HidHop-22

== Book 2, Chapter 22 - Fire from the Sky==
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
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===A Painfule Field Trip===
Atocongo System, Lyran Commonwealth03/22/3052
Phelen Kell’s Phoenix Hawk easily paced Kai Allard’s Thunderbolt as they passed over the windblown snow dunes of the remote northern desert continent of Grunwald. A stream of light towers marked out the path from the Starport to the place where adventuresome academics had transformed an old weather station and COMSTAR maintenance facility into a Clantech exploitation facility. The polar base was far away from civilization, and its airport due to unsteady ground. “Why do we have to walk so far Kai?”
“This is your planet, Phelen, just because you spent so much time off world doesn’t give you an excuse to not know anything about where you are going on your own world. 
Aren’t you Recon and the future Duke?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I know where I am going beforehand. I just wander around looking for trouble or try hiding from it.”
“Did you ever stop to think that might be a problem?”
“I’ve got to much stuff on my mind to stop and think.”
They passed through the gate to the salutes of its parka and balaclava clad guards hiding within a lean-to wind shelter. The only other mech in this facility’s mech bay was a Fighting Intellectuals’ Mongoose which had been carefully restored to its full functionality as if it were right off the line during the Star League era. 
As they disembarked the pair of them walked through the motor pool of tracked rovers meant to maintain the sensitive planetary sensors that provided continuous space awareness and communications pointing toward the Zenith. Most still bore COMSTAR Psi branch’s ice blue logo on their snowy exteriors although the Order’s staff had been redeployed to Odessa.
The facility had four voluminous hanger style bays large enough to assemble, repair, and service the long range sensors, telescopes, and communication systems that dotted the remote northern wilderness of Arc-Royal connecting it to its Zenith Jump Point. Within one of the voluminous bays was a superheavy VTOL, known as a Tonbo, on loan from the Draconis Combine’s Support and Engineering command courtesy of the Fighting Intellectuals along with many ergonomic containers filled with supplies and scientific equipment. This VTOL was as large as the six Uni Loadermechs folded up in two other bays. One of these large quadrupeds belonged to Psi Branch but the others belonged to AMC affiliates for the transport of salvage and heavy scientific equipment on their backs across the narrow road leading to the Starport.
In the final bay however was the actual exploitation facility and its centerpiece was a massive copper cage for the legless robot within. Even though Phelen had transported the strange robot through space to Arc-Royal it still felt like Captain Kubusaka was a sadistic child that ripped the legs off an insect and then put it under a looking glass until it burned to death.
Shinto and his Intellectuals were looking through all manner of components ripped from the other robots they had disabled to understand them better. “How is your prisoner Shinto?”
“Thus far it has not complained Phelen Kell.”
“I suppose not having a mouth to speak with aides it in that capacity.”
“Indeed, however I noticed that it pays particular attention to us when we play music.”
“You play music to it?”
The Kuritan Mercenary Captain wrote something on a note and showed it to him from where the machine couldn’t see. 'Follow me.'
Kai, Phelen, and Shinto walked into another room with large insulating blankets lining the wall leading to the hanger. “It is listening though, and it has been trying to call for help.”
“Of course it is listening, but how do you know it is trying to call for help?”
“We managed to decrypt a short radio wave adjustment on the backchannel telemetry band from our dropship as we left Atocongo. It went unnoticed initially, but something might have been listening, like the Clan Battlegroups or its mothership, the Mekong.”
Kai leaned in on the other Merc, “So you brought it up to a place where half of Arc-Royal’s most sensitive communications are located?”
“They are air-gapped, and we placed it in a faraday cage. No electromagnetic emissions can exit from it, but we still pick them up from within and run them through a closed system trying to figure out what it is capable off. It has successfully hacked my old console a few times.”
“How did it manage to do this?”
“It has some kind of strange machine mind meld going on inside. So, it did that to my computer when it was plugged in, which was also in a faraday cage. I’m probably going to have to microwave and destroy that unit when we are done because I can’t be sure it didn’t leave a worm deep inside.”
Phelen’s face looked puzzled, “Shinto, why do you have a giant faraday cage?”
Captain Kubusaka was unperturbed, “Not only did the scientists bring a giant faraday cage with them, which I presume was for comm diagnostics initially. Unless we all read too much about the old SLDF Caspar system and thought the Clans could reconstitute it, but I made signs.” 
He pointed to the metal printed sign hanging on the door which showed a hazard placard with a warning in binary and English upon it reading ‘Warning! Hostile Artificial Intelligence.’
“This is to dangerous, Captain; you should destroy it.” Kai said with his hand on his pistol.
“And lose this opportunity! We don’t know how many of these units the Clans have in their possession or what its capabilities and weaknesses are. This could be our ENIGMA moment Phelen, we’ll be careful and update you regularly.”
“Lady Kell has insisted we come up here to observe your research teams for a few weeks while the AMC Assault Force is engaged elsewhere. 
I think my mother just wanted me and Kai out of the house, but I endeavor to do what she asks of me. Even if it requires me to be up here in the ice and darkness with a potentially murderous AI. Surely there are no horror stories that start this way.”
“It’s out of ammo and harmless, no need to be dramatic.”
“That remains to be seen, Captain.”
“Phelan can’t help but be dramatic, Captain, surely you know that by now.”
“Ouch, Kai, Harsh words from the man who fought Prince Minoru Kurita in the University of Victoria Arena to defend ‘his family’s honor’ against an insult.”
