Grave Covenant

by Michael A. Stackpole

  "Good point." Victor glanced over at the Precentor Martial. "If we roll the First Genyosha, First St. Ives Lancers, my Tenth Lyran Guards, and your 79th Division together, we should be able to crush them."

  "No, Victor, that won't work."

  Victor frowned at Phelan. "What do you mean? Hohiro, Kai, and I have trained together for just this sort of operation, and the 79th Division is one of ComStar's best. We're talking a dream-team of units."

  "Yes, but we don't need a dream here—it's got to be a nightmare." An edge crept into Phelan's voice. "We want it to be Lincoln Osis' nightmare."

  The Precentor Martial brought his head up. "What do you propose, Khan Kell?"

  "Give Labrea to me."

  "What?" Victor stared at his cousin. "All of our assaults are combined-unit operations. They all go off under the Star League flag. That's part of proving our legitimacy and our right to exist."

  "I know that, and we will go in under a Star League banner, but hear me out." Phelan leaned heavily on the table. "First, Osis' esteem is tied up with the Sixth Dragoons. If Inner Sphere units pound it, he'll feel honor-bound to pull out the stops to avenge them and regain his honor. If I smash them—and I will—he'll be angry with me, angry with Ulric, angry with Vlad, and anyone else he can conceivably blame for my having hit his unit. Second, our going in under a Star League banner will really muddy the waters. If we hit hard enough, I'm sure we can capture the survivors. Then we release them and send them off to other garrison worlds, or at least let them communicate with other worlds. That way we get everyone questioning the legitimacy of their occupation."

  "Good reasons, but none that will not be served by your units going in combined with other units."

  "Then let me drop the final reason on you." Phelan's face became a mask of anger. "The Sixth Jaguar Dragoons will be one of the toughest units we face this side of Huntress. I can't defeat them without shedding blood. My people will die. I need that to prove to everyone that my warriors are truly part of the Inner Sphere. If any other unit is present and takes damage, it'll be said we used them as armor. And if the other unit stays completely out of the fight, the Wolves will be seen as selfish for wanting all the glory or stupid for not taking help in a tough fight. I won't have that. This is my chance to go nose up with a Clanner and deliver the message to him that we're here and they aren't going to be. I don't want anyone else in the way when I do that. We'll win this one for you, then we'll fight alongside you because, in the future, we'll have earned trust with our blood."

  Victor regarded his cousin dispassionately. "What will you take against them?"

  "Three Clusters: Fourth Wolf Guards Assault Cluster, First Wolf Legion Cluster, and First Wolf Strike Grenadiers. Only the first has the designation it had when we left—the others were created when we reorganized my forces on Arc-Royal. You will still have Second Legion and Second Strike Grenadiers available as reserve forces—right now they're attached to the Kell Hounds."

  "Those are good troops." Victor nodded. "Okay, Labrea is yours."

  "Really?"

  The surprise in Phelan's voice brought a smile to Victor's face. "You thought I would refuse?"

  "Well, ah, yes." Phelan straightened up. "When you started to put yourself into the mix for the assault, I assumed ..."

  "You assumed I wanted all the glory."

  "You're too much a leopard to change your spots now, Victor."

  "I think you'll find, Phelan, that I've got my head screwed on a bit tighter." Victor rubbed at the scar on his chest. "My job is to do the most with the least number of casualties. You're right about the trust factor concerning your troops and I was blind to it. No more. Go to Labrea. Take the Sixth Jaguar Dragoons apart, then get back here. There will be plenty of work for you and your troops in the future."

  33

  Colodney River Valley

  Colodney, Labrea

  Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone

  29 June 3059

  They come not like Smoke Jaguars to fight a war, but like lambs to a slaughter. From the Highland Rim Phelan could see the whole of the Colodney River Valley, even on down to where the river joined the Boreal Sea and the city of Colodney had sprouted. During the invasion the Fifth Jaguar Regulars had chosen the gently rolling plains as the place to destroy the Third Royal Labrean Defense Regiment—two armored battalions desperately interposing themselves between a Clan Trinary and the city that was their home. The planet's verdant undergrowth had completely erased the scars from that earlier battle, though his sensors proved that vine-covered hillocks were actually twisted metal hulks that had once been tanks.

