

Atasushi blinked in confusion. “Winters-san, what’s going on?”

“That Night Gyr,” Descartin nodded towards the holovid set, “I know the pilot. I need to find out what happened to him, if he is fine.”

“Wait a minute…” Atasushi said in vain as Descartin went up the stairs to his room and collected his duffel bag.

When Descartin went back down, he saw a confused Atasushi waiting at the base of the stairs. Koji, from the sounds issuing from the shop, was already at work.

“Why don’t you just slow down and start from the beginning?” Atasushi asked as he followed Descartin out of the shop, with Descartin tossing quick nods at Koji and Maeko at the counter.

He stopped just outside the shop as Daisuke Ichikawa suddenly drew up in a car with Irene and Kitsune. Descartin remembered with a sinking heart that the plan for the day was slightly different, with Daisuke bringing Irene and Kitsune to rendezvous with him and Atasushi at the bread shop before setting off on whatever Irene had thought of, since Atasushi had boasted of his sister’s products and Kitsune had wanted to try the breads.

He was not sure what he was going to say to her if he was going to leave.

“What’s going on?” Daisuke asked as he saw Descartin with his duffel bag.

“Our temperamental clanner just went…” Atasushi finished his sentence by mimicking an explosion with his hands.

Irene and Kitsune had left the car as well. Descartin greeted them, while wishing he was anywhere else, because he did not know how he was going to avoid an awkward departure with them around.

“Descartin, what are you doing with the duffel bag?” Irene asked as she took one of his hands in her own. The touch sent tingles up Descartin’s nerves, but he tried to ignore them.

“I was just…” Before he could complete his sentence, there was almost an audible click in his mind, a familiar sensation of danger, and before Descartin knew it himself, he was pushing Irene and Kitsune down onto the ground, covering them with his body.

There was a loud crack, and a bullet ripped through the space Kitsune had been standing barely a second before. It was followed by several long bursts from various automatic weapons.

Descartin only had one thought. Sniper!

Daisuke and Atasushi were already in motion, their weapons out and firing back at whoever had attacked them, even as they sought cover behind the car. Descartin hugged Irene and Kitsune into his arms as he ran for the cover of a nearby building. They ran into a small empty shop that was out for rental.

Daisuke had a Nissan-Nambu Series K automatic pistol, and he was firing it in burst mode, getting off 5 shots per squeeze of the trigger, in order to keep their attackers’ heads down. Wary of the sniper, he varied the places he popped up from to fire. Atasushi had a different weapon, a Nakjama laser pistol, and so picked his shots more carefully, while calling for backup on a mobile phone with his other hand. Descartin was sure the Otomo had already triggered the small alarm incorporated into their watches, informing the rest of the palace guards of the attack. Reinforcements should be arriving soon.

If they could only hold out long enough.

Descartin cursed the fact that he had no weapon of his own, since carrying a weapon around Imperial City required a license. “Stay down!” He gestured to Irene and Kitsune to keep their heads down, and peered carefully out of the shop they had taken refuge in.

Daisuke and Atasushi were firing and moving towards his position, desperately dodging enemy fire all the time. Descartin could see from the bullet tracks that their ambushers had set up on both side of the street. It was going to take some doing for them to get out of this alive.

He looked at the bread shop, now empty of customers as the civilians had fled for their lives on hearing the first gunshots. He hoped Koji and Maeko had managed to escape from the area. They had no place on this battlefield.

Descartin saw at least five enemy men on the far side of the street, stationed on several low rise buildings, firing with pistols and submachine guns. He could not spot the sniper’s position, which was worrying. He ducked back just in time, the corner he had been peering around chipped by another shot from the sniper.

“Psst!” He hissed to Daisuke, “Got anything for me to use?”

Daisuke reached behind his back and tossed a small holdout pistol to Descartin, drawing a sigh of mixed relief and disgust from the clan mechwarrior.

“Oh thank you so very much,” Descartin muttered sarcastically as he broke a nearby window and lined up a shot at an attacker. He squeezed the trigger gently, dropping his target.

Staying in place was the best thing to do, since they were able to hold off their enemies, but that soon changed when Descartin felt a slight tremor through the ground. And it was something that was very recognizable to any mechwarrior.

A battlemech was on the way.

Apparently, Daisuke had felt it as well. “We’ve got to move!” The Otomo shouted. “It’s definitely not ours!” Evidently, the Otomo would not use a battlemech for backup in such situations, since it would have meant a great deal of damage to the neighborhood. IT also stood to reason that support would not have arrived so fast from the mech hangars in the Palace.

Which left their nebulous, as yet known enemy as the only owner of the battlemech or battlemechs approaching. Descartin wondered for a fleeting instant how anybody could have brought a battlemech so close to the city without being detected.

Those thoughts were driven out of his mind when he saw one of the attackers on the roof lift onto their shoulders a long elongated tube. And it was being aimed in the direction of the shop.

This is getting ridiculous! Descartin thought as he fired off a few more shots in the direction of the LAW, trying to force them to keep their heads down. It did not work.

“Go, go, go!” Descartin yelled to Irene and Kitsune as he grabbed one of Irene’s arms, leading them through a back door to the back of the building, just moments before the LAW fired.

The empty shop was filled with a tremendous explosion just after they slipped away, the shrapnel peppering Descartin’s back as he pushed them away from the explosion. He stumbled slightly, but continued to run.

Then Descartin realized that they had lost contact with Daisuke and Atasushi.

 

Tai-i Daisuke Ichikawa cursed as he and Atasushi ran into yet another yakuza patrol, obviously out for their blood.

The city was in chaos, as battlemechs marched through the streets and people ran for their lives into the defense shelters constructed years ago during the clan invasion. The Black Dragon insignia emblazoned on the attacking mechs told everybody quite clearly who was behind all this.

And somehow, even in the midst of all this, somebody was still able to track and chase him and Atasushi through the city, even as they tried to contact their charges. They fought their way through group after group of gun toting yakuza thugs, even as some of the thugs were ‘helping’ themselves to abandoned stores and goods, smashing display windows and shooting through padlocks to get to their loot.

Daisuke consoled himself that Descartin was with the Duchess Marik and Kitsune Kurita. The group had split up from the LAW attack, and with all the pressure on them, there was no time at all for them to even try to contact one another. Even worse, Atasushi’s mobile phone got shot away in a skirmish, making it impossible for them to call for help.

The shots rang out, and Daisuke crouched low behind a car to avoid the bullets, clutching the Rorynex RM-3 SMG he had picked up from a dead yak earlier and snapping back the loading lever. Atasushi followed close behind, also holding a submachine gun. In this sort of combat situation, SMGs were an outnumbered soldier’s best friend.

Daisuke pushed himself off the ground, sliding low as he fired once he emerged from his cover. The explosive-tipped bullets of the Rorynex did the rest, shredding flesh and bone. His slide brought him behind a building, while Atasushi popped up from behind the car to fire off a long burst, downing more yakuza soldiers.

Daisuke could hear the screams and gunfire, but they did not block out the sound of mech weapons firing either. And it’s getting louder, he noted.

Then an unknown mech suddenly crashed right in the middle of the street, its legs severed at the knee. Daisuke saw the yakuza scattering in fright, and he grimaced as he saw some live yak soldiers get crushed under tons of battlemech. Those still standing fled for their lives. When battlemechs were around, it was suicide to stick around.

The hardened warrior that he was, Daisuke was not deterred in the least. He took the opportunity to examine the battlemech. It was a new design, one that had never appeared in any military journal, he was sure. As a Otomo warrior, it was his duty to be kept abreast of all new mech designs in the clans, the Inner Sphere, and even the periphery. This was nothing he had ever seen before, and the standing rule on encountering new mechs was to take a good look at it and guess at its weapons and combat role.

Like all the other Black Dragon mechs, it was painted night black. A sword in the right arm indicated that it was geared for a close combat role. Its fall from a great height meant that it was jump capable. The thick missile racks in the left arm could be a short range streak rack, or a medium range missile rack. Ports in the torso were probably laser mounts.

The unknown mech tried to stand up, but its attempt was foiled as a rapidly charging No-Dachi on the street ran up beside it and took off its head with a spectacular one time swipe from its own sword in a piercing screech of tearing metal.

Daisuke was about to step out and wave at the battered No-Dachi, painted in the colors of the 2^nd Legion of Vega, and more distinctively, with the black rat image on one shoulder, when another of the new mechs appeared on flaring jets of plasma, lighting up the dim morning sky.

It launched a wave of missiles at the No-Dachi from the left arm rack while in the sky, and then bathed its opponent in a stream of laser beams, before its sword swung around with all the momentum of its thrust velocity behind it.

The No-Dachi stood solidly against the attacks, its own sword arcing up in a parry. Its own missile racks bloomed with fire, the missiles smashing all over the unknown mech.

