Chapter 22

Kilrymont Spaceport

New St Andrews IV, The Periphery

Rimward of the Circinus Federation

11 June 3077

 

               Caradin sat in Fleetfoot, waiting in the middle of the spaceport.  Her new Circinan allies had confirmed the Overlord DropShip Deadfall had jumped into the system at a pirate jump point earlier in the day.  The ship was expected to make planetfall within the hour.  Finally, she would be getting off this planet. 

               She was more than ready to leave.  The whole planet had been a headache since the beginning.  From idiot babysitters following her around to stuffed suits that expected miracles to a rookie who’d done nothing but undermine her credibility ever since touching down, it had been a nightmare. 

               At least she had found a way to make bank from all of it.  Next to Fleetfoot were trucks loaded down with ore, munitions, spare parts, and people.  Everything the pirates had been gathering up in the weeks they’d been on-planet.  Now she stood to get a cut of all of it.  Combined with the pittance Meridian had been giving her people so far, she might actually end up in the black after all this.

               Until I have to account for losses, that is, she thought to herself.  Her gaze fell on the Katamari, a hundred meters from her in the direction of the treeline.  The big assault ‘Mech was moving, but only barely.  The hydrogen fuel explosion had struck hard enough to send it toppling over in the ‘Mech bay and bury it in rubble.  Its armor was now a mosaic of hastily-welded patches and scorched metal, and it seemed to be moving even more clumsily than usual.  Hoshino claimed the reactor and weapons still worked, but she could tell it was going to need a full teardown and rebuild after all this.  Of course Hoshino would have to pay for it, as there would have been no explosion if he hadn’t let that bitch McCloud get out in the first place.

               She simmered in anger, thinking about McCloud and all the trouble she’d caused.  The girl had tricked Caradin into buying that ridiculous ancient ‘Mech, then gotten her to change the battle plan and risk her people, she’d destroyed Meridian’s equipment, and had left the Hussars to foot the bill for her idiocy.  Then, right when Caradin had managed to salvage the situation, McCloud had spoiled even that.  Meridian had been blissfully ignorant of the Circinans’ moving in and seizing the spaceport.  After a pitifully small first delivery of tanks and a couple of Arbiters, they had been assembling a stronger force, meant as the main body to take on the Circinans.  They would have ridden it right into the spaceport completely unaware, allowing the Hussars and Circinans to seize a good load of equipment and fresh personnel without a shot fired, just in time for the DropShip to land.  But no, McCloud had ruined all of that when she’d blown up the ‘Mech bay.  The fireball from McCloud’s exit, followed by the wild gunfire into the air trying to shoot down the Blossom, had been enough to get Meridian’s attention.  Caradin had had to hastily come up with an explanation that wouldn’t result in them moving in in force.  Blaming McCloud for the mess had been easy, but Meridian had frozen its shipments to the spaceport.  So now Caradin was left with the blown-up equipment and handful of tanks to her name, not to mention being short two BattleMechs and two of her MechWarriors. 

               Thomas was a loss.  The man had been a violent meathead, but he could at least follow orders without asking questions, which was more than she could expect from any of her other people.  Wolfgang was replaceable, which was probably for the best after all the complaining he’d done about going to Plant Two to set the prisoners free.  And Hoshino had failed her, letting McCloud get away.  She could guess why.  Sympathy doesn’t get you far in this business, she thought with an angry look at the Katamari on her displays.  Hoshino would be paying for that mistake for quite some time, she would make sure of that.

               Her new allies were a mixed bag at best.  The group of tanks she’d had deployed before McCloud blew up the ‘Mech bay consisted of half a dozen Scorpions and three Vedettes.  They were functional but antiquated.  The Circinan ‘Mechs were at least as beat-up as the Katamari.  They answered to the Javelin pilot, a man who’d been the third in the chain of command after the Wolverine and the Quickdraw pilots.   He was adequate as a MechWarrior and incompetent as a leader.  When they should have been consolidating forces and gathering up what they had, he had sent a group of his people to hit Plant One, armed with nothing but scrap vehicles and salvage.  The predictable result had cost even more of the material Caradin had to her name, including that Chameleon.  It was nothing short of a miracle the team had come back at all, let alone with the pair of shot-up Arbiters they’d somehow managed to secure.  As if that wasn’t enough, the attack had galvanized Meridian into action, and they were sending a force to the spaceport to try and put down the pirates themselves.  That left Caradin exactly where she didn’t want to be, having to gamble even more of her equipment on a fight that she didn’t need to be in.

