BfB-4

=Battle for Brimstone=
==Chapter 4==
===Part 4-1===
Military Compound
Cis-Alpheratz Region, Weisau
December 24th, 3134
----
Tai-I Keung Dai woke. He was foggy and in pain. Without clearly remembering what had happened, he knew. He had been in a battle. This was a familiar sensation for him. He was in no rush to become fully awake. That’s when he would start finding out what wounds he had. He would learn about the scars. He would find out if he had lost any limbs. He would hear about additional operations that were necessary and begin the always painful rehabilitation. He was much happier to exist in the blissful fog of fading anesthetics.
He knew he didn’t have a choice. They would wear off and he would have to face reality. He just wasn’t in any rush. Pain crept in like the slow percolation of a coffee machine. Drip by drip he could feel pain, pretty much everywhere. He opened his eyes.
Apparently I still have two eyes. So far, so good.
His legs were in a sling. So was his arm.
Ah. I ejected. I remember but it’s also obvious. I broke my legs again.
He did not consider it all that bad. He fought well. He was defeated. He saw no shame in that. Since he was still alive, he could assume the planet was still under DCMS control. He reached around with his left arm, the one not in a sling, looking for that little buzzer every hospital everywhere has that summons the nurse. It was on his right side. He rolled his eyes, eventually reaching up over his head and finally getting a hold of it.
A young lady arrived.
“Nurse. I assume some of my soldiers are here. Would you please direct the first one you see to me for a report?”
She shrugged and pointed at the door.
An infantry soldier was standing there.
“Tai-I.” He saluted.
Dai simply pointed at his broken right arm and gave a little mock salute with his left hand.
“Soldier. Tell me what happened.”
Dai listened quietly as he learned that there were 12 enemy ‘Mechs, not 8 and that while they suffered high losses on both sides, two Dropships had been taken. He did not look happy but the swelling and bruises hid much of his fury.
“There are prisoners, Tai-I. Several of their pilots survived and a number of soldiers.”
“Have they been interrogated? Do we know where they came from?”
“Yes, Tai-I. They were very willing to talk.”
Pirates always are.
“We can’t lose those Dropships. Losing the cargo would be bad enough.”
“Tai-I, Captain Morrison has been organizing an assault plan.”
“Ah, he got away without injury then?” Dai asked.
“Not exactly.” Came a voice from the other side of the curtain.
Captain Morrison swept back the curtain. He was bruised and battered and had a bandage over his forehead but he was sitting on the edge of a bed, without any obviously broken limbs.
“Good to have you back.” He muttered.
“Welcome to the armchair general’s club.” Dai laughed. “How long was I out?”
“A few days.” Morrison said.
“What resources do we have?”
“You’ve got maybe a third of your infantry. The Wolverine is intact and mostly repaired. We’ve almost repaired the Archangel. The big rush job is on the Shadow Hawk. We’ll probably get one of the Adders functional by stripping parts from the other, omni-technology and all that. So we should have a lance. Your Jared and my Turan and Brody are available as pilots. Kesler didn’t make it.”
“What about, Celine?”
“She’s alive, but in intensive care here.”
“Bohem, in the Dig Lord?” Dai asked.
“I’m sorry.”
“Using the Dig Lord was a mistake. It had no place in battle.”
“I should be able to fill that last empty seat in a few days.” Morrison told him
“I should be up and about in a few days.” Dai said replied.
It was his pride speaking and he knew it. It was a ridiculous thing to say. His arm and legs were broken. He wasn’t going to be up and about. He might be wheeled around though.
“Like hell.” Morrison replied. “I’ll deal with this. We know where they will be on Groveld III trying to meet up with a buyer. We have the Jumpship meant for pickup that is ready to go. We should be able to catch up.”
Dai did not like Morrison’s logic, but nodded defeat. It made sense. They needed to go, and as soon as possible. Dai was in no condition to attend.
“Good. I didn’t want to fight a crippled man.”
Dai pretended to laugh.
----
===Part 4-2===
Military Compound
Cis-Alpheratz Region, Weisau
December 25th, 3134
----
Captain Morrison sat in Dai’s office, with Private Shaw, Tauran, and Brody. He looked around but could not find anything to drink. He could have used one. His head still hurt and he didn’t like his own plans.
Combine soldiers were always so strict about having a casual drink.
“We have two plans, which we abort if the buyer is present and has additional forces. We are in pretty rough shape and so are the pirates but we are not going to be able to deal with anything else. So we are in a rush here on the thin hope that the buyer has not arrived and isn’t waiting for them.”
“If we catch them in space, we disable the Pig’s Eye with our Leopard. It has longer range weaponry. Then we board and take the ships. We’ll have to launch our ‘Mechs, in case they get to theirs.” 
“In space?” Jared asked with disbelief.
“Yes. In space. More precisely, you’ll be on the hull of their Jumpship using magnetized feet.”
“That sounds incredibly dangerous.”
“It is. Shut up.”
Jared didn’t say anything else but his wide eyed and worried expression kept talking loudly.
“There are more than a few problems in space. If you leave the hull you are walking on, you are now floating around in space. This is why we are only taking jump capable ‘Mechs. You will at least have a chance of getting back under your own power. I have some drills for extra vehicular movement. Rule one; You don’t accelerate past a walk, no you anyway, rookie.”