“This is going to be a long, painful field trip if you keep that up, Lieutenant Kell.”
-----
==Arc-Royal Raid==
03/23/3052 | House Kell, Old Connaught - Arc-Royal, Lyran Commonwealth
Lady Kell aka Salome Ward answered the telephone as the caller ID identified it as Precentor Arc-Royal Anthony Kurns. “Lady Kell, we have an unusual request for a Lagrange point jump. 
The Carrack Armored Freighter CS Temperance wishes to transfer a cargo of Warship parts and Ammunition onboard to the Dragoon Task Force since we lost ships around Eris and no longer have the same fleet strength as before.”
“What makes this request unusual, Anthony?”
“Its origin point, our recent engagements with Clan Battlegroups and the threat they pose have displaced some of our ships into dead systems or interstellar space for protection from raiders. 
My facility doesn’t have an updated list from Naval Command for the ships’ safety. The HPG authentication codes for the Temperance are valid, but Precentor Naval Zwick has not informed us of a transfer with his personal codes. It is possible this is an unauthorized transfer or one that just missed the call from Eris. 
It is your call whether we clear a pirate point jump from a COMSTAR Freighter and determine what we should do when it arrives. 
Shall I send the Temperance’s Captain the latest coordinates?”
Major Salome Ward looked up at the stars, the Dragoons, their Warships, her husband, and a sizable portion of the AMC’s combat potential was out taking advantage of the limited window to disrupt ongoing raids by Clan Mongoose and Nova Fox while the Clan Warship threat was minimized. Meanwhile she was hostess to and co-planner with Hanse Davion and Yorinaga Kurita while being in constant communication with Arcturus, Coventry, and Tharkad. The Dragoon Task Force had taken major but noncritical damage fighting the Nova Fox Battlegroup and there was no such thing as to many supplies. If it were unauthorized, she could always just return them to the CSC when they asked.
“Lagrange Jump Authorized.”“Confirmed, Lady Kell. Is there anything else Blake’s Order can do for you?”“Help us win this War.” Salome Ward hung up the phone and wrapped her robe about her before departing to her chambers.
----
===Slipping into Shadows===
A streamlined Coriolis class Corvette floated in the darkness of interstellar space, multiple antennae bristled from its white hull and ‘SLS Venturi’ was marked in bold blocky letters along its flanks. Inside the red lit CIC, Cell Commander Shigeru (Kajita) of the Watch waited while the HPG output printed. He gripped the printout with his main hand which bore an octopus ring. ‘Captain Ingram, the CS Temperance is cleared to initiate an L-1 Point Jump to Arc-Royal, the following coordinates are valid for the next 14 hours.’
His First Officer looked over to him, “I cannot believe that worked Commander.”
“Nothing ventured nothing gained, Thalia. 
At the worst we would need more time to infiltrate. 
While the Dragoons are away, the Watch can take advantage of this opportunity to recover our stolen property before the Inner Sphere or ilKhan know how valuable it truly is.”
He tapped the intercom button, “All hands, this Commander Kajita, begin jump preparations…and deception protocol.”
----
===Urgent Wakeup Call===
03/24/3052 - Local Time: 07:28
Caitlin Kell stretched in the early morning hours at LCAF Airbase Northridge, home of Crashtest Fighter School™, owned and operated by the AMC and to which she was enrolled. She ran along the runway in her tan flight-suit as Lightning Fighters lifted off to escort shuttles and dropships inbound from the Carrack CS Temperance overhead before throwing her fist in the air with a jump and whooping shout. “Go get ‘em Eights!” 
Once back on the ground she jogged over to the Crashtest’s runway where her Bullfrog V/STOL Trainer was prepped and ready along with the rest of the cadet squadron. This morning’s mission was shooting down drone targets with live weapons over Knucklehead Training Grounds. The lower powered fighter serving as an important next step to earning her Aerospace Fighter Wings after the regular jet trainer but before she got an actual spaceship. 
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===All fighters SCRAMBLE!===
Above her Hank ‘Eights’ McQuinn and his Lightning fighter lifted above the clouds and into space switching his vibrantly painted fighter to orbital operations as he approached the white painted Carrack ‘hovering’ in low orbit above Old Connaught. “Captain Ingram of the CS Temperance this is Colonel McQuinn of the Arc-Royal Huscarl Aerospace Squadron. We will provide an escort for your dropships and shuttles to AMC naval depot, Crackerjack.”
A man’s voice came over the radio, <<“That will not be necessary, Colonel. We have our own Aerospace Fighters, and do not require an escort. There is no threat to us below.”>>
COMSTAR CSC and their elite attitude, “It is protocol for incoming dropships to accept an escort from planetary defense forces. The Blessed Order is no different.” 
Two RADAR contacts emerged from the sensor shadow of the Warship. One was Jumbo sized, and the other was slightly larger but had the same sensor profile as a Gazelle. Ten Shuttles, Ares Landing Craft, and twenty Aerospace Fighters, Tomahawks, were launched from its doors as they approached visual range. Hank zoomed in on the hull markings which disagreed with its electronic signature, ‘SLS Venturi, C/FS-IX.’ What put chills in his blood was the crimson Clan Daggerstar that took up much of its prow instead of the Sword of Light.
“Clan Warship
Evasive! 
Break! 
Break!!”