               She’d taken charge of the situation, dressing down the Circinan commander and twisting his arm to the point he’d agreed to put her in charge of the remaining forces to coordinate a defense.  On top of organizing the tanks and ‘Mechs at the spaceport, she’d had time to reconfigure Fleetfoot with some of the salvaged weapons and equipment.  The longer-range lasers and enhanced targeting gear was sure to be worth the hassle, giving her an edge she knew Meridian couldn’t match.  She may have gotten greedy adding in an SRM load from the Circinans, but it was another arrow in her quiver, and victory was always about being unpredictable.

               She checked her control board, confirming everything was working.  Then she extended her long-distance comms antenna, aiming it up into the sky.

               “Deadfall, this is Ground Actual.  Report,” she ordered.

               “Deadfall inbound, ETA one hour,” the tinny voice of the communications officer responded.  “Confirm landing site is secure, Ground.”

               “Confirmed.”

               She told herself it would be fine.  The DropShip would come down, landing on the pad they had secured near Fleetfoot.  Trucks loaded with their cargo were all ready to go.  The ship would keep its engines hot while it was loaded, and take off immediately once everything was secured.  Total time on-planet was expected to be an hour at most.  No time for any organized attack, no time for anything to go wrong.  And if something unexpected did happen, she still had a few moves left to make.

               She activated her comms again.  “Striker Group, Ground Actual.  Report.”

               “Striker One, reactor hot,” a rough female voice answered.  “Striker Two confirms ready to launch.”

               “Copy that.  Launch now and rendezvous at the spaceport for defensive aerial sweeps.  Be advised, enemy has aerospace capability.  You see anything airborne that isn’t a DropShip, assume it’s hostile.”

               “Copy that, Striker group launching now.  ETA fifteen minutes.”

               As much as their fighters and equipment were junk, Caradin had to admit the Circinan techs had some skill.  She hadn’t thought the crushed Samurai could be made flight-worthy in time for the DropShip’s arrival, but somehow they’d pulled it off.  It gave Caradin hope the shot-up Arbiters they’d come back with from Plant One could be put back together.  She made a mental note to try hiring the lead tech once this was over.  She needed people who could get the job done.

               Her commline lit up with an incoming message from an unknown frequency.  Her eyes narrowed as she considered it before opening the channel.

               “Yes?”

               “You know, I thought you were the break I’d been waiting for,” a voice answered.

               Caradin paused only a heartbeat.  “McCloud,” she replied.  “Well that makes two of us.  I’d thought we could really make something out of the Hussars with your help.  A shame you decided to go off the handle instead.”

               As she spoke, Caradin flipped a few switches on her control board, routing her communications array through the Beagle Active Probe.

               “Stop it,” McCloud said.  “We both know you’re the one who broke the rules.  I might have let it go, honestly.  Maybe I could’ve agreed with you.  But you didn’t have the right to use my dad to manipulate me.  And you really didn’t have the right to threaten my mom.”

               “That’s business, McCloud.  You know I wouldn’t have actually hurt her.  It was just a show of force, give you a little scare,” Caradin said, keeping her eyes on her sensor readouts. 

               “Somehow I don’t believe you,” McCloud answered.  “I don’t think you can help it.  You’re just going to keep lying to me, and everyone else here.  But I’m still going to give you a chance.  Stand down and leave the spaceport, maybe you can still salvage something out of this.”

               “That’s what I’m doing.  I’m trying to get ahead, McCloud, just like everyone else.  Sometimes sacrifices need to be made to get by.”

