–== Chapter 13 ==–
Near Fenix Fusiliers Headquarters
Merlon, Caselton
Draconis March, Federated Suns
September 1st, 3145
Vika bit lightly on her lower lip as she watched her sensors. They were clear of any sign of additional Mechs, though experience told her that the Militia's Jenners could close distances absurdly fast it seemed odd for the rest of the Industrial lance to be in hiding as well.
Their opponents were using passive sensors, which meant that without the link to The Nest's sensor stations the Mechs would not have been spotted. That was the reason that the militia usually engaged them in the plains rather than near the base. Perhaps they didn't realize they'd been spotted yet, though the Caselton militia was well aware of where the network began and ended.
Maybe we're not supposed to be getting this sensor data for this exercise? Vika wondered, Or are they using it to lure us into a trap. Why have their own sensors on passive though?
"What do you think, Rio?" She asked on a private channel, "Should we engage them? It stinks of a trap to me."
"It is unusual," He granted, "Perhaps we should investigate and probe them first. I can take Epsilon and issue the challenge if you like. That way Delta is left free to respond to any additional threats. If nothing else we can see what sort of modifications these Salvage Mechs have."
Vika considered that, and had to admit it was a pretty obvious answer. As a commander she should have been the one to come to that decision on her own but she had asked Rio his opinion, she wouldn't grudge him for having ideas she agreed with.
"Aff, Star Commander, I am in agreement. Take Epsilon in and Delta will watch your backs. Do not engage the enemy outright, ascertain their strength, we will be close behind."
The plan was passed from the two squad commanders to their respective stars and Vika watched the five Mechs of Epsilon speed up, running ahead of the rest of the pack into the cold dark Caselton night.
There followed a few long minutes where she continued to watch her sensors waiting for the Jenners to jump out as if to yell, "Surprise!" but the moment never came.
Instead she heard Rio's voice suddenly come through the comm announcing, "Enemy running!"
"What is their heading?" Vika asked.
"Away from the base, towards the hills," her sister Rachel responded.
"Pursue at a safe distance, Epsilon, if their sensors are still passive keep to the edge of them. Delta is coming up to assist, there are many places in the hills to hide an ambush."
"Aff Star Captain. We will be cautious." Rio assured her.
But Vika had a strange uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach as they went. To her own squad she said, "Do not let them out of your sensor sight, Delta. If they wander into a trap it is on us to pull them out."
They were getting dangerously close to the mercenary base in search of other entrances now but Diana reassured herself that if the mercenaries weren't able to repair their Omni Mechs they likely didn't have many BattleMechs to worry her forces with.
And even if they did the presence of some Industrial Mechs—assuming the base's sensor array was powerful enough to pick up their Mechs while running passive sensors, would likely cause no alarm. Just some farmers out taking their AgroMechs for a spin, some woodsmen who had wandered in their Forestry Mechs too far from the forest perhaps.
In the worst case scenario their Hyenas were MODs, capable of putting up a fight of their own . . . provided that fight was a fighting retreat. Their dual ER Medium Lasers would impress few opponents but they could be the difference between life and death in their line of work.
Still Diana jumped slightly when Alpha suddenly bleeped the warning she'd been dreading. The contact, whatever it was, danced in and out of her sensor-range for a moment before disappearing. She frowned at the sensors and whispered to the Mech, "Come now, not this again."
She gave her sensors display a slight pat in the hopes that luck would win out and she would receive no further scares. Instead she again received the warnings of a contact at the edge of her sensor range.
"Is anyone else reading anything?" She asked.
"This again?" Burk scoffed. "My sensors are clear, Commander."
"Clean." Another lancemate responded, though Diana was too busy being annoyed at Burk questioning her yet again, or sarcastically referring to her as 'commander' to register mentally whom it had been.
She responded with the restraint she could manage, "This again, Burk. Again, and again and every time we are on a hostile world because it is better to be safe than dead."
"You should rip out that hunk of junk's sensors and replace them." Burk said, sounding as if he were stifling a yawn.
"Truly? Perhaps I should take the parts from your Mech."
"You can try." Burk said casually, but the challenge was out there for a moment before their other comrade, Greene spoke up.
"I have something too."
Diana's moment of vindication left her feeling no triumph but instead irritation. "Very well, we will move off, head for those hills in search zone Kappa, no need to run. Just try to look like a bunch of innocent farmers taking their AgroMechs for a stroll."
"How are they detecting us?" Burk asked.
"We do not know that they are," Diana reminded him, "but if they are let us try not to arouse suspicion."
The small group of Hyenas trotted off towards the hill only for their contacts to continue to dance along the edge of their sensors, and now Alpha's computer had enough time to process what it was seeing.
A Pack Hunter II. Nearly half the weight of the Hyena but a machine built for war. Popular in the Republic military they might have been a holdover from Caselton's time with the Republic but Diana wouldn't have imagined the militia, which was based on Embrasure would respond to her presence on Merlon so quickly.
Could it be one of the mercenary Mechs? It was not an Omni, but it might still be mercenary all the same.
Either way she would prefer not to get involved with it. The Pack Hunter II had an arsenal that could and would turn Alpha into a smoldering heap long before she could close the distance to use her ER Medium Lasers to return fire.
The fifty five ton Hyena was just a medium Mech as far as the massive machines reckoned but among Industrial designs it was one of the larger.