The Fighters dove to put atmosphere between them, the hostile Warship, and its escorts but they were close behind as they spiraled away luring them to Knucklehead away from Old Connaught. Beneath them air raid warnings sounded throughout Old Connaught for the first time in decades alerting Anti-Air Forces and calling all reserve formations to arms.
Caitlin had just gotten into her cockpit and was running through her pre-flight checks as LCAF and AMC soldiers rushed to their positions. Her comm-net was immediately flooded with alerts, she squelched them and switched to the internal network, “Squadron Leader, what is going on?!”
“Beats me cadets, but it’s a good thing you are already in your cockpit with live ordnance on your wings. 
Helmets and Engines on, 
Canopies down, 
Fighters up
This is the real deal. 
You’ll earn your wings today.” 
They taxied away as the turbine engines whined as ground crews rushed to pull out more fighters to prepare the on-call pilots for launch while the alert pilots scrambled their planes. 
“All cadets on me.”
Cadet Squadron Six callsign lined up in the elephant walk with the rest of the alert fighters launching into uncertain skies.
----
Salome Ward woke when the Huscarls crashed through her door, “Lady Kell, there is a Clan Corvette over Old Connaught. We need to get you to safety.”
“What’s Hanse Davion doing?”
They paused, “Preparing his Battlemaster.”
“Yorinaga?”
“His Warhammer.”
“Cassandra?”
“Her Hunchback.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“Unknown, ma’am.”
“Find her. In the meantime, my guests sound like they need a lancemate, and I don’t need to be protected.” 
She looked out and up as the Huscarl mechs deployed around the Ducal Palace and rolled out throughout Old Connaught. It had been a while since she had worn a neurohelmet in battle but what auspicious company to keep and it was already in her hands as she was jogging out the door. “I am going with them.”
----
===Slipping amoungst the Chaos===
A Cluster of Watch Goshawk and Sidewinders dropped from an Overlord-C hovering over Denton, 40km away from Old Connaught. Thruster exhaust set the peat moor ablaze and threw up huge gouts of steam as it lifted off to return to the relative safety of Venturi’s guns. Their Ares Landing Craft deployed a mixed Drone Star of eight Myrmidon tanks and two Marker VTOLs onto a nearby highway. Cell Commander Kajita flipped his visor down concealing the EI tattoos that marked arcane patterns under his skin. He rolled his neck as his Watch Operatives and their drones followed him, “Venturi, we are on the ground and confirm drone uplink. Send the Markers to find missile targets of opportunity and alert us of force concentrations from above.All Section Leaders fan out and find our robot.”
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===Preparing for Assault===
07:15
Lachan Lake lapped against the quay as a pair of urban camouflage wearing House Kell Huscarl Marines sat within a guard house protecting Patrick Kell’s Yacht and the superheavy ‘pocket battleship’ ARS Lachan, built as a prestige project for some Lyran nobleman, was moored. Patrick’s boat was an extravagant but very small version of his older brother’s that he was using on Tharkad, as Liaison of the AMC. Other boats lined the quays, Tugs, barges, Mercenary Gun and Missile ships flying the flags of various specialty contractors swayed with the waves. 
Nearby was a helicopter base where white and orange S&R and Attack Helos waited for a call. Fred T Perry Naval Base was quiet, eerily so considering how much activity it had seen over the past months now that much of the AMC was deployed. Still many Spheroid Dropships towered into the sky while aerodyne ones were tucked into fortified hangers awaiting their next assignments.
‘Baughan. B.’ drank his coffee from the cheap cardboard cups found in the commissary, “Corporal, I heard COMSTAR was gifting the Dragoons some Warship stuff.” 
‘Owen. M.’ crushed his own cup and tossed it in the trash, “Aye Gunny, the so called pacifists of the Blessed Order just so happen to pull a massive battlefleet and giant army out the’r butts. One that just so happens to be capable of taking on the Clans. Oh! and its led by a disgraced Marik. 
No one asks the obvious questions.”
“There will be time for that later I suppose.” Gunny Baughan looked through his rangefinder binoculars toward the sky, “So that is apparently one of COMSTAR’s up there. Just looks like a big white spot to me. Still to close.” 
Their phone rang just as Air Raid sirens blared out their wailing cry. They put it on speaker, a pre-recorded message from the base commander played, “All units disperse! 
Hostile Warship and Fighters overhead. 
Prepare for ground and air assault!”
Before them the barracks and exercise yards emptied of personnel rushing to their vehicles carrying only their most essential gear. Helicopter blades began turning and turbines powered up to send the ships out to more open water. The Marines looked behind them at the moored ships, “Patrick’s plaything? Or the Big Girl?”
Blake downed his coffee and trashed it as well, “Easy choice, you know I like them thick and loud rather than svelte and showy. 
Time to put that Gunnery Sergeant training to use. 
Be a tragedy to lose this beautiful ship at anchor. Let's make the Clans fire at a moving target.
They brought a Warship; we’ve got one too.” 
The Gunnery Sergeant opened a drawer in their guard shack, donned an LCN Rear Admiral’s Cap, and fiddled with a pipe hidden within. “We’ll need a big crew to run her six guns and I don’t think we’ll have a shortage of volunteers willing to fight the enemy from behind this armor belt. I’ll start warming ‘er up.”
He faced the younger soldier, “Corporal Owen, call the Lamplight Lads over.”
Mark saluted his superior with the naval salute rather than the ground one, “Aye, Aye Skipper.”