               “You’re asking other people to make the sacrifices,” McCloud retorted.  “But fine, don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.  Now I’m going to make sure you don’t get off this planet.”

               A message was coming in on the lance channel, but Caradin ignored it for the moment.  The Probe was scanning the comm frequencies and triangulating the point of origin.  She just had to keep McCloud talking a few more seconds.

               “That’s not a good idea,” she warned.  “I do like your energy, McCloud.  I’d honestly feel bad putting you down.  But if you insist on standing in my way, I’m going to have to do it.”

               “You sure?  I know you’re tired, and the Circinans are too.  How much fight do you have left in you?”

               The incoming message alert chirped again, and Caradin again silenced it.  “I’ve got enough left,” she said.  “You’re not the first person who’s felt entitled to stand in my way.”

               Fleetfoot’s computers beeped and an icon appeared on her sensor readouts, showing the calculated position of McCloud’s transmission.

               “I think you’re going to have your hands full – ” McCloud was saying, but Caradin cut her off, switching over to the general channel. 

               “…closing in from the north!” a voice was warning.  “Moving to respond!”

               Caradin looked at her wide-range sensor display, seeing the red icons of multiple contacts appearing on her screen.  IFF signals began populating shortly afterwards, designating the contacts as elements of the Meridian Armoured Defenders.  She quickly counted up the contacts, seeing a not-insubstantial force was arrayed north of the spaceport, approaching on the wide road up there.

               The Circinan tank commanders were responding, haphazardly moving their tanks between the spaceport and the attackers.  Caradin couldn’t help noticing how the attack was coming from the north, while McCloud’s triangulated position was from the south.  A simplistic pincer move, and a dumb one at that, dividing their forces in the face of their enemy.  The timing of the attack wasn’t bad, but that was apparently the limit of Meridian’s military knowledge.  It was time to show them what an actual military could do to someone who had nothing but built-up IndustrialMechs.

               She switched to the tankers’ channel.  “Scorpion Group, move to Defense Position One on northern flank.  Spread out to form a screen on this line,” she ordered, tracing a path across her display.  “Vedette Group, form a second line to back up Scorpion Group.  Keep sensors synched with me, ten-second intervals.” 

               She waited for the nervous acknowledgments before switching to the aerospace fighters’ channel.  “Striker group, Ground Actual.  Get to spaceport ASAP, I need air support immediately.” 

               With the tanks deployed and the aerospace assets inbound, that just left her real trump card.  “Katamari, Valkyrie, prepare for fire support.  Javelin, wait here on reserve with me, we might have a problem in the woods to intercept.  Vulcan, prepare to secure prisoners.”

               Katamari immediately moved into action.  The others paused until she heard the Javelin pilot grunt “you heard her.”  Caradin narrowed her eyes at the borderline insubordination, but let it go for now; the Circinan commander seemed to know his place, at least.  She switched to a direct channel with him.

               “All right, like we agreed.  Call them,” she ordered.

               The man on the other end grunted and contacted Meridian’s forces on a general channel.  “Attention Meridian Armoured Defenders, this is your one and only warning: stop where you are.  Come any closer and you’ll regret it.”

 

 

               With a flick of a switch Caradin patched the feed from the Vulcan’s cameras to the general comm channel.  Meridian’s people were promptly shown the image of thirty-some prisoners up against the wall of a warehouse, secured by a handful of guards, with the Vulcan’s machine gun and flamer trained on them.

               “We’re leaving this planet today.  Only question is how many of yours you have to pick up afterwards,” the Javelin pilot said evenly.

               Meridian’s forces halted.  For a few moments it felt like they would be deterred by the threat.  Then Caradin winced as the commline was suddenly flooded with bagpipe music.  Over the noise Caradin could make out Bower’s voice, reading off lines about the Arbiter.  The damn ad spot, running at full-volume.  Caradin quickly cut the connection before it could blow out her ears.  She looked at her screen to see the Meridian force was advancing on the spaceport again.