The two swords met in a shower of sparks, the blade edges dragging along each other. The Black Dragon mech was thrown off balance by the No-Dachi’s move, and almost lost its footing, its feet trying to find purchase on the road as it landed heavily.

The No-Dachi had no such problems, bringing up its left arm ER PPC right up beside the unknown mech, and letting go with a tremendous blast of particle fire at point blank range. The head of the unknown mech vaporized in a brilliant flash of blue light, and the mech fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Daisuke looked around. Oh no, he thought, as he saw Atasushi near the burning car, laying in a pool of blood. Fragments of a stray missile must had caught the car, and Atasushi hit by the shrapnel.

He ran over to his fallen comrade, and checked for a pulse at the neck. No pulse, he’s gone. Dasiuke cursed bitterly. He saw the open look of fear and terror in his friend’s eyes, and he held his hand up to Atasushi’s face, drawing his hand down across the face gently, and closing his eyes forever.

“Another tear for the Dragon,” Daisuke muttered. He looked up at the motionless No-Dachi, which had apparently shut down. He noted with dismay the smoke billowing out of its torso. Engine breach. The reactor’s down.

The cockpit of the heavy mech cracked open, followed by a plastic ladder being thrown down beside the mech. A tall mechwarrior got out, sans his bulky neurohelmet, and slid down the ladder, touching down lightly on the ground. The warrior was clad in a typical DCMS combat suit, and a laser rifle was slung over one shoulder, as well as several more pistols of various makes stuffed in his overloaded holster.

Daisuke walked up to the mechwarrior, his Rorynex held at the ready, but not so high to offend a likely ally. The other mechwarrior drew his own sidearm, pointing it in Daisuke’s general direction.

“Name, rank and unit!” Daisuke shouted out. They were within a meter of each other, but neither of them were willing to put down their weapons.

“Tai-i Ryo Saeba, 2^nd Legion of Vega! How ‘bout you?” The mechwarrior yelled back.

“Tai-i Daisuke Ichikawa, Otomo.” Daisuke stared right into Ryo’s eyes, “Whose side are you on?”

“I am loyal to Coordinator Theodore Kurita of the Draconis Combine,” came the reply. “You?”

Daisuke lowered his gun, defusing the tension. “I too, am loyal to the Coordinator.”

“So ka?” Ryo nodded, satisfied with Daisuke’s reply. Obviously, they would have shot each other if they were on opposite sides. While there was the chance that Ryo was lying, Daisuke figured that it wasn’t possible, not after the way he had taken out two Black Dragon machines. “Then let’s get out of here. Where do we go?”

“To the Imperial Palace. The Dragon himself needs our help.” He hoped Descartin had remembered his instructions and was heading to the palace. Trying to find each other in the city in the present situation was absolutely out of the question.

“Hai!” Ryo said as he fell into step with Daisuke, maintaining the standard infantry distance of 7 meters as they moved through the city.

The two of them got off the street, hugging the sides of the buildings, watching out for possible enemies. The masses of yakuza soldiers had disappeared, and that only meant one thing when Daisuke mentioned it.

“They’re bringing up heavy mech support.” Ryo said grimly. “Don’t want too many foot soldiers getting in the way. The teppodama just go ‘squish’.”

“How did you end up fighting alone?” Daisuke asked as they ran in the general direction of the Imperial Palace.

“I got a suspicion something was amiss last night, and I went to the Legion HQ to check things out. At first everything seemed all right, but then I saw some people sneaking around. I challenged them, and before I knew it, yak soldiers were everywhere. They cut the communications lines, and put up an ECM bubble around the place. I barely made it out of there alive in my mech, and got chased all the way from the Legion HQ to here.”

“The rest of the Legion?” Daisuke asked, feeling uneasy in his hara.

“Dead.” Ryo said flatly. “The Black Dragons killed them in their beds. Some of the Legion, maybe a battalion’s worth or more, were also traitors. I saw it myself. Shouldn’t be too surprising, considering the amount of effort the Kokuryu-kai put in for this.”

Daisuke shook his head sadly. The forces loyal to the Coordinator were obviously outnumbered. The Izanagi Warriors were accompanying Hohiro Kurita and the Genyosha on the border, which left the defense of Luthien to the Otomo, the 2^nd Legion of Vega, the 7^th Sword of Light, and the planetary militia. Considering the détente with the clans, and the level of fixed defenses on the front, even against the mighty Ghost Bears, that was a strong garrison.

“The 7^th Sword?” Daisuke prompted.

He saw Ryo grit his teeth. “They’ve gone over.”

“They’ve what?” Daisuke almost paused in mid step, before shaking his head in sheer disbelief.

“Gone over.” Ryo repeated again, then clarified for Daisuke’s sake. “They sent out several companies to hunt down Legion survivors. Prefecture commander Tai-sho Minamoto announced over the comms that he is pledging his support to Jubei Kurita and that the Coordinator is unfit to rule. His old command followed suit.”

“Damn!” That left only the Otomo to defend the Coordinator against two, possibly more, enemy regiments. Not good at all.

They would need something to even up the odds. A miracle of some sort would be very welcome right about now.

Then all thoughts were driven out of his mind as they came across a foot platoon of yakuza soldiers. Daisuke went in with his SMG blazing, while Ryo shot with deadly accuracy, hitting with almost every single one of his rounds.

 

Descartin could not quite believe what was happening as he led Irene and Kitsune through the city, weaving their way desperately towards the sanctuary of the Imperial Palace. The easy morning which had promised such a wonderful day had given way to a stern and unforgiving day of battle.

First New Avalon got attacked, then Luthien. If Descartin was a betting man(he was not), he would have placed his bets on a conspiracy at work.

Would Taurus be next? Descartin wondered. Ian Calderon was there, after all. It seemed like trouble tended to follow them around like bees after nectar.

No time to worry about that, he reminded himself. Better to focus on the present.

There was plenty to focus on. He had recovered an Imperator auto-rifle from the many yaks he had killed, as well as an ample supply of magazines. Irene herself held a light SMG, which Descartin had given to her after she insisted she knew how to use it. Even young Kitsune was clutching the hold out pistol Daisuke had given him earlier, though it was nearly out of ammo.

Descartin moved as silently as he could, scouting out one area before gesturing to Irene and Kitsune to join him, and then moving on alone to the next point. The leapfrog technique was slow, but it was also the safest for Irene and Kitsune.

The one problem was, if he got ambushed or stuck in a firefight, and got killed, Irene and Kitsune would be left alone.

Which was exactly what had happened to him.

Another burst of rounds ripped past his present position, right behind a metal mail box. The mail box was just large enough for him to take cover behind, and hard enough to stop the enemy bullets, but it was also far away from any other possible cover that he was stuck. And the volume of firepower being tossed at him was pinning him down.

Irene and Kitsune were twenty meters away, under cover and safe. Descartin could see them, but their attackers could not, which was a minor mercy. He waved his hand at them, gesturing at Irene to go another direction, only for her to stubbornly shake her head, creep to another position, and open up with a long burst at his attackers. They fired back at her.

That lessened the amount of shots ringing around his ears, but not by much. Worse, they were also shooting in Irene’s direction now, and after he was dead, they would be going after her and Kitsune next. Descartin was also sure at least a few of his attackers would be moving forward to flank him.

Gritting his teeth, Descartin prepared to dash out of his position for a final all or nothing assault, to buy time for Irene and Kitsune to get away. If he died, Irene would also have no reason to stay and help him any further. He checked his weapon, ensuring that it was fully loaded, and pushed off from his position from behind the mail box, sighting in on an attacker, and already steeling himself for the bullets to start hitting him.

Except that his enemies were suddenly under assault from another direction, a stream of high powered laser bursts cutting them down from behind even as their bullets chased Descartin. Stunned by the unexpected assault, their fire slackened as they tried to deal with enemies from two directions.

It was a fatal move. Descartin got a second wind from their hesitation, and his bullets sliced into the men, while he advanced fearlessly, gambling on their inability to react to the sudden situational change.

Twenty second later, it was all over, the bodies lying in pools of blood while he quickly reloaded his rifle. Irene and Kitsune had left their cover, and were running to join him.

“Whoever helped us, thank you.” Descartin said to the darkness, where the laser bolts had originated.

“I never thought to hear you say those words, Descartin Winters.” A deep growl rasped as a slightly obese man with a balding head of white hair emerged from the shadows. A Nova Cat patch gleamed from one corner of his clothing, while the man carried a blazer pistol in his right hand.

Descartin stared at the newcomer in shock, as his brain superimposed the image in front of his eyes with his memories. He recognized the man. The same man who had fought him, pushed him to his limits, and ultimately nearly died at his hands years ago when he was still in the sibko.

“Secorra, it has been a long time.” Descartin tried to swallow his shock, but he did not hide it quickly enough.

“A long time? Aff, it has.” Secorra growled. “Last I saw you was in Oathmaster Biccon Winters’ office. How many years has it been? Twenty?”

