Warrior: En Garde

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Andrew shoved the soldier away as two ISF ninjas stepped from cover to advance toward his position. Lying prone, he triggered two bursts. One jackknifed the first agent and dropped him where he stood. The second burst missed its target, but forced him back nonetheless.

  Through the explosions of gunfire and the whine of ricocheting bullets, a voice full of panic rang out clearly. "Tigers, pull back!"

  Andrew heard the call to retreat. He tried to scramble to his feet, but the dying man clung to him and trapped his legs. Andrew kicked his mortally wounded companion savagely, but the man would not let go. "Damn you! Don't make me die with you!"

  Andrew looked up and saw a satchel full of explosives arcing through the air in pitifully slow motion. Is this how it all ends? He kicked hard again. He freed one foot, but the dying man had managed to fling himself onto the other leg and it was trapped beneath his body. His dead weight knocked Andrew down.

  As he fell, Andrew aimed his autorifle down the corridor of the ISF ninjas. He squeezed the trigger tightly and watched as smoking shells geysered from the chamber. As the world exploded around him, one thought filled Andrew's mind. I love you, Misha.

  Melissa felt the tremor and her heart skipped a beat. Clovis glanced over at one screen, then punched information into the computer. Before he hit the "Enter" key, he turned to her.

  "Explosion, Echo level. I'm sorry."

  As he punched a key, the Tiger icons vanished without a trace.

  48

  Pacifica (Chara III)

  Isle of Skye, Lyran Commonwealth

  25 May 3027

  Sho-sa Akiie Kamekura did not even try to suppress a smile as his Panther came within visual distance of the Kell Hound complex. The fires of the burning barracks illuminated the whole area and seemed to hold Pacifica's dark clouds at bay. Long, dark shadows twisted and snapped like flags in a windstorm while the flames raged uncontrolled. The absence of bodies around the building confirmed in Kamekura's mind that none of the jump infantry had survived the surprise attack.

  His smile grew as Chu-i Oguchi, in the forward position with Ichi lance, radioed a message to him. "Sumimasen, Sho-sa. " The Lieutenant failed to keep the excitement from his voice. "There is a fire in the 'Mech bay. Request permission to investigate."

  Kamekura nodded slowly. "Hai." He watched as Oguchi led his lance of four Panthers across the ferrocrete to the large hangar doors of the Kell Hound 'Mech bay. Even at this distance, he could see the flames through the open doors. He signaled Chu-i Ujisato Gamo to take M lance over to the west side of the building, while he would lead San lance in behind Oguchi. "Be sure to use visual scanners," Kamekura warned. "The fire will render infrared inoperable, and magscan is useless with the 'Mech bay so full of equipment."

  Oguchi's Panther reached the 'Mech bay doors, while his personnel positioned themselves to cover him. Reaching with the Panther's free left hand, the Chu-i grasped one edge of a 'Mech bay door and slid it open.

  His triumphant cry melted into a wail of terror. A Marauder stepped into the breech and shoved both its lobster-claw appendages into the Panther's chest. Twin forks of PPC lightning wrapped the Panther in a cocoon of turquoise fire. It lifted the Panther like a leaf trapped by a dust devil, then contemptuously dumped the broken 'Mech onto the ferrocrete.

  Explosions shredded the bay doors, blasting great holes into them, and finally tearing them from their overhead runners. The doors tottered like playing cards balanced on their edges, then fell outward as Panthers scrambled to escape. One's jump jets ignited, but the pilot miscalculated his trajectory. That Panther ended up smashing into the door it had sought to avoid. Decapitated by the collision, the 'Mech's torso spun off wildly into the night.

  Sho-sa Akiie Kamekura gasped for breath. Flanking the Marauder among the flames, the entire Kell Hound 'Mech company stood ready for battle. Kamekura froze for an instant, then issued an order that tasted like ashes in his mouth. "All Panthers, withdraw."

  * * *

  From his position on the edge of the 'Mech bay, Daniel Allard saw the Command Lance pull back, but he noticed remnants of the Ichi lance pressed in to attack. One Panther raised its PPC and triggered a burst of azure energy that struck Brand's Commando full in the chest. The blue fire melted armor and sparks flew from within the Commando's chest, but Lieutenant Brand neither panicked nor retreated.