“Myomer, and pretty much every fluid running through your ‘Mech, reacts badly to the zero Kelvin temperature of space. This is why the good people who designed your ‘Mech made the armor plating air-tight. Unfortunately people are going to be shooting at you. When a hole opens in your armor, unless you’ve got some Harjel dripping from your back pockets that you are going to jam into your ‘Mech this afternoon, you’ve got a breach. In short order, everything near that breach is going to stop working. That includes you if it’s near the head.”
“Scenario two is much friendlier. If they are on the ground, we disable the Pig’s Eye with the Leopard. We drop our ‘Mechs and take out theirs. We board the Dropships.”
“It’s really simply but lots can go wrong. Shaw, you are back in the Wolverine. I’ll be in the Shadow Hawk. Turan you are back in your Adder. Sorry Brody, you are the Archangel.”
“Lucky.” Jared remarked.
“Why do you say that?” Morrison asked.
“It’s an amazing machine.” he told him.
“The Word of Blake murdered billions, including Jamie Wolf himself, nearly wiping us out. Machines like that one were used against unarmed civilians as a terror tactic. It’s still wearing Blakist colors! I thought about using that machine for target practice.”
“Give it to me.” Jared said.
“What?” Morrison said in disbeif
“It’s been 50 years since the Jihad. I’ll paint it and put the Dragon all over it. Most people only remember stories of the Blakists. Today, that’s an assault ‘Mech in a region of space where you are lucky to see a BattleMech at all. Give it to me.”
Morrison was shocked. He grew up on stories about how evil the Blakists were but he had to admit, he had not seen the Jihad. He had never seen an Archangel before. Perhaps the kid was right. He couldn’t take the ‘Mech back to the Dragoons. They would destroy it.
Maybe here on the edge of civilization it could find some use.
“I will run it by your Tai-I. Technically it is his salvage.”
“Excellent, I’m sure he’ll say yes. Also, I mean, basically I’ve lost the Locust.”
“Slow your horses kid. He might want that ride for himself. For this mission, you’re in the Wolverine. It’s the ‘Mech you have to most experience with. Further, you’ve obviously never repaired ‘Mechs before. You’d be surprised what can be fixed. We have three Locusts to work with. We might even get them all up and running again.”
Even shot down, Jared looked like he’d just eaten a bowl of sugar. He was bouncing in his seat, obviously thinking about his ‘new ‘Mech’. Morrison might have shot him down enough to get the kid to stop, but that level of enthusiasm would be useful once the fighting started again.
----
===Part 4-3===
Military Compound
Cis-Alpheratz Region, Weisau
December 25th, 3134
----
Tammy Soffit stood on top of the Archangel. There was a hole blown in the cockpit window but she was working on the hatch. She wasn’t particularly interested in climbing through the broken glass. Besides she suspected what she was going to find.
Tai-I Dai had offered her a 25% increase over what she made in the Pit. She almost said no but he offered her more hours. So here she was using half-improvised tools trying to repair BattleMechs.
The Archangel was a monster. The first thing she noticed was that there were connection systems that weren’t attached to anything. It was obvious, even on the outside. This, she decided, must be the hallmark of an OmniMech. 
The cockpit was the really well protected. It was tiny and buried down between the shoulder blades. Visibility appeared to be terrible so it must rely on sensors. The cockpit straddled a plasma rifle. ‘Mechs with head mounted weaponry always looked unsafe to her, and this was a massive weapon it was sitting on.
The cooling system must be amazing or firing would cook the pilot.
The lock was really advanced, for something fifty years old. Fortunately in that time, the powers that be had not only gained access to the Word of Blake databases, but much of the information had been declassified and was readily available, even to a backwater world like Weisau. The University of Weisau had a tutorial on Blakist encryption systems she was able to study. This information basically told her how to hook up the bypass. It still took her twenty minutes to get the lock to release.
With a turn and a pull, she drew back the access panel. She glanced inside and then gently closed the panel, lightly enough that it did not re-engage the lock. She stood up and walked over to the edge of the ‘Mech and looked for the soldiers that marched through the base like automatons compared to the chaos of the Pit.
“I’m not cleaning that up!” She hollered down.
“Ma’am, what do you expect me to do about it?”
“Haul yourself up here. That’s what I expect. Bring a mop.”
“That’s not my job, Ma’am.”
That infuriated Tammy, but she understood. She didn’t want to work for the DCMS either. She wanted to be free to do what she wanted. The infantry had the worst job when it came to combat. Still, she wasn’t going to clean it up herself.
“Look, I don’t care who does the clean up. You go get me who ever is on latrine duty and make them do it.” Tammy was trying to be nice, but she still needed it done. “If there isn’t someone cleaning shortly, you’re going to be explaining to the Tai-I why one of his Battlemechs isn’t being readied for combat.”
Ten minutes later some unlucky soldier was practically dragged up like a sacrificial lamb. He complained and moaned about the disgusting job the whole time. Tammy crawled inside one of the Locusts, closed the hatch and worked on its targeting software which was an outdated and patched mess. She couldn’t get an update from the manufacturer since the HPG network was down but one of the other Locusts had more recent software. It was just set up for a different weapons load out so she had to make changes. From time to time she would poke her head out to see if gore was still piling up in a bin in front of the Archangel.
A young man, looking very green around the gills, presented her with tiny neuralhelmet.
“I was able to salvage this. It seems to be fine. I cleaned it off and everything, ma’am.”