“Slightly less than that.” Descartin corrected. “In any case, thank you for your help.” It felt strange talking to the nemesis of his youth so casually, but Descartin did not feel any real enmity from Secorra. The old hatred had cooled, leaving instead antipathy, or was there even a bit of respect for the other solahma warrior, still active and deadly with a gun after so many years? For the first time in his life, Descartin was grateful for his not killing Secorra that day on Barcella. Did the Oathmaster see something of this day that compelled her to intervene then?

“Don’t thank me,” Secorra said as he looked around, scanning the area for enemies, and sniffing the air as if he could detect the scent of their foes, “I was also protecting myself. These Black Dragon thugs are out for Nova Cat blood. Too bad I longer have a mech to pilot.”

“Black Dragon thugs?” Irene prodded for more information.

“Aff,” Secorra nodded. “It could only be these malcontents behind this, as they hate the clan as much as the Coordinator himself. I am heading towards the Nova Cat embassy. I suggest you follow me there, Descartin. You may not be much of a shot, but another warrior is always good.” Secorra barked harshly in laughter.

Descartin shook his head. “Neg. The embassy is too far away, and the streets are crawling with foot patrols. We got lucky this time. Secorra, go with me to the Imperial Palace. It is nearer.”

“Why should I?” The large man asked. “Distance holds no fear for me.” Secorra turned to leave.

Irene cut in, “Because this child here,” she took Kitsune’s shivering hand and gently moved him in front of her, “is the scion of the Coordinator, the nephew of your Oathmaster, and the son of Victor Davion. As your clan is pledged to Victor Davion’s service, you are honor bound to protect this child as well.” Those words halted Secorra in place.

Descartin spun around as well to look at Irene and Kitsune as she made the revelation, his eyes growing wide. Kitsune is Victor Davion’s son? And a Kurita as well? So who is the mother? Ahhh… Omi Kurita! Descartin remembered the rumors and accusations from late night holovid shows. No wonder the attackers seemed to be following us! I know that the Draconis Combine is supposed to hate the Davions, so this must be their way of striking back at them!

Descartin shook his head, chiding himself for his stupidity. I should have seen it sooner. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Secorra stared at Kitsune for several moments, before looking at Descartin. “A strange situation I have found you in, my former cadet. I thought you were with the Goliath Scorpions.”

“I still am.” Descartin said, before hurriedly asking, “So will you accompany us?”

The two warriors stared at each other in the eyes, gauging each other’s strength and sincerity, before Secorra said, “Very well then. To the Imperial Palace.”

 

Ryo fired a round from his laser rifle through a car, the high energy beam punching through the thin layers of metal and plastic into a yakuza soldier. A scream from behind the car informed him of his hit.

Daisuke turned to look at him with amazement, but Ryo just explained, “I spent all my off-duty time at the gaming arcade’s shooting gallery.”

They were doing quite well so far, evading enemy patrols whenever possible, or ambushing them when it was advantageous to do so. Yakuza soldiers were called teppodama, or bullets, because they were indeed that expendable, and often ineffective against real opposition. Ryo had lost count of the number of yaks he had killed.

They were now five blocks away from the Imperial Palace, and the sounds of gunfire in the distance spoke of loyalists engaged in combat with the yakuza soldiers. The two of them picked up their pace. Safety was just around the corner.

Ryo amended that thought as somebody fired at them, the bullets hitting the concrete wall above them, showering them with plaster even as they ducked for cover.

He did not stay in cover for long, skidding back out almost immediately along the ground, his laser pistol sighting in on their attacker. He snapped off a shot, the beam puncturing the yak’s head and flash-boiling the water within the brain into vapor almost instantaneously.

He rolled himself to a stop, and was about to continue moving forward when he realized Daisuke had been hit. The Otomo was clutching his stomach, blood seeping out from his hands as he tried to staunch the blood flow.

“Forget about me, go on to the Palace yourself.” Ichikawa gasped through his pain.

“Iie.” Ryo leaned down, and lifted up Daisuke up on one arm. “It’s a short distance anyway.” Ryo gritted his teeth. “Just a walk in the rain.”

A rain of bullets.

During the clan war, he had left men to die, good men who deserved better. It was something that Ryo had sworn he would never allow to happen again.

“Come on!” Ryo encouraged Daisuke as the two of them stumbled forward. Ryo had his laser rifle in one arm, while his other arm grasped Daisuke around his body, pulling him upright. “Come on!” He shouted again.

Two more yaks appeared in front of them, but Ryo shot them down. He twisted around in time to drop another who had appeared behind them.

Another appeared on Daisuke’s side, and the Otomo managed to croak out a warning, with Ryo turning in time to shoot the enemy.

The bullets flew around them thick and fast. Ryo shut out the pain as a bullet creased past his face, drawing blood across one cheek. Another bullet sliced into his leg, but Ryo kept his balance, shambling forward with his human load and firing with his rifle.

Their arrival had sent the Black Dragons into turmoil, which had in turn allowed the defending infantry to take advantage. Shots appeared to be pouring into the Black Dragons blocking their way from the direction of the Palace, though Ryo was not certain if he or Daisuke could survive that long.

Then a barrage of submachine gun fire cut into the gangsters from one flank, killing at least five of them outright. The rest of them fled as their morale broke from the three sided assault.

“Daisuke!” Ryo heard somebody shout, and he looked up in surprise as he saw Descartin Winters run up to them, even as a squad of palace guards approached.

“Tai-i Saeba?” The clan warrior seemed almost as surprised as he was. “What happened?” He looked at Daisuke, who was nearly unconscious from the loss of blood. “Where’s Atasushi?”

“No time to talk about it.” Ryo said, as he snapped off a quick series of commands to the palace guard squad leader, a gunsho, while Descartin carried Daisuke. Ryo groaned in relief as the pressure on his injured leg lessened. The gunsho started barking questions into his walkie-talkie. From what Ryo could hear, the palace personnel are going through a background check on him and Daisuke, before allowing them to pass. It was going to be a long wait.

Hopefully, the gunsho would allow them to pass, especially after seeing what he and Daisuke had done. The bar insignia of a Tai-i on one side of his torn mechwarrior combat suit would also be a great help.

Then he saw Descartin’s other companions, a balding, slightly plump clan solahma warrior, a young boy, and a pretty woman with long chestnut hair.

The woman stepped up to the squad leader, and she said in an authoritative tone, “I am Duchess Isis Marik. You will allow us entry into the Palace now.” Her eyes were hard, demanding.

Ryo’s eyes opened wide in surprise. The daughter of a House Lord, here on Luthien? And what the heck was Winters doing around her? From the stupefied look on Winters’ face, Ryo guessed the clanner did not know himself.

The gunsho, who had seemed reluctant to let them in unless he had orders from the top a moment ago, barked again into the walkie talkie, rather more quickly this time with fear in his eyes. The reply came back in an instant, and Ryo sighed in relief as he heard the orders to let them all in.

The squad led them in terse silence through several hastily thrown up barricades. Ryo noted with dismay that there were no battlemechs on this side of the palace, leaving only infantry and vehicles to defend it on this side.

Daisuke had received emergency medical attention, and was stretchered off even as the group was brought finally to a room of chaos.

DCMS officers were all over the place, screaming and shouting at one another as they sought to organize a response to the Black Dragon attack. A holographic display of the city was shown in the center of the room, with red and black dots indicating friendly and enemy forces respectively. The number of black dots in comparison to the red made Ryo want to vomit.

But what came next was a real shock to most of the people in the room.

The Duchess Marik brought the boy over to a distinguished man, who Ryo recognized immediately as the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine. Theodore Kurita seemed tired, bowed by the weight of his duties, his face creased by the tragedies of the past few years, the deaths of his wife and daughter. Worry lined his mouth, but they seemed to disappear momentarily as he saw the young boy. The young boy ran towards the Coordinator in tears.

“Kitsune!” The Coordinator exclaimed in relief as he hugged the boy. “Thank Buddha you are safe!”

“Sofu!“ The boy said between tears as he hugged the Coordinator, clutching the Coordinator’s kimono tightly with his hands. “I was so scared!”

“Don’t worry, Grandfather is here.” The Coordinator gently wiped away the tears from the boy’s eyes.

All the activity in the room seemed to have stopped, as everybody found themselves watching the Coordinator and the boy. Was the boy his grandson? And from who? Ryo guessed that young Kitsune had never been revealed to even the Palace workers or DCMS warriors. Probably only the most loyal Otomo knew.

Theodore seemed to have realized the eyes of everybody on him as well, and he rose to his full height, looking determinedly around the room, as he announced, “This is Kitsune Kurita, son of Omi, my beloved daughter, and Victor Steiner-Davion.” Gasps could be heard throughout the room. “My only grandchild.”

Theodore looked around the room, as though daring anyone to bring up the matter of Kitsune’s parentage. There was none, everybody lowering their heads, ashamed at having doubted the Coordinator’s honor or sincerity. When there was no response, he snapped a quick order, “Back to your work!”

