EMCOTS-2 18

=Emergence (Concertverse) Book 2 - Chapter 18=
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==The Mongol Way==
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===Targets of Invasion===
CJF Turkina's Pride
Arc-Royal System, Donegal Province
Lyran Commonwealth
9th August, 3143
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The bridge of Turkina's Pride was quiet.
Isaac Roshak hadn't been sure what to expect when he took his place on the flagship's bridge, but the calm serenity and perfectly measured sounds of orders passing from Star Admiral Jaclyn Binetti to her subordinates and equally measured responses were not it. There was none of the chafing strength or constant challenging remarks he was used to among the warriors of the Ninth Talon, and it felt strange.
And yet, he considered, watching the vast holotank's interplay of icons and track markers, there is much to be said of the Naval Forces' ethic of war. To witness the crew of Turkina's Pride, almost three hundred warriors and techs working together as smoothly as the fingers of a single hand, and grasp the power embodied in that, and the warrior at the apex of it, was intoxicating.
And, though it was far more cold-blooded than he liked, Binetti's methodically arranged layered defence formation was working. Lyran and Traitor Wolf fighters and assault DropShips snapped and clawed at the formation's flanks, with pack tactics worthy of their namesake, but so far none had penetrated the screening groups around the vulnerable troop carriers. The first of those, burning ahead hard, were already in orbital drop positions or on their way to the ground.
"Deployment status," Isaac called out. It looked to be going well, but he couldn't read the holotank's notations well enough to be sure.
"First landing group is at eighty percent deployment, with acceptable losses from antiaircraft fire," one of his aides, seated at a repeater console, responded. "Fourth Dragoons and Eleventh Velites report contact with elements of the First Strike Grenadiers at the dezgra Wolves' main battle armour plant. They are pushing them back and should have the facility and worker barracks secure for stripping within the hour."
"Excellent." Isaac smiled despite himself. That was better than even their best estimates "And the Ninth Talon?"
"Advancing on the primary sibko barracks. They estimate contact with the defenders in minutes."
A feral snarl of satisfaction came from deep within Isaac Roshak's chest. He had learned well from the Chinggis Khan; to kill an enemy, you had to strike at the heart of them. The sibkos were that for the Warden Wolves; their past and future, coddled and protected because their death was the death of the Clan. And it would rob the Wardens of their discipline; drive them berserk with grief and rage. Thus, they will hurl themselves to destruction on our talons or in the fires of the Pride's guns, and the Kell Hounds with them. The loss - the utter annihilation - of their greatest defenders would break the Lyrans' morale beyond any repair, and so does victory flow into our hands, because we had the will to act.
His expression shifted unconsciously, to a smile like something out of the deep oceans, at the thought of the Lyran court's reaction to the news.
A sensor tech happened to glance in Roshak's direction at that moment. He paled, before hurriedly bending over his console; sure that nothing the Exiles could summon would be a fraction as terrifying as the Khan's expression.
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===Defending the Young===
Sibko Barracks, Wolf City
Strings of tracer fire reached up into the skies over Wolf City, and Eva found her mind filling in the clattering sound of autocannon fire as Marissa led the way towards the sibko barracks. And it's a good thing she is, Eva thought, finding streets she'd been able to navigate easily on foot much harder to keep track of in a BattleMech moving at full speed.
Overhead, a pair of interceptors flashed past, too low and too fast to tell much beyond their red-and-black Kell Hounds paint scheme. Corsairs, she thought; fast, viciously lethal dogfighters, the same on both sides of the Glass.
Assembled in the wide, open plaza in front of the sibko barracks, were a 'Mech lance and a pair of battlesuit Stars, clustering protectively around a group of transports being boarded by uniformed figures too small to be anywhere near to adulthood. A training unit, got to be, Eva thought, watching the way the 'Mechs moved; stiff and cautious, as though still unused to the speed and power of a real 'Mech rather than a simulator, not the easy confidence and surety of the veteran Wolf warriors she'd seen. At that, the 'Mechs themselves, the kind of eclectic mix you always got in academy units; Wolfhound, Gunsmith, Arctic Wolf and Horned Owl, ancient and modern, Clan and Inner Sphere built.
