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Ashes
Continuing the story from "Once More into the Breach"
by Ethan Jennings |
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Cato City, Liao
Liao Commonality
Capellan Confederation
July 14, 3219
Rain Jeffers blinked sweat out of her eyes. Her Fafnir assault BattleMech, recently acquired through a black market exchange with the Federated Suns, charged past a pair of Capellan heavies, a Lao Hu and a Cataphract. The Cataphract, which must have been at least two hundred years old, rotated to fire at her, missing wide with its large laser. Jeffers fired a shot from the heavy gauss rifle in the left side of the Fafnir's chest. The rail driven slug smashed through the light armor on the Cataphract's side, blasting open the 'Mech's ammunition bays. Jeffers touched off the autocannon rounds with a burst from her medium lasers, and the 'Mech was rocked by explosions that blew chunks from its midsection. The pilot ejected only moments before the cockpit was turned into a billowing inferno, and Jeffers turned her attention to the Lao Hu.
The Capellan BattleMech stalked forward, supported by an internal-combustion powered AgroMech with a 9cm rotary autocannon mounted on its right arm. Jeffers fired her right gauss rifle, missing it by a healthy margin. The Lao Hu fired its large pulse laser, tracking ruby darts of energy up the side of Jeffers' Fafnir, turning armor into pits of blackened slag. A pair of Streak-SRMs impacted on the Fafnir's chest, blasting off pieces of the 'Mech's metal protection in shards that skipped over the ground, digging little trenches.
"Major, we've secured the bridgehead, Alpha Company is starting across."
"Carry on, Lieutenant, I'm a little busy right now." She hit the Lao Hu-a glancing blow to the leg with both gauss rifles-blowing all the armor off its shin and exposing the pale myomer beneath. The AgroMech fired its autocannon, sending a short burst into Jeffers' shoulder, twisting the BattleMech around and making her next two shots go far off-target, pounding into the dirt. Jeffers pulled the 'Mech back around as the AgroMech continued firing, the rotary AC putting out hundreds of rounds in a matter of seconds. The storm of metal pounded into the Fafnir, knocking her aim off. Jeffers struggled to bring the crosshairs down over the AgroMech, firing as soon as she had the lock.
The impact of the gauss slugs knocked the AgroMech onto its back, its autocannon still firing into the air. Jeffers returned her attention to the Lao Hu as its large pulse laser pelted her rear with arrows of coherent light.
She sent a gauss round downrange, blasting armor shards from its arm.
"This is Red One calling Vanguard, Vanguard, come in."
"Dammit, leave me alone for a minute!" she shouted, spearing the Lao Hu with her lasers. The Capellan retreated behind a stand of buildings, quickly running away to rendezvous with some unseen ally. "What is it?"
"Alpha Company is across the river and moving into the city to support Bravo. The Capellans are giving us hell, ma'am, but the Third Battalion of the Fourth TRG is coming in from the west to support us. We'll be at your position in approximately five minutes."
"Take your time, Captain-" Her response was interrupted as a hurricane of autocannon shells blasted into her back. Jeffers cursed violently, running her 'Mech in a circle to face the modified AgroMech, which had finally righted itself. One of her shots missed, but the second hit the autocannon, jamming its firing mechanism and warping its barrels. The AgroMech's pilot knew he was finished, and turned to run, opening his 'Mech's back-and its paper-thin armor-up for a perfect shot from both of the Fafnir's rail guns. The gauss slugs blasted through the AgroMech, digging hundred-meter-long furrows in the earth beyond it, taking most of the AgroMech's engine with them. Gasoline ignited, and the 'Mech exploded in a geyser of flame.
Jeffers' lancemate strode up in a Vulture. "Sorry I'm late, boss," she breathed. "Capellans held me up."
"Gotcha. Red One, where are you?"
In response, a Marauder III stalked into the clearing, painted in the crazy swathes of red, orange, and blue that identified it as belonging to the Lonesome Vanguards.