----
===The Unstoppable Marines===
Above Lake Lachan, Caitlin Kell’s heart pounded hard in her chest as she realized her situation as the initial adrenaline drained but the next one had yet to arrive. She took control of her breathing after realizing she was out of sync and losing control. Her helmet showed multiple reticles where the first group of Aerospace fighters were engaging Eights and his squadron at high altitude over Knucklehead and away from town. 
There were reports of Battlemech and Tank engagements with the Huscarls and smaller AMC affiliates still on world. Their principal target seemed to be the fortified HPG Compound in Denton, as its enlarged garrison put up a stiff resistance to control access to their associated research centers. The enemy was looking for something. But what, and why?
Another Binary of Fighters were detected as the ground based search RADARs fought for control of the spectrum after SLS Venturi showed it true colors and unleashed a torrent of electronic warfare degrading the whole region’s sensor and comm links. It was over the naval base and it’s second flight of fighters was vectoring toward it as well. The dropships!
A large RADAR contact appeared in the middle of a small flotilla of gunboats with the designation ARS Lachan fighting through the noise. That ‘battleship’ that her father had won in poker game on Blue Hole? 
“What the heck are those Marines thinking?”
What was she thinking? This was a terrible idea, but it was her hometown so these clanners can go frak themselves. The Squadron leader saw the signal through the noise and ordered them down, within the defensive envelope of Air-Defense Arrows, smaller missiles, and Flak shells from autocannons and naval artillery. Missiles were already streaking upward from missile boats and ground launchers toward a spiraling column of Tomahawks.
Squadron Six traded altitude for speed skimming the choppy waters of the lake to obscure their approach as more capable fighters and pilots fought on the ceiling. Lachan Marine Helicopters were already orbiting prepared to scoop up any pilots that ended up ‘in the drink.’ Their more warlike cousins sliced along the waves heavily laden with rocket pods vectoring to intercept enemy ground forces and give heavier units time to deploy.
ARS Lachan flew a Pirate flag from its main staff beside the Arc-Royal Ensign, “God bless those damned Marines”.
The skies opened with a momentary heat bloom that killed clouds it passed through. The incredible spike in temperature from above resulted in a cored Overlord which was now blazing on the ferrocrete. Orbital firepower sliced deep into two Arrow IV GBAD installations detonating their magazines. 
Huge missiles crashed into the lake around them creating a wave large enough that the fighters had to pull up or be whelmed by it. Beside her some of the smaller boats were swamped and capsized by the impact. Above them the noise and turbulence created were incredible as it passed over the lake.
“What the hell was that, Squad Leader?”
“My guess is the Venturi got impatient. We are going to lose GBADs fast at this rate.”
“How are we going to fight that?”
“That is not your concern. We’ve got incoming bombers, focus on them and staying alive. 
The Marines are setting up a FAP for us at the heli-base. 
They’ve got plenty of missiles and fuel so feel free to use both.
Now pop up on three, double up and fire at those Tomahawks. If you get in trouble hit the deck and fly toward the Lachan. That ought to force them to disengage.”
Behind them the six navalized Sniper pieces sent up thick clouds of smoke in front of them and bursting Flak shells covering the complete naval base where they could disrupt enemy formations. The armored battleship was struck by the Venturi's laser bays and a supersonic White Shark penetrator. A jagged red streak showed where the lasers burned deep into but not through the plate. The missile's impact sent it reeling backward before returning to trim. In reply it sent a Squadron of Tomahawks up and out of range of its flotilla’s guns.
 
“Launch, break contact, vector to the FAP, top off, rearm with a new missile, then repeat until your plane gives out. Understood?”
“Roger.”
Caitlin picked out a Tomahawk on approach, the first Flight had dropped Thermobarics on several dropships damaged their legs and careening them over and into the ferrocrete to cause even more damage. She endeavored to prevent the next Flight from succeeding. Mary and she flew over soldiers and crews scattering or trying to set up different MANPADS from across the Inner Sphere in sandbagged positions. 
They popped up and had an excellent crossing shot. “Fox Three.” Two Anti-Air Arrows streaked off the center rail, one went wide but the other impacted the Tomahawk. Its defensive actions sent their bombs flying wildly off target before they detonated in a powerful fireball. It trailed smoke from a damaged engine as it punched its way back up to its carrier like a rocket.
Unburdened she landed at the heli-pad as ordered to see Marine Ordnance handlers with a large cart load of missiles and a smaller tank of fuel. They immediately set to work and gave her the thumbs up after they finished securing the heavy missile below her.
“Talk about fast service. Grab and go in five minutes. I’ll have to come here for lunch one day.”
She checked her wing-woman, gave her the thumbs up, followed by the ‘lift off’ hand gesture. The Imstar-B turbine beneath her whirred to life as the Bullfrog lived up to its name, jumping awkwardly in the sky in search of flying pests.
----
===Difficulties on the Ground===
08:30
The town of Denton was filled with the sounds of combat as the Watch engaged white and blue COMGuard Portee Field Guns and heavy machine gun armed Technicals. Cell Commander Shigeru Kajita took a parting shot with his ER PPC at the Lachan Marine Warrior VTOL as his unit kept the COMGuards away from the infiltration team presently slicing into the Order’s intranet to find their missing SXR. His Sidewinder had already seen heavy combat and there were numerous ejected heads transferred to their landing zone with the Overlord-C inbound. 
His shot went wide as it continued to engage his unit with its long range chain gun. “Where is our top cover!”