The Horned Owl stepped forward, aiming its forearm-mounted lasers in threat.
"Halt, and identify yourselves!" A young woman's voice, strident and tense; trying so hard to seem unafraid that she sounds terrified.
"Star Commander Marissa, of the First Legion." The cool, flat syllables spoke volumes about how unimpressed Marissa was. "I assume, pup, they still teach rank and unit insignia in the sibko, quiaff?"
"Kyra, be calm." A third voice; age-worn but still solid as a rock, cut across the channel, accompanying another 'Mech moving out of the barracks' attached hangars. And this one did move like a veteran was piloting it; Tundra Wolf, seventy-five tons and bristling with missile systems. "And you, Marissa, I thought I had taught you patience long ago. Do you need to step into the ring with me again as a reminder?"
"Neg, Pack Leader, I do not," Marissa laughed shortly. "Eva, allow me to introduce Pack Leader Idris, who taught me in my ill-spent youth."
She wasn't familiar with the name, but the voice was one of many she remembered, barking orders during the sibkos' training exercises whenever Eva ran into them on the practice fields or in the mess, a voice she associated with a stern, yet kind, face of ebon skin framed by gray-white hair. "Pack Leader," she said respectfully.
"Lieutenant," the older voice replied simply for acknowledgment.
Eva waited until Marissa slotted her into one of the perimeter positions. She was flanked by a machine she initially took to be a Strider Hawk but which her Wolf-provided warbook tagged a Vulture, with a loadout similar to the machine she was more familiar with. Fire support for the formation. She took the opportunity for a quick sip of water; just enough to cut through the gummy texture in her mouth at the thought of what was coming.
"Hurry up and wait" proved to have not much wait to it as the last of the sibbies - the eldest looking like they were fourteen, the youngest maybe ten or so - were chivvied aboard a collection of stripped down APCs, cargo trucks and civilian buses. Even by her chronometer, which always seemed to move at ten seconds per minute, showed only seventy seconds passed before the first hostile blip showed on the tactical scanners. Enemy 'Mechs were approaching, coming from the city's outskirts, carrying multiple squads of their battle armor troops with them. She turned her machine in that direction and watched them stomp through one of the parks that provided recreational and physical exercise space, their black figures backed by the smoke arising from the rest of the city.
The Vulture's LRMs opened up. A moment later Eva's finger tensed. A beam of sapphire light instantly formed, melting armor in white-hot globs from one of the winged forms. Others came up behind it, fifteen in all. Overstrength company, or a trinary. We're not that outnumbered but that's counting the trainees. She triggered her PPC, hoping to cause at least some damage despite the increased range reducing its penetrative effect, but that proved moot as her target evaded the shot. A tree struck by the particle blast burst into flames.
The engagement began in full. It was every bit the fight Eva expected. Gauss-fired slugs and their sonic booms, the bright amber and emerald tracers of autocannon bursts, and the sapphire and azure light of laser and particle fire devastated buildings, roads, land, and BattleMechs. With her heat well-managed Eva went weapons free with the VF PPC and her large laser, adding fire from her smaller lasers as the enemy drew close. Her lasers and those of Marissa's Warhound flayed open the chest of a Jade Hawk before it could draw too close. Alert lights on her machine warned of gradual loss of armor integrity from assorted missiles and autocannon shells that impacted on her 'Mech, but the Falcons' fire was not focused on her just yet. They were concentrating on Marissa and her Star, as evidenced when a large Lyran-made Gotterdammerung in the Wolf colors collapsed under the barrage of an entire Star, its right leg cut cleanly through at the hip. The pilot defiantly fired everything they had left until a Shrike - its very form sending a chill down Eva's spine - unloaded both autocannons into the cockpit and left crimson splashed over the ruined ferroglass.
The loss of the 'Mech briefly opened a hole in the formation and the Falcons took advantage, two of their winged machines maneuvering to fire on the transports behind Eva. One of the smallest enemy machines, coming up as a Gyrfalcon on Eva's systems, darted close enough that she managed an SRM lock and fired. Missiles pelted the short black 'Mech, and her lasers opened up its flank; its autocannon lashed back, and for a moment she thought they'd missed wide.