               Fine, if that’s how you want to play this.

               “Vulcan, open fire.  Take out a few.”

               “Belay that!” the Circinan commander snapped.  “Vulcan, pull up to support the north border!”

               Caradin turned her ‘Mech to face the Vulcan, seeing the ‘Mech was already stepping away from the prisoners.  “Vulcan, do not take one more step!” she barked.  “You have your orders.  Do it!”

               “Not worth it, mercenary,” the Javelin pilot said back to her.  “They’re calling our bluff, now I need my ‘Mechs up front, not in the back destroying our loot!”

               Caradin’s fingers rested on the triggers for her lasers.  She was torn between firing a warning shot at the Vulcan or melting the Javelin’s cockpit.  The man had thought it was a bluff?  Flinching now would make them look weak.  If they actually followed through and treated Meridian to a high-definition view of their people getting incinerated, it could break the attackers’ resolve, even end this fight before it began.

               Further thoughts were interrupted as laser fire stabbed out from the woods to the south, playing over the spaceport buildings.  McCloud was making her presence known, which meant Caradin was out of time to argue with her people.

               “Fine, new orders.  Vulcan, go to the south flank, new target is located here,” Caradin said, sending the pilot McCloud’s coordinates.  “Flush it out, I’ll clean up.  Javelin, head to the north flank, support Scorpion Group.”

               This time the ‘Mechs moved out immediately.  She sent a brief message to the guards to keep the prisoners in place.  She could always clean them up later herself if she had to. 

               A map of the surrounding area lit up on one of her displays as Fleetfoot coordinated the sensor data from the Circinan units.  She clenched her jaw at the sight of Meridian’s forces: a scattering of tanks and at least a lance of Arbiters, likely everything they had been reserving to use on the pirates.  They were keeping their distance, using the trees and hills for cover while Caradin’s own forces were exposed on the spaceport tarmac.  Katamari and the Valkyrie were providing covering fire with LRMs, but Meridian was undeterred, firing their obsolete weapons into the tanks ahead of them.  One Scorpion was already down, and others were taking heavy fire.  Meanwhile behind her, the Blossom was taking wild shots at anything in range, carving chunks out of buildings and the tarmac with its lasers.  The Vulcan was opening fire with its autocannon, but just like Meridian, the Blossom was staying out of sight, hiding in the trees.

               “Ground Actual, this is Deadfall.  What’s going on down there?”

               Caradin winced at the message.  “We’ve got a last gasp of resistance,” she answered.  “I’m locking it down now.”

               “Is the LZ not secure?!” the voice demanded.  “We’re going to do one orbit to get lined up for final approach.  You better have that place calmed down!”

               “It’s calming,” Caradin said icily, and killed the connection.

               That was the last thing she needed, some cowardly DropShip captain deciding he didn’t want to risk a landing.  She thought grudgingly that that was probably Meridian’s whole plan.

               Not bad.  But still not good enough, she thought at Meridian, as a pair of icons for the Samurai aerospace fighters appeared on her screen.  With a few taps she marked Merdian’s front line, feeding the location to the fighters. 

               The strike came quickly, the fighters diving down to buzz the lines.  The lead Samurai blasted white-hot plasma fire, followed up by lasers from the second one.  Caradin didn’t see any direct hits, but the attack still had its intended effect: In moments Meridian’s advance was blunted, their forces recoiling from the fire falling from the sky.

               “Striker group, come around and hit them again,” Caradin ordered.  “Let’s make your captain nice and comfortable.”

               “Roger that,” Striker One’s pilot answered, and the jets banked, fading away to small shapes in the distance as they came around.  They seemed to be flying slow, and Caradin could guess why: Striker Two still looked very roughed up.  Its fuselage wasn’t straight and its wings seemed shorter, likely a result of the hasty repairs.  Still, it was in the air, which was all she needed right now.  The mere appearance of the fighters had made Meridian’s people stop their attack for a moment.