She felt a twinge of guilt but she hadn’t thrown up. She hated throwing up. There was always that gasping point where you couldn’t breathe and it terrified her. She could see this youngster had thrown up. She could smell it.
“Thank you.” She said.
She crawled into the cockpit and breathed a sigh of relief that the main consoles had not been destroyed. She had nothing to replace it with. She unbolted the seat and replaced it with one meant for a smaller Industrial ‘Mech. Getting the cockpit glass out was remarkably easy and soon she had it replaced. 
The more time she spent in this ‘Mech, the more impressed she was with its construction. Everything was extremely efficient and generally smaller. There were redundant plug-ins for everything. Even the console plates could be removed and re-arranged for pilot preference. The neural helmet was unlike anything she had ever seen. It was incredibly light weight and its size could be adjusted for the user. She slipped it on and it calibrated automatically.
She couldn’t resist. She fired it up. She radioed the office.
“Soffit, Command. I’m taking her out.”
Someone came to the window who wasn’t Tai-I Dai. He waived.
“Command, Soffit. Have fun.”
She marched the one hundred tons of OmniMech outside. A MechWarrior would have said it was slow, but compared to the mining ‘Mechs, which were barely allowed to move more than a slow walk into and out of the Pit, it seemed fast enough for her. She punched the jump jets and rocketed up. It was thrilling. She watched the fuel reservoir and feathered the landing perfectly.
There were some targets and she squeezed off a few rounds of the heavy particle cannon. The targets exploded. She did not touch the Plasma Rifle because they didn’t have any more ammunition. There was a big grin on her face though. She loved it.
She closed with a target which was a giant flat wooden Wolverine. She swung the fist near the target and snapped out the retractable blade a moment before she struck, taking its head neatly off. Then she blasted it with the heavy PPC putting a hole through the middle. She fired the jump jets, turned mid flight, fired again, taking an arm off, then rotated around and landed facing forward.
She brought the machine to a halt, locked the weapons down and waited for the machine to bleed off the heat, which took very little time.
So efficient.
“Tammy Soffit, what are you doing?”
It was Tai-I Dai on comms.
Nuts.
She had been careless.
“Just testing the repairs, Tai-I.”
“And the jump jets, and the particle cannon and the retractable blade I see. If I am not mistaken, was that a jumping spin fire you just performed flawlessly?” radioed Tai-I
“Just beginners luck?” she weakly answered
Tammy winced at that lame excuse.
“When you are done ‘testing’ that machine, you will meet me in my office.”
“Yes, Tai-I.” Tammy sighed.
Tammy didn’t even know he was out of the hospital.
I thought I was safe. I screwed up.
She put a few more shots from the Heavy PPC into the wooden target. The pressboard ‘Mech exploded into dust and splinters. The computer in the Archangel reviewed her shot and noticed a slight deviation and made a suggestion for calibrating the particle cannon.
I do love this ‘Mech.
A DNI request glowed in the corner of one screen. Tammy frowned and remembered the history of this ‘Mech. She didn’t know if this particular ‘Mech was used to slaughter civilians, but it was a safe bet. She looked at the distinct direct-neural-interface link.
That port makes this ‘Mech better than a BattleMech, in the same way a BattleMech is better than an Industrial ‘Mech.
That wasn’t exactly true, but it was close enough but Tammy thought cybernetics were horrific. She punched the jump jets and leapt into the air, pinning her back in her seat for a second. She spun the ‘Mech around towards the main compound building and landed hard, already starting into a run.
It was hard to make the Archangel lumber. Sensors fed the computer constant information and calculated the best stepping force in real time. Its gyroscope was incredibly sensitive and the controls always had a little more if she pushed them, control she could have completely with a direct neural interface.
I won’t be a slave to technology. I’m in charge.
Putting up with ‘mundane’ controls she parked the beast in its bay and powered down. Unlike the shuddering end to an internal combustion engine or whine of a power cell, the Archangel just became gradually quieter until it was silent. There was hardly any sense of the engine running and it was mostly the display pop-up that confirmed that the ‘Mech’s motive system was actually shut down.
She stroked her hand across the darkening display screens.
This is very much the case of the bad guys having the coolest toys.
She climbed out and remembered that she was heading to the Tai-I’s office. She marched up the stairs like a prisoner headed for an execution. That is how she felt. She guessed others might describe it as a child, pretending they were a prisoner headed for execution. She was pouting. She knocked on the door and then let herself in.
Tai-I Dai was in a wheel chair, far behind his desk. His legs were splinted straight, so he could not get right up behind the desk. One arm was in a cast and sling as well.
“You’ve been holding out on me.” Tai-I accused her
Tammy rolled her eyes.
“You’ve had MechWarrior training.” she told him
“It was years ago.” She said.
“You don’t look that rusty. So why hide it? Are you afraid of getting drafted?” he asked
“Something like that.” she responded
“I’ll take you on as a freelancer and give you a ‘Mech to pilot.”
“I’d rather just fix them, thank you.” she told him
Dai struggled to roll the wheelchair with one hand. After a few moments, he gave up. He looked very uncomfortable. He also looked distracted. Tammy guessed he was on some strong pain medications. Instead of rolling over to the window for a long speech, he sighed to make a point.
“Do you know why I’m just a Tai-I at my age?”
Tammy really didn’t care. She didn’t want to be a private, much less a Tai-I or anything else.