"Dezgra spawn of a Blakist!" Idris roared, and Eva realized why when, glancing back, she was greeted by the horror of flames flicking from the burnt-out husk of one of the buses. She knew in her heart and soul that her nightmares would include the charred forms within for the rest of her life, if only because of their small size. A cry of fury rose from her throat instinctively as her crosshairs spit once more over the murderous little Falcon machine, and this time she triggered everything. Her heat warnings shrieked in alarm and the shutdown sequence would have commenced if not for her override. Even as particle backwash briefly distorted her electronic displays, thermal scan told Eva what she'd felt the instant she hit the triggers; her last volley flew straight and sure, a lance of lasers, missiles and charged particles stabbing right into the Gyrfalcon's heart. White heat flared for an instant as engine shielding came apart in a mist of semi-molten shrapnel, then died as emergency failsafes smothered the star within. As dead as the children it had just murdered, the Gyrfalcon began to slump forwards - and then every one of the Wolves turned their full fury against it, pouring out grief and rage and hate in a hurricane of weapons fire that dissolved the machine like an ice sculpture thrust into a blast furnace.
The defenders of the transports tightened, Marissa's Wolves howled over the comm lines, and the shooting intensified. Another of Marissa's Star went down to concentrated enemy fire, but the trainee sibkos defiantly took the place of the fallen Wolf warrior; their battlesuit squads clashed with arriving Falcon Elementals in a savage, intense brawl that would have been the main event in most battlefields she'd seen, but here formed a sideshow to the 'Mech combat. The Horned Owl threw itself before an exposed bus and paid for it, a blitz of gauss slugs coring it through laser-scourged armor; Eva saw the Gunsmith sprinting forward, pulse lasers blazing in challenge to the towering Onager responsible as a battlesuit team pulled the trainee Kyra clear, before combat drew her attention elsewhere. That damned Shrike was too close for comfort, but that ensured her PPC was at optimal range for damage when she fired it. Marissa's weapons joined her and the Falcon pilot went down, the winged machine's head a smoldering ruin from two pinpoint laser strikes.
Eva turned to other targets, took more fire and delivered reply in azure lightning and spears of sapphire and emerald light, joined by the contrails of SRMs whenever one drew close enough for a target lock. Time was measured in salvos more than seconds, and after several of those had passed, the tactical situation brightened. The Falcons had attacked too heavily, and the weight of the defenders' fire, reinforced by another Star from Marissa's assigned Trinary, now forced them back. The surviving buses continued on, further and further from the Falcons with each second as the Wolves pressed the surviving Falcons back-gradually broke off the fight. It's not that easy, Eva thought while surveying her displays. Armor's a bit scored but no penetrating hits, integrity's yellow or better… oh no.
More enemy 'Mechs, this time with extra battle armor, were coming up. More to the point, another two Stars worth of Falcons were maneuvering through the adjacent district. They'd have a clean shot at the transports, with only the trainees and the old veteran Pack Leader to protect them. They're out to slaughter them. Children! What do I do? How can I…?
The realization came. Fear followed, instinctive fear running in icewater through her blood, telling her she'd likely die. She took in a breath. You're supposed to be dead anyway. Be brave. "Marissa! I'll get them!" She pushed her 'Mech into a sprint, driving the Paladin past a hundred kph as she darted around a barracks residence gutted by the fighting.
"Eva! What are you doing?!"
"What needs to be done," Eva said in a voice that shook only in her own mind, before switching to an open frequency. She thought of every bit of Clanner vocabulary she could remember before shouting into the mike. "Hey! Plucked Mongols! I'm talking to you! I'm Dame Eva Penton-Vallejo, I beat your bloodfoul Chinghis Khan and left her a crippled chunk of flesh! Any of you dezgra surat shit-for-brains want to take me on, come and try! I'm a worthier target than helpless sibko brats, or is that all you're good at shooting at, chalcas genetrash?!"
Eva wasn't sure how well it'd worked at first. Not until her systems shrieked warning of multiple weapon locks. She turned away from the transports, took a potshot at the lead Falcon 'Mech with the laser on her right arm, and pushed her Paladin into another run.