The chaos resumed, even worse than before. The Coordinator turned to the Duchess. “Thank you Isis, for bringing Kitsune back safely. Where are Daisuke and Atasushi?”

Ryo stepped in to answer. “Tono, Tai-i Ichikawa was wounded and is in the medical bay. I was told that Atasushi Yanagisawa was killed in action.”

“And you are?”

Ryo saluted smartly, despite his injured leg. “Tai-i Ryo Saeba, 2^nd Legion of Vega. My mech went down in the city, and I made my way here.”

“The rest of the Legion?”

Ryo repeated what he had told Daisuke earlier. Theodore’s face was grim when he finished.

“And these two?” The Coordinator turned to Winters and the other clanner.

Isis Marik answered this time. She stepped beside Winters, “This is Star Captain Descartin Winters of the Goliath Scorpions.”

Winters spoke next, gesturing to the solahma, “And this is Warrior Secorra, of the Nova Cats.”

“They helped me and Kitsune escape the city, your Highness.” Isis said. “We couldn’t have done it without their help.”

Theodore fixed his blue eyes on them for several long moments, and Ryo had the uneasy feeling the Coordinator was gazing into their very souls. He also had the distinct feeling that he was searching within them for something. But what? Ryo wondered.

After what seemed to be a long time, but only ten seconds if anyone was counting, Theodore Kurita nodded in satisfaction, as though he had found what he was looking for. “You are mechwarriors, are you not?”

All three of them nodded.

He asked, “Star Captain Winters, why did you help Duchess Marik and young Kitsune?”

 

Descartin had been asking himself that very same question for the past few minutes. His world had truly been turned topsy-turvy by the revelations of the day. First Kitsune, now Isis. So that was the secret they had been hiding from him.

He knew he was supposed to get angry, but he found that he could not work up any. He knew Irene… no, Isis, would not lie to him unless it had been necessary. And it had been a good idea, for who might have overheard them when they were talking to each other?

Daisuke had been badly wounded, and Atasushi was dead. They had been lucky to arrive in time to save Ryo Saeba and Daisuke. He looked at Ryo critically, for the DCMS mechwarrior was limping on one leg. He wondered if Ryo was up to piloting a mech in combat in his current condition.

Descartin turned back to Theodore. “The Duchess and Kitsune are my friends.” It was the simple truth.

“Will you help defend the Combine?” Theodore asked again.

Descartin looked at Isis, her face full of worry for him. A reason to fight, he decided. “Give me a mech,” he answered Theodore, “and I will defeat your enemies for you.”

Theodore looked at Secorra. “You are of the Nova Cats. I am sorry to tell you that the embassy has fallen. However, they went down bravely, taking down many Black Dragons. Will you fight for me?”

A slight nod from Secorra signified his assent, and Descartin felt a burst of pride swell through his chest as he saw his fellow clansman, the man who had helped train him, get a second chance at piloting a mech. Perhaps he had not hated Secorra that much after all.

Ryo Saeba was last. “You are wounded, Tai-I Saeba. Are you sure you can fight?”

“Tono, my life is yours to command!” Ryo said resolutely.

Theodore smiled, then shouted, “Chu-sa Fujitama!” An officer in the uniform of an infantryman ran up in response to his lord’s summons.

“I believe we have more mechs than mechwarriors. Show these three buso-senshi to the mechbay, and give them the best mechs we have available. Tai-i Ichikawa’s Avatar and Chu-i Yanagisawa’s Akuma are currently unoccupied, correct?” The Chu-sa nodded. “And find another mech to make up the numbers.”

Theodore turned to Ryo. “Tai-i, enemy mech forces are advancing from the south, and we do not have any mech left to deploy in that direction. It’ll be up to you to stop them.”

“Hai!“ Ryo said. “We’ll do it, or die trying.”

“We will not die, Tai-i Saeba.” Descartin shook his head. “I will not have that kind of talk. Believe it. Lead the way, Chu-sa Fujitama.”

He was about to leave when Isis stepped in front of him. “Take care of yourself, will you?” She said as she raised her hands to his cheeks, gazing into his eyes.

“I will,” Descartin said softly, raising his own hands up to take hers, and then lowering them gently from his face. “Take care of my belongings. Thank you.” He handed his duffel bag over to Isis, who promised to safeguard it for him.

“Come on, let us depart!” Secorra shouted from the doorway leading out, supporting a bemused Ryo with a beefy arm. Descartin ran up to them, sparing Isis one last glance.

Ryo, with his injured leg, had to be half carried by the other two mechwarriors as they made their way through the palace. They entered the mechbay behind Fujitama, which was another frenzied center of chaos. Techs ran to and fro carrying stacks of vital equipment and other diagnostics, while the shattered hulks of several mechs in their racks attested to the furious fighting going on. More mechs were being prepped for action, and they eventually came to a stop before a hideous looking assault mech. Beside it were two other mechs, one a near identical facsimile of a Nova, the other a heavy mech with chicken legs reminiscent of a Mad Dog.

Chu-sa Fujitama and Ryo Saeba gave several quick orders to the technician in charge of the machines, and then Fujitama ran off, presumably back to the command center. The tech barked several unintelligible commands to his subordinates.

Ryo limped up to them. “Okay, there’s an Akuma, an Avatar, and a Black Hawk Ku for us. The Avatar is geared for command, and packs a C3 command unit. The Black Hawk is configured for close in combat. The Black Hawk and Akuma both carry C3 slaves. What do you guys want?”

“I am taking the Nova.” Secorra said, using the Clan designation for the Black Hawk, even if this version was of Inner Sphere manufacture. “I piloted a Nova during my time as a warrior in Beta Galaxy.” That made sense.

Ryo spoke next. “I’m taking the Avatar, because I think neither of you know how to use the C3 command system, right?” The two clan warriors shook their heads. “So leave that one to me. That leaves you with the Akuma, Star Captain Winters. Do you know the specs?”

Descartin closed his eyes, rummaging through his memory for the mech’s loadout. He opened them after a second. “Assault mech. PPC in arm, medium range missile rack, LBX autocannon, and some lasers.”

Ryo nodded. “It packs the most firepower. If half of what Yoshino told me about you was true, you’re the best choice for it. Let’s get to it.”

They changed quickly, using spare mechwarrior combat suits the techs had brought up on a trolley. Even Ryo changed out of his damaged suit into a new one, since his old one had many of its coolant lines torn when he had been shot near the palace.

“Where is Yoshino anyway?” Descartin asked Ryo as they changed, right in the mechbay. In the current situation, nobody cared about such niceties like changing rooms.

The DCMS officer smirked. “You’re either very good, or very lucky. Yoshino stayed in the city to look for you.” At Descartin’s look of consternation, Ryo hurried on. “I sent him to the spaceport last night, because I got a hint something was wrong then. With luck, he should be in his mech right now. I called for him from my previous ride, but no luck. Since we’re being deployed to the south, which is nearer the spaceport, I can hopefully use the Avatar’s better C3 system to contact him. A Nobori-Nin on our side would sure be nice.”

Descartin nodded in agreement. A tech came up, and signaled to them that their mechs were ready.

Descartin was still worried about Ryo’s leg. “Saeba, are you sure you can fight? It’ll be more difficult for you to turn your mech with only one leg on the pedals.”

“It’s hurt, but not so bad I can’t exert weight on it. I asked the techs to reduce the resistance on the pedal, so it should be okay now. Besides, the Avatar doesn’t have jump jets, so I won’t have to stomp on them.”

They got into their mechs, and started up the engines. Techs stayed the cockpits, adjusting the neural patterns for optimum performance and troubleshooting for the mechwarriors at every step. After all, the mechs were new to them, and there were quite a few kinks to be worked out.

Descartin plugged the neurohelmet contact cable from behind the command couch into his helmet, while using his other arm to attach the coolant lines from his suit into the coolant control valve on his right. The tech nearby worked feverishly on the computer with a bulky portable Descartes computer, his body halfway inside the mech cockpit.

Normally, the mech’s computer would ask him for access codes, or a special phrase for activating the mech, but the tech had swapped out the security module for another, and then reprogrammed the new module to accept Descartin’s control of the mech, which circumvented the problem.

“Warrior, the mech is yours,” the tech said as the mech’s displays came to life, signifying the machine’s readiness to enter lethal combat. PPC in the left arm, check. Missile rack, check. Streak SRM packs, check. Autocannon, check. Lasers, check. Heat sink system, check. A blinking display panel read ‘Establishing C3 network protocol’.

“Thank you,” Descartin said as the tech backed out of the cockpit, taking care not to knock his head on the sides of the hatch. The hatch closed a moment later. At the same time, the C3 display changed to ‘C3 network established’.

He opened the lance communication frequency with a flick of his finger on a side panel. “This is Descartin Winters. I am online.”

“Secorra here. I am ready to move as well.”