  And so the Jags return here to die. The whole of the Sixth Jaguar Dragoons Cluster had moved into the valley. They had arrayed themselves in Trinaries—three stars of five 'Mechs each—as if Phelan would devote one of his Clusters to destroying each one. Such an expenditure of personnel and firepower would have been justified if the Dragoons had remained in defensive positions, dug in, but they had ventured forth from the valley's gently rolling hills, splashing through the river that ran through the center, taking up positions suited to bravado, not any sort of military savvy.

  Phelan keyed his radio to the challenge frequency established earlier when his troops had burned into the system. "This is Khan Phelan Kell, commander of this Star League expeditionary force. Star Colonel Logan Moon, your deployment makes no sense whatsoever. Why are you making this so easy for us?"

  Static crackled through the reply. "I have been chosen by ilKhan Lincoln Osis to lead this unit." Logan Moon's voice came through strong, but Phelan sensed that his words were spoken with a false confidence. "This unit was hand-picked to continue the glorious history of the Sixth Jaguar Dragoons."

  "And you will do this. The carnage here will repeat the folly of the Dinju Mountains."

  "So you say, false-Khan, but we have exchanged no shots, so this claim is hollow."

  "I cannot believe you so willingly embrace death, Moon."

  "I cannot believe you can conceive of a way that I can survive this encounter, Kell."

  Phelan felt a chill run down his spine. "Is there something you wish of me, Logan Moon? Do you want zellbringen? If we fight a duel, I will take your Dragoons as my isorla. You will become my chattel."

  "I can only speak for my Alpha Trinary, but this is acceptable."

  "And your other Trinary leaders are prepared to make the same agreement if they are defeated, quiaff!"

  "Aff."

  "And you know you will get no concessions from us if you win, quiaff?"

  Surprise shot through the Smoke Jaguar's voice. "You will not allow us to withdraw from this world?"

  "The only way you will leave this world is as victors, Wolves, or corpses; but this should be no surprise to you. As I burned insystem, I pledged everything I had to taking this world, and you pledged all to defending it. Has the Jaguar developed cold feet?"

  Resignation hung heavily on Moon's reply. "It was merely my wish to be able to return to Huntress to report your death."

  "If that is your goal, your wait could be very long." Phelan started his humanoid Gladiator Alpha working its way down toward the valley floor. "Unless you can shorten it."

  "I will do my best."

  Phelan switched over to his command frequency. "Ranna Kerensky, you will engage the leader of Bravo Trinary. You fight for possession of that Trinary." Glancing at his sensor data Phelan realized that the Jaguar third Trinary was made up of medium-sized 'Mechs. "Ragnar, you will fight for the Charlie Trinary."

  The three match-ups were close to even, with an advantage in armor going to the Jaguars in each case. Phelan faced a Daishi, which would eat him alive if he allowed Moon to outmaneuver him. Ranna, winner of Natasha Kerensky's Bloodright, pitted her bird-legged Masakari Charlie variant against a Turkina Bravo. If those two 'Mechs closed range, Ranna would be getting the worst of things. Ragnar matched up against the Jaguar Shadow Cat Alpha fairly well, and would be at his best if he closed quickly with his f
oe.

  The trio of Wolves came down the rim in line, but fanned out as they reached the valley floor. The Jaguar commanders brought their 'Mechs forward while the rest of their commands retreated. Though the six 'Mechs would be fighting one another, the potential for damage being taken by other 'Mechs in the area was pretty high. Just because a laser missed its intended target did not lessen its ability to melt armor or kill pilots.

  Phelan brought the challenge frequency on-line with his radio. "In the name of the Star League, I fight you, Star Colonel Logan Moon, for possession of your Trinary and this world of Labrea."

  "I, Star Colonel Logan Moon of the Smoke Jaguars, accept this challenge. Let all who witness this duel abide by its outcome until the stars have all burned away to nothing and mankind is but a memory."

  Phelan, bound into the command couch of his BattleMech by restraining straps, nodded. You have the soul of a poet, Logan Moon. I will kill you only if you force me to. It struck Phelan as odd, as he targeted the Daishi's low, bird-legged silhouette, that millennia before there had been entertainment holovids pitting human gladiators against low-slung velociraptors. As a fantasy, such a pairing of opposites would he diverting, but now it is very dangerous. His is the advantage, but that does not guarantee victory. His targeting dot pulsed and Phelan hit his triggers.