  Dan opened his mouth and cleared a direct line to the Commando. "Austin, status, immediately."

  "Fine, sir." A low growl rumbled through the radio link. "Be better in a minute."

  The Commando launched two flights of SRMs back at the Panther. Two missiles blasted into the Panther's head, peeling off armor and shattering one of the 'Mech's two viewports. The other missiles peppered the left side of the Panther's torso. Their blasts flayed the armor from the 'Mech's body, leaving its skeleton exposed. Brand brought the Commando's left arm up and fired the laser at the Panther. The corruscating beam sizzled as it scalped the enemy 'Mech and left its head utterly without armor.

  Eddie Baker's awkward and ungainly Jenner traded shots with

  Ichi Lance's other unmolested Panther. The Panther's PPC shot missed the birdlike 'Mech as the Jenner stepped out and away from the 'Mech bay. The Panther's flight of SRMs scattered explosions across the Jenner's hull, but did little more than dent armor.

  The Jenner pilot then spun his 'Mech about to face the Panther head-on. All four medium lasers flashed coherent light at the ene-my machine. Two bracketed the Kurita 'Mech, slicing armor from the left and right arms. The other two stabbed into the 'Mech's torso. They melted great canals across the 'Mech's chest and splashed hot ceramic armor to the ferrocrete. The Jenner's flight of four SRMs blasted the Panther, with the missile hitting the humanoid 'Mech above the heart doing the most damage. There was a muffled explosion from within the Panther's chest, and then the shuddering 'Mech stumbled and fell to the ground.

  Off to Dan's left, by the far side of the 'Mech bay, Ni Lance had started to withdraw, but a murderous hail of LRMs from Lieutenant Fitzhugh's Catapult cut short the flight of one 'Mech. Half the LRMs chopped off the Panther's legs at the knees and spun the 'Mech to the ground, while the second flight of fifteen opened the Panther's back. Another missile exploded in the Panther's SRM magazine, detonating the store of missiles and ripping the 'Mech into a fiery shower of shrapnel.

  Mary Lasker's Trebuchet also engulfed a fleeing Panther in a deadly rain. Dan shivered as her LRMs hung a collar of fire around the 'Mech's shoulders, and consumed its head in a sheet of golden flame. As the fire boiled upward into an angry mushroom cloud of black smoke and red flashes, the headless Panther stumbled blindly into the night.

  Dan jetted the Valkyrie from the 'Mech bay, targeting the Panther that had shot Brand's Commando. With the gold crosshairs of his missile targeting system on the Panther's open left flank, he stabbed the launch button with the thumb of his left hand. "Flight away!"

  The ten LRMs spiraled directly in on target, their explosions eating through the Panther's chest like a cancer. They shredded armor surrounding the fusion engine and crushed the gyro. Short-circuited relays fired the Panther's jump jets. The 'Mech rose one hundred meters on an ion cloud, then exploded and released the fusion engine's artificial sun to dispel Pacifica's dark night.

  Dan dropped his jaw and opened a radio link to Salome Ward. "They're running, Major. Time to close the back door."

  "Roger." Her voice dropped a dozen degrees. "O'Cieran, take them."

  O'Cieran, hidden with his men in the jungle behind the Panthers, silently acknowledged the command. He sighted his inferno launcher on the back of Kamekura's Panther. "This one's for you, Patrick," he breathed, then pulled the trigger and filled the night with burning 'Mechs.

  * * *

  The dawn's light, seeping through a narrow rift in the clouds, brought some warmth to the nightmare scene of broken 'Mechs and charred buildings. Dan shuddered. Just because we don't see any more of them doesn't mean they aren't out there. If not for
that damned prank.. .

  He pointed the Valkyrie's left hand at the Overlord Class Drop-Ship, the Lugh. "Jackson, all spare parts for the non-jumpers go in the Lugh. Everything for the jumpers goes in the Nuada Arget-lan. Standard Procedure for combat jumps."

  The Tech waved his hands, then turned to direct his astechs. Dan looked over at the Union Class DropShip, the Nuada Arget-lan, and opened a radio frequency to it. "What's the word, Major?"