“Ryo here. Seems like we’re all ready. Okay then, let’s go out.” The Avatar came to life, while a technician waved a flag to indicate the path out of the mechbay.

Descartin’s Akuma moved next. It was slow, with a top speed of perhaps 55 kilometers per hour, though Descartin was sure he could squeeze out a bit more maneuverability with some tricks he had picked up during his time with the Ice Hellions. Leaning the mech forward, using his balance and widening the strides of the mech, things like that.

Secorra’s Black Hawk brought up the rear, moving a bit hesitantly and surprising Descartin until he remembered that Secorra had mentioned that he had not piloted a mech for several years.

They were pointed towards an exit leading to a long dimly-lit tunnel, and Descartin noticed that they were moving up a pretty steep incline.

So the mechbay is situated under the Palace, Descartin thought, with paths leading out in every direction. They were moving at a good pace, exactly at the Akuma’s best speed, since it was the slowest mech in their small force. I hope Isis is all right.

Descartin shook his head. They were going into battle soon, and he could not afford to think about anything else. Isis was safe enough in the command center with the Coordinator.

They emerged amongst a platoon of friendly battlearmor in defensive positions around the area. Ryo led them through the buildings, then out into a wide boulevard lined with trees.

Ryo stopped his Avatar after they had moved 300 meters down. “Here is where we make a sta… Hold on, I’m picking up something.”

“There is fighting going on in the distance.” Secorra reported, his Black Hawk already racing forward to take up a position nearer the enemy, since its weapons were mostly short range lasers and missiles.

Ryo shouted eagerly as his systems identified the Nobori-Nin, “It’s Yoshino!”

 

Yoshino Ihara could not believe his day. He had been working with Wolkul on the Nobori-Nin at the spaceport when the attack on Imperial City started.

He had hopped into the omnimech almost immediately, while Wolkul and Tina had found a hovercar, ready to move. They waited for some sort of signal from Ryo Saeba, but there was none for almost 3 hours.

During that time, the spaceport came under attack from several Black Dragon units, while the outmatched local garrison got slaughtered. The independent operators at the spaceport, those like Yoshino with their own mechs, quickly got the hint and moved out. Several of them were caught during their escape though, and went down hard. That left Yoshino with no illusions as to who the enemy was this day.

His small group had managed to slip past the Black Dragon cordon, and Yoshino had been trying to elude enemy patrols for the past hour, looking for some hint, some sign, of what he should do next.

In the end, he had made a decision. From what transmissions he had been able to receive, it seemed that the area around the Imperial Palace was the only place where there was any meaningful resistance. Everywhere else was just one big pit of death.

So he headed for the Imperial Palace, evading enemy units and leading Wolkul and Tina in the hovercar towards possible safety. He just hoped the DCMS units would not shoot at him on sight.

Then he stumbled across a Black Dragon lance, and now he was fighting them in a desperate hit and run engagement.

It was not easy. A Kabuto, a Stinger, a Panther, and one of those strange new medium mechs with a sword had comprised the lance chasing him through the city. All faster than the Nobori-Nin, though individually they were no match for the clan omnimech, together they could bring it down.

Yoshino had managed to destroy the Stinger with a salvo from his large pulse lasers and missile racks, but the others had played hit and run with him as well, jumping in, cutting loose with their weapons, and then jumping away again.

Except that Yoshino had not even suffered a scratch yet. Apparently, these were not the best mechwarriors around. And that was all he needed to continue moving towards the Palace, while keeping an eye out for opportunities to take down his opponents. The hovercar followed cautiously a kilometer back, hanging back from the action. The Black Dragons ignored it, presumably mistaking it for a bunch of looters taking advantage of the situation.

Then the enemy lance suddenly attacked en masse when he got within a kilometer of the Palace.

Yoshino ducked the Nobori-Nin like a boxer as the sword-wielding mech slashed at him at the head level, the blade slicing off a thin corner of the Nobori-Nin’s head. He swallowed dryly at that glimpse of death, before triggering his entire arsenal at the enemy.

The sword wielding mech staggered back, but remained on its feet. Hell, even its armor was not fully blasted away as Yoshino had expected from a mech of its class. Must have an XL engine to mount that much armor, he guessed.

“Yoshino, break hard right!” The unexpected yet utterly familiar command came suddenly, and without thinking, Yoshino did as he was told, turning the Nobori-Nin to his right and pushing his throttle forward to move the mech in that direction.

No less than three PPC bolts shot through the space he had just vacated, smashing into the Kabuto that was closing in to use its streak SRM racks. The Kabuto staggered, then exploded as a stray electrical spark caught the ammunition bin, blowing the light mech into metal smithereens, shards of superheated battlemech setting the trees on fire as they scattered. Within moments, the entire road was lined with flaming torches, in a ghastly scene that reminded Yoshino of pictures of the Nine Hells.

Was that Descartin? Yoshino was sure it was, but he didn’t quite believe his ears. Or his eyes, for that matter, when he saw no less than an assault mech and two heavies stride down the wide boulevard.

Meanwhile, a burst of laser fire from the jumping Otomo Back Hawk washed over the Panther. The Panther seemed to panic at the sight of so much mech tonnage, nearly stumbling as it backpedaled furiously.

“The Panther is mine!” Somebody shouted over the comms.

“Yoshino, get that sword bearer!” This time, Yoshino was sure it was Ryo’s voice. He had almost been shocked into immobility by the rapid pace of events, but his training kicked in, and he reacted accordingly, firing his pulse lasers again into the Black Dragon mech as it fired back with its array of MRMs and lasers. The Nobori-Nin shook from the impacts, and Yoshino had to struggle to keep his mech on its feet.

An Avatar and a hideous Akuma lashed out with their PPCs again, catching the rebel mech on its most vulnerable area exposed by prior damage, the center torso. The mech flopped over on its back, moments before it went up in a ball of expanding plasma from an engine containment failure. Yoshino was far away to avoid getting hit by the plasma, yet not so far that he could not feel the extreme heat from the death of the mech.

A crash of a building spoke of the Panther’s doom, as it crashed down onto a shopping complex in the middle of a jump, the Black Hawk severing one of the Panther’s legs and unbalancing the mech as it was jumping. The Panther laid very still on the wreckage of the building, while battle suited infantry closed in on it.

The Avatar kept its guns trained on the Panther as it moved up beside Yoshino. “Domo arigato, Ihara-san!” Ryo said formally. It could only be him in the Avatar, and Yoshino could see the faint outlines of his friend through the dark cockpit glass.

“Do itashi moshite,” Yoshino replied just as politely, before he went on irritably, “Where the hell were you?”

He could see Ryo wincing in his cockpit. “Hey, I tried my best, but somebody was jamming the frequencies. I lost my ride from the Vega Legions, okay?”

“Yoshino, it is not Tai-i Saeba’s fault.” Descartin added. There was no mistaking his voice, and the transmission source indicated its origin as the Akuma. “He had to be a PBI for a while.”

“Great timing, Des,” Yoshino rolled his eyes in his neurohelmet, “I’ve been looking for you for the past fortnight and you had to turn up now in the middle of a fight. Typical.” He thought the Akuma appropriate for Descartin. A demon of a mechwarrior in a demon of a mech.

“Can we do the catching up later?” Ryo said. “There’s about a company of mechs heading our way, and they’re not very friendly.”

“ETA?” Descartin asked.

“Ten minutes from what the outlying sensors tell me.”

“Des, Ryo,” commented Yoshino, “Wolkul and Tina are in a hovercar. I’m getting them to the Palace.”

Ryo agreed. “Hai. Get them out of here ASAP. I’ll inform the guards.” Yoshino quickly signaled Wolkul, who had been hiding the hovercar three kilometers away, to advance to their position and then onto the Palace.

“And who is this warrior in an omnimech of the clans?” This was somebody Yoshino did not recognize, the pilot of the Black Hawk. The way he spoke indicated a clansman.

Yoshino answered for himself, “This is former bondsman Yoshino, currently of the Goliath Scorpions. And you are?”

“I am Secorra of the Nova Cats.” Yoshino gasped as he recalled Descartin’s tales of his former sibko instructor. That all of them should meet here, on this day, in this situation, was incredible karma. Yoshino wondered if the fates had something special in store for their impromptu lance of clanners and samurai.

Descartin cut in, “Uh, Yoshino, you are not my yeoman any longer. Go back to the DCMS.”

“Descartin, how can you give up a warrior of the clans so easily back to the Houses?” Secorra complained.

“Can we all forget about who belongs where and just get ready to fight?” Ryo groused, his Avatar moving slowly down the street. The fires were burning down, leaving only charred corpses of the trees, while the Panther had been disabled by the battlearmor. “Who cares as long as we’re on the same side? Yoshino, you with us?”

“Sure. Beats sitting around doing nothing.” Yoshino swore he saw the Akuma give the equivalent of a mech shoulder shrug at his reply before following the Avatar. He started his Nobori-Nin moving alongside the Black Hawk.