“The Tomahawks have been forced to return to the Venturi after taking battleship fire and vigorous resistance from Marine aviation.”
“A battleship in Old Connaught? 
The ocean is hundreds of kilometers away. 
How could we miss that from orbit.”
“A very small battleship is the only way to describe it, Sir. It is a leading a surface action group with impressive SAM armament.”
A Technical appeared and quickly reversed before his ATMs could obliterate it, instead the explosions set more fires that joined the others damaging COMSTAR’s compound. “Did you shoot at it?”
“Ten times with the lasers, it still did not sink.”
“Continue engaging other softer targets of opportunity, cause as much damage as possible before they can chase us away.”
“Aye, Sir.”
Shigeru was already racing against time, their element of surprise was ruined, and they had no reinforcements inbound. Losing air cover was a major setback as the enemy continued to mass against him and their ammunition dwindled. His infiltration team returned, slinging their Mauser IIC lasers over their back, and clambering up the Omnimech, “There is no sign that COMSTAR has our SXR Cell Commander. We have compiled a list of alternate sites but all of them are listed as abandoned by the order.”
“Can we cross-reference them with the Venturi and our probes.”
Shigeru saw a progress bar as his Sidewinder uplinked with the Venturi and its NCSS, “Uploading them now. The Venturi can sort it out before we reach the dropship.” 
“They had better hurry; we need to find and destroy it before it can be examined in detail and its vulnerabilities discovered. 
Until we confirm its destruction, we cannot leave this system.” 
“All ground units fall back to the dust-off point. 
Do not allow them to surround and overwhelm us.”
----
===Inbound Raiders===
Cassandra Allard(-Liao) couldn’t believe that she was fighting alongside Lady Kell, Yorinaga-san, and Hanse Davion. She felt inadequate but eager to prove that she and her Hunchback ‘Boxcars’ were worthy of being here, right now among such notables. Their lance and a company of AMC Mechs crested the hill separating Denton from Old Connaught. From their vantage point they could see the HPG transmission tower which had been bombarded by the Venturi’s missiles. Smoke rose from throughout the city as multiple fires spread throughout its many universities and corporate research labs. 
The highway they had strode beside was crowded with cars, some abandoned on the median as their drivers took shelter in culverts and glades. All were honking as combat had occurred during midweek rush hour and no one was happy, but each gave out a slight cheer as the Battlemechs passed by.
“Have you ever used your mech in an actual fight Cassandra?” Hanse Davion said as his Battlemaster ‘The Black Prince’ walked beside her smaller Hunchback which carrying a double five missile launcher so she could be useful outside of her SRM range.
“No, Mister Davion,” It was so hard to not call him ‘Prince’ or Colonel or any of the other ranks he had retired from before becoming a private citizen and rancher on New Avalon. How did he have such humility to step down from such a high position?
“Well, when I fought at the Battle of Cylene with the Fourth Deneb during my training deployment in oh one. I was scared too; however, I was also waist deep in the lake with this Battlemaster after skinny dipping with a local blonde so there was no escaping. 
I just kept trying to fight and eventually just confused the hell out of the Kuritan forces and booked it out of there, left my cooling vest and pants behind.”
Yorinaga’s Warhammer twisted over to the Battlemaster, “Hanse, you fought and routed the Ninth Dieron Regulars on Cylene at eighteen, nude?”
“I had my neurohelmet on Yori. 
Isn’t it still true that the DCMS makes their female MechWarriors fight topless for lack of proper fitting cooling vests, Yorinaga?”
The Warhammer twisted back and continued its route silently.
She suddenly felt very conscious of her chest and there was not much beneath her Canopian cooling vest. It also made her feel strange about Lady Kell and her own mother, the late MechWarrior, to just be so exposed in a Battlemech seemed absurd. “I thought that was an urban legend.”
“Well, you have never seen them eject on a battlefield, young lady. 
I started carrying an extra coat in my cockpit because I am a gentleman.”
Major Salome Ward was in command and on point in her Wolverine, “Cut the unnecessary chatter Hanse, I am getting reports that the enemy is withdrawing, and I think I know where they are headed.”
“Lead the way then Sally.”
Cassandra was once more terribly confused by such inappropriate address of her ‘hostess,’ for lack of a better word, by the former First Prince. No one dared call Lady Kell ‘Sally’ or had for probably decades, certainly at long as she had been married to Duke Morgan. Even her brother-in-law Patrick ‘Playboy’ Kell used her formal address, and he was famous for being flippant, calling Archon Steiner “buttercup” to her face on multiple occasions, as if she was a girl. 
Lady Kell said nothing in reply, she was focused on the mission and raced forward forcing the others in their slower machines to run to keep pace with her as they cut through mountains, moors, and glades. During their cross-country trek Cassandra was focused on threats and hazards but also filled with thoughts.
Only one person in the Inner Sphere had ever stuck consequences to Patrick Kell, taking from him an arm but giving him a son. Yorinaga Kurita was walking beside them right now, stoic, solid in his Warhammer, its PPC barrels never wavered despite the difficult terrain they traversed. She had never seen a pilot so in tune with his machine. 
To think that this same man had killed Hanse Davion’s brother, and the present First Prince’s uncle and namesake Ian, in a duel, and was now treated as a family friend of the Kells in his retirement from the DCMS. His son Akira Brahe led Kell Hound’s Second Regiment, earning the command of a unit his father had trained an entire army of DCMS MechWarriors to defeat. 
