Chapter One: Meeting The Team
*****
Sitting in a small briefing room aboard the DropShip BlackHammer, Conner Sinclair was nervous. He had little experience with the feeling. Nervousness did not suit him, and he didn't enjoy it one bit.
But who could blame him for being nervous?
It was only two years since the Inner Sphere had struck at Huntress, the Smoke Jaguar homeworld, and routed the Jaguars. But, it couldn't be that easy. Brendan Corbett, one of the Clan's Galaxy Commanders, had escaped to the planet Tranquil, where he now intended to rally what was left of his Clan and resurrect it.
It could not be allowed. But the Inner Sphere forces had very little left in the way of firepower, especially when much of it was heading to Strana Mechty. Sinclair was one of only 24 MechWarriors who had volunteered to be reassigned from Task Force Serpent to the Damocles Commando, and their mission was to take on the whole planet of Tranquil.
Operation Damocles had been planned well, but still, two companies against an entire Clan were not odds Conner much liked, no matter how depleted the clan might be. Not to mention he was leading Commando One, and he wasn't sure he was ready for a command. Not after the loss of his first lance on Huntress...
The bulkhead to the briefing room slid open, interrupting his thoughts. He mentally cringed. No backing out now... as if it had ever been an option.
The man who entered swept the room swiftly with green eyes. Upon sighting Conner he stared; the lance leader stared back. He might have been handsome except for the two-inch scar running down the left side of his face. For a second the two MechWarriors sized each other up, then the newcomer broke into a broad smile.
"Team One?" Conner asked, cautiously. He had never met any of his lancemates before, a fact which annoyed him, but...
"Yup. Name's Dominic Paine." Dominic held out his hand, and Sinclair shook it. "You must be Lieutenant Sinclair?"
"That's me..."
Dominic seemed cheerful enough, but there was an underlying tension, and a perpetual look of worry in his eyes. It wasn't a difficult thing to understand, of course, not with how crucial their mission was. Every MechWarrior assigned to the Commando had to be feeling the strain.
Whether they preferred to show it or not.
Two more left. Rather than strike up a conversation with his warrior, Conner again examined the list of warriors he'd been given. All six commando teams were listed, but he was only worried about the first.
Keith Andrew and Jess O'Ryan. He'd known that already, of course, but rereading the force assignments was becoming a bit of a nervous habit. One he should probably break. The silence in the cramped room was even more uncomfortable now that there was someone else sitting in it.
Just as he was about to say something, the door opened again. Two new warriors—a tall blond man and an equally tall brunette female—entered.
Keith and Jess. Introductions were swift, and impersonal, though Conner could've jumped up and hugged them for breaking the awkward silence. He could start the briefing now.
"I assume that you all know the basics of what this mission entails—you volunteered, after all. So we can get down to business. Our part in the raid is here." He pointed to the screen on one wall of the briefing room, where a map of Tranquil was displayed. "We'll be inserted by drop pods near the end of the peninsula. We're to take out a Mech factory, along with any targets of opportunity we happen to run into."
"And not get killed in the process?" Dominic inquired.
"Right."
"Well, that's the real catch. Couldn't they send in a bigger force? I don't know about you guys, but," he looked around at his new lancemates, "this mission seems like a pretty steep order to me."
"It is," Keith offered quietly, "but they couldn't spare any more forces."
There was probably a complaint or seven Dominic could've offered for that, too, but Conner interrupted. "Besides, we're not here to take on all of the Jaguars. They'll never know what hit them, if we do this right, and we won't see much resistance."
He didn't look convinced, but the black-haired warrior offered no more questions.
"All right. Let's get going."