“I wanted to be free. I bounced around mercenary outfits as a kid. Sure I fought for the Dragon, but only when and where I wanted to. I was already grey when my latest mercenary unit was nearly wiped out. When I got out of the hospital that time, I started thinking about what retirement looked like and it wasn’t great. As a reward for our bravery, the DCMS offered to give us all commissions. There weren’t enough of us left to restart the unit and I had no money to repair what was left of my ‘Mech.
“I still held out the longest but in the end I joined. I have a retirement plan, everything I do is paid for and they gave me a Dragon-
“But you had to come here when they told you to.”
“Yes, if you sign up, you have to do what you’re told.”
“No, thank you.” Tammy told him
“You’ll change your mind, maybe. Until then I’ll double your wage if you want to pilot that Archangel.”
Tammy took her turn to look out the window and she did it successfully. She looked at the Archangel. The armor still needed repairs but it was pretty superficial. Also she wanted to calibrate that particle cannon.
“I can leave anytime I want.”
“One week’s notice.” Tai-I responded.
“Deal.” She said.
“I want the medium pulse lasers off that Venom.”
“Sure?” Dai looked confused.
Tammy was thinking out loud and her brain had shifted gears quickly. She was embarrassed but explained herself.
“The Plasma Rifle, it’s useless unless we can get more ammunition for it. I want to mount the four pulse lasers on it instead.”
“Oh, okay.” Dai said.
The meds were obviously slowing him down and Tammy was operating much faster. He made an uncharacteristic smile.
“Sir, if you don’t mind me saying so, you might want to consider more rest time to recover.”
Dai chuckled.
“You are correct, but I’m going to wait until you are all away.”
“Away?” Tammy asked.
“There is a team headed to pursue the pirates. Forgive me. One of the Wolf Dragons will be piloting the Archangel for that assignment, but after that, we’ll see how it suits you.”
Tammy caught that. The Tai-I was having trouble remembering names.
“When are they leaving?”
“Tonight I believe.”
“Excuse me, Sir. I had better hurry if I want to get the lasers out of the Venom.”
Getting the lasers out of the Venom would be considerable work but removing the Plasma Rifle and installing the lasers in the Archangel promised to be easy. Tammy rushed to get to work.
Dai waived her off. He looked old, broken and tired. Tammy tried to ignore it and blame it on the drugs. She had no connection to the man, except he reminded her of her grandfather. He died while heavily medicated to deal with the pain and this situation was starting to remind her too much of that.
-----
===Part 4-4===
Star Port
Cis-Alpheratz Region, Weisau
December 25th, 3134
----
Captain Morrison still moved with a limp. He hid it well and wore a tight expression of grim determination, to hide any pain he might still be feeling from his injuries. He walked across the space port. It was hot. The slight break during the Death of Eurydice was long over. He could not tell if it was hotter near the furnace engines of the Dropship or further away in the burning wind. Weisau rumbled to remind him that humans were, at best, somewhat tolerated guests on this world.
He was one of the last to board the Jamie’s Legacy. It was a flat box-like Leopard class Dropship, much smaller than the hulking, round Unions and Danais Class Dropships which usually graced this port. The Legacy was jet black with a single red wolf logo. Packed under her skin was a modern day clan-tech armament.
Morrison yelled at people to hurry up or get left behind. He walked up the ‘Mech bay door and through the hangar. He looked up at the Shadow Hawk. He wasn’t thrilled by the obviously rushed repairs. He could see where the armor had been replaced. The Wolverine was beside it. The minor repairs were almost invisible.
Lucky damn kid.
The Adder looked almost new, but that was omni-technology for you. They simply stole parts from the other Adder until one was complete. In fact, components from left and right sides could were easily interchangeable. It only mattered that enough parts existed.
The Archangel showed hasty armor repairs but they were minor. Morrison noted a cluster of Medium Pulse Lasers newly attached to the left arm.
Thank you, Tammy.
Morrison would be in his Shadow Hawk. Turan would be back in an Adder. Jared would be in the Wolverine again. Morrison was a little worried about putting Brody in the Archangel. Bad enough he was taking a light pilot and putting him in assault ‘Mech but it had just been reconfigured.
The ship was crowded with the infantry platoon. Scrounging the port, they had enough space suits for two platoons. It wasn’t much as boarding parties go. Morrison would have been much happier to have a battle taxi. He just hopped the Pig’s Eye was on the ground when they found her. Morrison was taking a big risk. Leaving only a single aerospace fighter to guard the Jumpship factory had him worried but he wasn’t one to run from a fight.
An alarm klaxon blared and the door started closing. Realizing he had been hurrying other people and then lost himself in thought, the Captain hurried out of the ‘Mech bay, towards the bridge. He dodged past the last people also securing last minute items. There wasn’t a lot of room with so many people on board. He picked the first empty seat on the Bridge and strapped in.
Takeoff was a smooth 2 to 3 Gs. It was nothing he couldn’t handle. He thought of a dozen more things he suddenly wanted done before they left. He dismissed those thoughts. They came every mission, practically every launch. He would work with what he had.
The Wolf Dragons had not issued Morrison a Jumpship so they had to rent one, or rather, commandeer it with pay. Its Captain had made it very clear he would not participate in any combat action. It was a Star Lord, an unarmed civilian Jumpship. Morrison didn’t know what its Captain thought it would be called on to do in a combat situation.