  The trio of large pulse lasers in the Gladiator's left arm filled the air with a blizzard of green energy darts. They blistered the armor over the Daishi's heart and bubbled it off both the 'Mech's left arm and left leg. The Daishi staggered a bit, but Moon kept the 'Mech on its feet and moving forward to close with Phelan.

  Moon fired back with everything he had that could hit at that range. One of the Daishi's large pulse lasers scattered green energy needles over the Gladiator's right flank, carving away half the armor. Another large pulse laser did similar damage to the armor over the Gladiator's midline. The third pulse laser and the left-arm Gauss rifle both missed their targets, saving Phelan's 'Mech from the Daishi's full fury.

  Phelan immediately started his 'Mech moving away to his right, which protected his flank and gave him a slightly better chance to hit the left side of Moon's Daishi. His maneuvering gave him an excellent view of the aftermath of Ranna's first exchange with the Turkina. The squat, bird-legged Smoke Jaguar 'Mech had gone down hard on its right side, though black smoke rose from a hole in the center of its torso. Phelan couldn't see any damage to Ranna's Masakari, which meant either that the Turkina pilot had missed her or that she'd taken everything on the left side of the 'Mech.

  Beyond her, Ragnar had closed to middling range with his foe. That left him vulnerable to the Shadow Cat's extended-range large lasers—a fact proved by both weapons slicing deeply into the armor on the Fenris' right arm and leg. That damage hardly slowed Ragnar down because his quartet of return shots all hit. The medium pulse lasers flayed the armor from both of the Shadow Cat's arms and started to pick away at the naked limbs' internal structures. One heat sink exploded in a cloud of yellow-green vapor. Despite the damage done to each of the smaller 'Mechs, their pilots managed to keep them upright and functional.

  With his maneuvering Phelan managed to keep his distance from the Daishi, but he knew that wouldn't last long. If he continued on his circular path, he'd run up onto some steep terrain that would slow him down and allow the Daishi to close. Once he gets close enough to use his short-range missiles, I'll be lost. Swiveling his 'Mech's torso to the right, Phelan targeted the Daishi and cut loose with everything.

  Two of the large pulse lasers peppered the Daishi's chest with fire, vaporizing yet more armor over its heart. The other green flight of darts chewed away at the armor on the 'Mech's right leg. The quartet of extended range medium lasers in the Gladiator's right arm flashed their ruby beams at the Daishi. Three of them liquefied all but the last of the armor on the 'Mech's left arm, while the last beam ate into the armor remaining on the Daishi's chest.

  "Stravag!" Phelan swore as a wave of heat roared into his cockpit. Firing all of his weapons had overwhelmed his 'Mech's heat-exchanger system, spiking the monitor up into the red zone. The 'Mech began to respond only sluggishly, which would allow the Daishi to make up some of the distance that separated them. I knew this was what would happen when I fired everything. Why couldn't he be fighting in something easier to kill, like a Kodiak? Why doesn 't Moon have the good grace to go down?

  Because he's a warrior, that's why. Phelan braced himself for the Daishi's return strike. Again the Gauss rifle's projectile whizzed past without doing damage, for which Phelan found himself profoundly thankful. As if to make up for that error, and with a precision that struck Phelan as being preternatural, one of Moon's large pulse lasers again hit the Gladiator's right flank. The beam burned away the last of the armor over that location. If he hits me there again, I'll be down. Hard.

  The other two pulse lasers hit and though they did not exploit the damage to the right flank, they still hurt the Gladiator. The second flight of energy darts scoured armor from the 'Mech's right arm. More significantly, the last one bored through the 'Mech's center torso armor and skewered the engine. More heat immediately flooded into Phelan's cockpit, and a gout of black smoke cut off his view of the battlefield for a moment.

