Nighthawk Chronicles: Right of Existence
On October 11, 3073 Clan Steel Viper launches its largest military offensive to date against its most notable rival, engulfing over a third of Clan Jade Falcon's Homeworld holdings in mere days. But amidst the Viper maelstrom, confirmed exploits of a single Falcon trinary behind enemy lines tells a story of betrayal and sacrifice so powerful it single handedly averted its clan's impending annihilation.
Forced to abandon honor in its search for truth, it stands alone in a war hunted relentlessly by both Viper and Falcon alike. It is here the Nighthawks embark on their final chronicle, as they fight for their right to exist.
PROLOGUE
Silence. It was totally unnatural, like when someone gets water in their ear and it mutes and distorts everything coming through, causing that uncomfortable claustrophobia that everyone denies.
Jacob's head swam in that water. It was dark, and comfortable. His limbs felt like they were moving through a current, slowly moving forward until it began rushing. Sounds penetrated this void, foreign sounds of panic and a reality far from here.
"Sir, we have you. Are you alright?"
"Where did that come from?"
It was his men. Yes, he remembered now. They sound so stressed… like death stuck its boney hand directly into their cockpits and jabbed at their eyes—
Then a jolt threw him back into reality where warning klaxons and flashing lights instantly overwhelmed him. Damage readouts showed his cockpit took a direct hit, and the viewing glass confirmed such. Scorch marks crept out from the ferro-fibrous armor reinforcing the windshields which steamed into the frigid air. If it was any consolation though, the heat from the impact caused the falling snow to evaporate before hitting his view port, something he could use to his advantage.
With his brain kicking into high gear, he assessed the terrain in front of him and contacted his second in command. "Jericho, report!"
"You just took a PPC to the face, sir. It came from the southwest ridge, but Liner could not find a signature from his probe. It must have moved since it fired."
"How? There are not supposed to be anyone around for kilometers."
"With the precision of that hit, I would say whoever they were knew we thought that."
Could it be… he thought? No, it could not be that bad. He had to throw out any thought not pertaining to his immediate to ensure it. But in the back of his mind, he knew. It was like a sixth sense, one he wished he didn't have right now, because with thoughts like those with all their implications, it made it only harder to concentrate.
Shaking it off, he looked around and saw that his men had put up a defensive perimeter around him. They were all deployed to the mountain range south of their station to run multiple navigation drills. It was cold here, uneven, and snowing. It was hard enough to move without GPS tracking in these canyons, but the snowfall made this a nightmare scenario. Suddenly, this assignment here on Marshall didn't seem so boring after all as now, for some reason he decided not to postulate at the moment, his unit was under attack by a hidden enemy with superior placement and the element of surprise. What he did have control over, which luckily was the most disturbing aspect of it all, was their current position.
He hit the general frequency, "Enemy units, identify yourselves. This is Star Captain Jacob of the 2nd Falcon Velites, Sigma Galaxy. If you wish to engage, give me your force numbers and the conditions so I can bid properly. If not, then cease your offensive."
He waited for a response, but never got one.
"I repeat: Enemy units, identify yourselves and your intentions. This is Jade Falcon held territory and your lack of Batchall will not be tolerated."
Still nothing. That silence again, haunting. In it he was able to mentally encompass their surroundings though. They were in a canyon system in a valley surrounded by walls twice as high as their 'mechs. This particular area was perfect for an ambush. There were only two ways out, and both were fairly narrow. The first was the way they entered, and the other was at the opposite end as he placed them at the middle currently. The ridge around provided high cover for anyone wanting to peer over the edge, take a shot, and back out of view. If reality were so simple he could just walk out of this mess the same way he walked into it, though in his experience, any combat that adhered to simple logic was already lost.
He spoke to Mechwarrior Jericho who immediately complied, "We need to get out of this valley, now."
"Agreed. Bravo Star, form up and secure the west exit!"
"Aff!"
Jericho took his star and waded through the low snow to the west opening when his other Star Commander chimed in over the direct line, "Sir, who could this be? Hellions? Vipers? Who even knew we were out here? Satellite coverage is crap under this weather system--"
"It does not matter. We are going to stay together and outmaneuver them. I need you to pull back and follow Bravo Star. Secure the other side of that opening. I want a report on what we are dealing with over there, terrain-wise. And let nothing distract you."