It took them a little more than 24 hours to get to the jump point and dock with the Star Lord. The jump was very quick but then they settled in to recharge at the jump station. There was a way to recharge really quickly, in as little as 16 hours. He was told to never, ever, ever do that. Mostly because it tended to damage the engine. Occasionally, however, it resulted in a much more spectacular fireball in space. It was rare to see such a sight because the people on board were dead, as was anyone nearby. Instead he settled in for five days of boredom.
He could have grilled everyone and gone over combat scenarios but it would create a lot of stress in already tight quarters. Instead he let them relax. The Star Lord crew, diverted from their regular schedule, was really up tight and refused to let anyone disembark from the Dropship to the more spacious Jumpship. Morrison didn’t make an issue out of it.
He checked his ‘Mech. He checked space suits. He read. He slept. He stopped a fight. Finally he woke to the sound of the Star Lord’s Captain, announcing that recharge was complete and to brace for jump.
-----
===Part 4-5===
Brimstone Jump Point - Space
Brimstone System
January 4th, 3135
-----
Jared spent five days looking out the window. He had been off world once before but not like this. He didn’t have a BattleMech to command and he wasn’t going into battle that time.
And there wasn’t a chance I’d be going outside to do it.
He tried to find something else to do. He thought about the first battle. It was kind of a blur. He’d run around shooting and, for some reason, did not get shot back a lot. If the pirates had not fled when they did, they would have definitely won that battle. Now it would be even, four on four, unless they found help.
Jared looked out the window again. It was just inches of material between him and the void of space. He had heart stories about how you die in space. He was thinking about them now. Jared had seen a few bodies, all from work place accidents. Weisau was not a safe place to work. He had never seen anyone who had died in space before.
He tried to find a place where he could be alone but the only private room was for the Captain or hiding in the toilet. He tried to sleep but the strange sounds kept waking him up. People were always talking or someone was using a power tool. The annoying thing was that everyone kept commenting on how quiet the ship was. Jared didn’t think it was quiet at all. He did not remember if his last trip had been noisier, probably. It had been a long time ago.
Finally they charged up and jumped. Morrison called a meeting less than a minute after the jump.
“They are at the recharge station. Both our Dropships and the Pig are hooked to their Tramp. Tell the soldiers to get their spacesuits on.”
Jared nearly threw up. He wanted to start crying. He thought about how excited he was to buy the Locust and now he wished he had never done it.
“Looking green rookie.” Morrison said.
“I’m fine.” Jared lied.
Morrison ordered everyone to go get ready but held Jared back.
“You’re looking really green.”
Jared looked out a window into space.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Do you know what a MASS system is?”
“Nope.” Jared responded
“It protects the pilot in case of a breach. I had it installed in the Wolverine back on Brimstone.” Morrison lied.
“Really?” he eagerly responded
“Yeah. You could punch the head full of holes and you’d be fine.”
Morrison lied looking Jared straight in the eye.
Jared calmed down and nodded. He felt a lot of his anxiety fade.
“Oh, um, thanks.” young pilot said
“Now go get into your ‘Mech and get ready.”
“Yes. Thank you, Captain.”
“Just doing what I need to do to keep everyone at their maximum fighting potential.” he told him
Jared nodded. He felt a lot better. He walked to the ‘Mech bay and climbed up into the Wolverine. He looked around and didn’t see any changes but he didn’t know what a MASS looked like. He had no idea what he was looking for.
Jared worked the neuralhelmet over his head and listened to the Captains last instructions.
“We’re going to try come up below them. That’s relative but the point is you’ll be jumping up, the best direction for thrust. Flip over and land, or grab on. The Tramp is armed but if she fires, she becomes a target. You should land on the side of the Pig. After last time, we’re hoping the pirate ship won’t fire either. You’ll be really hard to hit, standing on the hull, but don’t go standing in front of the gun emplacements. If anything goes wrong, the Legacy will fire on the Pig and it won’t take them long to figure out how badly that will go for them.”
The door opened and Jared engaged his jump jets in short bursts. He could not believe what he was doing. He went out first into the void. The Jamie’s Legacy felts like it was miles away from the Pig. It was pitch black with more stars than he could ever count.
If they fire it’s not going to be good.
Jared watched the Legacy shrinking away behind him as the Tramp JumpShip and its three attached Dropships got larger. He gasped, realizing he was so scared he had been holding his breath. As practiced he tipped the angle of the jump jets and gave them a quick burst to spin around. It set him off course slightly.
“Don’t correct, Jared. You’re in line to land on the Tramp.”
The voice came from the Legacy.
Jared felt a bead of sweat trickled up his face. He feathered the jump jets seconds before colliding with the Tramp. He felt the impact more than he heard the soft thump. He made himself breath.
I got this. I got this.
“Legacy. Shaw arrived.”
He scanned around and saw the door on the Pig opening.
Here we go.
Flashbacks of the star port went through his brain. Four ‘Mechs should be coming out of those doors. He had not seen the rest of his team land. He could be all alone. He wanted to run. Instead he flicked his fingers delicately over the firing controls and go ready to activate them.
The Stinger poked its head out first and Jared fired the Autocannon and short range missiles. Both missed and just put dents in the Pig.
The Stinger pilot took the time to aim and fired its medium laser. It burned into the Wolverine’s torso. Jared braced for the breech alarm, even though a single shot should not penetrate. The light ‘Mech emerged completely.
Okay, just do this right.