  Phelan wrestled against gravity and managed to keep his 'Mech upright. He felt the behemoth slowly return to his control and continued to extend the range between it and the Daishi. Phelan began to grin, then that grin turned into a full-fledged smile. The smoke cleared in front of him and he saw that the Daishi had gone down. As he watched, Moon struggled to bring the big war machine back to its feet, but failed in his first attempt. The 'Mech crashed down to the ground again, chipping armor from the cockpit and chest. On the second attempt the 'Mech came all the way up, but the damage had clearly rattled the pilot.

  Even better, beyond the Daishi, Phelan saw his compatriots had fared well in their fights. The Turkina Ranna faced had regained its feet, but her attack drove it again to the greensward. The Turkina's fire eroded some of the armor on the Masakari's right arm, but in no way impaired its ability to wage war.

  The Shadow Cat shot two green beams at Ragnar's Fenris, but one missed high. The emerald beam that hit melted the last of the armor on the Fenris's right leg, leaving it unprotected, and worked a bit on the structural members and myomers it had exposed. Ragnar returned fire with four pulse lasers. The trio that hit did significant damage. One vaporized most the armor over the Shadow Cat's forward-jutting cockpit. The second burned the 'Mech's right arm completely away, exploding another heat sink and slagging the large laser built into the limb. The last scarlet storm of energy darts scorched the armor on the right side of the 'Mech's torso, leaving that half of its chest a blackened ruin.

  Time to put Moon and his 'Mech down. Because of his own problem with overheating, Phelan could only fire two of his pulse lasers. In a pitched battle that would have been disastrous, but in a duel it could be deadly if he made those two shots count. He took a moment more than he might have to make sure his cross hairs spitted the ragged gashes over the Daishi's heart, then thumbed the trigger.

  Both flights of verdant energy needles pulsed through the Jaguar 'Mech's torso armor, filling its chest with green fire. Smoke began to pour from the Daishi's chest. The big 'Mech wavered slightly, and Phelan guessed that his shots had damaged the gyro helping Moon keep the Daishi up and running. The BattleMech teetered and was obviously going down, but that did not stop Moon from firing back with his Gauss rifle.

  This time the Jaguar's Gauss rifle was right on target. The silver ball slammed into the Gladiator's left arm, shattering the armor into delicate ceramic fragments. The damage pared close to two-thirds of the armor from that limb, but it didn't concern Phelan overmuch as he watched the Daishi fall yet again. The fall flaked the last bit of armor from the 'Mech's left arm, which was good, but hardly a fatal wound. He's down, but that 'Mech's dangerous no matter how wounded it is.

  The Turkina fighting with Ranna got up from
the ground again, but Ranna did not give it much of a chance to get back into the fight. Her pulse laser missed wide, but the twin lightning bolts from her particle projection cannons drilled through the armor over the 'Mech's heart and exploded like a supernova. Structural members glowing white-hot rode vapor jets out of the blast and started little fires wherever they landed. A billowing black cloud with little tongues of fire licking at it began to billow out of the Turkina's chest. Another explosion splashed silver through the cloud for a second, marking the death of a jump jet.

  The Turkina's return strike came from the pair of large pulse lasers mounted in the 'Mech's left arm. Their spray of green bolts tore into the armor on the Masakari's torso center and right, but came nowhere near penetrating the virgin armor or stopping the OmniMech.

  The Shadow Cat fired the laser in its left arm at Ragnar's Fenris, but missed low. The undergrowth immediately caught fire, raising a curtain of smoke between the two battling 'Mech's, but the red darts from Ragnar's pulse lasers pierced it and effortlessly carved armor from both legs and the center torso area of the Shadow Cat. The Smoke Jaguar 'Mech remained up and circled to the right, doing its best to present Ragnar with undamaged armor to shoot at.

  For someone who is convinced he's going to die here, Moon has a lot of fight left in him. Phelan marveled as the Jaguar wrenched his dying Daishi back up onto its feet and sent it lumbering after him. Fortunately for Phelan, the hill that had slowed his maneuver now stopped Moon's pursuit for a second. The Daishi's large pulse lasers swiveled up and spat green energy at the Gladiator.

  Molten armor smoldered around his tracks as one storm of energy bolts scorched armor off the Gladiator. The other laser that hit similarly stripped armor from the 'Mech's right arm. The Gauss rifle's argent projectile pounded into the Gladiator's left leg, shivering armor plates from it.