"Aff."
Charlie star instantly started moving west when he did one final visual sweep of the canyon. Then it occurred to him that he was failing to look in one direction in particular, and when his head tilted to rectify that his warning sensors screamed back to life in time for the rest of his unit to respond.
"Shit! We have incoming!"
"LRMs! They are carpet-bombing us! Get through that opening!"
Everything started to fast forward in light of the impending danger. The incoming missiles descended like fire angels, moving through the thickening snowfall and illuminating the air around them in an eerie muted yellow. They looked more like falling orbs of fire than missiles, but they were everywhere and picking up speed. It was impossible to avoid them all, so Jacob just held his breath and threw his throttle lever forward until it slammed into the fixture housing, launching his Mad Dog into a sprint toward the west opening with the rest of his unit.
The impacts were thunderous. Dozens of explosions reigned around his unit, blowing snow and debris into the air to further obscure their vision after the flashes of the detonating warheads nearly blinded them. Jacob had to squint for a moment to keep his line of sight consistent, but the speakers in his helmet blew the intensity of the strike into his ears regardless.
It was pandemonium. Craters formed as dirt and rock settled back into the snow. His right foot landed in one, throwing his 'mech off balance and forcing him to concentrate his entire equilibrium through his neurohelmet to stabilize the machine before he could accelerate again. Two of his starmates hit craters themselves, one of them falling as a result. But the other two took severe damage to their upper torso from the LRMs themselves. The Summoner in particular sustained so much damage to his shoulder missile rack that he had to dump the ammo because the heat of the missiles hitting it warped the launch tube openings. He knew firing would only result in a jam and extra missiles being loaded into the rear of the rocket propellant of the first batch. No good comes from explosive warheads and rocket exhaust.
Two members of Charlie Star were knocked from their feet, the Stormcrow losing its arm in the ground impact. The other three members turned around and formed a defensive perimeter again to allow their comrades up, though they still couldn't get a clear shot at the ambushers.
Steam then rose from the ground and the craters alike, further obscuring their view. But Jacob knew that the mistake of not killing them all in one strike in this weather was that he could use that steam as cover to get the hell out of here, which is exactly what he did.
The rest of his men finally burst through the west opening to find more high walls around them, this time in a fairly narrow passage. There was more snow than rock forming the walls however, probably the result of the cold wind winding through here packing it all in. Further ahead however small patches of ice reflected back at them and told him that it was only to get worse.
He had no choice though, forward it was. He ordered his men onward and they all obliged, trying to communicate between each other, letting them know what got damaged and how much of them was still functional.
Then it came in, "Sir, I have a follow-up here!"
Jacob instantly turned around and saw ten 'mechs sprinting through the pass he just left after them. They were in a V formation and not letting the terrain slow them down. It was not the sight he wanted to see. "Shit! We have contacts! Charlie, engage while Bravo secures the end of this valley! Alpha points two and three, go with Bravo. The rest, give these guys hell!"
Large lasers and PPC bolts sliced through the air and nailed several of Charlie Star head on, but their return fire was synchronized enough to make the difference needed. Since this was not a trial and zellbrigen was most definitely not in the equation, they group fired on the second 'mech in the formation, a Hellbringer, since it was known for having crap frontal armor but being particularly nasty in cold weather where it can actually make better use of its heat-heavy arsenal. Two PPC hits and a Gauss slug punched through the 'mech while the smaller shots nailed the legs. The impact of the attack counteracted its own momentum, nearly blowing it backward, but the return fire from its starmates illuminated the opening and evenly distributed damage across his entire unit to kill any initiative he tried to generate. The incoming 'mechs were trying to set his men up for a group kill, which is why Jacob didn't engage just yet. He was too busy looking at his radar and studying the ridges above him. He knew that if the aggressors were simply chipping away armor evenly instead of group firing to take them out one at a time, it would make sense to have the missile support 'mechs redeploy and finish the job quickly, which would work much better if he were on the run.
"Got him! Eat shit and die Stravag!"
"Taking fire from the left side! Nail the Timber Wolf next. That thing is killing us!"
"Loud and clear—Crap! I am hit! My right arm actuator is scrapped! There is half my weapons load!"