Jared didn’t move his ‘Mech. He understood the risk but he also knew he actually needed to hit if he was going to survive. He aimed carefully and waited a few short moments that seemed to last minutes for the target lock. He fired everything. Missiles, lasers and Autocannon fire smacked the Stinger so hard it was knocked off the hull.
Jared roared with excitement.
“Gotcha! Wait, what?”
The Stinger fired its jump jets, realigned itself and fired back. The medium laser burned into the Wolverine again.
Suddenly the Wolverine was lit up with different colors of laser fire. Jared had been so focused on the Stinger that he had not seen the first Brigand exit and target his ‘Mech. He instinctively tried to move his ‘Mech to become a harder target or find cover but the magnetic clamps made his motions very slow. There was no cover out on the hull.
Jared tried to fire his weapons, move, and look for his comrades. He didn’t know how to read the radar when it was in 3-D. He could see the other three ‘Mechs but didn’t know if they were close by or really far above him. Like last time, he gave up and picked one thing to do. He decided he would shoot back.
Lasers stabbed into his ‘Mech again. There were more lasers this time, telling him at least one other Brigand was shooting at him. Jared tried to remain calm. He had to be effective. His instincts screamed at him to fire back. Instead, he aimed at the Stinger and fired.
It spun, hit multiple times. A cloud of gas shot out of one hole. Jared’s sensors showed an image of the Stinger and glowed bright red in multiple locations. He assumed that meant it was out of action. Looking out into space, he saw a massive flight of long range missiles. Either the Dropships had gotten into the fight or that was the Adder. He swung the Wolverine’s head and torso back towards the ship and saw the three Brigands firing at him. His first thought was to eject. He resisted that urge, knowing it would kill him.
There was a crackling sound right after the weapons struck. It was his turn for red warnings to appear. The power flickered off and on. Jared had enough time to see the red glow around his ‘Mech’s engine before everything went dark. The ‘Mech shut down and started to drift off the surface of the Tramp.
Locked in a 55 ton dead weight with three ‘Mechs firing at him and drifting into space, Jared finally lost his composure. He started screaming. He struggled in blind panic to get the neural helmet and restraining harness off. He got his hand on the egress hatch before he realized what he was doing and then stopped. They had not shot at him again and if he pulled that hatch, he would die.
Shaking badly, he made himself sit down. He clutched the straps tight to try making his hands stop shaking. He settled for sitting and swearing. He saw the Tramp go by, and then again. He was spinning.
Why aren’t they shooting at me?
The answer came immediately. It was the same reason he stopped firing at the Stinger. It was out of commission, just like him. If his side won, he could expect rescue. If the pirates won, he wasn’t sure what his odds were. Sure, they would recover the ‘Mech but would they wait until he was dead first? He craned his head around trying to see how the fight was going. He got brief glimpses but could not be sure what was happening.
The view was starting to make him feel sick to his stomach. He did not want to throw up without gravity. It would make things awful. He stopped trying to watch and closed his eyes. Now he could feel the momentum of the rotation. He looked around for the barf bag. Fortunately there was one. He held off as long as he could before he threw up. He got most of it into the bag.
He breathed. He wondered how much air he had. He knew the ‘Mech was good for days but how long was it good for without power? Had the air supply or CO2 scrubbers been damaged? He didn’t know.
Jared opened his eyes and noticed a blinking light on his consol. It was a power button and Jared remembered that ‘Mechs have batteries. The cockpit could function for a time without power from the fusion engine. He pushed the button.
I’m an idiot. Morrison throught
The monitors came back to life and Jared felt immediate relief. He went over the damage report. The ‘Mech’s torso was breeched but the head was practically undamaged. He had a full four hours of air supply and the scrubbers were working fine. The battery only had an estimated 2 hours of charge.
That’s because some of the batteries are in the breeched section.
Jared started turning off systems. Once he powered down everything but one monitor, the battery life was extended to an estimated 20 hours. He flicked off the last light and sat in the dark. He waited, and waited.
Suddenly the Wolverine was jolted. Jared started screaming again in panic but stopped. The Shadowhawk was holding his ‘Mech with one of its arms. The other armed turned and pointed at its own head.
Jared didn’t get it for a moment but then figured out what he meant. Jared turned the power back on and activated the radio.
“Why did you turn your radio off?” Captain Morrison asked.
Jared was so embarrassed he didn’t know what to say. He thought about explaining the power failure but realized Captain Morrison would be perfectly aware that happened. He didn’t want to mention throwing up, ever. He finally just lied.
“I had a little glitch.”
“Sure you did, kid. Our secret. Hold tight, I’m going to tractor you back to the Legacy.”
-----
===Part 4-6===
Brimstone Jump Point - Space
Brimstone System
January 4th, 3135
-----
Albert Morrison had done this before. He let the kid go out first, then the big slow Archangel, then the Adder, then himself. He went last because his ‘Mech had improved jump jets and he had a lot more control in space. Shaw’s Wolverine had the same jump jets but the rookie at the helm had zero experience.
“Brody, I’m only getting four ‘Mechs on sensors. Go sit on the bridge. If they give us any trouble remind them what a retractable blade does. Don’t be afraid to give us some support though. I don’t want it too easy.”
“Aff.” Brody replied.
“Tauran, sit back and just soften them up. That way you can fall back if that Dropship becomes feisty.” he radioed
“Yes Captain.” Tauran said.