Ryo got on the horn again. “All right, here’s the latest bit of intel from the infantry who got the Panther pilot. The sword bearing mech is called a Black Dragon. Go figure.”

Descartin started giving out orders. “Secorra, move ahead of us. Your mech is best for fighting in close, and we need your C3 telemetry. No, I do not wish to hear about dishonorable tactics and dirty Inner Sphere surats. We are badly outnumbered and need every edge we can squeeze out. And I outrank you, so you have to follow my orders.”

Then it was Yoshino’s turn. “Yoshino, go to Plan E. You will have to…”

“I know, I know.” Yoshino was extremely familiar with the plan, having used it many times with Descartin. “You play bait, and I play the trap. Medium or close range?”

“Medium, but get ready to move up if Secorra gets overmatched. Ryo, you stay at long range. How is the leg?”

“My leg’s fine, and this baby is only suitable for long range support anyway,” Ryo laughed, “I’ll be the backboard. Call for help if you need it, guys!” Yoshino wished he had Ryo’s easy confidence. But then again, Ryo could afford to be, since he was going to fight at long range, leaving the close in work to the others.

Yoshino could see Wolkul’s hovercar streaking down the streets towards them, then a quick salute from the tech in the driver’s seat as he drove past them. In the distance, the shadows of enemy mechs could be seen stalking across the buildings.

“Here they come.” Descartin whispered.

 

Tai-i Renford Akagi could not ignore the shiver running through his body as he guided his company through the deserted streets of Unity City, heading to the Palace. His Hunchback was a good mech, but he still felt a bit insecure with its slow speed.

His company of mechs from the First Dragon Legion regiment was tasked to punch a hole into the Palace’s defenses, which would be followed up by several companies of yakuza infantry close behind him to assault the Palace. The Otomo were all tied up on the other fronts, and there wasn’t supposed to be any mech resistance in this area.

His recon lance had gone ahead of the company, but none of them had reported back, which worried him.

Obviously, those reports of no enemy mechs around were proven conclusively wrong as he glimpsed a hulking Akuma standing stationary in the middle of the street. It was painted in the colors of the Otomo, and could only be an enemy.

Renford wrote off his recon lance in that instance. He only hoped they had gone ahead to their deaths like samurai, taking down as many of their enemies as possible.

He swallowed down his fear. “Roku company, forward! Concentrate fire on the Akuma!” His two lances of medium mechs were well balanced, and he was confident he could take the Akuma without any losses. The problem was, where were its lancemates?

He kept an eye out for them. Even if the reports were wrong on the enemy mech presence, the corrupt Theodore Kurita could not possibly have many mechs left to defend this side of the palace. No more than a lance of enemy mechs, Renford guessed.

Akagi deftly controlled his weapons joystick, dropping it over the silhouette of the Akuma. It was still more than 300 meters away, but his Hunchback had been modified to carry an extended range large laser and a super heavy class LBX autocannon, which made it a dangerous mech at any range. And the Akuma was in range of his laser.

“Frakencrack!” Except that there was no lock when he slid the targeting cursor over the Akuma. Renford tried again, with the same result as before. No matter, he trusted his own manual targeting. He pressed on his trigger.

The laser bolt passed to the side of the Akuma, now moving slowly backwards. The rest of his men’s shots hit only the surrounding terrain, which made Akagi feel better. So what if he missed? So did everybody else!

Then one of his flanking Venoms was attacked by a Black Hawk Ku slashing in from the right, and Renford began to worry. There was time only for a frenzied report from the Venom before it went silent. The red dot denoting an enemy mech on his radar and the fading out of the green dot of a friendly unit told him the rest. Renford sent his Komodo and a Wolverine K after the Black Hawk, which began to play a hide and seek game in the city.

Then to make things even worse, the Akuma fired back. The massive MRM rack spat out a tornado of missiles at them, while the PPC and LBX cannon blasted away.

A Strider simply disintegrated under its attack.

All of a sudden, he realized that his numerical advantage was slowly but surely disappearing. Have to go for broke now, before I lose any more mechs!

Renford still had his command lance with him, and it was enough to take the Akuma. “Charge!” He yelled. A Grand Dragon, a Black Dragon, and a Wolf Trap, all faster than his Hunchback, barreled ahead at the Akuma.

Then his radar picked up another red dot closing in, this time from the left. He had more warning this time, and it would take that unit about 20 seconds to reach weapons range, but Renford was not sure if his lance could take down the Akuma in 20 seconds.

Still, it was four mechs to one, and he pressed his trigger again. Never mind if he was unable to get a targeting lock.

The might of an entire lance of mechs was thrown at the Akuma, but as before, not a single weapon hit, doing a great deal of damage to the surrounding estate instead.

Renford took a moment to stare at the sight of the lumbering Akuma untouched by any weapon in disbelief. By right, by the law of averages, something should have hit!

“Get in closer and kick it!” He screamed to his men. When all else failed, the traditional methods of close in physical attacks would work. In fact, he had used them many times in his DCMS career before he was cashiered. The metal fist and the iron shod foot were the most dependable of all combat weapons. And now that they had hatchets and swords…

From far away in the distance, a mix of PPC and autocannon shots slammed into the Grand Dragon, followed by another huge salvo of missiles from the Akuma. The Grand Dragon pilot lost his footing with the loss of so much armor, and the mech crashed into a building on one side.

Renford’s radar had picked up one more mech, an Avatar, about 500 meters away. He cursed. Even with the Grand Dragon back, his lance barely outmassed the Akuma and Avatar.

The Black Dragon suddenly received a boost of speed, as its triple strength myomers heated up. It whipped in at the Akuma, its sword at the ready. When it was within five meters of the Akuma, it swung its blade around, in an arc that would have taken it right through the Akuma’s head, but the Akuma raised its left arm and blocked the sword high on the arm, allowing the sword to cut deep into the armor surrounding the PPC barrel.

Before the Black Dragon could pull the sword out for another attempt, the Akuma fired all its weapons except those on the left arm at the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon staggered, then fell to the ground on its back. Several pieces of metal flew out of its exposed front armor, which Renford guessed to be pieces of its gyro. By the Dragon, that kill was fast!

The Wolf Trap had also gotten close, but was not unscathed as the Avatar fired on it, tearing out chunks of its arm armor. The Wolf Trap replied with its own autocannon, but missed again at the Akuma.

His own Hunchback was not attacked, and Renford began to feel flustered as he realized that his company was plain outmatched in this engagement.

Go ahead, or pull back? Retreat, or slug it out? Renford agonized as he brought his heavy autocannon to bear on the Akuma, while changing the ammo selection to cluster shot. If nothing else, the shotgun effect of the LBX should at least guarantee a few hits on the damn Akuma!

Then the decision was taken out of his hands when the flanking red dot took up position firmly behind him. Akagi could not believe his eyes when his sensors told him that a clan omnimech, a Nobori-Nin, was blocking their path of retreat.

This was turning out to be a very bad day.

 

Descartin tried hard to suppress a grin as he slammed one foot of the Akuma on the Black Dragon’s head section, pulverizing the cockpit and the mechwarrior inside.

It had taken some time to get used to the ‘iron sight’ technique for firing the medium range missiles, but their prodigious firepower was amazing. The dumbfire missile rack and ammunition construction allowed more of them to be launched compared to other missile systems. Descartin knew many clan warriors and scientists had pooh-poohed the idea, preferring the finesse and versatility of the ATM system instead, but after using them in action, he discovered that MRMs were very effective in close combat.

“The trap has shut.” Yoshino had reported from his Nobori-Nin. Meanwhile, Secorra had led his pursuers into a merry chase through the city, and was arcing back now. By the time the rest of the DCMS company arrived from chasing Secorra, Descartin was confident his motley group would have finished off the Hunchback, the Grand Dragon, and the Wolf Trap.

The Hunchback had fired its LBX shotgun autocannon, but the slugs had missed high, instead demolishing the sixth floor of an office block. The broken glass windows had rained down on the Akuma, but Descartin did not mind it one bit.

Because he returned to the Hunchback what it had tried to do to him. With interest.

The PPC carved into the Hunchback’s center torso just moment before his LBX autocannon, set to slug, did the same. He followed up with two medium laser bursts, all into the same location, and finished up with another salvo from the MRM rack.

The Hunchback pilot ejected out of his mech on trails of smoke, which opened up into a parachute drifting down slowly into the city.

“Tai-i Saeba, get some of the infantry to fetch that pilot.” Descartin said.

“Hold on.” Ryo grunted, as he was still fighting the Wolf Trap, which had run past Descartin’s Akuma in a last ditch attempt to breach the Palace defenses. Descartin turned the Akuma around in time to see the Wolf Trap finally collapse from a laser barrage from Ryo’s Avatar.

“Tough little bugger.” Ryo grumbled. “What was it you wanted me to do?”