"Seneca! I need your range here. That Mad Dog's missile racks have 'target' written all over them. Punch a few holes in there while I paint the rest of his torso!"
"—fifty percent. Four of my heat sinks just went to pot!"
"Got it! Holes incoming…"
Then the red dots appeared on Jacob's radar around them. The missile support 'mechs were converging around the valley, fast. He knew their time was up. "Move back! We have another missile strike!"
His men took down another enemy 'mech while sending the Mad Dog into a slow limp. They turned around, exposing their back to a renewed enemy offensive, and ran like hell toward the end of the valley that Bravo had pegged out. But the horror of reality hit him way too late. The trajectory of the missiles was off… they weren't heading for the ground. They were aimed higher…
"Punch it, they are nailing the walls! Use your jump jets--!"
But the low rumble of the impact drowned out his speech. The missile volley penetrated the snow walls on both sides, burrowing deep and exploding outward, sending muffled shockwaves into the air and disrupting decades of snow compaction. Instantly the rumbling built, letting them know that the avalanches coming were faster than their 'mechs. The four 'mechs with jump jets avoided the rolling wall of white crashing in on them, but the others had no choice but to pray they made it past. Three did not.
The weight of the snow toppled the lagging 'mechs over instantly, covering the first two in a blanket of white and suspending the third one nearly on its side before compacting around to seal it in. After the rumbling stopped, there was nothing but smooth snow covering the area.
"Ahh! Oh… crap! I am buried here! I cannot see anything!"
"I do not know how I am standing. I think I tilted over when it hit…"
"I cannot aim my weapons up to blast out of it! The whole 'mech is stuck!"
The panicked voices of his troops transmitted to everyone in his unit. Heavy breathing, high-pitched voices, and frantic hitting of controls signified the urgency of their situation. They were buried alive with nowhere to go. Nowhere but up.
"I am punching out! I hope I make it far enough to get out of this!"
The first ejection seat punched through the smooth field of snow, but made it no further than ten meters before the first incoming laser veered past. Several more followed and suddenly the seat was blown off course and perforated in multiple places until it twisted and landed pre-maturely, dead in every sense of the word. The second ejection seat punched through and met the same fate, literally launching into a hail of gunfire that obliterated it on the spot. The third one never went. The snow was too dense above the seat and the pilot instantly drove into a wall of solid white. Snow crushed his eyes and filled his mouth and nasal cavity instantly as his head was forced through the mass. He didn't even have time to go numb before he suffocated to death.
Jacob had to push those thoughts from his mind as well while he devised a new plan. And the plan he came up with was more of a 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em' effect. "Screw this! Find hard cover and watch that pass! Take them out when they come after us and watch out for those missile 'mechs! They will bottleneck right after the last attack site and we can take them out then!"
His unit took the best cover it could instead of evacuating the pass. The pursuers apparently didn't expect this, because they just came rolling over the newly formed ground cautiously as to not hit any loose patches and fall through. Their caution eventually slowed them down enough to let him time his strike appropriately, and the effect was stunning.
The remaining enemy force appeared through the snowy/dust wall that formed over the avalanche site. It was eerie to see it because these hunting figures were not properly outlined, but seemed to form slowly from a blinding white mass. They came, looking left and right for signs of survivors when the few looking forward stopped dead in their tracks, realizing they were too late.
Jacob's remaining men launched a lethal wave of munitions at them, firing all at once and taking the unit by surprise. The enemy had expected them to continue running, and this was all he needed to even the score. Instantly the ammo bins on the lead Warhammer IIC lit up and sent its torso twisting in several directions at once. The shrapnel from the CASE structures blowing out hit the Stormcrow behind it, piercing its armor and puncturing its engine shielding. Its shutdown allowed Jacob's men to pick apart the rest of the unit in short order, with the return fire finding only one of his men exposed enough to unload on. They were successful in taking his third point out, a Nova that was damn near perfect to use in this weather with all those energy weapons. But one loss was pretty good when facing a binary head-on.
