Prologue

Paro City Refugee Camp

Harrow's Sun, Federated Suns

2357, 12 July 3020

Colonel Jeremiah Stalwart sat in the cockpit of his battlemech waiting for the battle to begin. Watching the feeds coming in from his units on his main screen, he concentrated on the one showing the eight pirate battlemechs standing on the plain south of the refugee camp. They were just out of range of his only exposed lance. He knew he had a good plan. It was the waiting to put it into effect that he hated.

The pirates were waiting because of words on a piece of paper. His unit, The Stalwart Protectors had been hired to support the Harrow's Sun militia after they had been mauled in the last Kuritan raid eight months ago. On a secondary channel he could hear their commander giving orders as they tried to track and engage the rest of the battalion of pirate mechs.

The Protectors main job was to provide security and support to the refugees of Paro City. The city and its warehouse district had been the raid's objective. During the battle the entire city had been razed to the ground as the quick raid turned into a major slug fest. Rebuilding was going slowly and the camp was the only place most of the survivors had left. Now the pirates had come to pick at the bones.

The camp was located in a good area. It was at the north end of large grassy plain. To the east of the camp, a lake provided water and recreation. A forest of large trees and no undergrowth was below the lake and to the east of the plain. North and West of the camp were medium foothills which actually provided some protection from the weather. The only road to the camp ran away to the Northwest and into the city. It ran supplies into the camp and refugees into the city do the rebuilding.

Jeremiah zoomed in on the pirate's insignia on their battlemechs agian. A bleached skeleton with a ball and chain around its right ankle. He did not know who they were but with a symbol like that they had to be slavers. Slamming a fist into his control panel, Jeremiah vowed not one person under his unit's care would be taken away.

At 2359 the pirate company commander opened a channel. "Listen mercs, we'll make this really simple for you two. In one minute your contract ends. Walk away now and you get to go to your next contract with your buddies. You have nothing to gain here, the rest of your unit has already boarded your ships. Dying now would just be pointless."

The pirates' plan was simple. The bulk of them had created a diversion and had the militia in a cat and mouse game of maneuver 200 kilometers away. Meanwhile their slave catchers had been waiting for the mercenaries contract to end. They had been led to believe once it was over the Protectors would just walk away and leave the refugees to them, easy pickings.

On the other hand The Protectors had no intention of letting that happen. Their plan was a hell of alot more complicated. To start the Protector's foot scouts, their spies, had captured or killed the pirates' spies in the camp a week ago. They had fed the pirates the information that the unit had prepared to leave. Actually the entire mercenary unit was hidden in positions built by the Protectors' Engineers in and around the refugee camp. The pirates only thought there were two battlemechs left patrolling the perimeter.

The next part was up to the Fire Support Lance. Of course since there were only two battlemechs, Captain Lee's Archer and Mechwarrior Wong's Dervish, calling them a lance was a stretch. Lances were supposed to have four battlemechs.

At exactly Midnight Captain Cristano Lee answered the pirates, "I am very sorry. We cannot let you into the camp. We are at maximum capacity. Come back in a week and we may have some room."

In answer the pirates just started forward. Of the two lances of pirate battlemechs; Crusader, Rifleman, Trebuchet, Whitworth, Hatchetman, Griffin, Enforcer and Centurian only three didn't have Long Range Missiles (LRMs). They opened fire on the two Protectors as soon as they were in range. The pirates initial fire hit his exposed lance but did little damage. The range had been extreme and the pirates had been moving.

More bad news arrived as another lance of Pirate battlemechs; Phoenix Hawk, Valkyrie, Locust and Stinger came into view from along the only road into the camp from the northwest. Colonel Stalwart knew they were supposed to cut the refugees off from escaping the slave capturers. He just smiled. Now was the time to spring the trap.

"This is Top Dog 1. Fire Dogs, Big Dogs and Running Dogs fire."

Now the Fire Support lance opened fire concentrating on the Crusader, identified as the pirate's company commander. Their LRMs were much more accurate tearing off most of the 65 ton mech's right leg and chest armor. This was nothing compared to what happened to the Enforcer, Centurion and Stinger.

The two pirate mechs on the plain, the Enforcer and Centurion, were engulfed in LRMs from the two lances of Striker vehicles firing from among the foothills. Both pirates stumbled as more than 50 LRMs detonated against and tore off armor. The Centurion suffered a hit to its gyroscope and fell over causing to the pilot to lose consciousness for a moment.

From northeast of the camp by the lake the Protector's artillery, two Long Toms fired. Both hit the hapless Stinger destroying it almost completely leaving only its metal feet and some scattered wreckage.

The two Pirate lances on the plain split up. The first four kept heading for the two exposed Protector battlemechs, while the second four including the badly wounded Enforcer and Centurion moved to deal with the vehicles. Normally battlemechs made short work of vehicles, especially light vehicles like the Strikers. This situation was far from normal. The Protectors included an Engineer squad and vehicle. They had had six months to prepare for an attack. The entire foothills were riddled with hidden and dug in positions and concealed routes between them. The Running Dogs continued to move and fire in pairs, never giving the battlemechs a good shot at them.

Colonel Stalwart still had a few more surprises for the pirates, "Guide Dogs attack. Top Dogs 2, 3 and 4 let's go."

From the edge of the foothills the Protectors Recon Lance, again of only two mechs; Captain Pike's Locust and Mechwarrior Beaumont's Spider swooped in and began sniping at the three remaining pirate battlemechs with their medium lasers.

