VI

Smoke and fire.

The town seemed to just burst into flames while the fight raged on, and all hell was set loose.

Thundering through the eerily empty streets were the attacking BattleMechs, part of a battered unit now making the final push to liberate the whole planet of Port Arthur from the occupation of Clan Smoke Jaguar. Smouldering wounds in the armoured torsos stood as a testimony of their first contact of the night, a couple of light vehicles entrenched in the sports camp of an abandoned school. Regardless of the few hits they scored, they were no match for both 70-ton walking war machines. Followed by the APCs carrying the support infantry, they walked over the charred hulls and proceeded into the town, their big feet crushing the tarmac.

Leading the charge was Colonel Arthur Cassini, a middle-aged nobleman from the distant world of Galatia III, located on the other side of the Inner Sphere, almost as distant as it could be. Riding beside him, on his captured Clanner Nova Cat OmniMech was his second-lieutenant, Major Antonios Kyrgiakos. They were part of a battalion from the elite 1st Davion Guards unit dropped on the planet weeks before in order to disrupt Smoke Jaguar command and control, make them deaf and blind. Despite a heavy cost in equipment and personnel, they'd succeeded, and now, the remaining companies were making a coordinated attack on three different starports to open the way for the invading army that would finish what they'd started.

Mindful of that fact, the Smoke Jaguars spared no expense in defending the expected landing zones, and the small town of Redstone was no exception.

Arthur stopped near an intersection, and laid his prototype Thanatos OmniMech's back against a huge apartment building, while he made a short assessment of the situation. The streets were eerily empty, the whole place having become a ghost town since the Jaguars evacuated it in anticipation for the Davion assault. The sensors in his 'Mech detected the flashes that illuminated the moonless night on the other side of the town. While his small task force attacked the starport in the centre of Redstone directly, the rest of the company was staging a decoy strike to the local Jaguar headquarters in the town hall. Being also a very important target, probably more important even than the starport, it was expected that the enemy would divert the bulk of his forces to defend it. Especially taking into account that it would permit them to face most of the 'Mech force that had been laying waste to their assets on the continent for the last few weeks.

"Lobo One, this is Anvil, please report." Calling the decoy force Lobo One, the command code for the company, was another way of making the Jaguars think that was, in fact, the main attack, if they, somehow, intercepted the radio chatter.

"Anvil, this is Lobo One." The voice of Major Jazebel Solá took a little too much time to respond. Arthur knew they would be in deep trouble once the enemy started to send everything it had at them. Regardless, the landings had to take place, or everything up that point would have been in vain. "Situation a little hairy. Enemy sending additional 'Mechs and tanks. I don't know if we can make it to the hall."

A little hairy… Everything was going to hell then. The Jaguars were behaving even more enthusiastically than he'd expected. Why wouldn't they? The decoy strike started before Arthur and Antonios made their move, and the word that the Spheroid 'Mechs were presenting themselves for the slaughter must have spread pretty fast. By sticking to their old-fashioned traditions, the Clanners were making Anthur's mission much easier.

The same couldn't be said for Jazebel and her forces. She was commanding the charge with her heavily scarred Bushwacker, accompanied by Master Sergeant Pavlos de Cyrrhus's captured Shadow Cat and First Sergeant Jan Mrkos Uziel. All medium 'Mechs, powerful and agile enough to face most opponents in the open, but too light to withstand the savage close quarters of urban combat. For support, they only had the remaining infantry available. They had no chance of winning that fight, especially once the Jaguars started to send their heavy and assault 'Mechs and elite infantry against them. Still, they had their mission to perform, and supporting the landings was more important than anything else. Arthur gave the order.

"Proceed. And bring down as many of them as you can."

Jazebel Solá took a few seconds to answer. When she did, her voice was tense and somewhat shaky.

"Understood."

And there was nothing else to say. Colonel Cassini took a good look at the few units of his small strike force. Antonios Nova Cat kneeled in the centre of the intersection, alert to any hostile movements, and the APCs loaded with infantry parked by the nearby buildings.

"How long 'til they touch the ground?" Antonios asked. Arthur looked at the countdown timer on his control console.

"Twenty minutes."

"We're on tight schedule, then…"

"Tell me about it…" The commanding officer mumbled to himself. Then, in a loud, commanding tone, he gave the orders to press on. "Let's go..."

There was no time to waste, and no reason to hide. The force moved inward, passing by the habitation buildings, into a warehouse area. The big structures dwarfed even the mammoth 'Mechs, and the dark spaces between them could easily hide any powered down enemy unit, thus concealing it from any detection equipment, until they had their prey in sight, and it was too late to do anything…

Suddenly a voice erupted through Arthur's headphones. A voice full of pride and arrogance, from someone who knew his entire life was devoted to that single moment.

"Ah, the famous little Davion mice! You have come really far, and revealed yourselves worthy opponents indeed! Now let me crush you and earn the glory for your destruction!"

"That was pleasant." Antonios asserted. The sensors showed two contacts coming from directly ahead, entering the maze between the buildings. Three more stayed put near the anti-aircraft turrets, in the open space between the town and the starport proper. "What now?"

"We improvise. Follow me!"

Arthur moved northward, avoiding the incoming contacts. When he found a street going directly to the small buildings near the landing pad, he pressed the speed pedal, sending the Thanatos into full throttle, 86 kilometres per hour.

"Follow me! Go! Go! Go!"