               The Javelin was moving in, trying to close to point-blank range and follow up on the distraction from the airstrike.  It fired a spread of missiles that disabled a Meridian tank, then stomped the tank flat for good measure, letting them see what a real BattleMech could do.

               Suddenly an Arbiter burst out of the smoke from the plasma fire, charging the Javelin.  As the Circinan tried to line up another blast of SRMs the Arbiter fired its arm cannon, hitting the Javelin and throwing off its aim.  The bulky SecurityMech closed in, dodging the errant cloud of missiles and punching at the Javelin with its heavy fist.  It quickly became a brawl, with the two ‘Mechs trading punches.  The Javelin was more nimble but its pilot seemed to have forgotten that, staying at point-blank range to try – and fail – to get a load of missiles into his attacker.  Meanwhile the Arbiter was five tons heavier and apparently piloted by a madman, swinging its fist and its cannon arm like clubs, keeping the Javelin on its heels. 

               Caradin groaned.  “Javelin, fall back!  That thing can’t keep up with you!”

               “Get off my back!  I got this!”  the Javelin pilot retorted.  He blocked one swing and wrestled with his opponent, trying to keep a grip on the Arbiter’s gun.  As he fought for control the gun ended up aimed into the Javelin’s shoulder.  In a precise move the Arbiter pilot pulled back, aiming its gun up slightly and firing.

               If the Javelin had had ears, its right one would have been shot off by the heavy shell.  A chunk of the ‘Mech’s head was ripped free, leaving cables and myomers dangling out of a gaping hole.  The Javelin staggered backwards, its commline going silent.  Either the Javelin pilot was dead or his comm gear was offline, either way he was out of commission. 

               Caradin started forward.  She could see the rest of Meridian’s group getting ready to push at their pilot’s display of luck, and that was unacceptable.

               She targeted the Arbiter as it turned to face her.  It tried to dodge her attacks, but it was just wasted effort.  Her new targeting computer meshed beautifully with her Beagle Active Probe, accessing accumulated combat data and compensating for her opponent’s evasive maneuvers.  It was like Fleetfoot knew what its targets were going to do in advance.

               Her lasers flashed, biting into the Arbiter’s armor.  The ‘Mech tried to fire but Caradin saw the move coming and sidestepped, letting the shell zip past her before moving in and firing again,.  The Arbiter pilot took a step back at her assault, looking like he was considering retreat for a moment before he turned and fired another round into the staggered Javelin, a move mirrored by a couple Meridian Scorpions.  The ‘Mech crumpled under the assault; if it hadn’t been disabled before, it definitely was now. 

               Caradin shook her head in disappointment and fired her lasers into the Arbiter, practically cutting it in half.  The brilliant green beams bit deep into it, starting a fire in its internals.  The ‘Mech doubled over as flames burst out of its chest, consuming it. 

               Her target down, Caradin slowly walked backwards towards her original command position on the tarmac, keeping her crosshairs on the Arbiter and watching for signs of life.  None came, as the ‘Mech stayed motionless and burning.  Then the Strikers came in again, blasting the ground with another blistering fusillade of lasers and plasma.  Caradin glanced at her displays to see Meridian’s people falling back, both at the assault and the sight of their lead ‘Mech being taken out so quickly.  In the chaos the Arbiter’s pilot finally ejected, blasting out and disappearing into the smoke of the airstrike.  Caradin narrowed her eyes in consternation; it might have broken Meridian’s morale completely if they had seen her pluck their man out of the sky, but apparently even her new targeting computer couldn’t compensate for roiling clouds of thick smoke. 

               She looked away from the screen as she saw an alert on her sensors.  The Vulcan pilot was putting out a distress signal.  She checked her compressed display, seeing the ‘Mech was staggering away from the woods.  A red laser beam stabbed out at it, biting into its shoulder.  Armor and structure failed and the arm fell off, crashing heavily to the ground as the ‘Mech recoiled from the strike.