Not all of the Falcons followed, but at least a Star took off in pursuit, whether from her insults or just who she was, Eva would never know. Missiles, gauss slugs, laser beams and PPC shots, all descended around her, and her return fire was hardly enough to deter the pursuit. She twisted, turned, used every building she could for cover, and the Falcons left rubble in her wake from their efforts to hit her. LRMs rained down and blasted chunks of armor from her machine wherever they successfully struck. A PPC blast scourged the left shoulder of her 'Mech, and a Gauss slug claimed most of the armor over the right hip. Another Gyrfalcon got close enough to pepper her with laser shots before it took a PPC blast, which at this range was every bit as lethal as a Clan or Royal-grade ER PPC, leaving a hole in the machine's armor that her SRMs brutally exploited. The machine spewed smoke and flame before collapsing, unable to fire again.
Fire came from everywhere, not all at her. She pushed her 'Mech threw another group of Falcons, ones busy fighting a unit of Wolf-crewed tanks and 'Mechs. She took an opportunistic shot into the rear of a Falcon Jade Hawk that blasted through weak rear armor and partly damaged the engine, saving a reversing Demolisher in the process. The tank crew rewarded her by turning their turret slightly and unloading a full heavy autocannon burst into one of her pursuers, tearing the Eyrie's entire right flank apart. More weapons locks shrieked and fell away as she darted around another set of smoldering buildings and made for what passed for safety: the DropPort ahead. A DropPort that was outside of the Wolf enclave border, and supposedly, one the Falcons had said they would not cross. Eva wasn't so sure of that, but given her growing battle damage, it would be welcome to get out of the shooting, and she'd hopefully bought Marissa and her comrades the space needed to get the rest of the sibbies clear.
To make sure of that, and keep the pursuit going at least a bit longer, she turned to face her pursuers. She fired everything as quickly as she could without putting her machine straight over the shutdown line, a furious volley that mostly struck the evacuated buildings but beneficially tore the arm off a Jade Hawk trying to close the distance. Her original pursuers were down to just two, but the signatures behind told her that other Falcons had joined them. Keep going. Get over the border, dare them to cross, get repair if you can. She felt her 'Mech shudder as another gauss slug smashed into it, splitting through armor and tearing open one of her SRM launchers. She fired her laser at the offending machine, scored more armor from it, and continued her flight. The cargo rail line to the DropPort led straight for the cargo terminals and the transport hangars.
Her Paladin shook once more, a tremor from the force of a PPC blast that blew through her rear armor and blasted open a heat sink. A glance at her scanners gave her confirmation: the Falcons had crossed the enclave frontier. They were not giving up their pursuit. Get to the DropPads, maybe a ship there will be armed and combat ready, I can get some fire support. Just need to buy time! She fought to keep the Paladin up, managing it with difficulty as an LRM salvo descended. She felt the 'Mech's weight balance shift as armor was blown clear by the missile warheads breaking the plate, compromised as it was. She passed by a tarp-covered form, a LoaderMech, and adjacent shipping containers. I hope the workers evacuated.
Her systems screamed warning and her 'Mech's right leg froze up. Shit! Laser hit on the hip actuator! This time she couldn't quite keep the 'Mech standing, though she managed to prevent a complete fall by tipping it into the ferrocrete structure opposite the inactive LoaderMech. She turned, extended her right arm, and fired the limb's laser at the onrushing Falcon 'mech responsible for her damage. The shot struck armor and not much else; it was going to get another clean shot at her, and with all the damage Eva knew she was in trouble.
"'Mech power-up detected," the soft voice of the battle-computer echoed in her ears, and Eva turned to the icon on her displays. For a moment, as the tarpaulin was hauled away, she thought that — in an act of suicidal, desperate courage — the dockworkers were bringing their giant LoaderMechs into the fight. "Get clear!" she shouted into her mike. "You can't—"
The tarp fell clear. Eva gasped in instinctive surprise at what was, patently, not a LoaderMech. Not a LoaderMech at all.