Descartin repeated his request, which Ryo immediately carried out. Yoshino had finished off the Grand Dragon when Secorra jumped towards them in his Black Hawk. His pursuers were nowhere in sight.

“They broke off the engagement when they saw they had lost the rest of their company. Cowards.” sneered Secorra.

While he did not say it out, Descartin thought that was the best move from the Black Dragons yet in the battle.

The lance patrolled the area for three more hours, with the pilots catching up with one another on their experiences. The infantry had secured the Hunchback pilot, who was an enemy officer, and escorted him to the Palace under heavy guard. An officer POW was a valuable prize. There were no more attacks for the time being.

Then Ryo shouted for attention, “Uh guys, trouble!”

“What is it this time?” Descartin asked.

“The east side of the Palace defenses are collapsing. The Otomo are taking heavy losses.”

“I thought they had a battalion there,” Descartin recalled the holographic map, and the units arrayed in the city.

“Yeah, well, they’re going down. Somebody managed to dredge up a whole regiment and threw it at them in attritional combat. CLG is killing them right now.”

“The Otomo is an elite unit. That’s not possible.” Yoshino stated flatly.

Ryo sighed heavily over the comms. “Yeah, but consider that the regiment can throw its battalions at them one at a time in close quarters, then pull back for repairs when they get hurt, and then carrying on with the next battalion. How long do you think anybody can go on without repairs?”

“So what next?” Secorra asked. “We still have our orders, and that is to hold this area.”

Descartin shook his head, though he knew none of the others could see it. “No, we have to support the Otomo. Look at it this way. If we leave this area, yes, the Black Dragons might send another force through. But if we leave the Otomo to fight on their own, then the palace will fall. Ryo, your orders?”

“Don’t ask me. We didn’t exactly decide on who’s in charge.”

Descartin said, “So let us vote on it. Who agrees that we should go help the east side defenses? Ryo?”

“Aye.”

“Yoshino?”

“Hai!”

“Secorra?”

“Neg. I know I am outvoted, but my objection stands.”

“So noted.” Descartin said. “Let us move as quickly as possible. Ryo, inform the infantry in the area that we are leaving. This is going to be a hell of a gamble.”

As they moved through the empty city, gradually falling into night, Descartin was sure all of them were thinking the same thing. What could a lance of mechs do against an entire regiment?

 

Tai-sa Aritomo Osada looked on with satisfaction from the cockpit of his Atlas as he saw the beleaguered Otomo battalion struggle for its survival. A light show of laser beams and missile explosions could be observed near the Palace, where his troops were destroying the Otomo.

His Third Dragon Legion regiment, the third and last of the secret regiments to be formed by the Kokuryu-kai, had worn down the elite Otomo by fighting up close, no difficult feat in urban terrain. At point blank ranges, even the greenest warrior could inflict heavy damage. By rotating his battalions out whenever their armor started to run low, he had conserved his forces while expending more ammunition and armor supplies, which he felt was worth it in the long run. After all, it was always easier to repair mechs than it is to replace trained warriors. The Otomo had no such luxury, and were forced to stand in place and trade shots with each fresh wave of attackers.

And now, at the end of a long day of battle, he had finally hammered the Otomo down to the point where he could smash them flat with one last charge.

The other assaults were not having much success, but at least they were tying up the rest of the defenders, preventing them from coming to the aid of the Otomo battalion. The failed assault on the south side by elements of the First Dragon Legion was the most disappointing, for Osada had fully expected the attack to succeed. The loss of an entire company there indicated that there was a substantial enemy mech force there, and nobody was eager to throw more troops at it when the east side was about to collapse.

He guided his Atlas closer to the battle, where his first battalion had gone back into the fray, much of their worst damage having been repaired already. Osada reminded himself to commend the technician teams after the battle was won. They were hard at work on his second and third battalions, with the second battalion almost ready and the third just shutting down in their repair racks.

The already battered Otomo were barely hanging on, unable to give up ground or maneuver because to do so meant allowing the Black Dragons to assault the Palace. It was a battle with only one conclusion.

A blinking light on his communications console alerted him to a transmission from the commander in charge of the infantry pickets flanking his line of attack.

“Tai-sa, we have detected mechs inbound on your rear in sector 487. Numbers unknown, but some of them seem to be moving fast. We have detected at least one lance.” And that meant there could be as many as two companies ready to tear into his rear. He shuddered at the thought of what fresh units could do to his unit.

Where could those units be coming from? Possibly, the Palace defenders had assigned the group guarding the south side to catch his force in a pincer. In any case, that incoming threat had to be dealt with. He had no reserves left, but second battalion was almost ready.

They’ll have to do.

“Chu-sa Kodai, move your battalion over to sector 486 to intercept unknown number of bogeys.”

Hurry up, he urged his first battalion. Take care of the Otomo, and this attack on our rear won’t matter.

 

Ryo paced Descartin’s Akuma steadily, while they advanced on the enemy regiment’s rear.

Descartin said, “Secorra, Yoshino, get ready to break for their repair facilities. With luck, you might be able to catch them in their racks and get a few cheap kills. After three minutes, break for the Otomo and press the attack into the rear of the enemy force. Ryo and me will try to draw off the rest. We only need the enemy commander to think he is facing more mechs than just us four.”

A simple plan, except Ryo didn’t like the part about him being bait.

“Descartin Winters, you’re kidding when you said we’re going to draw away their troops, right?”

“Neg. We really are going to draw off their second battalion.”

Ryo rolled his eyes. “Oh right! Two against thirty! No problem! Just like in the arcades, eh? One mechwarrior wiping out hundreds with one blast from a PPC each!”

“You do not have to be so sarcastic.”

“Okay, okay. Uh oh, the infantry are attacking!” SRMs were corkscrewing at them from dug-in infantry in the buildings. He switched on his lights, in order to see better.

Descartin did not waste any time, “Yoshino, Secorra, break for the repair depots now!” The Nobori-Nin and the Black Hawk accelerated off to one side, then using their jump jets to lift themselves over several buildings.

“Follow me!” Descartin yelled as his Akuma suddenly moved faster than Ryo could believe it possible, charging right into the path of the entrenched infantry. Its LBX autocannon and pulse lasers blazed away, sending the infantry in the vicinity into headlong retreat.

Ryo switched his display to the radar screen, and sure enough, there was a company of mechs approaching their position.

“Let’s move!” Ryo shouted, moving his Avatar parallel to the enemy company. The speed at which they were moving suggested another medium weight close assault company.

As his Avatar swept past the Akuma, Ryo noticed his targeting sights failing to get a lock on Descartin. It had happened before during the defense of the south sector, but he had put that down to a equipment malfunction.

Well, as long as his systems still worked on their enemies, he felt it was no big deal.

A Raptor broke from the cover of some buildings, and Ryo blazed away with glee, his PPCs smashing into the Raptor before his autocannon finished the job firing for all it was worth. Descartin had taken up a position directly facing the approaching company, which Ryo was grateful for because it would shield him from most attacks, and also because the C3 telemetry from the Akuma would be very helpful to his own marksmanship.

Two light Owens appeared next, only to be shot to bits almost immediately, followed by a Strider and a Hitman. The two warriors blazed away with their guns, and Ryo was dimly aware of the laser beams, missiles, and autocannons all missing the hulking Akuma as it stood in the way of their advance.

The area in front of the Akuma started to become a killing zone, as mech after mech appeared and tried to face off against the Akuma, only to be smashed down by its tremendous firepower. A No-Dachi appeared, but was cut down before it could reach the Akuma and use its sword.

The two warriors gave ground slowly, not wishing to let themselves be surrounded. The enemy battalion seemed to take the Akuma’s presence as a personal affront, and forsook other tactics in favor of a straight on charge.

Ryo was sweating heavily by the time they took down their tenth mech, a quad chassis Bishamon. Yet more enemies were appearing and pounding away at the Akuma, seemingly without effect.

Ryo had no wish to push their luck any further. “Descartin, there’s too many of them! Pull back!”

“Neg.” Descartin’s voice was eerily calm. “We can win this. Trust me.”

Just my luck to be stuck with a crazy clanner! Ryo thought in growing panic as he saw an entire assault company line up in front of them. Buddha help me!

 

Just my luck to be stuck with a crazy clanner! Yoshino thought as Secorra landed his Black Hawk right on top of a parked Tai-Sho, which sent the assault mech toppling over and crashing to the ground in a shower of sparks.

They had managed to evade the sparse defense around the repair lot, where an entire battalion of mechs were receiving much needed armor replacement. There were about a lance of mechs chasing them, but Yoshino and Secorra had agreed that their primary targets should be the immobile and vulnerable mechs.

It was a turkey shoot so far, and Yoshino had to bite down his own sense of outrage at taking advantage of a hapless enemy. After all, it was the Black Dragons who started this whole thing first!