Originally designed and produced in small number for Solaris 7, the Game World where Mechwarriors from all over the Inner Sphere gathered to test their skill, or at least where they had until the Wolf Clan took the world over. The Hyena had started to see much wider production after the Jihad.
But all that said Diana's outfit was lucky to field five of them, and with the money they might be able to make from this job they could very well buy five more, that was reason enough not to give up and make a run for the Trove right away, though the fact that the Pack Hunter could both out-range them and out-run them was another.
"They are not giving up," Burk growled over the comm, "if we have been spotted let us at least switch to active sensors and see what we are dealing with."
"Yes, because when they detect military-grade sensors they will absolutely believe that farmers have-" Diana began sarcastically but it seemed she had erred in making her first word 'yes' because before she could finish Burk had activated his sensors and with a scream of alarm his Hyena suddenly kicked into full speed.
Diana swore under her breath but knowing Burk was no coward recognized that the wise thing to do was accept that they'd been made one way or the other and activate her own active sensors.
But when the formation of ten Mechs showed on her screen she only felt confusion.
A formation of ten Pack Hunters? Why would down on their luck mercenaries have these Mechs and in these numbers? And if these were the Mechs the source had suggested need Clan components to be brought online why were they up and about now when they were supposed to be locked away in a vault?
And why were they thirty ton second-line Mechs and not rarer and more valuable Omni Mechs? Had her source been wrong?
Diana had a lot of questions though the decision to kick Alpha into gear and follow Burk as he ran for the hills was not something she needed to ponder on too hard.
What was worse was when the two stars of Pack Hunters broke into obvious pursuit in just the manner she had hoped they wouldn't and she was left with even further questions when the lead Mechwarrior transmitted to her, "This is Star Captain Vika of Clan Ghost Bear. My binary and I have spotted you, Inner Sphere surat. Surrender now or you will be shown no mercy."
Diana was at an absolute loss for words.
Ghost Bear? On Caselton?
It was possible, unlikely but possible. She'd heard that the Ghost Bears were raiding along the Draconis border but surely Caselton was far out of their range . . .
And it would be just my luck to get caught out here on the same night the Ghost Bears are raiding, Diana thought bitterly.
The night lit up as the Mechs fired their warning shots, the blue-white glow of man made lightning from the Pack Hunter IIs ER PPCs lit up the ground near Diana causing her to jump in her seat.
Though Alpha was outfitted with a pair of ER Medium Lasers against the firepower of the ER PPC each of the lighter Pack Hunter IIs mounted the lasers would be poor competition and even though the Hyena was fast the Pack Hunter II was faster, there was no chance she or her people could outrun them.
She had no choice, she had to respond, "Stravag, hold your fire! This is Star Commander Diana of Clan Sea Fox, Fox Khanate, Delta Aimga! We are not Inner Sphere surats!"
There was a pause and then Star Captain Vika responded, "I do not know what kind of game you are playing, but I have given you my warning. If you are not with our Davion foe you are clearly bandits and we will deal with you accordingly."
"Star Captain I assure you I am who I say I am," Diana said, "Our business here should be in no conflict with your own, this is just a coincidence! We are only here on a . . . surveying expedition!"
"This world has no mineral resources to speak of, and you are not piloting Mining Mechs. If you truly are of Clan Sea Fox you do not appear to be here to trade, so what are you doing here? Careful, lies cost lives."
Diana knew her Mechs were well in range of the ER PPCs. She was still confused about why she was facing Clan Ghost Bear at all, but she had to hope that they would be willing to listen to reason.
She considered their sub-par equipment coupled with the youthfulness of the Star Captain's voice. A Ristar, she thought, ambitious no doubt, so she said, "We are recovering Clan property from Dezgra mercenaries, Omni Mechs stolen from true Warriors like you and me. Leave us to our business and I will grant one to you in exchange."
"You are joking!" Vika laughed over the comm, "Omni Mechs hidden away on this backwater world?"
"We have the word of a trusted source, I assure you." Diana said.
"And you attempt to bribe me with one as if I would put personal gain above the good of my Clan?" Vika asked viciously. "Power down your Mechs and surrender so that we may get to the bottom of this."
"Star Commander those ER PPCs will rip through our armor like a hot knife through-" One of her Mechwarriors, a lug head named Brand began but Diana cut him off.
"I know that!"
"We cannot fight in these Mechs! They have range and speed advantage over us!" Burk added.
"I know that!" Diana snarled back, then to the Ghost Bears she said "This is Star Commander Diana, and as I am neither Dezgra Inner Sphere nor bandit I demand to be treated fairly."
"Very well. You desire fair treatment? I will only engage you with one of my Stars." Vika told her.
Diana's hand unconscionably went to the rabbit's foot she wore around her neck, "I did not mean that," she said quickly.
"Then surrender and power down, if you are who you say you are you will be treated . . . fairly." Star Captain Vika said coldly.
Typical Ghost Bear, Diana thought bitterly. Could her luck get any worse tonight?
She swallowed a lump in her throat and with some difficulty she said, "I . . . surrender."
"A wise decision. Shut down your Mechs, a patrol will be along shortly to collect you. If you truly are who you say you are I am sure you will be allowed to go free."
It sounded promising, she and her Mechwarriors each had their Codex to prove their identity and their Jump Ship was waiting at one of the system's pirate points. If nothing else word would get to the Aimga that they had been taken and ovKhan Clarke would surely negotiate their return.
But still Diana scoffed. With her luck her codex would glitch and tell them she was a bandit.
Or worse, a freebirth.