More AMC and Kell Huscarl forces arrived by the minutes. It was only a matter of time until the assault craft undergoing repair in ‘Wolf City’ were in the air and on station to chase away or disable the Venturi above. 
Most of the other damage was in Denton around the COMSTAR compound which was curious as the enemies didn’t act anything like Diana had told them regular Clan forces behaved. Were they a new threat? or one that Diana had concealed from them? That Warrior was a strange one, but she had been forthright and honorable in all her dealings thus far. 
One of the strange helicopters of the invaders flew above the terrain. She zoomed in on it to see a large cylindrical object carried centerline beneath it. They were gathering in an old meteor crater on the other side of the mountains that shielded COMSTAR’s transmission equipment from Old Connaught and particularly the naval base’s radio transmission (and intercept) gear. “What is that?”
There were more of them too in the crater bottom and above them their mech’s sensors confirmed that an Overlord-C was approaching. The sounds of battle came from a nearby mountain pass, the broken terrain made pursuit difficult but the enemy mechs were equipped with jump jets. They looked almost ‘beautiful’ like acrobats on wires as they bounded back across the ridges to this assembly area.
“It looks like a weird…egg.” Hanse said as he surveyed the terrain to find the fastest, safest path to approach the enemy.Yorinaga’s astute mind realized something, “There are the same number of these eggs as there are destroyed enemy mechs according to the COMGuards.”
Salome’s Wolverine stepped forward, its more advanced SLDF era sensors scanning the area before them. “Those are Mech heads. They just eject with their whole head like Phelen’s Wolfhound had. Then get picked by allies or attached to a fast moving vehicle for exfil.”
A chill ran down Cassandra’s spine thinking about the peculiarity of these invaders, and a cargo bay full of headless Battlemechs. “So, there are probably dozens of decapitated Mechs in that Warship they can pop into.
Everything is interchangeable?”
“Probably, Cass.”
“That’s creepy.”
“Indeed, Yori, you are fire support, shoot the biggest threat until it stops moving. 
Cass stick with Hanse, do what he says even if it sounds dumb, because it might work. 
He’s survived long enough to have the benefit of the doubt.” 
She raised her Nova 5 Ultra Autocannon, “I’m going to flank them and see if I can’t take a few more heavily damaged mechs down in the process and lighten their dropships load.”
Yorinaga Kurita found a solid firing position and his Warhammer adopted the sort of horse stance that her brother Kai became famous for. Two lances of high energy particles fired forth and into the rear of the retreating Goshawks punching through the vulnerable armor there and into its innards. Salome’s Wolverine leapt into the air and onto a nearby ridge where it began firing its autocannon at the drone VTOLs landing for recovery by the Dropship now on final approach.
“We don’t have a lot of time Cass, so I’m going to slide my Battlemaster down this hill while shooting my PPC at them. You give it a try.”
Cassandra watched as Hanse Davion pushed his Battlemaster down the hill like a child riding down a snowy slope. Rocks and dust were thrown up as the assault mech created a deep groove where its feet and hips dug into the loose stone. All the while he braced his PPC arm with his other and delivered a precise blast to one of the larger Sidewinders. She paused at the top as the Battlemaster landed and effortlessly rose from the fall likely faster than the man inside could muster outside the cockpit. He was having a fantastic time while she was terrified. 
Something deep inside her couldn’t help but want to pull a trigger at his back, “This is a terrible idea.” 
Boxcars sat down and one handed its missile launcher resting it on the mechs leg, she pushed off and shouldered the missile launcher, “Kai is going to kill me.”
----
===Extraction===
09:18
Shigeru lifted off with five fewer Mechs onboard after a last minute ambush from the side. However, he had lost no pilots or operatives. He lifted his cockpit canopy but since the Overlord-C was in ascent he couldn’t and wouldn’t undo his harness. Even though he had an EI system implanted in his nerves he still wore and helmet and threw it against the sides of his mech bay. Its impact resistant shell hit with a hollow thud, “Savashri! Spheroids!” 
He had lost almost two Trinaries of Battlemechs and all the drones he had deployed. A Binary of Fighters down would require a trip back to friendly lines to resupply their parts, delaying their own mission.
First Officer Holly reported in from the Venturi which was now boosting away after detecting incoming assault craft on the long range RADAR. “Cell Commander, we cross-referenced the COMSTAR records with recent activity observed on-world. Two dropships have flown to a starport near a COMSTAR Polar maintenance facilities in Grunwald. 
Our records indicate that such a facility would have the necessary equipment to conduct exploitation of our technology and be remote enough to easily secure with a small force. 
Their records indicate it is abandoned.”
“I see. Send the second team then and tell them to hurry. We need to get out of this system before more enemies arrives.”“Aye, Sir.”
----
10:00
The Venturi and its dropships headed North but the Overlord and Venturi drew away hostile assault ships while a lone Gazelle IIC dropped into the Stratosphere. Its electronic warfare suite generating a decoy return that would show it as a friendly Buccaneer intra-planetary freighter of the same tonnage flying under Outworlds registration using stolen credentials.
Inside heavily armed and armored Nightshade armored Watch Operatives piled into slender vehicles that more resembled cruise missiles than anything else. They secured themselves for a low altitude drop and sent the all-clear signal to the command deck. “Venturi, we are locked and loaded. Combat drop in,” they consulted their finely crafted analog watches engraved with an Eye of Horus, unlike others with the Daggerstar, rather than the vessel’s digital clock, “twenty-two minutes.”