  Frustration threaded Salome's voice. "Janos confirmed the appearance of a JumpShip at the nadir point. He's bringing the Cu in, so we'll only need six hours to reach it. He'll keep Pacifica between their incoming DropShips and his pirate point so we won't have interference. He says he'll be ready to jump as soon as we hook up."

  "Good." Dan squinted against the sting of sweat. "What about loading some of these Panthers on board? Has O'Brien figured out what that will do to the Lugh's flight profile?"

  "Hang on." Dan heard Salome relaying his question to the Lugh's flight officer. "He says we can pack two or three of them. I'd suggest we take three of the ones O'Cieran burned. No real damage to them."

  "Roger." Dan looked up and spotted Brand, Lang, and Baker helping to load some equipment cases into the Nuada. "I'll get my lance moving three Panthers. What's the latest on Patrick?"

  "Fitzpatrick's flyboys have the Mac halfway to the Cu with no interference. Patrick's lost blood, but the doctor has reinflated the lung. Says the Colonel will be fine if he'll rest."

  "Best news I've had all day." Dan closed the link and flicked on his external speakers. "Lieutenant Brand, take your lance-mates and see if you can march three of the burned Panthers into the Nuada." He glanced at the clock ticking down on the right side of his viewplate. "Hurry it up, though. We've only got two hours before we have to blast off this rock."

  * * *

  Choking back his nausea, Dan pulled himself through the Jump-Ship right behind Salome. He pushed off hard from the bulkhead and floated up through the corridor running along the K-F drive. Red signs warning of the liquid helium tanks surrounding the jump drives flashed as he floated past with Cat and Salome toward the Cucamulus's bridge. God, I hate zero-gravity, he thought testily.

  Deep in the heart of the Cucamulus, the three MechWarriors floated into the ship's Command Center. Instruments and tactical readouts filled the dark, spherical walls with flickering monitor screens and flashing data displays. Work stations occupied every centimeter of the circular walls, with crew members laboring at almost every one of them. The MechWarriors drifted in through a hatch in the spherical roof and grabbed onto the hatch's edge just long enough to cancel their freefall.

  Dan smiled. Every time I come into this place, I feel as though I've been shrunk and dropped into the middle of a computer.

  Floating exactly in the center of the room, Captain Janos Van-dermeer sat in his command chair. Supported by nothing but the invisible lines of magnetic fields, the chair spun and swirled as he pressed buttons on the two arms. At their entry, a light flashed at the Captain's right hand, and the chair turned him around.

  Dan carefully joined Salome and Cat in saluting. "Permission to come aboard."

  "Granted." Vandermeer smiled warmly, then frowned and pointed to a tactical display of the Chara system. A dotted yellow line showed the trajectory of the Kurita DropShips coming in toward Pacifica. The line split off and slowly curved toward where the Cucamulus glowed on the chart like a green arrow.

  "We have company, my friends. You must have made someone very angry."

  Dan nodded. "That we did."

  Behind him, Lieutenant Brand entered the command center and drifted over to a scanner station beside the one where Cat had settled in. Brand adjusted the controls and punched information into the computer. He pulled back and whispered something to Cat. The big, black man nodded silently, then Brand turned.

  He frowned. "I make it eight Slayers coming in hot."

  Vandermeer turned his chair. "Branson, does that match your estimate?"

  The petite, raven-haired scantech turned and nodded. "On the mark, sir. ETA, two hours."

  Vandermeer steepled his fingers. "Shall we scramble your fighters, or . . ."

  Salome shook her head vehemently. "Negative on the fighters. O'Cieran recovered information from the Panther base camp that indicated the operation was meant to destroy the Kell Hounds. That's the only purpose for it. It would have worked, too, if the Panther Sho-sa hadn't been early off the mark."

  Vandermeer nodded at Dan. "The day you spared for Jones is what surprised them?"

  Dan nodded. "Better them than us." He watched the line depicting the fighters grow closer. "You're planning to jump out before they get here, aren't you?"

  The Captain nodded, then turned his glance up at Salome. "If they intend to destroy you, wouldn't it be safe to assume that they've made plans against our escape? They could easily have covered all the Steiner worlds within range."

  Salome nodded slowly. "That's a fair assumption. What do you have in mind, you old fox?"