It was huge. Not huge in the way a DropShip was, built at a scale the human mind couldn't easily encompass; the triple-legged thing was built at BattleMech scale, but bigger; Eva glanced at the mass estimate readout. A hundred and thirty-five tons? Her mind screamed at her a half-remembered detail in her memories, but her instinctive thoughts came first. That can't be right. It looked almost demonic; night-black, limbs and squat, disc-like body wreathed in paintings of fire and bone, exemplified by the laughing, flame-wrapped death's-head encompassing the cockpit.
Her machine's warbook couldn't identify it either, but it was showing up something similar. A prototype, from a decade ago. Poseidon PSD-V2. Class: Superheavy. Not the same, but maybe a relative.
But… that was supposed to be a Republic design, her memory cried out. How did it…?
Her systems flagged the behemoth in blue on her HUD display. The IFF code was reading "Friendly". It proved unnecessary as the machine made its allegiance clear in a stupendous display of firepower. The Falcon 'Mech aiming at her died in seconds, coming apart under the hammer blows of twin heavy particle cannon and a tidal wave of Streak-guided armor-cracking short range missiles.
"'Mech power-up detected," her machine said once more, and a short distance away, a sibling of the monster 'Mech arose from under a tarp; similar black-and-bone color scheme but without flames, its weapon armatures a clawed manipulator arm and a massive gauss rifle assembly. Yet more blue indicators came alive on her proximity sensors, reflecting multiple startups of 'Mechs, fusion-powered vehicles, and battle armor suits.
"Dame Evangeline, a shame to meet you again in these circumstances." The voice that came over the comm-link scratched at her mind with familiarity. It was someone she'd briefly met on Timkovichi, one of the many there who'd congratulated her on beating Chistu. She tried to recall the name, but it proved unnecessary. "Brigadier Huyten here, Republic Armed Forces. Fall back through the cargo terminals, we've got an MFB deployed and ready on the other side and you'll want to be in your best for when more Falcons turn up. The Ares can hold things going here."
"Acknowledged," she answered, not quite believing what she was seeing as the two superheavy Ares 'Mechs and their arriving supports started unleashing Hell itself on her pursuers. Huyten's OmniMech was among them, though it took her a moment to recognize it; the Doloire wasn't wearing the Lucky Stars' midnight blue with swatches of stars across shoulders and lower limbs anymore. Now, it wore gold-trimmed white, a new insignia emblazoned across one side of its torso. The Terran globe, wreathed in stars and wrapped around by twin scrolls; one bearing a motto, Ad Securitas, Per Unitas. The other proclaiming allegiance to anyone who looked at it.
Republic of the Sphere.
More hostile-coding icons reminded her that this wasn't over by a long shot. Better fall back and get some field repairs, because this fight isn't over.
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====Conversation with irate Falcon====
City of Old Connaught
Arc Royal, Lyran Commonwealth
The live feed from Brigadier Huyten's people confirmed the initial reports. Evan considered it, taking the opportunity to shoot a nasty glare at Major Aria Sanderlin, in full Republic uniform and with two Kell Hounds infanteers standing close by. Not under arrest - not quite - but not at liberty either. That led to another sharp look at the verigraph laid out on a nearby console. That was the kind of complication that he did not need right now. Still, there was no question of its legality; the thumbprint accompanying In my name, and by my command, Jonah Levin, Exarch was enough for that. Next time I see Huyten, I'm either going to congratulate him for his balls, or boot him squarely in them. Maybe both.
"We have anything yet?" Evan asked Stefanidis. The Arcadian shook his head, continuing to watch the Black Box's inactive printer. ****** Blackout.
"Colonel Brahe's moving towards the enclave." Nadia Allard glanced up; with Brahe in the field, Nadia was now running things at his side. Evan fervently wished he was out there too and Martin was in here having to make these calls. "The Hounds will join Huyten and engage on your order."
"Neg." The voice of saKhan Shaw had slight electronic distortion, more from the interference of the Falcons' attacks on Wolf communications than usual electronics difficulty. She shook her head fiercely. "It is the excuse Roshak is waiting for. He will annihilate Old Connaught and many other cities, that I am sure of."
"******, Miriam, we both know the lying bastard's going to come after us as soon as he's finished with you," Evan snapped. "Far as I'm concerned, we're in this either way, and I'm sure as hell not gonna leave you out to dry."