He fired his pulse lasers at a Battlemaster, tearing into its interior, its armor having been removed beforehand for some other repairs to its insides. An erg of energy was transmitted to the mech’s ammunition bins, and it went up in a shattering explosion, knocking over two other mechs parked nearby. Throngs of panicked technicians and mechwarriors raced under the stomping feet of battlemech; Yoshino was sure he had left more than a few red splotches on the ground.

An impact on his rear told him of his pursuer, a Crab, firing at him for all it was worth with the large lasers mounted in the claws and the lasers in the torso.

Yoshino ignored it, spotting another juicy target, a stationary Shugenja. He launched his streak missile packs at it, aiming for the cockpit area. The missiles slammed into the broad surface of the head in an explosion of brilliant orange, wrecking the mech for the time being.

“Two minutes!” Secorra was counting down for the two of them. They had taken two minutes so far, and they would be breaking off the engagement soon.

Yoshino finally turned his mech around to face the Crab. He gave it a dose of pulse laser fire, before sending a full 12 SRM salvo into it. The Crab lost its balance, sliding to the ground. It immediately began to try to get up.

He turned the Nobori-Nin away, seeking better prey. The sudden appearance of red dots on his radar informed him of enemy mechwarriors having successfully started up their machines. They might be heavily damaged, but they might delay him and Secorra enough not to let this skirmish matter.

“Secorra, forget about the rest!” Yoshino shouted. “We need to go now!”

“Aff! Lead the way!” The Black Hawk appeared on the rear view of his display, as a storm of laser and PPC blasts chased them as they ran away from the repair lot.

For two mechs, they had done quite a lot of damage already.

 

Osada stared at his screens in disbelief. He was not sure what exactly happened, but his second battalion had just missed an enemy mech element sneaking past, and they had managed to wreck havoc amongst his third battalion undergoing repairs.

And his second battalion was taking heavy losses against what seemed to be a whole enemy elite assault company, as reported by a frantic Chu-sa Kodai.

And worse of all, the Otomo were stubbornly refusing to die. Their numbers had been whittled down to less than two companies, but his first battalion was no closer to the Palace walls.

Osada slammed a fist down onto the armrest of his command couch. They had been so close…

He could not be sure the enemy would not break past his second battalion. He could not be sure his first battalion could break through before the Otomo reinforcements arrived. He could not be sure there were more enemy units moving up to further tear his damaged unit apart.

No, better to pull back and defend what he had. The Otomo were not going anywhere. Once the Seventh Sword had mopped up the last of the Second Legion of Vega, the Black Dragons would have no less than four battlemech regiments ringing Theodore Kurita in a circle of steel. The First and Third Dragon Legions, the Seventh Sword, and Vance Rezak’s Band of the Damned. The result was a foregone conclusion.

As he ordered his units back, Osada thought, your time has come, Theodore Kurita.

 

Descartin felt the fire of adrenaline leave his body as he watched the enemy withdrawal.

Despite his words to Ryo, he had actually been worried about the enemy force. It had been close. The Akuma was in bad shape, having endured a massive amount of enemy fire. His skills had kept it in the fight, but just barely.

Ryo’s Avatar was as equally bad off, but at least the two of them were still moving. Which was much better than the wreckage of at least 16 mechs layered around their immediate area.

Ryo panted, “I didn’t believe this would work. Did you expect this?”

Descartin paused for a moment, before admitting, “Actually, I did not expect this to work either.”

A loud thump over the comms, probably the sound of a neurohelmet being thrown, and a prolonged yell of sheer outrage from Ryo forced Descartin to switch off his receiving unit to save his eardrums from bursting.

 

Descartin led the impromptu unit into the mech bay they had started out from, to loud applause from the gathered techs and warriors. His Akuma, Ryo’s Avatar, Secorra’s Black Hawk, and Yoshino’s Nobori-Nin.

It had been a close run thing. Another minute of action would have seen the east side defenses collapse completely. As it were, the enemy forces had pulled back, and the Otomo were likewise able to pull back into the Palace for repairs. Their intervention had been the deciding factor.

Descartin only had eyes for Isis as he climbed out of his mech cockpit. He slid down a ladder set up next to his cockpit, and hugged Isis in an embrace almost instinctively. The other members of the lance joined the two of them, a limping Ryo being supported by Yoshino and Secorra.

Then Tina and Wolkul pushed past the throngs of technicians, and Tina flung herself at Ryo to the DCMS warrior’s great delight, then worry as he realized he was trying to support her with an injured leg. The look of pain on his face told the rest.

The crowds parted to provide a path for the Coordinator to approach them, his bearing stern, but the smile on his face a truer indication of his feelings. One hand held Kitsune by his side. Theodore bowed deeply to Descartin, and the clan warrior bowed back hurriedly, not sure of the custom in this case.

“Konnichi-wa, brave warriors.” Theodore Kurita said, his eyes cycling round each warrior in the lance. “What you did today was incredible, attacking an entire regiment with just 4 mechs, and it will forever be remembered, but this battle is not over yet.”

All the warriors present nodded solemnly.

Theodore continued, speaking to his gathered audience. “We are trapped, with many enemies of the Dragon seeking to destroy us. Yet I am sure with such brave warriors like Descartin Winters, Ryo Saeba, Secorra, and Yoshino Ihara,” Descartin saw Yoshino start as he had not been introduced to the Coordinator yet, “We will prevail!”

Theordore turned back to them, “Star Captain, this battle may not be over yet, but I hope you will accept whatever hospitality we can offer at this dark time. Rest yourself and your men. They have shown true honor and courage today.”

Descartin nodded, “Thank you, Coordinator.”

Kurita walked away, and the crowd slowly dispersed as everybody went back to their tasks, leaving Descartin with his group of friends and allies.

Without warning, Isis suddenly slapped him on one cheek. Descartin almost spun to the ground, but he managed to recover in time to look incredulously at her for a moment before she hugged him again.

Then he realized she was crying into his chest, “I heard what you did to save the Otomo. That was so stupid! Don’t you do anything like that ever again!”

His face glowing a bright red, and not just from the slap, Descartin looked at his friends for help to handle the situation, but Secorra simply shrugged his shoulders, and walked off to get some food, while Ryo had already disappeared with Tina to somewhere else.

Only Yoshino and Wolkul was left staring at him.

Yoshino commented, “Wow, Des, you sure are fast, picking up a girlfriend in just over a week!”

Descartin could only splutter out a confused “What?”

Yoshino cut in again, “So what had you exactly been doing this past week?”

Descartin rolled his eyes as he noticed Isis was no longer crying, but looking up at him impishly. It was going to be a long story.

 

Duke Hassid Ricol stared at the holographic map of Imperial City. Many of his plans had gone awry, most prominent of which had been the attempt on that damn Steiner-Davion half breed.

Still, his forces had taken relatively little losses, and they had largely eliminated resistance everywhere else other than the Palace. The local mech production facilities of Luthien Armor Works had been captured intact, though the technicians had managed to trigger a safeguard virus which would take months to eradicate, and in the meantime deny his forces use of the production lines.

Theodore Kurita was still alive, and that could only mean the strike team he had ordered to infiltrate the Palace had failed. It was no matter. Ricol had ages to plan for this operation, and he always had one backup plan after another. One way or another, Theodore would no longer be Coordinator.

His thoughts turned to Jubei Kurita. A distant cousin of the Coordinator, he was quite like Angus Kurita, the Black Dragon’s earlier attempt to supplant the Coordinator. Except in this case, he was sited quite safely on Albiero, awaiting the fall of Luthien They had learnt from their lessons.

Ricol was determined to be the power behind Jubei, and Jubei himself was a weak and easily controlled individual. Ricol had no doubts whatsoever about his ability to control Jubei. He had already picked out his cabinet, his generals. All loyal to the Black Dragon’s cause.

Luthien would fall within the month, Ricol was sure of it. Then with Jubei Kurita installed on the throne, and himself as the power and brain behind the throne, the Combine can start to press gloriously onto the other Successor States once again. First reclaim the shattered remnants of Rasalhague, then drive out the Noiva Cats, and claim their advanced technology for himself. Then drive towards the shattered halves of the Federated Commonwealth. The weak defenses of the Draconis March and the Isle of Skye made them very tempting targets.

Hohiro Kurita might be a problem, but Ricol was certain he had enough forces from the DCMS to crush any loyalist regiments. 40% of the DCMS had come over, their loyalties bought by his agents long ago, and further strengthened by the events of the past few years. With so many troops at his disposal, Ricol was confident of success.

He recalled his old nemesis Grayson Death Carlyle.  It was such a disappointment that he would not be able to face off the old mercenary in another match across the tactical chessboard, but he was sure he would find some entertainment out of destroying Grayson’s son in the Skye Province, after he controlled the Combine.

Ricol laughed as he took a sip of his sake. He might be beholden to the Word of Blake for this effort, for it would not have been possible without their funding, technical support, and intelligence assets, but he had no intention of obeying their commands once he was firmly ensconced as the Combine’s ruler.

After all, what could they do to him?