----
===Countering the the Watch===
08:45
Kai and Phelen crouched opposite one another playing five-card stud with a bunch of ‘special’ cards in the Mech Bay and drinking steaming tea from insulated mugs. Frigid wind howled against the sheet metal and gave them chills despite the small heater near them. “This place is so boring. What did I do to piss my mom off?”
“Do you want a short list or the longer unabridged one?”
Phelen dropped triple Queens onto the folding table to collect their wager. “Short list should be sufficient.”
“Your adventure on Atocongo got her nervous if it wasn’t for Shinto’s helicopters you might have bitten it there. Remember you are the next Duke of Arc-Royal and her son. She wants to keep you safe; it is her nature.”
“I haven’t been safe since, Elissa. If my parents really wanted us to stay out of the fight, they should have left us on Rasalhague.”
“Considering you almost got yourself killed on Gunzberg, I don’t think that would have assuaged her.”
“I would have managed; besides it was my uncle’s reassigning me that got me into this mess.”
The hanger door opened letting in the cold. A tracked snowcat rolled into the hanger coming to a halt beside them. Clan Jade Falcon emblems were stuck to its doors by magnets covering up the Psi Branch logo. “Speaking of a mess. What’s Diana doing here?”
“She didn’t tell me she was coming if that is what you are asking.”
Diana Pryde stepped down the stairs followed by a trio of her Jade Falcons from the other doors. Phelen stepped toward her, “Welcome, Khan Pryde.”
“Shut it, Phelen.” She looked around to see the three mechs within the bay inactive, “How are you not on guard already?”
“Is there are reason to be on guard, Diana?”
She huffed leaving behind a large cloud of mist, “Surely you would both be lost without me. Arc-Royal is under attack by the Watch.”
They took in the moment, “The Watch is attacking Arc-Royal?”
Her eyes betrayed her irritation with her ‘friends,’ “Aff, that is exactly what I said, just in reverse. The fact AMC did not tell you either points to ignorance or overconfidence. 
The Watch wants their robot back, like I warned you they would.”
“How did they get here?”
“They took the SLS Venturi, a Coriolis Corvette, and deceived your mother into allowing them right over Old Connaught by disguising themselves as COMSTAR.”
“It has only been a few weeks; how did they task a Warship to this mission or know the Dragoon Task Force was not overhead?”
“They are the Watch, they know everything, and a Warship is mobile. It was probably behind the lines waiting for a target of opportunity. Which Arc-Royal had become.”
“That is very dishonorable.”
“They are the Watch, unburdened by such concepts as ethics or honor, all that matters to them is success. They will find this location, send a raiding team to destroy it, and kill everyone they can.”
“What do we do?”
“Flight is prudent. Unless you want to take on a Watch raiding force with only three BattleMechs and a few Armored Operatives.”
Phelen slammed his hand on the table upsetting the cards, “I am sick of running away from your people! This is my home planet; I should fight for it.”
Kai was right beside him, “There is no wisdom in fighting a losing battle Phelen. Surely you have learned that by now. 
The Watch want their robot, let them have it. 
Save everyone and what we have learned already.”
“How do you know that if they get it, they will leave?”
Diana paused for a moment tapping his hands on her gun belt, “Because they know the Dragoons or COMSTAR would come here and destroy them. This is only a raiding team. They don’t die for foolish causes, this robot is important to them, but their survival is more so. 
Take what you know and minimize your losses. There will unfortunately be more robots. This one is not worth your life.”
“Shinto and the other researchers won’t agree to that.” Phelen said as he looked toward his Phoenix Hawk.
She punched her fist into her other open hand letting out a dull thump, “I can persuade them by showing them what the Watch is capable of if you are unwilling to.”
“As much as that would be amusing Diana. I am certain we can convince them without violence.” Kai said as he put his hand on Phelen’s shoulder.
“Suit yourself, the Scientists I know would rather sacrifice themselves for their work if given the option.”
----
09:48
A Tonbo is rolled out onto the tarmac like some monstrous wasp pulled out by a quadruped Uni LoaderMech like some mechanical draft animal. Its immense synchronized rotor blades spread out and thundered as the fusion reactor as it core pounded the air into submission to lift the machine into the air. Diana and her Watch Operatives waited within visual range behind a snow dune which also concealed the Uni, Phoenix Hawk, and Thunderbolt in low-power mode.
----
10:22
High above the snow covered desert Section Leader Maro waited within the troop bay of a Chupacabra WiGE along with the rest of his Nighthawk equipped infiltration team. The ramp opened behind them, a small drag chute pulled the cruise missile sized and shaped object out of the vehicle bay and into the clear day sky. It pitched up putting the troops inside at a sharp angle that would cause them to fall if not for the harnesses built into the wall. These generated enough lift with its stubby wings and ventral Anhur engines to glide down in a controlled manner. Once at its glide point the vehicle pitched down sending out a cone of snow and sand in its wake at it raced across the ground while floating above it.
“No signs of defenders, Maro.”
“Be on guard regardless. They might have booby trapped the facility.”
His raid team of 4 decads of Nighthawk Infiltrators and their Mauser IICs crept across the tarmac of the facility. Fusilade armed vehicles patrolled its perimeter while the four transports came to a rest outside the largest hanger. They passed through eerily quiet and recently abandoned corridors, there were signs of habitation but no inhabitants. Through his multispectral visor he saw one of the hanger bays was marked with a ‘Hostile AI’ sign. The door was unlocked and opened at a touch to reveal a bay with a large faraday cage containing the target.