"You must do as honor dictates, of course, my friend." Shaw's expression softened a little, almost smiling. "And I know better than to try and stop you. But my warriors and I can handle the Falcons. If you must get involved, then look to our civilians and sibkos. Even if we fall, their survival means the Clan can rebuild. We have done so before. And now," she finished, glancing at something off-screen, "I must go. I am about to become quite busy, I think."
"Dammit, Miriam, don't do anything stupid," Evan protested, but Shaw had evidently muted the line and was already turning her attention to other matters. A nod at a comm-tech returned her to a small corner icon on his holotank, bringing his view back to the map of the enclave and its surroundings. "Put that bastard Roshak on," he ground out, in a tone that could've chewed through 'Mech armor. He glanced towards Stefanidis and tried to will that damn black box to come alive, but it did not answer that silent demand.
More than a minute passed before the likeness of Roshak once more loomed on the holotank. Evan didn't give the bastard a chance to speak. "Your boys just crossed out of Wolf City, so. You got one last chance to get the hell off my world before I hit you with everything I've got."
Had he been dealing with another kind of Clanner, all sorts of excuses might have come. Roshak merely sneered. <<"I will deal with any warriors who overreached later, but for now, I have bandits to finish slaying. You know the price of interference.">>
"Way I figure it, you're gonna try that anyway; I've got nothing to lose, boy!" Evan shot back. "Besides which you know damn well that if you do, the Arcadians're gonna be after your head; and not even you're stupid enough to think you can take them."
<<"Will they? They are fully engaged with the other Wolves, and we know their strength for this war is limited. Aff, we know much of how little strength they can direct at us, and that merely holding the anomaly is taking up one of their precious battleships. I do not fear any strike by the Arcadians for some time, Kell. And you and yours would be dead either way. You have nothing that can truly stop my Pride and her guns. Interfere and you will face them.">> Roshak grinned. <<"Though I may yet spare your curs if you were willing to give me suitable isorla. Atocongo, perhaps, would be suitable. Or Arc-Royal itself. It will be ours at some point, anyway, but I may be persuaded to let your pets live as bondsmen…">>
By that point a gentle whirring sound came from across the room, too low for Roshak to hear over the line. Evan glanced through the holographic image of Roshak and to the table where Colonel Stefanidis was looking over a fresh printout. The Arcadian officer glanced Evan's way. There was a smile on his face when he nodded once.
Evan nodded back. Roshak stopped mid-sentence, but before he could ask anything, Evan made the tradition throat-cutting gesture. The commtech promptly obeyed. Stew on that, Roshak. What I'd give to be a fly on the wall of your command center…
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====Shifting Focus====
CJF Turkina's Pride
In system, Arc-Royal
Evan would have been sorely disappointed at the lack of fury from Isaac Roshak on being so abruptly ignored. 
In truth, he'd already put the Kell Hounds from his mind, concentrating instead on the gun-camera footage coming in from the lead elements of the Ninth Talon. The seconds of radio signal delay caused some occasional interruption, given the sheer amount of data being broadcast to and from the planetside troops, and all the incoming holo-images were shot through with the distortion common to battlefield imagery but there was clarity enough to see the facts. New, unknown BattleMechs and battlesuit types, wearing the colors and insignia of the Republic, alongside others that he remembered from Stephanie Chistu's abortive strike on Timkovichi, as the mercenary "Lucky Stars". And not just any Republic troops, he thought, feeling a unfamiliar chilling flush — that, in another, Isaac would have called fear — at the two unknown giants ripping the Ninth's forward Stars apart, their very best; Stone's Brigade. Isaac forced down an instinctive this cannot be ruthlessly; it clearly was, and he had to deal with it.
So, there is a hidden way through their unbreakable shield, their 'Fortress Republic'. We must know it. Compared to that, even the presence of the Arcadian freebirth who claimed the kill on the Chinghis Khan, the one who had so narrowly avoided her rightful death at his hands on Timkovichi, was almost inconsequential.
Together, these facts made his course unalterable.