Morrison fired a few shots from range. He saw the Wolverine getting focused down and hit his jump jets on full to close.
Kid, you were always going to take the first hit. You were the most expendable. Sorry about that. It was a calculated risk. That Wolverine was a good ‘Mech.
Morrison spun his ‘Mech around expertly and aimed at one of the Brigands, noting that Shaw was wisely concentrating on a single opponent, the Stinger. Adjusting his angle slightly he kept on target and slammed into the Brigand. Forty five tons of Shadow Hawk struck the Brigand like a pile driver and crushed the head into the torso.
A tough way to go, but quick.
Morrison was slammed against his harness so hard, he heard something break, two things in fact. He heard the Shadow Hawk’s knee snap. It was sort of a wrenching, popping sound with the twang of myomer pulled tight enough to break. He also heard his collar bone go. Pain flooded his shoulder and across his chest. He grimaced and swore.
The Shadow Hawk tumbled over the Brigand to do a face plant against the hull of the Pig’s Eye. Morrison turned the ‘Mech just enough so that it landed on its shoulder instead of the cockpit. He looked up at the two remaining Brigands who opened fire on him. He was stunned as the laser blasts ripped into his ‘Mech. He was not too worried though. He waited for it.
One of the Brigands took a bath in long range missiles from the Adder. It didn’t have the armor to take that kind of barrage for long and its armor may have already been penetrated in places. A PPC blast turned the hull blue. It narrowly missed. The Brigands continued working on the Shadow Hawk.
The next wave of missiles crippled both legs on one of the Brigands and it floated off. Morrison watched it fire its jump jets which vented badly with the damage and spun the ‘Mech off course badly.
-----
===Part 4-7===
Brimstone Jump Point - Space
Brimstone System
January 4th, 3135
-----
Krag was furious. He watched his Stinger defeated. He was just lucky not to be the target of the Shadow Hawks’ Death from Above. The Wolverine and Shadow Hawk seemed to be out of commission, but that Adder kept raining death from far beyond Krag’s range. When the second Brigand floated off with cripple legs, Krag howled with frustration.
He radioed the Pig’s Eye.
“Fire on them!”, he yelled over the radio comms to his DropShip.
“But Sir!” Comm officer replied
“Fire or I’ll come back there and eat you!” he growled
The weapons on the Pig’s Eye came to life. The Adder was torn apart by exploding missiles, blue beams of excited particles and brilliant streams of red lasers. They couldn’t aim at the Archangel without risking hitting their own bridge and everyone else was down.
The response was immediate. The Jamie’s Legacy reached out with extended ranged particle cannons and punched holes in the Pig’s Eye with incredible precision. Sitting outside the range of anything on the Pig, the Legacy just waited for the surrender, which came immediately after the barrage.
The Pig shuddered with the hits, but more, the clamps holding it into the Tramp disengaged. The JumpShip fired its maneuvering thrusters and slowly moved away. The Pig rocked sharply, knocking everyone off it.
Krag used his jets to get behind the Archangel floating in space, which despite its advanced technology, could not keep up with the smaller ‘Mech. Krag tore up the backside of the machine. Krag did not know his history. In fact, both the Archangel and Brigand were Word of Blake designs. It did not much matter to him though. Even a single good hit would probably cripple his 25 ton ‘Mech.
“You bloody traitor, B’kar!” Krag radioed the Archangel.
“I do not know who you are talking about, freebirth scum.” Brody replied.
Krag fired again. He might actually win this! He was easily able to stay behind the larger machine as it twisted slowly in space.
The Archangel flipped its right arm and fired the heavy particle cannon backwards at Krag. It punched a hole in the side of his ‘Mech. One torso mounted laser and the one on the arm, went silent, costing him, half his firepower.
I don’t have to kill it, just punch a hole.<br>
He fired his jump jets at maximum thrust and fired again. The last two lasers cut into the Archangel but it kept functioning. The particle cannon light up the space between them again but missed.
“This is my gang you, canister baby. Die!”
Krag finally connected with and older wound on the back of the Archangel and burned through the armor. Its wings clipped, the Archangel sparked and green fluid sprayed out, becoming frozen mist and the blue lance of death became silent. The ‘Mech kept moving but that PPC would not fire again until after the ‘Mech was repaired and he couldn’t flip the other arm with the pulse lasers.
Krag was rocked when his Brigand was hit from behind. He spun the ‘Mech to see the Shadow Hawk. His eyes figuratively bulged out of his head when he saw a medium laser burn through the ferro glass of his cockpit. The laser missed him and he would normally have counted himself as lucky. Unfortunately, he was in space, and his eyes literally bulged out of his head as the cockpit decompressed. The last thing he saw was the red of his own blood boiling out around him. His effort at screaming failed because there was no air to carry the sound.
-----
Morrison zoomed in and saw Krag struggling. Putting another laser into the cockpit ended the pirate’s suffering.
Even a pirate does not deserve to suffer like that.
-----
===Part 4-8===
Star Port
Cis-Alpheratz Region, Weisau
February 3rd, 3135
-----
Dai was off the meds, clear headed and grumpy when he saw the Jamie’s Legacy descending. He had come out to the star port in a ground car. He sat in the back and had a driver but was now walking with a cane.
Morrison and Shaw walked out of the ship and saluted him.
“How did it go?” Dai asked.
“Well enough. Shaw here conducted himself admirably. We took the Pig without a boarding action. We brought your Dropships back.”