  Vandermeer ran a hand over his head, patting the white hair back into place. "Just a little trick, my dear, to make them think we misjumped." His chair spun quickly, then locked in, facing away and down from Salome and Dan.

  "Mr. Harker, load Jump Plan Four into the computer. Jump countdown of 10 on my mark." He spun the chair again and shouted at a large blond man hunched over a console. "Mr. Garrison, jettison the spare helium, the oxygen in Tank 3, and the debris from the agro-domes."

  "Aye, sir."

  Dan found Vandermeer smiling at him again. "Mark, Mr. Harker." The Captain opened his hands like a conjurer innocently suggesting he had nothing up his sleeves. "In ten seconds, they will believe the Kell Hounds are no more."

  Dan smiled. "The helium, oxygen, and debris will make them think that the ship destroyed itself?"

  Vandermeer nodded enthusiastically.

  Salome frowned. "But won't the Kurita ships waiting at other stars—"

  The jump rippled and melted all reality. The muted lights within the command center flared to life with the intensity of strobes. The colors melted together into a kaleidoscopic vortex of hue and abnormal shapes. Dan's stomach roiled in sympathy with the visual display, but something in Salome's half-asked question worried him more than the physical discomfort.

  "—see us arriving and know we're still alive?" she said, a moment later.

  Vandermeer laughed aloud. "They would, but we've not jumped into a Steiner system." He opened his hands broadly. "Welcome, my friends, to Kurita space!"

  49

  Styx

  Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine

  25 May 3027

  With an encouraging nod from Yorinaga Kurita, Sho-sa Tarukito Niiro strode to the forefront of the amphitheatre-style briefing room aboard the Shod, an Overlord Class DropShip. Clad only in a cooling vest, shorts, and headband, he felt slightly self-conscious, but all the others gathered in the room were similarly attired. The Sho-sa cleared his throat as the lights dimmed and the holographic representation of the Styx base rose in intensity.

  "This, as you all know, is the planetoid toward which we are currently en route." He flicked a laser pointer to life and touched its white dome to the uppermost deck. "As usual, we have designated the decks according to the military alphabet: Ishi, Roji, Hata, Torii, Chi, and Wa. The ISF warriors have entered the base through the galley on Roji level and the small docking bay on Chi level. They have met stiff resistance on these levels, but they are pushing the defenders back."

  Tarukito flicked the pointer at a light-sensitive panel on the wall. In an instant, the computer-generated projection of the Styx base expanded. The decks above and beiow Torii and Chi levels evaporated. Those levels expanded to take up the space used by the previous model and more. When the structure ceased its growth, the computer added a vector-graphic image of the Bifrost and the Silver Eagle in their locations within the ship bay.

  Tarukito's pointer caressed the Silver Eagle.
"It is believed that the person we seek will be aboard the Silver Eagle. The vessel has no weaponry and should surrender without a fight. The company that owns it, Monopole, is being informed by ComStar that the ship will be impounded until its illegal jump into the Combine can be explained."

  He shifted the pointer's spotlight to the base command center on Torii deck. "This is the central office on the base. As you can see from the diagram, it overlooks the hangar area. The ISF troops at the base believe that defense of the planetoid is being coordinated from that point."

  The pointer flicked to the smaller docking bay on the far side of Styx. "The ISF troops who entered through this bay on Chi level are assigned to neutralize the command center. Those coming down from Roji level expect to isolate the Silver Eagle and to extract the prisoner."

  Tarukito nodded sagely as rough laughter rumbled from the shadowed audience. "I know you intend no disrespect to our brethren in the ISF, but you will agree that neutralization of such a large base is not a matter to be left to a handful of jump troopers."

  Tarukito turned again to the diagram and used the pointer to summon back the first model. "Our objective is to capture the Silver Eagle, not just a single person. Toward this end, we will drop toward the hangar opening." Indicating a location on the planetoid's surface just north of the hangar mouth, Tarukito added, "The Shori will land here and wait for our return. Hai, Tai-i, what is your question?"

  The pointer's white dot quivered on the cooling vest that Tai-i Kagetora Asai wore. "Sumimasen, Tarukito-san. I wish to know the estimates of the 'Mech strength we will face." No fear rang through the warrior's words; his question was merely a request for relevent information.