               With the touch of a button she pulled up the combat data she had recorded in the Beagle Active Probe.  Half a dozen translucent icons extended out from the Blossom’s location, tracing out McCloud’s predicted movements.  A few of them arced upwards, predicting a strafing run or a rapid relocation.  Let’s make sure your wings are clipped, then.  She isolated the most likely movement path and sent it to the aerospace fighters.

               “Striker Group, come around.  New target,” Caradin ordered, sending them McCloud’s coordinates. 

               “Vulcan, hold position.  Keep target pinned down until Striker Group arrives.”

               “Are you crazy?” the pilot’s voice snapped at her.  “This lunatic’s cutting me apart!”

               “You’re staying there if you want to be getting off this planet,” Caradin said icily.  “Katamari, move to support Vulcan.  Valkyrie, Scorpion, Vedette groups, fall back to Defense Position Two.  We’ll regroup there and hold our ground.”  Punctuating this, she turned Fleetfoot around, heading towards a set of warehouses that she’d chosen as a fallback position, near the main landing pad.

               There was some protest from the tankers, which she silenced with a few sharp words.  Normally she relied on Thomas to take care of complaints like that, now she was left having to shout down the cowards herself.  Hoshino at least knew his place, barely hesitating before turning away from the front line to head towards McCloud’s position. 

               Despite all the speed bumps, Caradin knew she was just tying things up at this point.  She could tell a distraction when she saw one, and that was exactly what McCloud sniping from the treeline had been.  She hadn’t been able to ignore the girl completely, not with the DropShip coming in.  But with Meridian pulling back to regroup, Caradin could afford to mop up that little distraction.  Who knew, maybe the sight of the Blossom going up in flames would break their spirit.

               She grit her teeth as she saw another incoming message from orbit, Deadfall confirming they were about to start their final approach.  She tersely confirmed the LZ would be clear by the time they landed. 

               As she terminated the connection to the DropShip the Striker Group was coming in, closing in on the Blossom at high speed.  There was a flash and a plume of blue fire from the nose of one as it fired its Plasma Rifle, painting the area with intense flames.  The second Samurai followed up with a blast of lasers from its wings, stabbing into the flames searching for the enemy ‘Mech.  Katamari joined in as well, sending LRMs arcing into the woods. 

               For a moment Caradin dared to hope the strike had been enough.  Then she saw the flash of jets and caught a brief glimpse of sunlight off of armor as the Blossom fell back from the spaceport.  The ‘Mech followed a different path than any of the Probe’s predictions, but a retreat in the face of enemy fire still looked on-brand for McCloud.  In the split-second glimpse of the Blossom Caradin thought she saw the ‘Mech’s shoulder panels separating and spreading open.  Doing your trick, McCloud?  she thought.

               She waited.  First five seconds, then ten, then fifteen, keeping her eyes up to watch for the LAM to try taking off.  As the seconds ticked by and no flying ‘Mech appeared, Caradin began to wonder what she was missing.  Just how clever was McCloud?  And on that point, how well equipped was Meridian?  Caradin had been assuming they were hitting with everything they had.  It was the only smart move, after all.  But what if this was another distraction?  If they had something set up, and attacked from another angle while she was looking at the trees, it would be chaos.  They wouldn’t even have to win, just cause enough noise that Deadfall got second thoughts about touching down at all.

               She checked her displays, seeing Katamari had just about closed in on the burning treeline.  The Vulcan, battered and half-melted, was limping away.  Meanwhile the tanks were regrouping, preparing for Meridian’s next push, if it ever came.  She was in a good position, she didn’t need to waste time playing whatever game McCloud was trying.

               “Striker Group, head to orbit.  You are to escort Deadfall down,” she ordered.  “If you see anything airborne that isn’t a DropShip, bring it down.  Katamari, move in on Blossom’s position.  Flush it out and kill it.”

               Above her head, the Samurai fighters arced upwards, their powerful fusion engines flaring as they rocketed up into the stratosphere.  At the edge of the spaceport, the Katamari stayed motionless.  “Lieutenant, can we not contact McCloud-san to negotiate a surrender?”