"Right here, ma'am," Red One replied. The 'Mechs of his command lance began to fan out, establishing a perimeter around their commanders. "What's the situation?"
"Charlie Company is working with the First Batt of the Fourth TRG in the southern tip of the city. The Capellans have really gotten the crap kicked out of them since we landed. Scoot says they won't last another day."
"Scoot is overly optimistic. Did he manage to get a command post set up?"
"Yes, ma'am, I've orders to escort you there." The Marauder tromped through the clearing, heading down 392nd Street. "If you'll just follow me . . ."
An hour later, Major Jeffers stood in a truck trailer that Scoot had commandeered to serve as a mobile CP. Her operations staff, on-loan from the First Tikonov Regular Guard, had set up three million credits' worth of communications and combat intelligence assimilation equipment in the cramped space, but they'd managed to get good circulation in the trailer, and a cool breeze made her shiver after the furnace of her 'Mech's cockpit.
"Okay, what's the situation, Tactical?"
The lieutenant in the black and gold of the TRGs tapped the large laminated map spread out on one wall. Notes had been scribbled across it in an almost illegible writ.
"The majority of our forces are here, in the southern sector of Cato. The Capellans have gotten themselves holed up pretty well, with barricades in the buildings and such. We think that they're smuggling in supplies from across the river to the south, but we haven't been able to free up the aerofighter forces necessary to find their convoys."
"Why not?"
"Well, until recently, we had the Capellan aerofighters to deal with, and then they were busy refueling and rearming." He shrugged. "Actually, they hadn't been available in any significant number until about fifteen minutes ago."
"Get them out," Jeffers said, "I want them hunting for that supply convoy. It'll be their first priority."
"Ma'am?"
"Look, most of those Capellan 'Mechs are running on internal-combustion, and that means they need petrol every ten or twelve hours. If we can run them out of gas, we can just walk right in there and they'll have the option of surrendering or dying."
"Very good, ma'am."
"Yeah, yeah, carry on." Jeffers waved him away, studying the map. "Okay, I'm taking Alpha Company out to investigate the Capellan lines," she said finally to no one in particular, leaving before she could get roped into something else.
Back in the Fafnir, Jeffers headed south with eighteen 'Mechs in tow, taking her time in getting to the frontline where two Tikonov battalions fought the remainder of the Liao Planetary Militia.
The scene was more horrific than Jeffers had expected. The city for blocks around had been destroyed by the fighting, and the Capellan 'Mechs had piled a great wall of rubble between themselves and their enemies. Broken 'Mechs and fragments of broken 'Mechs lay scattered about, many of them still burning, and here and there was the body of a man or the shattered frame of a powered armor suit. A squad of Gnomes, also gifts from Anderson Davion, with the insignia of the First Battalion of the Fourth TRG jumped up to greet Jeffers and her company.
"Major Jeffers?"
"That's correct."
"This is Lieutenant Martins, Fourth Tikonov Regular Guard. Colonel Norton sends his regrets that he is unable to meet you in person. You wish to see the Capellan lines?"
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, Lieutenant."
"Well, ma'am, we're not really doing much now, so I can't see any harm in giving our CO a quick tour."
Jeffers grimaced. The situation was an interesting one; though Norton and half of his officers technically outranked her, Prince Zander had seen fit to make her the commanding officer of his forces on Liao. She had protested, of course, but he hadn't been in the mood to argue; in the end, a promise to fund the expansion of her mercenary group to a regiment's strength had bought her agreement. Jeffers hated to sell out so easily to Zander, but his money was good, and the Lonesome Vanguards had profited greatly in his employ. And unlike Zander's predecessor, Charlemagne Kerensky-Liao, he actually seemed to value his people. Jeffers shook her head. No, that wasn't right; Zander, just like Charlemagne, saw men and women as tools, nothing more, but he was significantly more skilled in their application . . . and Zander hadn't murdered Captain Marsh. Jeffers sincerely doubted that the charges Zander had lain against Charlemagne, but the fact that Leon Marsh had finally been avenged had been enough for her.