Dai nodded and a smile appeared on his face.
“Did you lose anyone?” Dai asked
Morrison nodded.
“Tauran did not make it.” the mercenary officer told him
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“We had to fight in space. We got lucky.”
The Mechbay door on the Leopard class Dropship opened. Inside were the damaged forms of the Archangel, the Shadow Hawk, the Wolverine and the scrap from the Adder.
Dai snorted.
“You weren’t kind to your BattleMechs.”
“You have a new Dropship.” Morrison motioned the Pig’s Eye descending.
“A pirate Dropship.” Dai commented
“A Union and enough ‘Mechs to fill it.” Morrison commented
“Pirate and Blakist ‘Mechs.” he said disgusted
“You’re just sore you weren’t able to come.” commented Morrison
“That, Captain, is correct.” he answered grumblily. 
“You’ll need more Mechwarriors.” Morrison told him.
“I’ll need a lot more than that. I’ll need a proper tech support team, parts, munitions and a recovery vehicle.”
“I want the Stinger to replace the Adder. It’s not a good trade, but I won’t go home empty handed.”, mercenary demanded him
“That’s fair. It’s yours.” he agreed
“What are you going to do with Shaw?”
-----
===Part 4-9===
Military Compound, Port Erebus
Cis-Alpheratz Region, Weisau
February 3rd, 3135
-----
Creed straddled an old metal bench in the locker room near the showers. They let him out of jail that day. Dai gave him a formal scroll, his pardon. Creed unrolled it and read it carefully. He didn’t need to. Tai-I Dai was important. This was just a piece of paper.
It wouldn’t stop the many people who wanted him dead. That included all the prisoners from the Bloody Hook who would serve various lengths of sentence her on Weisau. It might make soldiers from the DCMS stop, if they didn’t shoot him first for the bounty on his head. It wouldn’t stop actual bounty hunters. It was just a piece of paper. It was barely any good and only carried any real weight here on Weisau. He would have to do what every pirate dreamed, and get to the other side of the Inner Sphere to escape and he didn’t have the credits to do that.
Creed saw one option where he didn’t die. He went to talk to the new old-man in his life. Creed offered to sign on with the DCMS.
Dai had not been idle in the last few weeks. Every technician on Weisau had been pulled from mining duty to help repair the ‘Mechs. More than a few parts were appropriated. The administration at Gorbbels mining was furious but they couldn’t do anything about it and Dai promised it would only be a few weeks. They kept using the Industrial ‘Mechs in the Pit until they broke down. The crew enjoyed a two week holiday after that.
Dai was as good as his word. A week later they had a little ceremony. The surviving 13 Mechwarrior recruits, including the ones dismissed, were all recalled. Ten Battlemechs stood in front of the Military Compound and Dai assigned pilots and backup pilots to each one.
“Creed, I gave you a pardon and now I give you a ‘Mech, this Locust. It, like the rest of the Locusts, were rebuilt with endo-steel, which allowed us to double the armor protection. It will serve you well. In the core worlds of the Draconis Combine, your pardon would be a miracle but here on the fringes of humanity I’m even willing to give you a second chance. Use it well.”
Creed listened to the speech. He knew he would be watched. He would not be surprised if there was an explosive device planted somewhere in the command couch of the Locust. Creed took the oath of a Draconis Soldier, but had no loyalty to the Dragon. He would leave the second the winds pushed him that way. Dai was desperate for Mechwarriors and that made him valuable, for now.
The new old-man kept the huntsman and hounds organization of the Archangel and three Locusts.  The fourth Locust needed parts they just couldn’t get and remained in the repair bay. The second lance was composed of the Dragon, Venom, Wasp and a Brigand. The Tai-I had discussed selling the Brigands to pay for the rest of the repairs but decided he would probably never get anymore ‘Mechs so went to great lengths to repair everything putting a massive debt on himself. The last three Brigands would be available act as scouts, or to reconfigure the lances into two Stars of five ‘Mechs each with a scout.
----
After the Tai-I spoke to Creed, he spoke to Jared, who was next in line.
“I’m not giving you the Archangel.” the DCMS Officer told him
Jared looked crushed but tried to stand at attention without showing it.
“I know you had your heart set on it so I’m sorry. Instead, you finally have your Locust. It was been repaired with endo-steel. The armor has been doubled and the tracking system is working perfectly now. As an additional thanks, I have included your debt into my fund requisition to the Dragon. We stopped a pirate band and acquired two lances of ‘Mechs and a Dropship on our own. I think the Dragon will reimburse it.”
“Thank you, Tai-I!” Jared shouted.
Tai-I Dai spoke to Tammy Soffit next, explaining what everyone already know, that she would be piloting the Archangel for the time being.
Jared was disappointed with the downgrade. It hurt worse because the Wolf's Dragoons took their Wolverine back, making the Stinger their backup ‘Mech. They also asked for volunteers and then took three of the recruits, with Dai’s blessing, to replace their two fallen Mechwarriors and so they could man all five ‘Mechs in a star if they needed. Most of the recruits literally could barely hit the side of a target the size of a barn but every day they got better.
The parts to repair the KF drive on the Jumpship factory arrived and the Dragoons prepared to depart. Two days before their launch, as a thank you and farewell gift, they rented out a bar for the night in downtown Port Erebus for military personnel only.
----
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Category:Works by Mark Clarke