               “She’s killed one of us and Dispossessed another one.  And she betrayed my trust,” Caradin answered, her voice hard.  “I tried negotiating a surrender with her before she tore out of here.  You of all people should agree she’s forfeited any chance for peace.  Are you going to forgive her for what she did to Thomas?”  She gave that a heartbeat to sink in before adding on “It was pretty suspicious how easily she got past you, you know.”

               She could sense Hoshino stiffen on the other end of the commline, before Katamari turned and headed into the woods.  So easy.  Hoshino and Wolfgang were two of a kind: simple minds looking for someone to tell them what to do.

               A few minutes passed as Hoshino closed in on the last location of the Blossom.  Caradin swept the skies, looking for any sign of intruders.  With the smoke of burning trees from the airstrikes, the LAM might have taken off without anyone spotting it.  She couldn’t afford to get sloppy now.

               Her commline lit up with a report from the Striker group.  Her brow furrowing, she connected to the fighters.  “Striker Group, do you have anything on sensors?”

               “Negative on sensors, but Striker Two’s reporting structural failure.  Repairs aren’t holding up.  Needs to make an emergency landing real quick.”

               She checked her sensors to see the Katamari was almost upon the Blossom’s last location.  She still hadn’t heard anything from Hoshino, but as he synchronized his sensors with her she could see the LAM’s icon glowing boldly on her display.  McCloud might be ground-bound now, but she could go airborne at any moment.

               “Denied, Striker Group,” Caradin answered.  “Hostiles are still in the area.  You are to escort Deadfall to the ground.  Striker Two is to do whatever it takes to stay airborne.”

               “Lieutenant, all due respect, Striker Two either docks now or lands the hard way.  She needs to land on Deadfall.  I will continue escort operations.”

               Caradin ground her teeth.  One’s better than nothing, she thought.  “Fine.  Approved,” she bit out, before sending a quick message to Deadfall to delay landing long enough to admit Striker Two.  The aerospace group quickly negotiated landing orders, confirming the crippled fighter would need a crash team, something about failure in the front landing gear. 

               Caradin cut the channel, uninterested in the details.  She burned with frustration inside; Striker Two was just the latest asset McCloud had cost her.  Another embarrassment to her reputation, all from some damn rookie who barely even knew how to pilot a ‘Mech.

               She made it to her line of warehouses and quickly snapped off orders to the remaining units, getting the Valkyrie to a covered position while the tanks took up firing positions just outside of the warehouses.  The crews were all complaining of damage and the Valkyrie pilot was warning her he was almost out of ammo, but she silenced them all.  They only had to hold their ground a few more minutes, and their troubles would be over.  She didn’t care what Meridian might be hiding; once Deadfall was on the ground, nothing they had would even be able to get close.

               Minutes passed and she began to get sensor pings of units from the front line, hinting Meridian was getting ready for another push.  She checked with her people to confirm they were in position, and checked on the DropShip to confirm it was entering the atmosphere.  Finally she contacted Hoshino for a status report.

 

 

               “I am looking, but my sensors are having trouble,” came Hoshino’s frustrated answer.

               “I thought you fixed it,” Caradin said icily.  She tuned out his flustered apology; it was just the latest of hundreds she’d had to endure from the man.  Hoshino’s literal Hunk of Junk was the most unreliable machine she had ever seen.  It seemed like every time the reactor turned on something else was broken.

               “It was working this morning.  But the Blossom’s IFF signal is scrambled, and the smoke is not helping.  I am getting sensor ghosts,” Hoshino was saying.

               “You’re getting scrambled by your own damn ECM.  Get in there and find her,” Caradin growled.  “Eyeball it if you have to.  The DropShip will be here any minute now.  McCloud’s the only one left who can put any pressure on them.  Do not let that bitch drive off our ride out of here.”

               He muttered an acknowledgement and moved deeper into the woods which were still smoldering from the airstrike.  Caradin considered going after him; Fleetfoot’s electronics suite could clear things up for Katamari’s handicapped sensors very quickly.  But she knew she couldn’t afford to leave her location, not with another attack potentially coming.