The victory was short lived however. Right as the Stormcrow managed to override its shutdown sequence and stir back to life, the remaining missile 'mechs appeared again on the ridge closer to them. Jacob instantly remembered the ice walls forming the ground these ambushers were now standing on and ordered his men to fire into them. Backing up, they threw their entire missile payload into the glacier-like canyon walls, and the breakage cracked and sent echoes through the entire valley system. The cracking continued as the enemy missile 'mechs tried to shuffle their feet in reverse to avoid an embarrassing fate, but it was no use. They fell with the landslide and were partially buried in the snow now in the valley, surrounded by large chunks of solid ice that formed a bar keeping the Stormcrow behind them out of the game.
It was then that he got his unit out of that entrapment.
Finally, he could breathe again, or at least try to slow his breathing. He ordered his men out of the valley and into a clearing ahead, which had several exit points. It was much more desirable from a defensive point of view, and more importantly, it would give him a moment to think. "Roll call!"
Everyone chimed in and gave him the status of their 'mech. He lost four in the engagement, and another three of his men were near useless considering the damage they sustained. Truth be told, it was pretty good to come out with that many after being ambushed with inferior ground. But he wasn't celebrating yet.
"Sir, who else is out here? Why did they not call out ahead? Are they bandits?"
"Neg. Bandits do not have omnimechs. These guys were here to kill us, plain and simple." Jacob returned to the thoughts he had earlier, of the possibility of this enemy being more familiar than he would want.
"Well they sucked! An entire trinary! HAH!"
"Stand fast Mechwarrior! We need to hit high ground and get a path out of here."
"Well, I see some ground to my left I can use to get on that ledge--"
And for some reason Jacob's head went cold again. The silence… like a hundred sirens going off at once, blotting out everything around him. Something was not right…
BAM! His 'mech shook to the left as a volley of LRMs slammed into his right side. Seven out of the remaining eleven 'mechs in his trinary got hit at once. He turned to see what was going on now when another enemy trinary made its way through one of the clearing openings. They were coming from the direction his unit was originally heading in, maybe to sandwich them with the original ambushing force. Jacob was suddenly glad he took the other force out so quickly, but had to get to a defendable position, and fast.
"Hit the opening on our two o'clock! Go, go, go!"
They all charged for the opening, finding the snow a little thinner here and easier to maneuver through. They received fire in the rear again, this time doing more damage than before. Luckily, before they knew it they were behind more cover.
In front of them was another clearing, with a small hill ahead of them to their right. They continued advancing when through the snow Jacob saw some reflection coming from the ground, and realized the shape of this clearing was a little too basin-like.
"Wait! No!"
The 'mechs stopped on a dime while he continued studying the layout. "It is a frozen lake. No way we are going over this."
"Well, how else are we supposed to get to the other side? The only way out is forward."
Jacob thought while the mental image of that trinary turning the corner behind him crept up way too fast. Then he realized that the hill to their right must be either an island, or a strip of land through the waterway hidden under the snow. He ordered his men to walk from a point lateral to their position straight for the hill, around it at close proximity, and forward to the opening. If they were lucky, he would either minimize their distance on the ice, or eliminate it altogether. Either way, it was their only shot.
They went single file, but kept their throttles forward because he knew they had little time. Luckily, the distance was great enough that even him, being the last one to go, was out of effective range when the trinary behind finally appeared. He hit the edge of the frozen lake, mostly covered in the freshly fallen snow and walked to his left to bait the following force directly across in pursuit. This would be quick if he planned it right…
The advancing unit started for him, setting up a left wedge formation when the leader suddenly stopped.
One of his troops chimed in, "What is it? We need them in another fifty meters…"
"Give it a second. This one is not stupid. Look."
The lead 'mech, a Hellbringer, studied the ground ahead of him while the rest of his star kept their guns pointing downrange. The rest of his trinary did not file in behind him. They must've been stuck behind the opening if he halted them.
Then the Hellbringer fired a single PPC into the ground thirty meters ahead of it and watched the ice under the snow crack open into a half dozen shards exposing a fresh water hole.
"Stravag! He figured us!"
Jacob waited just another moment before realizing that if they had not engaged at that range by now, they probably would not at all. But he had to be sure, so he sat for a moment, taunting them, waiting to see what this new commander would do.
After several moments, the tension grew so thick it could be cut with a scalpel. Jacob ordered his men out of there and into another series of canyons. Luckily, these opened up a lot, so they were not necessarily boxed in anymore. But with the unit on the other side of the lake figuring a way across, it would soon not matter so much.