The three pirates had been rushing for the safety of the camp. They knew the Protectors would not take a chance of a shell hitting the refugees they were helping. They were also sure the artillery wouldn't fire on them with two of their own mechs so close, so they turned to take some vengeance for the fallen Stinger Pilot.

As soon as the three Pirate mechs turned their backs on the refugee camp to engage the Protector mechs the Prairie Dogs opened fire. This was the Protectors main company of Infantry. Normally foot infantry would be even less of a problem for battlemechs then vehicles. But 100 infantry dug in and armed with Short Range Missile (SRM) launchers and a couple of portable Particle Projection Cannons (PPCs) facing the weak rear armor of battlemechs wasn't normal either The concentrated fire tore into the pirates and they went down before they knew what had hit them.

At the southern end of the camp the front wall of a maintenance building fell down as from inside the Headquarters lance of the Protectors emerged. Colonel Stalwart's Stalker led a Marauder, Warhammer and Black Knight. When the pirate commander saw the assault class and three heavy class mechs enter the field and watched the blips of his Recon lance go out he knew this attack was over. Calling a retreat, all of the remaining pirates began to move back the way they had come.

" Running Dogs cease fire. Space Dogs this is Top Dog 1, they're reading for you. "

The Striker Lances ceased firing. For a moment the Pirate commander thought they were being let go. That moment ended when the Protector's Aerospace Fighters, two 100 ton Stukas began their strafing run. They were able to hit six of the pirates, taking the wounded Enforcer down and crippling the Rifleman and Whitworth. Once the fighters were clear the Strikers started firing again.

Switching to the open frequency Jeremiah called out, "This is Colonel Stalwart. You are outgunned and about to be destroyed. Surrender now and you will not be harmed. You have 10 seconds to decide."

Jeremiah knew the turmoil going through the pirates minds. By surrendering they would live but spend the rest of their lives in some penal camp. Not surrendering they would most likely die. At the 8 second mark all of the surviving pirate mechs had lowered their arms and begun powering down.

"Seems they wanted to live." He said to himself.

Of course this fight was far from over. Jeremiah knew battles didn't end when the shooting stopped. He started to bark out orders to people to get this battle over with as he continued to close in on the pirates.

"Prairie Dogs secure any survivors in your area. Guide dogs do a quick sweep of the area. Space Dogs do a high sweep and make sure nothing else is around. Running Dogs keep us covered as we take these guys in. Porch Dogs come out and secure these mechjocks."

At the last order two lances of hover Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) emerged from the woods on the East side of the plain. Each one headed toward a different pirate and unloaded its infantry squad to take them prisoner. This unit and the Tiny Dogs, two lances of Savannah Master hoverbikes hidden in the refugee camp had been his only reserves. Colonel Stalwart was incredibly relieved he had not been forced to call them in.

While this was happening he checked in with his other units. "Air Dog 1 what is your status?"

Instead of the commander of his helicopter assets Major Booth, the Protector's overall Infantry commander answered him, "The Air Dogs and my Carrier Dogs have secured the area. They put up a short fight but pretty much went down after the mechs did. We are moving them toward the camp now."

"Very good. See you when you get here."

The pirates had set up a staging area with cattle trucks and a small army to take and sort the refugees and turn them into slaves. Colonel Stalwart had sent his four Warrior attack helicopters and four Airlift carrier helicopters carrying his Air Assault Infantry platoon to capture them. This attack had gone just as planned also.

"House Dog 1 what is your status?

Major Benson answered, "The civis want out of these holes. Most of them want their own justice on those guys if you know what I mean."

Major Benson was the unit's Master Tech and head of all the techs, astechs and support personnel. Colonel Stalwart had put them and the Digging Dogs, his engineers, in the bunkers with the refugees to keep some order and as a absolute last line of defense.

"Keep them quiet a little longer we are almost done up here. Make sure those police we trained are ready to handle any problems. We are pulling out of here before dawn. I don't want to leave a riot behind us as we leave after six months of work. The Harrow's Sun Government might take our bonus away."

"Wilco."

A big smile crossed Jeremiah's face. He had just disproved the old adage, "no plan ever survived contact with the enemy." His plan had gone exactly as it was supposed to. The timing could not have been better and now his unit had plenty of salvage to take with them and prisoners to turn in for bounty.

At that moment the Hatchetman hotstarted and charged straight for his Stalker. As the infantry dove for cover, Jeremiah realized two things. First he could not fire any of his weapons with his people all around him in such close quarters. Second the Hatchetman had raised his signature weapon, a huge gleaming mech crushing hatchet and was charging his Stalker. The pirate must be hoping to land a crippling blow on the unit commander and then try to escape.

Colonel Stalwart did nothing as the pirate closed on him. The 85 ton Stalker unlike most battlemechs did not have arms. Normally there was nothing the pilot of such a battlemech could do against such an attack except dodge or run away. It was time for the Colonel's last surprise.

A veteran of many battles, Colonel Stalwart had specially modified the leg actuators of his beloved machine. Just before the Hatchetman came within range to deliver its death blow, Colonel Stalwart performed his signature move. One he had practiced many times. To an outside observer it looked like the 85 ton machine did a spinning side kick crushing the Hatchetman's chest in and stopping the pirate mech in its tracks. The Hatchetman crumbled, hit the ground and did not move again.

After a moment Jeremiah called out on the general frequency, "Secure all these pirates NOW! I want us out of here in three hours and not a minute longer."

Cutting off his radio Jeremiah, forced himself to relax. "Didn't plan on that. I guess the old adage is still safe."