"Shift the Twelfth Talon and any elements of the Velites and Dragoons that can be spared to support the 9th," he ordered. "I want captives from those Republic forces, and I will personally endorse the Bloodname nomination of the warrior to slay the freebirth who besmirched the Chinggis Khan." The secret path through the Wall will be known to few, and difficult to extract. But the Watch is thorough, and Spheroids are weak-willed when put to the test.
"My Khan! Emergence signatures at the solar L1 point!"
The announcement drew surprise from Isaac. Who would use such a point? Why? "Show me!"
The Pride and her assorted escorts and supporting ships all shared networked camera drones and hull-mounted scanners. Together these allowed for magnification just sufficient to show the distant patterns of ghostly blue fireflies heralding an incoming jump. 
"Founders' blood," swore the sensor tech. "This is the most massive signature I've ever seen."
Bursts of faint blue light gave way to multiple JumpShips and DropShips, not too different from those in Isaac's forces. Within moments of the jump a number of the DropShips fell away, their fusion engines coming online. But Isaac's attention was primarily on the mammoth form at the apex of the formation. A number of smaller DropShips fell away from a WarShip of such obvious size it reminded Isaac of the hawk-bowed Arcadian WarShip he'd seen when burning away from Timkovichi. The weapons mounts were even more plentiful. This vessel was visibly larger than that Arcadian ship, so large he pondered that even the famed Leviathan of the Bears would not reach its size.
On its bow was no hawk, however, but rather, a silver-gray sheened wolf's head with the right eye socket closed under a visible scarline, its teeth curled into a ferocious snarl.
Others from beyond the anomaly! Arcadians… no, the Sea Foxes' data was clear. But if not them…?!
As the seconds became a minute, then two, Star Admiral Binetti's went to work preparing for a naval action. The radio chatter grew in intensity and confusion as multiple signals were registered, and Binetti hotly demanded they be identified. Isaac listened in quiet fury as channel after channel proved to be drowned out. Over the speakers, there was the steady, ominous beating of war drums.
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====Moral Boost====
Salome Ward Kell Memorial DropPort
City of Old Connaught
Eva's battle-scarred Paladin now stood in the midst of mobile gantries and their affixed vehicles, with half a dozen figures swarming over the OmniMech. She knew better than to openly call Huyten's MechTechs and insist on a status update; his people were clearly worth their money, and already her systems confirmed most of her ruined armor plate was at least patched, if not completely replaced with fresh slabs. One Tech was busy buried into her 'Mech's chest installing a new heat sink and two more were on the light gantry platform fitting a bundle of myomer to her new hip actuator. They'll have me ready to go soon, Eva reminded herself. Then maybe I can get back to Marissa and her warriors. I don't want to lose her… not like this. She tried not to think of that all-too-likely prospect.
"We're almost done, Lieutenant." She couldn't place the accent of the Techs' crew chief, but she was getting used to that. "Watch your left side; no time to fully replace the armour there, so it's still gonna be weaker, call it two-thirds normal strength. The hip actuator we can't replace, but you got lucky, it was mostly the myomer connectors that took the hit, and we managed to get our connectors working. Just don't push it too hard before you get a proper replacement from your stocks."
"Hopefully the Falcons will let me," she replied. Almost there. Almost.
After several seconds Eva noted something was up with her comms. While the tight-beam connections she had with the Republic forces' MFB and command network showed no issues, regular frequencies were going active one by one. Someone was transmitting on a broad range, drowning out most of the possible bands. Only those frequencies used by the Wolves and Kell Hounds were being spared.
"Lieutenant, Huyten here. We've got new signatures in system, according to Kell Command, but why the hell are they blanketing all the comms?"
A suspicion arose in Eva's mind. She held her finger over the scanner, jumping between frequencies, hearing a variety of choral chants and drum rhythms until a familiar drum beat and words reached her ears. The words themselves were not in English, but she remembered what they meant as a rumbling, accented baritone voice had translated to a curious little girl fifteen years before.
Lo, there do I see my father.
Lo, there do I see my mother,
And my sisters, and my brothers.
Lo, there do I see the line of my people,
Back to the beginning—
Eva felt her heart soar in elation at what they meant. "They made it!" she shouted.
"Who?" Huyten asked, or rather, demanded.
"It's the Einherjar!" she replied. "Rasalhagues here!"
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EMCOTS-2 18