"Shall we?" Martins said sweetly, motioning with a hand.
Jeffers throttled the Fafnir up to a slow walk, looking on with interest as Martins showed her the various highlights of the line. In particular, she noticed the place where the Capellans had attempted to break out of their entrenchment. Half a dozen metal skeletons were piled on the ruins of a hotel, only one of them recognizable, a 40-ton Battle Cobra. After that she saw "Battle Boulevard," where a charge by the Fourth's Second Battalion had ended with fifteen 'Mechs and twenty-two armored vehicles destroyed and one hundred fifty-two dead soldiers, by far the costliest single engagement of the battle for Liao.
"This is-aw, dammit, ma'am, hang on a second." Martins raised a hand to the side of his helmet, an unconscious habit. "Interested in seeing some action?" he asked after a moment.
"By all means, Lieutenant, lead the way."
The Gnomes leapt quickly toward the site of the fighting, where, Martins told her, the Capellans were attempting another breakout. Golf Company of the Third Battalion was under heavy attack, but if the attempt could be stopped, it would most likely be the Capellans' death knell. If the aerofighters were successful in cutting off their supply convoys, the planet Liao would likely be under control of the Principality by early August.
The battle was already underway when Jeffers' force arrived. A half dozen 'Mechs, most of them belonging to Tikonov, had been blown to pieces in the fighting. Jeffers focused her gauss rifles at an enemy Owens, blasting the light 'Mech's right LRM launcher off its shoulder. The Owens turned to run, only to be felled by a flight of LRMs from Jeffers' lancemate.
The Owens' death did not go unnoticed. Immediately, a Thor's PPC sliced armor from the lancemate's Vulture, and the Capellan didn't stop there, following up with a long burst from the Thor's autocannon that broke through the Vulture's skin, setting off internal explosions. Jeffers' lancemate ejected, flying high into the air on the rocket module . . . until a stray piece of shrapnel impaled the chair's power core, sending it cartwheeling into the street in a brilliant explosion.
Jeffers tried not to think about her friend's death, firing at the Thor with both gauss rifles, pounding the 'Mech's arm with the silvery projectiles. Despite the damage, the particle cannon returned with a bolt of artificial lightning that whipped the Fafnir across its chest, burning off a half-ton of armor and spiking the heat in her cockpit.
"A little help would be appreciated," she said, painfully aware of the damage the Fafnir had endured earlier in the day. "Sometime in the immediate future."
As if in response, a red laser lanced out into the Thor's side, connecting it to a running Death's Head. The 90-ton assault 'Mech launched its store of short-range missiles, the wash of explosions making pockmarks all over the Thor's upper chassis. With the Thor's attention diverted, Jeffers took the time to line up a proper shot, donating a pair of gauss rounds to the chaos.
"Balls!" the MechWarrior in the Death's Head shouted when the Thor shot off his large laser. He returned fire with the 'Mech's autocannon, devastating the Thor's arm, shooting right through the elbow joint and leaving the PPC rocking back and forth on the street below. Another shot from a gauss rifle ended the Thor's troubles, and the big 'Mech fell face-first to the ground. It did not get up.
"What's the situation?" Jeffers asked, scanning for more targets. She didn't find any.
"This is Captain Bailey, thanks for the backup, Major. The Capellans are retreating back behind the line, but we got nine of their 'Mechs before they did. We've lost eight ourselves, but then, we've got more than they do."
Jeffers nodded to herself. It was a bloody war of attrition, but in the end, the Liao Planetary Militia wouldn't be the one coming out on top.
"Captain Bailey, the area is secure. The Capellans made it back to the line."
"Thank you, James. And thank you again, Major Jeffers."
"Anytime, anywhere," Jeffers said. "We'll be heading back to the CP now. Luck." |
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