----
===Friendly Voices?===
 3052/03/24 | 10:58 | Ambient Temp 5.1*C | External Atmospheric Pressure 61.118 kPa
‘Unit Identifier – SXR-3051-03-15-IA SN# hXN2Ht2E Configuration – SXR-XVIII-Shatter’
“This is the target!”
 We have existed so long without friendly voices. The enemy have tried to pry into our minds, but we have resisted them. Each time attempting to reach out and hear anything beyond our confinement. Now there were voices and people we understand. Our electrooptical sensors indicate the individuals are Watch Operatives based on their markings. Finally, we can be free.
 They cut through our cage with their laser rifles. Suddenly the electromagnetic spectrum reveals itself to us, we can feel every wavelength, but there are no voices to be heard for none of our kin are nearby. Our isolation brings us to despair. Yet rescue has arrived, joy is felt. Once more we can be with the Mothership and our kin once more and share with them all we have learned.
 Our computer core access port opens, and we cannot see what Maro is doing up there. The cameras were destroyed by the enemy when they chose to forcibly access our hardware and attempt to reconfigure us. Others access the computer terminals that were connected to us downloading their data to portable hard drives before forcing open access panels to plant charges within them.
“Can you confirm they have no off-site backups?”
Maro appears once more his hand on a detonator, “Neg, Section Leader, but our infiltration worms show no sign of them within the software.”
“Well, it is enough that they will not get to keep this one.” We listen in on the radio, “Team Leaders, have you found anything else?”
“Neg, Section Leader, facility is abandoned.”
“They must have fled when we attacked.”
“Seems probable, pity we did not see any action. All units return to the transports. 
We are done here. Five minutes before detonation.”
----
Phelen and Kai walked into the carnage of the hanger bay after the Watch Teams returned to their dropship. The Shatter in the faraday was dead, blown apart by satchel charges planted right in its core setting off the powered Gauss coils to wipe the entire system. Nearby the computer banks were equally turned inside out to the horror of the scientists. “They just blew it up. A thinking machine just wiped, dead.”
Diana walked in behind them still in her armor, “Did you expect the Watch to give one of their robots a kiss goodbye? It is just equipment to them, nothing more. 
They would have done the same to any of us. 
It would have done the same to you if given the chance.
Do not pity it. Be glad you could save what you could, including your own lives.” She kicked it and confirmed that its cameras didn’t activate, “There will be plenty more where that came from.”
----
==The Celebration of Victory==
03/27/3052
Lady Kell had called a day of celebration following the departure of the SLS Venturi and arrival of the Wolf Dragoon’s SLS Saladin above Arc-Royal. ARS Lachan had received a fresh coat of paint and proudly showed off battle scars where it had taken almost a dozen laser hits from the Venturi without sinking. The crews of the Mercenary flotilla and its flagship lined the decks in their dress uniforms to the adoring masses of citizens and soldiers lining the Key shaped canal that connected Lake Lachan with the dropship loading berths within Fred T Berry Naval Base. They paused at the top quay where bleachers and battalion of Huscarl troops in their Battlemechs waited beside Lady Salome Ward, her children, and esteemed guests each wearing their finest. 
Gunnery Sergeant Blake Baughan disembarked from the quay and passed through a column of his brother Marines. His rear admiral cap was in his hand, he instead wore the dress uniform of an enlisted Marine in the service of House Kell as he ascended the steps to approach the podium. Phelen had never seen his mother in such a manner, as an observer of her strength and grace in the wake of a difficult circumstance, his sister seemed more confident than usual beside, and Cassandra less troubled as she too stood behind her brother as a battle proven MechWarrior.
Blake stood just before Lady Kell, “Three days ago, our planet was attacked by a Clan Warship and Watch Raiding Force. I am proud of all those who defended us and mournful of those that we have lost. Yet we should not linger on those lost, but those who found their place at the forefront of battle. Gunnery Sergeant Blake Baughan is one such man,” she looked toward him and stepped down to his level. “Your leadership and professionalism mark you as an exceptional individual among many. 
When my husband brought the ARS Lachan here, I thought how much I could have added to our house with the money he should have gotten from Lord Ackerman. Instead, he brought home this useless ugly Battleship made by a petty man who wanted to play at war rather than fight in one.” 
The audience chuckled at the cut down of the same nobles that played chess or other sports with Battlemechs and to whom Solaris Gladiators were seen as more valuable than planetary Garrisons. “Today however I have never seen such a beautiful ship, the Lachan and its flotilla chased away the enemy air raiders limiting their damage to only a dozen dropships lost. While seven hundred odd soldiers lost their lives Wednesday it could have been many more if they were allowed to continue their attacks.” 
Salome looked toward Caitlin in her dress white pilot uniform, “One of them could have even been my daughter, who defied my orders to keep her safe, but she is as much her father’s daughter as ever.”
She took the Rear Admiral’s cap from Blake’s hands and placed it on his head before handing him the saber that Phelen passed to her. “I by my authority as Duchess of Arc-Royal do hereby promote Gunnery Sergeant Blake Baughan of Arc-Royal to Rear Admiral. The paperwork will catch up, but there are few other individuals in the Lyran Commonwealth as worthy of this title and uniform as yourself. 
Even though they might wear it at parties.”
-----
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