               A large laser flashed into the sky as Hoshino finally got close enough to make McCloud nervous.  Hoshino responded quickly with a flight of LRMs.  Caradin watched the engagement on her sensors.  It was short but brutal as lasers and missiles traded back and forth.  Zooming in her view on the woods, she saw the flashes of hits.  There was a thump of a heavy impact, felt even at this distance, as the target overbalanced and fell over.

               “Hit it again, Katamari,” Caradin ordered.  “She doesn’t get back up, understand?”

               Hoshino hesitated a good five seconds before launching more LRMs, their explosions visible as they pounded their already-prone target.  The Blossom’s icon on Caradin’s screen stayed motionless.  Hoshino moved in closer, charging his lasers for a finishing blow.  Before he was in view of the Blossom, he stopped.

               “Lieutenant…” Hoshino mumbled.

               He re-synched his sensors with her.  Caradin looked at her display to see the Blossom’s icon was fading out, replaced by another one.  As Hoshino resumed his approach, she saw the PHX-HK2 Phoenix Hawk designation replaced by a new one: Chameleon.

               “Video feed.  Now,” she ordered.  Hoshino dutifully connected her to the Katamari’s view.  She saw the Chameleon splayed out on the ground.  Its torso and shoulders had been carrying extra panels to enhance its resemblance to a Phoenix Hawk, though most of the panels were now lying in pieces around its body.

               Glaring at the image on her screen, Caradin thumbed the commline.  “Katamari, hold fire a moment,” she ordered before re-opening the direct line to McCloud.

               “Let me guess, you couldn’t fix your toy after that cowboy escape,” she said.  “I’ll make sure to let Wolf know you broke your ‘Mech trashing his.”

               “Aye, the lassie did a bonnie good job on her machine.”

               Caradin’s eyes widened at the voice coming over the commline.  “Bower?  What are you doing here?”

               “Wha’ I do best.  Puttin’ on a bonnie show.”  He laughed maddeningly.  “If you’re looking for the gel, she’s been bouncing her communications off o’me.  She could nae be here in person, ye understand.”

               She took a breath to order Hoshino to open fire and put the man down for good, but she paused, thinking.  Her earlier gut feeling about this whole situation was getting stronger by the second.  McCloud had bashed up her ‘Mech pretty well, so it made sense that she would try to deploy something in better shape.  But if she had used Bower as a distraction, then maybe her ‘Mech was functional, getting ready for another strike.  Right now, with the defenders still recovering and Katamari split off, would be a perfect time to attack.

               She had just switched the commline channel to the Circinans when another thought entered her mind.  It all came together so suddenly that she stopped breathing.  She immediately changed the commline channel.

               “Deadfall!  Abort docking with the fighters!  Repeat, abort docking!  DO NOT LET THAT FIGHTER ON!”

                                                                           *             *             *

               Kilometers up, Deadfall’s armored bay doors closed behind the aerospace fighter with a thump that reverberated through the bay, followed by the hiss of pressurization.  Marie touched her commline.

               “I’m in.”

 

*End Chapter 22*

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Battletech and Mechwarrior are the property of Catalyst Game Labs.

 

Rachel McCloud, the Bristol, Marie Rose (Sr.) and the Black Thorns are creations of James Long, who among other things wrote Main Event and DRT for the Battletech universe.

 

Image of the Pirate Vulcan comes from fed0t: https://twitter.com/fed0t1

 

Image of the Garakuta no Katamari comes from Manifestopheles: https://twitter.com/Manifestopheles

 

A gallery of images from this story is compiled on my Ko-Fi page.  Donations are not required, but they are appreciated, and help me pay the artists to make more images for this story.  (Thanks Eadbald, Ageless Games, Umbrawar, and Gladius!)

 

Follow me @lucendacier on X for story updates and the occasional BattleTech meme.

 

Audio version of this story is available at https://lucendacier.podbean.com/ , and on Apple podcasts.

 

Audio with images is available on Youtube, which also includes music I found out on the wilds of the Internet.