Countryside near Belgorod
Terra
Prefecture X
April 3134, Local spring
Jarome carefully followed the instructions by the fire-control coordinator, and dialed in the coordinates. Launching two flights of missiles, she plastered the line of heavy vehicles pressing the Highlander infantry, raining destructive fire down on the enemy. She hated to be so far away from Mikayla, but this was vital work; without fast, accurate fire support, there were Highlanders who would die on the fields of Russia today.
The Steel Wolves were pressing hard today. There were modified industrial 'Mechs chopping swathes through the Highlanders, being countered by armor and artillery, and in places, by other modified industrial 'Mechs that wore the green and tartan of Northwind. Infantry was dueling with everything on the battlefield, fearlessly taking on anything that came close enough.
There was an abrupt squeal on the command frequency, and a breathless voice with a Northwind accent came over. "Triarii Two, this is Control. There's a whole lot of Steel Wolf hovercraft armor heading into our rear areas, and the Countess and the rest of the heavy armor can't get to them in time."
Jarome nodded, her mind racing. "Roger that, Control. If you'll vector me, I'll take them on and buy you enough time to get the heavy stuff on them." She activated her targeting computer once more, and opened a secondary COM channel to Mikayla. She was somewhere east of her, all the way at the right flank, hunting Steel Wolf 'Mechs that were trying to curve the flank. "Mikayla, are you out there?"
"Roger that, Jarome, I'm here," she replied, her voice scratchy and a little broken, victim to the Steel Wolf jamming. The Highlanders and Triarii had switched to a broadband frequency, so at least they had something to work with.
"Okay, Mikayla, I'm engaging a flanking unit of Steel Wolf armor. Watch yourself out there- if they're coming on the right, they'll be coming on the left as well." Jarome bit her lip lightly. "You be careful, baby girl. I'll see you when it's over."
"Roger that, Jarome," Mikayla's voice was raspy, and the roar of autocannon echoed through the COM channel. "I think I have found them." The COM channel dissolved into static, victim to the Steel Wolf jamming.
Jarome gritted her teeth and redirected her attention. She couldn't keep mooning over Mikayla like this- it was going to get her killed, and then there'd be no more BattleMech picnics, now would there? Scanning her instruments carefully, she punched up the C3 computer, and let the C3 Master Computer in the Highlander headquarters vehicle to feed her LRMs coordinates. Achieving lock on a target still over the visual horizon, she triggered the left missile rack, sending a flight of fifteen LRMs racing to the target. She received new coordinates, and fired the right-side launcher this time, trying to make her supply of missiles last longer. She fired again and again, the heat in her cockpit rising slowly, stabilizing at ninety degrees.
Cheers came over the artillery spotter's COM channel, and encouragements to keep the fire coming. She launched again and again, pulverizing the Steel Wolves rushing onward toward the vulnerable Highlander rear units. The observers called out a direction once more, and Jarome squeezed the trigger- and froze as the launcher bleeped out an ammunition expended alarm. She flipped the target interlock to the other launcher, and squeezed the trigger again- another alarm. "Oh," she whispered.
A column of five Condor tanks roared toward her at full speed, their LRM racks already tracking toward her. Their Autocannons began to spew fire and hardened slugs, and Jarome knew they were going to hit.
"Shit," Jarome finished, firewalling her throttle and jerking the Catapult hard right. She sealed the missile launcher covers, hoping she'd still be alive long enough to need them, and engaged with her medium lasers. The crimson beams seared deep into her target, touching off a fierce blast of light as the lasers found the autocannon ammunition. The Condor tumbled, slinging parts and crew across the mud.
The victory was fleeting. All four Condors spewed missiles at her, pounding her machine mercilessly under sixty missiles. Armor shattered, and endo-steel warped and snapped. The right side missile launcher was blasted apart, and two lasers winked out of existence on her HUD as their housings were vaporized by the jets of molten copper spraying from the missiles. Jarome staggered heavily, fighting the searing neuro-feedback and the howling gyro to keep her 'Mech upright.
The fire from the Condors had shattered her ability to fight, and had devoured her armor, leaving her almost defenseless. A red light on her control panel warned her that her jump-jets had malfunctioned, tying her to the ground, and the red wire-frame on her secondary monitor told her that her 'Mech would not withstand another salvo like that. She wrapped her left hand around the ejection handle between her legs, and floated her cross hairs around a Condor, and pulled the trigger, launching hard red light from her remaining two lasers. Every second she fought, every second the Steel Wolves focused on her, was one more second bought for the Highlander techs, and medical people, and the mobile headquarters to evacuate, to beat the Steel Wolves.
The Condor jerked, as if surprised that a burning, shattered 'Mech was still on its feet, still fighting despite the terrible damage it had sustained. The tank's armor was seared, but the two lasers lacked the power to punch through. The four tanks buttonhooked hard, swinging around, their turret-mounted LRMs tracking her, ready to fire-
And were enveloped by heavy artillery fire and smashed by Gauss slugs and lasers. Over the ridgeline that had shielded the headquarters unit, a ragged line of M1Marksman and BE701 Joust tanks struggled up, their treads thrashing the heavy semi-liquid mud in fierce gouts. The Condors turned once more and ran, fleeing the unexpected onslaught, and Jarome sagged against her restraints, bathed in the heat and red glow of her cockpit. Sunlight poured through her canopy, and she grinned. She had done it- held out long enough for the Highlanders to bring up support.