TOW54

Chapter 54 - The Other War
Tathis
Kerensky Cluster
June 25th, 3062
Greypeak like many other Enclaves on Tathis and other hostile homeworlds was a 'mushroom habitat' with a ferroglaz dome spanning what was effectively a pit mine to protect the inhabitants. Massive fans vented smog from the top floors while fresh air pulled in from outside was filtered and warmed by the refinery complex and nuclear fission reactor powering it. The once backwater had doubled in population and quadrupled in production over the past two years but only just enough to keep up with increasing demand after the Jade Falcons kicked the allied Steel Vipers out of the Inner Sphere.
A Desperado (Thug IIC) stood outside within the orange zone where vented air increased the local temperature, a 'heat island' in this twilight realm. Within it Star Colonel Seth Irons waited for confirmation of his heading. A large RADAR contact had been picked up by one of their remote stations put in place to monitor the weather but additional sensors were added to give them advance warning should Coyotes or Bandits try to attack.
His formation, the 983rd Adder Sentinels, were still being rebuilt after almost being destroyed by the Coyotes prior to his assignment. They were tainted by political affiliation with 'Starkiller' whose terms of exile to this dreadful world forced him to accept the dregs of the Warrior Caste. Just because they started out low didn't mean they had to remain so. However, for each 'reformed' warrior and 'reforged' machine poached another class of rejects arrived with broken machines. Seth was thus forced to rebuild forever like some Sisyphean task with full knowledge that he would never benefit from it or rise from his post no matter how much he did.
He set off westerly followed by the his Star. Light machines piloted by inferior Warriors who had an Assault mech piloted by an experienced Mechwarrior to back them up. Three lighter machines raced ahead while the Mandrill, a relic long kept at the bottom of a Brian Cache that looked every bit the part piloted by Zoe, his greenest pilot, kept pace with the larger Desperado.
Their running lights were the only thing visible on the wind scoured and temporarily benighted landscape beyond the enclave. While it was not as large a concern for the smaller mechs his own had to watch its step. The Desperado easily crushed the tuff, ashy rock held together by ice until it compressed into a soft mineral rich sedimentary stone.
“Wonder if someone did not heed the flight notice, Colonel.”
“Well they must have been desperate then, that grit will tear up any intake. Already the techs are changing the filters every four hours just to make sure we do not choke on it. Its never been this bad and I was here for my whole Sibko time.”
Scouring winds stripped the Battlemechs to bare metal just as they tore away lesser stone from old volcanoes forming plugs, cores of ancient volcanoes, which dotted the otherwise eroded landscape like a petrified forest made of frozen fire.
“You have to take a look at this, Colonel Irons.”
Seth and Zoe approached through the black blizzard to see the wedge shape of a Fury -Class aerodyne Dropship which had attempted an emergency landing on the wrong stretch of ground. Ten of its nearly thirty meter height was below ground and its wings had been ripped off during initial approach from the North. The fuselage was canted but the eroded emblem of Clan Ice Hellion could just barely be discerned under the bright lightning arcing between ash clouds which was only growing more frequent.
“I thought the Hellions withdrew from their Enclaves on world?”
“They did, at least the ones we know about. Curiously this is the old symbol not Drake's new one.” 
Khan Xander Drake had been one of the big winners during the Wars of Possession following the Great Refusal. His ascension had revitalized the Hellions, one of the weakest Clans, by association with peer (Fire Mandrill and Cloud Cobra) or superior Clans (Jade Falcon and Snow Raven). Khan Marthe Pryde 'contracted' his touman fostering a deep enmity with the Steel Vipers who had the tides turn on them in the Homeworlds and Occupation Zones simultaneously during what was called 'The Hegira War'. 
Despite receiving a large prize from the Falcons his lightweight Touman had paid a steep price. As pressure increased from the Adders & Hellion territorial gains were fading as fast as his ambitions. The Clan was consolidating by transferring Enclaves to slightly stronger powers more capable of holding Snakes at bay.
“No sign of life Colonel.”
The Desperado took a position atop one of the many small volcanic plugs yet to be turned to dust from the scouring winds. “This was not a survivable crash. We are not equipped to deal with this kind of wreckage. A salvage crew will have to be deployed in order to determine what happened. However, it is too dangerous to do so now. We have less than thirty minutes before the plume circles again.” 
Seth's mech pointed to the low and narrow profiled Rattlesnake opening a channel to the scout, “Mark, deploy a beacon, this wreck will be buried under ash by the time we return.”
“Aff.” 
A small drum fell from the back of the machine landing gently in the tuff. It rolling for a short distance before righting itself, deploying anchors to hold it fast against unrelenting winds. Winds that were rapidly intensifying into a 'black blizzard' capable of damaging Battlemech armor or tearing apart an unprotected human with grains of abrasive traveling at more than 200 kilometers per hour.
“Lets move before these wings catch flight and crash into one of our mechs. Mine can take it yours not so much.”
“Roger that, Colonel Irons. Sentinels RTB”
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