"Which way?"
Over the radio transmission Jacob heard the booming footsteps of battlemechs, and the sudden realization of what that commander had done hit him in the face like a brick. "Take co--!"
But it was too late. The two unseen stars from the other unit were ordered around the clearing altogether behind the cover of the ridge to flank his men. While he thought he was baiting them all onto the lake, he was really fooled into waiting long enough for that other commander's troops to get into position to surround them.
"I cannot see them yet! They are at range --CHUNK--!"
The sound of weapon's impact resonated over the transmission. These guys were coming in much quicker than he had hoped. His only chance at survival was to find cover he could use to get out of this mess once and for all. And he found it to his left: a cave opening large enough to fit several battlemechs that had some light shining through telling him it led out and not into a dead end.
"There! On your nine! Follow me and keep zigzagging!"
He didn't want his men to fire back. He needed them to get out intact so they could regroup and follow up on those hunches he refused to think about now. They kept going while his rear view showed the two stars advancing like a small plague of locusts, jumping over rocks and maneuvering around each other for the best shots possible without slowing down.
They kept going until the darkness of the overhang enveloped his cockpit. He hit his light-amplification switch and saw solid rock walls illuminate in electronic colors wide enough to continue with a floor flat enough for movement. This is perfect, he thought. "Keep coming until you are all in!"
He moved onward while his men filed in, slowing to prevent hitting the sides of their rides on the cave walls and keeping it orderly. Turning a corner to his right, he found the next opening, which led to yet another snow covered clearing. This one was separate from the one behind them, so his plan would work perfectly.
He burst forth from the opening and turned his amplification off just in time to avoid being snow-blinded. The sudden rush of white still forced his eyes to adjust though, and it took a few moments of darkening and lightning before his clarity returned. Three steps later and he saw something on his left. The figure of a Hellbringer, standing, waiting for him.
He hit reverse without thinking as his men chimed in, "We are in! They are closing though. We need cover!"
"Shoot the upper ledge at the entrance! Seal it shut!" If they could close the hole they entered through, it would protect their rear indefinitely. Surprisingly, they didn't object as real warrior would stand and fight these stravag bastards, not run and hide. But this was not honorable combat, and they apparently trusted his decision to survive another day for reasons unknown to them yet.
Immediately he heard the fire over the comm. while his men closed the entrance to the cave. His 'mech shot backward while he turned his head to look at the commander that outsmarted him on every move. But it wasn't the 'mech and its placement that overtook him. It was the insignia it bore. It was Jade Falcon.
No…! He was right. His worst instincts told him he was correct to entertain the thought his own Star Colonel ordered him dead. It was his own unit! The first trinary was Star Captain Berkau's, and he designed the ambush! The second trinary was just transferred, he couldn't even remember the name of the Star Captain… but he was good. He was methodical, and as Jacob turned his 'mech around to watch his men make way from the collapsed entrance behind them, that commander beat him to the punch.
This is why he ran. Because if they died here today, his commander would win. His secrets would be forever hidden. And he could not allow that. He had to survive.
Using his own strategy against him, the lead Hellbringer didn't fire on Jacob's 'mech as it sprinted back toward the cave it emerged from. Instead it fired on the ledge above the opening. The entire star fired on it, and within seconds it had broken away.
"Sir! We have you!"
"Keep moving! You got it!"
His men shouted him on as the realization of his own impending death settled in. He had to keep moving. He could not go out like this, a victim of his own clan! He had to survive, just to see his commander pay! He had to push through…
The earth shook as the opening gave, and the sky fell from the heavens and enveloped him. He collided full speed with the falling debris, trying to pile-drive through it, feeling the force of metal against ice through his neurohelmet and cursing the world as he drove through with all his will. It was loud, and a white world turned to black in the blink of an eye with his 'mech swimming in the snow for a moment, lost in time and space. And in no time he was in that void again, that comfortable place with no direction and no feeling. The final thoughts echoed through his mind and faded…
Steam rose with the snow and dust, and the firing ceased. All the sound was absorbed after that, finishing the transition from a canyon to a tomb.
That silence returned, more unnatural than before. It was a silence that was deafening.