Both BattleMechs erupted from the line of buildings, into the open space beyond. There, the optical sensors could easily pick the three nearby enemy units, presenting a tactical scheme in the control panel. Three Morrigu assault tanks. The other contacts were still lost between the warehouses.

"You avoid me, Freebirth scum!" Came the voice again. "Damn you! You should not enjoy the honour of just combat. Just die like the filth you are!"

"Infantry! Avoid the tanks" Arthur ordered. "Go directly to the turret control building and take control of them. If you can't, just blow them up skyhigh!"

The men in the APCs acknowledged the orders, freeing Arthur and Antonios to face the tanks. Those were already moving, turning their turrets to face the 'Mechs. Usually, Clan tanks were lightly armoured, crewed by Freebirths and old warriors, and used only for fire-support duties. The Morrigu were different. Very well-armoured and well armed, they were more than a match for the usual Mechwarrior and his ride. Arthur and Antonious had to give them no quarter, destroy the damn things as fast as possible.

The colonel hadn't just charged directly into them, though. That would expose him to the large lasers and heavy long-range missile launchers equipping each enemy unit. The Thanatos was equipped with an advanced ECM suite, that jammed enemy radars, so he would have a good margin to come as close as possible before the Morrigu's started firing. So, he moved into a slight arc first perpendicular, and then right into the line of tanks. As they tried to aim at the incredibly aggressive lonely 'Mech closing in, Antonios could use the awesome long-range firepower of his Nova Cat to harass them as much as possible.

Two gleaming particle beams from the Cat's left arm smashed into the heavily armoured front of one of the Morrigu's, making metal boil and explode, and rain over the tarmac like overheated hail. The machine stopped on its tracks, and moved the turret to the other side, searching for this new enemy. Two laser beams, these coming from the triple pack that was the Cat's right arm, stroke into the shimmering scar, cutting deep in the tank's structure, melting metal like if it was wax. Pouring smoke, the Morrigu just sat there, motionless.

Meanwhile, the other two tanks fired their double-barrelled lasers, making scorch marks along the wide torso of the Thanatos. The roughly-humanoid 'Mech strode over the puddles of molten metal in its wake, trying to get closer. His enemies then fired their missiles, sixty projectiles taking flight in a cloud of dark smoke. Knowing that he had no chance of avoiding that, Arthur changed strategy and charged right into the volley. Missiles flew past him, others smashed into the damaged torso without exploding and a few more did indeed blasted away chunks of armour. Red and yellow lights came to life on the control panel, but it didn't matter. He was now close enough to bring his powerful weaponry to bear. Raising both arms, swollen with gun barrels and missile tubes, the Thanatos unleashed a wall of short-range missiles and armour piercing pellets. The turret of the closest Morrigu exploded when the left missile launcher received a direct hit, hurling swirling pieces of splintered metal in all directions.

Although heavily damaged, the tank was not defeated yet. It moved backwards, launching short-range missiles from its side launchers. A few struck the legs of the heavy 'Mech, that kept hitting its closest adversary with the medium pulse lasers mounted in the left arm, under the massive 200mm LBX-class autocannon, and in both sides of the chest. The damaged Morrigu just kept rolling backwards, until it hit a small building, which promptly collapsed around its back. Immobile, that machine was clearly out of commission. Arthur turned to the last tank.

Two sapphire beams melted metal on the left shoulder of the Thanatos, spilling it to the ground. Fortunately for the Inner Sphere warrior, the thing was too close to make use of its long-range missiles, the infamous LRMs, deadly at longer ranges. He, on the other hand, was close enough to use both his main weapons. In a show of incredible precision, Arthur smashed the large laser barrels with a crushing hit from the autocannon. A dozen SRMs exploded over the tank's armour and in the ground around it. The lasers kept blasting small chunks of metal with their strange, pulsating, sequence of beams, too fast for the naked eye to be able to discern individual shots. And while he kept harassing his enemy, Arthur also demanded greatly from his machine's engine and components, making the internal temperature rise madly. He was already sweating heavily, and a few alarms whistled warnings of overheating and burned electronics.

Antonios' Nova Cat manoeuvred closer to the tanks while Arthur traded shots with them. He crushed the turret of the machine he'd disable earlier with one of his 'Mech's huge feet, just to make sure it was finished, and then turned his weapons to the last of the Morrigus. Caught between both fires, the assault tank was torn apart. When one of the tracks was hit and collapsed, the crew must have thought that was their call, and tried to run away from the doomed machine. Arthur saw a few men squeeze their bodies through the damaged hatches, in desperate panic, probably fearful that he or Antonios would shoot at them. He didn't do that, of course. But the burning machine was done for. One of the crew members tried to escape through a bent hatch on the side of the tank, twitching desperately, while the whole thing burned around him. Then the flames reached the ammunition storage, and the Morrigu disappeared in a pillar of flames.

Although sealed inside his hot cockpit, Arthur felt a shiver. What a way to go…

"Arthur." Antonios said, over them comm. "Company."

The Davion colonel turned his 'Mech to face the remaining units of that star, coming from the nearby warehouses. He felt another shiver, when he saw that they were two enemy BattleMechs, including a huge feral-looking machine he had never seen before. The thing had two huge cannons hanging over the rounded torso, pointing directly at him.

"Now, Freebirth scum…" That voice, that arrogant voice, manifested itself again. "DIE!"

And both cannons fired.